"We're gaining on 'em!" cried McGlory, as the car shot through the outskirts of Carrington. "If we can keep on gaining, we'll reach the post trader's with ground to spare."
"We're good for it," averred Black. "Hold onto your hair and eyebrows."
The air fairly sang in the ears of the boys as the real estate man, throwing himself spiritedly into the contest, hurled his machine onward over the hard roadbed.
They flashed through a couple of towns which, Black said, were Divide and Sheyenne.
"The next place," the real estate man went on, "is Oberon. After that comes Lallie, and then Minnewaukon. But it's a waste of time to go to Minnewaukon. If we went there, we'd have to come southeast to Totten. We can leave the road at Lallie and go northeast to Totten, thus saving a few miles and considerable time. If——"
He broke off with a startled exclamation. Then, in a twinkling, it was out clutch, down brake, and a kick at the switch.
Another car, at a dead stop in the road ahead, had come like a blot under the glow of their lamps.
At that point the prairie was level, and no such thing as fences were to be seen.
"Sufferin' hold-ups!" exclaimed McGlory. "Something's gone wrong with the Siwash outfit. Look! Two of the gang are plugging this way."
The cowboy had "called the turn." Two dark forms untangled themselves from the dusky blot in the road which represented the car, and were running back along the trail. As the figures came closer, it could be seen that they were carrying rifles.