“Can’t we just as well remove the cords and the gag, now?” insisted the deputy sheriff.
“Yes; if you’ll he responsible for his not getting away,” agreed Dawson.
“Oh, I won’t let him get away, if he’s foolish enough to want to,” promised Warren. He freed the young man. As soon as he could talk Ted broke forth, angrily:
“This is all a wicked shame! My father wanted me to keep out of the way for the present. These boys have been meddling from the start. My father will be awfully angry with them, and with you all.”
“He will, eh?” queried Warren, good-humoredly. “Young man, do you know that your father is nearly distracted over your absence, and that he has had a lot of police officers and a small army of detectives hunting for you all these days?”
“I don’t believe it,” retorted Ted, stubbornly. “Anyway, I haven’t broken any law, and you’ve no right to keep me here. I’m going to get out of this car.”
“I’m very sorry to say that you’re not, at least not until I’ve seen your father,” rejoined the deputy. “My boy, I believe you’ve been badly imposed upon by rascals. In any case, you’ll stay right here with me until some one older than you are changes the orders.”
At this moment Tom came running down the path from the house.
“There’s the fellow who’s been the worst of the lot,” cried Ted bitterly, tears of rage shining in his eyes.
“Has he?” smiled Warren. “Then I believe Halstead will come in for a pretty handsome reward from your father.”
“Maybe,” hinted Joe, “if you folks can get us into Nantucket and up at the door of the probate court before the minute of four.”
“Start her up, please,” begged Halstead, as his feet struck the running board and he squeezed in among the tightly-packed crowd. “What time is it now—exactly?”
“Twelve minutes to four,” responded Warren.
“Whew! What if we miss?” quivered Halstead, his face again paling.
“We won’t,” Warren assured him, as the car lurched forward.
Nor would there have been any danger, but about a mile out of Nantucket something went wrong with the gasoline flow. The man driving the car had to get out and crawl under. Two others got out and helped him. Halstead, who had wound and set his watch by the deputy’s, sat watching the fateful minutes slip by. In a very short time the car was ready to go on again.