“Then you think the fellow purchased the cigarettes for Jasniff?” questioned Roger, after our hero had made the declaration concerning the Wadsworth robbery.
“Either that, Roger; or else the fellow purchased the cigarettes for himself.”
“Do you mean to insinuate that that chauffeur was Nick Jasniff?” exclaimed the senator’s son.
“Why not, Roger? It would be an easy matter for Jasniff to disguise himself. In fact, if he was in any such game as this, I think that is just what he would do. He could easily stain his skin with some walnut juice, or something like that, gotten from the gypsies, and then put on a wig and a false mustache.”
“I believe that’s just what he did!” exclaimed Roger. “I know one thing—he was a good hand at running automobiles. I have seen him do it.”
“The whole thing fits in pretty closely,” went on Dave. “First, Jasniff was angry at Mr. 248Wadsworth and the rest of us for placing him in prison. Next, he stole those letters and my money. The letters told him all about the gypsies and their troubles with our folks. He put two and two together, came on East, and fixed up the plan to kidnap the girls.”
“But how did they get the girls to leave the train at Crandall and then go from the hotel to where the automobile stood along the road?”
“That is something still to be explained. But that can wait. What we want to do just now is to find out where they took Jessie and Laura, and rescue them.”
“It certainly is a great search, Dave. What are you going to do next?”
“I think the best thing we can do is to work our way along to Frytown. That is quite a place, and it is barely possible that from there we can get into communication with Crumville on the long distance telephone. If we can do that, we can tell the folks at home all we have learned, and get them to send some first-class detectives out this way to assist us in the search.”
“Let’s run rather slow on the way to Frytown,” suggested the senator’s son. “We may be able to pick up more clues.”
“Yes, we’ll keep our eyes wide open.”
They presently found themselves on a lonely stretch of the country road, and here it was so 249dark they had to turn on all the lights of the machine.
“I’d give all I’m worth, Dave, if we could catch sight of that other car,” remarked Roger, after a spell of silence.
“I’m afraid that’s too much to hope for,” answered our hero, with a grim smile. “We ought to be thankful that we have learned as much as we have. If we hadn’t met that fellow on the motorcycle down at the Crossing, we might still be hunting for clues along the line of the railroad between Crandall and Boston.”
“Oh, yes, I think we’ve done wonderfully well.”
On the way to Frytown they stopped at six or seven farmhouses, but without learning anything that was to their advantage. Two farmers had seen the big touring car with the battered mud-guard go by a week or two before, but could give no definite information as to who had been driving it or what passengers the automobile had contained.
“So many machines comin’ and goin’ these days, a feller don’t pay much ’tention to ’em,” was the way one farmer expressed himself.
“I know it,” answered Dave. “But we are very anxious to find that car, so I thought it wouldn’t do any harm to ask.”
“Oh, no harm whatever,” said the farmer.
250When the chums reached Frytown it was after nine o’clock. They made their way at once to the American House, the hotel which the Kapton storekeeper had mentioned, and there placed their machine in the garage, engaged a room, and asked if they might be served with something to eat.
“The dining room is closed,” announced the proprietor. “But we don’t let anybody starve,” he added, with a smile. “Just come this way, and I guess we can fix you up,” and he led them to a side room, where a waitress served them with a plain but substantial supper. Before this was eaten, however, Dave questioned the man about telephone connections.
“You can’t get any out-of-town connections after seven o’clock,” was the statement made by the hotel keeper. “You’ll have to wait until seven o’clock to-morrow morning.”
After the meal the two chums questioned the hotel man and several of his assistants about the big automobile they were looking for, and were informed that the touring-car had been seen in Frytown a number of times, moving up and down the main road.
“Once I saw it when it had several people inside besides the chauffeur,” said one man. “The people seemed to be cuttin’ up pretty well, but what it was all about, I don’t know. The car 251was goin’ too fast to give a fellow a chance to see.”
“How long ago was that?” questioned Dave quickly.
“Oh, I don’t know. Ten days or two weeks—or maybe longer.”
“Do you remember which way the car was going at that time?”
“Sure. It was headed in the direction of Cullomburg.”
“How far is that town?” questioned Roger.
“That’s up in the mountains about eight miles from here. It’s a pretty fair road, though, all the way.”
After receiving this information, Dave and Roger took a walk around the town, stopping at several of the stores and making a number of small purchases just for the sake of getting into conversation with the storekeepers. From one of these they learned that the man who had driven the car had come in for some supplies, including some cigarettes.
“Yes, he bought six packages of Turkish cigarettes—all I had,” said the storekeeper.
From this man they learned that there was a regular public garage in the place with a machine shop attached.
“Let us go over there. Possibly the fellow 252with the car stopped for gasoline or oil, or to get something fixed,” said our hero.
The garage was a short distance up a side street, and they found the man in charge sitting in a little office with his feet on a desk and smoking a corncob pipe. They stared at this man for a moment in amazement, and then both burst out:
“Horsehair!”
“Eh? Wot’s that?” cried the man, and swung his feet down from the desk and leaped up, taking his corncob pipe from his mouth as he did so. “Well now, ain’t this jest wonderful!” he ejaculated. “Dave Porter and Roger Morr! Who would ‘a’ thunk it!”
“And who would have thought of meeting you here, Horsehair?” cried Dave, shaking hands vigorously, quickly followed by his chum.
“Why, we thought you were still driving the stage-coach at Oak Hall,” remarked the senator’s son.
For the man they had run across so unexpectedly was indeed Jackson Lemond, the man who for years had driven the stage-coach and worked around the stables at the boarding-school. Because of the number of horsehairs which continually clung to his clothing, the pupils had never known him by any other name than Horsehair.
“Well, you see, I got a leetle bit old for that job—or else the boys got a leetle bit too frisky 253fer me, so I looked around fer something else that was a bit more quiet; and as my cousin owned this garage, and he was too sick to tend to business, I come out here and took hold—and here I be.”
“It’s like a touch of old times, Horsehair!” cried Dave, as he dropped on a chair, while Roger did the same. And then after a few more words about their former doings at Oak Hall our hero continued: “I am after some information, and I know you’ll give it to me if you possibly can. Have you noticed during the past couple of weeks a big touring-car around here—a car that has one of the mud-guards badly smashed, and the wind-shield cracked, and a good deal scratched up?”
“Sure, I know that car,” answered Horsehair readily. “The feller that runs it was in here to git some new batteries, and also some gas and oil.”
“Was he smoking cigarettes?” questioned Roger.
“He was—one right after another. But I told him not to smoke while I was pourin’ in the gasoline. I don’t want to go up to heaven jest yet;” and Horsehair chuckled over his little joke.
“Have you any idea where that fellow came from or where he went to?” questioned Dave. “I might as well tell you, Horsehair, it is of 254great importance. We suspect that fellow of some serious crimes.”
“You don’t say, Porter! What did he do—steal that machine? Oh, I know them auto thieves is all over. They told me only last week a car was stole in and around Boston ’most every day.”
“Never mind what the fellow is guilty of, Horsehair. What we want to do is to find him, and then you’ll know all about it.”
“Well, I don’t know where he come from, but after he got fixed up here he turned off in the direction of Cullomburg.”
“Do you know what make of car it was?”
“Yes, although the name-plate had been tore off. It was a Simms-Tecco, one of them old foreign cars. Must be about eight or a dozen years old. It had them old-fashioned battery connections on it, and had them old Horseshoe anti-skid tires on the rear wheels. That’s how I remember it.”
“You must have learned a lot about cars after you left Oak Hall,” was Roger’s comment.
“Oh, I’m right in the business now, I am!” answered Horsehair proudly.
