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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 47901 ***
+
+  MOTOR STORIES
+
+  THRILLING
+  ADVENTURE
+
+  MOTOR
+  FICTION
+
+  NO. 9
+  APRIL 24, 1909
+
+  FIVE
+  CENTS
+
+  MOTOR MATT'S
+  AIR SHIP
+
+  _OR_ THE RIVAL
+  INVENTORS
+
+  [Illustration: _Motor Matt, as he drove
+  the air ship steadily
+  against the wind, kept
+  close watch of the
+  captured aeronauts._]
+
+  _Street & Smith
+  Publishers
+  New York_
+
+
+
+
+MOTOR STORIES
+
+THRILLING ADVENTURE MOTOR FICTION
+
+_Issued Weekly. By subscription $2.50 per year. Entered according to
+Act of Congress in the year 1909, in the Office of the Librarian of
+Congress, Washington, D. C., by_ STREET & SMITH, _79-89 Seventh Avenue,
+New York, N. Y._
+
+  No. 9.      NEW YORK, April 24, 1909.      Price Five Cents.
+
+
+MOTOR MATT'S AIR-SHIP;
+
+OR,
+
+The Rival Inventors.
+
+By the author of "MOTOR MATT."
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+  CHAPTER I. CAPTURING AN AIR-SHIP.
+  CHAPTER II. A QUEER "FIND."
+  CHAPTER III. THE BALLOON HOUSE.
+  CHAPTER IV. THE KETTLE CONTINUES TO BOIL.
+  CHAPTER V. 2109 HOYNE STREET.
+  CHAPTER VI. CARL INVESTIGATES.
+  CHAPTER VII. JERROLD, BRADY'S RIVAL.
+  CHAPTER VIII. JERROLD'S GRATITUDE.
+  CHAPTER IX. ABOARD THE HAWK.
+  CHAPTER X. WILLOUGHBY'S SWAMP.
+  CHAPTER XI. A FOE IN THE AIR.
+  CHAPTER XII. BRADY CHANGES HIS PLANS.
+  CHAPTER XIII. INTO THE SWAMP.
+  CHAPTER XIV. A DESPERATE CHANCE.
+  CHAPTER XV. A DARING ESCAPE.
+  CHAPTER XVI. THE END OF THE MID-AIR TRAIL.
+  THE BIG CYPRESS.
+
+
+
+
+CHARACTERS THAT APPEAR IN THIS STORY.
+
+
+  =Matt King=, concerning whom there has always been a mystery--a lad
+  of splendid athletic abilities, and never-failing nerve, who has won
+  for himself, among the boys of the Western town, the popular name of
+  "Mile-a-minute Matt."
+
+  =Carl Pretzel=, a cheerful and rollicking German lad, who is led by a
+  fortunate accident to hook up with Motor Matt in double harness.
+
+  =Hamilton Jerrold=, an honest inventor who has devoted his life to
+  aeronautics, and who has built a successful air-ship called the Eagle.
+
+  =Hector Brady=, a rival inventor who has stolen his ideas from
+  Hamilton Jerrold. His air-ship is called the Hawk and is used for
+  criminal purposes. Brady's attempt to secure Motor Matt's services as
+  driver of the Hawk brings about the undoing of the criminal gang.
+
+  =Whipple, Needham, Grove, Harper and Pete=, members of the Brady's
+  air-ship gang of thieves.
+
+  =Helen Brady=, Hector Brady's daughter, who helps Motor Matt.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+CAPTURING AN AIR-SHIP.
+
+
+"Py shiminy grickets! Vat do you t'ink oof dot! See dere vonce, Matt. A
+palloon, or I vas a lopsder! Und vat a funny palloon it iss."
+
+Motor Matt and his Dutch chum, Carl Pretzel, were sitting by a quiet
+country roadside, in the shade of some trees. Drawn up near them was a
+light touring-car.
+
+The boys were several miles out of the city of Chicago, from which
+place they had started about the middle of the forenoon, and they had
+halted in that shady spot between Hammond and Hegewisch to eat the
+lunch they had brought with them. Carl had just finished the last piece
+of fried chicken when, happening to look skyward, he saw something
+that brought him to his feet with a jump. As he called to his chum, he
+pointed with the "drum-stick," at which he had been nibbling.
+
+Matt's surprise was nearly as great as Carl's, and he likewise sprang
+up and gazed at the air-ship, which was coming toward them from the
+north and east, making smart headway against the wind.
+
+"Great spark-plugs!" exclaimed Matt. "That's the first air-ship I ever
+saw."
+
+"Vat's der tifference bedween a palloon und a air-ship?" asked Carl.
+
+"Well, you can navigate an air-ship with the wind or against it, while
+a balloon is at the mercy of every current that blows. A round gas-bag
+and a basket is a balloon, Carl, but when you add a gasolene-motor and
+a propeller you have an air-ship."
+
+"Dot's blain enough. Der air-ship iss sky-hootin' dis vay to peat four
+oof a kindt. Say, it looks like a pig cigar. Vat a funny pitzness! Und
+you nefer seen vone pefore, Matt?"
+
+"I never saw one that would travel successfully. This one, though,
+seems to be going in good shape."
+
+"You haf seen palloons meppy?"
+
+"More than I can count," said he. "I've been up in balloons a dozen
+times. When I was in the Berkshire Hills they used to have races, and
+start from Pittsfield. That's where I began making ascensions."
+
+Carl dropped his wondering eyes to Matt for a moment.
+
+"You vas der plamedest feller!" he exclaimed. "You haf tone more t'ings
+as any feller I ever see, und you nefer say nodding ondil it shlips
+oudt, like vat it toes now."
+
+Motor Matt made no answer to this. Just then his attention was
+completely absorbed by the air-craft.
+
+As near as he could judge, the cigar-shaped gas-bag was more than a
+hundred feet long. Beneath the bag was suspended a light framework.
+Midway of the framework was an open space, containing a chair in which
+sat the man who was handling the motor. Out behind the driver the
+framework tapered to a point, and at the end of this rearmost point
+was the whirling propeller. The glittering blades caught the sun in a
+continuous sparkling reflection, which made the air-ship appear to be
+trailed by a glow of fire.
+
+Forward of the cockpit, or open space, was the motor. A rail ran around
+the cockpit.
+
+There were two men in the car--the one in the driver's seat and
+another in front of him, leaning over the rail. This second man seemed
+to be looking at the two boys, and to be waving his hand and giving
+directions to the driver.
+
+Along the side of the gas-bag Matt was able to read the name "Hawk,"
+printed in large letters.
+
+The Hawk was about a hundred feet above the surface of the earth.
+A long rope depended from the car, and twenty or thirty feet of it
+dragged along the ground as the car moved.
+
+"Vat's der rope for, Matt?" inquired Carl.
+
+"If that was an ordinary balloon," replied Matt, "we'd call the rope
+a guide-rope. Usually the guide-rope helps to save gas and ballast.
+When you want a balloon to go up, you know, you throw out sand; when
+you want it to come down, you let out gas. That trailing rope acts as
+ballast. When the gas expands, and the ship wants to rise, part of the
+rope that trails is lifted from the ground and throws more weight on
+the car; and when the gas contracts, and the car shows a tendency to
+descend, more of the rope falls on the ground and takes just that much
+weight off the car."
+
+"Dot's as clear as mud!"
+
+"I can't understand why they've got a drag on the air-ship," muttered
+Matt. "I supposed the propeller and the steering-blades were enough to
+send such a craft wherever it was wanted to go."
+
+As the Hawk came nearer, Matt's trained eyes and ears convinced him
+that the driver of the air-ship was a poor motorist. Evidently he did
+not understand the engine he was handling. The air-ship zigzagged
+erratically on its course, and the long bag ducked upward and downward
+in a most hair-raising manner. On top of that, Matt could hear one of
+the cylinders misfiring.
+
+The Hawk's drag-rope was trailing along the roadway. First it was on
+one side of the road, and then on the other, following the irregular
+swaying and plunging of the car.
+
+"Come on, Carl!" called Matt, turning and running for the automobile.
+"If that rope strikes our car it may damage it. We've got to fend it
+off."
+
+"Dose air-ship fellers vas mighdy careless!" answered Carl, hurrying
+after his chum. "Dot rope mighdt knock town fences, und preak vinders,
+und do plendy more tamages."
+
+"There isn't power enough at the other end of it to do much damage,"
+Matt answered, posting himself at the rear of the automobile and
+watching the advancing rope with sharp eyes.
+
+By that time the Hawk was almost over the boys' heads. The rope, of
+course, was dragging far out behind, and the trailing part of it bid
+fair to pass the car well on the right.
+
+"Hello, there!" shouted the man at the rail of the Hawk, leaning far
+over and making a trumpet out of his hands.
+
+He seemed to be excited, for some cause or other.
+
+"Hello yourseluf, vonce!" called back the Dutch boy. "Keep a leedle off
+mit your rope--ve don'd vand it to make some drouples for us."
+
+"The air-ship's out of control," the man shouted. "We can't stop the
+motor and the ship's running away! Grab the rope, hitch it to your
+automobile and tow us back to South Chicago. We'll give you a hundred
+dollars for your trouble. Be quick!"
+
+"I like his nerf, I don't t'ink!" growled Carl. "He vants to run off
+mit us und der pubble, und----"
+
+"We can tow the air-ship, all right," cried Matt, "providing we can get
+the rope fast to the automobile. We'll have to take a half hitch with
+the trailing end of the rope around a tree, and bring the air-ship to a
+stop."
+
+Matt started for the rope. As he bent down to lay hold of it, the car
+gave a lurch sideways and the rope was whisked out of his hands and was
+thrown directly against Carl's feet.
+
+Carl grabbed it. At the same moment the air-ship took an upward leap,
+on account of the weight which Carl had taken off the car. This leap
+flung Carl into the air. He turned a frog-like somersault, hands and
+feet sprawled out, and came down with a thump, flat on his back.
+
+"Whoosh!" he yelled, a good deal more startled than hurt, sitting up on
+the grass and shaking his fist at the bobbing craft overhead, "you dit
+dot on burpose! Vat's der madder mit you, anyvay? Vat for----"
+
+Carl forgot his fancied grievance watching Motor Matt. The latter,
+making another leap at the rope as it settled back again after
+overturning Carl, succeeded in laying hold of it.
+
+He had the rope by the end, so that when he picked it up none of the
+weight was taken from the ship, and Carl's disastrous exploit was not
+repeated.
+
+"Wrap it around a tree!" yelled the man at the air-ship's rail; "take a
+half-hitch around a tree!"
+
+The man might just as well have saved his breath. That had been Motor
+Matt's plan, all along, and even as the aeronaut was shouting his
+instructions Matt was jumping for the nearest tree.
+
+The young motorist had little time to make the rope fast. The whirling
+propeller was driving the Hawk onward against the wind at a fair rate
+of speed. Had there been no opposing wind, Matt would not have had time
+enough for the work ahead of him.
+
+"Come on, Carl!" he shouted.
+
+The Dutch boy stopped watching and made haste to lend a hand.
+
+Matt was already at the trunk of the tree, but the rope had traveled
+onward so rapidly that he had less than a yard of it in his hands to
+work with.
+
+Throwing himself on the opposite side of the tree, Matt laid back on
+the end of the rope. At that moment Carl reached his side, dropped near
+him and likewise took a grip on the free end of the drag.
+
+"It's der fairst time," panted Carl, "dot I efer heluped make some
+captures mit an air-ship. Shinks! Look at dot, vonce!"
+
+The driving propeller had forced the Hawk to the end of its leash. The
+boys, with only a half wrap of the rope around the trunk, felt the
+quick pull, but easily controlled it. The pull was steady, but, inch
+by inch, they worked more and more of the rope around the trunk until
+there was enough to make a knot.
+
+"Dot's der dicket!" exulted Carl, scrambling erect. "Ve've got her tied
+like a pird mit vone foot. Now how ve going to ged her hitched ondo der
+car?"
+
+"We'll have to find out what's the matter with the motor, up there,"
+answered Matt, "and see if the power can't be shut off."
+
+As he spoke, he got to his feet and walked down the road to a point
+directly under the air-ship.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+A QUEER "FIND."
+
+
+Both passengers in the air-ship were now leaning over the rail of the
+suspended car.
+
+"Hitch us on to your automobile," shouted the one who had been doing
+the driving, "and tow us back to South Chicago."
+
+The offhand way in which the man spoke proved that he was lacking on
+the practicable side of his nature.
+
+"That's a whole lot easier said than done," Matt called back. "It was
+only by a happenchance that we got your drag-rope tied to the tree. If
+you've got an anchor-rope up there, throw it down and we'll make it
+fast to the car before we cast off the other."
+
+"That's the only long rope we've got," answered the man.
+
+"Well," went on Matt, "you ought to be able to see what sort of a job
+we're up against. Your motor is pulling hard on the rope, and the
+moment we take the rope from the tree it will be jerked out of our
+hands. Don't you know how to run a gas-engine?"
+
+"I know how to start a gas-engine," was the amazing response, "but I
+don't know how to stop it."
+
+"Py shiminy grickets!" whooped Carl, "you vas a nice pair to shtart off
+mit a gasolene-air-ship. You vas in luck nod to make some landings on
+Chupiter, Mars or to hit a comic."
+
+Matt likewise thought it was an odd situation, but believed it would
+be well to get the two helpless aeronauts down on terra firma before
+asking for an explanation of their predicament.
+
+"Do either of you know what the gasolene-tank is?" he asked.
+
+The heads disappeared within the car for a moment, then one reappeared
+over the railing.
+
+"Yes, we've found that, all right," said the man.
+
+"And the carburettor--do you know where to look for that?"
+
+"Is that the thing that makes the spark?"
+
+Carl let off a howl of derision.
+
+"Ach, du lieber, vat a ignorance! Der carpuretter makes der gas, dot
+makes der exblosions in der cylinter, dot moofs der biston dot makes
+der bropellor go 'roundt. I know dot meinseluf, efen dough I vasn't so
+pright like Modor Matt."
+
+"There's a pipe leading from the gasolene-tank to the carburettor,"
+continued Matt, "and there's a valve which should be worked by a lever.
+Close that valve and you'll shut off the supply of gasolene. When you
+do that, the motor will stop, and we can work down here to better
+advantage."
+
+The head disappeared again and the car rocked and swayed as the two men
+scrambled around in it. Their ignorance, however, increased rather than
+lessened the difficulty. The misfiring of the one cylinder ceased and
+the motor took up its humming rhythm at an even faster speed. The fresh
+impetus of the propeller put a harder pull on the rope, and the strain
+bore sudden and unexpected results.
+
+With a yell of dismay the driver of the machine leaned over the rail of
+the car. He had thrown off his hat and his coat was unbuttoned.
+
+"We're making it worse!" he cried. "I wish to thunder you could come up
+here and----"
+
+Just then the drag-rope, which could not have been properly fastened to
+the car, let go and dropped earthward in sinuous coils.
+
+The man doubled farther over the rail in a futile and foolish effort to
+lay hold of it. Something fell from the pocket of his coat, fluttered
+through the air and landed in the top of a tree.
+
+Matt noted the flight of the fallen object only incidentally, for the
+major part of his attention was taken up with the actions of the car.
+
+The steering rudder had become elevated, and the air-ship started at
+a tremendous clip toward the clouds. The two aeronauts could be seen
+rushing around the car like mad. While the two boys watched, the rudder
+was brought down to a level; but something else had gone wrong, for the
+machine could not be maneuvered.
+
+Swiftly the air-ship diminished to a mere speck in the southern sky,
+and then vanished altogether.
+
+Carl turned a blank look at Matt and gave a long whistle.
+
+"Dot proofs, Matt," said he, "dot id don'd vas goot pitzness to monkey
+mit t'ings you don'd know nodding aboudt. Oof dose fellers run into a
+shooding shdar dere vill be some fine smash oops."
+
+"Why they ever ventured up in the air-ship, knowing so little about how
+to manage it, is a mystery."
+
+Matt gave his head an ominous shake.
+
+"Vat vill pecome oof dem?" queried Carl.
+
+"If they can get the steering rudder to working, they can drive the
+air-ship to the ground. Anyhow, the supply of gasolene will have to
+give out, in time, and then they may be able to come down."
+
+"Dere iss somet'ing crooked aboudt dose fellers. Oddervise, dey
+vouldn't be vere dey are."
+
+"Did you see something drop from the driver's pocket, Carl?"
+
+"Nix. Iss dot vat habbened?"
+
+"Yes. It landed in the top of that tree, over there."
+
+"Meppy ve ged holt oof der t'ing und find oudt somet'ing aboudt who
+dose fellers vas, und for vy dey vent off for a fly mitoudt knowing how
+to manach der flyer?"
+
+Matt proceeded to the foot of the tree in whose branches the fallen
+object had alighted. Lifting his gaze upward, he peered sharply into
+the foliage.
+
+"I see it," he announced, pointing.
+
+"Und me, too," said Carl. "It vas vite, und round, like a punch oof
+bapers rolled oop. How ve ged him down, hey? Meppy ve t'row some
+shticks ad him?"
+
+Suiting his action to the word, Carl picked up clubs and stones and
+hurled them upward in an endeavor to dislodge the object. Finding that
+these efforts were unsuccessful, Matt threw off his coat and hat and
+climbed the tree.
+
+The roll of papers was lodged far out in the fork of a branch. Standing
+on the branch, he jumped up and down on it and jarred the roll loose.
+Carl caught it deftly as it fell.
+
+"Hoop-a-la!" he yelled; "here she vas, Matt. Come down a leedle vile ve
+look him ofer."
+
+In a few moments Matt was again on the ground. The roll, which Carl
+immediately handed to him, he found to contain a number of sheets
+wrapped compactly in a piece of white paper.
+
+"I guess we'll open it and not stand on any ceremony," said Matt.
+
+"Sure!" exclaimed Carl. "For vy nod?"
+
+"It's not exactly the right thing to do. They're not our papers and
+we haven't any business tampering with documents that belong to some
+one else. Under the circumstances, though, and considering that the
+whole affair of the air-ship is a strange one, and that we may be able
+to help the two men in some way through the information the roll may
+contain, we'll have a look at it."
+
+Going back to the place where they had eaten their lunch, the boys
+sat down and Matt opened the little bundle. A dozen blue prints of
+mechanical tracings were revealed. In the center of the roll was a
+sealed envelope, bearing no address or writing of any sort.
+
+"Dere's nodding aboudt der plue prints to helup us know somet'ing,"
+said Carl. "Oben der enfellup, Matt."
+
+"No," returned Matt, "we can't do that. That would be going a little
+too far."
+
+"Vell, ve got to do somet'ing oof ve findt oudt who dose fellers vas."
+
+"We'll wait, and give them a chance to claim their property."
+
+"How dey vas going to glaim it, hey? Dey didtn't dell us who dey vas,
+und ve ditn't dell dem our names."
+
+"We know the air-ship came from South Chicago. I don't believe there
+are very many air-ships in that place, and if we inquire around a
+little we ought to be able to find out who owns the Hawk."
+
+"Righdt you vas! Somevay, Matt, you always know vat to do ven eferypody
+else iss guessing. Shall ve ged indo der car und go pack to der pig
+city py vay oof Sout' Chicago?"
+
+"That's our cue. If we can discover who owns the Hawk we'll leave these
+papers there for him."
+
+Matt rolled up the envelope and the papers and stowed them safely away
+in his pocket.
+
+"I know dere vas some niggers in der vood-pile, all righdt," averred
+Carl. "Two fellers vouldn't go off mit an air-ship dey don'd know how
+to run oof eferyt'ing vas like it ought to be."
+
+"There may be a whole lot of sense in what you say, Carl," replied
+Matt, "and then, again, the explanation of the queer layout may be
+extremely simple. Don't get to imagining things, old chap, but coil
+up that rope and throw it into the car. We'll carry it back to South
+Chicago and leave it at the same place we leave this roll of blue
+prints."
+
+While Carl was coiling up the rope, Matt gave his attention to the
+automobile. When Carl arrived and threw the rope into the tonneau, Matt
+was busy with the crank.
+
+Presently they were in the car and headed back along the return course.
+
+Hardly had they got under good headway, however, when a flurry of dust
+showed in the road ahead of them. As the wind blew the dust aside, a
+horse and buggy with two men broke into view.
+
+In accordance with the rules of the road, Matt slowed down to make sure
+the horse did not take fright at the automobile. The horse was going at
+a run, and the men seemed to be excited.
+
+The one who was driving drew rein as the rig came alongside the car.
+
+"Say," shouted the men, "did you boys see an air-ship anywhere in this
+vicinity?"
+
+"Yes," answered Matt. "It was going south."
+
+"Then we're on the right track?"
+
+"So far as we know; but the air-ship was unmanageable and----"
+
+The men in the buggy did not wait to hear any more. The driver began
+plying his whip and the horse again leaped onward.
+
+"Who were those two men?" yelled Matt, anxious for a little information.
+
+"Thieves!" came the answer, as rig and passengers once more vanished in
+a cloud of dust.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE BALLOON HOUSE.
+
+
+"Yah!" shouted Carl. "Vat I dell you, Matt? I knew dere vas somet'ing
+der madder! Dem two fellers vas t'ieves, und dey haf shtole der
+air-ship. Py shinks, dey haf got demselufs indo drouple, und it vas
+goot enough for dem. Vat you going to do?"
+
+Matt had begun turning the machine in the road. When he had pointed it
+the other way, he started off at a swift pace on the trail of the two
+men in the buggy.
+
+"We'll try and overhaul those two fellows," answered Matt, "and tell
+them what we know. The information we've picked up may be valuable to
+them."
+
+"Dey don't vas endidled to it," averred Carl. "Vy ditn't dey shtop und
+ask us somet'ings? Anyvay, how can dey ketch a flying machine mit a
+horse und puggy? You mighdt as vell dry to ketch a sky rocket mit a
+papy carriage."
+
+"The Hawk will have to come down," said Matt, "and if those men are
+anywhere near it when it hits the earth they'll be able to recover the
+machine and catch the thieves."
+
+"Oof der machine hits der eart' so hardt as vat I t'ink, it von't be
+vort' nodding, nor der t'ieves neider."
+
+"There's a chance that the rascals will come down safely. If those men
+in the buggy had had their wits about them, they'd have hitched their
+rig to the fence and have jumped into the automobile. We could have
+hustled them over the ground four times as fast as they were going."
+
+A few moments later the boys reached a place where the road branched.
+The horse and buggy were not in sight along either road.
+
+"Vich vay now?" queried Carl.
+
+"It's all guesswork," answered Matt, "but it's always a pretty good
+plan to keep to the right," and, with that, he drove the car along the
+right-hand branch.
+
+After five minutes of fast running, they had not overtaken the rig and
+it was still not to be seen anywhere ahead. The boys knew they had
+been traveling three or four times as fast as the two men were going,
+and that, if they were on the right track, the men should have been
+overtaken long before.
+
+Disappointedly, Matt halted the car and turned it in the other
+direction.
+
+"No use, Carl," said he. "Those men must have taken the left-hand fork
+instead of the right. They're too far away, now, for us to think of
+finding them. We'll hike for South Chicago."
+
+"Dot's der pest t'ing dot ve can do," returned Carl. "Ve'll find der
+owner oof der Hawk und gif him der trag-rope und der bapers."
+
+"We won't find him. He must have been one of those two men in the
+buggy. Probably we can find where he lives, though, and turn the rope
+and the papers over to some one who will give them to him."
+
+"Meppy ve pedder take der shtuff to der bolice, hey? Oof der fellers
+vas t'ieves, dot enfellup mighdt gif der bolice a line on dem."
+
+"There's something in that, too," muttered Matt. "We'll try to find the
+owner of the Hawk, though, before we call on the police."
+
+An hour later, the boys came into South Chicago along a turnpike that
+passed the rolling mills. A man on a motor-cycle was just coming out of
+a fenced enclosure near one of the mills, and Matt halted him for the
+purpose of making a few inquiries. From his looks, the man was of some
+consequence in the steel rail plant, and probably was well-informed as
+to affairs in South Chicago.
+
+"Do you know of any one around here that has an air-ship?" asked Matt.
+
+The question was something of a novelty, and the man laughed as he
+rested one foot on the ground and balanced his motor-cycle upright.
+
+"I suppose air-ships will be thicker'n hops, one of these days," said
+he, "but just now they're about as seldom as hen's teeth. I understand
+there are a couple of men here who are working at air-ships--one
+of them came to the mills to see if he couldn't get some aluminum
+castings. He's got a balloon house about a quarter of a mile down the
+road, on the left. Drop in there and maybe you'll find the man--and the
+ship, too."
+
+Matt thanked the man and followed him slowly as he sputtered off into
+town.
+
+The balloon house, which was plainly visible from the road, was a long,
+high shed, and occupied a solitary position in the midst of a marshy
+field. The doors in one end of the shed, arranged in a series and
+reaching from ground to roof peak, were open.
+
+Leaving the automobile at the roadside, the boys climbed a fence and
+made their way across the flat ground to the big house. On reaching the
+opened doors, one glance showed them that there was no air-ship in the
+shed.
+
+On the earth floor, along one side of the great room, were two or
+three work benches and a litter of wood and metal scraps. There was
+also, in the farther end of the chamber, a number of small tanks,
+presumably used for the manufacture of hydrogen gas. As the boys stood
+in the doorway, two brawny men showed themselves from behind these
+tanks. They wore greasy overclothes and their sleeves were rolled up.
+
+"Get out of here!" yelled one of the men. "We don't allow any reporters
+around this shebang."
+
+"We're not reporters," answered Matt, standing his ground. "Do you keep
+an air-ship here?"
+
+"Well, that's what this big shed is for."
+
+The two men came closer to the boys, one of them filling and lighting a
+cob pipe as he approached.
+
+"Is the name of it the 'Hawk?'" went on Matt.
+
+"Right again," said the man who had been doing the talking.
+
+His eyes were like gimlets, and bored their way into Matt through
+narrow slits.
+
+"Who's the owner of the Hawk?" asked Matt.
+
+"I'm the owner, and my name's Hector Brady. If Jerrold has sent you
+here----"
+
+"I don't know any one by the name of Jerrold. Who is he, and why should
+he send me here?"
+
+The sharp little eyes continued to study Matt.
+
+"Before I say anything more," answered Brady, "you'd better tell me a
+little about yourself."
+
+"I don't know as that's necessary, or----"
+
+"You'd know how necessary it is if you were inventing machines and
+trying to keep your appliances a secret. I'm not the only man in South
+Chicago that's perfecting an air-ship. A fellow named Jerrold has cut
+into the same game, and he has some one nosing around here a good share
+of the time, trying to get wise to something. If Jerrold has sent you
+here----"
+
+"He hasn't," broke in Matt. "I don't know Jerrold from Adam."
+
+"What's your name?"
+
+"King, Matt King."
+
+Brady gave a jump.
+
+"You don't mean to say you're the young Western phenomenon the
+Lestrange people have brought to Chicago to run in that five-day
+automobile race that's turned on at the Coliseum to-morrow?"
+
+"I'm one of their racers," answered Matt. "They have four more in the
+race besides me."
+
+"Well, by thunder!" Brady stood off and regarded Matt as though he was
+a natural curiosity. "Why, you're no more than a kid! They had your
+picture in the paper, after that Kansas race, but you're a heap younger
+than I thought. I guess you've forgotten more about gasolene-motors
+than a whole lot of people ever knew."
+
+"Oh, it isn't so bad as that. I came here to do you a good turn, Mr.
+Brady, and I can't see the sense of raking up my past history. Your
+air-ship has been stolen, hasn't it?"
+
+"Stolen?" Brady gave another startled jump. "Not that anybody knows of.
+Why? What put that in your head?"
+
+Matt was "stumped." He looked blankly at Carl and found that Carl had
+turned an equally blank look at him.
+
+"Where is the Hawk now?" queried Matt.
+
+"She went out on a trial spin with three men in the car. Expect her
+back any moment."
+
+There was a shifty look in Brady's face, and he spoke in a fashion that
+aroused Matt's suspicions.
+
+"Then the Hawk wasn't stolen and you didn't send two men with a horse
+and buggy to look for her?" queried Matt. "We saw the air-ship, but
+there were only a couple of men in the car and the machine was out of
+control. We tried to stop the craft by means of the drag-rope, but the
+rope broke loose and the Hawk got away. One of the men on board dropped
+a roll of papers out of his coat-pocket and we picked it up."
+
+Brady looked at the other man. The glances they exchanged were
+significant, and both swore softly.
+
+"Here's a purty kettle o' fish!" growled the fellow with the pipe.
+"What dy'ye s'pose has happened, Brady?"
+
+Brady muttered something unintelligible, and whirled to Matt with a
+scowl.
+
+"That roll of papers belongs to me," said he. "Just pass 'em over,
+King."
+
+"I don't know whether I ought to give them to you, Mr. Brady, or to the
+police," answered Matt, making no move to take the roll from his pocket.
+
+"Police!" exclaimed Brady. "What the blazes are you talking about? The
+fellow on that car was working for me, and the papers belong to me."
+
+"Then you ought to be able to identify the roll," proceeded Matt,
+coolly. "What did it contain, Mr. Brady?"
+
+"Just papers."
+
+"Typewritten-papers?"
+
+"Well, yes, some of them were typewritten."
+
+"How were they tied up? In a piece of yellow paper?"
+
+"That's it. Hand 'em over. It's queer they got lost out of the car in
+that way, but mighty lucky you picked 'em up."
+
+"I guess you're thinking of the wrong roll," said Matt, coolly. "The
+one you've described isn't the one we found."
+
+"Whether the description is right or wrong, the papers are mine, and
+I'll have 'em!"
+
+Brady, in sudden temper, hurled himself at Matt. The other man, taking
+his cue from Brady, jumped for Carl and grabbed him by the arm.
+
+"Hoop-e-la!" tuned up Carl. "Be jeerful, eferypody! Here's somet-ing
+vat ve ditn't oxbect!" And, with that, the Dutch boy began struggling
+and using his fists.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+THE KETTLE CONTINUES TO BOIL.
+
+
+Both Matt and Carl were well skilled in the art of self-defense. Matt,
+perhaps, was a shade more adept in the use of his fists. Neither of the
+lads, however, had been looking for violence, and the sudden attack of
+Brady and the other man had taken them by surprise.
+
+The two men had plenty of muscle, and Brady was desperately determined
+to secure the roll of papers. The very fact that he was using force to
+accomplish his designs proved that he was not entitled to the papers.
+For that reason, Matt was determined to keep them away from him at all
+costs.
+
+"Hold the Dutchman, Pete!" puffed Brady, hanging to the collar of
+Matt's leather coat and trying to get one hand into the inside pocket.
+
+"Quiet, Dutchy," threatened Pete, as he and Carl swung back and forth
+across the big shed. "I'll strangle ye if ye ain't peaceable. Ye ain't
+got no sense, roughin' things up like--wow!"
+
+At that instant, Carl landed a telling blow on the point of Pete's
+chin. A bushel of shooting-stars must have danced in front of Pete's
+eyes, for the jolt hurled him backward and caused him to claw the air
+in an attempt to keep his balance. He was not more than an instant
+getting the whip-hand of himself, and when he came out of his brief
+daze he was as mad as a hornet.
+
+"I'll kill ye for that!" he yelled, and picked up a heavy hammer that
+lay on the floor.
+
+Pete was between Carl and the open end of the shed; he was likewise
+between Carl and Matt and Brady. The struggle had carried Pete and the
+Dutch boy down toward the middle of the balloon house.
+
+Matt, out of the tails of his eyes, saw the dangerous position in
+which Pete's temper was placing Carl. The young motorist had been
+successfully fending off the attempt of Brady to get into his coat
+pocket; now, thinking Carl might need him, he undertook more aggressive
+measures.
+
+An empty box, which had evidently been used as a seat, stood just
+within the big door. With a sudden lurch, Matt heaved himself against
+Brady and knocked him backward over the box.
+
+As Brady felt himself falling, the instinct to save himself caused him
+to let go of Matt. The instant the young motorist found himself with
+the free use of his fists, he let drive at Brady and still further
+helped him over the box.
+
+With a roar of anger, Brady doubled up on the floor. Matt whirled and
+darted for Pete, reaching that scoundrel just in time to catch the arm
+that was whirling the heavy hammer.
+
+The hammer was wrenched away, and Matt cast it against the wall of the
+balloon house.
+
+"Cut for it, Carl!" cried Matt. "Run for the road!"
+
+"You bed my life!" wheezed Carl. "Dis blace don'd vas gedding fery
+comfordable."
+
+Brady was picking himself up from the floor as the boys rushed past
+with Pete in hot pursuit.
+
+"Get those papers!" yelled Brady.
+
+"I'll git that Dutch kid if it costs me my life!" whooped Pete.
+
+Brady rushed after Pete, and there was a chase across the marshy meadow
+toward the road.
+
+Carl was chunky of build and not nearly so good in a sprint as was
+Matt. Matt was in the lead on the rush from the balloon house, but,
+anticipating that Carl might have further trouble with Pete, he
+slackened his pace.
+
+It was well that he did so. Pete was steadily gaining on Carl and would
+undoubtedly have overtaken him had Matt not executed a quick move with
+an empty salt barrel that lay in the line of flight.
+
+At the right moment, Matt rolled the salt barrel in front of the
+enraged Pete. Pete's shins slammed against it, then he dropped on it
+and plowed up the mucky soil with the top of his head.
+
+So far as the set-to was concerned, it was settled right there, Brady
+being so far in the rear that the boys were able to clear the fence and
+get into the automobile before he could come anywhere near them. As a
+matter of fact, Brady gave up the fight as soon as he had witnessed
+Pete's mishap with the barrel.
+
+As the two chums glided away toward the more thickly settled part
+of South Chicago, they could look back and see Brady assisting the
+disgruntled Pete to an erect position. The barrel had been smashed, and
+Brady was scraping the mud off Pete with one of the staves.
+
+"How you like dot, hey?" gloried Carl, standing up in the automobile
+and shaking his fist. "You vill know pedder der next time dan to make
+some foolishness mit Modor Matt und his bard. Yah, yah, yah!"
+
+Carl wanted to be as tantalizing as he could, but the automobile was
+getting too far away. Sinking down in the seat beside Matt, the Dutch
+boy chuckled blithely.
+
+"Dis has peen a pooty fine leedle trip, Matt," he observed, "und has
+peen full oop mit oxcidement oof a nofel kindt, yah, so helup me. Dot's
+vat I like. I'll bed my life dose fellers t'ink dey vas fell on mit a
+brick house. Vat's der madder mit Prady, anyvays?"
+
+"There's something queer about that air-ship affair," answered Matt,
+thoughtfully. "The two men who rode past us in that buggy said the
+pair in the car were thieves, but Brady didn't know anything about the
+Hawk's being stolen. Brady said, too, that there ought to have been
+three men in the car instead of two. The one who was missing may have
+been the driver. That would account for the poor work the other two
+were making with the engine."
+
+"Ve can make some guesses," said Carl, shaking his head, "aber ve don'd
+know nodding. Dot roll oof bapers don'd pelong to Prady. Vell, oof
+dot's der gase, whose bapers vas dey?"
+
+"That's a conundrum."
+
+"Vill you dake dem py der bolice?"
+
+"I've been thinking of that, and I believe I'll talk with Mr. Harkrider
+before I do anything more. He'll tell us just what to do, and I'm sure
+his advice will be good. You see, Carl, we're not entitled to the
+papers any more than Brady is, when you come to figure the thing down
+to a fine point. If the fellow who lost them out of the car turned up
+and claimed them, we'd have to give them to him."
+
+Mr. Harkrider was superintendent for the Lestrange Manufacturing
+Company, the Eastern representatives of the Jarrot Automobile Company
+of St. Louis. Following the Borden cup race, in Kansas, Matt had
+entered the services of the Jarrot people, and they had sent him to
+Chicago to take part in the five-day race at the Coliseum. While
+waiting for the race to start, Matt and Carl had had the use of any
+machine they wanted in the Lestrange garage, so they had put in their
+time riding around the city and out into the suburbs. That is how they
+happened to be on the road beyond South Chicago at the time the Hawk
+was running away with the two aeronauts.
+
+Unusual experiences always seemed to gravitate toward Matt, and this
+air-ship affair was one of the most novel that had ever come his way.
+What it was leading up to, he did not know, but it was evident there
+was a whole lot more to the matter than appeared on the surface.
+
+After a quick and uneventful run into Chicago, Matt drove the
+automobile into the Lestrange garage and asked for Mr. Harkrider. To
+his disappointment, Mr. Harkrider had left for the day and would not
+return to the garage until the following morning.
+
+"Well," said Matt, as he and Carl left the garage and proceeded toward
+their boarding house, "I guess the delay won't make much difference.
+I'll be busy with the race to-morrow, but you can take the papers,
+Carl, and do with them whatever Mr. Harkrider advises."
+
+It was nearly supper time, and after the boys had had a wash, and a
+good meal, they went up to their room.
+
+Close to eight o'clock, just as they were getting ready for bed, a rap
+fell on the door. Matt answered the summons and found a boy with a
+telegram.
+
+The young motorist had been receiving a great many telegrams, since his
+Kansas victory, and supposed the message must be from some motor-car
+manufacturer who wanted to secure his services.
+
+But he was destined to a surprise.
+
+The telegram had been sent to the Lestrange garage, and by the foreman
+there forwarded to the boarding place.
+
+  "MATT KING, Care Lestrange Company, Chicago:
+
+  "Come immediately to twenty-one-naught-nine Hoyne Street, South
+  Chicago. Important matter relative to runaway air-ship. I will pay
+  your expenses.
+
+                                               "HAMILTON JERROLD."
+
+"More aboudt dot air-ship pitzness," muttered Carl. "Who vas dot
+Jerrold feller?"
+
+"He must be the man that Brady told us about," said Matt. "Jerrold
+seems to be a rival of Brady's, in this air-ship matter, and the
+message looks like a good clue. It won't do any harm to follow it up,
+anyhow."
+
+"Dere iss somet'ing about dot vat I don'd like," demurred Carl. "I got
+some hunches dere iss underhandt vork afoot."
+
+"I know there's underhand work going on," said Matt, "but we've been
+rung in on the deal and have got to see it through. I'm curious to
+learn more about the affair."
+
+"Meppy dot same curiosidy vill make you some drouples," suggested Carl.
+"You can't haf dot, ven der racing iss on do-morrow."
+
+"The Jarrot people have several good men in the five-day race, so it
+won't make much difference if I'm not one of the drivers. Anyhow, I
+don't intend to be all day in South Chicago."
+
+"It don'd look righdt for you to go pack dere alone," grumbled Carl. "I
+vouldn't be easy a minid."
+
+"I am not going alone," laughed Matt. "You're going along, Carl."
+
+The Dutch boy brightened at once and had no more objections to offer.
+
+"Ach, dot's tifferent! Ve vill shdart ad vonce. How ve go? On a pubble?"
+
+"No, we'll take a railroad train. I don't want to go fooling with a car
+at this time of night."
+
+"Is dere a train ve can ketch?"
+
+"Lots of them. South Chicago is a suburb, and we can leave here every
+half hour. We ought to be back by midnight."
+
+Without debating the matter further, the boys started forthwith.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+2109 HOYNE STREET.
+
+
+Hoyne Street was easily found. A number of blast furnaces stood so near
+the house the two chums were looking for that the flames from their
+tall chimneys lighted up the surroundings so brilliantly that they
+were able to read the number over the door.
+
+The house was a two-story frame structure. The gas and smoke from the
+neighboring iron mills had shriveled and scorched everything in that
+part of the town. Even by night, and under the glow of the furnaces,
+Hoyne Street had a dismal and dreary appearance.
+
+No. 2109 was set well back from the sidewalk. Two branching wings, in
+front, made the house look like a deserted manufacturing plant. This
+impression was heightened by several broken windows.
+
+There were no lights in the windows other than the reflected glare from
+the high chimneys.
+
+"Whoosh!" muttered Carl, as he and Matt came close to the front of the
+house and read the number. "Dot's der blace, Matt, aber it don'd look
+pooty goot to me. Der feller vat lifs dere don'd got enough money,
+I bed you, to pay for sending dot delegram. Der hen oof drouple iss
+aboudt to hatch somet'ing."
+
+"It may be," answered Matt, who likewise had a queer premonition of
+trouble, "but we've come this far and I'm going to see the thing
+through. If anything goes wrong in that house it will be on account of
+that roll of blue prints. I'll leave the roll with you, Carl, and you
+can stay outside. I won't be in the house more than fifteen minutes at
+most."
+
+"Vell, you look a leedle oudt, Matt, dot's all. Oof somet'ing goes
+wrong mit you, led off a yell und I vill come gallywhooping."
+
+"I don't think anything will go wrong with me if I haven't those papers
+in my pocket."
+
+Carl shivered.
+
+"Chee, but der leedle fires on der chimneys iss prighdt. Somet'ing
+aboudt dis blace gifs me a creepiness oof der skin. Be jeerful, be
+jeerful! Don'd shday in dere longer as den minids, Matt, oder I vas
+likely to t'row fits."
+
+"I'll come out as soon as I can, Carl," answered Matt. "Don't fret. I'm
+able to take care of myself in a pinch."
+
+"Oof you see der pinch fairst, yah, I bed you! Aber oof der pinch come
+ven you don'd vas looking, den vat?"
+
+Matt laughed as he turned away, climbed a short flight of steps and
+drummed on the front door. He had to rap three or four times before his
+summons was answered.
+
+A light showed itself through a fan-shaped transom over the door, and a
+hand could be heard fumbling with a rusty bolt. In a minute or so the
+door was drawn open and a girl stood revealed. She carried a lamp with
+a smoked chimney, and one of her slender hands protected the flame from
+the draft.
+
+She was eighteen or nineteen years old, and, in spite of her coarse
+calico gown, she was extremely pretty. Her prettiness, however, was
+not what impressed Matt. The first thing he noticed was that the hand
+shielding the lamp was trembling. Lifting his eyes to the girl's face,
+he observed that she wore a frightened look.
+
+"Does Mr. Jerrold live here?" Matt asked.
+
+The girl stared at him; her lips moved, but no sound came through them.
+Matt repeated the question.
+
+"Y-y-yes," faltered the girl.
+
+"My name's King," answered Matt. "Mr. Jerrold sent me a telegram and
+asked me to come here to-night."
+
+The girl leaned forward eagerly as though she would say something.
+Before she could speak, if she had intended to, a sound as of some one
+moving in the darkness behind her, caused her to draw back.
+
+"Please come in," she said breathlessly.
+
+Matt entered the hall. The girl closed the door behind him and then,
+with the lamp shaking in her hand, led him into a room off the hall.
+
+The room was evidently a parlor, although its furniture was meager and
+shabby.
+
+"Please sit down," said the girl, placing the lamp on a table. "Mr.
+B--Mr. Jerrold will be here in a few moments. Would you like to read
+while you're waiting?"
+
+Matt started to decline, but the girl had already picked up a book from
+the table, opened it and was handing it to him.
+
+He looked at her in astonishment. From her frightened face his eyes
+fell to the book that was quivering in her hand. There was an appeal in
+her manner which caused him to take the book.
+
+"Thank you," said he.
+
+The book was opened at the fly leaf. On the leaf was written the
+following:
+
+  "You are trapped. I would have warned you, if I could, but he would
+  have killed me. Now you are in the house, you can't get away. Do
+  whatever you are told to do and all will be well. Lay the book back
+  on the table, and don't let any one know what you have read here."
+
+Matt was astounded. Trapped! And he had walked into the trap with his
+eyes wide open!
+
+Who was the girl and why had she run the risk to warn him? And what
+good was her warning to do if he did not take advantage of it and make
+his escape?
+
+  "Now you are in the house, you can't get away."
+
+He read those words again, and after he had read them he looked about
+the room curiously. There were two windows in the room and they were
+screened with thick curtains. Matt, however, could see no one. If the
+trap had been sprung where were the ones who had sprung it?
+
+He realized that if he made an attempt to get out of the house now,
+those who had entrapped him would immediately conclude that the girl
+had given him a warning. Thus he would not only fail to get away, but
+would bring punishment upon the girl for her attempt to help him.
+
+  "Do whatever you are told to do and all will be well."
+
+He read that over again and made up his mind that he would follow the
+advice. He laid the book back on the table, and, just at that moment,
+the girl re-entered the room.
+
+"I have read that book," said he.
+
+"Here's a newspaper," said she.
+
+As she held the paper in front of him she pointed to an article,
+evidently intending that he should read it.
+
+The girl was a mystery to Matt. From her manner there was no doubt
+about her being anxious to do whatever she could to shield him.
+
+Leaving the paper in his hands, she walked over to the table, opened
+the book and deftly extracted the fly leaf. Then she vanished from the
+room once more.
+
+Matt drew his chair closer to the table so that he could get the full
+benefit of the dim light.
+
+The first thing he noticed was that the paper was a week old. It was a
+Chicago daily. The column to which the girl had called his attention
+was headed, "Burglaries Continue! Astonishing Series of Robberies in
+South Chicago are Still Kept Up! Thieves Make Off With Loot and Leave
+Not a Clue Behind! Police Authorities Baffled! Latest Victims Hartz &
+Greer, Jewelers!"
+
+Here followed an account dealing with a number of mysterious
+burglaries, but Matt, because of the danger in which he found himself,
+did not give the article the attention he would otherwise have done.
+
+He did wonder, however, why it was that the girl had pointed out the
+article to him. While he was wondering, a step sounded in the hall and
+a form showed itself in the hall door.
+
+The man was Brady!
+
+Matt sprang up. Brady came into the room with an easy air and gave vent
+to a short laugh.
+
+He was quite a different looking man when out of his greasy
+overclothes, but there was no doubting his identity. Matt's fist had
+left a bruise on the side of Brady's face, and the spot was covered
+with a square of court-plaster.
+
+"Surprised?" queried Brady, dropping into a chair.
+
+Before seating himself he was careful to draw the chair in front of the
+hall door.
+
+"Were you the one who sent me that telegram?" asked Matt.
+
+"Guilty!" was the chuckling response. "You were expecting to meet
+Jerrold, eh? I was a little in doubt as to whether you'd bite at the
+bait, but took a chance. You're a mighty accommodating young fellow,
+King. Why, you came all the way out here, at this time of night, just
+to give Jerrold those papers! Didn't it strike you as being a little
+bit queer that Jerrold should have asked you to come and see him when
+it was his business to go and see you? And then, again, how did you
+think Jerrold got hold of your name and address? Oh, well, you've a lot
+to learn yet, my lad."
+
+"I'm learning you pretty fast, Brady," said Matt. "You have fooled me,
+but you've gained nothing by it."
+
+"I think I have," was the other's cool reply.
+
+"You'll not get that bundle of papers."
+
+"No? Haven't you got them with you?"
+
+"I left them where they'd be safe."
+
+"Then you suspected there was something a little off-color about that
+telegram?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Plucky boy! Nevertheless, you dropped into my trap, and that's the
+main thing. Those papers cost me a good deal of scheming, and if you
+were really thoughtful enough to leave them in a safe place, I'm mighty
+sorry."
+
+"You can search me," said Matt, "if you're not willing to take my word."
+
+"I'll search you quick enough."
+
+"Then hurry up; I want to get away from here."
+
+"Those papers are not the whole of it," went on Brady. "I want to make
+you a proposition, King. I need a motorist for the Hawk, and I think
+you'd about fill the bill. How would five hundred a month strike you?"
+
+"Five thousand a month wouldn't strike me. In the first place, Mr.
+Brady, I don't like your methods and wouldn't work for you at any
+price; and, in the next place, I am already in the employ of the
+Lestrange people."
+
+"You'll work for me all right whether you like my methods or not."
+There was an ugly look in Brady's eyes and an ugly note in his voice.
+"You're just the sort of youngster I need, and now that I've got a grip
+on you I don't intend to let you get away."
+
+"It takes two to make that sort of a bargain!"
+
+Matt had edged around toward one of the windows with the intention of
+making a break through the door.
+
+Brady got up.
+
+"What are you waiting for, Pete?" he called.
+
+Matt turned a quick gaze about him, wondering from which direction Pete
+was to appear. Then, quick as a lightning flash, the curtain behind him
+gave way and fell in smothering folds over his head and shoulders. Two
+brawny arms encircled him like the jaws of a vise.
+
+He fought with all his strength, and tried to yell to Carl. But one
+effort was as ineffectual as the other.
+
+Pete and Brady had him between them, and he was utterly powerless.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+CARL INVESTIGATES.
+
+
+Carl hated a "waiting" game. If there was anything going on, he liked
+to be right in the midst of it. On top of all this, he was vaguely
+suspicious of everything connected with that telegram.
+
+When Matt went up and knocked on the door of the house, Carl was hoping
+the summons would not be answered; but when the door opened, and Matt
+disappeared inside the house, Carl's real worries began.
+
+Pacing back and forth on the walk, the Dutch boy impatiently counted
+the seconds and checked off the minutes. No sound came from the
+building, and, after the light had vanished from the hall, not a ray
+was to be seen at any of the windows.
+
+"I t'ink, py shiminy," muttered Carl to himself, "dot der fifdeen
+minids vas oop. Vell, I count off fife more schust for goot measure.
+After dot, oof Matt don'd come, I vill make some infestigations."
+
+Owing to the lateness of the hour, and the obscure section of the town
+through which that part of Hoyne Street ran, no one passed the front of
+the house. Carl's solitary vigil was not relieved by the sight of any
+chance traveler.
+
+Mentally he checked off another five minutes. During the counting
+he fancied he heard a noise in the house, but it was so muffled and
+indistinct he could not be sure. Matt did not show himself, and Carl
+started his investigations.
+
+His first move was to run up the steps and pound on the door. Although
+he made enough noise to wake the entire neighborhood, he couldn't
+bring anybody to the entrance. He tried the knob, but found the door
+fastened. Then he hurled his weight against the door in the hope of
+breaking it in. The door must have been in better repair than the rest
+of the house, for it withstood his attack with scarcely a shiver.
+
+Carl's temper was always pretty close to the surface, and his failure
+to get into the house caused him to forget his forebodings on Matt's
+account and to get good and mad on his own.
+
+"I vill find Matt oof I haf to preak down a vinder!" fumed Carl,
+jumping down from the steps and starting to run around the side of the
+house.
+
+"Hello, there!" shouted a voice most unexpectedly from the sidewalk.
+"What're you up to, hey?"
+
+Carl halted and looked around. In the glow of the furnace fires he saw
+a man standing in front of the house.
+
+"Vat iss it your pitzness?" he snapped. "I'm going to ged indo dot
+blace oof I haf to preak holes in it!"
+
+"I'll make it my business, quick enough!" called the other. "Come here,
+and be quick about it."
+
+There was authority in the voice, and the command was accompanied by a
+backward sweep of the hand under a long coat. When the hand reappeared,
+there was a glimmering object clutched in the fingers. The light also
+glimmered on two rows of buttons on the speaker's coat.
+
+"Ach, du lieber!" muttered Carl. "You vas an officer, hey?"
+
+"Come here, quick!" ordered the man. "Tell me where that balloon came
+from. It seemed to rise from around in this vicinity somewhere."
+
+By that time, Carl had reached the walk. The officer pointed upward,
+and Carl's eyes, following the finger, saw an air-ship clearly outlined
+against the glow of the blazing chimneys. The cigar-shaped gas-bag and
+the pendent car stood out plainly. The front end of the air-ship was
+pointed upward, and it was vanishing swiftly into the night.
+
+"Himmelblitzen!" gasped Carl. "Dot vas der Hawk! It must be der Hawk!"
+
+"Hawk, eh?" returned the officer. "What do you know about it? The thing
+seemed to rise up in the air from around here."
+
+"Iss dot so?" cried Carl, excitedly. "Vell, I ditn't see him, und dot's
+righdt. I vas drying so hardt as anyt'ing to ged indo der house."
+
+"I heard you tryin' to break in the door. Don't you know it's against
+the law to do that?"
+
+"I don'd care for der law! My bard vent indo dot house und left me to
+vait. Ven I vait plendy long enough for him und he don'd come, den I
+make some infestigations. No vone answers my knock on der door, und for
+vy iss dot?"
+
+"You say a friend of yours is in the house?"
+
+"Sure! Don'd I vas delling you?"
+
+"When did he go in?"
+
+"Haluf oof an hour ago--all oof dot."
+
+The officer began questioning Carl and got from him pretty near the
+whole of the affair--Matt's name and occupation, the experience with
+the air-ship in the early part of the afternoon, nearly everything
+concerning the roll of papers, the receipt of the telegram, and the
+night visit of the boys to South Chicago.
+
+This policeman was an intelligent member of the force, and he at
+once concluded that here was a matter which called for official
+investigation.
+
+"We'll get into the house and find out about your friend," said he.
+"Your yarn is a queer one, but has the true ring, and it's evident
+there's shady work of some kind going on."
+
+"Shaty vork? Vell, you bed you! Vere iss Matt? Dot's vat I vand to know
+vorse as anyt'ing else. I ditn't vant him to go in dere, anyvay, aber
+ven he makes oop his mindt to do somet'ing, den it vas as goot as done
+und vat I say don'd cut some ice."
+
+"If he's in there we'll get him," said the officer, decidedly.
+
+As a preliminary to more drastic operations, he went up to the door
+and pounded on it with his night-stick. The summons, although several
+times repeated, was not answered. Thereupon the policeman and Carl,
+throwing their united weight upon the door, burst the bolt from its
+fastenings and tumbled into the hall.
+
+The darkness of the interior was relieved only by the glare of the
+furnaces coming in at the transom. Silence reigned everywhere.
+
+"I don'd like der looks oof t'ings," muttered Carl, forebodingly. "Dere
+don'd vas anypody ad home now, aber ven Matt come in dere vas plendy
+oof people here. Vat toes it mean, officer?"
+
+"We'll try and find out what it means."
+
+There was an electric dark lantern at the policeman's belt. Taking the
+lantern in his hand he switched on the light and sent a bright gleam
+into every nook and corner of the hall.
+
+No sign of Matt, nor of any of the occupants of the house, was
+revealed. There were only two or three rooms furnished on the lower
+floor, and none at all on the floor above. Every part of the house was
+searched, and the last place of all to pass under the policeman's and
+Carl's scrutiny was the shallow basement.
+
+It was evident to both searchers that people had been in the house up
+to a very recent moment, for in one of the first-floor rooms there
+remained an odor of tobacco smoke, but there was no living person
+anywhere in evidence.
+
+"Don'd dot peat ter tickens?" murmured Carl. "Matt come in der front
+door, und he ditn't come oudt oof it. Oof he vas daken away it must haf
+peen py der pack oof der house. Meppy ve pedder haf a look ad der pack
+yardt?"
+
+"Wait a minute," answered the officer.
+
+Bending down he picked some object off the floor and examined it under
+the rays of the lantern. An exclamation of surprise and wonder fell
+from his lips.
+
+"Vat it iss?" queried Carl.
+
+"Here's the biggest kind of a find!" was the response. "Thunder! this
+must be my lucky night."
+
+"How you figger dot?"
+
+"This is a canvas bag."
+
+"Yah, I see dot, aber it ditn't pelong by Matt und it don'd dell us
+nodding aboudt vere he vas."
+
+"It's marked 'Hartz & Greer, Jewelers,'" went on the policeman, his
+voice shaking with excitement. "That's a firm doing business right here
+in South Chicago, and their store was burglarized mysteriously a little
+more than a week ago. Some fifteen thousand dollars' worth of jewelry
+and diamonds were taken, and this," the officer shook the canvas bag,
+"_this_ is the first clue any one has found to the robbers!"
+
+"Shiminy Grismus!" muttered Carl. "Dis must haf peen der blace vere der
+t'ieves hat deir hang-oudt. Aber dot don'd got some interest for me.
+Vat I vant to know iss, vere iss Modor Matt? Dis pitzness iss gedding
+on my nerfs aboudt like dot odder time ven he tissabeared schust pefore
+der cup race. Shtick der pag in your bocket, officer, und led's haf
+some looks at der pack yardt."
+
+The policeman, now wrapped heart and soul in the hunt, put the bag away
+in the breast of his coat.
+
+The door leading into the back yard, as they had already discovered,
+was unlocked. The rear premises were enclosed by a high board fence,
+and the beacons that capped the neighboring chimneys lighted the
+enclosure sufficiently so that the lantern was not needed.
+
+There was a very perceptible odor of gasolene in the back yard. The
+moment Carl sniffed it, he gave vent to a stifled yell and grabbed the
+policeman's arm with both hands.
+
+"What's to pay now?" demanded the policeman.
+
+"Der air-ship!" gasped Carl.
+
+The officer threw a startled look at the sky.
+
+"No, no, it ain'd oop dere," went on Carl. "It vas in dis pack
+yardt--yah, so helup me! Der gasolene used in der modor make der
+shmell. Don'd you ondershtand? Dey filled der tank here, und shpilled
+some oof der gasolene! Dose fellers haf run off from dis blace mit
+Matt, und dey have dook him along. Ach, himmelblitzen, vat a luck!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+JERROLD, BRADY'S RIVAL.
+
+
+"Thunder!" cried the policeman, catching the Dutch boy's drift, "you're
+right, as sure as my name is Sam Harris! Your friend went off in that
+air-ship."
+
+"He ditn't vent," protested Carl, in a temper, "he vas dook."
+
+"Well, he was carried off in the thing, no matter whether he went of
+his own free will or was taken by force. If we each of us had a pair
+of wings we might follow the flyin' machine, but we ain't got 'em, so
+we'll have to do what we can on the ground."
+
+"Dere iss a palloon house oudt on der roadt py der rolling mills,"
+suggested Carl. "Meppy der Hawk vas dere. Dot's vere Prady keeps him
+ven he ain'd sky-hootin' t'roo der clouds. Meppy ve go und take a look
+at der palloon house, eh?"
+
+"I know the place, and it won't do any harm to go there and look--but
+the fellow who ran off with your friend would be foolish to drop down
+there."
+
+"Vell, foolish or nod, ve look efery blace vat ve can."
+
+The balloon house was not a great way from that part of Hoyne Street,
+and Harris and Carl reached it after a cross-lots walk of five minutes.
+
+They found the great doors open, but there was no air-ship in the place
+and no one on watch around it. Furthermore, an examination of the
+interior showed that an extensive clean-up had been made of the various
+tools which Matt and Carl had seen in the place during the afternoon.
+Everything of value had been removed.
+
+Carl explained all this for the officer's benefit.
+
+"It's a cinch the owner of the air-ship has changed his headquarters,"
+commented Harris. "Brady, you say, the fellow's name is? Well, he's
+an inventor. One of his inventions is a patent 'jimmy'--which, of
+course, he wouldn't dare to patent. We've been watching his air-ship
+operations, here in South Chicago, but they seemed straight and
+legitimate enough."
+
+"Do you know dot feller, Hamildon Jerrold?" asked Carl.
+
+"Sure, I know him. He's all right, Jerrold is, although everybody looks
+on him as a harmless sort of crank."
+
+"He don'd lif in dot blace vere der chimney fires iss?"
+
+"No; he hangs out in a different part of town."
+
+"Den, you see, it vas a put-oop chob all aroundt. It vas Prady, I bed
+you, vat sendt dot delegram, got Matt in a drap, und den flew off mit
+him in der Hawk. Meppy ve make a call on Jerrold?"
+
+"I'll call up the department and report," said Harris, "so they can
+send another man on my beat while I'm fooling around on this case."
+
+They hurried back into town and the officer unlocked one of the
+lamp-post boxes and reported to headquarters.
+
+"All right," said he as he rejoined Carl. "Now we'll put in the rest of
+the night, if we have to. If Brady has had a hand in the robberies that
+have been going on here, this is liable to be good and profitable work
+for me."
+
+Jerrold lived almost a mile from the place where Harris had done his
+telephoning. He had a large, rambling old house set far back in a dense
+mass of trees and shrubbery.
+
+"He's a good deal of a hermit," explained Harris, as he and Carl
+proceeded along the walk to the front door. "A harmless old skate, but
+he's pretty broad between the eyes, at that."
+
+It was after midnight, and, as might be supposed, the house was dark. A
+knock on the door brought a night-capped head from an upper window.
+
+"Who's down there?" demanded a voice. "Is it you, Payne?"
+
+"No, Mr. Jerrold," answered Harris, "it's a police officer. I've come
+to see you on important business."
+
+"Have you found the Hawk?" cried Jerrold; "did you get back the plans
+those rascals stole from me?"
+
+"Come down and let us in," said the officer. "We want to talk with you."
+
+"Wait a minute."
+
+The head was withdrawn and the window dropped. A little while later,
+the front door opened and Jerrold showed himself, carrying a candle.
+Carl recognized him as one of the two men who had been pursuing the
+Hawk in the buggy.
+
+"Don'd you know me, Misder Jerrold?" asked Carl.
+
+The inventor stared at him and shook his head. Thereupon Carl explained
+where and when they had met. Jerrold's brows wrinkled in a frown.
+
+Leading his callers into a small sitting room he asked them to sit down.
+
+"What do you know about this fellow Brady, Jerrold?" asked Harris, by
+way of getting at the business in hand.
+
+"I know he's a scoundrel!" declared Jerrold with emphasis. "He's a good
+mechanic, though, and in spite of his shady record I took him on here
+to help me build my air-ship, the Eagle. After he had been with me for
+a while, I found he was stealing my ideas and building an air-ship of
+his own. Then I discharged him. Since then he's been attending to his
+own operations and I have been attending to mine. There are several
+important points about my machine, though, which Brady has been anxious
+to discover. He has tried to bribe Payne, the man who works for me, to
+give up a set of my blue prints, and he has tried to get them in other
+underhand ways. At about eleven o'clock, yesterday, three of Brady's
+men tried out-and-out robbery. That safe was forced"--Jerrold pointed
+to a small steel safe in one corner of the room--"and the roll of blue
+prints taken out. Payne and I were in the workshop at the time. We had
+just put the finishing touches to the Eagle and were inflating the bag
+for a trial. I heard a suspicious sound from the house and ran into
+this room. One of the thieves had just cleared an open window, another
+was getting out and the third was making ready to go. I had a wrench
+in my hand and I hurled it at the man in the room. He dropped without a
+groan. Payne came, just then, and we went after the other two. Brady's
+air-ship was waiting for them in the rear of the house, and the two
+robbers got into it and were away before we could catch them. Payne
+and I got a horse and buggy, as quick as we could, but by that time
+the air-ship was no more than a speck in the sky, off to the south. We
+followed, keeping the course the air-ship had taken. The men aboard
+didn't seem to know how to handle the craft very well, and I was hoping
+some accident would happen, that the craft would come down and that I
+would be able to get back my blue prints."
+
+Jerrold halted for a little, his face flaming with anger and
+indignation.
+
+"I haven't my patents, yet," he went on, in a few moments, "and haven't
+even been able to establish a caveat, so, you see, if Brady should
+get ahead of me at the patent office he would snatch a fortune out
+of my hands. For," and here the inventor threw back his head with
+laudable pride, "I claim to have invented an air-ship that can be
+used for commercial purposes--the first machine of the kind that will
+successfully navigate the air against the strongest wind that blows.
+But if that scoundrel Brady takes from me the fruits of my toil, I
+shall be ruined!"
+
+Jerrold's body slumped forward in his chair, and he crouched there in
+an attitude of extreme dejection.
+
+"Where's the fellow you knocked down with the wrench?" asked Harris,
+his professional mind dealing with the more practicable aspects of the
+case.
+
+"When Payne and I got back to the room, after pursuing the other two
+rascals to the Hawk," answered Jerrold, "the man had vanished. I
+suppose he recovered from the effects of the blow and took himself off."
+
+"He vas der feller vat drove der modor in der Hawk," explained Carl,
+"und ven he vas pud down und oudt, der odder fellers made poor vork oof
+triving der machine. Aber dot ain'd vat I got on my mindt, schust now."
+Carl pulled the roll of blue prints from his pocket. "Dere, Misder
+Jerrold," said he, "iss vat you lost. Take it mit der gombliments
+oof Modor Matt--my bard who iss gone I don'd know vere. Oof you hat
+shtopped a leedle in der puggy, und toldt us vat I haf heardt schust
+now, den, by shinks, you vould haf got der bapers pack a long dime ago."
+
+A cry of delight broke from Jerrold's lips. For a moment he stared at
+the roll, then swooped down on it with both hands, caught it away from
+Carl and began removing the wrapper with trembling fingers.
+
+"Here they are, here they are," he crooned joyfully, pawing the blue
+prints over and counting them, one by one; "they're all here, and----"
+
+He stopped short and stared blankly at the envelope, which had fallen
+out of the blue-prints and dropped on the carpet.
+
+"What's that?" asked Harris.
+
+"I don't know," replied Jerrold; "it's nothing of mine and wasn't in
+the safe, to my recollection, at the time the blue prints were taken."
+
+"Well, it may be yours, for all that. If it was in the roll, it stands
+to reason it must have been in the safe. Better open it. Probably you
+can tell from the contents whether it is yours or not."
+
+Harris picked up the envelope and handed it to Jerrold. The latter
+took it from him with a puzzled expression on his face.
+
+"I'm pretty sure this isn't mine," said he, turning the envelope over
+and over.
+
+"Well, you've got to be absolutely sure," returned Harris.
+
+Jerrold, thus urged, tore open the envelope, drew out the sheet and
+cast his eyes over it.
+
+"No," he declared, "it doesn't belong to me. The thieves must have put
+it in with the blue prints."
+
+"Let's have a look at it," said the officer.
+
+Drawing closer to the candle, Harris proceeded to read the letter.
+While he read, his face brightened and a look of surprise and
+exultation rose in his eyes.
+
+"Another clue, and a hot one!" he cried. He whirled on Carl. "With this
+as a guide," he went on, "it's dollars to doughnuts we can trace your
+friend and get him away from that scoundrel, Brady!"
+
+"Ach, vat a habbiness!" expanded Carl. "Readt it oudt to me, Harris,
+und be kevick ad it."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+JERROLD'S GRATITUDE.
+
+
+"The letter," explained Harris, "was written by Brady, and was
+evidently entrusted to the men in the Hawk for delivery to some one
+else. It's full of pointers, and a slicker bit of evidence it would be
+hard to find. And to think how it dropped into the hands of Motor Matt!
+The whole affair sounds like a 'pipe.'"
+
+"Tell me about that!" cried Jerrold, his shock of joy having passed and
+left him leisure for other things. "Who is this Motor Matt, and how did
+he happen to get hold of the blue prints?"
+
+"Ve vill go ofer dot lader, Misder Jerrold," said Carl, impatiently.
+"Schust now, dough, I vant to hear vat der ledder say. Readt him oudt,
+Harris! I vas so uneasy ofer it I don'd vas aple to sit shdill."
+
+"It's addressed to a man called Whipple," went on Harris, "and here's
+the way it runs:
+
+  "'Grove, Needham and Harper, with one of my improved jimmies, are
+  going to make another try for those blue prints of Jerrold's. If they
+  get them--and I think they can, for our plans are well laid--they'll
+  carry the papers to Willoughby's swamp in the Hawk and leave them
+  with you. We will quit our operations in South Chicago, clean out the
+  balloon house (I have already sold the building for old lumber) and
+  make our future headquarters in the swamp. It will be safer there.
+  After we improve the Hawk according to Jerrold's plans, we will
+  have a ship in which we can go anywhere, and with which we can do
+  anything. All we need is a competent motorist--Harper's good enough
+  for an amateur, but we need a professional. I'll try and bring one
+  with me, when I come. Meanwhile, until I show up at the swamp, I want
+  you to take good care of the blue prints.
+
+                                                         "'H. B.'"
+
+A great light dawned on Carl during the reading of the letter--a light
+so strong that it left him blinking.
+
+"Py chimineddy," he gurgled, "I know now vy dot Prady run off mit
+Matt! He say in der ledder dot he vants some brofessional to run dot
+air-ship. Vell, Matt knows more as anypody aboudt modors, und so Prady
+dook him off. Vat a high-hantet pitzness! Und Prady has captured a
+hornet oof he dit pud know it! He vill t'ink he has a handtful ven he
+dries to make Matt vork for him."
+
+"From this," proceeded Harris, waving the letter, "it seems that Brady
+had already laid his plans to quit South Chicago. In the letter,
+over his own signature, he admits sending three of his men to steal
+the blue prints. By a chance, and owing to the course of events in
+keeping the driver of the air-ship from getting away with the other two
+thieves, this roll and the letter dropped into the hands of Motor Matt.
+Undoubtedly, Motor Matt has been taken to Willoughby's swamp."
+
+"Und vere iss dot?" asked Carl.
+
+"I know about the swamp," went on Harris, "for I helped some Chicago
+officers run down a couple of escaped prisoners there, once. It's a
+bad hole, but there is a sort of island in the middle of it that has
+been the resort of criminals for a good many years. To get through the
+water, and mud, and tangled bushes to the island is a hard job for any
+one who has to go on foot. Still, it can be done. Brady and his men, of
+course, can use the Hawk, and all they have to do is to sail through
+the air and drop down where they want to go. The difficulties of the
+swamp won't bother them at all. The place is about four miles from Lake
+Station, Indiana."
+
+"Vell," said Carl, eagerly, "led's go dere. Der kevicker vat ve go, der
+kevicker vat ve can helup Matt. He iss my bard, und he needs me now."
+
+The Dutch boy got up and started for the door. Bounding from his chair,
+Jerrold overtook him and grabbed his arm.
+
+"Wait!" he commanded, "I've only got a faint grasp of the situation,
+but from what I can figure out you're going to need me. First, though,
+I want to hear all about this Motor Matt. He has done a whole lot for
+Hamilton Jerrold, and Jerrold is a man who always tries to pay his
+debts. Tell me how the blue prints got into the hands of Motor Matt."
+
+"Aber ve vas in a hurry!" cried Carl. "Villoughpy's svamp iss a goot
+vays off, und----"
+
+"You'll save time in the end by losing a little here and now," averred
+Jerrold, drawing Carl to a chair and pushing him down into it. "Go on!
+Give me the whole of it, between you, and be quick."
+
+There was a compelling note in the inventor's words and manner, that
+demanded attention. Carl yielded and struck into an explanation of the
+events of the preceding afternoon. Whenever his impatience led him
+to skip any of the details, Harris, who recognized the advantage of
+letting Jerrold know everything, picked up the ignored detail and made
+Carl go over it.
+
+Jerrold's interest and excitement increased as he listened. When Carl
+described how he and Matt had fought with Brady and Pete at the balloon
+house and kept them from getting the blue prints, Jerrold clapped his
+hands and shouted "Bravo!" And when Carl told of the bogus telegram
+that had brought the boys to South Chicago, Jerrold's face clouded with
+indignation and anger.
+
+"Motor Matt," declared Jerrold, when Carl had finally finished, "has
+done a lot for me, and he's going to find that Hamilton Jerrold knows
+how to be grateful. I agree with Harris that there is hardly a doubt
+but that Brady has taken young King to Willoughby's swamp. Brady wants
+the young motorist for the Hawk, and intends to have him, whether or
+no. According to Harris, the swamp's a difficult place to get at for
+those not equipped with an air-ship. That's where I come in. This way,
+friends!"
+
+With that, the inventor caught up his candle and led the way through
+the house and out at a back door.
+
+By then it was nearly three o'clock, and the very darkest part of the
+night. A gust of wind blew out the candle, which had been about as
+effective as a glow-worm, and the three were left at the foot of the
+rear steps staring at a fluttering expanse of canvas.
+
+The canvas formed a sort of V-shaped tent, long and high and secured
+with many guy-ropes. Because of the darkness it was difficult to get
+any kind of an idea as to the size of the tent, but that was a minor
+point.
