uckled: "Probably really a heavy blonde; something
like two hundred pounds. You can't tell anything by a voice. You--"

Suddenly he braced himself up on his elbows. His keen ears had caught a
distant purring sound. Two yellow balls of fire were rapidly
approaching--the headlights of a fast-moving automobile.

"He comes! Now for it!" He prepared to spring.

In an amazingly short time the car was all but upon him. Leaping to his
feet, he let out a wild whoop and, brandishing his automatic
threateningly, stood squarely in the middle of the road.

His heart beat wildly. There could be no mistake. He saw the wires and
rods swaying above the car.

For a second the car slowed up, then, with a snort it leaped right at
him. Nimble as he was, he barely escaped being run down.

As the car flashed past him, he wheeled about and almost instantly his
automatic barked three times. Simultaneous with the last shot there came
a louder explosion.

"Tire! Got you," he muttered.

Instantly the car swerved to the side of the road. A tire had gone flat.
The car had skidded.

The rods which carried the aerials caught in a tree top. The car, jerked
back like a mad horse caught by a lariat, reared up on its hind wheels,
threatened to turn turtle, then crashed over on its side with its engine
still racing wildly.

Sudden as had been the catastrophe, it had not been too quick for the
driver. Just as the car crashed over, Curlie caught sight of a figure in
long linen duster and with closely wrapped head, dashing up the bank,
over the fence and into the brush.

"Go it," he exclaimed, making no attempt to catch the fugitive, "you
know the country better than I do. I'd never catch you in that labyrinth
of trees. Besides, I don't need to. Your equipment is pretty well
smashed up and you've left me enough evidence to make out a beautiful
case."

Walking over to the machine, he reached over and shut off the engine.
After that, in a very leisurely manner he collected various odds and
ends from the radiophone equipment. Having stuffed these into his
pockets, he wrenched the back number plate from the machine and tucked
it under his arm.

"Guess that's enough," he murmured. "Now I can take my own time in
springing the thing. He probably thinks I was a hold-up man, but even if
he guessed the truth he couldn't escape me and couldn't get his
equipment back in shape short of a week, so that's that."

Turning, he started toward the nearest inte