By this time Russ and the other children had reached the place of excitement. They saw their father and Captain Ben laughing, and then they knew nothing serious had happened.
"What was it? What made the mule kick up so funny? Was he a circus mule, and did he run back to the circus?" asked Vi, getting in all the questions possible in as short a time as she could.
"No, he wasn't exactly a circus mule, but he acted like one," her father answered. "Did any of you get kicked?" he inquired of the men around the automobile.
"No; but I come pretty near on to it," answered one of them. "He sure was a high performer."
"What happened?" asked Russ of Captain Ben.
"Yes, tell us," murmured Rose.
"As nearly as I can find out," said Captain Ben, "when your father and I went to dinner, after getting the auto as far out of the ditch as we could, some of the men from the canal decided they would hitch one of their mules to the car and see if he could pull it out. Mules are very strong, you know."
"Are they strong kickers, too?" asked Laddie.
"Indeed they are, very strong," Captain Ben answered. "Well, as I said, while we were down at Mrs. Brown's, getting our dinner, the men tried to hitch the mule to the auto that was still partly in the ditch. But the mule didn't like the work, for he began to kick out, and finally he broke loose and did as he pleased."
"That's the racket I heard as I was coming along the road," said the man who had run to Mr. Brown's to give the alarm. "I heard a mule braying and men shouting, and a boy told me about the auto accident a little while before. This boy said the man who owned the car was at Brown's boarding house, so I ran there to tell you."