Chapter 4

JOSH DOES HIS LITTLE TRICK.

Meanwhile Josh had carried out the preliminary part of his share in the plot to the best of his ability. Rushing ahead of his chums he had succeeded in concealing his motorcycle amidst the bushes skirting the road, just a little distance beyond the house.

His heart was beating like a triphammer as he turned, once this had been done, to discover whether the men in the pursuing car had come in sight so as to notice what he was doing.

"Everything is lovely, and the goose hangs high!" Josh muttered in apparent glee, when he found that this was not the case.

His two chums had by this time halted at the door of the house, and it even looked as though they might be saying something to some one inside. Of course Josh understood that this was part of the plan intended to deceive the men.

He was already making his way back toward the house, bending low so that no one might see his shoulders above the bushes, which grew in profusion just there, as if on purpose to further his designs.

Then came the rapid pulsations of the engines, as Rod and Hanky Panky got going again. The car must be in sight, coming swinging along, with both men keenly observant of all that was taking place.

Still Josh continued to creep forward. He wished to be as close to the building as possible when the car stopped, as he felt sure would be the case. Probably the men would not linger long, once they had rushed inside and taken a look around. Not finding him there they would be likely to "tumble to the game," as Josh put it, and hasten outside again in order to avoid any backset to their pursuit of the shrewd American motorcycle boys.

When the car did stop Josh was only a dozen paces away. The friendly bushes allowed him to lie there unseen, while at the same time he could catch glimpses of those in whom he had such great interest.

"Shucks! I do believe the chauffeur is meaning to stick by the car," he whispered to himself indignantly, only to hastily add in a gratified way: "No he isn't either, for there he jumps out after Jules, who is already bolting inside. Now's my chance, if ever I expect to get one! Here goes, then!"

With the last words Josh was hurrying through the bushes as fast as he could make time. Of course his pulses were thrilled with the sense of responsibility that rested upon his shoulders. Would one of the men come out unexpectedly, and catch him busy with the car? Josh hoped not; at the same time he had his mind made up just what he meant to do under such conditions.

If either or both of his chums happened to be looking back just then they must have seen him there, for he had by now attained his goal, and was alongside the red racer.

Josh flitted from one side of the car to the other. He seemed to be working with all the vim of which he was capable, and every time he made a movement it was accompanied by a strange sighing sound, as though some restrained captive hailed freedom in a joyous fashion.

After all Josh was not detained there more than a couple of minutes, though it may have seemed much longer to the anxious lad, for his heart beat so tumultuously that it really threatened to smother him.

He could constantly hear the men inside the house moving hastily about, and calling to one another in French. Evidently they were wondering where the missing boy as well as his machine could be hidden. They might at any instant begin to suspect that a clever trick had been played upon them, and come rushing forth to protect their own car, upon which the continuance of the pursuit depended wholly.

At last Josh seemed to have finished his work, whatever it may have been, for he turned away from the car and started to run. He took to the road, meaning to reach the spot where his motorcycle lay hidden in the bushes. Given just enough time to arrive and lay hands on the precious machine Josh felt sure he could laugh at any effort on the part of the men to overtake him.

Just as he came close to the hiding place of the wheel he heard a loud shout from the rear. This announced that his presence had been discovered by one or both of the Frenchmen. Of course their first thought would be to leap into the car and try to speed after him. Josh chuckled with fiendish glee as he contemplated their disgust when they found that no matter how hard they tried they could not coax the red racer to make the first move.

He could hear them roaring as he dragged his machine out on the road. One look back was sufficient to show him how matters stood. Both men were tumbling out of the stalled car, wild to make a hasty examination in order to discover why it would not move an inch, though the engine was throbbing away tumultuously all the while, just as they had left it.

"The crack I gave that self-starter rod bent it, and placed it out of commission, all right," Josh exclaimed, as he drew his machine to the middle of the road, and deliberately prepared to follow after his chums; "but that was only a beginning; the worst is yet to come when they look around."

Louder came the angry shouts from the direction of the house. The men must have learned the full nature of their troubles. Josh saw them starting toward him as if under the impression that he would be silly enough to await their coming.

"Not for Joseph; not if he knows it!" he called out, as he turned on the current, and immediately commenced to spin along the roadway.

There was a sudden spiteful crack from the rear, and Josh ducked his head involuntarily as he heard some object whistle past close to his ears.

"Wow! they're trying to wing me, for a fact!" he whooped, at the same time bending low in his saddle, so as to present as little body surface as possible to the aim of the one who was doing the firing.

Several more shots rang out, sounding like the popping of champagne corks. Doubtless the marksman, no other than Jules himself, was more or less excited, and although he might be a clever shot under ordinary conditions, just then he failed to accomplish anything.

