Part 38 (1/2)
”They'll be murdered!” Bradley whispered. ”What can we do?”
”They'll be spared for a short time,” Ned answered, ”but we must be on the move.”
CHAPTER XXV
THE CONFESSION OF A PHOTOGRAPH
”There's a ravine off to the right where the machines may be hidden,”
the clerk said, when the racing automobiles stopped at the foot of the hills.
”Show the way, then, quick,” hastily commanded the leader. ”We want to see what sort of people they are who ride at break-neck speed in the darkness.”
The machines were driven into the ravine referred to, and the secret service men and the boys secreted themselves in a clump of undergrowth close to the roadside. The hors.e.m.e.n came on swiftly, and would have pa.s.sed only that the detectives closed in about them, three in front and three in the rear.
”What is the meaning of this?” demanded the dark little man who had shown himself at the telegraph office.
The two men with him whispered together but said nothing in the way of protest.
”Dismount!” ordered the leader.
The men hesitated, and a bullet cut the air within a fraction of an inch of the right ear of the leader. There was now no delay in reaching the ground.
”You shall pay for this!” shouted the little dark man.
”Of course,” laughed the leader.
Jimmie pulled at the sleeve of the chief.
”That is one of the men I saw in the mountains,” he declared. ”He is the second one in command, as far as I could determine.”
”What does the boy say?” demanded the other.
”What are you doing here?” asked the chief, impatiently.
”We are hunting in the hills.”
”Hunting at this season?”
”Hunting and resting. Please now do we go on?”
The chief made a significant motion, and before the three men knew what was going on they were securely handcuffed. They roared at their captors and at each other in a foreign language for a moment and then sat down stolidly at the side of the road.
”You, Jerry, and you, Sam, take them back to the town and lock them up,” ordered the chief. ”Perhaps you, Charley, would better go with them. Ride and make them walk!”
”Locked up!” shouted the dark little man. ”What for?”
”Treason to your country,” was the short reply.