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“Excellent. Day after to-morrow, you say?”
“Yes; the posters are everywhere.”
“Then instead of remaining here we had better cross the river as soon as we have our cases of goods. If we can only get a store in a good location we may do better than we did on circus day in those other places.”
“That’s true, Andy, for I saw by the bills that the railroads are going to run special excursions on account of the big parade, so there will be many strangers with money in the city.”
As soon as the freight depot was open the next morning the two drove to the place, and Andy entered the office and called for the cases, three in number.
“What’s the name?” asked the agent in charge.
Andy told him, and an examination of all the freight which had come in was made, and then the two made the dismaying discovery that no goods for them had arrived.
173CHAPTER XXIII.SOMETHING IS MISSING.
“The goods haven’t come in!” cried Matt. “What’s to be done now? We can’t open up without them, and we can’t afford to miss the chance of taking a good round sum on parade day.”
“I’ll telegraph to New York and find out what the trouble is,” returned Andy, and he started for thetelegraphoffice without delay.
The message was sent to the metropolis within quarter of an hour, reaching its destination before any of the down-town wholesale houses were open for business. At eleven o’clock a reply came back that the cases had been duly sent, and that the delay would be traced up, if possible, at the freight depot there.
“This leaves us in a pickle for to-day,” said Andy, as he handed the message over to Matt.
“Well, it won’t be so bad if only we get our goods by to-morrow morning, Andy. Let us go174over to Easton, anyway, and look for a store, and if we can find one, take the risk of hiring it.”
So they crossed the river and began a search, leaving the horse and wagon tied up at the freight depot in Phillipsburg in the meantime.
They found that the firemen’s parade was really to be very large, and already the store-keepers were decorating in its honor. On the streets numerous fakirs were about, offering badges, medals, song-sheets, souvenirs, and other wares for sale.
“I’ll take this street, and you take that,” said Andy, as they came to a corner. “Go around the block, and then take the next block. In that way we may find a store quicker. There is no use for both of us to go over the same ground.”
So, after appointing a meeting-place, the two separated, and Matt hurried along the street Andy had designated to him.
“Here you are, gents, the most wonderful corn and bunion salve in the market!” he presently heard a voice crying out. “Made first expressly for the Emperor of Germany, and now sold in America for the first time. Warranted to cure the worst corn ever known, and sold for the small sum of ten cents! They go like hot-cakes, the boxes do, for they all know how good the salve is! Thank you, sir; who’ll have the next?”
175
Matt stopped short, as something in the voice of the street merchant attracted his attention. He looked at the man and saw that it was Paul Barberry, the fellow who had wished to be taken in as a partner in Newark.
“Give me a box of that ere salve,” Matt heard an old man say, and saw the traveling corn doctor hand over a package of his preparation.
The purchaser of the package handed over a quarter of a dollar in silver. Barberry stuck the money in his pocket, and without attempting to give back any change, thrust two more packages of his corn salve into the old man’s hands.
“What—what’s this?” stammered the old fellow. “Where is my change?”
“That’s all right, three for a quarter, sir,” returned Paul Barberry briskly. “Who’ll have the next? Don’t all crowd up at once!”
“But I don’t want three,” said the old man timidly. “I want my change.”
“You’ll find you need three, find ’em very valuable, sir! That’s right, come right up and buy, buy, buy! It’s the greatest on the face of the globe!” bawled Barberry, turning away and addressing another crowd on the sidewalk.
“Well, I’ll be jiggered!” muttered the old man, and much put out, but too timid to stand up for his176rights and demand the return of his money, he placed the packages in his coat-tail pocket, and walked off.
“Well, that’s what I call a rather high-handed proceeding,” thought Matt. “No wonder some folks consider street merchants and traveling auctioneers little better than thieves, when some of them act in that fashion. I don’t think he’ll prosper, though, in the end.”
He was about to continue on his way, when Paul Barberry caught sight of him and came forward.
“Hullo, my young friend!” he called out pleasantly. “What brings you to Easton—the big parade?”
Matt did not like this manner of being addressed. He considered the corn salve doctor altogether too familiar, so he replied rather coldly:
“Not particularly. We merely struck Easton in the course of our travels.”
“Oh, then you and your companion are still on the road with your wagon?”