So Josh rolled away, waving his hand derisively when he felt that he was safe beyond pistol shot. The boy was trembling all over, though hilarious concerning the wonderful success of the little plan which Rod had conceived, and left to him to carry out.

"You've got to have your eye-teeth cut when you run afoul of the Big Five Motorcycle Boys, and don't forget that!" he shouted over his shoulder, as he sped along; although of course the outwitted pursuers could hardly have caught the words, and even if they did might not understand their import.

Rod and Hanky Panky had halted half a mile further on, watching to see what happened. It might be they meant to turn back, and come to the assistance of their comrade, should Fate play a scurvy trick on Josh, so that he fell into the hands of the enemy.

When they saw him mounting and caught the familiar music of his engine's exhaust, the muffler being open, both Rod and Hanky Panky felt like giving shouts of exultation, for they had already discovered that the two men were having some difficulty with their car, after Josh had "fiddled" with the same.

Then came the shots, and of course they felt a new anxiety lest Josh be brought to grief through this means.

"Look at him leaning low over his handlebars, will you?" cried Hanky Panky, lost in admiration over the smart way Josh was accomplishing the trick, which perhaps he had seen riders in the Wild West Show do when pursued by Indians of the plains.

"It's all right, and Josh has saved the day for us!" exclaimed Rod, beaming with gratification. "Jules will begin to wonder what sort of boys they raise over in the States, when he finds out what happened."

"But what did Josh do to the car, Rod?"

"You'll have to ask him," replied the other, "though I suspect he put the starting gear out of commission to begin with. Here he is, and grinning at a great rate."

The third rider slowed up as he approached the spot where they awaited him. No danger of the two men starting their car, and swooping down on the allies; if they commenced to run on foot toward Rod and his chums it was only necessary to leap into their saddles and be off like the wind.

"It worked like fresh grease, Rod!" panted Josh, as he threw himself down from his seat, and held one hand to his aching side, for that boisterous laughter was weakening him more or less; "oh! they fell into your little trap like innocents. It was like taking candy from the baby to work them like I did."

"There they are, shaking their fists at us right now!" burst out Hanky Panky, as he pointed along the road toward the deserted house.

"It's about all they can do; when you come to think of it!" grinned Josh.

"We were getting cold feet when we heard them shooting, old fellow; and I hope none of the lead so much as touched you! I saw the dust fly up after nearly every shot, it seemed to me."

"I rather think the fellow meant to hit my wheel and disable it," explained the latest arrival; "but it isn't so easy to do a thing like that, when a motorcycle is speeding along at the rate of a mile a minute. No matter what he aimed to do he missed his guess, and I gave him the slip."

"Rod here says you must have jammed his self-starter so it wouldn't work when he tried it; how about that, Josh?" asked Hanky Panky, who never would be satisfied until he had learned all the particulars.

"You just bet that was what I did the first thing," the other told him exultantly; "but I had another card up my sleeve, too. You see they might hammer that back into shape again, and get a move on; but I fixed it so they'll not chase after us to-day."

"What did you do, then?" demanded Hanky Panky.

"I had my big knife all ready," said Josh grimly, "and I used it with all my might and main."

"On the tires, do you mean, Josh?"

"Every one of them is sliced and slashed the worst way you ever saw," replied the other. "I never was guilty of doing such a mean thing before in all my life; but it was absolutely necessary if we meant to shut off pursuit. You ought to have heard the air sizzling out after I jammed that big blade through, and ripped it along! Whee! it was mighty exciting, because I half expected to see one of the men come rushing out any old second, and chase after me down the road. But I was lucky, and nothing like that happened."

Hanky Panky looked his deep admiration. He often wished Nature had made him as smart as Josh, with that underlying streak of Yankee blood in his veins. Hanky was willing to try to accomplish anything that came his way; but being a bit clumsy in his actions there was always a chance that he would bungle his job, and fail to attain the expected results.

He slapped the late actor in the stirring little drama heartily on the back.

"Good boy, Josh!" he went on to say; "you're all wool, and a yard wide. Why, even Rod here couldn't have done a whit better. There, see, the men are starting this way as if they meant to make us get a move on."

"Oh! we're willing to oblige Jules," laughed Rod; "especially since we've accomplished all we meant to do, and their car is placed out of commission. Good-bye, Jules; if we meet again before we've played this game out it will be where the cannon are roaring, and the battle is on! Until that time, then, adieu!"

Immediately the trio started along the road leading to Ostend. Rod had figured some time back that they would soon be across the border, and traversing French soil. The last glimpse they had of the baffled plotter he was standing in the road and still staring hard after the vanishing Motorcycle Boys.