CHAPTER XXVI THE MOUNTAIN ROAD

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!”