THE HAND IN THE DARK
"Say, this is a little bit of all right; isn't it?"
"It certainly is. I'll have some more of that steak."
"Another morsel of bacon would just about suit me."
"Those eggs aren't so bad. That electric stove cooks quick enough."
"I should say yes. Any more coffee left?"
Question and comment thus went back and forth among the three chums as
they sat in Dick Hamilton's big touring car, under a great oak tree at
one side of a pleasant country road.
They had traveled many miles from Hamilton Corners before stopping at a
village grocery and meat market and buying what they wanted for dinner.
"Going camping?" the man had asked them, as he wrapped up the parcels.
"No, just on a tour," Dick said.
"Oh, then you're going to cook over an open fire?"
"No, we're going to cook it right in the auto," the young autoist said.
"Ha! ha!" laughed the man. "Joking; eh? Well, I know you auto fellows
have some new wrinkles, but I didn't think you were up to that. Going to
broil the steak on your over-heated engine, I suppose, and make coffee
with the hot water from your radiator? Ha! ha!"
"Not exactly," replied Dick. "Though that might be done. No, we have a
stove of our own," and he showed the man the little electrical apparatus
in the rear of the enclosed tonneau, on which a good meal could be
prepared.
And the boys had just finished their culinary operations and were now
enjoying the fruits of their labors. They were in a secluded place, and
the day was all that could be desired. The little table had been let
down from the roof, and the three sat about it, laughing and joking.
Farmers and others passing along the highway paused to look in some
astonishment, not only at the big car, which was of a type and size
seldom seen, but at the boys themselves, who seemed to be taking their
ease in regular Gypsy fashion, yet in a style never approached by the
dark-skinned nomads.
"Some class to this," remarked Paul, as he passed his plate for more
steak and bacon.
"I should say yes," agreed Innis. "I say, old boy, you're not going to
take that egg; are you?"
"Why not, I'd like to know?" retorted Paul, pausing in the act of
helping himself to a nicely browned one, nestling amid a pile of crisp
bacon.
"Because you've had three, and that's mine--or Dick's, if he wants it."
"No, I don't want it," said the latter. "But it isn't worth quarreling
over. We can fry some more."
"I guess we'll have to if Paul is going to develop that kind of an
appetite," remarked Innis. "Three eggs, twice on the steak, and no end
of bacon----"
"I did not!" snapped Paul.
"Did not what?" asked Innis, with a smile.
"Did not have three eggs. It was only two, and----"
"Well, this'll be three," retorted Innis.
"Oh, well, then I'll split it with you," and Paul cut the egg in half,
thus settling the dispute.
"Well, there's one consolation in eating this way," remarked Dick, as
the auto-meal came to an end. "We don't have many dishes to wash," and
he tossed from the window of the car the wooden plates from which they
had dined.
"That's right," agreed Paul. "Washing dishes is the worst part of camp
life. Some day I'm going to invent a set of dishes that wash
themselves."
"These are just as good," said Dick. Though there was in the auto a
small set of porcelain dishes, the boys had decided that, except for
food that actually needed other styles, they would use the wooden
plates, that could be thrown away after each meal. They carried a supply
of these, as well as paper napkins, and more could be bought whenever
needed.
Of course there were pans and other utensils for the stove, and these
were cleaned after being used, and stowed away in the proper
compartments.
"Well, I guess we're all ready to start again," announced Dick, as they
got out and walked about a bit, pausing to get a drink at a roadside
spring.
"Where to?" asked Paul.
"I'll take a look at our map and see," went on the young millionaire. "I
think we can make Hosford by evening, and stay there over night. There's
no use journeying after dark until we have to."
"That's right; not until we find we have to put on speed to file that
paper in time," added Paul.
"But is there a hotel in Hosford?" inquired Innis.
"We'll not bother with a hotel," suggested Dick. "As long as we have the
bunks in our auto we might as well use them. We'll just pull up at some
quiet place, off the road, get our supper, and turn in. We're
independent of hotels, unless we want to go to one now and again to have
more room to stretch. That's why I got this kind of a car."
"Sure enough!" exclaimed Innis. "We'll bunk here then."
And they did that night. At first it was a bit awkward, but soon they
got used to the not too large apartment into which the auto was turned,
and they found the bunks very comfortable.
The curtains were drawn over the glass doors and windows and with an
electric light glowing in the roof, the boys went to sleep, well
satisfied with their first day's trip.
They were under way soon after breakfast and traveled a good distance by
noon, stopping for their meal in a little grove of trees just off a
country road.
