The suggestion won favour with the majority, and Noakes, irritably conscious of his unseemly appearance, allowed himself to be escorted towards the town.  A few of the more curious waited to see what further antics the road-sweeper performed.  But they were disappointed.  A brief examination of the mechanism revealed to Templeton the cause of his failure.  He made certain adjustments which enabled him to drive the machine home at a moderate pace, and without further experiments with the reversible steering.  Eves and O’Reilly followed, prudently, in the cab.