LOSING THE BOX.
Matt had not dreamed of being pursued by horsemen. The Red Flier
would have no difficulty in running away from anything on hoofs, and
certainly she could leave these three riders behind providing she could
turn and get under headway before being overhauled.
Brisco, Spangler, and the other man were dangerously close before Matt
got the Red Flier turned the other way. Just back from the bend there
was a grassy hill, along the foot of which the road ran smoothly. It
was an excellent place for speed, and Matt jumped from first to second,
and from second to third with masterful quickness, considering the fact
that he had to be careful about stripping the gear.
As the car leaped away, like a spirited horse under the spur, Brisco
was alongside the tonneau. A scream from Eliza called the attention of
both boys. Matt, of course, was busy with his driving and could not
turn to see what was the matter. Carl, however, got on his knees in his
seat, face to the rear. What he saw brought an angry shout from his
lips.
Brisco, leaning from his saddle, was reaching over the side of the
tonneau. He had caught hold of the tin box, and Eliza, hanging to it
with both hands, was struggling to keep him from securing it.
"Leaf dot alone!" yelled Carl, floundering to get to the girl's aid;
"dot pelongs to Modor Matt!"
Carl was excited, but it wasn't excitement alone that caused him to
say the box belonged to Matt. He knew Brisco was after a box he had
once owned himself, and Carl had a hazy idea that if he said the box
belonged to Matt it might be left alone.
The gathering speed of the car carried it away from Brisco; and, as
Brisco's one hand was stronger than the girl's two, the box remained
with him.
Carl got into the tonneau, head over heels and with a crash like the
breaking of a dozen windows--for he fell into the heap of useless
bottles. When he picked himself up, the three riders, with jeering
laughs, had pointed their horses the other way.
"It's gone, Matt!" cried the girl wildly; "the box is gone! Brisco
snatched it out of my hands!"
"Vat a luck it iss!" growled Carl, holding one hand to his face,
where it had been cut by a piece of glass. "I got pack here so kevick
as I couldt, Miss Eliza, aber dot Prisco feller was kevicker as me.
Donnervetter! Matt, ve come oudt to look for dot poy und ve lose der
pox! Dot vill be some nice t'ings to dell Legree."
"Oh," cried the girl, half-crying; "I shouldn't have come! Even if it
was all right for me to come I ought to have left the box at the hotel.
Now we'll never be able to get our money from Brisco!"
Matt slowed down the car and took a look rearward. The three men were
out of sight beyond the turn.
"Don't worry about it, Eliza," said Matt. "If any one is to blame,
I'm the one. There's something queer about that tin box. If it's so
valuable, why didn't Legree take care of it himself? Why did he trust
it to you?"
"Before I had it," returned the girl, "Uncle Tom was carrying it. He
lost it in the river, and had to jump in after it."
"More carelessness on Legree's part! Uncle Tom, as I figure it, is
about the most irresponsible member of your party, and yet Legree
allowed him to carry a box which, Brisco had said, was worth ten
thousand dollars. It don't look reasonable to me."
"Dot's vat it don'd!" exclaimed Carl. "Aber Prisco vanted dot pox pooty
pad to go afder it like vat he dit. Meppy it vas vort' a lod to him,
und nodding to Legree and der rest oof der parn-shtormers."
"Just because it _was_ valuable to Brisco is the very reason I should
have been more careful with it," went on the girl. "We might have made
him pay us what he owed us, and then we could all have gone back to
Denver. Now--now----"
The girl began to cry.
"Say," wheedled Carl, "I vouldn't do dot. You don'd helup nodding novay
oof you cry. Don'd fret aboudt der olt pox. Matt und me vill gif you
der money to go py Tenver. Jeer oop a liddle."
"Take my word for it, Eliza," said Matt, as the girl lifted her head
and got better control of her feelings, "that box isn't worth a whole
lot or Legree wouldn't have taken chances with it like he did. I'm
sorry Brisco got away with it, of course, and I'm going to hurry back
to Fairview and do something I ought to have done before--and that is,
find an officer and put him on Brisco's track."
