Down went the foot passenger, who had been plowing against the storm, too, deaf and blind to the motor-truck. Billy shouted, but was not too excited to stop the motor and brake the car.
He leaped into the gathering snow on one side, while Dan left the truck on the other. Fortunately the wayfarer had been flung aside; the wheels had not passed over him.
“He must be badly hurt, Dan!” gasped Billy, in great distress, on his knees beside the fallen figure.
“I—I can’t tell. Try it, Dannie,” choked the younger Speedwell. “I—I’m afraid to do so.”
Dan had the wrist of the unfortunate in his own bare fingers. “His pulse is all right,” he said.
Just then the unknown stirred and muttered. What he said neither of the Speedwells could understand; but they were both delighted. Certainly the victim of the accident was far from dead!
The other made a strange sound—it was as though he said several words, but they were unlike any speech the boys had ever heard before.
“He can’t be intoxicated; can he?” gasped Billy.
“Why, he’s only a boy!” declared Dan, dragging the unknown into a sitting posture in the snow.
“There’s a cut along his cheek. See! it’s bleeding.”
Billy brought out his handkerchief and wiped the blood away. The mysterious youth—he wasn’t as old as Dan—tried to speak again. The sounds that issued from his lips were so strange that the younger Speedwell was startled.
“I never heard the like, Dan!” he gasped. “Is he some kind of a foreigner?”
“It doesn’t sound human,” drawled Dan. “He must be a stranger from Mars.”
But it was not altogether a joke, although the youth now staggered to his feet with the aid of the brothers, one on either side. He had been much shaken, it was evident. His cheek still bled, and he seemed strangely weak.
“Come along home with us, old man,” Dan said, patting him on the shoulder. “We’ll see what’s the matter with you there.”
The stranger seemed to understand. Although he could not speak intelligibly, it was plain that he understood what the Speedwells said to him. And he did not lack intelligence—Dan and Billy were sure of _that_. His eyes were bright and he wasn’t at all dazed. The blow had knocked him out for only a minute.
They helped him into the seat and again Billy started the truck. The snow whirled down upon them faster and faster; but this time there was no stop made until they turned in at the Speedwell gate and the outline of the big barn and cow stables loomed before them.