“Yes.”
Paul Barberry seemed to grow interested at once.
“Good enough! And how is business?”
“Very good,” returned Matt, and not without pardonable pride.
177
“Then you are not ready to take me in as a partner yet?”
“Not quite; my friend and I can run the business very well without outside help.”
“But you might make more money with me in the firm,” went on Paul Barberry persistently.
“We haven’t room for a third person.”
“Where are you stopping now?”
“We haven’t a place yet. My partner and I have just started to look for an empty store.”
“Oh, then you are going to stay several days or a week.”
“Yes.”
“Where were you last?”
“Across the river.”
“Do pretty well in Phillipsburg?”
“We did very well—until we began to run out of goods.”
“I couldn’t do anything in Phillipsburg,” grumbled Paul Barberry. “It’s only a one-horse place, anyway. So you ran out of goods there?”
“We ran out of some goods—our best sellers.”
“Why don’t you send for more goods?”
“We have sent, and we are expecting the cases at any moment at the Phillipsburg freight depot.”
“Where is your horse and wagon?”
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“Tied up at the depot over there,” and to avoid being questioned further, Matt began to move off.
“I think I can get a good store for you,” went on Barberry, catching him by the arm.
“Thank you, but I would prefer to do my own hunting,” returned the young auctioneer, still more coolly.
“Don’t want anything to do with me, eh?” retorted the corn salve vender angrily.
“I don’t want you to take your valuable time in transacting my business,” returned Matt, and off he hurried, before Barberry could offer any reply.
“He and his partner are mighty independent chaps,” grumbled the pretended doctor, as he gazed after Matt, with a scowl on his face. “I suppose he thinks himself above me because he has a horse and wagon. Well, maybe he won’t be any better off than I am some day.”
And, in far from a good humor, Paul Barberry resumed the sale of his so-styled wonderful corn cure, a preparation, by the way, which was of no value as a remedial agent.
Matt walked along for several blocks without running across any empty stores that would be suitable for holding sales. Most of the places were too small, and others were in out-of-the-way corners,179to which it would be next to impossible to attract a crowd.
At the appointed time he walked to the spot where he was to meet Andy. His partner was waiting for him, a smile resting on his pleasant face.
“Any luck, Matt?” he asked.
“None.”
“I’ve struck something that I imagine will just suit us. Come on and look at it.”
The two hurried to the place Andy had in mind. It was, indeed, a good store, and just in the right spot, and ten minutes later they were on the way to hunt up the landlord and rent the place.
It was no easy matter to find the person for whom they were seeking, and it was well along in the afternoon before the man who owned the building was found. He agreed to let them have the store for four days for ten dollars, and the bargain was closed on the spot.
Then they returned to the store and cleaned it up as best they could, and at a little after five o’clock locked up and started back to Phillipsburg to ascertain if their cases of goods had yet arrived.
The walk across the bridge did not take long, and the freight depot was close at hand.
“Why, where is the horse and wagon?” cried180Matt, as he discovered that the turn-out was missing from the place where Billy had been fastened.
“Well, that’s what I would like to know,” returned Andy. “I don’t see a thing of it anywhere, do you?”
They looked around, up one street and down another, but neither Billy nor the gayly-painted wagon came into view.
“I’ll ask the freight agent about it,” said Matt, and he hurried into the office.
“Your horse and wagon?” repeated the agent, in reply to his question. “Why, I guess your man drove off with them.”
“Our man?” gasped the young auctioneer.
“Yes; the one you sent around here to get those cases of goods you were expecting. He took the cases, too.”
181CHAPTER XXIV.ALONG THE RIVER.
Matt could do nothing but stare at the freight agent. A man had come there and driven off with the horse and wagon and taken the cases of goods with him. It seemed too bold-faced to be true.
“Our man?” he stammered. “We have no man.”
“Didn’t you send the man here?” demanded the agent, as he stopped short in his work of checking off packages.
“We certainly did not,” returned the young auctioneer. “Andy!” he called out, as he stepped back toward the open door, and a moment later Andy Dilks hurried into the depot.
“He says a man came here, got the cases of goods, and drove off with Billy,” cried Matt breathlessly. “You did not send any one here, did you?”
“Certainly not,” returned Andy promptly. “When was this?”
