CHAPTER XXI
THE SHERIFF ARRIVES
We were singing that crazy stuff that we had made up, when all of a sudden, along came an automobile with four men in it, and stopped right behind us. We heard one of them say, "Why, that's the car, now."
They all jumped down and came around the big Pierce-Arrow and stood staring up at us. They stared at the Brewster's Centre car, too; I guess they didn't know what to make of it.
One of the men said, "What's all this? What are you boys doing with that machine?"
As long as none of the other fellows said anything, I spoke up and said, "We're boy scouts and we're sitting here."
"Boy scouts!" he said, all flabbergasted.
"Right the first time," I told him; "we rescued this car from two fellows that were trying to get away with it. You see that railroad car? That belongs to us."
"We're going to have a deed to it," Pee-wee shouted.
"Sure," I said; "a dark and bloody deed. We just happened to be there, because we rolled down the grade from Ridgeboro. Believe me, I've been through eight different grades in school, but this one was the worst I ever saw. We came near taking a header into the lake, but we got the brakes on just in time. You get a fine view of the car from here, don't you?"