As I turned to summon Brotherton, Hawkins opened his eyes.
I am not one to cherish a grudge. I felt that Hawkins" invention had been its own terrible punishment. So I helped him to his feet as gently as possible, and waited for apologetic utterances.
"You see, Griggs," began Hawkins, uncertainly--"you see, the--the ratchet on the big wheel--stuck. I"ll put a new--a new ratchet there, and oil--lots of oil--on the--the----"
"That"s enough, Hawkins," I said.
"Come home."
"Yes, but don"t you see," he groaned, holding fast to his battered skull as I helped him back to the road, "if I get that one little point perfected--it--it will revol----"
"Let it!" I snapped. "Sit here until I see what"s left of my automobile."
Ten minutes later, Patrick having appeared to take charge of Maud S., Hawkins and I were making our homeward way in the runabout, which had mercifully been spared.
Something in my face must have forbidden conversation, for Hawkins wrapped the soiled fragments of his raiment about him in offended dignity, and was silent on the subject of horse-brake.
Nor have I ever heard of the thing since. Possibly Mrs. Hawkins succeeded in demonstrating the fallacy of the whole horse-brake theory; in fact, from the expression on her face when we reached the house, I am inclined to think that she did.
Mrs. Hawkins can be strong-minded on occasion, and her tongue is in no way inadequate to the needs of her mind. At any rate, a friend of mine in the patent office, whom I asked about the matter some time ago, tells, me that the Hawkins Horse-brake has never been patented, so that I presume the invention is in its grave. As a public spirited citizen, I venture to add that this is a blessing.
CHAPTER II.
My wife is averse to widowhood. Lately she exacted my solemn pledge not to a.s.sist Hawkins with any more of his diabolical inventions.
For a similar reason, his own good lady drew me aside a few evenings since, and insisted upon my promising to use every means, physical force included, which might prevent her "Herbert" from experimenting further with his motor.
Hawkins hadn"t favored me with any confidences about the motor, and at the first opportunity I indicated with brutal directness that none was desired.
Hawkins inquired with frigid asperity as to my meaning; but the very iciness of his manner satisfied me that he understood perfectly, and, believing that he was sufficiently offended to keep entirely to himself all details of his machine--whatever it might be--I breathed more easily.
Some of these days one of Hawkins" inventions is going to take him on a personally conducted tour to a quiet little grave, and I have no wish to learn the itinerary beforehand.
Now, bitter experience has taught me that eternal vigilance is the price of freedom from complicity with the mechanical contrivances of Hawkins, and I should have been suspicious. Yet when Hawkins appeared Sunday morning and asked me to go for a little jaunt up the Hudson in his launch, I accepted with guileless good faith.
His launch was--perhaps it is still--the neatest of neat little pleasure boats, and when we left the house I antic.i.p.ated several hours of keen enjoyment.
Crossing Riverside Drive, it struck me that Hawkins was hurrying, but the balmy air, the sunshine, and the beautiful sweep of the river filled my mind with infinite peace, and it was not until we had descended to the little dock that I smelled anything suggestive of rat.
Hawkins climbed into the launch, and I smiled benignly on him as I handed down the lunch and our overcoats. I had just finished pa.s.sing them over when I stopped smiling so suddenly that it jarred my facial muscles.
"Where has the engine gone?" I demanded.
"That engine, Griggs," responded Hawkins, pleasantly, "has gone where all other steam engines will go within the next two years--into the sc.r.a.p heap."
"Which very cheerful prophecy means----"
"It means, my dear boy, that before you stands the first full-sized working model of the Hawkins A. P. motor, patent applied for!"
The inventor flicked off a waterproof cover and exposed to view in the stern of the launch what looked like an inverted wash-boiler. At first glance it appeared to be merely a dome of heavy steel, bolted to a ma.s.sive bed-plate, but I didn"t spend much time examining the thing.
"There, Griggs," began Hawkins, triumphantly, "in that small----"
"Hawkins," I cried, desperately, "you get out of that boat! Get out of it, I say! Come home with me at once. I"m not going to be mixed up in any more of your wretched trial-trips. Come on, or I"ll drag you out!"
Hawkins eyed me coldly for a minute, admonished me not to be an a.s.s, and went on untying the launch.
He is stronger and heavier than I. Frankly, had I meditated such a course seriously, I couldn"t have hoisted him out of his boat.
If I had ever studied medicine, I suppose I should have known how to stun Hawkins from above without killing him, but I have never even seen the inside of a hospital.
Again, could I have conjured up any plausible charge, I might have called a policeman and requested him to incarcerate Hawkins; at the moment, however, I was a bit too fl.u.s.tered for such refined strategy.
Obviously, I couldn"t prevent Hawkins testing his motor, but my heart quaked at the idea of accompanying him.
On the other hand, it quaked quite as much before the prospect of returning to his wife and admitting that I had allowed Hawkins to sail away alone with his accursed motor.
If I went with him, a relatively easy death by drowning was about the best I could expect. If I didn"t, his wife----
I stepped down into the launch.
"Coming, are you?" observed Hawkins. "Quite the sensible thing to do, Griggs. You"ll never regret it."
"G.o.d knows, I hope not," I sighed.
"Now, in the first place, I may as well call your attention again to the motor. The A. P. stands for "almost perpetual"--good name, isn"t it?
You don"t know much about chemistry, Griggs, or I could make the whole proposition clear to you."
"The great point about my motor, however, is that she"s run by a fluid somewhat similar to gasolene--another of the distillation products of petroleum, in fact--which, having been exploded, pa.s.ses into my new and absolutely unique catalytic condensers, where it is returned to its original molecular structure and run back into the reservoir."
"Hence," finished Hawkins, dramatically, "the fuel retains its chemical integrity indefinitely, and, as it circulates automatically through the motor, the little engine will run for months at a time without a particle of attention. Is that quite clear?"
"Perfectly," I lied.
"All right. Now I"ll show you how she starts," smiled the inventor, opening with a key a little door in the wash-boiler and lighting a match.
"Careful, Hawkins, careful," I ventured, backing toward the cabin.
"My dear fellow," he sneered, "can you not grasp that in an engine of this construction, there is absolutely no danger of any kind of explo----"
Just then a heavy report issued from the wash-boiler. A sheet of flame seemed to flash from the little opening and precipitate Hawkins into my arms.
At any rate, he landed there with a violent shock, and I clutched him tightly, and tried to steady the launch.