"I wonder whether those two tramps. .h.i.t the high places, and got out of this neighborhood for keeps?" Bluff was saying, after they had mounted and were bowling along merrily toward town.
"The chances are that way. That tramp printer must be a bad sort of chap, it seems to me, and if Hank keeps along in his society I can see his finish," answered Jerry over his shoulder.
They had not made more than a mile when once more Frank gave a quick toot of his horn that brought the little procession up in a hurry.
"What ails us now?" demanded Bluff.
"Frank"s bending over something in the road, as sure as you live!"
called Will.
"Tell me about that, will you! Seems as if our lively times haven"t stopped yet. It never rains but it pours, fellows. Hi! Frank, what"s the matter? Say! Would you believe it? There"s a man lying in the road!"
Jerry made haste to push his heavy motorcycle forward so as to reach the side of his kneeling chum.
"It"s Hank Brady, boys, and he seems to be in a bad way. Something has happened to him since we saw him last," said Frank, looking up.
"Goodness gracious! Is he dead?" gasped Will, his eyes dilating in horror.
"I don"t know yet, but I"m going to find out," replied Frank, bending over so that he could press his ear upon the breast of the man in the road.
"And that tramp printer, where"s he at?" asked Jerry suggestively. "Tell me that, will you?"
CHAPTER IV
STARTING HANK RIGHT
"He"s alive, all right!" was the announcement of Frank presently.
"I hear water close by. Hold on, and I"ll get some," said Will hurrying away.
Even Jerry was desirous of helping as best he could. He took hold with Frank, and the insensible Hank was carried alongside the road, to where some gra.s.s grew, and offered a softer resting place.
Had it been a friend who was thus in need of succor, they could hardly have shown more energy in attending to his wants.
"He"s coming to," said Bluff after Frank had sprinkled the scratched face with some of the cold water.
There was a deep sigh, then Frank saw that the fellow"s eyes had opened, and were surveying him with a troubled stare.
"Feeling better, Hank?" he asked quietly.
"Oh, I"m all right, I reckon. What brought you fellows here? Where am I, anyhow? Did I just drop off that motorcycle? No. I remember, now.
Flimsy took the last cent I had while I lay in the road. The meanest skunk I ever met up with. If ever he crosses my path again I"ll get even with the cur," he growled, sitting up and holding a hand to his head.
"What happened to you, Hank? Why were you lying in the road? Did you have a fight with that tramp printer?" asked Frank, suspecting the truth.
"Yes. I told him I was sick of keeping with him. He"s a bad one, and some fine day he"ll land in the stone jug. He scared me the way he talked. I started to tramp back home, and he kept nagging me all the way here. In the end he made me so mad I just tackled him. That was what he wanted. Why, he put me to sleep the easiest way you ever saw. I just remember him fumbling in my pockets before he hoofed it."
"Well, it was a lucky thing for you, Hank, after all. If you"d kept with that rascal you"d soon have been just like him. Did you say you meant to go back home now?"
"That"s what I meant to do, but he"s fixed it so I can"t," muttered the other, grinding his teeth in fury.
"How"s that?" pursued Frank, believing there must be a story back of his words.
"He took the ten dollars I stole from my dad. I won"t never dare face him and say I lost it. I thought I could put it back in the bureau drawer, and he"d never know. I"ll have to foller that Flimsy, and make him give it back."
"You can"t do that for he"d only laugh at you, and perhaps beat you again."
"The thief ought to be arrested," grumbled Bluff indignantly.
"That would blow the whole thing, you see, and dad he"d know I grabbed it. I"m gettin" all I ought to have, I reckon. P"raps I might earn that ten some way, and hand it over. If I could only get another job as chauffeur it"d be all right," Hank Brady was mumbling to himself dejectedly.
"Perhaps you can," said Frank quickly. "I remember, now, that our man had to go away suddenly the day before yesterday. Look here, Hank! Do you really mean to do the right thing now? Have you had your lesson pounded into you?"
"I sure have. Never again for me, I give you my word. I guess my folks has been worried some on my account, but they don"t need to any more.
I"ve reformed, I have. I"m goin" to walk a straight line after this."
The fellow spoke as though he meant it, and Frank believed he could detect the ring of sincerity in his voice.
"All right. Shake hands on that, Hank. Don"t you forget it, that you"ll find plenty of fellows willing to give you a lift, just as quickly as some others want to give you a drag down. It all depends on where the other chap is standing himself. You come and see me to-morrow, some time. I"m Frank Langdon, and my father is the president of the First National Bank."
"This is mighty white of you, fellers," muttered the other, apparently ashamed.
"You can never pay it back to us, Hank, but some time pa.s.s it along; hold out a helping hand to some other poor chap in trouble. I guess if you know how to run a car decently you will get the job, if I speak to my dad. Now, another thing--that ten dollars you wanted to put back, was it in one bill?"
"Two fives," replied Hank, catching his breath.
"Then perhaps we can fix it up. I"ve got one here. Jerry, can you help me out?" asked Frank, who believed in doing the whole thing, once he started.
"Just happen to have it, by good luck," replied the other cheerfully.
"Say! that"s too much, fellers--an" after I played that mean trick, too!"
"Don"t worry about that. I"m not giving you this, Hank, only loaning it to you. You can pay it back out of your first month"s salary. Here you are, and don"t think for a minute that you"re getting the best of all this. We"re enjoying it, in our own way, more than you ever can. See you to-morrow, then. Good-night, Hank!"
They left the fellow standing there, quite dumb. He had tried to answer them as they rode off, but not a sound could he utter.
"Talk to me about the queer things that crop up with us, will you!"
laughed Jerry as he kept close at Frank"s heels. "Did you ever really hear the equal of that, now?"
"Oh, it"s an old story. The only decent thing about it is the fact that of his own free will Hank was breaking away from his evil a.s.sociations and heading back home, when he met with this last trouble. I say, Bluff!"
"h.e.l.lo, Frank! What is it?" came from the rear, where the party addressed was following in the wake of his chums.
"How about Hank? Do you know if he ever played chauffeur half-way decent? I"d hate to risk the pater"s neck with a greenhorn."