TWO STRANGE MEN
There were two theories to account for the taking away of the House
on Wheels. These at once occurred to Tom Swift and Ned Newton as they
stood in the rain and darkness near the auto, hardly able to believe
their good luck which had brought them to the machine within half an
hour of the theft.
One explanation was that the legal authorities of the place--state
police or local traffic officers--had come upon the parked House while
Tom and Ned were in the deserted mansion. Seeing no one in the big
auto, but observing that the lights were on, the authorities might have
concluded that there had been an accident or that the car was abandoned
and so had decided to drive it some place where it could be held
pending an investigation.
Another and more plausible theory, was that ordinary thieves, happening
upon the car, had decided to appropriate it for themselves. For it was
a car that any one might desire to possess.
As Tom and Ned stood behind the discovered auto, pondering over these
matters, it was more and more evident to them that the car had been
stolen and abandoned. But had it been abandoned for good, or were the
thieves just temporarily away from it?
That last consideration must give them serious pause.
For perhaps a full minute the two stood there, the rain dripping off
their hats and coats, while they considered. Meanwhile they were
using their ears and eyes to the best possible advantage; their ears
particularly. For soon after discovering the auto they had switched off
their torches and now stood in gloom. There was no light either in the
House on Wheels or at the headlamps, as Tom and Ned ascertained by a
quick glance forward.
No sound came from the stranded auto. There was no noise of movement on
the part of those who had taken the vehicle away and who might now be
in ambush near it.
"Well," questioned Ned in a whisper, "what'll we do?"
"Let's circle the House and see if we can spot anybody," was Tom's
answer, just breathed into his chum's ear.
The storm was making so much noise that ordinary sounds on the part of
the two would be covered, they thought. Still, they were not going to
take any chances and they used the utmost caution in proceeding.
"Come on!" whispered Tom.
"I'm with you!" answered Ned.
Side by side they started around the left of the House, intending to
make their way to the front and gain control of the machine. They were
not half way to their objective when there was a noise up ahead--a
crackling and trampling of the bushes and voices coming out of the
darkness.
Tom reached out and caught the coat of Ned who was moving away from him.
"Hold on!" whispered the young inventor, pulling his chum toward him.
"Let's see who these birds are before we bump into them."
It was good advice, as Ned admitted by following Tom into a little
recess of the underbrush about midway of the auto. Pushing themselves
back into the screen of shrubs, the two waited. They were not long left
in doubt as to the character or intentions of the men whose voices came
to them.
There were two men, as evidenced by the different tones. One said:
"Well, we got her all right!"
"You said it."
From the tones of the voices Tom and Ned judged one man to be big
and the other small, and, without sight of them, the hidden ones so
distinguished the two speakers mentally.
"It was easy," went on Big, to give him a temporary designation.
"Maybe it was too easy," suggested Small.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I mean those two lads won't give up their machine so easily.
They may come to get it back."
"Let 'em!" chuckled Big. "We'll be ready for 'em."
"I'd feel better satisfied if we had kept on," said Small. "I don't see
the sense in stopping here."
"That's what the boss told us to do if we were lucky enough to get the
machine," said the other. "And we did."
"Well, if the boss told us to stay here, we've got to, I reckon,"
admitted Small. "But there's no use staying out in the wet. That's a
pretty nifty little outfit this fellow Quick turned out, and I don't
see why we can't take it easy in it and have some grub."
"There's no harm in that," agreed Big. "But the chap who got up this
dingus is named Swift, not Quick."
"It's all the same," chuckled the other. "And I can't get in out of
the wet any too quick and have something to eat. What say?"
"I'll be with you in a little while."
"Why, where you going?" asked Small, and there seemed to be a note of
suspicion in his voice.
There was a moment before the reply came and in that moment Tom and
Ned made several rapid conclusions. There was no doubt now but what
their car had been stolen. These were no state police or local traffic
officers who had run the car away for its own safety. They were thieves
and had evidently acted from a well-planned motive.
