CHAPTER XXV GIRAFFE HAS A NARROW ESCAPE
Thad had no hesitation about turning into the side road. It seemed apretty decent route and, indeed, as he happened to know, there were fewpoor roads anywhere in France.
“We’ve got a whole lot to learn about the way to make decent roads,”Giraffe admitted as they started on. “America can boast of some thingsbut in others she’s away behind.”
“Who cares, now that we’re getting right along?” sang out Bumpus,apparently quite convinced that their troubles were ended.
They had not gone half a mile when Thad showed signs of uneasiness.
“Something bothers me about this engine, and I’m afraid I’ll have tostop and take a look at it,” he announced.
“Well!” exploded Bumpus, “I’m glad the walking is good today, becauseI’m commencing to believe we’ll have to come down to shank’s mare beforewe’re through with this thing.”
Allan and Thad were soon busily engaged in looking over the motor. As itwas in some ways different from any with which the boys were familiarthey had to do considerable guessing as to what caused the trouble.
“About how long will you be held here, Thad, if you could make a guess?”asked Giraffe. “I want to know, because to tell you the truth I’ve got acaved-in feeling right now, and nothing’d please me better than to pickup a bite for the crowd. We passed a couple of small houses back there,and I saw some women and old men working in the market gardens. They allstopped work and stared at us when we whizzed past; but then mebbe Icould coax the housewives to hand over some grub if I shoved a fewfrancs before them.”
“Oh! well, we may be here all of fifteen minutes,” said Thad, withoutlooking up from his work. “Don’t stay longer than that, Giraffe.”
“Good luck to you, old sport,” called out Bumpus, who had remained inhis seat this time; “and say, remember we’re your chums, three of us,all told.”
Giraffe trotted off. The others kept busily at work, and Thad presentlyannounced that he believed he had solved the riddle. It was a simplething that had gone wrong, which could be remedied by the tightening ofa bolt. This he proved to the complete satisfaction of Allan.
“Now if only Giraffe hadn’t let that appetite of his get the better ofhim, we could get away in a hurry!” suggested Bumpus, loftily, as thoughsuch a thing as getting hungry might be accounted a capital crime oncertain occasions.
“Hark! what’s all that row back there?” exclaimed Thad, just then.
A pretty lively chorus of shouts had broken out. This gave the boys afeeling of uneasiness, because their comrade had vanished in thatquarter only a few minutes before.
“It’s around the bend, Thad!” cried Bumpus, standing up on the seat thebetter to see; “and they’re coming this way too, in a big hurry! Oh! mystars! just hear how they whoop it up, men, women and children allshouting and shrieking. Whatever could poor Giraffe have done to getthem so crazy mad?”
“I don’t know,” snapped Thad, “but we’ll soon glimpse what’s going on.There he is just around the curve of the road, and running like a deerat that!”
“And he hasn’t got a bit of grub with him, either,” added Bumpus, quickto discover this fact. “See him gallop, will you? Giraffe can cover theground like a rabbit, once he starts out to try.”
“Well, he’s got good reason for wanting to hit the pace up this time, itseems,” Allan hastened to remark.
They all realized that he spoke the truth, for just then in the rear ofthe wildly fleeing Giraffe appeared a band of natives in full chase.There were a couple of pretty agile old men in blue blouses, and woodensabots that clattered as they came on at headlong speed. Then there wereat least five women, furiously angry in the bargain, for they wavedtheir hands, and shrieked all sorts of things, in French, of course, sothe boys failed to grasp their meaning. Besides, a number ofpartly-grown boys and girls tried to outstrip the older ones.
It was a small edition of a mob, such as the boys had often seenportrayed on the screen at a motion picture show. Giraffe evidently hadno intention of allowing them to overtake him, for he was doing hisprettiest to keep his lead.
Some of the pursuers waved hoes, while others had clubs, or possiblyanother type of native garden tool, showing that they had been at workin the fields when this sudden fit of anger seized hold of them.
Thad hastened to get the engine started. Had that failed just at thiscritical time it must have gone hard with them, for those peasants wouldnot listen to reason.
Then he and Allan took their places. All was ready for the arrival ofGiraffe, who as he ran was trying to shout something to them. It musthave been sweet music in his ears to catch the sound of the motorworking, and realize that an avenue of escape was opened up to him; forGiraffe could not have had much liking for all those hoes and sicklesand clubs.
His long legs got him over the ground in ample time. As he arrived atthe side of the car Giraffe stopped and shook his fist toward theoncoming mob, which action caused another outburst of frantic shrieking.
Bumpus leaned over, and gripping the attenuated scout, actually draggedhim a board. Safety first was one of the stout boy’s favorite mottoes;and with all those angry natives on the run in their direction he didnot believe in taking unnecessary chances.
As the car started off with a rush Allan looking back saw the mob wavingtheir various weapons menacingly. They seemed very much disappointedbecause of missing a chance to beat Giraffe up; but that worthy,standing in the car, continued to make derisive gestures at them as longas they were in sight.
