“In about ten minutes now, Mrs. Kippenberg will be comin’ back from town. Then we’ll make the old hinge bend down agin’.”
“Let’s wait,” said Louise.
Penny nodded and then as Thorny did not seem to object, she peeped into the gear house, the door of which stood half open. A maze of machinery met her eye—an electric motor and several long hand-levers.
Presently Thorny Davis listened intently. Penny thought he looked like an old fox who had picked up the distant baying of the pack.
“That’s her car a-comin’ now,” he said. “I can tell by the sound of the engine. Well, I reckon I might as well let ’er down.”
Thorny arose and knocked the ashes from his corn-cob pipe. He opened the door of the gear house and stepped inside.
“May I see how you do it?” asked Penny. “I always was interested in machinery.”
“The women will be runnin’ locomotives next,” Thorny complained whimsically. “All right, come on in.”
The old watchman pulled a lever on the starting rheostat of the motor which responded with a sudden jar and then a low purr. It increased its speed as he pushed the lever all the way over.
“Now the power’s on. The next thing is to drop ’er.”