CHAPTER XIII THE HAND IN THE DARK
"Say, this is a little bit of all right; isn't it?"
"It certainly is. I'll have some more of that steak."
"Another morsel of bacon would just about suit me."
"Those eggs aren't so bad. That electric stove cooks quick enough."
"I should say yes. Any more coffee left?"
Question and comment thus went back and forth among the three chums as they sat in Dick Hamilton's big touring car, under a great oak tree at one side of a pleasant country road.
They had traveled many miles from Hamilton Corners before stopping at a village grocery and meat market and buying what they wanted for dinner.
"Going camping?" the man had asked them, as he wrapped up the parcels.
"No, just on a tour," Dick said.
"Oh, then you're going to cook over an open fire?"
"No, we're going to cook it right in the auto," the young autoist said.
"Ha! ha!" laughed the man. "Joking; eh? Well, I know you auto fellows have some new wrinkles, but I didn't think you were up to that. Going to broil the steak on your over-heated engine, I suppose, and make coffee with the hot water from your radiator? Ha! ha!"
"Not exactly," replied Dick. "Though that might be done. No, we have a stove of our own," and he showed the man the little electrical apparatus in the rear of the enclosed tonneau, on which a good meal could be prepared.
And the boys had just finished their culinary operations and were now enjoying the fruits of their labors. They were in a secluded place, and the day was all that could be desired. The little table had been let down from the roof, and the three sat about it, laughing and joking.
Farmers and others passing along the highway paused to look in some astonishment, not only at the big car, which was of a type and size seldom seen, but at the boys themselves, who seemed to be taking their ease in regular Gypsy fashion, yet in a style never approached by the dark-skinned nomads.
"Some class to this," remarked Paul, as he passed his plate for more steak and bacon.
"I should say yes," agreed Innis. "I say, old boy, you're not going to take that egg; are you?"
"Why not, I'd like to know?" retorted Paul, pausing in the act of helping himself to a nicely browned one, nestling amid a pile of crisp bacon.
"Because you've had three, and that's mine—or Dick's, if he wants it."
"No, I don't want it," said the latter. "But it isn't worth quarreling over. We can fry some more."
"I guess we'll have to if Paul is going to develop that kind of an appetite," remarked Innis. "Three eggs, twice on the steak, and no end of bacon——"
"I did not!" snapped Paul.
"Did not what?" asked Innis, with a smile.
"Did not have three eggs. It was only two, and——"
"Well, this'll be three," retorted Innis.
"Oh, well, then I'll split it with you," and Paul cut the egg in half, thus settling the dispute.
"Well, there's one consolation in eating this way," remarked Dick, as the auto-meal came to an end. "We don't have many dishes to wash," and he tossed from the window of the car the wooden plates from which they had dined.
"That's right," agreed Paul. "Washing dishes is the worst part of camp life. Some day I'm going to invent a set of dishes that wash themselves."
"These are just as good," said Dick. Though there was in the auto a small set of porcelain dishes, the boys had decided that, except for food that actually needed other styles, they would use the wooden plates, that could be thrown away after each meal. They carried a supply of these, as well as paper napkins, and more could be bought whenever needed.
Of course there were pans and other utensils for the stove, and these were cleaned after being used, and stowed away in the proper compartments.
"Well, I guess we're all ready to start again," announced Dick, as they got out and walked about a bit, pausing to get a drink at a roadside spring.
"Where to?" asked Paul.
"I'll take a look at our map and see," went on the young millionaire. "I think we can make Hosford by evening, and stay there over night. There's no use journeying after dark until we have to."
"That's right; not until we find we have to put on speed to file that paper in time," added Paul.
"But is there a hotel in Hosford?" inquired Innis.
"We'll not bother with a hotel," suggested Dick. "As long as we have the bunks in our auto we might as well use them. We'll just pull up at some quiet place, off the road, get our supper, and turn in. We're independent of hotels, unless we want to go to one now and again to have more room to stretch. That's why I got this kind of a car."
"Sure enough!" exclaimed Innis. "We'll bunk here then."
And they did that night. At first it was a bit awkward, but soon they got used to the not too large apartment into which the auto was turned, and they found the bunks very comfortable.
The curtains were drawn over the glass doors and windows and with an electric light glowing in the roof, the boys went to sleep, well satisfied with their first day's trip.
They were under way soon after breakfast and traveled a good distance by noon, stopping for their meal in a little grove of trees just off a country road.
