CHAPTER X
HELD UP
“That’s the way to do it, Bob!” exclaimed Ned.
“I never imagined you were such a plotter,” complimented Jerry. “How’dyou come to think of it, Chunky?”
“Oh, it just sort of came to me,” explained the stout lad, as he lookedback to see Noddy and his companions leap from their auto, and examinethe burst tires. “I figured that after the way Noddy’d been spying onus that he’d try to follow us, so I got ready for him. I thought it outthat tire trouble was the easiest for me to bring about, and it wouldhold him back as well as if it was something else. So I bought thetacks.”
“And made good use of ’em!” chuckled Jerry. “You’re all right, Bob!”
Noddy Nixon straightened up from an examination of his stalled auto. Heshook his fist at our friends who were rapidly drawing away.
“I’ll--fix--you--for--this!” yelled the bully in a loud voice.
“Well, you’ll have plenty of time to do it in,” remarked Bob witha laugh. “You’ll have to use new shoes, and inner tubes too, I’mthinking. Speed her up, Jerry.”
“All right,” and the tall lad turned on more gasolene, until the bigcar was going along at a rapid pace.
“Not too fast,” cautioned Ned. “We don’t want to be taken in forspeeding, you know.”
“Not much danger,” returned Jerry. “It’s rather a lonely stretch ofcountry for several miles yet.”
“How do you think he managed to get after us so quickly?” askedProfessor Snodgrass, who, wonderful to relate, was neither looking athis specimens, making notes about, nor seeking to capture others. Hehad been too much interested in the chase and its sudden termination.
“Oh, he must have heard Andy Rush say we were going to Pittsburg,”spoke Jerry, “and he merely came on here ahead of us, by train, whilewe traveled by boat. Then he simply got his auto ready, and lay in waitfor us. But you put a spoke in his wheel, Bob.”
“Two or three,” chuckled Ned.
As they sped on they talked of Noddy, and speculated on what his planmight be in regard to following them.
“It’s all guess work,” declared Jerry. “No matter what we do he mayturn up on our trail sooner or later. The only thing to do is to fighthim when we see him, be on our guard all the while, and not to worry.”
“I agree with Jerry,” said Uriah Snodgrass. “Now, as long as we’re sofar ahead, Jerry, can’t you go a little slower?”
“Why, does the speed make you dizzy?” asked the steersman, for indeedthe pace was very rapid.
“No, but I’d like a chance to look for insects on the bushes as wepass. You never can tell when you may come across a rare specimen,” andthrough his big glasses the professor anxiously scanned the bushes oneither side of the highway, for Jerry obligingly slackened the speed ofthe big car.
“Are we going to sleep in the car or a hotel to-night?” asked Ned, asthe afternoon drew to a close, finding them about a hundred miles awayfrom Pittsburg.
“I vote for the car,” spoke Jerry. “We haven’t tried it in some time.Besides, we can do as we please, and won’t have to bother with fixingup, as we would at a hotel.
“Another thing. If we go to a hotel, Noddy may find it out, and he canthus keep closer tabs on our movements. Whereas, if we sleep in thecar, on some country road, we can start off before daylight, breakfastwhen we please, and no one will be any the wiser.”
“All right, the car it is,” agreed Ned. Anything suited the professor.
“Another good point about the car,” said Bob, “is that we can----”
“Eat whenever we want to,” finished Jerry with a laugh.
“I wasn’t going to say so,” retorted Bob. “I was going to say we couldsleep better here, for it will be quieter out under the trees than in ahotel.”
“That’s the time he had you, Jerry,” laughed Ned.
“Well, pick out a good place as you go along,” advised the tall lad,“and we’ll pull up there and stop.”
“That hill looks to be in a good location,” suggested Bob, pointing toa rise in the distance. “There is a grove of trees there, and we canpull into them for the night. Speed up, and make it, Jerry.”
The lad at the wheel was about to pull over the gasolene lever, andadjust the spark, when, out from a little country lane, just in frontof the auto, leaped a man, with a shining badge on his coat, a club inone hand and a revolver in the other. He held out his arms to obstructtheir passage, at the same time crying in loud tones:
“Halt! Hold on there! You can’t go any further! I’m the law, an’ I saysso. You’ve got to come with me!”
Jerry looked quickly at the speedometer, and saw that it registeredonly about six miles per hour. He was glad he had not sent the carracing ahead.
“Come on now! No tricks! Stop that car!” commanded the evidentofficial. “You’ve got to come with me.”
“What for?” asked Jerry. “Not for speeding evidently, for we were goinglike a snail.”
“I didn’t say nothin’ about no speedin’,” replied the man. “It’s a moreserious charge than that. I’ve been on the lookout for ye a long time,an’ I got ye, by heck! Come along!”
By this time Jerry had easily brought the car to a stop not far fromthe grizzled man.
“What right have you got to stop us?” demanded the young steersman.“Who are you, and what is the charge against us?”
“I’m Constable Enberry Snook,” was the answer, “and this here ismy authority,” and he tapped his badge with the club. “I derive myauthority from th’ selectmen of Huckleberry Township, an’ theselikewise is th’ main instruments that I use,” and he glanced from hisclub to his revolver, and back at the party in the auto. “Now be yegoin’ t’ come along peaceable like, or have I got t’ use force?”
“But I don’t understand,” said Jerry, while a puzzled look came overthe faces of the others. “We haven’t been speeding, and we haven’tassaulted any one that I know of.”
“Of course not!” declared Ned.
“Well, I’ve been instructed t’ arrest ye,” went on Constable Snook,“an’ I’m goin’ t’ do my duty, by heck! Now will ye come alongpeaceable, or have I got t’----”
He did not finish the sentence, for with a cry that was startling inits suddenness Professor Snodgrass, who had been sitting in front withJerry, fairly leaped from his seat, and dashed at the constable.
“Don’t move! Don’t stir!” cried the excited scientist. “I’ve got it!It’s on you! Don’t move! I’ve been looking for it ever and ever solong!”
A moment later he had hold of the constable’s coat.
“Here! Let me go! Onhand me! This is treason! Ye’re assaultin’an officer in th’ performance of his office, an’ it’s ten years’imprisonment fer that offense. Let me go, I tell ye! Don’t ye dare t’strike me! I’ve got assistants with me. Help! Help! He’s chokin’ me!He’s chokin’ an officer of th’ law!”
Mr. Snook, dropping both his club and revolver, sought in vain to pullaway from the grasp of Professor Snodgrass, and then the constable,finding that the scientist had too firm a hold, pulled out a whistle,and blew a shrill blast. A moment later two men, evidently farmhands,each armed with a pitchfork, leaped out of the bushes at the side ofthe road.