CHAPTER VIII.--CUTTING THE BONDS.
Peter Van Vechten was driving the car but he made no attempt to stop it.In fact, he seemed not to recognize their faces as he came toward them,and it was evident that Barney McGee unless he wanted to be run overwould have to make haste to get out of the road, for the motor car wastaking a very uncertain and rickety course on the highway.
Another half minute and they found themselves standing helplessly in theroad, the automobile fifty yards away.
Barney, flourishing his pistol and digging his spurs into his horse wasafter it like a flash.
"Don't shoot! Don't shoot!" they screamed. "We know him."
But it was too late. There was the report of a pistol and the sound ofthe motor ceased almost instantly.
Rushing down the road, Billie in the lead, they found the car at astandstill, Peter Van Vechten lying out on the ground with Barneyleaning over him.
"You've killed him," cried Miss Campbell.
"No, no, ma'am. It was the tire I punctured, and not the thief. Hefainted of his own accord."
"But there is something the matter. He is injured," exclaimed Mary."Look at the bruise on his forehead."
"Poor boy! Poor Peter," said Miss Campbell, and immediately they all setto work to restore the aviator.
"Better take him back to the camp, ma'am," suggested Barney, "and ifyou've got a bit of rope handy, we can bind him before he comes to."
"Bind him?" they repeated.
"Why certainly, ladies, didn't he rob you of your car? Automobilethieves in this country ain't tolerated any more than horse thieves."
It was difficult to keep reminding themselves that this nice young manwas a thief. But visions of Miss Helen's fifty dollars persisted infloating before them, and it occurred to them furthermore that he mightbe one of the most daring criminals in the country, since he had madegood his escape from Chicago in an aeroplane.
"Lift him in the car, then," ordered Miss Campbell in a resigned tone ofvoice. "But it's hard to believe."
"Caught with the goods, ma'am," the cowboy assured her. "Caughtred-handed with the goods on him."
They took him back to the encampment in the maimed Comet, Barneyfollowing on his horse, and presently they had him securely bound, feetand hands, with stout pieces of cord.
"It seems a shame to bring the poor fellow back to life as a prisoner,"observed Miss Campbell, as she applied her bottle of smelling salts toPeter's nose.
All this time Billie had remained silent. She was not so forgiving ofPeter's sins as the others. In fact, she marveled at their moderation.
"I'm sure I don't see why he should go scot free any more than any otherthief," she said. "This is the second time he has robbed us, first offifty dollars and then of the Comet----"
Barney McGee looked up at this and Peter himself opened his eyes andregarded them all steadily with what Mary described to herself as "along brown look."
"You're caught, you see, young feller," said Barney, smiling amiably."You shouldn't have doubled on your tracks. Sometimes that trick works,but not in this country of wise men."
Peter looked into the lean brown face of the cowboy and smiled sodelightfully, that immediately his captors felt the magnetism of hisglance and stirred uncomfortably.
"What do you take me for, a thief?" he asked.
"What else are you, young man?" asked Barney. "Didn't you steal uponfive helpless and unprotected ladies in the night and take theirautomobile. And this ain't the first time you've robbed them, either."
Peter made a sudden effort to rise and fell back helplessly, findinghimself bound hand and foot.
Then a look of recognition came into his eyes.
"It's Miss Campbell and the young ladies," he exclaimed. "So it _was_your automobile. I had no time to examine it, but I remembered the colorwas red."
"If you are feeling quite yourself, now, young feller," interruptedBarney, "I think we'll be taking you along to the next village where wecan leave you to be dealt with according to the law in these parts."
"I suppose you won't believe me, Miss Campbell," began Peter in a ratherweak voice, "but I give you my word of honor I'm not a thief. The realthief has my own car."
"But who is the real thief?"
"I don't know. I never saw him. I was sound asleep when some one gave mea stunning blow on the forehead. I don't know whether I was unconscioushours or minutes. It seemed only minutes, only an instant, really when Iwas able to crawl out of my blankets and start up this red motor car. Myone idea was to catch the thief, but the car was in bad shape, that waswhy he took mine, I suppose, and my head was so dizzy I hardly knew whatI was doing."
