CHAPTER XXIV
AT THE SWAMP
"Where are they? Didn't you catch up to them? Who fired those shots?"
It was Sam who shouted the words, as he came up on a run, followed by the aged negro.
"They got away," answered Dick, bitterly. "We were just a minute too late!"
"Can't you go after them?"
"Not on horseback, Sam."
"And, if the horses were all right, look there!" cried Tom, and pointed to the fallen bridge.
"Down! What did it, the auto?"
"Yes."
"Fo' de lan' sake!" burst out the negro farm hand. "De bridge hab gone bust down! Say, how is we-all to git ober dat stream after dis?"
"I give it up," said Tom. "The authorities will have to rebuild it, I guess."
"Nobudy ain't gwine to do dat, boss. Kase why? Kase dis road was built fo' de mill an' de
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