explosion. Then he sat down once more, looking sheepish.

"Give up the Annapolis bee, Danny boy," laughed Tom. "That was
nothing but a tire blowing out. If you got into the Navy, and
a fourteen-inch gun went off when you weren't expecting it, you'd
be half way to the planet Neptune before your comrades could call
you back."

"How easily we make light of other people's troubles," mused Prescott.

"What makes you say that?" asked Darrin.

"Why, for instance, that party down in the road has been stopped
by a blown-out tire. Probably they were in a hurry to get somewhere,
too. Now, they're delayed perhaps a half an hour, but it doesn't
give us a flicker of concern."

"It interests me, anyway," Reade announced, rising. "Anything
in the mechanical line does. It may even be that the man driving
that car doesn't know just how to put on a new tire. I'm going
to saunter down and see."

Five members of Dick & Co. didn't take the trouble even to glance
keenly at the halted car.

Tom took a dozen steps, then suddenly shouted back:

"Fellows, your indifference will vanish, now. Look who's here!"