The Motor Boys | Page 5

the best seats were filled, and there was a crowd on the way to the
athletic grounds that would tax the capacity of the bleachers.
About half-past one o'clock a rather gaunt individual might have been
seen making his way toward the athletic grounds. He wore a pair of
patched trousers and a green coat, with a red patch on either elbow.
"Hi there?" called some boys. "Look at the hobo going to enter the
races."
"Oh, I may be a hobo, but I'm not a dodo, put that in your pipe and
smoke it till night. That ain't a good rhyme, but it'll do this time,"
recited the man in a sing-song tone.
"Ha! Ha! Isn't he funny!" laughed some small boys.
Hearing the sound of laughter Ned, Bob and Jerry, who were walking
together in the fields, a short distance away from the athletic grounds,
came over.
"Why it's Old Pete!" cried Bob. "Hello Pete! I say, Old Pete Bumps!"
he called, waving his hand to the man with a green coat and a red patch
on either elbow.

"Oh, I say, is that you, why how do you do?" said Mr., otherwise Old
Pete Bumps, who was a general man of all work about Mr. Baker's
place. He did everything from feeding the chickens to taking out the
ashes.
"Hello Pete!" called Jerry and Ned in chorus. "What did you come for?
Are you going to race?"
"Am I going to race? Well not in this place," replied Pete gravely. "I
came to watch over you boys. Be a sort of general overseer as it were.
Look after the wheels and see that they get full meals," he added
without a smile.
From which it may be inferred that Mr. Bumps was something of a
character.
Indeed at one time he had been a well educated man. But an injury to
his head, caused by a fall, and a number of misfortunes, had displaced
him from a life of comparative wealth, and had made him a sort of
foolish, though very loving, elderly man. Mr. Baker had taken pity on
him and made a place for him, for which poor Old Pete Bumps, as he
called himself, was very grateful. He was very fond of children,
especially boys, and was always looking after the interests of Bob and
his chums.
"Now Pete can look after our wheels," said Bob. "I was wondering who
we could leave in charge between the heats, and while we were
dressing. He'll be the very one."
"Surely will I, e'en though I die," said Pete gravely, for he had a habit
of making extemporaneous rhymes on all occasions, which jingles
sometimes fitted and sometimes did not.
"All right, Pete," said Bob. "Come on over here," and he led the hired
man to where the boys had left their three wheels in charge of a lad of
their acquaintance, who had agreed to stand guard at the rate of five
cents a half hour. Pete gravely squatted down on the grass near the
bicycles.

Relieved of the responsibility of guarding their mounts, the trio of lads
wandered about the grounds of the club. There was much bustle and
excitement. New riders were constantly arriving and going out on the
track to warm up. Hundreds of spectators were coming afoot, or in
carriages or automobiles. Flags waved gaily in the wind, and the whole
scene was a spirited one. A bevy of girls coming up the road that led to
the entrance of the grounds attracted the attention of our three heroes.
"Looks like my sister Susie with that red dress on," said Bob.
"And that seems to be Julia, in that green hat," observed Jerry. "Yes,
that's her," he went on. "I can tell by her laugh," he added, as a merry,
peal floated over the green field.
"Who are the girls with them?" asked Ned, who had no sisters, but who
was as fond of girls as they were of him.
"There's Mollie Horton, who lives near me," said Ned. "She's jolly
enough. And Alice Vines. I don't know who the other one is."
"That's Helen Gale," put in Bob. "I know her. She made that silk flag
with our foot-ball colors on last year for me."
"Good for her!" exclaimed Ned.
The girls soon came up, and there was merry talk for a little while. The
boys wanted to take the girls over and buy some ice-cream sodas.
"We haven't time," objected Julia. "We want to get our seats before the
races begin. We don't want to miss a one."
"You won't miss anything," assured Ned.
"Oh but we might," interposed Alice. "And it is not every day we can
come to such a big event as this. If you boys want to