“Less than two hours ago,” replied the freight182agent, and he was now all attention. “Do you mean to say the fellow was a thief?”
“He was!” cried Matt.
“I don’t see how he could be anything else,” added Andy. “Did he pretend to have an order for the cases?”
“Yes, he had a written order.”
“And the bill of lading?”
“N—no, he didn’t have that,” was the slow reply. “But I thought it was all right. He looked like an honest chap. You had better notify the police at once.”
“We will,” said Matt. “What sort of a looking fellow was he?”
As best he could the freight agent gave a description of the man who had driven off with the goods and the turn-out. Matt and Andy both listened attentively.
“By the boots, I’ll bet it was that Paul Barberry!” almost shouted the young auctioneer, ere the agent had ceased talking. “This is his way of getting even with us for not taking him into partnership.”
“Perhaps you are right,” returned Andy. “Did you say anything to him about the wagon being here?”
“I did.” And Matt briefly narrated the conversation he had had with the corn doctor.
183
Then the agent was questioned further, and it was not long before all three were convinced that the pretended doctor was the guilty party.
“If I had known he wasn’t square I would not have let him have the cases of goods, that’s sure,” said the agent meekly.
“I do not doubt that,” returned Andy. “But the loss of the horse and wagon is more than we can stand as it is. We will have to hold the railroad responsible for the three cases.”
“Can’t we go after the thief?” suggested the agent, considerably worried, for he well knew that if the stolen cases were not recovered the loss would come out of his own pocket.
“Have you a horse and wagon?”
“Yes, and I can get it in five minutes.”
“What direction did the thief take, do you suppose?”
The freight agent thought for a moment.
“It is my opinion that he either went over to Easton or else up the river.”
“It is not likely that he went across the bridge,” said Matt. “If it was this Paul Barberry he would be afraid to take that direction, fearing to meet me and my partner on our way here.”
“Yes, that’s so,” put in Andy.
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“Then he went up the river. There is quite a good road for a number of miles.”
“Well, supposing you get your horse and wagon,” said Matt impatiently. “It will not do to waste time here.”
“But what of the police?” questioned Andy.
“We can notify them when we come back—that is, if we are unsuccessful.”
“All right; hurry up that wagon, then.”
The freight agent at once disappeared around the corner of the building. He was gone nearly five minutes. When he returned he was leading a fine black horse, attached to a light road wagon.
“Brought you Flip, my fast trotter,” he explained. “He ought to be able to overtake any bit of horseflesh in these parts.”
“Well, we want a fast horse,” replied Matt, as he sprang into the wagon without delay. He was quickly followed by Andy and the freight agent, and off they went at a spanking gait down the smooth road.
It was a fine day, cool and clear, and under any other circumstances both Matt and Andy would have enjoyed the drive. But just now they were filled with fears. Supposing they were unable to recover their turn-out and goods what then?
The partners looked at each other, and that look185meant but one thing. They must recover their property. Such a thing as failure was not to be countenanced.
At length Phillipsburg was left far behind, and they entered a somewhat hilly farming section. Presently they came to a farmhouse standing close to the road. There was an old countryman standing by the gate, smoking a pipe leisurely, and Matt directed the freight agent to draw rein.
“Good afternoon,” said the young auctioneer politely. “I wish to ask you for a bit of information.”
“Well, son, what is it?” returned the old countryman, removing his pipe from his mouth and gazing at all three curiously.
“Did an auction wagon pass this way a short while ago?”
“An auction wagon?”
“Yes, sir, a covered wagon, with the sign, ‘Eureka Auction Co.,’ painted on the sides. It had a single white horse, with brown spots.”
The old man’s face lit up.
“Oh, yes; I saw that wagon,” he replied.
“You did?” cried Andy. “We are very glad to hear it. Which way did it go?”
“Right up that way,” and the countryman waved his hand to the northwest.
186
“Along the river still,” said the freight agent. “I thought so.”
He was about to drive on when Matt stopped him.
“Did you notice who was driving the wagon?” he called back.
“Yes, a tall man kind of shabbily dressed.”
“Must be Barberry,” muttered the young auctioneer.
“What’s the trouble?” questioned the countryman curiously.
“The turn-out has been stolen, that’s the trouble,” replied the boy, and off they sped again, leaving the old countryman staring after them in open-mouthed wonder.
