Keeping a sharp eye on all the automobiles in view, the three youths presently turned toward the Ravine road, for it was one the Auto Boys used a great deal. They often went to Tyler Gleason's farm, a short drive beyond the city. Phil and Paul had gone there this very morning, in fact. And what was this? Soapy Gaines burst suddenly into a laugh not unlike a conqueror's war-whoop and Pickton and Perth joined in his mirth in scarcely less demonstrative fashion. The Thirty of the Auto Boys was being "towed in." Yes, it was true. As the Roadster came close, the Chosen Ones found their first glimpse of the predicament of the enemy fully verified. There was George Knight in his big six-cylinder, with Phil Way, glum and silent, in the seat beside him, while tied by ropes behind they hauled the four-cylinder car of the Auto Boys. Paul Jones, steering the car in tow, seemed to be trying to look indifferent--as if he didn't care. "Give ye a lift?" cried Tom Pickton, slowing up. He was not alone in his anxiety to know how seriously the Thirty was out of commission. "No, thank you!" Phil Way answered distantly, as Mr. Knight drove ahead without pause or comment. It is interesting to note how quickly the Gaines party discovered that they were themselves ready to turn toward the city. This they did, and until town was reached they loafed along a considerable distance in the rear of the towed machine, yet keeping that car plainly in view. In the light of subsequent developments, too, it is interesting to record the zealous watchfulness of the three exultant young gentlemen as they saw the crippled car hauled into Knight & Wilder's garage. Lacking nothing in brazen audacity, Pickton alighted from the Roadster and, standing in the doorway of the automobile establishment, noted with evident relish that Mr. Wilder, the mechanical genius of the concern, looked very sober and puckered his lips up quite despairingly as he lifted the Thirty's bonnet and seemed carefully to inspect the motor. He spoke a few words to Phil and Paul, then some men came and pushed the Auto Boys' machine through the storage rooms into the repair shop. An expressive and by no means unhappy smile shone on Pick's countenance--a really disagreeable smile, it was, in those hawk-like eyes of his,--as he climbed into Gaines' machine. Perth was driving,--Soapy rarely ever held the wheel himself--and as the car moved off, all three noticed the evidently disconsolate feelings of Phil and Paul as the latter two emerged from the garage and started homeward on foot. "Guess maybe that don't simplify matters some!" chuckled Freddy Perth. "Instead of having to watch the whole bunch of 'em, all we need do now is keep our eyes on their shed at Way's to see when they get the machine home again." "Watch the garage, too!" Gaines put in. "They'll run around to try out some as soon as they get fixed up. Hang it! Why didn't you push right up and see what the matter was, Pick?"