"Not that, but sleeping," returned Jack. "If they die they will never forget it as long as they live. There is a sacred duty in standing picket duty."
"Oh, a light!" suddenly screamed Bess. "It's coming this way!"
"Steady, there," shouted Ed, in his clear, deep voice. "Pass to the left!" and he tooted the horn of the Whirlwind.
"A machine!" announced Jack, as he jumped up and peered through the wind shield.
"Oh! isn't that lovely?" gasped Belle, willing at once to abandon her company for the prospect of getting out of the woods.
By this time a big motor car had slowed up at the side of the other cars. The chauffeur alighted and, with all the chivalry of the road, asked what the trouble was. Leaving out the scare and the hat part, the boys soon told of their difficulty and the young ladies' plight, whereat an old gentleman, the only occupant of the car, insisted that the young ladies get in with him, and that his man, Benson, be allowed to tow the stalled car out of the hills. They decided to do this, agreeing that they had had enough of "camping out."
"What name? What name did you say, sir?" he asked Jack, at the same time kicking his many robes up into a corner to make all possible room ill his magnificent car.
"Kimball," replied Jack, "of Chelton, and the other names are——"
"That's enough, plenty," the gentleman declared heartily. "I knew
Joseph Kimball, of Chelton, and I guess he was your father."
"Yes," replied Jack, astonished at thus meeting a family friend.