Great Hike Part 12

"How far d'ye think he could have gone in two hours, Elmer?" asked Toby, who, as usual, was making the leader a pacer for his own progress, as he hung dangerously close at the rear of Elmer's machine.

"Well, if he was fairly fresh Lil Artha might make eight miles, and think little of it," replied the other.

"But he must be tired by now, and say he's made six, wouldn't that about fill the bill, Elmer?"

"We'll call it six, just for fun, and let it go at that. Look out for Felix about this time. He ought to still be half an hour behind the leader."

"Unless the conditions have changed a whole lot, which I don't think has happened," Toby called.

Elmer had even considered dropping off while pa.s.sing through Rockledge, just to find out when Felix entered his name and time of arrival. But on second thought he decided that it did not matter much anyway; since it was not the persistent work of Felix that bothered them half so much as what the plotters meant to do.

Thirty-two miles' walk was something worth while for boys who had never made any pretense of being skilled pedestrians; and even the slowest in the bunch, George and Angus McDowd, need not be ashamed, after having tramped over twenty miles since sunrise, without any previous experience and no preparation, such as old walkers of the Weston and O'Leary type practice before starting on a long hike.

A short time after leaving Rockledge, they believed that they must have reached the thirty-five-mile stage.

Elmer gave his horn a little toot, that being his way of signaling to his comrades that he had sighted something ahead.

"Is it Felix?" asked Toby, fearful lest the reply might indicate that Lil Artha had fallen back to second in the race, and the st.u.r.dy Dutchman beat him out.

"It isn't our chum, anyhow," Elmer answered; "because he lacks half a foot of being as tall. Yes, it must be Felix Wagner."

"He's walking strong, Elmer!" declared Toby, anxiously.

"So is Lil Artha, you'll find," the other flung back.

"Do you think he can be far ahead still?" Toby persisted, just as though the boy in the lead could tell everything.

"I reckon he's holding his own," answered Elmer. "When we last heard he was half an hour to the good. Then we'll likely run across him a few miles farther on."

"Say, it ain't far from dusk now, Elmer!" sang out Nat from the rear.

"Oh, we know that easy enough," called Toby. "Just you keep your machine in good temper, Nat, and everything'll be lovely, with the goose hanging high."

So they flew past the Fairfield walker in rapid style.

After that little exchange of opinions the trio relapsed into silence for a brief time. The motors kept humming away as though out for business, and the regular music that his machine was giving forth seemed especially pleasing to Nat. Why, he was that delighted he could not bear to hush matters in the least by using the m.u.f.fler! Who cared for the noise anyway; this was no crowded town for the police to interfere.

And now Elmer began to grow anxious. Felix had waved his hand to them in pa.s.sing, and they had answered in a friendly way, Felix was not supposed to know anything about the mean plan on foot to further his interests at the expense of the one whose fine work ent.i.tled him thus far to the lead.

How would they find Lil Artha? Was the pride of the khaki troop holding out all right, or would they discover that he showed signs of weakening when that st.u.r.dy and persistent Dutchman in the rear would soon pa.s.s him by?

CHAPTER X.

FOUND AT LAST.

ELMER was thinking about the car that had started from Fairfield an hour before Toby and Nat learned about the scheme to waylay the leader in the great hike, in case he proved to be a representative of Hickory Ridge, and prevent him from carrying out his intentions not to ride a foot of the way to Little Falls.

It could have easily overtaken Lil Artha long before this. Possibly the four reckless young fellows in the car may have gone on ahead, to pick out a favorable place for the ambush, from which they meant to pounce on the walking Lil Artha and play their mean game.

He was looking on either side of the road as he went, as though the thought had come to him that perhaps he might discover the car in hiding; the plotters having decided to wait until dark before overtaking the leader.

Then another idea flashed across Elmer's mind, and he no longer bothered looking either to the right or the left. Instead his eyes sought the road in front of his motorcycle.

It was now beginning to grow a trifle like twilight. The glowing sun had sunk in the west, and left a legacy of red and gold to paint a few fleecy clouds that hovered there in the heavens.

So it was not as easy as one might wish, to discover signs on the road, especially when going at the pace they held. But here and there the conditions became a little more favorable. Perhaps it was because the trees were farther back, allowing more of that glow from the west to reach them; or else the shading branches had prevented the sun from drying the mud entirely, so that such a broad mark as that made by a poorly inflated automobile tire might be detected.

And this was just what Elmer was looking for. He found it presently, too; and was even able to tell that the car had been going at a pretty good clip in the same direction in which they were even then headed.

This he did by noting that the mud had been splashed _forward_, so that it struck trees ahead of where it had formerly rested on the roadbed.

And the distance it had been thrown was proof of considerable speed on the part of the pa.s.sing car.

So Elmer constantly found his previous experience in following a trail of considerable benefit when filling the position of a scout leader.

Little things that others would have neglected to notice, or which, if seen, might be looked upon as mere nothings, a.s.sumed an importance in his eyes just as they would to an Indian born to reading signs when following a trail in forest or on the desert.

There was no especial need of shouting all this out for the information of the two fellows following after him. They were quite satisfied to leave the arrangement of things in his hands. All Toby and Nat wanted was a chance to have a say in the wind-up; and if the opportunity arose, to put in a good lick for Hickory Ridge.

All the while Elmer was trying to figure distances. He had taken note of the cyclometer at the time he pa.s.sed Felix Wagner. It stood at just thirty-five miles then. And if, as they suspected, Lil Artha, the gallant Hickory Ridge representative, was some three or four miles ahead of his closest rival, it was now about time they were sighting the long-legged boy pedestrian.

Indeed, unless they soon came upon him, Elmer would begin to worry, lest those reckless blades in the Fairfield car had declined to wait for darkness to come in order to hide their actions, and had already carried their plan into execution.

It was therefore with a purpose that Elmer shaded his speed down until they were not moving along much more than twice as fast as a walker would go.

"Keep tabs on the road to the left, boys, as we go," he called back.

"What for?" demanded Toby, eager to do whatever the leader wished, and yet not able to see for himself.

"Notice any signs that might stand for a struggle," Elmer went on.

"Good gracious! Elmer, do you think they've jumped Lil Artha already?"

demanded Toby; and from the rear Nat called out:

"Didn't you say you thought they'd hold over till it got dark enough so he couldn't recognize 'em, Elmer?"

"That's right, I did; and I still believe so," replied the leader, confidently. "When I ask you to help me look for any signs of a free-for-all sc.r.a.p, I don't believe we'll find such a thing; but I'm just insuring the correctness of my ideas."

"Oh, that's it, eh?" said Toby; though from the manner in which he uttered the words it could be plainly seen that he failed to fully grasp Elmer's true meaning.

But with three pairs of young eyes on the watch, it was not very likely that anything in the nature of marks indicating a scrimmage would escape. A lot of boys engaged in a wrestling match would be apt to leave many traces on the road; for knowing Lil Artha as they did, the three chums felt sure he could not be hauled into that Fairfield auto without a desperate resistance.

Once Nat sang out something that sounded as though he had made a discovery; and instantly Elmer gave the signal for a stop. With his heart beating like a trip hammer he dropped his machine and hurried back.

"Where is it, Nat?" he asked, eagerly, ready to attempt the reading of such signs as might be found on the dirt of the road.

Nat's eyes opened wide.