INTO THE LONELINESS
"Have you the time?"
It was the voice of one of those who were approaching our hero and his
two chums, they having come to a halt at the request for information.
"Oh, what does it matter?" some one else asked, and then Dick could see
that three men were hurrying toward them out of the darkness.
"I just wanted to see how late it was," went on the one who had
apparently spoken first. "Sorry to trouble you," he added, "but we're
strangers here, and we seem to have lost our way."
"It's no trouble--if we can direct you," said the young millionaire.
"We're strangers here ourselves."
"It's a little after eleven," announced Paul, looking at his watch as
well as he could by the starlight. As he spoke one of the men made a
sudden motion toward him.
"Not him! The other!" some one exclaimed sharply.
Before the three knew what was happening they were seized by the three
men--seized and roughly mauled.
"Here! What does this mean?" demanded Dick, hotly, as he struck out
vigorously.
"It's a hold-up!" yelled Innis. "Lay into 'em, fellows!"
"Let go of me!" insisted Paul, as he swung himself loose from his
antagonist and dealt him a stinging blow that staggered the fellow.
The man, with a smothered exclamation, recovered himself, and rushed
back at Paul. In the meanwhile Innis and his assailant were having a
tussle. As for Dick, after that first outcry, he had held his voice, but
he was struggling desperately with the man in the darkness. He could
feel hands moving over his body, inserting themselves in his various
pockets.
"They're thieves!" he cried. "Help! Help!"
There was no answer save the echo of his own voice, broken by the
panting breaths of the three men, who seemed to want to do their work in
silence.
By a powerful right-hand swing Paul sent his man to the ground with a
thud that knocked the breath from his body, and the fellow did not get
up again immediately.
"Let go of me!" yelled Innis. "Keep your hands out of my pockets!"
He tore himself loose from the man's grip, and shoved the fellow aside,
so that he fell on top of the one Paul had knocked down.
"Help! Help!" yelled Innis. "Thieves! Grit! Grit!"
"Grit isn't here!" panted Dick, wishing with all his heart that his pet
had not been left in the garage to keep watch and ward over the auto.
Our hero was struggling fiercely with his man.
By this time the one Paul had knocked down was getting up, being
assisted by the fellow Innis had pushed from him. Dick managed to get
one arm free and he dashed his clenched fist full into the face of his
attacker.
He could feel the force of the blow, and he knew he must have caused the
footpad considerable pain, for there was a grunt of protest.
"Here they come again!" said Innis, fiercely. "Back to back, fellows,
and we can stand 'em off!"
Now that the first instinctive fear at the attack in the dark had passed
off, the three youths felt a fierce joy in the coming conflict. It was
like a battle on the football gridiron, only with greater odds.
Dick, Paul and Innis moved close together, being free for the moment
from their assailants. Then from down the road could be heard the sound
of footsteps running rapidly. The men paused, listened a moment, and
then the one who had attacked Dick exclaimed:
"Come on. He hasn't it with him!"
At once the three men turned and raced off in the darkness, away from
the sound of the approaching footsteps. For a moment the three chums
remained in a sort of triangular posture of defense, hardly knowing what
it was all about, since it had taken place so quickly.
"Are--are we all here?" Dick finally managed to gasp.
"It seems so," replied Paul. "What happened, anyhow? Was it a joke?"
"My nose doesn't feel that way," said Innis.
"No, and I guess I gave one of those fellows something that he'll
remember for a day or so," went on Paul. "But what in the world were
they after?"
"Something that I left back in the auto," replied Dick, grimly.
"What! Those papers?"
"That's it. The fellow who had me went all through my pockets while he
was rough-housing me. First I thought he was after my watch and money,
but when he didn't take them, I knew what he wanted."
"They went through my pockets, too," confessed Innis.
"Same here," added Paul.
"Did they get anything?" asked Dick, quickly.
The lads made a hasty search, and both reported that they had lost
nothing. At that moment a man came running up.
Instinctively the three chums got ready for a renewal of hostilities,
but they soon saw they had nothing to fear, even had not the man spoken,
for he was an honest-appearing chap.
"What--what's the matter?" he panted. "Did you call for help?"
"We did," replied Dick, "but we don't need any now; thank you."
"What was it?"
"Somebody tried to hold us up," went on the young millionaire, not
caring to go into all the details. "But we beat 'em off."
"That's good. Were they three rough-looking fellows?"
"There were three of 'em, all right," said Paul, "and I guess they're a
little more rough-looking than they were at first; eh, boys?"
"Sure thing," remarked Innis, tenderly touching some of his bruises.
