for several seconds after having rolled into the barn out of the now driving downpour of rain, noddy and jack did not seem to have noticed particularly the other car near the opposite door. it was evident, from what the two cronies said, that they were not aware of the previous entrance of the motor boys. it was also plain that noddy and jack had come in the barn for the same purpose as had those now in the haymow—to put the chains on their wheels because of the slippery condition of the muddy roads.
“we were lucky to get in here,” remarked jack, as he descended from noddy’s car.
“i’ll say so!” exclaimed the bully. and the five, hidden in the hay, could hear every word.
“i wonder where those fellows went?” proceeded jack, as he got out the chains from beneath the seat. “we were trailing pretty close after them, when, all of a sudden, they put on speed and got away. i didn’t think jerry’s old gasoline gig had that much pep in her.”
[66]
“he must have had the valves ground,” said noddy. “come on now, jack, get those chains on. i’m going to smoke a cigarette.” and, leaving to his toady the no very pleasant task of adjusting the chains, noddy got out to walk on the barn floor and indulge in the dangerous practice of smoking where there was much hay and straw.
it was while noddy was walking about that he noted the other car. no sooner did he recognize it than the bully cried:
“here they are! here’s their car!”
“are they—are they there?” asked jack, rather weakly. he was a coward, as was noddy—more of a coward, in fact, and he shrank from a physical encounter with the motor boys.
“no, they aren’t here,” announced noddy, after a look around the barn. “guess they went to the farmhouse to get something to eat. that fathead bob baker is always eating!”
“oh, let me get at him!” whispered chunky, hidden in the hay beside jerry.
“sure, chunky is always on hand when grub’s ready,” chuckled jack. “so they’re up in the farmhouse, are they?”
“must be,” asserted noddy. “they aren’t around, but this is jerry’s car all right. i’d know it in a thousand. how you coming on with those chains, jack?”
[67]
“one is sort of hard to get on. if you’d give me a hand——”
“aw, what do you think i am? you said if i’d bring you on this trip you’d do all the repair work.”
“i know i did. but this is fierce! anyhow, you’ve got to give me a share in that chest of gold if we ever find it.”
the motor boys fairly held their breath at hearing this. they waited for what was next to follow.
“sure i’ll give you some,” said noddy easily. “but we’ve got to keep following jerry and his bunch until we get near the place. dolt says he knows about where the stage coach went over, but he wants to get a little more dope on it. he thinks he can get to be friends with bill cromley and maybe the old miner will give him a tip! i think he knows some things he hasn’t told yet.”
“i’ll tip him on his head—that’s what i’ll do!” was the whispered threat from the old miner.
“speaking of dolt, wake him up and make him give you a hand with the chains,” suggested noddy. “he’s got to work his passage. about all he’s done since we started is to sleep on the back seat. wake him up!”
jerry and his chums, as they looked through the hay, saw dolt haven rouse up from the rear after jack had shaken him.
[68]
“what’s matter?” mumbled dolt sleepily. evidently he had been up most of the night before.
“wake up, haven, and give jack a hand at putting on the chains,” snapped out noddy. “it’s raining cats and dogs and the roads will be a sea of mud soon. it’ll be as bad for the motor boys as for us, all the same. jinks! i hope we can beat them at this game. they didn’t get away as they thought they did, though. i wonder where they are now?”
as if in answer to his question there came a sudden cry from professor snodgrass, who had crawled off by himself in the hay loft.
“i’ve got them! i’ve got them!” fairly shouted the little scientist. “oh, you shan’t get away now!”
“good night!” gasped dolt haven, as with open mouth and shaking knees he dropped a wrench he had taken to help jack straighten a bent link in one of the chains. “it must be the police! i’m going to skip!”
he started to run from the barn, and noddy and jack were not a little puzzled themselves by the sudden shout, when professor snodgrass, in the excess of his zeal to capture a bug he had seen in the hay, slid out of the mow and down to the barn floor. and at the sight of the little college scientist noddy guessed it all.
[69]
“they’re here!” cried the bully.
“yes, we’re here!” suddenly admitted jerry, as, followed by his two chums and bill cromley, he, too, slid to the floor. “we got here just a little ahead of you, noddy. hope you had no trouble following us,” he added, with sarcastic politeness.
“who was following you?” growled the bully.
“you were,” boldly asserted jerry.
“we were not! guess the roads are free, aren’t they?”
“sure they are,” broke in ned. “but we’ve been up there in the hay, noddy, ever since you came in. we heard what you said——”
“say, let me get out of here!” gasped dolt haven. “i—i don’t feel very well!”
