“I know,” Mary whispered.
“Something caught in his lights and it was one of the wheels of the automobile.” He looked across his mother and said, “Mary, it was still turning.”
“Beg pardon?” his mother said.
“It was still turning,” he told her. “The wheel he saw.”
“Mercy, Andrew,” she whispered.
“Hahh!” her husband exclaimed, almost inaudibly.
“He got out right away and hurried down there. The auto was upside down and Jay…”
Although he did not feel that he was near weeping he found that for a moment he could not speak. Finally he said, “He was just lying there on the ground beside it, on his back, about a foot away from it. His clothes were hardly even rumpled.”
Again he found that he could not speak. After a moment he managed to force himself to.
“The man said somehow he was sure he was-dead-the minute he saw him. He doesn’t know how. Just some special kind of stillness. He lighted matches though, of course, to try and make sure. Listened for his heartbeat and tried to feel for his pulse. He moved his auto around so he could see by the headlights. He couldn’t find anything wrong except a little cut, exactly on the point of his chin. The windshield of Jay’s car was broken and he even took a piece of it and used it like a mirror, to see if there was any breath. After that he just waited a few minutes until he heard an auto coming and stopped them and told them to get help as soon as possible.”
“Did they get a doctor?” Mary asked.
“Mary says,’Did they get a doctor.’” Andrew said to his mother. “Yes, he told them to and they did. And other people. Including-Brannick, Papa,” he said; “that blacksmith you know. It turns out he lives quite near there.”
“Huh!” said Joel.
