Part 32 (1/2)

”Let me look at that eye,” cried Mrs. Stanhope, as soon as she had recovered from the shock of the second blast. And then she went to work on the optic, and presently Mrs. Laning declared that the eye was as well as ever.

As Chester Waltham and his sister had been farther back on the road, around the turn of the cliff, they had not felt the effects of the second explosion excepting a slight shower of dirt which had covered the front of the runabout. But the young millionaire and his sister were greatly excited, and the former got out of his machine to run up to the Italian with the red flag and shake his fist in the man's face.

”You--you rascal!” he spluttered. ”What do you mean by sending us into such peril as this? You ought to be put into prison!”

”I-a, I-a forget heem,” faltered the foreigner helplessly. ”I tink only one blas'. I forget two blas',” and he looked very downhearted.

But this time the man who had been up on the hillside came running to the scene of the mishap, followed by several of the workmen.

”Anybody hurt?” sang out the man, who was an American in charge of the blasting gang.

”Nothing very serious,” answered d.i.c.k. ”But it might have been,” he added sharply. ”You fellows ought to be more careful.”

”I told Tony to keep everybody back for two blasts,” answered the man.

”Why didn't you stay back until you heard the second blast?”

”He told us to go on,” answered Tom.

”I make mistake,” cried the Italian. ”You forgive, boss,” and he looked pleadingly at d.i.c.k and the others.

”Well, you don't want to make any more mistakes like that,” returned d.i.c.k. ”If we had gotten a little closer somebody might have been killed.”

”That's the second time you have failed to obey orders, Tony,” said the gang master, sternly. ”You go on up to the shanty and get your time and clear out. I won't have such a careless man as you around.”

At these words the Italian looked much crestfallen. He began to jabber away in a mixture of English and his own tongue, both to his boss and to our friends. But the boss would not listen to him, and ordered him away, and then he departed, looking decidedly sullen.

”I can't do anything with some of these fellows,” explained the man in charge of the blasting. ”I tell them just what to do, and sometimes they mind me and sometimes they don't. I'm very sorry this thing happened, but I'm thankful at the same time that you got through as well as you did,” and he smiled a little.

”You're not half as thankful as we are,” put in Sam, dryly.

”I hope there is no damage done to your cars, but if there is I'm willing to pay for it,” went on the man.

”A few dents, but I guess that is all,” answered d.i.c.k, after a look at both the car he was driving and the one run by his brother. ”We'll let those go, for we are on a tour and have no time to waste here.”

”All right, sir, just as you say. But here is my card; I don't want to sneak out of anything for which I'm responsible,” continued the man. ”If you find anything wrong later on you let me know and I'll fix it up with you.”

”We ought to sue this fellow for damages!” cried Chester Waltham, wrathfully. ”It's an outrage to treat us like this.”

”Were you hurt in any way?” asked the man, quietly.

”We got a lot of dirt and stones on the runabout,” growled Waltham.

”Oh, Chester! don't quarrel over the matter,” entreated his sister, in a low tone. ”The man didn't want to do it.”

”Oh, these follows are too fresh,” grumbled the young millionaire. ”The authorities ought to take them in hand,” and then he reentered his runabout, looking in anything but a happy mood.

”Do you think we can go ahead on this road now?” asked d.i.c.k, after a few more words had pa.s.sed between the Rovers and the man who had the blasting in charge.

”I think so,” was the reply. ”Just wait a few minutes and I'll have my gang of men clear a way for you.” He was evidently a fair and square individual who wanted to do the right thing in every particular, and the Rovers could not help but like him.

”It was all that Italian's fault,” remarked Sam to Tom, while they were waiting for the road to be cleared of the largest of the rocks. ”If he had kept us back as he was ordered to do there would have been no trouble.”