Chapter 12
IT MET THEM in the shape of a huge truck which, stern in the air like a kneeling elephant, effectively barred their progress. They came upon it unexpectedly, round a curve. The screech of their brakes went wailing across the night.
Half the road was being resurfaced. The cement bed had been excavated down to the soil, so that there was a drop of a foot or more between the practicable portion of the highway and the half under repair, which was roped off and festooned with red lanterns. It was clear what had happened. Through a skid or some such cause the truck had approached too close to the brink of the good road and the edge had crumbled away under the weight, precipitating the front of the truck into the excavation and snapping one of the massive forewheels off short.
The r
