<h2><SPAN name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III" />CHAPTER III</h2>
<h3>A DARING LEAP <br/> </h3>
<p>At Bob's shout the intruder who had just emerged from the Hampton
cellar looked back over his shoulder. Seeing he was discovered he
broke into a desperate run. He was heading toward the front of the
house where ran the long and winding drive which led to the main
highroad.</p>
<p>The man shouted hoarsely, and from the front of the house came the
sound of a powerful motor engine being set in motion.</p>
<p>"He's got a car waiting for him," cried Bob, who was in the lead.
"Drat the luck, he'll escape us yet."</p>
<p>"Hey, Bob, we can cut 'em off at the Gut," called Frank, and he struck
away at a tangent from their course as the man disappeared around the
house and the motor car could be heard roaring off down the drive.</p>
<p>"Righto," cried Bob, and he followed his chum.</p>
<p>Old Davey had dropped far behind and Mr. Temple and Tom Barnum were
laboring along some yards in the rear of the two boys and steadily
losing ground.</p>
<p>"Careful, boys," called Mr. Temple gaspingly, as he grasped the
meaning of the boys' maneuver. "Don't be rash. May be several of
them."</p>
<p>"All right, Dad," sang out Bob over his shoulder. "We'll be careful.
Follow along."</p>
<p>The boys were heading for a place in the woods where the drive ran
between six-foot banks before turning a sharp corner. Cars perforce
had to be slowed up going through this place which the boys called the
Gut. Furthermore, the drive approached this place by a winding,
circuitous route, while the boys were not far distant from it by the
shortcut through the woods which they were following. Chances were
even that they would be in time to intercept the fugitives. Yet what
could they do even if they arrived in time? They gave no thought to
that as they crashed through the underbrush.</p>
<p>Bob slightly in the lead reached the top of the bank overhanging the
road ahead of his comrade and experienced a thrill of triumph as he
heard the roar of the approaching car and realized he had arrived
first. The car slowed down as it entered the Gut. Evidently the driver
remembered the perilous place from when he had driven through on
approaching the house.</p>
<p>The car passed below going at a snail's pace while Frank was still a
short distance in the rear and Mr. Temple and Tom Barnum were not yet
in sight. It was an open touring car with the top folded back. There
were three men in it, one on the seat beside the driver and the third
in the rear. He was the man who had entered the Hampton house. The
driver appeared to be a New York taxi chauffeur, and probably had been
employed for the trip. The others were swarthy men, foreign in
appearance.</p>
<p>The man beside the driver, looking up, saw Bob, and shouted. At that
moment the car passed directly beneath him, and Bob leaped. He landed
on the running board beside the rear seat. Steadying himself as the
car lurched from the impact of his weight, Bob reached in and grasped
the man on the rear seat by the coat collar and half pulled him from
the car, so that his body lay across the door.</p>
<p>Then the unexpected occurred. The driver opened his throttle and the
car leaped ahead, and at the same time the man beside him stood up and
struck at Bob.</p>
<p>Bob leaned back to avoid the blow, and the next moment found himself
flat on his back in the road, with the car disappearing around the
curve.</p>
<p>Frank, who by now had reached the top of the bank, dropped to the road
beside him and bent over him with real anxiety in his voice as he
said:</p>
<p>"Bob, Bob, are you hurt?"</p>
<p>Ruefully rubbing the back of his head, Bob sat up.</p>
<p>"No," said he, "But they got away, Frank."</p>
<p>Again there was a crashing in the underbrush on the top of the bank,
and Mr. Temple and Tom Barnum came into view, red and perspiring.</p>
<p>"Escaped you, hey?" said Mr. Temple, leaping to the road, as Bob
scrambled to his feet. "But, say, I see you captured something all
right." And he pointed to a coat clutched fast in Bob's hand.</p>
<p>Then for the first time Bob noticed that in falling from the car he
had dragged his victim's coat with him. He held it up and looked at it
curiously.</p>
<p>"He must have been wriggling out of his coat when he found you
wouldn't let go," surmised Frank. "I could see him threshing around
just as I came up to the top of the bank. Then you fell and held on
tight and the coat was pulled from him."</p>
<p>"Yes, I guess that's the way it happened," assented Bob. "Well, I'd
rather have had the fellow. This isn't any good to me." And he tossed
the coat away contemptuously.</p>
<p>"Not so fast, Bob," said Frank, stooping to pick up the garment.
"Let's see what's in the pockets. There may be a clue as to the man's
identity."</p>
<p>"That's right, Frank," said Mr. Temple. "Search it well. And, Bob, did
you notice the license number of the car? We can telephone and have it
intercepted."</p>
<p>"No," confessed Bob. "I was too busy to get that."</p>
<p>Frank interrupted the conversation with a shout of delight. "Look at
this," he cried, holding up a long strip of paper. "Return trip ticket
to Ransome, New Mexico. And a wallet with a big bunch of bills in it.
And here, what's this?" he added, holding up a thick, legal-looking
envelope. "Why, Mr. Hampton's name is written on it."</p>
<p>"Let me have that, Frank," said Mr. Temple, extending his hand. Frank
passed him the envelope. Mr. Temple noted the seal had been broken,
and opening it he pulled out a thick document down which he ran his
glance hurriedly. Then his face became grave.</p>
<p>"Boys," he said, "Mr. Hampton has many things of value in his home,
but this was the most valuable of all." Briefly he explained the paper
contained a list of names of "independents" in the oil field, together
with other information, which would give the Octopus a very great
advantage in the business war between the Oil Trust and the
"independents" if the document fell into its hands.</p>
<p>"This is pretty serious business, boys," Mr. Temple continued. "Bob,
you were very rash, but you did a good stroke of business that time.
Come," he added, "we'll go back to the house, and call up the police.
Maybe that car can be stopped and its occupants arrested."</p>
<p>As they turned through the woods, another thought occurred to Mr.
Temple, and he asked Frank what was the name of the man to whom the
railroad ticket had been issued.</p>
<p>"Jose Morales," read Frank. "This is the portion for the return trip
from New York. Evidently the man came from—why, Mr. Temple, he came
here from Ransome, New Mexico. That's the nearest station on the
railroad to the Hampton's camp."</p>
<p>"You're right, my boy," said Mr. Temple gravely. "There is some
mystery here."</p>
<p>Frank thwacked Bob gleefully on the back. "Say, Bob," he declared,
"old Jack isn't having all the fun after all, is he?"</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />