CHAPTER VI
A SUSPICION
Skippy's head throbbed painfully and there was a soreness all over hisslim body when he tried to move. His ears buzzed and his eyes openedwith difficulty upon a world that was dark and confusing. Voices, lowand hoarse, seemed all about him and he had the sensation of rapidmotion that added materially to his discomfort.
It came to him gradually that he was neither lying down nor standingup, but that he was in a half-reclining position with his head restingon someone's lap. Also, he discovered that he was again in a car andthat they seemed to be speeding along in the dark the same as before.
His head was being jounced up and down sending sharp pains through hisbody, and when he felt he could no longer stand it, he stirred. Afamiliar, hoarse voice spoke directly above him.
"Feelin' kinda rocky, pal?"
Skippy squinted but it was too dark to discern anything. Nevertheless,he sensed Nickie Fallon's bright eyes looking down at him inquiringly.
"You, Fallon?" he asked weakly.
"Yeah. Your head's been banged up an' I been holdin' you on my lap."Then, reassuringly: "But you'll be O. K., kid--don't worry."
"It's dark--terrible dark...."
"Yeah, we're travelin' without no lights. I'd keep kinda quiet if I wasyou. It ain't gonna be long 'fore we'll be where you can tumble in bedan' sleep till your head's better."
"He'll have nice eat--eh?" came a query in a slightly foreign accent."Us will too, eh?"
A man's deep, sonorous voice from up in front answered in theaffirmative. Nickie Fallon bent closer to Skippy's buzzing ears andexplained, "That guy's name's Barker an' the one drivin's his pal,Frost. They're our pals from now on. Say, what a break they gave us!"
Skippy was deeply puzzled. He couldn't seem to make it out at all."Those Greeks," he asked wearily, "didn't I hear one of 'em just now?"
"Shorty and Biff? Sure. They're along. Dippy was scared an' wouldn'tcome. But I knew you was regular so when you went out me'n Shortybrought you 'long seein' you wasn't hurt bad. Glad, huh?"
"How 'e be glad when you ain't tell 'eem!"
Fallon laughed. "S'right, Biff. Here I'm thinkin' the kid knows allabout it." He leaned over Skippy again: "I didn't have no chanceputtin' you wise on the way up an' I go an' forget you been out coldsince we hit the ditch."
Skippy felt a chill up and down his spine at this reminder. "We hitsomethin'--so it was a ditch, huh? Gee! I got hurt then, huh?"
"Yeah," Fallon replied laconically, "but not's bad as them bulls. Thethree hadda take it--the driver couldn't put up no fight. Dippy wasbruised too, but not so bad but what he could say no when we told himhe could come with us an' beat his rap. So Barker says not to bother'cause there wasn't no time for arguin' an' another car might comealong."
"Barker--Frost--" Skippy asked puzzled, "they're your friends, huh?"
"_Friends!_ I'll say so! Cheese, ain't it a friend that gets us away soeasy as this? Lissen, kid--it shows how friendly when I'm waitin' inthe cooler this afternoon an' along comes this Frost an' he says hegets in by sayin' he's my cousin comin' to say so-long. Then he sayshow he heard the long stretch they gimme an' that he don't think theygimme no break. So then he talks like a Dutch uncle an' says how he an'his pal Barker can give us a break. We don't do nothin' he says. Himan' Barker'll find out somehow what time we're gonna take the ride tothe jug. An' they do."
"Oh!" Skippy groaned as the car bumped his head painfully.
"Feelin' all right, kid?" Fallon asked sympathetically.
"Yeah," Skippy answered half-heartedly. "It's just the bumps that makemy head ache."
"We'll soon be there," called the sonorous voice which Skippyrecognized as Barker's.
He raised himself painfully from Fallon's accommodating lap and satupright in the seat. The Greek named Biff was sitting on his left andon the end of the seat sat his partner Shorty. Both were smiling at himanxiously, particularly Biff who had a rather set mirthfulness in hisround face.
