once more assuring the garage proprietor that any losses he might incur would be made good, clancy opened up the hornet and started for the railroad station.
“colonel carson owns a lot of land over toward orton,” stated billy gloomily. “he’s mixed up in this somewhere, you can believe me!”
clancy grunted, but made no reply. when they reached the railroad station they had no difficulty in finding the combination agent and telegraph operator.
“morning, mr. martin!” sang out billy. “did you get a wire for mr. merriwell about seven this morning?”
“not me, billy,” returned the agent. “was he expecting one?”
“not that we know of, but he got one,” exclaimed clancy. “are you sure that none came in this morning or last night?”
“nobody here last night, and nothing has come this morning.”
the operator regarded them with curiosity.
“did you say merriwell got a telegram, billy?” he asked.
[179]
“no, i said so,” snapped clancy. “he certainly got a telegram this morning, and if it didn’t come through you, it’s a mighty queer thing!”
“yes, i reckon it is,” returned the agent calmly. this merely exasperated the red-headed chap.
“well it’s a darned funny thing,” he exclaimed, “that telegrams can be received here without the telegraph operator knowing it!”
“ain’t no message come this morning,” declared the agent again, and with a nod to billy, he turned and went back into his place of business.
for a moment the two friends were at a loss what to do. it was quite evident that chip merriwell had been called away to orton by some important affair, yet this agent declared that no message had arrived for him!
“i guess we’ll go back and grill those fellows over again,” said clancy, starting the hornet. “we want to make sure about this telegram business.”
“it’s easy enough to send a fake message,” suggested billy mac.
“we’ll soon see, then.”
returning to the hotel, they questioned the clerk anew. by this time he was in enough anxiety to speak out fully, and stated emphatically[180] that he had seen the telegram, and that merriwell had mentioned it.
“i guess that settles it, clan,” exclaimed billy, with a gloomy countenance. “he got a message, all right, but it didn’t come through the station agent.”
“do you suppose that colonel carson or his son had a hand in it?”
“sure i do! only, what’s their reason? do you think they tried to get merry where they could beat him up?”
“from what i saw of the colonel,” said clancy thoughtfully, “he wouldn’t go into anything so raw as that, old man. bully tried it and got all that was coming to him last night. granted that chip was lured away, there are some folks who would have a decidedly good reason to keep him out of sight for a day or two.”
“who?”
“some of the franklin academy crowd. i may be doing him an injustice, but i’d be more apt to blame bob randall than the carsons, billy.”
billy mac stared in open disbelief.
“randall? but why should he try to keep chip away from fardale?”
“because he wants to pitch in monday’s game against franklin. it looks to me as if randall was trying for the place ted crockett will leave[181] vacant. if he won the franklin game he’d be a popular hero——”
“cut out this foolishness, clan!”
billy mac leaned forward earnestly. he was a staunch friend of merriwell’s, but he had seen bob randall at his best, and both liked and admired the fiery, handsome southerner.
“you’re away off. bob randall isn’t that sort, not by a good deal. he doesn’t like chip particularly, but it’s an honorable, open-faced dislike, and it won’t last. if he knew anything like this was going on, he would be the first one to warn chip. no, if there’s any one to blame, clancy, it’s the carsons.”
the red-haired chap nodded. he was quick to recognize that his words might have been an injustice to randall, whom he did not know at all well. moreover, if anything was wrong it was no doubt inspired by bully carson or his father.
“yes, billy, i got a bit out of perspective there, i reckon. randall or the franklin crowd wouldn’t be down here. well, our best plan will be to hit for orton and see if merry’s car got disabled.”
by dint of inquiries they soon found that there was but one road to orton, and that if they took it there was no chance that they could miss merry. clancy was for going to call on colonel carson and putting it up to him straight, but[182] billy mac persuaded him to adopt the more sensible course of taking the road to orton and tracing up merriwell.