"I'm a watchman down the road a ways, at a new building just going up,"
the man went on. "I saw these fellows go past, and I didn't like their
looks and actions. They were talking about getting something off some
one, and----"
"I guess they were talking about us," interrupted Dick. "They probably
saw us in the moving picture place, and followed us. They asked for the
time, and pretended they had missed their way. That was only to get us
to halt, of course. But we're well out of it, all right."
"Did they get much?"
"Nothing," said Paul. "We're much obliged to you for coming."
"I came as soon as I heard you call. Oh, you're the fellows with the
big auto; aren't you?" he went on, as he came close and made out the
faces of the three in the starlight.
"That's us," said Dick. "I guess we might as well go on, boys," he added
to his chums. "I want some arnica for this bump I got."
"Which way did the men go?" the watchman wanted to know, and when the
boys had indicated it, and had themselves started to go in the same
direction, to reach the garage where the _Last Word_ was waiting for
them, the watchman went on: "Aren't you afraid they'll tackle you again?
They may be waiting down the road for you."
Dick shook his head.
"They found out we didn't have what they wanted," he remarked, "and they
won't bother us any more. Come on, boys."
"Huh! Queer robbers," observed the watchman, and he turned away after
the boys had thanked him for his prompt response to their calls for
help.
"Do you really think those men were after the papers, Dick?" asked Paul.
"I'm sure of it," answered his friend. "It was all part of the game
Uncle Ezra is playing, but I'm getting tired of it. This is the limit!
It's got to stop!"
"Are you going to tell him so?" asked Innis, as they walked along.
"No, but I'm going to make a change in our plans. We'll fool 'em--we'll
get off the beaten track and go off into the unknown until we put
plenty of space behind us. Then they'll have their own troubles tracing
us."
"That does seem the best way," assented Paul. "It's no fun to be on the
verge of an attack at any time. The game is too one-sided. We'll make it
harder for them."
"That's my idea," said Dick, as they neared the garage, having seen no
further signs of the three men.
They found the big car undisturbed, with Grit ready to give them a noisy
welcome.
"I wish we'd had you along a while ago, old fellow," remarked Dick, as
he patted his dog. "I guess those fellows wouldn't have been quite so
fresh. But maybe it's just as well as it is, for I wouldn't want any of
them chewed up."
"How do you figure it out?" asked Paul, as they got themselves a little
lunch before turning in.
"Why, Uncle Ezra, or whoever he's hired to turn this trick, knew where
we would be at a certain day, I suppose," said Dick. "The men were on
the watch, and, when we arrived, they just kept tabs on us. The rest was
easy enough."
"Only you didn't happen to carry the papers with you," added Innis.
"No, it was a good trick to leave 'em here," assented our hero, as he
looked in the advertising envelope behind the mirror, to make sure that
the documents were safe. "Well, they won't try it on again in a hurry.
In the morning we'll figure out a new route that will bring us to
'Frisco in time to file the papers."
It was no very difficult task, with their road maps, to do this, and
having seen the garage man start on the work of repairing the brakes,
Dick and his chums strolled into town. They managed to find some points
of interest, and also took in the ball game, and, though the repairs
took three days, instead of two, they did not regret their little
stop-over.
"We've got plenty of time," said Dick, "and from now on we'll shift
about on our route. I'm anxious to get out in the West."
"So am I!" added Paul.
Once more they were under way, but they did not head for Chicago, as
they had intended.
"Too much is likely to happen there," decided Dick. "We might as well
have a brass band with us, as this big car. So the thing to do is to
avoid the big cities."
This they did. As events of very little interest occurred during the
next week, I shall skim over that period, only saying that the lads had
no further trouble, except an occasional bad road to travel, and a storm
to journey through.
Farther and farther west they worked their way, until one morning saw
them in Salt Lake City, Utah. This was on their original schedule, but
Dick and his chums figured that they had so shifted about that their
enemies must have lost their trail by this time.
"Of course they may be waiting for us here," said Dick, "but they won't
get much chance at us. We'll keep on the outskirts of town, and after we
get what supplies we need we'll strike out into the desert."
"The desert!" exclaimed Paul. "That sounds lonely enough."
"It will be," asserted the young millionaire, "and we'll have to take
along an extra amount of water and gasoline. But we'll keep near the
line of the Western Pacific railroad, and in case of trouble we can get
help."
That afternoon they started off, having stocked the big car well. They
made a quick run to the Great Salt Lake, paused to wonder at it, and
then headed for the great desert. Off into its loneliness they steered,
wondering what lay before them.