Answer:
The correct answer is: The broken down, horseless carriage.
Step-by-step explanation:
Extracted from the novel Dragonwings, from the Golden Mountain Chronicles by Lawrence Yep, this passage depicts Father's first encouinter with Mr. Alger and his disposition to help him even when he was nothing but a stranger, a "demon". Father stops in his routine rounds to help Mr. Alger, who was stranded by the side of the road with his car or "horseless carriage" broken down, and if not for Mr. Alger's need for aid, Father would not have stopped and established communication with him.