CHAPTER XXIV
AT THE SWAMP
"Where are they? Didn't you catch up to them? Who fired those shots?"
It was Sam who shouted the words, as he came up on a run, followed bythe aged negro.
"They got away," answered Dick, bitterly. "We were just a minute toolate!"
"Can't you go after them?"
"Not on horseback, Sam."
"And, if the horses were all right, look there!" cried Tom, and pointedto the fallen bridge.
"Down! What did it, the auto?"
"Yes."
"Fo' de lan' sake!" burst out the negro farm hand. "De bridge hab gonebust down! Say, how is we-all to git ober dat stream after dis?"
"I give it up," said Tom. "The authorities will have to rebuild it, Iguess."
"Nobudy ain't gwine to do dat, boss. Kase why? Kase dis road was builtfo' de mill an' de people wot lived heah. Now de mill ain't runnin' an'de people moved away, da ain't much use fo' the road, an' nobuddy ain'tgwine to put up de bridge--an' Ike Henry, dat's me, has got to totethings 'round by de udder road after dis!" he added ruefully.
"Well, we can't bother about the bridge," replied Dick. "The authoritiescan fight it out with those fellows who are running the auto."
"But the shots?" queried Sam. He had dropped on a flat rock to rest.
"We tried to hit the tires--but we failed," explained Tom. "The auto wasmoving too fast, and the trees and bushes were in the way. Besides, wedidn't want to hit the girls."
Dick and Tom walked down to the stream. It was not very deep and theyconcluded that they could easily get to the other side, by leaping fromone bit of wreckage to another,--thus keeping from getting wet,--for atthat season of the year the water was decidedly cold.
"Let us go over and climb to the top of the next hill," said Dick. "Wemay be able to see which direction the auto takes."
The others were willing, and telling the colored man to wait a while forthem, and promising him good pay, they climbed over the sunken bridge tothe other shore of the stream. Then they raced along the rocky road,around a bend, and up a steep hill that all but winded them.
"I see the machine!" cried Tom, who was the first to top the rise."Look!" And he pointed with his hand, down in the valley that laystretched out before them like a map in the gathering darkness.
At a great distance, moving at a fair rate of speed, was the enclosedtouring car containing Dora and Nellie and their abductors. It washeaded for a distant main road, lined here and there with farmhouses andoutbuildings. Presently it turned into this mainroad, and startedwestward, at an increased rate of speed.
"My, see them streak along!" murmured Sam.
"They are evidently going to put as much distance as they can betweenthemselves and us," returned Tom.
"Say, do you see any telephone wires?" asked Dick, anxiously.
"Not a wire," came from his brothers, after a long look for lines andpoles.
"Neither do I. I guess they haven't any connections at those farmhouses,so it will be useless to walk there."
"But what shall we do, Dick?" asked Tom, impatiently. "We can't sitstill and do nothing!"
"We'll go back to the _Dartaway_ and fly after them."
"But the wind----" began Sam.
"It has gone down a little, I think, Sam. And anyway, we've got to takea chance--it's the only thing left. If you don't want to go----"
"Dick, stop right there! If you go I'll go," cried the youngest Rover,firmly. "I'm as much interested in this as anybody, even though Graceisn't there," he added, with a show of color in his round cheeks.
But little more was said just then. The three boys ran down the hill tothe stream and crawled back over the wreckage.
"I guess those horses can carry the lot of us," said Dick; and so it wasarranged, Dick and Sam getting on the back of one steed and Tom and IkeHenry on the other. The boys asked the colored man about telephoneconnections, but he could give them little information excepting tostate that his employer had no such convenience.
At last the boys reached the spot where they had come out of the woodsafter leaving the _Dartaway_ and skirting the swamp.
"Have you a lantern on the wagon?" asked Dick, of Ike Henry.
"Yes, sah."
"Then we'll have to buy or borrow it, my man. Supposing I give you twodollars for the use of the horses and another dollar for the lantern,how will that strike you?"
"Dat's all right, boss," answered Ike Henry, who remembered that thelantern had cost but seventy-five cents.
Dick passed over the bills and received the lantern, which was filledwith oil, and also a box of matches, which Ike Henry chanced to carry.
"Wot you-all gwine to do now?" asked the colored man, as he prepared tohitch up his team again.
"We are going back into the woods, where we left our flying machine,"answered Tom.
"You-all be careful dat yo' don't git in de swamp. Dat am a terribul badspot."
"We'll be careful."
"Tell me, where does that mainroad on the other side of the river runto?" put in Dick.
"Dat road?" queried Ike Henry. "Dat way or dat way?" and he motionedfirst to the east and then to the west.
"I mean to the westward."
"Why, dat's de way to git to Sherodburg an' Fremville."
"Do you know how far those places are?"
"Sherodburg am 'bout eight miles; Fremville am 'bout twenty or moah."
"All right. Come on, boys," said Dick. "Good night, Ike."
"Good night, sah! Much erbliged!" cried the aged colored man. "Hopeyo'-all dun catch dem rascals," he added earnestly.
"We'll do our best," answered Tom.
In a few seconds more the Rover boys had plunged into the woods. Here itwas quite dark, and Dick took the lead, holding the lantern close to theground, so that he might follow the trail he and his brothers had madeon leaving the _Dartaway_. All were gratified to find that the wind haddied down completely.
"I don't know how a run in the darkness will go," said Dick. "But we cantry it. But I don't see how we are to steer."
"I've got my pocket compass with me," answered Sam. "That may help some.We know those towns are west of us. We can sail along until we see thelights and then go down and ask about the touring car."
"A good idea, Sam."
Skirting the swamp with only the rays from the lantern to aid them wasno easy task, and once Tom slipped from a clump of rushes and went downover his ankles in soft mud.
"Hi! hi! help me out!" he yelled. "Quick, before I get in any deeper!"
"Stand still!" called back Dick, and placed the lantern in another clumpof rushes. Then he caught hold of a tree that was handy and took a gripon Sam's hand. "Now catch hold of Tom," he went on, and the youngestRover did so. Then came a long and strong pull, and with a suckingsound, poor Tom came out of the sticky mud and landed beside hisbrothers.
"Wow! that's a mess!" said the fun-loving Rover, as he surveyed hisfeet, plastered thick with the mud.
"Stick to the dry ground after this," advised Dick. "Come on, the deadleaves will soon brush that mud off." And forward he went once more,holding the lantern as before. In a little while after this the swampwas left behind, and then progress through the woods was more agreeable.
"Dick, don't you think we ought to be getting to the _Dartaway_ prettysoon?" asked Tom, after a quarter of an hour more had passed and theywere still moving forward.
"Yes."
"It didn't seem so far away as this," put in Sam. "Are you sure you arefollowing the trail?"
"You can see for yourselves," answered Dick, and held the lantern closeto the ground.
"Footsteps, sure enough," murmured Tom. Then of a sudden he bentcloser. "But look!" he cried. "They are not ours!"
"What?" exclaimed his two brothers, in surprise.
"These footprints are not ours--they are altogether too big. We havepicked up and are following the wrong trail!"