When Trueman and the boys left the doctor's office the mystery was cleared as to the cause of Matt's sudden departure, but was as deep as ever concerning his present whereabouts.
"For several days," said Trueman, "Matt's enemies have held back. I suppose they planned this thing so as to work it at just the right time to keep Matt out of the race. If he doesn't get back here before long I'll raise Cain with the scoundrels who had a hand in the work. I'm going to see the authorities and have them telegraph and telephone to the surrounding towns. While I'm busy about that, you boys return to the hotel, get a duplicate key of the room, and take the pitcher of water you find there over to Dr. Davis. Ask him to find out if any of the cannibis indica was mixed with it. I'm fairly positive as to what his answer will be, but this is a case where we've got to be sure of every step."
By noon the telegraph and telephone had carried their alarm into the neighboring country. The town was being searched, not only for Matt, but also for Slocum. Dr. Davis had declared that the water in the pitcher had contained a strong solution of the drug. Circumstantial evidence connected Slocum with the administering of the drug so that there was not the least shadow of a doubt.
But Slocum could not be located; and neither could Matt. An afternoon of miserable anxiety passed for Carl and Chub, to be followed by a no less miserable and uneventful night.
Monday, the day before the great race, came, bringing crowds of people by every train—but Motor Matt was not among them.
Carl, as Chub expressed it, had "gone off the jump" entirely; and Chub himself was not much better off.
Trueman, grimly resenting what had happened to his driver, was firmly determined, if Matt did not present himself before the race was started, to arrest every one of the Stark-Frisbie drivers.
If the Jarrot car was to be kept out of the race for lack of a driver, Trueman would see to it that some of the other cars were left in like condition. In levelling their contemptible plot against Motor Matt, the guilty drivers would find that they had launched a boomerang.
This was the condition of affairs up to midnight, Monday night, and the first of the racers was to be started at eight sharp, Tuesday morning.