“You didn’t know who the fellow was, did you?” questioned Dave.
“No, I didn’t. But do you know, he acted awful queer—that feller did. He come sailin’ in 255here shoutin’ out fer gasoline, and all at once, when he seen me, he stopped as if he was shot, and fer a minute or two I thought he was goin’ to back out and go ’way. Then he seemed to git over it and bought what he wanted, jest like I said.”
“It is no wonder that he was surprised, if he is the fellow we think,” answered Dave. “Do you remember a chap who went to Oak Hall, named Nick Jasniff—the fellow who once attacked me in the gymnasium with an Indian club and then ran away?”
“O’ course I remember that big overgrown bully,” answered Horsehair.
“Well, that’s the fellow we think it is,” said Roger.
“But it can’t be him! This feller was a furriner. He had real dark skin and dark hair and a little dark mustache.”
“We think he was in disguise.”
“Gee, sho! you don’t mean it?” ejaculated Jackson Lemond. “Gosh, it does beat all wot some fellers will do! And I suppose he stole that auto?”
“We don’t know about that. But even if he did, we think he is guilty of a worse crime,” answered Dave; and thereupon related some of the particulars concerning the disappearance of his sister and Jessie.
256“Well, if that rascal is guilty of sech a measly piece of business as that, I hope you ketch him,” said Horsehair. “He deserves to be put behind the bars.”
The two chums talked the matter over with the former stage driver of Oak Hall for fully half an hour, and then returned to the hotel. Now that the scent of the trail seemed to grow warmer, it was hard for them to rest, and they slept but little and were glad when morning was at hand.
“I am going to call up Crumville on the telephone as soon as possible,” declared Dave, and went to a booth to see if he could get the necessary connections.
It took some little time, but finally he recognized the voice of Mr. Wadsworth.
“This is Dave—Dave Porter,” said our hero. “I’ve got some news of importance.”
“And we’ve got some news, too,” answered the jewelry manufacturer.
The news Mr. Oliver Wadsworth had to impart was to the effect that two more notes had been received from those who held Laura and Jessie prisoners.
The first told that it was known Dave and Roger were trying to follow up those who had committed the crime, and added a warning that it would do no good and if they persisted in the search they would certainly come to grief. The second communication had been another demand for the fifty thousand dollars, stating that the sum must be paid over in cash inside of the next three days and designating how the transfer was to be made. With that communication was sent a lock of each girl’s hair and also a card on which was written: “We are well,” and signed by both.
“I’m glad to know they are well,” answered Dave; and then he related the particulars of what he and Roger had discovered since they had sent their former messages to Crumville.
“It certainly looks as if you were on the right 258track!” exclaimed the jewelry manufacturer. “I hope you will notify the local authorities, so that they will watch out for that car and those who are running it.”
“We have done that,” answered our hero; “but the local authorities up here do not amount to a great deal when it comes to running down such slick criminals. I think the best thing you can do is to notify some of those city detectives to come up here and get busy.”
“You can rest assured, Dave, that I will do that—and at once,” was the reply. “Where can they get into communication with you?”
“We are now stopping at the American House in Frytown, but from here we are going to go up into the mountains to Cullomburg. We have an idea that the girls are being held somewhere between here and Cullomburg or beyond. There are not very many good roads around here, and it is reported that the battered-up touring-car was seen going back and forth on the road between here and that mountain town.”
Before the conversation over the telephone came to an end, Dunston Porter broke in on the Crumville end of the wire, and when he heard of what had been discovered stated that he would come on to Crandall immediately, bringing several men with him, and there get some kind of turnout to take him to Frytown and beyond.
259“There can’t be too many of us in this search,” said Dave’s uncle.
“If we learn anything new we’ll send word to you at the American House in Frytown,” announced Dave, “and if we need any signal remember what we used to use—two shots or two whistles in quick succession”; and thereupon the telephone conversation came to an end.
“I’m glad to learn your uncle is coming up here and that he will bring two or three men with him,” said Roger, when told of what had been said over the wire. “As your uncle says, it would be impossible for us to round up those rascals alone, even if we were fortunate enough to locate them.”
“I don’t want to round them up so much as I want to rescue Jessie and Laura,” was the reply.
“I’m glad to learn that they are well, Dave.”
“But we can’t be sure of that, Roger. That card may have been signed under compulsion, or it may have been signed some days ago. There is no telling what condition the girls are in just now. They may have been dreadfully mistreated,” and the look on Dave’s face showed his great anxiety.
The chums explained the situation to the hotel proprietor, who promised to aid them in every way possible. Then they had breakfast, paid their bill, and rode away from the hotel. They stopped at the garage where Horsehair was in 260charge, and there purchased some gasoline and oil and had a little more air put in their tires.
“Now don’t forget, Horsehair,” said Dave. “If that fellow puts in an appearance with that battered-up car—or anybody else comes with that car—be sure to have the fellow held. I don’t care how you do it—just see to it that he doesn’t get away. If he talks about damages, or anything like that, don’t pay any attention to him. We’ll foot the bill, if there’s anything to pay.”
“All right, Porter, you leave it to me,” answered the former stage-driver of Oak Hall. “If I git my claws on ’im, you bet your boots he ain’t goin’ to git away, nohow.”
“And remember, if you see any of those people, or see any people who look like gypsies around here, either let me know, or else leave word at the hotel for my uncle, Dunston Porter.”
“Is he here?”
“Not yet. But I expect him up here before to-night.”
Dave had questioned Horsehair about the road to Cullomburg, and had been told that it was a winding highway, passing over two small hills, and then going up into the mountains beyond. There were a number of cross-roads, but none of these was in very good condition, and that to travel them in an automobile would be difficult.
261“I wonder if we had better take somebody along?” remarked Roger, when they were about to leave. “We might get a constable, or somebody like that.”
“I think we had better make this search on our own hook,” answered our hero. “Outsiders might be more in the way than anything else.”
“I wish we had brought along some sort of disguises, Dave. They might come in handy.”
“We can put on our auto goggles and pull our caps down pretty well over our foreheads and button our dust-coats tight up around our necks, just as Jasniff did. That will help to disguise us.”
A little while later found them on the road to Cullomburg. The highway was a winding one, passing a number of farms, where, however, the houses sat back a considerable distance from the road. Here and there they had to pass through patches of woods, and at one point they crossed a rickety bridge that spanned a small mountain torrent.
“That bridge isn’t any too good for a heavy auto,” announced Roger, after they had rattled over it. “Some day some fellow with a heavy load will break through.”
So far they had met nobody on the road, but now they heard the rattle of a wagon, and presently a sleepy-looking farmer, drawing a load of 262hay, appeared. He was willing enough to stop and talk, but could give them no information concerning the battered touring-car.
“I belong on the other side of Cullomburg, an’ I don’t git down on this end o’ the road very much,” he explained.
“Do automobiles use the road on the other side of Cullomburg?” questioned Roger.
“They do when they don’t know where they’re at,” answered the farmer, with a chuckle. “A feller from Boston come through that way this spring, an’ he vowed he’d never come ag’in. He got stuck in the mud twice, an’ he cut two tires all to pieces on the rocks, an’ I guess it was too expensive fer ’im.”
“Then the good road ends at Cullomburg?” said Dave.
“That’s right, mister. An’ the last half-mile into town ain’t none too good at that.”
“And the side-roads are all poor, too?”
“Yes, sir, every blame one o’ them. We ought to have ’em fixed up, but the folks aroun’ here don’t want to pay the taxes for doin’ it.” And then the farmer with the load of hay rattled on down the road.
