it was an easy matter to run the car a hundred feet or so beyond the side road. here the trees were slightly scattered, and they had little difficulty in bringing the machine to a halt in the midst of them at a place where there were a few bushes. then dave took out the spark plug from the dashboard and placed it in his pocket.
“i don’t believe anybody will bother that car,” he said.
“perhaps we won’t be gone very long anyhow, dave. this may prove to be a blind road leading to nothing.”
they pushed on side by side. as it was very warm they had discarded their dust-coats and their goggles. each had seen to it that his pistol was ready for use, for there was no telling what might confront them.
a little farther on the road took a turn, and here became so stony that the tracks made by the wheels of the car they were following were completely lost. but as there was no place where the machine might have turned around, they felt certain it had gone on.
268“we had better keep quiet from now on, roger,” said our hero in a low voice. “and keep your ears and eyes wide open.”
two hundred feet more were passed and then dave came to a halt, at the same time clutching his chum by the arm. from ahead they heard footsteps coming down the rocky roadway. both made a bound, and crouched behind some trees and brushwood. the approaching person, whoever he was, came closer; and presently the two youths saw that he was a middle-aged man dressed in the garb of a gypsy.
“i’ve seen that fellow before! he is one of the gypsies who used to hang around the outskirts of crumville!” whispered dave excitedly.
“then he must be one of the chaps who ran off with laura and jessie!” returned the senator’s son. “what shall we do?”
“wait a minute. we want to make sure that he is alone.”
they waited until the gypsy had passed them and gone on a distance of a hundred feet or more. he was evidently alone.
“maybe we had better let him go,” whispered roger. “that will make one less to tackle, if the others are ahead of us.”
“he’s not going to get away,” answered dave decidedly. “we may not meet the others at all, and in that case we’d be very foolish to let this 269fellow get out of our clutches. come on! i’m going to make him a prisoner!”
making as little noise as possible, our hero went after the gypsy, who had now passed a turn in the road and was out of sight. the senator’s son followed, and soon both came up behind the fellow ahead.
the gypsy was taken completely by surprise. he had seated himself on a rock to fix one of his shoes, and before he could regain his feet both of the young civil engineers had him covered with their weapons.
“throw up your hands and keep quiet,” demanded dave sternly.
“yes, don’t you dare to cry out,” added roger. “if you do, you’ll get shot.”
“what is this? for why do you stop me like this?” stammered the gypsy. he was a tall, swarthy-looking fellow, with anything but a cheerful countenance.
“you know well enough why we have stopped you,” returned dave. “what have you done with those two young ladies who belong in crumville?”
“i know not’ing of any young ladies,” grumbled the gypsy. “you make big mistake.”
“you do know!” cried roger. “now tell us the truth! have you hurt those young ladies?”
“i know not’ing,” was all the gypsy replied. 270and, try their best, that was about all the two chums could get out of him.
had the man not been covered by the pistols he would undoubtedly have shown fight, but he was too cowardly to attempt anything under the existing circumstances.
not knowing what else to do with their prisoner, the two youths marched him down the road and to where they had left the automobile. here they brought out a strong rope, and with this bound the gypsy’s hands and feet and tied him fast to one of the trees.
“i guess he’ll stay there until we get back,” was dave’s comment. “now then, are you going to tell us what became of those young ladies or not?” he questioned. but to this the gypsy merely shook his head and muttered something which neither of the young civil engineers could understand.
“i don’t believe that fellow is altogether right in his mind,” said roger.
“either that, roger, or else he is shamming,” answered dave. but roger was right, the fellow was not more than half-witted.
leaving their prisoner, the two chums lost no time in making their way along the side-road once more. they soon passed the point where they had first caught sight of the gypsy. here the roadway became fairly good for a distance of 271several hundred feet, but beyond this were a number of large rocks, and the road seemed to come to an end in a mass of brushwood.
“let us look around for wheel-tracks, roger,” said dave in a low voice.
both began an eager search, and were soon rewarded by seeing where the touring-car they were following had left the mountain road and passed in among some trees and bushes on the right. close at hand was a spring of water, and beyond this the remains of a tumbled-down barn.
“i see the car!” whispered dave, and pointed to the machine, which rested behind some rocks and brushwood. one glance at the automobile showed that it was deserted.
“they can’t be very far off,” said roger in a low voice. “dave, what do you think we had better do next?”
“let us get behind the trees and bushes and reconnoiter,” was the answer. “be very careful, roger, so that you don’t expose yourself. we don’t want to tumble into a hornet’s nest.”
“don’t you think we had better go back to town and get help, or wait until your uncle dunston arrives?”
