“Let’s go after them and see what they’re up to!”
The words came simultaneously from the twins. As for Jack, he was already running for the car he had been driving.
“Tell the girls!” he shouted back. “Tell them to wait here and keep an eye open for Gif and Spouter.”
The girls had already come to the doorway of the drug store, wondering what the excitement was about. Mary held her soda glass in her hand, for she had not yet finished the treat. In a few gasped-out words Andy explained the situation. In the meantime Randy and Fred had piled into the auto and Andy had all he could do to leap upon the footboard as it started up.
“Don’t be gone too long!” shouted Martha after them.
“We’ll leave word here at the drug store if we go home!” added Mary.
The auto containing the Rover boys rounded the corner on two wheels, and then Jack put on as much speed as he dared while leaving the town. Far ahead on the road leading southward they could see another auto streaking along, leaving a trail of smoke and dust behind.
“We’ve got to catch them before they reach Barret’s Crossroads,” declared Jack. “If we don’t we won’t know which way they went.”
The crossroads to which he referred was about a mile and a half distant. Here the road branched in three directions, one heading south and another slightly to the east and the third slightly to the west. The middle highway ran uphill and the two other roads through a stretch of dense woods.
For the first half of the distance the oldest Rover made good time, the speedometer registering between forty and forty-five miles per hour. But then, as they approached a small side road, a load of hay came into view and a few seconds later blocked the highway entirely.
“Hurry up there, you!” shouted Jack, and his cousins repeated this cry. But the old farmer who was driving the load was either deaf or did not care for what they said. He paid not the slightest attention, and seemed to enjoy taking his time in getting around the corner. And even then he blocked the highway so completely that Jack had to drive around and partly into a ditch where for a few seconds the automobile was in danger of overturning.
“Gee, he’s a peach for politeness!” was the way Fred expressed himself.
“The auto ahead is out of sight!” groaned Randy. “Step on it, Jack!”
His cousin did “step on it” with the result that for a few minutes the speedometer registered between forty-five and fifty miles per hour, which was a terrific speed, especially when the unevenness of the highway was taken into consideration. Once or twice they struck small hollows and stones and bounced up and down in a most alarming fashion.
“Watch yourself, Jack! We don’t want to be turning somersaults,” cautioned Andy.
“I’ve got her under control—don’t worry,” was the quick reply.
But regardless of the rapid progress made, the delay caused by the load of hay proved disastrous, for the automobile ahead could not be overtaken, and when Barret’s Crossroads was reached not a vehicle or a human being of any kind was in sight. In a field near by a dozen or more cows were chewing their cuds, and that was all.
“And the cows can’t tell us which way that auto went!” said Andy, in disgust. “Hang the luck, anyhow! If we had only collared Slugger and Nappy we might have found out what they’re doing in this neighborhood.”
“Yes, and we might make Slugger explain what he meant by looking into the window,” added Fred.
The four boys inspected the wagon and automobile tracks in the three roadways, but these were so hopelessly mingled they proved nothing. Then Jack turned the auto around, and they made a quick run back to Margot, where they found the girls in waiting near the drug store corner.
The boys had just explained how they had failed to catch their enemies when they heard the tooting of a horn and the next instant a fine sedan with all the windows down flashed up to them and came to a standstill. Spouter Powell was at the wheel and Gif Garrison sat beside him.
“Hello, everybody!” shouted Gif good-naturedly. “Came to meet us, did you?”
“Glad to see you’ve got a new highway from here on,” remarked Spouter. “The section we just came over is something fearful. I thought I’d break all the springs. How is everybody?” and he leaped out, followed by Gif, and began shaking hands with the girls and boys.
“Oh, what’s that surprise you’ve got for us?” questioned Mary eagerly. “We’re all dying to know!”
“Well, don’t die here, Mary,” answered Gif, with a grin. “It would be awfully inconvenient to have to carry your body away back to the farm.”
“Now, Gif Garrison, don’t you start to tease!” said Mary, growing red in the face. “You know well enough what I mean. You and Spouter have a secret. What is it?”
“A real, genuine, dyed-in-the-wool surprise,” answered Spouter. “The first one to guess it gets a big red apple.”
“What have you got under that robe in the back?” questioned Ruth, with a twinkle in her eye.
“A barrel of flour and two sacks of potatoes,” answered Gif glibly.
“Behold the surprise!” went on Spouter, and pulled aside the summer robe just mentioned. From underneath there emerged a close-fitting hat hiding a face just then filled with giggles, and then a small but exceedingly good-looking girl arose to her feet.
“May Powell!”
“Where in the world did you come from?”
“Oh, Spouter, it was just lovely to bring your cousin!”
“I wrote to her two weeks ago to come, but she thought she couldn’t,” said Martha. “This is certainly the dearest ever!”
Thus speaking, the other girls fairly dragged Spouter’s pretty cousin from the tonneau of the car and smothered her with kisses. Then the boys all came in for a hearty handshake, especially Fred.
