CHAPTER XII.
ESCAPE.
It was easy for Matt to guess what had happened. Hank and Spanglerhad stopped the other car--by rolling the tree across the road again,or in some other way--and had taken possession of the runabout. Thescoundrels were in luck to have such a car come their way at just thattime.
Being a lighter machine than the touring-car, and fully as powerful,Matt knew that Hank and Spangler had the advantage. The two scoundrelswere in desperate earnest, there could be no doubt about that. They hadrisked much for the pearls and would not let them slip through theirfingers now if they could help it.
Pringle was as anxious to get away from the runabout as were Matt andCarl. If Hank and Spangler caught him, their vengeance would be swiftand terrible. Pringle's easiest way out of the difficulty was to staywith the two boys.
Although the country through which the road ran was bluffy and rough,yet the road itself traveled the level places and was hard and firm.
Matt speeded up the engine to the limit and drew out every ounce ofpower.
"Dey're gaining!" shouted Carl; "dey're coming oop on us, Matt! Vell, It'ink dis is our hoodoo tay, anyvays."
"Tear her to pieces!" cried Pringle. "Is this the best you can do? Itwill be all day with me if Hank comes alongside!"
They were doing fifty-five miles an hour, and Matt knew that they couldnot do any better, no matter what happened. He was hoping for somethingto turn up--that was all that could help them now.
Carl thought that was their hoodoo day, but he had occasion to changehis mind.
"Somet'ing iss going wrong mit der odder machine, Matt!" he called."Dey're preaking down, I bed you."
"That's what!" came from Pringle. "Hank acts as though he wanted tokill the driver. Is the driver making a play, or has something reallyslipped a cog? They're at a standstill."
Matt decreased the Red Flier's speed and looked back. The driverof the other car was on the ground and both Hank and Spangler werestanding over him with drawn guns.
"Judging from what the driver is doing," said Matt, "it can't be a tirethey've blown up. Water in the carburetter, perhaps. If that's thecase, they'll be after us like a singed cat in less than a minute."
A bend in the road hid those in the touring-car from a view of theirenemies behind. The road curved back and forth, through that part ofthe hills, and Matt was just making ready to let the Flier out againwhen Pringle made a suggestion.
"You can't give them the slip on a straightaway run, can you?" hecalled.
"No," answered Matt.
"And if they're only hung up for two or three minutes they'll catch us?"
"Easy."
"Well, I don't want to be hooked by that outfit, and I know a way wecan dodge 'em."
"How?"
"Right ahead, on the left, there's a gully in the hills. You can gothrough it from end to end, easy enough, and at the farther end there'sanother road. Duck into that gully, quick!"
This seemed like a good move to Matt. He pulled the Red Flier down tothe low gear.
"Oof you vas drying to make us some drouples, Pringle," warned Carl,"you vill ged vorse as you have hat yet."
"Aw, splash!" snorted Pringle. "What do you take me for? I was helpin'Denny to skip with the pearls, and Hank would kill me for that, if hecould. I'm a lot more anxious to dodge him than you fellows are. Takethe gully! I know what I'm talking about. I was through the place withHank and Spang this morning."
Matt's keen eyes were already surveying the gully, and the ground thatlay between the mouth of it and the road. The other car could be heardcoming, and there was scant time for making a decision. A turn withthe steering-wheel headed the Flier for the opening, and she glided inbetween the sloping walls of the narrow swale.
Hardly was the car out of sight when the runabout came ripping along ina cloud of dust. None of those aboard saw the Red Flier, but had theireyes on the next turn of the trail.
"Fooled!" laughed Pringle huskily. "If you take my advice, you'll keepgoing through the gully. As I just said, there is another good roadbeyond."
This advice seemed good to Matt, for, if they had pushed out into theroad again and headed the other way, they might soon find the runaboutonce more behind them.
The bed of the gully was sandy, but there were no sharp stones oranything else to injure the tires. Proceeding carefully, Matt kept thecar headed for the other road.
"I got a bottle of corn-juice in my back pocket," said Pringle, after awhile, "and I feel the need of a nip. How about having one, all around?"
"Not for me," returned Matt promptly.
"Und nod for you, neider, Pringle," said Carl. "You vas too mooch oof afeller for der booze, und dot's vat's blayed der tickens mit you."
"How did you come to hook up with Hank, Spangler, and Trymore?" askedMatt.
"If I put you next," replied Pringle, "I expect you to do what you canfor me."
"I'll do that--only I want the truth."
"That's what you'll get, right off the bat. I'm down, and you've gotthe pearls, and Hank and Spang are hot on my trail. I've all to win byputting you wise, and I don't see how I've got anything to lose.
"This Denny Jerome, otherwise Denver Denny, otherwise James Trymore,and some others, is an old pal of mine. We used to turn a knockaboutspiel behind the footlights on a little two-by-four Western circuit;but Denny got to selling gold bricks to Jaspers and quit on me. I dida little with him, on the side, but the pace was too swift for mynerve. Denny got jugged, and made a getaway, and a friend told him thatTomlinson had picked up some pearls down in Yuma, and was to bring themback to Denver in his touring-car. That looked like good picking forDenny, and he slid for Brockville, A. T., and sent Hank to Yuma to seewhether Tomlinson was really going to tote the pearls along with him orhave the sense to put them through to Denver by express.
