Summary

Everybody agrees that Billy Budd should settle down. But no one has the nerve to tell him so. Billy Budd, says everybody, is fast. He travels in fast company, and be drives a fast automobile. It really is a pity. But who will undertake to reform him? It does not occur to anybody that Billy's auto has constituted itself his guardian spirit. Yet, the car, apart from Billy's influence, really is a remarkably good sort. One evening its owner leads it into evil ways. Stopping at a roadside inn to get some wine for himself and some gasoline for the auto, he finds the supply of gasoline has run out. Billy has had a lively day. So he reasons that if champagne be good for him it will do also for the auto.