“Well, the trail seems to be shortening,” announced Dave, as they continued on their way up a steep grade where he had to throw the clutch into second gear. “If that car couldn’t use the 263road beyond Cullomburg and couldn’t use any of the side-roads, those rascals must be hanging out somewhere on this road between Frytown and Cullomburg.”
They were passing up a rocky bit of the roadway when suddenly there came a loud report from one of the back tires. Dave turned off the power and put on the hand-brake, and they came to a stop.
“A blow-out,” he announced laconically.
“I was thinking we might get something of that sort after what that farmer said,” answered the senator’s son. “Well, it’s all in the day’s work, Dave. We might as well get out and see how much damage has been done.”
The cut in the back tire was not a large one, and at first they thought to use the same tire again by putting in a patch. Then, however, Dave changed his mind, and said he would put on another shoe.
“The tube might blow out through the patch just when we wanted to use the car the worst way,” he said. “If we have to, we can fall back on this old shoe later on.”
The chums were used to putting on tires, so the task did not take them very long. There was a device attached to the engine for blowing up the inner tube, so they were saved the trouble of this exertion.
264“Suppose you let me run the car for a while?” suggested the senator’s son.
“All right, Roger; go ahead,” was the ready reply. “Only don’t run too fast. I’ve got another idea. Perhaps we’ll be able to trace that other car by the marks left in the roadway. Don’t you remember Horsehair said that the back wheels of the car were equipped with the old-style Horseshoe anti-skid tires?”
“Yes, I remember his saying that.”
They proceeded along the mountain road with care, doing this not only to look for some trace of the car they wanted to locate, but also in order to avoid the rough stones which seemed to crop up most unexpectedly. A quarter of a mile farther on, they came out on a level stretch, and just beyond was a cross-road. Here the woods were thick on all sides, and the roadway was covered with dirt and decayed leaves.
“Certainly a rather lonely place,” announced Roger.
“A splendid place in which to hide,” answered Dave, and then, as they came closer to the cross-road, he added: “Let us stop here, Roger, I want to take a look around.”
The touring-car was brought to a halt, and the chums got out and began to inspect the wagon and other tracks to be seen both on the highway which they had been traveling and the narrow cross-road. 265A few minutes later Dave uttered a cry.
“Here are the marks of auto tires, Roger! Just look in this muddy stretch. Wouldn’t you say that those were the marks of the Horseshoe anti-skid shoes?”
“That’s just what they are, Dave!” answered the senator’s son, after a brief examination.
The marks had been discovered on the side-road to their left. The road was a winding one, leading through the thick woods, and what was beyond they could not surmise.
“It seems to me this proves their hiding-place must be up on that road,” said Roger.
“Let us go down the road on the other side and see if any of the marks are there,” returned our hero.
This was done, but no automobile marks of any kind were to be discerned in the soft soil. Then they came back to the cross-road, and after a long hunt found traces where the other touring car had come around the corner from the side-road into the main road leading down to Frytown.
“That settles it in my mind,” announced Dave. “I don’t believe they ever went through to Cullomburg or that they ever went up that side road on our right. They took this side-road to the left, and it’s my opinion that leads to where they have got Laura and Jessie prisoners.”
266“What do you think we ought to do, Dave? Go back to town and get help and round them up?”
Our hero mused for a moment. “Maybe we had better go ahead, Roger, and do a little more investigating.”
“But suppose those rascals come on us all at once and surprise us? For all we know there may be half a dozen or more in this gang.”
“I’ve got another idea. I don’t believe this road is very long. As we came up I saw through the clearing below that there was quite a mountain on our left, and this road probably ends right there. Now, if you are willing, we’ll run our machine up past the cross-road a little distance, and then see if we can’t hide it behind the bushes. Then we can tramp up on the side road on foot.”
“All right, Dave. Let us do it—and at once!”
It was an easy matter to run the car a hundred feet or so beyond the side road. Here the trees were slightly scattered, and they had little difficulty in bringing the machine to a halt in the midst of them at a place where there were a few bushes. Then Dave took out the spark plug from the dashboard and placed it in his pocket.
“I don’t believe anybody will bother that car,” he said.
“Perhaps we won’t be gone very long anyhow, Dave. This may prove to be a blind road leading to nothing.”
They pushed on side by side. As it was very warm they had discarded their dust-coats and their goggles. Each had seen to it that his pistol was ready for use, for there was no telling what might confront them.
A little farther on the road took a turn, and here became so stony that the tracks made by the wheels of the car they were following were completely lost. But as there was no place where the machine might have turned around, they felt certain it had gone on.
268“We had better keep quiet from now on, Roger,” said our hero in a low voice. “And keep your ears and eyes wide open.”
Two hundred feet more were passed and then Dave came to a halt, at the same time clutching his chum by the arm. From ahead they heard footsteps coming down the rocky roadway. Both made a bound, and crouched behind some trees and brushwood. The approaching person, whoever he was, came closer; and presently the two youths saw that he was a middle-aged man dressed in the garb of a gypsy.
“I’ve seen that fellow before! He is one of the gypsies who used to hang around the outskirts of Crumville!” whispered Dave excitedly.
“Then he must be one of the chaps who ran off with Laura and Jessie!” returned the senator’s son. “What shall we do?”
“Wait a minute. We want to make sure that he is alone.”
They waited until the gypsy had passed them and gone on a distance of a hundred feet or more. He was evidently alone.
“Maybe we had better let him go,” whispered Roger. “That will make one less to tackle, if the others are ahead of us.”
“He’s not going to get away,” answered Dave decidedly. “We may not meet the others at all, and in that case we’d be very foolish to let this 269fellow get out of our clutches. Come on! I’m going to make him a prisoner!”
Making as little noise as possible, our hero went after the gypsy, who had now passed a turn in the road and was out of sight. The senator’s son followed, and soon both came up behind the fellow ahead.
The gypsy was taken completely by surprise. He had seated himself on a rock to fix one of his shoes, and before he could regain his feet both of the young civil engineers had him covered with their weapons.
“Throw up your hands and keep quiet,” demanded Dave sternly.
“Yes, don’t you dare to cry out,” added Roger. “If you do, you’ll get shot.”
“What is this? For why do you stop me like this?” stammered the gypsy. He was a tall, swarthy-looking fellow, with anything but a cheerful countenance.
“You know well enough why we have stopped you,” returned Dave. “What have you done with those two young ladies who belong in Crumville?”
“I know not’ing of any young ladies,” grumbled the gypsy. “You make big mistake.”
“You do know!” cried Roger. “Now tell us the truth! Have you hurt those young ladies?”
“I know not’ing,” was all the gypsy replied. 270And, try their best, that was about all the two chums could get out of him.
Had the man not been covered by the pistols he would undoubtedly have shown fight, but he was too cowardly to attempt anything under the existing circumstances.
Not knowing what else to do with their prisoner, the two youths marched him down the road and to where they had left the automobile. Here they brought out a strong rope, and with this bound the gypsy’s hands and feet and tied him fast to one of the trees.
“I guess he’ll stay there until we get back,” was Dave’s comment. “Now then, are you going to tell us what became of those young ladies or not?” he questioned. But to this the gypsy merely shook his head and muttered something which neither of the young civil engineers could understand.
“I don’t believe that fellow is altogether right in his mind,” said Roger.
“Either that, Roger, or else he is shamming,” answered Dave. But Roger was right, the fellow was not more than half-witted.
Leaving their prisoner, the two chums lost no time in making their way along the side-road once more. They soon passed the point where they had first caught sight of the gypsy. Here the roadway became fairly good for a distance of 271several hundred feet, but beyond this were a number of large rocks, and the road seemed to come to an end in a mass of brushwood.
“Let us look around for wheel-tracks, Roger,” said Dave in a low voice.
