is man said he looked upon a car as a necessity; and
Johnny very quickly adopted his point of view and began to think how
extravagant he was not to own one. Why, take this trip, for instance.
If he owned the car himself, all it would cost him to go to Inglewood
would be the gas he would burn. As it was, it would probably mean ten
or fifteen dollars before he was through. An automobile of your own
sure did mean a big saving all around--time and money. Take a job like
this man Lowell had offered, why, he could very soon own a car. A
thousand dollars a week, for a few weeks--it was his to take, if he
wanted to do it--

There he went again, playing with the thought until they slid through
Inglewood and out on the boulevard that curved flirtatiously close to a
railroad track, where he had tramped with Bland--good golly! Was that
only last night? Tired and hungry and blue, with a broken plane to
think of and Mary V and the Rolling R to forget--last night. And here
he was, debating with himself the wisdom of accepting an offer of a
thousand dollars a week, thinking seriously of buying himself an
automobile! Was it two miles to where they had turned out of the bean
field on to the highway? It certainly didn't seem that far today.
Except for the curves which he remembered he would have thought the
driver had made a mistake when he slowed and swung short into a rough
trail that crossed the railroad. But there was the Thunder Bird
sitting disconsolately with a broken nose and Lord knew what other
disabilities, in the bean field where he had left her. He felt as
though he had been away for a month.

With a pencil and paper he was carefully setting down what slight
repairs he would need to make, when a big, dark red roadster swung off
the boulevard and came chuckling toward them down the rough trail.
Cliff Lowell was driving, and he greeted Johnny with a careless
assurance of their unity of interest that would make it difficult for
Johnny to hold off, if holding off proved to be his ultimate intention.

Cliff climbed out and came up to the Thunder Bird, standing with his
feet slightly apart, pulling off his driving gloves that he might light
a cigarette.

"They told me at the hotel you were out here, so I came on. Better
send that car back to town," he suggested frugally. "I'll take you in.
No use wasting money on car hire when you don't have to. I want to
talk to you, anyway."

Johnny hesitated, then paid his d