"They know you, Tom, or one of them does," whispered Ned.
"Seems so! By golly! I'd give a good deal to know just who is back of
all this!" Tom's voice though low was tense and angry.
"Maybe we can find out," whispered Ned.
"Hush!" cautioned Tom, and at that moment Small spoke again, saying:
"Where you going? What's the game? Why don't you come in with me and
help rustle some grub on that electric stove I saw."
"I can't come just now," was the answer.
"Getting cold feet?" demanded the other man sullenly. "Say, if you're
trying to double cross me----"
"Don't be a fool!" snapped Big viciously. "It's all part of the game
we're playing for the boss."
"Well, maybe it is. But I don't like you sneaking off this way leaving
me all alone in case anything happens."
"I've got to go. I've got to go tell the boss."
"You have?"
"Yes."
"Where is he?"
"A little way ahead, waiting. His orders were, if we got the car, to
stop here and for me to come on alone and let him know."
"All right, then I reckon you got to do it. But where is the boss?"
"Near the entrance to the castle."
"Oh! Well, all right. Go ahead, but don't leave me alone any longer
than you can help."
"Ho! Who's getting cold feet now?" jeered Big.
"Well, you never know what can happen," grumbled Small. "It's a nasty
night. Those fellows may get help and trace us here. I'm not afraid of
the two, but if they get a gang of police----"
"Forget it! They'll never find us. Besides, where could they get any
police on a night like this to come to Dismal Mountain?"
"Well, maybe they couldn't. Anyhow, don't be any longer than you can
help."
"I won't," promised Big. "Soon as I let the boss know we've pulled off
the trick I'll come back. You can wait inside and be cooking your own
grub. I'll eat when I come in."
"All right. Hop to it."
The sound of one man striding away in the darkness through the brush
could be heard. The two had evidently gone on ahead after temporarily
abandoning the House and had come back to hold their talk in front of
the halted machine. Now one was going away and the other remaining.
"What are we going to do now?" asked Ned.
"Let me think a minute," suggested his chum. "Did you hear that remark
about the castle?"
"Yes."
"Have you any idea what it means?"
"Yes, I heard something about it when I was looking up the history of
Dismal Mountain before I had any idea we'd ever come here. The castle
is an old stone building, built to represent its name. It was started
by a rich man who had an idea he'd like to live somewhat after the
English style. But either he died or his money gave out, for the castle
was never quite finished. It's an old, rambling pile of stone near the
top of this mountain of mystery."
"Anybody live in it?"
"That I don't know. Probably it's deserted like the old house, but it
may be the hang-out of some of the gangs infesting the mountain, and
it's very evident that our car has fallen into the hands of one of
these same gangs."
"Yes," agreed Tom. "But they won't have my machine long!"
"What are you going to do?"
"Get it back, Ned. There's only one man there now and we ought to be
able to easily handle him."
"He's likely to be armed. They both are I should say, and there is no
telling when Mr. Big may come back."
"I aim to do up Mr. Small before Mr. Big shows up," replied Tom grimly.
"As for being armed, we've got our own automatics."
"That's so!" agreed Ned, who, for the moment, had forgotten that before
getting out of the House on Wheels to go to the old house he and his
chum had put the weapons in their pockets. "Well, lead on, Tom."
"We'll wait just a moment to see that Big doesn't change his mind and
come back," suggested the young inventor.
But the echoes of the retreating footsteps of the other echoed fainter
and fainter above the sound of the storm and it was evident that he was
going on to seek the "boss," whoever that personage might be.
Waiting another few seconds, Tom and Ned heard Small enter the House
and a moment later there was a gleam of light within the auto. Tom
drew a deep breath. He could not bear to have any hands but those of
himself and his friends touch his latest pet machine. But it was now,
temporarily at least, captured by an unknown enemy.
"Come on now!" whispered Tom fiercely to his chum, drawing his
automatic and stepping out of their hiding place.
"I'm with you!" answered Ned, who had his own weapon in readiness.