CHAPTER IV.
JOSH DOES HIS LITTLE TRICK.
Meanwhile Josh had carried out the preliminary part of his share in theplot to the best of his ability. Rushing ahead of his chums he hadsucceeded in concealing his motorcycle amidst the bushes skirting theroad, just a little distance beyond the house.
His heart was beating like a triphammer as he turned, once this had beendone, to discover whether the men in the pursuing car had come in sightso as to notice what he was doing.
"Everything is lovely, and the goose hangs high!" Josh muttered inapparent glee, when he found that this was not the case.
His two chums had by this time halted at the door of the house, and iteven looked as though they might be saying something to some one inside.Of course Josh understood that this was part of the plan intended todeceive the men.
He was already making his way back toward the house, bending low so thatno one might see his shoulders above the bushes, which grew in profusionjust there, as if on purpose to further his designs.
Then came the rapid pulsations of the engines, as Rod and Hanky Pankygot going again. The car must be in sight, coming swinging along, withboth men keenly observant of all that was taking place.
Still Josh continued to creep forward. He wished to be as close to thebuilding as possible when the car stopped, as he felt sure would be thecase. Probably the men would not linger long, once they had rushedinside and taken a look around. Not finding him there they would belikely to "tumble to the game," as Josh put it, and hasten outside againin order to avoid any backset to their pursuit of the shrewd Americanmotorcycle boys.
When the car did stop Josh was only a dozen paces away. The friendlybushes allowed him to lie there unseen, while at the same time he couldcatch glimpses of those in whom he had such great interest.
"Shucks! I do believe the chauffeur is meaning to stick by the car," hewhispered to himself indignantly, only to hastily add in a gratifiedway: "No he isn't either, for there he jumps out after Jules, who isalready bolting inside. Now's my chance, if ever I expect to get one!Here goes, then!"
With the last words Josh was hurrying through the bushes as fast as hecould make time. Of course his pulses were thrilled with the sense ofresponsibility that rested upon his shoulders. Would one of the men comeout unexpectedly, and catch him busy with the car? Josh hoped not; atthe same time he had his mind made up just what he meant to do undersuch conditions.
If either or both of his chums happened to be looking back just thenthey must have seen him there, for he had by now attained his goal, andwas alongside the red racer.
Josh flitted from one side of the car to the other. He seemed to beworking with all the vim of which he was capable, and every time he madea movement it was accompanied by a strange sighing sound, as though somerestrained captive hailed freedom in a joyous fashion.
After all Josh was not detained there more than a couple of minutes,though it may have seemed much longer to the anxious lad, for his heartbeat so tumultuously that it really threatened to smother him.
He could constantly hear the men inside the house moving hastily about,and calling to one another in French. Evidently they were wonderingwhere the missing boy as well as his machine could be hidden. They mightat any instant begin to suspect that a clever trick had been played uponthem, and come rushing forth to protect their own car, upon which thecontinuance of the pursuit depended wholly.
At last Josh seemed to have finished his work, whatever it may havebeen, for he turned away from the car and started to run. He took to theroad, meaning to reach the spot where his motorcycle lay hidden in thebushes. Given just enough time to arrive and lay hands on the preciousmachine Josh felt sure he could laugh at any effort on the part of themen to overtake him.
Just as he came close to the hiding place of the wheel he heard a loudshout from the rear. This announced that his presence had beendiscovered by one or both of the Frenchmen. Of course their firstthought would be to leap into the car and try to speed after him. Joshchuckled with fiendish glee as he contemplated their disgust when theyfound that no matter how hard they tried they could not coax the redracer to make the first move.
He could hear them roaring as he dragged his machine out on the road.One look back was sufficient to show him how matters stood. Both menwere tumbling out of the stalled car, wild to make a hasty examinationin order to discover why it would not move an inch, though the enginewas throbbing away tumultuously all the while, just as they had left it.
"The crack I gave that self-starter rod bent it, and placed it out ofcommission, all right," Josh exclaimed, as he drew his machine to themiddle of the road, and deliberately prepared to follow after his chums;"but that was only a beginning; the worst is yet to come when they lookaround."
Louder came the angry shouts from the direction of the house. The menmust have learned the full nature of their troubles. Josh saw themstarting toward him as if under the impression that he would be sillyenough to await their coming.
"Not for Joseph; not if he knows it!" he called out, as he turned on thecurrent, and immediately commenced to spin along the roadway.
There was a sudden spiteful crack from the rear, and Josh ducked hishead involuntarily as he heard some object whistle past close to hisears.
"Wow! they're trying to wing me, for a fact!" he whooped, at the sametime bending low in his saddle, so as to present as little body surfaceas possible to the aim of the one who was doing the firing.
Several more shots rang out, sounding like the popping of champagnecorks. Doubtless the marksman, no other than Jules himself, was more orless excited, and although he might be a clever shot under ordinaryconditions, just then he failed to accomplish anything.
