"I'm strong as anything."
"Maybe it will start without. If Stephens has just been running it,
sometimes it will. Come on, let's try."
Billy straightened up, lifted his chin and cried: "Houpe! Houpe! Houpe!"
The little O'Mores stared in amazement.
"Why don't you come on and whoop?" demanded Billy. "Don't you know how?
You are great Indians! You got to whoop before you go on the warpath.
You ought to kill a bat, too, and see if the wind is right. But maybe
the engine won't run if we wait to do that. You can whoop, anyway. All
together now!"
They did whoop, and after several efforts the cry satisfied Billy, so he
led the way to the big motor, and took the front seat with Terry. Alice
and Little Brother climbed into the back.
"Will it go?" asked Billy, "or do we have to turn it?"
"It will go," said Terry as the machine gently slid out into the avenue
and started under his guidance.
"This is no warpath!" scoffed Billy. "We got to go a lot faster than
this, and we got to whoop. Alice, why don't you whoop?"
Alice arose, took hold of the seat in front and whooped.
"If I open the throttle, I can't squeeze the bulb to scare people out of
our way," said Terry. "I can't steer and squeeze, too."
"We'll whoop enough to get them out of the way. Go faster!" urged Billy.
Billy also stood, lifted his chin and whooped like the wildest little
savage that ever came out of the West. Alice and Little Brother added
their voices, and when he was not absorbed with the steering gear, Terry
joined in.
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