"They'll be spared for a short time," Ned answered, "but we must be on the move."
CHAPTER XXV
THE CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH
"There's a ravine off to the right where the machines may be hidden," the clerk said, when the racing automobiles stopped at the foot of the hills.
"Show the way, then, quick," hastily commanded the leader. "We want to see what sort of people they are who ride at break-neck speed in the darkness."
The machines were driven into the ravine referred to, and the secret service men and the boys secreted themselves in a clump of undergrowth close to the roadside. The horsemen came on swiftly, and would have passed only that the detectives closed in about them, three in front and three in the rear.
"What is the meaning of this?" demanded the dark little man who had shown himself at the telegraph office.
The two men with him whispered together but said nothing in the way of protest.
"Dismount!" ordered the leader.
The men hesitated, and a bullet cut the air within a fraction of an inch of the right ear of the leader. There was now no delay in reaching the ground.