"Strike me lucky if I'm not!"
Reaching the main road, Matt turned in the direction of Lamy and the cliffs.
"We'll take you to Lamy," said Matt, "and bring the officer back. We've the whole day before us, though, and there's something else I'd like to do."
"Name it, mate. I'm in for anything."
"I'd like to go along the top of those cliffs and see if I can find how and where that white runabout went to last night."
"If you go along the cliffs, you'll have to walk. Why not make your examination from the road?"
"We can't see enough from the road, Dick. There may be something on the other side of that ridge. By walking, and staying on the cliffs, we can see both sides. The mystery of that white auto may be the key to the whole affair at La Vita Place. Now's the time to settle it. If we don't, Sercomb and those other fellows will."
"Right-o! We'll leave the Red Flier somewhere and tackle the game on foot."
"We can't leave the Red Flier alone," said Matt. "I was going to suggest, Dick, that we run the car off the road, between here and the cliffs, and that you stay with it. I've got to look out for the machine, you know. I came pretty near losing it, near Fairview, in Arizona, and that gave me a jolt I'll never forget. It's a five-thousand-dollar car, and if anything happened to it it would be difficult to explain the matter satisfactorily to Mr. Tomlinson."
"I smoke you, mate," returned Ferral. "You've butted into this affair of mine, and if you were to lose the old flugee on account of it, I'd feel worse than you. I'll stay with the thing, and you can be sure nothing will happen to it. You and Carl go hunt for the spook-car. I'll wait. How far do you intend to hoof it over the cliffs?"