Berry Scene Read Online Free PDF Page B

vivid. Never mind. Can repairs be effected? Or must you walk back to Cleric and hire an equipage? I shouldn’t call at the Grange. Its occupant might be unresponsive.”
    (Colonel Buckshot lived at the Grange.)
    “Nothing doing,” said Jonah, alighting. “In the first place, the tools we need are beneath your seat; in the second, your services will be required.”
    “In what way?” said Berry, staring.
    “As a relief,” said I. “Changing a tire is exhausting.”
    Berry moistened his lips.
    “I’d better not,” he said. “I – I might break something.”
    “We’ll risk that,” said Jonah. “And I don’t think you’ll break the pump.”
    With an awful look, Berry followed my sister out of the car, to take his seat on the bank by the side of the road…
    The wheels were not detachable, and the jack was much less efficient than those of today. To place the jack was very difficult: to upset it, when placed, was very easy: to operate it was just possible. And tires could be most refractory. By the time the new cover was on, Jonah and Fitch and I were ready to rest.
    Jonah looked at Berry and wrung the sweat from his brow.
    “You shall inflate it,” he said. “That’ll give us a chance to cool down.”
    With that, he and I sat down by my sister’s side.
    Fitch attached the pump, showed Berry the action required and then moved round the car, to open the bonnet upon the opposite side.
    With starting eyes, Berry took off his coat and laid hold of the pump…
    After two minutes, he took off his collar and tie.
    After five minutes he felt the tire, laid the pump carefully down, took his seat on the step and closed his eyes.
    “What’s the matter?” said Jonah.
    “The pump’s not working,” said Berry. “I’m damned near killing myself, but inflation is not taking place.”
    “Yes, it is,” said Jonah. “Another quarter of an hour and you’ll see what I mean.”
    “From on high, perhaps,” said Berry. “I shan’t be alive. No man born of woman—”
    Here Fitch reappeared, to pick up the pump.
    After five more minutes, Berry again took charge.
    “You see?” said Jonah.
    Berry looked round.
    “If I told you what I saw,” he said, “you’d be afraid to die.”
    After fifty strokes, he once again felt the tire.
    “I’d better not do it any more,” he said. “We don’t want to burst this one.”
    “Another hundred,” said I, “and then I’ll go on.”
    In a loud voice, Berry began to count…
    He had reached ‘Seventy-nine’, when I saw a dog-cart approaching, taking the way we had come. But Berry’s back was towards it. Besides, he was occupied.
    When the dog-cart was fifty yards off, I recognized the shape of Colonel Buckshot’s grey hat.
    “Ninety-four,” raved Berry: and then, with a frightful effort, Ninety-five.”
    Daphne, sitting beside me, began to shake with laughter…
    The dog-cart was very near, and the Colonel’s eyes were fast upon Berry’s back, when the latter screeched “ One hundred ”, dropped the pump, staggered up to the step and sat himself down with a violence that shook the car.
    Then he looked up, to meet the Colonel’s glare.
    For a moment the two regarded one another.
    Then—
    “The price of devotion,” said Berry, and wiped his throat.
    At the third attempt—
    “The price of what, sir?” snapped the Colonel, whose face was red.
    “Devotion to duty,” said Berry. “I’d meant to keep it a secret; but now you’ve found out.”
    “What the devil d’you mean, sir?”
    “Observe my state,” said Berry. “D’you think I’m enjoying myself?”
    The Colonel started, and Berry went quietly on.
    “For some time now, it has been apparent to me that the hand of the Riding Hood Bench would be immensely strengthened, if one of its members knew something of motoring. Week after week, we have to listen to excuses by motorists which we believe to be lies, but which we cannot ignore, because we lack the experience which motorists have. I,