Both began an eager search, and were soon rewarded by seeing where the touring-car they were following had left the mountain road and passed in among some trees and bushes on the right. Close at hand was a spring of water, and beyond this the remains of a tumbled-down barn.
“I see the car!” whispered Dave, and pointed to the machine, which rested behind some rocks and brushwood. One glance at the automobile showed that it was deserted.
“They can’t be very far off,” said Roger in a low voice. “Dave, what do you think we had better do next?”
“Let us get behind the trees and bushes and reconnoiter,” was the answer. “Be very careful, Roger, so that you don’t expose yourself. We don’t want to tumble into a hornet’s nest.”
“Don’t you think we had better go back to town and get help, or wait until your Uncle Dunston arrives?”
“Maybe we’ll have to do that. But I want to discover where the girls are first, if I possibly can.”
With extreme caution the young men moved 272along behind the trees. They saw that from the dilapidated barn a trail ran over some rough rocks to where was located a large bungalow. This had evidently been unused for years, and was almost as dilapidated as the other building. One end of the front porch had fallen down, and many of the windows had the glass broken out of them.
“I’d like to wager that this is the place to which they brought the girls,” whispered Roger.
“I think you’re right,” answered Dave. “And if that is so, and those rascals are around here, we want to be more careful than ever.”
Nobody was in sight around the dilapidated bungalow, and not a sound came from within. Presently, however, Dave noticed a thin wreath of smoke curling up from the chimney.
“Somebody has got a fire in there—that’s sure,” he whispered. “I’m going to work my way around to the kitchen side of the building.”
With added caution the two youths crept along among the trees and over the rocks until they gained a point where they could look into the open kitchen of the bungalow. Here they saw an old gypsy woman moving around as if preparing a meal.
“I’ll bet that’s Mother Domoza, in fact, I’m almost certain of it,” whispered our hero. And he 273was right, it was indeed the gypsy woman who had caused so much trouble to the folks in Crumville.
The two chums crept closer, and were then able to see what Mother Domoza was doing. She had prepared some things to eat over a small rusty stove in the bungalow, and now she placed this food on a couple of tin plates. Then, with the plates in one hand and a tin kettle of water in the other, the old woman left the kitchen and entered the front part of the bungalow.
“Do you know what I think?” said Roger excitedly. “I think she’s been getting some food ready for the girls!”
“I’m going to follow her and find out,” answered Dave, with sudden determination.
“But, Dave, we want to be careful! If those other fellows are around——”
“I know, Roger. But I was thinking that possibly we could get into the bungalow without being seen. It is a big rambling affair, as you can see, and it must have a lot of vacant rooms.”
Our hero led the way across a little clearing, and then entered the kitchen of the house. Going to one of the doors, he listened intently and heard Mother Domoza ascending a creaking pair of stairs. Then he heard a door slam, after which, for the time being, all became silent.
Not daring to speak for fear of being overheard, 274our hero tiptoed his way across what had been the living room of the bungalow and then to the narrow stairs which led to the upper floor. Roger came close behind him, and soon the pair stood on an upper landing. All was bare, the entire building being devoid of everything but a few heavy pieces of furniture, evidently left there years before because the owner did not think they were worth carrying away.
“Oh! oh! please don’t do that! Please don’t!”
The unexpected cry came from a room at the end of a corridor. It was the voice of a girl, and was immediately followed by some harsh words uttered by the gypsy woman. Then the voice of another girl was heard.
“You let her alone! Don’t you dare to touch her, or touch me!”
“I’ll do as I please! I’ll make you behave yourselves!” came in the voice of Mother Domoza. And then there followed some heavy footsteps and several girlish screams.
Not waiting to hear more, Dave and Roger bounded down the corridor and flung themselves against the door to the room from which the sounds had issued. They had recognized the voices of Laura and Jessie, and were more than eager to go to the girls’ assistance.
The door had been closed, and evidently something 275had been placed against it. But the two young civil engineers were strong and their excitement gave them additional strength. They flung the door open readily, sending a bench before it. As they did this they found themselves confronted by Mother Domoza, her eyes blazing with commingled astonishment and anger.
“You—you!” she shrieked. “What do you want here?”
“It’s Dave!” shrieked Jessie.
“And Roger!” exclaimed Laura.
Then the two girls attempted to move toward the two youths, but their way was barred by Mother Domoza.
“You get out of here! You have no right here!” screamed the old gypsy hag, and in her sudden fury she hurled herself at the two young civil engineers, sending them out into the corridor. Then she tried to shut the door of the room behind her.
But now Dave’s blood was up, and he knew it would be useless to attempt to argue with the old hag. He made a leap forward, caught her by the arm, and swung her around. As he did this, Roger caught the old hag by the other arm, and between them they ran her down the corridor. Here they saw the open door to a vacant room, and into this they thrust the old woman, who, by this time, was screaming at the top of her lungs. 276The door had a hook with a staple to it, and this they locked.
“Now you behave yourself and keep still,” ordered Dave. “If you don’t, you’ll get into worse trouble than ever.”
“Oh, Dave! is it really you?” came from the room at the other end of the corridor.
“Roger! Roger!” burst out Laura, “can’t you come and release us?”
“We are chained fast to the floor,” explained Jessie.
“We’ll release you, and we’ll get you out of here in no time,” answered Dave; and then he and his chum ran back to where the girls were confined.
They had just passed into the room and were hard at work on some chains which bound the two girls to rings in the floor, when there came an unexpected interruption. They heard footsteps in the corridor, and an instant later several gypsy men appeared. Then, before they could make a move to escape or show fight, the door to the room was slammed shut and they heard the click of a heavy lock.
Dave and Roger were prisoners in company with those they had sought to rescue.
“You have no right here!” screamed the old gypsy hag. Page 275.
For a moment after they were made prisoners Dave and his chum thought to try an attack upon the door, in an endeavor to batter it down. But then a command from the corridor made them pause.
“Now, you keep quiet in there and behave yourselves,” said a voice in fairly good English. “We are armed, and we mean business.”
“Who is it who is talking?” asked Dave.
“That’s none of your business, young man. You keep quiet or it will be the worse for you.”
“Say, Tony, you are wanted downstairs,” put in another voice out in the corridor. “There may be more of those spies around.”
“All right, Carlos,” was the quick reply. Then the gypsy called Tony raised his voice. “Now you fellows settle down and don’t try any funny work. Remember we are all armed and know how to shoot.”
“Look here, we want to talk this matter over,” said Dave, as he heard the gypsy prepare to go below.
278“I haven’t got time now. I’ll be back later. Now, no funny work remember, or you’ll get the worst of it!” and then those in the room heard the gypsies tramp downstairs. Mother Domoza had joined them, and all seemed to be in an angry discussion among themselves.
“Oh, Dave, do be careful!” pleaded Jessie. “They are dreadful people, and I am afraid they will shoot us!”
“Yes, you must both be very careful,” put in Laura. “I heard one of them say that if our folks attempted to follow them, there would surely be some shooting;” and the girl shuddered.
“Have they done you any harm?” questioned Roger, quickly.
“They have treated us very rudely, and they have given us awful food,” answered the daughter of the jewelry manufacturer.
“They wanted us to aid them in a demand for money, but we would not do it,” explained Laura. “We have had some dreadful quarrels, and that old Mother Domoza has been exceedingly hateful to us. Just now, when she brought in some food, she said we must write a letter home for money, and when we said we wouldn’t do it, she caught Jessie by the arm and shook her.”
Each of the girls was chained to a ring in the flooring by means of a heavy steel dog-collar fastened around her ankle and to a chain which had 279another steel dog-collar on the other end passed through a ring in the floor.
“They keep us chained up about half the time,” explained Laura.
