"This very afternoon, may it please the court. And, by the same
token, I should be getting home now. Hope we won't meet anyone, or
they might ask, as Sid did, if I'd been clamming. I can't seem to
keep out of the mud."

They gathered up their fishing paraphernalia and walked out to the
highway.

"Are you and your money going over in the machine?" asked Jack.

"Certainly. Why not? Henry Porter is going to loan me his
runabout."

"Oh, I suppose it's all right, but it's a lot of money to carry with
you alone--twenty thousand dollars."

"And to hear you talk I might suspect that you had designs on it.
I guess I'll get over to New City with it safe and sound. I hardly
think I need a bodyguard."

"Humph! Maybe not. I guess you'll be all right."

"Your sister seems much interested in motoring," remarked Ed as they
trudged along.

"Oh, yes, sis is just wild about it. She learned to run my car, and
then began teasing for one of her own. We a were waiting for her
seventeenth birthday to give it to her--mother and I--"

"Oh, I suppose you paid for part of it," remarked Ed with a laugh.