r reached over and throttled
the red car, then stopped his own.

Leaving his own car in the middle of the road, he leaped into the red
car and gave her her full head.

In half an hour the red car had left the city and was speeding along a
smooth country road in the moonlight.

Ted still lay in a stupor in the bottom of the car, and the only sound
that came from him was an occasional gasp as his lungs, trying to
recover from a shock, took in short gulps of air.

It was midnight before the red car slowed down.

Ahead in the moonlight rose the black bulk of a building.

It presented the appearance of a country house of some pretensions.

The house was dark. Not a light appeared at any of the windows.

The red car approached it cautiously, running into the deep shadow cast
by a high brick wall. A dog on the other side of the wall barked a
warning.

The man in the red car whistled softly in a peculiar way.

A window was raised somewhere, and the whistle was answered by another.

In a few minutes there was the sound of a man walking on a graveled
path, then the creak of rusty iron and a gate swung open.

"All right?" asked a voice at the gate.

"You bet. Got them both," answered the man in the red machine.

"Bully for you. Run her in."

The red machine, with Ted still lying in the bottom, ran into a large
yard, and the gate was closed again, and the car was stopped in front of
the house.

"Come, help me carry him in," said the man in the car. "He'll be coming
around all right in a few minutes, then we may have some trouble with
him, for he's the very devil to fight."

Ted was dragged out of the car in no gentle manner, and carried into the
house, which was unlighted save where the moonlight shone through the
windows.

"Into the strong room with him," said the man of the house.

Ted was carried into a room and dumped upon a lounge. Then a light was
struck, and both men bent over the prostrate form of the leader of the
broncho boys.

Both of them started back.

"Whew! You must have given him an awful dose, Checkers," said the man of
the house.

"Had to do it, Dude. If I hadn't, I'd never got him here, that's a
cinch."

"Well, get his gun off before he comes to."

Ted was stripped of his weapons, a glass of water was thrown into his
face, and he began to regain consciousness.

He had been shot down with an ammonia gun, and the powerful alkaloid gas
had almost killed him. For a long time he breath