"I have been sent out by the Automobile Association," said the
stranger, "to warn you that they have a trap set in the next town.
So watch out."

And Oliver gave a gasp, and said, "Oh! Thank you!" The young man
stepped off, and they went ahead, and he lay back in his seat and
shook with laughter.

"Is that common?" his brother asked, between laughs.

"It happened to me once before," said Oliver. "But I'd forgotten it
completely."

They proceeded very slowly; and when they came to the outskirts of
the village they went at a funereal pace, while the car throbbed in
protest. In front of a country store they saw a group of loungers
watching them, and Oliver said, "There's the first part of the trap.
They have a telephone, and somewhere beyond is a man with another
telephone, and beyond that a man to stretch a rope across the road."

"What would they do with you?" asked the other.

"Haul you up before a justice of the peace, and fine you anywhere
from fifty to two hundred and fifty dollars. It's regular highway
robbery--there are some places that boast of never levying taxes;
they get all their money out of us!"

Oliver pulled out his watch. "We're going to be late to lunch,
thanks to these delays," he said. He added that they were to meet at
the "Hawk's Nest," which he said was an "automobile joint."