"His game was to hold my attention while his confederates worked things so as to get Mr. Cameron near their car. Then they grabbed him, stuck a chloroformed rag over his nose to take the fight out of him, and made their get-away." "It's lucky your motor started when it did," remarked Innis, as he clung to the sides of the swaying car. "That's right," agreed Dick. "We might have been stalled yet, only that luck was with us. I suppose monkeying with it the way we did, we put back into adjustment some little thing that was out of gear. She's running like a sewing machine now." And indeed the big car was responding nobly to the demands made on her. The road was very good, fortunately. It was getting dusk, but the boys had no thought of even halting for supper. There were some sandwiches they could eat later on. Dick switched on the powerful searchlights and the path ahead of them was illumined by a brilliant glow. Mile after mile they covered, and as it happened, the only crossroads they passed were so poor that it would have been dangerous for the car ahead of them to have turned off. "Though they may slip into some side lane, and trust to us to run past," said Paul. "Maybe," assented Dick. "The odds are against us, but we'll keep on." "Look!" suddenly cried Innis, pointing ahead. Through the darkness they could see a single gleam of red, like some big ruby. "Their tail light!" cried Dick. "Unless it's some other car," said Paul. "We haven't passed any, though maybe we're catching up to one that came in from some side road," admitted Dick. "Here goes for a spurt. Maybe we can catch 'em!" He threw on all the power that was safe on such a road at night, and the _Last Word_ forged ahead. It was their one best chance to catch the other car, if indeed that was it, and they were taking advantage of it. On and on they raced, the big auto swaying dangerously. Fortunately they did not have to worry about tire trouble, and this was something that might handicap the other car at a moment's notice. On and on they raced. "The light seems to be brighter now," said Paul. "I think we are catching up to them," agreed Innis. "I hope so," murmured Dick. He peered ahead for a sign of any possible obstruction into which they might crash. At the speed they were keeping up, to hit anything, or have even a slight accident, would be serious. But the big lights made the road very plain. "They must have seen us," observed Paul. "I fancy so," agreed Dick. "I wish we had some way of puncturing one of their tires." Almost as he spoke there came from the car ahead of them a loud report. "They're firing at us, just as those other fellows did!" cried Paul. "No, that wasn't a shot!" yelled Dick. "Fellows, it's a tire blow-out. We've got 'em." He gave the laboring motor of the _Last Word_ a little more gasoline and adjusted the spark lever. The car responded promptly. "We're overhauling 'em!" cried Innis.