CHAPTER XIV.
AN EXCITING CHASE.
The landlord of the Robin Hood had prevented Brad Buckhart from taking aflying shot at Miguel Bunol as the reckless young desperado leapedthrough the window. Had the Texan fired, being a wonderfully good shot,it is probable he would have "winged" the Spaniard, at least.
At the destruction of the window the excited landlord threw up his handsin despair.
The whole house was in an uproar. One or two frightened men came andpeered into the room where the encounter had taken place, while thecries of frightened women could be heard coming from other parts of thebuilding.
"What do you mean by such actions in my place?" shouted the enraged andexasperated landlord, turning on Dick and Brad.
"We're not responsible any," retorted Buckhart. "Whatever made you getin my way and keep me from salting that ornery Spaniard good andplenty?"
"Out and after him!" cried Dick. "Don't let him get away!"
"He'll have to pay for that window!" yelled the landlord.
Then Dick led the rush from the inn. The door was thrown open, and theyran out beneath the stars.
They were just in time to see the closed carriage, with both horses at adead run and the driver mercilessly plying the whip, whirl out of theyard, turn to the right and go clattering and rattling away on thefrozen road.
A moment later a horseman shot past the opposite corner of the buildingand turned to the left.
As he passed the windows from which the light was shining the Texancaught a glimpse of him.
"There goes the galoot hot foot!" he roared, and flung up his hand toshoot.
It was Dick who now grasped his arm and prevented him from firing.
"Steady, Brad!" cried Merriwell. "You don't want the blood of that dogon your hands!"
"I certain would like to know why!" retorted the excited Texan. "Itwould give me a heap of pleasure to bore him for keeps!"
"Let him go and----"
Dick stopped, for from the rattling carriage which had already vanishedbeneath the great tress that lined the road came wild cries for help,which were suddenly broken and checked.
"Great horn spoon!" palpitated the Texan. "Did hear that, pard?"
"I did, and it certainly sounded like the voice of Professor Gunn!"
"Just what I thought. You don't opine----"
But already Dick was rushing back into the inn, and Brad quicklyfollowed him. Up the stairs they leaped, assailed by a new feeling offear.
The broken door of the professor's room hung on a single hinge, just asthe Texan had left it. The light of the glowing fire and of a singlecandle showed them the comfortable interior of that room, but they sawnothing of Zenas Gunn.
"Professor----Professor Gunn!" called Dick.
"Where are you? Answer me--answer at once!"
But there was no answer.
"Search, Brad!" urged Dick. "He may have been alarmed by the uproar andconcealed himself. Look on the bed behind those curtains! Look under thebed! Look everywhere!"
Even as he was urging his friend to do this Dick flung open the door ofa wardrobe and looked within. Then he caught up the candle and hastenedinto the adjoining room, looking in every nook and corner, meanwhilecontinuing to call to Gunn.
A few moments later the two boys met in the first room and stood face toface, staring into each other's eyes.
"Where is he, partner?"
"Gone!" said Dick. "Brad, that was the game!"
"I don't just rightly see how----"
"First Bunol was to be given a chance at me. If he failed, the professorwas to be captured and carried off. He was in that closed carriage!"
"Sure as shooting!"
"Come!"
The flushed, wild-eyed, excited landlord appeared in the door andattempted to check them, demanding why they had turned his house into aBedlam.
Dick swept him aside.
"No time to explain now!" he declared. "We'll explain to you later."
The boys rushed downstairs once more, out of the inn and round to thestable. A hostler demanded to know what had happened.
"Hi'd like to 'ave you tell me what it's hall habout!" he said. "Why didthe gentlemen 'ave their 'osses taken hout and then 'ave them 'itched inhagain in such an hawful 'urry?"
They seized him and demanded to know where their own horses were. Theirmanner frightened him.
"Those men were ruffians, and they must be caught," said Dick. "Help usget our horses to pursue them. If you don't you may be taken as theaccomplice of the scoundrels. It's worth a pound note to you, my man, ifyou get our horses out instantly and provide us with bridles for them."