They turned from the main road, which about half a mile back had led away from the Delaware, and took the side road the old man had indicated. It was an uneven wagon track, and they went bumping over rocks and stumps of trees in a most alarming fashion.
“He couldn’t have gone far in this direction,” muttered the freight agent ruefully. “Why, it is enough to break the springs of any wagon ever made.”
“My idea is that he had an object in coming down here,” responded Andy thoughtfully. “Is there any sort of bridge in the neighborhood?”
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The agent shook his head.
“No.”
“Or a place where the river might be forded?”
“Not now. The heavy rains have swollen the stream, as you can see. In real dry weather he might find a place to ford.”
“Well, it’s certain that if he came this way to merely get out of our reach he chose an awful way of doing it,” remarked Matt, as a sudden lurch of the wagon sent him bouncing up into the air. “This is the worst riding I’ve struck yet.”
“Worse than when Billy ran away?” questioned Andy, with a sudden gleam of humor.
“Well, hardly that,” admitted the young auctioneer. “But that wasn’t riding at all. That was a slap-bang, go-as-you-please trip, which didn’t—hullo! look there!”
He motioned to the freight agent to draw rein and pointed to a deep track in a soft bit of ground ahead.
“It’s the track of our wagon sure enough!” exclaimed Andy. “I could tell it out of a hundred.”
“So could I, Andy. Follow that, please,” went on Matt, to the agent.
“It’s queer you didn’t see that track before,” said the driver slowly.
“The reason is because it comes from the rocks.188Barberry thought it best to keep on the rocks, I suppose. Maybe he thought he would get stuck in the mud with the cases if he got on soft ground.”
“That’s the truth of it, you can depend on it,” said Andy. “Hurry up and follow that track to the end, and we’ll soon have our wagon and goods back.”
On and on they went, over soft patches of ground, through low bushes, and around rocks and fallen trees. Sometimes they were close to the water’s edge, and again they traveled almost out of sight of the clear-flowing stream.
“We can’t go much further in this direction,” said the freight agent, when all of a mile of ground had been covered.
“Why not?” asked Andy.
“There is a big wall of rock just ahead. We will have to pull away from the river now.”
“No, we won’t!” shouted Matt. “Look there!”
And he pointed to where the wagon tracks led directly down into the water.
“I’ll bet all I am worth that he crossed the stream here,” he went on. “Do you not see how shallow it is? He went over to that island, and from there directly to the other side.”
189CHAPTER XXV.A BITTER MISTAKE.
Both Andy and the freight agent saw at once that Matt was right, and the jaw of the driver of the wagon dropped.
“Humph! I was certain he couldn’t cross right after such heavy rains,” he said moodily.
“But you see he has crossed,” went on the young auctioneer. “I will tell you what I’m going to do—wade across and see if I can’t strike the tracks on the other side.”
“You’ll get pretty wet, especially if you slip into a deep hole,” returned Andy.
“I’ll take off part of my clothing,” returned Matt, and he did so without delay.
The water was colder than he had anticipated, and he shivered slightly as he waded in deeper and deeper.
“Can you swim, should you slip?” called out Andy anxiously.
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“Yes, I can swim,” returned Matt, “but I hope that won’t be necessary!”
Moving along cautiously where the rocks stuck up the highest, the young auctioneer worked his way slowly over to the island he had previously pointed out. It was painful work, for he had taken off his shoes, and now he found the bottom in many places cut his feet. But at last the island was reached, and he walked out upon the dry ground.
It did not take Matt long to discover the wagon tracks for which he was searching. They were close at hand, and led almost in a straight line across the little patch, which was not over two hundred feet in width.
“Here they are!” he shouted back to the others. “He went right across just as I supposed.”
“Humph! Now what is to be done?” questioned the agent, with a perplexed look upon his face.
“We must cross and follow him,” replied Andy determinedly.
“Do you want me to take the horse and wagon across?”
“Why not? The thief took that heavily loaded wagon over. I guess this light affair will go over all right.”
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The agent was doubtful about this, and rubbed his chin reflectively.
“I might drive on till I got to a bridge, or turn back to one,” he suggested.
“That would take too long,” returned Matt’s partner impatiently. “We must ‘strike while the iron is hot,’ as the saying is.”
