did."

He stepped aside to avoid a car coming toward him in which two
rough-looking men were seated.

"Look, Fred!" cried Teddy, clutching his brother's arm as the car went
by.

"What? Where?" asked Fred wonderingly.

"The auto!" gasped Teddy. "The man with a scar! The fellows that stole
Uncle Aaron's watch!"

CHAPTER XXX

THE CAPTURE--CONCLUSION

"You don't mean it!" exclaimed Fred, as excited as Teddy.

"I'm sure of it! And now we're going to miss them again," groaned his
brother.

At that moment a boy on a motorcycle came round a curve in the road.

"It's Lester Lee on his motorbike!" cried Fred, as an idea came to him.
"Quick!" he yelled, waving his hand to Lester.

The latter put on speed and was soon beside them.

"What's the matter?" he asked, as he jumped from the saddle.

"Lend us your machine, Lester, like a good fellow," cried Fred. "I'll
tell you all about it later. Quick, Teddy, jump on with me!"

In a second the Rushton boys were off, while the boys without the
slightest idea of what was happening, looked after them with wonder in
their eyes.

Fred had often ridden on Lester's motorcycle and knew how to handle it
as well as the owner himself. He let out all speed and soon was
traveling like the wind, with Teddy hanging on for dear life.

The automobile had a good start, and it was several minutes before they
came in sight of it. Then they slackened their pace, keeping a couple of
hundred yards in the rear.

"How on earth did those fellows ever get an auto?" asked Teddy
wonderingly.

"Stole it, probably," answered Fred. "But that isn't what is bothering
me. What I want to know is, how we're going to get them nabbed. We don't
know where they're going to stop, and when they do land somewhere
they'll probably have others of their gang around."

It was a perplexing problem, and they taxed their brains to think of an
answer. But at present, the chief thing was to keep them in sight, and,
as the men had no idea that they were being followed, this was easy
enough.

Everything went well until, just after they turned a bend in the road,
they ran into a bed of sand. Up to now the road had been hard and
smooth, and they had been going at top speed. Fred saw the sandy stretch
and tried to put on the brakes, but the distance was too short.

The sudden check in speed as the motorcycle ploughed into the sand sent
both boys flying over the handle bars, while the machine staggered and
at