Hardy Boys Mysteries - 020 Mystery Of The Flying Express by Franklin W. Dixon

Author:Franklin W. Dixon [Dixon, Franklin W.]
Language: eng
Format: epub

CHAPTER XIV

A FIGHT OK THE PLAINS

“all right, here we go,” said Frank at length.

He threw the car into gear again and speeded up. At that instant the headlights went out.

“Hey, what’s happened, lad? We struck blind?” his cowboy companion exclaimed with a start.

Frank fumbled with the switch but to no avail. Suddenly a pair of flickering lights appeared in the distance.

“It’s another machine!” yelled Weather-Eye. “Coming this way. It‘11 hit us!”

A motor which was whining in the distance rapidly grew louder. Joe and the man who was sitting beside him watched as a car shot around a bend in the road. Desperately Frank put on speed and swerved into a field adjoining the highway. He was just in time. With a roar the other vehicle whipped past them and disappeared.

“Whew!” the boy exclaimed. “That was a close one!”

“Too close, I’d say,” Weather-Eye agreed. “Pussonly I’ll stick to hosses. Much safer.”

116

A Fight on the Plains 117

For an instant Frank wanted to turn around and give chase. Perhaps Joe was in the other car! But obviously it was impossible to drive without lights. To attract attention he banged his fist impatiently on the horn. Nothing happened.

“Weather-Eye, I guess we’ll have to poke around this bus until we find out what’s wrong.

Know anything about electricity?”

“Enough to leave it alone.”

“With the aid of his flashlight Frank raised the hood and began fussing with various gadgets inside the engine.

“Hi, ho, here’s jest what I was prayin’ for,” Weather-Eye exclaimed. ” A hoss!”

Frank looked up to see a white mare not far away. The cowboy tiptoed up to her and held out his hand. ” See, lad, she’s a friendly critter. She’d like as not–—”

Crack! A shot rang out in the night air not far distant. With a loud neigh the horse galloped away, her hoofs thundering on the soft ground.

“Now, wouldn’t ye know somebody’d come along and spoil everything?” Weather-Eye moaned.

Frank was listening intently, but there was no further unusual sound. He turned back to his job. So far he had not found the trouble with the lighting circuit. At length he uttered an exclamation of disgust and summoned the cowboy.

118 The Mystery of the Flying Express

“We’ll try driving on a little nearer that ranch house, Weather-Eye, and then we can walk the rest of the way.”

“Suits me, lad.” He settled himself in the seat and began humming.

Frank swung the car back onto the road. It was hard work to keep from going into a ditch, but soon the moon appeared and lighted their path. A short distance from the house he suddenly sat up straight and stopped the machine.

“Weather-Eye, isn’t that a man with a rifle sitting over there ?” he asked.

In the rays of the moon an open space on one side of the house could be seen easily. It was here that Frank thought he could make out the figure of a man holding a gun.

Weather-Eye clucked his tongue. “Kinda seems as if yo ‘re right, lad. Looks like trouble to me.”

Frank hesitated a moment.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.