CHAPTER XXII THE FIRST CLUE

“Did you see his face at all, Dave?”

“No. Did you?”

“Not at all. He left the window so quickly I didn’t catch more than a glance of the side of his body.”

“He certainly left in a mighty hurry,” mused our hero.

“Dave, do you imagine it might have been Nick Jasniff?” asked the senator’s son excitedly.

“I thought of that, Roger. As the fellow passed under that lamp-post his form looked something like Jasniff’s. But that is rather a wild guess—a good many fellows might possess his general make-up.”

The two chums went back to their newspapers, and half an hour later they retired to their room. Both arose early, thinking to look over the automobile before breakfast, so that they might be ready to start off immediately after eating. When they reached the hotel garage, they found the colored man who was in charge very much excited.

222“You gemmen didn’t send nobody down here to get your car, did you?” he questioned quickly.

“We certainly did not!” cried Dave.

“Has any one been here to get the car?” questioned the senator’s son.

“A young fellow was here at your machine,” answered the colored man. “I jest stepped over to the hotel to ask the clerk to order some more gasoline, we runnin’ short. When I came back the fellow was at your car. I thought at first it was one of you gemmen, but as soon as I called to him he jumped from the car and went out the back door.”

“How long ago was this?” burst out Dave.

“Not over five minutes ago, boss. I called to the fellow and ran after him, but he jumped over the back fence and got away.”

“Was he a tall young fellow with a soft hat?” queried Roger.

“He was.”

“He must have been the same chap who looked in at the hotel window!” went on the senator’s son to Dave. “Now, what do you make of that?”

“I make of it that he is trying to do us some injury,” answered Dave.

“Do you really think it could be Nick Jasniff?”

“I am sure I don’t know. If it was Jasniff, how in the world did he get up here in this town?”

223“Perhaps he has been following us.”

“But how could he do that unless he had an automobile or a motorcycle, or something like that?”

“I am sure I can’t answer that question.” Roger turned to the garage man. “Did you know the fellow at all?”

“No, boss; he was a stranger to me.”

“Have you ever seen him before?” asked Dave.

“Oh, I ain’t exactly sure of that, boss—so many men comin’ and goin’ all the time.”

“Let us see if he did any injury to the car,” suggested Roger.

The automobile was run out into the yard of the hotel, and there the young men went over the machine carefully. Nothing seemed to be amiss, and the things in the tonneau had been left undisturbed.

“I guess he didn’t have time enough to do anything,” said Dave. “I think he had been watching this man,” indicating the colored individual, “and as soon as he went into the hotel, the rascal sneaked into the garage intending to get the car out. Maybe he was nothing more than an auto thief who watched us come to the hotel and thought he saw a chance to get away with our car.”

“If he’s an auto thief, I wish I had caught 224him,” was the comment of the colored man.

“I think I’ll buy a lock for the car,” announced Dave. “I saw an automobile place down the street. We can stop there before we leave town.”

This was done; and the chums purchased a lock which could be placed on the gear shift, so that it would be impossible to start the car without unlocking the device or smashing it.

“By the turn of affairs, we’ve got to watch out for more than one kind of enemy,” announced Roger, when the search for clues to the mysterious disappearance of the two girls had again been resumed.

“I’ve got a new idea, Roger,” answered our hero slowly. “I may be mistaken, but somehow it strikes me that it would pay us to take a look around Chesleyville before we go farther. If that fellow was connected in any way with the kidnapping of Jessie and Laura, the girls may be held somewhere in this neighborhood.”

“That idea strikes me as a good one, Dave. Let us make a number of inquiries and find out if the gypsies were in this vicinity.”

The plan was carried out, the two youths spending the best part of a couple of hours both in the town and on the outskirts. The search in that vicinity, however, proved fruitless, and once again they set off on their trip along the line of the railroad.

225Before lunch time they had stopped at three more places, and at one of them gained the information that several gypsies had been seen in that vicinity about two weeks before. They had been men, and where they had gone nobody seemed to know.

Late that afternoon found the chums at a place known as Fallon’s Crossing. Here a small sideline crossed the main railroad, and here were located a switch shanty and a small freight yard. At this point it was said that the train which had carried Laura and Jessie had stopped for fully fifteen minutes, to let the hot box cool off and also to allow another train to pass. Just beyond Fallon’s Crossing was the thriving town of Crandall, at which the train was scheduled to make a regular stop.

