.

"Your mother is afraid of knocking some of the pearls or emeralds out of
their setting," chuckled Mr. Tolman. "Go easy, Steve!"

A general laugh arose as the offending piece of baggage was stowed away
out of sight. An instant later wraps and rugs were bundled in, everybody
was cosily tucked up, and Mr. Tolman placed his hands on the wheel.

"Now we're off, Dad!" cried Stephen, as he sprang in beside his father.
Mr. Tolman needed no second bidding.

There was a whir, a leap forward, and the automobile glided down the
long avenue and out into the highway.

Steve, studying the road map, was too much interested in tracing out the
route they were to follow to notice that after the car had spun along
smoothly for several miles its speed lessened, and it was not until it
came to a complete standstill that he aroused himself from his
preoccupation sufficiently to see that his father was bending forward
over the starter.

"What's wrong, Henry?" inquired his wife from the back seat.

"I can't imagine," was the impatient reply. "Had I not left the tank
with gasoline in it, I should say it was empty; but of course that
cannot be the case, for I always keep enough in it to carry us to the
garage. Otherwise we should be stalled at our own doorstep and not able
to get anywhere."

Climbing out, he began to unscrew the metal top of the tank while
Stephen watched him in consternation.

The boy did not need to hear the result of the investigation for already
the wretched truth flashed upon him. The tank was empty; of course it
was! He knew that without being told. Had not the workman who had
replenished it Wednesday said quite plainly that there was only enough
gas in it to get him home to Coventry? He should have remembered to stop
at the garage and take on an extra supply on the way back as his father
always did. How stupid he had been! In his haste to get home he had
forgotten every other consideration and the present dilemma was the
result of his thoughtlessness. Yet how could he have stopped at the
Coventry garage even had he thought of it? All the men there knew him
and his father, and if he had gone there or had even driven through the
center of the town somebody would have been sure to see him and mention
the incident. Why, it was to avoid this very danger that he had returned
by the less frequented way.

The man in the brown jeans had certainly calculated to a nicety when he
measured out that gasoline. He had not m