VICTORY--SISS! BOOM! HURRAH!
ELMER was as good as his word. He knew how to cripple the car, and in
almost no time he had secured the vital plug without which the machine
was valueless for following after Lil Artha, and making him any more
trouble.
Then he and his two chums hurried back along the road, meaning to look
up their motorcycles; and once mounted upon these they could speedily
overtake Lil Artha; to form a guard of honor about him while he covered
the last few miles of his long and adventurous hike, that was to bring
new glory to the khaki troop of Hickory Ridge.
Nat ran on ahead. They knew full well that it was not any eagerness to
be the first to discover the marked spot near which the machines had
been secreted that influenced him to do this, but some other motive,
possibly not quite so worthy of commendation.
But even Elmer did not say a word. In the first place he did not think
Nat would be successful in overtaking one of the Fairfield schemers; and
then again, Elmer was not feeling any too kindly toward fellows who
could try to put through such a mean plot for defeating the ambitions of
the leader in the great hike.
"Hold on, there; come back, Nat!" called Toby, presently. "You've gone
and overrun the place. It's lucky Elmer here took note of this big oak
tree; or a pretty time we'd have finding our wheels again."
Nat did return, but with a bad grace. He was mumbling something about
"hard lines when everything goes against a fellow," and all that sort of
stuff; but no one appeared to pay any attention to his complaint.
They quickly found the three motorcycles, just as they had left them;
and again Toby started out to lead the way, only to make a mess of it.
"What's wrong this time, Elmer?" he asked, when the patrol leader gave
him to understand that they would be a long time getting out of the
woods if they kept on the route he, Toby, had started to follow. "I made
sure to notice that the wind was on the same side as when you led us out
before."
"Yes, but since then the wind's taken a sudden shift. You should have
paid attention to that just when we left the road," remarked the other.
"A woodsman never goes by what it was a while ago. He knows changes are
liable to come around most any old time; and that's what happened here.
Wind whipped around about ten degrees, and is heading from the southwest
quarter now. That may mean rain before long, boys."
"Let her come if she wants," declared Toby, who was something of a
philosopher at times. "Can't do any more than soak us through, and at
this time of year that's nothing. I've fallen into a pond more times
than I've got fingers on both hands. They just can't drown me, and that
goes, boys."
"So long as Lil Artha comes in well to the front, and the Hickory Ridge
scouts win the big hike, what do we care?" Nat spoke up. "Besides, we've
had a little mite of fun, you know, fellows."
"Fun for the boys, but how about the frogs?" laughed Elmer, as he
pushed his machine through the low brush, heading for the road again.
"Let the bullfrogs look out for themselves, that's all," declared Nat.
"Any silly gump who will duck his head about, when a feller's holdin' a
lighted match close to his nose, just ought to get burnt. Say, think of
that guy minus one of his eyebrows; and he's got big ones too, at that!
Won't he be the sight, though!"
So, joking and laughing, they pushed on. Presently the road being
reached, they proceeded to get a start. Fortunately the incline was
downhill, if anything, which promised to make it easier for a mount. Had
the opposite been the case one or more of the boys might have had some
difficulty in getting started.
Elmer was away first, with a merry splutter of explosive sounds; but he
quickly shut off most of his power in order to wait for the others. Toby
came along after two efforts at mounting; but Nat seemed to be having
one of his old troubles. This time, however, the fault apparently lay in
Nat, and not in his motor, for they could hear the racket the engine
kept up.
"Here he comes like a skyrocket!" announced Toby, as the character of
the sounds from the rear changed; and sure enough they quickly heard Nat
whooping it up.
"Clear the track, there! Get out of the road everybody, and give me
room. Hi! My old ice wagon's taken the bitt in her mouth; she's running
away with me, Elmer! Look out there!"
Luckily Elmer had insisted that each of them light the acetylene gas
lamps belonging to their motorcycles before attempting to make a start.
Hence they were able to see Nat bearing down upon them with a rush, and
get to one side of the road in a hurry.
He went whizzing past amid a rattle and confusion, for, as usual, Nat
had paid no attention to his muffler.
"Somebody head me off!" came floating back, as the runaway machine went
whirling along the road leading to Little Falls.
"Good gracious! What can we do?" gasped Toby.
"You stick by Lil Artha!"
Even as he shouted these words Elmer was giving his machine its head,
and quickly he vanished from the view of the other around a bend.
It was no easy task that now presented itself to the young patrol
leader. Had it been a runaway horse there might have been some hope of
the rider controlling it; but with a motorcycle that took what seemed to
be a fiendish pleasure in doing just the things its owner did not want
done, the case was a different matter.
Something had become jammed, so that poor Nat, having opened his engine
up wide on starting, was unable to shut off power. And there he was,
rushing along at a reckless speed, headed for Little Falls by the most
direct route.
Somebody shouted out something as Elmer sped along. He guessed it must
be Lil Artha, who had discreetly sought the side of the road upon seeing
that fierce light bearing down upon him. But Elmer could not find time
to reply. Besides, there was Toby, who would be along presently, and in
a condition to tell the tall scout just what was taking place.
Elmer was keeping a bright lookout ahead. He knew that, given a fair
field, he could easily overtake the runaway motorcycle; but this thing
of rushing along in the darkness was no child's play. At any second he
might bang into some obstacle that would give him a nasty tumble.
