The latter put on speed and was soon beside them.
“What’s the matter?” he asked, as he jumped from the saddle.
“Lend us your machine, Lester, like a good fellow,” cried Fred. “I’ll tell you all about it later. Quick, Teddy, jump on with me!”
In a second the Rushton boys were off, while the boys without the slightest idea of what was happening, looked after them with wonder in their eyes.
Fred had often ridden on Lester’s motorcycle and knew how to handle it as well as the owner himself. He let out all speed and soon was traveling like the wind, with Teddy hanging on for dear life.
The automobile had a good start, and it was several minutes before they came in sight of it. Then they slackened their pace, keeping a couple of hundred yards in the rear.
“How on earth did those fellows ever get an auto?” asked Teddy wonderingly.
“Stole it, probably,” answered Fred. “But that isn’t what is bothering me. What I want to know is, how we’re going to get them nabbed. We don’t know where they’re going to stop, and when they do land somewhere they’ll probably have others of their gang around.”
It was a perplexing problem, and they taxed their brains to think of an answer. But at present, the chief thing was to keep them in sight, and, as the men had no idea that they were being followed, this was easy enough.
Everything went well until, just after they turned a bend in the road, they ran into a bed of sand. Up to now the road had been hard and smooth, and they had been going at top speed. Fred saw the sandy stretch and tried to put on the brakes, but the distance was too short.