“maybe we’ll have to do that. but i want to discover where the girls are first, if i possibly can.”
with extreme caution the young men moved 272along behind the trees. they saw that from the dilapidated barn a trail ran over some rough rocks to where was located a large bungalow. this had evidently been unused for years, and was almost as dilapidated as the other building. one end of the front porch had fallen down, and many of the windows had the glass broken out of them.
“i’d like to wager that this is the place to which they brought the girls,” whispered roger.
“i think you’re right,” answered dave. “and if that is so, and those rascals are around here, we want to be more careful than ever.”
nobody was in sight around the dilapidated bungalow, and not a sound came from within. presently, however, dave noticed a thin wreath of smoke curling up from the chimney.
“somebody has got a fire in there—that’s sure,” he whispered. “i’m going to work my way around to the kitchen side of the building.”
with added caution the two youths crept along among the trees and over the rocks until they gained a point where they could look into the open kitchen of the bungalow. here they saw an old gypsy woman moving around as if preparing a meal.
“i’ll bet that’s mother domoza, in fact, i’m almost certain of it,” whispered our hero. and he 273was right, it was indeed the gypsy woman who had caused so much trouble to the folks in crumville.
the two chums crept closer, and were then able to see what mother domoza was doing. she had prepared some things to eat over a small rusty stove in the bungalow, and now she placed this food on a couple of tin plates. then, with the plates in one hand and a tin kettle of water in the other, the old woman left the kitchen and entered the front part of the bungalow.
“do you know what i think?” said roger excitedly. “i think she’s been getting some food ready for the girls!”
“i’m going to follow her and find out,” answered dave, with sudden determination.
“but, dave, we want to be careful! if those other fellows are around——”
“i know, roger. but i was thinking that possibly we could get into the bungalow without being seen. it is a big rambling affair, as you can see, and it must have a lot of vacant rooms.”
our hero led the way across a little clearing, and then entered the kitchen of the house. going to one of the doors, he listened intently and heard mother domoza ascending a creaking pair of stairs. then he heard a door slam, after which, for the time being, all became silent.
not daring to speak for fear of being overheard, 274our hero tiptoed his way across what had been the living room of the bungalow and then to the narrow stairs which led to the upper floor. roger came close behind him, and soon the pair stood on an upper landing. all was bare, the entire building being devoid of everything but a few heavy pieces of furniture, evidently left there years before because the owner did not think they were worth carrying away.
“oh! oh! please don’t do that! please don’t!”
the unexpected cry came from a room at the end of a corridor. it was the voice of a girl, and was immediately followed by some harsh words uttered by the gypsy woman. then the voice of another girl was heard.
“you let her alone! don’t you dare to touch her, or touch me!”
“i’ll do as i please! i’ll make you behave yourselves!” came in the voice of mother domoza. and then there followed some heavy footsteps and several girlish screams.
not waiting to hear more, dave and roger bounded down the corridor and flung themselves against the door to the room from which the sounds had issued. they had recognized the voices of laura and jessie, and were more than eager to go to the girls’ assistance.
the door had been closed, and evidently something 275had been placed against it. but the two young civil engineers were strong and their excitement gave them additional strength. they flung the door open readily, sending a bench before it. as they did this they found themselves confronted by mother domoza, her eyes blazing with commingled astonishment and anger.
“you—you!” she shrieked. “what do you want here?”
“it’s dave!” shrieked jessie.
“and roger!” exclaimed laura.
then the two girls attempted to move toward the two youths, but their way was barred by mother domoza.
“you get out of here! you have no right here!” screamed the old gypsy hag, and in her sudden fury she hurled herself at the two young civil engineers, sending them out into the corridor. then she tried to shut the door of the room behind her.
but now dave’s blood was up, and he knew it would be useless to attempt to argue with the old hag. he made a leap forward, caught her by the arm, and swung her around. as he did this, roger caught the old hag by the other arm, and between them they ran her down the corridor. here they saw the open door to a vacant room, and into this they thrust the old woman, who, by this time, was screaming at the top of her lungs. 276the door had a hook with a staple to it, and this they locked.
“now you behave yourself and keep still,” ordered dave. “if you don’t, you’ll get into worse trouble than ever.”
“oh, dave! is it really you?” came from the room at the other end of the corridor.
“roger! roger!” burst out laura, “can’t you come and release us?”
“we are chained fast to the floor,” explained jessie.
“we’ll release you, and we’ll get you out of here in no time,” answered dave; and then he and his chum ran back to where the girls were confined.
they had just passed into the room and were hard at work on some chains which bound the two girls to rings in the floor, when there came an unexpected interruption. they heard footsteps in the corridor, and an instant later several gypsy men appeared. then, before they could make a move to escape or show fight, the door to the room was slammed shut and they heard the click of a heavy lock.
dave and roger were prisoners in company with those they had sought to rescue.
“you have no right here!” screamed the old gypsy hag. page 275.
