the discovery of cromley’s kidnaping, which was ultimately to mean so much to the motor boys, had been made just before noon. the searchers stopped only for a hasty lunch, which hang gow, in spite of his condition, insisted on getting for them. while they ate this the chinese put up some food to take with them, in case they should be kept out until after time for the evening meal. then they took the trail after the kidnapers.
for that cromley had been kidnaped by the nixon crowd was the firm belief of those at leftover. the object was too plain to admit of any other theory. noddy, despairing of finding the treasure chest of blue rock through the help of dolt haven, had decided that the information which bill cromley had was necessary.
“he knew bill wouldn’t tell him of his own free will,” said ned, as the searching party hurried along, “and so he’s going to try to force him.”
[150]
“i can’t imagine noddy forcing bill to do anything he doesn’t want to,” replied bob.
“you don’t know how cruel noddy can be when he tries,” remarked jerry. “anybody who will do what he did to escape going to the front will not hesitate at worse things. we’ve got to get bill away from that crowd as soon as we can.”
the searchers were under two handicaps. one was that noddy and his crowd had a start of at least two hours—for that time had elapsed since the kidnaping and the return of mallison and the motor boys to leftover. the other was the desolate region of thunder mountain. there were only a few mining camps scattered about the region, and not many persons of whom inquiries could be made as to the direction taken by the rascals.
they might have gone off to some fastness in the hills, there to keep the old miner a prisoner until he gave in to their demands. they might find ways of forcing him to talk, or they might just let time take its course, depending on his desire to be freed.
“we’ve got to get a line on where they headed for,” decided tinny, as they traveled along in his car toward livingston. “once we get on their trail i think hank, here, can help us.”
[151]
he referred to one of the miners they had taken with them.
“yes,” assented hank bowler, “i used to be pretty good at following a trail. if this here niddy leaves any trace at all——”
“his name is noddy—not niddy,” observed ned.
“um—well, the name doesn’t mean much,” remarked hank. “once let me get where i can see some signs of the way he went and i think i can follow. but there’s been too many along this road to make sure of anything.” he pointed to the main trail between leftover and livingston.
“he used to be a deputy sheriff, and one of the best in the business,” tinny informed jerry in a low voice. “got a bad case of gold fever and took up mining. but he’s a great trailer.”
whenever they saw any one along the road of whom they could inquire, the searchers stopped and asked questions. they did not learn much, however, for they could not describe the kind of vehicle in which cromley had probably been carried off. hang gow was not clear whether it was a wagon or an automobile, and both kinds of conveyances had traversed the trail.
nor could a description of the occupants be given with accuracy. that there were three who made the attack at leftover was certain—probably[152] noddy, jack and dolt. but whether the trio remained in the wagon after having bound cromley or whether only two of them did, was uncertain.
“they wouldn’t leave bill up in plain sight, either,” said jerry. “they’d probably bind and gag him and lay him down on the bottom of the wagon or auto so he wouldn’t be seen.”
however, making such inquiries as they could, they learned that several wagons and automobiles with anywhere from one to half a dozen occupants had passed along the trail that morning. there was nothing distinctive about any of them.
“when we get to livingston we’ll inquire at the place where noddy has been staying,” suggested ned.
but there the searchers were doomed to disappointment. up to three days before the kidnaping had taken place, noddy, jack and dolt boarded at a not very respectable hotel on the outskirts of this small railroad junction where tourists change trains to go to yellowstone park. but the trio of suspects had then gone away, taking with them all their possessions, and had not left word where they were going.
“talked to me like they were going off into the mountains to look for gold,” said the proprietor of the hotel. “at least that’s what i[153] overheard. it wasn’t none of my business, so i didn’t listen.”
“no, of course not,” assented tinny.
the party emerged from the hotel and held a council as to what was best to do next.
“they must have been laying plans for this for a long time,” said jerry. “that’s why they left here. they knew we’d trace them here and they wanted to cover up their tracks.”
“it looks so,” agreed tinny.
further inquiry developed the fact that noddy and his crowd had not been hanging about livingston for several days prior to the kidnaping. before that they had been making general nuisances of themselves, pestering every one to get information as to the exact spot where the stage coach had gone over the cliff years before with the chest of gold.
“then, it would seem, they gave up trying to locate the place, it appearing that dolt haven did not know so much as he thought he did, or as he had given noddy and jack to suppose,” observed mallison.
“they just had to have bill,” was the way jerry expressed it.
“so they came and got him, and they didn’t use any kid glove methods, either,” added ned.
when it became evident that no real lead in the pursuit could be obtained in livingston, since[154] the kidnapers did not return there after their daring exploit, several measures were proposed.
“there’s no way of sending out a general police alarm for them, as we could do if we were in a more civilized or more thickly settled region,” observed tinny. “we can’t broadcast the fact that one of our men has been kidnaped.”
“then what can we do?” asked bob, making a motion as though to open one of the lunch baskets, and drawing from jerry an admonition:
“it isn’t supper time yet!”
“well,” said mallison, “the only feasible thing i see for us to do is to take one trail after another that leads out of leftover. we’ll have to follow each trail in turn until we strike the right one.”
“it’s all you can do,” chimed in hank bowler. “you can’t follow a party until you get some lead. but there aren’t very many trails leading away from your place, mr. mallison.”
this was the truth. but one trail led up to the mine. that trail, coming down the mountain, joined the main road which, after a mile or so, branched off in four directions. this gave four possible routes that the kidnapers might have taken.
but, inasmuch as it was practically certain that noddy’s crowd had not taken the road to[155] livingston, there remained but three main trails to follow.
“and the sooner we get on one the better,” said jerry. “come on, boys!”
“yes, snap into it!” exclaimed tinny, with the vim of an officer in france.
the boys saluted, as they had done in those stirring days, and the car was turned back up thunder mountain.
the first trail they took was a disappointing one, in that after they had gone along it for several miles they found that a landslide had covered it. and as the slide had taken place several days before, they knew the kidnapers could not have come along here.
“back again and try over!” exclaimed ned.
“what about supper?” asked bob anxiously. “are we going back to the cabin to eat?”
“not when we have all this grub with us,” tinny said. “that’s why we brought it. we’ll eat after we strike the next trail.”
bob looked better natured on hearing this, and began to take out some of the sandwiches, for they were fast approaching the second trail. on either that or the other they must, they thought, find some trace of noddy.
it was getting late when they started down the second trail. it was through a wooded section,[156] and as they approached a turn in the road bob saw a spring of water.
“here’s a good place to stop and eat,” he suggested. “we can get a drink here, and from the way your motor meter is registering, tinny, you’ll need water in the radiator.”
“the fat boy’s right!” agreed the mine prospector. “we’ll eat and water the engine.”
bob looked the gratitude he felt, and when the machine stopped he had one of the baskets opened and was ready to distribute the food.
truth to tell, every one was as glad as was bob to dip into the “nose bag,” as ned laughingly remarked.
it was when they were in the midst of their basket-supper that ned, who had gone to the spring for some water, suddenly exclaimed:
“hark!”
the talking ceased.
“what did you hear?” asked jerry.
“a queer noise,” ned replied. “listen!”
all became very quiet and, straining their ears, they heard moans that seemed to come from a clump of bushes up on the side hill back of the spring.
