Suddenly there was a cracking sound, and the van gave a lurch. It settled down on one side, as though one of the wheels had gone into a hole.
“Look out!” yelled the man. He grabbed Tommy, and only just in time, or our hero would have fallen off. But Tommy had a glimpse of what had happened.
“It’s the wheel this time!” he cried, as the horses came to a stop.
“What about it?” asked the man, as he got ready to go down.
“It came off, and it rolled over in the bushes. It isn’t broken, but it came off.”
“Just my luck!” cried the man. “Talk about accidents, and they’re sure to happen. The nut came loose, and the wheel rolled off. Is the axle broken? I mean the black piece of iron sticking out, that the wheel goes on. Is that broken?”
“No,” reported Tommy, taking another look. “That’s all right.”
“Then it isn’t so bad, if I can find the nut that holds the wheel on. We’ll have to look for it. Wait now, I’ll help you get down.”
It was not easy to get off the high seat of the van, all tilted to one side as it was, but they managed it.
“Now, we’ll see if we can find the nut,” suggested the moving man, when he had looked at the axle and made sure that it was not broken. It had dug itself away down into the dirt of the road, though.