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above it! I think the experience would be good for all of us.” 
Mr. Spence said no more then, but he mulled the matter over 
in his mind and finally decided that there really was no reason why 
the frequent short trips they were accustomed to taking in Good 
Fairy should not be extended into this modest tour of 170 miles. 
In consequence. Good Fairy got a sadly needed grooming and one 
her various parts were not accustomed to receiving. 
“For we must certainly put up a good front!” agreed Dorry 
and Larry both. “We 
know this isn’t a real 
touring car—it's a beast 
of burden and a farmer’s 
wagon and a silage-cutting 
machine and an orchard¬ 
ing vehicle, but that’s no 
reason the various people 
who see us shouldn’t think 
we are a lot of plutocrats 
out on the road for a 
jov ride!” 
So Good Fairy was 
washed and dried, polished 
and shined, her grease 
cups filled and screwed 
down several times, given 
oil and gasoline, her cush¬ 
ioned seats dusted and her 
few marred places touched 
up with the brush. 
It was a happy party 
which “embarked,” as 
Mrs. Spence insisted on 
saying, on the journey. 
Mr. Spence was only 
mildly enthusiastic — man¬ 
like, once having had a 
perfectly awful time get¬ 
ting to a certain place, he 
expected nothing better. 
“Of course, Daddy 
doesn’t expect any fat 
women in the car, and he 
probably thinks we won't 
eat taffy and insist on wip¬ 
ing our hands on him!” 
declaimed Dorry to her 
mother, after a glance at 
her father’s face. “But 
of course he does expect 
seven punctures, nine 
broken axles, two gasoline 
explosions, and one fire! 
He tries to hide his feelings, but I can see it in his face!” 
So Mr. Spence “mended his face,” to use a Spence family ex¬ 
pression, and tried to enjoy himself. It was not, however, until the 
middle of the second day, when Eagle Rock was actually towering 
above them, and the realization was brought sharply home to 
him that he had actually accomplished the journey without 
trouble, without accident, without incident other than pleasurable, 
and that he was now, this minute, engaged in driving the nine 
miles which had previously been toiled over so slowly by “one 
sick horse power,” that he really cheered up. 
“I guess you do know how to manage the nominal head of the 
family!” he admitted to Mrs. Spence. “I stand ready to start for 
Europe in Good Fairy to-morrow if you say the word. Do you 
remember that crag out there? We used to sit there, children,” 
he went on, eager as a boy, “we used to sit there and make 
believe spoon — oh, a few ages ago. Long before you were born. 
Do you remember the corn crib ?” turning again to his wife and 
fishing in his memory for something which made his wife smile 
and blush, though neither Dorry nor Larry knew to what he 
referred. 
This story has not the space to go into the details of a happy 
Eagle Rock was as pretty as ever — the drives were as 
fine, the air as exhilarat¬ 
ing, and the view as grand 
as when they had visited it 
almost twenty years be¬ 
fore. But then they had 
driven a few miles in slow- 
going carriages; now they 
flew about fine roads in 
Good Fairy and learned 
more of the surrounding 
country in a week than 
they had in a month’s stay 
before. 
“You can do it, sure!” 
agreed the proprietor of 
the hotel. “I had a party 
up here last week which 
had just come from Get¬ 
tysburg. Said they spent 
three days going down 
there and three days get¬ 
ting back, and saw more 
of the field in two days 
with the car than the 
old man — he was in the 
battle — knew was there 
from a dozen previous 
visits when he went sight¬ 
seeing in a carriage. They 
tell me that’s a great park, 
with fine roads and a lot of 
dandy monuments!” 
“I must think about that 
for Larry and Dorry,” 
Mr. Spence told himself. 
But it was not of the 
Gettysburg trip that he 
talked to his wife and 
family when they were 
safe home again. He had 
seen a railroad folder, and 
talked with a friend who 
had just come from a 
camping trip. 
“I have the real, sure enough idea, this time!” he declaimed 
to Mrs. Spence. “You can have all your Eagle Rocks and your 
Gettysburg trips and all that! I’m not saying we didn’t have a 
good time, either. But what’s the matter with taking the car 
and heading for the Maine woods? I haven’t had a real hunt for 
an age. You’ve never lived under canvas in your life. Why 
can’t we start out and gypsy up there — live in a tent as we go, 
cook our own meals, camp out?” 
“John Spence, you are crazy! Who ever heard of going 
camping in an automobile?” 
It was what Mr. Spence was waiting for. 
“I knew you'd say that!” he answered, a wicked gleam in his 
eve. “But it so happens that I do know somebody who did it — 
and his name is Warren Albright, who has an office two doors 
week. 
As they reached the real woods and neared their proposed hunting ground, the roads became 
worse. But the Good Fairy was equal to all conditions 
(364) 
