driver went to work, doing things I could not
understand to the fore part of the automobile, where the machinery is.
I remember thinking that the cushions of this automobile were unusually
soft, and then I must have dozed off, and when I opened my eyes I did
not know how much time had elapsed, but the driver was still at work
and I could hear him swearing. He seemed to be having a great deal of
trouble, so I got out of the automobile, intending to tell him that
perhaps I had better try to get a car, after all. But his actions when
he saw me were most unexpected. He waved the wrench he held in his hand,
and ordered me to get back into the automobile, and I did. I supposed
he was afraid he would lose his fare and tip, but in a few minutes he
opened the door again and spoke to me.

"Now, sport," he said, "there ain't no use thinkin' about gettin' that
train, because it's gone, and I may as well say now that you've got to
come with me, unless you want me to smash your head in. The fact is,
this ain't no public automobile, and I hadn't no right to take you for
a passenger. This automobile belongs to a lady and I'm her hired
chauffeur, and she's at a bridge-whist party in a house on Fifth Avenue,
and I'm supposed to be waiting outside that house. One-fifteen o'clock
was the time she said she would be out. But I thought maybe I might make
a dollar or two for myself instead of waiting there all that time, and
she would never know it. And now it is nearly two o'clock, and if I
go back alone she will be raving mad, and I'll get my discharge and no
references, and my poor wife and six children will have to starve. So
you will have to go with me and explain how it was that I wasn't there
at one-fifteen o'clock."

"My friend," I said, "I am sorry for you, but I do not see how it would
help you, should I refuse to go and you should, as you say, smash my
head in."

"Don't you worry none about that," he said. "If I smashed your head in,
as I could do easy enough with this wrench, I'd take what was left of
you up some dark street, and lay you on the pavement and run the machine
across you once or twice, and then take you to a hospital, and that
would be excuse enough. You'd be another 'Killed by an Automobile,' and
I'd be the hero that picked you up and took you to the hospital."

"Well," I said, "under the circumstances I shall go with you, not
because you threaten me, but because your poor wife and six children are
threatened wit