“shut up!” ordered noddy. “you do as i tell you. get those chains on, jack. as for you fellows, i’m not going to stand for any more of your insults!” and he glared at the motor boys.
“come off your high horse!” cried bob. “if i had——”
“yes, if you had something to eat you’d be fatter than ever, you big chunk of beef!” sneered noddy. “why don’t you——”
at this moment there came an interruption in the shape of the farmer in whose barn the two hostile parties had taken shelter. the man, a crabbed tiller of the soil, had seen the two cars[70] enter his building, and, running out from the house through the rain, had broken up the quarrel.
“hey, what are you tramps doing here?” the farmer demanded. “what right have you here, anyhow?”
“no right, perhaps,” said jerry quietly. “we only came in to put on our chains before continuing, and——”
“been smoking, too, haven’t you?” demanded the man, sniffing the air. “i must say that’s a pretty piece of work—smoking in a barn just after i got it filled with hay! i’ll have you arrested—that’s what i’ll do! i’ll have the law on you!”
“just a moment, my friend,” spoke up ned. “we weren’t smoking. i guess we know enough not to do that in a barn.”
“don’t tell me! i know cigarette smoke when i smell it!” cried the farmer. “there! i just saw him drop his butt and step on it!” he pointed to noddy, who had done what he was accused of.
“he isn’t with our party,” said bill cromley. “we don’t have anything to do with him!”
“i should say not!” sneered the bully. “i don’t want anything to do with you fellows—not in a hundred years!”
“except to follow us and find out where we are going,” chuckled ned. “oh, we’re on to your game, noddy!”
[71]
the farmer, who had been looking closely at noddy, now advanced closer and cried:
“i know you, all right!”
“oh, do you?” asked noddy, while jack and dolt did not know what it all meant or what would happen.
“i sure do! you robbed my orchard a few years ago. i chased you and nearly caught you. i never forget a face—not a mean one like yours, anyhow. you’re the lad that robbed my orchard and broke down my fence! now you get out of here as quick as you can or i’ll have the police after you! get out!”
“oh, all right! we were just going, anyhow,” said noddy. “got those chains on, jack?” he asked, taking his seat in the car.
“in just a minute, noddy. come on, dolt! hustle! this fellow may set his bulldog after us.” the two worked to such good advantage that soon the car was equipped with non-skidders, and noddy started to back out.
“ta! ta!” he sneered. “see you later!”
“not if we see you first!” grimly remarked ned.
with the departure of the ill-favored trio, the farmer turned to the motor boys. he seemed to have softened somewhat.
“weren’t you smoking?” he asked.
“not a smoke!” replied bob.
[72]
“well, i’m glad of it. stay here as long as you like. come up to the house if you want to. i don’t mind decent folks using my barn.”
“we’ll be moving pretty soon,” said jerry. “we only came in to put on our chains, but we saw these fellows follow and there were reasons why we wanted to overhear their plans, as we did. come on, boys. let’s get the chains out.”
“don’t hurry—stay as long as you like,” invited the farmer. “it’s going to be a bad storm.”
“that’s why we want to get on to newton,” said jerry. “we’re going to stop there for the night.”
“well, you’re welcome to stay as long as you like here,” the man went on. “all i ask is decent treatment. but when a fellow smokes in my barn, and when he’s the same fellow that once robbed my orchard, broke down my fence, and sassed me in the bargain, i have no use for him!”
he watched the boys adjusting their chains, and renewed his invitation to them to remain. but they thanked him and moved on.
“it sure is a rain!” said bob, as they drove along a muddy road. “good thing we put on the side curtains as well as the chains.”
“sure,” assented ned.
presently the motor boys heard bill cromley snicker to himself.
“by peter, these fellers were right,” muttered[73] the old miner. “thought i didn’t tell ’em everything about that treasure. and no more i did!” and he snickered again.
“what do you mean?” questioned ned curiously.
“i didn’t tell ’em about the twin trees, down past which the treasure chest is supposed to have slid. i got that from an old mexican i knew years ago. i’ll have to point out the twin trees to you boys—that is, provided they are still standin’.”
“i’ll be glad to see them,” said bob.
jerry talked but little. his whole attention was needed for driving under such difficulties. they had almost reached newton in the fast-gathering darkness when, as they rounded a curve, bob, who was sitting beside jerry, suddenly cried:
“look out!”
too late! in the gleam of the lights he had turned on, the tall lad saw a small tree that had fallen across the road. he tried to put on the brakes, but the car slid in the mud.
the next moment there was a crash.
