"Get back there! Nobody allowed out of this gate without the boss says so! Get back!"
"Get back yourself!" snarled Tom, and as he spoke he fired, but aiming over the guard's hat. So close was the bullet, though, that the fellow dropped his gun in mortal terror and yelled:
"I'm through!"
Away he sped in the darkness.
"The fates grant that he didn't take the keys with him!" murmured Tom, as he and Ned ran on toward the gates which they could make out more plainly now.
"It isn't likely they're locked if a man was on guard," suggested Ned, and so it proved. The rusty iron gates swung under the vigorous pushes of the two, and a moment later they found themselves out in the road, while behind them could be heard the confused shouts of their pursuers.
"Oh, for a car now!" cried Tom.
He and Ned were running down the road, not knowing and little caring in what direction, so long as they were leaving the castle and its bandits behind them. As they swung around a corner, where the road widened, Ned saw a deeper patch of blackness and, pointing to it, gave a cry of joy.
"What is it?" demanded Tom Swift.
"The House on Wheels!" yelled Ned.