+
+"I'll have to get a lantern," said Jerrold. "Wait a minute."
+
+"I've got a dark lantern, Jerrold," interposed Harris, "and I guess
+that will do."
+
+"Fine!" exclaimed Jerrold, as Harris switched on the current and swung
+the beam of light around him. "This way," the inventor added, and
+ducked through the end of the tent.
+
+In the gloomy interior a weird sight was disclosed--something so new
+and novel as to send an uncanny sensation along the nerves of Carl and
+Harris.
+
+Here was another cigar-shaped gas-bag, and another suspended car. The
+car itself was stationary, but the bag, because of the drafts that
+surged through the tent, was bobbing and swaying like some monster,
+anxious to be unleashed.
+
+The flickering gleam from the dark lantern could only disclose a part
+of the air-ship at a time.
+
+"Ach," muttered Carl, "dot makes my nerfs shake und shake like
+anyt'ing. Sooch a horrible t'ing vat it iss!"
+
+"That's because you're not familiar with such a craft," said Jerrold.
+"Payne and I have worked over it for years, and only yesterday saw the
+completion of our labors. It was six o'clock last night before the bag
+was fully inflated. We had to use common illuminating-gas, too, and
+the not more buoyant hydrogen. I have called the air-ship the 'Eagle,'
+and if you sweep that light along the side of the bag you will see the
+name."
+
+This was a bit of byplay that took time and was utterly needless, but
+a great pride throbbed in the inventor's words, and even the smallest
+detail of the air-ship was fraught with the utmost importance to him.
+
+"Everything about the craft," Jerrold went on, "is of the very
+best. The motor is the lightest, strongest and most powerful ever
+constructed. The car will carry half a dozen, easily. Sand-bags are
+suspended from each end of the gas-bag. When I pull in the sand-bag at
+the front end, the equilibrium is displaced, the bag points upward, and
+the propeller forces the air-ship to rise. So, when I wish to descend,
+I pull in the sand-bag at the rear point of the bag. When both bags are
+hanging loose, the Eagle swims in the air on an even keel. Now, the
+steering rudder, which also helps in maneuvering the ship, is a little
+idea of my own and----"
+
+"Ach, hang der shdeering rutter!" broke in Carl, impatiently. "Harris
+und I haf got to go afder Matt und ve can't vait aroundt here any
+longer. Ve haf got to go py dot svamp, und----"
+
+"Exactly!" broke in the inventor. "The Eagle, fully inflated and with
+a tank full of gasoline, is waiting for a trial spin in the morning.
+I have the honor to propose that we use the craft now, proceed to
+Willoughby's swamp and rescue Motor Matt. That will save time, and a
+whole lot of hardships in forcing your way through mud and water and
+tangled brush in order to reach the island."
+
+Harris had already gathered the inventor's idea, even before he
+began putting it into words; Carl, however, had not anticipated the
+suggestion, and he was dazed by it.
+
+"You mean to dake us py der svamp in der Eagle?" he asked, in some
+trepidation.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Ach, himmel! I nefer rode mit a air-ship. Vill I be seasick py it?"
+
+"I don't think so. You see, I have never navigated an air-ship myself,
+but I'll bank on the Eagle doing its work. I can run the engine."
+
+"Vat oof it shouldt durn oopside town mit us vile ve vas a mile in der
+air?"
+
+"I'll guarantee it won't do that."
+
+"Vell, vedder or nod," said Carl, "I am going afder my bard. Oof der
+tangers vas greadt, I take dem; und oof dey vasn't so greadt, den I
+take dem, too. Matt vouldt do more as dot for me, yah, I bed you!"
+
+Harris was also afflicted with doubts.
+
+"The ground has always been good enough for me, Jerrold," said he, "and
+whenever I get my feet off it and go up any distance I have a bad case
+of vertigo. If I should get dizzy and fall off the car----"
+
+"You won't," interrupted the inventor; "people never get dizzy in
+balloons."
+
+"You're sure it won't tip over and spill us out?"
+
+"Positive."
+
+"You don't know much about it yourself, you know, having never been up
+in it."
+
+"That scoundrel, Brady, has used the Hawk with fair success, and the
+Hawk is modeled on the same lines as the Eagle, only the Eagle has
+improvements which Brady was not able to get hold of and put on his own
+machine. Shall we go to the rescue of Motor Matt? Come, my friends,
+time is flying."
+
+"Und ve ought to be flying, too," said Carl, now eager to make the
+ascension.
+
+"I'll take a chance," observed Harris.
+
+"Good!" applauded Jerrold.
+
+The next moment he had vanished in the darkness and could be heard
+pulling at some ropes. In less than a minute the entire top of the tent
+fell away, revealing the stars.
+
+"Get into the car," said Jerrold, "there, just forward of the driver's
+seat."
+
+With the aid of his lantern Harris picked out the place where he and
+Carl were to stow themselves, and they climbed into the car as directed.
+
+Immediately after that, Jerrold got over the rail and took his seat at
+the levers. It was impossible to see just what he was doing, but the
+clank of a lever came from his vicinity and slowly the front of the
+gas-bag began to point upward.
+
+"Now we're ready," called the inventor.
+
+The popping of a motor began and gradually gathered into a swift murmur.
+
+"And now we're off," added Jerrold. "Stay right where you are and don't
+change your positions unless I tell you."
+
+The whir of the propeller started, and the house and shrubbery began
+slipping away from under those in the car.
+
+"Ach, du lieber!" gasped Carl. "Der eart' vas falling avay from us. I
+vill say my brayers forvarts, packvarts und sidevays, oof it vill helup
+any."
+
+"I've got a bad case of rattles, myself," admitted Harris. "But it's
+for your pard, my boy."
+
+"You bed my life!" returned Carl, "aber I never dit anyt'ing pefore for
+dot bard oof mine dot dook so mooch nerf as vat dis toes. I vill shud
+my eyes, und you dell me, blease, ven ve reach der svamp!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+ABOARD THE HAWK.
+
+
+Taken at a disadvantage and with two brawny ruffians ranged against
+him, Motor Matt was unable to make any defense. As he lay on the floor,
+head and shoulders still swathed in the window-curtain, one of his
+antagonists held him while the other bound his hands and feet with a
+rope. He was then lifted and carried for some distance. Naturally he
+could have no idea where or in what direction he was being carried.
+
+A few steps were descended and he heard a door softly closed. The cool
+air of outdoors laved his hands--he was sensible of that, although the
+hot stuffiness of the curtain prevented the night air from reaching his
+face.
+
+He was lifted over something, he did not know what, and laid down in
+cramped quarters. A conversation was going on around him, but in tones
+so low he was not able to distinguish the words. He fancied that he
+heard the girl's voice, although his head was so muffled he could not
+be sure.
+
+Presently the unmistakable explosions of a motor came to him.
+
+"Brady is taking me away somewhere in an automobile," he thought, and
+wondered where Carl was that he could not see the machine.
+
+A moment later he felt a gentle, swaying motion as though he was being
+gently swung in a hammock.
+
+Several minutes passed, and then Brady's voice spoke, in a tone so loud
+that Matt was able to hear what he said.
+
+"Take the curtain off his head, Pete, and untie him. It's time he
+took hold here. Keep your revolver handy for use in case he gets
+obstreperous. He's full of ginger and will have to be tamed."
+
+Matt felt some one working at his cords. They were stripped away
+quickly, and the curtain whisked from his head. He jumped up, the floor
+under him swinging with the quick move and almost upsetting him.
+
+"Careful, there!" warned Brady. "Where do you think you are, anyhow?"
+
+Matt was dumfounded. Overhead was the long gas-bag of the Hawk. In
+front of him, at the mechanism of the machine, sat a dusky form which
+he recognized as belonging to Brady. Brady's hands were on the levers.
+
+With a shout of anger Matt jumped toward Brady, the car lurching and
+swaying with his frantic movements.
+
+"Stand where ye are!" came the husky, threatening voice of Pete, from
+behind. "Do as I tell ye, King, or I'll shoot."
+
+Matt turned around. Standing with his back braced against an upright
+timber that held the car to the oval ring under the gas-bag was Brady's
+burly assistant. He held a dark object in his hand and Matt knew it
+must be a revolver.
+
+"Where are you taking me?" demanded Matt.
+
+"Turn around this way," said Brady. "Now that you know what'll happen
+to you if you get too hostile, maybe we can have a bit of a talk
+together."
+
+"Don't shoot!" implored a feminine voice; "I don't want to have any
+shooting, dad!"
+
+The voice came from a bundle on the floor, close to where Pete was
+standing. By looking sharply, Matt was able to see a white, ghost-like
+face hovering against the rail.
+
+The girl had been brought along with them! Matt was glad, for her sake,
+that he had not got into a rough-and-tumble with Brady.
+
+Without seeming to pay the girl more than passing attention, the young
+motorist turned toward the man in the chair.
+
+"Well?" said he, crisply. "What have you got to say about this, Brady?
+I guess you could be arrested for what you've done, all right."
+
+Brady laughed.
+
+"How's a policeman coming up here to get at me?" he asked. "An air-ship
+is a great thing for a fellow who wants to turn a few tricks in spite
+of the law."
+
+"That's your game, is it? Well, what have you to gain by running off
+with me? I told you I didn't have that roll of papers."
+
+"I'm out the blue prints, but I'm in a good motorist. I'll not be able
+to improve the Hawk according to Jerrold's plans, but I guess I've
+got hold of a driver that's good enough to make up for most of the
+improvements."
+
+"If you think I'm going to drive this car for you," said Matt, "you're
+away off in your calculations."
+
+"That's what you think now, but you'll change your tune before long,"
+said Brady, easily. "I know this air-ship pretty well, and I installed
+the motor. All it needed for that was a good machinist and a good
+inventor. I'm not a good driver, though, and I've picked you for the
+job. The offer I made back at the house goes. Five hundred a month.
+Pretty good pay, eh, for a boy of your age?"
+
+"I don't care how much you offer, Brady. As I have already told you,
+no amount of money could hire me to work for you. You're a scoundrel,
+clear through. What you've done to-night proves it.
+
+"Bear a little to the left, Brady!" called Pete, who was evidently on
+the lookout. "You're getting too far to the north."
+
+Brady moved one of the levers, and the ease and certainty with which
+the air-ship swung to the new direction brought Matt's admiration
+uppermost. Never had he been able to resist the lure of untried
+machinery, and here was an experience so novel that it carried him
+out of his troubled environment, so to speak. For a moment, suspended
+in that starlit void and swimming noiselessly through the night, he
+yielded himself to the fascinations of the new experience.
+
+"How powerful a motor have you?" he asked.
+
+"Ten horse-power," answered Brady, "and it weighs forty pounds."
+
+"How do you steer the machine up and down, and right and left?"
+
+"That's where I've got the bulge on Jerrold. One rudder with two
+cross-section planes does all of that. This lever here--I don't know
+whether you can see it or not from where you stand--gives the up and
+down 'dip' to the rudder that makes the machine rise or fall. By moving
+the lever right or left, the air-ship turns in the corresponding
+direction."
+
+"Take me back," ordered Matt, "and land me at the place where you took
+me from."
+
+"You've got a picture of me doing that!" scoffed Brady. "Now that I've
+caught you, I'm going to keep you, see? You're just the sort of a lad I
+need in my business. Grove and Needham, when they finally got back to
+South Chicago with the air-ship, told me all about you. If I'd known
+what I do now at the time you called at the balloon house, I'd have
+taken a different tack."
+
+A muttered imprecation came from Pete. He was thinking of his fall over
+the barrel.
+
+"Those fellows got back without breaking their necks, did they?"
+queried Matt.
+
+"Just about. When they told me what had happened, I sent off that
+telegram."
+
+"We might just as well look this thing square in the face, Brady," said
+Matt. "You've acted the part of a scoundrel in your dealings with me,
+and you haven't gained anything by it. If you don't turn back and put
+me down in South Chicago, I'll make more trouble for you than you can
+well take care of."
+
+"I'll take my chances on that, my bantam. I like your spirit, and we're
+going to get along fine. Just cast in your lot with mine, and I'll
+make a rich man out of you. In the Hawk we can travel all over this
+continent, from Hudson Bay to Patagonia. Where men never went before,
+we can go. No mountain range is so high that we can't cross it, and no
+desert is so barren that we can't wing our way comfortably over it."
+
+Matt stared at the dark figure in the chair. If any honest man had
+talked to him in that way, the young motorist would have been tempted
+to become an aeronaut, for he could see plainly the possibilities of a
+serviceable air-ship; but as for Brady, he was a criminal, and that cut
+him off from any consideration on Matt's part.
+
+The young motorist sank down on his knees and looked over the side
+of the car. They were perhaps a thousand feet in the air. Houses,
+villages, dark expanses of timber and lighter stretches of meadow swept
+past them, moving out from under the car like a dark panorama.
+
+Driving an automobile at speed was like flying, but here was flying
+itself. The new sensation gripped Matt and thrilled him in every nerve.
+
+"How are we heading, Pete?" called Brady.
+
+Pete was leaning over the opposite side of the car, looking forward.
+
+"I'm jest tryin' to git my bearin's, Brady," he answered. "It's so
+pesky dark it's hard to make out jest where we are."
+
+Matt stole a look at Pete's back. The hand gripping the revolver lay on
+the rail. By one quick move Matt could have snatched the weapon. As the
+idea swept through his mind he cautiously changed his position.
+
+Just then a soft hand rested on his and he saw the girl's face pressed
+close.
+
+"Don't do anything desperate!" she whispered, imploringly. "Do whatever
+dad says--it will be better for you. When we get to where we're going,
+I'll help you escape, and----"
+
+"I think, Brady," called Pete, "that ye're still too fur to the north.
+Better shift a leetle more to the left. I won't be sartin, though, that
+I'm right."
+
+"I ought to be there on the lookout," answered Brady. "Come here, King,
+and take the engine."
+
+The girl's words had influenced Matt powerfully. On top of that was the
+alluring prospect of handling a new machine.
+
+"I'll take the engine for a while, Brady," said he, getting up, "but
+you're to remember I'll not hire out to you."
+
+"All I ask is for you to handle the motor," replied Brady. "You'll come
+to your oats quick enough, I'll gamble on that. You watch King, Pete,"
+he added to the other man, "and make sure he sends the Hawk where I
+tell him to. If he tries to send her anywhere else, you know what to
+do."
+
+"That's no josh," answered Pete.
+
+Brady left the chair and went forward. Matt dropped into the vacant
+seat and began studying the various levers with his groping hands.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+WILLOUGHBY'S SWAMP.
+
+
+Pete kept his weapon prominently displayed, and through the gloom
+Matt could see the ruffian's arm partly lifted as though ready on the
+instant to bring the firearm into use. This alert attitude on Pete's
+part, however, was more for show than for anything else--at least, Matt
+so regarded it. Brady was not anxious to go to desperate extremes with
+Matt, especially since he wanted him as driver for the air-ship.
+
+Brady, taking up a position where he could peer ahead, was scanning the
+dim landscape sharply.
+
+"Swing her to the left!" he called.
+
+Matt instantly applied the steering lever. Instead of swinging to the
+left, however, the Hawk made a half-turn to the right.
+
+Up came the revolver. With a sharp cry, the girl reached up and caught
+Pete's arm.
+
+"To the _left_, I said!" roared Brady.
+
+"You'll have to give me the chance to learn the machine," answered
+Matt, coolly, as he continued working the lever and brought the Hawk
+around to the proper course. "These levers are new to me. When we steer
+an auto we do it with a wheel."
+
+"I thought ye knowed all about motors," jeered Pete.
+
+"I know something about motors," replied Matt, "but not the first thing
+about air-ships."
+
+As near as Matt could judge, they were proceeding at a speed of
+something like thirty miles an hour. He speeded up the engine a little
+and was surprised at the smoothness with which it worked. The propeller
+hummed in a low, husky drone that was quite different from the song of
+the cylinders.
+
+He moved the steering lever backward a couple of notches. Immediately
+the rudder was tilted and the Hawk began to climb upward.
+
+"Stop that!" yelled Brady. "We're high enough. What are you trying to
+do?"
+
+"Learning the machine," answered Matt, and threw the lever forward.
+
+The front end of the gas-bag tipped downward, and the air-ship slid
+toward the earth with a suddenness that almost threw Brady over the
+rail.
+
+"That'll do you!" he whooped. "Get her on a level again, and be quick
+about it. You can handle the machine, all right, and I don't want you
+to do anything but what you're told."
+
+"All right," said Matt quietly.
+
+For five minutes longer they continued to swim onward through the air.
+A long string of lights shot across the gloomy landscape below them,
+and a whistle came upward from the earth with startling distinctness.
+
+"There goes a train, whistlin' fer Lake Station," remarked Pete.
+
+"We'll be over the town in a minute," said Brady, "and then it won't be
+long until we get to the swamp."
+
+"What swamp?" asked Matt.
+
+"Never ye mind," was Pete's surly rejoinder. "Ye're here to obey orders
+an' not ask any fool questions."
+
+"I don't think it very foolish for a fellow to ask where he's being
+taken."
+
+"Mebby not, but ye ain't findin' anythin' out, see?"
+
+Matt had been doing a good deal of guessing about Carl. What would his
+chum do? What was he doing then? He felt pretty sure that Carl would
+get into the house and go through it from cellar to roof.
+
+But Matt knew that Carl had a good sensible head in cases of emergency.
+Now and again the Dutch boy's temper was apt to make trouble with his
+reasoning, but in the long run Carl could always be counted on to do
+the right thing.
+
+So Matt was not worrying very much about his chum. Carl would take good
+care of the blue prints and ultimately they would find their rightful
+owner.
+
+"Ha!" exclaimed Brady, suddenly, "there's the signal! I'll go back and
+take charge of the motor while we make the landing, Pete, and you take
+the lookout."
+
+Matt gave place to Brady and then stood at the rail, watching
+developments curiously.
+
+Below the air-ship was a great splotch of black shadow, stretching away
+on all sides as far as the eye could reach. Evidently this was the
+swamp. The Hawk was sailing across the swamp toward a big fire that
+glowed in the distance.
+
+With Brady steering and Pete directing, the Hawk approached closer and
+closer to the fire.
+
+"Drop 'er, Brady!" Pete presently called; "we're close on the island."
+
+The nose of the air-ship ducked downward and, for perhaps twenty
+seconds, she raced earthward; then Brady diminished the speed of their
+descent by slow degrees.
+
+Matt, braced on the sloping floor of the car, watched the fire
+apparently come up toward them. A little later he was able to make out
+three human figures against the firelit background below, and a bare
+little plateau took vague form under his eyes.
+
+He watched the landing keenly, and noted how Brady suddenly shifted
+the steering rudder so as to bring the Hawk on an even keel, the lower
+supports of the car just grazing the ground.
+
+The three figures by the fire ran close.
+
+"How's everything, Brady?" cried a voice.
+
+"Finer than silk," called back Brady. "Stand by to catch the ropes, you
+fellows."
+
+The murmur of the motor ceased, the revolving propeller came to a stop,
+and Pete flung out two ropes, one on each side of the car.
+
+The ropes were caught by the men on the ground, a bight of each was
+thrown around a stout stake driven into the earth at an angle, and the
+air-ship was drawn down and safely moored.
+
+Matt was now able to understand why Brady had taken his place as driver
+for the landing. Not only was the method of making a landing new to
+Matt, but there was also danger, unless one was familiar with the
+place, of scraping the trees that covered the swamp and hemmed in the
+cleared space called the "island."
+
+Matt started to spring over the rail of the car.
+
+"Stop, King!" cried Brady. "You don't want to make a bolt for the
+timber and get mired in the swamp, do you? Just remember you're still
+under orders. Take him to the roost, Needham, you and Whipple. Better
+tie him up until he gets used to the place and to our society. He's a
+bit strange, here, and none too willing to stay."
+
+"Did you bring the loot, Brady?" called one of the men.
+
+"Sure! This is moving-day with us and you didn't think I was going to
+leave all that stuff on Hoyne Street, did you? Get out of the car,
+King," he went on, to Matt. "Whipple and Needham will take care of you."
+
+Two of the three men had stepped to the side of the car. In the light
+of the fire, which was blazing at a safe distance from the air-ship,
+Matt discovered that Needham and Grove had been the two aeronauts who
+had had such hard luck with the Hawk during the preceding day.
+
+Needham, who, with Whipple, was facing Matt and waiting for him to get
+over the air-ship's rail, gave a husky laugh.
+
+"We got out of that scrape, all right," said he, "even if we did lose
+our drag-rope."
+
+"And you got me into another scrape," said Matt. "You fellows will pay
+for this!"
+
+"Chirp low, young feller," warned Whipple, catching him by the arm as
+he gained the ground; "your cue is to make friends with us an' not
+bluster about what ye're goin' ter do. There's five husky men here, an'
+we're all surrounded by a swamp that would mire ye up ter the eyes if
+ye tried ter git through it. Oh, I reckon ye won't git away ter make
+any of us pay fer anythin'! This way, an' step lively."
+
+With Needham and Whipple on each side of him and hanging to an arm,
+Matt was led across the open space, past the fire, and to the door
+of a small, roughly built shanty. A little way off there was another
+building, fully as small but apparently somewhat better built.
+
+"This here's the roost," announced Whipple, "an' it's where ye're ter
+pass the rest o' the night. Come in, an' come peaceable."
+
+It was part of Matt's plan, hastily formed on the air-ship just after
+the girl had spoken to him, to accept passively whatever came his
+way--at least for a time. The girl had said that she would help him
+escape, and there was that about her which had awakened his confidence.
+Not only that, but there was also something in the girl's face that
+had aroused his sympathy. She had a history, he was sure, and one that
+was far from pleasant.
+
+There were five cots in the "roost," and Matt was told to lie down on
+one of them.
+
+"Harper used to sleep there," remarked Needham, as Matt stretched
+himself out on the hard bed, "and the deuce only knows where poor old
+Harper is now. You're taking his place, King, and so it's only right
+you should have his cot."
+
+It was on Matt's tongue to say that Needham had another guess coming,
+but he held his peace. He would not show too much of the hostile side
+of his feelings until he had had a chance to talk with the girl.
+
+"What's the use of tying me," expostulated Matt, as ropes were being
+put in place around his wrists and ankles, "if it's impossible for me
+to get away?"
+
+"Orders," answered Whipple, curtly.
+
+After Matt was made secure, Whipple and Needham went out of the
+hut. The young motorist had had a trying day, and even his exciting
+situation was powerless to keep the sleep from his eyes. He dozed off,
+while his thoughts were trying to straighten out the queer tangle
+in which events had bound him. He roused up for a moment when Pete,
+Whipple, Needham and Grove came into the hut and dropped down on their
+cots, but almost immediately he went to sleep again.
+
+It seemed as though he had hardly closed his eyes the second time
+before he was awakened by a light hand pressed upon his forehead. The
+other cots in the room were empty, it was morning, and the girl was
+standing beside him.
+
+"I have brought your breakfast," said she, in a low voice. "We can talk
+a little, but will have to be quick. Dad, or some of the men, may come
+in here at any second! There's a lot that you've got to know, and----"
+
+She was interrupted by the sharp explosion of a firearm outside.
+Stifling a cry, she whirled from the cot and ran to the open door.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+A FOE IN THE AIR.
+
+
+"What is it?" asked Matt, struggling up on the cot.
+
+No revolver had caused the report he had heard. From the sound he knew
+that a rifle had been fired.
+
+A babel of excited voices now came to him from without, accompanied by
+sounds of running feet diminishing rapidly in the distance. Then came
+another report, and another, both from a more distant point than the
+first.
+
+The girl stepped through the doorway and was looking upward.
+
+"Take off these ropes!" called Matt. "Let me get out there and see what
+is going on!"
+
+The girl turned and reentered the hut. Her face wore an expression of
+the utmost concern.
+
+"No," said she, "I can't release you just now. If dad was to come and
+find that I'd set you free, he would suspect me at once and that would
+spoil my plans."
+
+"But what was the cause of that shooting?" persisted Matt.
+
+"There's another air-ship over the island----"
+
+"Another air-ship?" echoed Matt.
+
+"Yes. It must be Jerrold's, although how he ever found out where dad
+was is more than I know. Dad and the rest were shooting at the air-ship
+with rifles."
+
+"I'll bet it's somebody who's come looking for me!" exclaimed Matt. "If
+your father and his gang should kill anybody----"
+
+"They won't," interrupted the girl, confidently; "dad knows better than
+to do anything of that kind. They'll try to put a bullet or two into
+the gas-bag of the air-ship and frighten Jerrold away."
+
+"Go and take another look," said Matt, anxiously. "See what they're
+doing."
+
+The girl glided to the doorway again.
+
+"The other air-ship is moving off," the girl reported, with a measure
+of relief in her voice, as she came back. "I think the bullets must
+have injured the propeller, or some of the machinery, for the air-ship
+is moving very slowly and seems to be in trouble."
+
+"Did you see how many were aboard?"
+
+"There were three in the car--one of them was Jerrold, and he was
+managing the motor."
+
+"The other two," asked Matt, eagerly, "do you know who they were?"
+
+"One of them was in uniform, and looked like a policeman. The other was
+short and thick-set and looked like a German."
+
+"Carl!" exclaimed Matt, jubilantly. "Good old Carl! How did he ever
+find out where I was, I wonder?"
+
+"I'll bet dad is trying to guess the same thing," said the girl. "He'll
+be badly cut up over this. But it's no more than he ought to expect,"
+she added. "Whenever a man breaks the law he'll have to pay for it,
+sooner or later."
+
+"What has your father been doing?" asked Matt.
+
+"I came to talk with you about that. While I'm giving you your
+breakfast, I'll tell you my plans. Dad, and all the rest except
+Whipple, are off in the swamp, somewhere, keeping track of Jerrold's
+air-ship, and that will give us a chance."
+
+Matt swung his bound feet over the edge of the cot, and while he sat
+there the girl drew a chair close and began giving him his breakfast.
+
+"Dad has been doing a lot of criminal things," said the girl, "and all
+he built that air-ship for was to make it easy for him to rob people
+and get away without being found out. Didn't you guess that when I
+showed you that article in the paper? I thought you might."
+
+"I've been mighty thick-headed," answered Matt, between mouthfuls, "and
+I never thought the thing through that far. Possibly it's because so
+much has been happening to me since I went into that place on Hoyne
+Street."
+
+"It's nearly broken my heart having dad act like he's been doing," said
+the girl, her lips quivering. "If mother had lived she'd have kept dad
+straight, but when she died dad just seemed to go to the dogs. He has
+tried to make the people in South Chicago think he was just an honest
+inventor, but, even at that, he stole all his ideas from Jerrold. That
+balloon house, that he built out of some of the proceeds of his first
+robbery, was put up for what they call a 'blind.' With a big house like
+that, out in plain sight, dad felt that everybody would think his work
+was open and aboveboard. When he committed any robberies, the Hawk
+was taken from the shed in the dead of night, and Harper would steer
+it for the place they were to rob. The blackest kind of a night was
+always selected, and only flat-topped buildings were robbed. You see,
+the air-ship would alight on the roof, and dad and the rest would break
+into the building from the top. When they left they always went in the
+same way they came, and the police were puzzled because they could not
+find any clues in the lower part of the buildings."
+
+"It was a slick scheme," commented Matt.
+
+"That's the way Hartz & Greer's place was robbed," proceeded the girl.
+"Dad and the rest got fifteen thousand dollars' worth of goods from
+Hartz & Greer, and for more than a week the stuff has been hidden in
+that house on Hoyne Street. But now dad has left South Chicago for
+good and all. He's afraid the police are beginning to suspect him, and
+that Jerrold might try to do something on account of those stolen blue
+prints."
+
+It was perfectly plain to Matt that the girl's recital of these crimes,
+in which her father had played the leading part, was anything but easy
+for her. She was talking from a sense of duty, and Matt honored and
+admired her for the stand she was taking.
+
+"It doesn't seem possible," said he, gently, "that Brady is your
+father."
+
+"But he is," she answered brokenly, "and he has brought shame and
+disgrace on me. But what could I do? Dad knows how I feel about his
+actions, and he has watched me and kept me away from other people ever
+since he began his stealing. When you came to the house, last night, it
+was the first chance I have had to tell what I know. I overheard dad
+and Pete planning what they were going to do if you came, and--and I
+hoped you would come, although I knew you would never leave the house
+until you were taken away as dad's prisoner. I felt sure, though, that
+I could help you to escape, and I feel even more sure of that now than
+I did before."
+
+"What is your name?" asked Matt, his eyes full on the girl's face.
+
+"Helen," she answered.
+
+"What are your plans, Helen?" he asked.
+
+"My plan," she went on, "is for you to get away from the swamp in the
+Hawk, and to take the stuff stolen from Hartz & Greer with you. That
+will stop everything, for dad will be perfectly helpless without the
+air-ship. Then, too, you can return the stolen diamonds and jewelry to
+Hartz & Greer, and that will go far toward righting one wrong. When you
+are back in South Chicago, you can send the police here and--and they
+can capture dad and the rest."
+
+Matt had finished eating and the girl had put aside the dishes.
+Suddenly she broke down and hid her face in her apron. For a few
+moments she sobbed convulsively.
+
+Small wonder her feelings overcame her! In carrying out her ideas of
+right and justice, she had planned to give her own father into the
+hands of the law.
+
+"You're a noble girl, Helen!" declared Matt. "But how am I to get away
+in the air-ship and to take the stolen property with me?"
+
+"You already know how to run the machine," said the girl, recovering
+herself a little and looking up, "and when the right time arrives I
+will come here and take off your ropes. As for the stolen property, I
+will see to it that that is put in the car before you start. There will
+be danger in what you do, but, from what I have heard, you know how to
+win out in spite of it."
+
+"I will run any risk to get away from here," returned Matt, gravely,
+"but when I go you must go with me. This is no place for you--with such
+a thieving gang!"
+
+"I must stay here," the girl said resolutely. "Even though I am sending
+my father to prison I want to be with him to the last. If something
+isn't done," she continued passionately, "he will go on and on,
+constantly from bad to worse, and perhaps some time"--her face blanched
+as she spoke--"he might receive worse than a prison sentence. It is the
+only way to save him."
+
+It was clear that Helen Brady had spent much time in thinking out and
+planning her present course, and how much mental anguish and bitterness
+of spirit her conclusion had cost her, only she could know.
+
+"I am ready to do whatever you want me to," said Matt, "and if you
+think it best to stay here, all right. I still believe, though, you
+ought to leave this place with me."
+
+"No, no," she replied firmly. "I have thought it all out a dozen times,
+and I have made up my mind as to what it is right for me to do. You
+must get away from here in the air-ship. With the Hawk taken away from
+him, dad will be helpless."
+
+"Haven't you any friends or relatives to whom you could go?" asked Matt.
+
+"I have relatives on my mother's side, but they won't have anything to
+do with dad or me--simply because dad is what he is. They have asked me
+to leave dad and come to them, but I know my place and what it is right
+for me to do."
+
+A brief silence fell between the two, during which Matt turned the
+queer problem over in his mind.
+
+"When do you think your plan can be carried out?" he asked presently.
+
+"It has got to be soon, if at all," she answered. "I don't know what
+effect this appearance of Jerrold's air-ship over the swamp will have
+on dad, but I hope it won't interfere with my plans. We'll have to wait
+a little while and see. Whipple is watching the Hawk now, and----"
+
+Just at that moment a heavy step was heard outside. A man appeared in
+the doorway, stared in at Matt and the girl for an instant, and then
+strode into the hut.
+
+The man was Brady, and his face was black as a thundercloud.
+
+"What're you doing here so long?" he cried angrily to the girl. "Clear
+out! I've got something I want to talk over with King."
+
+With a supplicating look at her father, the girl got up and passed out
+of the hut.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+BRADY CHANGES HIS PLANS.
+
+
+"You've played the devil with me, and no mistake!" scowled Brady,
+whirling on Matt the moment the girl was gone.
+
+"I don't see how you make that out," said Matt. "You're the one that's
+made all the trouble, Brady."
+
+Brady's little eyes glittered as they rested on Matt. For a few moments
+he paced angrily back and forth across the hut.
+
+"How in thunder," he cried suddenly, "did Jerrold ever manage to get a
+line on me? He was over the swamp, a short time ago, with his air-ship,
+and he'd have landed here if we hadn't driven him off. Jerrold knows
+where I am, and he has the means of getting to the island. We've
+crippled his craft, though, and he's had to haul off for repairs. While
+he's gone, I've got to change my plans, somehow, and be ready for him
+when he comes back. That Dutch kid who was with you at the balloon
+house yesterday was in the car of the air-ship, and there was also a
+policeman along. How did that come?"
+
+"You know as much about it as I do, Brady," replied Matt. "I
+disappeared from that Hoyne Street house, last night, and I suppose my
+chum has been getting clues about me and following them up. That's the
+kind of a lad he is."
+
+"Where did he get any clues that would bring him out here?"
+
+"Give it up."
+
+Brady took a few more turns across the room, presently halting in front
+of Matt.
+
+"You didn't bring that roll of blue prints to Hoyne Street, last
+night," said he. "Where did you leave it?"
+
+"Left it out in front of the house," grinned Matt.
+
+Brady started.
+
+"In front of the house?" he echoed.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Cached?"
+
+"Certainly."
+
+"Under the sidewalk?"
+
+"No; in the pocket of my Dutch pard."
+
+Brady stared incredulously. Then he swore.
+
+"That Dutchman was out in front all the while you were in the house?"
+
+Matt nodded.
+
+"He came with me from Chicago. I got to thinking there might be a trap
+in the house, and that some one was there who wanted the blue prints,
+so I made up my mind that it would be a wise move to leave Carl out in
+front, and to let him keep the roll."
+
+"That chum of yours must have seen the Hawk when she climbed out of the
+back yard," growled Brady, "but how in the fiend's name was he able to
+get Jerrold and the Eagle and follow us? It was dark, and we had a long
+start of them."
+
+"One guess is as good as another," said Matt, calmly. "I told you you'd
+get yourself into trouble if you tried to make a prisoner of me. The
+best thing you can do now is to send me back to South Chicago in the
+air-ship."
+
+"Think I'm a fool?" snarled Brady. "It may be that you're all that
+stands between me and my men and capture. I'll hang onto you, King,
+and I'll let that Dutch pard of yours know that if Jerrold don't keep
+away from this swamp with his air-ship you're going to connect with
+your finish. It's neck or nothing with me, now, and I'll go any length
+to keep myself out of the 'pen.' I've laid out a fine campaign for the
+Hawk, and I don't intend to have all my plans nipped in the bud, right
+at the start-off."
+
+"I suppose," said Matt, scathingly, "that your campaign is one of
+robbery, and that you're going to make a pirate ship out of the Hawk?"
+
+"That's where you put your finger on the right button!" declared Brady.
+"I'm going to be a freebooter, and take my toll wherever I can find
+it. It's easy to swoop down on a lot of spoil, pick it up and make off
+with it. And what can the law do?" He laughed mockingly. "Policemen
+will have to have wings to get anywhere near me."
+
+"And that's what you wanted me for, is it?" cried Matt, indignantly;
+"to drive the Hawk around through the air and help out your villainous
+plans! I would let you kill me first."
+
+"Rot! I'm going to stick to my original intentions, but there's got to
+be something of a change in my immediate plans. We've all got to pull
+out of here and to take what plunder we've got cached in the swamp.
+The Hawk will have to make three or four trips, and they must be made
+before Jerrold and his air-ship can interfere with us. If Jerrold fixes
+up his air-ship and comes back, we'll just tell him what will happen to
+you if he lingers in the vicinity of the swamp. I'm banking on that to
+send him packing again, and to keep him out of sight until I can make
+a change of base. You'll go away on the Hawk's first trip, and it will
+probably be only half an hour before you can start."
+
+Brady started for the door, but halted before he reached it and faced
+around.
+
+"Either one of two things happened to put that Dutchman and Jerrold on
+my track," said he. "Either Harper has been caught, and has told what
+he knows, or else a letter I gave Needham to deliver to Whipple, here
+in the swamp, has fallen into the hands of the police. It don't make
+much difference, though, how Jerrold got next to our hang-out. The
+main thing is that he knows where we are, and that you will be put in
+a mighty tight corner if he keeps on trying to make trouble for me.
+That's about all, King. I want you to understand what you're up against
+and be ready for whatever happens. I'm not going to have my plans
+knocked galley-west just as I'm on the point of launching them."
+
+With another black scowl, expressive of his savage determination,
+Hector Brady strode out of the hut.
+
+Matt was beginning to understand why Helen preferred to see her father
+in prison rather than free to carry out his campaign of lawlessness.
+Possessing a practical air-ship like the Hawk, Brady could commit
+untold depredations and snap his fingers in open defiance of the law.
+
+The young motorist shuddered to think of the scoundrel's comprehensive
+plans, and of the part he had intended to make his prisoner play in
+them.
+
+Helen's reasoning was logical, and the expedient she had suggested was
+as simple as it was effective. By taking the Hawk away from Brady she
+would make it impossible for him to follow out his nefarious schemes.
+The beautiful simplicity of the countercheck aroused Matt's admiration.
+
+But how was the countercheck to be brought about? The appearance of
+Jerrold's air-ship over the swamp had made doubly difficult the work
+the girl was counting upon having done. Not only that, but the coming
+of the Eagle had increased Matt's peril. There was no doubt in the
+young motorist's mind but that Brady would go to any extreme in order
+to keep himself and his companions from being captured.
+
+All these different aspects of the situation floated through Motor
+Matt's mind swiftly. Two or three minutes after Brady had left the hut,
+and while Matt was still considering the problem that confronted the
+girl, Helen herself stole in through the door.
+
+Her face was haggard, but her eyes were bright and full of resolution.
+
+"You shouldn't be here," protested Matt. "Your father suspected
+something when he found you with me a little while ago and ordered you
+away. What if he should come back and see you here again?"
+
+"I don't think he'll come back, but I've got to take the risk, even if
+he does." The girl spoke quickly and steadily and made her way swiftly
+to Matt's side. "Dad has changed his plans--I was listening to all he
+said, out there at the back of the hut. He's going to use the Hawk to
+take us all away from the swamp, and _you're going to go on the Hawk's
+first trip_! That means that we must do what we can, at once. If we
+fail now, everything is lost."
+
+She was breathlessly eager, but her calmness at such a moment surprised
+Matt. Lifting her hands she took a small poniard from the bosom of her
+dress, bent down and severed the cords that secured Matt's hands. Then,
+with one downward stroke of the keen blade, she freed his feet.
+
+"Where are your father and the rest of the men?" asked Matt.
+
+Before she answered, Helen glided to the door and took a cautious look
+outside.
+
+"Some of the stolen goods have been hidden among the bushes of the
+swamp," said she, returning to Matt. "You are to be sent away with the
+loot, on the first trip, and dad himself will have to take you. He,
+and everybody except Whipple, have gone to the swamp. Whipple has a
+rifle and is guarding the Hawk. Whatever we do, Matt, we've got to do
+in a hurry. The bag of goods taken from Hartz & Greer is behind this
+hut," she pointed to an unglazed opening in the rear wall as she spoke.
+"While the rest are in the swamp, I will go to the Hawk and talk with
+Whipple, getting around on the other side of him so that his back will
+be in this direction. While I am holding his attention, you will creep
+up on him from behind and, between us, we will try and get the rifle.
+It's a desperate chance, but we will do the best we can."
+
+"You're a brave girl, Helen!" declared Matt.
+
+"I'm doing what I think is right, and that always helps a person's
+courage. I'm more worried about you than I am about myself. If anything
+should go wrong--if anything should happen to you because of the help
+you are giving me----"
+
+For the first time her voice faltered. Matt reached out and caught her
+hand reassuringly.
+
+"Don't fret about me," said he. "There won't be any trouble about my
+getting the best of Whipple, with you to help. Is the Hawk all ready
+for a flight? I mean is there plenty of gasoline in the tank, and
+plenty of oil?"
+
+"Yes, dad has seen to that. So far as the air-ship is concerned, it
+is ready to carry you quickly and safely out of the swamp. Now I will
+steal out of the hut and talk with Whipple."
+
+Once more she started for the door. Hardly had she reached it, however,
+when she drew back with a gasp of consternation. Turning, she beckoned
+to Matt.
+
+"Too late!" she whispered, her voice sharp with anguish and
+disappointment. "Oh, why have they come just at this time!"
+
+Matt glided quickly to her side and peered out through the half-opened
+door.
+
+What he saw was well calculated to discourage him and the girl.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+INTO THE SWAMP.
+
+
+Needham, Pete, Grove and Brady had not been long carrying out their
+work of recovering the cached goods. They were returning from the edge
+of the bushy timber, ascending the slight elevation of the "island" on
+their way to the Hawk, each bearing an armful of plunder.
+
+In his stealings, Brady had not bothered with bulky articles but had
+confined himself to "lifting" smaller and richer loot. The stuff was
+all in small sacks.
+
+As the men walked past the "roost" on their course to the air-ship,
+Matt and the girl withdrew from the door to avoid being seen. Through a
+crack in the wall, however, they were able to keep close track of what
+went on.
+
+On reaching the Hawk, the bundles were deposited on the ground.
+Whipple, leaning on his rifle, stood watching while the bags were
+heaped up at the side of the air-ship.
+
+For a few moments the villainous crew had their heads together in close
+and earnest conversation. Now and again their eyes were lifted aloft,
+evidently on the alert for some sign of the Eagle. Brady, it could
+be seen, did most of the talking. Suddenly, after a sharp scrutiny
+overhead, Brady whirled around and started for the hut.
+
+"He's coming after you!" half sobbed the girl.
+
+"What's the reason I can't escape through that window in the rear
+wall," asked Matt, hurriedly, "and take refuge in the swamp?"
+
+The idea seemed to electrify the girl.
+
+"I hadn't thought of that," she whispered, catching his arm and
+starting for the window. "The back of the hut is close to the trees and
+bushes on this side of the island, and I know something about the reefs
+of dry ground running through the swamp in the vicinity of this place.
+Come!" she added; "we must hurry."
+
+Her despair had vanished in a flash, and her steadiness and resolution
+had all come back. She climbed through the window and, as Matt
+followed, she was picking up a small bag that had stood close to the
+rear wall.
+
+Without speaking, and once more clasping his arm, she hurried him into
+the tangled bushes that came up to within a few feet of the hut. There,
+screened by a dense thicket, they paused to note further developments.
+
+Their position, of course, rendered it impossible for them to see the
+front of the hut, but they were so close they could hear Brady's oath
+of astonishment and alarm when he discovered that Matt was missing.
+
+The next moment Brady could be seen rushing around the side of the hut
+and a little way in the direction of the group standing beside the Hawk.
+
+"He's gone!" roared Brady. "The cub's got loose and skipped!"
+
+The rest were roused into frantic activity.
+
+"I'll sw'ar he didn't git out while I was watchin' the Hawk," cried
+Whipple. "Anyways, he can't be fur off."
+
+"Hustle around!" fumed Brady. "Get into the swamp, every man-jack of
+you, and find that whelp wherever he is. I wouldn't have him get clear
+for a thousand, cold!" All the gang forthwith became exceedingly busy.
+They darted off in various directions, and Brady himself, accompanied
+by Grove, started for the side of the island from which Matt and the
+girl were watching.
+
+"We'll have to get away from here!" breathed the girl, turning. "Follow
+me, Matt, and be careful where you step. If you're not careful, you may
+find yourself mired in the swamp."
+
+"Trust me for that," answered Matt. "I'll carry this," he added, taking
+the bag from the girl's hands.
+
+The swamp, into which they were now headed, presented a matted tangle
+of undergrowth growing among the trees. Through the bushes could be
+seen a glimmer of stagnant water, and the whole place seemed as dank
+and loathsome as a tropical jungle.
+
+The girl picked her way carefully, parting the bushes ahead of her and
+stepping from hummock to hummock. Finally they reached a little bare
+uplift of dry earth, and halted to listen. They could hear nothing of
+pursuit, and the girl drew a long breath of relief.
+
+"Dad don't know that I've explored this swamp," said she. "I have lived
+on the island for nearly six months--dad used to keep me here while he
+was doing his thieving in South Chicago, so I wouldn't be able to tell
+what I know and give him away, I guess."
+
+She sank down on the flat piece of turf for a few moments' rest. The
+ground, although dry, shivered under them as they moved, and seemed
+every moment as though about to give way beneath their weight and let
+them down into the morass.
+
+"This is a treacherous-looking place," remarked Matt, peering off into
+the trees and bushes that hemmed them in on every side.
+
+"It's all of that," replied the girl.
+
+"It would be easy for a person to get lost."
+
+"Not easy for me, as I know it too well."
+
+"If I can get away in the Hawk," went on Matt, after a brief silence,
+"this will make it necessary for you to go with me."
+
+"Why?" she queried, lifting her wide, dark eyes to his.
+
+"Can't you understand? Your father and his men will discover that you
+are not on the island, and they will suspect that you helped me out of
+the hut. What will your father do when he finds that out?"
+
+A shiver swept through the girl's slight form.
+
+"I suppose he will half kill me," she answered. "But I shall stay with
+him. I am his daughter, and it's my duty to be with him to the end."
+
+"You mustn't be foolish," said Matt, inclined to get out of patience.
+"You're carrying your idea of duty to your father altogether too far."
+
+"I've thought it all out," she answered firmly, "and my mind is made
+up. Please don't try to argue with me. It may not be possible for you
+to get away in the air-ship now," she added, with a sigh of regret.
+"If you can't, I will try and get you through the swamp. I don't know
+anything about it, though, after we get a little away from the island."
+
+"Then," proceeded Matt, not giving up his argument that Helen Brady
+should go away with him, "your father will be madder than ever when he
+finds out you have taken the goods stolen from Hartz & Greer."
+
+"That's what I expect, but it's right that the stuff should be
+returned. A person ought to have principles, Matt, and I don't think a
+person amounts to much if he or she can't stand a little suffering on
+account of their principles."
+
+"That's right, too," muttered Matt.
+
+"There's fifteen thousand dollars' worth of diamonds and jewelry in
+that bag," Helen went on, "and Hartz & Greer have offered a reward of
+twenty-five hundred to any one who will return the property."
+
+"That money will go to you," said Matt, promptly. "It's right that it
+should. Look at the risks you're taking to have it put into the hands
+of its rightful owners again! Some time, Helen, you will be rid of your
+father, and then the money will come handy."
+
+She was gazing at him steadily, and there was something of rebuke in
+her eyes.
+
+"You don't mean that, Matt," said she, quietly.
+
+"Why not?" he demanded.
+
+"Would it be right for me to take a reward for returning property my
+own father had stolen?"
+
+Matt was amazed by the simple directness of the girl's reasoning.
+And she was right, entirely right. Nevertheless it took one of fine
+character to reason and to act as the girl was doing.
+
+"If you succeed in getting away with the bag," Helen continued, "I want
+you to give it back to the rightful owners. Tell them it comes from
+Hector Brady's daughter, and that she hopes they will not be too hard
+on her father."
+
+"You bet I'll tell them," said Matt. "What's more, I'll get through
+this swamp on foot, if I have to, and I'll consider it a mighty fine
+thing to lug the bag along and turn it over to Hartz & Greer."
+
+"I felt sure you'd help me," murmured the girl. "There was something in
+your face that told me you could be depended on the moment I looked at
+you at the door of that Hoyne Street house."
+
+"Then the impression was mutual," said Matt. "If I hadn't read honesty
+in your face, along with a desire to help me, I'd have made a rush out
+of that room in the Hoyne Street place the moment I read your warning
+on the fly leaf of the book."
+
+"It was well you didn't do that. You'd have been caught. Pete was
+behind the window curtain all the time. That was why I had to write
+what I wanted you to know, and call your attention to it indirectly. If
+you had----"
+
+The girl was interrupted by a distant rustle of bushes. Stifling the
+words on her lips, she sprang erect.
+
+"Dad's coming this way," she whispered. "I don't think he has the least
+idea where we've gone, but he seems to be blundering in the right
+direction. We'll have to hurry on."
+
+Once more they resumed their flight, Matt carrying the bag and
+carefully following in his companion's footsteps.
+
+The way became increasingly difficult, and the bushes even denser than
+they had been at the point where they had entered the swamp. Then, too,
+the hummocks which offered them foothold became farther apart so that
+it was necessary to leap almost blindly through the brush in getting
+from one to another.
+
+Occasionally they halted and listened, but were unable to hear any
+sound behind them to indicate that Brady and Grove were still on the
+right track.
+
+Just as Matt was congratulating himself that they had again eluded
+their pursuers, a cry from the girl, muffled but full of distress,
+reached him.
+
+Between him and her a screen of bushes intervened, and the cry had come
+a moment after she had taken a headlong plunge through the leafy tangle.
+
+Not knowing what could have happened, and fearing the worst, Matt
+shifted the bag to his other arm, drew his leather cap well down over
+his forehead so that the visor would protect his eyes, and leaped
+boldly after the girl.
+
+By good luck, rather than by any calculation on his part, he landed on
+a shaking hummock, and found that Helen had plunged into the watery
+morass.
+
+Dropping the bag, he reached down, grasped her about the waist and
+dragged her from the clutching grip of the swamp.
+
+"We'll have to go back," were the girl's first words, as he held her on
+the narrow foothold.
+
+"Why?" he asked.
+
+She waved her hand in the direction toward which they were going.
+
+An open space, clear of trees and bushes, lay before them--a veritable
+quagmire with not a place in all its extent where they could set their
+feet.
+
+They would have to go back! With Brady and Grove on one side of them,
+and this impassable bog on the other, it looked as though they had been
+caught between two fires.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+A DESPERATE CHANCE.
+
+
+Once more the girl was plunged into despair.
+
+"We'll have to give up," she whispered, tearfully. "We have tried hard,
+but luck is against us. For several minutes we have been traveling over
+ground I know nothing about. When I saw that open stretch of swamp, my
+heart failed me and I fell off the firm ground. You see what a horrible
+place this is, Matt!"
+
+"Isn't there any way to get around to the other side of the island?" he
+asked.
+
+"Yes, we could have done that, but I was trying to take you as far as I
+could toward the other edge of the swamp."
+
+"We'll have to give that up, now, and work our way around the island."
+
+"In going back," faltered the girl, "we may meet dad and Grove!"
+
+"We must take the chance," he answered; "there's nothing else for it."
+
+"And in going around the island," proceeded the girl, dejectedly, "we
+may meet some of the others who are looking for us."
+
+"That's another risk we will have to run. Come on," he continued,
+picking up the bag. "I'll lead the way back."
+
+"You've got a way about you," said Helen, "that gives a person courage."
+
+"A fellow would be a pretty poor stick," returned Matt, "who couldn't
+keep his nerve with a girl like you to help him."
+
+Helen's dress was torn by the bushes, and her hands and face were
+scratched and bleeding; but she seemed to mind her physical discomforts
+very little, so eager was she to have Matt's escape prove successful.
+
+Listening intently for any sounds made by Brady and Grove, Matt and the
+girl started back over the course they had recently covered.
+
+They had not gone far when the sounds they feared came to them. As they
+stood together and listened, they could hear Brady and Grove talking
+back and forth. Their voices, and the crashing of the bushes, were
+growing rapidly in volume, and proved that they were coming closer.
+
+The girl began to tremble. Matt pressed her hand reassuringly. Off to
+the right of the course they had been following his quick eye detected
+a foothold among the matted bushes. He pointed it out to his companion.
+
+"Get there, quick!" he whispered.
+
+She leaped for the spot at once, and he was not slow in following her.
+Then, crouching down, they peered through the thicket.
+
+Brady came jumping into sight, clutching a revolver in his hand.
+
+"I'm positive I heard something ahead, Grove!" he cried.
+
+"It must be King, then," answered Grove, floundering along in the rear.
+"He's been makin' a better hike of it through this blasted swamp than I
+ever thought he could."
+
+"There's an open stretch farther along," went on Brady, grimly.
+"That'll stop him, and we'll have him in a few minutes."
+
+Brady leaped out of sight, and Grove likewise jumped past and vanished.
+
+The girl had scarcely breathed while the two men were so close to them.
+
+"Now we've got a chance," whispered Matt. "While they're going on
+toward that open part of the swamp, we'll get back toward the island
+and double around it."
+
+"We won't have to go far, now," rejoined the girl, her hopes rising,
+"before we can turn to the right and start around the island."
+
+Matt continued to lead the way back, making the best time he possibly
+could. When the girl called softly to him, he stopped.
+
+"Here's where we turn," said she. "I'd better go ahead from now on."
+
+He waited for her to gain his side, then followed as she continued to
+make her way onward through the bewildering tangle. Time and again
+Matt, if alone, would have lost his bearings, but Helen, being on
+familiar ground, was never for one moment at a loss.
+
+Their one fear now was that they should encounter some of the others
+who were searching, but they heard nothing to cause them the slightest
+uneasiness.
+
+At last, after half an hour of tiring work, Helen drew to a halt.
+
+"We're about opposite the place where the air-ship is moored," said she.
+
+"That's where we want to be," answered Matt. "Make for the edge of the
+island, Helen, as close to the air-ship as you can get."
+
+Once more the girl started off. The bushes thinned perceptibly as they
+came closer and closer to the solid ground. This rendered the going
+easier, and it also enabled Matt and the girl to make less noise in
+getting through the undergrowth. In nearing the island they redoubled
+their caution, and when they finally reached a spot from which they
+could look out and take in the situation in the vicinity of the "roost"
+and the air-ship, they congratulated themselves on the care they had
+exercised.
+
+They were not more than a dozen feet from the place where the Hawk was
+secured.
+
+Two rifles were leaning against the car, and two of the men--Grove and
+Needham--were sitting on the ground, occasionally looking aloft.
+
+Brady, Whipple and Pete were no where in sight.
+
+"We must have crippled that air-ship of Jerrold's pretty badly,"
+Needham was saying. "If King hadn't made this delay for us, the Hawk
+would have been well away on her first trip."
+
+"That kid is a slippery customer," growled Grove. "The old man is riled
+for fair over the way he's cuttin' up."
+
+"What's the use o' botherin' with him? The thing to do is to cut out o'
+this an' leave King in the swamp."
+
+"I reckon Brady'd do that, if it wasn't for the bag of loot King seems
+to have taken along with him."
+
+Both men had thrown off their hats, and Grove was nursing a number of
+scratches on his face and hands.
+
+"We had a rough time of it," said he, "an' the old man sent me back
+to find out if any of the rest had had any success. If King had been
+found, I was to fire a signal-shot with one of the rifles."
+
+"Hang the luck, anyhow!" snorted Needham. "It was the worst thing Brady
+ever done when he tangled up with King. The lad has a will of his own,
+an' I knew well enough he'd never take hold an' help us out runnin' the
+motor."
+
+"King has got more backbone than any fellow of his age I ever saw, and
+that's a fact. The girl must have helped him. And that's another place
+where Brady has been lame, all along. He ought to have sent the girl
+away, somewhere. She hasn't got any business hanging out with a gang
+like this."
+
+While Matt had been watching and listening, he had been turning over
+several plans in his mind. Here was a chance, albeit a desperate one,
+for getting hold of the air-ship.
+
+He turned to the girl.
+
+"Helen," he whispered, "I'm going to see if I can't capture the Hawk."
+
+"You can't," she returned, fearfully. "Grove and Needham are armed
+and--and they'll shoot."
+
+"They can't shoot if I get hold of those rifles first," went on Matt,
+still speaking in guarded tones.
+
+"How will you do that?"
+
+"Their backs are toward us. I'll creep as close to the Hawk as I can,
+then, if they hear me, as they probably will, I'll make a rush for the
+guns."
+
+The girl was silent for a moment.
+
+"There's nothing else to be done," she whispered, at last. "Count on
+me, Matt, to do whatever I can to help."
+
+"You keep back, Helen," he counseled. "If I succeed in getting the
+guns, I won't need your help; if I don't, your help would do little
+good. Here I go."
+
+Slowly and cautiously Matt crept out of the bushes. The car of the
+air-ship was between him and the men, and this served to screen him,
+up to a certain point; but the two rifles were leaning against the
+opposite side of the car, and in order to lay hold of them he would
+either have to go around the long framework, or else cross the car. He
+made up his mind to take the latter course.
+
+Without being discovered, he managed to reach the side of the car;
+then, just as he was rising to step over the rail, Needham caught sight
+of him.
+
+With a wild yell Needham gained his feet. The yell brought Grove up
+like a shot. For an instant, the two rascals were paralyzed by the
+unexpected appearance of Matt. Their moment of inaction afforded the
+young motorist just the opportunity he needed.
+
+Flinging himself into the car, and across it, he snatched the rifles
+away from the rail, just as the hands of Grove and Needham were
+outstretched to take them.
+
+One of the weapons he flung behind him.
+
+"Nail him!" cried Grove; "down him, before he gets a chance to shoot!"
+
+Needham, no less than Grove, realized the necessity of capturing Matt.
+Matt, however, had no intention of using the remaining rifle on either
+of the two men; neither did he have it in mind to let them get away, or
+rough-handle him.
+
+As the two rushed forward, Matt flung the rifle to his shoulder, and
+his gray eye sparkled menacingly along the barrel.
+
+"Keep off!" he warned, swaying the muzzle of the gun back and forth
+so as to keep both men under it; "keep away from me and stand right
+where you are! I mean business, right from the drop of the hat, and you
+fellows might as well understand it."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+A DARING ESCAPE.
+
+
+The menace of the steady gray eye and the swaying gun muzzle were
+enough for Grove and Needham.
+
+"Here's a go!" growled Needham, casting a yearning look around him toward
+the timber.
+
+"I'm going to make a 'go' of it, all right," averred Matt, grimly, "no
+two ways about that. What are you doing with your right hand, Needham?"
+
+Needham's hand had wandered toward his hip. Matt was watching both
+scoundrels so sharply that not a move they made escaped him.
+
+Needham brought his hand around in front of him.
+
+"What are you trying to do, King?" queried Grove, evidently seeking
+to gain time and give Brady, Pete or Whipple a chance to come on the
+scene.
+
+"I'm trying to get away from this place," replied Matt, "and I've not
+much time to waste in talk. I guess you know that fully as well as I
+do."
+
+Still keeping the rifle trained on the two men, he climbed out of the
+car to the ground.
+
+"Now," he went on, "I'll tell you fellows what you're to do, and then
+we'll be able to work quicker. You will both get into the car, and get
+in together so that I can cover you more easily with this one gun.
+Needham will then place his back against the upright timber that helps
+suspend the car from the hoop--and mind you take the timber farthest
+from the driver's seat. On the bottom of the car there's a coil of
+small rope. With that, Grove will tie Needham to the upright. Is that
+clear?"
+
+"Why, what the blazes----" began Grove, but Matt cut him short.
+
+"There's no time for talk, I tell you!" he called, sharply. "Brady and
+the other two may show up here, and I'm going to have this work done
+before that happens."
+
+"But----"
+
+"Get into the car!"
+
+Matt's finger flexed ever so slightly upon the trigger of the gun. The
+watchful eyes of Grove and Needham detected the movement and both made
+haste to tumble into the car.
+
+"I'd give a farm to know what you've got up your sleeve," growled
+Needham, as he backed slowly against the upright timber.
+
+"Move more quickly," warned Matt, "or you'll find what I've got in this
+gun. I used to be in Arizona, and I know how they deal with matters of
+this sort down there. They're not in the habit of wasting so many words
+as I'm doing. Pick up that rope, Grove," he added, "and get busy with
+it. Mind you tie hard knots! No fast-and-loose plays at this stage of
+the game."
+
+Grove was a bit languid in his operations, and as he worked he gave
+more attention to the quarters from which Brady, Pete and Whipple might
+be expected than he did to the tying of Needham.
+
+"Grove," called Matt, sternly, "I'm not going to bother much more with
+you! Move faster, and pass some of that rope around Needham's arms. I
+don't want his hands left free. Pull the coils tighter."
+
+After a fashion, Grove got his comrade tied.
+
+"Will that do you?" he demanded, gruffly, turning to glare at Matt.
+
+"That will answer. Now turn your back to Needham's."
+
+"Say, by thunder I'm not going to stand for----"
+
+"_Turn your back!_"
+
+Matt shoved the muzzle of the rifle toward Grove's breast, and the man
+made haste to place himself against the upright piece of the car's
+framework.
+
+It was Matt's intention, then, to drop the rifle and proceed with the
+tying of Grove himself, but the girl suddenly appeared and climbed into
+the car.
+
+"I'll do the rest, Matt," said she, picking up the loose end of the
+rope.
+
+Matt had planned to have the girl remain in the thicket, taking no part
+in his operations; but she had different ideas.
+
+Grove and Needham both glared at the girl.
+
+"The old man will make you sorry for this!" fumed Grove.
+
+"I expect he will," replied the girl. "He has made me sorry for a lot
+of things lately."
+
+Around and around the bodies of the two men Helen coiled the rope.
+Then, when she had come to the end of it, she made it fast with a knot.
+
+Pausing a moment after she had finished, she drew a revolver out of
+Needham's hip-pocket and dropped it on the driver's seat.
+
+"You had better have that in your own hands, Matt," said she, quietly.
+"It will be easier to handle than the rifle."
+
+"Don't get out of the car, Helen," called Matt, as the girl was about
+to climb over the rail. "You can't stay here after this."
+
+"I can and I must."
+
+Her resolve to remain with her father was unshaken; but there was
+a bright light in her eyes which Matt had not seen there before.
+Evidently the success that was attending Matt's plans to get away with
+the air-ship had lifted a grievous load from her spirits.
+
+Walking around the car, Helen picked up the bag which they had taken
+with them into the swamp.
+
+"This must go with you, Matt," she continued, pushing the bag under the
+driver's seat, "along with the rest of the stuff piled up on the ground
+there."
+
+While she was on that side of the car she cast off the mooring-rope and
+flung it into the air-ship.
+
+Matt dropped the rifle and released the rope on the other side.
+
+The Hawk was now in readiness to take to flight. With nothing to hold
+it, the gas-bag began to feel the effects of the wind that was blowing
+and to move about in answer to the faint gusts. But it rode on an even
+keel, for its buoyancy had to be accelerated by the propeller before it
+would rise, or could be maneuvered.
+
+The girl had started toward the bags, heaped up on the ground. Before
+she could reach them, however, a loud yell from the opposite side of
+the island caused her to halt in consternation.
+
+"Dad!" she cried, wildly; "he's coming!"
+
+"Brady! This way, quick!"
+
+The clamoring whoops went up from Needham and Grove as they struggled
+fiercely to free themselves.
+
+Matt, seeing that there was not an instant to be lost, leaped into the
+car and tilted the steering-rudder at an angle which would carry the
+air-ship upward.
+
+"Come along!" he shouted to the girl as he started the engine. "Get
+into the car, Helen!"
+
+"Hurry, hurry!" screamed the girl, running directly away from the car
+and in the direction of Brady and Pete, who were making for the Hawk at
+a run.
+
+A pang of regret ran through Matt at the thought of leaving Helen Brady
+behind to bear the brunt of her father's anger; but there was no time
+for argument. He started the propeller, and the Hawk began to move up
+the airy incline toward the tops of the trees that walled in the edge
+of the "island."
+
+The struggles of Matt's two prisoners became desperately frantic. So
+violently did they wrestle with their bonds that the car tipped and
+swayed dangerously. Matt had no time to give to them, just then, being
+wholly wrapped up in the maneuvering of the Hawk.
+
+He gave the rudder a further tilt, throwing the air-ship to an angle
+that caused Grove's feet to slip from under him, so that only the
+support of the rope and the upright held him to his place.
+
+"Shoot!" he bellowed. "Why don't you blaze away at him, Brady?"
+
+Brady had evidently held his fire, hoping to get the air-ship back
+without injury; and, even now, as his rifle and Pete's began to crack
+murderously, the target of their bullets was Matt.
+
+Two or three of the leaden spheres zipped past Matt's head, missing
+him by the narrowest of margins. Strangely enough, however, Matt was
+more worried about the harm the bullets might do the gas-bag, or the
+machinery, than he was about any damage they might do him.
+
+Faster and faster he speeded up the engine, and the Hawk raced toward
+the clouds. She cleared the tops of the trees, gained the clear sky,
+and, at a height of five hundred feet, was brought to an even keel.
+
+Then, and not till then, did Matt venture a look below. He was just in
+time to catch one fleeting glimpse of those he had left behind on the
+"island." What he saw aroused his anger and indignation.
+
+Helen, still true to her resolve to help Matt, had seized hold of her
+father's rifle and was struggling to keep him from using it. The minute
+figures were strangely clear, and Matt saw Brady lift his fist and
+strike the girl down. Then the tops of the trees interposed and cut off
+the unpleasant sight. Matt faced about, a steely glint in his gray eyes.
+
+"Here's a fine lay out!" Grove was clamoring, far gone with chagrin
+and baffled rage. "One kid, single-handed, captures two of us and runs
+off with the air-ship, right under the noses of Brady and the rest!
+Oh, well, we're entitled to all we get out of this. We don't deserve
+anything better."
+
+"You'll get something more than you expect," said Matt, picking up the
+revolver and pushing it into his pocket, "if you don't stop squirming
+around like that. It's hard to steer when you're rocking the car in
+such a fashion. You fellows are my prisoners, so make the best of it."
+
+"Yes," growled Grove, "and us two aeronauts will have a fine tale to
+tell when you take us where you're going to. You've stolen this car.
+That'll cook your goose for you."
+
+"Brady," answered Matt, "can have his air-ship back whenever he wants
+to show up and claim it."
+
+There followed a brief silence, during which Matt noted that the wind
+was brisk, and from the north, and exulted over the speed the Hawk
+developed in the teeth of it.
+
+Needham was first to break the silence.
+
+"If I had my hat, and was able," said he, craning his head around to
+get a look at Matt, "I'd take it off to you."
+
+The lad in the driver's seat made no response. He was hurrying toward
+South Chicago.
+
+Where was the Eagle? The skies in every direction were clear and the
+other air-ship was nowhere to be seen.
+
+Motor Matt, as he drove the air-ship steadily against the wind, kept
+close watch of the captured aeronauts.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+THE END OF THE MID-AIR TRAIL.
+
+
+The failure of Carl, Harris and Jerrold to make a landing on the
+"island" has already been recorded.
+
+They had seen the Hawk, moored at one edge of the cleared space,
+and they had seen Brady and the others; but, of course, it had been
+impossible for them to see anything of Matt. The young motorist, at
+that time, was bound hand and foot and lying on the cot in the hut.
+
+With bullets flying around them and threatening injury to the Eagle,
+it was not policy to remain hovering over such a nest of desperate
+scoundrels very long.
+
+"We'll get out of here," cried Harris, angrily, "and come back with men
+and guns enough to give those fellows a taste of their own medicine.
+Don't let any harm come to the air-ship, Jerrold. We're going to need
+her, later."
+
+Just as Harris finished speaking, a bullet slapped into the motor and
+the machinery at once began to go wrong.
+
+"Too late," responded Jerrold grimly; "they've already nipped us."
+
+"Py chimineddy," roared Carl, "I vish I hat somet'ing vat I could shoot
+mit ad dem fillains!"
+
+Limping and staggering, Jerrold managed to urge the Eagle out of harm's
+way.
+
+"She won't drop on us, will she?" asked Harris, looking anxiously
+downward at the tree-tops.
+
+"No," replied Jerrold, "the gas-bag is uninjured, so we can't fall; and
+the motor is working, too, after a fashion, and that enables us to make
+a slow rate of speed. But there will have to be some repairs before we
+can do anything more with the air-ship."
+
+"Where'll we go to make them? Back to South Chicago?"
+
+"Lake Station is nearer. We'll come down there and ascertain the extent
+of the damage. It may be that we shall have to go back to South Chicago
+if the injury is at all serious."
+
+"All right," acquiesced Harris. "I'll be able to do some telephoning
+and get a few more men out here from headquarters. I'll have them bring
+rifles, and then we'll give Brady a set-to that he'll remember."
+
+"I ditn't see Matt in der blace," mourned Carl.
+
+"He may have been there," said Harris. "There were two sheds, and they
+may be keeping your chum a prisoner in one of them."
+
+"Vell, vile ve're avay fixing oop der Eagle, meppy dose fellers pack
+dere vill fly off mit demselufs in der Hawk. Oof dey do dot, den ve
+vill have some drouple for our pains."
+
+"We shall have to keep watch of the sky in the direction of the swamp,"
+said Jerrold. "By doing that we can tell whether or not the Hawk gets
+away."
+
+Carl made that his work.
+
+"I don'd know how I can see mit der naked eye ven ve ged py Lake
+Sdation," he remarked.
+
+"We'll have to hunt up a spyglass, or a pair of binoculars," suggested
+Harris.
+
+"Vat oof der Hawk moofs pefore we ged dem?"
+
+"Then we'll be up against it, and no mistake."
+
+There was a lot of excitement in the little town of Lake Station when a
+real, sure enough air-ship descended close to the blacksmith shop. The
+whole population gathered and stared.
+
+While Jerrold was busy tinkering with his crippled motor, Carl
+succeeded in finding an old-fashioned spyglass and climbed with it
+to the top of the highest building in town. There he perched himself
+on the edge of the roof and watched continually in the direction of
+Willoughby's swamp.
+
+Meanwhile, Harris had been talking with police headquarters in South
+Chicago. As a result, three officers were detailed to catch the first
+train for Lake Station.
+
+The repairs to be made to the Eagle were somewhat extensive, and taxed
+the capacity of the blacksmith shop. Had Jerrold been in his own
+workroom he could have fixed up the motor more easily and quickly, but
+to take the Eagle back to South Chicago would have resulted in a loss
+of time.
+
+Hour after hour the inventor labored, helped by the blacksmith and
+eyed with wonder by the townspeople. The detail of officers arrived,
+and they could do nothing but wait until the Eagle was ready to carry
+them to the "island" in the swamp. Any attempt to reach the "island" on
+foot was hardly to be considered.
+
+While Jerrold's labors were nearing completion, a yell from Carl called
+the attention of Harris.
+
+"What's the matter with you?" he shouted.
+
+Carl was dancing around on the roof top, waving the spyglass
+frantically.
+
+"Come oop!" he cried, wildly. "Der Hawk is gedding avay mit itseluf!
+Ach, plazes, vat a luck!"
+
+Harris made haste to reach the top of the building where Carl had been
+patiently waiting and watching.
+
+"Pud der spyglass to your eye, Harris," said Carl, "und look off to der
+nort'. Ach, dose fellers haf made some ged-avays, und I bed you dey
+have dook Matt along!"
+
+With the glass at his eye, Harris swept the horizon in the direction
+indicated by Carl. Finally he found what he was looking for--an
+oblong blot gliding through the heavens and proceeding in a northerly
+direction.
+
+"That's the Hawk, all right," said he, in a tone of intense
+disappointment, "but why is it heading in that direction?"
+
+"Prady vouldn't dare go pack by Sout' Chicago," said Carl. "I bed you
+somet'ing for nodding he has got anodder hang-oudt in dot tirections.
+Ach, vat vill I do for dot bard oof mine?"
+
+Gloomily the two descended from the roof, and Carl returned the
+spyglass to its owner.
+
+Half an hour later the Eagle was ready for flight, and the officers and
+Carl got aboard. It was decided to proceed to the swamp and look over
+the "island" and then, if nothing of importance developed, to return to
+South Chicago.
+
+The Eagle's motor, apparently, worked as well as ever, and the four
+miles separating Willoughby's swamp from Lake Station were covered in
+record time.
+
+As they neared the "island" the officers made ready to use their
+guns. There was no hostile demonstration, however, and not a soul was
+anywhere in sight. The Eagle descended, and the officers, accompanied
+by the anxious Carl, proceeded to make a search.