This inducement led the hostler to move quickly. He found the bridlesand brought out the horses. The boys lost not a second in helping bridlethe animals. At the same moment, it seemed, both flung themselvesastride the beasts. A cowboy yell broke from the lips of the Texan--ayell that sent his mount bounding forward with surprise and fear. Dicksmote his horse with his open hand, which fell with a pistol-like crackon the animal's rump.
"Hold on!" shouted the hostler. "Where is that pound note you said Ishould 'ave?"
He ran after them, but neither of the boys paused a moment to respond,and quickly they vanished down the dark road that turned away beneaththe great trees to the right. Back to his ears came the clatter of hoofson the roadbed, receding and growing fainter in the distance.
Both boys were ready for any emergency as they galloped mile after milealong that road.
Twice they passed branching roads, but chose to stick by the principalhighway, although it was impossible to say that they were following theright course by doing so.
"It's more than even, pard," said the Texan, "that the onery varmintsturned off on one of those other roads. We're going her a whole lot onpure luck."
"We have to," said Dick.
Down a hill and over a bridge they flew. By this time the horses werebreathing heavily and beginning to perspire. Their breath whistledthrough their nostrils and they would have slackened the pace had theybeen permitted.
On and on until at last, descending yet another hill, they came upon thewrecked carriage lying in a splintered heap by the roadside.
They flung themselves from their nearly exhausted horses, the creatureswillingly stopping and standing with hanging heads and heaving flanks.
"Whatever happened here, pard?" cried Brad.
"Smash up," answered Dick. "Must have been a runaway and a bad one,too."
Amid the ruins of the carriage they found a man lying ominously still.
"Is it the professor?" whispered Buckhart, fearfully.
Together they dragged away some of the debris, and then Dick struck amatch. The mask that had hidden the face of the man was covered withblood and partly torn away. His face was badly cut.
"Luke Durbin!" shouted the boy from Texas, as Merriwell fully removedthe bloody mask and held the match with the reflected light flung fromthe hollow of his hands.
"That's who it is," said Dick.
"And I opine he's cashed in. This was the end of the racket for him."
Dick struck another match.
"See!" he exclaimed, as the light of this second match fell on Durbin'smutilated face. "He's not dead!"
The eyelids of the man fluttered and his eyes opened. A groan came fromhis lips.
"It's some rough," said the Texan; "but you've got only yourself toblame for being here."
The man's bloody lips moved and he sought to speak, but the husky soundshe uttered could not be understood.
"Durbin," said Dick, "your pals have left you here to die. Did you aidthem in capturing and carrying off Zenas Gunn?"
Another painful effort to speak resulted in nothing that could beunderstood.
"Tell me the truth," urged Dick. "You can see how they deserted you. Whyshould you shield them? Did you carry off the old professor? Can't youanswer? If you would say yes, close your eyes and open them again."
Slowly the wretch closed and opened hi
s eyes.
"Where is he? Where have they taken him?"
It was impossible for Durbin to answer in words.
The boys lifted him and lay him on the cold ground by the roadside.
"I judge he's mighty near gone, partner," whispered Brad. "It's bad wehave to lose time like this. We ought to be doing something for theprofessor."
"We can't leave this man to die here alone like a dog, no matter how badhe has been."
"He sure has got what was coming to him."
"But he's a human being. Think of leaving any human creature to die herein such a manner!"
"Think of Professor Gunn!"
"If we find out without delay what has happened to the professor andwhere he has been taken, we must learn it through this man. In case heknows--which is pretty certain--he may tell everything if he finds he isgoing to die."
"That's correct, Dick. You're always the long-headed one. But if hecan't talk, how are we going to learn anything from him?"
"If we had a stimulant or restorative of some sort----"
"Liquor?"
"Yes; as a medicine liquor is all right when properly used. As abeverage it is poisonous."
Although Dick fully believed in temperance, he was not a crank, and heknew that liquor had its good uses, although almost invariably it wasput to a bad use.
"But we haven't a drop of the stuff. What can we do?"
"Is there no way for us to get him back to the Robin Hood?"
