THE TWO HORSEMEN.
The attack in the barn was so utterly unexpected and so suddenly made
that Matt and Carl hardly realized what had happened until it was all
over. Although a little dazed by the whirl of events, and still partly
blinded by the gleam from the dark lantern, the king of the motor boys
had his wits about him.
The letter was gone, but that was no great loss. The value of the
letter lay in the use Matt had intended to make of it, by discovering
who had placed it under the rubber mat in the tonneau. Such a discovery
would have given the young motorist a clue as to who "James Trymore"
really was.
Neither Matt nor Carl were very much damaged by their rough experience.
In their rush from the barn they were only a few yards behind the men
who had attacked them, and they would have been right on the others'
heels if Carl had not made a mistake and caught hold of Matt just at
the moment when there was no time for delay.
Matt, who was in the lead, heard a sound of running around the side,
and toward the rear, of the barn. Flinging away in that direction, he
came out on an alley, with the sounds he had been following abruptly
blotted into silence. While he stood there, wondering which way the
men had gone, a pounding of horses' hoofs jumped out of the stillness,
somewhere to the left. He turned barely in time to see the forms of two
mounted men melting away in the blank darkness.
Matt was disappointed. He had not expected to overtake the men, but he
had hoped to come close enough so that he could get a fairly good look
at them.
"Who vas dem fellers, anyvay, und vat vas der mix-oop aboudt?" came the
voice of Carl as he pushed toward Matt through the gloom.
"That's too deep for me, Carl," returned Matt. "There were two of
them, and they had their horses in the alley. One of them grabbed that
Trymore letter just as I was going to put it in the car."
"Vell, der ledder don'd amount to nodding. Ve know vat it hat on der
insite, und dot's plenty for us. Be jeerful."
"I guess I'll have to revise my opinion of Tomlinson. Neither of those
horsemen could by any possibility have been him, and it's a cinch they
were in the barn to get that letter. We blundered into their hands too
slick for any use! As things look now, Carl, Tomlinson is straight
goods."
"I t'ink he vas some skinflints, all righdt, aber dot's der vorst vat
can be saidt oof Domlinson. Dose two fellers vas de vones vat dry to
rop der car, hey?"
"They must have been."
"Und meppy vone vas Pringle! Der tinhorn vat cut loose from
Wienerwurst! Say, I vish I could haf hanted him a cholt in der slats. I
could blay ragdime moosic all ofer dat feller."
"We'll go back and take a look at the Red Flier," said Matt, "and
make sure those two men haven't done anything to put the car out of
business. This is a mighty puzzling proposition we're up against, and I
can't make head or tail out of it. If Tomlinson didn't have anything to
do with that letter, I can't understand how it got into the bottom of
the tonneau. And if he was the one who put it there, why did those men
come after it?"
"Tough luck, Matt, aber take it jeerfully," counseled Carl. "I haf hat
more money come indo my hants since I peen hooked oop mit you dan I
efer t'ought I vould ged a look ad in all my life. Dot's righdt. Dot
pig ret car comes rolling righdt oop to us, invitationing us to grab
holt und keep it--vich ve don'd. Den ve findt t'irty t'ousant tollars'
vort oof bearls vich likevise say for us to cash dem in, go off py
ourselufs und be rich und jeerful--vich also ve don'd. Oudt oof all
dose shances, you pull down a huntert-tollar chob und I get a rite py
Tenver. Ach, himmel!" and Carl heaved a long sigh.
Paying no attention to his comrade's regrets, Matt had been making his
way back to the barn door. The excitement in and around the barn had
not claimed the notice of any one in the hotel or on the street. What
racket there was had been confined to a limited space and had evidently
not been heard by the townspeople.
"Close the door, Carl," said Matt, as the Dutch boy followed him into
the barn. "I saw a lantern on the wall, when we brought the machine in,
and I'll light it while we look around."
Carl shut the door, and Matt struck a match, found the lantern, and
lighted it.
"Nopody heardt vat vent on here," remarked Carl, while Matt was moving
about the Red Flier. "Ve couldt haf peen laidt oudt for keeps mitoudt
addracting any addention. Vy, oof dose fellers had vanted to, dey could
haf shtole der car, py chiminy!"
"There ought to be some way to lock the barn," said Matt, "but, as
there isn't, I have a notion to bunk down on the tonneau seat for the
rest of the night."
