Roy Rockwood

“ Dan ran the car in toward the curb and halted.
“Dan! you dear fellow, you!” shouted Burton Poole, first to seize his hand. “I suppose I’m selfish to not think more of M’Kim—but the car! You saved it for us.”
“You’re all right, Dannie,” cried his brother, pumping away at his other hand.
Jim and Fisher Greene raised a more or less familiar chant:
“Dan! Dan! He’s the man! Dan! Dan! Dan Speedwell!”
They were all shouting the chant in a moment—all but Chance Avery. Chance looked the car over to make sure that it was not injured. But he never gave the lad who had saved it a word of thanks. ”

“ Billy followed, and when the adventure was over not alone Maxey Solomons, but the boys of the Riverdale Club, felt the reaction. The peril threatening the owner of the wrecked automobile had indeed been great.
“I’m afraid your car is done for, Maxey,” said Monroe Stevens, with sympathy.
“I don’t care!” sighed the rich man’s son. “I wouldn’t ride home in it if it was right-side up here in the road. I never want to ride in a motor car again.”
“Pshaw!” said Jim. “Now you’re talking reckless. It’s too bad you’ve got the car in that bad fix.” ”

“ Although the distance to Upton Falls was considerable, the pace of the motorcycle ate up the miles speedily. Dan and his steed of steel came soon to the outskirts of the town. The pedestrians he passed looked after the flying boy with wonder. Dan reached the head of Main street and, as he began its descent toward Market Square, and the hotel, he saw an automobile standing before the wide porch of the latter building.
The maroon car! Dan was sure of it even at that distance. The trio of reckless men who had perhaps injured Maxey Solomons had stayed their flight at the Falls hotel. ”

“ Dan shut off his engine. The maroon car was just starting. The short man at the wheel guided the auto carefully out into the road, and turned toward the highway that led to Barnegat.
“Stop them!” cried Dan, waving his hand at the departing auto. “Arrest those men, Mr. Polk!”
“What do you mean, Dan?” demanded the deputy, running along by the boy’s side as the Flying Feather slowed down.
“Do as I say! They’ve perhaps killed a boy up the road. At any rate, they smashed his automobile. Then they drove on, full tilt, and I followed them.”
“Nonsense, Dan! Not those men,” cried Mr. Polk. ”

“ That anybody should be mean enough to have tried to utterly ruin the racing car which he and Billy had bought of Maxey Solomons, not only angered Dan, but hurt him. Like his brother he suspected who the person was who had chopped down the derrick, and sent it crashing over the edge of the cliff to the bank of the river. ”

“ Jim Stetson and Wiley Moyle, both members of the Riverdale Outing Club, and in their same grade at the local academy, saw the Speedwells driving through town, and they climbed into the wagon.
“By gravey!” ejaculated Wiley. “I didn’t believe it when they told me. Do you mean, Billy, that you’ve given up five hundred good dollars to Maxey Solomons for that smashed-up car?”
“Dan and I have bought it,” admitted Billy, cheerfully.
“You must both be crazy, then,” declared young Moyle. “You’ll never get it out of those trees without smashing it all to bits. What do you want a motor car for, anyway? ”

“ Chance Avery shot the Poole car into the square from a by-street, narrowly escaped running over Rover, Mr. Appleyard’s old dog, and very much frightened old lady Massey, who was about to cross the street. And he brought the car to an abrupt stop with a grin on his face, while his open muffler allowed the exhaust to deafen the whole neighborhood.
“For pity’s sake, close that muffler, Chance!” shouted Monroe Stevens, who was riding in the Greene’s car, and which now came into sight with Perry Greene at the wheel. “We can’t hear ourselves talk.” ”

“ Dan and Billy had already explained to Jim Stetson that they intended to run home in their car and return soon after breakfast, or even before, Saturday morning.
“You can’t do it, fellows,” said Jim, as he went out with them, and held the lantern while they ran the drab car out from under the shed and lit the lamps, both fore and aft. “Fifty miles each way—huh! something will happen to the machine as sure as shooting.”
137“If she can’t run a hundred miles in twelve hours without going to the repair shop,” snorted Billy, “there isn’t much use in our entering for the thousand mile run.” ”