+
+They found nothing but two meagerly furnished houses, apparently
+recently deserted. Silence reigned everywhere, ominous of events that
+had happened.
+
+"Vell," said Carl, gloomily, "dis means dot I haf got to do some more
+looking for Modor Matt. Der gang haf made off mit him some more, und I
+vas so tisappointed as I can't dell."
+
+For that matter, they were all disappointed--Jerrold in particular.
+Motor Matt had served Jerrold well, and the inventor had been anxious
+to make him some repayment in kind.
+
+But there was nothing left for the air-ship party to do but to point
+the Eagle toward home. As the air-ship passed the rolling mills and
+came close to the balloon house where Brady had formerly housed the
+Hawk, it was observed by those in the car that the doors of the big
+building were closed, and that two officers had mounted guard in front
+of them.
+
+"That means something," muttered Harris. "Drop lower, Jerrold, so I can
+talk with those two cops."
+
+Jerrold descended until the top of the car was nearly on a level with
+the balloon house, and Harris leaned over the guard rail.
+
+"Hello!" he called. "What are you fellows doing there?"
+
+"Watching the air-ship," was the astounding answer.
+
+"Do you mean to say that Brady's air-ship is in that balloon house?"
+
+"Sure."
+
+"Has Brady been captured?"
+
+"Why, no. You went after him, didn't you?"
+
+"We went after him, but he and his men fired on us and damaged our
+motor. We went to Lake Station to fix the machinery, and while we were
+there we caught sight of the Hawk, through a spyglass, making north. As
+soon as we could, we started for the swamp, but there was no one there.
+Naturally, we supposed that Brady and his gang had made their escape,
+and it's mighty surprising to hear that the Hawk is back in its old
+cage and didn't bring Brady along."
+
+"The Hawk brought Motor Matt----"
+
+Carl gave a yell and nearly fell out of the car.
+
+"Modor Matt?" he shouted. "Vas you shdringing me, oder iss it shdraight
+goots?"
+
+"I'm giving it to you straight," answered the officer on the ground.
+"Motor Matt got away from the swamp and brought two prisoners with him,
+in the Hawk. They were two of the men who robbed Jerrold of his plans."
+
+"Zum lauderbach haben, mich shtets----" began Carl, singing loudly and
+then interrupting himself to gloat. "Dot's my bard vat dit dot! Yah,
+so! Leedle Modor Matt who iss alvays doing t'ings vat you don'd oxbect.
+He has shtarred himseluf some more, you bed you! Vere iss Modor Matt
+now, officer?" Carl called down.
+
+"He took a train into Chicago--said he was behind his schedule for that
+five-day race. The two prisoners are at police headquarters."
+
+"Well, by thunder!" muttered Harris, mopping his face with a red
+handkerchief, "that Motor Matt must be a regular young phenomenon!"
+
+"I never heard of anything to beat him!" averred Jerrold.
+
+"Und you nefer vill!" declared Carl. "He iss vone oof dose fellers vat
+can't be peat."
+
+"You might take us to police headquarters, Jerrold," suggested Harris.
+
+"Und you mighdt shtop on der vay py der railroadt sdation," piped Carl.
+"I vant to ged py Chicago so kevick as der nation vill led me."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+When Carl next saw Matt, the young motorist was spinning around the
+great oval in a Jarrot machine, which he knew so well and had driven
+to victory in Kansas. The five-day race was not for one driver alone,
+but several drivers were to be at the steering wheel of each car. Matt
+had reached the Coliseum just in time to take his place in the racing
+schedule.
+
+Every time Matt whirled around the oval, Carl had something to say
+to him, but it was not until evening that the boys were able to get
+together for a talk.
+
+They decided between them that Brady, and those whom Matt had left on
+the "island," must have made their escape from the swamp by a secret
+route known only to themselves.
+
+Where Harper, the driver of the Hawk was, was likewise a mystery to the
+police.
+
+Matt had turned the bag of loot stolen from Hartz & Greer over to the
+police with instructions to say that it was recovered by Miss Brady,
+and that no reward would be accepted for its return.
+
+"How you tink dot air-ship pitzness is, anyvays, Matt?" asked Carl,
+when the boys had had their talk out and were ready to crawl into bed.
+
+"I _like_ it," answered Matt, enthusiastically, "and I wish I could
+have more of it!"
+
+His wish was destined to fulfillment, for, as events proved, his
+thrilling work in South Chicago and at Willoughby's swamp was but
+the beginning of a series of air-ship experiences. Matt may have
+congratulated himself with the thought that he was through with Hector
+Brady, but Brady was by no means done with Matt--as will be made clear
+in the story to follow.
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+THE NEXT NUMBER (10) WILL CONTAIN
+
+Motor Matt's Hard Luck;
+
+OR,
+
+THE BALLOON-HOUSE PLOT.
+
+  An Old Friend--A Trap--Overboard--Rescued--Buying the Hawk--Matt
+  Scores Against Jameson--At the Balloon House--The Plot of the Brady
+  Gang--Carl is Surprised--Helen Brady's Clue--Jerrold Gives His
+  Aid--Grand Haven--The Line On Brady--The Woods by the River--Brady a
+  Prisoner--Back in South Chicago.
+
+
+
+
+MOTOR STORIES
+
+THRILLING ADVENTURE MOTOR FICTION
+
+
+NEW YORK, April 24, 1909.
+
+TERMS TO MOTOR STORIES MAIL SUBSCRIBERS.
+
+(_Postage Free._)
+
+Single Copies or Back Numbers, 5c. Each.
+
+  3 months                    65c.
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+  6 months                 $1.25
+  One year                  2.50
+  2 copies one year         4.00
+  1 copy two years          4.00
+
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+letter, bank check or draft, at our risk. At your own risk if sent by
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+
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+of number on your label. If not correct you have not been properly
+credited, and should let us know at once.
+
+  ORMOND G. SMITH, }
+  GEORGE C. SMITH, } _Proprietors_.
+
+  STREET & SMITH, Publishers,
+  79-89 Seventh Avenue, New York City.
+
+
+
+
+THE BIG CYPRESS.
+
+
+The rifle cracked and the piece of boiler plate, which had been erected
+as target against the bank fifty yards away, fell shattered like a pane
+of glass.
+
+"How's that, Colonel Fearon?" coolly inquired the young fellow, who had
+fired the shot, as he turned to the tall, sallow-faced man who stood
+beside him.
+
+A curious expression crossed the latter's face, but he answered
+quickly, "Amazing, Rutherford! Simply astonishing. I could never have
+believed such a thing possible. A pom-pom shell could hardly have
+smashed the plate more effectually."
+
+The boy--he was hardly more--laughed. "I thought it would startle you,
+colonel. Will you feel justified in sending me up to Washington?"
+
+"I reckon that's the place for you to go to, Rutherford. The war
+department'll need that new bullet of yours in their business. You mean
+to tell me you invented that bullet all by yourself?"
+
+"I did, colonel. You see, I was always fond of dabbling in chemistry
+and the idea for this came to me one day when I was at work in my
+father's store. I didn't worry about it much, until the poor old man
+went broke, and then it struck me there was money in it. It was the
+mayor of our town, Orangeville, told me to come to you. He said that
+you could give me the proper introductions."
+
+"He was right," said Colonel Fearon. "I can fix you up with the proper
+people. Let me have a shot."
+
+Lionel Rutherford handed the colonel a cartridge, which outwardly
+looked precisely similar to an ordinary rifle cartridge. He then walked
+across the lawn of fine Bermuda grass, put a fresh piece of steel plate
+in position, and came back.
+
+The colonel fired, and, as before, the tough steel simply sprang to
+pieces and lay in scattered fragments on the grass.
+
+"I reckon there's more money in this than in keeping store," said the
+colonel thoughtfully. "Rutherford, I'll be pleased if you'll stay here
+at my house for a day or two till I can write to the proper people."
+
+Young Rutherford thanked him warmly and the two walked back toward the
+long, low, wide verandaed house.
+
+Late that night the colonel and his son, Randal Fearon, sat together in
+the well-appointed smoking room and talked earnestly in low tones.
+
+"There's thousands in it, father," said the younger man sharply.
+"Thousands!"
+
+"I know that as well as yourself," returned the other irritably. "But
+the invention's not yours or mine."
+
+"What's Rutherford?" sneered Randal. "Here he is, a fellow who's never
+known anything of life, who's lived all his days in a little one-horse
+backwoods town, and now he's going to roll in riches while we are on
+the edge of bankruptcy."
+
+He paused, and glanced at his father, who sat fidgeting uneasily. The
+colonel, fine-looking man that he was, was as weak-willed as his tall,
+thin, sharp-faced son was strong.
+
+"A real nice scandal there'll be when we go smash," went on Randal
+Fearon. "Think of the headlines. 'Fraudulent Bankruptcy. Prominent
+Floridian lives beyond his means.' How the yellow press'll revel in it!"
+
+Again the colonel moved uneasily. "I don't see how you're going to get
+the specifications from him, anyhow," he said at last.
+
+"You leave that to me," replied Randal with sneering emphasis.
+
+"Look you here, Randal, I won't have any violence." For once Colonel
+Fearon spoke decidedly.
+
+"I guess you needn't worry your head about that," answered Randal.
+"I've got the whole plan cut and dried. You've asked him to stay?"
+
+"Yes," said the colonel. "He will stay."
+
+Randal laughed as if pleased. "That's all right. To-morrow we'll settle
+it, Pete Dally and I."
+
+"How?"
+
+"I'll tell you in the morning. Don't worry yourself. As you are so
+anxious to avoid it, I promise you there shall be no violence."
+
+Randal chuckled in ugly fashion as he got up, flung the stump of his
+cigar into the fireplace, and, lighting a small hand lamp, left the
+room.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"How much farther have we got to go before we run into any of this game
+you talked about, Mr. Fearon?" asked Rutherford as he stopped and wiped
+the perspiration from his streaming face.
+
+"I thought we'd have seen a buck before now," replied Randal Fearon.
+"We don't often have to come this far into the Big Cypress to find
+game, do we, Pete?"
+
+"No, sah; we gen'rally finds it quite clos' to the aidge of de swamp,"
+said Pete, who was a burly, square-shouldered negro with a face as
+black as ebony.
+
+Rutherford was rather puzzled. That morning Randal Fearon had suggested
+that it would be very good fun to go shooting in the Big Cypress, a
+huge tract of wild, swampy forest, the edge of which was about five
+miles from Colonel Fearon's place.
+
+"You might try the effect of some of your explosive bullets," Randal
+had suggested; and Rutherford had laughed and said that there wouldn't
+be much left of any game smaller than a buffalo or an elephant if
+struck by one of his projectiles.
+
+All the same, being a keen sportsman, he had willingly agreed to the
+shoot. What puzzled him was that they should have tramped for hours
+through this steaming bush, which reeked with signs of game, and yet
+not seen a single thing to shoot at.
+
+"Don't you worry. We shall find deer soon," said Randal when Rutherford
+expressed his astonishment. "We're getting near a good place now. I
+reckon we'd better stop and eat our dinner first. Pete, make a fire."
+
+Pete Dally dropped the big haversack he was carrying over his broad
+shoulders, and obeyed. In a very few minutes a fire was blazing,
+and the fragrant fumes of frying bacon and strong coffee filled the
+close, steamy air. Lionel Rutherford, tired by the long tramp and the
+hot-house atmosphere of the jungle, enjoyed the meal greatly.
+
+After they had finished they marched on again. They had left the pine
+trees behind, and were pushing along a narrow track through a forest
+of great ilex, bastard oak, and magnolia. The undergrowth was of saw
+palmetto, growing in huge, impenetrable clumps, among which the muddy
+track wound in and out.
+
+The scent of yellow jasmine was almost stifling, but the only life
+visible was an occasional cardinal bird with its vivid crimson
+plumage, or a stub-tailed water moccasin which raised its triangular,
+copper-hued head with an ugly hiss and dragged itself sluggishly out of
+sight among the tangled herbage.
+
+The path was so narrow that they were compelled to walk in single file.
+Randal made Pete lead the way. More than once the negro had tried to
+drop behind, but each time Randal roughly ordered him to push ahead.
+
+The silence of the swamp grew as oppressive as the intense heat. It
+began to get upon young Rutherford's nerves.
+
+"A tough place to get lost in," he said at last.
+
+Randal turned quickly. There was a queer expression on his sharp face
+as he replied:
+
+"Yes, pretty bad, I reckon."
+
+Somehow, Rutherford fancied there was something sinister in his tone.
+
+"I don't like the chap," he thought to himself. "I wish I hadn't come."
+Then common sense got the better of his fears. "It's the place, not the
+people, that's worrying me. These big hamaks are worse than a desert.
+There you can see the sky; here it's like one great, green prison."
+
+"Look out, sah. Dah's a wild cat in dat tree," suddenly hissed Pete
+Dally, and slipped out of the path into the thicket. "Quiet or youse
+done frighten him."
+
+Rutherford, all excitement, slipped his rifle from his shoulder.
+
+But Randal barred his way. He was standing still, peering up into the
+tree indicated.
+
+"Where? I don't see it," he exclaimed harshly.
+
+"Dere it am, sah. On dat big fork," declared Pete, pointing. And then
+as Randal stepped forward, the negro slipped back round a clump of
+palmetto, and Rutherford felt a hand fall sharply on his arm, while
+these words were whispered in his ear:
+
+"Dat man mean you no good, sah. Watch me, an' doan' do what he say."
+
+He turned in amazement, but Peter was already gone. He had glided back,
+and was standing at Randal's elbow, pointing out the exact spot where
+he alleged he had seen the cat.
+
+But there was no cat there now, and Rutherford wondered if there ever
+had been. Randal cursed Pete angrily, and once more they moved forward.
+
+Rutherford, more worried than he cared to own even to himself,
+followed, as before, the last of the little procession.
+
+It was getting late and the bullfrogs had begun to bellow harshly in
+unseen pools in the forest. But there was no decrease in the sullen
+heat. Not a breath stirred the moist, stagnant air, and the farther
+they went the thicker grew the tangled vegetation till there was no
+longer any sign of a path. In unbroken silence the three forced their
+way through primeval forest.
+
+Presently trees broke away, and they stood upon the muddy marge of a
+reedy lagoon, across the stagnant waters of which the low sun cast a
+lurid light.
+
+"Here we are," said Randal Fearon sharply. "This is where the deer come
+down to drink. You wait, Rutherford, in the bushes here, and you'll
+soon get a shot. Pete and I will take up our places on the far side.
+Then whatever comes some of us will get a buck."
+
+"Watch me, and don't do what he says." Pete's words were ringing in
+Rutherford's ears. He cast a glance at the negro. Pete made a quick
+sign, which the English boy took to mean that he was to follow instead
+of remaining.
+
+Next moment Randal had plunged off through the palmetto with Pete at
+his heels.
+
+"What's it all mean?" muttered Rutherford angrily. "Is Fearon fooling
+me, or is it Pete? Of the two, I infinitely prefer the nigger. I'll do
+what he says."
+
+He left his shelter, and moved as quietly as possible on the track of
+the other two.
+
+Sure enough, they did go round the pool! Rutherford began to wonder if
+he was wrong; whether Pete for some unknown reason was fooling him.
+
+The going was dreadful. The ground below the almost impenetrable
+palmetto was deep mud. Swarms of mosquitoes rose and stung viciously.
+Lionel was afraid that the crashing of the parted bushes would betray
+him.
+
+He knew he was falling a long way behind, and panic seized him that he
+might lose the others. Though young Rutherford had lived all his life
+in America, yet he had never been in a big swamp like this. The store
+had kept him busy.
+
+At last he reached the spot which Randal had pointed out as his own
+shooting station. To his horror, there was no one there. Randal and
+Pete had both disappeared. He was alone in the tangled heart of this
+monstrous swamp, and knew that without help he could never hope to find
+his way out.
+
+After the first moment of panic Lionel Rutherford pulled himself
+together. He had plenty of pluck. He rapidly considered the situation.
+For some reason best known to himself Randal Fearon wished to abandon
+him, to lose him in the swamp. But he himself had no idea of dying of
+hunger, fever, or snakebite in this impenetrable wilderness. He had two
+courses open--go back and try to find his way out along the trail they
+had come by, or follow after Randal and Pete.
+
+There were no objections to the first. It was a very long way, and it
+was doubtful if he could find it even in broad daylight. As it was,
+it would be dark in an hour. Besides, Pete had certainly meant him to
+follow.
+
+Randal must mean to spend the night in the swamp. That was clear.
+Therefore he must have some camping place.
+
+"I'll follow," muttered the boy between set teeth, and started off.
+
+Though the sun was not yet down, it was already dusk beneath the thick
+shade of the towering timber, and in the half light the trail was most
+difficult to follow. The others had long ago passed out of hearing.
+
+The night life of the swamp was waking. Enormous owls hooted weirdly,
+then came the thundering bellow of a bull alligator, and presently
+above all these the ghastly, half-human shriek of a panther calling to
+its mate.
+
+Stumbling and struggling, Lionel hurried on. In a little he came to a
+thick belt of tall saw grass. The two pairs of footmarks entered it,
+but the trails beyond were so confused with the passage of deer and
+other animals that the boy recognized with a shock that he could not
+follow the human footsteps.
+
+Very near despair, he turned back. No, he could not find Randal's
+trail. He stopped. "I'm done!" he muttered hopelessly, and stood
+straining his ears for any sound of his former companions.
+
+Just then, as he was almost giving up, he caught sight of a morsel of
+something white stuck on a broken stem beside the trail. It was a tiny
+piece of paper, and on it, marked with a muddy finger tip, an arrow
+pointing in a certain direction.
+
+"Pete!" exclaimed Lionel joyfully. A load rolled off his mind. Marking
+the direction carefully, he pushed on fast. Now he was on the lookout,
+he found other signs; a broken twig, a stick, laid in the path.
+
+Darkness fell rapidly. There is little twilight in Florida.
+
+"They can't go much farther," he said. He was right. In a very short
+time the dull glow of a fire showed where the others had camped.
+
+"What shall I do?" he asked himself. "Go right up and tackle Randal
+Fearon? No; he'd have some excuse ready, and I'd only get Pete into
+trouble. I must wait till Randal goes to sleep."
+
+The mosquitoes were savage. Young Rutherford, tired and hungry, found
+it maddening to wait in the damp gloom, and watch Randal gorge on the
+supper which Pete cooked. Nearly two hours passed before Randal, having
+finished a cigar, rolled himself, head and all, in a blanket and lay
+down.
+
+A few minutes more, and a snore told Rutherford it was safe to venture
+closer.
+
+Pete heard him, and glided out. The black man chuckled silently when he
+saw the boy. "Reckoned you'd be along, sah. You foun' de sign Pete lef'
+for you. Now de firs' thing is you eat. Den we talk."
+
+He put corn, bread, and bacon into Rutherford's hands, and the boy made
+a hearty meal.
+
+"Now, sah," said Pete. "You see what dat man want to do. He lose you in
+de swamp, den go home, say you fell in de water and was drowned. Den he
+an' his dad, dey take dat blow-up bullet ob yours an' sell him."
+
+Lionel Rutherford was aghast. He had never dreamed of such wickedness.
+
+"But we beat dem," went on Pete, with a chuckle. "I like you, an' I
+hate dat Randal."
+
+"What can we do?" asked Lionel eagerly.
+
+"Why, we play de same trick on him he try play on you. We take all de
+stuff, go off, an' leab him. He no more find his way out of de Big
+Cypress dan you. Only Pete know de trails."
+
+"That won't do, Pete," returned Lionel sharply. "I won't be any party
+to murder."
+
+Pete was amazed. He expostulated strongly.
+
+"No, I'll tell you what we will do, Pete. We'll go off and hide, and
+let him think he's lost. We'll follow and watch, and when he's got the
+soul nearly scared out of him we'll find him again. See?"
+
+Pete saw. He chuckled again in high good humor. "Dat's a very fine
+game, sah. We play dat to-morrow morning. Now I take de things away,
+an' when Randal wake he find no breakfast, no Pete, no nothing."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"He done lost hisself, sure pop!" declared Pete.
+
+It was nine o'clock next morning, and Lionel Rutherford and the negro
+had been following Randal for more than an hour.
+
+His language when he woke up and found Pete gone had been something
+appalling.
+
+Having found that this did no good, he had started off back along
+the track they had come by on the previous day, but in less than
+ten minutes he was off it; and the two, who followed at a discreet
+distance, had watched his growing fury and fright when he found himself
+quite lost in the pathless depths of the wilderness.
+
+"He can't go dat way much furder," observed Pete. "He gettin' down in
+de deal bad swamp. He go in up to his fool neck if he don't be keerful."
+
+Sure enough the quaking muck-land broke beneath the young scoundrel's
+weight, and in he went. With a yell of fright he caught at a branch,
+pulled himself out, and staggered back.
+
+"What's he going to do now?" whispered Lionel.
+
+"Reckon he going climb dat tree an' see whar he am."
+
+Pete was right. Randal began shinning up the stem of a tall, slender
+tree by the water's edge, the only one which seemed to give a possible
+view of any of the surrounding country. No doubt he thought he might
+spot the trail from the summit.
+
+Rutherford, who had been staring hard at the tree, suddenly clutched
+Pete's arm. "What's that thing up in the branches just above him?" he
+asked sharply.
+
+Pete took a long stare. "By golly, sah, it am a snake! An' a mighty big
+one, sure!"
+
+Rutherford started forward, slipping a cartridge into his rifle.
+
+"Don't shoot, sah," whispered Pete. "Dat ain't no poison snake. It am
+only a old white oak snake."
+
+"Looks like an ugly customer," muttered Lionel.
+
+At this moment Randal reached the first boughs and stood up. The
+movement alarmed the snake, which raised its ugly head and hissed
+sharply.
+
+Randal heard the hiss, and, turning, saw the reptile. He gave a scream
+of terror, and almost lost his hold. Then he backed rapidly on to a
+branch which actually overhung the creek.
+
+"Time to end this now," said Rutherford, raising his rifle. "I shall
+shoot the snake."
+
+Pete seized his arm. "De snake won't hurt him, sah. But dey will."
+
+He pointed to the water. The big alligator had seen Randal, and
+silently moved up till it was just beneath him. Another of almost equal
+size had also risen to the surface. Yellow eyes agleam, the hideous
+brutes were watching for this rash intruder upon their domain.
+
+At the very instant there was a snapping crackle. The bough on which
+Randal cowered was breaking. And the wretched man, clinging vainly for
+a hold, had caught sight of the huge reptiles below. He screamed till
+the forest resounded with his agonizing cries.
+
+He snatched at the branches above, but could reach only twigs, which
+broke in his grasp. He was falling clean into the open jaws of the
+alligators.
+
+If Rutherford's rifle had been loaded only with an ordinary cartridge
+nothing could have saved Randal. It was just pure luck that he had
+flung one of his explosives into the breech.
+
+Simultaneous with Randal's fall the rifle spoke. The bullet caught the
+nearest alligator on the side of the head, and the air was full of
+mangled fragments of flesh and bone.
+
+Into this horrible geyser Randal dropped heavily and vanished.
+
+Next moment he rose again, and struck out madly for the bank.
+
+"I can't shoot again," cried Lionel. "I should kill him if I did."
+
+"Dere ain't no need to," said the negro. "You done scared de stuffin'
+out ob dat oder gator."
+
+"Thank goodness he's safe," exclaimed Lionel as Randal scrambled ashore
+and fell in a heap on the bank. "Now we'd better get him home."
+
+Pete laughed. "Yes, sah. I reckon he done had enough ob de Big Cypress."
+
+When Randal came round Rutherford soon realized he had no more to
+fear. The fellow's nerve was broken. He shivered and trembled like a
+frightened child.
+
+They took him home, and then Lionel went boldly to Colonel Fearon, and
+told him the whole story plump and plain. When he had finished the
+colonel sat speechless. His face was gray and pinched.
+
+Lionel looked at him. "I shan't make any trouble for you," he said
+coolly. "All I want is those introductions. Write them now, and I'll
+take them myself to Washington."
+
+Without a word the colonel obeyed.
+
+Lionel Rutherford is now a rich and rising man. Pete is his faithful
+major-domo. Whenever Lionel gets a holiday the two go off down south
+for a week or two of shooting. But they never again penetrated the
+desolate depths of the Great Cypress.
+
+
+
+
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+The most original stories of Western adventure. The only weekly
+containing the adventures of the famous Buffalo Bill. =High art colored
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+
+  405--Buffalo Bill and the Rope Wizard; or, A Tie-up with the Riata King.
+  406--Buffalo Bill's Fiesta; or, At Outs with the Duke of Cimarron.
+  407--Buffalo Bill Among the Cheyennes; or, The Rescue of Paquita.
+  408--Buffalo Bill Besieged; or, Texas Kid's Last Trail.
+  409--Buffalo Bill and the Red Hand; or, The Ranch of Mystery.
+  410--Buffalo Bill's Tree-Trunk Drift; or, The Cold Game "Gent" from Red
+       Tail.
+  411--Buffalo Bill and the Spectre; or, A Queer Layout in Spook CaÃąon.
+  412--Buffalo Bill and the Red Feathers; or, The Pard Who Went Wrong.
+  413--Buffalo Bill's King Stroke; or, Old Fire-top's Finish.
+  414--Buffalo Bill, the Desert Cyclone; or, The Wild Pigs of the Cumbres.
+  415--Buffalo Bill's Cumbres Scouts; or, The Wild Pigs Corralled.
+
+
+BRAVE AND BOLD WEEKLY
+
+All kinds of stories that boys like. The biggest and best nickel's
+worth ever offered. =High art colored covers. Thirty-two big pages.
+Price, 5 cents.=
+
+  321--Madcap Max, The Boy Adventurer; or, Lost in the Land of the
+       Mahdi. By Frank Sheridan.
+  322--Always to the Front; or, For Fun and Fortune. By Cornelius Shea.
+  323--Caught in a Trap; or, The Great Diamond Case. By Harrie Irving
+       Hancock.
+  324--For Big Money; or, Beating His Way to the Pacific. By Fred
+       Thorpe.
+  325--Muscles of Steel; or, The Boy Wonder. By Weldon J. Cobb.
+  326--Gordon Keith in Zululand; or, How "Checkers" Held the Fort. By
+       Lawrence White, Jr
+  327--The Boys' Revolt; or, Right Against Might. By Harrie Irving
+       Hancock.
+  328--The Mystic Isle; or, In Peril of His Life. By Fred Thorpe.
+  329--A Million a Minute; or, A Brace of Meteors. By Weldon J. Cobb.
+  330--Gordon Keith Under African Skies; or, Four Comrades in the
+       Danger Zone. By Lawrence White, Jr.
+  331--Two Chums Afloat; or, The Cruise of the "Arrow." By Cornelius
+       Shea.
+
+
+MOTOR STORIES
+
+The latest and best five-cent weekly. We won't say how interesting it
+is. See for yourself. =High art colored covers. Thirty-two big pages.
+Price, 5 cents.=
+
+  1--Motor Matt; or, The King of the Wheel.
+  2--Motor Matt's Daring; or, True To His Friends.
+  3--Motor Matt's Century Run; or, The Governor's Courier.
+  4--Motor Matt's Race; or, The Last Flight of the "Comet."
+  5--Motor Matt's Mystery; or, Foiling a Secret Plot.
+  6--Motor Matt's Red Flier; or, On The High Gear.
+  7--Motor Matt's Clue; or, The Phantom Auto.
+  8--Motor Matt's Triumph; or, Three Speeds Forward.
+  9--Motor Matt's Air-Ship; or, The Rival Inventors.
+
+
+_For sale by all newsdealers, or will be sent to any address on receipt
+of price, 5 cents per copy, in money or postage stamps, by_
+
+STREET & SMITH, Publishers, 79-89 Seventh Avenue, New York
+
+
+=IF YOU WANT ANY BACK NUMBERS= of our Weeklies and cannot procure them
+from your newsdealer, they can be obtained from this office direct.
+Fill out the following Order Blank and send it to us with the price
+of the Weeklies you want and we will send them to you by return mail.
+=POSTAGE STAMPS TAKEN THE SAME AS MONEY.=
+
+                                    ________________________ _190_
+
+  _STREET & SMITH, 79-89 Seventh Avenue, New York City._
+
+      _Dear Sirs: Enclosed please find_ ___________________________
+      _cents for which send me_:
+
+  TIP TOP WEEKLY,         Nos. ________________________________
+
+  NICK CARTER WEEKLY,      "   ________________________________
+
+  DIAMOND DICK WEEKLY,     "   ________________________________
+
+  BUFFALO BILL STORIES,    "   ________________________________
+
+  BRAVE AND BOLD WEEKLY,   "   ________________________________
+
+  MOTOR STORIES,           "   ________________________________
+
+  _Name_ ________________ _Street_ ________________
+
+  _City_ ________________ _State_ ________________
+
+
+
+
+ADVENTURES OF A BOY GENIUS
+
+MOTOR STORIES
+
+
+Most five-cent weeklies are founded upon the adventures of boy wonders
+who perform all sorts of impossible feats and who never act or talk as
+a boy really does. This is displeasing to the intelligent boy of the
+present day, who is better educated, and who, consequently, demands
+more logical reading than the old-time boy did.
+
+The boys who want to learn something from what they read, as well
+as to be interested by it, will never find another publication that
+will satisfy them so well as MOTOR STORIES. "Motor Matt" is not an
+impossible boy character. He is simply a youth who has had considerable
+training in a machine shop where motors of all kinds were repaired,
+and who is possessed of a genius for mechanics. His sense of right and
+wrong is strongly developed, and his endeavors to insure certain people
+a square deal lead him into a series of the most astonishing, but at
+the same time the most natural, adventures that ever befell a boy.
+
+Buy the current number from your newsdealer. We feel sure that you
+will be just as enthusiastic about it as the fifty thousand other boys
+throughout the United States have become.
+
+HERE ARE THE TITLES NOW READY:
+
+  No. 1.--Motor Matt; or, The King of the Wheel.
+  No. 2.--Motor Matt's Daring; or, True to His Friends.
+  No. 3.--Motor Matt's Century Run; or, The Governor's Courier.
+  No. 4.--Motor Matt's Race; or, The Last Flight of the "Comet."
+  No. 5.--Motor Matt's Mystery; or, Foiling a Secret Plot.
+  No. 6.--Motor Matt's Red Flier; or, On the High Gear.
+  No. 7.--Motor Matt's Clue; or, The Phantom Auto.
+
+TO BE PUBLISHED ON APRIL 12th
+
+  No. 8.--Motor Matt's Triumph; or, Three Speeds Forward.
+
+TO BE PUBLISHED ON APRIL 19th
+
+  No. 9.--Motor Matt's Air-ship; or, The Rival Inventors.
+
+TO BE PUBLISHED ON APRIL 26th
+
+  No. 10.--Motor Matt's Hard Luck; or, The Balloon House Plot.
+
+TO BE PUBLISHED ON MAY 3d
+
+  No. 11.--Motor Matt's Daring Rescue; or, The Strange Case of Helen Brady.
+
+TO BE PUBLISHED ON MAY 10th
+
+  No. 12.--Motor Matt's Peril; or, Cast Away in the Bahamas.
+
+
+=Price, Five Cents=
+
+At all newsdealers, or sent, postpaid, by the publishers upon receipt
+of the price.
+
+_STREET & SMITH, Publishers, NEW YORK_
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Notes:
+
+
+Italics are represented with _underscores_; bold with =equal signs=.
+
+Retained inconsistent hyphenation ("reentered" vs. "re-entered").
+
+Page 12, changed "anyhere" to "anywhere" ("we can go anywhere").
+
+Page 13, removed unnecessary quote before "In the letter, over his own
+signature." Changed "propellor" to "propeller" ("propeller forces the
+air-ship").
+
+Page 16, changed "Yon" to "You" ("You can handle the machine").
+
+Page 18, changed "times" to "time" ("right time arrives").
+
+Page 19, changed "geen" to "been" ("chum has been getting").
+
+Page 26, changed "Mat" to "Matt" ("get a look at Matt").
+
+Page 27, changed "nearer" to "neared" ("As they neared").
+
+Page 28, changed "bulding" to "building" ("big building were closed").
+
+Page 29, changed "crossel" to "crossed" ("curious expression crossed").
+Changed "outwarlly" to "outwardly" ("outwardly looked precisely").
+Changed "varandaed" to "verandaed."
+
+Page 30, changed "thicked" to "thicker" ("thicker grew the").
+
+Page 31, changed "clutchel" to "clutched" ("clutched Pete's arm").
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Motor Matt's Air Ship, by Stanley R. Matthews
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 47901 ***
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+    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8" />
+    <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" />
+    <title>
+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of Motor Matt's Air Ship; or, The Rival Inventors, by Stanley R. Matthews.
+    </title>
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+<body>
+<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 47901 ***</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<a href="images/coverlarge.jpg"><img src="images/cover.jpg" width="400" height="557" id="coverpage" alt="Motor Matt, as he drove
+the air ship steadily
+against the wind, kept
+close watch of the
+captured aeronauts." /></a>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+
+
+<h1>MOTOR STORIES</h1>
+
+<table summary="scaffold">
+<tr>
+<td style="width: 50%; padding-right: 1.5em;" class="tdr">
+THRILLING<br />
+ADVENTURE
+</td>
+<td style="width: 50%; padding-left: 1.5em;" class="tdl">
+MOTOR<br />
+FICTION
+</td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td class="bb bt tdl">
+NO. 9<br />
+APR. 24, 1909.
+</td>
+<td class="bb bt tdr">
+FIVE<br />
+CENTS
+</td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td class="tdl large">
+MOTOR MATT'S<br />
+AIR SHIP
+</td><td class="tdr">
+<i>OR</i> <span class="large">THE RIVAL<br />
+INVENTORS</span>
+</td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td class="tdc">
+<i>Street &amp; Smith,<br />
+Publishers,<br />
+New York.</i>
+</td>
+</tr></table>
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+
+
+
+<table summary="scaffold" class="bbox">
+<tr><td colspan="2" class="tdc huge">MOTOR STORIES</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdr large" style="padding-right: .25em;">THRILLING ADVENTURE</td><td class="tdl large" style="padding-left: .25em;">MOTOR FICTION</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<p><i>Issued Weekly. By subscription $2.50 per year. Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1909, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress,
+Washington, D. C., by</i> <span class="smcap">Street &amp; Smith</span>, <i>79-89 Seventh Avenue, New York, N. Y.</i></p>
+
+<table summary="scaffold" class="bb bt">
+<tr><td style="width: 33%;" class="tdl">No. 9.</td><td style="width: 33%;" class="tdc">NEW YORK, April 24, 1909.</td><td style="width: 33%;" class="tdr">Price Five Cents.</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+
+<p class="center huge">MOTOR MATT'S AIR-SHIP;</p>
+
+<p class="center">OR,</p>
+
+<p class="center large">The Rival Inventors.</p>
+
+<hr class="r5" />
+<p class="center">By the author of "MOTOR MATT."</p>
+<hr class="r5" />
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS">CONTENTS</a></h2>
+
+<p class="center">
+<a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I. CAPTURING AN AIR-SHIP.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II. A QUEER "FIND."</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III. THE BALLOON HOUSE.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV. THE KETTLE CONTINUES TO BOIL.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V. 2109 HOYNE STREET.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI. CARL INVESTIGATES.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII. JERROLD, BRADY'S RIVAL.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII. JERROLD'S GRATITUDE.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX. ABOARD THE HAWK.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X. WILLOUGHBY'S SWAMP.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI. A FOE IN THE AIR.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII. BRADY CHANGES HIS PLANS.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII. INTO THE SWAMP.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV. A DESPERATE CHANCE.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV. A DARING ESCAPE.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI. THE END OF THE MID-AIR TRAIL.</a><br />
+<a href="#THE_BIG_CYPRESS">THE BIG CYPRESS.</a><br />
+</p>
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+
+
+
+<div class="bbox">
+<h2><a name="CHARACTERS_THAT_APPEAR_IN_THIS_STORY" id="CHARACTERS_THAT_APPEAR_IN_THIS_STORY">CHARACTERS THAT APPEAR IN THIS STORY.</a></h2>
+
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p><b>Matt King</b>, concerning whom there has always been a mystery&mdash;a
+lad of splendid athletic abilities, and never-failing nerve, who
+has won for himself, among the boys of the Western town, the
+popular name of "Mile-a-minute Matt."</p>
+
+<p><b>Carl Pretzel</b>, a cheerful and rollicking German lad, who is led by a
+fortunate accident to hook up with Motor Matt in double harness.</p>
+
+<p><b>Hamilton Jerrold</b>, an honest inventor who has devoted his life to
+aeronautics, and who has built a successful air-ship called the
+Eagle.</p>
+
+<p><b>Hector Brady</b>, a rival inventor who has stolen his ideas from Hamilton
+Jerrold. His air-ship is called the Hawk and is used for
+criminal purposes. Brady's attempt to secure Motor Matt's
+services as driver of the Hawk brings about the undoing of the
+criminal gang.</p>
+
+<p><b>Whipple, Needham, Grove, Harper and Pete</b>, members of the Brady's
+air-ship gang of thieves.</p>
+
+<p><b>Helen Brady</b>, Hector Brady's daughter, who helps Motor Matt.</p></blockquote>
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I.</a></h2>
+
+<p class="chaptitle">CAPTURING AN AIR-SHIP.</p>
+
+
+<p>"Py shiminy grickets! Vat do you t'ink oof dot! See
+dere vonce, Matt. A palloon, or I vas a lopsder! Und
+vat a funny palloon it iss."</p>
+
+<p>Motor Matt and his Dutch chum, Carl Pretzel, were
+sitting by a quiet country roadside, in the shade of some
+trees. Drawn up near them was a light touring-car.</p>
+
+<p>The boys were several miles out of the city of Chicago,
+from which place they had started about the middle of
+the forenoon, and they had halted in that shady spot between
+Hammond and Hegewisch to eat the lunch they
+had brought with them. Carl had just finished the last
+piece of fried chicken when, happening to look skyward,
+he saw something that brought him to his feet with a
+jump. As he called to his chum, he pointed with the
+"drum-stick," at which he had been nibbling.</p>
+
+<p>Matt's surprise was nearly as great as Carl's, and he
+likewise sprang up and gazed at the air-ship, which was
+coming toward them from the north and east, making
+smart headway against the wind.</p>
+
+<p>"Great spark-plugs!" exclaimed Matt. "That's the
+first air-ship I ever saw."</p>
+
+<p>"Vat's der tifference bedween a palloon und a air-ship?"
+asked Carl.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you can navigate an air-ship with the wind or
+against it, while a balloon is at the mercy of every current
+that blows. A round gas-bag and a basket is a
+balloon, Carl, but when you add a gasolene-motor and
+a propeller you have an air-ship."</p>
+
+<p>"Dot's blain enough. Der air-ship iss sky-hootin' dis
+vay to peat four oof a kindt. Say, it looks like a pig
+cigar. Vat a funny pitzness! Und you nefer seen vone
+pefore, Matt?"</p>
+
+<p>"I never saw one that would travel successfully. This
+one, though, seems to be going in good shape."</p>
+
+<p>"You haf seen palloons meppy?"</p>
+
+<p>"More than I can count," said he. "I've been up in
+balloons a dozen times. When I was in the Berkshire
+Hills they used to have races, and start from Pittsfield.
+That's where I began making ascensions."</p>
+
+<p>Carl dropped his wondering eyes to Matt for a moment.</p>
+
+<p>"You vas der plamedest feller!" he exclaimed. "You
+haf tone more t'ings as any feller I ever see, und you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span>
+nefer say nodding ondil it shlips oudt, like vat it toes
+now."</p>
+
+<p>Motor Matt made no answer to this. Just then his
+attention was completely absorbed by the air-craft.</p>
+
+<p>As near as he could judge, the cigar-shaped gas-bag
+was more than a hundred feet long. Beneath the bag
+was suspended a light framework. Midway of the framework
+was an open space, containing a chair in which sat
+the man who was handling the motor. Out behind the
+driver the framework tapered to a point, and at the end
+of this rearmost point was the whirling propeller. The
+glittering blades caught the sun in a continuous sparkling
+reflection, which made the air-ship appear to be trailed
+by a glow of fire.</p>
+
+<p>Forward of the cockpit, or open space, was the motor.
+A rail ran around the cockpit.</p>
+
+<p>There were two men in the car&mdash;the one in the driver's
+seat and another in front of him, leaning over the rail.
+This second man seemed to be looking at the two boys,
+and to be waving his hand and giving directions to the
+driver.</p>
+
+<p>Along the side of the gas-bag Matt was able to read
+the name "Hawk," printed in large letters.</p>
+
+<p>The Hawk was about a hundred feet above the surface
+of the earth. A long rope depended from the car, and
+twenty or thirty feet of it dragged along the ground as
+the car moved.</p>
+
+<p>"Vat's der rope for, Matt?" inquired Carl.</p>
+
+<p>"If that was an ordinary balloon," replied Matt, "we'd
+call the rope a guide-rope. Usually the guide-rope helps
+to save gas and ballast. When you want a balloon to
+go up, you know, you throw out sand; when you want
+it to come down, you let out gas. That trailing rope
+acts as ballast. When the gas expands, and the ship
+wants to rise, part of the rope that trails is lifted from
+the ground and throws more weight on the car; and
+when the gas contracts, and the car shows a tendency
+to descend, more of the rope falls on the ground and
+takes just that much weight off the car."</p>
+
+<p>"Dot's as clear as mud!"</p>
+
+<p>"I can't understand why they've got a drag on the air-ship,"
+muttered Matt. "I supposed the propeller and the
+steering-blades were enough to send such a craft wherever
+it was wanted to go."</p>
+
+<p>As the Hawk came nearer, Matt's trained eyes and
+ears convinced him that the driver of the air-ship was
+a poor motorist. Evidently he did not understand the
+engine he was handling. The air-ship zigzagged erratically
+on its course, and the long bag ducked upward
+and downward in a most hair-raising manner. On top
+of that, Matt could hear one of the cylinders misfiring.</p>
+
+<p>The Hawk's drag-rope was trailing along the roadway.
+First it was on one side of the road, and then on the
+other, following the irregular swaying and plunging of
+the car.</p>
+
+<p>"Come on, Carl!" called Matt, turning and running for
+the automobile. "If that rope strikes our car it may
+damage it. We've got to fend it off."</p>
+
+<p>"Dose air-ship fellers vas mighdy careless!" answered
+Carl, hurrying after his chum. "Dot rope mighdt knock
+town fences, und preak vinders, und do plendy more
+tamages."</p>
+
+<p>"There isn't power enough at the other end of it to do
+much damage," Matt answered, posting himself at the
+rear of the automobile and watching the advancing rope
+with sharp eyes.</p>
+
+<p>By that time the Hawk was almost over the boys'
+heads. The rope, of course, was dragging far out behind,
+and the trailing part of it bid fair to pass the car
+well on the right.</p>
+
+<p>"Hello, there!" shouted the man at the rail of the
+Hawk, leaning far over and making a trumpet out of his
+hands.</p>
+
+<p>He seemed to be excited, for some cause or other.</p>
+
+<p>"Hello yourseluf, vonce!" called back the Dutch boy.
+"Keep a leedle off mit your rope&mdash;ve don'd vand it to
+make some drouples for us."</p>
+
+<p>"The air-ship's out of control," the man shouted. "We
+can't stop the motor and the ship's running away! Grab
+the rope, hitch it to your automobile and tow us back
+to South Chicago. We'll give you a hundred dollars for
+your trouble. Be quick!"</p>
+
+<p>"I like his nerf, I don't t'ink!" growled Carl. "He
+vants to run off mit us und der pubble, und&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"We can tow the air-ship, all right," cried Matt, "providing
+we can get the rope fast to the automobile. We'll
+have to take a half hitch with the trailing end of the
+rope around a tree, and bring the air-ship to a stop."</p>
+
+<p>Matt started for the rope. As he bent down to lay
+hold of it, the car gave a lurch sideways and the rope
+was whisked out of his hands and was thrown directly
+against Carl's feet.</p>
+
+<p>Carl grabbed it. At the same moment the air-ship
+took an upward leap, on account of the weight which
+Carl had taken off the car. This leap flung Carl into
+the air. He turned a frog-like somersault, hands and
+feet sprawled out, and came down with a thump, flat
+on his back.</p>
+
+<p>"Whoosh!" he yelled, a good deal more startled than
+hurt, sitting up on the grass and shaking his fist at the
+bobbing craft overhead, "you dit dot on burpose! Vat's
+der madder mit you, anyvay? Vat for&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Carl forgot his fancied grievance watching Motor
+Matt. The latter, making another leap at the rope as it
+settled back again after overturning Carl, succeeded in
+laying hold of it.</p>
+
+<p>He had the rope by the end, so that when he picked
+it up none of the weight was taken from the ship, and
+Carl's disastrous exploit was not repeated.</p>
+
+<p>"Wrap it around a tree!" yelled the man at the air-ship's
+rail; "take a half-hitch around a tree!"</p>
+
+<p>The man might just as well have saved his breath.
+That had been Motor Matt's plan, all along, and even as
+the aeronaut was shouting his instructions Matt was
+jumping for the nearest tree.</p>
+
+<p>The young motorist had little time to make the rope
+fast. The whirling propeller was driving the Hawk onward
+against the wind at a fair rate of speed. Had
+there been no opposing wind, Matt would not have had
+time enough for the work ahead of him.</p>
+
+<p>"Come on, Carl!" he shouted.</p>
+
+<p>The Dutch boy stopped watching and made haste to
+lend a hand.</p>
+
+<p>Matt was already at the trunk of the tree, but the
+rope had traveled onward so rapidly that he had less
+than a yard of it in his hands to work with.</p>
+
+<p>Throwing himself on the opposite side of the tree,
+Matt laid back on the end of the rope. At that moment
+Carl reached his side, dropped near him and likewise
+took a grip on the free end of the drag.</p>
+
+<p>"It's der fairst time," panted Carl, "dot I efer heluped<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span>
+make some captures mit an air-ship. Shinks! Look at
+dot, vonce!"</p>
+
+<p>The driving propeller had forced the Hawk to the
+end of its leash. The boys, with only a half wrap of
+the rope around the trunk, felt the quick pull, but easily
+controlled it. The pull was steady, but, inch by inch,
+they worked more and more of the rope around the
+trunk until there was enough to make a knot.</p>
+
+<p>"Dot's der dicket!" exulted Carl, scrambling erect.
+"Ve've got her tied like a pird mit vone foot. Now
+how ve going to ged her hitched ondo der car?"</p>
+
+<p>"We'll have to find out what's the matter with the
+motor, up there," answered Matt, "and see if the power
+can't be shut off."</p>
+
+<p>As he spoke, he got to his feet and walked down the
+road to a point directly under the air-ship.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.</a></h2>
+
+<p class="chaptitle">A QUEER "FIND."</p>
+
+
+<p>Both passengers in the air-ship were now leaning over
+the rail of the suspended car.</p>
+
+<p>"Hitch us on to your automobile," shouted the one
+who had been doing the driving, "and tow us back to
+South Chicago."</p>
+
+<p>The offhand way in which the man spoke proved that
+he was lacking on the practicable side of his nature.</p>
+
+<p>"That's a whole lot easier said than done," Matt called
+back. "It was only by a happenchance that we got your
+drag-rope tied to the tree. If you've got an anchor-rope
+up there, throw it down and we'll make it fast to the
+car before we cast off the other."</p>
+
+<p>"That's the only long rope we've got," answered the
+man.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," went on Matt, "you ought to be able to see
+what sort of a job we're up against. Your motor is
+pulling hard on the rope, and the moment we take the
+rope from the tree it will be jerked out of our hands.
+Don't you know how to run a gas-engine?"</p>
+
+<p>"I know how to start a gas-engine," was the amazing
+response, "but I don't know how to stop it."</p>
+
+<p>"Py shiminy grickets!" whooped Carl, "you vas a nice
+pair to shtart off mit a gasolene-air-ship. You vas in
+luck nod to make some landings on Chupiter, Mars or
+to hit a comic."</p>
+
+<p>Matt likewise thought it was an odd situation, but believed
+it would be well to get the two helpless aeronauts
+down on terra firma before asking for an explanation of
+their predicament.</p>
+
+<p>"Do either of you know what the gasolene-tank is?"
+he asked.</p>
+
+<p>The heads disappeared within the car for a moment,
+then one reappeared over the railing.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, we've found that, all right," said the man.</p>
+
+<p>"And the carburettor&mdash;do you know where to look for
+that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Is that the thing that makes the spark?"</p>
+
+<p>Carl let off a howl of derision.</p>
+
+<p>"Ach, du lieber, vat a ignorance! Der carpuretter
+makes der gas, dot makes der exblosions in der cylinter,
+dot moofs der biston dot makes der bropellor go 'roundt.
+I know dot meinseluf, efen dough I vasn't so pright like
+Modor Matt."</p>
+
+<p>"There's a pipe leading from the gasolene-tank to the
+carburettor," continued Matt, "and there's a valve which
+should be worked by a lever. Close that valve and you'll
+shut off the supply of gasolene. When you do that, the
+motor will stop, and we can work down here to better
+advantage."</p>
+
+<p>The head disappeared again and the car rocked and
+swayed as the two men scrambled around in it. Their
+ignorance, however, increased rather than lessened the
+difficulty. The misfiring of the one cylinder ceased and
+the motor took up its humming rhythm at an even faster
+speed. The fresh impetus of the propeller put a harder
+pull on the rope, and the strain bore sudden and unexpected
+results.</p>
+
+<p>With a yell of dismay the driver of the machine leaned
+over the rail of the car. He had thrown off his hat and
+his coat was unbuttoned.</p>
+
+<p>"We're making it worse!" he cried. "I wish to thunder
+you could come up here and&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Just then the drag-rope, which could not have been
+properly fastened to the car, let go and dropped earthward
+in sinuous coils.</p>
+
+<p>The man doubled farther over the rail in a futile and
+foolish effort to lay hold of it. Something fell from the
+pocket of his coat, fluttered through the air and landed
+in the top of a tree.</p>
+
+<p>Matt noted the flight of the fallen object only incidentally,
+for the major part of his attention was taken up
+with the actions of the car.</p>
+
+<p>The steering rudder had become elevated, and the air-ship
+started at a tremendous clip toward the clouds. The
+two aeronauts could be seen rushing around the car like
+mad. While the two boys watched, the rudder was
+brought down to a level; but something else had gone
+wrong, for the machine could not be maneuvered.</p>
+
+<p>Swiftly the air-ship diminished to a mere speck in the
+southern sky, and then vanished altogether.</p>
+
+<p>Carl turned a blank look at Matt and gave a long
+whistle.</p>
+
+<p>"Dot proofs, Matt," said he, "dot id don'd vas goot
+pitzness to monkey mit t'ings you don'd know nodding
+aboudt. Oof dose fellers run into a shooding shdar
+dere vill be some fine smash oops."</p>
+
+<p>"Why they ever ventured up in the air-ship, knowing
+so little about how to manage it, is a mystery."</p>
+
+<p>Matt gave his head an ominous shake.</p>
+
+<p>"Vat vill pecome oof dem?" queried Carl.</p>
+
+<p>"If they can get the steering rudder to working, they
+can drive the air-ship to the ground. Anyhow, the supply
+of gasolene will have to give out, in time, and then
+they may be able to come down."</p>
+
+<p>"Dere iss somet'ing crooked aboudt dose fellers. Oddervise,
+dey vouldn't be vere dey are."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you see something drop from the driver's pocket,
+Carl?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nix. Iss dot vat habbened?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. It landed in the top of that tree, over there."</p>
+
+<p>"Meppy ve ged holt oof der t'ing und find oudt somet'ing
+aboudt who dose fellers vas, und for vy dey vent
+off for a fly mitoudt knowing how to manach der flyer?"</p>
+
+<p>Matt proceeded to the foot of the tree in whose
+branches the fallen object had alighted. Lifting his gaze
+upward, he peered sharply into the foliage.</p>
+
+<p>"I see it," he announced, pointing.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Und me, too," said Carl. "It vas vite, und round,
+like a punch oof bapers rolled oop. How ve ged him
+down, hey? Meppy ve t'row some shticks ad him?"</p>
+
+<p>Suiting his action to the word, Carl picked up clubs
+and stones and hurled them upward in an endeavor to
+dislodge the object. Finding that these efforts were unsuccessful,
+Matt threw off his coat and hat and climbed
+the tree.</p>
+
+<p>The roll of papers was lodged far out in the fork of
+a branch. Standing on the branch, he jumped up and
+down on it and jarred the roll loose. Carl caught it
+deftly as it fell.</p>
+
+<p>"Hoop-a-la!" he yelled; "here she vas, Matt. Come
+down a leedle vile ve look him ofer."</p>
+
+<p>In a few moments Matt was again on the ground.
+The roll, which Carl immediately handed to him, he
+found to contain a number of sheets wrapped compactly
+in a piece of white paper.</p>
+
+<p>"I guess we'll open it and not stand on any ceremony,"
+said Matt.</p>
+
+<p>"Sure!" exclaimed Carl. "For vy nod?"</p>
+
+<p>"It's not exactly the right thing to do. They're not our
+papers and we haven't any business tampering with documents
+that belong to some one else. Under the circumstances,
+though, and considering that the whole affair of
+the air-ship is a strange one, and that we may be able
+to help the two men in some way through the information
+the roll may contain, we'll have a look at it."</p>
+
+<p>Going back to the place where they had eaten their
+lunch, the boys sat down and Matt opened the little bundle.
+A dozen blue prints of mechanical tracings were
+revealed. In the center of the roll was a sealed envelope,
+bearing no address or writing of any sort.</p>
+
+<p>"Dere's nodding aboudt der plue prints to helup us
+know somet'ing," said Carl. "Oben der enfellup, Matt."</p>
+
+<p>"No," returned Matt, "we can't do that. That would
+be going a little too far."</p>
+
+<p>"Vell, ve got to do somet'ing oof ve findt oudt who
+dose fellers vas."</p>
+
+<p>"We'll wait, and give them a chance to claim their
+property."</p>
+
+<p>"How dey vas going to glaim it, hey? Dey didtn't
+dell us who dey vas, und ve ditn't dell dem our names."</p>
+
+<p>"We know the air-ship came from South Chicago. I
+don't believe there are very many air-ships in that place,
+and if we inquire around a little we ought to be able to
+find out who owns the Hawk."</p>
+
+<p>"Righdt you vas! Somevay, Matt, you always know
+vat to do ven eferypody else iss guessing. Shall ve ged
+indo der car und go pack to der pig city py vay oof
+Sout' Chicago?"</p>
+
+<p>"That's our cue. If we can discover who owns the
+Hawk we'll leave these papers there for him."</p>
+
+<p>Matt rolled up the envelope and the papers and stowed
+them safely away in his pocket.</p>
+
+<p>"I know dere vas some niggers in der vood-pile, all
+righdt," averred Carl. "Two fellers vouldn't go off mit
+an air-ship dey don'd know how to run oof eferyt'ing vas
+like it ought to be."</p>
+
+<p>"There may be a whole lot of sense in what you say,
+Carl," replied Matt, "and then, again, the explanation of
+the queer layout may be extremely simple. Don't get to
+imagining things, old chap, but coil up that rope and
+throw it into the car. We'll carry it back to South Chicago
+and leave it at the same place we leave this roll of
+blue prints."</p>
+
+<p>While Carl was coiling up the rope, Matt gave his
+attention to the automobile. When Carl arrived and
+threw the rope into the tonneau, Matt was busy with
+the crank.</p>
+
+<p>Presently they were in the car and headed back along
+the return course.</p>
+
+<p>Hardly had they got under good headway, however,
+when a flurry of dust showed in the road ahead of them.
+As the wind blew the dust aside, a horse and buggy with
+two men broke into view.</p>
+
+<p>In accordance with the rules of the road, Matt slowed
+down to make sure the horse did not take fright at the
+automobile. The horse was going at a run, and the men
+seemed to be excited.</p>
+
+<p>The one who was driving drew rein as the rig came
+alongside the car.</p>
+
+<p>"Say," shouted the men, "did you boys see an air-ship
+anywhere in this vicinity?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," answered Matt. "It was going south."</p>
+
+<p>"Then we're on the right track?"</p>
+
+<p>"So far as we know; but the air-ship was unmanageable
+and&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>The men in the buggy did not wait to hear any more.
+The driver began plying his whip and the horse again
+leaped onward.</p>
+
+<p>"Who were those two men?" yelled Matt, anxious for
+a little information.</p>
+
+<p>"Thieves!" came the answer, as rig and passengers
+once more vanished in a cloud of dust.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.</a></h2>
+
+<p class="chaptitle">THE BALLOON HOUSE.</p>
+
+
+<p>"Yah!" shouted Carl. "Vat I dell you, Matt? I knew
+dere vas somet'ing der madder! Dem two fellers vas
+t'ieves, und dey haf shtole der air-ship. Py shinks, dey
+haf got demselufs indo drouple, und it vas goot enough
+for dem. Vat you going to do?"</p>
+
+<p>Matt had begun turning the machine in the road.
+When he had pointed it the other way, he started off at
+a swift pace on the trail of the two men in the buggy.</p>
+
+<p>"We'll try and overhaul those two fellows," answered
+Matt, "and tell them what we know. The information
+we've picked up may be valuable to them."</p>
+
+<p>"Dey don't vas endidled to it," averred Carl. "Vy
+ditn't dey shtop und ask us somet'ings? Anyvay, how
+can dey ketch a flying machine mit a horse und puggy?
+You mighdt as vell dry to ketch a sky rocket mit a papy
+carriage."</p>
+
+<p>"The Hawk will have to come down," said Matt,
+"and if those men are anywhere near it when it hits the
+earth they'll be able to recover the machine and catch the
+thieves."</p>
+
+<p>"Oof der machine hits der eart' so hardt as vat I t'ink,
+it von't be vort' nodding, nor der t'ieves neider."</p>
+
+<p>"There's a chance that the rascals will come down
+safely. If those men in the buggy had had their wits
+about them, they'd have hitched their rig to the fence
+and have jumped into the automobile. We could have
+hustled them over the ground four times as fast as they
+were going."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>A few moments later the boys reached a place where
+the road branched. The horse and buggy were not in
+sight along either road.</p>
+
+<p>"Vich vay now?" queried Carl.</p>
+
+<p>"It's all guesswork," answered Matt, "but it's always
+a pretty good plan to keep to the right," and, with that,
+he drove the car along the right-hand branch.</p>
+
+<p>After five minutes of fast running, they had not overtaken
+the rig and it was still not to be seen anywhere
+ahead. The boys knew they had been traveling three or
+four times as fast as the two men were going, and that,
+if they were on the right track, the men should have been
+overtaken long before.</p>
+
+<p>Disappointedly, Matt halted the car and turned it in
+the other direction.</p>
+
+<p>"No use, Carl," said he. "Those men must have taken
+the left-hand fork instead of the right. They're too far
+away, now, for us to think of finding them. We'll hike
+for South Chicago."</p>
+
+<p>"Dot's der pest t'ing dot ve can do," returned Carl.
+"Ve'll find der owner oof der Hawk und gif him der
+trag-rope und der bapers."</p>
+
+<p>"We won't find him. He must have been one of those
+two men in the buggy. Probably we can find where he
+lives, though, and turn the rope and the papers over to
+some one who will give them to him."</p>
+
+<p>"Meppy ve pedder take der shtuff to der bolice, hey?
+Oof der fellers vas t'ieves, dot enfellup mighdt gif der
+bolice a line on dem."</p>
+
+<p>"There's something in that, too," muttered Matt.
+"We'll try to find the owner of the Hawk, though, before
+we call on the police."</p>
+
+<p>An hour later, the boys came into South Chicago along
+a turnpike that passed the rolling mills. A man on a
+motor-cycle was just coming out of a fenced enclosure
+near one of the mills, and Matt halted him for the purpose
+of making a few inquiries. From his looks, the
+man was of some consequence in the steel rail plant, and
+probably was well-informed as to affairs in South Chicago.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know of any one around here that has an
+air-ship?" asked Matt.</p>
+
+<p>The question was something of a novelty, and the man
+laughed as he rested one foot on the ground and balanced
+his motor-cycle upright.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose air-ships will be thicker'n hops, one of these
+days," said he, "but just now they're about as seldom as
+hen's teeth. I understand there are a couple of men here
+who are working at air-ships&mdash;one of them came to the
+mills to see if he couldn't get some aluminum castings.
+He's got a balloon house about a quarter of a mile down
+the road, on the left. Drop in there and maybe you'll
+find the man&mdash;and the ship, too."</p>
+
+<p>Matt thanked the man and followed him slowly as he
+sputtered off into town.</p>
+
+<p>The balloon house, which was plainly visible from the
+road, was a long, high shed, and occupied a solitary position
+in the midst of a marshy field. The doors in one end
+of the shed, arranged in a series and reaching from
+ground to roof peak, were open.</p>
+
+<p>Leaving the automobile at the roadside, the boys
+climbed a fence and made their way across the flat
+ground to the big house. On reaching the opened doors,
+one glance showed them that there was no air-ship in
+the shed.</p>
+
+<p>On the earth floor, along one side of the great room,
+were two or three work benches and a litter of wood
+and metal scraps. There was also, in the farther end of
+the chamber, a number of small tanks, presumably used
+for the manufacture of hydrogen gas. As the boys stood
+in the doorway, two brawny men showed themselves
+from behind these tanks. They wore greasy overclothes
+and their sleeves were rolled up.</p>
+
+<p>"Get out of here!" yelled one of the men. "We don't
+allow any reporters around this shebang."</p>
+
+<p>"We're not reporters," answered Matt, standing his
+ground. "Do you keep an air-ship here?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, that's what this big shed is for."</p>
+
+<p>The two men came closer to the boys, one of them
+filling and lighting a cob pipe as he approached.</p>
+
+<p>"Is the name of it the 'Hawk?'" went on Matt.</p>
+
+<p>"Right again," said the man who had been doing the
+talking.</p>
+
+<p>His eyes were like gimlets, and bored their way into
+Matt through narrow slits.</p>
+
+<p>"Who's the owner of the Hawk?" asked Matt.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm the owner, and my name's Hector Brady. If
+Jerrold has sent you here&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know any one by the name of Jerrold. Who
+is he, and why should he send me here?"</p>
+
+<p>The sharp little eyes continued to study Matt.</p>
+
+<p>"Before I say anything more," answered Brady, "you'd
+better tell me a little about yourself."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know as that's necessary, or&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"You'd know how necessary it is if you were inventing
+machines and trying to keep your appliances a secret.
+I'm not the only man in South Chicago that's perfecting
+an air-ship. A fellow named Jerrold has cut into the
+same game, and he has some one nosing around here a
+good share of the time, trying to get wise to something.
+If Jerrold has sent you here&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"He hasn't," broke in Matt. "I don't know Jerrold
+from Adam."</p>
+
+<p>"What's your name?"</p>
+
+<p>"King, Matt King."</p>
+
+<p>Brady gave a jump.</p>
+
+<p>"You don't mean to say you're the young Western
+phenomenon the Lestrange people have brought to Chicago
+to run in that five-day automobile race that's
+turned on at the Coliseum to-morrow?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm one of their racers," answered Matt. "They have
+four more in the race besides me."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, by thunder!" Brady stood off and regarded
+Matt as though he was a natural curiosity. "Why, you're
+no more than a kid! They had your picture in the
+paper, after that Kansas race, but you're a heap younger
+than I thought. I guess you've forgotten more about
+gasolene-motors than a whole lot of people ever knew."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, it isn't so bad as that. I came here to do you a
+good turn, Mr. Brady, and I can't see the sense of raking
+up my past history. Your air-ship has been stolen, hasn't
+it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Stolen?" Brady gave another startled jump. "Not
+that anybody knows of. Why? What put that in your
+head?"</p>
+
+<p>Matt was "stumped." He looked blankly at Carl and
+found that Carl had turned an equally blank look at him.</p>
+
+<p>"Where is the Hawk now?" queried Matt.</p>
+
+<p>"She went out on a trial spin with three men in the
+car. Expect her back any moment."</p>
+
+<p>There was a shifty look in Brady's face, and he spoke
+in a fashion that aroused Matt's suspicions.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Then the Hawk wasn't stolen and you didn't send
+two men with a horse and buggy to look for her?"
+queried Matt. "We saw the air-ship, but there were
+only a couple of men in the car and the machine was out
+of control. We tried to stop the craft by means of the
+drag-rope, but the rope broke loose and the Hawk got
+away. One of the men on board dropped a roll of papers
+out of his coat-pocket and we picked it up."</p>
+
+<p>Brady looked at the other man. The glances they
+exchanged were significant, and both swore softly.</p>
+
+<p>"Here's a purty kettle o' fish!" growled the fellow
+with the pipe. "What dy'ye s'pose has happened,
+Brady?"</p>
+
+<p>Brady muttered something unintelligible, and whirled
+to Matt with a scowl.</p>
+
+<p>"That roll of papers belongs to me," said he. "Just
+pass 'em over, King."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know whether I ought to give them to you,
+Mr. Brady, or to the police," answered Matt, making no
+move to take the roll from his pocket.</p>
+
+<p>"Police!" exclaimed Brady. "What the blazes are you
+talking about? The fellow on that car was working for
+me, and the papers belong to me."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you ought to be able to identify the roll," proceeded
+Matt, coolly. "What did it contain, Mr. Brady?"</p>
+
+<p>"Just papers."</p>
+
+<p>"Typewritten-papers?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, yes, some of them were typewritten."</p>
+
+<p>"How were they tied up? In a piece of yellow paper?"</p>
+
+<p>"That's it. Hand 'em over. It's queer they got lost
+out of the car in that way, but mighty lucky you picked
+'em up."</p>
+
+<p>"I guess you're thinking of the wrong roll," said
+Matt, coolly. "The one you've described isn't the one
+we found."</p>
+
+<p>"Whether the description is right or wrong, the papers
+are mine, and I'll have 'em!"</p>
+
+<p>Brady, in sudden temper, hurled himself at Matt. The
+other man, taking his cue from Brady, jumped for Carl
+and grabbed him by the arm.</p>
+
+<p>"Hoop-e-la!" tuned up Carl. "Be jeerful, eferypody!
+Here's somet-ing vat ve ditn't oxbect!" And, with that,
+the Dutch boy began struggling and using his fists.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.</a></h2>
+
+<p class="chaptitle">THE KETTLE CONTINUES TO BOIL.</p>
+
+
+<p>Both Matt and Carl were well skilled in the art of
+self-defense. Matt, perhaps, was a shade more adept in
+the use of his fists. Neither of the lads, however, had
+been looking for violence, and the sudden attack of
+Brady and the other man had taken them by surprise.</p>
+
+<p>The two men had plenty of muscle, and Brady was
+desperately determined to secure the roll of papers. The
+very fact that he was using force to accomplish his designs
+proved that he was not entitled to the papers. For
+that reason, Matt was determined to keep them away
+from him at all costs.</p>
+
+<p>"Hold the Dutchman, Pete!" puffed Brady, hanging
+to the collar of Matt's leather coat and trying to get one
+hand into the inside pocket.</p>
+
+<p>"Quiet, Dutchy," threatened Pete, as he and Carl
+swung back and forth across the big shed. "I'll strangle
+ye if ye ain't peaceable. Ye ain't got no sense, roughin'
+things up like&mdash;wow!"</p>
+
+<p>At that instant, Carl landed a telling blow on the point
+of Pete's chin. A bushel of shooting-stars must have
+danced in front of Pete's eyes, for the jolt hurled him
+backward and caused him to claw the air in an attempt
+to keep his balance. He was not more than an instant
+getting the whip-hand of himself, and when he came out
+of his brief daze he was as mad as a hornet.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll kill ye for that!" he yelled, and picked up a heavy
+hammer that lay on the floor.</p>
+
+<p>Pete was between Carl and the open end of the shed;
+he was likewise between Carl and Matt and Brady. The
+struggle had carried Pete and the Dutch boy down
+toward the middle of the balloon house.</p>
+
+<p>Matt, out of the tails of his eyes, saw the dangerous
+position in which Pete's temper was placing Carl. The
+young motorist had been successfully fending off the attempt
+of Brady to get into his coat pocket; now, thinking
+Carl might need him, he undertook more aggressive
+measures.</p>
+
+<p>An empty box, which had evidently been used as a
+seat, stood just within the big door. With a sudden
+lurch, Matt heaved himself against Brady and knocked
+him backward over the box.</p>
+
+<p>As Brady felt himself falling, the instinct to save himself
+caused him to let go of Matt. The instant the young
+motorist found himself with the free use of his fists, he
+let drive at Brady and still further helped him over the
+box.</p>
+
+<p>With a roar of anger, Brady doubled up on the floor.
+Matt whirled and darted for Pete, reaching that scoundrel
+just in time to catch the arm that was whirling the
+heavy hammer.</p>
+
+<p>The hammer was wrenched away, and Matt cast it
+against the wall of the balloon house.</p>
+
+<p>"Cut for it, Carl!" cried Matt. "Run for the road!"</p>
+
+<p>"You bed my life!" wheezed Carl. "Dis blace don'd
+vas gedding fery comfordable."</p>
+
+<p>Brady was picking himself up from the floor as the
+boys rushed past with Pete in hot pursuit.</p>
+
+<p>"Get those papers!" yelled Brady.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll git that Dutch kid if it costs me my life!"
+whooped Pete.</p>
+
+<p>Brady rushed after Pete, and there was a chase across
+the marshy meadow toward the road.</p>
+
+<p>Carl was chunky of build and not nearly so good in a
+sprint as was Matt. Matt was in the lead on the rush
+from the balloon house, but, anticipating that Carl might
+have further trouble with Pete, he slackened his pace.</p>
+
+<p>It was well that he did so. Pete was steadily gaining
+on Carl and would undoubtedly have overtaken him had
+Matt not executed a quick move with an empty salt barrel
+that lay in the line of flight.</p>
+
+<p>At the right moment, Matt rolled the salt barrel in
+front of the enraged Pete. Pete's shins slammed against
+it, then he dropped on it and plowed up the mucky soil
+with the top of his head.</p>
+
+<p>So far as the set-to was concerned, it was settled right
+there, Brady being so far in the rear that the boys were
+able to clear the fence and get into the automobile before
+he could come anywhere near them. As a matter of fact,
+Brady gave up the fight as soon as he had witnessed
+Pete's mishap with the barrel.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>As the two chums glided away toward the more thickly
+settled part of South Chicago, they could look back and
+see Brady assisting the disgruntled Pete to an erect position.
+The barrel had been smashed, and Brady was
+scraping the mud off Pete with one of the staves.</p>
+
+<p>"How you like dot, hey?" gloried Carl, standing up in
+the automobile and shaking his fist. "You vill know pedder
+der next time dan to make some foolishness mit
+Modor Matt und his bard. Yah, yah, yah!"</p>
+
+<p>Carl wanted to be as tantalizing as he could, but the
+automobile was getting too far away. Sinking down in
+the seat beside Matt, the Dutch boy chuckled blithely.</p>
+
+<p>"Dis has peen a pooty fine leedle trip, Matt," he observed,
+"und has peen full oop mit oxcidement oof a
+nofel kindt, yah, so helup me. Dot's vat I like. I'll bed
+my life dose fellers t'ink dey vas fell on mit a brick
+house. Vat's der madder mit Prady, anyvays?"</p>
+
+<p>"There's something queer about that air-ship affair,"
+answered Matt, thoughtfully. "The two men who rode
+past us in that buggy said the pair in the car were
+thieves, but Brady didn't know anything about the
+Hawk's being stolen. Brady said, too, that there ought
+to have been three men in the car instead of two. The
+one who was missing may have been the driver. That
+would account for the poor work the other two were
+making with the engine."</p>
+
+<p>"Ve can make some guesses," said Carl, shaking his
+head, "aber ve don'd know nodding. Dot roll oof bapers
+don'd pelong to Prady. Vell, oof dot's der gase, whose
+bapers vas dey?"</p>
+
+<p>"That's a conundrum."</p>
+
+<p>"Vill you dake dem py der bolice?"</p>
+
+<p>"I've been thinking of that, and I believe I'll talk with
+Mr. Harkrider before I do anything more. He'll tell us
+just what to do, and I'm sure his advice will be good.
