CHAPTER XII
DISAPPOINTMENT
“What do you suppose his game is?” asked Bob, as the auto containingNoddy and two others shot around a curve in the main road, leaving acloud of dust behind.
“His game was to delay us long enough to catch up to us, I think,”explained Jerry. “You see he lost time when he had to stop to fix histires, and he’s depending on us to show him the way to Snake Island,since he failed to get any clews as he sneaked around. But he spoiledhis own chances. We’re behind him now, and he’ll have his own troublestracing us.”
“Are you going to let him get a long way in advance?” asked Ned.
“I think so. The more trouble we can give him to pick us up thebetter--for us. I’m even going to get off the main road, if I can, andtake a less-used route.”
“The nerve of him charging us with assault and battery, just becausehe happened to run over a few tacks!” exclaimed Bob, with an air ofvirtuous indignation.
“Well, I suppose it did batter them up a bit,” remarked Jerry with asmile. “The auto stopped rather suddenly, you remember.”
“It sure did,” agreed Ned. “But say, I wonder who that other chap iswith Noddy. I saw Bill Berry plainly enough, but I can’t imagine whothe other fellow is.”
“I had a glimpse of his face,” said Professor Snodgrass, looking upfrom his note book. “I have seen him before, somewhere, but I can’trecollect where. I never forget a face, but the association sometimesescapes me. However, I may recall it later. I think--hold on, Jerry,don’t move!” he exclaimed suddenly, for the tall lad had reachedforward to start the car. “There’s a fine, big yellow-backed toad atthe foot of that stump. I must get it. It isn’t as valuable as thetwo-tailed one, but it is a very good specimen,” and the scientistleaped out and was soon in possession of the toad, which he clappedinto a box.
“All ready now?” asked Jerry, with his hand on the gear lever.
“All ready--unless I see something else,” answered Uriah Snodgrass, andthe auto rolled slowly forward. Noddy had been given enough start sothat there was no danger of catching up to him unless he halted, andhe was not likely to do that, Jerry thought. At the first farmhousethey stopped to inquire their way on some less frequented road, and,learning it, they took another highway, which, while not so good totravel on, made it less likely that they would meet or pass the bully.
For three days they traveled on, having fine weather on all butone--the day after their “arrest.” Then it rained from morning untilnight, and they progressed through water and mud, which cut down theirspeed.
They were dry and fairly comfortable, however, for the closed car wasas snug as a bungalow, and they could cook and sleep inside. Then theweather cleared, and, save for muddy roads, there was no discomfort.
“And we seem to have given Noddy the slip,” remarked Jerry, one day,for they had neither seen nor heard anything of their enemy or hiscompanions. “We’re having fine luck.”
They had been traveling by auto over a week, and were getting close toDenver, whence they would make the rest of the trip by airship, whenthere came a turn in the good fortune that had, so far, accompaniedthem.
They were going down a hill, one evening into a little town when thefoot brake unexpectedly broke, and they started off at a rapid pace.Jerry, however, quickly threw in the emergency, and brought the car upbefore any harm had resulted.
“Hum! This is a nice pickle!” exclaimed the tall lad. “Now we’ve got tolay over until this is fixed.”
“Maybe we can have it fixed over night,” suggested Ned. “There’s acombined blacksmith shop and garage just ahead,” and he pointed to it.“If we pay extra we can have the man work all night on the brake, andhave it ready for us in the morning. There must be some sort of a hotelhere, where we can put up.”
“Fine!” cried Bob. “Then I won’t have to cook supper.”
“No, but you’ll eat it,” said Jerry. “But I guess Ned’s plan is a goodone.”
The blacksmith, who also did auto repair work, agreed, for an extrafee, to put in the night fixing the brake, and the car being left athis shop, the boys went to the only hotel in the village of Lafayette.
“Here’s the register,” spoke the landlord, handing over the book to theboys and the professor. “Supper’ll soon be ready.”
“That’s good,” murmured Bob, and his chums laughed as they advancedto sign their names. As Jerry put his down first, he uttered a cry ofsurprise, and pointed to the signatures just above where theirs were togo.
“Great Scott!” exclaimed Ned, looking over his chum’s shoulder. “NoddyNixon, and Bill Berry! They were here a couple of days ago!”
“And that must be the mysterious man who was with them,” added Jerry,pointing to the signature of Dr. Kirk Belgrade.
“Kirk Belgrade! Kirk Belgrade!” murmured Professor Snodgrass, as he sawthe signature. “Where have I heard that name before? Where have I seenthat face?” He was in deep thought for a moment, and then he exclaimed:
“Oh, I have it! Belgrade. Yes, he was an instructor at my college afew years ago. A smart man, but he did some underhand work, and hewas asked to resign. The last I heard of him he had started a sortof mushroom correspondence school. Poor Belgrade! He was a brilliantscholar, but he wanted to live by his wits, instead of working.”
“What can he be doing with Noddy?” asked Ned.
“Give it up,” murmured Bob. “I wonder when supper will be ready, andwhat we’ll have to eat?”
Jerry was in deep thought.
“Professor Snodgrass,” he asked suddenly, “what branch of science didthis Dr. Belgrade teach in college?”
“Well, his specialty was electricity, and I remember when radium wasfirst discovered that he took a great interest in it. He even wrotea paper on it, that was considered very good. Another thing, thoughperhaps I should not speak of it. Our college had a small specimenof radium, that one of the founders bought, and presented to thelaboratory. One day it disappeared, and it was the same day Belgradewas asked to resign.
