Adventure Magazine, Mid-September 1917 — page 153: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Salt Water and Gasoline down a bright green parasol flipped his flat cap from his head and sent it spinning to the seats below where it was retrieved by a popcorn vender. ‘Please excuse me,” said a pleasant girlish voice, “but I was so afraid they wouldn’t see me, and the handle slipped.” Danny, slightly -flushed° with so much notice, turned to meet a trim young lady with a pair of smiling dark eyes which re- minded him of Pop Hurley’s. ‘Do you want Number 8 to win?” asked the girl. “By all means,” said Danny, heartily. ‘The driver is a sailor off my own ship.” ‘‘And my dad is the mechanician,”’ added the girl. “Then you must know Bud,” said Danny, “and I’ve just met your father. My name’s Danny Wallace. If you’re goin’ to sit near me, won’t you tell me about the race when it starts? It’s all so new to an old-timer like me.” “T’d love to,” agreed the girl, smiling at Danny so friendly that it made him feel less like a stranger in a strange land. ‘There they go lining up now. Number 8 is the third from the outside. They’re waiting for Hinckle, who is coming up on the inside into position, and as soon as he gets into line, they’ll go.” “‘They’re ofi!’’? shouted Danny half a minute later, as with a rasp of gears and a roar from the unmuffled engines the big cars leaped forward like so many great, springing beasts. “Good work,” exclaimed Ruth rising from the seat in her excitement, and fol- lowing the cars with her eyes. Danny shook his head. “The other fellows all got the start on em.” | ‘What of it?” challenged the girl, turn- ing again to Danny. “It breaks things loose to start so fast. This is going to be a long grind, and our car didn’t run the chance of springing anything on the start.” Danny merely nodded in reply. The girl was’so flushed and pretty in her excite- ment that it did him good to look at her. Closely bunched, the cars sped up the stretch, slued around the curve out of sight, and the noise of their exhaust became lost in the enveloping clamor of the watching thousands. ‘“T’m a lubber at this kind of racin’,” apologized Danny Wallace. ‘“‘I don’t even J ? 151 know how many times they go round. If it was a boat race now——’”’ “Then I’ll be the instructor,” laughed Ruth. “The track is three miles long, and they make fifty rounds. The game is to keep the cars going as fast as possible with- out accident. Here comes Harding now in Number 4. He’s a spurter, and usually leads at first. He drives with everything he has all the time, burns up tires, skids on the turns, and keeps going as near like that as he can during the whole race.” “He ought to win, then,’ decided Danny. Ruth shook her head disapprovingly. “It’s too dangerous,” she explained. ‘‘And besides, he loses a lot of time chang- ing tires and replacing broken parts. Bud wants to drive like that, but dad won’t let him, and holds him back all the time. - Most of the winning drivers stay just inside the danger limit and keep their cars going instead of having them in the pits.” “That must be why Bud called your father ‘the chief engineer.’ He knows all about what the car is doin’, and tells Bud when to speed up and when to slow down?” “Dad’s a fine old dad,” praised Ruth. “‘They work together better all the time and everybody says they are due to win a lot of races.” “They certainly have a champion in you,” said Danny. But this leading question was ignored by the girl, who only let Danny see one of her dimples as she smiled and bowed to an acquaintance in the stand. On the tenth round Harding had gained almost a lap and came up behind the other cars in the stretch before the grand stand at a terrific pace. ‘“He’s goin’ to pass ’em,” exclaimed Danny, and as he spoke the racing car shot like a gray streak around the others and made the turn fifty yards in front. “It may be bad seamanship, Miss Ruth, but it certainly is racin’,” said the old sailor, settling back into his seat. ‘“‘Why don’t some of that other bunch get out and go after him?” Ruth smiled at Danny’s impatience. ‘¢Just you wait,” she said. ‘“‘One lap ahead at this stage of the race gets nothing but applause from the grand-stand.”’ Several more laps passed with Harding steadily gaining before any of the drivers took notice. Hewitt in the Sunbeam and Number 6 opened up and drew away at top CoOMmiclsoo CO