“Come on!” shouted Matt from the island. “Come straight over and you will be all right.”
“Well, we can make the venture, but I am a bit shaky over it,” said the freight agent, and with a face full of the concern he felt for his turn-out he headed his trotter toward the water.
At first the horse was inclined to shy to one side. He pranced up and down a bit and dug into the sand and loose stones with his hoofs.
“You can see he don’t want to go,” said the driver. “I really think we had better find a bridge.”
“Oh, nonsense! give me the reins!” returned Andy sharply, seeing that the fellow was altogether too easily frightened. “I will take him over safely.”
“Don’t be too sure!” cried the agent in alarm. “He will break at the least little thing!”
But Andy would not listen to him further. He192took the reins, and holding them firmly, tapped the trotter with the whip.
The horse made a rush into the water, and in less than ten seconds the wagon was in up to the axles.
“We will be drowned! We will be drowned!” cried the agent in sudden terror. “I can’t swim!”
“We won’t be drowned. Just you hold on and keep quiet,” returned Andy shortly.
“But—but we are going deeper!”
“Not much deeper. I can still see the bottom.”
“Supposing we should slip—or Flip should slip?”
“Or we had an earthquake,” added Andy, utterly disgusted with the freight agent’s actions. “Don’t you want to get back those cases, or do you prefer to pay for them?”
This last remark effectually silenced the man. He clung to the seat looking badly scared, but he offered no more suggestions.
With due caution, but as rapidly as possible, Andy drove the horse over the rocks, carefully avoiding such spots as he thought might be extra deep or slippery. Matt, on the island, shouted several directions to him; and thus the journey was safely accomplished.
“Good so far!” cried the young auctioneer, when the horse was once more on dry ground. “That was easy enough.”
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“Easier than I thought it would be!” exclaimed the freight agent, with a deep breath of relief. “I wish we were over all the way!”
“The second trip will be easier than the first was,” remarked Andy. “It is much more shallow.”
“I will wade ahead and make sure of the way,” put in Matt, and without loss of time he started out.
It was not so deep toward the Pennsylvania shore, but the current appeared to run swifter, and the boy had all he could do when up to his thighs to keep his feet. But the horse and wagon came along all right, and inside of ten minutes they were high and dry upon the opposite bank.
Here it did not take long to rediscover the tracks made by the auction turn-out, and as soon as Matt could don what clothing he had taken off, they started to follow it up once more.
“I can’t see why he crossed the river in that fashion,” grumbled the freight agent, as he tapped his horse with the whip.
“I can,” returned Andy. “He did it to throw us off the track. He had no time to get rid of the signs on the wagon, and he knew we would learn, sooner or later, in what direction he had gone. But he thought we would not find out how he had194crossed and would think that he had kept along on the eastern bank.”
On and on they went, over the rocky roads, now through a sharp cut between the mountains, and then again around a curve overlooking some tiny stream far below.
“A beautiful place,” said Matt, as his eyes rested on a particularly beautiful bit of picturesque scenery. “How can people stick in the stuffy city when there is so much like this going to waste, so to speak?”
“That’s a conundrum,” returned Andy. “But I have heard it said that many city-born folks would rather die between brick walls than live amid green fields.”
“Just look at those rocks and trees, and listen to those birds sing!”
“It is truly grand, that’s a fact,” returned Andy. “Do you know, if I was wealthy, I believe I would like nothing better than to spend all of my summer in among the mountains.”
“And that would just suit me,” returned Matt enthusiastically, and then he suddenly sobered down. “But we are not rich, Andy, and unless we get back our turn-out we’ll be as poor as ever.”
“Oh, we’ll have to catch that thief,” put in the freight agent. “He can’t be many miles ahead.”
“The trouble is it’s growing dark, and we can195hardly see the wagon tracks any more,” said the young auctioneer.
“It grows dark early in among the mountains,” remarked Andy. “If the land was level, it would be light enough.”
On they went, passing through several little hamlets. At each of these places they inquired about the auction wagon, and were told that it had passed through, the man driving at almost top speed.
“He is going to get away as far as he can before he puts up for the night,” said Andy. “I do not believe we will catch him until we reach the place at which he is stopping.”