“But not at night, I hope?” returned Dave.
“No. At night Mother Domoza releases us so we can go into the adjoining room where there is an old mattress on the floor on which we have to sleep. Mother Domoza, or one of the other gypsies, remains on guard in the hallway outside.”
“What about the windows?” questioned Roger.
“They are all nailed up, as you can see. Once we tried to pry one of them open, but the gypsies heard it, and stopped us.”
The two youths made a hasty inspection of the two rooms in which the girls were kept prisoners. Each apartment was about twelve feet square, and each contained a window which was now nailed down and had heavy slats of wood taken from the tumbled-down piazza nailed across the outside. The inner room, which contained the mattress already mentioned, had also a small clothing closet in it, and in this the girls had placed the few belongings which had been in Laura’s suit-case at the time they had been kidnapped.
“They took our handbags with our money away from us,” explained Jessie.
Of course the girls wanted to know how it was 280that Dave and Roger had gotten on the trail, and they listened eagerly to the story the chums had to tell.
“Oh, I knew you would come, Dave!” cried Jessie, with tears in her eyes. “I told Laura all along that you would leave Montana and come here just as soon as you heard of it;” and she clung tightly to our hero, while the look in her bedimmed eyes bespoke volumes.
“Yes, and I said Roger would come,” added Laura, with a warm look at the senator’s son.
“There’s one thing we can’t understand at all,” said Dave. “How was it that you left that train at Crandall, went to the hotel there, and then walked out on that country road to where the automobile was?”
“Oh, that was the awfulest trick that ever was played!” burst out Laura. “They must have planned it some days ahead, or they never could have done it.”
“Tell me,” broke in Roger suddenly, “wasn’t the driver of that car Nick Jasniff?”
“I think he was,” answered Dave’s sister. “We accused him of being Jasniff, but he denied it. Nevertheless, both of us feel rather certain that it is the same fellow who robbed Mr. Wadsworth’s factory.”
“We suspected Jasniff almost from the start,” said Dave. “But go ahead—tell us how they 281got you to leave the train and go to where they had the automobile.”
“You see, it was this way,” explained Laura. “At the very first station where the train stopped, a messenger came through the car calling out my name. He had a telegram for me, which read something like this: ‘We are on an auto tour to Boston. If you want to ride with us, leave train at Crandall and meet us at the Bliss House. Telegraph answer from Glenwood.’ And the telegram was signed, ‘Mrs. Frank Browning.’”
“Mrs. Frank Browning?” repeated Dave. “Do you mean the girl you used to know so well—Edith Parshall?”
“Yes, Dave. You know she is married, and her husband has a fine big touring-car. They left Crumville for a trip a few days before we went away. They were at our house talking about the tour the night before they started.”
“I see,” answered Dave, nodding understandingly. “Go on.”
“Jessie and I talked it over, and as we were very much crowded in the day coach—you know we couldn’t get parlor-car chairs—we thought it would be a fine thing to accept Mrs. Browning’s invitation. So at Glenwood we sent a telegram, stating we would meet them at the Bliss House in Crandall. The train met with some kind of an accident, and we were stalled just outside Crandall; 282but we got out with a number of others and walked to the town.”
“Of course Mrs. Browning had nothing to do with the telegram,” put in Jessie.
“Just as we got to the hotel in Crandall, a boy came up with a note and asked if either of us knew Laura Porter. I took the note, and from the way it was written supposed that Mrs. Browning had sent it. It stated that they had had a blow-out, and her husband was fixing the car some distance down the road, and wouldn’t we walk down there and meet them?”
“So, instead of going into the hotel, we went down the road as the boy told us,” said Jessie. “He pointed out the car, and then ran away to join some girls who were in a yard not very far off. We went up to the car, and the next thing we knew we were caught up and thrown inside, and the car went down the road at breakneck speed.”
“Who was in the car?” questioned Dave.
“Mother Domoza and a tall gypsy, who we found out was Tony Bopeppo, the man you were just talking to. The fellow who drove the car was the chap we afterward suspected of being Jasniff. He wore a false mustache and a wig, and I am sure he had his face stained.”
“Didn’t you struggle or cry out?” questioned Roger.
“To be sure we did! But the old gypsy hag 283had something on a handkerchief which she placed to our faces, and then we went off into something like a swoon. When we recovered, we found we were bound hands and feet with pieces of clothes-line. The automobile was going along at a lively rate, and we bumped over some terrible rocks. Then we began to climb a long hill, and after a little while the automobile came to a stop among some trees. There we were met by several other gypsies, and the whole crowd made us walk to this house and marched us up to these rooms—and here we are!”
“And now they have captured you, too!” cried Jessie. “Oh, this is worse than ever!”
“Don’t you worry too much,” whispered Dave, lowering his voice so that anybody outside the door might not hear. “When we were at a town a few miles away from here, we sent word to Crumville, and Uncle Dunston is coming out to this neighborhood.”
And then in a low voice Dave and Roger related how they had been following up the trail from Frytown, and had captured one of the gypsies and tied him to a tree.
“Oh, if we could only get word to Uncle Dunston!” murmured Laura.
The girls had had no food since early morning, and so they were hungry. Nevertheless they insisted upon it that the boys share what was on the 284tin plates left by Mother Domoza, and each washed down the scanty meal with a draught of water from the tin kettle.
“Dave, what do you think they will do with all of us?” questioned his sister, after the situation had been discussed from several angles. The gypsies were still downstairs and in the woods surrounding the bungalow.
“Their idea is to make a lot of money out of this,” was the reply. “But they are not going to do so if I can prevent it. I’m going to get out of here somehow, and then notify the authorities, and have these rascals rounded up.”
“That’s the talk!” returned Roger. “Come on—let us make an inspection of these rooms and see what can be done.”
“I’m going to release the girls first,” said Dave, and getting out his penknife, he opened the file blade and began work on the steel band which encircled Jessie’s ankle.
Seeing this, Roger employed himself on the band which held Laura prisoner, and soon the youths had the satisfaction of setting the two girls free.
“Those gypsies will be very angry when they find out that you have ruined the chains,” remarked Jessie.
“We’ll have to take our chances on that,” answered Dave.
285“We are still armed, even if we are prisoners,” put in Roger. “I guess we could put up a pretty stiff fight if we had to.”
“Oh, Roger, I hope there won’t be any shooting!” cried Laura, in horror.
“There won’t be, unless they start something,” answered the senator’s son.
The two young men began a careful inspection of the two rooms. Although the bungalow was old and dilapidated in many places, the timbers of which it was built were heavy, and they found the walls and the floor, as well as the ceiling, intact. The only place that looked as if it might afford some means of escape was the little closet where the girls had hung up some of the articles contained in Laura’s suit-case. Here, by standing on a bench, Dave found that one of the boards in the closet ceiling was loose. He was just about to make an investigation of what was beyond this loose board, when there came a sharp knock on the door leading to the corridor.
“I want Dave Porter to step out here!” said a voice. “I want to talk to him!”
“Oh, Dave, don’t go!” cried Jessie, as he walked toward the door, and she caught him by the arm.
“I don’t think I’d trust myself out there alone, Dave,” cautioned Roger in a low voice. “I think the best thing we can do under the present circumstances is to stick together.”
Dave hesitated. He realized that what his chum said might be true. Then his hand went into the pocket where he had his automatic pistol.
“I’ve got this, Roger. I think I can defend myself,” he said.
“Oh, Dave, I’d hate to see any shooting!” whispered his sister.
“There won’t be any shooting unless they start things,” he answered.
“Say, Dave Porter, are you coming out or not?” demanded the voice of the person in the corridor.
