Page:Hugh Pendexter--Tiberius Smith.djvu/170

 Tib. 'Here, Sliver, jump up behind me. Nay, choke me not entirely with thy caresses. Now, hang tight and steal away.'

"And down the steep hill into the black shadows we sped, with a frenzied mob of King James's men in fearsome pursuit. When we reached the level and began climbing the next hill they all but had us. But just as they would have gathered us to their bosom we reached the crest and slid from view. And the way the drummer clung to Tib would cause the champion trick-cyclist to blush for inability.

"And so we left them in all their glory and made Beanville in safety. And what do you think, sir! When we'd lodged complaint, and a posse of constables had gone over to Tanker's to straighten out the general brain tangle, they found no trace of the King James germ. But instead old Freeman Hucky was in the midst of the belief that he was an algebraic equation that would never be solved if he kept perfectly quiet. And as he didn't wish to be solved. Tanker's was the most peaceful place on the map, and, so far as I know, has never met with royalty since the time Tib and I joggled the throne.