"How'll we make the riffle, partner?"
Dick meditated a moment. As he did so, both lads heard in the distancethe sound of hoofbeats and the rumble of wheels, telling them that acarriage was approaching at a rapid pace.
"Somebody else driving a heap hard, Dick," said the Texan. "Perhaps moretrouble is coming."
"We'll have to be ready for anything. If it's some one we do not know,we'll appeal to him to take this man in and carry him back to the inn."
They waited, Buckhart producing his pistol, while Dick led the horsesaside beneath a tree.
Back along the road a short distance there was an opening among thetrees, and soon the carriage, drawn by a single horse, came rumblingthrough this star-lighted spot.
Dick joined Brad.
"We'll have to stop it, even if we scare the driver out of his wits," hesaid.
The boys stepped into the road and called to the driver. Immediately aman rose up in the carriage and cried:
"Who are you? Have you seen anything of two boys on horses, riding as ifpursued by Old Nick himself?"
"We're the boys, I fancy," confessed Dick. "You're Mr. Swinton, of RobinHood's Tavern."
It was the landlord, and he jumped out in a hurry when he found he hadovertaken Dick and Brad.
"Look here, you chaps," he cried, "don't you think you can upset myhouse, smash windows and doors and run away without paying the damages!I'm an honest man, and what's happened to-night at my place may ruin me.I demand damages, and you'll have to pay 'em."
"All right," said Dick quietly. "Although we're not responsible for thethings that have happened, we'll pay a reasonable damage charge if youpromptly take into your carriage and carry to the inn a man who has beenseriously injured here and may be dying. I'll pay you for your troublewith him, too."
Although still suspicious and doubtful, the landlord was somewhatmollified.
"How did it happen?" he asked, as he stooped and peered down at theinjured man.
"There's the carriage," explained Brad, "smashed a whole lot. I opinethey had a runaway. Don't waste time in asking other questions. Time ispowerful precious to-night, and every minute counts."
The injured wretch groaned as they raised him and placed him in thecarriage, which the driver had already turned about. The driver provedto be the hostler, who reminded Dick that he had not received the poundnote promised him.
"I'll pay you as soon as we get back to the tavern," was the promise."Had no time to do it before."
Before starting on the return, Dick made another examination of theinjured man to see if his wounds were so serious that he might bleed todeath on the way, but found that the cold air had caused the blood tocongeal, and that there was no danger from the source feared.
Mounted and riding close behind the carriage, the boys turned theirfaces toward the inn, their hearts heavy in their bosoms, for theuncertainty of the fate that had befallen Professor Gunn oppressed them.
"For all of the accident and the smash-up," said Dick, "Bunol's game tocarry off the professor has succeeded."
"That's right," agreed Brad. "But why should he do anything like that? Iconfess it puzzles me up a plenty."
"Recall his little trick at Lochleven."
"That was some different. By getting hold of Dunbar Budthorne he hopedto force Nadia into a marriage with him. He reckoned that, to save herbrother, she might hitch with him."
"You don't think he counts on murdering Zenas Gunn, do you, partner?"
"No; had he intended to murder the professor he would not have gone toso much trouble to capture him and run him off. The men who did thatcould have finished the old man in his room at the tavern while we werehaving our little racket with Bunol below. Bunol knows the strength ofthe law and fears it. He's none too good or too timid to commit acold-blooded murder, but he fears the consequences of such an act.To-night he told me he has dogged us everywhere since we left Kinross.We did succeed in fooling him by helping Budthorne and his sister to getaway secretly. Having lost track of Nadia, Bunol has followed us,believing we would join the Budthornes sooner or later.
"Of late he has been growing impatient. Finding we contemplated visitingNewstead Abbey and the haunts of Robin Hood, he decided to strike a blowhere in this forest. Some of his spies must have learned from ourconversation and inquiries that we meant to remain overnight at RobinHood's Inn. Having learned that much Bunol acted swiftly. Durbin waswith him, and probably Marsh. He must have secured the aid of ruffianswho were familiar with this part of the country. He had an idea that,could he meet me face to face and quite alone, he might exercise hisnewly discovered hypnotic powers on me, and this he tried to doto-night. But I know something about hypnotism myself, and I was able tocombat him and defeat him on his chosen ground.