"What's the programme for to-day?" asked Paul, as they started off again, leaving a pile of wooden plates behind them as a souvenir of their stop.
"Hand me that road map, and I'll decide," spoke Dick. "It's in the flap pocket of that side door, nearest you, Paul."
Paul pulled from the leather compartment on the door an envelope, and handed it to Dick.
"No, that isn't it," said the young man. "Those are the papers I'm going to file with the court to save Mr. Wardell's property. The map is in the same place, in an envelope just like that. Now you've got it," as Paul pulled out another bulky envelope.
"Do you think it's safe to keep the law papers in such a place?" asked Innis.
"I don't see why not," replied Dick. "I don't want them in my pocket, for they might slip out when I walk around. And if I put them anywhere else in the auto I couldn't get at them in a hurry in case we caught fire, or had any accident. No one would think of looking in there for them, and if we leave the auto at any time we can take the documents with us. Now let's have a squint at this map. I think we can make Flagtown to-night."
"Flagtown!" exclaimed Innis, looking over his chum's shoulder. "That's quite a run."
"Well, we haven't tried out this car much as to speed yet," replied Dick. "There are good roads to Flagtown, and we might as well see what she can do. We'll hit up the pace a little."
And they did make Flagtown, the Last Word proving that she had speed as well as other qualities, though she was essentially not a racing car.
Supper followed, in due time, and then, sitting about the auto in the quiet of the evening, the boys talked over their adventures of the day, and speculated on what lay before them.
"It will be a good joke on your Uncle Ezra, to get Mr. Wardell's fortune away from him; won't it?" remarked Paul.
"It sure will," declared Dick. "And the best of it is that he doesn't know that I'm going to do it. Uncle Ezra is pretty sharp, but I think we got ahead of him this time."
But if Dick could have known that a few miles back, in an auto that had closely followed the course of the big touring car since the day before, was a certain mean-faced man, perhaps the young millionaire would not have felt so confident. Especially could he have known that the man in the rear auto was constantly making inquiries about the Last Word—when she had passed through certain towns, and which way she was headed.
But knowing none of these things, Dick and his chums turned into the bunks with a feeling of peacefulness and ease, and slept soundly. All too soundly, it would seem. Too soundly to have heard a car pull up behind them shortly after midnight.
The car came to a halt some distance away from Dick's, the red tail-lamp on the latter disclosing its presence. From the rear car a man silently alighted to the dusty road.
"Are you sure that's the machine?" a whispered voice asked.
"Yes, I'll stake my reputation on it. We've followed it too close to be mistaken, and they haven't had time to shake us."
"That's right. Well, Jake, do your best. Mr. Black expects us to make a record on this job."
"I know he does. That old skinflint of a Larabee isn't going to pay very heavy, though. It was all we could do to squeeze this car out of him."
"Well, now we've got it we can do as we please. Think you can pull off anything?"
"I don't know. I can sneak up there and see how the land lays, anyhow. If we can't get the papers now we will have to some other time. But I think those lads will sleep well to-night—they had quite a day of it."
"I should say so! It was all I could do to drive this old car to keep up with 'em, and this isn't a slow machine, either. Well, if you're going, go ahead. I'll wait here."
"And be ready for a quick get-away in case—well, in case anything happens."
"Sure, I'll be on the job."
The figure in the road stole quietly toward the big touring car. As he came nearer he walked more and more slowly, and getting to within a short distance of the Last Word, he remained silent—listening.
"'All quiet along the Potomac,'" he quoted. "I guess I'll take a chance."
Again he stole forward.
In the darkness of the night a hand stole softly out toward one of the side doors of the big car. A pair of evil eyes looked in on the sleeping lads. Then the hand stole down in through the opening in the door, an opening as in a coach, covered with glass, but which glass had been dropped down to let in the air.
"I'll see what luck I have," murmured the voice of the man in the dark. Lower stole in the hand in the night. The fingers encountered the flap of a pocket. There was a start of surprise.
"By Jove!" whispered the voice. "I have it—first crack out of the box!"
The hand withdrew itself, with a bulky envelope, and, hesitating a moment to be sure that none of the sleepers had awakened, the man of darkness put in the same pocket another envelope of the same size as the one removed, and hurried back down the road to the waiting car.
"What luck?" his companion asked.
"Best in the world. I got it, and switched another bundle of papers in place of those I took. Now speed her, but—but run silently until you get some distance off."
"I get you all right. Hop in."
And the car sped away in the darkness, while Dick and his chums slept on.