The switchman at the shanty could tell them nothing more than that the train had stopped. He said a number of people had gotten off to pick some wildflowers that grew by the roadside, and then re-entered the train. Who the people had been, he could not remember.

There was a man hanging around the freight yard who had also been present on the day when the train had stopped, and he vouchsafed the information that when the people on the train had learned that the stop would be for some time a number had tramped up the tracks to the town, to 226get on again when the train arrived at the regular station.

“There were at least eight or ten people did that,” said the freight-yard man; “but who they were I do not know.”

“Did you see any gypsies around?” questioned Dave.

“No. We haven’t had a gypsy around here in years. We don’t stand for gypsies any more than we do for tramps.”

When the two chums returned to their automobile they saw nearby a middle-aged man with a motorcycle. He was bending over the machine, trying to fix something, and as they came closer he hailed them.

“Is that your car over there?” he questioned.

“It is,” answered Dave.

“Then, would you mind lending me a small wrench for a few minutes? I just broke mine.”

“Certainly,” answered Dave.

The tool was brought forth, and the man at once set to work to use it. While the two chums looked on the man spoke about the trials and tribulations he had had with the motorcycle and of a trip he had made to that vicinity some time before. Being questioned, it developed that he had been on hand when the train containing the two girls had stopped there.

“I was quite interested in that hot box they 227had, and I was talking to the fireman about it,” he said.

“Did you see any of the folks leave the train?” questioned Dave. “We are very anxious to find out.” And then, seeing the look of surprise on the man’s face, he gave his reasons.

“I’ve read about that kidnapping case!” cried the man. “Yes, I saw at least a dozen people leave the cars and walk off in the direction of the town. Some of them said they belonged in the town, and others asked the conductor if they couldn’t go up to the railroad station and get aboard again when the train came along.”

“Did you notice those two young ladies?” questioned Roger eagerly, and gave a description of Laura and Jessie.

“I think I did see them,” answered the man slowly. “I remember seeing the beaded hand-bag one of the young ladies carried, and I remember she wore a hat with a blue pompon.”

“It must have been Jessie and Laura!” exclaimed Dave. “Have you any idea where they went?”

“The whole crowd walked up the railroad tracks in the direction of the town. Whether they went to the station or not, I, of course, don’t know. I hung around here watching them fix that hot box, and then I jumped on my motorcycle and rode off in the opposite direction.”

228This was all the man on the motorcycle could tell; and as he was in a hurry to go on they did not detain him further.

“This looks like a clue,” was Roger’s comment, as they re-entered the automobile and moved on their way. “I guess the best thing we can do, Dave, is to make some inquiries around Crandall.”

“Exactly, Roger! I think we are on the trail at last;” and Dave’s face showed his pleasure.

The road ran close to the tracks, and it took them but a few minutes to reach the town. Here they continued their inquiries in and around the station, but without gaining any additional information.

“It is too bad,” said Roger disappointedly. “I thought sure we would learn something more.”

“We’ve got to do it, Roger!” cried Dave. “I am sure we are on the right track. Those girls came here, and, so far as we can learn, nobody saw them get on the train again. If they didn’t get on the train, where did they go?”

“I’d give a good deal to have that question answered,” returned the senator’s son. He heaved a sigh. “Oh, we’ve got to do something!”

They continued their inquiries, and presently found themselves talking to a lame boy in charge of a small fruit-stand, where they made a purchase.

“Yes, I was here the day the train was held 229up down at the Crossing, and some of the folks walked up to the station,” said the lame boy. “There were a couple of drummers with their cases, and a man and his wife and two or three children, and then there were a couple of other men,—and three or four young ladies. Some of ’em went right over to the station, and the rest of ’em went uptown.”

“Did you notice two young ladies in particular?” questioned Dave; and then he told how Laura and Jessie had been dressed, and of the beaded handbags they carried, and added that they also had a magazine or two.

“Oh, yes, I remember them!” cried the young fruit-stand keeper. “They stopped here and got some grapes and a couple of peaches.”

“And did they get on the train again when it came along?”

“I didn’t see ’em. They walked uptown. One of them asked me where the Bliss House was.”

“The Bliss House?” queried Roger.

“Yes, sir. That’s our hotel,” explained the boy.

“And they went there?” questioned Dave.

“I think they did.”