“You can see it in five minutes. It’s at Saunders’ Carriage Works. It’s an old one, and I guess it’s in bad shape, but it could be fixed up all right. It’s cheap at a hundred and fifty, I guess.”
“I guess most any automobile would be cheap at that figure if it could be made to go. What do you want it for, Tom? Can you run one?”
“I’ve never tried, but anyone can run an automobile after learning how. I’ve been sitting here wondering if father would get it for me if I asked him. I guess he couldn’t afford it, though.”
“Say, are you daffy?” demanded Willard. “Of course he won’t buy you an automobile! Besides, you’ve got a bicycle, haven’t you? Isn’t that good enough for you? It takes money to run an auto after you’ve got it, Tom.”
“Oh, I don’t want it for—for pleasure. I want to make money with it, Will. And I could if I had it, too.”
“How would you do it?”
“Well——” Tom hesitated a moment. Then, “You aren’t thinking of buying it yourself, are you?” he asked.
“Not a bit!” laughed Willard.
“Then I’ll tell you. You know when folks stop here in Audelsville, drummers and folks like that, they have to go pretty near twelve blocks to get to the hotel or the stores.”
“I know the station’s a long way from the town,” acknowledged Willard. “I thought last Fall, after the Gordon Academy game, I’d never get home. I had a lame ankle and a stiff knee, and it seemed about two miles from the station to the house.”