“I tell you what!” said Bob. “We’ve got to get that man and we can’t waste a minute. Suppose you go to the police station and tell them what you know and have them call up the Allendale police and tell them to be on the watch for a man that stutters.”
“I’ll do that, sure,” replied the man, and immediately suited the action to the word.
“Come along, Joe,” cried Bob, and they both plunged into the darkness, following the direction that the man had pointed out.
Cassey had had a fifteen-minute start, but the distance to Allendale was nearly four miles, and the boys had no doubt that they would be able to overcome that handicap, provided Cassey kept to one of the two roads by which it was possible to reach the town. Those roads ran nearly parallel for quite a distance, separated at places by a quarter of a mile and at others by half a mile, but joining each other about half a mile before Allendale was reached.
“Of course, we don’t know just which road Cassey has taken, and if we stick to either one we may make the wrong guess,” said Bob. “So it will be good dope for us to separate and each take one of the roads. If either of us gets the skunk he can give our regular yodel call and the other one can come hurrying to him across the fields. We’ll never be more than half a mile from each other.”
Joe assented to this and took the road that ran almost parallel to but at the left of the one that Bob was following.
The rain by this time had diminished somewhat in violence, but the roads were muddy and progress for Bob was slow. It was so dark that it was impossible to choose one’s footing, and he had to splash along as best he could.
On a night like that no one was abroad that was not compelled to be, and the road was completely deserted. For the first mile there was nothing to indicate that Bob was anywhere near his quarry. And he had almost covered a second mile before he thought that he could hear footsteps splashing along in front of him.
He quickened his pace, and the sound of steps ahead grew louder. But that his own steps could also be heard by the fugitive was indicated by the sudden cessation of the noise in front.
Had Cassey, if he were indeed the man in front, stopped? Was he hiding until his pursuer had passed? Was he lying in wait to brain him as he came along?