A SHARP TURN
Billy Speedwell, in the hood of the robbers’ car, speeding over these
lonely roads at this late hour of the night, had many sensations. He had
his own anxieties and fears—nor were they much connected with the
wrecked automobile in the tree-tops; nevertheless, they were poignant
troubles.
Billy was much shaken as the motor car bounced over the way. The pace
was not quite so wild, however, as it had been on the run down to the
Falls. George was handling the car with more caution. Billy could hear a
low murmur of voices—now and then a little cry. The man who had been
shot, and who had kept perfectly still while at Rebo’s garage, was
having his wound dressed, without doubt.
Nothing occurred to alarm Billy, or to spur his wit to any action, until
the car suddenly took the turn into the lane, where the second maroon
machine was in hiding. The short turn surprised Billy quite as much as
it surprised his brother and those with him.
Billy heard the shouting, saw a light flashed, and realized that the car
he was with had barely grazed another touring automobile standing
without lights in the narrow roadway. Then he recognized his brother’s
voice as Dan shouted his name!
Billy could do nothing but wave his hand—and he did not know that the
signal was seen. He realized on the instant, however—as did the three
robbers—that they were pursued. Somehow, Billy’s written information had
reached Dan Speedwell’s ear, and he—with others—were out to catch the
men who had looted the Sudds’ house and who (so Billy believed) had
robbed the Riverdale bank.
Billy knew quite well the direction in which he was traveling. In a very
few minutes they would pass a spot in the big swamp which lay less than
half a mile from his own home. And Billy Speedwell very much wished that
he was safe in his home at that moment!
Lights flashed beside the road, but at some distance ahead. Billy knew
that they were already in the thick woods lying behind his own home. The
flaring of the lights assured him that they had come upon a hunting
party.
Indeed, as George shut off the power, and the noise of the engine
ceased, the yelping of the dogs could be plainly heard. They had treed
something right beside the highway.
“Switch on the lights quick!” whispered the man who seemed to command
the trio. “They are too busy to have seen us yet.”
“But can’t we take some side road?” asked the wounded one.
“There is none, I tell you; I know the country like a book. We have got
to pass that crowd of fools.”
The lamps were already alight; the chauffeur spun the flywheel and the
car moved on. It might have seemed to any of the party of hunters, who
noticed at all, that the automobile had only then flashed around the
curve in the road.
It leaped ahead again, but not before Billy heard the approaching purr
of the car in pursuit. Dan and his friends were close behind!
“Hold on!” yelled somebody. “Look out for the dogs.”
The thieves uttered exclamations of anger, but George slowed down. The
excited canines were leaping about in the roadway. The ’coon had taken
to a tall, straight tree, directly on the line of the highway. The
branch on which the animal crouched overhung the road.
The torches and lanterns flashed in front of the car. The chauffeur
brought it down to a creeping pace. Those beside the road obtained a
good view of the car, and of the men in it. This was in all probability
not to the liking of the latter. Beside, there was the license plate
behind—no dragging robe covered those numbers now.
Already a man with an axe was at the base of the tree. He struck a blow,
or two, before the motor car crawled past. They were going to fell the
tree so as to get their quarry.
The maroon car passed. Billy heard the sound of the pursuing auto,
growing louder and louder. He decided that the moment had come for him
to escape from the car, for the hunters would protect him from the
vengeance of the criminals.
And even as he was about crawling out of the canopy, and dropping to the
lighted roadway, the boy was startled by a sharp detonation—followed by
the shaking of the automobile as it was brought to a sudden stop.
“A blow-out!” thought Billy.
The car was stalled. He heard the three thieves express their fear and
anger. He knew he would be less likely to be observed by them now than
at any time. He leaped down and scuttled into the bushes in a moment.
“Hullo!” shouted one of the men of the hunting party. “A breakdown?”
Then another hunter heard a fast-approaching car, and uttered a cry of
warning:
“Look out for the dogs! Here’s another of those plaguy autos.”
Billy was aware, from his place of concealment, that the three robbers
were extremely busy men. They soon had a lantern beside the burst tire,
and tools spread about the road. George and the wounded one were jacking
up the car so as to get off the old tire and replace it with a new one.
With a sudden shout, the leader of the trio of robbers left the car and
bounded toward the ’coon tree. He passed Billy so near that the boy
shrank back with an affrighted cry. He thought he had been discovered.
But the man did not stop for Billy Speedwell. Indeed, he probably did
not hear the lad’s cry. He had seen the lights of the pursuing
automobile at the turn in the road.
He dashed in among the hunters who, with their flaring torches and
lanterns and dogs, were gathered about the tree in which the ’coon had
taken refuge. The man with the axe had already cut half through the tall
trunk.
Without a word, but giving the axeman a strong push to one side, the
leader of the thieves seized the axe, wrenching it from the other’s
hands. Then, with mighty blows, he set upon the work of felling the
tree. The hunters were amazed. They did not know whether it was a joke,
or not. But suddenly one observed the object of the stranger.
“Look out, there!” he cried. “You’ll have that tree down across the
road.”
And, even as he spoke, with the second motor car still some rods away,
and slowing down, the event he had prophesied occurred! With a crash the
tree fell. The motor rascal was an excellent woodsman. He had known just
how to slant his axe to make the tree fall in the right direction.
As it came down to earth the yelping dogs made a dash for the ’coon, and
for some moments there was a lively scrimmage in the brush across the
highway; but nobody had paid any attention to this event.
The pursuing car stopped in bare season to escape collision with the
fallen tree. It had been completely blocked from further pursuit.
“Stop them! Hold them!” shouted Mr. Briggs and Mr. Armitage.
“Are you there, Billy?” yelled Dan Speedwell.
The leader of the party in the first maroon car leaped back toward that
crippled machine. At the moment one of his mates whistled a shrill
signal, while George, the chauffeur, shouted:
“All ready! We’re off!”
Mr. Polk, as well as several of the hunters, made for the man. He eluded
them with ease, sprang into the middle of the road, and sprinted for the
forward car. There was only Billy Speedwell between him and escape.