CHAPTER XIII
A SHARP TURN
A SHARP TURN
A SHARP TURN
Billy Speedwell, in the hood of the robbers’ car, speeding over these lonely roads at this late hour of the night, had many sensations. He had his own anxieties and fears—nor were they much connected with the wrecked automobile in the tree-tops; nevertheless, they were poignant troubles.
Billy was much shaken as the motor car bounced over the way. The pace was not quite so wild, however, as it had been on the run down to the Falls. George was handling the car with more caution. Billy could hear a low murmur of voices—now and then a little cry. The man who had been shot, and who had kept perfectly still while at Rebo’s garage, was having his wound dressed, without doubt.
Nothing occurred to alarm Billy, or to spur his wit to any action, until the car suddenly took the turn into the lane, where the second maroon machine was in hiding. The short turn surprised Billy quite as much as it surprised his brother and those with him.
Billy heard the shouting, saw a light flashed,and realized that the car he was with had barely grazed another touring automobile standing without lights in the narrow roadway. Then he recognized his brother’s voice as Dan shouted his name!
Billy could do nothing but wave his hand—and he did not know that the signal was seen. He realized on the instant, however—as did the three robbers—that they were pursued. Somehow, Billy’s written information had reached Dan Speedwell’s ear, and he—with others—were out to catch the men who had looted the Sudds’ house and who (so Billy believed) had robbed the Riverdale bank.
Billy knew quite well the direction in which he was traveling. In a very few minutes they would pass a spot in the big swamp which lay less than half a mile from his own home. And Billy Speedwell very much wished that he was safe in his home at that moment!
Lights flashed beside the road, but at some distance ahead. Billy knew that they were already in the thick woods lying behind his own home. The flaring of the lights assured him that they had come upon a hunting party.
Indeed, as George shut off the power, and the noise of the engine ceased, the yelping of the dogs could be plainly heard. They had treed something right beside the highway.
“Switch on the lights quick!” whispered the man who seemed to command the trio. “They are too busy to have seen us yet.”
“But can’t we take some side road?” asked the wounded one.
“There is none, I tell you; I know the country like a book. We have got to pass that crowd of fools.”
The lamps were already alight; the chauffeur spun the flywheel and the car moved on. It might have seemed to any of the party of hunters, who noticed at all, that the automobile had only then flashed around the curve in the road.
It leaped ahead again, but not before Billy heard the approaching purr of the car in pursuit. Dan and his friends were close behind!
“Hold on!” yelled somebody. “Look out for the dogs.”
The thieves uttered exclamations of anger, but George slowed down. The excited canines were leaping about in the roadway. The ’coon had taken to a tall, straight tree, directly on the line of the highway. The branch on which the animal crouched overhung the road.
The torches and lanterns flashed in front of the car. The chauffeur brought it down to a creeping pace. Those beside the road obtained a good view of the car, and of the men in it. This was in all probability not to the liking of the latter. Beside, there was the license plate behind—no dragging robe covered those numbers now.
Already a man with an axe was at the base of the tree. He struck a blow, or two, before the motor car crawled past. They were going to fell the tree so as to get their quarry.
The maroon car passed. Billy heard the sound of the pursuing auto, growing louder and louder. He decided that the moment had come for him to escape from the car, for the hunters would protect him from the vengeance of the criminals.
And even as he was about crawling out of the canopy, and dropping to the lighted roadway, the boy was startled by a sharp detonation—followed by the shaking of the automobile as it was brought to a sudden stop.
“A blow-out!” thought Billy.
The car was stalled. He heard the three thieves express their fear and anger. He knew he would be less likely to be observed by them now than at any time. He leaped down and scuttled into the bushes in a moment.
“Hullo!” shouted one of the men of the hunting party. “A breakdown?”
Then another hunter heard a fast-approaching car, and uttered a cry of warning:
“Look out for the dogs! Here’s another of those plaguy autos.”
Billy was aware, from his place of concealment, that the three robbers were extremely busy men. They soon had a lantern beside the burst tire, and tools spread about the road. George and the wounded one were jacking up the car so as to get off the old tire and replace it with a new one.
With a sudden shout, the leader of the trio of robbers left the car and bounded toward the ’coon tree. He passed Billy so near that the boy shrank back with an affrighted cry. He thought he had been discovered.
But the man did not stop for Billy Speedwell. Indeed, he probably did not hear the lad’s cry. He had seen the lights of the pursuing automobile at the turn in the road.
He dashed in among the hunters who, with their flaring torches and lanterns and dogs, were gathered about the tree in which the ’coon had taken refuge. The man with the axe had already cut half through the tall trunk.
Without a word, but giving the axeman a strong push to one side, the leader of the thieves seized the axe, wrenching it from the other’s hands. Then, with mighty blows, he set upon the work of felling the tree. The hunters were amazed. They did not know whether it was a joke, or not. But suddenly one observed the object of the stranger.
“Look out, there!” he cried. “You’ll have that tree down across the road.”
And, even as he spoke, with the second motor car still some rods away, and slowing down, the event he had prophesied occurred! With a crash the tree fell. The motor rascal was an excellent woodsman. He had known just how to slant his axe to make the tree fall in the right direction.
As it came down to earth the yelping dogs made a dash for the ’coon, and for some moments there was a lively scrimmage in the brush across the highway; but nobody had paid any attention to this event.
The pursuing car stopped in bare season to escape collision with the fallen tree. It had been completely blocked from further pursuit.
“Stop them! Hold them!” shouted Mr. Briggs and Mr. Armitage.
“Are you there, Billy?” yelled Dan Speedwell.
The leader of the party in the first maroon car leaped back toward that crippled machine. At the moment one of his mates whistled a shrill signal, while George, the chauffeur, shouted:
“All ready! We’re off!”
Mr. Polk, as well as several of the hunters, made for the man. He eluded them with ease, sprang into the middle of the road, and sprinted for the forward car. There was only Billy Speedwell between him and escape.