“I’m awfully sorry, fellows, honest!” said Jerry. “I didn’t mean to start it. I――I just pulled something and――and it started.” “Suppose you did!” said Tom angrily, pushing the luckless Jerry out of the seat. “Why didn’t you stop it?” “I couldn’t! I didn’t know how! I――I tried to, Tom!” “It’s a wonder you didn’t smash into something on Main Street,” said Willard severely. “I thought I was going to. There was a dray coming along and I tooted the horn as hard as I knew how, but the man kept right on and the car missed the end of it by about a foot. Say, maybe I wasn’t scared!” “I hope you were!” growled Tom. “Next time maybe you’ll let things alone. You can jolly well foot it home now.” “I don’t mind walking back,” responded Jerry, who was now out on the sidewalk, “but I wish you wouldn’t be mad with me. I didn’t mean to start it, Tom, honest I didn’t!” “Well, you did it, anyway. If you’d struck that dray you’d have smashed this car into kindling wood.” “Well, I’d have smashed myself, too, wouldn’t I?” demanded Jerry, a trifle resentfully. “That ought to prove that I wasn’t doing it on purpose!” “All right, Jerry,” said Willard soothingly. “You didn’t mean to do it, but don’t monkey with the buzz-saw again. Next time you might not be so lucky. Let him come in, Tom. There’s no harm done.” “Well,” said Tom none too graciously, “he can come back with us. But he’s got to understand that he’s not to try any fool tricks like that again.” “I won’t,” sighed Jerry. “I was scared blue. But――but, say, don’t you think I steered it pretty well?” CHAPTER XV AN AFTERNOON OFF Jimmy Brennan was as good as his word and turned up at the garage promptly at half-past one. After taking the car out on the street for a little ways he ran it back, removed his coat and got down to business. “Differential,” he said tersely as he seized a wrench. A half-hour later the trouble was laid bare. A pinion had cast three of its teeth, and these, small lumps of steel, had worked in between the wheels and were raising what Jimmy termed “particular Cain.” He removed the damaged pinion and fished out all the particles of broken teeth he could find. “You’ll have to have a new pinion,” he said finally, “but I guess you can run on this for a while after I’ve filed it a bit. It may take a week to get a new one, and I guess you don’t want to be laid up that long.” They assured him that they didn’t. “But,” asked Tom, “are you sure it won’t do any harm to run with that thing busted like that?” “Not as long as no more of the teeth break. If they do you’ll know it because they’ll make a noise. There’ll be a noise there anyway, but it won’t be much. You can run all right. I’ll take this down to the shop and put it on the lathe. Might as well leave these things right here until I get back,” he added, referring to the scattered parts that littered the floor. “When――when do you think you can do it, Jimmy?” Tom asked.