And the pair went off to make their complaint.

Suppose each had been given then and there the sixty cents he
afterwards received and duly receipted for, would it have saved
time and trouble? Who knows? but the diversion of the afternoon
would have been lost.

In a few moments an officer quite courteously--refreshing
contrast--notified me that complaint was in process of making.

I found the chief of police with a copy of the city ordinance
trying to draw some sort of a complaint that would fit the
extraordinary case, for the charge was not the usual one, that the
machine was going at an unlawful speed, but that a lawyer had been
frightened; to find the punishment that would fit that crime was
no easy task.

The ordinance is liberal,--ten miles an hour; and the young man
and his mentor had not said the speed of the automobile was
greater than the law allowed, hence the dilemma of the chief; but
we discussed a clause which provided that vehicles should not be
driven through the streets in a manner so as to endanger public
travel, and he thought the complaint would rest on that provision.

However lacking the bar of Pittsfield may be in the amenities of
life, the bench is courtesy itself. There was no court until next
day; but calling at the judge's very delightful home, which
happens to be on one of the interesting old streets of the town,
he said he would come down and hear the matter at two o'clock, so
I could get away that afternoon.