idea. Why not use it once more anyhow? He had stirred up the
interest of all of his friends in this and now hated to disappoint
them. The following Friday, between noon and six o'clock, was
fixed upon as the day. And since Hortense had changed in her plans
she now decided to accompany Clyde, who had been invited, of
course.
But as Hegglund had explained to Ratterer and Higby since it was
being used without the owner's consent, they must meet rather far
out--the men in one of the quiet streets near Seventeenth and West
Prospect, from which point they could proceed to a meeting place
more convenient for the girls, namely, Twentieth and Washington.
From thence they would speed via the west Parkway and the Hannibal
Bridge north and east to Harlem, North Kansas City, Minaville and
so through Liberty and Moseby to Excelsior Springs. Their chief
objective there was a little inn--the Wigwam--a mile or two this
side of Excelsior which was open the year around. It was really a
combination of restaurant and dancing parlor and hotel. A Victrola
and Wurlitzer player-piano furnished the necessary music. Such
groups as this were not infrequent, and Hegglund as well as Higby,
who had been there on several occasions, described it as dandy.
The food was good and the road to it excellent. There was a little
river just below it where in the summer time at least there was
rowing and fishing. In winter some people skated when there was
ice. To be sure, at this time--January--the road was heavily
packed with snow, but easy to get over, and the scenery fine.
There was a little lake, not so far from Excelsior, at this time of
year also frozen over, and according to Hegglund, who was always
unduly imaginative and high-spirited, they might go there and
skate.
"Will you listen to who's talkin' about skatin' on a trip like
this?" commented Ratterer, rather cynically, for to his way of
thinking this was no occasion for any such side athletics, but for
love-making exclusively.
"Aw, hell, can't a fellow have a funny idea even widout bein'
roasted for it?" retorted the author of the idea.
The only one, apart from Sparser, who suffered any qualms in
connection with all this was Clyde himself. For to him, from the
first, the fact that the car to be used did not belong to Sparser,
but to his employer, was disturbing, almost irritatingly so. He
did not like the idea of taking anything that belonged to any one
else, even for temporary use. Something might happen. They might
be found out.
"Don't you think it's dangerous for us to be going out in this
car?" he asked of Ratterer a few days before the trip and when he
fully understood the nature of the source of the car.
"Oh, I don't know," replied Ratterer, who being accustomed to such
ideas and devices as this was not much disturbed by them. "I'm not
taking the car and you're not, are you? If he wants to take it,
that's his lookout, ain't it? If he wants me to go, I'll go. Why
wouldn't I? All I want is to be brought back here on time. That's
the only thing that would ever worry me."
And Higby, coming up at the moment, had voiced exactly the same
sentiments. Yet Clyde remained troubled. It might not work out
right; he might lose his job through a thing like this. But so
fascinated was he by the thought of riding in such a fine car with
Hortense and with all these other girls and boys that he could not
resist the temptation to go.
Immediately after noon on the Friday of this particular week the
several participants of the outing were gathered at the points
agreed upon. Hegglund, Ratterer, Higby and Clyde at Eighteenth and
West Prospect near the railroad yards. Maida Axelrod, Hegglund's
girl, Lucille Nickolas, a friend of Ratterer's, and Tina Kogel, a
friend of Higby's, also Laura Sipe, another girl who was brought by
Tina Kogel to be introduced to Sparser for the occasion, at
Twentieth and Washington. Only since Hortense had sent word at the
last moment to Clyde that she had to go out to her house for
something, and that they were to run out to Forty-ninth and
Genesee, where she lived, they did so, but not without grumbling.
The day, a late January one, was inclined to be smoky with lowering
clouds, especially within the environs of Kansas City. It even
threatened snow at times--a most interesting and picturesque
prospect to those within. They liked it.
"Oh, gee, I hope it does," Tina Kogel exclaimed when some one
commented on the possibility, and Lucille Nickolas added: "Oh, I
just love to see it snow at times." Along the West Bluff Road,
Washington and Second Streets, they finally made their way across
the Hannibal Bridge to Harlem, and from thence along the winding
and hill-sentineled river road to Randolph Heights and Minaville.
And beyond that came Moseby and Liberty, to and through which the
road bed was better, with interesting glimpses of small homesteads
and the bleak snow-covered hills of January.
Clyde, who for all his years in Kansas City had never ventured much
beyond Kansas City, Kansas, on the west or the primitive and
natural woods of Swope Park on the east, nor farther along the
Kansas or Missouri Rivers than Argentine on the one side and
Randolph Heights on the other, was quite fascinated by the idea of
travel which appeared to be suggested by all this--distant travel.
It was all so different from his ordinary routine. And on this
occasion Hortense was inclined to be very genial and friendly. She
snuggled down beside him on the seat, and when he, noting that the
others had already drawn their girls to them in affectionate
embraces, put his arm about her and drew her to him, she made no
particular protest. Instead she looked up and said: "I'll have to
take my hat off, I guess." The others laughed. There was
something about her quick, crisp way which was amusing at times.
Besides she had done her hair in a new way which made her look
decidedly prettier, and she was anxious to have the others see it.
"Can we dance anywhere out here?" she called to the others, without
looking around.
"Surest thing you know," said Higby, who by now had persuaded Tina
Kogel to take her hat off and was holding her close. "They got a
player-piano and a Victrola out there. If I'd 'a' thought, I'd 'a'
brought my cornet. I can play Dixie on that."
The car was speeding at breakneck pace over a snowy white road and
between white fields. In fact, Sparser, considering himself a
master of car manipulation as well as the real owner of it for the
moment, was attempting to see how fast he could go on such a road.
Dark vignettes of wood went by to right and left. Fields aw
