CHAPTER III
THE MYSTERY OF THE MAROON CAR
Dan Speedwell was completely taken aback by this statement of the deputysheriff. He knew that Mr. Polk must have surety for his words. The menin the maroon automobile were well known and perfectly responsiblecitizens.
Indeed, as Dan wheeled his motorcycle nearer to the car he saw that thetwo in the tonneau of the auto were much different-looking individualsfrom those he expected to find. The men who had wrecked Maxey Solomons’auto, and perhaps killed the young man himself, would certainly notpossess the personal appearance of these gentlemen!
Mr. Briggs Dan knew by reputation. He was the most enthusiastic motoristin Crandall County. The thousand mile endurance test which he hadsuggested, and to the winner of which he had promised a gold cup,interested Dan and Billy Speedwell not a little, although they owned noautomobile, and at this time had no immediate expectation of getting acar.
“What does the young man want, Polk?” inquired Mr. Armitage, agray-mustached man with a ruddy face and pleasant smile. “He asked us tostop; didn’t he?”
“There’s a mistake been made somewhere, Mr. Armitage,” declared thedeputy sheriff, with some hesitation. “Dan is a good boy, andtrustworthy. But it seems he has been following you and Mr. Briggs onhis motorcycle——”
“What for?” asked the gentleman, quickly.
“Because of something that happened up the road. He says that theautomobile he followed wrecked another machine and hurt the driver.”
“Our auto?” cried Mr. Armitage.
“Why, Dan says it was a maroon car, like yours, and that it came directfrom Riverdale.”
“By which road?” asked Mr. Briggs, quickly.
“The river road,” said Dan. “I was sure I had followed the rightcar—there was no other all the way.”
“But we did not come to the Falls that way,” said Mr. Briggs. “Wetraveled by the pike, and we stopped at Mr. Maury’s place for someminutes.”
“Oh, I know it could not have been your machine,” said Dan, hastily.“The men who ran down Maxey Solomons have escaped by some means. Theymust have taken a cross road toward the other side of the county.”
“You did not get their number?”
Dan quickly related the incidents which had brought him to this place,and in such haste. The gentlemen in the car were sympathetic andinterested.
“Come!” said, Mr. Armitage, “this matter must be looked into. Therascals should be apprehended. They are getting farther and farther awayeach minute, it is likely. Come, Briggs, what do you say? You have beenbragging about the speed of this car. Let’s see what Henri can get outof her.”
“I am with you, Armitage,” declared his friend. “Hop aboard, Polk. Youare a county officer. Those men must be arrested, if possible, and helduntil we learn what damage they have done.”
“I’ll go with you, Mr. Briggs,” said the deputy.
He leaped into the tonneau. Mr. Armitage looked at Dan, who stood by hismotorcycle.
“The boy had better go with us,” said Mr. Armitage. “He is evidently anobservant lad, and he will not be likely to make a second mistake in theautomobile.”
“Yes! let the boy come,” said Mr. Briggs. “If he was a witness to theaccident he speaks of, we will need his testimony if we overtake theguilty ones.”
“But my machine?” said Dan, doubtfully.
“Lift it right up here,” commanded Mr. Briggs. “We’ll fasten it on therunning board. Then, young man, you get in beside Henri, and we’ll beoff.”
Dan was quick to obey these suggestions. His Flying Feather he stoodupright on the running board of the car, and he saw that it was fastenedsecurely. In five minutes they were off, after Mr. Polk left word at thesheriff’s office for the officers to watch for the mysterious car andits three occupants.
The auto dashed off along the pike toward Riverdale. There were threecross roads that the offenders against law might have taken, as long asthey did not complete their run to Upton Falls. But there were by-roads,too, on which they might have hidden and the deputy sheriff advisedstopping to inquire at every farmhouse, and of every teamster whom theymet. It was some time, however, ere they picked up the trail of themaroon car, and then they obtained the clue in quite a strange way.
As they came to the lane leading up to a barn, the farmer came runningout with a pitch fork in his hand. Before Mr. Polk could speak, the mandemanded:
“Ye got ’em, hev ye, Sheriff? Wa’al I’m glad of it! I’ll go right downwith ye t’ th’ ’squire’s office, an’ I guess, he’ll make ’em pay apretty price for their fun. That calf of mine run int’ a barbed wirefence an’ tore herself all up——”
“Hold on, Mr. Jackson!” exclaimed the deputy. “You’re getting your datesmixed, I guess. These gentlemen certainly have done you no harm.”
“No harm!” yelled the farmer. “When they come up through the IndianBridge road not an hour ago, they skeered my heifer into a conniptionfit, and come pretty nigh runnin’ over _me_ when I come out at ’em.”
“Not _these_ gentlemen,” said Polk. “I can vouch for them. One is Mr.Thomas Armitage, whom you ought to know, Jackson.”
“I swan!” exclaimed the farmer. “I voted for him for Congress.”
“Much obliged to you, I am sure,” said Mr. Armitage. “And I hope thatyou will not think I so illy deserved your vote as to race an automobilethrough these roads to the endangering of life and limb of goodcitizens.”
“Wa’al!” ejaculated the puzzled Mr. Jackson, “it was a car jest the samecolor as yours, Mr. Armitage.”
“And how many men were in it, Mr. Jackson?” interposed Polk.
“Come to think on’t, there warn’t but three,” admitted the farmer.
“Did you see the license number?”
“Not much! They went so quick I couldn’t see much but the color of thecar.”
“And in which direction did they disappear?” asked the deputy.
The farmer pointed up the side road, away from the river.
“They are making for the railroad,” declared Mr. Briggs, in someexcitement. “Drive ahead, Henri.”
