The Phantom Motor | Page 4

he reached the other end - Bowman's end - of The Trap he
was perfectly convinced of one thing - that no automobile had left the
hard, macadamized road to go over, under or through the Thomas Q.
Rogers wall. Returning, still leisurely, he paid strict attention to the
John Phelps Stocker side, and when he reached the other end - Baker's
end - he was convinced of another thing - that no automobile had left
the road to go over, under or through the John Phelps Stocker wall. The
only opening of any sort was a narrow footpath, not more than I6

inches wide.
Hatch saw no shrubbery along the road, nothing but a strip of
scrupulously cared for grass, therefore the phantom auto could not be
hidden any time, night or day. Hatch failed, too, to find any holes in the
road so the automobile didn't go down through the earth. At this point
he involuntarily glanced up at the blue sky above. Perhaps, he thought
whimsically, the automobile was a strange sort of bird, or - or - and he
stopped suddenly.
`By George!' he exclaimed. 'I wonder if-'
And the remainder of the afternoon he spent systematically making
inquiries. He went from house to house, the Stocker house, the Rogers
house, both of which were at the time unoccupied, then to cottage,
cabin and hut in turn. But he didn't seem overladen with information
when he joined Special Constable Baker at his end of The Trap that
evening about seven o'clock.
Together they rehearsed the strange points of the mystery as the
shadows grew about them until finally the darkness was so dense that
Baker's lantern was the only bright spot in sight. As the chill of the
evening closed in a certain awed tone crept into their voices.
Occasionally an auto bowled along and each time as it hove in sight
Hatch glanced at Baker questioningly. And each time Baker shook his
head. And each time, too, he called Bowman, in this manner
accounting for every car that went into The Trap.
'It'll come all right,' said Baker after a long silence, 'and I'll know it the
minute it rounds the curve coming toward us. I'd know its two lights in
a thousand.'
They sat still and smoked. After awhile two dazzling white lights burst
into view far down the road and Baker, in excitement, dropped his pipe.
That's her,' he declared. 'Look at her coming!'
And Hatch did look at her coming. The speed of the mysterious car was

such as to make one look. Like the eyes of a giant the two lights came
on toward them, and Baker perfunctorily went through the motions of
attempting to stop it. The car fairly whizzed past them and the rush of
air which tugged at their coats was convincing enough proof of its
solidity. Hatch strained his eyes to read the number as the auto flashed
past. But it w as hopeless. The tail of the car was lost in an eddying
whirl of dust.
'She certainly does travel,' commented Baker, softly.
'She does,' Hatch assented.
Then, for the benefit of the newspaper man, Baker called Bowman on
the wire.
'Car's coming again,' he shouted. 'Look out and let me know!'
Bowman, at his end, waited twenty minutes, then made the usual report
- the car had not passed. Hutchinson Hatch was a calm, cold,
dispassionate young man but now a queer, creepy sensation stole along
his spinal column. He lighted a cigarette and pulled himself together
with a jerk.
'There's one way to find out where it goes,' he declared at last,
emphatically, 'and that's to place a man in the middle just beyond the
bend of The Trap and let him wait and see. If the car goes up, down, or
evaporates he'll see and can tell us.'
Baker looked at him curiously.
'I'd hate to be the man in the middle,' he declared. There was something
of uneasiness in his manner.
'I rather think I would, too,' responded Hatch.
On the following evening, consequent upon the appearance of the story
of the phantom auto in Hatch's paper, there were twelve other reporters
on hand. Most of them were openly, flagrantly sceptical; they even

insinuated that no one had seen an auto. Hatch smiled wisely.
'Wait!' he advised with deep conviction.
So when the darkness fell that evening the newspaper men of a great
city had entered into a conspiracy to capture the phantom auto. Thirteen
of them, making a total of fifteen men with Baker and Bowman, were
on hand and they agreed to a suggestion for all to take positions along
the road of The Trap from Baker's post to Bowman's, watch for the auto,
see what happened to it and compare notes afterwards.