The Go Ahead Boys and the Mysterious Old House

  CHAPTER XVII--LEFT BEHIND

  "I think the men from the garage may have come and taken the car away,"suggested the tramp.

  "That may be the way it is," said John, relieved by the suggestion. Amoment later, however, the thought occurred to him that in the event ofthe return of the boys with a man from the garage, in all probabilitysome of them would have remained and not all have gone back with him. Inthat case his companions must be near, but as he looked up and down theroad he did not discover any trace of his friends.

  "They will be back here by and by," said the tramp encouragingly. "Itwon't take very long to straighten that rim and put on a new shoe. Thebest thing for you to do is to stay right here until they come."

  "I don't see much else to do," said John, still far from being persuadedthat an explanation of the missing car was to be found in the suggestionmade by his strange companion. "I guess I'll just have to wait."

  "If you do, then you might as well wait comfortably." As he spoke thetramp again sought the shaded place on the bank above the road, andseated on the ground, with his back against a tree, he at once began tofeast upon the apples he had brought from the orchard.

  Following his example John speedily climbed the little knoll and quicklyseated himself in a similar manner against a nearby tree.

  "We can see up and down the road here," said the tramp, "and if yourfriends come you'll know it long before they are here."

  For some reason John lost his desire to talk to the strange man. He wascontinually looking up the road in the direction in which the boys haddisappeared when they had departed in the friendly car. A half-hourpassed and only two automobiles were seen on the dusty road. The heatseemed to increase as the noon-hour approached. There was no habitationwithin sight at which a luncheon might be obtained and John now began tofeel hungry as well as anxious.

  He was by no means satisfied that George's car had been taken to thegarage by the boys. Indeed, his fear that the second car had been stolenwas steadily increasing and he was blaming himself, as not unnaturallyhe believed George would blame him if the car had indeed been taken.

  When an hour had passed a car was seen approaching which the trampquickly declared belonged to a garage in a neighboring village. "I knowthat car," he said confidently, "for I have worked in that shop."

  "Do you know anything about automobiles?" demanded John quickly.

  "Not very much, but then one doesn't have to know very much to work in aplace like that. I used to look wise and hammer a lot and then chargestill more. I have made up my mind that if ever I have to work again I'mgoing to find a job in an automobile shop. The hardest thing you have todo is to make out your bills."

  "That may be so," said John, smiling as he spoke, "though I hope itwon't prove to be the case this time. There are the boys in that car,"he added quickly, as he recognized his three friends approaching. Thecar was driven by a man in his shirt sleeves and the speed at which hewas moving proclaimed the fact that either he was an expert driver orone of the most reckless of men.

  A few minutes later the automobile was stopped in front of John, who nowran down into the road to greet the returning boys.

  "Where's the car, Jack?" inquired Grant quickly.

  "I don't know," said John.

  "You don't know! Weren't you here in charge of it?"

  "I have been here all the time except about five minutes when I went upinto the orchard yonder and got some apples. When I came back the carwas gone. This man," he added, pointing to the tramp as he spoke, "saidhe thought you had come from the garage and taken the car back withyou."

  "Whew!" whistled Fred. "This is getting exciting. First you lose one carand then you lose another. I think we'll have to go back to the oldMeeker House and look for its ghost."

  "I don't see anything funny in this," said Grant in disgust. "Here weare at least four miles from the railroad. We know how hot and dusty theroad is and we don't want--"

  "You fellows are a sympathetic crowd," broke in George. "You're thinkingabout your own comfort all the while and not a word about my losses.It's bad enough to have one car stolen to say nothing of two."

  "Do you think this second car has been stolen?" demanded Fred abruptly,turning upon his friend as he spoke.

  "Well, it's gone, isn't it?" said George.

  "Yes, it's gone," admitted Fred, "but that doesn't mean it has beenstolen."

  "Well, tell me what has become of it then? Where is it? Show me thecar."

  "I can't do it," said Fred. "I wish I could. But I don't believe thatcar has been stolen."

  "What do you think?" demanded George, turning to the mechanic as hespoke.

  "I haven't heard of a car being stolen up here in a long time, and Idon't see how anybody could have taken that car away without being seenif he was trying to steal it."

  "That's all true enough," said George angrily. "I know all those things,but tell me if you can where my car is. I don't see how anybody couldhave taken it away from here with the shoe being in the condition thatit was. I never saw such a blowout in my life."

  "Perhaps we can track it," suggested Grant.

  "That's right. That's just what we can do," said George eagerly. "Lookhere," he added, as he pointed to a place near the road where theimprint of the mutilated tire plainly could be seen.

  It was possible to follow this track a few yards, but there the trailceased, the car apparently had been brought up again on the hard roadbedand no trace was left of its passage.

  "What's become of your tramp?" demanded George, suddenly turning uponJohn.

  All four boys quickly looked about them, but the tramp had disappearedfrom sight.

  "That's one of the strangest things I ever heard of," said Fred. "Thattramp knew how you lost the other car and I guess he could tell somethings about this one too, if he wanted to."

  "He was with me all the time," spoke up John quickly. "I never lostsight of him a minute."

  "It's a pity you didn't do as well with the car," said Grant.

  "Well, the tramp and I went up into the orchard together. We weretogether all the while we were there and we came back together. When wegot back here we saw that the car was gone. The tramp was here. Now willyou please tell me how a tramp could steal an automobile and still bewith me all the while?"

  "What do you think is the best thing for us to do?" said George, turningto the mechanic.

  "Your car isn't here," said the man, "and you could track it a littleway, far enough to see that it was taken in that direction," heexplained as he pointed ahead of him. "Now that's right on the way backto the garage and my advice is for all four of you to get into the carand we'll see what we can find on the way back. If you don't findanything we can telephone when you get into the village, or you canleave on the train. There's one out in about an hour and a half."

  The suggestion finally was adopted and all four boys maintained acareful outlook for the missing car throughout their ride to the garage.However no trace of the missing automobile was discovered. The car haddisappeared and the boys were stranded in a little village in northernNew Jersey.

  Leaving his companions, George telephoned his father. The conversationlasted several minutes and when at last George rejoined his friends hesaid glumly, "My father says the best thing for us to do is to come homeby train. He told us to look out and not lose the train."

  "I guess," laughed Grant, "it would be a little more expensive for himif we should lose the train than to have us lose the cars."

  "If we keep this up much longer," said Fred, "we'll have a good big billto pay. I never knew anybody in my life that ever had a car stolen andhere we lose two inside of a week."

  "You must remember," said John soberly, "that we are the Go Ahead boys.It doesn't make any difference what we start in we have got to leave therest of them behind us. If it's looking for smugglers or digging for apirate's chest or having our automobiles stolen, it doesn't make aparticle of difference which, we are bound to go ahead, get ahead andkeep ahead."

>   "I'm glad to hear you talk that way," said George grimly. "I have beenlooking in my pockets to see if I have money enough to get a tickethome. Have any of you got money?"

  "I'll take up a collection," suggested John, seizing his cap as hespoke. The result of his efforts, however, when the sum was counted, wasnot quite sufficient to purchase the tickets required by the four boyson their return trip.

  "I don't see anything for us to do," said Fred glibly, "except to leaveString here. He's the one who is responsible for the loss of the carto-day and if anybody has to stay behind I think he ought to be theone."

  "I agree with you," said John meekly. "I'm willing to stay, for Iconfess I would like to find out what has become of that lost car."