"Need any help?" inquired Bill, as Dorothy drew up opposite the Packard.
"Thanks! This thing has got me stumped. I'm not much of a mechanician,"
returned the lame man ruefully. "Do you know anything about motors?"
"Making them behave is my long suit," was Bill's glib retort as he
alighted from the car and crossed the road. "Let's see if I can locate
your trouble. Got plenty of gas?"
"Lots of it. I just looked to see."
"Then let me have your flashlight while I give her the once over."
"Wait a minute--" called Dorothy, "I'll swing this car round and put my
lights on the engine. There--is that better?" she ended, trying to keep
the excitement out of her voice.
"Nothing could be sweeter!" sang out Bill without turning his head.
"Hold her as you are."
Dorothy's offer had not been quite so altruistic as it sounded, for now
her lights brilliantly illuminated the two figures bending over the
Packard's engine. While Bill went over the motor with the sureness of an
expert, keeping up a desultory conversation with the stranger, Dorothy
used her eyes to good advantage.
But after a while she grew impatient. Why didn't Bill capture the man at
once so they could haul him off to the police station? Why did he
continue to go on with his pretended inspection of the engine? He
couldn't really be in earnest, for if he found the trouble and fixed it,
the lame man would simply get in his car and drive away. Could it be
that Bill wasn't sure of his quarry? Of course, he was clean shaven,
although Lizzie had described him as having a small mustache. Naturally,
he'd shave it off. By this time he must know that his description had
been broadcast. And so far as she could see the earrings were missing
too. But that was to be expected. And he spoke good English with a
slight Italian accent.
What was the matter with Bill! He was big enough to take care of the man
with one hand, when all he did was tinker and jabber. What was the use
of that?
"Your engine seems to be in A-1 condition," Bill was saying. "Doesn't
look as if you'd been running the car lately."
"I haven't," replied the lame man. "She ran like a charm when I drove
down here earlier this evening. Then all of a sudden she stops--and
won't go on."
"Ah! here we are!" Bill exclaimed a moment later. "You've got a choked
jet. I'll fix that in a jiffy."
"You are very kind," beamed the Italian. "Is that a serious trouble?"
"Not so bad. Buy better gas and have your carburetor well looked over.
I'll fix it so the car will move, though."
"Do you think she will run fifty miles?"
"Sure--but there are plenty of garages nearer than that if you want to
fix it."
"I'll wait until I reach home. My friend--he will give the engine a
thorough going over. He understands very well such things."
"Good enough." Bill straightened his back and closed the hood. "You're
O.K. now. She'll run."
"Then thank you so much. You have been very kind."
"Don't mention it." Bill waved farewell and crossed the road as the lame
man climbed into his car and drove off in the direction of New Canaan
village.
"What ever _is_ the matter with you?" Dorothy broke out in a fever of
angry disappointment. "Why didn't you nab him while you had the chance?
Now he'll get away and--"
"Hush, sister! Likewise calm yourself," cut in Bill. "Move over. I'm
going to drive. This business isn't finished by a long shot. It has only
just begun."
Dorothy, flabbergasted by his high-handed manner, slid across the seat
as he directed, and Bill sprang in behind the wheel. The tail light of
the Packard disappeared around the bend of the road.
"What's the idea?" she fumed.
"Wait till we get going, Dot." Bill threw in the reverse and started to
turn the car in the direction from which they had come a quarter of an
hour before.
"_Don't_ call me 'Dot'! You know I won't stand for it. Aren't you the
limit--Going to try to trail him, I suppose, when you could have nailed
him right here!"
"Don't get peeved!" Bill swung the little car onto the road and
switching off his lights brought his foot down on the accelerator. "I
know what I'm doing."
"_Well, maybe_ you do." Her voice was full of sarcasm. "But we might
just as well go back to the Pen and Pencil meeting. You'll never catch
up with his bus."
"Shan't try to. There's his tail light now!" They rounded the turn and
Bill sent the car streaking along the black road like a terrified cat up
a back alley. "There's no need to get snippy," he added. "You heard what
our friend said about _his_ friend--who understands all about engines?
On a bet, that's the lad who wore the chauffeur's cap and beaned the
night watchman. He said he'd let him look over the carburetor when he
got home, didn't he? And like as not that ripe egg lady--the one with
the red head--will be there too!"
"Staten Island Sadie?"
