CHAPTER XII

TOMMY FINDS A FRIEND

So rapidly did the machine shoot down the descent that it almost seemed the curved road was rushing to meet the travelers. Again and again Ned tried the brakes, but without avail. He had shut off the power at the first indication that something was wrong.

"We can never make that turn!" exclaimed Bob.

"I'm afraid not," agreed Jerry.

They were all clinging to the sides of the car, while Ned gripped the steering wheel with a desperate hold.

"Look out for the turn!" cried the professor as they came to the sharp curve.

But, to the surprise of all, Ned, instead of shifting the wheel in at least an attempt to swing around the half circle kept straight on the course. The boy had resolved on another plan.

Directly in front of him, and to the left of the road was a big field of tall waving Pampas grass, the plumes nodding eight feet above the ground. It was shut off from the thoroughfare by a frail wooden fence.

"I'm going to steer into the grass!" cried Ned. "It's our only chance!"

The next instant there was a splintering sound as the auto crashed through the fence, which offered no more resistance, because of the great speed, than a paper hoop does to a circus performer. Then it seemed to the travelers as though they had been plunged into a tossing, waving sea of grass.

The tall Pampas plumes and the stems wrapped themselves about the boys and the professor, almost choking them by the pollen that was shaken off. The feathery-like tops tickled them in the eyes, nose and mouth as, carried by the runaway auto, they were dashed through them.

But the grass had just the effect Ned had intended and hoped for. It clogged the wheels of the machine, and though soft, offered so much resistance that the machine soon began to slow down, as does a locomotive when it runs into a snow drift.

After plowing through the field for about two hundred feet the car came to a final stop, with a little jolt.

"Santa Maria! Caramba!" yelled a voice and then followed such a string of Spanish that the boys thought they had run down a whole camp of Mexican herders.

"Did we hit any one?" asked Jerry, peering forward as well as he could through the tall grass.

"Caramba! Hit any one! The Americano pirates have killed Don Elvardo!" exclaimed the unseen one. "You have broken--!" and then followed such a confusion of words that the boys could not understand.

"Have we broken your leg?" asked Jerry, speaking in Spanish this time.

"Santa Maria! No! You have broken the cigarette I just rolled!" and with that the grass parted in front of the auto, and a little Mexican, wearing a suit profusely trimmed with silver braid, showed himself.

The boys felt like laughing as they beheld the woe-begone face of Don Elvardo. In his hand he held the remains of a cigarette.

"Behold!" he went on tragically. "I am peacefully walking in my field, looking over my crop of Pampas, when I feel a desire to smoke. I sit me down and roll a cigarette. I am about to light it, when--Santa Maria! There is a rushing sound of ten thousand imps of darkness. My grass is mowed down as if by a sickle in the hands of a giant. I turn in fear! I see something coming! I can not tell what it is, for the tall grass hides it! I turn to flee! The infernal thing keeps after me! Presto! Caramba! It hits me so--"

Don Elvardo illustrated by slapping himself vigorously on the thigh.

"Then I fall! I am crushed! I am killed! I die in pain and fear! I arise! Behold, senor Americanos, my cigarette is broken!"

"We're very sorry, of course," said Jerry politely. "But you see our auto ran away on the hill, and as the brakes would not work, the only thing to save our lives was to steer into this field. We did not know you were here, or we would have sent around to your house to ask permission to enter," added the lad sarcastically.

"But I am here!" snapped the Mexican.

"So we see," admitted Jerry. "We are willing to pay for any damage we have done."

The Mexican's eyes sparkled, and he rubbed his hands as if in anticipation.

"That alters the case," said Don Elvardo. "The Americano senors are welcome ten thousand times to my field. I bid you welcome. I salute you. Pay. Oh, yes! It is but right that you should pay!" Again he rubbed his hands together.

"About what would you say it was worth?" asked Ned.

