CHAPTER XXIII
THE POWER GONE
"Bless my overshoes!" cried Mr. Damon. "Stuck in the mud, eh?"
"Hard and fast," added Tom, in disgust.
"What's to be done?" inquired Mr. Sharp.
"I should say we'll have to stay here until daylight, and wait for someother auto to come along and pull us out," was Mr. Damon's opinion."It's might unpleasant, too, for there doesn't seem to be any placearound here where we can spend the night in any kind of comfort. If wehad the submarine or the airship, now, it wouldn't so much matter."
"No, and this won't matter a great deal," remarked the young inventorquickly. "We'll soon be out of this, but it will be hard work."
"What do you mean?" asked Mr. Sharp.
"I mean that we've got to pull ourselves out of this mud hole,"explained the lad, as he prepared to descend. "I was afraid somethinglike this would happen, so I came prepared for it. I've got ropes andpulleys with me, in the car. We'll fasten the rope to the machine,attach one pulley to the bridge, another to the car, and I guess we canget out of the mud. We'll try, anyhow."
"Well, I must say you looked pretty far ahead," complimented Mr. Damon.
From a box under the tonneau Tom took out a thin but strong rope andtwo compound pulleys, which would enable considerable force to beapplied. Mr. Sharp detached one of the powerful oil lamps, and thethree travelers took a look at the auto. It was indeed deep in the mudand it seemed like a hopeless task to try to get it out unaided. ButTom insisted that they could do it, and the rope was soon attached, thehook of one pulley being slipped around one of the braces of the bridge.
"Now, all together!" cried the lad, as he and his friends grasped thelong rope. They gave a great heave. At first it seemed like pulling ona stone wall. The rope strained and the pulleys creaked.
"I--guess--we--will--pull--the--bridge--over!" gasped Mr. Sharp.
"Something's got to give way!" puffed Tom. "Now, once more! Alltogether!"
Suddenly they felt the rope moving. The pulleys creaked still more and,by the light of the lamp, they could see that the auto was slowly beingpulled backward, out of the mud, and onto the hard road. In a fewminutes it was ready to proceed again.
The rope and pulleys were put away, and, after Tom had made anexamination of the car to see that it had sustained no damage, theywere off again, making good time to the hotel in Burgfield, where theyspent the night. They had an early breakfast, and, as Tom went out tothe barn to look at his car, he saw it surrounded by a curious throngof men and boys. One of the boys was turning some of the handles andlevers.
"Here! Quit that!" yelled Tom, and the meddlesome lad leaped down infright. "Do you want to start the car and have it smash intosomething?" demanded the young inventor.
"Aw, nothin' happened," retorted the lad. "I pulled every handle on it,an' it didn't move."
"Good reason," murmured Tom, for he had taken the precaution to removea connecting plug, without which the machine could not be started.
The three were soon under way again, and covered many miles over thefine country roads, the weather conditions being delightful. On inquirythey found that by taking an infrequently used highway, they could saveseveral miles. It was over an unoccupied part of country, rather wildand desolate, but they did not mind that.
They were whizzing along, talking of Tom's chances for winning the racewhen, after climbing a slight grade, the auto came to a sudden stop onthe summit.
"What's the matter?" asked Mr. Sharp. "Why are you stopping here, Tom?"
"I didn't stop," was the surprising answer, and the lad shoved thestarting lever back and forth.
But there was no response. There was no hum from the motor. The machinewas "dead."
"That's queer," murmured the young inventor.
"Maybe a fuse blew out," suggested Mr. Damon, that seeming to be hisfavorite form of trouble.
"If it had you'd have known it," remarked Mr. Sharp.
"There's plenty of current in the battery, according to the registeringgauge," murmured the lad. "I can't understand it." He reversed thecurrent, thinking the wires might have become crossed, but the machinewould move neither backward nor forward, yet the dial indicated thatthere was enough power stored away to send it a hundred miles or more.
"Perhaps the dial hand has become caught," suggested Mr. Sharp. "Thatsometimes happens on a steam gauge, and indicates a high pressure whenthere isn't any. Hit it slightly, and see if the hand swings back."
Tom did so. At once the hand fell to zero, indicating that there wasnot an ampere of current left. The battery was exhausted, but this facthad not been indicated on the gauge.
"I see now!" cried Tom. "It was those fellows at the hotel barn! Theymonkeyed with the mechanism, short circuited the battery, and jammedthe gauge so I couldn't tell when my power was gone. If I had knownthere wasn't enough to carry us I could have recharged the battery atthe hotel. But I figured that I had enough current for the entire trip,and so there would have been, if it hadn't leaked away. Now we're in apretty pickle."
"Bless my hat band!" cried Mr. Damon. "Does that mean we can't move?"
"Guess that's about it," answered Mr. Sharp, and Tom nodded.
"Well, why can't we go on to some place where they sell electricity,and get enough to take us where we want to go?" asked the oddcharacter, whose ideas of machinery were somewhat hazy.
"The only trouble is we can't carry the heavy car with us," repliedTom. "It's too big to pick up and take to a charging station."
"Then we've got to wait until some one comes along with a team ofhorses, and tows us in," commented Mr. Sharp. "And that will be sometime, on this lonely road."
Tom shook his head despondently. He went all over the car again, butwas forced to the first conclusion, that the reserve current had leakedaway, in consequence of the meddling prank of the youth at the hotel.The situation was far from pleasant, and the delay would seriouslyinterfere with their plans.
Suddenly, as Tom was pacing up and down the road, he heard from afar, apeculiar humming sound. He paused to listen.
"Trolley car," observed Mr. Sharp. "Maybe one of us could go somewhereon the trolley and get help. There it is," and he pointed to theelectric vehicle, moving along about half a mile away, at the foot of agentle slope.
At the sight of the car Tom uttered a cry. "I have it!" he exclaimed."None of us need go for help! It's right at hand!" His companionslooked curiously, as the young inventor pointed triumphantly to thefast disappearing electric.