"He did the same thing once before, you"ll remember, at the old water-works cottage."
"Are we going to try to catch the fellow this time?" Darrin whispered.
"Yes," nodded d.i.c.k. "We ought to, both for his father"s sake and his own."
"What do you say, then, if we all three rush him?" pressed Darrin.
"It would be mean," d.i.c.k retorted in an undertone. "The poor fellow might be tempted to use his injured hand. And you can see how it"s burned. I don"t wonder. You saw how the flame of the explosion leaped all over that arm. It"s a wonder it didn"t set him afire."
"Are you boys going to leave me," inquired Garwood, "or are you going to remain and thus show me that you are truly of my enemies?"
"You slip back into the woods, Tom," whispered d.i.c.k. "See if you can find Greg and the other fellows. If you can, bring them up quickly."
Dave and I"ll stay here, unless Garwood moves away. If he does, Darry and I will follow him. If you hear any war whoops, come running in that direction, you and the other fellows. You"ll know that the whoop means that we need you."
"I hate to leave you two with him," muttered Reade reluctantly.
"If this world-boss gets violent you two won"t be enough for him."
"We can get out of the way, if we have to," d.i.c.k rejoined. "But hurry, Tom. We need a lot of the fellows, for we ought to seize this poor fellow and get him into town, even if only that be may have proper attention for his burned hand and arm. Hustle. You"ll help me more in that way than in any other."
Thus urged, Tom turned and vanished into the forest behind the others.
"Why do you stay here?" demanded Amos Garwood fretfully. "I don"t want to injure you, boys; but if you belong to my enemies, then I shall be forced to hurt you. Run away before I lose my temper. I am always sorry afterwards when I have lost my temper."
The flash in the man"s eyes made both boys feel "creepy." Thin as he was, there was about him, none the less, a suggestion of great strength and force when put in action.
"We have a right to stay in the woods, Mr. Garwood," d.i.c.k answered.
"I don"t want to seem impudent, either, but I would suggest that if you don"t like to be with us here, then there are other parts of the forest that you can find."
As d.i.c.k spoke he swung one arm, pointing artfully to the woods in the direction that Tom Reade had gone, and where it was believed that Greg and his followers were searching.
"If that"s the way you want me to go," smiled Amos Garwood darkly, "then I believe I"ll go in the opposite direction. And, young men, it won"t be wise for you to attempt to follow me!"
With that hint he started. d.i.c.k and Dave waited until they could see only the top of his head. Then they started on his trail.
For an instant Amos Garwood was out of sight. Then, with a suddenness that startled both trailers, Garwood stepped out from behind a tree and right into their path.
"I cautioned you both," he announced sharply. "I shall not go to that trouble again. Keep away from me. Never mind where I am going, or what I am going to do."
Then a spasm of pain shot across the poor fellow"s face. Calm as he tried to keep himself, it was plain that his burned hand and arm were causing him great suffering.
"Won"t you come with us," pleaded d.i.c.k, "and get that arm of yours attended to? We"ll take you to the right place."
"To the right place?" mocked Garwood harshly. "Right into the camp of my enemies, I suppose? Among those who deride my great invention, and yet who would capture me and steal my wonderful discovery from me. Boys, I have already told you that if you follow me, you will follow me to grave harm. Beware in time.
Run! Leave me! Or your fates be on your own heads, for I am master of the world and can force you to obey me!"
As Garwood spoke the last words another change crossed his face.
He reached into an inner coat pocket.
"You will not obey me," he remarked. "Therefore, I must act to save myself and my great discovery. "Tis as you would have it!"
"Duck!" gasped Dave Darrin, seizing d.i.c.k by one arm. "He means big mischief!"
What it was for which he had reached in his pocket neither Grammar School boy saw, for both turned at the same instant, beating a swift retreat. Sixty feet away, however, they halted, wheeling about.
Garwood, seeing the boys run, acted as though he would give them no further thought. He was already walking in the opposite direction, his back turned to them.
"Ugh! He gives me cold chills," cried Darrin.
"He does the same to me," sighed d.i.c.k, "but it"s a plain case of duty to follow him until we can turn him over to those who"ll take good care of the poor fellow."
Just as Amos Garwood was on the point of vanishing from their view, the two schoolboys started forward, more cautiously than before.
Back of them in the woods, far away, sounded a boyish war-whoop.
"Hi-yi-yi-yi-_yoop_!" answered Dave Darrin.
Amos Garwood started forward with a bound like that of a deer.
Then his long legs went into rapid operation. Prescott and Darrin ran onward as fast as they could go. They were trained to running, too, but this "master of the world" set them a pace that no fourteen-year-old boys on earth could have followed with any hope of success.
"Whoop, but he"s an airship for speed!" gasped Dave Darrin.
"We couldn"t catch him with a locomotive," confessed d.i.c.k, when, panting, he was at last obliged to halt.
"Hear him---going," gasped Darrin.
"I can"t hear him," confessed d.i.c.k, after a moment of listening.
"That"s just the point. He has gotten so far away that we can"t hear him crashing through the undergrowth."
"I"m afraid we won"t catch up with him again to-day," sighed d.i.c.k.
"The folks who are trying to catch Amos Garwood are foolish in sending detectives to look for him," muttered Dave. "They ought to hire professional sprinters."
Away at their rear sounded a fainter whoop.
"Answer the fellows, Dave," urged Prescott.
"I will---when I get some wind," muttered Darrin.
Three times more Greg and his fellows whooped before d.i.c.k could get together enough wind to make his voice travel. Greg repeated the hail, and again d.i.c.k answered. After a few minutes the other Grammar School boys caught up with d.i.c.k and his friend, who told to the new-comers the story of the encounter with Amos Garwood.
"Get away from you again?" asked Tom blankly.
"I don"t believe we"ll ever chase that streak of light again,"
growled Dave. "I don"t feel as though I"d ever be able to run again. Amos Garwood can walk faster than any of us can run."
"The most that we can do at present," Prescott concluded, will be to notify Lawyer Ripley or Chief Coy that we"ve seen the Garwood flyer again."