"What's the programme for to-day?" asked Paul, as they started off
again, leaving a pile of wooden plates behind them as a souvenir of
their stop.
"Hand me that road map, and I'll decide," spoke Dick. "It's in the flap
pocket of that side door, nearest you, Paul."
Paul pulled from the leather compartment on the door an envelope, and
handed it to Dick.
"No, that isn't it," said the young man. "Those are the papers I'm going
to file with the court to save Mr. Wardell's property. The map is in the
same place, in an envelope just like that. Now you've got it," as Paul
pulled out another bulky envelope.
"Do you think it's safe to keep the law papers in such a place?" asked
Innis.
"I don't see why not," replied Dick. "I don't want them in my pocket,
for they might slip out when I walk around. And if I put them anywhere
else in the auto I couldn't get at them in a hurry in case we caught
fire, or had any accident. No one would think of looking in there for
them, and if we leave the auto at any time we can take the documents
with us. Now let's have a squint at this map. I think we can make
Flagtown to-night."
"Flagtown!" exclaimed Innis, looking over his chum's shoulder. "That's
quite a run."
"Well, we haven't tried out this car much as to speed yet," replied
Dick. "There are good roads to Flagtown, and we might as well see what
she can do. We'll hit up the pace a little."
And they did make Flagtown, the _Last Word_ proving that she had speed
as well as other qualities, though she was essentially not a racing car.
Supper followed, in due time, and then, sitting about the auto in the
quiet of the evening, the boys talked over their adventures of the day,
and speculated on what lay before them.
"It will be a good joke on your Uncle Ezra, to get Mr. Wardell's fortune
away from him; won't it?" remarked Paul.
"It sure will," declared Dick. "And the best of it is that he doesn't
know that I'm going to do it. Uncle Ezra is pretty sharp, but I think we
got ahead of him this time."
But if Dick could have known that a few miles back, in an auto that had
closely followed the course of the big touring car since the day before,
was a certain mean-faced man, perhaps the young millionaire would not
have felt so confident. Especially could he have known that the man in
the rear auto was constantly making inquiries about the _Last
Word_--when she had passed through certain towns, and which way she was
headed.
But knowing none of these things, Dick and his chums turned into the
bunks with a feeling of peacefulness and ease, and slept soundly. All
too soundly, it would seem. Too soundly to have heard a car pull up
behind them shortly after midnight.
The car came to a halt some distance away from Dick's, the red tail-lamp
on the latter disclosing its presence. From the rear car a man silently
alighted to the dusty road.
"Are you sure that's the machine?" a whispered voice asked.
"Yes, I'll stake my reputation on it. We've followed it too close to be
mistaken, and they haven't had time to shake us."
"That's right. Well, Jake, do your best. Mr. Black expects us to make a
record on this job."
"I know he does. That old skinflint of a Larabee isn't going to pay very
heavy, though. It was all we could do to squeeze this car out of him."
"Well, now we've got it we can do as we please. Think you can pull off
anything?"
"I don't know. I can sneak up there and see how the land lays, anyhow.
If we can't get the papers now we will have to some other time. But I
think those lads will sleep well to-night--they had quite a day of it."
"I should say so! It was all I could do to drive this old car to keep up
with 'em, and this isn't a slow machine, either. Well, if you're going,
go ahead. I'll wait here."
"And be ready for a quick get-away in case--well, in case anything
happens."
"Sure, I'll be on the job."
The figure in the road stole quietly toward the big touring car. As he
came nearer he walked more and more slowly, and getting to within a
short distance of the _Last Word_, he remained silent--listening.
"'All quiet along the Potomac,'" he quoted. "I guess I'll take a
chance."
Again he stole forward.
In the darkness of the night a hand stole softly out toward one of the
side doors of the big car. A pair of evil eyes looked in on the sleeping
lads. Then the hand stole down in through the opening in the door, an
opening as in a coach, covered with glass, but which glass had been
dropped down to let in the air.
"I'll see what luck I have," murmured the voice of the man in the dark.
Lower stole in the hand in the night. The fingers encountered the flap
of a pocket. There was a start of surprise.
"By Jove!" whispered the voice. "I have it--first crack out of the
box!"
The hand withdrew itself, with a bulky envelope, and, hesitating a
moment to be sure that none of the sleepers had awakened, the man of
darkness put in the same pocket another envelope of the same size as the
one removed, and hurried back down the road to the waiting car.
"What luck?" his companion asked.
"Best in the world. I got it, and switched another bundle of papers in
place of those I took. Now speed her, but--but run silently until you
get some distance off."
"I get you all right. Hop in."
And the car sped away in the darkness, while Dick and his chums slept
on.