“There was talk that he might know something about it, but the facultyconsidered that he had disgraced our school enough by something else hedid, so they did not press the radium matter. Belgrade sold examinationpapers to some of the students. He was too brilliant, I’m afraid, forhis own good. And now to think he is in with Noddy Nixon!”
“Yes, and I believe I know what for!” exclaimed Jerry. “Noddy has takenhim along as an authority on radium, for Noddy wouldn’t know it from alump of clay. I begin to see things now. Fellows, we’ve got to be onour guard. I wish Noddy was behind us instead of ahead of us!”
“Why, do you think he’ll get to Snake Island before we do?” asked Ned.
“He may,” replied Jerry grimly. “But he’ll have his work cut out tobeat us. I wish that brake hadn’t smashed. I’d like to be travelingnow.”
But there was no help for it. They had to wait until morning, and thenthey took to the road again. For two days more they traveled on andthen, unexpectedly running out of gasolene one night they had to layover again for a half hour while the garage dealer supplied them. Hewas out, too, but the tank wagon, with a supply was on its way, he said.
“Had another auto here, a while ago, and they took my last gallon,”explained the garage attendant. “Fellow by the name of Blixen, orsomething like that. Mighty fresh, too. He wanted to beat me down on myprice.”
“Wasn’t it Nixon, and not Blixen?” asked Jerry quickly.
“Well, that might have been it. I didn’t pay much attention. His autowas badly in need of repairs, and I sort of asked if he didn’t wantme to fix it. He said he didn’t as they were only going on a littlefarther.”
“A little farther,” remarked Jerry, for it was still some distance toDenver, where Noddy was undoubtedly headed for. It was common knowledgethat the _Comet_, the airship of our heroes, was in Denver, for thepapers had contained many accounts of how it had broken records at thebig meet. Noddy could not have helped seeing th
em, and, naturally, hewould suspect that the motor boys were going to pick up their craft.
“Well, he said he and his crowd were going to take a train the rest ofthe way,” went on the garage man. “They were going to Belmont station,and take the train there. Here comes the gasolene. I’ll soon have yourtanks filled.”
“Fellows, we’ve got to do something!” exclaimed Jerry to hiscompanions, as the gasolene was being put in. “Noddy may get ahead ofus after all, and reach Denver first, if he takes a train.”
“What can we do?” asked Ned.
“Leave the auto, and take a train ourselves,” replied the tall lad.
“That’s it!” cried Bob. “Beat him at his own game!”
“Then we’ll do it,” decided Jerry. “How far is it to Belmont?” he askedof the garage man, as he paid for the gasolene.
“About twenty miles.”
“Can you get a through train there for Denver, Colorado?”
“No, only locals stop there. But if you want to go to Denver, I cantell you a better way. Why don’t you go to Meldon station. That’s onlyten miles farther on, and the Denver Limited stops there. You can makeit I guess,” and he looked at his watch. “She leaves there at nineo’clock to-night, and it’s one of the few stops until she hits Denver.You can only get locals at Belmont. The Limited beats them all topieces.”
“We’ll do it!” cried Jerry. “Come on, fellows! On to Meldon!”
“You’ve got to travel pretty fast,” the man warned them. “And the roadsaren’t very good--especially at night.”
“We can do it!” cried Jerry. “Meldon for ours, and we’ll beat Noddy onhis local!”
They were soon chugging down the road, in the gathering darkness. Bobstarted to get supper, when Jerry stopped a little later to light thepowerful gas lamps, and then they went on at increased speed. Jerrydrove the car as fast as was safe, but their bad luck pursued them, forthey took the wrong turn at a point five miles from Meldon, and wenteight miles out of their way.
“Oh hang it!” cried Ned when they were set right by a truck farmer on aload of produce. “Can we make it, Jerry?”
“I guess so,” and the tall lad threw the gasolene lever over a couplemore notches, and advanced the spark full.
The big car fairly bounded along, and it seemed as if they would get toMeldon in time to catch the Limited. But they struck a stretch of sandthat held them back. However, Jerry drove on like mad, and soon thelights of the station came into view.
“What are you going to do with the car?” cried Ned above the noise ofthe motor.
“Leave it with the agent, and have him store it for us,” replied Jerry.“I guess we’re in plenty of time, fellows,” he cried with a look at hiswatch. “I thought it was later.”
He stopped the car with a screech of brakes at the station, and jumpedout.
“You fellows get out the baggage, and I’ll see to the tickets!” hecried.
“Don’t leave any of my specimens!” cried the professor.
Jerry rushed up to the ticket agent behind his little barred window.
“Four tickets through to Denver!” exclaimed the tall lad. “On theLimited! We’ve got quite some baggage and I’d like to leave our auto inyour care. We’ll pay you well.”
“The Limited pulled out of here about an hour ago,” said the man.“You’re too late.”
“Too late? Why it isn’t nine o’clock yet!” and Jerry looked at hiswatch.
“Guess you must be wrong, friend,” spoke the agent. “That clock isstandard time for this section of the country.”
Jerry looked at his watch and gave a low whistle.
“By Jove! She’s stopped,” he cried. “That’s it. I forgot to wind mywatch last night. Oh, what a chump!”
“Then we’ve missed the Limited,” said Ned.
“And Noddy Nixon is ahead of us,” added Bob.
“I’m afraid so,” admitted Jerry, a look of disappointment on his face.“Has the local from Belmont gone?” he asked.
“Some time ago,” replied the agent. “She doesn’t stop here. The Limitedwill have passed her by now, though.”
The boys said nothing. They did not know what to do. Their enemy wasahead of them, and they were stranded. The professor was calmly lookingfor bugs on the wall of the depot.