“But whatever did you do to them, to get their dander up so bad,Giraffe?” asked Bumpus, after the other had calmed down enough to resumehis seat.
“Not a thing,” snapped the tall scout, vigorously. “I waved to ’em as Idrew near the houses. They seemed to be clustered in a bunch as ifthey’d been talking over something. Then one woman pointed at me, andsay, if the whole pack didn’t make a break in my direction. Well, Ithought at first I’d stand and try to explain; but when I saw thosecurved sickles and those big hoes swinging through the air, and heardhow they whooped it up, why, I guessed it’d be a heap healthier for afellow of my size in a different atmosphere. So I ran.”
“I should say you did,” Bumpus told him, admiringly; “why, Giraffe, youjust _flew_, that’s what you did. I warrant you only hit the high placesright along. But what do you suppose they had against you to make ’emact like wild hyenas?”
Giraffe was not the fellow to try and hide behind excuses when he hadmade a mess of things. In this case, however, he expressed himself mostemphatically.
“I tell you I never did a single thing to that bunch of crazy people!”he went on to say loudly, so that the others could all hear him. “Ihadn’t a chance to, for you see they started at me before I got closeenough to speak. I was just waving my hand to ’em, social-like, when onewoman gave a screech, and then they commenced to make Rome howl. Wow!they’re certainly a queer lot, these French peasants. I’d like to knowwhat there is about my looks to make ’em so hopping mad. I knew I washomely, like Abe Lincoln, but I didn’t think it’d get me into such apeck of trouble as all that.”
“There must have been a reason for it,” said Thad over his shoulder;“though we may never find it out. Those people are as a rule friendly tostrangers, and willing to accommodate. Something queer has happened toupset them, I should say.”
“Well, I’ll never be happy till I learn what it was,” asserted theaggrieved Giraffe, “if I’d been one of the Greeks they tell you tobeware of, bearing gifts, they couldn’t have acted worse. Yes, theremust have been a reason. And what hurts me worst of all is that I’mstill as hungry as ever.”
They continued to speculate with regard to the strange thing that hadhappened, but none of them could hit upon any plausible cause. Later onthey happened to hear something that gave Giraffe a clue upon which heworked assiduously.
Many wild stories were in circulation at th
at time when the Germanarmies were threatening Paris again. One of the most extravagant ofthese was to the effect that some monster German airships had set outfor the French capital, intending to drop bombs, and create a reign ofterror back of the French lines, so as to cause Joffre to give way.
It may have been that some gossipy neighbor had just been telling them awonderful story about certain daring vandals who had been lowered fromthese gigantic Teuton dirigibles, with orders to terrorize the wholecountry by starting fires and creating a panic. Just then they sawGiraffe running toward them, waving his arms in a strange way. It waslike setting a match to a train of powder. They saw in this stranger oneof the hated and feared German monsters of whom mothers had been talkingfor many years when children had to be subdued. And inspired by a maddesire to capture or destroy the stranger, who had evidently left thecar, and run back so as to set fire to their houses, they had startedtoward Giraffe with all that hostile outbreak.
It seemed a rather “fishy” explanation taken in all, even Giraffe wasbound to admit; and yet not altogether impossible. In those black dayswhen the invaders were rushing toward Paris many stories just asimprobable found ready listeners, and were fully believed by thecredulous peasants.
They were all pleased when they could no longer catch that angry chorusof cries and hoots. As for Giraffe, he shuddered a little to contemplatewhat might have happened had he ever allowed those excited peasants tosurround him, unable to speak their language as he was. Going hungrymight be bad enough, but it was not a circumstance to being man-handledby a mob.
“I wonder what next?” Bumpus was saying. “It seems that we just have towork our way along as we go. Didn’t I say the last lap was always thehardest of all to cover? We’re got time for a whole lot more adventuresbefore we enter Paris.”
“I’m looking to see some sign of that much traveled highway ahead ofus,” Giraffe mentioned a few minutes later. “Seems to me we had ought tobe nearly across country by this time. When we get out from behind thosetrees I calculate we’ll be able to glimpse something worth while.”
Once again was Giraffe correct. No sooner had they cleared theobstruction to their view than they discovered the road in question. Itstood out in plain sight, and there were as usual quite a number ofvehicles passing back and forth in regular procession. Everybody seemedmore or less excited. From this fact Giraffe expressed the belief thatthe news of the great French victory must have been passed along, sothat it was already common property. Men called out to one another, andin their voluble French fashion cried, “Vive la France! vive Joffre!”
“Well,” said Giraffe, “we’re coming to the road, all right, but there’sanother little trouble imp laying for us at the corner. If you looksharp you can see some men in army blue standing there; and they’vealready got their eyes on this fine car. It wouldn’t surprise me much ifthey wanted to take the same away from us, Thad. Bumpus, you said youcould walk it, if you had to; so I advise you to get ready for business.There, that means for us to haul up; and that man in the lead lookssavage enough to bite your head off, Bumpus; so be careful what yousay!”