CHAPTER VI.
THE PHANTOM AUTO AGAIN.
Sercomb did not follow the blind trail that led to the main road. Hemade for the road, but took his way along a foot-path that led throughthe grove.
It was not at all difficult for Matt to shadow him, and the youngmotorist was considerably surprised to see Sercomb gain the road at apoint where a heavy touring-car had drawn up. The car was about thesize of the Red Flier and, in the semidarkness, looked very much likeit. But it had a top.
Three men were standing near the head of the machine, in the glow ofthe lamps. They were all fairly well dressed, quite young, and therewas little of the ruffian about them.
They greeted Sercomb excitedly, and for several minutes all four ofthem engaged in a brisk conversation. Their voices were pitched in toolow a tone, and Matt was too far away to hear what was said.
Undoubtedly, Matt reasoned, these three who had just come in theautomobile had formed part of the number who had been in the up-stairsroom. The fourth member of the party must have been Sercomb, himself.
But how had Sercomb and the other three got away? Their departure fromthe house was a mystery. And where had they kept their automobile whilethey were in the house? This was another mystery.
They were planning evil things of some sort, and against Dick Ferral.
Matt had a clue. It assured him that Sercomb had not told the truthwhen he said he knew nothing about the so-called intruders who hadvanished from the house so strangely. Sercomb, by this stealthy meetingwith the three in the road, proved to Matt that he knew all about themen.
From their earnest talk it was clear that they were plotting mischief.Wishing that he could overhear something of what was said, Matt begancreeping carefully along the path. By getting a few yards nearer he wassure that he would be within ear-shot.
Just as he had nearly reached the coveted point for which he wasmaking, and the mumble of talk was breaking up into an occasional wordwhich he could distinguish, the conversation broke off with a chorus ofexcited exclamations.
Matt started up, at first fearing he had been seen, and that the fourin the road were coming to capture him. But in this he was mistaken.All four of them, as a matter of fact, had started in his direction,but they abruptly halted and whirled around. Matt's heart jumped whenhe saw what it was that had claimed their attention.
_It was the phantom auto!_
The white runabout was wheeling swiftly along the road in the directionof the treacherous cliff trail. The streaming lights of the touring-carwere full upon the ghostly runabout, showing the vacant seatsdistinctly. The weird spectacle was more than enough to fill the fourmen with momentary panic. They stood as though rooted to the ground,watching the runabout turn of its own accord from the road, pass thetouring-car, and then come neatly back into the road again.
An oath broke from one of the men. Leaping to the touring-car hecranked up the machine quickly and hopped into the driver's seat. Twoothers jumped in behind him, one in front and the other behind, Sercombbeing the only one who remained at the roadside.
Swiftly the touring-car was turned and headed in pursuit. Then,suddenly, there came the report of a firearm, shivering through thestill air.
At first, Matt thought one of those in the touring-car had fired at therunabout; then, a moment more, he knew he was mistaken.
The shot had come from the runabout and had punctured one of thetouring-car's front tires.
The big car limped and slewed until the power was cut off and it cameto a halt. Those who were in the car piled out, sputtering and fuming,and Sercomb ran forward and joined them. Together, all four watched thewhite phantom whisk out of sight.
There followed a good deal of talking and gesticulating among Sercomband the three with him. Finally one of them took off the tail lamp andall made an examination of the damaged tire.
A jack was got out and the forward wheel lifted.
From his actions, Sercomb was nervous and excited. He kept walking fromthe road, looking toward the house and listening. He fancied, no doubt,just as Matt did, that the sound of the shot might have awakened thesleepers in the house.
However, this did not seem to have been the case.
Leaving one of the men to tinker with the tire, Sercomb took the othertwo and led them off through the grove. They passed within a yard ofwhere Matt was crouching in the bushes, but their plans, whatever theywere, had been settled, and they were doing no talking.
Matt continued to dodge after Sercomb. The course he and the two withhim were taking did not lead toward the house, but angled off throughthe grove on a line that would take them fully a hundred feet past thenearest wall of the adobe building.
Abreast of the house, at that point, there was a circular space, clearof timber and with only a patch of brush in the center. Matt, notdaring to venture beyond the edge of the timber, stood and watchedwhile Sercomb and his companions disappeared in the thicket.
Matt's position was such that he could see all around the little patchof bushes, and he watched for the three men to appear on the otherside. They did not appear, and as minute after minute slipped away,Matt's amazement and curiosity increased.
The men had gone into that little thicket, and why had they not shownthemselves again? What was there in that bunch of brush to attract themand keep them so long?
Matt concluded to investigate. There might be danger in doing that, asthere would be three against him if he was discovered, but he knew hehad only to raise his voice to bring Ferral and Carl.
This clue, which he had picked up so unexpectedly in the night, calledupon him to make the most of it and, if possible, discover what Sercombwas up to.
Hastening across the cleared space, he came to the thicket without achallenge. Resolutely he plunged into the bushes--and the next momentthe ground seemed to drop out from under him.
Throwing out his hands wildly he plunged downward, struck an inclineand rolled over and over, finally coming to a jolting stop on hardearth, on his hands and knees.
The suddenness of his fall had bewildered him. He was bruised a little,but not otherwise hurt, and as his wits returned his curiosity cameuppermost.
What sort of a place was he in?
His groping hands informed him that the incline he had rolled down wasa rude stairway. A patch of starlight above revealed the opening intowhich he had stumbled.
Climbing the stairway, he reached a stone landing and lifted himselferect in the very center of the thicket. A flat slab, tilted upon itsedge, showed how the hole was covered when not in use.
Matt drew a quick breath. The mysteries of La Vita Place were clearinga little.
Here, undoubtedly, was a passage communicating with the house. Sercomband the other three men must have used it in making their strangeescape from the up-stairs room, earlier in the night.
But why were Sercomb and his two companions going back through thepassage?
Instinctively Matt's suspicions flew to Dick Ferral. Sercomb wasplanning some evil against him, and the two from the touring-car werethere to help him carry it out.
Matt hesitated a moment, trying to decide whether he should go throughthe passage or reach the house by crossing the cleared place andentering the front door.
He decided upon the passage. The rascals had gone that way and wouldprobably make their escape in the same manner.
Hurrying down the steps he began making his way along a gallery. Thepassage was not wide, for he could stretch out his hands and toucheither side. It ran straight, and Matt pushed rapidly through thegloom, trailing a hand along one wall.
He knew he had only a hundred feet to go before he should reach thehouse, but in his haste he covered the distance before he realized it,and stumbled against a flight of steps.
While he was picking himself up, he heard a commotion from somewhereabove--a wild scramble of feet, a thump of blows and an overturning offurniture. Above the hubbub sounded the voice of Carl.
"Vat's der madder mit you? Hoop-a-la! Take dot,
oof you like or oof youdon'd like, und dere's anoder! Matt! Come along for der fight _fest_!Vere you vas, Matt, vile der scrimmage iss going on! Verral! Iss dotyou?"
Just then, as Matt began scrambling upward, a form came hurtling down.
"They're onto us, Joe!" panted a voice. "This way, old pal! Nothingdoing to-night. Cut for it! I ran into something at the foot of thesteps--look out for that!"
Matt, who had been thrown violently against the wall, heard formsdashing past him. Before he could interfere with them, they were wellalong the passage.
Motor Matt's Clue; or, The Phantom Auto Page 6