Jess and Jimsy had been off on a visit and so had not been made aware of
the fact that Fanning had returned to Sandy Beach. Their astonishment on
seeing him may be imagined. Jess regarded him with a tinge of disdain, but
the frank and open Jimsy grasped the outstretched hand which the son of
the Sandy Beach banker extended to him. Evidently Fanning's policy was one
of conciliation and he meant to press it to the uttermost.
"Well, this is a nice fix, isn't it?" murmured Roy, smiling pluckily, as
the Bancrofts came toward him with pitying looks, "but where in the world
did you come from?"
"From yonder sky," grinned Jimsy, trying, not very successfully, to assume
an inanely cheerful tone, "not badly hurt, old man, are you?"
"No. Just this wallop over my eye and a twisted ankle. Thought it was
broken at first, but I guess it isn't."
"How did it all happen?"
Peggy explained. Jimsy whistled.
"What make of machine is your car, Fanning?" he asked.
"A Dashaway," was the rejoinder.
"The same type as ours," exclaimed young Bancroft. "They are the best and
stanchest cars on the market. I can't understand how such an accident
could have happened, unless----," he paused and then went on resolutely,
"unless the car had been tampered with."
"What an idea!" shrilled Regina, who had now joined the group, "you don't
surely mean to insinuate? Why the damage done to my poor machine will
cost a lot to repair, and----.
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