The Golden Boys and Their New Electric Cell

by L. P. Wyman

It took them but an instant to reach the road and, to their delight, they found that Sandy, seeing the car come out, had brought their machine up.

"Pile in, quick," shouted the chief, but although they obeyed as quickly as possible, the fugitives were nearly a half mile ahead when they started.

The boys rushed to where they had left their wheels, about a hundred feet away, and by the time they reached them and mounted they were quite a distance in the rear.

"Now, let 'em out," shouted Jack, as he sprang into the saddle, and turning on the power, fairly flew down the road closely followed by Bob, and before they had gone a mile, they were up with their father's car.

"I'm afraid we're going to lose 'em," they heard the chief say, as they drew up, one on each side of the car. "We're not gaining an inch. Getting all the speed you can out of her, Sandy?"

"I've got her wide open," was the reply.

Bob knew that there was a long, steep hill to ascend a little farther on and hoped that they would gain on them there, as his father's car was a splendid hill climber and he had a few weeks before taken that same hill on high gear. A moment later, as they swung round a curve, the hill was at hand, and Bob shouted to Sandy telling him not to shift.

They could see the robber's car about half way up the hill, and going slowly, evidently on low gear. Sandy hit the foot of the hill at a terrific pace and, as the car went up on high gear, they could see that they were gaining rapidly. But the robbers had too great a start and reached the top several hundred yards ahead. The road was now slightly down hill for a mile or more, and they could see that, under the reckless driving of the robber, whose car must have been making nearly seventy miles an hour, they were rapidly losing ground, for Mr. Golden had told Sandy not to go faster than he considered safe.

"I want to catch them as badly as any one, but I'm not going to risk killing all of us to do it," he declared.

"He'll wreck his car and break their necks, sure as fate, if he don't slow up," thought Bob.