Ala.

When he pulled up alongside of the Road to adjust the Buzzer and jiggle
the Feed and clean the Plug, the idle Spectators would stand around and
remark that the mixture was wrong and the Ignition was a Punk and the
Transmission was a Fliv. So he knew he was In Wrong.

He traded for a dashing 2-Cylinder Affair painted Red, with a Tonneau
as wide and roomy as a Telephone Booth, and approached from the extreme
Rear by a small Door, as in the case of a Blind Pig.

When he turned in the Runabout, he was allowed one Outer Casing and a
Monkey-wrench in Exchange.

He was Some Motorist for about Three Weeks after the delivery of
Juggernaut Number Two. He wore Leather Clothes, the same as Barney
Oldfield.

But when he bumped up against the Owners of the Big Touring Cars he was
just as much at home as a One-armed Man at a Husking Bee.

He began to discover that in the Gasoline Set a Man is rated by the
number of Cylinders he carries.

At the beginning of the Third Season we find him steering a long, low,
rakish Chariot of Fire, with a Clock, a Trunk-Rack, an Emergency Ice-
Box and all the other Comforts of Home. He had learned to smell a
Constable a Mile off and whenever he ran up behind a Pewee Coffee-
Grinder he went into the High and made the Cheap Machine look like a
Fish.

Whenever the Bobbler pointed to anything short of 40 he felt that he
was just the same as standing still. He loved to throw open the
Muffler and hit the High Spots, never stopping until the Wheels became
clogged up with Live Stock and Poultry.

One day while he was breezing along the Pike at the easy Clip usually
maintained by the Twentieth Century Limited, he heard behind him a low
and sullen Roar, as of the Wind playing through 1,000 Pine Trees, and
something Gray and about as long-waisted as a Torpedo Boat shot past
him and went over the Hill. He fell forward on the Wheel and began to
Weep.

He had been Shown Up.

He knew that he could never look his Fellow-Man in the Eye until he
traded in and got a Six with enough Power to jump Small Streams and
Climb Trees.

At last he appeared on the Road with the Real Thing. It had Armor
Plate all over it and a 10-foot Cow Catcher in front, and the Driver
had to sit on the Small of his Back and wear a Helmet.

The Morning he ran it out of the Garage a Prominent Insurance Company
foreclosed on the Farm, but he was in a cheery Mood, for he knew he
could cut Rings around any other Balloon