Grace and Elfreda did not heed Tom’s advice, and before long the party of five, all mounted bareback, were off down the road.
“It is the coach,” muttered Hippy a little later. “Hi! Cease firing!” he yelled.
“Don’t shoot! It’s Wingate!” cried a voice.
“What happened?” demanded Tom, when the campers galloped up to the group of tourists huddled at the side of the road.
“Matter?” shouted Colonel Scott. “We’ve been held up and robbed!”
It was Grace who discovered the rear wheel of the vehicle lying at the side of the road.
“Driver, did that nut come off again?”
The driver looked as if he would not answer the girl’s question, but a glance into Tom’s eyes made him say:
“Yes. The axle broke when the wheel came off,” he added.
Only one masked man had been seen, but the driver insisted that he had noted rifles and revolvers behind the bushes, covering the party.