He looked behind again. Several dim shadows, the men chasing them, were dodging down the street. He doubted if they were gaining now. The taxi dropped into a deep rut and the engine groaned. The driver shifted gears with a clash that racked the entire car and the wheels spun in the rut. Then they shot into reverse, but the wheels couldn’t climb out. “We’re stuck!” cried the driver. “I’m unloading.” With a single motion of his hand he struck the ignition switch and the motor, overheated and steaming, sputtered and died. The headlights also went out and Bob saw the now dim bulk of the cab driver leap away from the car and vanish. “Get out, Bob. Duck and keep low. Make for the side of the street. Here’s where we separate.” The order was accompanied by a firm shove toward the door and then Bob was rolling in the street, for he had missed his step and fallen. He heard the door on the other side of the cab open and knew that his uncle had made his escape at least for the time. Chapter XXI SHOTS IN THE NIGHT ★ The street was long, flanked by what appeared to be warehouses, and there were street lights only at the ends of the block. For at least 400 feet in the middle there was no light and it was in this dismal area that Bob and his uncle were trapped. A pile of construction materials offered the first shelter for Bob and he ducked behind this. From this shelter, he listened for some sound from the men who had been pursuing them. He did not have long to wait for sharp voices could be heard a little further back along the street. “The taxi’s stalled,” someone said. “Spread out and let them have it if they make a break. We’ve got to get them to be sure we’ll get the paper.” Bob, behind the pile of construction materials, heard someone pounding down the street. The beam from a flashlight shot through the night and focused on the taxi driver. “Snap off that light!” came a tense command. “That’s only the driver. Let him go.” “He’ll bring the cops on us,” came a sharp protest, but the first voice came back tartly. “Let him. We’ll be out of here long before he can get his nerve back and talk to the police. Spread out, I tell you. We’ve got to move fast. If they break for the far end of the street we’ll see them under the street lights. There’s no place they can hide at each side.” The last words confirmed Bob’s fears. That meant that there was no shelter in the buildings which flanked the street. This time there was no friendly hedge into which he could leap. He would have been glad to have risked the barberry thorns again if he had only had the chance. The taxi was less than twenty feet away and Bob knew that the men hunting for him and his uncle would reach it in a few more seconds. Then one of the first places where they would search would be the pile of bricks and timbers behind which he had sought refuge.