+You see, Carl, we're not entitled to the papers any more
+than Brady is, when you come to figure the thing down
+to a fine point. If the fellow who lost them out of the
+car turned up and claimed them, we'd have to give them
+to him."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Harkrider was superintendent for the Lestrange
+Manufacturing Company, the Eastern representatives of
+the Jarrot Automobile Company of St. Louis. Following
+the Borden cup race, in Kansas, Matt had entered the
+services of the Jarrot people, and they had sent him to
+Chicago to take part in the five-day race at the Coliseum.
+While waiting for the race to start, Matt and Carl had
+had the use of any machine they wanted in the Lestrange
+garage, so they had put in their time riding around the
+city and out into the suburbs. That is how they happened
+to be on the road beyond South Chicago at the
+time the Hawk was running away with the two aeronauts.</p>
+
+<p>Unusual experiences always seemed to gravitate toward
+Matt, and this air-ship affair was one of the most novel
+that had ever come his way. What it was leading up to,
+he did not know, but it was evident there was a whole
+lot more to the matter than appeared on the surface.</p>
+
+<p>After a quick and uneventful run into Chicago, Matt
+drove the automobile into the Lestrange garage and
+asked for Mr. Harkrider. To his disappointment, Mr.
+Harkrider had left for the day and would not return to
+the garage until the following morning.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Matt, as he and Carl left the garage and
+proceeded toward their boarding house, "I guess the delay
+won't make much difference. I'll be busy with the
+race to-morrow, but you can take the papers, Carl, and
+do with them whatever Mr. Harkrider advises."</p>
+
+<p>It was nearly supper time, and after the boys had had
+a wash, and a good meal, they went up to their room.</p>
+
+<p>Close to eight o'clock, just as they were getting ready
+for bed, a rap fell on the door. Matt answered the summons
+and found a boy with a telegram.</p>
+
+<p>The young motorist had been receiving a great many
+telegrams, since his Kansas victory, and supposed the
+message must be from some motor-car manufacturer
+who wanted to secure his services.</p>
+
+<p>But he was destined to a surprise.</p>
+
+<p>The telegram had been sent to the Lestrange garage,
+and by the foreman there forwarded to the boarding
+place.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">Matt King</span>, Care Lestrange Company, Chicago:</p>
+
+<p>"Come immediately to twenty-one-naught-nine Hoyne
+Street, South Chicago. Important matter relative to
+runaway air-ship. I will pay your expenses.</p>
+
+<p class="sig">
+"<span class="smcap">Hamilton Jerrold.</span>"<br />
+</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>"More aboudt dot air-ship pitzness," muttered Carl.
+"Who vas dot Jerrold feller?"</p>
+
+<p>"He must be the man that Brady told us about," said
+Matt. "Jerrold seems to be a rival of Brady's, in this
+air-ship matter, and the message looks like a good clue.
+It won't do any harm to follow it up, anyhow."</p>
+
+<p>"Dere iss somet'ing about dot vat I don'd like," demurred
+Carl. "I got some hunches dere iss underhandt
+vork afoot."</p>
+
+<p>"I know there's underhand work going on," said Matt,
+"but we've been rung in on the deal and have got to
+see it through. I'm curious to learn more about the
+affair."</p>
+
+<p>"Meppy dot same curiosidy vill make you some
+drouples," suggested Carl. "You can't haf dot, ven der
+racing iss on do-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>"The Jarrot people have several good men in the five-day
+race, so it won't make much difference if I'm not one
+of the drivers. Anyhow, I don't intend to be all day in
+South Chicago."</p>
+
+<p>"It don'd look righdt for you to go pack dere alone,"
+grumbled Carl. "I vouldn't be easy a minid."</p>
+
+<p>"I am not going alone," laughed Matt. "You're going
+along, Carl."</p>
+
+<p>The Dutch boy brightened at once and had no more
+objections to offer.</p>
+
+<p>"Ach, dot's tifferent! Ve vill shdart ad vonce. How
+ve go? On a pubble?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, we'll take a railroad train. I don't want to go
+fooling with a car at this time of night."</p>
+
+<p>"Is dere a train ve can ketch?"</p>
+
+<p>"Lots of them. South Chicago is a suburb, and we
+can leave here every half hour. We ought to be back
+by midnight."</p>
+
+<p>Without debating the matter further, the boys started
+forthwith.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.</a></h2>
+
+<p class="chaptitle">2109 HOYNE STREET.</p>
+
+
+<p>Hoyne Street was easily found. A number of blast
+furnaces stood so near the house the two chums were
+looking for that the flames from their tall chimneys<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span>
+lighted up the surroundings so brilliantly that they were
+able to read the number over the door.</p>
+
+<p>The house was a two-story frame structure. The gas
+and smoke from the neighboring iron mills had shriveled
+and scorched everything in that part of the town. Even
+by night, and under the glow of the furnaces, Hoyne
+Street had a dismal and dreary appearance.</p>
+
+<p>No. 2109 was set well back from the sidewalk. Two
+branching wings, in front, made the house look like a
+deserted manufacturing plant. This impression was
+heightened by several broken windows.</p>
+
+<p>There were no lights in the windows other than the
+reflected glare from the high chimneys.</p>
+
+<p>"Whoosh!" muttered Carl, as he and Matt came close
+to the front of the house and read the number. "Dot's
+der blace, Matt, aber it don'd look pooty goot to me.
+Der feller vat lifs dere don'd got enough money, I bed
+you, to pay for sending dot delegram. Der hen oof
+drouple iss aboudt to hatch somet'ing."</p>
+
+<p>"It may be," answered Matt, who likewise had a queer
+premonition of trouble, "but we've come this far and I'm
+going to see the thing through. If anything goes wrong
+in that house it will be on account of that roll of blue
+prints. I'll leave the roll with you, Carl, and you can
+stay outside. I won't be in the house more than fifteen
+minutes at most."</p>
+
+<p>"Vell, you look a leedle oudt, Matt, dot's all. Oof
+somet'ing goes wrong mit you, led off a yell und I vill
+come gallywhooping."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think anything will go wrong with me if I
+haven't those papers in my pocket."</p>
+
+<p>Carl shivered.</p>
+
+<p>"Chee, but der leedle fires on der chimneys iss prighdt.
+Somet'ing aboudt dis blace gifs me a creepiness oof der
+skin. Be jeerful, be jeerful! Don'd shday in dere longer
+as den minids, Matt, oder I vas likely to t'row fits."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll come out as soon as I can, Carl," answered Matt.
+"Don't fret. I'm able to take care of myself in a pinch."</p>
+
+<p>"Oof you see der pinch fairst, yah, I bed you! Aber
+oof der pinch come ven you don'd vas looking, den vat?"</p>
+
+<p>Matt laughed as he turned away, climbed a short flight
+of steps and drummed on the front door. He had to rap
+three or four times before his summons was answered.</p>
+
+<p>A light showed itself through a fan-shaped transom
+over the door, and a hand could be heard fumbling with
+a rusty bolt. In a minute or so the door was drawn open
+and a girl stood revealed. She carried a lamp with a
+smoked chimney, and one of her slender hands protected
+the flame from the draft.</p>
+
+<p>She was eighteen or nineteen years old, and, in spite
+of her coarse calico gown, she was extremely pretty. Her
+prettiness, however, was not what impressed Matt. The
+first thing he noticed was that the hand shielding the
+lamp was trembling. Lifting his eyes to the girl's face,
+he observed that she wore a frightened look.</p>
+
+<p>"Does Mr. Jerrold live here?" Matt asked.</p>
+
+<p>The girl stared at him; her lips moved, but no sound
+came through them. Matt repeated the question.</p>
+
+<p>"Y-y-yes," faltered the girl.</p>
+
+<p>"My name's King," answered Matt. "Mr. Jerrold sent
+me a telegram and asked me to come here to-night."</p>
+
+<p>The girl leaned forward eagerly as though she would
+say something. Before she could speak, if she had intended
+to, a sound as of some one moving in the darkness
+behind her, caused her to draw back.</p>
+
+<p>"Please come in," she said breathlessly.</p>
+
+<p>Matt entered the hall. The girl closed the door behind
+him and then, with the lamp shaking in her hand,
+led him into a room off the hall.</p>
+
+<p>The room was evidently a parlor, although its furniture
+was meager and shabby.</p>
+
+<p>"Please sit down," said the girl, placing the lamp on a
+table. "Mr. B&mdash;Mr. Jerrold will be here in a few moments.
+Would you like to read while you're waiting?"</p>
+
+<p>Matt started to decline, but the girl had already picked
+up a book from the table, opened it and was handing it
+to him.</p>
+
+<p>He looked at her in astonishment. From her frightened
+face his eyes fell to the book that was quivering
+in her hand. There was an appeal in her manner which
+caused him to take the book.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you," said he.</p>
+
+<p>The book was opened at the fly leaf. On the leaf was
+written the following:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"You are trapped. I would have warned you, if I
+could, but he would have killed me. Now you are in the
+house, you can't get away. Do whatever you are told to
+do and all will be well. Lay the book back on the table,
+and don't let any one know what you have read here."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Matt was astounded. Trapped! And he had walked
+into the trap with his eyes wide open!</p>
+
+<p>Who was the girl and why had she run the risk to
+warn him? And what good was her warning to do if he
+did not take advantage of it and make his escape?</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Now you are in the house, you can't get away."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>He read those words again, and after he had read
+them he looked about the room curiously. There were
+two windows in the room and they were screened with
+thick curtains. Matt, however, could see no one. If the
+trap had been sprung where were the ones who had
+sprung it?</p>
+
+<p>He realized that if he made an attempt to get out of
+the house now, those who had entrapped him would immediately
+conclude that the girl had given him a warning.
+Thus he would not only fail to get away, but would
+bring punishment upon the girl for her attempt to help
+him.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Do whatever you are told to do and all will be well."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>He read that over again and made up his mind that
+he would follow the advice. He laid the book back on
+the table, and, just at that moment, the girl re-entered the
+room.</p>
+
+<p>"I have read that book," said he.</p>
+
+<p>"Here's a newspaper," said she.</p>
+
+<p>As she held the paper in front of him she pointed to an
+article, evidently intending that he should read it.</p>
+
+<p>The girl was a mystery to Matt. From her manner
+there was no doubt about her being anxious to do whatever
+she could to shield him.</p>
+
+<p>Leaving the paper in his hands, she walked over to the
+table, opened the book and deftly extracted the fly leaf.
+Then she vanished from the room once more.</p>
+
+<p>Matt drew his chair closer to the table so that he could
+get the full benefit of the dim light.</p>
+
+<p>The first thing he noticed was that the paper was a
+week old. It was a Chicago daily. The column to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span>
+which the girl had called his attention was headed,
+"Burglaries Continue! Astonishing Series of Robberies
+in South Chicago are Still Kept Up! Thieves Make Off
+With Loot and Leave Not a Clue Behind! Police Authorities
+Baffled! Latest Victims Hartz &amp; Greer, Jewelers!"</p>
+
+<p>Here followed an account dealing with a number of
+mysterious burglaries, but Matt, because of the danger in
+which he found himself, did not give the article the
+attention he would otherwise have done.</p>
+
+<p>He did wonder, however, why it was that the girl had
+pointed out the article to him. While he was wondering,
+a step sounded in the hall and a form showed itself in the
+hall door.</p>
+
+<p>The man was Brady!</p>
+
+<p>Matt sprang up. Brady came into the room with an
+easy air and gave vent to a short laugh.</p>
+
+<p>He was quite a different looking man when out of his
+greasy overclothes, but there was no doubting his identity.
+Matt's fist had left a bruise on the side of Brady's
+face, and the spot was covered with a square of court-plaster.</p>
+
+<p>"Surprised?" queried Brady, dropping into a chair.</p>
+
+<p>Before seating himself he was careful to draw the chair
+in front of the hall door.</p>
+
+<p>"Were you the one who sent me that telegram?" asked
+Matt.</p>
+
+<p>"Guilty!" was the chuckling response. "You were expecting
+to meet Jerrold, eh? I was a little in doubt as to
+whether you'd bite at the bait, but took a chance. You're
+a mighty accommodating young fellow, King. Why,
+you came all the way out here, at this time of night, just
+to give Jerrold those papers! Didn't it strike you as being
+a little bit queer that Jerrold should have asked you
+to come and see him when it was his business to go and
+see you? And then, again, how did you think Jerrold
+got hold of your name and address? Oh, well, you've a
+lot to learn yet, my lad."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm learning you pretty fast, Brady," said Matt. "You
+have fooled me, but you've gained nothing by it."</p>
+
+<p>"I think I have," was the other's cool reply.</p>
+
+<p>"You'll not get that bundle of papers."</p>
+
+<p>"No? Haven't you got them with you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I left them where they'd be safe."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you suspected there was something a little off-color
+about that telegram?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Plucky boy! Nevertheless, you dropped into my trap,
+and that's the main thing. Those papers cost me a good
+deal of scheming, and if you were really thoughtful
+enough to leave them in a safe place, I'm mighty sorry."</p>
+
+<p>"You can search me," said Matt, "if you're not willing
+to take my word."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll search you quick enough."</p>
+
+<p>"Then hurry up; I want to get away from here."</p>
+
+<p>"Those papers are not the whole of it," went on Brady.
+"I want to make you a proposition, King. I need a
+motorist for the Hawk, and I think you'd about fill the
+bill. How would five hundred a month strike you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Five thousand a month wouldn't strike me. In the
+first place, Mr. Brady, I don't like your methods and
+wouldn't work for you at any price; and, in the next
+place, I am already in the employ of the Lestrange people."</p>
+
+<p>"You'll work for me all right whether you like my
+methods or not." There was an ugly look in Brady's
+eyes and an ugly note in his voice. "You're just the sort
+of youngster I need, and now that I've got a grip on you
+I don't intend to let you get away."</p>
+
+<p>"It takes two to make that sort of a bargain!"</p>
+
+<p>Matt had edged around toward one of the windows
+with the intention of making a break through the door.</p>
+
+<p>Brady got up.</p>
+
+<p>"What are you waiting for, Pete?" he called.</p>
+
+<p>Matt turned a quick gaze about him, wondering from
+which direction Pete was to appear. Then, quick as a
+lightning flash, the curtain behind him gave way and fell
+in smothering folds over his head and shoulders. Two
+brawny arms encircled him like the jaws of a vise.</p>
+
+<p>He fought with all his strength, and tried to yell to
+Carl. But one effort was as ineffectual as the other.</p>
+
+<p>Pete and Brady had him between them, and he was
+utterly powerless.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.</a></h2>
+
+<p class="chaptitle">CARL INVESTIGATES.</p>
+
+
+<p>Carl hated a "waiting" game. If there was anything
+going on, he liked to be right in the midst of it. On top
+of all this, he was vaguely suspicious of everything connected
+with that telegram.</p>
+
+<p>When Matt went up and knocked on the door of the
+house, Carl was hoping the summons would not be answered;
+but when the door opened, and Matt disappeared
+inside the house, Carl's real worries began.</p>
+
+<p>Pacing back and forth on the walk, the Dutch boy impatiently
+counted the seconds and checked off the minutes.
+No sound came from the building, and, after the
+light had vanished from the hall, not a ray was to be
+seen at any of the windows.</p>
+
+<p>"I t'ink, py shiminy," muttered Carl to himself, "dot
+der fifdeen minids vas oop. Vell, I count off fife more
+schust for goot measure. After dot, oof Matt don'd
+come, I vill make some infestigations."</p>
+
+<p>Owing to the lateness of the hour, and the obscure section
+of the town through which that part of Hoyne
+Street ran, no one passed the front of the house. Carl's
+solitary vigil was not relieved by the sight of any chance
+traveler.</p>
+
+<p>Mentally he checked off another five minutes. During
+the counting he fancied he heard a noise in the house, but
+it was so muffled and indistinct he could not be sure.
+Matt did not show himself, and Carl started his investigations.</p>
+
+<p>His first move was to run up the steps and pound on
+the door. Although he made enough noise to wake the
+entire neighborhood, he couldn't bring anybody to the
+entrance. He tried the knob, but found the door fastened.
+Then he hurled his weight against the door in the hope
+of breaking it in. The door must have been in better
+repair than the rest of the house, for it withstood his
+attack with scarcely a shiver.</p>
+
+<p>Carl's temper was always pretty close to the surface,
+and his failure to get into the house caused him to forget
+his forebodings on Matt's account and to get good
+and mad on his own.</p>
+
+<p>"I vill find Matt oof I haf to preak down a vinder!"
+fumed Carl, jumping down from the steps and starting
+to run around the side of the house.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Hello, there!" shouted a voice most unexpectedly
+from the sidewalk. "What're you up to, hey?"</p>
+
+<p>Carl halted and looked around. In the glow of the
+furnace fires he saw a man standing in front of the
+house.</p>
+
+<p>"Vat iss it your pitzness?" he snapped. "I'm going to
+ged indo dot blace oof I haf to preak holes in it!"</p>
+
+<p>"I'll make it my business, quick enough!" called the
+other. "Come here, and be quick about it."</p>
+
+<p>There was authority in the voice, and the command
+was accompanied by a backward sweep of the hand under
+a long coat. When the hand reappeared, there was a
+glimmering object clutched in the fingers. The light also
+glimmered on two rows of buttons on the speaker's coat.</p>
+
+<p>"Ach, du lieber!" muttered Carl. "You vas an officer,
+hey?"</p>
+
+<p>"Come here, quick!" ordered the man. "Tell me
+where that balloon came from. It seemed to rise from
+around in this vicinity somewhere."</p>
+
+<p>By that time, Carl had reached the walk. The officer
+pointed upward, and Carl's eyes, following the finger,
+saw an air-ship clearly outlined against the glow of the
+blazing chimneys. The cigar-shaped gas-bag and the
+pendent car stood out plainly. The front end of the air-ship
+was pointed upward, and it was vanishing swiftly
+into the night.</p>
+
+<p>"Himmelblitzen!" gasped Carl. "Dot vas der Hawk!
+It must be der Hawk!"</p>
+
+<p>"Hawk, eh?" returned the officer. "What do you
+know about it? The thing seemed to rise up in the air
+from around here."</p>
+
+<p>"Iss dot so?" cried Carl, excitedly. "Vell, I ditn't see
+him, und dot's righdt. I vas drying so hardt as anyt'ing
+to ged indo der house."</p>
+
+<p>"I heard you tryin' to break in the door. Don't you
+know it's against the law to do that?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don'd care for der law! My bard vent indo dot
+house und left me to vait. Ven I vait plendy long enough
+for him und he don'd come, den I make some infestigations.
+No vone answers my knock on der door, und for
+vy iss dot?"</p>
+
+<p>"You say a friend of yours is in the house?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sure! Don'd I vas delling you?"</p>
+
+<p>"When did he go in?"</p>
+
+<p>"Haluf oof an hour ago&mdash;all oof dot."</p>
+
+<p>The officer began questioning Carl and got from him
+pretty near the whole of the affair&mdash;Matt's name and occupation,
+the experience with the air-ship in the early
+part of the afternoon, nearly everything concerning the
+roll of papers, the receipt of the telegram, and the night
+visit of the boys to South Chicago.</p>
+
+<p>This policeman was an intelligent member of the force,
+and he at once concluded that here was a matter which
+called for official investigation.</p>
+
+<p>"We'll get into the house and find out about your
+friend," said he. "Your yarn is a queer one, but has the
+true ring, and it's evident there's shady work of some
+kind going on."</p>
+
+<p>"Shaty vork? Vell, you bed you! Vere iss Matt?
+Dot's vat I vand to know vorse as anyt'ing else. I ditn't
+vant him to go in dere, anyvay, aber ven he makes oop
+his mindt to do somet'ing, den it vas as goot as done
+und vat I say don'd cut some ice."</p>
+
+<p>"If he's in there we'll get him," said the officer, decidedly.</p>
+
+<p>As a preliminary to more drastic operations, he went
+up to the door and pounded on it with his night-stick.
+The summons, although several times repeated, was not
+answered. Thereupon the policeman and Carl, throwing
+their united weight upon the door, burst the bolt from
+its fastenings and tumbled into the hall.</p>
+
+<p>The darkness of the interior was relieved only by the
+glare of the furnaces coming in at the transom. Silence
+reigned everywhere.</p>
+
+<p>"I don'd like der looks oof t'ings," muttered Carl, forebodingly.
+"Dere don'd vas anypody ad home now, aber
+ven Matt come in dere vas plendy oof people here. Vat
+toes it mean, officer?"</p>
+
+<p>"We'll try and find out what it means."</p>
+
+<p>There was an electric dark lantern at the policeman's
+belt. Taking the lantern in his hand he switched on the
+light and sent a bright gleam into every nook and corner
+of the hall.</p>
+
+<p>No sign of Matt, nor of any of the occupants of the
+house, was revealed. There were only two or three
+rooms furnished on the lower floor, and none at all on
+the floor above. Every part of the house was searched,
+and the last place of all to pass under the policeman's
+and Carl's scrutiny was the shallow basement.</p>
+
+<p>It was evident to both searchers that people had been
+in the house up to a very recent moment, for in one of
+the first-floor rooms there remained an odor of tobacco
+smoke, but there was no living person anywhere in evidence.</p>
+
+<p>"Don'd dot peat ter tickens?" murmured Carl. "Matt
+come in der front door, und he ditn't come oudt oof it.
+Oof he vas daken away it must haf peen py der pack oof
+der house. Meppy ve pedder haf a look ad der pack
+yardt?"</p>
+
+<p>"Wait a minute," answered the officer.</p>
+
+<p>Bending down he picked some object off the floor and
+examined it under the rays of the lantern. An exclamation
+of surprise and wonder fell from his lips.</p>
+
+<p>"Vat it iss?" queried Carl.</p>
+
+<p>"Here's the biggest kind of a find!" was the response.
+"Thunder! this must be my lucky night."</p>
+
+<p>"How you figger dot?"</p>
+
+<p>"This is a canvas bag."</p>
+
+<p>"Yah, I see dot, aber it ditn't pelong by Matt und it
+don'd dell us nodding aboudt vere he vas."</p>
+
+<p>"It's marked 'Hartz &amp; Greer, Jewelers,'" went on the
+policeman, his voice shaking with excitement. "That's
+a firm doing business right here in South Chicago, and
+their store was burglarized mysteriously a little more
+than a week ago. Some fifteen thousand dollars' worth
+of jewelry and diamonds were taken, and this," the officer
+shook the canvas bag, "<i>this</i> is the first clue any one
+has found to the robbers!"</p>
+
+<p>"Shiminy Grismus!" muttered Carl. "Dis must haf
+peen der blace vere der t'ieves hat deir hang-oudt. Aber
+dot don'd got some interest for me. Vat I vant to know
+iss, vere iss Modor Matt? Dis pitzness iss gedding on
+my nerfs aboudt like dot odder time ven he tissabeared
+schust pefore der cup race. Shtick der pag in your
+bocket, officer, und led's haf some looks at der pack
+yardt."</p>
+
+<p>The policeman, now wrapped heart and soul in the
+hunt, put the bag away in the breast of his coat.</p>
+
+<p>The door leading into the back yard, as they had already
+discovered, was unlocked. The rear premises
+were enclosed by a high board fence, and the beacons<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span>
+that capped the neighboring chimneys lighted the enclosure
+sufficiently so that the lantern was not needed.</p>
+
+<p>There was a very perceptible odor of gasolene in the
+back yard. The moment Carl sniffed it, he gave vent to
+a stifled yell and grabbed the policeman's arm with both
+hands.</p>
+
+<p>"What's to pay now?" demanded the policeman.</p>
+
+<p>"Der air-ship!" gasped Carl.</p>
+
+<p>The officer threw a startled look at the sky.</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, it ain'd oop dere," went on Carl. "It vas in
+dis pack yardt&mdash;yah, so helup me! Der gasolene used in
+der modor make der shmell. Don'd you ondershtand?
+Dey filled der tank here, und shpilled some oof der gasolene!
+Dose fellers haf run off from dis blace mit Matt,
+und dey have dook him along. Ach, himmelblitzen, vat
+a luck!"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII.</a></h2>
+
+<p class="chaptitle">JERROLD, BRADY'S RIVAL.</p>
+
+
+<p>"Thunder!" cried the policeman, catching the Dutch
+boy's drift, "you're right, as sure as my name is Sam
+Harris! Your friend went off in that air-ship."</p>
+
+<p>"He ditn't vent," protested Carl, in a temper, "he vas
+dook."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, he was carried off in the thing, no matter
+whether he went of his own free will or was taken by
+force. If we each of us had a pair of wings we might
+follow the flyin' machine, but we ain't got 'em, so we'll
+have to do what we can on the ground."</p>
+
+<p>"Dere iss a palloon house oudt on der roadt py der
+rolling mills," suggested Carl. "Meppy der Hawk vas
+dere. Dot's vere Prady keeps him ven he ain'd sky-hootin'
+t'roo der clouds. Meppy ve go und take a look
+at der palloon house, eh?"</p>
+
+<p>"I know the place, and it won't do any harm to go
+there and look&mdash;but the fellow who ran off with your
+friend would be foolish to drop down there."</p>
+
+<p>"Vell, foolish or nod, ve look efery blace vat ve can."</p>
+
+<p>The balloon house was not a great way from that part
+of Hoyne Street, and Harris and Carl reached it after a
+cross-lots walk of five minutes.</p>
+
+<p>They found the great doors open, but there was no
+air-ship in the place and no one on watch around it.
+Furthermore, an examination of the interior showed that
+an extensive clean-up had been made of the various tools
+which Matt and Carl had seen in the place during the
+afternoon. Everything of value had been removed.</p>
+
+<p>Carl explained all this for the officer's benefit.</p>
+
+<p>"It's a cinch the owner of the air-ship has changed his
+headquarters," commented Harris. "Brady, you say, the
+fellow's name is? Well, he's an inventor. One of his
+inventions is a patent 'jimmy'&mdash;which, of course, he
+wouldn't dare to patent. We've been watching his air-ship
+operations, here in South Chicago, but they seemed
+straight and legitimate enough."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know dot feller, Hamildon Jerrold?" asked
+Carl.</p>
+
+<p>"Sure, I know him. He's all right, Jerrold is, although
+everybody looks on him as a harmless sort of crank."</p>
+
+<p>"He don'd lif in dot blace vere der chimney fires iss?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; he hangs out in a different part of town."</p>
+
+<p>"Den, you see, it vas a put-oop chob all aroundt. It
+vas Prady, I bed you, vat sendt dot delegram, got Matt
+in a drap, und den flew off mit him in der Hawk. Meppy
+ve make a call on Jerrold?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'll call up the department and report," said Harris,
+"so they can send another man on my beat while I'm
+fooling around on this case."</p>
+
+<p>They hurried back into town and the officer unlocked
+one of the lamp-post boxes and reported to headquarters.</p>
+
+<p>"All right," said he as he rejoined Carl. "Now we'll
+put in the rest of the night, if we have to. If Brady has
+had a hand in the robberies that have been going on here,
+this is liable to be good and profitable work for me."</p>
+
+<p>Jerrold lived almost a mile from the place where Harris
+had done his telephoning. He had a large, rambling
+old house set far back in a dense mass of trees and
+shrubbery.</p>
+
+<p>"He's a good deal of a hermit," explained Harris, as
+he and Carl proceeded along the walk to the front door.
+"A harmless old skate, but he's pretty broad between the
+eyes, at that."</p>
+
+<p>It was after midnight, and, as might be supposed, the
+house was dark. A knock on the door brought a night-capped
+head from an upper window.</p>
+
+<p>"Who's down there?" demanded a voice. "Is it you,
+Payne?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, Mr. Jerrold," answered Harris, "it's a police officer.
+I've come to see you on important business."</p>
+
+<p>"Have you found the Hawk?" cried Jerrold; "did you
+get back the plans those rascals stole from me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Come down and let us in," said the officer. "We want
+to talk with you."</p>
+
+<p>"Wait a minute."</p>
+
+<p>The head was withdrawn and the window dropped. A
+little while later, the front door opened and Jerrold
+showed himself, carrying a candle. Carl recognized him
+as one of the two men who had been pursuing the Hawk
+in the buggy.</p>
+
+<p>"Don'd you know me, Misder Jerrold?" asked Carl.</p>
+
+<p>The inventor stared at him and shook his head.
+Thereupon Carl explained where and when they had met.
+Jerrold's brows wrinkled in a frown.</p>
+
+<p>Leading his callers into a small sitting room he asked
+them to sit down.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you know about this fellow Brady, Jerrold?"
+asked Harris, by way of getting at the business in hand.</p>
+
+<p>"I know he's a scoundrel!" declared Jerrold with emphasis.
+"He's a good mechanic, though, and in spite of
+his shady record I took him on here to help me build my
+air-ship, the Eagle. After he had been with me for a
+while, I found he was stealing my ideas and building an
+air-ship of his own. Then I discharged him. Since then
+he's been attending to his own operations and I have
+been attending to mine. There are several important
+points about my machine, though, which Brady has been
+anxious to discover. He has tried to bribe Payne, the
+man who works for me, to give up a set of my blue
+prints, and he has tried to get them in other underhand
+ways. At about eleven o'clock, yesterday, three of
+Brady's men tried out-and-out robbery. That safe was
+forced"&mdash;Jerrold pointed to a small steel safe in one corner
+of the room&mdash;"and the roll of blue prints taken out.
+Payne and I were in the workshop at the time. We
+had just put the finishing touches to the Eagle and were
+inflating the bag for a trial. I heard a suspicious sound
+from the house and ran into this room. One of the
+thieves had just cleared an open window, another was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span>
+getting out and the third was making ready to go. I
+had a wrench in my hand and I hurled it at the man in
+the room. He dropped without a groan. Payne came,
+just then, and we went after the other two. Brady's
+air-ship was waiting for them in the rear of the house,
+and the two robbers got into it and were away before we
+could catch them. Payne and I got a horse and buggy,
+as quick as we could, but by that time the air-ship was
+no more than a speck in the sky, off to the south. We
+followed, keeping the course the air-ship had taken. The
+men aboard didn't seem to know how to handle the craft
+very well, and I was hoping some accident would happen,
+that the craft would come down and that I would be
+able to get back my blue prints."</p>
+
+<p>Jerrold halted for a little, his face flaming with anger
+and indignation.</p>
+
+<p>"I haven't my patents, yet," he went on, in a few moments,
+"and haven't even been able to establish a caveat,
+so, you see, if Brady should get ahead of me at the
+patent office he would snatch a fortune out of my hands.
+For," and here the inventor threw back his head with
+laudable pride, "I claim to have invented an air-ship
+that can be used for commercial purposes&mdash;the first machine
+of the kind that will successfully navigate the air
+against the strongest wind that blows. But if that scoundrel
+Brady takes from me the fruits of my toil, I shall
+be ruined!"</p>
+
+<p>Jerrold's body slumped forward in his chair, and he
+crouched there in an attitude of extreme dejection.</p>
+
+<p>"Where's the fellow you knocked down with the
+wrench?" asked Harris, his professional mind dealing
+with the more practicable aspects of the case.</p>
+
+<p>"When Payne and I got back to the room, after pursuing
+the other two rascals to the Hawk," answered
+Jerrold, "the man had vanished. I suppose he recovered
+from the effects of the blow and took himself off."</p>
+
+<p>"He vas der feller vat drove der modor in der Hawk,"
+explained Carl, "und ven he vas pud down und oudt, der
+odder fellers made poor vork oof triving der machine.
+Aber dot ain'd vat I got on my mindt, schust now."
+Carl pulled the roll of blue prints from his pocket. "Dere,
+Misder Jerrold," said he, "iss vat you lost. Take it mit
+der gombliments oof Modor Matt&mdash;my bard who iss
+gone I don'd know vere. Oof you hat shtopped a leedle
+in der puggy, und toldt us vat I haf heardt schust now,
+den, by shinks, you vould haf got der bapers pack a long
+dime ago."</p>
+
+<p>A cry of delight broke from Jerrold's lips. For a moment
+he stared at the roll, then swooped down on it with
+both hands, caught it away from Carl and began removing
+the wrapper with trembling fingers.</p>
+
+<p>"Here they are, here they are," he crooned joyfully,
+pawing the blue prints over and counting them, one by
+one; "they're all here, and&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>He stopped short and stared blankly at the envelope,
+which had fallen out of the blue-prints and dropped on
+the carpet.</p>
+
+<p>"What's that?" asked Harris.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know," replied Jerrold; "it's nothing of mine
+and wasn't in the safe, to my recollection, at the time
+the blue prints were taken."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, it may be yours, for all that. If it was in the
+roll, it stands to reason it must have been in the safe.
+Better open it. Probably you can tell from the contents
+whether it is yours or not."</p>
+
+<p>Harris picked up the envelope and handed it to Jerrold.
+The latter took it from him with a puzzled expression
+on his face.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm pretty sure this isn't mine," said he, turning the
+envelope over and over.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you've got to be absolutely sure," returned Harris.</p>
+
+<p>Jerrold, thus urged, tore open the envelope, drew out
+the sheet and cast his eyes over it.</p>
+
+<p>"No," he declared, "it doesn't belong to me. The
+thieves must have put it in with the blue prints."</p>
+
+<p>"Let's have a look at it," said the officer.</p>
+
+<p>Drawing closer to the candle, Harris proceeded to read
+the letter. While he read, his face brightened and a look
+of surprise and exultation rose in his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Another clue, and a hot one!" he cried. He whirled
+on Carl. "With this as a guide," he went on, "it's dollars
+to doughnuts we can trace your friend and get him
+away from that scoundrel, Brady!"</p>
+
+<p>"Ach, vat a habbiness!" expanded Carl. "Readt it
+oudt to me, Harris, und be kevick ad it."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII.</a></h2>
+
+<p class="chaptitle">JERROLD'S GRATITUDE.</p>
+
+
+<p>"The letter," explained Harris, "was written by Brady,
+and was evidently entrusted to the men in the Hawk for
+delivery to some one else. It's full of pointers, and a
+slicker bit of evidence it would be hard to find. And to
+think how it dropped into the hands of Motor Matt!
+The whole affair sounds like a 'pipe.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Tell me about that!" cried Jerrold, his shock of joy
+having passed and left him leisure for other things.
+"Who is this Motor Matt, and how did he happen to get
+hold of the blue prints?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ve vill go ofer dot lader, Misder Jerrold," said Carl,
+impatiently. "Schust now, dough, I vant to hear vat der
+ledder say. Readt him oudt, Harris! I vas so uneasy
+ofer it I don'd vas aple to sit shdill."</p>
+
+<p>"It's addressed to a man called Whipple," went on
+Harris, "and here's the way it runs:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"'Grove, Needham and Harper, with one of my improved
+jimmies, are going to make another try for those
+blue prints of Jerrold's. If they get them&mdash;and I think
+they can, for our plans are well laid&mdash;they'll carry the
+papers to Willoughby's swamp in the Hawk and leave
+them with you. We will quit our operations in South
+Chicago, clean out the balloon house (I have already sold
+the building for old lumber) and make our future headquarters
+in the swamp. It will be safer there. After
+we improve the Hawk according to Jerrold's plans, we
+will have a ship in which we can go anywhere, and with
+which we can do anything. All we need is a competent
+motorist&mdash;Harper's good enough for an amateur, but we
+need a professional. I'll try and bring one with me, when
+I come. Meanwhile, until I show up at the swamp, I
+want you to take good care of the blue prints.</p>
+
+<p class="sig">
+"'H. B.'"<br />
+</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>A great light dawned on Carl during the reading of
+the letter&mdash;a light so strong that it left him blinking.</p>
+
+<p>"Py chimineddy," he gurgled, "I know now vy dot<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span>
+Prady run off mit Matt! He say in der ledder dot he
+vants some brofessional to run dot air-ship. Vell, Matt
+knows more as anypody aboudt modors, und so Prady
+dook him off. Vat a high-hantet pitzness! Und Prady
+has captured a hornet oof he dit pud know it! He vill
+t'ink he has a handtful ven he dries to make Matt vork
+for him."</p>
+
+<p>"From this," proceeded Harris, waving the letter, "it
+seems that Brady had already laid his plans to quit
+South Chicago. In the letter, over his own signature,
+he admits sending three of his men to steal the blue
+prints. By a chance, and owing to the course of events
+in keeping the driver of the air-ship from getting away
+with the other two thieves, this roll and the letter dropped
+into the hands of Motor Matt. Undoubtedly, Motor
+Matt has been taken to Willoughby's swamp."</p>
+
+<p>"Und vere iss dot?" asked Carl.</p>
+
+<p>"I know about the swamp," went on Harris, "for I
+helped some Chicago officers run down a couple of escaped
+prisoners there, once. It's a bad hole, but there is
+a sort of island in the middle of it that has been the resort
+of criminals for a good many years. To get through
+the water, and mud, and tangled bushes to the island is
+a hard job for any one who has to go on foot. Still, it
+can be done. Brady and his men, of course, can use the
+Hawk, and all they have to do is to sail through the air
+and drop down where they want to go. The difficulties
+of the swamp won't bother them at all. The place is
+about four miles from Lake Station, Indiana."</p>
+
+<p>"Vell," said Carl, eagerly, "led's go dere. Der kevicker
+vat ve go, der kevicker vat ve can helup Matt. He iss
+my bard, und he needs me now."</p>
+
+<p>The Dutch boy got up and started for the door.
+Bounding from his chair, Jerrold overtook him and
+grabbed his arm.</p>
+
+<p>"Wait!" he commanded, "I've only got a faint grasp
+of the situation, but from what I can figure out you're
+going to need me. First, though, I want to hear all
+about this Motor Matt. He has done a whole lot for
+Hamilton Jerrold, and Jerrold is a man who always tries
+to pay his debts. Tell me how the blue prints got into
+the hands of Motor Matt."</p>
+
+<p>"Aber ve vas in a hurry!" cried Carl. "Villoughpy's
+svamp iss a goot vays off, und&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"You'll save time in the end by losing a little here and
+now," averred Jerrold, drawing Carl to a chair and pushing
+him down into it. "Go on! Give me the whole of it,
+between you, and be quick."</p>
+
+<p>There was a compelling note in the inventor's words
+and manner, that demanded attention. Carl yielded and
+struck into an explanation of the events of the preceding
+afternoon. Whenever his impatience led him to skip any
+of the details, Harris, who recognized the advantage of
+letting Jerrold know everything, picked up the ignored
+detail and made Carl go over it.</p>
+
+<p>Jerrold's interest and excitement increased as he listened.
+When Carl described how he and Matt had
+fought with Brady and Pete at the balloon house and
+kept them from getting the blue prints, Jerrold clapped
+his hands and shouted "Bravo!" And when Carl told
+of the bogus telegram that had brought the boys to South
+Chicago, Jerrold's face clouded with indignation and
+anger.</p>
+
+<p>"Motor Matt," declared Jerrold, when Carl had finally
+finished, "has done a lot for me, and he's going to find
+that Hamilton Jerrold knows how to be grateful. I
+agree with Harris that there is hardly a doubt but that
+Brady has taken young King to Willoughby's swamp.
+Brady wants the young motorist for the Hawk, and intends
+to have him, whether or no. According to Harris,
+the swamp's a difficult place to get at for those not
+equipped with an air-ship. That's where I come in.
+This way, friends!"</p>
+
+<p>With that, the inventor caught up his candle and led
+the way through the house and out at a back door.</p>
+
+<p>By then it was nearly three o'clock, and the very
+darkest part of the night. A gust of wind blew out the
+candle, which had been about as effective as a glow-worm,
+and the three were left at the foot of the rear
+steps staring at a fluttering expanse of canvas.</p>
+
+<p>The canvas formed a sort of V-shaped tent, long and
+high and secured with many guy-ropes. Because of the
+darkness it was difficult to get any kind of an idea as to
+the size of the tent, but that was a minor point.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll have to get a lantern," said Jerrold. "Wait a
+minute."</p>
+
+<p>"I've got a dark lantern, Jerrold," interposed Harris,
+"and I guess that will do."</p>
+
+<p>"Fine!" exclaimed Jerrold, as Harris switched on the
+current and swung the beam of light around him. "This
+way," the inventor added, and ducked through the end
+of the tent.</p>
+
+<p>In the gloomy interior a weird sight was disclosed&mdash;something
+so new and novel as to send an uncanny sensation
+along the nerves of Carl and Harris.</p>
+
+<p>Here was another cigar-shaped gas-bag, and another
+suspended car. The car itself was stationary, but the
+bag, because of the drafts that surged through the tent,
+was bobbing and swaying like some monster, anxious to
+be unleashed.</p>
+
+<p>The flickering gleam from the dark lantern could only
+disclose a part of the air-ship at a time.</p>
+
+<p>"Ach," muttered Carl, "dot makes my nerfs shake
+und shake like anyt'ing. Sooch a horrible t'ing vat it
+iss!"</p>
+
+<p>"That's because you're not familiar with such a craft,"
+said Jerrold. "Payne and I have worked over it for
+years, and only yesterday saw the completion of our
+labors. It was six o'clock last night before the bag was
+fully inflated. We had to use common illuminating-gas,
+too, and the not more buoyant hydrogen. I have called
+the air-ship the 'Eagle,' and if you sweep that light along
+the side of the bag you will see the name."</p>
+
+<p>This was a bit of byplay that took time and was utterly
+needless, but a great pride throbbed in the inventor's
+words, and even the smallest detail of the air-ship was
+fraught with the utmost importance to him.</p>
+
+<p>"Everything about the craft," Jerrold went on, "is of
+the very best. The motor is the lightest, strongest and
+most powerful ever constructed. The car will carry half
+a dozen, easily. Sand-bags are suspended from each end
+of the gas-bag. When I pull in the sand-bag at the
+front end, the equilibrium is displaced, the bag points
+upward, and the propeller forces the air-ship to rise. So,
+when I wish to descend, I pull in the sand-bag at the rear
+point of the bag. When both bags are hanging loose,
+the Eagle swims in the air on an even keel. Now, the
+steering rudder, which also helps in maneuvering the ship,
+is a little idea of my own and&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Ach, hang der shdeering rutter!" broke in Carl, impatiently.
+"Harris und I haf got to go afder Matt und<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span>
+ve can't vait aroundt here any longer. Ve haf got to go
+py dot svamp, und&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Exactly!" broke in the inventor. "The Eagle, fully
+inflated and with a tank full of gasoline, is waiting for
+a trial spin in the morning. I have the honor to propose
+that we use the craft now, proceed to Willoughby's
+swamp and rescue Motor Matt. That will save time, and
+a whole lot of hardships in forcing your way through
+mud and water and tangled brush in order to reach the
+island."</p>
+
+<p>Harris had already gathered the inventor's idea, even
+before he began putting it into words; Carl, however,
+had not anticipated the suggestion, and he was dazed
+by it.</p>
+
+<p>"You mean to dake us py der svamp in der Eagle?" he
+asked, in some trepidation.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Ach, himmel! I nefer rode mit a air-ship. Vill I be
+seasick py it?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think so. You see, I have never navigated
+an air-ship myself, but I'll bank on the Eagle doing its
+work. I can run the engine."</p>
+
+<p>"Vat oof it shouldt durn oopside town mit us vile ve
+vas a mile in der air?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'll guarantee it won't do that."</p>
+
+<p>"Vell, vedder or nod," said Carl, "I am going afder
+my bard. Oof der tangers vas greadt, I take dem; und
+oof dey vasn't so greadt, den I take dem, too. Matt
+vouldt do more as dot for me, yah, I bed you!"</p>
+
+<p>Harris was also afflicted with doubts.</p>
+
+<p>"The ground has always been good enough for me,
+Jerrold," said he, "and whenever I get my feet off it
+and go up any distance I have a bad case of vertigo. If
+I should get dizzy and fall off the car&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"You won't," interrupted the inventor; "people never
+get dizzy in balloons."</p>
+
+<p>"You're sure it won't tip over and spill us out?"</p>
+
+<p>"Positive."</p>
+
+<p>"You don't know much about it yourself, you know,
+having never been up in it."</p>
+
+<p>"That scoundrel, Brady, has used the Hawk with fair
+success, and the Hawk is modeled on the same lines as
+the Eagle, only the Eagle has improvements which Brady
+was not able to get hold of and put on his own machine.
+Shall we go to the rescue of Motor Matt? Come, my
+friends, time is flying."</p>
+
+<p>"Und ve ought to be flying, too," said Carl, now eager
+to make the ascension.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll take a chance," observed Harris.</p>
+
+<p>"Good!" applauded Jerrold.</p>
+
+<p>The next moment he had vanished in the darkness and
+could be heard pulling at some ropes. In less than a
+minute the entire top of the tent fell away, revealing the
+stars.</p>
+
+<p>"Get into the car," said Jerrold, "there, just forward
+of the driver's seat."</p>
+
+<p>With the aid of his lantern Harris picked out the place
+where he and Carl were to stow themselves, and they
+climbed into the car as directed.</p>
+
+<p>Immediately after that, Jerrold got over the rail and
+took his seat at the levers. It was impossible to see just
+what he was doing, but the clank of a lever came from
+his vicinity and slowly the front of the gas-bag began
+to point upward.</p>
+
+<p>"Now we're ready," called the inventor.</p>
+
+<p>The popping of a motor began and gradually gathered
+into a swift murmur.</p>
+
+<p>"And now we're off," added Jerrold. "Stay right
+where you are and don't change your positions unless I
+tell you."</p>
+
+<p>The whir of the propeller started, and the house and
+shrubbery began slipping away from under those in the
+car.</p>
+
+<p>"Ach, du lieber!" gasped Carl. "Der eart' vas falling
+avay from us. I vill say my brayers forvarts, packvarts
+und sidevays, oof it vill helup any."</p>
+
+<p>"I've got a bad case of rattles, myself," admitted Harris.
+"But it's for your pard, my boy."</p>
+
+<p>"You bed my life!" returned Carl, "aber I never dit
+anyt'ing pefore for dot bard oof mine dot dook so mooch
+nerf as vat dis toes. I vill shud my eyes, und you dell
+me, blease, ven ve reach der svamp!"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX.</a></h2>
+
+<p class="chaptitle">ABOARD THE HAWK.</p>
+
+
+<p>Taken at a disadvantage and with two brawny ruffians
+ranged against him, Motor Matt was unable to make any
+defense. As he lay on the floor, head and shoulders
+still swathed in the window-curtain, one of his antagonists
+held him while the other bound his hands and feet
+with a rope. He was then lifted and carried for some
+distance. Naturally he could have no idea where or in
+what direction he was being carried.</p>
+
+<p>A few steps were descended and he heard a door softly
+closed. The cool air of outdoors laved his hands&mdash;he was
+sensible of that, although the hot stuffiness of the curtain
+prevented the night air from reaching his face.</p>
+
+<p>He was lifted over something, he did not know what,
+and laid down in cramped quarters. A conversation was
+going on around him, but in tones so low he was not
+able to distinguish the words. He fancied that he heard
+the girl's voice, although his head was so muffled he
+could not be sure.</p>
+
+<p>Presently the unmistakable explosions of a motor came
+to him.</p>
+
+<p>"Brady is taking me away somewhere in an automobile,"
+he thought, and wondered where Carl was that he
+could not see the machine.</p>
+
+<p>A moment later he felt a gentle, swaying motion as
+though he was being gently swung in a hammock.</p>
+
+<p>Several minutes passed, and then Brady's voice spoke,
+in a tone so loud that Matt was able to hear what he
+said.</p>
+
+<p>"Take the curtain off his head, Pete, and untie him.
+It's time he took hold here. Keep your revolver handy
+for use in case he gets obstreperous. He's full of ginger
+and will have to be tamed."</p>
+
+<p>Matt felt some one working at his cords. They were
+stripped away quickly, and the curtain whisked from his
+head. He jumped up, the floor under him swinging with
+the quick move and almost upsetting him.</p>
+
+<p>"Careful, there!" warned Brady. "Where do you think
+you are, anyhow?"</p>
+
+<p>Matt was dumfounded. Overhead was the long gas-bag
+of the Hawk. In front of him, at the mechanism of
+the machine, sat a dusky form which he recognized as
+belonging to Brady. Brady's hands were on the levers.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>With a shout of anger Matt jumped toward Brady,
+the car lurching and swaying with his frantic movements.</p>
+
+<p>"Stand where ye are!" came the husky, threatening
+voice of Pete, from behind. "Do as I tell ye, King, or
+I'll shoot."</p>
+
+<p>Matt turned around. Standing with his back braced
+against an upright timber that held the car to the oval
+ring under the gas-bag was Brady's burly assistant. He
+held a dark object in his hand and Matt knew it must
+be a revolver.</p>
+
+<p>"Where are you taking me?" demanded Matt.</p>
+
+<p>"Turn around this way," said Brady. "Now that you
+know what'll happen to you if you get too hostile, maybe
+we can have a bit of a talk together."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't shoot!" implored a feminine voice; "I don't
+want to have any shooting, dad!"</p>
+
+<p>The voice came from a bundle on the floor, close to
+where Pete was standing. By looking sharply, Matt was
+able to see a white, ghost-like face hovering against the
+rail.</p>
+
+<p>The girl had been brought along with them! Matt
+was glad, for her sake, that he had not got into a rough-and-tumble
+with Brady.</p>
+
+<p>Without seeming to pay the girl more than passing attention,
+the young motorist turned toward the man in the
+chair.</p>
+
+<p>"Well?" said he, crisply. "What have you got to say
+about this, Brady? I guess you could be arrested for
+what you've done, all right."</p>
+
+<p>Brady laughed.</p>
+
+<p>"How's a policeman coming up here to get at me?"
+he asked. "An air-ship is a great thing for a fellow
+who wants to turn a few tricks in spite of the law."</p>
+
+<p>"That's your game, is it? Well, what have you to gain
+by running off with me? I told you I didn't have that
+roll of papers."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm out the blue prints, but I'm in a good motorist.
+I'll not be able to improve the Hawk according to Jerrold's
+plans, but I guess I've got hold of a driver that's
+good enough to make up for most of the improvements."</p>
+
+<p>"If you think I'm going to drive this car for you,"
+said Matt, "you're away off in your calculations."</p>
+
+<p>"That's what you think now, but you'll change your
+tune before long," said Brady, easily. "I know this air-ship
+pretty well, and I installed the motor. All it needed
+for that was a good machinist and a good inventor. I'm
+not a good driver, though, and I've picked you for the
+job. The offer I made back at the house goes. Five
+hundred a month. Pretty good pay, eh, for a boy of
+your age?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't care how much you offer, Brady. As I have
+already told you, no amount of money could hire me to
+work for you. You're a scoundrel, clear through. What
+you've done to-night proves it.</p>
+
+<p>"Bear a little to the left, Brady!" called Pete, who was
+evidently on the lookout. "You're getting too far to the
+north."</p>
+
+<p>Brady moved one of the levers, and the ease and certainty
+with which the air-ship swung to the new direction
+brought Matt's admiration uppermost. Never had he
+been able to resist the lure of untried machinery, and
+here was an experience so novel that it carried him out
+of his troubled environment, so to speak. For a moment,
+suspended in that starlit void and swimming noiselessly
+through the night, he yielded himself to the fascinations
+of the new experience.</p>
+
+<p>"How powerful a motor have you?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Ten horse-power," answered Brady, "and it weighs
+forty pounds."</p>
+
+<p>"How do you steer the machine up and down, and
+right and left?"</p>
+
+<p>"That's where I've got the bulge on Jerrold. One
+rudder with two cross-section planes does all of that.
+This lever here&mdash;I don't know whether you can see it or
+not from where you stand&mdash;gives the up and down 'dip'
+to the rudder that makes the machine rise or fall. By
+moving the lever right or left, the air-ship turns in the
+corresponding direction."</p>
+
+<p>"Take me back," ordered Matt, "and land me at the
+place where you took me from."</p>
+
+<p>"You've got a picture of me doing that!" scoffed
+Brady. "Now that I've caught you, I'm going to keep
+you, see? You're just the sort of a lad I need in my
+business. Grove and Needham, when they finally got
+back to South Chicago with the air-ship, told me all
+about you. If I'd known what I do now at the time
+you called at the balloon house, I'd have taken a different
+tack."</p>
+
+<p>A muttered imprecation came from Pete. He was
+thinking of his fall over the barrel.</p>
+
+<p>"Those fellows got back without breaking their necks,
+did they?" queried Matt.</p>
+
+<p>"Just about. When they told me what had happened,
+I sent off that telegram."</p>
+
+<p>"We might just as well look this thing square in the
+face, Brady," said Matt. "You've acted the part of a
+scoundrel in your dealings with me, and you haven't
+gained anything by it. If you don't turn back and put
+me down in South Chicago, I'll make more trouble for
+you than you can well take care of."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll take my chances on that, my bantam. I like your
+spirit, and we're going to get along fine. Just cast in
+your lot with mine, and I'll make a rich man out of you.
+In the Hawk we can travel all over this continent, from
+Hudson Bay to Patagonia. Where men never went before,
+we can go. No mountain range is so high that we
+can't cross it, and no desert is so barren that we can't
+wing our way comfortably over it."</p>
+
+<p>Matt stared at the dark figure in the chair. If any
+honest man had talked to him in that way, the young
+motorist would have been tempted to become an aeronaut,
+for he could see plainly the possibilities of a serviceable
+air-ship; but as for Brady, he was a criminal, and that
+cut him off from any consideration on Matt's part.</p>
+
+<p>The young motorist sank down on his knees and looked
+over the side of the car. They were perhaps a thousand
+feet in the air. Houses, villages, dark expanses of timber
+and lighter stretches of meadow swept past them, moving
+out from under the car like a dark panorama.</p>
+
+<p>Driving an automobile at speed was like flying, but
+here was flying itself. The new sensation gripped Matt
+and thrilled him in every nerve.</p>
+
+<p>"How are we heading, Pete?" called Brady.</p>
+
+<p>Pete was leaning over the opposite side of the car,
+looking forward.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm jest tryin' to git my bearin's, Brady," he answered.
+"It's so pesky dark it's hard to make out jest
+where we are."</p>
+
+<p>Matt stole a look at Pete's back. The hand gripping
+the revolver lay on the rail. By one quick move Matt
+could have snatched the weapon. As the idea swept
+through his mind he cautiously changed his position.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Just then a soft hand rested on his and he saw the
+girl's face pressed close.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't do anything desperate!" she whispered, imploringly.
+"Do whatever dad says&mdash;it will be better for
+you. When we get to where we're going, I'll help you
+escape, and&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I think, Brady," called Pete, "that ye're still too fur
+to the north. Better shift a leetle more to the left. I
+won't be sartin, though, that I'm right."</p>
+
+<p>"I ought to be there on the lookout," answered Brady.
+"Come here, King, and take the engine."</p>
+
+<p>The girl's words had influenced Matt powerfully. On
+top of that was the alluring prospect of handling a new
+machine.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll take the engine for a while, Brady," said he, getting
+up, "but you're to remember I'll not hire out to
+you."</p>
+
+<p>"All I ask is for you to handle the motor," replied
+Brady. "You'll come to your oats quick enough, I'll
+gamble on that. You watch King, Pete," he added to
+the other man, "and make sure he sends the Hawk where
+I tell him to. If he tries to send her anywhere else,
+you know what to do."</p>
+
+<p>"That's no josh," answered Pete.</p>
+
+<p>Brady left the chair and went forward. Matt dropped
+into the vacant seat and began studying the various levers
+with his groping hands.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X.</a></h2>
+
+<p class="chaptitle">WILLOUGHBY'S SWAMP.</p>
+
+
+<p>Pete kept his weapon prominently displayed, and
+through the gloom Matt could see the ruffian's arm partly
+lifted as though ready on the instant to bring the firearm
+into use. This alert attitude on Pete's part, however,
+was more for show than for anything else&mdash;at least,
+Matt so regarded it. Brady was not anxious to go to
+desperate extremes with Matt, especially since he wanted
+him as driver for the air-ship.</p>
+
+<p>Brady, taking up a position where he could peer ahead,
+was scanning the dim landscape sharply.</p>
+
+<p>"Swing her to the left!" he called.</p>
+
+<p>Matt instantly applied the steering lever. Instead of
+swinging to the left, however, the Hawk made a half-turn
+to the right.</p>
+
+<p>Up came the revolver. With a sharp cry, the girl
+reached up and caught Pete's arm.</p>
+
+<p>"To the <i>left</i>, I said!" roared Brady.</p>
+
+<p>"You'll have to give me the chance to learn the machine,"
+answered Matt, coolly, as he continued working
+the lever and brought the Hawk around to the proper
+course. "These levers are new to me. When we steer
+an auto we do it with a wheel."</p>
+
+<p>"I thought ye knowed all about motors," jeered Pete.</p>
+
+<p>"I know something about motors," replied Matt, "but
+not the first thing about air-ships."</p>
+
+<p>As near as Matt could judge, they were proceeding at
+a speed of something like thirty miles an hour. He
+speeded up the engine a little and was surprised at the
+smoothness with which it worked. The propeller hummed
+in a low, husky drone that was quite different from the
+song of the cylinders.</p>
+
+<p>He moved the steering lever backward a couple of
+notches. Immediately the rudder was tilted and the
+Hawk began to climb upward.</p>
+
+<p>"Stop that!" yelled Brady. "We're high enough.
+What are you trying to do?"</p>
+
+<p>"Learning the machine," answered Matt, and threw the
+lever forward.</p>
+
+<p>The front end of the gas-bag tipped downward, and
+the air-ship slid toward the earth with a suddenness that
+almost threw Brady over the rail.</p>
+
+<p>"That'll do you!" he whooped. "Get her on a level
+again, and be quick about it. You can handle the machine,
+all right, and I don't want you to do anything but
+what you're told."</p>
+
+<p>"All right," said Matt quietly.</p>
+
+<p>For five minutes longer they continued to swim onward
+through the air. A long string of lights shot across
+the gloomy landscape below them, and a whistle came
+upward from the earth with startling distinctness.</p>
+
+<p>"There goes a train, whistlin' fer Lake Station," remarked
+Pete.</p>
+
+<p>"We'll be over the town in a minute," said Brady, "and
+then it won't be long until we get to the swamp."</p>
+
+<p>"What swamp?" asked Matt.</p>
+
+<p>"Never ye mind," was Pete's surly rejoinder. "Ye're
+here to obey orders an' not ask any fool questions."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think it very foolish for a fellow to ask where
+he's being taken."</p>
+
+<p>"Mebby not, but ye ain't findin' anythin' out, see?"</p>
+
+<p>Matt had been doing a good deal of guessing about
+Carl. What would his chum do? What was he doing
+then? He felt pretty sure that Carl would get into the
+house and go through it from cellar to roof.</p>
+
+<p>But Matt knew that Carl had a good sensible head in
+cases of emergency. Now and again the Dutch boy's
+temper was apt to make trouble with his reasoning, but
+in the long run Carl could always be counted on to do
+the right thing.</p>
+
+<p>So Matt was not worrying very much about his chum.
+Carl would take good care of the blue prints and ultimately
+they would find their rightful owner.</p>
+
+<p>"Ha!" exclaimed Brady, suddenly, "there's the signal!
+I'll go back and take charge of the motor while we make
+the landing, Pete, and you take the lookout."</p>
+
+<p>Matt gave place to Brady and then stood at the rail,
+watching developments curiously.</p>
+
+<p>Below the air-ship was a great splotch of black shadow,
+stretching away on all sides as far as the eye could reach.
+Evidently this was the swamp. The Hawk was sailing
+across the swamp toward a big fire that glowed in the
+distance.</p>
+
+<p>With Brady steering and Pete directing, the Hawk approached
+closer and closer to the fire.</p>
+
+<p>"Drop 'er, Brady!" Pete presently called; "we're close
+on the island."</p>
+
+<p>The nose of the air-ship ducked downward and, for
+perhaps twenty seconds, she raced earthward; then Brady
+diminished the speed of their descent by slow degrees.</p>
+
+<p>Matt, braced on the sloping floor of the car, watched
+the fire apparently come up toward them. A little later
+he was able to make out three human figures against the
+firelit background below, and a bare little plateau took
+vague form under his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>He watched the landing keenly, and noted how Brady
+suddenly shifted the steering rudder so as to bring the
+Hawk on an even keel, the lower supports of the car just
+grazing the ground.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The three figures by the fire ran close.</p>
+
+<p>"How's everything, Brady?" cried a voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Finer than silk," called back Brady. "Stand by to
+catch the ropes, you fellows."</p>
+
+<p>The murmur of the motor ceased, the revolving propeller
+came to a stop, and Pete flung out two ropes, one
+on each side of the car.</p>
+
+<p>The ropes were caught by the men on the ground, a
+bight of each was thrown around a stout stake driven
+into the earth at an angle, and the air-ship was drawn
+down and safely moored.</p>
+
+<p>Matt was now able to understand why Brady had taken
+his place as driver for the landing. Not only was the
+method of making a landing new to Matt, but there was
+also danger, unless one was familiar with the place, of
+scraping the trees that covered the swamp and hemmed
+in the cleared space called the "island."</p>
+
+<p>Matt started to spring over the rail of the car.</p>
+
+<p>"Stop, King!" cried Brady. "You don't want to make
+a bolt for the timber and get mired in the swamp, do
+you? Just remember you're still under orders. Take
+him to the roost, Needham, you and Whipple. Better tie
+him up until he gets used to the place and to our society.
+He's a bit strange, here, and none too willing
+to stay."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you bring the loot, Brady?" called one of the
+men.</p>
+
+<p>"Sure! This is moving-day with us and you didn't
+think I was going to leave all that stuff on Hoyne Street,
+did you? Get out of the car, King," he went on, to Matt.
+"Whipple and Needham will take care of you."</p>
+
+<p>Two of the three men had stepped to the side of the
+car. In the light of the fire, which was blazing at a safe
+distance from the air-ship, Matt discovered that Needham
+and Grove had been the two aeronauts who had had
+such hard luck with the Hawk during the preceding
+day.</p>
+
+<p>Needham, who, with Whipple, was facing Matt and
+waiting for him to get over the air-ship's rail, gave a
+husky laugh.</p>
+
+<p>"We got out of that scrape, all right," said he, "even if
+we did lose our drag-rope."</p>
+
+<p>"And you got me into another scrape," said Matt.
+"You fellows will pay for this!"</p>
+
+<p>"Chirp low, young feller," warned Whipple, catching
+him by the arm as he gained the ground; "your cue is to
+make friends with us an' not bluster about what ye're
+goin' ter do. There's five husky men here, an' we're all
+surrounded by a swamp that would mire ye up ter the
+eyes if ye tried ter git through it. Oh, I reckon ye won't
+git away ter make any of us pay fer anythin'! This
+way, an' step lively."</p>
+
+<p>With Needham and Whipple on each side of him and
+hanging to an arm, Matt was led across the open space,
+past the fire, and to the door of a small, roughly built
+shanty. A little way off there was another building, fully
+as small but apparently somewhat better built.</p>
+
+<p>"This here's the roost," announced Whipple, "an' it's
+where ye're ter pass the rest o' the night. Come in, an'
+come peaceable."</p>
+
+<p>It was part of Matt's plan, hastily formed on the air-ship
+just after the girl had spoken to him, to accept passively
+whatever came his way&mdash;at least for a time. The
+girl had said that she would help him escape, and there
+was that about her which had awakened his confidence.
+Not only that, but there was also something in the girl's
+face that had aroused his sympathy. She had a history,
+he was sure, and one that was far from pleasant.</p>
+
+<p>There were five cots in the "roost," and Matt was told
+to lie down on one of them.</p>
+
+<p>"Harper used to sleep there," remarked Needham, as
+Matt stretched himself out on the hard bed, "and the
+deuce only knows where poor old Harper is now. You're
+taking his place, King, and so it's only right you should
+have his cot."</p>
+
+<p>It was on Matt's tongue to say that Needham had another
+guess coming, but he held his peace. He would
+not show too much of the hostile side of his feelings until
+he had had a chance to talk with the girl.</p>
+
+<p>"What's the use of tying me," expostulated Matt, as
+ropes were being put in place around his wrists and
+ankles, "if it's impossible for me to get away?"</p>
+
+<p>"Orders," answered Whipple, curtly.</p>
+
+<p>After Matt was made secure, Whipple and Needham
+went out of the hut. The young motorist had had a trying
+day, and even his exciting situation was powerless to
+keep the sleep from his eyes. He dozed off, while his
+thoughts were trying to straighten out the queer tangle
+in which events had bound him. He roused up for a
+moment when Pete, Whipple, Needham and Grove came
+into the hut and dropped down on their cots, but almost
+immediately he went to sleep again.</p>
+
+<p>It seemed as though he had hardly closed his eyes the
+second time before he was awakened by a light hand
+pressed upon his forehead. The other cots in the room
+were empty, it was morning, and the girl was standing
+beside him.</p>
+
+<p>"I have brought your breakfast," said she, in a low
+voice. "We can talk a little, but will have to be quick.
+Dad, or some of the men, may come in here at any second!
+There's a lot that you've got to know, and&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>She was interrupted by the sharp explosion of a firearm
+outside. Stifling a cry, she whirled from the cot and
+ran to the open door.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI.</a></h2>
+
+<p class="chaptitle">A FOE IN THE AIR.</p>
+
+
+<p>"What is it?" asked Matt, struggling up on the cot.</p>
+
+<p>No revolver had caused the report he had heard. From
+the sound he knew that a rifle had been fired.</p>
+
+<p>A babel of excited voices now came to him from without,
+accompanied by sounds of running feet diminishing
+rapidly in the distance. Then came another report, and
+another, both from a more distant point than the first.</p>
+
+<p>The girl stepped through the doorway and was looking
+upward.</p>
+
+<p>"Take off these ropes!" called Matt. "Let me get out
+there and see what is going on!"</p>
+
+<p>The girl turned and reentered the hut. Her face wore
+an expression of the utmost concern.</p>
+
+<p>"No," said she, "I can't release you just now. If dad
+was to come and find that I'd set you free, he would suspect
+me at once and that would spoil my plans."</p>
+
+<p>"But what was the cause of that shooting?" persisted
+Matt.</p>
+
+<p>"There's another air-ship over the island&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Another air-ship?" echoed Matt.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. It must be Jerrold's, although how he ever<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span>
+found out where dad was is more than I know. Dad
+and the rest were shooting at the air-ship with rifles."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll bet it's somebody who's come looking for me!"
+exclaimed Matt. "If your father and his gang should
+kill anybody&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"They won't," interrupted the girl, confidently; "dad
+knows better than to do anything of that kind. They'll
+try to put a bullet or two into the gas-bag of the air-ship
+and frighten Jerrold away."</p>
+
+<p>"Go and take another look," said Matt, anxiously. "See
+what they're doing."</p>
+
+<p>The girl glided to the doorway again.</p>
+
+<p>"The other air-ship is moving off," the girl reported,
+with a measure of relief in her voice, as she came back.
+"I think the bullets must have injured the propeller, or
+some of the machinery, for the air-ship is moving very
+slowly and seems to be in trouble."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you see how many were aboard?"</p>
+
+<p>"There were three in the car&mdash;one of them was Jerrold,
+and he was managing the motor."</p>
+
+<p>"The other two," asked Matt, eagerly, "do you know
+who they were?"</p>
+
+<p>"One of them was in uniform, and looked like a policeman.
+The other was short and thick-set and looked like
+a German."</p>
+
+<p>"Carl!" exclaimed Matt, jubilantly. "Good old Carl!
+How did he ever find out where I was, I wonder?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'll bet dad is trying to guess the same thing," said
+the girl. "He'll be badly cut up over this. But it's no
+more than he ought to expect," she added. "Whenever
+a man breaks the law he'll have to pay for it, sooner
+or later."</p>
+
+<p>"What has your father been doing?" asked Matt.</p>
+
+<p>"I came to talk with you about that. While I'm giving
+you your breakfast, I'll tell you my plans. Dad, and all
+the rest except Whipple, are off in the swamp, somewhere,
+keeping track of Jerrold's air-ship, and that will
+give us a chance."</p>
+
+<p>Matt swung his bound feet over the edge of the cot,
+and while he sat there the girl drew a chair close and
+began giving him his breakfast.</p>
+
+<p>"Dad has been doing a lot of criminal things," said the
+girl, "and all he built that air-ship for was to make it
+easy for him to rob people and get away without being
+found out. Didn't you guess that when I showed you
+that article in the paper? I thought you might."</p>
+
+<p>"I've been mighty thick-headed," answered Matt, between
+mouthfuls, "and I never thought the thing through
+that far. Possibly it's because so much has been happening
+to me since I went into that place on Hoyne
+Street."</p>
+
+<p>"It's nearly broken my heart having dad act like he's
+been doing," said the girl, her lips quivering. "If mother
+had lived she'd have kept dad straight, but when she died
+dad just seemed to go to the dogs. He has tried to
+make the people in South Chicago think he was just an
+honest inventor, but, even at that, he stole all his ideas
+from Jerrold. That balloon house, that he built out of
+some of the proceeds of his first robbery, was put up
+for what they call a 'blind.' With a big house like that,
+out in plain sight, dad felt that everybody would think
+his work was open and aboveboard. When he committed
+any robberies, the Hawk was taken from the
+shed in the dead of night, and Harper would steer it for
+the place they were to rob. The blackest kind of a night
+was always selected, and only flat-topped buildings were
+robbed. You see, the air-ship would alight on the roof,
+and dad and the rest would break into the building from
+the top. When they left they always went in the same
+way they came, and the police were puzzled because they
+could not find any clues in the lower part of the buildings."</p>
+
+<p>"It was a slick scheme," commented Matt.</p>
+
+<p>"That's the way Hartz &amp; Greer's place was robbed,"
+proceeded the girl. "Dad and the rest got fifteen thousand
+dollars' worth of goods from Hartz &amp; Greer, and
+for more than a week the stuff has been hidden in that
+house on Hoyne Street. But now dad has left South
+Chicago for good and all. He's afraid the police are
+beginning to suspect him, and that Jerrold might try to
+do something on account of those stolen blue prints."</p>
+
+<p>It was perfectly plain to Matt that the girl's recital
+of these crimes, in which her father had played the
+leading part, was anything but easy for her. She was
+talking from a sense of duty, and Matt honored and admired
+her for the stand she was taking.</p>
+
+<p>"It doesn't seem possible," said he, gently, "that Brady
+is your father."</p>
+
+<p>"But he is," she answered brokenly, "and he has
+brought shame and disgrace on me. But what could I
+do? Dad knows how I feel about his actions, and he has
+watched me and kept me away from other people ever
+since he began his stealing. When you came to the
+house, last night, it was the first chance I have had to
+tell what I know. I overheard dad and Pete planning
+what they were going to do if you came, and&mdash;and I
+hoped you would come, although I knew you would
+never leave the house until you were taken away as dad's
+prisoner. I felt sure, though, that I could help you to
+escape, and I feel even more sure of that now than I
+did before."</p>
+
+<p>"What is your name?" asked Matt, his eyes full on
+the girl's face.</p>
+
+<p>"Helen," she answered.</p>
+
+<p>"What are your plans, Helen?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"My plan," she went on, "is for you to get away from
+the swamp in the Hawk, and to take the stuff stolen from
+Hartz &amp; Greer with you. That will stop everything, for
+dad will be perfectly helpless without the air-ship. Then,
+too, you can return the stolen diamonds and jewelry to
+Hartz &amp; Greer, and that will go far toward righting one
+wrong. When you are back in South Chicago, you can
+send the police here and&mdash;and they can capture dad
+and the rest."</p>
+
+<p>Matt had finished eating and the girl had put aside the
+dishes. Suddenly she broke down and hid her face in
+her apron. For a few moments she sobbed convulsively.</p>
+
+<p>Small wonder her feelings overcame her! In carrying
+out her ideas of right and justice, she had planned to
+give her own father into the hands of the law.</p>
+
+<p>"You're a noble girl, Helen!" declared Matt. "But
+how am I to get away in the air-ship and to take the
+stolen property with me?"</p>
+
+<p>"You already know how to run the machine," said
+the girl, recovering herself a little and looking up, "and
+when the right time arrives I will come here and take
+off your ropes. As for the stolen property, I will see to
+it that that is put in the car before you start. There will
+be danger in what you do, but, from what I have heard,
+you know how to win out in spite of it."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I will run any risk to get away from here," returned
+Matt, gravely, "but when I go you must go with me.
