"The knots are loose." Then, "I
got it."

Moving swiftly, Scotty untied his ankles and knelt at Rick's side. Long
minutes later Rick felt the ropes fall from his wrists. It didn't take
long to get his ankles free, and he stood up, rubbing circulation back
into his hands.

Scotty went to the doorway of the old jail and Rick joined him. "See
anything?"

"No," Scotty whispered. "We'll have to go outside."

"We can't go out the front," Rick murmured. "They'd see us. That car
stopped right in front. Let's see if there's a back entrance of some
kind."

He led the way to the rear of the jail building, walking carefully in
the darkness. There were windows but they were barred. He carefully felt
his way past the jail's only cell, and along the back wall.

Outside, a motor spun into life.

Rick whirled. "They're going!"

Another motor started.

The boys turned and hurried to the front of the building. They were in
time to see a sedan shift and speed away from the hotel, following the
road toward civilization.

They hurried into the street and Scotty pointed in the opposite
direction. The road back to the base was a dim, pale ribbon in the faint
moonlight. Along it a dark shape was speeding.

"That does it," Rick said aloud.

Scotty turned to watch the departing sedan. "It didn't take them long to
complete their business, whatever it was. I didn't hear any talk, did
you?"

"Not a word. Do you suppose that was Mac and Pancho that came from the
base?"

"No way of knowing, but it could have been. Come on. Let's find our
jeep."

The jeep was where they had left it, but the hood was up. Scotty hurried
to look, while Rick went to the glove compartment. The flashlight hadn't
been touched. He got it and joined Scotty, throwing the beam under the
hood.

For a moment everything looked normal, then Rick saw that the
distributor cap and rotor were missing. The question was, had the men
simply hidden them? Or had they taken the parts along?

Scotty put his thoughts into words. "If the parts are here, we'll find
them in the morning. If they aren't ..."

Rick finished, "We'll be here until someone finds us!"

CHAPTER XI

Deadrock Ogg, Mayor

At dawn's first light Rick and Scotty began the search for the
distributor cap and rotor. The boys searched methodically, taking in the
area far beyond throwing distance, on the assumption that whoever had
taken the two essential parts might have walked a distance away