As he finished speaking, Ernie led the way, followed by four other
boys, back through the snow twenty or thirty yards, and then stopped
and listened. A short distance further, they heard a sound the cause
of which could not be mistaken. It was the rapid, pulsating chug-chug
of an automobile engine. They waited a few minutes, but it appeared to
be coming no nearer.

"The snow has stopped this one, too," said Clifford. "Come on and
we'll give them a surprise."

A few paces farther brought the boys in view of a machine with the
engine running idle and no driver visible in front. Naturally this
made them suspicious and a halt was called for a little
circumspection. Then, carefully, cautiously, they advanced toward the
automobile, keeping nervous watch on all sides to avoid a surprise.

They reached the machine, which they had been able to locate by the
noise of the engine, and found it also deserted, save for the three
prisoners, bound and gagged, in the car. While the other four in the
party of rescuers kept watch against a surprise, Clifford cut the
bonds on the wrists of the girls and removed the gags from their
mouths.

"Where did the villains in charge of this car go?" was the first
question he put to the released prisoners.

"They skipped," replied Violet Munday. "Two men who had been in the
machine ahead came back and said the game was up, that they were
discovered by a force of Boy Scouts armed with guns and they couldn't
afford to put up a fight, for even if they won, the whole country