honk! honk!" sounded the automobile horn close behind them.

With a purring of the valves, a soft panting from the exhaust, and a
whir of wheels, a huge red machine flew past them in a cloud of dust.

"Forty miles an hour," said Hodge, blinking his eyes and turning his cap
brim down to the cloud of dust. "That's some speed for these roads,
Merry."

"And I'll guarantee they'll go through town like that," returned Frank.
"Whew! Some of these machines ought to have a sprinkler attachment."

"They're stopping," said Bart. "By George! they're turning into your
place. Did you know any one in the car?"

"Got only a glimpse of them, and they seemed to be strangers to me."

"That's a flyer they have. What make is it, do you know?"

"It's a French machine, I believe. It looks to me like a Mercedes."

"Are you going to have an imported machine, Frank?"

"Oh, no. I'm satisfied with the best American makes. A good American
machine is better adapted for our roads than any of the crack
foreigners."

"How do you make that out?"

"It's simple enough. In France they have grand roads everywhere. Their
machines are made for such roads, and on such roads they can fairly fly.
In this country we have a few fairly good roads, but the majority of our
highways are wretchedly bad. The American makers have built machines
adapted for such roads, and on these roads our better-made motor cars
are superior to anything we can bring across the water."

"But I understand that most of the American machines are fakes. I've
been told they are far from perfect."

Frank laughed.

"The perfect automobile has not been made, and I doubt if it ever will
be," he answered. "The honest American manufacturers who know their
business are making honest machines. It's true that there are a host of
fakers in the business. It's true that nearly seventy-five per cent of
the machines turned out at the present time are built for the sole
purpose of making money for the manufacturers. The American public has
not yet been educated to the point of discerning between the fake and
the honest article. Nevertheless they're learning mighty fast, and
within a very few years the fakers are bound to reach the end of their
ropes and go to the wall. Unless they change their methods, five years
from now one-third of the concerns now doing business will no longer be
in the field. Ten years from now a half of the present manufacturers
will be out of it."

"That sounds a li