"He had prepared for defeat, having instructed his ruffianly tools tocapture and carry off Professor Gunn, whom he knew to be timid, old, andincapable of making serious resistance. Through threats of what he maydo to the professor he hopes to bring me to my knees. It is his objectto conquer us now, Brad, for he is sure he can accomplish his designs onthe Budthornes, once he can place us beyond interfering and bafflinghim. Without doubt he will threaten and frighten Zenas into telling himwhere to find Nadia Budthorne. I do not fear that he will seriouslyinjure the old professor, unless Zenas was injured in the runaway andsmash-up."
"But Nadia!" cried Brad. "If he forces the professor to tell where Nadiamay be found----"
"We'll lose no time in sending a warning message to the Budthornes. Thenit will be a race between us and Miguel Bunol out of England, across theChannel and down into sunny Italy. But Bunol will seek to baffle anddelay us."
"How?"
"By keeping Zenas Gunn a prisoner somewhere, knowing we'll not leaveEngland until we have found and freed him."
"Great tarantulas! I reckon you're right, partner! You're a whole lotlong-headed, and you have tumbled to his game. Whatever can we do?"
"We must beat him at that game."
"Elucidate how."
"This runaway and smash-up was something not reckoned on by Bunol."
"Certain not."
"Durbin was left for dead."
"No doubt of it."
"If Durbin lives long enough to talk, we may induce him to tell us whereZenas Gunn is to be kept a prisoner."
"I sure hope so."
"Then it will be our business to waste no time in finding the professorand setting him free. After that the race for Italy will begin."
Buckhart was greatly stirred up over the prospec
t.
"If we permit that Spaniard to get ahead of us, pard, I'll certain feellike committing suicide some!" he cried. "You made a big mistake whenyou kept me from taking a crack at him with my gun as he went whoopingaway from the Robin Hood. If I had bored him----"
"We should have been arrested and compelled to stand trial. It is truewe might have been acquitted; but shooting a human being, even though itmay be a dastardly dog like Bunol, is mighty bad business, and I don'tbelieve you wish, any more than I do, to stain your hands with humanblood."
"I punctured Rob MacLane at Lochleven."
"But it was only a flesh wound in the shoulder, and the authorities, whoseemed relieved and pleased over the death of the Strathern outlaw,decided that the cause of his death was not the bullet wound, but camefrom a broken neck received when he fell from Lochleven Castle."
"All the same," muttered the Texan, in a low tone, "I don't opine he'dtaken that fall if I hadn't fired at him. I saw he was going to murderAaron by flinging him over, and I didn't falter any at all in shooting.My conscience hasn't troubled me much."
"But with Bunol mounted on a horse and trying to escape from us, theaspect of the case would have seemed different. At least, that is theway I looked at it."
"I suppose you're right, partner, for you're right as a rule ten timesout of ten; but I'm powerful afraid Bunol will get a start on us now."
"We'll do our best to baffle him at his game," said Dick. "This accidentthat befell Luke Durbin may enable us to defeat the Spaniard."
"At the same time, it's mighty sure to put Durbin out of the running,even if he doesn't die, for I judge he's badly busted up, and he won'tbe so frisky and troublesome in future."
"But for Bunol, Durbin never would have been a hard man to check. Bunolis reckless to the point of madness. He has resolved to possess NadiaBudthorne and her money----"
"But by the stars above us I swear he never shall!" cried the Texanfiercely.
When they reached Robin Hood's Tavern once more, the boys, assisted bySwinton, lifted the injured man, who was still alive, and carried himinside, where he was placed on a bed.
"How far is it to the nearest doctor?" asked Dick. "This man is badlyinjured, and he must have medical treatment, if he does not die before adoctor can be brought."
"It's good ten miles," said the landlord.
"Send a man for a physician without delay," directed Dick. "I will payall expenses."
