"No!" yelled Gorro. "And you won't be here much longer, either!"
With that he dived off the seat to the floor, where he wriggled along like some clumsy snake and a moment later before Tom or Ned could stop him or before Tom could fire, if he wanted to go to that length, the fellow was out of the front door and rushing away in the darkness.
At the same moment there was another noise outside and a shout as though some one had seen Gorro and had hailed him. Ned and Tom did not doubt that the other man had come back and was taken by surprise to see his pal thus leap from the House on Wheels they had so daringly captured.
"There he goes!" yelled Ned, which was really a useless exclamation, as Tom could see very plainly what had happened. "After him!"
"No!" shouted the young inventor, catching hold of Ned, who would have followed the escaped prisoner. "Let him go! He's met his pal outside and the other man has a gun. Let him go. Besides, we'd never locate him in this downpour."
As he spoke it seemed as if the heavens had opened and let down a flood of water, so heavily was the rain now beating on the roof and sides of the House on Wheels.
CHAPTER XVIII
SHOTS FROM AMBUSH
Standing near the seat where, but a moment before, Gorro had sat practically at their mercy, Tom Swift and Ned Newton looked at each other, a little dazed by the suddenness with which it had all happened. They had been so confident of their prisoner, and now he was gone and his secret with him. But the situation was not as easy as it appeared on the surface.
"Make everything snug!" exclaimed Tom, pulling himself together and getting ready for action. "Look sharp!"