"That's a queer tale, young man," said the cowboy. "The only thingyou've got to prove it's true is the lump on your forehead."
But Peter felt too ill to argue the subject. Miss Campbell was movedwith pity by his condition.
"You are almost a boy," she said. "I want to be charitable, but I dothink you should be punished for having caused so much uneasiness ofmind. Will you give me your word to reform----?"
"No," interrupted Peter fiercely; "no, I'll not give my word to you oranyone else. It's absurd."
"Do you think we don't know who you are?" here put in Billie, whoseanger had flamed up at the sight of his defiance and the memory of herbeloved Comet snatched away in the night. "Do you think we haven't heardhow you escaped from Chicago with the police at your very heels? Wemight have thought there was some mistake even then, if Cousin Helen'spocket book hadn't disappeared along with you after we had taken youinto the automobile. Fifty dollars it had in it. And now you come in thenight and steal the Comet, and when you are caught you lay the blame onanother man's shoulders."
Peter Van Vechten looked calmly into the faces of his accusers. Thensuddenly he began to laugh.
"I have had bad luck this trip," he said. He appeared to be talking tohimself. "Nothing but disasters all the way." He lay back and closed hiseyes.
"There's a cold blooded criminal for you," said Barney McGee. "He's thekind the East produces and sends out West to be finished off. A prettyfinishing school you'll find here, too, me boy."
Peter laughed again.
Just then a drove of cattle passed, and at intervals vehicles and motorcars followed; also men on horseback and some walking.
"This is County Court Day," observed Barney. "They're all goin' to thenext town. Shall we turn the thief over to some of them or take himourselves? One of you ladies will have to appear against him later."
Miss Campbell looked uncomfortable.
"Dear, dear," she exclaimed. "That means we shall have to go to courtand give testimony and all that sort of thing. It may delay us ever solong."
"No it won't," called the implacable Billie, who was now hard at workrepairing the Comet. "We can just turn him over as an escaped convict."
Peter looked at her with an expression of weary amusement, but saidnothing. She did not trust herself to return his glance just then, butafter that, every time she caught the cool brown look of his eye, liketwo clear pools in a forest, she felt a strange disturbance.
Miss Helen Campbell was of two minds and both minds were aggrieved.Nancy was all on Billie's side. Elinor was still undecided. She wastrying to be perfectly just, but it did seem to her that Peter VanVechten, as he called himself, was in a very unfortunate predicament.
As for little Mary, her eyes had become two wells of pity and she wasafraid to speak lest she betray her sympathy for the young man.
All morning Billie and Mary worked over the Comet. The thief, whetherPeter or another, had repaired the machine enough for it to run with agood deal of rattling and rumbling, but the girls were not satisfied andthey worked as hard over it as two young mechanics. The company lunchedearly from the contents of the hamper, and the prisoner's hands wereunbound in order that he might feed himself. Then he was bound again.
At noon the sun's rays were exceedingly warm. Miss Campbell, with Nancyand Elinor, withdrew under a distant tree, with st
eamer rugs, and soonwere sleeping soundly.
"How long before you've finished, Miss?" asked Barney of Billie. He hadbeen their faithful guard all morning.
"In half an hour at the very least," she had replied, and leaping on hissmall, swift horse, he cantered away, calling out:
"I'll be back against the time you've finished."
Billie was out under the car, absorbed in her work. The whole worldseemed to be asleep in the stillness of noon. Mary looked about herfearfully. Then, with sudden resolution, she took a little silverpenknife from her pocket and tiptoeing over to where the prisoner lay,bound and shackled, she quickly cut the twine.
"Don't say anything," she whispered to the astonished youth. "I don'tbelieve a word about your being a thief, and some day they will find outthat they were mistaken, too. Once I was accused like that, and I knowhow you must feel. Hurry up, now, and go to the East, because Barney isriding the other way. Perhaps a wagon will pick you up."
Peter Van Vechten seized her hand warmly in his.
"You're a little brick," he whispered.
"Take the cords with you," she answered. "Then they won't know."
Another moment and he had made off down the road, and Mary went quietlyback to her work.