THE CHASE BEGINS
At the corner of a street stood a hack to which was hitched a big black,
and the rusty-looking individual who held the reins was anxious for
immediate service. "Right this way, gents!" he yelled, as he noted the
signs of a chase. "I'll catch Bill Durnell's team if I bust a wheel."
"Five dollars if you do," cried John Berwick, as he and Jim leaped into
the musty interior of the cab. Before they were fairly inside the
vehicle was in motion. The driver hit his horse a clip, and away the
hack rattled and jounced in furious pursuit, making racket enough for
ten ordinary carts. The noise of the wheels upon the cobbles aroused the
immediate interest of the street urchins on both sides of the
thoroughfare. They threw compliments as well as stones. One, quicker
than the others, managed to get a perilous hold on the back of the
vehicle, only to be hurled sprawling on the hard road as the hack
whirled around a corner on two wheels. He stayed there for a few
seconds, with a pained and surprised look on his befreckled face, then
he jumped up and fired a rock from the gutter that swatted the coach
squarely making a big dent in the black expanse of back.
"I'll break ye for that ye little gutter snipe," yelled the infuriated
driver standing up on his box.
"Yer ought to drive a coal wagon, you chump," retorted the urchin with a
shrill yell.
"He's been to a wake," greeted another crowd of boys, who stretched an
audacious line across the street directly in front of the surging gallop
of the black horse. This time the driver got some revenge by lashing a
couple of them with his long whip. This provoked a volley of stones,
causing Jim and his friend to duck down to avoid being hit.
"Boys certainly are the deuce," declared the engineer with a laugh;
"they think we are fair game."
"I'll give them a little of their own game!" grinned Jim as he picked up
a couple of stones on the seat opposite, and he leaned out of the window
of the door, sending a stone at the group with accuracy and precision.
"Look at the guy!" they yelled; "paste him in the head."
To their surprise Jim did not duck back at their return volley but
fended off a couple of the shots with his forearm, and one he caught
with his right hand as though it were a baseball, and hurled it back
with a snappy, short arm throw that caught the thrower squarely on the
thigh.
"Hurrah for you, fellar!" yelled the crowd.
Jim acknowledged the salute with a graceful wave of his hand.
"Catching 'em Bill!" he yelled up at the driver.
"Gained half a block on 'em!" cried Bill with enthusiasm. Jim could just
make out a dark blur in the fog ahead where the pursued hack was
galloping to some unknown destination. At the sight all the fierce
excitement of the chase came over Jim. He must not let that Mexican
escape this time. It meant everything to get a hold of him. He would
recover his treasure belt, whose loss was not only a serious blow to his
present plans, but an injury to his natural pride and confidence in
himself. He could imagine his brother Tom saying:
"Ought to have had me along, Jim; you are too innocent to travel alone."
Hearing the voice of his comrade, Jim drew in his head.
"Catch a sight of the black pirate craft?" inquired the engineer.
"Dead ahead, and a smooth sea, sir," replied Jim touching his hat.
"Glad to be off the pebbles anyway, Captain," returned the engineer; "it
may aid digestion, but it is doocid hard on old bones, like mine."
"I'm going upon deck with the pilot," said Jim. "I can't stay below here
while that fellow is within hail."
"Natural feeling, Jim," agreed the engineer, "but you will have to have
the Jehu up there slow down."
"Can't afford to lose the time," declared Jim. "I can reach the forward
step and make it all right."
"Risky," said the engineer, "but that fact won't stop you."
He was correct, it did not, and the driver almost fell off his box in
astonishment when he saw Jim's head at his elbow.
"Hey! what's this!" he yelled, as he clubbed his whip to strike. "Oh!
it's you is it, Mister," he changed his tone when he saw who it was. "By
thunder! I thought I was to be kilt."
"I'll sit in front here, Bill," said Jim genially. "I want to keep an
eye open to see that that greaser don't give us the slip."
"He's there in that hack yet," assured the driver; "he hain't had a
chance to jump out yit."
"They ain't pulling ahead are they?" inquired Jim, anxiously.
"Holding 'em level going down this hill," replied the driver. "My horse
is a leetle heavy for a down grade, but you will see something different
when we are going up hill or on the flat."
"I believe you," said Jim heartily; "that horse of yours is a good one."
"Paid five hundred for him, he ought to be," declared his owner proudly.
Inside the hack the engineer was making himself as comfortable as
possible. His feet were upon the opposite seat, the green carriage robe
was wrapped snugly around him and his head was dented back into the soft
cushions. He was thoroughly enjoying the chase in his own way. The
lurching of the vehicle did not disturb him, and he felt a certain
pleasure in the freedom from any immediate responsibility. There was an
excitement, too, in not knowing where the chase would carry. It was all
a strange section of the city where they now were. He could see the
ghostly fronts of long lines of houses, one not distinguishably
different from another, but as similar as if they had been sawn from
the same block of wood. The fog palliated many a monstrosity of wooden
ornament, little balcony, or carved pinnacle.
If John Berwick was quiescent on the inside of the hack, Jim was on the
_qui vive_ on the outside. He had no idea of the direction in which they
were going, but he was determined never to lose sight of that particular
hack. At this moment they reached the bottom of a long hill. An eddy of
air lifted the fog aside for an instant and Jim saw a head thrust out of
the window of the hack.
"Geewillikins!" he exclaimed, wrathfully; "that isn't the greaser!"
Sure enough the head was not that belonging to the Mexican at all. It
was a shaggy bearded face that leered back at Jim, and then he shouted
some direction to the driver, and with a belligerent shake of his fist
at Jim, jerked his head back.
"I guess that hunchback is in there all the same," cried the driver.
"He'd better be," growled Jim.
At the motion made by the bushy whiskered man, the driver of the first
carriage in this active procession, turned his team at right angles into
a street running east. "Bill" followed suit making a dangerous swerve,
that almost overturned his vehicle, but it righted itself against the
curb, and on the pursuit went. But Jim was beginning to be worried, for
the big horse was tiring rapidly, while the mustangs seemed unflagging
in their energy.
"How far have we gone?" asked Jim.
"About two miles, Boss," replied the driver.
"It won't be long till dusk," said Jim, "with this fog rolling in."
"I'll get back, what they have gained on us," declared Bill with
conviction, "before they have gone another mile."
Jim noticed that this new turn was taking them into an apparently better
section of the city, where there were really some fine-looking
residences.
"They are making a stern chase of it, Jim," called Berwick, poking his
head out of the window.
"We will catch them yet, Chief," declared Jim with outward confidence.
"Good boy!" replied the engineer. "I must say I like your spirit."
"How are you putting in the time down there, John?" queried Jim.
"Taking it easy," replied Berwick; "resting up in case I have to hustle
a little later on."
"Wise man!" rejoined Jim; "just as well to save your energies. There
will be something doing pretty soon or I miss my guess. We should
overhaul them on the next hill."
"You look kind of damp, better get under cover, Jim," urged John
Berwick. Indeed Jim did have a dampish look--his eyelashes and eyebrows
were beaded with the moisture.
"No, I'm going to stay on deck until we overhaul those pirates," he
replied, "and it won't be long either."
However, it was somewhat longer than Jim thought. It seemed that the
driver of the forward coupé was determined to make a clean getaway at
this point for he laid on the whip with fierce determination.