+This is no place for you&mdash;with such a thieving gang!"</p>
+
+<p>"I must stay here," the girl said resolutely. "Even
+though I am sending my father to prison I want to be
+with him to the last. If something isn't done," she continued
+passionately, "he will go on and on, constantly
+from bad to worse, and perhaps some time"&mdash;her face
+blanched as she spoke&mdash;"he might receive worse than a
+prison sentence. It is the only way to save him."</p>
+
+<p>It was clear that Helen Brady had spent much time in
+thinking out and planning her present course, and how
+much mental anguish and bitterness of spirit her conclusion
+had cost her, only she could know.</p>
+
+<p>"I am ready to do whatever you want me to," said
+Matt, "and if you think it best to stay here, all right. I
+still believe, though, you ought to leave this place with
+me."</p>
+
+<p>"No, no," she replied firmly. "I have thought it all out
+a dozen times, and I have made up my mind as to what it
+is right for me to do. You must get away from here
+in the air-ship. With the Hawk taken away from him,
+dad will be helpless."</p>
+
+<p>"Haven't you any friends or relatives to whom you
+could go?" asked Matt.</p>
+
+<p>"I have relatives on my mother's side, but they won't
+have anything to do with dad or me&mdash;simply because dad
+is what he is. They have asked me to leave dad and
+come to them, but I know my place and what it is right
+for me to do."</p>
+
+<p>A brief silence fell between the two, during which Matt
+turned the queer problem over in his mind.</p>
+
+<p>"When do you think your plan can be carried out?" he
+asked presently.</p>
+
+<p>"It has got to be soon, if at all," she answered. "I
+don't know what effect this appearance of Jerrold's air-ship
+over the swamp will have on dad, but I hope it won't
+interfere with my plans. We'll have to wait a little while
+and see. Whipple is watching the Hawk now, and&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Just at that moment a heavy step was heard outside.
+A man appeared in the doorway, stared in at Matt and
+the girl for an instant, and then strode into the hut.</p>
+
+<p>The man was Brady, and his face was black as a
+thundercloud.</p>
+
+<p>"What're you doing here so long?" he cried angrily to
+the girl. "Clear out! I've got something I want to talk
+over with King."</p>
+
+<p>With a supplicating look at her father, the girl got up
+and passed out of the hut.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII.</a></h2>
+
+<p class="chaptitle">BRADY CHANGES HIS PLANS.</p>
+
+
+<p>"You've played the devil with me, and no mistake!"
+scowled Brady, whirling on Matt the moment the girl
+was gone.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't see how you make that out," said Matt.
+"You're the one that's made all the trouble, Brady."</p>
+
+<p>Brady's little eyes glittered as they rested on Matt.
+For a few moments he paced angrily back and forth
+across the hut.</p>
+
+<p>"How in thunder," he cried suddenly, "did Jerrold ever
+manage to get a line on me? He was over the swamp,
+a short time ago, with his air-ship, and he'd have landed
+here if we hadn't driven him off. Jerrold knows where
+I am, and he has the means of getting to the island.
+We've crippled his craft, though, and he's had to haul off
+for repairs. While he's gone, I've got to change my
+plans, somehow, and be ready for him when he comes
+back. That Dutch kid who was with you at the balloon
+house yesterday was in the car of the air-ship, and there
+was also a policeman along. How did that come?"</p>
+
+<p>"You know as much about it as I do, Brady," replied
+Matt. "I disappeared from that Hoyne Street house,
+last night, and I suppose my chum has been getting clues
+about me and following them up. That's the kind of a
+lad he is."</p>
+
+<p>"Where did he get any clues that would bring him out
+here?"</p>
+
+<p>"Give it up."</p>
+
+<p>Brady took a few more turns across the room, presently
+halting in front of Matt.</p>
+
+<p>"You didn't bring that roll of blue prints to Hoyne
+Street, last night," said he. "Where did you leave it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Left it out in front of the house," grinned Matt.</p>
+
+<p>Brady started.</p>
+
+<p>"In front of the house?" he echoed.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Cached?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly."</p>
+
+<p>"Under the sidewalk?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; in the pocket of my Dutch pard."</p>
+
+<p>Brady stared incredulously. Then he swore.</p>
+
+<p>"That Dutchman was out in front all the while you
+were in the house?"</p>
+
+<p>Matt nodded.</p>
+
+<p>"He came with me from Chicago. I got to thinking
+there might be a trap in the house, and that some one
+was there who wanted the blue prints, so I made up my
+mind that it would be a wise move to leave Carl out in
+front, and to let him keep the roll."</p>
+
+<p>"That chum of yours must have seen the Hawk when
+she climbed out of the back yard," growled Brady, "but
+how in the fiend's name was he able to get Jerrold and
+the Eagle and follow us? It was dark, and we had a
+long start of them."</p>
+
+<p>"One guess is as good as another," said Matt, calmly.
+"I told you you'd get yourself into trouble if you tried
+to make a prisoner of me. The best thing you can do
+now is to send me back to South Chicago in the air-ship."</p>
+
+<p>"Think I'm a fool?" snarled Brady. "It may be that
+you're all that stands between me and my men and capture.
+I'll hang onto you, King, and I'll let that Dutch
+pard of yours know that if Jerrold don't keep away from
+this swamp with his air-ship you're going to connect with
+your finish. It's neck or nothing with me, now, and I'll
+go any length to keep myself out of the 'pen.' I've laid
+out a fine campaign for the Hawk, and I don't intend to
+have all my plans nipped in the bud, right at the start-off."</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose," said Matt, scathingly, "that your campaign
+is one of robbery, and that you're going to make a
+pirate ship out of the Hawk?"</p>
+
+<p>"That's where you put your finger on the right button!"
+declared Brady. "I'm going to be a freebooter,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span>
+and take my toll wherever I can find it. It's easy to
+swoop down on a lot of spoil, pick it up and make off
+with it. And what can the law do?" He laughed
+mockingly. "Policemen will have to have wings to get
+anywhere near me."</p>
+
+<p>"And that's what you wanted me for, is it?" cried Matt,
+indignantly; "to drive the Hawk around through the air
+and help out your villainous plans! I would let you kill
+me first."</p>
+
+<p>"Rot! I'm going to stick to my original intentions, but
+there's got to be something of a change in my immediate
+plans. We've all got to pull out of here and to
+take what plunder we've got cached in the swamp. The
+Hawk will have to make three or four trips, and they
+must be made before Jerrold and his air-ship can interfere
+with us. If Jerrold fixes up his air-ship and comes
+back, we'll just tell him what will happen to you if he
+lingers in the vicinity of the swamp. I'm banking on
+that to send him packing again, and to keep him out of
+sight until I can make a change of base. You'll go away
+on the Hawk's first trip, and it will probably be only half
+an hour before you can start."</p>
+
+<p>Brady started for the door, but halted before he reached
+it and faced around.</p>
+
+<p>"Either one of two things happened to put that Dutchman
+and Jerrold on my track," said he. "Either Harper
+has been caught, and has told what he knows, or else a
+letter I gave Needham to deliver to Whipple, here in
+the swamp, has fallen into the hands of the police. It
+don't make much difference, though, how Jerrold got
+next to our hang-out. The main thing is that he knows
+where we are, and that you will be put in a mighty tight
+corner if he keeps on trying to make trouble for me.
+That's about all, King. I want you to understand what
+you're up against and be ready for whatever happens.
+I'm not going to have my plans knocked galley-west just
+as I'm on the point of launching them."</p>
+
+<p>With another black scowl, expressive of his savage determination,
+Hector Brady strode out of the hut.</p>
+
+<p>Matt was beginning to understand why Helen preferred
+to see her father in prison rather than free to
+carry out his campaign of lawlessness. Possessing a
+practical air-ship like the Hawk, Brady could commit
+untold depredations and snap his fingers in open defiance
+of the law.</p>
+
+<p>The young motorist shuddered to think of the scoundrel's
+comprehensive plans, and of the part he had intended
+to make his prisoner play in them.</p>
+
+<p>Helen's reasoning was logical, and the expedient she
+had suggested was as simple as it was effective. By
+taking the Hawk away from Brady she would make it
+impossible for him to follow out his nefarious schemes.
+The beautiful simplicity of the countercheck aroused
+Matt's admiration.</p>
+
+<p>But how was the countercheck to be brought about?
+The appearance of Jerrold's air-ship over the swamp had
+made doubly difficult the work the girl was counting
+upon having done. Not only that, but the coming of the
+Eagle had increased Matt's peril. There was no doubt
+in the young motorist's mind but that Brady would go to
+any extreme in order to keep himself and his companions
+from being captured.</p>
+
+<p>All these different aspects of the situation floated
+through Motor Matt's mind swiftly. Two or three minutes
+after Brady had left the hut, and while Matt was
+still considering the problem that confronted the girl,
+Helen herself stole in through the door.</p>
+
+<p>Her face was haggard, but her eyes were bright and
+full of resolution.</p>
+
+<p>"You shouldn't be here," protested Matt. "Your father
+suspected something when he found you with me a little
+while ago and ordered you away. What if he should
+come back and see you here again?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think he'll come back, but I've got to take the
+risk, even if he does." The girl spoke quickly and steadily
+and made her way swiftly to Matt's side. "Dad has
+changed his plans&mdash;I was listening to all he said, out
+there at the back of the hut. He's going to use the
+Hawk to take us all away from the swamp, and <i>you're
+going to go on the Hawk's first trip</i>! That means that
+we must do what we can, at once. If we fail now, everything
+is lost."</p>
+
+<p>She was breathlessly eager, but her calmness at such a
+moment surprised Matt. Lifting her hands she took a
+small poniard from the bosom of her dress, bent down
+and severed the cords that secured Matt's hands. Then,
+with one downward stroke of the keen blade, she freed
+his feet.</p>
+
+<p>"Where are your father and the rest of the men?"
+asked Matt.</p>
+
+<p>Before she answered, Helen glided to the door and took
+a cautious look outside.</p>
+
+<p>"Some of the stolen goods have been hidden among
+the bushes of the swamp," said she, returning to Matt.
+"You are to be sent away with the loot, on the first
+trip, and dad himself will have to take you. He, and
+everybody except Whipple, have gone to the swamp.
+Whipple has a rifle and is guarding the Hawk. Whatever
+we do, Matt, we've got to do in a hurry. The bag
+of goods taken from Hartz &amp; Greer is behind this hut,"
+she pointed to an unglazed opening in the rear wall as
+she spoke. "While the rest are in the swamp, I will
+go to the Hawk and talk with Whipple, getting around
+on the other side of him so that his back will be in this
+direction. While I am holding his attention, you will
+creep up on him from behind and, between us, we will
+try and get the rifle. It's a desperate chance, but we
+will do the best we can."</p>
+
+<p>"You're a brave girl, Helen!" declared Matt.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm doing what I think is right, and that always helps
+a person's courage. I'm more worried about you than I
+am about myself. If anything should go wrong&mdash;if anything
+should happen to you because of the help you are
+giving me&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>For the first time her voice faltered. Matt reached out
+and caught her hand reassuringly.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't fret about me," said he. "There won't be any
+trouble about my getting the best of Whipple, with you
+to help. Is the Hawk all ready for a flight? I mean is
+there plenty of gasoline in the tank, and plenty of oil?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, dad has seen to that. So far as the air-ship is
+concerned, it is ready to carry you quickly and safely out
+of the swamp. Now I will steal out of the hut and talk
+with Whipple."</p>
+
+<p>Once more she started for the door. Hardly had she
+reached it, however, when she drew back with a gasp of
+consternation. Turning, she beckoned to Matt.</p>
+
+<p>"Too late!" she whispered, her voice sharp with anguish
+and disappointment. "Oh, why have they come
+just at this time!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Matt glided quickly to her side and peered out through
+the half-opened door.</p>
+
+<p>What he saw was well calculated to discourage him
+and the girl.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII.</a></h2>
+
+<p class="chaptitle">INTO THE SWAMP.</p>
+
+
+<p>Needham, Pete, Grove and Brady had not been long
+carrying out their work of recovering the cached goods.
+They were returning from the edge of the bushy timber,
+ascending the slight elevation of the "island" on their
+way to the Hawk, each bearing an armful of plunder.</p>
+
+<p>In his stealings, Brady had not bothered with bulky
+articles but had confined himself to "lifting" smaller and
+richer loot. The stuff was all in small sacks.</p>
+
+<p>As the men walked past the "roost" on their course to
+the air-ship, Matt and the girl withdrew from the door
+to avoid being seen. Through a crack in the wall, however,
+they were able to keep close track of what went on.</p>
+
+<p>On reaching the Hawk, the bundles were deposited on
+the ground. Whipple, leaning on his rifle, stood watching
+while the bags were heaped up at the side of the
+air-ship.</p>
+
+<p>For a few moments the villainous crew had their heads
+together in close and earnest conversation. Now and
+again their eyes were lifted aloft, evidently on the alert
+for some sign of the Eagle. Brady, it could be seen,
+did most of the talking. Suddenly, after a sharp scrutiny
+overhead, Brady whirled around and started for the hut.</p>
+
+<p>"He's coming after you!" half sobbed the girl.</p>
+
+<p>"What's the reason I can't escape through that window
+in the rear wall," asked Matt, hurriedly, "and take refuge
+in the swamp?"</p>
+
+<p>The idea seemed to electrify the girl.</p>
+
+<p>"I hadn't thought of that," she whispered, catching his
+arm and starting for the window. "The back of the hut
+is close to the trees and bushes on this side of the island,
+and I know something about the reefs of dry ground
+running through the swamp in the vicinity of this place.
+Come!" she added; "we must hurry."</p>
+
+<p>Her despair had vanished in a flash, and her steadiness
+and resolution had all come back. She climbed through
+the window and, as Matt followed, she was picking up a
+small bag that had stood close to the rear wall.</p>
+
+<p>Without speaking, and once more clasping his arm, she
+hurried him into the tangled bushes that came up to
+within a few feet of the hut. There, screened by a dense
+thicket, they paused to note further developments.</p>
+
+<p>Their position, of course, rendered it impossible for
+them to see the front of the hut, but they were so close
+they could hear Brady's oath of astonishment and alarm
+when he discovered that Matt was missing.</p>
+
+<p>The next moment Brady could be seen rushing around
+the side of the hut and a little way in the direction of
+the group standing beside the Hawk.</p>
+
+<p>"He's gone!" roared Brady. "The cub's got loose and
+skipped!"</p>
+
+<p>The rest were roused into frantic activity.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll sw'ar he didn't git out while I was watchin' the
+Hawk," cried Whipple. "Anyways, he can't be fur off."</p>
+
+<p>"Hustle around!" fumed Brady. "Get into the swamp,
+every man-jack of you, and find that whelp wherever he
+is. I wouldn't have him get clear for a thousand, cold!"
+All the gang forthwith became exceedingly busy. They
+darted off in various directions, and Brady himself, accompanied
+by Grove, started for the side of the island
+from which Matt and the girl were watching.</p>
+
+<p>"We'll have to get away from here!" breathed the girl,
+turning. "Follow me, Matt, and be careful where you
+step. If you're not careful, you may find yourself mired
+in the swamp."</p>
+
+<p>"Trust me for that," answered Matt. "I'll carry this,"
+he added, taking the bag from the girl's hands.</p>
+
+<p>The swamp, into which they were now headed, presented
+a matted tangle of undergrowth growing among
+the trees. Through the bushes could be seen a glimmer
+of stagnant water, and the whole place seemed as dank
+and loathsome as a tropical jungle.</p>
+
+<p>The girl picked her way carefully, parting the bushes
+ahead of her and stepping from hummock to hummock.
+Finally they reached a little bare uplift of dry earth, and
+halted to listen. They could hear nothing of pursuit, and
+the girl drew a long breath of relief.</p>
+
+<p>"Dad don't know that I've explored this swamp," said
+she. "I have lived on the island for nearly six months&mdash;dad
+used to keep me here while he was doing his thieving
+in South Chicago, so I wouldn't be able to tell what I
+know and give him away, I guess."</p>
+
+<p>She sank down on the flat piece of turf for a few moments'
+rest. The ground, although dry, shivered under
+them as they moved, and seemed every moment as though
+about to give way beneath their weight and let them down
+into the morass.</p>
+
+<p>"This is a treacherous-looking place," remarked Matt,
+peering off into the trees and bushes that hemmed them
+in on every side.</p>
+
+<p>"It's all of that," replied the girl.</p>
+
+<p>"It would be easy for a person to get lost."</p>
+
+<p>"Not easy for me, as I know it too well."</p>
+
+<p>"If I can get away in the Hawk," went on Matt, after
+a brief silence, "this will make it necessary for you to
+go with me."</p>
+
+<p>"Why?" she queried, lifting her wide, dark eyes to
+his.</p>
+
+<p>"Can't you understand? Your father and his men will
+discover that you are not on the island, and they will
+suspect that you helped me out of the hut. What will
+your father do when he finds that out?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>A shiver swept through the girl's slight form.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose he will half kill me," she answered. "But
+I shall stay with him. I am his daughter, and it's my
+duty to be with him to the end."</p>
+
+<p>"You mustn't be foolish," said Matt, inclined to get
+out of patience. "You're carrying your idea of duty to
+your father altogether too far."</p>
+
+<p>"I've thought it all out," she answered firmly, "and
+my mind is made up. Please don't try to argue with
+me. It may not be possible for you to get away in the
+air-ship now," she added, with a sigh of regret. "If you
+can't, I will try and get you through the swamp. I don't
+know anything about it, though, after we get a little
+away from the island."</p>
+
+<p>"Then," proceeded Matt, not giving up his argument
+that Helen Brady should go away with him, "your father
+will be madder than ever when he finds out you have
+taken the goods stolen from Hartz &amp; Greer."</p>
+
+<p>"That's what I expect, but it's right that the stuff
+should be returned. A person ought to have principles,
+Matt, and I don't think a person amounts to much if he
+or she can't stand a little suffering on account of their
+principles."</p>
+
+<p>"That's right, too," muttered Matt.</p>
+
+<p>"There's fifteen thousand dollars' worth of diamonds
+and jewelry in that bag," Helen went on, "and Hartz &amp;
+Greer have offered a reward of twenty-five hundred to
+any one who will return the property."</p>
+
+<p>"That money will go to you," said Matt, promptly.
+"It's right that it should. Look at the risks you're taking
+to have it put into the hands of its rightful owners
+again! Some time, Helen, you will be rid of your father,
+and then the money will come handy."</p>
+
+<p>She was gazing at him steadily, and there was something
+of rebuke in her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"You don't mean that, Matt," said she, quietly.</p>
+
+<p>"Why not?" he demanded.</p>
+
+<p>"Would it be right for me to take a reward for returning
+property my own father had stolen?"</p>
+
+<p>Matt was amazed by the simple directness of the girl's
+reasoning. And she was right, entirely right. Nevertheless
+it took one of fine character to reason and to
+act as the girl was doing.</p>
+
+<p>"If you succeed in getting away with the bag," Helen
+continued, "I want you to give it back to the rightful
+owners. Tell them it comes from Hector Brady's daughter,
+and that she hopes they will not be too hard on her
+father."</p>
+
+<p>"You bet I'll tell them," said Matt. "What's more, I'll
+get through this swamp on foot, if I have to, and I'll
+consider it a mighty fine thing to lug the bag along and
+turn it over to Hartz &amp; Greer."</p>
+
+<p>"I felt sure you'd help me," murmured the girl. "There
+was something in your face that told me you could be
+depended on the moment I looked at you at the door of
+that Hoyne Street house."</p>
+
+<p>"Then the impression was mutual," said Matt. "If I
+hadn't read honesty in your face, along with a desire to
+help me, I'd have made a rush out of that room in the
+Hoyne Street place the moment I read your warning on
+the fly leaf of the book."</p>
+
+<p>"It was well you didn't do that. You'd have been
+caught. Pete was behind the window curtain all the
+time. That was why I had to write what I wanted you
+to know, and call your attention to it indirectly. If you
+had&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>The girl was interrupted by a distant rustle of bushes.
+Stifling the words on her lips, she sprang erect.</p>
+
+<p>"Dad's coming this way," she whispered. "I don't
+think he has the least idea where we've gone, but he
+seems to be blundering in the right direction. We'll have
+to hurry on."</p>
+
+<p>Once more they resumed their flight, Matt carrying
+the bag and carefully following in his companion's footsteps.</p>
+
+<p>The way became increasingly difficult, and the bushes
+even denser than they had been at the point where they
+had entered the swamp. Then, too, the hummocks which
+offered them foothold became farther apart so that it was
+necessary to leap almost blindly through the brush in
+getting from one to another.</p>
+
+<p>Occasionally they halted and listened, but were unable
+to hear any sound behind them to indicate that Brady and
+Grove were still on the right track.</p>
+
+<p>Just as Matt was congratulating himself that they had
+again eluded their pursuers, a cry from the girl, muffled
+but full of distress, reached him.</p>
+
+<p>Between him and her a screen of bushes intervened,
+and the cry had come a moment after she had taken a
+headlong plunge through the leafy tangle.</p>
+
+<p>Not knowing what could have happened, and fearing
+the worst, Matt shifted the bag to his other arm, drew
+his leather cap well down over his forehead so that the
+visor would protect his eyes, and leaped boldly after the
+girl.</p>
+
+<p>By good luck, rather than by any calculation on his
+part, he landed on a shaking hummock, and found that
+Helen had plunged into the watery morass.</p>
+
+<p>Dropping the bag, he reached down, grasped her about
+the waist and dragged her from the clutching grip of
+the swamp.</p>
+
+<p>"We'll have to go back," were the girl's first words, as
+he held her on the narrow foothold.</p>
+
+<p>"Why?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>She waved her hand in the direction toward which they
+were going.</p>
+
+<p>An open space, clear of trees and bushes, lay before
+them&mdash;a veritable quagmire with not a place in all its
+extent where they could set their feet.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>They would have to go back! With Brady and Grove
+on one side of them, and this impassable bog on the
+other, it looked as though they had been caught between
+two fires.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV.</a></h2>
+
+<p class="chaptitle">A DESPERATE CHANCE.</p>
+
+
+<p>Once more the girl was plunged into despair.</p>
+
+<p>"We'll have to give up," she whispered, tearfully. "We
+have tried hard, but luck is against us. For several
+minutes we have been traveling over ground I know
+nothing about. When I saw that open stretch of swamp,
+my heart failed me and I fell off the firm ground. You
+see what a horrible place this is, Matt!"</p>
+
+<p>"Isn't there any way to get around to the other side of
+the island?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, we could have done that, but I was trying to
+take you as far as I could toward the other edge of the
+swamp."</p>
+
+<p>"We'll have to give that up, now, and work our way
+around the island."</p>
+
+<p>"In going back," faltered the girl, "we may meet dad
+and Grove!"</p>
+
+<p>"We must take the chance," he answered; "there's
+nothing else for it."</p>
+
+<p>"And in going around the island," proceeded the girl,
+dejectedly, "we may meet some of the others who are
+looking for us."</p>
+
+<p>"That's another risk we will have to run. Come on,"
+he continued, picking up the bag. "I'll lead the way
+back."</p>
+
+<p>"You've got a way about you," said Helen, "that gives
+a person courage."</p>
+
+<p>"A fellow would be a pretty poor stick," returned Matt,
+"who couldn't keep his nerve with a girl like you to help
+him."</p>
+
+<p>Helen's dress was torn by the bushes, and her hands
+and face were scratched and bleeding; but she seemed
+to mind her physical discomforts very little, so eager was
+she to have Matt's escape prove successful.</p>
+
+<p>Listening intently for any sounds made by Brady and
+Grove, Matt and the girl started back over the course
+they had recently covered.</p>
+
+<p>They had not gone far when the sounds they feared
+came to them. As they stood together and listened, they
+could hear Brady and Grove talking back and forth.
+Their voices, and the crashing of the bushes, were growing
+rapidly in volume, and proved that they were coming
+closer.</p>
+
+<p>The girl began to tremble. Matt pressed her hand reassuringly.
+Off to the right of the course they had been
+following his quick eye detected a foothold among the
+matted bushes. He pointed it out to his companion.</p>
+
+<p>"Get there, quick!" he whispered.</p>
+
+<p>She leaped for the spot at once, and he was not slow
+in following her. Then, crouching down, they peered
+through the thicket.</p>
+
+<p>Brady came jumping into sight, clutching a revolver in
+his hand.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm positive I heard something ahead, Grove!" he
+cried.</p>
+
+<p>"It must be King, then," answered Grove, floundering
+along in the rear. "He's been makin' a better hike of it
+through this blasted swamp than I ever thought he
+could."</p>
+
+<p>"There's an open stretch farther along," went on
+Brady, grimly. "That'll stop him, and we'll have him
+in a few minutes."</p>
+
+<p>Brady leaped out of sight, and Grove likewise jumped
+past and vanished.</p>
+
+<p>The girl had scarcely breathed while the two men were
+so close to them.</p>
+
+<p>"Now we've got a chance," whispered Matt. "While
+they're going on toward that open part of the swamp,
+we'll get back toward the island and double around it."</p>
+
+<p>"We won't have to go far, now," rejoined the girl,
+her hopes rising, "before we can turn to the right and
+start around the island."</p>
+
+<p>Matt continued to lead the way back, making the best
+time he possibly could. When the girl called softly to
+him, he stopped.</p>
+
+<p>"Here's where we turn," said she. "I'd better go
+ahead from now on."</p>
+
+<p>He waited for her to gain his side, then followed as
+she continued to make her way onward through the bewildering
+tangle. Time and again Matt, if alone, would
+have lost his bearings, but Helen, being on familiar
+ground, was never for one moment at a loss.</p>
+
+<p>Their one fear now was that they should encounter
+some of the others who were searching, but they heard
+nothing to cause them the slightest uneasiness.</p>
+
+<p>At last, after half an hour of tiring work, Helen drew
+to a halt.</p>
+
+<p>"We're about opposite the place where the air-ship is
+moored," said she.</p>
+
+<p>"That's where we want to be," answered Matt. "Make
+for the edge of the island, Helen, as close to the air-ship
+as you can get."</p>
+
+<p>Once more the girl started off. The bushes thinned
+perceptibly as they came closer and closer to the solid
+ground. This rendered the going easier, and it also enabled
+Matt and the girl to make less noise in getting
+through the undergrowth. In nearing the island they
+redoubled their caution, and when they finally reached
+a spot from which they could look out and take in the
+situation in the vicinity of the "roost" and the air-ship,
+they congratulated themselves on the care they had exercised.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>They were not more than a dozen feet from the place
+where the Hawk was secured.</p>
+
+<p>Two rifles were leaning against the car, and two of the
+men&mdash;Grove and Needham&mdash;were sitting on the ground,
+occasionally looking aloft.</p>
+
+<p>Brady, Whipple and Pete were no where in sight.</p>
+
+<p>"We must have crippled that air-ship of Jerrold's pretty
+badly," Needham was saying. "If King hadn't made
+this delay for us, the Hawk would have been well away
+on her first trip."</p>
+
+<p>"That kid is a slippery customer," growled Grove.
+"The old man is riled for fair over the way he's cuttin'
+up."</p>
+
+<p>"What's the use o' botherin' with him? The thing to
+do is to cut out o' this an' leave King in the swamp."</p>
+
+<p>"I reckon Brady'd do that, if it wasn't for the bag of
+loot King seems to have taken along with him."</p>
+
+<p>Both men had thrown off their hats, and Grove was
+nursing a number of scratches on his face and hands.</p>
+
+<p>"We had a rough time of it," said he, "an' the old
+man sent me back to find out if any of the rest had had
+any success. If King had been found, I was to fire a
+signal-shot with one of the rifles."</p>
+
+<p>"Hang the luck, anyhow!" snorted Needham. "It was
+the worst thing Brady ever done when he tangled up
+with King. The lad has a will of his own, an' I knew
+well enough he'd never take hold an' help us out runnin'
+the motor."</p>
+
+<p>"King has got more backbone than any fellow of his
+age I ever saw, and that's a fact. The girl must have
+helped him. And that's another place where Brady has
+been lame, all along. He ought to have sent the girl
+away, somewhere. She hasn't got any business hanging
+out with a gang like this."</p>
+
+<p>While Matt had been watching and listening, he had
+been turning over several plans in his mind. Here was a
+chance, albeit a desperate one, for getting hold of the
+air-ship.</p>
+
+<p>He turned to the girl.</p>
+
+<p>"Helen," he whispered, "I'm going to see if I can't
+capture the Hawk."</p>
+
+<p>"You can't," she returned, fearfully. "Grove and
+Needham are armed and&mdash;and they'll shoot."</p>
+
+<p>"They can't shoot if I get hold of those rifles first,"
+went on Matt, still speaking in guarded tones.</p>
+
+<p>"How will you do that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Their backs are toward us. I'll creep as close to the
+Hawk as I can, then, if they hear me, as they probably
+will, I'll make a rush for the guns."</p>
+
+<p>The girl was silent for a moment.</p>
+
+<p>"There's nothing else to be done," she whispered, at
+last. "Count on me, Matt, to do whatever I can to help."</p>
+
+<p>"You keep back, Helen," he counseled. "If I succeed
+in getting the guns, I won't need your help; if I don't,
+your help would do little good. Here I go."</p>
+
+<p>Slowly and cautiously Matt crept out of the bushes.
+The car of the air-ship was between him and the men,
+and this served to screen him, up to a certain point;
+but the two rifles were leaning against the opposite side
+of the car, and in order to lay hold of them he would
+either have to go around the long framework, or else
+cross the car. He made up his mind to take the latter
+course.</p>
+
+<p>Without being discovered, he managed to reach the side
+of the car; then, just as he was rising to step over the
+rail, Needham caught sight of him.</p>
+
+<p>With a wild yell Needham gained his feet. The yell
+brought Grove up like a shot. For an instant, the two
+rascals were paralyzed by the unexpected appearance of
+Matt. Their moment of inaction afforded the young
+motorist just the opportunity he needed.</p>
+
+<p>Flinging himself into the car, and across it, he snatched
+the rifles away from the rail, just as the hands of Grove
+and Needham were outstretched to take them.</p>
+
+<p>One of the weapons he flung behind him.</p>
+
+<p>"Nail him!" cried Grove; "down him, before he gets
+a chance to shoot!"</p>
+
+<p>Needham, no less than Grove, realized the necessity of
+capturing Matt. Matt, however, had no intention of
+using the remaining rifle on either of the two men;
+neither did he have it in mind to let them get away, or
+rough-handle him.</p>
+
+<p>As the two rushed forward, Matt flung the rifle to his
+shoulder, and his gray eye sparkled menacingly along the
+barrel.</p>
+
+<p>"Keep off!" he warned, swaying the muzzle of the gun
+back and forth so as to keep both men under it; "keep
+away from me and stand right where you are! I mean
+business, right from the drop of the hat, and you fellows
+might as well understand it."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV.</a></h2>
+
+<p class="chaptitle">A DARING ESCAPE.</p>
+
+
+<p>The menace of the steady gray eye and the swaying
+gun muzzle were enough for Grove and Needham.</p>
+
+<p>"Here's a go!" growled Needham, casting a yearning
+look around him toward the timber.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm going to make a 'go' of it, all right," averred
+Matt, grimly, "no two ways about that. What are you
+doing with your right hand, Needham?"</p>
+
+<p>Needham's hand had wandered toward his hip. Matt
+was watching both scoundrels so sharply that not a
+move they made escaped him.</p>
+
+<p>Needham brought his hand around in front of him.</p>
+
+<p>"What are you trying to do, King?" queried Grove,
+evidently seeking to gain time and give Brady, Pete or
+Whipple a chance to come on the scene.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I'm trying to get away from this place," replied Matt,
+"and I've not much time to waste in talk. I guess you
+know that fully as well as I do."</p>
+
+<p>Still keeping the rifle trained on the two men, he
+climbed out of the car to the ground.</p>
+
+<p>"Now," he went on, "I'll tell you fellows what you're
+to do, and then we'll be able to work quicker. You will
+both get into the car, and get in together so that I can
+cover you more easily with this one gun. Needham will
+then place his back against the upright timber that helps
+suspend the car from the hoop&mdash;and mind you take the
+timber farthest from the driver's seat. On the bottom
+of the car there's a coil of small rope. With that, Grove
+will tie Needham to the upright. Is that clear?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, what the blazes&mdash;&mdash;" began Grove, but Matt
+cut him short.</p>
+
+<p>"There's no time for talk, I tell you!" he called,
+sharply. "Brady and the other two may show up here,
+and I'm going to have this work done before that happens."</p>
+
+<p>"But&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Get into the car!"</p>
+
+<p>Matt's finger flexed ever so slightly upon the trigger
+of the gun. The watchful eyes of Grove and Needham
+detected the movement and both made haste to tumble
+into the car.</p>
+
+<p>"I'd give a farm to know what you've got up your
+sleeve," growled Needham, as he backed slowly against
+the upright timber.</p>
+
+<p>"Move more quickly," warned Matt, "or you'll find
+what I've got in this gun. I used to be in Arizona, and
+I know how they deal with matters of this sort down
+there. They're not in the habit of wasting so many
+words as I'm doing. Pick up that rope, Grove," he
+added, "and get busy with it. Mind you tie hard knots!
+No fast-and-loose plays at this stage of the game."</p>
+
+<p>Grove was a bit languid in his operations, and as he
+worked he gave more attention to the quarters from
+which Brady, Pete and Whipple might be expected than
+he did to the tying of Needham.</p>
+
+<p>"Grove," called Matt, sternly, "I'm not going to bother
+much more with you! Move faster, and pass some of
+that rope around Needham's arms. I don't want his
+hands left free. Pull the coils tighter."</p>
+
+<p>After a fashion, Grove got his comrade tied.</p>
+
+<p>"Will that do you?" he demanded, gruffly, turning to
+glare at Matt.</p>
+
+<p>"That will answer. Now turn your back to Needham's."</p>
+
+<p>"Say, by thunder I'm not going to stand for&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Turn your back!</i>"</p>
+
+<p>Matt shoved the muzzle of the rifle toward Grove's
+breast, and the man made haste to place himself against
+the upright piece of the car's framework.</p>
+
+<p>It was Matt's intention, then, to drop the rifle and
+proceed with the tying of Grove himself, but the girl
+suddenly appeared and climbed into the car.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll do the rest, Matt," said she, picking up the loose
+end of the rope.</p>
+
+<p>Matt had planned to have the girl remain in the thicket,
+taking no part in his operations; but she had different
+ideas.</p>
+
+<p>Grove and Needham both glared at the girl.</p>
+
+<p>"The old man will make you sorry for this!" fumed
+Grove.</p>
+
+<p>"I expect he will," replied the girl. "He has made
+me sorry for a lot of things lately."</p>
+
+<p>Around and around the bodies of the two men Helen
+coiled the rope. Then, when she had come to the end
+of it, she made it fast with a knot.</p>
+
+<p>Pausing a moment after she had finished, she drew a
+revolver out of Needham's hip-pocket and dropped it on
+the driver's seat.</p>
+
+<p>"You had better have that in your own hands, Matt,"
+said she, quietly. "It will be easier to handle than the
+rifle."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't get out of the car, Helen," called Matt, as the
+girl was about to climb over the rail. "You can't stay
+here after this."</p>
+
+<p>"I can and I must."</p>
+
+<p>Her resolve to remain with her father was unshaken;
+but there was a bright light in her eyes which Matt had
+not seen there before. Evidently the success that was
+attending Matt's plans to get away with the air-ship had
+lifted a grievous load from her spirits.</p>
+
+<p>Walking around the car, Helen picked up the bag
+which they had taken with them into the swamp.</p>
+
+<p>"This must go with you, Matt," she continued, pushing
+the bag under the driver's seat, "along with the rest of
+the stuff piled up on the ground there."</p>
+
+<p>While she was on that side of the car she cast off the
+mooring-rope and flung it into the air-ship.</p>
+
+<p>Matt dropped the rifle and released the rope on the
+other side.</p>
+
+<p>The Hawk was now in readiness to take to flight. With
+nothing to hold it, the gas-bag began to feel the effects
+of the wind that was blowing and to move about in answer
+to the faint gusts. But it rode on an even keel, for
+its buoyancy had to be accelerated by the propeller before
+it would rise, or could be maneuvered.</p>
+
+<p>The girl had started toward the bags, heaped up on the
+ground. Before she could reach them, however, a loud
+yell from the opposite side of the island caused her to
+halt in consternation.</p>
+
+<p>"Dad!" she cried, wildly; "he's coming!"</p>
+
+<p>"Brady! This way, quick!"</p>
+
+<p>The clamoring whoops went up from Needham and
+Grove as they struggled fiercely to free themselves.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Matt, seeing that there was not an instant to be lost,
+leaped into the car and tilted the steering-rudder at an
+angle which would carry the air-ship upward.</p>
+
+<p>"Come along!" he shouted to the girl as he started the
+engine. "Get into the car, Helen!"</p>
+
+<p>"Hurry, hurry!" screamed the girl, running directly
+away from the car and in the direction of Brady and
+Pete, who were making for the Hawk at a run.</p>
+
+<p>A pang of regret ran through Matt at the thought of
+leaving Helen Brady behind to bear the brunt of her
+father's anger; but there was no time for argument. He
+started the propeller, and the Hawk began to move up
+the airy incline toward the tops of the trees that walled
+in the edge of the "island."</p>
+
+<p>The struggles of Matt's two prisoners became desperately
+frantic. So violently did they wrestle with their
+bonds that the car tipped and swayed dangerously. Matt
+had no time to give to them, just then, being wholly
+wrapped up in the maneuvering of the Hawk.</p>
+
+<p>He gave the rudder a further tilt, throwing the air-ship
+to an angle that caused Grove's feet to slip from
+under him, so that only the support of the rope and the
+upright held him to his place.</p>
+
+<p>"Shoot!" he bellowed. "Why don't you blaze away at
+him, Brady?"</p>
+
+<p>Brady had evidently held his fire, hoping to get the
+air-ship back without injury; and, even now, as his rifle
+and Pete's began to crack murderously, the target of
+their bullets was Matt.</p>
+
+<p>Two or three of the leaden spheres zipped past Matt's
+head, missing him by the narrowest of margins.
+Strangely enough, however, Matt was more worried
+about the harm the bullets might do the gas-bag, or the
+machinery, than he was about any damage they might
+do him.</p>
+
+<p>Faster and faster he speeded up the engine, and the
+Hawk raced toward the clouds. She cleared the tops of
+the trees, gained the clear sky, and, at a height of five
+hundred feet, was brought to an even keel.</p>
+
+<p>Then, and not till then, did Matt venture a look below.
+He was just in time to catch one fleeting glimpse of those
+he had left behind on the "island." What he saw aroused
+his anger and indignation.</p>
+
+<p>Helen, still true to her resolve to help Matt, had seized
+hold of her father's rifle and was struggling to keep him
+from using it. The minute figures were strangely clear,
+and Matt saw Brady lift his fist and strike the girl down.
+Then the tops of the trees interposed and cut off the unpleasant
+sight. Matt faced about, a steely glint in his
+gray eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Here's a fine lay out!" Grove was clamoring, far gone
+with chagrin and baffled rage. "One kid, single-handed,
+captures two of us and runs off with the air-ship, right
+under the noses of Brady and the rest! Oh, well, we're
+entitled to all we get out of this. We don't deserve anything
+better."</p>
+
+<p>"You'll get something more than you expect," said
+Matt, picking up the revolver and pushing it into his
+pocket, "if you don't stop squirming around like that.
+It's hard to steer when you're rocking the car in such a
+fashion. You fellows are my prisoners, so make the best
+of it."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," growled Grove, "and us two aeronauts will have
+a fine tale to tell when you take us where you're going
+to. You've stolen this car. That'll cook your goose for
+you."</p>
+
+<p>"Brady," answered Matt, "can have his air-ship back
+whenever he wants to show up and claim it."</p>
+
+<p>There followed a brief silence, during which Matt
+noted that the wind was brisk, and from the north, and
+exulted over the speed the Hawk developed in the teeth
+of it.</p>
+
+<p>Needham was first to break the silence.</p>
+
+<p>"If I had my hat, and was able," said he, craning his
+head around to get a look at Matt, "I'd take it off to you."</p>
+
+<p>The lad in the driver's seat made no response. He
+was hurrying toward South Chicago.</p>
+
+<p>Where was the Eagle? The skies in every direction
+were clear and the other air-ship was nowhere to be seen.</p>
+
+<p>Motor Matt, as he drove the air-ship steadily against
+the wind, kept close watch of the captured aeronauts.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI.</a></h2>
+
+<p class="chaptitle">THE END OF THE MID-AIR TRAIL.</p>
+
+
+<p>The failure of Carl, Harris and Jerrold to make a
+landing on the "island" has already been recorded.</p>
+
+<p>They had seen the Hawk, moored at one edge of the
+cleared space, and they had seen Brady and the others;
+but, of course, it had been impossible for them to see
+anything of Matt. The young motorist, at that time, was
+bound hand and foot and lying on the cot in the hut.</p>
+
+<p>With bullets flying around them and threatening injury
+to the Eagle, it was not policy to remain hovering
+over such a nest of desperate scoundrels very long.</p>
+
+<p>"We'll get out of here," cried Harris, angrily, "and
+come back with men and guns enough to give those fellows
+a taste of their own medicine. Don't let any harm
+come to the air-ship, Jerrold. We're going to need her,
+later."</p>
+
+<p>Just as Harris finished speaking, a bullet slapped into
+the motor and the machinery at once began to go wrong.</p>
+
+<p>"Too late," responded Jerrold grimly; "they've already
+nipped us."</p>
+
+<p>"Py chimineddy," roared Carl, "I vish I hat somet'ing
+vat I could shoot mit ad dem fillains!"</p>
+
+<p>Limping and staggering, Jerrold managed to urge the
+Eagle out of harm's way.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"She won't drop on us, will she?" asked Harris, looking
+anxiously downward at the tree-tops.</p>
+
+<p>"No," replied Jerrold, "the gas-bag is uninjured, so we
+can't fall; and the motor is working, too, after a fashion,
+and that enables us to make a slow rate of speed. But
+there will have to be some repairs before we can do anything
+more with the air-ship."</p>
+
+<p>"Where'll we go to make them? Back to South Chicago?"</p>
+
+<p>"Lake Station is nearer. We'll come down there and
+ascertain the extent of the damage. It may be that we
+shall have to go back to South Chicago if the injury is at
+all serious."</p>
+
+<p>"All right," acquiesced Harris. "I'll be able to do
+some telephoning and get a few more men out here from
+headquarters. I'll have them bring rifles, and then we'll
+give Brady a set-to that he'll remember."</p>
+
+<p>"I ditn't see Matt in der blace," mourned Carl.</p>
+
+<p>"He may have been there," said Harris. "There were
+two sheds, and they may be keeping your chum a prisoner
+in one of them."</p>
+
+<p>"Vell, vile ve're avay fixing oop der Eagle, meppy dose
+fellers pack dere vill fly off mit demselufs in der Hawk.
+Oof dey do dot, den ve vill have some drouple for our
+pains."</p>
+
+<p>"We shall have to keep watch of the sky in the direction
+of the swamp," said Jerrold. "By doing that we
+can tell whether or not the Hawk gets away."</p>
+
+<p>Carl made that his work.</p>
+
+<p>"I don'd know how I can see mit der naked eye ven
+ve ged py Lake Sdation," he remarked.</p>
+
+<p>"We'll have to hunt up a spyglass, or a pair of binoculars,"
+suggested Harris.</p>
+
+<p>"Vat oof der Hawk moofs pefore we ged dem?"</p>
+
+<p>"Then we'll be up against it, and no mistake."</p>
+
+<p>There was a lot of excitement in the little town of
+Lake Station when a real, sure enough air-ship descended
+close to the blacksmith shop. The whole population
+gathered and stared.</p>
+
+<p>While Jerrold was busy tinkering with his crippled
+motor, Carl succeeded in finding an old-fashioned spyglass
+and climbed with it to the top of the highest building
+in town. There he perched himself on the edge of
+the roof and watched continually in the direction of Willoughby's
+swamp.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, Harris had been talking with police headquarters
+in South Chicago. As a result, three officers
+were detailed to catch the first train for Lake Station.</p>
+
+<p>The repairs to be made to the Eagle were somewhat
+extensive, and taxed the capacity of the blacksmith shop.
+Had Jerrold been in his own workroom he could have
+fixed up the motor more easily and quickly, but to take
+the Eagle back to South Chicago would have resulted in
+a loss of time.</p>
+
+<p>Hour after hour the inventor labored, helped by the
+blacksmith and eyed with wonder by the townspeople.
+The detail of officers arrived, and they could do nothing
+but wait until the Eagle was ready to carry them to the
+"island" in the swamp. Any attempt to reach the
+"island" on foot was hardly to be considered.</p>
+
+<p>While Jerrold's labors were nearing completion, a yell
+from Carl called the attention of Harris.</p>
+
+<p>"What's the matter with you?" he shouted.</p>
+
+<p>Carl was dancing around on the roof top, waving the
+spyglass frantically.</p>
+
+<p>"Come oop!" he cried, wildly. "Der Hawk is gedding
+avay mit itseluf! Ach, plazes, vat a luck!"</p>
+
+<p>Harris made haste to reach the top of the building
+where Carl had been patiently waiting and watching.</p>
+
+<p>"Pud der spyglass to your eye, Harris," said Carl,
+"und look off to der nort'. Ach, dose fellers haf made
+some ged-avays, und I bed you dey have dook Matt
+along!"</p>
+
+<p>With the glass at his eye, Harris swept the horizon in
+the direction indicated by Carl. Finally he found what
+he was looking for&mdash;an oblong blot gliding through the
+heavens and proceeding in a northerly direction.</p>
+
+<p>"That's the Hawk, all right," said he, in a tone of
+intense disappointment, "but why is it heading in that
+direction?"</p>
+
+<p>"Prady vouldn't dare go pack by Sout' Chicago," said
+Carl. "I bed you somet'ing for nodding he has got
+anodder hang-oudt in dot tirections. Ach, vat vill I do
+for dot bard oof mine?"</p>
+
+<p>Gloomily the two descended from the roof, and Carl
+returned the spyglass to its owner.</p>
+
+<p>Half an hour later the Eagle was ready for flight, and
+the officers and Carl got aboard. It was decided to proceed
+to the swamp and look over the "island" and then,
+if nothing of importance developed, to return to South
+Chicago.</p>
+
+<p>The Eagle's motor, apparently, worked as well as ever,
+and the four miles separating Willoughby's swamp from
+Lake Station were covered in record time.</p>
+
+<p>As they neared the "island" the officers made ready to
+use their guns. There was no hostile demonstration,
+however, and not a soul was anywhere in sight. The
+Eagle descended, and the officers, accompanied by the
+anxious Carl, proceeded to make a search.</p>
+
+<p>They found nothing but two meagerly furnished houses,
+apparently recently deserted. Silence reigned everywhere,
+ominous of events that had happened.</p>
+
+<p>"Vell," said Carl, gloomily, "dis means dot I haf got
+to do some more looking for Modor Matt. Der gang
+haf made off mit him some more, und I vas so tisappointed
+as I can't dell."</p>
+
+<p>For that matter, they were all disappointed&mdash;Jerrold
+in particular. Motor Matt had served Jerrold well, and
+the inventor had been anxious to make him some repayment
+in kind.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>But there was nothing left for the air-ship party to
+do but to point the Eagle toward home. As the air-ship
+passed the rolling mills and came close to the balloon
+house where Brady had formerly housed the Hawk, it
+was observed by those in the car that the doors of the
+big building were closed, and that two officers had mounted
+guard in front of them.</p>
+
+<p>"That means something," muttered Harris. "Drop
+lower, Jerrold, so I can talk with those two cops."</p>
+
+<p>Jerrold descended until the top of the car was nearly
+on a level with the balloon house, and Harris leaned over
+the guard rail.</p>
+
+<p>"Hello!" he called. "What are you fellows doing
+there?"</p>
+
+<p>"Watching the air-ship," was the astounding answer.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you mean to say that Brady's air-ship is in that
+balloon house?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sure."</p>
+
+<p>"Has Brady been captured?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, no. You went after him, didn't you?"</p>
+
+<p>"We went after him, but he and his men fired on us
+and damaged our motor. We went to Lake Station to
+fix the machinery, and while we were there we caught
+sight of the Hawk, through a spyglass, making north.
+As soon as we could, we started for the swamp, but there
+was no one there. Naturally, we supposed that Brady
+and his gang had made their escape, and it's mighty
+surprising to hear that the Hawk is back in its old cage
+and didn't bring Brady along."</p>
+
+<p>"The Hawk brought Motor Matt&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Carl gave a yell and nearly fell out of the car.</p>
+
+<p>"Modor Matt?" he shouted. "Vas you shdringing me,
+oder iss it shdraight goots?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm giving it to you straight," answered the officer on
+the ground. "Motor Matt got away from the swamp
+and brought two prisoners with him, in the Hawk. They
+were two of the men who robbed Jerrold of his plans."</p>
+
+<p>"Zum lauderbach haben, mich shtets&mdash;&mdash;" began Carl,
+singing loudly and then interrupting himself to gloat.
+"Dot's my bard vat dit dot! Yah, so! Leedle Modor
+Matt who iss alvays doing t'ings vat you don'd oxbect.
+He has shtarred himseluf some more, you bed you! Vere
+iss Modor Matt now, officer?" Carl called down.</p>
+
+<p>"He took a train into Chicago&mdash;said he was behind his
+schedule for that five-day race. The two prisoners are
+at police headquarters."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, by thunder!" muttered Harris, mopping his face
+with a red handkerchief, "that Motor Matt must be a
+regular young phenomenon!"</p>
+
+<p>"I never heard of anything to beat him!" averred Jerrold.</p>
+
+<p>"Und you nefer vill!" declared Carl. "He iss vone oof
+dose fellers vat can't be peat."</p>
+
+<p>"You might take us to police headquarters, Jerrold,"
+suggested Harris.</p>
+
+<p>"Und you mighdt shtop on der vay py der railroadt
+sdation," piped Carl. "I vant to ged py Chicago so
+kevick as der nation vill led me."</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>When Carl next saw Matt, the young motorist was
+spinning around the great oval in a Jarrot machine, which
+he knew so well and had driven to victory in Kansas.
+The five-day race was not for one driver alone, but several
+drivers were to be at the steering wheel of each car.
+Matt had reached the Coliseum just in time to take his
+place in the racing schedule.</p>
+
+<p>Every time Matt whirled around the oval, Carl had
+something to say to him, but it was not until evening
+that the boys were able to get together for a talk.</p>
+
+<p>They decided between them that Brady, and those
+whom Matt had left on the "island," must have made
+their escape from the swamp by a secret route known
+only to themselves.</p>
+
+<p>Where Harper, the driver of the Hawk was, was likewise
+a mystery to the police.</p>
+
+<p>Matt had turned the bag of loot stolen from Hartz &amp;
+Greer over to the police with instructions to say that it
+was recovered by Miss Brady, and that no reward would
+be accepted for its return.</p>
+
+<p>"How you tink dot air-ship pitzness is, anyvays, Matt?"
+asked Carl, when the boys had had their talk out and
+were ready to crawl into bed.</p>
+
+<p>"I <i>like</i> it," answered Matt, enthusiastically, "and I wish
+I could have more of it!"</p>
+
+<p>His wish was destined to fulfillment, for, as events
+proved, his thrilling work in South Chicago and at Willoughby's
+swamp was but the beginning of a series of
+air-ship experiences. Matt may have congratulated himself
+with the thought that he was through with Hector
+Brady, but Brady was by no means done with Matt&mdash;as
+will be made clear in the story to follow.</p>
+
+
+<p class="center">THE END.</p>
+
+
+<p class="center medium">THE NEXT NUMBER (10) WILL CONTAIN</p>
+
+<p class="center huge">Motor Matt's Hard Luck;</p>
+
+<p class="center medium">OR,</p>
+
+<p class="center large">THE BALLOON-HOUSE PLOT.</p>
+
+<hr class="r5" />
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>An Old Friend&mdash;A Trap&mdash;Overboard&mdash;Rescued&mdash;Buying
+the Hawk&mdash;Matt Scores Against Jameson&mdash;At the
+Balloon House&mdash;The Plot of the Brady Gang&mdash;Carl
+is Surprised&mdash;Helen Brady's Clue&mdash;Jerrold Gives His
+Aid&mdash;Grand Haven&mdash;The Line On Brady&mdash;The
+Woods by the River&mdash;Brady a Prisoner&mdash;Back in
+South Chicago.</p></blockquote>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<table summary="scaffold" class="bbox">
+<tr><td colspan="2" class="tdc huge">MOTOR STORIES</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdr large" style="padding-right: .25em;">THRILLING ADVENTURE</td><td class="tdl large" style="padding-left: .25em;">MOTOR FICTION</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+
+<p>NEW YORK, April 24, 1909.</p>
+
+<p class="center"><b>TERMS TO MOTOR STORIES MAIL SUBSCRIBERS.</b></p>
+
+<p class="center">(<i>Postage Free.</i>)</p>
+
+<p class="center"><b>Single Copies or Back Numbers, 5c. Each.</b></p>
+
+<table summary="Terms">
+<tr><td>3 months</td><td class="tdr">65c.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>4 months</td><td class="tdr">85c.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>6 months</td><td class="tdr">$1.25</td></tr>
+<tr><td>One year</td><td class="tdr">2.50</td></tr>
+<tr><td>2 copies one year</td><td class="tdr">4.00</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1 copy two years</td><td class="tdr">4.00</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<p><b>How to Send Money</b>&mdash;By post-office or express money-order,
+registered letter, bank check or draft, at our risk. At your own risk if sent
+by currency, coin, or postage-stamps in ordinary letter.</p>
+
+<p><b>Receipts</b>&mdash;Receipt of your remittance is acknowledged by proper
+change of number on your label. If not correct you have not been properly
+credited, and should let us know at once.</p>
+
+<table summary="scaffold">
+<tr><td>
+<span class="smcap">Ormond G. Smith</span>,<br />
+<span class="smcap">George C. Smith</span>,
+</td>
+<td style="font-size: 200%">}</td><td style="padding-right: 1em;"><i>Proprietors</i>.</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+<b>STREET &amp; SMITH, Publishers,<br />
+79-89 Seventh Avenue, New York City.</b>
+</td></tr></table>
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="THE_BIG_CYPRESS" id="THE_BIG_CYPRESS">THE BIG CYPRESS.</a></h2>
+
+
+<p>The rifle cracked and the piece of boiler plate, which had
+been erected as target against the bank fifty yards away, fell
+shattered like a pane of glass.</p>
+
+<p>"How's that, Colonel Fearon?" coolly inquired the young
+fellow, who had fired the shot, as he turned to the tall, sallow-faced
+man who stood beside him.</p>
+
+<p>A curious expression crossed the latter's face, but he answered
+quickly, "Amazing, Rutherford! Simply astonishing.
+I could never have believed such a thing possible. A pom-pom
+shell could hardly have smashed the plate more effectually."</p>
+
+<p>The boy&mdash;he was hardly more&mdash;laughed. "I thought it
+would startle you, colonel. Will you feel justified in sending
+me up to Washington?"</p>
+
+<p>"I reckon that's the place for you to go to, Rutherford.
+The war department'll need that new bullet of yours in their
+business. You mean to tell me you invented that bullet all
+by yourself?"</p>
+
+<p>"I did, colonel. You see, I was always fond of dabbling in
+chemistry and the idea for this came to me one day when I
+was at work in my father's store. I didn't worry about it
+much, until the poor old man went broke, and then it struck
+me there was money in it. It was the mayor of our town,
+Orangeville, told me to come to you. He said that you
+could give me the proper introductions."</p>
+
+<p>"He was right," said Colonel Fearon. "I can fix you up
+with the proper people. Let me have a shot."</p>
+
+<p>Lionel Rutherford handed the colonel a cartridge, which
+outwardly looked precisely similar to an ordinary rifle cartridge.
+He then walked across the lawn of fine Bermuda
+grass, put a fresh piece of steel plate in position, and came
+back.</p>
+
+<p>The colonel fired, and, as before, the tough steel simply
+sprang to pieces and lay in scattered fragments on the grass.</p>
+
+<p>"I reckon there's more money in this than in keeping
+store," said the colonel thoughtfully. "Rutherford, I'll be
+pleased if you'll stay here at my house for a day or two till
+I can write to the proper people."</p>
+
+<p>Young Rutherford thanked him warmly and the two
+walked back toward the long, low, wide verandaed house.</p>
+
+<p>Late that night the colonel and his son, Randal Fearon,
+sat together in the well-appointed smoking room and talked
+earnestly in low tones.</p>
+
+<p>"There's thousands in it, father," said the younger man
+sharply. "Thousands!"</p>
+
+<p>"I know that as well as yourself," returned the other irritably.
+"But the invention's not yours or mine."</p>
+
+<p>"What's Rutherford?" sneered Randal. "Here he is, a
+fellow who's never known anything of life, who's lived all
+his days in a little one-horse backwoods town, and now he's
+going to roll in riches while we are on the edge of bankruptcy."</p>
+
+<p>He paused, and glanced at his father, who sat fidgeting
+uneasily. The colonel, fine-looking man that he was, was as
+weak-willed as his tall, thin, sharp-faced son was strong.</p>
+
+<p>"A real nice scandal there'll be when we go smash," went
+on Randal Fearon. "Think of the headlines. 'Fraudulent
+Bankruptcy. Prominent Floridian lives beyond his means.'
+How the yellow press'll revel in it!"</p>
+
+<p>Again the colonel moved uneasily. "I don't see how you're
+going to get the specifications from him, anyhow," he said
+at last.</p>
+
+<p>"You leave that to me," replied Randal with sneering emphasis.</p>
+
+<p>"Look you here, Randal, I won't have any violence." For
+once Colonel Fearon spoke decidedly.</p>
+
+<p>"I guess you needn't worry your head about that," answered
+Randal. "I've got the whole plan cut and dried.
+You've asked him to stay?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said the colonel. "He will stay."</p>
+
+<p>Randal laughed as if pleased. "That's all right. To-morrow
+we'll settle it, Pete Dally and I."</p>
+
+<p>"How?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'll tell you in the morning. Don't worry yourself. As
+you are so anxious to avoid it, I promise you there shall be
+no violence."</p>
+
+<p>Randal chuckled in ugly fashion as he got up, flung the
+stump of his cigar into the fireplace, and, lighting a small
+hand lamp, left the room.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>"How much farther have we got to go before we run into
+any of this game you talked about, Mr. Fearon?" asked
+Rutherford as he stopped and wiped the perspiration from his
+streaming face.</p>
+
+<p>"I thought we'd have seen a buck before now," replied
+Randal Fearon. "We don't often have to come this far into
+the Big Cypress to find game, do we, Pete?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sah; we gen'rally finds it quite clos' to the aidge of
+de swamp," said Pete, who was a burly, square-shouldered
+negro with a face as black as ebony.</p>
+
+<p>Rutherford was rather puzzled. That morning Randal
+Fearon had suggested that it would be very good fun to go
+shooting in the Big Cypress, a huge tract of wild, swampy
+forest, the edge of which was about five miles from Colonel
+Fearon's place.</p>
+
+<p>"You might try the effect of some of your explosive bullets,"
+Randal had suggested; and Rutherford had laughed
+and said that there wouldn't be much left of any game
+smaller than a buffalo or an elephant if struck by one of his
+projectiles.</p>
+
+<p>All the same, being a keen sportsman, he had willingly
+agreed to the shoot. What puzzled him was that they should<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>
+have tramped for hours through this steaming bush, which
+reeked with signs of game, and yet not seen a single thing to
+shoot at.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you worry. We shall find deer soon," said Randal
+when Rutherford expressed his astonishment. "We're getting
+near a good place now. I reckon we'd better stop and
+eat our dinner first. Pete, make a fire."</p>
+
+<p>Pete Dally dropped the big haversack he was carrying over
+his broad shoulders, and obeyed. In a very few minutes a
+fire was blazing, and the fragrant fumes of frying bacon and
+strong coffee filled the close, steamy air. Lionel Rutherford,
+tired by the long tramp and the hot-house atmosphere of the
+jungle, enjoyed the meal greatly.</p>
+
+<p>After they had finished they marched on again. They had
+left the pine trees behind, and were pushing along a narrow
+track through a forest of great ilex, bastard oak, and magnolia.
+The undergrowth was of saw palmetto, growing in
+huge, impenetrable clumps, among which the muddy track
+wound in and out.</p>
+
+<p>The scent of yellow jasmine was almost stifling, but the
+only life visible was an occasional cardinal bird with its
+vivid crimson plumage, or a stub-tailed water moccasin which
+raised its triangular, copper-hued head with an ugly hiss and
+dragged itself sluggishly out of sight among the tangled
+herbage.</p>
+
+<p>The path was so narrow that they were compelled to walk
+in single file. Randal made Pete lead the way. More than
+once the negro had tried to drop behind, but each time Randal
+roughly ordered him to push ahead.</p>
+
+<p>The silence of the swamp grew as oppressive as the intense
+heat. It began to get upon young Rutherford's nerves.</p>
+
+<p>"A tough place to get lost in," he said at last.</p>
+
+<p>Randal turned quickly. There was a queer expression on
+his sharp face as he replied:</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, pretty bad, I reckon."</p>
+
+<p>Somehow, Rutherford fancied there was something sinister
+in his tone.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't like the chap," he thought to himself. "I wish I
+hadn't come." Then common sense got the better of his
+fears. "It's the place, not the people, that's worrying me.
+These big hamaks are worse than a desert. There you can
+see the sky; here it's like one great, green prison."</p>
+
+<p>"Look out, sah. Dah's a wild cat in dat tree," suddenly
+hissed Pete Dally, and slipped out of the path into the thicket.
+"Quiet or youse done frighten him."</p>
+
+<p>Rutherford, all excitement, slipped his rifle from his shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>But Randal barred his way. He was standing still, peering
+up into the tree indicated.</p>
+
+<p>"Where? I don't see it," he exclaimed harshly.</p>
+
+<p>"Dere it am, sah. On dat big fork," declared Pete, pointing.
+And then as Randal stepped forward, the negro slipped
+back round a clump of palmetto, and Rutherford felt a hand
+fall sharply on his arm, while these words were whispered
+in his ear:</p>
+
+<p>"Dat man mean you no good, sah. Watch me, an' doan'
+do what he say."</p>
+
+<p>He turned in amazement, but Peter was already gone. He
+had glided back, and was standing at Randal's elbow, pointing
+out the exact spot where he alleged he had seen the cat.</p>
+
+<p>But there was no cat there now, and Rutherford wondered
+if there ever had been. Randal cursed Pete angrily, and once
+more they moved forward.</p>
+
+<p>Rutherford, more worried than he cared to own even to
+himself, followed, as before, the last of the little procession.</p>
+
+<p>It was getting late and the bullfrogs had begun to bellow
+harshly in unseen pools in the forest. But there was no decrease
+in the sullen heat. Not a breath stirred the moist,
+stagnant air, and the farther they went the thicker grew the
+tangled vegetation till there was no longer any sign of a
+path. In unbroken silence the three forced their way through
+primeval forest.</p>
+
+<p>Presently trees broke away, and they stood upon the muddy
+marge of a reedy lagoon, across the stagnant waters of which
+the low sun cast a lurid light.</p>
+
+<p>"Here we are," said Randal Fearon sharply. "This is
+where the deer come down to drink. You wait, Rutherford,
+in the bushes here, and you'll soon get a shot. Pete and I
+will take up our places on the far side. Then whatever comes
+some of us will get a buck."</p>
+
+<p>"Watch me, and don't do what he says." Pete's words
+were ringing in Rutherford's ears. He cast a glance at the
+negro. Pete made a quick sign, which the English boy took
+to mean that he was to follow instead of remaining.</p>
+
+<p>Next moment Randal had plunged off through the palmetto
+with Pete at his heels.</p>
+
+<p>"What's it all mean?" muttered Rutherford angrily. "Is
+Fearon fooling me, or is it Pete? Of the two, I infinitely
+prefer the nigger. I'll do what he says."</p>
+
+<p>He left his shelter, and moved as quietly as possible on
+the track of the other two.</p>
+
+<p>Sure enough, they did go round the pool! Rutherford
+began to wonder if he was wrong; whether Pete for some
+unknown reason was fooling him.</p>
+
+<p>The going was dreadful. The ground below the almost
+impenetrable palmetto was deep mud. Swarms of mosquitoes
+rose and stung viciously. Lionel was afraid that the crashing
+of the parted bushes would betray him.</p>
+
+<p>He knew he was falling a long way behind, and panic
+seized him that he might lose the others. Though young
+Rutherford had lived all his life in America, yet he had never
+been in a big swamp like this. The store had kept him busy.</p>
+
+<p>At last he reached the spot which Randal had pointed out
+as his own shooting station. To his horror, there was no one
+there. Randal and Pete had both disappeared. He was alone
+in the tangled heart of this monstrous swamp, and knew that
+without help he could never hope to find his way out.</p>
+
+<p>After the first moment of panic Lionel Rutherford pulled
+himself together. He had plenty of pluck. He rapidly considered
+the situation. For some reason best known to himself
+Randal Fearon wished to abandon him, to lose him in the
+swamp. But he himself had no idea of dying of hunger,
+fever, or snakebite in this impenetrable wilderness. He had
+two courses open&mdash;go back and try to find his way out along
+the trail they had come by, or follow after Randal and Pete.</p>
+
+<p>There were no objections to the first. It was a very long
+way, and it was doubtful if he could find it even in broad
+daylight. As it was, it would be dark in an hour. Besides,
+Pete had certainly meant him to follow.</p>
+
+<p>Randal must mean to spend the night in the swamp. That
+was clear. Therefore he must have some camping place.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll follow," muttered the boy between set teeth, and
+started off.</p>
+
+<p>Though the sun was not yet down, it was already dusk
+beneath the thick shade of the towering timber, and in the
+half light the trail was most difficult to follow. The others
+had long ago passed out of hearing.</p>
+
+<p>The night life of the swamp was waking. Enormous owls
+hooted weirdly, then came the thundering bellow of a bull
+alligator, and presently above all these the ghastly, half-human
+shriek of a panther calling to its mate.</p>
+
+<p>Stumbling and struggling, Lionel hurried on. In a little
+he came to a thick belt of tall saw grass. The two pairs of
+footmarks entered it, but the trails beyond were so confused
+with the passage of deer and other animals that the boy recognized
+with a shock that he could not follow the human
+footsteps.</p>
+
+<p>Very near despair, he turned back. No, he could not find
+Randal's trail. He stopped. "I'm done!" he muttered hopelessly,
+and stood straining his ears for any sound of his
+former companions.</p>
+
+<p>Just then, as he was almost giving up, he caught sight of
+a morsel of something white stuck on a broken stem beside
+the trail. It was a tiny piece of paper, and on it, marked
+with a muddy finger tip, an arrow pointing in a certain direction.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Pete!" exclaimed Lionel joyfully. A load rolled off his
+mind. Marking the direction carefully, he pushed on fast.
+Now he was on the lookout, he found other signs; a broken
+twig, a stick, laid in the path.</p>
+
+<p>Darkness fell rapidly. There is little twilight in Florida.</p>
+
+<p>"They can't go much farther," he said. He was right.
+In a very short time the dull glow of a fire showed where the
+others had camped.</p>
+
+<p>"What shall I do?" he asked himself. "Go right up and
+tackle Randal Fearon? No; he'd have some excuse ready,
+and I'd only get Pete into trouble. I must wait till Randal
+goes to sleep."</p>
+
+<p>The mosquitoes were savage. Young Rutherford, tired and
+hungry, found it maddening to wait in the damp gloom, and
+watch Randal gorge on the supper which Pete cooked.
+Nearly two hours passed before Randal, having finished a
+cigar, rolled himself, head and all, in a blanket and lay down.</p>
+
+<p>A few minutes more, and a snore told Rutherford it was
+safe to venture closer.</p>
+
+<p>Pete heard him, and glided out. The black man chuckled
+silently when he saw the boy. "Reckoned you'd be along,
+sah. You foun' de sign Pete lef' for you. Now de firs' thing
+is you eat. Den we talk."</p>
+
+<p>He put corn, bread, and bacon into Rutherford's hands, and
+the boy made a hearty meal.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, sah," said Pete. "You see what dat man want to
+do. He lose you in de swamp, den go home, say you fell in
+de water and was drowned. Den he an' his dad, dey take
+dat blow-up bullet ob yours an' sell him."</p>
+
+<p>Lionel Rutherford was aghast. He had never dreamed of
+such wickedness.</p>
+
+<p>"But we beat dem," went on Pete, with a chuckle. "I like
+you, an' I hate dat Randal."</p>
+
+<p>"What can we do?" asked Lionel eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, we play de same trick on him he try play on you.
+We take all de stuff, go off, an' leab him. He no more find
+his way out of de Big Cypress dan you. Only Pete know de
+trails."</p>
+
+<p>"That won't do, Pete," returned Lionel sharply. "I won't
+be any party to murder."</p>
+
+<p>Pete was amazed. He expostulated strongly.</p>
+
+<p>"No, I'll tell you what we will do, Pete. We'll go off and
+hide, and let him think he's lost. We'll follow and watch,
+and when he's got the soul nearly scared out of him we'll
+find him again. See?"</p>
+
+<p>Pete saw. He chuckled again in high good humor. "Dat's
+a very fine game, sah. We play dat to-morrow morning.
+Now I take de things away, an' when Randal wake he find no
+breakfast, no Pete, no nothing."</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>"He done lost hisself, sure pop!" declared Pete.</p>
+
+<p>It was nine o'clock next morning, and Lionel Rutherford
+and the negro had been following Randal for more than an
+hour.</p>
+
+<p>His language when he woke up and found Pete gone had
+been something appalling.</p>
+
+<p>Having found that this did no good, he had started off back
+along the track they had come by on the previous day, but in
+less than ten minutes he was off it; and the two, who followed
+at a discreet distance, had watched his growing fury
+and fright when he found himself quite lost in the pathless
+depths of the wilderness.</p>
+
+<p>"He can't go dat way much furder," observed Pete. "He
+gettin' down in de deal bad swamp. He go in up to his fool
+neck if he don't be keerful."</p>
+
+<p>Sure enough the quaking muck-land broke beneath the
+young scoundrel's weight, and in he went. With a yell of
+fright he caught at a branch, pulled himself out, and staggered
+back.</p>
+
+<p>"What's he going to do now?" whispered Lionel.</p>
+
+<p>"Reckon he going climb dat tree an' see whar he am."</p>
+
+<p>Pete was right. Randal began shinning up the stem of a
+tall, slender tree by the water's edge, the only one which
+seemed to give a possible view of any of the surrounding
+country. No doubt he thought he might spot the trail from
+the summit.</p>
+
+<p>Rutherford, who had been staring hard at the tree, suddenly
+clutched Pete's arm. "What's that thing up in the branches
+just above him?" he asked sharply.</p>
+
+<p>Pete took a long stare. "By golly, sah, it am a snake!
