Paucity of incidents so far--They often mean bad driving--Good driving and bad--The Grey Ghost in Berks--A burst tire--A warning--A puncture at Thame--Treasure trove--Meet mechanic at Aylesbury--Unready Hitchin--Royston--Advancing vegetation--Partridges paired--Tire blown off rim--An ancient dyke discovered--Plans changed by delays, but the motorist needs no plans--To Newmarket--Exit mechanic--To Bury St. Edmunds--A race with a train--Bury St. Edmunds and the "Angel"--Moderate charges--Spacious rooms--Memories of Pickwick--Mr. Weller's pump gone--Two hotel bills compared--Morning in Bury--The Abbey Garden--Norman tower--St. Mary's Church--The Square--Defoe at Bury--Start at noon--To Wortham--Fourth tire trouble--Pleasant children and a bye-election--Scole--Harleston--Fifth tire trouble--End of tire troubles and chapter. Hitherto it may have been some cause for dissatisfaction to others, it has certainly been none to me, that with regard to the portion of this book which may be considered strictly narrative, there has been a monotonous immunity from accident of any kind. Yet so it was, and although, unlike George Washington, I do not profess that I cannot tell a lie, there would have been no point in telling one, and it would have been unfair. To touch a human being, another vehicle, or even a dog, with a motor-car, even in circumstances involving no culpability or legal responsibility in the driver of the motor-car, is in the vast majority of cases still not to his credit. The best drivers know it to be their duty never to expect that any other user of the road except a motorist has himself or his vehicle under absolute control. The good driver looks out for the signs of alarm in horses, realizes that cyclists, especially those of the female sex, "wobble" in their course when they hear the horn, knows that dogs will try to commit hari-kari, is aware that some men are blind, some deaf, some obstinate, and some drunk, feels that it is always best and safest to take stupidity for granted, and to give as wide a berth as possible to every living object on the high road. It is wiser to miss a horseless cart by half an inch than to try to pass a carriage and pair with a yard to spare. If these principles be borne in mind it is astonishing, at least it would be to the anti-motorist, to see how many thousands of miles may be travelled without harm done. How many thousands of miles I have travelled in motors of many kinds in England alone, to say nothing of Scotland and Ireland, I do not know; certainly a good many. In England, although I have sat beside some inconsiderate drivers, have I ever been at all near to hurting a human being; but I have sat beside considerate drivers in circumstances which, if one of the inconsiderate though skilful ones had been at the wheel, would have made it worse than a near thing for careless or frightened wayfarers.