“let’s go up to your house, then,” said clancy, “and load up with some rations. chip may be pretty hungry when we find him, and there’s no knowing how long we’ll be gone. besides, we’d better tell your mother nothing of what we suspect. no use worrying her, billy.”
this was sound argument, and when they arrived at the mcquade home they said nothing of their uneasiness. clancy stated that chip had been called over to orton very unexpectedly, and that they were going over to meet him, and might possibly proceed on to fardale without returning.
so, loading the hornet with their belongings and a generous amount of mrs. mcquade’s toothsome edibles, the two started out on the trail of frank merriwell, junior. once outside of town, clancy opened up the hornet and showed what she could do.
“i took her off the scrap heap,” he declared proudly, “and while she doesn’t look up to much, she can certainly go some!”
billy’s interest was only perfunctory, however. he was still thinking about chip and the carson family.
“funny we didn’t see bully around town, clan. he usually sports around in his gay duds on[183] sunday, and runs an old car he bought second-hand. the colonel sticks to horses, but bully likes to make an impression with his car.”
“i guess merry gave him a black eye last night,” said clancy. “that may account for his failure to sport around. i guess the whole crowd is laying low and keeping quiet for the present.”
billy grunted, but relapsed into silence.
the orton road was a rough one, and after the first mile clancy had to slow down a bit. they were going directly away from the railroad, and as they proceeded without seeing any trace of the garage car, they found that the country lost its prosperous aspect, and became a good deal rougher and wilder.
more than once they passed rocky farms that had been abandoned years before, although the flowering orchards around carsonville had proved that, with industry and skill, the country could be made productive.
mile after mile reeled off without any token of their quarry, other than tracks of auto tires in the road, which might have been left by any one of a dozen machines. at length they topped a rise and saw orton itself, two miles farther on. it was a miserably small place, and clancy’s heart sank.
“there’d be an elegant place to hold merry prisoner,” said billy, pointing to a deserted farmhouse that stood back from the road to one side.[184] it was the fifth place he had pointed out with the same idea, and clancy grunted.
“you’re off, billy. i don’t believe merry was ever in this jay town. there’s nothing to it but a blacksmith shop and a couple of stores.”
“but don’t you think that’s what’s happened?” persisted billy mac.
“no, i don’t. chip may have been lured away, all right, but colonel carson has too much gumption to work that kind of a racket, according to my notion. no hotel here, is there?”
“no,” said billy anxiously. “we can find out if merry was here by going to the smithy. the blacksmith lives just behind it.”
orton was not even large enough to be possessed of a church, it appeared. the little place seemed absolutely desolate in the sunday afternoon quiet, but as the hornet drew up in front of the smithy, clancy saw that the blacksmith was standing under an apple tree, watching them.
leaping out, the two hastened into the orchard behind the smithy, and proceeded to question the burly smith.
“i couldn’t say,” he responded to their inquiries. “i’ve seen two or three machines go past, but didn’t pay much attention. mebbe my wife did. hold on a minute.”
he turned and lifted a shout at the house in the rear. a tired-looking woman came forth, and made response that she had seen bully carson’s[185] machine early that morning, but had not noticed the others.
“bully carson!” exclaimed billy, in a low voice. “we’re on the trail, clancy!”
clancy considered. if they were to make inquiries through the place, it might be best to leave the hornet here. turning to the smith, he found that the latter sold gasoline to the few cars coming through the place, and arranged to leave the hornet in his care.
returning to the car, he brought it around behind the smithy, and with billy made his way to the tree-bordered street. an instant later, billy clutched his arm.
“i hear a car, clan! it’s coming this way!”
the two friends stopped, the slow exhaust of a motor car coming clearly from ahead of them. the car came into sight, running slowly toward them. there was a single figure at the wheel.
“by gracious, it’s bully!” cried mcquade excitedly.
the car rolled toward them at a slow pace.
“get ready to jump her,” ordered clancy, in a tense voice.
“what you going to do?”
“we’ll do a little kidnaping on our own hook, billy. watch out, now!”