"Sure thing."
"Perhaps," admitted Dorothy. "The lame man _was_ alone in his car. But
you stand a good chance of losing him, even if he doesn't see us. We'll
have to switch on the lights going through towns."
"But, you see, I'm pretty sure I know where he's bound for."
"You do?" Her surprise drove all petulance from her tone.
"That's what I've kept up my sleeve. If he takes the Ridgefield Road,
out of New Canaan, then I'm certain of it."
"Better switch on the glims again," she advised. "We'll crash or get a
ticket running without them in this South Main Street traffic--we're
nearly in the village now. I can spot the Packard ahead there." Then,
contritely, she continued: "Sorry I was peeved, Bill, old thing. I
didn't understand. Forgive me--and let's hear all about it."
"Of course--hello!" he cried. "He's slowed down. Confound it, anyway.
That comes of talking and not keeping my mind on the job. I'll bet he
has his suspicions. Wants to see if we're following--nothing dumb about
that bird. I shouldn't have driven so close. He'll tumble to a certainty
if we slow up too."
"What are you going to do?"
"Give me time--" he answered grimly. "Confound again! There goes the red
light on the Library corner! Now we're in for it."
"P'raps he won't notice us," said Dorothy hopefully as they drew up
behind the Packard.
"Not a chance. But we'll fool him yet. Let me do the talking," he
whispered as the lame man thrust his head out of the car and looked back
at them.
"Hello, there!" cried Bill cheerfully. "I see you've got this far
without another breakdown!"
"Good evening, my friend," replied the Italian. "This is a surprise. I
thought you were going the other way."
"Oh, no. Just ran down there to leave a message." Bill's tone was
affability itself. "You must have come pretty slowly. How's the car
running?"
"Nicely, thank you."
"Don't be afraid to let her out. Well--there's the light. Excuse me if I
pass you," he said airly. "We're in a hurry. So long."
"Au revoir ..." Dorothy added gaily and waved her hand as Bill swung to
the left, then headed up Main Street in advance of the Packard.
"Aren't you smart! You'll get us into a heap of trouble yet with your
'au revoirs'!"
"Hey, there"--she cried. They were rolling swiftly up the hill past the
bank.
"You should have turned right then left, for Ridgefield--back at the
last corner!"
Bill laughed. "Old Angel Face did just as I figured," he informed her,
still chuckling. "I spotted him making the turn, in the glass."
"Where are we going? Sure you haven't lost him?"
"Listen. That chap is heading for Ridgefield. From there he will run
another ten miles up to Danbury. Unless I'm completely wet, his
objective is a certain house in the hills on a back road, over toward
the New York borderline about twenty-five miles north. It's a rough,
wild stretch of country, with Pawling, N. Y., to the west and New
Milford, Connecticut, on the east, that he's heading for. Nice riding
too, dirt roads, mere trails that haven't had a scraper on them since
the Revolution. That house I just told you about is a good ten miles
from a railroad as a plane flies--probably twice as far by road."
"Interesting--but why are we heading this way?"
"Simply because it is too dangerous to follow that lad just now. He
smells a rat and is sure to park in some dark spot along the way to make
certain he's not being followed."
"Then what _are_ we going to do?"
"I'm going to run west over to Bedford, New York. Then north from there
through Golden Bridge and Croton Falls to Brewster. From Brewster I'll
keep to the same state road north toward Pawling. But just before I get
to Patterson, there's a dirt road that turns off into the hills to the
northeast. That's the one I'll follow. Eventually, I'll get to the
house. Angel Face's route is shorter--but I'll get there soon after he
does, if he stops along the way to see if anyone's after him. First of
all I'll drop you at your house and get myself a gat."
"You'd better get two--for I'm coming with you."
"Sorry, my girl--this is a man's job."
Dorothy turned and stared at him. "Well--of all the consummate nerve--"
she began.
"Sorry, Dot--it just can't be. I've got no right to let you run the
risk."
"Don't you _dare_ to 'Dot' me again!" Miss Dixon was distinctly
irritated. "And what's more, if you try to ditch me, I'll phone the
police station and spill everything. They'll pick you up at Bedford and
horn in, of course--and like as not, they'll gum it all."
"If you talk that way, I suppose I'll have to take you."
"Of course you will. Say, Bill, that was only a bluff, wasn't it?"