CHAPTER XXXIII JUST IN TIME

"Say, they're regular kidnappers!"

"That's what! Wanting to help us was all part of the trick."

"I wonder how they overpowered him? He was a strong man."

"Chloroform, I guess."

"That's right," agreed Dick, the foregoing remarks having been made by his chums as the big car dashed along in pursuit of the other. "I smelled it," the young millionaire added.

"I do hope we can catch the scoundrels!" murmured Paul.

"It's a handicap, though, with night coming on," said Innis.

"Well, we won't stop until we have to," said Dick, grimly.

"How do you suppose they worked it?" asked Paul, as the Last Word careened on over the uneven way.

"They must have been trailing us," suggested Dick, as he held to the vibrating steering wheel. "Martin and Wickford probably got in touch with their crowd by telegraph after we got away from them, and very likely mapped out the course we would probably take. They knew we had to come to San Francisco. Then they dropped out of the game—Martin and Wickford did—and some others took up the chase. The object was to get hold of Mr. Cameron so he couldn't testify."

"And they've done it," said Innis, gloomily.

"But we'll get him back!" asserted Paul.

"That's what!" declared Dick. "We'll keep on their trail until we get him away from them. Fate rather played into their hands this trip. If we hadn't become stalled they might not have caught up with us, as I was thinking of laying up over night, and they might have passed us in the evening.

"However, it can't be helped. We'll do the best we can. As soon as they saw us, when they came dashing up, they must have laid their plans. They knew our car the moment they laid eyes on it, and we were at a disadvantage, for we'd never seen them before."

"And we didn't suspect," added Paul, gloomily.

"No," went on our hero. "I even believe they punctured that tire on purpose."

"They might have," admitted Innis. "It's a wonder that fellow didn't put your motor out of commission for keeps, Dick, while he was working over it."

"He might easily have done so. I never suspected a thing. But I was watching him pretty closely, for all that, for he didn't know as much about machinery as he pretended to. He couldn't have tried any trick without my seeing him, and I guess he didn't care to take any chances.

"His game was to hold my attention while his confederates worked things so as to get Mr. Cameron near their car. Then they grabbed him, stuck a chloroformed rag over his nose to take the fight out of him, and made their get-away."

"It's lucky your motor started when it did," remarked Innis, as he clung to the sides of the swaying car.

"That's right," agreed Dick. "We might have been stalled yet, only that luck was with us. I suppose monkeying with it the way we did, we put back into adjustment some little thing that was out of gear. She's running like a sewing machine now."

And indeed the big car was responding nobly to the demands made on her. The road was very good, fortunately. It was getting dusk, but the boys had no thought of even halting for supper. There were some sandwiches they could eat later on.

Dick switched on the powerful searchlights and the path ahead of them was illumined by a brilliant glow. Mile after mile they covered, and as it happened, the only crossroads they passed were so poor that it would have been dangerous for the car ahead of them to have turned off.

"Though they may slip into some side lane, and trust to us to run past," said Paul.

"Maybe," assented Dick. "The odds are against us, but we'll keep on."

"Look!" suddenly cried Innis, pointing ahead. Through the darkness they could see a single gleam of red, like some big ruby.

"Their tail light!" cried Dick.

"Unless it's some other car," said Paul.

"We haven't passed any, though maybe we're catching up to one that came in from some side road," admitted Dick. "Here goes for a spurt. Maybe we can catch 'em!"

He threw on all the power that was safe on such a road at night, and the Last Word forged ahead. It was their one best chance to catch the other car, if indeed that was it, and they were taking advantage of it.

On and on they raced, the big auto swaying dangerously. Fortunately they did not have to worry about tire trouble, and this was something that might handicap the other car at a moment's notice. On and on they raced.

"The light seems to be brighter now," said Paul.

"I think we are catching up to them," agreed Innis.

"I hope so," murmured Dick. He peered ahead for a sign of any possible obstruction into which they might crash. At the speed they were keeping up, to hit anything, or have even a slight accident, would be serious. But the big lights made the road very plain.

"They must have seen us," observed Paul.

"I fancy so," agreed Dick. "I wish we had some way of puncturing one of their tires."

Almost as he spoke there came from the car ahead of them a loud report.

"They're firing at us, just as those other fellows did!" cried Paul.

"No, that wasn't a shot!" yelled Dick. "Fellows, it's a tire blow-out. We've got 'em."

He gave the laboring motor of the Last Word a little more gasoline and adjusted the spark lever. The car responded promptly.

"We're overhauling 'em!" cried Innis.

The red tail light was growing more bright every moment. It could be seen that the other auto was losing speed. There was the sound of another tire giving way, and then the screech as brakes were quickly applied.

"We've got 'em!" yelled Dick. "Luck's with us to-night, all right!"

The other car was in full glare of the search-lamps of Dick's car now. Three figures were seen to leap out and make for the woods on one side of the highway.

"Mr. Cameron! Mr. Cameron!" yelled Dick. "Are you all right?"

There was no answer. A moment later the big car shot up alongside the stalled one. The boys leaped out, and a glance inside the auto they had pursued showed them the figure of the engineer huddled up on the floor of the tonneau.

"Are you all right? Have they harmed you?" asked Dick, opening one of the side doors. A murmur was the only answer he got.

"They've gagged him!" cried Paul.

A moment later the boys had the rag from the mouth of their friend, and had cut the cords that bound him. They helped him to his feet, and one of them brought him a drink of water from the big car.

"How are you?" asked Dick, anxiously.

"All—right—now," was the hesitating answer. "A little—knocked out, but still in the ring. You came just in time, boys."

"How is that?" inquired Dick.

"Ten minutes later they would have been at the railroad station, and had me aboard a train. Then they'd have taken me into the unknown again, and you'd never have gotten me until it was too late. You were just in time."