“Gee, this sure is a welcome surprise!” said the youngest of the Rover boys, and held May’s hand so long it made her blush.
“Remember what I said about Fred?” whispered Jack to Ruth on the side. “I thought he’d be as much interested as you girls.”
“He certainly seems to be very well satisfied,” answered Ruth demurely.
And Fred was satisfied, because ever since he had gone to Colby Hall he and May had been the best of chums.
Jack invited the new arrivals to have some soda and while this was being disposed of told his former school chums of the sudden appearance and disappearance of Slugger Brown and Nappy Martell.
“Bad eggs—both of them!” was Gif’s comment. “If they’re in this neighborhood, you fellows had better keep your eyes open.”
“Gif and I have some news for you,” remarked Spouter, when finishing his soda. “We’ll tell you about it later on. It’s just a little business matter.”
“Are you fellows going into partnership?” questioned Jack quickly.
“No. It’s something else,” answered Gif. “Something I think will please you fellows a whole lot.”
On the way home Gif got in the car Fred had occupied while Fred and Mary joined May and Spouter. On the way towards Dexter’s Corners the Rover boys told about the horse race and how they were going to stop to see how the judges decided.
“Well, if that photo shows that Jack was ahead they ought to decide the race in his favor,” said Gif.
“We haven’t seen any of the other pictures yet,” answered Randy. “They may tell a different story.”
“Well, it certainly must have been a close race. I wish I’d been here to see it.”
“If they declare it a tie you’ll have a chance to see it ridden again.”
The judges were to meet at a certain law office at the Corners, and when the Rovers and their friends drove up they found a crowd collected with a number of automobiles and carriages parked along the curb.
“There is Joe Sedley’s car,” remarked Andy, in a low tone, and pointed to a very fine automobile a short distance away.
“You boys go up into the office,” said Martha. “There seems to be such a crowd we won’t go. But let us know the news just as soon as you get it!” And so it was arranged.
When the Rovers, followed by their chums, entered the corridor leading to the law office they heard several arguments in tones far from soft and reassuring. Soon they recognized Joe Sedley’s voice.
“That’s nothing but rank nonsense!” Sedley was saying. “Rank nonsense, and I don’t agree to it! If anything, that race was a tie and ought to be ridden over again!”
“We judges don’t see it that way,” was the answer of one of the gentlemen present, a lawyer named Rockwell. “Here are four pictures, all taken by different persons, and each of these pictures shows that Rover was at least a foot ahead of you at the finishing tape.”
“Oh, you can’t go by what a photograph shows,” growled Sedley. “Cameras play all sorts of funny tricks. It was a neck-and-neck race, and that is all there is to it. If Rover is willing to ride it over again, well and good. But if not, please remember that I claim it was a tie and so far as I am concerned all bets are off. That is all there is to it.”
“Wait a minute!” cried Jack, pushing his way forward and confronting the head of the judges’ committee. “What is your decision, Mr. Rockwell?” he asked.
“Four photographs show that you were at least a foot ahead at the finish,” declared the head judge of the contest. “That being so, we have declared the race in your favor. You win, Mr. Rover, and I congratulate you,” and the lawyer shook hands.
“And we congratulate you also,” put in the other two judges.
“Humbug!” stormed Joe Sedley. “Humbug, I say! I protest!”
“Your protest will avail you nothing,” answered Mr. Rockwell sharply.
“We’ll see about that! I don’t believe anybody around here is going to take my rights away from me!” shouted Sedley, losing his mental balance completely. Then, with a dark look at the Rovers, he strode out of the lawyer’s office and stamped out of the building.
“My, but isn’t he real sweet!” snickered Andy, in a low tone.
Various comments were made over the abrupt departure of the rich young man. A few of the spectators sided with him, but the majority agreed that he was thoroughly unreasonable. While there was a running fire of comment the Rovers were allowed to look at the pictures which had been used in deciding the race and could see that Jack had won beyond the shadow of a doubt.
“We’ll keep these pictures for the present,” said Mr. Rockwell. “They’ll be returned to their respective owners later.”
When the Rovers and the others rejoined the girls they found the latter eagerly discussing the sudden and unceremonious departure of Joe Sedley.
“Why, he never even noticed us!” declared Martha. “He looked as dark as a thundercloud and as mad as a hornet. He dashed over to his car, leaped in, slammed the door after him, and made off as if the very old Nick was in pursuit.”
“Well, I don’t blame him for feeling bad,” said Jack. “But I don’t think I’d show it like that if I had been in his place.”
“Then, you really won, Jack?” cried May. “Wasn’t that grand!”
“If he really thinks it’s a tie, Jack, why don’t you ride the race over again?” said Ruth. “Perhaps you could give him a worse beating.”
“I don’t think Jack ought to ride it over again!” declared Martha. “If he won it, he won it, and that’s all there is to it.”
“That’s just what I say!” broke in Mary.
“Well, I think I’d ride it over again rather than have all this fuss and feather and make an enemy of Joe Sedley,” declared Ruth, and once again Jack felt that she was raising a barrier between them.