“ Don’t you think so?”
“I have my doubts about it,” said Dan. “There is no other piece of road like that we’ve just come over. There’ll be little racing for the rest of the day, but just steady plugging along. And we’ve got to eat, old man!”
“Let me stick to the wheel while you take a bite, Dan,” begged the younger boy, “and then I’ll eat. I wonder how far some of the head cars will get to-day? Where’s Mr. Briggs’ car?”
“Haven’t seen it yet. We haven’t passed that maroon baby, you may very well believe!”
“And Mr. Darringford’s car?” queried Billy. ”

“ Chance had been picked by the superintendent of the Darringford shops to ride a Flying Feather, and carry the colors of the local shops to victory. But at the last moment Dan Speedwell, likewise riding one of the Darringfords’ machines, had beaten out the field and left Chance sadly in the rear.
“And they are going to make it impossible—if they can—for us to do anything to Chance and Burton in this endurance test of autos that Mr. Briggs is financing,” grumbled Billy. “Oh, pshaw, Dan! What makes folks so mean?” ”

“ Karnac Lake was a beautiful spot, some fifty miles up the river, and the road was a good automobile path all the way. Burton Poole and Chance Avery were boasting of having “done it” in an hour and a half.
“If they can do it in that time, in that machine of Burton’s,” declared Dan Speedwell, after they had tried out their Breton-Melville car for two evenings along the county pike, “we can do as well. Take my word for it, Billy.” ”

“ As they spun quietly down into the square, Billy peered ahead again, and saw the flaring electric sign in front of Rebo’s garage. Although they had not passed another car on the road, Upton Falls was one of the roads to Barnegat, and there was a good deal of night travel. Mr. Rebo advertised to cater to the trade twenty-four hours in the day, and Billy knew there would be at least one man on duty here. ”

“ They were all in front of Appleyard’s store.
“I hear you got Maxey’s car out of the tree, all hunky-dory,” said Burton, heartily, “and I’m glad of it.”
“You don’t suppose your partner will offer us his congratulations; do you?” asked Billy, significantly, as Chance went off, scowling, to buy gasoline.
“Oh, well, he has a grouch,” laughed Burton Poole. “But, he’s making this old car hum! I never could get such speed out of her.”
“You don’t give her enough attention,” laughed Dan, as Burton got out lazily, and opened the gasoline tank. ”

“ Polk must have surety for his words. The men in the maroon automobile were well known and perfectly responsible citizens.
Indeed, as Dan wheeled his motorcycle nearer to the car he saw that the two in the tonneau of the auto were much different-looking individuals from those he expected to find. The men who had wrecked Maxey Solomons’ auto, and perhaps killed the young man himself, would certainly not possess the personal appearance of these gentlemen! ”

“ But that isn’t the way to win an endurance test of a thousand miles, Billy.”
“I expect not,” agreed his brother.
“Fast traveling will shake the best car to pieces. And we are not up in the mechanics of the automobile yet—we can’t stop anywhere on the road and repair the vitals of our craft, as these professionals do.” ”

“ As for the car itself, the boys knew very well that they could leave their Breton-Melville in no better hands. Mr. Robert, though college-bred, had put on overalls and worked every summer in the shops since he was fifteen years of age. He was a finished mechanic. That is why his men respected and liked him so much.
Dan and Billy retired, full of glee over the turn matters had taken. Their car would be put in order—in first-class order—and they need have no fear but that the work would be done promptly. ”

“ There were to be several contestants from the town in the endurance run, but it was generally acknowledged that none of them had much chance—if the result of the run was governed by speed—saving Burton Poole’s car and that of the Speedwell boys.
And the owners of the Breton-Melville car knew that the speed possibilities of their auto was only a part of the game. It would never do to race over the roads at the pace they had come from Karnac Lake at midnight. No machine, no matter how well built, could stand many miles of such work without shaking to pieces. ”

“ Who did it, Billy? Do you know?” were the questions fired at the impulsive lad.
Dan touched his brother’s arm, and Billy accepted the warning.
“I won’t say anything more—now,” Billy said, mysteriously. “But you can see what a mean trick it is—just as we got the derrick in place, too.”
“I believe you!” cried Jim Stetson. “I skinned a knuckle and pretty near broke my back helping you. I’d give something to get hold of the fellow who did it, myself.”
“Couldn’t be old Somes, could it?” asked Wiley Moyle. “He was almost mad enough to bite you fellows, to-night.” ”

