"Somehow everything has gone
wrong with us. If we ride back in the night we'll probably have a
skirmish."
After eating they went back to the telegraph office. The clerk was
waiting for them, that being the usual hour for his supper.
"Here's your orders," he said, with a smile, "right from the chief
himself. He seems to know who you are all right!"
Jack took the dispatch and read:
"Remain where you are until motor cars now on the way from Cumberland
reach you. Our men say the cars can make good time clear to the
foothills. The cipher message will arrive shortly. Be on your guard."
It was signed by the chief of the Secret Service department.
"What do you know about that?" asked Jack, passing the message over
to Jimmie.
"How far is it to Cumberland?" he asked of the clerk.
"Something like eighty miles," was the reply.
"Are the roads good? Can a motor car make good time to-night."
The river roads are fairly good. A fast car ought to get here in
three hours."
"I see that Chinese-looking guy that wanted the message catching us
if we go back in an automobile!" Jimmie laughed.
"But a motor car," Jack interrupted, "is an easy thing to wreck on a
mountain."
"What do you think was in that dispatch?" Jimmie asked of Jack, as
they sat in the telegraph office waiting.
Pages:
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198