The rapidly diminishing clatter of horses' hoofs down the hill, and the old man's vigorously roared recriminations assured him of the safety of the rest of the entourage even before Lou replied. "Not hurt a mite, but I'm laughin'!" she exclaimed breathlessly. "Oh, Jim, you--you should have seen it. That ottermobile hit square in the middle of the wagon, and there ain't--isn't--a single egg----" "Here, you!" the old man, dripping from head to foot with the golden slime, rushed up and tugged excitedly at Jim's arm. "Come on an' help me to ketch them horses! What'd I bring you along for? Let the girl be, I don't ker if her neck's broke! I got to lodge a complaint against them rascals, an' have 'em stopped! You're my witnesses that they run into me, an' I'll make 'em pay a pretty penny----" "I care whether my sister's neck is broken or not!" Jim retorted grimly. "Go after your own horses. I engaged to unload eggs, and it looks as if the job was finished. Lou, are you sure you're all right?" The old man danced up and down in the road, spattering flecks of egg about him. "We'll see about that," he shrilled. "You come along with me! You're my witnesses----" "We'll be your witnesses that you were on the wrong side of the road, and knew it," Jim helped Lou to her feet. "They warned you, and you wouldn't turn out." With an outburst of inarticulate rage the old man dashed off down the road, and Lou, helpless with laughter, clung to Jim's slippery sleeve. "Don't mind him," she gasped. "Old skinflint! Oh, Jim, you l-look like an omelet." CHAPTER VI The Red Note-Book For a moment Jim laughed with her; then the seriousness of their situation was borne in upon him, and his face sobered. "It's the kind of an omelet that won't come off in a hurry, I'm afraid," he said. "How on earth are we going to walk into Riverburgh like this?" It was the first time that he had appealed to her, and Lou's laughter ceased also, but her cheerful confidence did not fail her. "We gotter find some place where we can git cleaned up, that's all," she replied practically. "Most anybody would let you do that, I guess, if you told them what happened, an' if you can't ask--why, I kin. Anybody 'cept a mean old thing like that! I s'pose I ought to be sorry that his wagon's broke an' his eggs are all over us instead of where they was goin', but I'm not a mite. Long's he wasn't hurt, I'm kinder glad." "Still, those people in the car ought to have stopped to see the extent of the damage they had done, even if they did have the right-of-way," Jim observed. "The old fellow had his grievance, but he got my goat when he said he didn't care if your neck was broken or not, and I wouldn't have helped him if I could." "'Goat'?" Lou repeated. Jim had no opportunity to explain, for at that moment a woman in a faded gingham gown toiled hurriedly over the brow of the hill, and, on seeing them, stopped, with one hand at her breast.