So Josh rolled away, waving his hand derisively when he felt that he wassafe beyond pistol shot. The boy was trembling all over, thoughhilarious concerning the wonderful success of the little plan which Rodhad conceived, and left to him to carry out.
"You've got to have your eye-teeth cut when you run afoul of the BigFive Motorcycle Boys, and don't forget that!" he shouted over hisshoulder, as he sped along; although of course the outwitted pursuerscould hardly have caught the words, and even if they did might notunderstand their import.
Rod and Hanky Panky had halted half a mile further on, watching to seewhat happened. It might be they meant to turn back, and come to theassistance of their comrade, should Fate play a scurvy trick on Josh, sothat he fell into the hands of the enemy.
When they saw him mounting and caught the familiar music of his engine'sexhaust, the muffler being open, both Rod and Hanky Panky felt likegiving shouts of exultation, for they had already discovered that thetwo men were having some difficulty with their car, after Josh had"fiddled" with the same.
Then came the shots, and of course they felt a new anxiety lest Josh bebrought to grief through this means.
"Look at him leaning low over his handlebars, will you?" cried HankyPanky, lost in admiration over the smart way Josh was accomplishing thetrick, which perhaps he had seen riders in the Wild West Show do whenpursued by Indians of the plains.
"It's all right, and Josh has saved the day for us!" exclaimed Rod,beaming with gratification. "Jules will begin to wonder what sort ofboys they raise over in the States, when he finds out what happened."
"But what did Josh do to the car, Rod?"
"You'll have to ask him," replied the other, "though I suspect he putthe starting gear out of commission to begin with. Here he is, andgrinning at a great rate."
The third rider slowed up as he approached the spot where they awaitedhim. No danger of the two men starting their car, and swooping down onthe allies; if they commenced to run on foot toward Rod and his chums itwas only necessary to leap into their saddles and be off like the wind.
"It worked like fresh grease, Rod!" panted Josh, as he threw himselfdown from his seat, and held one hand to his aching side, for thatboisterous laughter was weakening him more or less; "oh! they fell intoyour little trap like inno
cents. It was like taking candy from the babyto work them like I did."
"There they are, shaking their fists at us right now!" burst out HankyPanky, as he pointed along the road toward the deserted house.
"It's about all they can do; when you come to think of it!" grinnedJosh.
"We were getting cold feet when we heard them shooting, old fellow; andI hope none of the lead so much as touched you! I saw the dust fly upafter nearly every shot, it seemed to me."
"I rather think the fellow meant to hit my wheel and disable it,"explained the latest arrival; "but it isn't so easy to do a thing likethat, when a motorcycle is speeding along at the rate of a mile aminute. No matter what he aimed to do he missed his guess, and I gavehim the slip."
"Rod here says you must have jammed his self-starter so it wouldn't workwhen he tried it; how about that, Josh?" asked Hanky Panky, who neverwould be satisfied until he had learned all the particulars.
"You just bet that was what I did the first thing," the other told himexultantly; "but I had another card up my sleeve, too. You see theymight hammer that back into shape again, and get a move on; but I fixedit so they'll not chase after us to-day."
"What did you do, then?" demanded Hanky Panky.
"I had my big knife all ready," said Josh grimly, "and I used it withall my might and main."
"On the tires, do you mean, Josh?"
"Every one of them is sliced and slashed the worst way you ever saw,"replied the other. "I never was guilty of doing such a mean thing beforein all my life; but it was absolutely necessary if we meant to shut offpursuit. You ought to have heard the air sizzling out after I jammedthat big blade through, and ripped it along! Whee! it was mightyexciting, because I half expected to see one of the men come rushing outany old second, and chase after me down the road. But I was lucky, andnothing like that happened."
Hanky Panky looked his deep admiration. He often wished Nature had madehim as smart as Josh, with that underlying streak of Yankee blood in hisveins. Hanky was willing to try to accomplish anything that came hisway; but being a bit clumsy in his actions there was always a chancethat he would bungle his job, and fail to attain the expected results.
He slapped the late actor in the stirring little drama heartily on theback.
"Good boy, Josh!" he went on to say; "you're all wool, and a yard wide.Why, even Rod here couldn't have done a whit better. There, see, the menare starting this way as if they meant to make us get a move on."
"Oh! we're willing to oblige Jules," laughed Rod; "especially sincewe've accomplished all we meant to do, and their car is placed out ofcommission. Good-bye, Jules; if we meet again before we've played thisgame out it will be where the cannon are roaring, and the battle is on!Until that time, then, adieu!"
Immediately the trio started along the road leading to Ostend. Rod hadfigured some time back that they would soon be across the border, andtraversing French soil. The last glimpse they had of the baffled plotterhe was standing in the road and still staring hard after the vanishingMotorcycle Boys.