And some darned fool had lost the handle to the jack, and the best of the two extra tires was a darn poor excuse and wouldn't last a mile, probably, and he got hold of a tube that had a leaky valve, and had to hunt out another one after he had worked half an hour trying to pump up the first one.

And what in the blinkety blink did any darn fool want to live in such a country for, anyway?
Thus it happened that Mary V was not forbidden to ride with Tex.

And, not being forbidden, Mary V carried out her own ideas of diplomacy and tact.
Her idea was to make Tex believe that she liked him better than the other boys.

Just what she would gain by that, Mary V did not stop to wonder.

It was the approved form of diplomacy, employed by all the leading heroines of ancient and modern fiction and of film drama, and was warranted to produce results in the way of information, guilty secrets, stolen wills, plots and plans and papers.
Tex was inclined to eye her askance, just at first.