"Have you had enough?" asked Fred.

"Enough," mumbled Andy, through his bruised lips.

They left him there, humbled but furious, and went on their way to the Hall.

"Fred, you went round him like a cooper round a barrel!" said Bill Garwood admiringly.

"He had it coming to him," answered Fred. "If ever a fellow needed it, he did."

He stepped aside to avoid a car coming toward him in which two rough-looking men were seated.

"Look, Fred!" cried Teddy, clutching his brother's arm as the car went by.

"What? Where?" asked Fred wonderingly.

"The auto!" gasped Teddy. "The man with a scar! The fellows that stole Uncle Aaron's watch!"

CHAPTER x.x.x

THE CAPTURE--CONCLUSION

"You don't mean it!" exclaimed Fred, as excited as Teddy.

"I'm sure of it! And now we're going to miss them again," groaned his brother.

At that moment a boy on a motorcycle came round a curve in the road.

"It's Lester Lee on his motorbike!" cried Fred, as an idea came to him.

"Quick!" he yelled, waving his hand to Lester.

The latter put on speed and was soon beside them.

"What's the matter?" he asked, as he jumped from the saddle.

"Lend us your machine, Lester, like a good fellow," cried Fred. "I'll tell you all about it later. Quick, Teddy, jump on with me!"

In a second the Rushton boys were off, while the boys without the slightest idea of what was happening, looked after them with wonder in their eyes.

Fred had often ridden on Lester's motorcycle and knew how to handle it as well as the owner himself. He let out all speed and soon was traveling like the wind, with Teddy hanging on for dear life.

The automobile had a good start, and it was several minutes before they came in sight of it. Then they slackened their pace, keeping a couple of hundred yards in the rear.

"How on earth did those fellows ever get an auto?" asked Teddy wonderingly.

"Stole it, probably," answered Fred. "But that isn't what is bothering me. What I want to know is, how we're going to get them nabbed. We don't know where they're going to stop, and when they do land somewhere they'll probably have others of their gang around."

It was a perplexing problem, and they taxed their brains to think of an answer. But at present, the chief thing was to keep them in sight, and, as the men had no idea that they were being followed, this was easy enough.

Everything went well until, just after they turned a bend in the road, they ran into a bed of sand. Up to now the road had been hard and smooth, and they had been going at top speed. Fred saw the sandy stretch and tried to put on the brakes, but the distance was too short.

The sudden check in speed as the motorcycle ploughed into the sand sent both boys flying over the handle bars, while the machine staggered and at last fell down beside the trunk of a tree.

For a moment they lay still, the breath fairly knocked out of them by the shock. Then they slowly scrambled to their feet, a little shakily, and looked at each other in disgust.

"Did you ever see such luck as that?" asked Teddy. "Now our goose is cooked. We'll lose sight of them and that will be the end of it."

"Not by a jugful, it won't," declared Fred, stoutly. "Jump up, and we'll catch up to them in a jiffy."

He righted the machine, and after leading it through the streak of sandy road, they mounted and started off. But they had not gone twenty rods before they began to slow up, and Fred discovered to his dismay that they were riding on a flat tire.

"We must have had a puncture when the machine fell down," he said as they jumped off. "It b.u.mped up against the tree, and some projection jammed into the tire. Here it is now," as he disclosed a tiny opening.

They opened Lester's tool box and set themselves vigorously to work to repair the puncture. They worked feverishly, and in a minute or two got out the inner tube and prepared to patch the damaged spot.

"I can do this just as well alone," said Fred. "You take a squint at the tank and see if we have enough gas to take us on. Lester may have been nearly out when we grabbed the machine from him."

A groan from Teddy, a moment later, told him that he had hit on an unpleasant truth.

"Almost empty!" exclaimed Teddy. "There isn't enough to take us another mile. There's a hoodoo in it. We no sooner see those fellows than we lose them again."

There was consternation in the boys' eyes as they gazed blankly at each other.

Fred rose to his feet and looked about him. Half a mile ahead, he saw a church spire rising above the trees.

"There must be a town over there," he said. "I'll tell you what we'll do. You skip ahead and find some place where they sell gasoline. Get a couple of quarts and hustle back. This job will take me ten or fifteen minutes more, and as soon as I get it done, I'll come on to meet you. If the gas gives out before I get there, I'll trundle the machine along until we meet. Get a move on now, for every minute counts."

Teddy started off on a dog trot, and Fred once more bent over his work.

Despite his air of confidence, he had very little hope of picking up the trail, once the vagrants had gotten out of sight. Still, they could make inquiries and might have luck. At the very worst they could do no more than fail, and they would have the consolation of knowing that they had not quit.

He worked desperately, and soon the inner tube was as good as ever. He tumbled the tools back into the box, mounted the machine, and as the road was good, once past the sandy stretch, he let it out, fearing, however, that at any moment it might go dry.

He had reached the outskirts of the village, when he saw Teddy hurrying toward him with a can in his hand. He greeted his brother with a shout.

And it seemed to the boys that they had never heard sweeter music than the splashing of the gasoline as it went down into the tank.

"I've had one bit of luck, anyway!" exclaimed Teddy, once more in his normal high spirits. "I asked if they had seen the auto go through, and they showed me where it had turned off to the right. We'll get them yet."

"That's the way to talk!" responded his brother. "We'll follow the old advice and be like the postage stamp. We'll stick until we get there."

They took the road to the right that had been pointed out, and let the motorcycle out at full speed. They soon made up for lost time, and their hearts exulted when at last they saw before them the automobile they were looking for. They slowed down at once, keeping an easy distance in the rear.

On they went through several villages, until at last the automobile stopped at a low roadhouse on the outskirts of the town of Saxby. The men got out and went into the house.

Still without any definite plan, the boys brought the motorcycle to a stop at the same place.