Besides, he had to keep watch over the leading machine, so that he might
not run into Nat; which would be the worst sort of calamity that could
happen to them both.
At least he was gaining fast now; he could tell that by the glow from
the other lamp which lighted up the road ahead.
Presently he found himself within speaking distance. He could just
barely see Nat humped there in his saddle, giving his entire attention
to keeping his runaway machine in the road.
"Hello, Nat ahoy!" he called aloud, so that the sound of his voice might
reach the other above the clattering of his "cantankerous" motor, as Nat
himself was fond of calling his engine, which was now on such a wild
plunge.
"Hey, that you, Elmer?" came back to him; and the patrol leader imagined
there was a trace of alarm as well as vexation in the voice.
"Yes, can't you keep over on the left side of the road? I want to come
closer to you so we can talk," Elmer called.
"All right. Half is good enough for me; so come right along, Elmer."
In another minute they were nearly abreast, each striving to keep to his
side of the thoroughfare as best he could.
"Steady, now, Nat," said Elmer. "Be careful how you let her yaw this
way, for I'm only a length behind you; and a mix-up wouldn't be the
nicest thing going."
"I'm holding her steady, Elmer. Now, tell me how I'm going to get the
curb on her, won't you?"
So Elmer began by asking questions concerning what seemed to have become
jammed; and in this way he quickly understood the situation. A few
suggestions followed, which, upon being put into practice, brought
forth a loud cheer from the relieved owner of the runaway motorcycle.
"It's all right now, Elmer! That last move did the business for her! She
minds her head now; see, I can slow down just as I please. But, wow,
that was a lively dash as long as it lasted. I sure began to think I'd
bump into Little Falls like a falling comet, and run up against a stone
wall; when good-by to my neck."
"Well, suppose then we turn around, and see if we can pick up the
others. Try it first, and see if things work smooth," and Elmer jumped
from his saddle as he said this, assisting Nat make the test.
Having made sure of this they returned along the road, though at a much
less rapid pace than they had recently shown in covering it. The light
from Toby's lamp told them when they were nearing the walking Lil Artha;
and presently the four Hickory Ridge scouts were together.
"I tell you what," remarked Toby, heaving a sigh, "I'll be awful glad to
get you safe back home again, Nat Scott. What you haven't tried the last
few hours ain't worth telling. And now that your old huckleberry of a
machine has taken to cutting up monkey shines a feller's life ain't safe
nohow."
Lil Artha seemed to be in the best of humor. Things were, as he himself
remarked, "breaking all right for a fellow of his size," and he had no
cause for complaint.
"Just a few little incidents to liven up the last quarter of a pokey
hike, boys," he observed, as he strode along, with those lengthy legs
covering a yard at each and every step. "Why, I'll be entering Little
Falls like a conquering hero, with a guard of honor around me. Shouldn't
wonder but what we'll run across Mr. Garrabrant there, keeping company
with the other scout master."
"That's just what you'll do," remarked Elmer over his shoulder as he
rode slowly along in the van of the procession; "because he went ahead
with that idea in view, to be on hand to receive the first contestant
who showed up."
They enlivened the journey with all sorts of conversation and jokes.
Wearied as Lil Artha must certainly be, after coming all these long
miles since sunup, his chums sought to make him forget the fact by
keeping him in high spirits.
Nothing happened to interfere with their plans. Those who were inclined
to act ugly toward the possible winner were a long way in the rear, and
only concerned about getting home again with the car that belonged to
the father of one of the quartette.
It was not a great while after nine o'clock when the lights ahead told
that they were approaching a town.
"That's Little Falls, brother!" called Elmer, cheerily.
"Well, honest now, I ain't sorry to know it," declared Lil Artha;
"though, if I had to do it, I reckon I could crawl along a little
farther, p'raps a dozen or two miles. If anything's won this walk for
me, fellows, it's just been pluck. You can tell me all you want to about
athletes and such, but in my opinion that's what counts above condition
and everything else. As long as you keep up heart you've got a look-in;
but when the sinking spell comes, good-by."
Ten minutes later they entered among the houses. Immediately some boys
in khaki who were posted along the road as a sort of vedette corps,
began to call out to one another, uttering cries like the fox and the
bear, which doubtless denoted the nature of their patrols.
Presently there was quite a crowd accompanying Lil Artha as he headed
for the church where the local troop of Boy Scouts had their
headquarters.
Here there were many lights, and a lot of people assembled. When Lil
Artha passed through the open doorway a tremendous outburst of applause
greeted his appearance. He doubtless felt something of the thrill of
victory that used to come to the Grecian victor in those old days of the
Marathon races.
Mr. Garrabrant beamed with pleasure when he saw that it was a Hickory
Ridge boy who had come in first. Heartily did he shake hands with Lil
Artha and congratulate him on his pluck in making the entire distance
with hours to spare.
And when a little later on, while waiting to see if Felix came in before
the storm broke, the scout master listened with the greatest possible
interest while Elmer related what was known about the evil intentions of
those four scheming lads from Fairfield; and also laughed when he heard
how their designs had been signally defeated by the bravery and
intelligence of Lil Artha's faithful chums.