A NIGHT ENCOUNTER
"Did you think there was anything queer about that man, Dick?" asked
Paul, as the three chums sat about the garage, while the chief
mechanician looked over the big auto.
"Which man was that? There were so many around us when we got stuck in
the creek that I don't remember any special one."
"I mean the chap that suggested you could make a trip to 'Frisco."
"Oh, him. Well, yes, in a way, I did. At least I didn't think I'd give
him the satisfaction of letting him guess where we were going."
"I'm glad you didn't."
"Why, Paul?"
"Because I was a bit suspicious of him. Did you notice what he did after
we started away?"
"I did not, because I was so busy thinking how lucky we were to get off
as we did. What happened?"
"Why, that man--the fellow with the droopy eyes, I'll call him, because
his eyes were sort of sleepy looking--he pulled out a note book as we
started off, and seemed to be making a record in it."
"Maybe he was a constable, and he thought we might try to speed up
after being delayed. He might be looking to get a share of the fine if
we were caught," suggested Innis.
"No, he wasn't a constable," declared Paul.
"What makes you so sure?"
"If he was a constable in a country town he'd be some pumpkins, a sort
of a Poo-Bah. Instead, no one paid the least attention to him. He might
be a constable from somewhere else, but he didn't belong here. He was a
stranger, and yet he seemed mightily interested in your car."
"Well, it's a good car--if I do say it myself," responded Dick.
"No, it wasn't that," continued his chum. "That man had some object in
view. Dick, do you know what I think?"
"I give up, Paul. You think so much that you have me guessing. What is
it now?"
"I think that man was one of Uncle Ezra's spies!"
"What!" cried Dick.
Paul repeated his words.
"Whew!" exclaimed Dick in a whisper, as he pretended to wipe his brow.
"This is the limit! Aren't we ever to get away from my Uncle Ezra?"
"Don't misunderstand me," said Paul, quickly. "I'm not an alarmist, and
I don't want to be a false prophet, but that fellow acted suspiciously
to me."
"I think so too," added Innis.
"Queer I didn't notice it," said Dick, slowly, "but I guess I was so
busy thinking about my car that I didn't pay much attention to him. I
noticed that he looked in our parlor, so to speak, and----"
He interrupted himself to cross the garage, and peer into the interior
of the big machine, underneath which was a workman taking out the
damaged brake, ready to put in a new one.
"It's there, all right," said our hero, with an air of relief.
"What?" asked Innis.
"The envelope with the legal papers. Paul's talk gave me a scare. I
thought that man might have made off with 'em!"
"No, he didn't get a chance for that," said Paul. "I watched him too
closely. But he did get me suspicious, all right. However, we're here,
and we'll soon be far enough away."
"Maybe," said Dick. "I'm not going to take any chances on those brakes
after the experience we had. They've got to be perfect, and if we have
to lay over a day or so, we'll do it. How about it?" he asked the man,
who was crawling out from under the big car.
The talk of the young men had been carried on in low tones until Dick
asked this question.
"She'll have to come out, and a new band be put on," the workman said.
"How long will it take?"
"Two days. I've either got to send for a new one, or forge one myself."
"Then make it here," said Dick. "If you send for one there may be a
factory delay, and I don't want that. If you can fix it do so."
"I can," said the garage man. "This is a special type of car, and no one
would probably have that brake in stock. I can make it."
Dick then arranged with him to do the work, and the three chums, after
getting some of their belongings out of the car, started off toward the
village.
"Where are we going to stay to-night?" asked Innis, as they walked
slowly along the country road.
"In our car!" said Dick, quickly.
"What? When there's a fairly good hotel in the village?" asked Innis.
"This talk of Paul's has made me a bit nervous," went on our hero. "I
think I'd feel safer if I slept in the _Last Word_. I can fix it with
the garage man, I think. And if any of Uncle Ezra's spies are hanging
about they may try to disable my car if they can't get their hands on
the legal papers. They might do it out of spite."
"That's right," agreed Innis. "Where are the papers now, Dick?"
"Back in the car."
"Don't you think that's risky?"
"No more so than carrying them about with me. I'm a sort of fatalist. I
believe if a thing is going to happen it will happen. But I'll do all I
can to stop it.
"They're less likely to think the papers are in the car than that I have
them. And even if they do pull out that advertising envelope, and look
in it, all they'll see at first glance will be an auto catalog. I took
the precaution of slipping the legal sheets between the pages of the
booklet."
"Good, Dick. But supposing the place catches fire?" asked Paul.
"Oh, you've got to take some chances in this world, old man; eh, Grit?"
and he patted the head of the bulldog that trotted along with the boys
toward the village.
The boys found the town to be a picturesque one, well worth visiting,
and there was a good restaurant in it. There they got a meal, sort of
half-way between dinner and supper, and they arranged to come back later
for something to eat before turning in on the bunks of the auto.
"And there's a moving picture show in town," exclaimed Innis, as they
were walking back to the garage. "I vote we take that in."
"All right," assented Dick. "It will relieve the monotony if we have to
lay over here two days."
The owner of the garage readily gave the boys permission to occupy their
car while it was in his establishment, and the lads made a change of
clothes, for they were rather disheveled by the work of getting the auto
out of the creek.
Shortly before dusk they made their way to the village again, and after
a good supper they headed for the moving picture theatre.
In spite of the small size of the town, the exhibition was a good one.
It was interspersed with vaudeville acts, and as this happened to be
"amateur" night, it was quite late when our friends came out.
"Well, it was pretty good; wasn't it?" remarked Dick, as he linked his
arms in those of his chums.
"Not half bad--for a change," assented Innis. "What's the game for
to-morrow?"
"Oh, we'll have to hang over here, I guess. But I understand there's a
baseball game between two country nines and we can take that in. It will
be sport."
"That's the cheese!" exclaimed Paul.
They were in the midst of the crowd that had thronged from the moving
picture show. A number of pretty girls were bunched together, and from
their midst came voices that could be heard to remark about the identity
of our heroes, as the youths were spoken of as "the millionaire
autoists."
"We're getting a reputation already," whispered Innis.
"That's Dick's fault," said Paul.
"I haven't said a word," retorted that youth. "You fellows must have
been talking."
Gradually the crowd thinned out, and the three chums found themselves
walking along a rather dark country road toward the garage where the
_Last Word_ had been left.
For a while they talked among themselves of the adventures of the day,
and then a silence settled down. They were all tired and anxious to get
to bed.
"Is that some one ahead of us, or behind us?" suddenly asked Dick,
coming to a halt.
"I don't hear anything," said Innis.
"Me either," added Paul.
"Walk on a bit and then listen," suggested Dick.
"There is some one sort of keeping time to our footsteps, fellows,"
spoke Paul a little later.
"But are they ahead or behind us?" asked Dick. "I've been hearing it for
some time."
"Ahead of us," said Innis.
"Behind," was Paul's opinion.
The three came to a halt in the roadway and listened. This time, instead
of the footsteps becoming silent, they were more plain.
"They're coming," whispered Paul.
A voice hailed them from the darkness.
"Say, is this the road to Centreville?"
"No, you're going the wrong way," replied Dick. "Centreville is behind
you."
"Huh! That's funny!" some one remarked. "We must be all twisted up. Wait
a second, will you," and from the darkness could be heard footsteps
quickly approaching.