"I am no miser," replied the Mexican. "I do not wish to insult my friends the Americanos. I will only charge them for the damage to the grass. The broken fence is of no moment. Pay me one hundred dollars and I will say no more about the affair."

"He's a robber!" said Jerry in a low voice. "We haven't done five dollars' damage to his crop and the fence combined."

"I guess he will whistle for his one hundred dollars," said Ned.

Don Elvardo heard him.

"So!" he exclaimed. "You will not pay me one little hundred dollars for the damage. Caramba! Then it is I who shall at once lodge a complaint with the authorities. We will see if there is a law in the land, or if crazy Americanos can spoil a poor man's crop and pay nothing. We shall see!"

"Offer him ten dollars," suggested Bob. The boys consulted together a minute or two. They wanted to be fair, but they did not care to be robbed. The professor had taken no part in the discussion. He seemed to be intently examining the tall grass on either side of the machine.

Suddenly the scientist stepped from the side of the car, and rapidly made his way to the front, where Don Elvardo stood. Mr. Snodgrass gazed intently at the Mexican. Then he gave a leap toward the Don, exclaiming as he did so:

"There it is! Right on your hat! Don't move an inch or it will jump away! I have it now! This is indeed a lucky day! Just a second and I'll have it!"

With that the professor made a leap toward the Mexican with outstretched hands.

"Santa Maria! Diavolo?" screamed Don Elvardo as he saw the scientist coming for him. "Caramba! It is to murder me that you come!"

Then, calling for help at the top of his voice, the Mexican turned and fled in terror, his course being marked through the tall grass by the wave-like motion he imparted to the plumes in his haste.

"Why--why what in the world ails him?" asked Mr. Snodgrass.

"He probably thought you were going to choke him to death," said Jerry with a laugh. "In fact your actions were not so very far from giving that idea."

"Why bless my soul!" ejaculated the professor. "All I wanted was to get a fine specimen of a blue grasshopper from his big hat, where the insect had alighted. It was worth about forty dollars."

"I saw some just as good in a city once for twenty dollars," put in Tommy, "and they had more silver braid on."

"What! A grasshopper with silver braid on?" cried the scientist.

"I thought you said his hat was worth forty dollars," went on Tommy, somewhat embarrassed.

"I was speaking of the blue grasshopper," explained Mr. Snodgrass. "My, I am sorry to have missed that one."

"But you did a good service in scaring this Mexican away, as you did the chap with the ox cart," spoke Ned. "He might have made trouble for us."

"And we had better get out of here while we have the chance," said Jerry. "He may come back any minute."

Accordingly the auto was turned around, and run over the same course by which it had entered the field. Otherwise it would have been almost impossible to have advanced, so thick was the grass. The road regained, the machine was sent along it at good speed, for fear Don Elvardo or some of his friends might appear.

"We had better stop and fix the brakes," suggested Ned, after an hour's run.

"And get dinner at the same time," put in Bob. "We'll kill two stones with the same automobile, as the poem says."

"I guess you're a little twisted," remarked Ned, "but your intentions are good."

A halt was made under a big tree, near a little stream, and soon a good fire was built and dinner was being cooked.

It was found that some nuts had become loose on the brakes, and this trouble Jerry soon remedied. After the meal they sat about and talked a while.

"We'll soon be in New Mexico," remarked Jerry, consulting a small map.

"Will we?" asked Tommy. "I'm so glad."

"Why?"

"Because there's a man who was once a friend of my father at a place called Las Cruces. It's near the Rio Grande river. If we could go there I know Mr. Douglass would take care of me."

"Then we'll go there," said Jerry. "It will be right on our route."

They all agreed this would be a good plan. That night the travelers stopped in a small village where they had good beds and meals. They resumed the journey next day, and for several days thereafter met with no mishaps as they speeded toward Las Cruces. They had left the lowlands and were well up among the hills by this time.

One day, just at dusk, they rolled into Las Cruces and, after a little inquiry found Mr. Douglass, who was very glad to see Tommy.

"I will be glad to take care of him for the present," he said.