“They don’t?” demanded George. “Then how do they eat?”
“They have throats and bills and beaks, but they don’t have mouths.”
“What is a mouth anyway?” said George scornfully. “Isn’t it the opening in the head through which one takes food into his stomach?”
“I suppose it is.”
“Well, doesn’t a hen swallow corn?”
“She does.”
“Then she has a mouth, hasn’t she?”
“Wait a minute and I’ll tell you. It’s this way, you see—”
At that moment there was a loud report directly beneath the car which at that time was passing under a stone bridge.
George instantly stopped the car, but another driver directly in front of him was so startled by the unexpected sound that he lost control of his automobile and swung into the ditch, nearly overturning his car as he did so. Instantly rising from his seat he turned and glared at the Go Ahead boys as if he was tempted to visit some merited punishment upon them.