Yet, be that as it may, the girl vanished, and even her sex remained a mystery to the cashier and the policeman. The telegram, sent from Stoughton by the motor boys, had fulfilled its mission. That the girl had escaped was, to them, an unimportant detail. The main thing was to foil Tibbits and keep the bullion.
[CHAPTER XVI.
A CLOSE SHAVE.]
Motor Matt and Joe McGlory reached Fall River in the afternoon. They had planned to catch one of the night boats for New York, and there was an hour or two at their disposal. They put in the time to good advantage buying clothes. Mr. Jacobs, the man from Leeville, was familiar with the town and, before going to his daughter’s, was glad to show the boys around and give them all the aid he could.
When he left Matt and McGlory, the lads were completely equipped in new “hand-me-downs,” and feeling more like themselves.
There was a little fear, on their part, that Bill Hawkins might have used the telegraph lines and that they would have trouble in Fall River. But the trouble did not materialize.
“We’re jail-breakers, all right,” laughed McGlory, when they were safely in their stateroom aboard the sound steamer, “but Constable Bill, I reckon, has found out something about Miles and Barney that keeps him from running out our trail.”
“Hawkins and his friend Hiram,” said Matt, “have discovered that they’ve made a mistake. I don’t see how they could have learned this from Miles or Barney, though, and I’m rather inclined to think that the justice of the peace got back from his fishing trip and said a few words in our behalf.”
“What’s the difference, pard, so long as we’re at large? We’ve lost two suits of clothes and collided with a lot of hard knocks, but we got that telegram off.”
“Also,” laughed Matt, “we’ve spoiled a pair of nice iron gates, destroyed some Higbee china, and played hob with one of the finest motor cars I ever handled. I guess the damage isn’t all on one side.”