Fallon obligingly crowded himself into the other corner of the backseat in order to give Skippy plenty of room. "Anyways, you must befeelin' a little better wantin' to sit up," he said peering over athim. Suddenly he lowered his voice and whispered, "Say, kid, we ain'tgotta worry now 'cause Barker an' Frost's gonna see us through an' how!Look what chances Frost took!"
"What?" Skippy inquired, aware that a feeling of foreboding had takenpossession of him.
"_Chances!_" Fallon continued hoarsely. "Didn't he find out from one ofthem guards what time we was leavin' an' didn't he hang 'round thecourt house till he sees the bulls' car drive up!"
"Gee!" Skippy said, feeling incapable of saying anything more.
"Sure! So like I'm sayin', Frost waits his time an' he goes an' getstalkin' to the driver indifferent like. It's the same driver of the carwe come up in--see?"
Skippy was beginning to see only too well, but he did not say so.
"Anyways, the driver says after a while he better go in an' see ifthey're set with the kids. Frost says sure, so long. He's dressed inoveralls like a mechanic--see? When the driver goes in the building,Flint quick opens the hood an' shoots some stuff what he's got in hispocket, in the oil. Jest enough so's to make it get workin' by the timewe hit the bumpy road--see?"
Skippy stared.
"Well, there ain't much more. Frost strolls 'round the corner an' hequick gets in this car with Barker sittin' there like he is now. It's acinch! They start off ahead 'cause the driver's already told Frost whatroad he takes for Delafield. They wait behind some trees down thatbumpy road an' when we blow along they give us a coupla hunnerd feetahead an' follow without no lights. So when the engine goes bad on thedriver an' we hit the ditch, it's more'n Frost an' Barker expect."
"Yeah," Frost spoke up in a loud, raucous voice. "We expected they'd bestalled and standin' around lookin' for help so that when we cruised upsoft and easy with no lights on, it'd be a cinch to cover the bulls andget Fallon and whoever of you kids that wanted to scram, into our car.But so help me, it was easier than that!"
"Yeah," Fallon echoed, seeming to enjoy his role as narrator. "WhenFrost and Barker come along, there we was ditched--the bulls knockedsilly an' the driver so goofy it was a cinch for Frost to stick him upand knock him cold when he tries to keep us from scrammin'."
"Frost used a gun, eh?"
"Sure! But he didn't have to shoot. An' then that sap Donovan kidwouldn't come when he had that break. He said we'd be caught an' we'dget a worse stretch. Aw, he was just yeller! Anyways, it was lucky thatus guys didn't get it like the bulls. Only you was out, kid. Well,we're on our way, so we should worry, hah?"
"Where we goin'?" Skippy asked as calmly as he could.
Frost and Barker were deep in some conversation of their own and seemedto be paying no attention to their charges. Fallon leaned close toSkippy's ear and whispered, "Between you an' me, kid, I think it's ahideout Barker's got somewhere in the country. We been ridin' an hournow. Barker's boss--see? I think he's done a coupla stretches hisself'cause Frost told me on the Q. T. that Barker's got feelin' for kidsthat get a break like we got an' so he helps 'em crash out whenever hecan. He's gonna keep us under cover awhile till things quiet down an'then he's gonna get us out west to some friends. I ain't s'posed tatell though. Frost says Barker wants to s'prise us."
"And you say Frost--Barker's your friend too, huh?" Skippy askedtimidly. "You known 'em long, huh Fallon?"
"Nah," Nickie answered readily. "I ain't never laid eyes on Frost tillin the cooler this afternoon." And in a hushed voice, he added: "Iain't had no good look at Barker yet, ridin' like we are without nolights. I first hear his voice when I get in this car--he just waitedfor us when he sees how things was. We should worry when we got friendslike them?"
_Friends!_ Skippy put his hand to his head, hoping for the best, butfearing the worst.