“It certainly is a great search, Dave. What are you going to do next?”
“I think the best thing we can do is to work our way along to Frytown. That is quite 佛山夜生活兼职mm a place, and it is barely possible that from there we can get into communication with Crumville on the long distance telephone. If we can do that, we can tell the folks at home all we have learned, and get them to send some first-class detectives out this way to assist us in the search.”
“Let’s run rather slow on the way to Frytown,” suggested the senator’s son. “We may be able to pick up more clues.”
“Yes, we’ll keep our eyes wide open.”
They presently found themselves on a lonely stretch of the country road, and here it was so 249dark they had to turn on all the lights of the machine.
“I’d give all I’m worth, Dave, if we could catch sight of that other car,” remarked Roger, after a spell of silence.
“I’m afraid that’s too much to hope for,” answered our hero, with a grim smile. “We ought to be thankful that we have learned as much as we have. If we hadn’t met that fellow on the motorcycle down at the Crossing, we might still be hunting for clues along the line of the railroad between Crandall and Boston.”
“Oh, yes, I think we’ve done wonderfully well.”
On the way to Frytown
they stopped at six or seven farmhouses, but without learning anything that was to their advantage. Two farmers had seen the big touring car with the battered mud-guard go by a week or two before, but could give no definite information as to who had been driving it or what passengers the automobile had contained.
“So many machines comin’ and goin’ these days, a feller don’t pay much ’tention to ’em,” was the way one farmer expressed himself.
“I know it,” answered Dave. “But we are very anxious to find that car, so I thought it wouldn’t do any harm to ask.”
“Oh, no harm whatever,” said the farmer.
250When the chums reached Frytown it was after nine o’clock. They made their way at once to the 佛山桑拿哪里好 American House, the hotel which the Kapton storekeeper had mentioned, and there placed their machine in the garage, engaged a
room, and asked if they might be served with something to eat.
“The dining room is closed,” announced the proprietor. “But we don’t let anybody starve,” he added, with a smile. “Just come this way, and I guess we can fix you up,” and he led them to a side room, where a waitress served them with a plain but substantial supper. Before this was eaten, however, Dave questioned the man about telephone connections.
“You can’t get any out-of-town connections after seven o’clock,” was the statement made by the hotel keeper. “You’ll have to wait until seven o’clock to-morrow morning.”
After the meal the two chums questioned the hotel man and several of his assistants about the big automobile they were looking for, and were informed that the touring-car had 佛山夜生活luntan been seen in Frytown a number of times, moving up and down the main
road.
“Once I saw it when it had several people inside besides the chauffeur,” said one man. “The people seemed to be cuttin’ up pretty well, but what it was all about, I don’t know. The car 251was goin’ too fast to give a fellow a chance to see.”
“How long ago was that?” questioned Dave quickly.
“Oh, I don’t know. Ten days or two weeks—or maybe longer.”
“Do you remember which way the car was going at that time?”
“Sure. It was headed in the direction of Cullomburg.”
“How far is that town?” questioned Roger.
“That’s up in the mountains about eight miles from here. It’s a pretty fair road, though, all the way.”
After receiving this information, Dave and Roger took a walk around the town, stopping at several of the stores and making a number of small purchases just for the sake of getting into conversation 佛山桑拿哪里好玩 with the storekeepers. From one of these they learned that the man who had driven the car had come in for some supplies, including some cigarettes.
“Yes, he bought six packages of Turkish cigarettes—all I had,” said the storekeeper.
From this man they learned that there was a regular public garage in the place with a machine shop attached.
“Let us go over there. Possibly the fellow 252with the car stopped for gasoline or oil, or to get something fixed,” said our hero.
The garage was a short distance up a side street, and they found the man in charge sitting in a little office with his feet on a desk and smoking a corncob pipe. They stared at this man for a moment in amazement, and then both burst out:
“Horsehair!”
“Eh? Wot’s that?” cried the man, and swung his feet down from the desk and leaped up, taking his corncob pipe from his mouth as he did so. “Well now, ain’t this jest wonderful!” he ejaculated. “Dave Porter and 佛山夜生活qq群 Roger Morr! Who would ‘a’ thunk it!”
“And who would have thought of meeting you here, Horsehair?” cried Dave, shaking hands vigorously, quickly followed by his chum.
“Why, we thought you were still driving the stage-coach at Oak Hall,” remarked the senator’s son.
For the man they had run across so unexpectedly was indeed Jackson Lemond, the man who for years had driven the stage-coach and worked around the stables at the boarding-school. Because of the number of horsehairs which continually clung to his clothing, the pupils had never known him by any other name than Horsehair.
“Well, you see, I got a leetle bit old for that job—or else the boys got a leetle bit too frisky 253fer me, so I looked around fer something else that was a bit more quiet; and as my cousin owned this garage, and he was too sick to tend to business, I come out here and took hold—and here I be.”
“It’s like a touch of old times, Horsehair!” cried Dave, as he dropped on a chair, while Roger did the same. And then after a few more words about their former doings at Oak Hall our hero continued: “I am after some information, and I know you’ll give it to me if you possibly can. Have you noticed during the past couple of weeks a big touring-car around here—a car that has one of the mud-guards badly smashed, and the wind-shield cracked, and a good deal scratched up?”
“Sure, I know that car,” answered Horsehair readily. “The feller that runs it was in here to git some new batteries, and also some gas and oil.”
“Was he smoking cigarettes?” questioned Roger.
“He was—one right after another. But I told him not to smoke while I was pourin’ in the gasoline. I don’t want to go up to heaven jest yet;” and Horsehair chuckled over his little joke.
“Have you any idea where that fellow came from or where he went to?” questioned Dave. “I might as well tell you, Horsehair, it is of 254great importance. We suspect that fellow of some serious crimes.”
“You don’t say, Porter! What did he do—steal that machine? Oh, I know them auto thieves is all over. They told me only last week a car was stole in and around Boston ’most every day.”