exclaimed,--
"The wheel is coming off." I threw out the clutch, applied the
brake, looked, and saw the left front wheel roll gracefully and
quite deliberately out from under the big metal mud guard; the
carriage settled down at that corner, and the end of the axle
ploughed a furrow in the road for a few feet, when we came to a
stop.
The steering-head had broken short off at the inside of the hub.
We were not going very fast at the time, and the heavy metal mud
guard which caught the wheel, acting as a huge brake, saved us
from a bad smash.
On examination, the shank of the steering-head was found to
contain two large flaws, which reduced its strength more than
one-half, and the surprising thing was that it had not parted long
before, when subjected to much severer strains.
This was a break that no man could repair on the road. Under
pressure of circumstances the steering-head could have been taken
to the nearest blacksmith shop and a weld made, but that would
require time, and the results would be more than doubtful. By far
the easier thing to do was to wire the factory for a new head and
patiently wait its coming.
Happily, we landed in the hands of a retired farmer, whose
generous hospitality embraced our tired selves as well as the
machine.
Before supper a telegram was sent from Brainerd to the factory for
a new steering-head.
While waiting inside for the operator to finish selling tickets
for the one evening train about to arrive, a curious crowd
gathered outside about my host, and the questions asked were
plainly audible; the names are fictitious.
"What'r ye down t' the stashun fur this hur o' day, Joe?"
"Broke my new aut'mobile," carelessly replied my host, flicking a
fly off the nigh side of his horse.
"Shu!"
"What'r given us?"
"Git out--"
"You ain't got no aut'mobile," chorused the crowd.
"Mebbe I haven't; but if you fellows know an aut'mobile from a hay
rake, you might take a look in my big barn an' let me know what
you see."
"Say, Joe, you're jokin',--hev you really got one?"
"You can look for yourselves."
"I saw one go through here 'bout six o'clock," interrupted a
new-comer. "Great Jehosephat, but 't went like a streak of greased
lightnin'."
"War that your'n, Joe?"
"Well--"
"Naw," said the new-comer, scornfully. "Joe ain't got no
aut'mobile; there's the feller in there now who runs it," and the
crowd turned my way with such interest that I turned to the little
Here's a piece of wisdom on driving or cute car quote to study:
Car sickness is the feeling you get when the monthly payment is due. ~Author Unknown
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