+An' a mighty big one, sure!"</p>
+
+<p>Rutherford started forward, slipping a cartridge into his
+rifle.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't shoot, sah," whispered Pete. "Dat ain't no poison
+snake. It am only a old white oak snake."</p>
+
+<p>"Looks like an ugly customer," muttered Lionel.</p>
+
+<p>At this moment Randal reached the first boughs and stood
+up. The movement alarmed the snake, which raised its ugly
+head and hissed sharply.</p>
+
+<p>Randal heard the hiss, and, turning, saw the reptile. He
+gave a scream of terror, and almost lost his hold. Then he
+backed rapidly on to a branch which actually overhung the
+creek.</p>
+
+<p>"Time to end this now," said Rutherford, raising his rifle.
+"I shall shoot the snake."</p>
+
+<p>Pete seized his arm. "De snake won't hurt him, sah. But
+dey will."</p>
+
+<p>He pointed to the water. The big alligator had seen Randal,
+and silently moved up till it was just beneath him. Another
+of almost equal size had also risen to the surface.
+Yellow eyes agleam, the hideous brutes were watching for
+this rash intruder upon their domain.</p>
+
+<p>At the very instant there was a snapping crackle. The
+bough on which Randal cowered was breaking. And the
+wretched man, clinging vainly for a hold, had caught sight
+of the huge reptiles below. He screamed till the forest resounded
+with his agonizing cries.</p>
+
+<p>He snatched at the branches above, but could reach only
+twigs, which broke in his grasp. He was falling clean into
+the open jaws of the alligators.</p>
+
+<p>If Rutherford's rifle had been loaded only with an ordinary
+cartridge nothing could have saved Randal. It was just pure
+luck that he had flung one of his explosives into the breech.</p>
+
+<p>Simultaneous with Randal's fall the rifle spoke. The bullet
+caught the nearest alligator on the side of the head, and
+the air was full of mangled fragments of flesh and bone.</p>
+
+<p>Into this horrible geyser Randal dropped heavily and vanished.</p>
+
+<p>Next moment he rose again, and struck out madly for the
+bank.</p>
+
+<p>"I can't shoot again," cried Lionel. "I should kill him if
+I did."</p>
+
+<p>"Dere ain't no need to," said the negro. "You done scared
+de stuffin' out ob dat oder gator."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank goodness he's safe," exclaimed Lionel as Randal
+scrambled ashore and fell in a heap on the bank. "Now
+we'd better get him home."</p>
+
+<p>Pete laughed. "Yes, sah. I reckon he done had enough
+ob de Big Cypress."</p>
+
+<p>When Randal came round Rutherford soon realized he
+had no more to fear. The fellow's nerve was broken. He
+shivered and trembled like a frightened child.</p>
+
+<p>They took him home, and then Lionel went boldly to Colonel
+Fearon, and told him the whole story plump and plain.
+When he had finished the colonel sat speechless. His face
+was gray and pinched.</p>
+
+<p>Lionel looked at him. "I shan't make any trouble for you,"
+he said coolly. "All I want is those introductions. Write
+them now, and I'll take them myself to Washington."</p>
+
+<p>Without a word the colonel obeyed.</p>
+
+<p>Lionel Rutherford is now a rich and rising man. Pete
+is his faithful major-domo. Whenever Lionel gets a holiday
+the two go off down south for a week or two of shooting.
+But they never again penetrated the desolate depths of the
+Great Cypress.</p>
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+
+
+
+<h2 class="huge bb">
+<a href="images/i1large.jpg"><img src="images/i1.jpg" width="48" height="23" alt="hand" /></a>
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+
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+
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+</p>
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+
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+
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+<tr><td colspan="6"><i>STREET &amp; SMITH, 79-89 Seventh Avenue, New York City.</i><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>Dear Sirs: Enclosed please find</i> ___________________________ <i>cents for which send me</i>:</span>
+</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td><b>TIP TOP WEEKLY,</b></td><td class="tdc"><b>Nos.</b></td><td class="br">______________________</td>
+<td><b>BUFFALO BILL STORIES,</b></td><td class="tdc"><b>Nos.</b></td><td>______________________</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td><b>NICK CARTER WEEKLY,</b></td><td class="tdc"><b>"</b></td><td class="br">______________________</td>
+<td><b>BRAVE AND BOLD WEEKLY,</b></td><td class="tdc"><b>"</b></td><td>______________________</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td><b>DIAMOND DICK WEEKLY,</b></td><td class="tdc"><b>"</b></td><td class="br">______________________</td>
+<td><b>MOTOR STORIES,</b></td><td class="tdc"><b>"</b></td><td>______________________</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="6" class="tdc">
+<i>Name</i> ________________ <i>Street</i> ________________ <i>City</i> ________________ <i>State</i> ________________<br />
+</td></tr></table>
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+
+
+
+<h2 class="bb"><a name="ADVENTURES_OF_A_BOY_GENIUS" id="ADVENTURES_OF_A_BOY_GENIUS">ADVENTURES OF A BOY GENIUS</a></h2>
+
+<p class="bb center huge">MOTOR STORIES</p>
+
+
+<p>Most five-cent weeklies are founded upon the adventures of boy wonders who perform all sorts of
+impossible feats and who never act or talk as a boy really does. This is displeasing to the intelligent boy of
+the present day, who is better educated, and who, consequently, demands more logical reading than the
+old-time boy did.</p>
+
+<p>The boys who want to learn something from what they read, as well as to be interested by it, will
+never find another publication that will satisfy them so well as MOTOR STORIES. "Motor Matt" is not
+an impossible boy character. He is simply a youth who has had considerable training in a machine shop
+where motors of all kinds were repaired, and who is possessed of a genius for mechanics. His sense of
+right and wrong is strongly developed, and his endeavors to insure certain people a square deal lead him
+into a series of the most astonishing, but at the same time the most natural, adventures that ever befell a boy.</p>
+
+<p>Buy the current number from your newsdealer. We feel sure that you will be just as enthusiastic
+about it as the fifty thousand other boys throughout the United States have become.</p>
+
+<p class="center"><b><i>HERE ARE THE TITLES NOW READY:</i></b></p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p><b>
+No. 1.&mdash;Motor Matt; or, The King of the Wheel.<br />
+No. 2.&mdash;Motor Matt's Daring; or, True to His Friends.<br />
+No. 3.&mdash;Motor Matt's Century Run; or, The Governor's Courier.<br />
+No. 4.&mdash;Motor Matt's Race; or, The Last Flight of the "Comet."<br />
+No. 5.&mdash;Motor Matt's Mystery; or, Foiling a Secret Plot.<br />
+No. 6.&mdash;Motor Matt's Red Flier; or, On the High Gear.<br />
+No. 7.&mdash;Motor Matt's Clue; or, The Phantom Auto.<br />
+</b></p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p class="center">TO BE PUBLISHED ON APRIL 12th</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p><b>
+No. 8.&mdash;Motor Matt's Triumph; or, Three Speeds Forward.<br />
+</b></p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p class="center">TO BE PUBLISHED ON APRIL 19th</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p><b>
+No. 9.&mdash;Motor Matt's Air-ship; or, The Rival Inventors.<br />
+</b></p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p class="center">TO BE PUBLISHED ON APRIL 26th</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p><b>
+No. 10.&mdash;Motor Matt's Hard Luck; or, The Balloon House Plot.<br />
+</b></p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p class="center">TO BE PUBLISHED ON MAY 3d</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p><b>
+No. 11.&mdash;Motor Matt's Daring Rescue; or, The Strange Case of Helen Brady.<br />
+</b></p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p class="center">TO BE PUBLISHED ON MAY 10th</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p><b>
+No. 12.&mdash;Motor Matt's Peril; or, Cast Away in the Bahamas.<br />
+</b></p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<hr class="r5" />
+
+<p class="bb">
+<b class="large">Price, Five Cents</b>        At all newsdealers, or sent, postpaid, by the publishers
+upon receipt of the price.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="center large"><i>STREET &amp; SMITH, Publishers, NEW YORK</i></p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2><a name="Transcribers_Notes" id="Transcribers_Notes">Transcriber's Notes:</a></h2>
+
+
+<p>Retained inconsistent hyphenation ("reentered" vs. "re-entered").</p>
+
+<p>Page 12, changed "anyhere" to "anywhere" ("we can go anywhere").</p>
+
+<p>Page 13, removed unnecessary quote before "In the letter, over his own signature." Changed "propellor"
+to "propeller" ("propeller forces the air-ship").</p>
+
+<p>Page 16, changed "Yon" to "You" ("You can handle the machine").</p>
+
+<p>Page 18, changed "times" to "time" ("right time arrives").</p>
+
+<p>Page 19, changed "geen" to "been" ("chum has been getting").</p>
+
+<p>Page 26, changed "Mat" to "Matt" ("get a look at Matt").</p>
+
+<p>Page 27, changed "nearer" to "neared" ("As they neared").</p>
+
+<p>Page 28, changed "bulding" to "building" ("big building were closed").</p>
+
+<p>Page 29, changed "crossel" to "crossed" ("curious expression crossed").
+Changed "outwarlly" to "outwardly" ("outwardly looked precisely").
+Changed "varandaed" to "verandaed."</p>
+
+<p>Page 30, changed "thicked" to "thicker" ("thicker grew the").</p>
+
+<p>Page 31, changed "clutchel" to "clutched" ("clutched Pete's arm").</p>
+
+<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 47901 ***</div>
+</body>
+</html>
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+This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
+Procedures for determining public domain status are described in
+the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org.
+
+No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in
+jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize
+this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright
+status under the laws that apply to them.
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #47901 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/47901)
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Motor Matt's Air Ship, by Stanley R. Matthews
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
+other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
+the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
+www.gutenberg.org.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
+to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
+
+Title: Motor Matt's Air Ship
+       or, The Rival Inventors
+
+Author: Stanley R. Matthews
+
+Release Date: January 7, 2015 [EBook #47901]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MOTOR MATT'S AIR SHIP ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Edwards, Demian Katz and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (Images
+courtesy of the Digital Library@Villanova University
+(http://digital.library.villanova.edu/))
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+  MOTOR STORIES
+
+  THRILLING
+  ADVENTURE
+
+  MOTOR
+  FICTION
+
+  NO. 9
+  APRIL 24, 1909
+
+  FIVE
+  CENTS
+
+  MOTOR MATT'S
+  AIR SHIP
+
+  _OR_ THE RIVAL
+  INVENTORS
+
+  [Illustration: _Motor Matt, as he drove
+  the air ship steadily
+  against the wind, kept
+  close watch of the
+  captured aeronauts._]
+
+  _Street & Smith
+  Publishers
+  New York_
+
+
+
+
+MOTOR STORIES
+
+THRILLING ADVENTURE MOTOR FICTION
+
+_Issued Weekly. By subscription $2.50 per year. Entered according to
+Act of Congress in the year 1909, in the Office of the Librarian of
+Congress, Washington, D. C., by_ STREET & SMITH, _79-89 Seventh Avenue,
+New York, N. Y._
+
+  No. 9.      NEW YORK, April 24, 1909.      Price Five Cents.
+
+
+MOTOR MATT'S AIR-SHIP;
+
+OR,
+
+The Rival Inventors.
+
+By the author of "MOTOR MATT."
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+  CHAPTER I. CAPTURING AN AIR-SHIP.
+  CHAPTER II. A QUEER "FIND."
+  CHAPTER III. THE BALLOON HOUSE.
+  CHAPTER IV. THE KETTLE CONTINUES TO BOIL.
+  CHAPTER V. 2109 HOYNE STREET.
+  CHAPTER VI. CARL INVESTIGATES.
+  CHAPTER VII. JERROLD, BRADY'S RIVAL.
+  CHAPTER VIII. JERROLD'S GRATITUDE.
+  CHAPTER IX. ABOARD THE HAWK.
+  CHAPTER X. WILLOUGHBY'S SWAMP.
+  CHAPTER XI. A FOE IN THE AIR.
+  CHAPTER XII. BRADY CHANGES HIS PLANS.
+  CHAPTER XIII. INTO THE SWAMP.
+  CHAPTER XIV. A DESPERATE CHANCE.
+  CHAPTER XV. A DARING ESCAPE.
+  CHAPTER XVI. THE END OF THE MID-AIR TRAIL.
+  THE BIG CYPRESS.
+
+
+
+
+CHARACTERS THAT APPEAR IN THIS STORY.
+
+
+  =Matt King=, concerning whom there has always been a mystery--a lad
+  of splendid athletic abilities, and never-failing nerve, who has won
+  for himself, among the boys of the Western town, the popular name of
+  "Mile-a-minute Matt."
+
+  =Carl Pretzel=, a cheerful and rollicking German lad, who is led by a
+  fortunate accident to hook up with Motor Matt in double harness.
+
+  =Hamilton Jerrold=, an honest inventor who has devoted his life to
+  aeronautics, and who has built a successful air-ship called the Eagle.
+
+  =Hector Brady=, a rival inventor who has stolen his ideas from
+  Hamilton Jerrold. His air-ship is called the Hawk and is used for
+  criminal purposes. Brady's attempt to secure Motor Matt's services as
+  driver of the Hawk brings about the undoing of the criminal gang.
+
+  =Whipple, Needham, Grove, Harper and Pete=, members of the Brady's
+  air-ship gang of thieves.
+
+  =Helen Brady=, Hector Brady's daughter, who helps Motor Matt.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+CAPTURING AN AIR-SHIP.
+
+
+"Py shiminy grickets! Vat do you t'ink oof dot! See dere vonce, Matt. A
+palloon, or I vas a lopsder! Und vat a funny palloon it iss."
+
+Motor Matt and his Dutch chum, Carl Pretzel, were sitting by a quiet
+country roadside, in the shade of some trees. Drawn up near them was a
+light touring-car.
+
+The boys were several miles out of the city of Chicago, from which
+place they had started about the middle of the forenoon, and they had
+halted in that shady spot between Hammond and Hegewisch to eat the
+lunch they had brought with them. Carl had just finished the last piece
+of fried chicken when, happening to look skyward, he saw something
+that brought him to his feet with a jump. As he called to his chum, he
+pointed with the "drum-stick," at which he had been nibbling.
+
+Matt's surprise was nearly as great as Carl's, and he likewise sprang
+up and gazed at the air-ship, which was coming toward them from the
+north and east, making smart headway against the wind.
+
+"Great spark-plugs!" exclaimed Matt. "That's the first air-ship I ever
+saw."
+
+"Vat's der tifference bedween a palloon und a air-ship?" asked Carl.
+
+"Well, you can navigate an air-ship with the wind or against it, while
+a balloon is at the mercy of every current that blows. A round gas-bag
+and a basket is a balloon, Carl, but when you add a gasolene-motor and
+a propeller you have an air-ship."
+
+"Dot's blain enough. Der air-ship iss sky-hootin' dis vay to peat four
+oof a kindt. Say, it looks like a pig cigar. Vat a funny pitzness! Und
+you nefer seen vone pefore, Matt?"
+
+"I never saw one that would travel successfully. This one, though,
+seems to be going in good shape."
+
+"You haf seen palloons meppy?"
+
+"More than I can count," said he. "I've been up in balloons a dozen
+times. When I was in the Berkshire Hills they used to have races, and
+start from Pittsfield. That's where I began making ascensions."
+
+Carl dropped his wondering eyes to Matt for a moment.
+
+"You vas der plamedest feller!" he exclaimed. "You haf tone more t'ings
+as any feller I ever see, und you nefer say nodding ondil it shlips
+oudt, like vat it toes now."
+
+Motor Matt made no answer to this. Just then his attention was
+completely absorbed by the air-craft.
+
+As near as he could judge, the cigar-shaped gas-bag was more than a
+hundred feet long. Beneath the bag was suspended a light framework.
+Midway of the framework was an open space, containing a chair in which
+sat the man who was handling the motor. Out behind the driver the
+framework tapered to a point, and at the end of this rearmost point
+was the whirling propeller. The glittering blades caught the sun in a
+continuous sparkling reflection, which made the air-ship appear to be
+trailed by a glow of fire.
+
+Forward of the cockpit, or open space, was the motor. A rail ran around
+the cockpit.
+
+There were two men in the car--the one in the driver's seat and
+another in front of him, leaning over the rail. This second man seemed
+to be looking at the two boys, and to be waving his hand and giving
+directions to the driver.
+
+Along the side of the gas-bag Matt was able to read the name "Hawk,"
+printed in large letters.
+
+The Hawk was about a hundred feet above the surface of the earth.
+A long rope depended from the car, and twenty or thirty feet of it
+dragged along the ground as the car moved.
+
+"Vat's der rope for, Matt?" inquired Carl.
+
+"If that was an ordinary balloon," replied Matt, "we'd call the rope
+a guide-rope. Usually the guide-rope helps to save gas and ballast.
+When you want a balloon to go up, you know, you throw out sand; when
+you want it to come down, you let out gas. That trailing rope acts as
+ballast. When the gas expands, and the ship wants to rise, part of the
+rope that trails is lifted from the ground and throws more weight on
+the car; and when the gas contracts, and the car shows a tendency to
+descend, more of the rope falls on the ground and takes just that much
+weight off the car."
+
+"Dot's as clear as mud!"
+
+"I can't understand why they've got a drag on the air-ship," muttered
+Matt. "I supposed the propeller and the steering-blades were enough to
+send such a craft wherever it was wanted to go."
+
+As the Hawk came nearer, Matt's trained eyes and ears convinced him
+that the driver of the air-ship was a poor motorist. Evidently he did
+not understand the engine he was handling. The air-ship zigzagged
+erratically on its course, and the long bag ducked upward and downward
+in a most hair-raising manner. On top of that, Matt could hear one of
+the cylinders misfiring.
+
+The Hawk's drag-rope was trailing along the roadway. First it was on
+one side of the road, and then on the other, following the irregular
+swaying and plunging of the car.
+
+"Come on, Carl!" called Matt, turning and running for the automobile.
+"If that rope strikes our car it may damage it. We've got to fend it
+off."
+
+"Dose air-ship fellers vas mighdy careless!" answered Carl, hurrying
+after his chum. "Dot rope mighdt knock town fences, und preak vinders,
+und do plendy more tamages."
+
+"There isn't power enough at the other end of it to do much damage,"
+Matt answered, posting himself at the rear of the automobile and
+watching the advancing rope with sharp eyes.
+
+By that time the Hawk was almost over the boys' heads. The rope, of
+course, was dragging far out behind, and the trailing part of it bid
+fair to pass the car well on the right.
+
+"Hello, there!" shouted the man at the rail of the Hawk, leaning far
+over and making a trumpet out of his hands.
+
+He seemed to be excited, for some cause or other.
+
+"Hello yourseluf, vonce!" called back the Dutch boy. "Keep a leedle off
+mit your rope--ve don'd vand it to make some drouples for us."
+
+"The air-ship's out of control," the man shouted. "We can't stop the
+motor and the ship's running away! Grab the rope, hitch it to your
+automobile and tow us back to South Chicago. We'll give you a hundred
+dollars for your trouble. Be quick!"
+
+"I like his nerf, I don't t'ink!" growled Carl. "He vants to run off
+mit us und der pubble, und----"
+
+"We can tow the air-ship, all right," cried Matt, "providing we can get
+the rope fast to the automobile. We'll have to take a half hitch with
+the trailing end of the rope around a tree, and bring the air-ship to a
+stop."
+
+Matt started for the rope. As he bent down to lay hold of it, the car
+gave a lurch sideways and the rope was whisked out of his hands and was
+thrown directly against Carl's feet.
+
+Carl grabbed it. At the same moment the air-ship took an upward leap,
+on account of the weight which Carl had taken off the car. This leap
+flung Carl into the air. He turned a frog-like somersault, hands and
+feet sprawled out, and came down with a thump, flat on his back.
+
+"Whoosh!" he yelled, a good deal more startled than hurt, sitting up on
+the grass and shaking his fist at the bobbing craft overhead, "you dit
+dot on burpose! Vat's der madder mit you, anyvay? Vat for----"
+
+Carl forgot his fancied grievance watching Motor Matt. The latter,
+making another leap at the rope as it settled back again after
+overturning Carl, succeeded in laying hold of it.
+
+He had the rope by the end, so that when he picked it up none of the
+weight was taken from the ship, and Carl's disastrous exploit was not
+repeated.
+
+"Wrap it around a tree!" yelled the man at the air-ship's rail; "take a
+half-hitch around a tree!"
+
+The man might just as well have saved his breath. That had been Motor
+Matt's plan, all along, and even as the aeronaut was shouting his
+instructions Matt was jumping for the nearest tree.
+
+The young motorist had little time to make the rope fast. The whirling
+propeller was driving the Hawk onward against the wind at a fair rate
+of speed. Had there been no opposing wind, Matt would not have had time
+enough for the work ahead of him.
+
+"Come on, Carl!" he shouted.
+
+The Dutch boy stopped watching and made haste to lend a hand.
+
+Matt was already at the trunk of the tree, but the rope had traveled
+onward so rapidly that he had less than a yard of it in his hands to
+work with.
+
+Throwing himself on the opposite side of the tree, Matt laid back on
+the end of the rope. At that moment Carl reached his side, dropped near
+him and likewise took a grip on the free end of the drag.
+
+"It's der fairst time," panted Carl, "dot I efer heluped make some
+captures mit an air-ship. Shinks! Look at dot, vonce!"
+
+The driving propeller had forced the Hawk to the end of its leash. The
+boys, with only a half wrap of the rope around the trunk, felt the
+quick pull, but easily controlled it. The pull was steady, but, inch
+by inch, they worked more and more of the rope around the trunk until
+there was enough to make a knot.
+
+"Dot's der dicket!" exulted Carl, scrambling erect. "Ve've got her tied
+like a pird mit vone foot. Now how ve going to ged her hitched ondo der
+car?"
+
+"We'll have to find out what's the matter with the motor, up there,"
+answered Matt, "and see if the power can't be shut off."
+
+As he spoke, he got to his feet and walked down the road to a point
+directly under the air-ship.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+A QUEER "FIND."
+
+
+Both passengers in the air-ship were now leaning over the rail of the
+suspended car.
+
+"Hitch us on to your automobile," shouted the one who had been doing
+the driving, "and tow us back to South Chicago."
+
+The offhand way in which the man spoke proved that he was lacking on
+the practicable side of his nature.
+
+"That's a whole lot easier said than done," Matt called back. "It was
+only by a happenchance that we got your drag-rope tied to the tree. If
+you've got an anchor-rope up there, throw it down and we'll make it
+fast to the car before we cast off the other."
+
+"That's the only long rope we've got," answered the man.
+
+"Well," went on Matt, "you ought to be able to see what sort of a job
+we're up against. Your motor is pulling hard on the rope, and the
+moment we take the rope from the tree it will be jerked out of our
+hands. Don't you know how to run a gas-engine?"
+
+"I know how to start a gas-engine," was the amazing response, "but I
+don't know how to stop it."
+
+"Py shiminy grickets!" whooped Carl, "you vas a nice pair to shtart off
+mit a gasolene-air-ship. You vas in luck nod to make some landings on
+Chupiter, Mars or to hit a comic."
+
+Matt likewise thought it was an odd situation, but believed it would
+be well to get the two helpless aeronauts down on terra firma before
+asking for an explanation of their predicament.
+
+"Do either of you know what the gasolene-tank is?" he asked.
+
+The heads disappeared within the car for a moment, then one reappeared
+over the railing.
+
+"Yes, we've found that, all right," said the man.
+
+"And the carburettor--do you know where to look for that?"
+
+"Is that the thing that makes the spark?"
+
+Carl let off a howl of derision.
+
+"Ach, du lieber, vat a ignorance! Der carpuretter makes der gas, dot
+makes der exblosions in der cylinter, dot moofs der biston dot makes
+der bropellor go 'roundt. I know dot meinseluf, efen dough I vasn't so
+pright like Modor Matt."
+
+"There's a pipe leading from the gasolene-tank to the carburettor,"
+continued Matt, "and there's a valve which should be worked by a lever.
+Close that valve and you'll shut off the supply of gasolene. When you
+do that, the motor will stop, and we can work down here to better
+advantage."
+
+The head disappeared again and the car rocked and swayed as the two men
+scrambled around in it. Their ignorance, however, increased rather than
+lessened the difficulty. The misfiring of the one cylinder ceased and
+the motor took up its humming rhythm at an even faster speed. The fresh
+impetus of the propeller put a harder pull on the rope, and the strain
+bore sudden and unexpected results.
+
+With a yell of dismay the driver of the machine leaned over the rail of
+the car. He had thrown off his hat and his coat was unbuttoned.
+
+"We're making it worse!" he cried. "I wish to thunder you could come up
+here and----"
+
+Just then the drag-rope, which could not have been properly fastened to
+the car, let go and dropped earthward in sinuous coils.
+
+The man doubled farther over the rail in a futile and foolish effort to
+lay hold of it. Something fell from the pocket of his coat, fluttered
+through the air and landed in the top of a tree.
+
+Matt noted the flight of the fallen object only incidentally, for the
+major part of his attention was taken up with the actions of the car.
+
+The steering rudder had become elevated, and the air-ship started at
+a tremendous clip toward the clouds. The two aeronauts could be seen
+rushing around the car like mad. While the two boys watched, the rudder
+was brought down to a level; but something else had gone wrong, for the
+machine could not be maneuvered.
+
+Swiftly the air-ship diminished to a mere speck in the southern sky,
+and then vanished altogether.
+
+Carl turned a blank look at Matt and gave a long whistle.
+
+"Dot proofs, Matt," said he, "dot id don'd vas goot pitzness to monkey
+mit t'ings you don'd know nodding aboudt. Oof dose fellers run into a
+shooding shdar dere vill be some fine smash oops."
+
+"Why they ever ventured up in the air-ship, knowing so little about how
+to manage it, is a mystery."
+
+Matt gave his head an ominous shake.
+
+"Vat vill pecome oof dem?" queried Carl.
+
+"If they can get the steering rudder to working, they can drive the
+air-ship to the ground. Anyhow, the supply of gasolene will have to
+give out, in time, and then they may be able to come down."
+
+"Dere iss somet'ing crooked aboudt dose fellers. Oddervise, dey
+vouldn't be vere dey are."
+
+"Did you see something drop from the driver's pocket, Carl?"
+
+"Nix. Iss dot vat habbened?"
+
+"Yes. It landed in the top of that tree, over there."
+
+"Meppy ve ged holt oof der t'ing und find oudt somet'ing aboudt who
+dose fellers vas, und for vy dey vent off for a fly mitoudt knowing how
+to manach der flyer?"
+
+Matt proceeded to the foot of the tree in whose branches the fallen
+object had alighted. Lifting his gaze upward, he peered sharply into
+the foliage.
+
+"I see it," he announced, pointing.
+
+"Und me, too," said Carl. "It vas vite, und round, like a punch oof
+bapers rolled oop. How ve ged him down, hey? Meppy ve t'row some
+shticks ad him?"
+
+Suiting his action to the word, Carl picked up clubs and stones and
+hurled them upward in an endeavor to dislodge the object. Finding that
+these efforts were unsuccessful, Matt threw off his coat and hat and
+climbed the tree.
+
+The roll of papers was lodged far out in the fork of a branch. Standing
+on the branch, he jumped up and down on it and jarred the roll loose.
+Carl caught it deftly as it fell.
+
+"Hoop-a-la!" he yelled; "here she vas, Matt. Come down a leedle vile ve
+look him ofer."
+
+In a few moments Matt was again on the ground. The roll, which Carl
+immediately handed to him, he found to contain a number of sheets
+wrapped compactly in a piece of white paper.
+
+"I guess we'll open it and not stand on any ceremony," said Matt.
+
+"Sure!" exclaimed Carl. "For vy nod?"
+
+"It's not exactly the right thing to do. They're not our papers and
+we haven't any business tampering with documents that belong to some
+one else. Under the circumstances, though, and considering that the
+whole affair of the air-ship is a strange one, and that we may be able
+to help the two men in some way through the information the roll may
+contain, we'll have a look at it."
+
+Going back to the place where they had eaten their lunch, the boys
+sat down and Matt opened the little bundle. A dozen blue prints of
+mechanical tracings were revealed. In the center of the roll was a
+sealed envelope, bearing no address or writing of any sort.
+
+"Dere's nodding aboudt der plue prints to helup us know somet'ing,"
+said Carl. "Oben der enfellup, Matt."
+
+"No," returned Matt, "we can't do that. That would be going a little
+too far."
+
+"Vell, ve got to do somet'ing oof ve findt oudt who dose fellers vas."
+
+"We'll wait, and give them a chance to claim their property."
+
+"How dey vas going to glaim it, hey? Dey didtn't dell us who dey vas,
+und ve ditn't dell dem our names."
+
+"We know the air-ship came from South Chicago. I don't believe there
+are very many air-ships in that place, and if we inquire around a
+little we ought to be able to find out who owns the Hawk."
+
+"Righdt you vas! Somevay, Matt, you always know vat to do ven eferypody
+else iss guessing. Shall ve ged indo der car und go pack to der pig
+city py vay oof Sout' Chicago?"
+
+"That's our cue. If we can discover who owns the Hawk we'll leave these
+papers there for him."
+
+Matt rolled up the envelope and the papers and stowed them safely away
+in his pocket.
+
+"I know dere vas some niggers in der vood-pile, all righdt," averred
+Carl. "Two fellers vouldn't go off mit an air-ship dey don'd know how
+to run oof eferyt'ing vas like it ought to be."
+
+"There may be a whole lot of sense in what you say, Carl," replied
+Matt, "and then, again, the explanation of the queer layout may be
+extremely simple. Don't get to imagining things, old chap, but coil
+up that rope and throw it into the car. We'll carry it back to South
+Chicago and leave it at the same place we leave this roll of blue
+prints."
+
+While Carl was coiling up the rope, Matt gave his attention to the
+automobile. When Carl arrived and threw the rope into the tonneau, Matt
+was busy with the crank.
+
+Presently they were in the car and headed back along the return course.
+
+Hardly had they got under good headway, however, when a flurry of dust
+showed in the road ahead of them. As the wind blew the dust aside, a
+horse and buggy with two men broke into view.
+
+In accordance with the rules of the road, Matt slowed down to make sure
+the horse did not take fright at the automobile. The horse was going at
+a run, and the men seemed to be excited.
+
+The one who was driving drew rein as the rig came alongside the car.
+
+"Say," shouted the men, "did you boys see an air-ship anywhere in this
+vicinity?"
+
+"Yes," answered Matt. "It was going south."
+
+"Then we're on the right track?"
+
+"So far as we know; but the air-ship was unmanageable and----"
+
+The men in the buggy did not wait to hear any more. The driver began
+plying his whip and the horse again leaped onward.
+
+"Who were those two men?" yelled Matt, anxious for a little information.
+
+"Thieves!" came the answer, as rig and passengers once more vanished in
+a cloud of dust.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE BALLOON HOUSE.
+
+
+"Yah!" shouted Carl. "Vat I dell you, Matt? I knew dere vas somet'ing
+der madder! Dem two fellers vas t'ieves, und dey haf shtole der
+air-ship. Py shinks, dey haf got demselufs indo drouple, und it vas
+goot enough for dem. Vat you going to do?"
+
+Matt had begun turning the machine in the road. When he had pointed it
+the other way, he started off at a swift pace on the trail of the two
+men in the buggy.
+
+"We'll try and overhaul those two fellows," answered Matt, "and tell
+them what we know. The information we've picked up may be valuable to
+them."
+
+"Dey don't vas endidled to it," averred Carl. "Vy ditn't dey shtop und
+ask us somet'ings? Anyvay, how can dey ketch a flying machine mit a
+horse und puggy? You mighdt as vell dry to ketch a sky rocket mit a
+papy carriage."
+
+"The Hawk will have to come down," said Matt, "and if those men are
+anywhere near it when it hits the earth they'll be able to recover the
+machine and catch the thieves."
+
+"Oof der machine hits der eart' so hardt as vat I t'ink, it von't be
+vort' nodding, nor der t'ieves neider."
+
+"There's a chance that the rascals will come down safely. If those men
+in the buggy had had their wits about them, they'd have hitched their
+rig to the fence and have jumped into the automobile. We could have
+hustled them over the ground four times as fast as they were going."
+
+A few moments later the boys reached a place where the road branched.
+The horse and buggy were not in sight along either road.
+
+"Vich vay now?" queried Carl.
+
+"It's all guesswork," answered Matt, "but it's always a pretty good
+plan to keep to the right," and, with that, he drove the car along the
+right-hand branch.
+
+After five minutes of fast running, they had not overtaken the rig and
+it was still not to be seen anywhere ahead. The boys knew they had
+been traveling three or four times as fast as the two men were going,
+and that, if they were on the right track, the men should have been
+overtaken long before.
+
+Disappointedly, Matt halted the car and turned it in the other
+direction.
+
+"No use, Carl," said he. "Those men must have taken the left-hand fork
+instead of the right. They're too far away, now, for us to think of
+finding them. We'll hike for South Chicago."
+
+"Dot's der pest t'ing dot ve can do," returned Carl. "Ve'll find der
+owner oof der Hawk und gif him der trag-rope und der bapers."
+
+"We won't find him. He must have been one of those two men in the
+buggy. Probably we can find where he lives, though, and turn the rope
+and the papers over to some one who will give them to him."
+
+"Meppy ve pedder take der shtuff to der bolice, hey? Oof der fellers
+vas t'ieves, dot enfellup mighdt gif der bolice a line on dem."
+
+"There's something in that, too," muttered Matt. "We'll try to find the
+owner of the Hawk, though, before we call on the police."
+
+An hour later, the boys came into South Chicago along a turnpike that
+passed the rolling mills. A man on a motor-cycle was just coming out of
+a fenced enclosure near one of the mills, and Matt halted him for the
+purpose of making a few inquiries. From his looks, the man was of some
+consequence in the steel rail plant, and probably was well-informed as
+to affairs in South Chicago.
+
+"Do you know of any one around here that has an air-ship?" asked Matt.
+
+The question was something of a novelty, and the man laughed as he
+rested one foot on the ground and balanced his motor-cycle upright.
+
+"I suppose air-ships will be thicker'n hops, one of these days," said
+he, "but just now they're about as seldom as hen's teeth. I understand
+there are a couple of men here who are working at air-ships--one
+of them came to the mills to see if he couldn't get some aluminum
+castings. He's got a balloon house about a quarter of a mile down the
+road, on the left. Drop in there and maybe you'll find the man--and the
+ship, too."
+
+Matt thanked the man and followed him slowly as he sputtered off into
+town.
+
+The balloon house, which was plainly visible from the road, was a long,
+high shed, and occupied a solitary position in the midst of a marshy
+field. The doors in one end of the shed, arranged in a series and
+reaching from ground to roof peak, were open.
+
+Leaving the automobile at the roadside, the boys climbed a fence and
+made their way across the flat ground to the big house. On reaching the
+opened doors, one glance showed them that there was no air-ship in the
+shed.
+
+On the earth floor, along one side of the great room, were two or
+three work benches and a litter of wood and metal scraps. There was
+also, in the farther end of the chamber, a number of small tanks,
+presumably used for the manufacture of hydrogen gas. As the boys stood
+in the doorway, two brawny men showed themselves from behind these
+tanks. They wore greasy overclothes and their sleeves were rolled up.
+
+"Get out of here!" yelled one of the men. "We don't allow any reporters
+around this shebang."
+
+"We're not reporters," answered Matt, standing his ground. "Do you keep
+an air-ship here?"
+
+"Well, that's what this big shed is for."
+
+The two men came closer to the boys, one of them filling and lighting a
+cob pipe as he approached.
+
+"Is the name of it the 'Hawk?'" went on Matt.
+
+"Right again," said the man who had been doing the talking.
+
+His eyes were like gimlets, and bored their way into Matt through
+narrow slits.
+
+"Who's the owner of the Hawk?" asked Matt.
+
+"I'm the owner, and my name's Hector Brady. If Jerrold has sent you
+here----"
+
+"I don't know any one by the name of Jerrold. Who is he, and why should
+he send me here?"
+
+The sharp little eyes continued to study Matt.
+
+"Before I say anything more," answered Brady, "you'd better tell me a
+little about yourself."
+
+"I don't know as that's necessary, or----"
+
+"You'd know how necessary it is if you were inventing machines and
+trying to keep your appliances a secret. I'm not the only man in South
+Chicago that's perfecting an air-ship. A fellow named Jerrold has cut
+into the same game, and he has some one nosing around here a good share
+of the time, trying to get wise to something. If Jerrold has sent you
+here----"
+
+"He hasn't," broke in Matt. "I don't know Jerrold from Adam."
+
+"What's your name?"
+
+"King, Matt King."
+
+Brady gave a jump.
+
+"You don't mean to say you're the young Western phenomenon the
+Lestrange people have brought to Chicago to run in that five-day
+automobile race that's turned on at the Coliseum to-morrow?"
+
+"I'm one of their racers," answered Matt. "They have four more in the
+race besides me."
+
+"Well, by thunder!" Brady stood off and regarded Matt as though he was
+a natural curiosity. "Why, you're no more than a kid! They had your
+picture in the paper, after that Kansas race, but you're a heap younger
+than I thought. I guess you've forgotten more about gasolene-motors
+than a whole lot of people ever knew."
+
+"Oh, it isn't so bad as that. I came here to do you a good turn, Mr.
+Brady, and I can't see the sense of raking up my past history. Your
+air-ship has been stolen, hasn't it?"
+
+"Stolen?" Brady gave another startled jump. "Not that anybody knows of.
+Why? What put that in your head?"
+
+Matt was "stumped." He looked blankly at Carl and found that Carl had
+turned an equally blank look at him.
+
+"Where is the Hawk now?" queried Matt.
+
+"She went out on a trial spin with three men in the car. Expect her
+back any moment."
+
+There was a shifty look in Brady's face, and he spoke in a fashion that
+aroused Matt's suspicions.
+
+"Then the Hawk wasn't stolen and you didn't send two men with a horse
+and buggy to look for her?" queried Matt. "We saw the air-ship, but
+there were only a couple of men in the car and the machine was out of
+control. We tried to stop the craft by means of the drag-rope, but the
+rope broke loose and the Hawk got away. One of the men on board dropped
+a roll of papers out of his coat-pocket and we picked it up."
+
+Brady looked at the other man. The glances they exchanged were
+significant, and both swore softly.
+
+"Here's a purty kettle o' fish!" growled the fellow with the pipe.
+"What dy'ye s'pose has happened, Brady?"
+
+Brady muttered something unintelligible, and whirled to Matt with a
+scowl.
+
+"That roll of papers belongs to me," said he. "Just pass 'em over,
+King."
+
+"I don't know whether I ought to give them to you, Mr. Brady, or to the
+police," answered Matt, making no move to take the roll from his pocket.
+
+"Police!" exclaimed Brady. "What the blazes are you talking about? The
+fellow on that car was working for me, and the papers belong to me."
+
+"Then you ought to be able to identify the roll," proceeded Matt,
+coolly. "What did it contain, Mr. Brady?"
+
+"Just papers."
+
+"Typewritten-papers?"
+
+"Well, yes, some of them were typewritten."
+
+"How were they tied up? In a piece of yellow paper?"
+
+"That's it. Hand 'em over. It's queer they got lost out of the car in
+that way, but mighty lucky you picked 'em up."
+
+"I guess you're thinking of the wrong roll," said Matt, coolly. "The
+one you've described isn't the one we found."
+
+"Whether the description is right or wrong, the papers are mine, and
+I'll have 'em!"
+
+Brady, in sudden temper, hurled himself at Matt. The other man, taking
+his cue from Brady, jumped for Carl and grabbed him by the arm.
+
+"Hoop-e-la!" tuned up Carl. "Be jeerful, eferypody! Here's somet-ing
+vat ve ditn't oxbect!" And, with that, the Dutch boy began struggling
+and using his fists.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+THE KETTLE CONTINUES TO BOIL.
+
+
+Both Matt and Carl were well skilled in the art of self-defense. Matt,
+perhaps, was a shade more adept in the use of his fists. Neither of the
+lads, however, had been looking for violence, and the sudden attack of
+Brady and the other man had taken them by surprise.
+
+The two men had plenty of muscle, and Brady was desperately determined
+to secure the roll of papers. The very fact that he was using force to
+accomplish his designs proved that he was not entitled to the papers.
+For that reason, Matt was determined to keep them away from him at all
+costs.
+
+"Hold the Dutchman, Pete!" puffed Brady, hanging to the collar of
+Matt's leather coat and trying to get one hand into the inside pocket.
+
+"Quiet, Dutchy," threatened Pete, as he and Carl swung back and forth
+across the big shed. "I'll strangle ye if ye ain't peaceable. Ye ain't
+got no sense, roughin' things up like--wow!"
+
+At that instant, Carl landed a telling blow on the point of Pete's
+chin. A bushel of shooting-stars must have danced in front of Pete's
+eyes, for the jolt hurled him backward and caused him to claw the air
+in an attempt to keep his balance. He was not more than an instant
+getting the whip-hand of himself, and when he came out of his brief
+daze he was as mad as a hornet.
+
+"I'll kill ye for that!" he yelled, and picked up a heavy hammer that
+lay on the floor.
+
+Pete was between Carl and the open end of the shed; he was likewise
+between Carl and Matt and Brady. The struggle had carried Pete and the
+Dutch boy down toward the middle of the balloon house.
+
+Matt, out of the tails of his eyes, saw the dangerous position in
+which Pete's temper was placing Carl. The young motorist had been
+successfully fending off the attempt of Brady to get into his coat
+pocket; now, thinking Carl might need him, he undertook more aggressive
+measures.
+
+An empty box, which had evidently been used as a seat, stood just
+within the big door. With a sudden lurch, Matt heaved himself against
+Brady and knocked him backward over the box.
+
+As Brady felt himself falling, the instinct to save himself caused him
+to let go of Matt. The instant the young motorist found himself with
+the free use of his fists, he let drive at Brady and still further
+helped him over the box.
+
+With a roar of anger, Brady doubled up on the floor. Matt whirled and
+darted for Pete, reaching that scoundrel just in time to catch the arm
+that was whirling the heavy hammer.
+
+The hammer was wrenched away, and Matt cast it against the wall of the
+balloon house.
+
+"Cut for it, Carl!" cried Matt. "Run for the road!"
+
+"You bed my life!" wheezed Carl. "Dis blace don'd vas gedding fery
+comfordable."
+
+Brady was picking himself up from the floor as the boys rushed past
+with Pete in hot pursuit.
+
+"Get those papers!" yelled Brady.
+
+"I'll git that Dutch kid if it costs me my life!" whooped Pete.
+
+Brady rushed after Pete, and there was a chase across the marshy meadow
+toward the road.
+
+Carl was chunky of build and not nearly so good in a sprint as was
+Matt. Matt was in the lead on the rush from the balloon house, but,
+anticipating that Carl might have further trouble with Pete, he
+slackened his pace.
+
+It was well that he did so. Pete was steadily gaining on Carl and would
+undoubtedly have overtaken him had Matt not executed a quick move with
+an empty salt barrel that lay in the line of flight.
+
+At the right moment, Matt rolled the salt barrel in front of the
+enraged Pete. Pete's shins slammed against it, then he dropped on it
+and plowed up the mucky soil with the top of his head.
+
+So far as the set-to was concerned, it was settled right there, Brady
+being so far in the rear that the boys were able to clear the fence and
+get into the automobile before he could come anywhere near them. As a
+matter of fact, Brady gave up the fight as soon as he had witnessed
+Pete's mishap with the barrel.
+
+As the two chums glided away toward the more thickly settled part
+of South Chicago, they could look back and see Brady assisting the
+disgruntled Pete to an erect position. The barrel had been smashed, and
+Brady was scraping the mud off Pete with one of the staves.
+
+"How you like dot, hey?" gloried Carl, standing up in the automobile
+and shaking his fist. "You vill know pedder der next time dan to make
+some foolishness mit Modor Matt und his bard. Yah, yah, yah!"
+
+Carl wanted to be as tantalizing as he could, but the automobile was
+getting too far away. Sinking down in the seat beside Matt, the Dutch
+boy chuckled blithely.
+
+"Dis has peen a pooty fine leedle trip, Matt," he observed, "und has
+peen full oop mit oxcidement oof a nofel kindt, yah, so helup me. Dot's
+vat I like. I'll bed my life dose fellers t'ink dey vas fell on mit a
+brick house. Vat's der madder mit Prady, anyvays?"
+
+"There's something queer about that air-ship affair," answered Matt,
+thoughtfully. "The two men who rode past us in that buggy said the
+pair in the car were thieves, but Brady didn't know anything about the
+Hawk's being stolen. Brady said, too, that there ought to have been
+three men in the car instead of two. The one who was missing may have
+been the driver. That would account for the poor work the other two
+were making with the engine."
+
+"Ve can make some guesses," said Carl, shaking his head, "aber ve don'd
+know nodding. Dot roll oof bapers don'd pelong to Prady. Vell, oof
+dot's der gase, whose bapers vas dey?"
+
+"That's a conundrum."
+
+"Vill you dake dem py der bolice?"
+
+"I've been thinking of that, and I believe I'll talk with Mr. Harkrider
+before I do anything more. He'll tell us just what to do, and I'm sure
+his advice will be good. You see, Carl, we're not entitled to the
+papers any more than Brady is, when you come to figure the thing down
+to a fine point. If the fellow who lost them out of the car turned up
+and claimed them, we'd have to give them to him."
+
+Mr. Harkrider was superintendent for the Lestrange Manufacturing
+Company, the Eastern representatives of the Jarrot Automobile Company
+of St. Louis. Following the Borden cup race, in Kansas, Matt had
+entered the services of the Jarrot people, and they had sent him to
+Chicago to take part in the five-day race at the Coliseum. While
+waiting for the race to start, Matt and Carl had had the use of any
+machine they wanted in the Lestrange garage, so they had put in their
+time riding around the city and out into the suburbs. That is how they
+happened to be on the road beyond South Chicago at the time the Hawk
+was running away with the two aeronauts.
+
+Unusual experiences always seemed to gravitate toward Matt, and this
+air-ship affair was one of the most novel that had ever come his way.
+What it was leading up to, he did not know, but it was evident there
+was a whole lot more to the matter than appeared on the surface.
+
+After a quick and uneventful run into Chicago, Matt drove the
+automobile into the Lestrange garage and asked for Mr. Harkrider. To
+his disappointment, Mr. Harkrider had left for the day and would not
+return to the garage until the following morning.
+
+"Well," said Matt, as he and Carl left the garage and proceeded toward
+their boarding house, "I guess the delay won't make much difference.
+I'll be busy with the race to-morrow, but you can take the papers,
+Carl, and do with them whatever Mr. Harkrider advises."
+
+It was nearly supper time, and after the boys had had a wash, and a
+good meal, they went up to their room.
+
+Close to eight o'clock, just as they were getting ready for bed, a rap
+fell on the door. Matt answered the summons and found a boy with a
+telegram.
+
+The young motorist had been receiving a great many telegrams, since his
+Kansas victory, and supposed the message must be from some motor-car
+manufacturer who wanted to secure his services.
+
+But he was destined to a surprise.
+
+The telegram had been sent to the Lestrange garage, and by the foreman
+there forwarded to the boarding place.
+
+  "MATT KING, Care Lestrange Company, Chicago:
+
+  "Come immediately to twenty-one-naught-nine Hoyne Street, South
+  Chicago. Important matter relative to runaway air-ship. I will pay
+  your expenses.
+
+                                               "HAMILTON JERROLD."
+
+"More aboudt dot air-ship pitzness," muttered Carl. "Who vas dot
+Jerrold feller?"
+
+"He must be the man that Brady told us about," said Matt. "Jerrold
+seems to be a rival of Brady's, in this air-ship matter, and the
+message looks like a good clue. It won't do any harm to follow it up,
+anyhow."
+
+"Dere iss somet'ing about dot vat I don'd like," demurred Carl. "I got
+some hunches dere iss underhandt vork afoot."
+
+"I know there's underhand work going on," said Matt, "but we've been
+rung in on the deal and have got to see it through. I'm curious to
+learn more about the affair."
+
+"Meppy dot same curiosidy vill make you some drouples," suggested Carl.
+"You can't haf dot, ven der racing iss on do-morrow."
+
+"The Jarrot people have several good men in the five-day race, so it
+won't make much difference if I'm not one of the drivers. Anyhow, I
+don't intend to be all day in South Chicago."
+
+"It don'd look righdt for you to go pack dere alone," grumbled Carl. "I
+vouldn't be easy a minid."
+
+"I am not going alone," laughed Matt. "You're going along, Carl."
+
+The Dutch boy brightened at once and had no more objections to offer.
+
+"Ach, dot's tifferent! Ve vill shdart ad vonce. How ve go? On a pubble?"
+
+"No, we'll take a railroad train. I don't want to go fooling with a car
+at this time of night."
+
+"Is dere a train ve can ketch?"
+
+"Lots of them. South Chicago is a suburb, and we can leave here every
+half hour. We ought to be back by midnight."
+
+Without debating the matter further, the boys started forthwith.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+2109 HOYNE STREET.
+
+
+Hoyne Street was easily found. A number of blast furnaces stood so near
+the house the two chums were looking for that the flames from their
+tall chimneys lighted up the surroundings so brilliantly that they
+were able to read the number over the door.
+
+The house was a two-story frame structure. The gas and smoke from the
+neighboring iron mills had shriveled and scorched everything in that
+part of the town. Even by night, and under the glow of the furnaces,
+Hoyne Street had a dismal and dreary appearance.
+
+No. 2109 was set well back from the sidewalk. Two branching wings, in
+front, made the house look like a deserted manufacturing plant. This
+impression was heightened by several broken windows.
+
+There were no lights in the windows other than the reflected glare from
+the high chimneys.
+
+"Whoosh!" muttered Carl, as he and Matt came close to the front of the
+house and read the number. "Dot's der blace, Matt, aber it don'd look
+pooty goot to me. Der feller vat lifs dere don'd got enough money,
+I bed you, to pay for sending dot delegram. Der hen oof drouple iss
+aboudt to hatch somet'ing."
+
+"It may be," answered Matt, who likewise had a queer premonition of
+trouble, "but we've come this far and I'm going to see the thing
+through. If anything goes wrong in that house it will be on account of
+that roll of blue prints. I'll leave the roll with you, Carl, and you
+can stay outside. I won't be in the house more than fifteen minutes at
+most."
+
+"Vell, you look a leedle oudt, Matt, dot's all. Oof somet'ing goes
+wrong mit you, led off a yell und I vill come gallywhooping."
+
+"I don't think anything will go wrong with me if I haven't those papers
+in my pocket."
+
+Carl shivered.
+
+"Chee, but der leedle fires on der chimneys iss prighdt. Somet'ing
+aboudt dis blace gifs me a creepiness oof der skin. Be jeerful, be
+jeerful! Don'd shday in dere longer as den minids, Matt, oder I vas
+likely to t'row fits."
+
+"I'll come out as soon as I can, Carl," answered Matt. "Don't fret. I'm
+able to take care of myself in a pinch."
+
+"Oof you see der pinch fairst, yah, I bed you! Aber oof der pinch come
+ven you don'd vas looking, den vat?"
+
+Matt laughed as he turned away, climbed a short flight of steps and
+drummed on the front door. He had to rap three or four times before his
+summons was answered.
+
+A light showed itself through a fan-shaped transom over the door, and a
+hand could be heard fumbling with a rusty bolt. In a minute or so the
+door was drawn open and a girl stood revealed. She carried a lamp with
+a smoked chimney, and one of her slender hands protected the flame from
+the draft.
+
+She was eighteen or nineteen years old, and, in spite of her coarse
+calico gown, she was extremely pretty. Her prettiness, however, was
+not what impressed Matt. The first thing he noticed was that the hand
+shielding the lamp was trembling. Lifting his eyes to the girl's face,
+he observed that she wore a frightened look.
+
+"Does Mr. Jerrold live here?" Matt asked.
+
+The girl stared at him; her lips moved, but no sound came through them.
+Matt repeated the question.
+
+"Y-y-yes," faltered the girl.
+
+"My name's King," answered Matt. "Mr. Jerrold sent me a telegram and
+asked me to come here to-night."
+
+The girl leaned forward eagerly as though she would say something.
+Before she could speak, if she had intended to, a sound as of some one
+moving in the darkness behind her, caused her to draw back.
+
+"Please come in," she said breathlessly.
+
+Matt entered the hall. The girl closed the door behind him and then,
+with the lamp shaking in her hand, led him into a room off the hall.
+
+The room was evidently a parlor, although its furniture was meager and
+shabby.
+
+"Please sit down," said the girl, placing the lamp on a table. "Mr.
+B--Mr. Jerrold will be here in a few moments. Would you like to read
+while you're waiting?"
+
+Matt started to decline, but the girl had already picked up a book from
+the table, opened it and was handing it to him.
+
+He looked at her in astonishment. From her frightened face his eyes
+fell to the book that was quivering in her hand. There was an appeal in
+her manner which caused him to take the book.
+
+"Thank you," said he.
+
+The book was opened at the fly leaf. On the leaf was written the
+following:
+
+  "You are trapped. I would have warned you, if I could, but he would
+  have killed me. Now you are in the house, you can't get away. Do
+  whatever you are told to do and all will be well. Lay the book back
+  on the table, and don't let any one know what you have read here."
+
+Matt was astounded. Trapped! And he had walked into the trap with his
+eyes wide open!
+
+Who was the girl and why had she run the risk to warn him? And what
+good was her warning to do if he did not take advantage of it and make
+his escape?
+
+  "Now you are in the house, you can't get away."
+
+He read those words again, and after he had read them he looked about
+the room curiously. There were two windows in the room and they were
+screened with thick curtains. Matt, however, could see no one. If the
+trap had been sprung where were the ones who had sprung it?
+
+He realized that if he made an attempt to get out of the house now,
+those who had entrapped him would immediately conclude that the girl
+had given him a warning. Thus he would not only fail to get away, but
+would bring punishment upon the girl for her attempt to help him.
+
+  "Do whatever you are told to do and all will be well."
+
+He read that over again and made up his mind that he would follow the
+advice. He laid the book back on the table, and, just at that moment,
+the girl re-entered the room.
+
+"I have read that book," said he.
+
+"Here's a newspaper," said she.
+
+As she held the paper in front of him she pointed to an article,
+evidently intending that he should read it.
+
+The girl was a mystery to Matt. From her manner there was no doubt
+about her being anxious to do whatever she could to shield him.
+
+Leaving the paper in his hands, she walked over to the table, opened
+the book and deftly extracted the fly leaf. Then she vanished from the
+room once more.
+
+Matt drew his chair closer to the table so that he could get the full
+benefit of the dim light.
+
+The first thing he noticed was that the paper was a week old. It was a
+Chicago daily. The column to which the girl had called his attention
+was headed, "Burglaries Continue! Astonishing Series of Robberies in
+South Chicago are Still Kept Up! Thieves Make Off With Loot and Leave
+Not a Clue Behind! Police Authorities Baffled! Latest Victims Hartz &
+Greer, Jewelers!"
+
+Here followed an account dealing with a number of mysterious
+burglaries, but Matt, because of the danger in which he found himself,
+did not give the article the attention he would otherwise have done.
+
+He did wonder, however, why it was that the girl had pointed out the
+article to him. While he was wondering, a step sounded in the hall and
+a form showed itself in the hall door.
+
+The man was Brady!
+
+Matt sprang up. Brady came into the room with an easy air and gave vent
+to a short laugh.
+
+He was quite a different looking man when out of his greasy
+overclothes, but there was no doubting his identity. Matt's fist had
+left a bruise on the side of Brady's face, and the spot was covered
+with a square of court-plaster.
+
+"Surprised?" queried Brady, dropping into a chair.
+
+Before seating himself he was careful to draw the chair in front of the
+hall door.
+
+"Were you the one who sent me that telegram?" asked Matt.
+
+"Guilty!" was the chuckling response. "You were expecting to meet
+Jerrold, eh? I was a little in doubt as to whether you'd bite at the
+bait, but took a chance. You're a mighty accommodating young fellow,
+King. Why, you came all the way out here, at this time of night, just
+to give Jerrold those papers! Didn't it strike you as being a little
+bit queer that Jerrold should have asked you to come and see him when
+it was his business to go and see you? And then, again, how did you
+think Jerrold got hold of your name and address? Oh, well, you've a lot
+to learn yet, my lad."
+
+"I'm learning you pretty fast, Brady," said Matt. "You have fooled me,
+but you've gained nothing by it."
+
+"I think I have," was the other's cool reply.
+
+"You'll not get that bundle of papers."
+
+"No? Haven't you got them with you?"
+
+"I left them where they'd be safe."
+
+"Then you suspected there was something a little off-color about that
+telegram?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Plucky boy! Nevertheless, you dropped into my trap, and that's the
+main thing. Those papers cost me a good deal of scheming, and if you
+were really thoughtful enough to leave them in a safe place, I'm mighty
+sorry."
+
+"You can search me," said Matt, "if you're not willing to take my word."
+
+"I'll search you quick enough."
+
+"Then hurry up; I want to get away from here."
+
+"Those papers are not the whole of it," went on Brady. "I want to make
+you a proposition, King. I need a motorist for the Hawk, and I think
+you'd about fill the bill. How would five hundred a month strike you?"
+
+"Five thousand a month wouldn't strike me. In the first place, Mr.
+Brady, I don't like your methods and wouldn't work for you at any
+price; and, in the next place, I am already in the employ of the
+Lestrange people."
+
+"You'll work for me all right whether you like my methods or not."
+There was an ugly look in Brady's eyes and an ugly note in his voice.
+"You're just the sort of youngster I need, and now that I've got a grip
+on you I don't intend to let you get away."
+
+"It takes two to make that sort of a bargain!"
+
+Matt had edged around toward one of the windows with the intention of
+making a break through the door.
+
+Brady got up.
+
+"What are you waiting for, Pete?" he called.
+
+Matt turned a quick gaze about him, wondering from which direction Pete
+was to appear. Then, quick as a lightning flash, the curtain behind him
+gave way and fell in smothering folds over his head and shoulders. Two
+brawny arms encircled him like the jaws of a vise.
+
+He fought with all his strength, and tried to yell to Carl. But one
+effort was as ineffectual as the other.
+
+Pete and Brady had him between them, and he was utterly powerless.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+CARL INVESTIGATES.
+
+
+Carl hated a "waiting" game. If there was anything going on, he liked
+to be right in the midst of it. On top of all this, he was vaguely
+suspicious of everything connected with that telegram.
+
+When Matt went up and knocked on the door of the house, Carl was hoping
+the summons would not be answered; but when the door opened, and Matt
+disappeared inside the house, Carl's real worries began.
+
+Pacing back and forth on the walk, the Dutch boy impatiently counted
+the seconds and checked off the minutes. No sound came from the
+building, and, after the light had vanished from the hall, not a ray
+was to be seen at any of the windows.
+
+"I t'ink, py shiminy," muttered Carl to himself, "dot der fifdeen
+minids vas oop. Vell, I count off fife more schust for goot measure.
+After dot, oof Matt don'd come, I vill make some infestigations."
+
+Owing to the lateness of the hour, and the obscure section of the town
+through which that part of Hoyne Street ran, no one passed the front of
+the house. Carl's solitary vigil was not relieved by the sight of any
+chance traveler.
+
+Mentally he checked off another five minutes. During the counting
+he fancied he heard a noise in the house, but it was so muffled and
+indistinct he could not be sure. Matt did not show himself, and Carl
+started his investigations.
+
+His first move was to run up the steps and pound on the door. Although
+he made enough noise to wake the entire neighborhood, he couldn't
+bring anybody to the entrance. He tried the knob, but found the door
+fastened. Then he hurled his weight against the door in the hope of
+breaking it in. The door must have been in better repair than the rest
+of the house, for it withstood his attack with scarcely a shiver.
+
+Carl's temper was always pretty close to the surface, and his failure
+to get into the house caused him to forget his forebodings on Matt's
+account and to get good and mad on his own.
+
+"I vill find Matt oof I haf to preak down a vinder!" fumed Carl,
+jumping down from the steps and starting to run around the side of the
+house.
+
+"Hello, there!" shouted a voice most unexpectedly from the sidewalk.
+"What're you up to, hey?"
+
+Carl halted and looked around. In the glow of the furnace fires he saw
+a man standing in front of the house.
+
+"Vat iss it your pitzness?" he snapped. "I'm going to ged indo dot
+blace oof I haf to preak holes in it!"
+
+"I'll make it my business, quick enough!" called the other. "Come here,
+and be quick about it."
+
+There was authority in the voice, and the command was accompanied by a
+backward sweep of the hand under a long coat. When the hand reappeared,
+there was a glimmering object clutched in the fingers. The light also
+glimmered on two rows of buttons on the speaker's coat.
+
+"Ach, du lieber!" muttered Carl. "You vas an officer, hey?"
+
+"Come here, quick!" ordered the man. "Tell me where that balloon came
+from. It seemed to rise from around in this vicinity somewhere."
+
+By that time, Carl had reached the walk. The officer pointed upward,
+and Carl's eyes, following the finger, saw an air-ship clearly outlined
+against the glow of the blazing chimneys. The cigar-shaped gas-bag and
+the pendent car stood out plainly. The front end of the air-ship was
+pointed upward, and it was vanishing swiftly into the night.
+
+"Himmelblitzen!" gasped Carl. "Dot vas der Hawk! It must be der Hawk!"
+
+"Hawk, eh?" returned the officer. "What do you know about it? The thing
+seemed to rise up in the air from around here."
+
+"Iss dot so?" cried Carl, excitedly. "Vell, I ditn't see him, und dot's
+righdt. I vas drying so hardt as anyt'ing to ged indo der house."
+
+"I heard you tryin' to break in the door. Don't you know it's against
+the law to do that?"
+
+"I don'd care for der law! My bard vent indo dot house und left me to
+vait. Ven I vait plendy long enough for him und he don'd come, den I
+make some infestigations. No vone answers my knock on der door, und for
+vy iss dot?"
+
+"You say a friend of yours is in the house?"
+
+"Sure! Don'd I vas delling you?"
+
+"When did he go in?"
+
+"Haluf oof an hour ago--all oof dot."
+
+The officer began questioning Carl and got from him pretty near the
+whole of the affair--Matt's name and occupation, the experience with
+the air-ship in the early part of the afternoon, nearly everything
+concerning the roll of papers, the receipt of the telegram, and the
+night visit of the boys to South Chicago.
+
+This policeman was an intelligent member of the force, and he at
+once concluded that here was a matter which called for official
+investigation.
+
+"We'll get into the house and find out about your friend," said he.
+"Your yarn is a queer one, but has the true ring, and it's evident
+there's shady work of some kind going on."
+
+"Shaty vork? Vell, you bed you! Vere iss Matt? Dot's vat I vand to know
+vorse as anyt'ing else. I ditn't vant him to go in dere, anyvay, aber
+ven he makes oop his mindt to do somet'ing, den it vas as goot as done
+und vat I say don'd cut some ice."
+
+"If he's in there we'll get him," said the officer, decidedly.
+
+As a preliminary to more drastic operations, he went up to the door
+and pounded on it with his night-stick. The summons, although several
+times repeated, was not answered. Thereupon the policeman and Carl,
+throwing their united weight upon the door, burst the bolt from its
+fastenings and tumbled into the hall.
+
+The darkness of the interior was relieved only by the glare of the
+furnaces coming in at the transom. Silence reigned everywhere.
+
+"I don'd like der looks oof t'ings," muttered Carl, forebodingly. "Dere
+don'd vas anypody ad home now, aber ven Matt come in dere vas plendy
+oof people here. Vat toes it mean, officer?"
+
+"We'll try and find out what it means."
+
+There was an electric dark lantern at the policeman's belt. Taking the
+lantern in his hand he switched on the light and sent a bright gleam
+into every nook and corner of the hall.
+
+No sign of Matt, nor of any of the occupants of the house, was
+revealed. There were only two or three rooms furnished on the lower
+floor, and none at all on the floor above. Every part of the house was
+searched, and the last place of all to pass under the policeman's and
+Carl's scrutiny was the shallow basement.
+
+It was evident to both searchers that people had been in the house up
+to a very recent moment, for in one of the first-floor rooms there
+remained an odor of tobacco smoke, but there was no living person
+anywhere in evidence.
+
+"Don'd dot peat ter tickens?" murmured Carl. "Matt come in der front
+door, und he ditn't come oudt oof it. Oof he vas daken away it must haf
+peen py der pack oof der house. Meppy ve pedder haf a look ad der pack
+yardt?"
+
+"Wait a minute," answered the officer.
+
+Bending down he picked some object off the floor and examined it under
+the rays of the lantern. An exclamation of surprise and wonder fell
+from his lips.
+
+"Vat it iss?" queried Carl.
+
+"Here's the biggest kind of a find!" was the response. "Thunder! this
+must be my lucky night."
+
+"How you figger dot?"
+
+"This is a canvas bag."
+
+"Yah, I see dot, aber it ditn't pelong by Matt und it don'd dell us
+nodding aboudt vere he vas."
+
+"It's marked 'Hartz & Greer, Jewelers,'" went on the policeman, his
+voice shaking with excitement. "That's a firm doing business right here
+in South Chicago, and their store was burglarized mysteriously a little
+more than a week ago. Some fifteen thousand dollars' worth of jewelry
+and diamonds were taken, and this," the officer shook the canvas bag,
+"_this_ is the first clue any one has found to the robbers!"
+
+"Shiminy Grismus!" muttered Carl. "Dis must haf peen der blace vere der
+t'ieves hat deir hang-oudt. Aber dot don'd got some interest for me.
+Vat I vant to know iss, vere iss Modor Matt? Dis pitzness iss gedding
+on my nerfs aboudt like dot odder time ven he tissabeared schust pefore
+der cup race. Shtick der pag in your bocket, officer, und led's haf
+some looks at der pack yardt."
+
+The policeman, now wrapped heart and soul in the hunt, put the bag away
+in the breast of his coat.
+
+The door leading into the back yard, as they had already discovered,
+was unlocked. The rear premises were enclosed by a high board fence,
+and the beacons that capped the neighboring chimneys lighted the
+enclosure sufficiently so that the lantern was not needed.
+
+There was a very perceptible odor of gasolene in the back yard. The
+moment Carl sniffed it, he gave vent to a stifled yell and grabbed the
+policeman's arm with both hands.
+
+"What's to pay now?" demanded the policeman.
+
+"Der air-ship!" gasped Carl.
+
+The officer threw a startled look at the sky.
+
+"No, no, it ain'd oop dere," went on Carl. "It vas in dis pack
+yardt--yah, so helup me! Der gasolene used in der modor make der
+shmell. Don'd you ondershtand? Dey filled der tank here, und shpilled
+some oof der gasolene! Dose fellers haf run off from dis blace mit
+Matt, und dey have dook him along. Ach, himmelblitzen, vat a luck!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+JERROLD, BRADY'S RIVAL.
+
+
+"Thunder!" cried the policeman, catching the Dutch boy's drift, "you're
+right, as sure as my name is Sam Harris! Your friend went off in that
+air-ship."
+
+"He ditn't vent," protested Carl, in a temper, "he vas dook."
+
+"Well, he was carried off in the thing, no matter whether he went of
+his own free will or was taken by force. If we each of us had a pair
+of wings we might follow the flyin' machine, but we ain't got 'em, so
+we'll have to do what we can on the ground."
+
+"Dere iss a palloon house oudt on der roadt py der rolling mills,"
+suggested Carl. "Meppy der Hawk vas dere. Dot's vere Prady keeps him
+ven he ain'd sky-hootin' t'roo der clouds. Meppy ve go und take a look
+at der palloon house, eh?"
+
+"I know the place, and it won't do any harm to go there and look--but
+the fellow who ran off with your friend would be foolish to drop down
+there."
+
+"Vell, foolish or nod, ve look efery blace vat ve can."
+
+The balloon house was not a great way from that part of Hoyne Street,
+and Harris and Carl reached it after a cross-lots walk of five minutes.
+
+They found the great doors open, but there was no air-ship in the place
+and no one on watch around it. Furthermore, an examination of the
+interior showed that an extensive clean-up had been made of the various
+tools which Matt and Carl had seen in the place during the afternoon.
+Everything of value had been removed.
+
+Carl explained all this for the officer's benefit.
+
+"It's a cinch the owner of the air-ship has changed his headquarters,"
+commented Harris. "Brady, you say, the fellow's name is? Well, he's
+an inventor. One of his inventions is a patent 'jimmy'--which, of
+course, he wouldn't dare to patent. We've been watching his air-ship
+operations, here in South Chicago, but they seemed straight and
+legitimate enough."
+
+"Do you know dot feller, Hamildon Jerrold?" asked Carl.
+
+"Sure, I know him. He's all right, Jerrold is, although everybody looks
+on him as a harmless sort of crank."
+
+"He don'd lif in dot blace vere der chimney fires iss?"
+
+"No; he hangs out in a different part of town."
+
+"Den, you see, it vas a put-oop chob all aroundt. It vas Prady, I bed
+you, vat sendt dot delegram, got Matt in a drap, und den flew off mit
+him in der Hawk. Meppy ve make a call on Jerrold?"
+
+"I'll call up the department and report," said Harris, "so they can
+send another man on my beat while I'm fooling around on this case."
+
+They hurried back into town and the officer unlocked one of the
+lamp-post boxes and reported to headquarters.
+
+"All right," said he as he rejoined Carl. "Now we'll put in the rest of
+the night, if we have to. If Brady has had a hand in the robberies that
+have been going on here, this is liable to be good and profitable work
+for me."
+
+Jerrold lived almost a mile from the place where Harris had done his
+telephoning. He had a large, rambling old house set far back in a dense
+mass of trees and shrubbery.
+
+"He's a good deal of a hermit," explained Harris, as he and Carl
+proceeded along the walk to the front door. "A harmless old skate, but
+he's pretty broad between the eyes, at that."
+
+It was after midnight, and, as might be supposed, the house was dark. A
+knock on the door brought a night-capped head from an upper window.
+
+"Who's down there?" demanded a voice. "Is it you, Payne?"
+
+"No, Mr. Jerrold," answered Harris, "it's a police officer. I've come
+to see you on important business."
+
+"Have you found the Hawk?" cried Jerrold; "did you get back the plans
+those rascals stole from me?"
+
+"Come down and let us in," said the officer. "We want to talk with you."
+
+"Wait a minute."
+
+The head was withdrawn and the window dropped. A little while later,
+the front door opened and Jerrold showed himself, carrying a candle.
+Carl recognized him as one of the two men who had been pursuing the
+Hawk in the buggy.
+
+"Don'd you know me, Misder Jerrold?" asked Carl.
+
+The inventor stared at him and shook his head. Thereupon Carl explained
+where and when they had met. Jerrold's brows wrinkled in a frown.
+
+Leading his callers into a small sitting room he asked them to sit down.
+
+"What do you know about this fellow Brady, Jerrold?" asked Harris, by
+way of getting at the business in hand.
