hands, took his bat that the captain had been holding, and said:
'Gears!'

"'It'll take me about two hours to break them loose,' he said,
'and so if Miss Stanton wouldn't mind trading escorts, and if the
captain would take the buggy, I think Miss Hardy and I had better
stay by the machine.'

"Miss Stanton didn't look nearly so pleased as the captain; but
when Gerard said again he positively couldn't manage it under two
hours, and I snubbed her when she proposed towing, and when the
captain brightened up and made a good impression--he was so
excited, poor fellow, at the chance of getting away--that it all
came right, and they drove off cheerfully together. When they
had quite disappeared, Gerard threw down the wrench he had in his
hand, and said we'd now have that talk he had been trying to get
with me for the past month.

"'We'll do the gears first, thank you,' I said.

"'Gears!' he exclaimed, 'there's nothing the matter with the
gears. I thought you were chauffeur enough for that'

"'But you said--' I began.

"I can make this car move in five minutes,' he said, climbing
into the tonneau and motioning with his hand for me to take the
other seat.

"Of course I obeyed him. I didn't want to, but somehow when