“Go? It is going!”
“I mean move—run——”
“Because the clutch isn’t in,” explained Tom. “The engine is running idle; there’s no load on it; see? If I pushed down on this thing and drew this lever toward me it would start and go right through the back of the stable, I guess!”
Willard begged him nervously to take his hand away from the lever in question. “I don’t think,” he said—they were almost shouting to make each other hear—“that it makes much noise, Tom!”
“Of course it doesn’t!” bawled Tom emphatically. “You see, Jimmy’s so used to—to high-priced cars that he doesn’t appreciate this one.”
“How much more is there to do?” asked Willard.
“Just varnish her and put a new tube in that shoe over there. Jimmy says the rest of the tires will last for months, maybe. He says, though, we’d ought to have an extra tire on hand. There’s a place at the back where you can strap it on. Then we’d be prepared in case we had a blow-out. I’ve made a list of things we ought to have, Will. There—there are a good many of them.”
“I suppose so,” Willard agreed. “And we mustn’t forget that we’ve got to make another payment to Saunders in a few days. I sort of thought we’d have the car going and be earning some money before we had to pay him any more.”
“We would have if they hadn’t held us up at the factory for those new parts. Anyway, we’ll have her on the street in two or three days now; that is, if we can get the varnish on.”