“Is that you, Nick Jasniff?” asked our hero quickly, for he was quite sure that he recognized the voice.
287“Who told you I was Nick Jasniff?” grumbled the fellow outside.
“Never mind that now, Jasniff. What do you want?”
“You are making a mistake about me, Dave Porter. I want you to come outside so I can talk to you.”
“Is the door unlocked?”
“It is. But don’t you try any funny work, because we are well armed, and we don’t intend to take any chances so far as you and Roger Morr are concerned.”
With caution Dave opened the door several inches, and peered out into the corridor. He saw the disguised person he suspected of being Nick Jasniff standing there, and behind him were several others, evidently gypsies.
“This is a fine piece of business for you to be in, Jasniff,” he said sharply. For a close look at the face in front of him had convinced him that the rascal was really the fellow who had escaped from prison.
“Humph, you needn’t preach to me, Dave Porter! I guess I’ve now got you just where I want you!” answered Nick Jasniff, seeing it would be useless to deny his identity any longer.
“That remains to be seen. Fellows like you always get to the end of their rope sooner or later.”
288“We won’t waste words on that just now, Porter. What I want to know is, did you and Morr come here alone or are there others hiding in the woods?”
“Do you think I’d be fool enough to tell you our plans?” demanded Dave.
“You’ll tell me everything, Porter, and do it pretty quick!” snarled Nick Jasniff, flying into a sudden rage. “Don’t you see that you are entirely in our hands, and that we can do as we please with all of you? Unless you tell me everything I want to know, we are coming in there and take those two girls away and leave you two fellows here, bound and gagged. Then, if nobody comes to rescue you, you can starve to death. Do you get me?”
“Oh, Dave! don’t let them do anything like that!” pleaded Jessie, who had been listening over his shoulder to what was said.
“Don’t worry about their binding and gagging us—at least not while we are armed,” put in Roger.
“See here, Jasniff, you can talk all you please, but we do not intend to let you carry out your threats,” said Dave. “Both Morr and I are well armed, and we know how to shoot. In a very short time this place will be completely surrounded and you will be made prisoners.”
“It isn’t so!” cried the former bully of Oak 289Hall; but the tone of his voice showed his uneasiness.
“It may be so!” cried one of the gypsies quickly. “Remember, Carmenaldo did not return. That looks bad.”
The gypsies began to whisper among themselves, and then one of them pulled Jasniff back.
“We had better go out again and take another look around,” he said in a hoarse whisper. “That young man may speak the truth, and we do not want to run any chances of being captured in such a game as this. If we find the woods clear, we can then come back and settle with these intruders.”
“All right, have your own way,” grumbled Jasniff. “Just the same, I think they came here alone. Didn’t I see them alone at that hotel?”
The gypsies were evidently too disturbed to argue the matter further, and they pushed forward and closed the door in Dave’s face. Then those inside the room heard the lock fastened once more and heard the gypsies tramp away and down the stairs.
“Oh, Dave, I’m so glad you didn’t get into a fight!” cried Jessie, her face showing momentary relief.
“While they are gone let us see if we can escape by way of the opening in the top of the closet,” suggested Roger.
290“Hush, not so loud!” whispered Dave. “One of the gypsies or Nick Jasniff may still be in the corridor listening.”
“I’ll tell you what let’s do,” returned the senator’s son in an equally low voice. “Let the two girls stay here and do some pretty loud talking. That will cover up any noise that we may make in the closet. Then, if there is a chance to get out, we’ll have to lay a plan as to just how to do it.”
This suggestion was carried out, and the two girls began to talk hurriedly and in a loud tone of voice close to the door leading to the corridor. In the meantime, Dave and Roger went to the closet, and both made an investigation of the ceiling. Here, as stated before, one board was loose, and they soon managed to pry up another.
“Now boost me up, Roger, and I’ll investigate further,” said our hero.
Dave presently found himself in a dark place directly under the sloping roof of the bungalow. In its highest part, the roof was but four feet from the flooring, so he had to stoop as he felt his way around. He soon came to a sort of hatchway; the cover to this he raised cautiously. Below was a vacant room which had once been used as a bed-chamber. Around the opening where Dave stood was a mass of discarded household things and several packages of magazines which had evidently been brought up to the little garret-like opening by 291means of a ladder, but now the ladder was missing.
Our hero lit a match, and this brief illumination showed him several large bundles of magazines still tied together with some old rope. He quickly possessed himself of the rope, and found it still usable. Then he went back to the closet where Roger awaited him, and told of what he had discovered.
“Do you think we can make our escape that way?” questioned the senator’s son eagerly.
“I don’t know about that, Roger. We might try.”
The matter was discussed for several minutes with the girls, and all decided that they had better do what they could to secure their freedom without delay. Dave brought down one of the boards from the flooring above, and setting the bench up endways placed one end of the board upon it, thus making a sort of gangplank. Up this he and Roger assisted the girls, and then followed to the little garret-like enclosure above.
“Now I think I had better go down into that other room first and look around,” said our hero, and let himself down by means of the rope which he had found and which he fastened to a staple at the side of the hatchway.
Once below, Dave tiptoed his way around cautiously. There was a window to the room, and this looked out on the top of a little porch, beyond 292which were a number of trees. Then he went to the door and opened it cautiously. He saw a little corridor opening into that which led to the stairs. From below came a murmur of voices.
“I don’t think we can get away by going below,” he explained to the others, after they had joined him; “but that looks pretty good to me,” and he pointed out of the window to the roof of the porch and the trees so close at hand.
“Oh, that’ll be easy if they don’t catch sight of us getting down,” answered Roger quickly.
The glass of the window was gone; nevertheless, they had to raise the lower sash before any of them could get out on the roof of the porch. This was much dilapidated, and creaked as they stepped upon it.
“Oh, Dave! you don’t suppose it will break down with us?” cried Jessie.
“Jump for the trees if it starts to go,” he answered, and the words had barely left his lips when the old porch began to sag. A moment later it collapsed completely, sending all of the young people to the ground.
It was a most unexpected tumble. As they went down Dave made a grab for Jessie and did what he could to save her from getting hurt. Both landed in some bushes, and Laura and Roger came down beside them.
With the sudden collapse of the porch, there 293was a cry of alarm in the lower part of the bungalow, and some person, evidently one of the gypsies, set up a yell from somewhere among the trees.
“Come!” cried Dave, as he pulled Jessie to her feet. “We’ve no time to spare! Let us get out of sight as quickly as possible!”
He glanced over his shoulder, to see that Roger had Laura by the arm and was forcing her along. All four ran among the trees, not knowing, however, in which direction they were heading.
“Oh, Dave, they are after us!” panted Jessie.
Our hero glanced back and saw that several gypsies and Nick Jasniff had just emerged from the bungalow, some with pistols and others with clubs in their hands.
“This way, quick!” he exclaimed, and pointed to a little gully but a few feet away.
He and Jessie leaped into this, and Roger and Laura immediately followed. The hollow was filled with weeds and brushwood.
“Say, can’t we hide here?” asked Roger.
“They’d be after us in a minute, Roger,” answered Dave. “Come on!” and he pushed his way down along the hollow until they reached the tiny watercourse which flowed from the spring near the roadway. Here was a heavy clump of trees, some of the branches close to the ground.
“Now then, up you go!” cried Dave, and he and Roger assisted the two girls into the nearest 294tree branches. Then the young men hauled themselves up.
“Now climb up as high as you can,” directed Dave to Jessie and his sister. And then all four went up the tree a distance of twenty feet or more.
“Where did they go?” cried someone who stood close to the watercourse.
“I don’t know. But they must be somewhere in this vicinity,” answered the voice of Nick Jasniff.