"Oof you do dot," asserted Carl, "I vill keep along mit you."
"That would be foolish. All I want to do is to watch and see that those
two horsemen don't come back."
"Two to watch is pedder as vone, Matt," answered Carl firmly. "Is der
Red Flier hurt anyvere?"
"I can't see that the machine has been tampered with at all." He
stepped around in front and "turned over" the engine. "Everything
appears to be just as we left it," he added, "so I am compelled to
think that those two horsemen rode into town after that letter."
"Und Domlinson didn'd know a ting aboudt it, hey?"
"That's the way it looks. Of course, it's hard to under----"
Matt bit off his words abruptly and whirled around from the front of
the machine. A crunch of footsteps could be heard outside, cautiously
approaching the barn door.
Swiftly Matt extinguished the light, caught Carl by the arm and pulled
him across the barn and into a box-stall. There they crouched down and
peered out.
"By shinks!" whispered Carl. "A lod oof t'ings vas habbenin' to-nighdt.
Dose two fellers vas comin' pack! How ve ketch dem, hey?"
"Hist!" warned Matt.
Just then the barn door opened, and a dark form could be seen against
the lighter background of the doorway.
The man slipped into the barn stealthily and pulled the door shut
behind him. It was impossible for the boys to see him very plainly, and
after the door was closed they could not see him at all.
While they crouched breathlessly in the box-stall they heard a sound of
fumbling movements, then the scratching of a match. Two hands could be
seen, one holding the match and the other a piece of candle. When the
candle was lighted the face of the man was brought out with positive
distinctness.
It was Tomlinson!
Carl, fairly shaking with suppressed excitement, gripped Matt's arm.
Taking the hand from his arm, Matt pressed it to signify that they were
to remain where they were, and watch and see what happened.
Having lighted his candle, Tomlinson raised erect and peered about him
through the gloom. Rest and food had brought back most of his strength,
and he moved toward the car quickly and carefully.
Following down the right side of the machine, he opened the tonneau
door, stooped and pulled up the rubber mat. The next moment a
disappointed exclamation came from him.
Throwing the mat aside, he searched frantically, getting down on his
knees in the tonneau and then carrying his hunt to the forward part of
the machine.
He was all of five minutes bobbing around in the machine, and when he
got out of it, and stood for a moment in front of the car, there was an
ugly and perplexed look on his face.
Muttering to himself, he pinched out the candle, flung it away from
him, turned, and went through the door.
"Pinch me vonce!" murmured Carl, with a long breath. "Meppy I vas
treaming."
"You're wide-awake, Carl," said Matt grimly, "and so am I. What do you
think of that?"
"I don'd know vat to t'ink, und dot's all aboudt it. Dere's peen
nodding but funny pitzness efer since you shtopped der car ven it vas
running avay mit itseluf--schust vone keveer t'ing afder some more.
Chiminy plazes! I feel like I vas going pughouse. Domlinson come afder
dot ledder, too."
"Sure he did."
"Und dose odder fellers vas afder it."
"No doubt."
"Und dose odder fellers got it----"
"And Tomlinson will think I was the one who took it, and that I am
keeping it."
"Vat you t'ink, Matt? Vill you go und tell der deputy sheriff?"
"No. What we have discovered we will keep to ourselves. We don't know
enough, yet, to lodge a complaint against anybody."
"Ve'll go on to Tenver mit Domlinson?"
"Yes, and keep our eyes and ears open every foot of the way. I've got
a hunch that we'll find the key to this mystery somewhere between Ash
Fork and Flagstaff. You go on up to the room, Carl, and go carefully.
I'll sleep in the Red Flier. The car will be fairly comfortable for
one, and it wouldn't be for two. Besides, it will be better if some one
occupies our room."
Carl protested a little, but was finally prevailed upon to carry out
Matt's suggestion. Matt got into the car and doubled up on the rear
seat.
His mind was so full of the queer developments of the mystery that it
was a long time before he went to sleep. However, he dozed off at last
and did not open his eyes again until, in the early morning, he was
aroused by the opening of the barn door.
As he started up quickly in the tonneau, the face of Tomlinson met him.
Tomlinson was startled by the sight of Matt, and leaped back in
consternation; then, recovering himself, he came on into the barn and
drew near the machine.
There was flaming suspicion in his eyes and a fierce look on his face.