"It's easy enough for you to say so," returned the doubting keeper ofthe inn; "but I have not yet seen the color of your money, and my doorsand windows have been smashed, the people in the house, including mywife, nearly frightened to death, and the reputation of the placeruined. What have I done that all this misfortune should be heaped uponme?"
"Would you see this man die for want of medical attention?"
"How do I know what will follow before morning? There may be furthertrouble here. Besides myself I have but two men about the place, and Imust keep them to protect the ladies."
"You will send a man for a doctor," said Dick, sternly. "Here, I havemoney to pay. Tell me what your bill is for the broken door and window,and it will be settled--unless you make it exorbitant. Tell me how muchit will cost to dispatch a man on a horse for the doctor, and I will paythat, too."
At sight of the boy's money the landlord immediately became quite humbleand obliging. He started to ramble in his statement concerning thedamage done, saying no money could pay him for the injury to the goodname of the house; but Merriwell cut him short, asserting he wouldsettle that matter after he had seen the man start to bring a physician.
Within a short time the hostler was dispatched on a good horse, withinstructions not to return under any condition without the neededphysician.
"I feel better about that now," confessed Dick. "I wouldn't see my worstenemy in the condition of Durbin without doing what I could for him."
The injuries the man had received about the face were washed and dressedby Dick himself, while Durbin was given a little whisky, which seemed torevive him, although it was apparent to all that he might die within thehour.
Having done whatever he could to make the man comfortable, Merriwell satdown beside the bed and talked to him. At first it seemed that Durbinstill remained unable to speak, but his wandering eyes gazed at Dickpathetically, as if he could not quite understand the boy.
"Durbin," said Dick, "I'm sorry for you; but you must know that youbrought this upon yourself, and you cannot blame any one else."
The man moved his head the least bit from side to side.
"Your bones do not seem to be broken," the boy went on; "but yourcondition indicates that you are seriously--probably fatally--injured. Youmay not live an hour; you may die within ten minutes. You had a hand incarrying off Zenas Gunn. It was Bunol's plot, but it is likely you knowthat rascal's plans. The least you can do now is to tell me where theprofessor has been taken. For the sake of your own conscience, at least,you should tell."
The man was silent.
"You were deserted by your pals and left to die alone by the roadside. Ihave taken trouble to have you brought here, and I've sent for a doctor.In return for this will you not tell me the one thing I want to know?Where has Bunol taken Zenas Gunn?"
The injured man's lips parted, an expression of great effort anddistress came into his eyes, but the only sounds he uttered were a fewpainful gasps.
"Can't you speak?" asked Dick.
Again that faint rocking motion of the head from side to side.
"I don't opine he'll ever speak again, pard," whispered Buckhart, inDick's ear. "He's done for, and we're wasting time in trying to getanything out of him."
"It's folly to attempt to search the country blindly to-night," saidDick. "Unless Durbin can give us a clue, we have nothing to work on."
Brad looked desperate.
"All right," he muttered. "You know best, partner. I opine I'd bettertrust the whole thing to you."
"Give me that whisky, Mr. Swinton," requested Dick.
The liquor had been weakened with water in a cup, and the boy again heldthis out to Durbin's lips. A little of the stuff passed into the man'smouth, and he swallowed it with great difficulty.
"Now," once more urged Dick, "try to tell me where they have takenProfessor Gunn."
The man's lips moved again. Dick bent low over him, holding his ear downto listen, but he could catch no word, and the fear that Durbin woulddie without speaking grew upon him.
Looking straight into the pathetic eyes of the injured man, Dick said,in a tone of confidence and command:
"I will give you the power to speak. You shall speak! You can speak!Tell me at once where they have taken the professor."
For a moment there was absolute silence in the room. Both Buckhart andSwinton watched, breathless and awed, feeling that in some singularmanner the boy was transmitting some strength of his own to the man onthe bed. They felt as if something like a miracle was about to takeplace.
Finally Durbin's lips parted again, and, in a low yet perfectly distincttone, he muttered three words:
"The--haunted--mill!"