"I think the men from the garage may have come and taken the car away,"
suggested the tramp.
"That may be the way it is," said John, relieved by the suggestion. A
moment later, however, the thought occurred to him that in the event of
the return of the boys with a man from the garage, in all probability
some of them would have remained and not all have gone back with him. In
that case his companions must be near, but as he looked up and down the
road he did not discover any trace of his friends.
"They will be back here by and by," said the tramp encouragingly. "It
won't take very long to straighten that rim and put on a new shoe. The
best thing for you to do is to stay right here until they come."
"I don't see much else to do," said John, still far from being persuaded
that an explanation of the missing car was to be found in the suggestion
made by his strange companion. "I guess I'll just have to wait."
"If you do, then you might as well wait comfortably." As he spoke the
tramp again sought the shaded place on the bank above the road, and
seated on the ground, with his back against a tree, he at once began to
feast upon the apples he had brought from the orchard.
Following his example John speedily climbed the little knoll and quickly
seated himself in a similar manner against a nearby tree.
"We can see up and down the road here," said the tramp, "and if your
friends come you'll know it long before they are here."
For some reason John lost his desire to talk to the strange man. He was
continually looking up the road in the direction in which the boys had
disappeared when they had departed in the friendly car. A half-hour
passed and only two automobiles were seen on the dusty road. The heat
seemed to increase as the noon-hour approached. There was no habitation
within sight at which a luncheon might be obtained and John now began to
feel hungry as well as anxious.
He was by no means satisfied that George's car had been taken to the
garage by the boys. Indeed, his fear that the second car had been stolen
was steadily increasing and he was blaming himself, as not unnaturally
he believed George would blame him if the car had indeed been taken.
When an hour had passed a car was seen approaching which the tramp
quickly declared belonged to a garage in a neighboring village. "I know
that car," he said confidently, "for I have worked in that shop."
"Do you know anything about automobiles?" demanded John quickly.
"Not very much, but then one doesn't have to know very much to work in a
place like that. I used to look wise and hammer a lot and then charge
still more. I have made up my mind that if ever I have to work again I'm
going to find a job in an automobile shop. The hardest thing you have to
do is to make out your bills."
"That may be so," said John, smiling as he spoke, "though I hope it
won't prove to be the case this time. There are the boys in that car,"
he added quickly, as he recognized his three friends approaching. The
car was driven by a man in his shirt sleeves and the speed at which he
was moving proclaimed the fact that either he was an expert driver or
one of the most reckless of men.
A few minutes later the automobile was stopped in front of John, who now
ran down into the road to greet the returning boys.
"Where's the car, Jack?" inquired Grant quickly.
"I don't know," said John.
"You don't know! Weren't you here in charge of it?"
"I have been here all the time except about five minutes when I went up
into the orchard yonder and got some apples. When I came back the car
was gone. This man," he added, pointing to the tramp as he spoke, "said
he thought you had come from the garage and taken the car back with
you."
"Whew!" whistled Fred. "This is getting exciting. First you lose one car
and then you lose another. I think we'll have to go back to the old
Meeker House and look for its ghost."
"I don't see anything funny in this," said Grant in disgust. "Here we
are at least four miles from the railroad. We know how hot and dusty the
road is and we don't want--"
"You fellows are a sympathetic crowd," broke in George. "You're thinking
about your own comfort all the while and not a word about my losses.
It's bad enough to have one car stolen to say nothing of two."
"Do you think this second car has been stolen?" demanded Fred abruptly,
turning upon his friend as he spoke.
"Well, it's gone, isn't it?" said George.
"Yes, it's gone," admitted Fred, "but that doesn't mean it has been
stolen."
"Well, tell me what has become of it then? Where is it? Show me the
car."
"I can't do it," said Fred. "I wish I could. But I don't believe that
car has been stolen."
"What do you think?" demanded George, turning to the mechanic as he
spoke.
"I haven't heard of a car being stolen up here in a long time, and I
don't see how anybody could have taken that car away without being seen
if he was trying to steal it."
"That's all true enough," said George angrily. "I know all those things,
but tell me if you can where my car is. I don't see how anybody could
have taken it away from here with the shoe being in the condition that
it was. I never saw such a blowout in my life."
"Perhaps we can track it," suggested Grant.
"That's right. That's just what we can do," said George eagerly. "Look
here," he added, as he pointed to a place near the road where the
imprint of the mutilated tire plainly could be seen.
It was possible to follow this track a few yards, but there the trail
ceased, the car apparently had been brought up again on the hard roadbed
and no trace was left of its passage.
"What's become of your tramp?" demanded George, suddenly turning upon
John.
All four boys quickly looked about them, but the tramp had disappeared
from sight.
"That's one of the strangest things I ever heard of," said Fred. "That
tramp knew how you lost the other car and I guess he could tell some
things about this one too, if he wanted to."
"He was with me all the time," spoke up John quickly. "I never lost
sight of him a minute."
"It's a pity you didn't do as well with the car," said Grant.
"Well, the tramp and I went up into the orchard together. We were
together all the while we were there and we came back together. When we
got back here we saw that the car was gone. The tramp was here. Now will
you please tell me how a tramp could steal an automobile and still be
with me all the while?"
"What do you think is the best thing for us to do?" said George, turning
to the mechanic.
"Your car isn't here," said the man, "and you could track it a little
way, far enough to see that it was taken in that direction," he
explained as he pointed ahead of him. "Now that's right on the way back
to the garage and my advice is for all four of you to get into the car
and we'll see what we can find on the way back. If you don't find
anything we can telephone when you get into the village, or you can
leave on the train. There's one out in about an hour and a half."
The suggestion finally was adopted and all four boys maintained a
careful outlook for the missing car throughout their ride to the garage.
However no trace of the missing automobile was discovered. The car had
disappeared and the boys were stranded in a little village in northern
New Jersey.
Leaving his companions, George telephoned his father. The conversation
lasted several minutes and when at last George rejoined his friends he
said glumly, "My father says the best thing for us to do is to come home
by train. He told us to look out and not lose the train."
"I guess," laughed Grant, "it would be a little more expensive for him
if we should lose the train than to have us lose the cars."
"If we keep this up much longer," said Fred, "we'll have a good big bill
to pay. I never knew anybody in my life that ever had a car stolen and
here we lose two inside of a week."
"You must remember," said John soberly, "that we are the Go Ahead boys.
It doesn't make any difference what we start in we have got to leave the
rest of them behind us. If it's looking for smugglers or digging for a
pirate's chest or having our automobiles stolen, it doesn't make a
particle of difference which, we are bound to go ahead, get ahead and
keep ahead."
"I'm glad to hear you talk that way," said George grimly. "I have been
looking in my pockets to see if I have money enough to get a ticket
home. Have any of you got money?"
"I'll take up a collection," suggested John, seizing his cap as he
spoke. The result of his efforts, however, when the sum was counted, was
not quite sufficient to purchase the tickets required by the four boys
on their return trip.
"I don't see anything for us to do," said Fred glibly, "except to leave
String here. He's the one who is responsible for the loss of the car
to-day and if anybody has to stay behind I think he ought to be the
one."
"I agree with you," said John meekly. "I'm willing to stay, for I
confess I would like to find out what has become of that lost car."