ide.
You're enough of a mechanician to appreciate the advantage of that.
It makes it simple and compact, and gives great speed and power. We
should have little trouble in traveling seventy miles an hour, if we
chose."

"Lordy, we ain't gwine tuh chose!" cried Eph.

"Why, I thought you had the speed mania, Ephy," was Gerald's
good-natured retort.

"Don' know jes' w'at dat is, Mistah Gerald, but I ain't got hit--no,
sah, I ain't got hit."

"Now, Jim," Gerald continued, as they bent over to look under the
car, "you see the gear is of the selective sliding type, which has
been adopted by all the high grade cars. And back here is what they
term a floating axle. The wheels and tires are both extra large--in
fact, there is nothing about the car, that I've been able to
discover, that is not the best in the business."

"What a fine automobile agent you'd make, Gerald!"

"Do you think so?"

"Surely. You spiel it off like a professional. The only difference
is, I feel what you say is true. I am greatly taken with that engine,
and should like to see it run."

"When we start in a moment, you shall have that pleasure. Of course,
I could run it for you now, while the machine is standing still, but
they say it's poor practice to race your engine. If you do so, the
wear and tear is something awful."

"I'd heard that, but had forgotten," said Jim.

"Well, come on, now, and I'll take you and Ephy for a spin, and,
incidentally, I'll teach you both how to run the car."

Jim crawled into the front seat, Ephraim occupying the big
five-passenger compartment in the rear. Gerald, after "cranking up,"
took his seat behind the steering wheel.

"All ready, Ephy?"

"Yas'r--yas'r."

"Then we're off."

The big Ajax started without a jar and moved almost noiselessly off
down the road. The engine ran so smoothly that it was hard to imagine
anything but an electric motor was driving the machine.

Gerald knew Baltimore and its environs by heart. He did not enter the
city immediately, however, but kept to the fine country roads which
lay just outside. When a level stretch was reached once, he put her
on the high speed, and Jim and Ephraim traveled for a few moments at
a pace neither had ever experienced before--even on a railroad
train.

Finally, slowing down, Gerald said:

"Now I'll change places with you, Jim, and you shall run the car."

The change was quickly effected, Jim being eager to feel the big
steering wheel in his gr