+
+"I know he's a scoundrel!" declared Jerrold with emphasis. "He's a good
+mechanic, though, and in spite of his shady record I took him on here
+to help me build my air-ship, the Eagle. After he had been with me for
+a while, I found he was stealing my ideas and building an air-ship of
+his own. Then I discharged him. Since then he's been attending to his
+own operations and I have been attending to mine. There are several
+important points about my machine, though, which Brady has been anxious
+to discover. He has tried to bribe Payne, the man who works for me, to
+give up a set of my blue prints, and he has tried to get them in other
+underhand ways. At about eleven o'clock, yesterday, three of Brady's
+men tried out-and-out robbery. That safe was forced"--Jerrold pointed
+to a small steel safe in one corner of the room--"and the roll of blue
+prints taken out. Payne and I were in the workshop at the time. We had
+just put the finishing touches to the Eagle and were inflating the bag
+for a trial. I heard a suspicious sound from the house and ran into
+this room. One of the thieves had just cleared an open window, another
+was getting out and the third was making ready to go. I had a wrench
+in my hand and I hurled it at the man in the room. He dropped without a
+groan. Payne came, just then, and we went after the other two. Brady's
+air-ship was waiting for them in the rear of the house, and the two
+robbers got into it and were away before we could catch them. Payne
+and I got a horse and buggy, as quick as we could, but by that time
+the air-ship was no more than a speck in the sky, off to the south. We
+followed, keeping the course the air-ship had taken. The men aboard
+didn't seem to know how to handle the craft very well, and I was hoping
+some accident would happen, that the craft would come down and that I
+would be able to get back my blue prints."
+
+Jerrold halted for a little, his face flaming with anger and
+indignation.
+
+"I haven't my patents, yet," he went on, in a few moments, "and haven't
+even been able to establish a caveat, so, you see, if Brady should
+get ahead of me at the patent office he would snatch a fortune out
+of my hands. For," and here the inventor threw back his head with
+laudable pride, "I claim to have invented an air-ship that can be
+used for commercial purposes--the first machine of the kind that will
+successfully navigate the air against the strongest wind that blows.
+But if that scoundrel Brady takes from me the fruits of my toil, I
+shall be ruined!"
+
+Jerrold's body slumped forward in his chair, and he crouched there in
+an attitude of extreme dejection.
+
+"Where's the fellow you knocked down with the wrench?" asked Harris,
+his professional mind dealing with the more practicable aspects of the
+case.
+
+"When Payne and I got back to the room, after pursuing the other two
+rascals to the Hawk," answered Jerrold, "the man had vanished. I
+suppose he recovered from the effects of the blow and took himself off."
+
+"He vas der feller vat drove der modor in der Hawk," explained Carl,
+"und ven he vas pud down und oudt, der odder fellers made poor vork oof
+triving der machine. Aber dot ain'd vat I got on my mindt, schust now."
+Carl pulled the roll of blue prints from his pocket. "Dere, Misder
+Jerrold," said he, "iss vat you lost. Take it mit der gombliments
+oof Modor Matt--my bard who iss gone I don'd know vere. Oof you hat
+shtopped a leedle in der puggy, und toldt us vat I haf heardt schust
+now, den, by shinks, you vould haf got der bapers pack a long dime ago."
+
+A cry of delight broke from Jerrold's lips. For a moment he stared at
+the roll, then swooped down on it with both hands, caught it away from
+Carl and began removing the wrapper with trembling fingers.
+
+"Here they are, here they are," he crooned joyfully, pawing the blue
+prints over and counting them, one by one; "they're all here, and----"
+
+He stopped short and stared blankly at the envelope, which had fallen
+out of the blue-prints and dropped on the carpet.
+
+"What's that?" asked Harris.
+
+"I don't know," replied Jerrold; "it's nothing of mine and wasn't in
+the safe, to my recollection, at the time the blue prints were taken."
+
+"Well, it may be yours, for all that. If it was in the roll, it stands
+to reason it must have been in the safe. Better open it. Probably you
+can tell from the contents whether it is yours or not."
+
+Harris picked up the envelope and handed it to Jerrold. The latter
+took it from him with a puzzled expression on his face.
+
+"I'm pretty sure this isn't mine," said he, turning the envelope over
+and over.
+
+"Well, you've got to be absolutely sure," returned Harris.
+
+Jerrold, thus urged, tore open the envelope, drew out the sheet and
+cast his eyes over it.
+
+"No," he declared, "it doesn't belong to me. The thieves must have put
+it in with the blue prints."
+
+"Let's have a look at it," said the officer.
+
+Drawing closer to the candle, Harris proceeded to read the letter.
+While he read, his face brightened and a look of surprise and
+exultation rose in his eyes.
+
+"Another clue, and a hot one!" he cried. He whirled on Carl. "With this
+as a guide," he went on, "it's dollars to doughnuts we can trace your
+friend and get him away from that scoundrel, Brady!"
+
+"Ach, vat a habbiness!" expanded Carl. "Readt it oudt to me, Harris,
+und be kevick ad it."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+JERROLD'S GRATITUDE.
+
+
+"The letter," explained Harris, "was written by Brady, and was
+evidently entrusted to the men in the Hawk for delivery to some one
+else. It's full of pointers, and a slicker bit of evidence it would be
+hard to find. And to think how it dropped into the hands of Motor Matt!
+The whole affair sounds like a 'pipe.'"
+
+"Tell me about that!" cried Jerrold, his shock of joy having passed and
+left him leisure for other things. "Who is this Motor Matt, and how did
+he happen to get hold of the blue prints?"
+
+"Ve vill go ofer dot lader, Misder Jerrold," said Carl, impatiently.
+"Schust now, dough, I vant to hear vat der ledder say. Readt him oudt,
+Harris! I vas so uneasy ofer it I don'd vas aple to sit shdill."
+
+"It's addressed to a man called Whipple," went on Harris, "and here's
+the way it runs:
+
+  "'Grove, Needham and Harper, with one of my improved jimmies, are
+  going to make another try for those blue prints of Jerrold's. If they
+  get them--and I think they can, for our plans are well laid--they'll
+  carry the papers to Willoughby's swamp in the Hawk and leave them
+  with you. We will quit our operations in South Chicago, clean out the
+  balloon house (I have already sold the building for old lumber) and
+  make our future headquarters in the swamp. It will be safer there.
+  After we improve the Hawk according to Jerrold's plans, we will
+  have a ship in which we can go anywhere, and with which we can do
+  anything. All we need is a competent motorist--Harper's good enough
+  for an amateur, but we need a professional. I'll try and bring one
+  with me, when I come. Meanwhile, until I show up at the swamp, I want
+  you to take good care of the blue prints.
+
+                                                         "'H. B.'"
+
+A great light dawned on Carl during the reading of the letter--a light
+so strong that it left him blinking.
+
+"Py chimineddy," he gurgled, "I know now vy dot Prady run off mit
+Matt! He say in der ledder dot he vants some brofessional to run dot
+air-ship. Vell, Matt knows more as anypody aboudt modors, und so Prady
+dook him off. Vat a high-hantet pitzness! Und Prady has captured a
+hornet oof he dit pud know it! He vill t'ink he has a handtful ven he
+dries to make Matt vork for him."
+
+"From this," proceeded Harris, waving the letter, "it seems that Brady
+had already laid his plans to quit South Chicago. In the letter,
+over his own signature, he admits sending three of his men to steal
+the blue prints. By a chance, and owing to the course of events in
+keeping the driver of the air-ship from getting away with the other two
+thieves, this roll and the letter dropped into the hands of Motor Matt.
+Undoubtedly, Motor Matt has been taken to Willoughby's swamp."
+
+"Und vere iss dot?" asked Carl.
+
+"I know about the swamp," went on Harris, "for I helped some Chicago
+officers run down a couple of escaped prisoners there, once. It's a
+bad hole, but there is a sort of island in the middle of it that has
+been the resort of criminals for a good many years. To get through the
+water, and mud, and tangled bushes to the island is a hard job for any
+one who has to go on foot. Still, it can be done. Brady and his men, of
+course, can use the Hawk, and all they have to do is to sail through
+the air and drop down where they want to go. The difficulties of the
+swamp won't bother them at all. The place is about four miles from Lake
+Station, Indiana."
+
+"Vell," said Carl, eagerly, "led's go dere. Der kevicker vat ve go, der
+kevicker vat ve can helup Matt. He iss my bard, und he needs me now."
+
+The Dutch boy got up and started for the door. Bounding from his chair,
+Jerrold overtook him and grabbed his arm.
+
+"Wait!" he commanded, "I've only got a faint grasp of the situation,
+but from what I can figure out you're going to need me. First, though,
+I want to hear all about this Motor Matt. He has done a whole lot for
+Hamilton Jerrold, and Jerrold is a man who always tries to pay his
+debts. Tell me how the blue prints got into the hands of Motor Matt."
+
+"Aber ve vas in a hurry!" cried Carl. "Villoughpy's svamp iss a goot
+vays off, und----"
+
+"You'll save time in the end by losing a little here and now," averred
+Jerrold, drawing Carl to a chair and pushing him down into it. "Go on!
+Give me the whole of it, between you, and be quick."
+
+There was a compelling note in the inventor's words and manner, that
+demanded attention. Carl yielded and struck into an explanation of the
+events of the preceding afternoon. Whenever his impatience led him
+to skip any of the details, Harris, who recognized the advantage of
+letting Jerrold know everything, picked up the ignored detail and made
+Carl go over it.
+
+Jerrold's interest and excitement increased as he listened. When Carl
+described how he and Matt had fought with Brady and Pete at the balloon
+house and kept them from getting the blue prints, Jerrold clapped his
+hands and shouted "Bravo!" And when Carl told of the bogus telegram
+that had brought the boys to South Chicago, Jerrold's face clouded with
+indignation and anger.
+
+"Motor Matt," declared Jerrold, when Carl had finally finished, "has
+done a lot for me, and he's going to find that Hamilton Jerrold knows
+how to be grateful. I agree with Harris that there is hardly a doubt
+but that Brady has taken young King to Willoughby's swamp. Brady wants
+the young motorist for the Hawk, and intends to have him, whether or
+no. According to Harris, the swamp's a difficult place to get at for
+those not equipped with an air-ship. That's where I come in. This way,
+friends!"
+
+With that, the inventor caught up his candle and led the way through
+the house and out at a back door.
+
+By then it was nearly three o'clock, and the very darkest part of the
+night. A gust of wind blew out the candle, which had been about as
+effective as a glow-worm, and the three were left at the foot of the
+rear steps staring at a fluttering expanse of canvas.
+
+The canvas formed a sort of V-shaped tent, long and high and secured
+with many guy-ropes. Because of the darkness it was difficult to get
+any kind of an idea as to the size of the tent, but that was a minor
+point.
+
+"I'll have to get a lantern," said Jerrold. "Wait a minute."
+
+"I've got a dark lantern, Jerrold," interposed Harris, "and I guess
+that will do."
+
+"Fine!" exclaimed Jerrold, as Harris switched on the current and swung
+the beam of light around him. "This way," the inventor added, and
+ducked through the end of the tent.
+
+In the gloomy interior a weird sight was disclosed--something so new
+and novel as to send an uncanny sensation along the nerves of Carl and
+Harris.
+
+Here was another cigar-shaped gas-bag, and another suspended car. The
+car itself was stationary, but the bag, because of the drafts that
+surged through the tent, was bobbing and swaying like some monster,
+anxious to be unleashed.
+
+The flickering gleam from the dark lantern could only disclose a part
+of the air-ship at a time.
+
+"Ach," muttered Carl, "dot makes my nerfs shake und shake like
+anyt'ing. Sooch a horrible t'ing vat it iss!"
+
+"That's because you're not familiar with such a craft," said Jerrold.
+"Payne and I have worked over it for years, and only yesterday saw the
+completion of our labors. It was six o'clock last night before the bag
+was fully inflated. We had to use common illuminating-gas, too, and
+the not more buoyant hydrogen. I have called the air-ship the 'Eagle,'
+and if you sweep that light along the side of the bag you will see the
+name."
+
+This was a bit of byplay that took time and was utterly needless, but
+a great pride throbbed in the inventor's words, and even the smallest
+detail of the air-ship was fraught with the utmost importance to him.
+
+"Everything about the craft," Jerrold went on, "is of the very
+best. The motor is the lightest, strongest and most powerful ever
+constructed. The car will carry half a dozen, easily. Sand-bags are
+suspended from each end of the gas-bag. When I pull in the sand-bag at
+the front end, the equilibrium is displaced, the bag points upward, and
+the propeller forces the air-ship to rise. So, when I wish to descend,
+I pull in the sand-bag at the rear point of the bag. When both bags are
+hanging loose, the Eagle swims in the air on an even keel. Now, the
+steering rudder, which also helps in maneuvering the ship, is a little
+idea of my own and----"
+
+"Ach, hang der shdeering rutter!" broke in Carl, impatiently. "Harris
+und I haf got to go afder Matt und ve can't vait aroundt here any
+longer. Ve haf got to go py dot svamp, und----"
+
+"Exactly!" broke in the inventor. "The Eagle, fully inflated and with
+a tank full of gasoline, is waiting for a trial spin in the morning.
+I have the honor to propose that we use the craft now, proceed to
+Willoughby's swamp and rescue Motor Matt. That will save time, and a
+whole lot of hardships in forcing your way through mud and water and
+tangled brush in order to reach the island."
+
+Harris had already gathered the inventor's idea, even before he
+began putting it into words; Carl, however, had not anticipated the
+suggestion, and he was dazed by it.
+
+"You mean to dake us py der svamp in der Eagle?" he asked, in some
+trepidation.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Ach, himmel! I nefer rode mit a air-ship. Vill I be seasick py it?"
+
+"I don't think so. You see, I have never navigated an air-ship myself,
+but I'll bank on the Eagle doing its work. I can run the engine."
+
+"Vat oof it shouldt durn oopside town mit us vile ve vas a mile in der
+air?"
+
+"I'll guarantee it won't do that."
+
+"Vell, vedder or nod," said Carl, "I am going afder my bard. Oof der
+tangers vas greadt, I take dem; und oof dey vasn't so greadt, den I
+take dem, too. Matt vouldt do more as dot for me, yah, I bed you!"
+
+Harris was also afflicted with doubts.
+
+"The ground has always been good enough for me, Jerrold," said he, "and
+whenever I get my feet off it and go up any distance I have a bad case
+of vertigo. If I should get dizzy and fall off the car----"
+
+"You won't," interrupted the inventor; "people never get dizzy in
+balloons."
+
+"You're sure it won't tip over and spill us out?"
+
+"Positive."
+
+"You don't know much about it yourself, you know, having never been up
+in it."
+
+"That scoundrel, Brady, has used the Hawk with fair success, and the
+Hawk is modeled on the same lines as the Eagle, only the Eagle has
+improvements which Brady was not able to get hold of and put on his own
+machine. Shall we go to the rescue of Motor Matt? Come, my friends,
+time is flying."
+
+"Und ve ought to be flying, too," said Carl, now eager to make the
+ascension.
+
+"I'll take a chance," observed Harris.
+
+"Good!" applauded Jerrold.
+
+The next moment he had vanished in the darkness and could be heard
+pulling at some ropes. In less than a minute the entire top of the tent
+fell away, revealing the stars.
+
+"Get into the car," said Jerrold, "there, just forward of the driver's
+seat."
+
+With the aid of his lantern Harris picked out the place where he and
+Carl were to stow themselves, and they climbed into the car as directed.
+
+Immediately after that, Jerrold got over the rail and took his seat at
+the levers. It was impossible to see just what he was doing, but the
+clank of a lever came from his vicinity and slowly the front of the
+gas-bag began to point upward.
+
+"Now we're ready," called the inventor.
+
+The popping of a motor began and gradually gathered into a swift murmur.
+
+"And now we're off," added Jerrold. "Stay right where you are and don't
+change your positions unless I tell you."
+
+The whir of the propeller started, and the house and shrubbery began
+slipping away from under those in the car.
+
+"Ach, du lieber!" gasped Carl. "Der eart' vas falling avay from us. I
+vill say my brayers forvarts, packvarts und sidevays, oof it vill helup
+any."
+
+"I've got a bad case of rattles, myself," admitted Harris. "But it's
+for your pard, my boy."
+
+"You bed my life!" returned Carl, "aber I never dit anyt'ing pefore for
+dot bard oof mine dot dook so mooch nerf as vat dis toes. I vill shud
+my eyes, und you dell me, blease, ven ve reach der svamp!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+ABOARD THE HAWK.
+
+
+Taken at a disadvantage and with two brawny ruffians ranged against
+him, Motor Matt was unable to make any defense. As he lay on the floor,
+head and shoulders still swathed in the window-curtain, one of his
+antagonists held him while the other bound his hands and feet with a
+rope. He was then lifted and carried for some distance. Naturally he
+could have no idea where or in what direction he was being carried.
+
+A few steps were descended and he heard a door softly closed. The cool
+air of outdoors laved his hands--he was sensible of that, although the
+hot stuffiness of the curtain prevented the night air from reaching his
+face.
+
+He was lifted over something, he did not know what, and laid down in
+cramped quarters. A conversation was going on around him, but in tones
+so low he was not able to distinguish the words. He fancied that he
+heard the girl's voice, although his head was so muffled he could not
+be sure.
+
+Presently the unmistakable explosions of a motor came to him.
+
+"Brady is taking me away somewhere in an automobile," he thought, and
+wondered where Carl was that he could not see the machine.
+
+A moment later he felt a gentle, swaying motion as though he was being
+gently swung in a hammock.
+
+Several minutes passed, and then Brady's voice spoke, in a tone so loud
+that Matt was able to hear what he said.
+
+"Take the curtain off his head, Pete, and untie him. It's time he
+took hold here. Keep your revolver handy for use in case he gets
+obstreperous. He's full of ginger and will have to be tamed."
+
+Matt felt some one working at his cords. They were stripped away
+quickly, and the curtain whisked from his head. He jumped up, the floor
+under him swinging with the quick move and almost upsetting him.
+
+"Careful, there!" warned Brady. "Where do you think you are, anyhow?"
+
+Matt was dumfounded. Overhead was the long gas-bag of the Hawk. In
+front of him, at the mechanism of the machine, sat a dusky form which
+he recognized as belonging to Brady. Brady's hands were on the levers.
+
+With a shout of anger Matt jumped toward Brady, the car lurching and
+swaying with his frantic movements.
+
+"Stand where ye are!" came the husky, threatening voice of Pete, from
+behind. "Do as I tell ye, King, or I'll shoot."
+
+Matt turned around. Standing with his back braced against an upright
+timber that held the car to the oval ring under the gas-bag was Brady's
+burly assistant. He held a dark object in his hand and Matt knew it
+must be a revolver.
+
+"Where are you taking me?" demanded Matt.
+
+"Turn around this way," said Brady. "Now that you know what'll happen
+to you if you get too hostile, maybe we can have a bit of a talk
+together."
+
+"Don't shoot!" implored a feminine voice; "I don't want to have any
+shooting, dad!"
+
+The voice came from a bundle on the floor, close to where Pete was
+standing. By looking sharply, Matt was able to see a white, ghost-like
+face hovering against the rail.
+
+The girl had been brought along with them! Matt was glad, for her sake,
+that he had not got into a rough-and-tumble with Brady.
+
+Without seeming to pay the girl more than passing attention, the young
+motorist turned toward the man in the chair.
+
+"Well?" said he, crisply. "What have you got to say about this, Brady?
+I guess you could be arrested for what you've done, all right."
+
+Brady laughed.
+
+"How's a policeman coming up here to get at me?" he asked. "An air-ship
+is a great thing for a fellow who wants to turn a few tricks in spite
+of the law."
+
+"That's your game, is it? Well, what have you to gain by running off
+with me? I told you I didn't have that roll of papers."
+
+"I'm out the blue prints, but I'm in a good motorist. I'll not be able
+to improve the Hawk according to Jerrold's plans, but I guess I've
+got hold of a driver that's good enough to make up for most of the
+improvements."
+
+"If you think I'm going to drive this car for you," said Matt, "you're
+away off in your calculations."
+
+"That's what you think now, but you'll change your tune before long,"
+said Brady, easily. "I know this air-ship pretty well, and I installed
+the motor. All it needed for that was a good machinist and a good
+inventor. I'm not a good driver, though, and I've picked you for the
+job. The offer I made back at the house goes. Five hundred a month.
+Pretty good pay, eh, for a boy of your age?"
+
+"I don't care how much you offer, Brady. As I have already told you,
+no amount of money could hire me to work for you. You're a scoundrel,
+clear through. What you've done to-night proves it.
+
+"Bear a little to the left, Brady!" called Pete, who was evidently on
+the lookout. "You're getting too far to the north."
+
+Brady moved one of the levers, and the ease and certainty with which
+the air-ship swung to the new direction brought Matt's admiration
+uppermost. Never had he been able to resist the lure of untried
+machinery, and here was an experience so novel that it carried him
+out of his troubled environment, so to speak. For a moment, suspended
+in that starlit void and swimming noiselessly through the night, he
+yielded himself to the fascinations of the new experience.
+
+"How powerful a motor have you?" he asked.
+
+"Ten horse-power," answered Brady, "and it weighs forty pounds."
+
+"How do you steer the machine up and down, and right and left?"
+
+"That's where I've got the bulge on Jerrold. One rudder with two
+cross-section planes does all of that. This lever here--I don't know
+whether you can see it or not from where you stand--gives the up and
+down 'dip' to the rudder that makes the machine rise or fall. By moving
+the lever right or left, the air-ship turns in the corresponding
+direction."
+
+"Take me back," ordered Matt, "and land me at the place where you took
+me from."
+
+"You've got a picture of me doing that!" scoffed Brady. "Now that I've
+caught you, I'm going to keep you, see? You're just the sort of a lad I
+need in my business. Grove and Needham, when they finally got back to
+South Chicago with the air-ship, told me all about you. If I'd known
+what I do now at the time you called at the balloon house, I'd have
+taken a different tack."
+
+A muttered imprecation came from Pete. He was thinking of his fall over
+the barrel.
+
+"Those fellows got back without breaking their necks, did they?"
+queried Matt.
+
+"Just about. When they told me what had happened, I sent off that
+telegram."
+
+"We might just as well look this thing square in the face, Brady," said
+Matt. "You've acted the part of a scoundrel in your dealings with me,
+and you haven't gained anything by it. If you don't turn back and put
+me down in South Chicago, I'll make more trouble for you than you can
+well take care of."
+
+"I'll take my chances on that, my bantam. I like your spirit, and we're
+going to get along fine. Just cast in your lot with mine, and I'll
+make a rich man out of you. In the Hawk we can travel all over this
+continent, from Hudson Bay to Patagonia. Where men never went before,
+we can go. No mountain range is so high that we can't cross it, and no
+desert is so barren that we can't wing our way comfortably over it."
+
+Matt stared at the dark figure in the chair. If any honest man had
+talked to him in that way, the young motorist would have been tempted
+to become an aeronaut, for he could see plainly the possibilities of a
+serviceable air-ship; but as for Brady, he was a criminal, and that cut
+him off from any consideration on Matt's part.
+
+The young motorist sank down on his knees and looked over the side
+of the car. They were perhaps a thousand feet in the air. Houses,
+villages, dark expanses of timber and lighter stretches of meadow swept
+past them, moving out from under the car like a dark panorama.
+
+Driving an automobile at speed was like flying, but here was flying
+itself. The new sensation gripped Matt and thrilled him in every nerve.
+
+"How are we heading, Pete?" called Brady.
+
+Pete was leaning over the opposite side of the car, looking forward.
+
+"I'm jest tryin' to git my bearin's, Brady," he answered. "It's so
+pesky dark it's hard to make out jest where we are."
+
+Matt stole a look at Pete's back. The hand gripping the revolver lay on
+the rail. By one quick move Matt could have snatched the weapon. As the
+idea swept through his mind he cautiously changed his position.
+
+Just then a soft hand rested on his and he saw the girl's face pressed
+close.
+
+"Don't do anything desperate!" she whispered, imploringly. "Do whatever
+dad says--it will be better for you. When we get to where we're going,
+I'll help you escape, and----"
+
+"I think, Brady," called Pete, "that ye're still too fur to the north.
+Better shift a leetle more to the left. I won't be sartin, though, that
+I'm right."
+
+"I ought to be there on the lookout," answered Brady. "Come here, King,
+and take the engine."
+
+The girl's words had influenced Matt powerfully. On top of that was the
+alluring prospect of handling a new machine.
+
+"I'll take the engine for a while, Brady," said he, getting up, "but
+you're to remember I'll not hire out to you."
+
+"All I ask is for you to handle the motor," replied Brady. "You'll come
+to your oats quick enough, I'll gamble on that. You watch King, Pete,"
+he added to the other man, "and make sure he sends the Hawk where I
+tell him to. If he tries to send her anywhere else, you know what to
+do."
+
+"That's no josh," answered Pete.
+
+Brady left the chair and went forward. Matt dropped into the vacant
+seat and began studying the various levers with his groping hands.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+WILLOUGHBY'S SWAMP.
+
+
+Pete kept his weapon prominently displayed, and through the gloom
+Matt could see the ruffian's arm partly lifted as though ready on the
+instant to bring the firearm into use. This alert attitude on Pete's
+part, however, was more for show than for anything else--at least, Matt
+so regarded it. Brady was not anxious to go to desperate extremes with
+Matt, especially since he wanted him as driver for the air-ship.
+
+Brady, taking up a position where he could peer ahead, was scanning the
+dim landscape sharply.
+
+"Swing her to the left!" he called.
+
+Matt instantly applied the steering lever. Instead of swinging to the
+left, however, the Hawk made a half-turn to the right.
+
+Up came the revolver. With a sharp cry, the girl reached up and caught
+Pete's arm.
+
+"To the _left_, I said!" roared Brady.
+
+"You'll have to give me the chance to learn the machine," answered
+Matt, coolly, as he continued working the lever and brought the Hawk
+around to the proper course. "These levers are new to me. When we steer
+an auto we do it with a wheel."
+
+"I thought ye knowed all about motors," jeered Pete.
+
+"I know something about motors," replied Matt, "but not the first thing
+about air-ships."
+
+As near as Matt could judge, they were proceeding at a speed of
+something like thirty miles an hour. He speeded up the engine a little
+and was surprised at the smoothness with which it worked. The propeller
+hummed in a low, husky drone that was quite different from the song of
+the cylinders.
+
+He moved the steering lever backward a couple of notches. Immediately
+the rudder was tilted and the Hawk began to climb upward.
+
+"Stop that!" yelled Brady. "We're high enough. What are you trying to
+do?"
+
+"Learning the machine," answered Matt, and threw the lever forward.
+
+The front end of the gas-bag tipped downward, and the air-ship slid
+toward the earth with a suddenness that almost threw Brady over the
+rail.
+
+"That'll do you!" he whooped. "Get her on a level again, and be quick
+about it. You can handle the machine, all right, and I don't want you
+to do anything but what you're told."
+
+"All right," said Matt quietly.
+
+For five minutes longer they continued to swim onward through the air.
+A long string of lights shot across the gloomy landscape below them,
+and a whistle came upward from the earth with startling distinctness.
+
+"There goes a train, whistlin' fer Lake Station," remarked Pete.
+
+"We'll be over the town in a minute," said Brady, "and then it won't be
+long until we get to the swamp."
+
+"What swamp?" asked Matt.
+
+"Never ye mind," was Pete's surly rejoinder. "Ye're here to obey orders
+an' not ask any fool questions."
+
+"I don't think it very foolish for a fellow to ask where he's being
+taken."
+
+"Mebby not, but ye ain't findin' anythin' out, see?"
+
+Matt had been doing a good deal of guessing about Carl. What would his
+chum do? What was he doing then? He felt pretty sure that Carl would
+get into the house and go through it from cellar to roof.
+
+But Matt knew that Carl had a good sensible head in cases of emergency.
+Now and again the Dutch boy's temper was apt to make trouble with his
+reasoning, but in the long run Carl could always be counted on to do
+the right thing.
+
+So Matt was not worrying very much about his chum. Carl would take good
+care of the blue prints and ultimately they would find their rightful
+owner.
+
+"Ha!" exclaimed Brady, suddenly, "there's the signal! I'll go back and
+take charge of the motor while we make the landing, Pete, and you take
+the lookout."
+
+Matt gave place to Brady and then stood at the rail, watching
+developments curiously.
+
+Below the air-ship was a great splotch of black shadow, stretching away
+on all sides as far as the eye could reach. Evidently this was the
+swamp. The Hawk was sailing across the swamp toward a big fire that
+glowed in the distance.
+
+With Brady steering and Pete directing, the Hawk approached closer and
+closer to the fire.
+
+"Drop 'er, Brady!" Pete presently called; "we're close on the island."
+
+The nose of the air-ship ducked downward and, for perhaps twenty
+seconds, she raced earthward; then Brady diminished the speed of their
+descent by slow degrees.
+
+Matt, braced on the sloping floor of the car, watched the fire
+apparently come up toward them. A little later he was able to make out
+three human figures against the firelit background below, and a bare
+little plateau took vague form under his eyes.
+
+He watched the landing keenly, and noted how Brady suddenly shifted
+the steering rudder so as to bring the Hawk on an even keel, the lower
+supports of the car just grazing the ground.
+
+The three figures by the fire ran close.
+
+"How's everything, Brady?" cried a voice.
+
+"Finer than silk," called back Brady. "Stand by to catch the ropes, you
+fellows."
+
+The murmur of the motor ceased, the revolving propeller came to a stop,
+and Pete flung out two ropes, one on each side of the car.
+
+The ropes were caught by the men on the ground, a bight of each was
+thrown around a stout stake driven into the earth at an angle, and the
+air-ship was drawn down and safely moored.
+
+Matt was now able to understand why Brady had taken his place as driver
+for the landing. Not only was the method of making a landing new to
+Matt, but there was also danger, unless one was familiar with the
+place, of scraping the trees that covered the swamp and hemmed in the
+cleared space called the "island."
+
+Matt started to spring over the rail of the car.
+
+"Stop, King!" cried Brady. "You don't want to make a bolt for the
+timber and get mired in the swamp, do you? Just remember you're still
+under orders. Take him to the roost, Needham, you and Whipple. Better
+tie him up until he gets used to the place and to our society. He's a
+bit strange, here, and none too willing to stay."
+
+"Did you bring the loot, Brady?" called one of the men.
+
+"Sure! This is moving-day with us and you didn't think I was going to
+leave all that stuff on Hoyne Street, did you? Get out of the car,
+King," he went on, to Matt. "Whipple and Needham will take care of you."
+
+Two of the three men had stepped to the side of the car. In the light
+of the fire, which was blazing at a safe distance from the air-ship,
+Matt discovered that Needham and Grove had been the two aeronauts who
+had had such hard luck with the Hawk during the preceding day.
+
+Needham, who, with Whipple, was facing Matt and waiting for him to get
+over the air-ship's rail, gave a husky laugh.
+
+"We got out of that scrape, all right," said he, "even if we did lose
+our drag-rope."
+
+"And you got me into another scrape," said Matt. "You fellows will pay
+for this!"
+
+"Chirp low, young feller," warned Whipple, catching him by the arm as
+he gained the ground; "your cue is to make friends with us an' not
+bluster about what ye're goin' ter do. There's five husky men here, an'
+we're all surrounded by a swamp that would mire ye up ter the eyes if
+ye tried ter git through it. Oh, I reckon ye won't git away ter make
+any of us pay fer anythin'! This way, an' step lively."
+
+With Needham and Whipple on each side of him and hanging to an arm,
+Matt was led across the open space, past the fire, and to the door
+of a small, roughly built shanty. A little way off there was another
+building, fully as small but apparently somewhat better built.
+
+"This here's the roost," announced Whipple, "an' it's where ye're ter
+pass the rest o' the night. Come in, an' come peaceable."
+
+It was part of Matt's plan, hastily formed on the air-ship just after
+the girl had spoken to him, to accept passively whatever came his
+way--at least for a time. The girl had said that she would help him
+escape, and there was that about her which had awakened his confidence.
+Not only that, but there was also something in the girl's face that
+had aroused his sympathy. She had a history, he was sure, and one that
+was far from pleasant.
+
+There were five cots in the "roost," and Matt was told to lie down on
+one of them.
+
+"Harper used to sleep there," remarked Needham, as Matt stretched
+himself out on the hard bed, "and the deuce only knows where poor old
+Harper is now. You're taking his place, King, and so it's only right
+you should have his cot."
+
+It was on Matt's tongue to say that Needham had another guess coming,
+but he held his peace. He would not show too much of the hostile side
+of his feelings until he had had a chance to talk with the girl.
+
+"What's the use of tying me," expostulated Matt, as ropes were being
+put in place around his wrists and ankles, "if it's impossible for me
+to get away?"
+
+"Orders," answered Whipple, curtly.
+
+After Matt was made secure, Whipple and Needham went out of the
+hut. The young motorist had had a trying day, and even his exciting
+situation was powerless to keep the sleep from his eyes. He dozed off,
+while his thoughts were trying to straighten out the queer tangle
+in which events had bound him. He roused up for a moment when Pete,
+Whipple, Needham and Grove came into the hut and dropped down on their
+cots, but almost immediately he went to sleep again.
+
+It seemed as though he had hardly closed his eyes the second time
+before he was awakened by a light hand pressed upon his forehead. The
+other cots in the room were empty, it was morning, and the girl was
+standing beside him.
+
+"I have brought your breakfast," said she, in a low voice. "We can talk
+a little, but will have to be quick. Dad, or some of the men, may come
+in here at any second! There's a lot that you've got to know, and----"
+
+She was interrupted by the sharp explosion of a firearm outside.
+Stifling a cry, she whirled from the cot and ran to the open door.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+A FOE IN THE AIR.
+
+
+"What is it?" asked Matt, struggling up on the cot.
+
+No revolver had caused the report he had heard. From the sound he knew
+that a rifle had been fired.
+
+A babel of excited voices now came to him from without, accompanied by
+sounds of running feet diminishing rapidly in the distance. Then came
+another report, and another, both from a more distant point than the
+first.
+
+The girl stepped through the doorway and was looking upward.
+
+"Take off these ropes!" called Matt. "Let me get out there and see what
+is going on!"
+
+The girl turned and reentered the hut. Her face wore an expression of
+the utmost concern.
+
+"No," said she, "I can't release you just now. If dad was to come and
+find that I'd set you free, he would suspect me at once and that would
+spoil my plans."
+
+"But what was the cause of that shooting?" persisted Matt.
+
+"There's another air-ship over the island----"
+
+"Another air-ship?" echoed Matt.
+
+"Yes. It must be Jerrold's, although how he ever found out where dad
+was is more than I know. Dad and the rest were shooting at the air-ship
+with rifles."
+
+"I'll bet it's somebody who's come looking for me!" exclaimed Matt. "If
+your father and his gang should kill anybody----"
+
+"They won't," interrupted the girl, confidently; "dad knows better than
+to do anything of that kind. They'll try to put a bullet or two into
+the gas-bag of the air-ship and frighten Jerrold away."
+
+"Go and take another look," said Matt, anxiously. "See what they're
+doing."
+
+The girl glided to the doorway again.
+
+"The other air-ship is moving off," the girl reported, with a measure
+of relief in her voice, as she came back. "I think the bullets must
+have injured the propeller, or some of the machinery, for the air-ship
+is moving very slowly and seems to be in trouble."
+
+"Did you see how many were aboard?"
+
+"There were three in the car--one of them was Jerrold, and he was
+managing the motor."
+
+"The other two," asked Matt, eagerly, "do you know who they were?"
+
+"One of them was in uniform, and looked like a policeman. The other was
+short and thick-set and looked like a German."
+
+"Carl!" exclaimed Matt, jubilantly. "Good old Carl! How did he ever
+find out where I was, I wonder?"
+
+"I'll bet dad is trying to guess the same thing," said the girl. "He'll
+be badly cut up over this. But it's no more than he ought to expect,"
+she added. "Whenever a man breaks the law he'll have to pay for it,
+sooner or later."
+
+"What has your father been doing?" asked Matt.
+
+"I came to talk with you about that. While I'm giving you your
+breakfast, I'll tell you my plans. Dad, and all the rest except
+Whipple, are off in the swamp, somewhere, keeping track of Jerrold's
+air-ship, and that will give us a chance."
+
+Matt swung his bound feet over the edge of the cot, and while he sat
+there the girl drew a chair close and began giving him his breakfast.
+
+"Dad has been doing a lot of criminal things," said the girl, "and all
+he built that air-ship for was to make it easy for him to rob people
+and get away without being found out. Didn't you guess that when I
+showed you that article in the paper? I thought you might."
+
+"I've been mighty thick-headed," answered Matt, between mouthfuls, "and
+I never thought the thing through that far. Possibly it's because so
+much has been happening to me since I went into that place on Hoyne
+Street."
+
+"It's nearly broken my heart having dad act like he's been doing," said
+the girl, her lips quivering. "If mother had lived she'd have kept dad
+straight, but when she died dad just seemed to go to the dogs. He has
+tried to make the people in South Chicago think he was just an honest
+inventor, but, even at that, he stole all his ideas from Jerrold. That
+balloon house, that he built out of some of the proceeds of his first
+robbery, was put up for what they call a 'blind.' With a big house like
+that, out in plain sight, dad felt that everybody would think his work
+was open and aboveboard. When he committed any robberies, the Hawk
+was taken from the shed in the dead of night, and Harper would steer
+it for the place they were to rob. The blackest kind of a night was
+always selected, and only flat-topped buildings were robbed. You see,
+the air-ship would alight on the roof, and dad and the rest would break
+into the building from the top. When they left they always went in the
+same way they came, and the police were puzzled because they could not
+find any clues in the lower part of the buildings."
+
+"It was a slick scheme," commented Matt.
+
+"That's the way Hartz & Greer's place was robbed," proceeded the girl.
+"Dad and the rest got fifteen thousand dollars' worth of goods from
+Hartz & Greer, and for more than a week the stuff has been hidden in
+that house on Hoyne Street. But now dad has left South Chicago for
+good and all. He's afraid the police are beginning to suspect him, and
+that Jerrold might try to do something on account of those stolen blue
+prints."
+
+It was perfectly plain to Matt that the girl's recital of these crimes,
+in which her father had played the leading part, was anything but easy
+for her. She was talking from a sense of duty, and Matt honored and
+admired her for the stand she was taking.
+
+"It doesn't seem possible," said he, gently, "that Brady is your
+father."
+
+"But he is," she answered brokenly, "and he has brought shame and
+disgrace on me. But what could I do? Dad knows how I feel about his
+actions, and he has watched me and kept me away from other people ever
+since he began his stealing. When you came to the house, last night, it
+was the first chance I have had to tell what I know. I overheard dad
+and Pete planning what they were going to do if you came, and--and I
+hoped you would come, although I knew you would never leave the house
+until you were taken away as dad's prisoner. I felt sure, though, that
+I could help you to escape, and I feel even more sure of that now than
+I did before."
+
+"What is your name?" asked Matt, his eyes full on the girl's face.
+
+"Helen," she answered.
+
+"What are your plans, Helen?" he asked.
+
+"My plan," she went on, "is for you to get away from the swamp in the
+Hawk, and to take the stuff stolen from Hartz & Greer with you. That
+will stop everything, for dad will be perfectly helpless without the
+air-ship. Then, too, you can return the stolen diamonds and jewelry to
+Hartz & Greer, and that will go far toward righting one wrong. When you
+are back in South Chicago, you can send the police here and--and they
+can capture dad and the rest."
+
+Matt had finished eating and the girl had put aside the dishes.
+Suddenly she broke down and hid her face in her apron. For a few
+moments she sobbed convulsively.
+
+Small wonder her feelings overcame her! In carrying out her ideas of
+right and justice, she had planned to give her own father into the
+hands of the law.
+
+"You're a noble girl, Helen!" declared Matt. "But how am I to get away
+in the air-ship and to take the stolen property with me?"
+
+"You already know how to run the machine," said the girl, recovering
+herself a little and looking up, "and when the right time arrives I
+will come here and take off your ropes. As for the stolen property, I
+will see to it that that is put in the car before you start. There will
+be danger in what you do, but, from what I have heard, you know how to
+win out in spite of it."
+
+"I will run any risk to get away from here," returned Matt, gravely,
+"but when I go you must go with me. This is no place for you--with such
+a thieving gang!"
+
+"I must stay here," the girl said resolutely. "Even though I am sending
+my father to prison I want to be with him to the last. If something
+isn't done," she continued passionately, "he will go on and on,
+constantly from bad to worse, and perhaps some time"--her face blanched
+as she spoke--"he might receive worse than a prison sentence. It is the
+only way to save him."
+
+It was clear that Helen Brady had spent much time in thinking out and
+planning her present course, and how much mental anguish and bitterness
+of spirit her conclusion had cost her, only she could know.
+
+"I am ready to do whatever you want me to," said Matt, "and if you
+think it best to stay here, all right. I still believe, though, you
+ought to leave this place with me."
+
+"No, no," she replied firmly. "I have thought it all out a dozen times,
+and I have made up my mind as to what it is right for me to do. You
+must get away from here in the air-ship. With the Hawk taken away from
+him, dad will be helpless."
+
+"Haven't you any friends or relatives to whom you could go?" asked Matt.
+
+"I have relatives on my mother's side, but they won't have anything to
+do with dad or me--simply because dad is what he is. They have asked me
+to leave dad and come to them, but I know my place and what it is right
+for me to do."
+
+A brief silence fell between the two, during which Matt turned the
+queer problem over in his mind.
+
+"When do you think your plan can be carried out?" he asked presently.
+
+"It has got to be soon, if at all," she answered. "I don't know what
+effect this appearance of Jerrold's air-ship over the swamp will have
+on dad, but I hope it won't interfere with my plans. We'll have to wait
+a little while and see. Whipple is watching the Hawk now, and----"
+
+Just at that moment a heavy step was heard outside. A man appeared in
+the doorway, stared in at Matt and the girl for an instant, and then
+strode into the hut.
+
+The man was Brady, and his face was black as a thundercloud.
+
+"What're you doing here so long?" he cried angrily to the girl. "Clear
+out! I've got something I want to talk over with King."
+
+With a supplicating look at her father, the girl got up and passed out
+of the hut.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+BRADY CHANGES HIS PLANS.
+
+
+"You've played the devil with me, and no mistake!" scowled Brady,
+whirling on Matt the moment the girl was gone.
+
+"I don't see how you make that out," said Matt. "You're the one that's
+made all the trouble, Brady."
+
+Brady's little eyes glittered as they rested on Matt. For a few moments
+he paced angrily back and forth across the hut.
+
+"How in thunder," he cried suddenly, "did Jerrold ever manage to get a
+line on me? He was over the swamp, a short time ago, with his air-ship,
+and he'd have landed here if we hadn't driven him off. Jerrold knows
+where I am, and he has the means of getting to the island. We've
+crippled his craft, though, and he's had to haul off for repairs. While
+he's gone, I've got to change my plans, somehow, and be ready for him
+when he comes back. That Dutch kid who was with you at the balloon
+house yesterday was in the car of the air-ship, and there was also a
+policeman along. How did that come?"
+
+"You know as much about it as I do, Brady," replied Matt. "I
+disappeared from that Hoyne Street house, last night, and I suppose my
+chum has been getting clues about me and following them up. That's the
+kind of a lad he is."
+
+"Where did he get any clues that would bring him out here?"
+
+"Give it up."
+
+Brady took a few more turns across the room, presently halting in front
+of Matt.
+
+"You didn't bring that roll of blue prints to Hoyne Street, last
+night," said he. "Where did you leave it?"
+
+"Left it out in front of the house," grinned Matt.
+
+Brady started.
+
+"In front of the house?" he echoed.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Cached?"
+
+"Certainly."
+
+"Under the sidewalk?"
+
+"No; in the pocket of my Dutch pard."
+
+Brady stared incredulously. Then he swore.
+
+"That Dutchman was out in front all the while you were in the house?"
+
+Matt nodded.
+
+"He came with me from Chicago. I got to thinking there might be a trap
+in the house, and that some one was there who wanted the blue prints,
+so I made up my mind that it would be a wise move to leave Carl out in
+front, and to let him keep the roll."
+
+"That chum of yours must have seen the Hawk when she climbed out of the
+back yard," growled Brady, "but how in the fiend's name was he able to
+get Jerrold and the Eagle and follow us? It was dark, and we had a long
+start of them."
+
+"One guess is as good as another," said Matt, calmly. "I told you you'd
+get yourself into trouble if you tried to make a prisoner of me. The
+best thing you can do now is to send me back to South Chicago in the
+air-ship."
+
+"Think I'm a fool?" snarled Brady. "It may be that you're all that
+stands between me and my men and capture. I'll hang onto you, King,
+and I'll let that Dutch pard of yours know that if Jerrold don't keep
+away from this swamp with his air-ship you're going to connect with
+your finish. It's neck or nothing with me, now, and I'll go any length
+to keep myself out of the 'pen.' I've laid out a fine campaign for the
+Hawk, and I don't intend to have all my plans nipped in the bud, right
+at the start-off."
+
+"I suppose," said Matt, scathingly, "that your campaign is one of
+robbery, and that you're going to make a pirate ship out of the Hawk?"
+
+"That's where you put your finger on the right button!" declared Brady.
+"I'm going to be a freebooter, and take my toll wherever I can find
+it. It's easy to swoop down on a lot of spoil, pick it up and make off
+with it. And what can the law do?" He laughed mockingly. "Policemen
+will have to have wings to get anywhere near me."
+
+"And that's what you wanted me for, is it?" cried Matt, indignantly;
+"to drive the Hawk around through the air and help out your villainous
+plans! I would let you kill me first."
+
+"Rot! I'm going to stick to my original intentions, but there's got to
+be something of a change in my immediate plans. We've all got to pull
+out of here and to take what plunder we've got cached in the swamp.
+The Hawk will have to make three or four trips, and they must be made
+before Jerrold and his air-ship can interfere with us. If Jerrold fixes
+up his air-ship and comes back, we'll just tell him what will happen to
+you if he lingers in the vicinity of the swamp. I'm banking on that to
+send him packing again, and to keep him out of sight until I can make
+a change of base. You'll go away on the Hawk's first trip, and it will
+probably be only half an hour before you can start."
+
+Brady started for the door, but halted before he reached it and faced
+around.
+
+"Either one of two things happened to put that Dutchman and Jerrold on
+my track," said he. "Either Harper has been caught, and has told what
+he knows, or else a letter I gave Needham to deliver to Whipple, here
+in the swamp, has fallen into the hands of the police. It don't make
+much difference, though, how Jerrold got next to our hang-out. The
+main thing is that he knows where we are, and that you will be put in
+a mighty tight corner if he keeps on trying to make trouble for me.
+That's about all, King. I want you to understand what you're up against
+and be ready for whatever happens. I'm not going to have my plans
+knocked galley-west just as I'm on the point of launching them."
+
+With another black scowl, expressive of his savage determination,
+Hector Brady strode out of the hut.
+
+Matt was beginning to understand why Helen preferred to see her father
+in prison rather than free to carry out his campaign of lawlessness.
+Possessing a practical air-ship like the Hawk, Brady could commit
+untold depredations and snap his fingers in open defiance of the law.
+
+The young motorist shuddered to think of the scoundrel's comprehensive
+plans, and of the part he had intended to make his prisoner play in
+them.
+
+Helen's reasoning was logical, and the expedient she had suggested was
+as simple as it was effective. By taking the Hawk away from Brady she
+would make it impossible for him to follow out his nefarious schemes.
+The beautiful simplicity of the countercheck aroused Matt's admiration.
+
+But how was the countercheck to be brought about? The appearance of
+Jerrold's air-ship over the swamp had made doubly difficult the work
+the girl was counting upon having done. Not only that, but the coming
+of the Eagle had increased Matt's peril. There was no doubt in the
+young motorist's mind but that Brady would go to any extreme in order
+to keep himself and his companions from being captured.
+
+All these different aspects of the situation floated through Motor
+Matt's mind swiftly. Two or three minutes after Brady had left the hut,
+and while Matt was still considering the problem that confronted the
+girl, Helen herself stole in through the door.
+
+Her face was haggard, but her eyes were bright and full of resolution.
+
+"You shouldn't be here," protested Matt. "Your father suspected
+something when he found you with me a little while ago and ordered you
+away. What if he should come back and see you here again?"
+
+"I don't think he'll come back, but I've got to take the risk, even if
+he does." The girl spoke quickly and steadily and made her way swiftly
+to Matt's side. "Dad has changed his plans--I was listening to all he
+said, out there at the back of the hut. He's going to use the Hawk to
+take us all away from the swamp, and _you're going to go on the Hawk's
+first trip_! That means that we must do what we can, at once. If we
+fail now, everything is lost."
+
+She was breathlessly eager, but her calmness at such a moment surprised
+Matt. Lifting her hands she took a small poniard from the bosom of her
+dress, bent down and severed the cords that secured Matt's hands. Then,
+with one downward stroke of the keen blade, she freed his feet.
+
+"Where are your father and the rest of the men?" asked Matt.
+
+Before she answered, Helen glided to the door and took a cautious look
+outside.
+
+"Some of the stolen goods have been hidden among the bushes of the
+swamp," said she, returning to Matt. "You are to be sent away with the
+loot, on the first trip, and dad himself will have to take you. He,
+and everybody except Whipple, have gone to the swamp. Whipple has a
+rifle and is guarding the Hawk. Whatever we do, Matt, we've got to do
+in a hurry. The bag of goods taken from Hartz & Greer is behind this
+hut," she pointed to an unglazed opening in the rear wall as she spoke.
+"While the rest are in the swamp, I will go to the Hawk and talk with
+Whipple, getting around on the other side of him so that his back will
+be in this direction. While I am holding his attention, you will creep
+up on him from behind and, between us, we will try and get the rifle.
+It's a desperate chance, but we will do the best we can."
+
+"You're a brave girl, Helen!" declared Matt.
+
+"I'm doing what I think is right, and that always helps a person's
+courage. I'm more worried about you than I am about myself. If anything
+should go wrong--if anything should happen to you because of the help
+you are giving me----"
+
+For the first time her voice faltered. Matt reached out and caught her
+hand reassuringly.
+
+"Don't fret about me," said he. "There won't be any trouble about my
+getting the best of Whipple, with you to help. Is the Hawk all ready
+for a flight? I mean is there plenty of gasoline in the tank, and
+plenty of oil?"
+
+"Yes, dad has seen to that. So far as the air-ship is concerned, it
+is ready to carry you quickly and safely out of the swamp. Now I will
+steal out of the hut and talk with Whipple."
+
+Once more she started for the door. Hardly had she reached it, however,
+when she drew back with a gasp of consternation. Turning, she beckoned
+to Matt.
+
+"Too late!" she whispered, her voice sharp with anguish and
+disappointment. "Oh, why have they come just at this time!"
+
+Matt glided quickly to her side and peered out through the half-opened
+door.
+
+What he saw was well calculated to discourage him and the girl.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+INTO THE SWAMP.
+
+
+Needham, Pete, Grove and Brady had not been long carrying out their
+work of recovering the cached goods. They were returning from the edge
+of the bushy timber, ascending the slight elevation of the "island" on
+their way to the Hawk, each bearing an armful of plunder.
+
+In his stealings, Brady had not bothered with bulky articles but had
+confined himself to "lifting" smaller and richer loot. The stuff was
+all in small sacks.
+
+As the men walked past the "roost" on their course to the air-ship,
+Matt and the girl withdrew from the door to avoid being seen. Through a
+crack in the wall, however, they were able to keep close track of what
+went on.
+
+On reaching the Hawk, the bundles were deposited on the ground.
+Whipple, leaning on his rifle, stood watching while the bags were
+heaped up at the side of the air-ship.
+
+For a few moments the villainous crew had their heads together in close
+and earnest conversation. Now and again their eyes were lifted aloft,
+evidently on the alert for some sign of the Eagle. Brady, it could
+be seen, did most of the talking. Suddenly, after a sharp scrutiny
+overhead, Brady whirled around and started for the hut.
+
+"He's coming after you!" half sobbed the girl.
+
+"What's the reason I can't escape through that window in the rear
+wall," asked Matt, hurriedly, "and take refuge in the swamp?"
+
+The idea seemed to electrify the girl.
+
+"I hadn't thought of that," she whispered, catching his arm and
+starting for the window. "The back of the hut is close to the trees and
+bushes on this side of the island, and I know something about the reefs
+of dry ground running through the swamp in the vicinity of this place.
+Come!" she added; "we must hurry."
+
+Her despair had vanished in a flash, and her steadiness and resolution
+had all come back. She climbed through the window and, as Matt
+followed, she was picking up a small bag that had stood close to the
+rear wall.
+
+Without speaking, and once more clasping his arm, she hurried him into
+the tangled bushes that came up to within a few feet of the hut. There,
+screened by a dense thicket, they paused to note further developments.
+
+Their position, of course, rendered it impossible for them to see the
+front of the hut, but they were so close they could hear Brady's oath
+of astonishment and alarm when he discovered that Matt was missing.
+
+The next moment Brady could be seen rushing around the side of the hut
+and a little way in the direction of the group standing beside the Hawk.
+
+"He's gone!" roared Brady. "The cub's got loose and skipped!"
+
+The rest were roused into frantic activity.
+
+"I'll sw'ar he didn't git out while I was watchin' the Hawk," cried
+Whipple. "Anyways, he can't be fur off."
+
+"Hustle around!" fumed Brady. "Get into the swamp, every man-jack of
+you, and find that whelp wherever he is. I wouldn't have him get clear
+for a thousand, cold!" All the gang forthwith became exceedingly busy.
+They darted off in various directions, and Brady himself, accompanied
+by Grove, started for the side of the island from which Matt and the
+girl were watching.
+
+"We'll have to get away from here!" breathed the girl, turning. "Follow
+me, Matt, and be careful where you step. If you're not careful, you may
+find yourself mired in the swamp."
+
+"Trust me for that," answered Matt. "I'll carry this," he added, taking
+the bag from the girl's hands.
+
+The swamp, into which they were now headed, presented a matted tangle
+of undergrowth growing among the trees. Through the bushes could be
+seen a glimmer of stagnant water, and the whole place seemed as dank
+and loathsome as a tropical jungle.
+
+The girl picked her way carefully, parting the bushes ahead of her and
+stepping from hummock to hummock. Finally they reached a little bare
+uplift of dry earth, and halted to listen. They could hear nothing of
+pursuit, and the girl drew a long breath of relief.
+
+"Dad don't know that I've explored this swamp," said she. "I have lived
+on the island for nearly six months--dad used to keep me here while he
+was doing his thieving in South Chicago, so I wouldn't be able to tell
+what I know and give him away, I guess."
+
+She sank down on the flat piece of turf for a few moments' rest. The
+ground, although dry, shivered under them as they moved, and seemed
+every moment as though about to give way beneath their weight and let
+them down into the morass.
+
+"This is a treacherous-looking place," remarked Matt, peering off into
+the trees and bushes that hemmed them in on every side.
+
+"It's all of that," replied the girl.
+
+"It would be easy for a person to get lost."
+
+"Not easy for me, as I know it too well."
+
+"If I can get away in the Hawk," went on Matt, after a brief silence,
+"this will make it necessary for you to go with me."
+
+"Why?" she queried, lifting her wide, dark eyes to his.
+
+"Can't you understand? Your father and his men will discover that you
+are not on the island, and they will suspect that you helped me out of
+the hut. What will your father do when he finds that out?"
+
+A shiver swept through the girl's slight form.
+
+"I suppose he will half kill me," she answered. "But I shall stay with
+him. I am his daughter, and it's my duty to be with him to the end."
+
+"You mustn't be foolish," said Matt, inclined to get out of patience.
+"You're carrying your idea of duty to your father altogether too far."
+
+"I've thought it all out," she answered firmly, "and my mind is made
+up. Please don't try to argue with me. It may not be possible for you
+to get away in the air-ship now," she added, with a sigh of regret.
+"If you can't, I will try and get you through the swamp. I don't know
+anything about it, though, after we get a little away from the island."
+
+"Then," proceeded Matt, not giving up his argument that Helen Brady
+should go away with him, "your father will be madder than ever when he
+finds out you have taken the goods stolen from Hartz & Greer."
+
+"That's what I expect, but it's right that the stuff should be
+returned. A person ought to have principles, Matt, and I don't think a
+person amounts to much if he or she can't stand a little suffering on
+account of their principles."
+
+"That's right, too," muttered Matt.
+
+"There's fifteen thousand dollars' worth of diamonds and jewelry in
+that bag," Helen went on, "and Hartz & Greer have offered a reward of
+twenty-five hundred to any one who will return the property."
+
+"That money will go to you," said Matt, promptly. "It's right that it
+should. Look at the risks you're taking to have it put into the hands
+of its rightful owners again! Some time, Helen, you will be rid of your
+father, and then the money will come handy."
+
+She was gazing at him steadily, and there was something of rebuke in
+her eyes.
+
+"You don't mean that, Matt," said she, quietly.
+
+"Why not?" he demanded.
+
+"Would it be right for me to take a reward for returning property my
+own father had stolen?"
+
+Matt was amazed by the simple directness of the girl's reasoning.
+And she was right, entirely right. Nevertheless it took one of fine
+character to reason and to act as the girl was doing.
+
+"If you succeed in getting away with the bag," Helen continued, "I want
+you to give it back to the rightful owners. Tell them it comes from
+Hector Brady's daughter, and that she hopes they will not be too hard
+on her father."
+
+"You bet I'll tell them," said Matt. "What's more, I'll get through
+this swamp on foot, if I have to, and I'll consider it a mighty fine
+thing to lug the bag along and turn it over to Hartz & Greer."
+
+"I felt sure you'd help me," murmured the girl. "There was something in
+your face that told me you could be depended on the moment I looked at
+you at the door of that Hoyne Street house."
+
+"Then the impression was mutual," said Matt. "If I hadn't read honesty
+in your face, along with a desire to help me, I'd have made a rush out
+of that room in the Hoyne Street place the moment I read your warning
+on the fly leaf of the book."
+
+"It was well you didn't do that. You'd have been caught. Pete was
+behind the window curtain all the time. That was why I had to write
+what I wanted you to know, and call your attention to it indirectly. If
+you had----"
+
+The girl was interrupted by a distant rustle of bushes. Stifling the
+words on her lips, she sprang erect.
+
+"Dad's coming this way," she whispered. "I don't think he has the least
+idea where we've gone, but he seems to be blundering in the right
+direction. We'll have to hurry on."
+
+Once more they resumed their flight, Matt carrying the bag and
+carefully following in his companion's footsteps.
+
+The way became increasingly difficult, and the bushes even denser than
+they had been at the point where they had entered the swamp. Then, too,
+the hummocks which offered them foothold became farther apart so that
+it was necessary to leap almost blindly through the brush in getting
+from one to another.
+
+Occasionally they halted and listened, but were unable to hear any
+sound behind them to indicate that Brady and Grove were still on the
+right track.
+
+Just as Matt was congratulating himself that they had again eluded
+their pursuers, a cry from the girl, muffled but full of distress,
+reached him.
+
+Between him and her a screen of bushes intervened, and the cry had come
+a moment after she had taken a headlong plunge through the leafy tangle.
+
+Not knowing what could have happened, and fearing the worst, Matt
+shifted the bag to his other arm, drew his leather cap well down over
+his forehead so that the visor would protect his eyes, and leaped
+boldly after the girl.
+
+By good luck, rather than by any calculation on his part, he landed on
+a shaking hummock, and found that Helen had plunged into the watery
+morass.
+
+Dropping the bag, he reached down, grasped her about the waist and
+dragged her from the clutching grip of the swamp.
+
+"We'll have to go back," were the girl's first words, as he held her on
+the narrow foothold.
+
+"Why?" he asked.
+
+She waved her hand in the direction toward which they were going.
+
+An open space, clear of trees and bushes, lay before them--a veritable
+quagmire with not a place in all its extent where they could set their
+feet.
+
+They would have to go back! With Brady and Grove on one side of them,
+and this impassable bog on the other, it looked as though they had been
+caught between two fires.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+A DESPERATE CHANCE.
+
+
+Once more the girl was plunged into despair.
+
+"We'll have to give up," she whispered, tearfully. "We have tried hard,
+but luck is against us. For several minutes we have been traveling over
+ground I know nothing about. When I saw that open stretch of swamp, my
+heart failed me and I fell off the firm ground. You see what a horrible
+place this is, Matt!"
+
+"Isn't there any way to get around to the other side of the island?" he
+asked.
+
+"Yes, we could have done that, but I was trying to take you as far as I
+could toward the other edge of the swamp."
+
+"We'll have to give that up, now, and work our way around the island."
+
+"In going back," faltered the girl, "we may meet dad and Grove!"
+
+"We must take the chance," he answered; "there's nothing else for it."
+
+"And in going around the island," proceeded the girl, dejectedly, "we
+may meet some of the others who are looking for us."
+
+"That's another risk we will have to run. Come on," he continued,
+picking up the bag. "I'll lead the way back."
+
+"You've got a way about you," said Helen, "that gives a person courage."
+
+"A fellow would be a pretty poor stick," returned Matt, "who couldn't
+keep his nerve with a girl like you to help him."
+
+Helen's dress was torn by the bushes, and her hands and face were
+scratched and bleeding; but she seemed to mind her physical discomforts
+very little, so eager was she to have Matt's escape prove successful.
+
+Listening intently for any sounds made by Brady and Grove, Matt and the
+girl started back over the course they had recently covered.
+
+They had not gone far when the sounds they feared came to them. As they
+stood together and listened, they could hear Brady and Grove talking
+back and forth. Their voices, and the crashing of the bushes, were
+growing rapidly in volume, and proved that they were coming closer.
+
+The girl began to tremble. Matt pressed her hand reassuringly. Off to
+the right of the course they had been following his quick eye detected
+a foothold among the matted bushes. He pointed it out to his companion.
+
+"Get there, quick!" he whispered.
+
+She leaped for the spot at once, and he was not slow in following her.
+Then, crouching down, they peered through the thicket.
+
+Brady came jumping into sight, clutching a revolver in his hand.
+
+"I'm positive I heard something ahead, Grove!" he cried.
+
+"It must be King, then," answered Grove, floundering along in the rear.
+"He's been makin' a better hike of it through this blasted swamp than I
+ever thought he could."
+
+"There's an open stretch farther along," went on Brady, grimly.
+"That'll stop him, and we'll have him in a few minutes."
+
+Brady leaped out of sight, and Grove likewise jumped past and vanished.
+
+The girl had scarcely breathed while the two men were so close to them.
+
+"Now we've got a chance," whispered Matt. "While they're going on
+toward that open part of the swamp, we'll get back toward the island
+and double around it."
+
+"We won't have to go far, now," rejoined the girl, her hopes rising,
+"before we can turn to the right and start around the island."
+
+Matt continued to lead the way back, making the best time he possibly
+could. When the girl called softly to him, he stopped.
+
+"Here's where we turn," said she. "I'd better go ahead from now on."
+
+He waited for her to gain his side, then followed as she continued to
+make her way onward through the bewildering tangle. Time and again
+Matt, if alone, would have lost his bearings, but Helen, being on
+familiar ground, was never for one moment at a loss.
+
+Their one fear now was that they should encounter some of the others
+who were searching, but they heard nothing to cause them the slightest
+uneasiness.
+
+At last, after half an hour of tiring work, Helen drew to a halt.
+
+"We're about opposite the place where the air-ship is moored," said she.
+
+"That's where we want to be," answered Matt. "Make for the edge of the
+island, Helen, as close to the air-ship as you can get."
+
+Once more the girl started off. The bushes thinned perceptibly as they
+came closer and closer to the solid ground. This rendered the going
+easier, and it also enabled Matt and the girl to make less noise in
+getting through the undergrowth. In nearing the island they redoubled
+their caution, and when they finally reached a spot from which they
+could look out and take in the situation in the vicinity of the "roost"
+and the air-ship, they congratulated themselves on the care they had
+exercised.
+
+They were not more than a dozen feet from the place where the Hawk was
+secured.
+
+Two rifles were leaning against the car, and two of the men--Grove and
+Needham--were sitting on the ground, occasionally looking aloft.
+
+Brady, Whipple and Pete were no where in sight.
+
+"We must have crippled that air-ship of Jerrold's pretty badly,"
+Needham was saying. "If King hadn't made this delay for us, the Hawk
+would have been well away on her first trip."
+
+"That kid is a slippery customer," growled Grove. "The old man is riled
+for fair over the way he's cuttin' up."
+
+"What's the use o' botherin' with him? The thing to do is to cut out o'
+this an' leave King in the swamp."
+
+"I reckon Brady'd do that, if it wasn't for the bag of loot King seems
+to have taken along with him."
+
+Both men had thrown off their hats, and Grove was nursing a number of
+scratches on his face and hands.
+
+"We had a rough time of it," said he, "an' the old man sent me back
+to find out if any of the rest had had any success. If King had been
+found, I was to fire a signal-shot with one of the rifles."
+
+"Hang the luck, anyhow!" snorted Needham. "It was the worst thing Brady
+ever done when he tangled up with King. The lad has a will of his own,
+an' I knew well enough he'd never take hold an' help us out runnin' the
+motor."
+
+"King has got more backbone than any fellow of his age I ever saw, and
+that's a fact. The girl must have helped him. And that's another place
+where Brady has been lame, all along. He ought to have sent the girl
+away, somewhere. She hasn't got any business hanging out with a gang
+like this."
+
+While Matt had been watching and listening, he had been turning over
+several plans in his mind. Here was a chance, albeit a desperate one,
+for getting hold of the air-ship.
+
+He turned to the girl.
+
+"Helen," he whispered, "I'm going to see if I can't capture the Hawk."
+
+"You can't," she returned, fearfully. "Grove and Needham are armed
+and--and they'll shoot."
+
+"They can't shoot if I get hold of those rifles first," went on Matt,
+still speaking in guarded tones.
+
+"How will you do that?"
+
+"Their backs are toward us. I'll creep as close to the Hawk as I can,
+then, if they hear me, as they probably will, I'll make a rush for the
+guns."
+
+The girl was silent for a moment.
+
+"There's nothing else to be done," she whispered, at last. "Count on
+me, Matt, to do whatever I can to help."
+
+"You keep back, Helen," he counseled. "If I succeed in getting the
+guns, I won't need your help; if I don't, your help would do little
+good. Here I go."
+
+Slowly and cautiously Matt crept out of the bushes. The car of the
+air-ship was between him and the men, and this served to screen him,
+up to a certain point; but the two rifles were leaning against the
+opposite side of the car, and in order to lay hold of them he would
+either have to go around the long framework, or else cross the car. He
+made up his mind to take the latter course.
+
+Without being discovered, he managed to reach the side of the car;
+then, just as he was rising to step over the rail, Needham caught sight
+of him.
+
+With a wild yell Needham gained his feet. The yell brought Grove up
+like a shot. For an instant, the two rascals were paralyzed by the
+unexpected appearance of Matt. Their moment of inaction afforded the
+young motorist just the opportunity he needed.
+
+Flinging himself into the car, and across it, he snatched the rifles
+away from the rail, just as the hands of Grove and Needham were
+outstretched to take them.
+
+One of the weapons he flung behind him.
+
+"Nail him!" cried Grove; "down him, before he gets a chance to shoot!"
+
+Needham, no less than Grove, realized the necessity of capturing Matt.
+Matt, however, had no intention of using the remaining rifle on either
+of the two men; neither did he have it in mind to let them get away, or
+rough-handle him.
+
+As the two rushed forward, Matt flung the rifle to his shoulder, and
+his gray eye sparkled menacingly along the barrel.
+
+"Keep off!" he warned, swaying the muzzle of the gun back and forth
+so as to keep both men under it; "keep away from me and stand right
+where you are! I mean business, right from the drop of the hat, and you
+fellows might as well understand it."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+A DARING ESCAPE.
+
+
+The menace of the steady gray eye and the swaying gun muzzle were
+enough for Grove and Needham.
+
+"Here's a go!" growled Needham, casting a yearning look around him toward
+the timber.
+
+"I'm going to make a 'go' of it, all right," averred Matt, grimly, "no
+two ways about that. What are you doing with your right hand, Needham?"
+
+Needham's hand had wandered toward his hip. Matt was watching both
+scoundrels so sharply that not a move they made escaped him.
+
+Needham brought his hand around in front of him.
+
+"What are you trying to do, King?" queried Grove, evidently seeking
+to gain time and give Brady, Pete or Whipple a chance to come on the
+scene.
+
+"I'm trying to get away from this place," replied Matt, "and I've not
+much time to waste in talk. I guess you know that fully as well as I
+do."
+
+Still keeping the rifle trained on the two men, he climbed out of the
+car to the ground.
+
+"Now," he went on, "I'll tell you fellows what you're to do, and then
+we'll be able to work quicker. You will both get into the car, and get
+in together so that I can cover you more easily with this one gun.
+Needham will then place his back against the upright timber that helps
+suspend the car from the hoop--and mind you take the timber farthest
+from the driver's seat. On the bottom of the car there's a coil of
+small rope. With that, Grove will tie Needham to the upright. Is that
+clear?"
+
+"Why, what the blazes----" began Grove, but Matt cut him short.
+
+"There's no time for talk, I tell you!" he called, sharply. "Brady and
+the other two may show up here, and I'm going to have this work done
+before that happens."
+
+"But----"
+
+"Get into the car!"
+
+Matt's finger flexed ever so slightly upon the trigger of the gun. The
+watchful eyes of Grove and Needham detected the movement and both made
+haste to tumble into the car.
+
+"I'd give a farm to know what you've got up your sleeve," growled
+Needham, as he backed slowly against the upright timber.
+
+"Move more quickly," warned Matt, "or you'll find what I've got in this
+gun. I used to be in Arizona, and I know how they deal with matters of
+this sort down there. They're not in the habit of wasting so many words
+as I'm doing. Pick up that rope, Grove," he added, "and get busy with
+it. Mind you tie hard knots! No fast-and-loose plays at this stage of
+the game."
+
+Grove was a bit languid in his operations, and as he worked he gave
+more attention to the quarters from which Brady, Pete and Whipple might
+be expected than he did to the tying of Needham.
+
+"Grove," called Matt, sternly, "I'm not going to bother much more with
+you! Move faster, and pass some of that rope around Needham's arms. I
+don't want his hands left free. Pull the coils tighter."
+
+After a fashion, Grove got his comrade tied.
+
+"Will that do you?" he demanded, gruffly, turning to glare at Matt.
+
+"That will answer. Now turn your back to Needham's."
+
+"Say, by thunder I'm not going to stand for----"
+
+"_Turn your back!_"
+
+Matt shoved the muzzle of the rifle toward Grove's breast, and the man
+made haste to place himself against the upright piece of the car's
+framework.
+
+It was Matt's intention, then, to drop the rifle and proceed with the
+tying of Grove himself, but the girl suddenly appeared and climbed into
+the car.
+
+"I'll do the rest, Matt," said she, picking up the loose end of the
+rope.
+
+Matt had planned to have the girl remain in the thicket, taking no part
+in his operations; but she had different ideas.
+
+Grove and Needham both glared at the girl.
+
+"The old man will make you sorry for this!" fumed Grove.
+
+"I expect he will," replied the girl. "He has made me sorry for a lot
+of things lately."
+
+Around and around the bodies of the two men Helen coiled the rope.
+Then, when she had come to the end of it, she made it fast with a knot.
+
+Pausing a moment after she had finished, she drew a revolver out of
+Needham's hip-pocket and dropped it on the driver's seat.
+
+"You had better have that in your own hands, Matt," said she, quietly.
