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Oh!
Yes, maam! He told me that I shouldnt allow anybody to run the car but a properly qualified person.
You dont mean it? gasped the eager girl.
Thats right! A person with a license.
I cant believe it, Neale ONeil! wailed Agnes. How am I ever going to learn, then?
Youll have to go to the garage as I did and take lessons.
Agnes pouted over this. Mrs. Heard, meanwhile, was saying to Ruth:
Yes, the stealing of my nephews auto was an outrage. Politics in this county are most disgraceful. If we women voted
But, Mrs. Heard! what have politics to do with your nephews auto being stolen? cried Ruth.
Oh! it wasnt any ordinary thief, or perhaps thieves, who took his car. He is sure of that. You see, there are some politicians who want the plans and maps of the new road surveys his office has been making.
What sort of maps are those? asked Tess, who was listening. Like those we have to outline in the geography?
They are not like those, chicken, laughed Ruth. They are outlines drawings. They show the road levels and grades. I guess you dont understand. Dont you remember those men who came the other day and looked through instruments on our sidewalk and measured with a long tape line, and all that?
Oh, yes, confessed Tess. I saw them.
Well, they were surveyors. And they were working for Mr. Collinger, I suppose, said Ruth.
Oh!
I saw them, too, proclaimed Dot. I thought they were photo photographers. I went out there and stood with my Alice-doll right in front of one of those things on the three sticks.
You did? cried Agnes, who heard this. What for, Dottums?
To get our picture tooken, said Dot, gravely. And then I asked the man when it would be done and if we could see a picture.
Ho, ho! laughed Neale ONeil. What did he say?
Why, confessed the smallest Corner House girl, indignantly, he said Id be grown up and so would Alice before that picture was enveloped
Developed! cried Tess.
No. Enveloped, said Dot, stoutly. You always get photograph proofs in an envelope.
Ruth and Mrs. Heard were laughing heartily. Agnes said, admiringly:
Youre a wonder, Dot! If there is a possible way of fumbling a thing, you do it.
The little girls were not likely to understand all that Mrs. Heard said about the disappearance of Mr. Collingers automobile no more than Dot understood about the surveyors transit. But they listened.
You understand, Miss Ruth, said the aunt of the county surveyor, that Phil Collinger is responsible for all those tracings and maps that are being made in this road survey.
If it gets out just what changes are to be made in grades and routes through the county before the commission renders its report, there is a chance for some of these pauper politicians, as Philly calls them, to make money.
I dont see how, said Agnes, putting her oar in. What good would the maps do even dishonest people?
Because with foreknowledge of the highway commissions determinations, men could go and get options upon property adjoining the highways that will be changed, and either sell to the county at a big profit or hold abutting properties for the natural rise in land values that will follow.
I understand what an option is, said Ruth. It is a small sum which a man pays down on a place, with the privilege of buying it at a stated price within a given length of time.
You talk just like a judge, Ruthie, giggled Agnes. For my part I dont understand it at all. But Im sorry Mr. Collinger lost his car.
And it was stolen so boldly, said Neale, shaking his head.
But why did they steal the car, Mrs. Heard? demanded Ruth, sticking to the main theme. What has that to do with the surveyors maps?
Why, said the lady, slowly, they must have seen Philly come out of the court house and throw a package into the car. He covered it with a robe. They knew or supposed they knew that he carried the maps around with him. He could not even trust the safe in his office. Its no better than a tin can and could be opened with a hammer and chisel.
Oh, my! exclaimed Agnes, interested again. So they stole the car to get the maps? Just like a moving
picture play, isnt it?
Maybe it is, sighed the lady. But it is quite serious for Philly whether they got the maps or not.
Oh! Didnt they? cried Ruth.
That that he wont say, said Mrs. Heard, shaking her head. Im sure I dont know. Philly Collinger can be just as close-mouthed as an oyster and so I tell him.
But everybody thinks the maps were in that package he put in the car before he ran across the street to get a bite of lunch. And Im pretty sure that he isnt worried all that much over the stealing of his car. Though goodness knows when he can ever afford to buy another. The salary of surveyor in this county isnt a fortune.
So, there it is, said Mrs. Heard. The cars gone, and I guess the maps and data are gone with it. Somebody, of course, hired the two scamps that took it to do the trick
Oh, were there two? asked Neale, who had been running the car slowly again in order to listen.
Yes. They were seen; but nobody supposed they were stealing the car, of course.