They came to the railroad—the Barnegat & Montrose Branch of the R., V. &D.—and halted long enough to speak to the flagman. He had seen theflying car, too. They were on the right track.
But a mile beyond the pursuing party came to a place where the highwaybranched in three directions. There was no house in sight. The escapingcar might have taken any one of the roads.
“We’re stuck!” ejaculated Mr. Polk. “We might as well take one at randomand see if we can run down a clue upon it.”
“Wait!” urged Dan Speedwell. “Perhaps I can do better than that.”
He got out of the machine and ran into the first road at the right. Hehad noticed that these highways here were not so well made as thosenearer the river. There was a chance that he might find some trace ofthe passing of the strange car which they followed.
And he was right in this surmise, although he did not find it in thisfirst road. Marks of the tires of an automobile—and fresh marks—werevisible in the middle road. As far as Dan could see no other machine hadpassed this way.
He leaped back beside the chauffeur and they drove on again at topspeed. A mile beyond they halted at a farm house to inquire. The passingof an automobile in a cloud of dust had been noticed less than an hourbefore; but the sight was too common to have attracted much attention,and the occupants of the house had been too far from the road to notethe color of the machine, or the number of men in it.
Mr. Briggs’ car was certainly fast, and Mr. Briggs’ chauffeur was themost marvelous manipulator of an automobile that Dan Speedwell had everseen. And to sit directly beside the Frenchman and observe the skill andart with which he handled the levers and the wheel was a sheer delightto the boy.
He thought to himself:
“Ah! if Billy and I only owned an auto! If we could only take part inth
is endurance test that Mr. Briggs is going to arrange! If we couldhandle an auto half as well as this Frenchman!”
But the boy’s thoughts were disturbed suddenly by Mr. Polk, whoremarked:
“It looks to me as though these fellows were aiming for Port Luther, oreven Cadenz. Unless they turn back toward Riverdale and Compton theywill be obliged to strike some of the coast towns.”
“Quite right, Polk,” admitted Mr. Armitage.
“Then, here is Landers Station just ahead. There is a train coming downnow. I’ll take that train and go on. The railroad is more direct thanthe highways and I may be able to head those fellows off at PortLuther.”
“And we stick to the trail in the car, Polk!” agreed the gentleman.“What do you say, Briggs?”
“It suits me. Henri, shall I take your place for a while?” Mr. Briggsasked his chauffeur.
“The young man here will change with me, Monsieur,” returned the kindlyFrenchman, who had seen how eagerly interested Dan was in the managementof the automobile.
And when they halted at the railroad station to allow the deputy sheriffto take the train, the chauffeur did indeed change places with DanSpeedwell. Once at the wheel the youth proved that Henri had not beenmistaken in him. For a lad of sixteen Dan handled the car with greatdexterity.
The maroon car was out of sight of the station before the train bearingthe deputy was on its way again; but the automobilists were obliged tohalt frequently to inquire for the motor car of which they were inpursuit. And there were more autos than one ahead of them now. Sometimesthey lost the trail of the maroon car completely; but when they reachedthe lively little town of Larned they learned that the fugitives hadhalted at the local garage for gasoline, and that they had left, stillfollowing the road toward the coast, but at a moderate pace.
“Half an hour behind them—or thereabout,” exclaimed Mr. Armitage, withsatisfaction. “We should be able to pick that up.”
But even as they started from the garage they met with an accident. Aforward tire blew out and the car came down with a solid bump on theroadway.
“Now!” cried Mr. Armitage. “Look at this delay! Isn’t it abominable?”
But Mr. Briggs was a man of quick thought. He was observant, too. Hespoke to the owner of the garage. There was a good car standing on thefloor and it was for hire. In two minutes it had been run out, Henri wasat the wheel, and Mr. Armitage and Mr. Briggs in the tonneau of thehired machine.
Dan had expressed his desire to return to Riverdale. It would soon benight, and he and Billy had many chores to do. They were now thirtymiles from home, and the boy feared to go farther without permissionfrom his parents.
“And quite right,” Mr. Armitage said. “But hold yourself readyto-morrow, my boy, if we have the good fortune to overtake those fellowsin the maroon car. We shall need you for a witness.”
Dan promised and Mr. Briggs, who had consulted with Henri for a moment,said:
“My chauffeur tells me that you are quite able to run our car back toHolliday’s garage at Riverdale. This man here will put on a new tire andyou can get back to town easier in my car than on your machine. Do youwant to do me that favor?”
Dan’s sparkling eyes and flushed face replied for him before his lipscould form the words. It was so decided, and the others got off quicklyin the hired auto. Within the hour Dan started the beautiful touring caron the back track, delighted with his charge, and looking forward tonothing more than a pleasant run over familiar roads to his home town.
It was growing dusk, however, long before he reached Riverdale. Indeedhe was all of ten miles from the town when he stopped to light hislamps. Before he started the auto again he observed another car bearingdown upon him from ahead, its lights blazing in the dusk.
Dan had pulled out to the side of the road and apprehended no danger.But the coming car was braked quickly when a few rods from him, and itsdriver brought it to a complete stop beside Mr. Briggs’ vehicle.
One of the four men in the machine leaped out and, to Dan’s amazement,stepped into the front of the maroon car beside him.
“Hold up your hands!” commanded this man, in excited tones. “We’ve got_you_, at least, if your pals have escaped. Hold up your hands!”
Dan shrank back and demanded a reason for threatening him in this savageway.
“You know what I want,” said the man. “You are in the hands of the law.I arrest you, for the robbery of the Farmers’ National Bank atRiverdale!”