Hardly daring to breathe, the four in the tree listened to what was taking place below. They heard Nick Jasniff and several of the gypsies tramping around, first in one direction and then in another.
“Are you sure they all got away?” questioned one of the gypsies, of another who had just arrived.
“Yes. The room was empty and we have searched the house thoroughly.”
“Then I guess the game is up,” growled a third.
“What’s the use of giving up so soon?” grumbled Nick Jasniff. “I believe they are hiding around here somewhere, and I don’t believe there is anybody else near. I think the best thing you can do, Bopeppo, is to call in all those other fellows and begin a search for them. Eight of us ought to be able to handle two fellows and two girls without much trouble.”
295After that Jasniff and Bopeppo moved around again through the woods in the immediate vicinity of the bungalow. One of them had discovered where the party of four had jumped into the gully leading to the watercourse, and now he set up a sudden shout:
“They came this way! Here are their footprints!”
“Where do they lead to, Vazala?” questioned Nick Jasniff eagerly.
“They lead to right here!” answered Carlos Vazala, pointing to some impressions in the damp ground and some overturned stones.
“I bet they went up into these trees!” cried Jasniff. He raised his voice. “If you are up there you might as well come down,” he commanded. “If you don’t, we’ll come up there and bring you down.”
“Oh, Dave, do you think——” began Jessie in a low voice, when a look of warning from our hero stopped her.
“You can’t fool us!” cried Nick Jasniff, after a moment of silence. “Are you coming down, or shall I come up and bring you down?”
To this none of those in the tree replied. All kept silent, scarcely daring to breathe. Jessie was clinging to Dave’s arm, and Roger had a protecting hand on Laura’s shoulder. Each of the young civil engineers had his pistol ready for any emergency which might arise. They heard a movement below as if either Nick Jasniff or one of the gypsies was starting to climb the tree.
“Oh, don’t let them come up here!” whispered Laura, unable to remain silent longer.
“Yes, yes, make them stay on the ground!” breathed Jessie.
“Stop where you are!” cried Dave in stern tones. “Don’t you dare come a foot closer if you value your life.”
“Don’t you shoot me!” exclaimed Nick Jasniff.
297“Then you get back on the ground, Jasniff, just as quick as you can,” answered Roger. “We won’t stand any more of your nonsense!” and at these words Nick Jasniff lost no time in dropping out of the tree.
The gypsies and the fellow who had escaped from prison began to talk among themselves, but in such a low tone of voice that those in the tree could not make out what was being said.
“What do you suppose they’ll do next?” questioned Jessie anxiously.
“They’ll try to get us down somehow; but I’m not going,” answered Roger stubbornly.
“But they may keep us up here all night—or even longer!” returned Laura.
“Are you going to give in or not?” demanded Nick Jasniff in a loud tone of voice.
“I don’t see why we should give in,” answered Dave.
“You’ll have to do it, Porter, sooner or later. Can’t you see that we’ve got the bulge on you? If you don’t give in now, we’ll keep you up in that tree until you change your mind. The best thing you can do is to drop your pistols and give yourselves up. If you’ll do that we’ll promise to treat you well and let you go as soon as we receive that ransom we are expecting.”
“We don’t intend to give in,” answered Dave, after a few words with Roger.
298“All right then, we’ll let it go at that—for the present,” answered Nick Jasniff. “I think you’ll change your tune after you have spent a night in that tree and are good and hungry,” he added cunningly. “And let me tell you, if anybody tries to escape he’ll get shot.”
After that there was a long period of silence. Evidently some of the gypsies had moved away, but it was more than likely that the others were keeping on guard in the vicinity of the tree. What had become of Nick Jasniff those who were concealed among the branches could not surmise.
It must be confessed that Dave and those with him were in a great quandary. They did not wish to remain in the tree indefinitely, and yet to make another break for liberty might be decidedly perilous.
The best part of an hour passed, and then Dave and the others heard some of the gypsies calling to each other.
“Dobado is back, and he has news!” they heard some one cry.
“Did they find Carmenaldo?” asked another voice.
“They did not.”
“Perhaps that half-witted fool has gone back on us,” came in the voice of Nick Jasniff. “I said it wouldn’t be wise to let that fellow into the game.”
“Carmenaldo is all right. He can be trusted,” 299answered the voice of Mother Domoza. She was an aunt to the half-witted gypsy and she did not like to have any one speak ill of him.
Then began a hurried consultation among the gypsies, and the whole crowd moved down in the direction of the tree in which our friends were hiding.
“Ha, you are a pack of cowards not to get them out of the tree!” cried Mother Domoza. “Had I the strength to climb, I’d get them out single-handed.”
“We’d bring them down quick enough, were it not that they are armed,” answered Tony Bopeppo.
There was a warm discussion, the old gypsy woman urging the men to go up into the tree and bring down our hero and the others.
In the midst of the discussion Dave heard a sound which thrilled him to the heart. Far off from the direction of the main road between Frytown and Cullomburg came the honk of an automobile horn twice repeated.
“Roger, did you hear that?” he cried in a low voice. “Listen!” and a moment later the double honk was repeated.
“Why, it sounds like the horn on your auto!” exclaimed the senator’s son.
“That’s just what it is! And didn’t you hear—it sounded out twice in rapid succession? Listen! 300there it goes again! That’s the signal from my Uncle Dunston!”
“Oh, Dave! can it be Uncle Dunston?” exclaimed his sister.
“That’s just who it is!” he answered, great relief showing itself in his voice. “I’m going to answer back!” and pulling out his pistol, Dave fired two shots in the air in rapid succession.
“Hi! hi! what are you doing?” roared a voice from below. “Don’t you dare to shoot at us!”
“We are not shooting at you,” answered Dave quick-wittedly. “I am trying my pistol to see that it is in good order.”
“Huh, you’ll get no chance to use that pistol on us,” growled Nick Jasniff.
All in the tree paid but scant attention to what was said below. They were listening intently. An instant later came two more honks from the distant automobile.
“Give them two more shots, Roger!” cried our hero. “I’m going up to the top of the tree to look around,” and he began to climb with vigor.
From the top of the tree Dave could get a fairly good view of the surroundings. He soon made out the little side-road and the point where it ran into the main highway. Then he spotted an automobile containing four or five men. Another auto was on the main highway but a short distance away.
301Standing on the topmost branch of the tree and holding fast with one hand, Dave waved his cap with the other and then fired two more shots from his pistol. Those in the automobile were evidently on the alert, and a second later our hero saw that his signal had been seen. One man jumped up in the front automobile and waved his arms, and then the automobile moved forward rapidly up the little side-road.
“They have seen us, and they are coming in this direction!” cried Dave, as he lowered himself to where the others rested in the tree. “I’ll give them another signal, so that they won’t go astray,” and a few seconds later two more shots rent the air.
“Hi, you! what are you doing up there, anyway?” came uneasily from Nick Jasniff.
“An automobile is coming!” came in a yell from a distance. “An automobile with a number of men in it!”
“We’ve been betrayed!” added another of the gypsies. “We must run for it or we’ll be captured!”
“The automobile! Why can not we ride away in the automobile?” asked Mother Domoza, in sudden panic.
“We can’t use it! That other auto will block the road!” answered Nick Jasniff.
By this time a shouting was heard from the narrow 302roadway as the first automobile came closer, quickly followed by the second car.
“Hello, Uncle Dunston! is that you?” yelled Dave at the top of his lungs.
“Yes, Dave!” came the answering cry. “Where are you?”
“We are all here in a tree in the woods,” answered Roger.
“Are the girls safe?”
“Yes,” returned Dave. “Never mind us—go after those gypsies and after Nick Jasniff.”
