The Motor Boys Overland | Page 7

ready to run when I give the word."
On tiptoes the boys drew near the hut. Suddenly Bob grabbed Jerry by the arm.
"What is it?" asked Jerry.
"Smell that?"
"Acetylene gas! Some one has been here with a gas lamp, and within a few minutes," agreed Jerry, sniffing the peculiar odor.
"Isn't that a motor cycle leaning against the building?" asked Ned.
"Sure enough!" said Jerry. "Go slow, boys."
Walking like cats, they reached the window from which the light streamed. As they glanced inside they saw a sight that startled them.
Lying on a pile of rags in one corner of the bare room, in the glare of a candle, was an old man, with matted and unkempt hair and beard. His face showed pain and suffering. His clothes were old and ragged. But what attracted the attention of the boys was the fact that he wore about his waist a wide leather belt, with several compartments or pockets in it. The pockets were open and in them, as well as scattered on the floor in front of the man, were little piles of yellow, gleaming gold.
"He's a miner!" whispered Bob, hoarsely.
As the boys watched they heard the old man moan:
"Don't rob me! Don't take what little I have left! If I wasn't sick and suffering no one would dare play this trick on Jim Nestor!"
The next instant the boys heard a sound from the farther corner of the room. Out of the semi-darkness came a figure. It stooped over the old miner. There was the sound of a blow, a deep groan -- and then came darkness as the candle was extinguished.
Some one ran rapidly from the hut.
"Help! help!" called the miner, feebly. "Help! He's robbed me!"

CHAPTER IV
A CHASE AFTER A RASCAL
"AFTER him!" cried Jerry. "Catch the miserable thief!"
"You and Bob chase him, whoever he is!" called Ted. "I'll stay with the old miner here in the hut. He may be badly hurt."
"Hurry back to the auto!" shouted Jerry. "We can catch the thief in that."
As he spoke he looked ahead. A dark figure crossed the patch of moonlight in the rear of the hut. Then came a sound of a motor-cycle being started, and soon the chug-chug of the machine on the road told that the thief was escaping that way.
Jerry and Bob ran to the auto. In a trice Jerry had the engine cranked up. Bob jumped in, followed by his companion, and they put off down the road after the fleeing motor-cyclist, whom the moonlight plainly revealed.
"He can't get away from us!" exclaimed Jerry. "We will overhaul him in a jiffy!"
But Jerry reckoned without knowing who he was after. He did not dare put on full speed, while the cyclist rashly had his machine going as fast as the explosions could follow one after the other. Besides, the thief had a good start with his light apparatus.
But Jerry determined to make the capture. He threw in the second speed gear and in a little while had lessened the distance between the auto and the motor-cycle.
"I wonder who it is?" asked Bob.
"Maybe we can tell," answered his chum. Jerry switched on the searchlight in the front of the auto. A dazzling pencil of illumination shot down the road.
In the white glare the figure of the motorist stood out sharply, and the red motor he rode could be plainly seen. At the sight both boys gave a start.
"Jack Pender!" exclaimed Bob.
"As sure as guns!" cried Jerry. "We must catch him!"
He was about to take chances and put on the third gear, when Pender, on his cycle, suddenly turned from the main road, and took a path leading through the fields.
"That ends it!" exclaimed Jerry. "No use trying to follow him. Our auto isn't built for 'cross-country riding."
He slowed up, turned around, and, with a last glance in the direction Noddy Nixon's former toady and friend had taken, sent the car back toward the lonely hut.
Meanwhile, Ned, after his companions had started on the chase, had struck a match and lighted the candle in the cabin. He found the old miner, for such the boys correctly guessed him to be, lying unconscious in a corner. The belt, with the gold-dust was gone, though a few grains of the precious metal were scattered over the floor. Ned found a pail of water in the place. He bathed the old man's head and poured some of the fluid down his throat.
"Where am I? What happened?" asked the old man, opening his eyes. Then he passed his hand over his head. His fingers were stained with blood.
"You're all right," spoke Ned. "I'll take care of you. What's your name and where did you come from?"
"Don't let him rob me!" pleaded the old miner. "I have only a little gold, but I need it. I know where there is