“My trotter is not used to this sort of thing,” said the freight agent. “He is beginning to play out.”
“At the next town we reach we can hire a horse,” said Matt. “And you can go back if you wish. There is no telling how long this chase may last.”
“I ought to be back attending to business,” was the agent’s reply. “My clerk can hardly take my place. Would you two be willing to go on alone?”
“Certainly,” returned Andy.
The next place, a village of perhaps twenty or thirty houses and half a dozen stores, was soon reached. There was a small tavern, and they drove up to this. Alighting, Matt ran inside and questioned196the half a score of loungers concerning the auction wagon.
Every man in the place shook his head. The wagon had not been seen in the village. Nearly all of the men had just come in from work, and every one said that had the wagon been on the main road at all he would have seen it.
Matt listened with a sinking heart, and as Andy came in he grasped hispartnerby the shoulder.
“We have made a mistake,” he said faintly.
“A mistake, Matt?”
“Yes. The wagon did not come here at all. We are on the wrong track!”
197CHAPTER XXVI.SOMETHING OF A SURPRISE.
Andy was certainly as much dismayed as Matt at the discovery which had been made. Just at the time when they supposed that they were drawing closer to the object of their chase, they found that they were most likely further away than ever. The older member of the firm gave another groan, and this was supplemented by another from the freight agent.
“I knew he couldn’t cross that river,” growled the latter. “Now, just see what a wild goose chase you have led us!”
“Oh, he crossed the river, there is no doubt of that!” returned Matt quickly. “But where we got off the track was somewhere among the mountains. We dropped the right track and took something that resembled it.”
“Yes, that must be the truth of the matter,” put in Andy. “It’s too bad!”
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“What’s it all about, anyway?” questioned the tavern-keeper curiously.
In a few brief words Andy explained matters, while not only the tavern-keeper, but also the others in the place, listened with deep interest.
“Any reward offered for catching the rascal?” questioned one of the men present, a brawny individual—evidently a mountaineer.
“Yes,” returned Matt quickly. “How much shall we offer, Andy?” he asked in a whisper.
“Twenty-five dollars would not be too much,” returned his partner. “It is quite a sum to us, I know, but I guess we would rather have our turn-out back a dozen times over.”
“We will give twenty-five dollars in cash for the return of our horse, wagon and goods,” said Matt, in a voice loud enough for all to hear.
“Twenty-five dollars in cash!” repeated several, and it was plain to see that this offer was regarded as quite liberal.
“What kind of a looking turn-out is it?” was next asked.
Matt described Billy and the wagon. All listened attentively, and when he had finished the mountaineer who had first spoken tapped him on the shoulder.
“I’ll go out with ye and hunt him up, stranger.”
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“So will I!” cried another.
“And I!” added a third, and soon six men stood ready to continue the search with Andy and Matt.
Seeing this, the freight agent decided to drive back home, taking a much better road, which led down to Easton. He did not lose any time in starting, and, if the truth must be told, both Andy and Matt were glad to be rid of him.
After he had gone the auctioneers procured another horse and wagon from the tavern-keeper and also a couple of lanterns. The mountaineer had a mule upon which he rode, and the other men went along on foot.
They traveled the road by which the young auctioneers had come. The village was situated in a small open spot, and now, when they once more found themselves between the mountains, they were enveloped in a darkness which the rays of the lanterns scarcely dispersed.
They traveled along as rapidly as possible, and inside of half an hour came to a fork in the road which Matt had had in mind since the discovery of their mistake had been made.
“We will examine the ground here,” he said. “It is more than likely he branched off here.”
He was soon hard at work, and all of the others with him. The wagon track they had followed was200very plainly to be seen, and now Matt saw, at a spot which was covered with loose stones, where the thief had branched off with his stolen outfit.
“That is the road he took,” he announced to the others. “Had we followed him from here in the first place we would most likely have caught up to him by this time.”
“Is that ’ere track the right one?” questioned the mountaineer eagerly.
“I believe it is.”
“Then I’m off fer the reward!” shouted the brawny fellow. “Git up, Bones!” and he slapped the mule with the flat of his hand, and was off without another word.
“Ramson will get it, sure,” grumbled one of the other men. “No use for us to go any further.”
And he turned on his heel and started back for the village, followed by most of the others, leaving a single man to race after the mountaineer on foot.