“We’ll do that all right enough!” answered Dunston Porter.
“They are the kidnappers, don’t let them get away!” yelled Roger.
The men who had accompanied Dunston Porter needed no further urging. They knew many of the particulars concerning the case, and had been promised a large reward if they would give their aid in rounding up the kidnappers and saving the two girls. One man was a local constable, and two were detectives, while the others were men who had been picked up in the town and pressed into service because of their strength and willingness to fight. The whole crowd leaped from the automobiles and lost no time in giving chase to the fleeing criminals.
“I’m going to join in this hunt, Roger!” exclaimed Dave. And then he added to the two 303girls: “You had better remain where you are until we come back.”
He dropped out of the tree just in time to see his Uncle Dunston making after one of the gypsies and Nick Jasniff. Several shots were fired, which, however, took no effect, and then the criminals dived out of sight between a number of trees.
Dave’s blood was up, and he made up his mind that Nick Jasniff should be captured if it were possible to do so. Roger had followed him out of the tree, and now both made after the rascal who had escaped from prison.
“You get back! Don’t you dare to follow me!” howled Jasniff, and flourished a revolver at them. He pulled the trigger, but the weapon failed to go off, and then the rascal continued to run.
“We ought to shoot him!” exclaimed the senator’s son.
But as he spoke he saw Nick Jasniff trip over a tree root and go sprawling. Before the fellow could arise, Dave was on him. Jasniff tried to catch our hero by the throat, and in return received a blow in the chin which all but stunned him.
That the chase after the fleeing gypsies was going on in earnest was testified to by the sounds coming from various quarters of the woods on the mountainside. Exclamations and cries rent the 304air, punctuated every now and then by a pistol shot or the discharge of a shotgun. One of the gypsy men was hit in the leg and fell, and Mother Domoza received part of a charge of shot in her right hand.
“We’ll disarm him and tie his hands behind him,” said Dave to Roger, referring to Jasniff. And despite the protests of the fellow who had escaped from prison this was speedily done. Then Jasniff was marched along to the foot of the tree in which the girls were hiding, and there Roger stood guard over him, while Dave assisted Jessie and his sister to the ground.
In less than half an hour the impromptu fight came to a finish. Mother Domoza and three of the leading gypsies had been captured. The others had escaped into the mountains, but a posse was organized, and all of them were rounded up inside of twenty-four hours.
“Oh, Uncle Dunston, I am so glad to see you!” cried Laura, when the uncle put in an appearance.
“And I am glad, too!” exclaimed Jessie.
“Are either of you hurt?” questioned Dunston Porter quickly.
“No, not in the least,” answered the daughter of the jewelry manufacturer. “But we have been horribly frightened.”
“You didn’t pay the gypsies or Jasniff any reward, did you?” questioned Dave quickly.
305“No, Dave; although we might have done so if we hadn’t got the word that you sent by telephone.”
As far as our friends went, it was a happy little party that gathered in the bungalow a short while after. The girls were inclined to be somewhat hysterical, and the young men and Dunston Porter did all they could to quiet them.
“As soon as I discovered your automobile in the bushes I knew that you must be somewhere in this vicinity,” explained Dunston Porter. “We had come in to Frytown from Crandall less than an hour before.”
“But how did you get to Crandall so quickly?” questioned Roger.
“As soon as I got word from Dave I set the wires to working, and through the authorities had the Boston Express stop both at Crumville and Crandall, so that brought us up here in no time.”
“Did you see that fellow we had tied to the tree?” questioned Dave.
“Oh, yes, I found him directly after I located your auto. I tried to get something out of him, but he seemed a bit off in his mind. Then I remembered that signal you had spoken about and used it on the auto horn.”
“Oh, won’t I be glad to get back to Crumville!” murmured Jessie.
“That’s right,” answered Laura. “I don’t 306think we want to make that trip to Boston just now. I want to get home and see the rest of the folks.”
And now let me add a few words more and then bring this story of “Dave Porter’s Great Search” to a close.
The whole party found themselves that night at the Bliss House in Crandall, where they would have to remain until morning. Word had been sent to Crumville, and it can well be imagined how happy those at home were when they received the glad tidings that the girls were safe and that those who had kidnapped them had been captured.
“Oh, Dave, it was simply wonderful how you and Roger got on the trail of Jasniff and those awful gypsies!” remarked Jessie, in talking the matter over.
“It was certainly very clever work,” put in Laura. “I think I’ll have to have medals of honor struck off for both of you”; and this remark brought a happy laugh all around.
The criminals had been taken in charge by the authorities, and the following day found them safe behind the bars. It may be added here that later on all of the gypsies, including Mother Domoza, were tried and sentenced to long terms of imprisonment. Nick Jasniff was returned to the prison from which he had escaped.
“He’ll have to serve his old sentence over 307again,” explained Dunston Porter. “After he has finished with that, they will probably try him for this kidnapping affair, so that it’s likely he will not mingle with honest people for a good many years to come.”
On being taken to prison, Jasniff was closely questioned and finally gave the particulars of how he had stolen the battered touring-car, come to Crumville in disguise, learned that the girls were going to take the trip to Boston, and arranged with the gypsies to do the kidnapping.
“Oh, what a misspent life!” was Laura’s comment.
“Well, he has no one to blame for it but himself,” was Roger’s blunt reply.
The home-coming of the two girls, accompanied by Dave, Roger and Dunston Porter, was made a gala occasion at Crumville. Many of their friends were on hand to greet them, and Mrs. Wadsworth shed tears of joy when she embraced her daughter and Laura.
“I shall never forget what you have done,” said Mr. Wadsworth to Dave and Roger. “It was grand—simply grand!” and he wiped the moisture from his eyes.
“I knew Davy would do it,” quavered Caspar Potts, nodding his head over and over again. “He’s a great boy—my Davy is!”
As for Dave’s father, the man could hardly 308speak, but the way he grasped his son’s hand spoke volumes.
The two young civil engineers could not resist the temptation to send a so-called night letter over the wires to those at the construction camp in Montana, telling of what had been accomplished and stating that they would soon be back at work. This message caused even Ralph Obray to become enthusiastic.
“They are certainly great boys,” he said to Frank Andrews.
“The finest lads we have in camp,” answered the other. “I’m certainly glad they joined us. Some day they’ll make their mark.”
“I believe you!”
Now that the young civil engineers had found the two girls they were loath to separate from them. The young folks had many hours of happiness together, which the older heads did not have the heart to interrupt.
“They certainly think the world and all of each other,” said Mr. Porter to Mr. Wadsworth, referring to Dave and Jessie.
“So they do, and I am not sorry for it,” answered the jewelry manufacturer. “And I notice that Roger thinks a good deal of your daughter Laura.”
“You are right. And that pleases me, too,” returned Dave’s father.
309“Well, we’ve got to start back for the West to-morrow,” announced Dave one day.
“Right you are!” answered the senator’s son. “I suppose after this there won’t be anything left for us to do but to work.”
“Oh, I don’t know, Roger. Something else may turn up sooner or later,” returned our hero.
And he was right. Something else did turn up, and what that was will be related in our next volume, to be entitled “Dave Porter Under Fire, or A Young Army Engineer in France,” in which book we shall learn how our hero and his chum “did their bit” for Uncle Sam.
“Becoming civil engineers has not been such a monotonous existence after all,” said Roger. “Think of those strenuous times we had along the Rio Grande and in Mexico, and then all those doings out in Montana, and when we went after the gypsies and Jasniff.”
“They certainly were strenuous days, Roger,” answered Dave. “But now we’ve got to buckle down to work if we want to become first-class, full-fledged civil engineers.”
And here let us take our leave and bid Dave Porter good-bye.
The End