"Dot von't amoundt to nodding, Matt," said Carl, climbing back into
the front seat. "Prisco vill ged off der horse und indo der runaboudt
und der officer mighdt as vell dry to ketch some shtreaks oof greased
lighdning."
"It may be, Carl," speculated Matt, "that the runabout has broken down.
I don't believe Brisco and Spangler would be able to fix the machine if
anything very serious got the matter with it. Perhaps they had to leave
the car and take to horses."
"Vat's deir game, anyvay? Dot's vat I vant to know. Oof deir game vas
to ged der pox, den it vas all ofer, und ve don'd haf nodding to do
mit Brisco und Spangler some more. Py shinks! Dot knocks us oudt oof a
t'ousand tollars, Matt."
"All Legree was keeping the box for," quavered the girl, "was so that
Brisco would follow us and try to get it. That would give us a chance
to make Brisco pay what he owed us."
"Legree ought to have hung onto the box himself," insisted Matt.
"Prisco iss too schlick for Legree," asserted Carl.
"I wish I understood what Brisco and Legree are up to," muttered Matt.
"There's more to this than appears on the surface."
"Yah, I bed you," agreed Carl, wagging his head. "Oof I knew as mooch
as I vould like, den I vould tell you all aboudt it, vich I don'd. Den
dere iss Efa. His monkey-doodle pitzness makes der t'ing vorse."
A quarter of an hour later the Red Flier drew up in its old berth
alongside the hotel. Eliza got out and ran hurriedly to tell Legree
what had happened to the tin box.
"I'm sorry for Eliza," said Matt, climbing slowly over the brakes as
he got out of the car. "She's a nice girl, and it's too bad she has
to feel all cut up over the way the box was taken from her. I've got
a notion that Legree is fooling them all--and you and me into the
bargain, Carl."
"How you t'ink so, Matt?" asked Carl, opening his eyes wide.
"I don't know how he's doing it, or why he's doing it, but it's just a
hunch I've got."
"How long ve going to shtay here?"
"I don't want to pull out until we learn something more about this
business. There are parts of it that have a crooked look to me."
At that moment Legree issued from the hotel. He did not act at all
excited, although he must certainly have learned from Eliza what had
happened.
"Eliza's been telling me what a time you've had," said he. "The
principal thing is that Brisco has left the car and got onto a horse.
I was surprised to hear that. I can't imagine why a rascal, who's as
badly wanted as he is, should leave a swift automobile and take to
horseback."
"I should think, Mr. Legree," remarked Matt, "that you would be more
interested in the loss of that box than in anything else."
"Not at all. In fact, I haven't thought so much of that box since the
lot of us left Ash Fork. It was a good thing to hang onto, but it
wasn't so terribly important. I've told Eliza not to feel bad over what
happened. I'd feel worse myself if the kid hadn't got away in that
runabout, like he did."
All that Legree said merely made the whole situation darker for Matt.
And for Carl, too. The Dutch boy stood blinking at Legree, and running
his fingers through the tangle of tow he called his hair.
"You were keeping the box in the hope that Brisco would came after it
and give you a chance at him, weren't you?" demanded Matt.
"Yes," answered Legree.
"Well, now that Brisco has got the box you can't expect him to come
after it."
"Hardly," and Legree gave a short laugh. Noting the perplexity of the
two boys, he went on: "You miss one point, Matt, in sizing up this
situation. We're not done with Brisco--not by a long chalk. It isn't
the box, but what was in it, that Brisco is anxious to get."
"Wasn't there anything in the box?" queried Matt.
"No, and there hasn't been since we left Ash Fork. I opened the box on
the q. t. in that town and took out what it contained. That object is
in my possession. I intend to stay in this town, Matt, until Brisco is
captured. I don't care anything about Spangler; Brisco is the man I
want. If you've got time, you can stay and help me; and you can keep
all you get for recovering the runabout for yourself."
"What will you get for your work?"
"Why, I'll send Brisco over the road. _The contents of that box will do
it!_"
Matt and Carl were dumfounded. The situation was clearing a little, but
not much.