Matt and Andy were not slow to urge their fresh horse forward. But the way was now even darker than before and also rougher, and it was with difficulty that the wagon moved along.
“I don’t believe he went very far on this road,” said Matt, bringing the horse to a halt. “I am going to follow that track on foot.”
He sprang down from the seat, and with the light201close to the ground, moved along in front of the horse. It was well that he did so, for hardly had he advanced a hundred feet than he uttered a cry and came to a halt.
“What’s up now?” questioned Andy, peering forward through the gloom.
“He turned off here and went into the brush on the left. Don’t you see the tracks?”
“But there is no road through the brush. He would lose his way and get caught among the rocks further back.”
“I have an idea that he drove away in here to hide the wagon,” suddenly cried Matt. “He could very well do that, you know, and then ride off on horseback to some place and put up for the night.”
“By the boots, I believe you are right!” returned Andy. “Why, of course that is just what he has done! How stupid of us not to think of that before.”
“I hope the wagon is still O. K.,” went on Matt. “It would be hard work to get a spring fixed in this out-of-the-way place.”
“Well, we must find the wagon first. Supposing we tie up and go ahead on foot.”
“I’m willing.”
They were soon side by side, making their way202through the brush and around the rocks as rapidly as they could.
“Let us go forward as silently as possible!” suddenly whispered the boy. “Barberry may still be around, and if that is so we want to surprise him.”
“That’s a good idea! What a pity we can’t put out the light.”
“We can’t do without it. The track is growing fainter. We are coming to almost solid rock.”
On and on they pushed, until Andy calculated that they had covered a distance of five hundred feet from the main road. Then they found themselves on the verge of a deep ravine, with a high wall of rock to the left of them.
“Phew! supposing he drove over that!” shuddered Andy, as he pointed into the blackness of the hollow. “That must be a hundred feet or more deep.”
“He went to the right, Andy—the only way he could go. Have you any matches with you?”
“Yes. What do you want of them?”
“I am going to put out the light, for I fancy the wagon is not far off, and the thief may be around also. If we wish we can light up again later on.”
Matt did as he had intimated, and the two found themselves in a darkness that was simply intense to the last degree. They could not see their hands203before their faces, and had to literally feel their way along.
Matt went first, with his partner holding on to the hem of his jacket. They had progressed but a dozen feet when, on rounding a high rock, the young auctioneer stopped once more.
“I was right,” he whispered. “The wagon is directly ahead.”
“How do you know?”
“I can see the lantern, which is standing on the seat.”
“Then the thief must still be around,” returned Andy excitedly.
“I suppose so, but I don’t see any one. Come on, but don’t make any noise, or he may run away, and I think he ought to be captured and locked up.”
“Certainly he ought to be placed under arrest. I am ready. Won’t he be surprised when he sees us!”
Once again they moved forward toward where the auction wagon stood beneath the shelter of a large tree. Matt noted that Billy had been unharnessed and was tied to the rear, where he was engaged in making a meal of some feed which had been given him.
“Barberry is making himself at home evidently,”204murmured the young auctioneer to himself. “That fellow certainly has nerve!”
“Hold up!” suddenly cried Andy, catching the boy by the arm.
“What’s up, Andy?”
“Look there, to your right!”
Matt did as directed, and saw a sight which both amazed and alarmed him. There, by a little fire built to keep them comfortable in the night air, sat two burly men, drinking and smoking. Neither of the individuals was Paul Barberry.
205CHAPTER XXVII.TIMELY ASSISTANCE.
“Those fellows must be the thieves,” whispered Andy, as he pointed to the pair beneath the tree.
“I believe you are right,” returned Matt. “If so, we have made a big mistake. Neither of them is Paul Barberry, and I was almost certain he was the thief.”
“So was I, Matt. But never mind that now. What worries me is the fact that there are two of them.”
“Yes, and they both look like strong fellows,” returned the young auctioneer, as he surveyed the pair. “If they get ugly when we claim the turn-out we may have a lively time with them.”
“Well, we are in the right, and we must stick up for our own.”
“Of course we’ll do that,” cried Matt determinedly. “But I say, wouldn’t it be best if we each got a stout stick? They may show fight if they fancy we are beyond outside aid.”