"I'll bet you," said Specs, "that's George W. Trouble's youngest son. About half the world seems to be needing help to-day. Shall we walk right past without seeing him?"
"Shall we?" asked Bonfire slyly. "We can pretend, of course, that we don't notice his car, on ahead a bit."
"Whose car? Where? How do you know?" Specs was twisting his head and straining his eyes for some glimpse of an automobile. "What makes you think he has a car?"
Bonfire grinned. "Well, maybe he carries those goggles in his shirt pocket just to look like a driver, but—"
"Anybody could guess after seeing them," sniffed Specs, unimpressed. He caught the snicker that was going around the patrol. "Oh, all right! All right! Maybe I did overlook 'em. If you're so smart, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, tell me where the car is and why he isn't riding in it."
Bonfire bowed mockingly. "Certainly. The car is down there in the hollow, off to one side of the road. It is stuck in the mud. The man has tried chains on the rear wheels, but it won't pull itself free, even with them. He wants us to give him a lift."
"Rats!" said Specs. He dismissed the statements as careless banter. "But if that fellow has a car able to run to Belden, and needs something like a loose switch tightened—" A heavy wink completed the sentence.
Bunny frowned. There were times when Specs simply could not and would not remember the Scout law about taking pay for good turns. But it was too late to thresh out the question with him. By this time, they were abreast the young man.
"Good afternoon, fellows!" he said to them. "I'm in a bit of a mess, with my car stuck in the mud there in the hollow. I swerved off the road, to avoid running down a dog, and plumped into the soft creek-bed. She won't pull out, even with chains."
Bunny nodded his willingness to help. He was afraid Specs would blurt out something about pushing out the car in return for a ride to Belden but he need not have worried. Specs was wholly beyond speech. The absolute confirmation of Bonfire's guesses, detail by detail, had left him stunned and dumb.