"Mebbe. But I had an accident, and these young ladies was kind enough to offer me a lift."
"In a hurry?"
"I sure am. I'm after that swindler. Heard he was in Franklin."
"Git out! Feller that sold you the interest in that patent soap?"
"Yep. That's how I was swindled," he explained to our friends. "This faker come along with a wonderful soap. It would take the spots out of everything—even the sun, he said. It did do good work when he manipulated it. Well, I was foolish enough to give up some of my hard-earned savings for the secret of how to make the soap. I bought the stuff he told me, but the soap was a failure. He swindled me. Now I'm after him."
"I hope you catch him," said Jim. "Go along in the buzz-wagon. I'll look after your rig until you git back. Good-luck!"
They started off, the farmer going into details of how he had been swindled. He was very thankful for the unexpected "lift" given him, and declared that he would not have known what to do had not the auto come along.
"We are only too glad to help you," said Mollie.
