CHAPTER XVI
THE ATTACK ON THE ROAD
In an instant Baseball Joe brought the car to a stop.
But in that instant his brain worked like lightning.
Neither he nor Jim was armed. He must temporize. Resistance at themoment might be fatal. Shooting would result probably in the death ofone or more of the party.
Before he had taken his hand from the wheel, he had formed a plan.
The women had screamed and Jim had jumped to his feet.
"Sit down, Jim," said Joe. "Don't you see they have the drop on us. Isuppose it's money you want?" he went on coolly, addressing the leaderof the gang.
"No," was the unexpected answer. "We're not after money this time. Wewant a man named Matson."
"I didn't know I was so popular," replied Joe jokingly, though themention of his name in so ominous a way had sent a start through him."My name is Matson, Joe Matson. What do you want of me?"
"Are you giving it to us straight?" asked the leader. "Are you Matson?How many men are there with you anyway?" he went on, peering into thetonneau.
"There are two of us," replied Joe.
"Then get down in the road, both of you," commanded the bandit. "I wantto have a look at both of you so that there won't be any mistake. Myorders are for the man named Matson. No monkey work now!"
Joe and Jim, inwardly boiling but outwardly cool, got down into theroad. As they climbed down, Joe's hand nudged Jim ever so slightly. Jimknew what that meant. It meant to make no move until Joe gave the sign.
"Up with your hands!" ordered the leader curtly. "Bill, frisk them andsee if they have guns."
The bandit called Bill ran his hands along their bodies and reportedthat they were entirely unarmed.
"Now strike a match and let's have a look at their faces," was the nextorder.
Bill obeyed, and as the light flared up, not only the leader but therest of the band looked over the young men keenly.
"You're Matson, all right," said the leader to Joe, and the restacquiesced. "I've seen your picture in the papers many a time, and I'veseen you at the Polo Grounds too. All right. You get back in the car,"he said to Jim, poking him in the side with his pistol, "and drive off."
"What do you want with me?" asked Joe steadily.
"Oh, we're not going to kill you," replied the leader, with an evilgrin. "But," he muttered under his breath so low that only Joe couldhear him, "by the time we're through with you, that pitching arm ofyours will be out of business. Them's our orders."
"Who gave you those orders?" asked Joe.
"Never you mind who gave them," snarled the bandit. "I've got them, andI'm going----"
He never finished the sentence.
Like lightning Joe's foot shot up and kicked the weapon from theleader's hand. The next instant his fist caught another of thescoundrels a terrific crack on the jaw. The man went down as thoughhe had been hit with an axe. At the same moment Jim's hard right fistsmashed into another straight between the eyes. There was the snap ofa breaking bone and the man toppled over. The fourth rascal, who hadbeen paralyzed with astonishment, forgot to shoot and started to run,but Jim was on him like a tiger and bore him to the ground, his handstightening on his throat until the rascal lay limp and motionless.
In the meantime, the leader, nursing his hurt wrist, had hobbled to thecar, whose engine all this time had remained running. Joe made a dashfor the car, but the chauffeur put on all speed and darted away intothe darkness.
The first task of Joe and Jim was to gather up the weapons of theassailants. The three still lay dazed or unconscious. Under othercircumstances, the boys would have waited until the trio had regainedtheir senses. But their first duty now was to the girls, who were halfhysterical with fright. Joe took Mabel in his arms, after assuring heragain and again in answer to her frantic questions that he was unhurt,and Jim comforted Clara until she had recovered her composure.
They laid the bandits at the side of the road, so that they could notbe run over, and then Joe took the wheel and drove on. To the firstpoliceman they saw, Joe reported that he had seen some men who seemedto be hurt, alongside the road, and suggested that they be lookedafter. But he said nothing about the attempted holdup. Then he sped on,and soon they were in the precincts of the city.
The girls in their alarm had failed to gather the true significanceof the affair. To them it was like a confused dream. Their generalimpression was that a holdup had been attempted for the purposes ofrobbery. Still Mabel did remember that they had asked specifically forMatson.
"Why was it that they asked for you especially, Joe?" she asked,snuggling closely to the arm that had so stoutly done its work thatnight. "Why was it?"
"How do I know, honey?" answered Joe. "Perhaps," he said jokingly,"they had heard of my increase in salary and thought I was rolling inmoney. Sometimes you know they kidnap a man, make him sign a check andthen hold him prisoner until they cash it. No knowing what such rascalsmay do."
"Whatever it was, they've lost all interest in the matter now," saidJim, with a laugh, as he thought of the discomfited bandits by theroadside and the fleeing leader in the automobile.
Both Joe and Jim made light of it to the girls and laughed away theirfears until they had seen them safely to their hotel. But later on twovery sober and wrathful young men sat in their own room discussing theholdup.
Joe had told Jim what the bandit leader had said about putting hispitching arm out of business, and his friend was white with anger.
"The scoundrels!" he ejaculated. "That meant that they would havetwisted your arm until they had snapped the tendons or pulled it fromits socket and crippled you for life. If I'd known that when I had myhands on that rascal's throat, I'd have choked the life out of him."
"You did enough," returned Joe. "As it is they got a pretty good dose.I know I cracked the leader's wrist, and I heard a bone snap when yousmashed that other fellow. Gee, Jim, you hit like a pile driver."
"No harder than you did," replied Jim. "That fellow you clipped in thejaw was dead to the world before he hit the ground."
"After all, those fellows were merely tools," mused Joe thoughtfully."Did you hear the leader say that he had his orders? Who gave himthose orders? If only the girls hadn't been there, I'd have trussedthe rascals up, waited until they had got their senses back, and thenput them through the third degree until I'd found out the name oftheir employer. But I wouldn't for the world have the girls know whatthose scoundrels were up to. They'd never have a happy moment. They'dworry themselves to death. We've got to keep this thing absolutely toourselves."
"All the same, I can guess who the fellow was that employed them," saidJim.
"I think I can come pretty near it, too," affirmed Joe. "In the firstplace, it was a man who had money. Those fellows wouldn't have takenthe job unless they had been well paid. Then, too, it was somebodywho hated me like poison. There are two men who fulfil both of thoseconditions, and their names are----"
"Fleming and Braxton," Jim finished for him.
"Exactly," agreed Joe. "And knowing what I do of the two, I have ahunch that it was Braxton."
Baseball Joe, Home Run King; or, The Greatest Pitcher and Batter on Record Page 17