"Hank's the wise boy, all right, and he not only discovered thatTomlinson was just as foolish as he was made out to be, but picked upthe road they were taking from Tomlinson's chauffeur. Hank then tookthe train for Brockville, Denny sent word to me, and I pulled out tojoin him and Hank and Spang.
"We laid for the touring-car beyond Ash Fork--stopped it by rolling abig stone into the road. Tomlinson and his driver showed fight, andDenny got a bit of a gouge in the block. He seemed all right, though,and pulled himself together in time to relieve Tomlinson of the silkbag.
"Close by that place where we blocked the trail there's an old adobehut between two hills. From the looks of it, no one has lived there fora hundred years. The play was for Hank, Spang, and little Bright-eyesto take Tomlinson and the chauffeur to the hut and leave them there,neatly roped. Well, we did it; then, when we flocked back to the road,we found that this nice big car was gone and Denny gone with it.Strange as it may seem, Denny had forgot to leave the pearls.
"Oh, well, the air was blue for a while. Then, after Hank and Spang hadtaken their oaths they'd get the pearls and Denny's scalp along with'em, we soldiered along toward Ash Fork, hugging the hills all the way.We went into camp in a dry-wash close to town, and when evening settleddown, Hank sneaked into the burg and came back with a hot clue. The RedFlier was in the hotel barn, and Denny was in the hotel. The questionwas, did Denny have the pearls in his clothes, or had he hid 'em aroundthe automobile? It looked like a raw play for him to keep the pearls inhis pocket and run the risk of being caught with the goods, and we wereall thinking he must have put 'em in the buzz-wagon.
"Hank and Spang went into town on their horses to have a look throughthe barn. Just as they had given up trying to find the pearls, someone came in and went to the machine while some one else stood in thedoor. Hank had a dark lantern--all of Denny's belongings he'd left withus--and he flashed it on the chap by the car. The fellow had a letter.Spang got it. They went after pearls and came back with the paper-talkI'd sent to Spang at Brockville. Then there was more language, and moreswearing about what we'd do to Denny when we dropped onto him.
"There were only two ways Denny could g
o out of Ash Fork. One road wasback toward the place where Tomlinson was held up. We knew he wouldn'tgo that way. The other road headed for Flagstaff. Hank stole an ax andwe moved along the Flagstaff road early in the morning. We rode throughthis gully--that's how I came to know about it--and we crossed themountain through the crack in the top of it and dropped a tree acrossthe trail. Then we went up into the gap, where we could see a mile ortwo in every direction, and spotted the car when it came along with ourabsent-minded pal.
"Hank and Spang rushed down with their horses, just throwing a bluff inorder to make sure the car got around the mountain to the tree. Afterthat, Hank and Spang came up the hill, left their horses with me, andscrambled down to a lot of bushes.
"I was holding three horses in the gap. See? Then, all at once, whoshows up but Denny. I was for yelling to Hank and Spang, but Dennystops me. He had the pearls, he says, and I might as well have half of'em. What's the use of letting Hank and Spang in on a good thing whenwe could have it all to ourselves? Well, I went him one. Denny got ontoone horse, and I got onto the other and led the third. You're wise,I guess, that we counted on getting away while that buzz-wagon washooked to the tree; consequently, we were scared stiff when we heard itclimbing after us.
"We took to the timber. What else could we do? The led horse partedcompany with me, Hank caught it, and then he pushed us hard. My horsetumbled; that left me on foot. All Denny and I had been thinkingabout was getting back to the car and making you fellows get us outof our hole. We might have made the riffle, I guess, if Denny hadn'tplayed out and tumbled from his saddle. That hurt in the head musthave weakened him some; anyhow, he laid on the ground as stiff as amackerel. Not being able to do anything for Denny, I guessed I'd dowhat I could for Bright-eyes, so I stopped to get the silk bag. Camepretty near stopping too long, because some one took a shot at me, andI guess I jumped twenty feet.
"Hank was after me, and Hank was on his horse. What's more, Hank hadseen me taking the silk bag. I knew right off it was a nip-and-tuckrace, with the chances in favor of a man called Pringle getting nipped.Well, I traveled. When I reached a high place and couldn't go on myfeet I laid down and rolled over. That's how I got to the car, andwas warmly greeted by Pretzel. You know the rest. Is the spiel worthanything?"
Matt, while steering the car through the gully, had been followingPringle closely.
"I'm willing to let you go, Pringle," said he, "providing you take usto the place where you left Tomlinson and his chauffeur, and providingneither of them is hurt."
"Und broviding," added Carl, "you gif me pack vat you dook dot vasmine."
"You're on, both of you!" said Pringle. "I didn't think my dope wouldbring all that. Ahead of the car is the end of the gully, and just overthe end is that nice road I was telling you about. That road will takeus past the adobe hut and keep us out of Ash Fork all the way. It mightbe well to push the pace, though. Now that Hank and Spang have got amachine of their own, they may get the notion that we'll try to dosomething for James Q. Tomlinson, and make a play to block us."
The unfortunate jeweler had been in Matt's mind all the time, eversince the mystery had cleared enough so he could understand what hadhappened.
In order to reach the road Pringle described, it was necessary to climbthe gully-bank. The climb was a stiff one, but Matt put the Red Flierat it without loss of a moment.
There was warm work ahead--and it would be warmer if Hank and Spangtried to block proceedings with the runabout.