"Come on now as fast as you can leg it," said Bob, "Let's get as near him as we can before he sees us."
They were within two hundred feet of the thief, when he turned and saw them.
"Hey, you, drop those wheels!" shouted Jack.
The man hesitated a minute and then dropped the wheels on the road and, springing to one side, started off across a field at the top of his speed. In another minute they had reached the wheels, and with a cry of joy, Jack grabbed his up saying:
"Guess we're in luck again." But the next moment his spirits were dashed, when Bob suddenly cried:
"Look, Jack, he's taken one of my caps." Then, before Jack could speak, he said: "You look out for this wheel, I'm going after that chap."
The man by this time was some distance away and running as fast as he could go, but Bob remembered that a little farther along a road branched off to the left, and hoping to cut him off, he jumped on Jack's wheel and fairly flew down the road in a cloud of dust. Coming to the branch road he turned and had ridden but a short distance when he saw the man climbing a fence, beside the road, just a little ahead. So quietly did the wheel run that Bob was nearly upon him before he was aware of his presence. He was a tall fellow, about twenty years old, dressed in overalls. Seeing that Bob was alone, he made no further attempt to escape, but stood in the middle of the road panting, as Bob came up.
Stopping the wheel and jumping off, he demanded:
"See here, what do you mean by taking our wheels?"
"Huh, don't yer wish yer knew? What yer going ter do about it anyhow?" he asked with a sneer.