There was but one store, but it kept a barrel of stove gasoline in an apple orchard.

The gasoline was good, but the gallon measure into which it was drawn had been used for oil, varnish, turpentine, and every liquid a country store is supposed to keep--not excepting molasses.

It was crusted with sediment and had a most evil smell.

Needless to say the measure was rejected; but that availed little, since the young clerk poured the gasoline back into the barrel to draw it out again into a cleaner receptacle.
The gasoline for sale at country stores is usually all right, but it is handled in all sorts of receptacles; the only safe way is to ask for a bright and new dipper and let the store-keeper guess at the measure.
At Westfield the spark began to give trouble; the machine was very slow in starting, as if the batteries were weak; but that could not be, for one set was fresh and the other by no means exhausted.
A careful examination of every connection failed to disclose any breaks in the circuit, and yet the spark was of intermittent strength,--now good, now weak.
When there is anything wrong with an automobile, there is but one thing to do, and that is find the source of the trouble and remedy it.

The temptation is to go on if the machine starts up unexpectedly.