"Don't you hear that motor, Jack?"
"I do now, and I believe it's a car coming out that woods road."
The rest of the party had now joined the boys, and the sound of the approaching car was plainly audible.
"That must be them," said Bob in a low voice. "Now what'd we better do?"
"We'll hide in the bushes on each side of the road," proposed Mr. Switzer, "and when they come along, we'll jump out and stop 'em. You all got guns?"
It turned out that only the policemen had revolvers, so the chief, Mr. Golden and Uncle Ben hid on one side of the woods road, while the other two policemen and the boys concealed2 themselves on the other.
"Now," whispered the chief, "don't make a sound 184till I tell 'em to stop, then you cover 'em with your guns and if they try to get away, let 'em have it, but don't shoot to kill if you can help it 'cause we want to get those fellows alive if we can."
Nothing more was said and in a few minutes the car was near at hand, as they could tell by the sound, and, peering through the bushes, Bob spied a large car coming slowly along the road. Two men were on the front seat.
"I believe that's King driving," whispered Bob, "though he's shaved off his beard."
At that instant, Chief Switzer sprang out into the middle of the road in front of the car, closely followed by Mr. Golden and Uncle Ben, while the other policemen and the boys followed suit from their side.
"Halt, in the name of the law," shouted the chief, flourishing his revolver.
The car was about ten feet from them as the order was given, and instead of obeying, the driver suddenly put on high speed and the car shot toward them. So quickly was it done that they had barely time to save themselves from being run down by jumping to one side as the car shot by and turned into the main road heading toward Oakland.
"Gosh, they'll get away sure as thunder," shouted Switzer, as he fired his revolver after the vanishing car. "Come on, we've got to chase them."
It took them but an instant to reach the road and, 185to their delight, they found that Sandy, seeing the car come out, had brought their machine up.
"Pile in, quick," shouted the chief, but although they obeyed as quickly as possible, the fugitives3 were nearly a half mile ahead when they started.
The boys rushed to where they had left their wheels, about a hundred feet away, and by the time they reached them and mounted they were quite a distance in the rear.
"Now, let 'em out," shouted Jack, as he sprang into the saddle, and turning on the power, fairly flew down the road closely followed by Bob, and before they had gone a mile, they were up with their father's car.
"I'm afraid we're going to lose 'em," they heard the chief say, as they drew up, one on each side of the car. "We're not gaining an inch. Getting all the speed you can out of her, Sandy?"
"I've got her wide open," was the reply.
Bob knew that there was a long, steep hill to ascend4 a little farther on and hoped that they would gain on them there, as his father's car was a splendid hill climber and he had a few weeks before taken that same hill on high gear. A moment later, as they swung round a curve, the hill was at hand, and Bob shouted to Sandy telling him not to shift.
They could see the robber's car about half way up the hill, and going slowly, evidently on low gear. 186Sandy hit the foot of the hill at a terrific pace and, as the car went up on high gear, they could see that they were gaining rapidly. But the robbers had too great a start and reached the top several hundred yards ahead. The road was now slightly down hill for a mile or more, and they could see that, under the reckless driving of the robber, whose car must have been making nearly seventy miles an hour, they were rapidly losing ground, for Mr. Golden had told Sandy not to go faster than he considered safe.
"I want to catch them as badly as any one, but I'm not going to risk killing5 all of us to do it," he declared.
But the robbers reached the foot of the hill in safety and had gained all the ground they had lost in climbing the hill. For a number of miles now, the road was fairly level and the race continued without much change in their relative distance.
The two boys were now riding a little behind the car, and suddenly Jack turned to Bob, saying:
"I say, Bob, we're never going to catch 'em at this rate."
"Don't look like it. They've sure got some speedy car, and of course they're reckless about driving."
Just then they reached the outskirts7 of Oakland, 187and, as they had to stop to inquire which way the robbers had gone, they lost still more ground. Quickly learning, however, that they had taken a road which would probably lead them, by a round-about way to Portland, they told their informant to tell the police to telephone to the latter city to be on the watch for them, and again took up in the chase.
As they started off, Bob said to Jack:
"Say, Jack, we could catch 'em easily on these wheels."
"Sure we could, we've been running only about half speed, but what good would it do? We couldn't stop 'em, could we?"
"Perhaps not, but my idea is this. Let's get a couple of revolvers from the policemen and ride up behind them and see if we can't put a hole in one of their tires."
"Good," shouted Jack, "Come on, let's go get em."
Putting on more power, as they had lagged behind a little, while they were talking, they quickly overtook the car.
"Hey, there," shouted Jack, as they rode up along side, "Give us a couple of your revolvers and we'll try to shoot a hole in their tire."
"Think you can do it?" asked the chief, leaning out of the car.188
"Don't know, but we can try it. You'll never catch 'em at this rate and it's the only chance I see."
"All right, here you are," answered the chief, leaning out and handing each of the boys a revolver. "Go get 'em. But you look sharp, now. Those fellows are probably armed and won't hesitate to shoot if they are cornered."
"Yes, boys," joined in Mr. Golden, "don't you get too close to them."
"We'll be careful," replied Bob. "Come on, Jack, now let her out and we'll show them some real speed," and as they turned on the power, they rapidly left the car behind.
But they had lost more ground than they thought, and they rode for fully8 six miles before catching9 sight of the robbers, and had begun to fear that they had lost them. But, finally they caught sight of the car about a half mile ahead, and giving the motors a little more current, they rapidly crept up till they were within two hundred yards of them.
Suddenly, they saw the man who was not driving, turn his head, and as he saw them, he said something to his companion, and then, turning in his seat, he drew his revolver.
"He is going to shoot," shouted Jack, and the next instant a shot rang out followed by several others. But, the swaying car made accurate shooting impossible, and he emptied the chamber10 without 189doing any harm, although Bob heard one bullet whiz past his head.
"He couldn't hit a barn at the rate he's going," shouted Jack. "Come on, let's get a little nearer and then we'll try our hand at it."
They waited till they were within about one hundred and fifty feet and then Bob fired, followed a moment later by Jack. They were both good shots with the revolver, but, under the condition, they knew that it would be more good luck than anything else if they succeeded in hitting a tire. By this time, the man they supposed to be Reed, although he now wore a mustache, had his gun loaded again and began firing, but, fortunately, with no effect.
Jack had but one shot left when a ball from Reed's revolver passed through his hat.
Taking careful aim, he slowly pressed the trigger and this time a loud report followed the bark of the revolver.
"Got 'em," he shouted as both turned off the power and pressed on the brakes.
He had indeed got 'em more thoroughly12 than he supposed, for as the air left one of the rear tires, they saw the car suddenly swerve13 to the right, and 190before the driver could regain14 control, it had turned turtle into the ditch by the road side.
"Gracious, I guess that ends them," cried Bob, as they brought their wheels to a standstill not more than seventy feet from the overturned car.
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1
jack
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| n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克 | |
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2
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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3
fugitives
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| n.亡命者，逃命者( fugitive的名词复数 ) | |
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4
ascend
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| vi.渐渐上升，升高；vt.攀登，登上 | |
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5
killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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6
wreck
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| n.失事，遇难；沉船；vt.(船等)失事，遇难 | |
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7
outskirts
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| n.郊外，郊区 | |
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8
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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9
catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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10
chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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11
gee
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| n.马；int.向右！前进！，惊讶时所发声音；v.向右转 | |
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12
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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13
swerve
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| v.突然转向，背离；n．转向，弯曲，背离 | |
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14
regain
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| vt.重新获得，收复，恢复 | |
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