“ I took Henri, Mr. Briggs’ own chauffeur, for one of the thieves.”
“Well, we will say, then, that Billy is the only one who can positively identify the men; but you both know the car.”
109“If I ever see one like it it will either be the robbers’ car or Mr. Briggs’,” laughed Dan. “They can’t spring a third one on me.”
“Well. You see what I am getting at,” said Mr. Baird, impressively. “It is in your power to aid the bank. I understand that you boys have bought a motor car?” ”

“ Dan and Billy remain true to their speedy automobile and to their beautiful Flying Feather motorcycles; but they have conquered swift locomotion on the land; now they long to try their fortunes on the water. And having proved themselves to be courageous, industrious and honorable we may believe thoroughly in their future success. ”

“ The man on duty at the garage went about his work sleepily enough. It was plain by the muttered conversation Billy overheard from the gang, that they were impatient, but dared not show how hurried they were.
“We’d never ought to have had to run down here,” growled the leader, who was a big, aggressive man, and seemed to have the other two under his thumb.
“I tell you we burned a lot of gas running up and down, waiting for you,” was the chauffeur’s reply.
70“Well! It’s the back track for ours, anyway. If they look for a car at all, it won’t be running toward Sudds’ house.” ”

“ The Speedwells drove away. They went around to several other farmers to pick up the evening’s milk before going home. Then, when their chores were all done and they had supper, Dan and Billy mounted their motorcycles and dashed away through the town and out the river road toward the farmhouse which was the scene of the evening party.
While within the immediate confines of Riverdale they had to run moderately; but it was already after half-past eight, they wanted to reach Mayberry’s before the fun was all over, and therefore “let out” the motors when they got upon the river road. ”

“ There’s the hum of her! No other sound. Gee! she’s spinning the miles behind her. Hear her purr!”
Billy rose to his knees and peered down the road. He was still in the shadow and could not be seen. There was a flash of light at the far bend—but it was no lamp. Billy knew a car had turned the corner, but it had not a single headlight lit.
Then, to his amazement, he saw that there were figures in the car—one at the wheel, the other in the tonneau. And it was a somewhat larger car than Billy had expected.
A car without a light had no business on the road in the first place ”

“ The drab racer seldom kept the middle of the road for a full minute at a time. It actually “wabbled,” just as Jim Stetson said.
And yet the fellow at the wheel of the machine had been driving it up and down the roads for nearly three months.
No instruction, and no practice, seemed to avail with Maxey Solomons, however. His father was one of the richest men in the county, and when Maxey expressed a wish to own and drive a car, Mr. Solomons made no objection. Indeed, the wealthy clothing manufacturer seldom thwarted the least of his son’s desires. ”

“ He was sure this was the maroon car Dan had chased on his motorcycle on Saturday—the car that had thrown Maxey Solomons and his auto over the embankment. And the men in it had robbed the Farmers’ Bank of Riverdale of fifteen thousand dollars!
They had dared come back into the neighborhood. Not only had they come back, but Billy believed they were here for quite as bad a purpose as that which had made them notorious in the neighborhood two days before.
An honest car does not usually run without lights. ”

“ But Avery kept his face averted and examined the damage done to the automobile with lowering brow.
“It will have to go to the shop,” growled Chance, and would say no more.
Dan and Billy went home on their motorcycles and found that already Mr. Speedwell had put in several hours upon the auto. They were able to hitch Bob and Betty to a truck and drag the car, on its own wheels, down to the Darringford shops. There they delivered it to Mr. Hardy with the expectation that in a day or two, at the latest, they would be riding in their own machine. ”

“ The club will go to the dogs if all the members get buzz-carts.”
“Don’t you fret,” returned Dan, laughing. “As long as we can keep Captain Chance Avery in bounds, you fellows who ride bikes will not be neglected in club affairs.”
“Remember how Dan fought for you at the meeting following the Barnegat run,” said Jim. “And he and Billy owned their motors then.”
44“But an auto is different,” grumbled Wiley. “Look at Burton Poole—and the Greenes. They don’t care about going on the club runs at all any more because the autos have been shut out.” ”

“ Armitage, “this matter must be looked into. The rascals should be apprehended. They are getting farther and farther away each minute, it is likely. Come, Briggs, what do you say? You have been bragging about the speed of this car. Let’s see what Henri can get out of her.”
“I am with you, Armitage,” declared his friend. “Hop aboard, Polk. You are a county officer. Those men must be arrested, if possible, and held until we learn what damage they have done.”
“I’ll go with you, Mr. Briggs,” said the deputy.
He leaped into the tonneau. Mr. Armitage looked at Dan, who stood by his motorcycle. ”