Chewing up the Low-Gear
and backed and backed till I thought my head would twist off. I was still hard at it when, high above me, I heard the boo of a horn, and the ponderous slish of a big car rounding the curve. I squeaked Dandy's tooter to save our lives, and straightened up and tried to look dignified, and as though I preferred to climb hills on the reverse, and wouldn't have used a first speed if I had had it. In another instant I saw the immense square bonnet of the G. R. A. T. darting into sight, with Mr. Marsden at the wheel, and his face so surprised and gratified at the unexpected sight of me that he almost forgot to ram home his brakes.
I don't know how it happened, but I found myself shaking his hand as though he was my long-lost brother. After all, Olaff mightn't have been equal to a mountain lion, and if ever there was a friend in need it was Mr. Marsden. Have you ever studied anything very hard, and then, after a long rest, discovered that you had learned it? That's true of friendships also, and I could feel we had made
41
