Page:Outdoor Girls in a Motor Car.djvu/203

Rh Mr. Blackford, as he started for the waiting auto.

They left the strange mansion behind. Whether it was "haunted" or not they had failed to establish. But they had gotten on the trail of another mystery.

It was while autoing toward the town of Franklin, on their way to Deepdale, that the girls saw on the road a farmer standing beside a carnage with a broken axle. The man was ruefully contemplating the damage.

"Can we help you any?" asked Mollie, as she stopped her car. Mollie was always glad to help people.

"Wa'al," said the man slowly, "if you had a new axle it would be a help. But I know you haven't. What riles me most though, is that the rascal will get away from me."

"Are you after some one?" asked Mr. Blackford, catching at the man's words.

"Yes, I am; after as slick a swindler as has been around these parts in a long time. He done me out of a bunch of money not long ago, and only a little while ago I got word that the same man is peddling stuff in Franklin. I hitched up, as soon as I could, intending to go to Franklin and have him arrested. But this pesky axle had to break, and now I can't go on. It's