"Phat de ye think o' that, sur? There's blood fur ye." A murmur of
admiration stirred the crowd.
"But where is your cart? Hurry up and get her hitched," urged Paul.
Soon after Andy drove up to the door of the coast guard station with his
jaunting car. The mare was hitched to the car with a curious
combination of harness composed of twisted hay, rope, cords and leather.
As nearly every one knows, a jaunting car is a two-wheeled affair.
Over each wheel runs a seat, fore and aft, and in the centre is a little
receptacle for small baggage, called the well. A car generally carries
four passengers, two on each side. On such occasions, the driver sits on
a little seat over the well, looking to the front, while the
passengers' backs are turned toward each other. Having only one
passenger, Andy decided to sit on the opposite side of the car to
ballast her evenly. After Paul bid good-bye to the coast guard and
thanked him for his hospitality, he placed his rubber suit on the
forward part of the seat and sprung up behind. Andy seemed in no
hurry to get under way. A multitude of knots in the harness required
attention and he carefully scrutinized every part of the car while
the villagers kept up a volley of comments such as: "Shure it's a quare
customer ye have this mornin', Andy my b'y.
Pages:
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221