The Time Chariot

The engineering crew was drilling on the side of a hill to determine the type of soil that would be encounted when the foundation for a dam was dug. They encountered an obstruction in several spots and the drill showed traces of a metal that looked something like gold, something like brass, and something like neither. Joe Beaver finished excavating the object on his own time, and unearthed something that resembled an ancient chariot. The wooden parts were badly decayed, but the metal was in exvellent condition. Joe had the wooden parts replaced, and the chariot was as good as new. But it couldn't be just an ancient chariot. It had a locked compartment, which, when opened, revealed what looked like a claendar clock. Someone said that Joe had dug up H. G. Well's time machine. Joe got a small trailer truck and took the chariot to town, leaving it in the garage he used. The jester was not entirely off-base with his remark, for Joe noticed that the dials below the clock read 3:16 P.M., May 30 1913. It was a spring-wound clock, and the same key that was used to unlock the cabinet could be used to wind or set the clock. He inserted the little handle in the hole provided and pressed on it gently. The clock started slowly backwards. He noticed that a car had just been driven into the garage and the driver had gotten out and gone towards the office. This man now walked backwards and got back into the car; then he backed the car out into the street with out turning his head. People walked backwards without looking where they were going. Doors would swing open before they reached them and they would back through them and carefully close them in front of themselves. When Joe pressed harder on the lever, the reverse motions speeded up until they bacame a blur, and finally night came on, but in reality it was morning. The joker was right, at least partly. Joe Beaver had found a working time machine.