+"It will be easier to handle than the rifle."
+
+"Don't get out of the car, Helen," called Matt, as the girl was about
+to climb over the rail. "You can't stay here after this."
+
+"I can and I must."
+
+Her resolve to remain with her father was unshaken; but there was
+a bright light in her eyes which Matt had not seen there before.
+Evidently the success that was attending Matt's plans to get away with
+the air-ship had lifted a grievous load from her spirits.
+
+Walking around the car, Helen picked up the bag which they had taken
+with them into the swamp.
+
+"This must go with you, Matt," she continued, pushing the bag under the
+driver's seat, "along with the rest of the stuff piled up on the ground
+there."
+
+While she was on that side of the car she cast off the mooring-rope and
+flung it into the air-ship.
+
+Matt dropped the rifle and released the rope on the other side.
+
+The Hawk was now in readiness to take to flight. With nothing to hold
+it, the gas-bag began to feel the effects of the wind that was blowing
+and to move about in answer to the faint gusts. But it rode on an even
+keel, for its buoyancy had to be accelerated by the propeller before it
+would rise, or could be maneuvered.
+
+The girl had started toward the bags, heaped up on the ground. Before
+she could reach them, however, a loud yell from the opposite side of
+the island caused her to halt in consternation.
+
+"Dad!" she cried, wildly; "he's coming!"
+
+"Brady! This way, quick!"
+
+The clamoring whoops went up from Needham and Grove as they struggled
+fiercely to free themselves.
+
+Matt, seeing that there was not an instant to be lost, leaped into the
+car and tilted the steering-rudder at an angle which would carry the
+air-ship upward.
+
+"Come along!" he shouted to the girl as he started the engine. "Get
+into the car, Helen!"
+
+"Hurry, hurry!" screamed the girl, running directly away from the car
+and in the direction of Brady and Pete, who were making for the Hawk at
+a run.
+
+A pang of regret ran through Matt at the thought of leaving Helen Brady
+behind to bear the brunt of her father's anger; but there was no time
+for argument. He started the propeller, and the Hawk began to move up
+the airy incline toward the tops of the trees that walled in the edge
+of the "island."
+
+The struggles of Matt's two prisoners became desperately frantic. So
+violently did they wrestle with their bonds that the car tipped and
+swayed dangerously. Matt had no time to give to them, just then, being
+wholly wrapped up in the maneuvering of the Hawk.
+
+He gave the rudder a further tilt, throwing the air-ship to an angle
+that caused Grove's feet to slip from under him, so that only the
+support of the rope and the upright held him to his place.
+
+"Shoot!" he bellowed. "Why don't you blaze away at him, Brady?"
+
+Brady had evidently held his fire, hoping to get the air-ship back
+without injury; and, even now, as his rifle and Pete's began to crack
+murderously, the target of their bullets was Matt.
+
+Two or three of the leaden spheres zipped past Matt's head, missing
+him by the narrowest of margins. Strangely enough, however, Matt was
+more worried about the harm the bullets might do the gas-bag, or the
+machinery, than he was about any damage they might do him.
+
+Faster and faster he speeded up the engine, and the Hawk raced toward
+the clouds. She cleared the tops of the trees, gained the clear sky,
+and, at a height of five hundred feet, was brought to an even keel.
+
+Then, and not till then, did Matt venture a look below. He was just in
+time to catch one fleeting glimpse of those he had left behind on the
+"island." What he saw aroused his anger and indignation.
+
+Helen, still true to her resolve to help Matt, had seized hold of her
+father's rifle and was struggling to keep him from using it. The minute
+figures were strangely clear, and Matt saw Brady lift his fist and
+strike the girl down. Then the tops of the trees interposed and cut off
+the unpleasant sight. Matt faced about, a steely glint in his gray eyes.
+
+"Here's a fine lay out!" Grove was clamoring, far gone with chagrin
+and baffled rage. "One kid, single-handed, captures two of us and runs
+off with the air-ship, right under the noses of Brady and the rest!
+Oh, well, we're entitled to all we get out of this. We don't deserve
+anything better."
+
+"You'll get something more than you expect," said Matt, picking up the
+revolver and pushing it into his pocket, "if you don't stop squirming
+around like that. It's hard to steer when you're rocking the car in
+such a fashion. You fellows are my prisoners, so make the best of it."
+
+"Yes," growled Grove, "and us two aeronauts will have a fine tale to
+tell when you take us where you're going to. You've stolen this car.
+That'll cook your goose for you."
+
+"Brady," answered Matt, "can have his air-ship back whenever he wants
+to show up and claim it."
+
+There followed a brief silence, during which Matt noted that the wind
+was brisk, and from the north, and exulted over the speed the Hawk
+developed in the teeth of it.
+
+Needham was first to break the silence.
+
+"If I had my hat, and was able," said he, craning his head around to
+get a look at Matt, "I'd take it off to you."
+
+The lad in the driver's seat made no response. He was hurrying toward
+South Chicago.
+
+Where was the Eagle? The skies in every direction were clear and the
+other air-ship was nowhere to be seen.
+
+Motor Matt, as he drove the air-ship steadily against the wind, kept
+close watch of the captured aeronauts.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+THE END OF THE MID-AIR TRAIL.
+
+
+The failure of Carl, Harris and Jerrold to make a landing on the
+"island" has already been recorded.
+
+They had seen the Hawk, moored at one edge of the cleared space,
+and they had seen Brady and the others; but, of course, it had been
+impossible for them to see anything of Matt. The young motorist, at
+that time, was bound hand and foot and lying on the cot in the hut.
+
+With bullets flying around them and threatening injury to the Eagle,
+it was not policy to remain hovering over such a nest of desperate
+scoundrels very long.
+
+"We'll get out of here," cried Harris, angrily, "and come back with men
+and guns enough to give those fellows a taste of their own medicine.
+Don't let any harm come to the air-ship, Jerrold. We're going to need
+her, later."
+
+Just as Harris finished speaking, a bullet slapped into the motor and
+the machinery at once began to go wrong.
+
+"Too late," responded Jerrold grimly; "they've already nipped us."
+
+"Py chimineddy," roared Carl, "I vish I hat somet'ing vat I could shoot
+mit ad dem fillains!"
+
+Limping and staggering, Jerrold managed to urge the Eagle out of harm's
+way.
+
+"She won't drop on us, will she?" asked Harris, looking anxiously
+downward at the tree-tops.
+
+"No," replied Jerrold, "the gas-bag is uninjured, so we can't fall; and
+the motor is working, too, after a fashion, and that enables us to make
+a slow rate of speed. But there will have to be some repairs before we
+can do anything more with the air-ship."
+
+"Where'll we go to make them? Back to South Chicago?"
+
+"Lake Station is nearer. We'll come down there and ascertain the extent
+of the damage. It may be that we shall have to go back to South Chicago
+if the injury is at all serious."
+
+"All right," acquiesced Harris. "I'll be able to do some telephoning
+and get a few more men out here from headquarters. I'll have them bring
+rifles, and then we'll give Brady a set-to that he'll remember."
+
+"I ditn't see Matt in der blace," mourned Carl.
+
+"He may have been there," said Harris. "There were two sheds, and they
+may be keeping your chum a prisoner in one of them."
+
+"Vell, vile ve're avay fixing oop der Eagle, meppy dose fellers pack
+dere vill fly off mit demselufs in der Hawk. Oof dey do dot, den ve
+vill have some drouple for our pains."
+
+"We shall have to keep watch of the sky in the direction of the swamp,"
+said Jerrold. "By doing that we can tell whether or not the Hawk gets
+away."
+
+Carl made that his work.
+
+"I don'd know how I can see mit der naked eye ven ve ged py Lake
+Sdation," he remarked.
+
+"We'll have to hunt up a spyglass, or a pair of binoculars," suggested
+Harris.
+
+"Vat oof der Hawk moofs pefore we ged dem?"
+
+"Then we'll be up against it, and no mistake."
+
+There was a lot of excitement in the little town of Lake Station when a
+real, sure enough air-ship descended close to the blacksmith shop. The
+whole population gathered and stared.
+
+While Jerrold was busy tinkering with his crippled motor, Carl
+succeeded in finding an old-fashioned spyglass and climbed with it
+to the top of the highest building in town. There he perched himself
+on the edge of the roof and watched continually in the direction of
+Willoughby's swamp.
+
+Meanwhile, Harris had been talking with police headquarters in South
+Chicago. As a result, three officers were detailed to catch the first
+train for Lake Station.
+
+The repairs to be made to the Eagle were somewhat extensive, and taxed
+the capacity of the blacksmith shop. Had Jerrold been in his own
+workroom he could have fixed up the motor more easily and quickly, but
+to take the Eagle back to South Chicago would have resulted in a loss
+of time.
+
+Hour after hour the inventor labored, helped by the blacksmith and
+eyed with wonder by the townspeople. The detail of officers arrived,
+and they could do nothing but wait until the Eagle was ready to carry
+them to the "island" in the swamp. Any attempt to reach the "island" on
+foot was hardly to be considered.
+
+While Jerrold's labors were nearing completion, a yell from Carl called
+the attention of Harris.
+
+"What's the matter with you?" he shouted.
+
+Carl was dancing around on the roof top, waving the spyglass
+frantically.
+
+"Come oop!" he cried, wildly. "Der Hawk is gedding avay mit itseluf!
+Ach, plazes, vat a luck!"
+
+Harris made haste to reach the top of the building where Carl had been
+patiently waiting and watching.
+
+"Pud der spyglass to your eye, Harris," said Carl, "und look off to der
+nort'. Ach, dose fellers haf made some ged-avays, und I bed you dey
+have dook Matt along!"
+
+With the glass at his eye, Harris swept the horizon in the direction
+indicated by Carl. Finally he found what he was looking for--an
+oblong blot gliding through the heavens and proceeding in a northerly
+direction.
+
+"That's the Hawk, all right," said he, in a tone of intense
+disappointment, "but why is it heading in that direction?"
+
+"Prady vouldn't dare go pack by Sout' Chicago," said Carl. "I bed you
+somet'ing for nodding he has got anodder hang-oudt in dot tirections.
+Ach, vat vill I do for dot bard oof mine?"
+
+Gloomily the two descended from the roof, and Carl returned the
+spyglass to its owner.
+
+Half an hour later the Eagle was ready for flight, and the officers and
+Carl got aboard. It was decided to proceed to the swamp and look over
+the "island" and then, if nothing of importance developed, to return to
+South Chicago.
+
+The Eagle's motor, apparently, worked as well as ever, and the four
+miles separating Willoughby's swamp from Lake Station were covered in
+record time.
+
+As they neared the "island" the officers made ready to use their
+guns. There was no hostile demonstration, however, and not a soul was
+anywhere in sight. The Eagle descended, and the officers, accompanied
+by the anxious Carl, proceeded to make a search.
+
+They found nothing but two meagerly furnished houses, apparently
+recently deserted. Silence reigned everywhere, ominous of events that
+had happened.
+
+"Vell," said Carl, gloomily, "dis means dot I haf got to do some more
+looking for Modor Matt. Der gang haf made off mit him some more, und I
+vas so tisappointed as I can't dell."
+
+For that matter, they were all disappointed--Jerrold in particular.
+Motor Matt had served Jerrold well, and the inventor had been anxious
+to make him some repayment in kind.
+
+But there was nothing left for the air-ship party to do but to point
+the Eagle toward home. As the air-ship passed the rolling mills and
+came close to the balloon house where Brady had formerly housed the
+Hawk, it was observed by those in the car that the doors of the big
+building were closed, and that two officers had mounted guard in front
+of them.
+
+"That means something," muttered Harris. "Drop lower, Jerrold, so I can
+talk with those two cops."
+
+Jerrold descended until the top of the car was nearly on a level with
+the balloon house, and Harris leaned over the guard rail.
+
+"Hello!" he called. "What are you fellows doing there?"
+
+"Watching the air-ship," was the astounding answer.
+
+"Do you mean to say that Brady's air-ship is in that balloon house?"
+
+"Sure."
+
+"Has Brady been captured?"
+
+"Why, no. You went after him, didn't you?"
+
+"We went after him, but he and his men fired on us and damaged our
+motor. We went to Lake Station to fix the machinery, and while we were
+there we caught sight of the Hawk, through a spyglass, making north. As
+soon as we could, we started for the swamp, but there was no one there.
+Naturally, we supposed that Brady and his gang had made their escape,
+and it's mighty surprising to hear that the Hawk is back in its old
+cage and didn't bring Brady along."
+
+"The Hawk brought Motor Matt----"
+
+Carl gave a yell and nearly fell out of the car.
+
+"Modor Matt?" he shouted. "Vas you shdringing me, oder iss it shdraight
+goots?"
+
+"I'm giving it to you straight," answered the officer on the ground.
+"Motor Matt got away from the swamp and brought two prisoners with him,
+in the Hawk. They were two of the men who robbed Jerrold of his plans."
+
+"Zum lauderbach haben, mich shtets----" began Carl, singing loudly and
+then interrupting himself to gloat. "Dot's my bard vat dit dot! Yah,
+so! Leedle Modor Matt who iss alvays doing t'ings vat you don'd oxbect.
+He has shtarred himseluf some more, you bed you! Vere iss Modor Matt
+now, officer?" Carl called down.
+
+"He took a train into Chicago--said he was behind his schedule for that
+five-day race. The two prisoners are at police headquarters."
+
+"Well, by thunder!" muttered Harris, mopping his face with a red
+handkerchief, "that Motor Matt must be a regular young phenomenon!"
+
+"I never heard of anything to beat him!" averred Jerrold.
+
+"Und you nefer vill!" declared Carl. "He iss vone oof dose fellers vat
+can't be peat."
+
+"You might take us to police headquarters, Jerrold," suggested Harris.
+
+"Und you mighdt shtop on der vay py der railroadt sdation," piped Carl.
+"I vant to ged py Chicago so kevick as der nation vill led me."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+When Carl next saw Matt, the young motorist was spinning around the
+great oval in a Jarrot machine, which he knew so well and had driven
+to victory in Kansas. The five-day race was not for one driver alone,
+but several drivers were to be at the steering wheel of each car. Matt
+had reached the Coliseum just in time to take his place in the racing
+schedule.
+
+Every time Matt whirled around the oval, Carl had something to say
+to him, but it was not until evening that the boys were able to get
+together for a talk.
+
+They decided between them that Brady, and those whom Matt had left on
+the "island," must have made their escape from the swamp by a secret
+route known only to themselves.
+
+Where Harper, the driver of the Hawk was, was likewise a mystery to the
+police.
+
+Matt had turned the bag of loot stolen from Hartz & Greer over to the
+police with instructions to say that it was recovered by Miss Brady,
+and that no reward would be accepted for its return.
+
+"How you tink dot air-ship pitzness is, anyvays, Matt?" asked Carl,
+when the boys had had their talk out and were ready to crawl into bed.
+
+"I _like_ it," answered Matt, enthusiastically, "and I wish I could
+have more of it!"
+
+His wish was destined to fulfillment, for, as events proved, his
+thrilling work in South Chicago and at Willoughby's swamp was but
+the beginning of a series of air-ship experiences. Matt may have
+congratulated himself with the thought that he was through with Hector
+Brady, but Brady was by no means done with Matt--as will be made clear
+in the story to follow.
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+THE NEXT NUMBER (10) WILL CONTAIN
+
+Motor Matt's Hard Luck;
+
+OR,
+
+THE BALLOON-HOUSE PLOT.
+
+  An Old Friend--A Trap--Overboard--Rescued--Buying the Hawk--Matt
+  Scores Against Jameson--At the Balloon House--The Plot of the Brady
+  Gang--Carl is Surprised--Helen Brady's Clue--Jerrold Gives His
+  Aid--Grand Haven--The Line On Brady--The Woods by the River--Brady a
+  Prisoner--Back in South Chicago.
+
+
+
+
+MOTOR STORIES
+
+THRILLING ADVENTURE MOTOR FICTION
+
+
+NEW YORK, April 24, 1909.
+
+TERMS TO MOTOR STORIES MAIL SUBSCRIBERS.
+
+(_Postage Free._)
+
+Single Copies or Back Numbers, 5c. Each.
+
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+
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+credited, and should let us know at once.
+
+  ORMOND G. SMITH, }
+  GEORGE C. SMITH, } _Proprietors_.
+
+  STREET & SMITH, Publishers,
+  79-89 Seventh Avenue, New York City.
+
+
+
+
+THE BIG CYPRESS.
+
+
+The rifle cracked and the piece of boiler plate, which had been erected
+as target against the bank fifty yards away, fell shattered like a pane
+of glass.
+
+"How's that, Colonel Fearon?" coolly inquired the young fellow, who had
+fired the shot, as he turned to the tall, sallow-faced man who stood
+beside him.
+
+A curious expression crossed the latter's face, but he answered
+quickly, "Amazing, Rutherford! Simply astonishing. I could never have
+believed such a thing possible. A pom-pom shell could hardly have
+smashed the plate more effectually."
+
+The boy--he was hardly more--laughed. "I thought it would startle you,
+colonel. Will you feel justified in sending me up to Washington?"
+
+"I reckon that's the place for you to go to, Rutherford. The war
+department'll need that new bullet of yours in their business. You mean
+to tell me you invented that bullet all by yourself?"
+
+"I did, colonel. You see, I was always fond of dabbling in chemistry
+and the idea for this came to me one day when I was at work in my
+father's store. I didn't worry about it much, until the poor old man
+went broke, and then it struck me there was money in it. It was the
+mayor of our town, Orangeville, told me to come to you. He said that
+you could give me the proper introductions."
+
+"He was right," said Colonel Fearon. "I can fix you up with the proper
+people. Let me have a shot."
+
+Lionel Rutherford handed the colonel a cartridge, which outwardly
+looked precisely similar to an ordinary rifle cartridge. He then walked
+across the lawn of fine Bermuda grass, put a fresh piece of steel plate
+in position, and came back.
+
+The colonel fired, and, as before, the tough steel simply sprang to
+pieces and lay in scattered fragments on the grass.
+
+"I reckon there's more money in this than in keeping store," said the
+colonel thoughtfully. "Rutherford, I'll be pleased if you'll stay here
+at my house for a day or two till I can write to the proper people."
+
+Young Rutherford thanked him warmly and the two walked back toward the
+long, low, wide verandaed house.
+
+Late that night the colonel and his son, Randal Fearon, sat together in
+the well-appointed smoking room and talked earnestly in low tones.
+
+"There's thousands in it, father," said the younger man sharply.
+"Thousands!"
+
+"I know that as well as yourself," returned the other irritably. "But
+the invention's not yours or mine."
+
+"What's Rutherford?" sneered Randal. "Here he is, a fellow who's never
+known anything of life, who's lived all his days in a little one-horse
+backwoods town, and now he's going to roll in riches while we are on
+the edge of bankruptcy."
+
+He paused, and glanced at his father, who sat fidgeting uneasily. The
+colonel, fine-looking man that he was, was as weak-willed as his tall,
+thin, sharp-faced son was strong.
+
+"A real nice scandal there'll be when we go smash," went on Randal
+Fearon. "Think of the headlines. 'Fraudulent Bankruptcy. Prominent
+Floridian lives beyond his means.' How the yellow press'll revel in it!"
+
+Again the colonel moved uneasily. "I don't see how you're going to get
+the specifications from him, anyhow," he said at last.
+
+"You leave that to me," replied Randal with sneering emphasis.
+
+"Look you here, Randal, I won't have any violence." For once Colonel
+Fearon spoke decidedly.
+
+"I guess you needn't worry your head about that," answered Randal.
+"I've got the whole plan cut and dried. You've asked him to stay?"
+
+"Yes," said the colonel. "He will stay."
+
+Randal laughed as if pleased. "That's all right. To-morrow we'll settle
+it, Pete Dally and I."
+
+"How?"
+
+"I'll tell you in the morning. Don't worry yourself. As you are so
+anxious to avoid it, I promise you there shall be no violence."
+
+Randal chuckled in ugly fashion as he got up, flung the stump of his
+cigar into the fireplace, and, lighting a small hand lamp, left the
+room.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"How much farther have we got to go before we run into any of this game
+you talked about, Mr. Fearon?" asked Rutherford as he stopped and wiped
+the perspiration from his streaming face.
+
+"I thought we'd have seen a buck before now," replied Randal Fearon.
+"We don't often have to come this far into the Big Cypress to find
+game, do we, Pete?"
+
+"No, sah; we gen'rally finds it quite clos' to the aidge of de swamp,"
+said Pete, who was a burly, square-shouldered negro with a face as
+black as ebony.
+
+Rutherford was rather puzzled. That morning Randal Fearon had suggested
+that it would be very good fun to go shooting in the Big Cypress, a
+huge tract of wild, swampy forest, the edge of which was about five
+miles from Colonel Fearon's place.
+
+"You might try the effect of some of your explosive bullets," Randal
+had suggested; and Rutherford had laughed and said that there wouldn't
+be much left of any game smaller than a buffalo or an elephant if
+struck by one of his projectiles.
+
+All the same, being a keen sportsman, he had willingly agreed to the
+shoot. What puzzled him was that they should have tramped for hours
+through this steaming bush, which reeked with signs of game, and yet
+not seen a single thing to shoot at.
+
+"Don't you worry. We shall find deer soon," said Randal when Rutherford
+expressed his astonishment. "We're getting near a good place now. I
+reckon we'd better stop and eat our dinner first. Pete, make a fire."
+
+Pete Dally dropped the big haversack he was carrying over his broad
+shoulders, and obeyed. In a very few minutes a fire was blazing,
+and the fragrant fumes of frying bacon and strong coffee filled the
+close, steamy air. Lionel Rutherford, tired by the long tramp and the
+hot-house atmosphere of the jungle, enjoyed the meal greatly.
+
+After they had finished they marched on again. They had left the pine
+trees behind, and were pushing along a narrow track through a forest
+of great ilex, bastard oak, and magnolia. The undergrowth was of saw
+palmetto, growing in huge, impenetrable clumps, among which the muddy
+track wound in and out.
+
+The scent of yellow jasmine was almost stifling, but the only life
+visible was an occasional cardinal bird with its vivid crimson
+plumage, or a stub-tailed water moccasin which raised its triangular,
+copper-hued head with an ugly hiss and dragged itself sluggishly out of
+sight among the tangled herbage.
+
+The path was so narrow that they were compelled to walk in single file.
+Randal made Pete lead the way. More than once the negro had tried to
+drop behind, but each time Randal roughly ordered him to push ahead.
+
+The silence of the swamp grew as oppressive as the intense heat. It
+began to get upon young Rutherford's nerves.
+
+"A tough place to get lost in," he said at last.
+
+Randal turned quickly. There was a queer expression on his sharp face
+as he replied:
+
+"Yes, pretty bad, I reckon."
+
+Somehow, Rutherford fancied there was something sinister in his tone.
+
+"I don't like the chap," he thought to himself. "I wish I hadn't come."
+Then common sense got the better of his fears. "It's the place, not the
+people, that's worrying me. These big hamaks are worse than a desert.
+There you can see the sky; here it's like one great, green prison."
+
+"Look out, sah. Dah's a wild cat in dat tree," suddenly hissed Pete
+Dally, and slipped out of the path into the thicket. "Quiet or youse
+done frighten him."
+
+Rutherford, all excitement, slipped his rifle from his shoulder.
+
+But Randal barred his way. He was standing still, peering up into the
+tree indicated.
+
+"Where? I don't see it," he exclaimed harshly.
+
+"Dere it am, sah. On dat big fork," declared Pete, pointing. And then
+as Randal stepped forward, the negro slipped back round a clump of
+palmetto, and Rutherford felt a hand fall sharply on his arm, while
+these words were whispered in his ear:
+
+"Dat man mean you no good, sah. Watch me, an' doan' do what he say."
+
+He turned in amazement, but Peter was already gone. He had glided back,
+and was standing at Randal's elbow, pointing out the exact spot where
+he alleged he had seen the cat.
+
+But there was no cat there now, and Rutherford wondered if there ever
+had been. Randal cursed Pete angrily, and once more they moved forward.
+
+Rutherford, more worried than he cared to own even to himself,
+followed, as before, the last of the little procession.
+
+It was getting late and the bullfrogs had begun to bellow harshly in
+unseen pools in the forest. But there was no decrease in the sullen
+heat. Not a breath stirred the moist, stagnant air, and the farther
+they went the thicker grew the tangled vegetation till there was no
+longer any sign of a path. In unbroken silence the three forced their
+way through primeval forest.
+
+Presently trees broke away, and they stood upon the muddy marge of a
+reedy lagoon, across the stagnant waters of which the low sun cast a
+lurid light.
+
+"Here we are," said Randal Fearon sharply. "This is where the deer come
+down to drink. You wait, Rutherford, in the bushes here, and you'll
+soon get a shot. Pete and I will take up our places on the far side.
+Then whatever comes some of us will get a buck."
+
+"Watch me, and don't do what he says." Pete's words were ringing in
+Rutherford's ears. He cast a glance at the negro. Pete made a quick
+sign, which the English boy took to mean that he was to follow instead
+of remaining.
+
+Next moment Randal had plunged off through the palmetto with Pete at
+his heels.
+
+"What's it all mean?" muttered Rutherford angrily. "Is Fearon fooling
+me, or is it Pete? Of the two, I infinitely prefer the nigger. I'll do
+what he says."
+
+He left his shelter, and moved as quietly as possible on the track of
+the other two.
+
+Sure enough, they did go round the pool! Rutherford began to wonder if
+he was wrong; whether Pete for some unknown reason was fooling him.
+
+The going was dreadful. The ground below the almost impenetrable
+palmetto was deep mud. Swarms of mosquitoes rose and stung viciously.
+Lionel was afraid that the crashing of the parted bushes would betray
+him.
+
+He knew he was falling a long way behind, and panic seized him that he
+might lose the others. Though young Rutherford had lived all his life
+in America, yet he had never been in a big swamp like this. The store
+had kept him busy.
+
+At last he reached the spot which Randal had pointed out as his own
+shooting station. To his horror, there was no one there. Randal and
+Pete had both disappeared. He was alone in the tangled heart of this
+monstrous swamp, and knew that without help he could never hope to find
+his way out.
+
+After the first moment of panic Lionel Rutherford pulled himself
+together. He had plenty of pluck. He rapidly considered the situation.
+For some reason best known to himself Randal Fearon wished to abandon
+him, to lose him in the swamp. But he himself had no idea of dying of
+hunger, fever, or snakebite in this impenetrable wilderness. He had two
+courses open--go back and try to find his way out along the trail they
+had come by, or follow after Randal and Pete.
+
+There were no objections to the first. It was a very long way, and it
+was doubtful if he could find it even in broad daylight. As it was,
+it would be dark in an hour. Besides, Pete had certainly meant him to
+follow.
+
+Randal must mean to spend the night in the swamp. That was clear.
+Therefore he must have some camping place.
+
+"I'll follow," muttered the boy between set teeth, and started off.
+
+Though the sun was not yet down, it was already dusk beneath the thick
+shade of the towering timber, and in the half light the trail was most
+difficult to follow. The others had long ago passed out of hearing.
+
+The night life of the swamp was waking. Enormous owls hooted weirdly,
+then came the thundering bellow of a bull alligator, and presently
+above all these the ghastly, half-human shriek of a panther calling to
+its mate.
+
+Stumbling and struggling, Lionel hurried on. In a little he came to a
+thick belt of tall saw grass. The two pairs of footmarks entered it,
+but the trails beyond were so confused with the passage of deer and
+other animals that the boy recognized with a shock that he could not
+follow the human footsteps.
+
+Very near despair, he turned back. No, he could not find Randal's
+trail. He stopped. "I'm done!" he muttered hopelessly, and stood
+straining his ears for any sound of his former companions.
+
+Just then, as he was almost giving up, he caught sight of a morsel of
+something white stuck on a broken stem beside the trail. It was a tiny
+piece of paper, and on it, marked with a muddy finger tip, an arrow
+pointing in a certain direction.
+
+"Pete!" exclaimed Lionel joyfully. A load rolled off his mind. Marking
+the direction carefully, he pushed on fast. Now he was on the lookout,
+he found other signs; a broken twig, a stick, laid in the path.
+
+Darkness fell rapidly. There is little twilight in Florida.
+
+"They can't go much farther," he said. He was right. In a very short
+time the dull glow of a fire showed where the others had camped.
+
+"What shall I do?" he asked himself. "Go right up and tackle Randal
+Fearon? No; he'd have some excuse ready, and I'd only get Pete into
+trouble. I must wait till Randal goes to sleep."
+
+The mosquitoes were savage. Young Rutherford, tired and hungry, found
+it maddening to wait in the damp gloom, and watch Randal gorge on the
+supper which Pete cooked. Nearly two hours passed before Randal, having
+finished a cigar, rolled himself, head and all, in a blanket and lay
+down.
+
+A few minutes more, and a snore told Rutherford it was safe to venture
+closer.
+
+Pete heard him, and glided out. The black man chuckled silently when he
+saw the boy. "Reckoned you'd be along, sah. You foun' de sign Pete lef'
+for you. Now de firs' thing is you eat. Den we talk."
+
+He put corn, bread, and bacon into Rutherford's hands, and the boy made
+a hearty meal.
+
+"Now, sah," said Pete. "You see what dat man want to do. He lose you in
+de swamp, den go home, say you fell in de water and was drowned. Den he
+an' his dad, dey take dat blow-up bullet ob yours an' sell him."
+
+Lionel Rutherford was aghast. He had never dreamed of such wickedness.
+
+"But we beat dem," went on Pete, with a chuckle. "I like you, an' I
+hate dat Randal."
+
+"What can we do?" asked Lionel eagerly.
+
+"Why, we play de same trick on him he try play on you. We take all de
+stuff, go off, an' leab him. He no more find his way out of de Big
+Cypress dan you. Only Pete know de trails."
+
+"That won't do, Pete," returned Lionel sharply. "I won't be any party
+to murder."
+
+Pete was amazed. He expostulated strongly.
+
+"No, I'll tell you what we will do, Pete. We'll go off and hide, and
+let him think he's lost. We'll follow and watch, and when he's got the
+soul nearly scared out of him we'll find him again. See?"
+
+Pete saw. He chuckled again in high good humor. "Dat's a very fine
+game, sah. We play dat to-morrow morning. Now I take de things away,
+an' when Randal wake he find no breakfast, no Pete, no nothing."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"He done lost hisself, sure pop!" declared Pete.
+
+It was nine o'clock next morning, and Lionel Rutherford and the negro
+had been following Randal for more than an hour.
+
+His language when he woke up and found Pete gone had been something
+appalling.
+
+Having found that this did no good, he had started off back along
+the track they had come by on the previous day, but in less than
+ten minutes he was off it; and the two, who followed at a discreet
+distance, had watched his growing fury and fright when he found himself
+quite lost in the pathless depths of the wilderness.
+
+"He can't go dat way much furder," observed Pete. "He gettin' down in
+de deal bad swamp. He go in up to his fool neck if he don't be keerful."
+
+Sure enough the quaking muck-land broke beneath the young scoundrel's
+weight, and in he went. With a yell of fright he caught at a branch,
+pulled himself out, and staggered back.
+
+"What's he going to do now?" whispered Lionel.
+
+"Reckon he going climb dat tree an' see whar he am."
+
+Pete was right. Randal began shinning up the stem of a tall, slender
+tree by the water's edge, the only one which seemed to give a possible
+view of any of the surrounding country. No doubt he thought he might
+spot the trail from the summit.
+
+Rutherford, who had been staring hard at the tree, suddenly clutched
+Pete's arm. "What's that thing up in the branches just above him?" he
+asked sharply.
+
+Pete took a long stare. "By golly, sah, it am a snake! An' a mighty big
+one, sure!"
+
+Rutherford started forward, slipping a cartridge into his rifle.
+
+"Don't shoot, sah," whispered Pete. "Dat ain't no poison snake. It am
+only a old white oak snake."
+
+"Looks like an ugly customer," muttered Lionel.
+
+At this moment Randal reached the first boughs and stood up. The
+movement alarmed the snake, which raised its ugly head and hissed
+sharply.
+
+Randal heard the hiss, and, turning, saw the reptile. He gave a scream
+of terror, and almost lost his hold. Then he backed rapidly on to a
+branch which actually overhung the creek.
+
+"Time to end this now," said Rutherford, raising his rifle. "I shall
+shoot the snake."
+
+Pete seized his arm. "De snake won't hurt him, sah. But dey will."
+
+He pointed to the water. The big alligator had seen Randal, and
+silently moved up till it was just beneath him. Another of almost equal
+size had also risen to the surface. Yellow eyes agleam, the hideous
+brutes were watching for this rash intruder upon their domain.
+
+At the very instant there was a snapping crackle. The bough on which
+Randal cowered was breaking. And the wretched man, clinging vainly for
+a hold, had caught sight of the huge reptiles below. He screamed till
+the forest resounded with his agonizing cries.
+
+He snatched at the branches above, but could reach only twigs, which
+broke in his grasp. He was falling clean into the open jaws of the
+alligators.
+
+If Rutherford's rifle had been loaded only with an ordinary cartridge
+nothing could have saved Randal. It was just pure luck that he had
+flung one of his explosives into the breech.
+
+Simultaneous with Randal's fall the rifle spoke. The bullet caught the
+nearest alligator on the side of the head, and the air was full of
+mangled fragments of flesh and bone.
+
+Into this horrible geyser Randal dropped heavily and vanished.
+
+Next moment he rose again, and struck out madly for the bank.
+
+"I can't shoot again," cried Lionel. "I should kill him if I did."
+
+"Dere ain't no need to," said the negro. "You done scared de stuffin'
+out ob dat oder gator."
+
+"Thank goodness he's safe," exclaimed Lionel as Randal scrambled ashore
+and fell in a heap on the bank. "Now we'd better get him home."
+
+Pete laughed. "Yes, sah. I reckon he done had enough ob de Big Cypress."
+
+When Randal came round Rutherford soon realized he had no more to
+fear. The fellow's nerve was broken. He shivered and trembled like a
+frightened child.
+
+They took him home, and then Lionel went boldly to Colonel Fearon, and
+told him the whole story plump and plain. When he had finished the
+colonel sat speechless. His face was gray and pinched.
+
+Lionel looked at him. "I shan't make any trouble for you," he said
+coolly. "All I want is those introductions. Write them now, and I'll
+take them myself to Washington."
+
+Without a word the colonel obeyed.
+
+Lionel Rutherford is now a rich and rising man. Pete is his faithful
+major-domo. Whenever Lionel gets a holiday the two go off down south
+for a week or two of shooting. But they never again penetrated the
+desolate depths of the Great Cypress.
+
+
+
+
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+  415--Buffalo Bill's Cumbres Scouts; or, The Wild Pigs Corralled.
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+       Mahdi. By Frank Sheridan.
+  322--Always to the Front; or, For Fun and Fortune. By Cornelius Shea.
+  323--Caught in a Trap; or, The Great Diamond Case. By Harrie Irving
+       Hancock.
+  324--For Big Money; or, Beating His Way to the Pacific. By Fred
+       Thorpe.
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+  326--Gordon Keith in Zululand; or, How "Checkers" Held the Fort. By
+       Lawrence White, Jr
+  327--The Boys' Revolt; or, Right Against Might. By Harrie Irving
+       Hancock.
+  328--The Mystic Isle; or, In Peril of His Life. By Fred Thorpe.
+  329--A Million a Minute; or, A Brace of Meteors. By Weldon J. Cobb.
+  330--Gordon Keith Under African Skies; or, Four Comrades in the
+       Danger Zone. By Lawrence White, Jr.
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+
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+
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+  2--Motor Matt's Daring; or, True To His Friends.
+  3--Motor Matt's Century Run; or, The Governor's Courier.
+  4--Motor Matt's Race; or, The Last Flight of the "Comet."
+  5--Motor Matt's Mystery; or, Foiling a Secret Plot.
+  6--Motor Matt's Red Flier; or, On The High Gear.
+  7--Motor Matt's Clue; or, The Phantom Auto.
+  8--Motor Matt's Triumph; or, Three Speeds Forward.
+  9--Motor Matt's Air-Ship; or, The Rival Inventors.
+
+
+_For sale by all newsdealers, or will be sent to any address on receipt
+of price, 5 cents per copy, in money or postage stamps, by_
+
+STREET & SMITH, Publishers, 79-89 Seventh Avenue, New York
+
+
+=IF YOU WANT ANY BACK NUMBERS= of our Weeklies and cannot procure them
+from your newsdealer, they can be obtained from this office direct.
+Fill out the following Order Blank and send it to us with the price
+of the Weeklies you want and we will send them to you by return mail.
+=POSTAGE STAMPS TAKEN THE SAME AS MONEY.=
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+
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+      _cents for which send me_:
+
+  TIP TOP WEEKLY,         Nos. ________________________________
+
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+
+ADVENTURES OF A BOY GENIUS
+
+MOTOR STORIES
+
+
+Most five-cent weeklies are founded upon the adventures of boy wonders
+who perform all sorts of impossible feats and who never act or talk as
+a boy really does. This is displeasing to the intelligent boy of the
+present day, who is better educated, and who, consequently, demands
+more logical reading than the old-time boy did.
+
+The boys who want to learn something from what they read, as well
+as to be interested by it, will never find another publication that
+will satisfy them so well as MOTOR STORIES. "Motor Matt" is not an
+impossible boy character. He is simply a youth who has had considerable
+training in a machine shop where motors of all kinds were repaired,
+and who is possessed of a genius for mechanics. His sense of right and
+wrong is strongly developed, and his endeavors to insure certain people
+a square deal lead him into a series of the most astonishing, but at
+the same time the most natural, adventures that ever befell a boy.
+
+Buy the current number from your newsdealer. We feel sure that you
+will be just as enthusiastic about it as the fifty thousand other boys
+throughout the United States have become.
+
+HERE ARE THE TITLES NOW READY:
+
+  No. 1.--Motor Matt; or, The King of the Wheel.
+  No. 2.--Motor Matt's Daring; or, True to His Friends.
+  No. 3.--Motor Matt's Century Run; or, The Governor's Courier.
+  No. 4.--Motor Matt's Race; or, The Last Flight of the "Comet."
+  No. 5.--Motor Matt's Mystery; or, Foiling a Secret Plot.
+  No. 6.--Motor Matt's Red Flier; or, On the High Gear.
+  No. 7.--Motor Matt's Clue; or, The Phantom Auto.
+
+TO BE PUBLISHED ON APRIL 12th
+
+  No. 8.--Motor Matt's Triumph; or, Three Speeds Forward.
+
+TO BE PUBLISHED ON APRIL 19th
+
+  No. 9.--Motor Matt's Air-ship; or, The Rival Inventors.
+
+TO BE PUBLISHED ON APRIL 26th
+
+  No. 10.--Motor Matt's Hard Luck; or, The Balloon House Plot.
+
+TO BE PUBLISHED ON MAY 3d
+
+  No. 11.--Motor Matt's Daring Rescue; or, The Strange Case of Helen Brady.
+
+TO BE PUBLISHED ON MAY 10th
+
+  No. 12.--Motor Matt's Peril; or, Cast Away in the Bahamas.
+
+
+=Price, Five Cents=
+
+At all newsdealers, or sent, postpaid, by the publishers upon receipt
+of the price.
+
+_STREET & SMITH, Publishers, NEW YORK_
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Notes:
+
+
+Italics are represented with _underscores_; bold with =equal signs=.
+
+Retained inconsistent hyphenation ("reentered" vs. "re-entered").
+
+Page 12, changed "anyhere" to "anywhere" ("we can go anywhere").
+
+Page 13, removed unnecessary quote before "In the letter, over his own
+signature." Changed "propellor" to "propeller" ("propeller forces the
+air-ship").
+
+Page 16, changed "Yon" to "You" ("You can handle the machine").
+
+Page 18, changed "times" to "time" ("right time arrives").
+
+Page 19, changed "geen" to "been" ("chum has been getting").
+
+Page 26, changed "Mat" to "Matt" ("get a look at Matt").
+
+Page 27, changed "nearer" to "neared" ("As they neared").
+
+Page 28, changed "bulding" to "building" ("big building were closed").
+
+Page 29, changed "crossel" to "crossed" ("curious expression crossed").
+Changed "outwarlly" to "outwardly" ("outwardly looked precisely").
+Changed "varandaed" to "verandaed."
+
+Page 30, changed "thicked" to "thicker" ("thicker grew the").
+
+Page 31, changed "clutchel" to "clutched" ("clutched Pete's arm").
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Motor Matt's Air Ship, by Stanley R. Matthews
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MOTOR MATT'S AIR SHIP ***
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+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of Motor Matt's Air Ship; or, The Rival Inventors, by Stanley R. Matthews.
+    </title>
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+
+
+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Motor Matt's Air Ship, by Stanley R. Matthews
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
+other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
+the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
+www.gutenberg.org.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
+to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
+
+Title: Motor Matt's Air Ship
+       or, The Rival Inventors
+
+Author: Stanley R. Matthews
+
+Release Date: January 7, 2015 [EBook #47901]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MOTOR MATT'S AIR SHIP ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Edwards, Demian Katz and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (Images
+courtesy of the Digital Library@Villanova University
+(http://digital.library.villanova.edu/))
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<a href="images/coverlarge.jpg"><img src="images/cover.jpg" width="400" height="557" id="coverpage" alt="Motor Matt, as he drove
+the air ship steadily
+against the wind, kept
+close watch of the
+captured aeronauts." /></a>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+
+
+<h1>MOTOR STORIES</h1>
+
+<table summary="scaffold">
+<tr>
+<td style="width: 50%; padding-right: 1.5em;" class="tdr">
+THRILLING<br />
+ADVENTURE
+</td>
+<td style="width: 50%; padding-left: 1.5em;" class="tdl">
+MOTOR<br />
+FICTION
+</td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td class="bb bt tdl">
+NO. 9<br />
+APR. 24, 1909.
+</td>
+<td class="bb bt tdr">
+FIVE<br />
+CENTS
+</td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td class="tdl large">
+MOTOR MATT'S<br />
+AIR SHIP
+</td><td class="tdr">
+<i>OR</i> <span class="large">THE RIVAL<br />
+INVENTORS</span>
+</td>
+</tr><tr>
+<td class="tdc">
+<i>Street &amp; Smith,<br />
+Publishers,<br />
+New York.</i>
+</td>
+</tr></table>
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+
+
+
+<table summary="scaffold" class="bbox">
+<tr><td colspan="2" class="tdc huge">MOTOR STORIES</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdr large" style="padding-right: .25em;">THRILLING ADVENTURE</td><td class="tdl large" style="padding-left: .25em;">MOTOR FICTION</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<p><i>Issued Weekly. By subscription $2.50 per year. Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1909, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress,
+Washington, D. C., by</i> <span class="smcap">Street &amp; Smith</span>, <i>79-89 Seventh Avenue, New York, N. Y.</i></p>
+
+<table summary="scaffold" class="bb bt">
+<tr><td style="width: 33%;" class="tdl">No. 9.</td><td style="width: 33%;" class="tdc">NEW YORK, April 24, 1909.</td><td style="width: 33%;" class="tdr">Price Five Cents.</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+
+<p class="center huge">MOTOR MATT'S AIR-SHIP;</p>
+
+<p class="center">OR,</p>
+
+<p class="center large">The Rival Inventors.</p>
+
+<hr class="r5" />
+<p class="center">By the author of "MOTOR MATT."</p>
+<hr class="r5" />
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS">CONTENTS</a></h2>
+
+<p class="center">
+<a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I. CAPTURING AN AIR-SHIP.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II. A QUEER "FIND."</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III. THE BALLOON HOUSE.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV. THE KETTLE CONTINUES TO BOIL.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V. 2109 HOYNE STREET.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI. CARL INVESTIGATES.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII. JERROLD, BRADY'S RIVAL.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII. JERROLD'S GRATITUDE.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX. ABOARD THE HAWK.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X. WILLOUGHBY'S SWAMP.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI. A FOE IN THE AIR.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII. BRADY CHANGES HIS PLANS.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII. INTO THE SWAMP.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV. A DESPERATE CHANCE.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV. A DARING ESCAPE.</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI. THE END OF THE MID-AIR TRAIL.</a><br />
+<a href="#THE_BIG_CYPRESS">THE BIG CYPRESS.</a><br />
+</p>
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+
+
+
+<div class="bbox">
+<h2><a name="CHARACTERS_THAT_APPEAR_IN_THIS_STORY" id="CHARACTERS_THAT_APPEAR_IN_THIS_STORY">CHARACTERS THAT APPEAR IN THIS STORY.</a></h2>
+
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p><b>Matt King</b>, concerning whom there has always been a mystery&mdash;a
+lad of splendid athletic abilities, and never-failing nerve, who
+has won for himself, among the boys of the Western town, the
+popular name of "Mile-a-minute Matt."</p>
+
+<p><b>Carl Pretzel</b>, a cheerful and rollicking German lad, who is led by a
+fortunate accident to hook up with Motor Matt in double harness.</p>
+
+<p><b>Hamilton Jerrold</b>, an honest inventor who has devoted his life to
+aeronautics, and who has built a successful air-ship called the
+Eagle.</p>
+
+<p><b>Hector Brady</b>, a rival inventor who has stolen his ideas from Hamilton
+Jerrold. His air-ship is called the Hawk and is used for
+criminal purposes. Brady's attempt to secure Motor Matt's
+services as driver of the Hawk brings about the undoing of the
+criminal gang.</p>
+
+<p><b>Whipple, Needham, Grove, Harper and Pete</b>, members of the Brady's
+air-ship gang of thieves.</p>
+
+<p><b>Helen Brady</b>, Hector Brady's daughter, who helps Motor Matt.</p></blockquote>
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I.</a></h2>
+
+<p class="chaptitle">CAPTURING AN AIR-SHIP.</p>
+
+
+<p>"Py shiminy grickets! Vat do you t'ink oof dot! See
+dere vonce, Matt. A palloon, or I vas a lopsder! Und
+vat a funny palloon it iss."</p>
+
+<p>Motor Matt and his Dutch chum, Carl Pretzel, were
+sitting by a quiet country roadside, in the shade of some
+trees. Drawn up near them was a light touring-car.</p>
+
+<p>The boys were several miles out of the city of Chicago,
+from which place they had started about the middle of
+the forenoon, and they had halted in that shady spot between
+Hammond and Hegewisch to eat the lunch they
+had brought with them. Carl had just finished the last
+piece of fried chicken when, happening to look skyward,
+he saw something that brought him to his feet with a
+jump. As he called to his chum, he pointed with the
+"drum-stick," at which he had been nibbling.</p>
+
+<p>Matt's surprise was nearly as great as Carl's, and he
+likewise sprang up and gazed at the air-ship, which was
+coming toward them from the north and east, making
+smart headway against the wind.</p>
+
+<p>"Great spark-plugs!" exclaimed Matt. "That's the
+first air-ship I ever saw."</p>
+
+<p>"Vat's der tifference bedween a palloon und a air-ship?"
+asked Carl.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you can navigate an air-ship with the wind or
+against it, while a balloon is at the mercy of every current
+that blows. A round gas-bag and a basket is a
+balloon, Carl, but when you add a gasolene-motor and
+a propeller you have an air-ship."</p>
+
+<p>"Dot's blain enough. Der air-ship iss sky-hootin' dis
+vay to peat four oof a kindt. Say, it looks like a pig
+cigar. Vat a funny pitzness! Und you nefer seen vone
+pefore, Matt?"</p>
+
+<p>"I never saw one that would travel successfully. This
+one, though, seems to be going in good shape."</p>
+
+<p>"You haf seen palloons meppy?"</p>
+
+<p>"More than I can count," said he. "I've been up in
+balloons a dozen times. When I was in the Berkshire
+Hills they used to have races, and start from Pittsfield.
+That's where I began making ascensions."</p>
+
+<p>Carl dropped his wondering eyes to Matt for a moment.</p>
+
+<p>"You vas der plamedest feller!" he exclaimed. "You
+haf tone more t'ings as any feller I ever see, und you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span>
+nefer say nodding ondil it shlips oudt, like vat it toes
+now."</p>
+
+<p>Motor Matt made no answer to this. Just then his
+attention was completely absorbed by the air-craft.</p>
+
+<p>As near as he could judge, the cigar-shaped gas-bag
+was more than a hundred feet long. Beneath the bag
+was suspended a light framework. Midway of the framework
+was an open space, containing a chair in which sat
+the man who was handling the motor. Out behind the
+driver the framework tapered to a point, and at the end
+of this rearmost point was the whirling propeller. The
+glittering blades caught the sun in a continuous sparkling
+reflection, which made the air-ship appear to be trailed
+by a glow of fire.</p>
+
+<p>Forward of the cockpit, or open space, was the motor.
+A rail ran around the cockpit.</p>
+
+<p>There were two men in the car&mdash;the one in the driver's
+seat and another in front of him, leaning over the rail.
+This second man seemed to be looking at the two boys,
+and to be waving his hand and giving directions to the
+driver.</p>
+
+<p>Along the side of the gas-bag Matt was able to read
+the name "Hawk," printed in large letters.</p>
+
+<p>The Hawk was about a hundred feet above the surface
+of the earth. A long rope depended from the car, and
+twenty or thirty feet of it dragged along the ground as
+the car moved.</p>
+
+<p>"Vat's der rope for, Matt?" inquired Carl.</p>
+
+<p>"If that was an ordinary balloon," replied Matt, "we'd
+call the rope a guide-rope. Usually the guide-rope helps
+to save gas and ballast. When you want a balloon to
+go up, you know, you throw out sand; when you want
+it to come down, you let out gas. That trailing rope
+acts as ballast. When the gas expands, and the ship
+wants to rise, part of the rope that trails is lifted from
+the ground and throws more weight on the car; and
+when the gas contracts, and the car shows a tendency
+to descend, more of the rope falls on the ground and
+takes just that much weight off the car."</p>
+
+<p>"Dot's as clear as mud!"</p>
+
+<p>"I can't understand why they've got a drag on the air-ship,"
+muttered Matt. "I supposed the propeller and the
+steering-blades were enough to send such a craft wherever
+it was wanted to go."</p>
+
+<p>As the Hawk came nearer, Matt's trained eyes and
+ears convinced him that the driver of the air-ship was
+a poor motorist. Evidently he did not understand the
+engine he was handling. The air-ship zigzagged erratically
+on its course, and the long bag ducked upward
+and downward in a most hair-raising manner. On top
+of that, Matt could hear one of the cylinders misfiring.</p>
+
+<p>The Hawk's drag-rope was trailing along the roadway.
+First it was on one side of the road, and then on the
+other, following the irregular swaying and plunging of
+the car.</p>
+
+<p>"Come on, Carl!" called Matt, turning and running for
+the automobile. "If that rope strikes our car it may
+damage it. We've got to fend it off."</p>
+
+<p>"Dose air-ship fellers vas mighdy careless!" answered
+Carl, hurrying after his chum. "Dot rope mighdt knock
+town fences, und preak vinders, und do plendy more
+tamages."</p>
+
+<p>"There isn't power enough at the other end of it to do
+much damage," Matt answered, posting himself at the
+rear of the automobile and watching the advancing rope
+with sharp eyes.</p>
+
+<p>By that time the Hawk was almost over the boys'
+heads. The rope, of course, was dragging far out behind,
+and the trailing part of it bid fair to pass the car
+well on the right.</p>
+
+<p>"Hello, there!" shouted the man at the rail of the
+Hawk, leaning far over and making a trumpet out of his
+hands.</p>
+
+<p>He seemed to be excited, for some cause or other.</p>
+
+<p>"Hello yourseluf, vonce!" called back the Dutch boy.
+"Keep a leedle off mit your rope&mdash;ve don'd vand it to
+make some drouples for us."</p>
+
+<p>"The air-ship's out of control," the man shouted. "We
+can't stop the motor and the ship's running away! Grab
+the rope, hitch it to your automobile and tow us back
+to South Chicago. We'll give you a hundred dollars for
+your trouble. Be quick!"</p>
+
+<p>"I like his nerf, I don't t'ink!" growled Carl. "He
+vants to run off mit us und der pubble, und&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"We can tow the air-ship, all right," cried Matt, "providing
+we can get the rope fast to the automobile. We'll
+have to take a half hitch with the trailing end of the
+rope around a tree, and bring the air-ship to a stop."</p>
+
+<p>Matt started for the rope. As he bent down to lay
+hold of it, the car gave a lurch sideways and the rope
+was whisked out of his hands and was thrown directly
+against Carl's feet.</p>
+
+<p>Carl grabbed it. At the same moment the air-ship
+took an upward leap, on account of the weight which
+Carl had taken off the car. This leap flung Carl into
+the air. He turned a frog-like somersault, hands and
+feet sprawled out, and came down with a thump, flat
+on his back.</p>
+
+<p>"Whoosh!" he yelled, a good deal more startled than
+hurt, sitting up on the grass and shaking his fist at the
+bobbing craft overhead, "you dit dot on burpose! Vat's
+der madder mit you, anyvay? Vat for&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Carl forgot his fancied grievance watching Motor
+Matt. The latter, making another leap at the rope as it
+settled back again after overturning Carl, succeeded in
+laying hold of it.</p>
+
+<p>He had the rope by the end, so that when he picked
+it up none of the weight was taken from the ship, and
+Carl's disastrous exploit was not repeated.</p>
+
+<p>"Wrap it around a tree!" yelled the man at the air-ship's
+rail; "take a half-hitch around a tree!"</p>
+
+<p>The man might just as well have saved his breath.
+That had been Motor Matt's plan, all along, and even as
+the aeronaut was shouting his instructions Matt was
+jumping for the nearest tree.</p>
+
+<p>The young motorist had little time to make the rope
+fast. The whirling propeller was driving the Hawk onward
+against the wind at a fair rate of speed. Had
+there been no opposing wind, Matt would not have had
+time enough for the work ahead of him.</p>
+
+<p>"Come on, Carl!" he shouted.</p>
+
+<p>The Dutch boy stopped watching and made haste to
+lend a hand.</p>
+
+<p>Matt was already at the trunk of the tree, but the
+rope had traveled onward so rapidly that he had less
+than a yard of it in his hands to work with.</p>
+
+<p>Throwing himself on the opposite side of the tree,
+Matt laid back on the end of the rope. At that moment
+Carl reached his side, dropped near him and likewise
+took a grip on the free end of the drag.</p>
+
+<p>"It's der fairst time," panted Carl, "dot I efer heluped<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span>
+make some captures mit an air-ship. Shinks! Look at
+dot, vonce!"</p>
+
+<p>The driving propeller had forced the Hawk to the
+end of its leash. The boys, with only a half wrap of
+the rope around the trunk, felt the quick pull, but easily
+controlled it. The pull was steady, but, inch by inch,
+they worked more and more of the rope around the
+trunk until there was enough to make a knot.</p>
+
+<p>"Dot's der dicket!" exulted Carl, scrambling erect.
+"Ve've got her tied like a pird mit vone foot. Now
+how ve going to ged her hitched ondo der car?"</p>
+
+<p>"We'll have to find out what's the matter with the
+motor, up there," answered Matt, "and see if the power
+can't be shut off."</p>
+
+<p>As he spoke, he got to his feet and walked down the
+road to a point directly under the air-ship.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.</a></h2>
+
+<p class="chaptitle">A QUEER "FIND."</p>
+
+
+<p>Both passengers in the air-ship were now leaning over
+the rail of the suspended car.</p>
+
+<p>"Hitch us on to your automobile," shouted the one
+who had been doing the driving, "and tow us back to
+South Chicago."</p>
+
+<p>The offhand way in which the man spoke proved that
+he was lacking on the practicable side of his nature.</p>
+
+<p>"That's a whole lot easier said than done," Matt called
+back. "It was only by a happenchance that we got your
+drag-rope tied to the tree. If you've got an anchor-rope
+up there, throw it down and we'll make it fast to the
+car before we cast off the other."</p>
+
+<p>"That's the only long rope we've got," answered the
+man.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," went on Matt, "you ought to be able to see
+what sort of a job we're up against. Your motor is
+pulling hard on the rope, and the moment we take the
+rope from the tree it will be jerked out of our hands.
+Don't you know how to run a gas-engine?"</p>
+
+<p>"I know how to start a gas-engine," was the amazing
+response, "but I don't know how to stop it."</p>
+
+<p>"Py shiminy grickets!" whooped Carl, "you vas a nice
+pair to shtart off mit a gasolene-air-ship. You vas in
+luck nod to make some landings on Chupiter, Mars or
+to hit a comic."</p>
+
+<p>Matt likewise thought it was an odd situation, but believed
+it would be well to get the two helpless aeronauts
+down on terra firma before asking for an explanation of
+their predicament.</p>
+
+<p>"Do either of you know what the gasolene-tank is?"
+he asked.</p>
+
+<p>The heads disappeared within the car for a moment,
+then one reappeared over the railing.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, we've found that, all right," said the man.</p>
+
+<p>"And the carburettor&mdash;do you know where to look for
+that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Is that the thing that makes the spark?"</p>
+
+<p>Carl let off a howl of derision.</p>
+
+<p>"Ach, du lieber, vat a ignorance! Der carpuretter
+makes der gas, dot makes der exblosions in der cylinter,
+dot moofs der biston dot makes der bropellor go 'roundt.
+I know dot meinseluf, efen dough I vasn't so pright like
+Modor Matt."</p>
+
+<p>"There's a pipe leading from the gasolene-tank to the
+carburettor," continued Matt, "and there's a valve which
+should be worked by a lever. Close that valve and you'll
+shut off the supply of gasolene. When you do that, the
+motor will stop, and we can work down here to better
+advantage."</p>
+
+<p>The head disappeared again and the car rocked and
+swayed as the two men scrambled around in it. Their
+ignorance, however, increased rather than lessened the
+difficulty. The misfiring of the one cylinder ceased and
+the motor took up its humming rhythm at an even faster
+speed. The fresh impetus of the propeller put a harder
+pull on the rope, and the strain bore sudden and unexpected
+results.</p>
+
+<p>With a yell of dismay the driver of the machine leaned
+over the rail of the car. He had thrown off his hat and
+his coat was unbuttoned.</p>
+
+<p>"We're making it worse!" he cried. "I wish to thunder
+you could come up here and&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Just then the drag-rope, which could not have been
+properly fastened to the car, let go and dropped earthward
+in sinuous coils.</p>
+
+<p>The man doubled farther over the rail in a futile and
+foolish effort to lay hold of it. Something fell from the
+pocket of his coat, fluttered through the air and landed
+in the top of a tree.</p>
+
+<p>Matt noted the flight of the fallen object only incidentally,
+for the major part of his attention was taken up
+with the actions of the car.</p>
+
+<p>The steering rudder had become elevated, and the air-ship
+started at a tremendous clip toward the clouds. The
+two aeronauts could be seen rushing around the car like
+mad. While the two boys watched, the rudder was
+brought down to a level; but something else had gone
+wrong, for the machine could not be maneuvered.</p>
+
+<p>Swiftly the air-ship diminished to a mere speck in the
+southern sky, and then vanished altogether.</p>
+
+<p>Carl turned a blank look at Matt and gave a long
+whistle.</p>
+
+<p>"Dot proofs, Matt," said he, "dot id don'd vas goot
+pitzness to monkey mit t'ings you don'd know nodding
+aboudt. Oof dose fellers run into a shooding shdar
+dere vill be some fine smash oops."</p>
+
+<p>"Why they ever ventured up in the air-ship, knowing
+so little about how to manage it, is a mystery."</p>
+
+<p>Matt gave his head an ominous shake.</p>
+
+<p>"Vat vill pecome oof dem?" queried Carl.</p>
+
+<p>"If they can get the steering rudder to working, they
+can drive the air-ship to the ground. Anyhow, the supply
+of gasolene will have to give out, in time, and then
+they may be able to come down."</p>
+
+<p>"Dere iss somet'ing crooked aboudt dose fellers. Oddervise,
+dey vouldn't be vere dey are."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you see something drop from the driver's pocket,
+Carl?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nix. Iss dot vat habbened?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. It landed in the top of that tree, over there."</p>
+
+<p>"Meppy ve ged holt oof der t'ing und find oudt somet'ing
+aboudt who dose fellers vas, und for vy dey vent
+off for a fly mitoudt knowing how to manach der flyer?"</p>
+
+<p>Matt proceeded to the foot of the tree in whose
+branches the fallen object had alighted. Lifting his gaze
+upward, he peered sharply into the foliage.</p>
+
+<p>"I see it," he announced, pointing.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Und me, too," said Carl. "It vas vite, und round,
+like a punch oof bapers rolled oop. How ve ged him
+down, hey? Meppy ve t'row some shticks ad him?"</p>
+
+<p>Suiting his action to the word, Carl picked up clubs
+and stones and hurled them upward in an endeavor to
+dislodge the object. Finding that these efforts were unsuccessful,
+Matt threw off his coat and hat and climbed
+the tree.</p>
+
+<p>The roll of papers was lodged far out in the fork of
+a branch. Standing on the branch, he jumped up and
+down on it and jarred the roll loose. Carl caught it
+deftly as it fell.</p>
+
+<p>"Hoop-a-la!" he yelled; "here she vas, Matt. Come
+down a leedle vile ve look him ofer."</p>
+
+<p>In a few moments Matt was again on the ground.
+The roll, which Carl immediately handed to him, he
+found to contain a number of sheets wrapped compactly
+in a piece of white paper.</p>
+
+<p>"I guess we'll open it and not stand on any ceremony,"
+said Matt.</p>
+
+<p>"Sure!" exclaimed Carl. "For vy nod?"</p>
+
+<p>"It's not exactly the right thing to do. They're not our
+papers and we haven't any business tampering with documents
+that belong to some one else. Under the circumstances,
+though, and considering that the whole affair of
+the air-ship is a strange one, and that we may be able
+to help the two men in some way through the information
+the roll may contain, we'll have a look at it."</p>
+
+<p>Going back to the place where they had eaten their
+lunch, the boys sat down and Matt opened the little bundle.
+A dozen blue prints of mechanical tracings were
+revealed. In the center of the roll was a sealed envelope,
+bearing no address or writing of any sort.</p>
+
+<p>"Dere's nodding aboudt der plue prints to helup us
+know somet'ing," said Carl. "Oben der enfellup, Matt."</p>
+
+<p>"No," returned Matt, "we can't do that. That would
+be going a little too far."</p>
+
+<p>"Vell, ve got to do somet'ing oof ve findt oudt who
+dose fellers vas."</p>
+
+<p>"We'll wait, and give them a chance to claim their
+property."</p>
+
+<p>"How dey vas going to glaim it, hey? Dey didtn't
+dell us who dey vas, und ve ditn't dell dem our names."</p>
+
+<p>"We know the air-ship came from South Chicago. I
+don't believe there are very many air-ships in that place,
+and if we inquire around a little we ought to be able to
+find out who owns the Hawk."</p>
+
+<p>"Righdt you vas! Somevay, Matt, you always know
+vat to do ven eferypody else iss guessing. Shall ve ged
+indo der car und go pack to der pig city py vay oof
+Sout' Chicago?"</p>
+
+<p>"That's our cue. If we can discover who owns the
+Hawk we'll leave these papers there for him."</p>
+
+<p>Matt rolled up the envelope and the papers and stowed
+them safely away in his pocket.</p>
+
+<p>"I know dere vas some niggers in der vood-pile, all
+righdt," averred Carl. "Two fellers vouldn't go off mit
+an air-ship dey don'd know how to run oof eferyt'ing vas
+like it ought to be."</p>
+
+<p>"There may be a whole lot of sense in what you say,
+Carl," replied Matt, "and then, again, the explanation of
+the queer layout may be extremely simple. Don't get to
+imagining things, old chap, but coil up that rope and
+throw it into the car. We'll carry it back to South Chicago
+and leave it at the same place we leave this roll of
+blue prints."</p>
+
+<p>While Carl was coiling up the rope, Matt gave his
+attention to the automobile. When Carl arrived and
+threw the rope into the tonneau, Matt was busy with
+the crank.</p>
+
+<p>Presently they were in the car and headed back along
+the return course.</p>
+
+<p>Hardly had they got under good headway, however,
+when a flurry of dust showed in the road ahead of them.
+As the wind blew the dust aside, a horse and buggy with
+two men broke into view.</p>
+
+<p>In accordance with the rules of the road, Matt slowed
+down to make sure the horse did not take fright at the
+automobile. The horse was going at a run, and the men
+seemed to be excited.</p>
+
+<p>The one who was driving drew rein as the rig came
+alongside the car.</p>
+
+<p>"Say," shouted the men, "did you boys see an air-ship
+anywhere in this vicinity?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," answered Matt. "It was going south."</p>
+
+<p>"Then we're on the right track?"</p>
+
+<p>"So far as we know; but the air-ship was unmanageable
+and&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>The men in the buggy did not wait to hear any more.
+The driver began plying his whip and the horse again
+leaped onward.</p>
+
+<p>"Who were those two men?" yelled Matt, anxious for
+a little information.</p>
+
+<p>"Thieves!" came the answer, as rig and passengers
+once more vanished in a cloud of dust.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.</a></h2>
+
+<p class="chaptitle">THE BALLOON HOUSE.</p>
+
+
+<p>"Yah!" shouted Carl. "Vat I dell you, Matt? I knew
+dere vas somet'ing der madder! Dem two fellers vas
+t'ieves, und dey haf shtole der air-ship. Py shinks, dey
+haf got demselufs indo drouple, und it vas goot enough
+for dem. Vat you going to do?"</p>
+
+<p>Matt had begun turning the machine in the road.
+When he had pointed it the other way, he started off at
+a swift pace on the trail of the two men in the buggy.</p>
+
+<p>"We'll try and overhaul those two fellows," answered
+Matt, "and tell them what we know. The information
+we've picked up may be valuable to them."</p>
+
+<p>"Dey don't vas endidled to it," averred Carl. "Vy
+ditn't dey shtop und ask us somet'ings? Anyvay, how
+can dey ketch a flying machine mit a horse und puggy?
+You mighdt as vell dry to ketch a sky rocket mit a papy
+carriage."</p>
+
+<p>"The Hawk will have to come down," said Matt,
+"and if those men are anywhere near it when it hits the
+earth they'll be able to recover the machine and catch the
+thieves."</p>
+
+<p>"Oof der machine hits der eart' so hardt as vat I t'ink,
+it von't be vort' nodding, nor der t'ieves neider."</p>
+
+<p>"There's a chance that the rascals will come down
+safely. If those men in the buggy had had their wits
+about them, they'd have hitched their rig to the fence
+and have jumped into the automobile. We could have
+hustled them over the ground four times as fast as they
+were going."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>A few moments later the boys reached a place where
+the road branched. The horse and buggy were not in
+sight along either road.</p>
+
+<p>"Vich vay now?" queried Carl.</p>
+
+<p>"It's all guesswork," answered Matt, "but it's always
+a pretty good plan to keep to the right," and, with that,
+he drove the car along the right-hand branch.</p>
+
+<p>After five minutes of fast running, they had not overtaken
+the rig and it was still not to be seen anywhere
+ahead. The boys knew they had been traveling three or
+four times as fast as the two men were going, and that,
+if they were on the right track, the men should have been
+overtaken long before.</p>
+
+<p>Disappointedly, Matt halted the car and turned it in
+the other direction.</p>
+
+<p>"No use, Carl," said he. "Those men must have taken
+the left-hand fork instead of the right. They're too far
+away, now, for us to think of finding them. We'll hike
+for South Chicago."</p>
+
+<p>"Dot's der pest t'ing dot ve can do," returned Carl.
+"Ve'll find der owner oof der Hawk und gif him der
+trag-rope und der bapers."</p>
+
+<p>"We won't find him. He must have been one of those
+two men in the buggy. Probably we can find where he
+lives, though, and turn the rope and the papers over to
+some one who will give them to him."</p>
+
+<p>"Meppy ve pedder take der shtuff to der bolice, hey?
+Oof der fellers vas t'ieves, dot enfellup mighdt gif der
+bolice a line on dem."</p>
+
+<p>"There's something in that, too," muttered Matt.
+"We'll try to find the owner of the Hawk, though, before
+we call on the police."</p>
+
+<p>An hour later, the boys came into South Chicago along
+a turnpike that passed the rolling mills. A man on a
+motor-cycle was just coming out of a fenced enclosure
+near one of the mills, and Matt halted him for the purpose
+of making a few inquiries. From his looks, the
+man was of some consequence in the steel rail plant, and
+probably was well-informed as to affairs in South Chicago.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know of any one around here that has an
+air-ship?" asked Matt.</p>
+
+<p>The question was something of a novelty, and the man
+laughed as he rested one foot on the ground and balanced
+his motor-cycle upright.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose air-ships will be thicker'n hops, one of these
+days," said he, "but just now they're about as seldom as
+hen's teeth. I understand there are a couple of men here
+who are working at air-ships&mdash;one of them came to the
+mills to see if he couldn't get some aluminum castings.
+He's got a balloon house about a quarter of a mile down
+the road, on the left. Drop in there and maybe you'll
+find the man&mdash;and the ship, too."</p>
+
+<p>Matt thanked the man and followed him slowly as he
+sputtered off into town.</p>
+
+<p>The balloon house, which was plainly visible from the
+road, was a long, high shed, and occupied a solitary position
+in the midst of a marshy field. The doors in one end
+of the shed, arranged in a series and reaching from
+ground to roof peak, were open.</p>
+
+<p>Leaving the automobile at the roadside, the boys
+climbed a fence and made their way across the flat
+ground to the big house. On reaching the opened doors,
+one glance showed them that there was no air-ship in
+the shed.</p>
+
+<p>On the earth floor, along one side of the great room,
+were two or three work benches and a litter of wood
+and metal scraps. There was also, in the farther end of
+the chamber, a number of small tanks, presumably used
+for the manufacture of hydrogen gas. As the boys stood
+in the doorway, two brawny men showed themselves
+from behind these tanks. They wore greasy overclothes
+and their sleeves were rolled up.</p>
+
+<p>"Get out of here!" yelled one of the men. "We don't
+allow any reporters around this shebang."</p>
+
+<p>"We're not reporters," answered Matt, standing his
+ground. "Do you keep an air-ship here?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, that's what this big shed is for."</p>
+
+<p>The two men came closer to the boys, one of them
+filling and lighting a cob pipe as he approached.</p>
+
+<p>"Is the name of it the 'Hawk?'" went on Matt.</p>
+
+<p>"Right again," said the man who had been doing the
+talking.</p>
+
+<p>His eyes were like gimlets, and bored their way into
+Matt through narrow slits.</p>
+
+<p>"Who's the owner of the Hawk?" asked Matt.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm the owner, and my name's Hector Brady. If
+Jerrold has sent you here&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know any one by the name of Jerrold. Who
+is he, and why should he send me here?"</p>
+
+<p>The sharp little eyes continued to study Matt.</p>
+
+<p>"Before I say anything more," answered Brady, "you'd
+better tell me a little about yourself."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know as that's necessary, or&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"You'd know how necessary it is if you were inventing
+machines and trying to keep your appliances a secret.
+I'm not the only man in South Chicago that's perfecting
+an air-ship. A fellow named Jerrold has cut into the
+same game, and he has some one nosing around here a
+good share of the time, trying to get wise to something.
+If Jerrold has sent you here&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"He hasn't," broke in Matt. "I don't know Jerrold
+from Adam."</p>
+
+<p>"What's your name?"</p>
+
+<p>"King, Matt King."</p>
+
+<p>Brady gave a jump.</p>
+
+<p>"You don't mean to say you're the young Western
+phenomenon the Lestrange people have brought to Chicago
+to run in that five-day automobile race that's
+turned on at the Coliseum to-morrow?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm one of their racers," answered Matt. "They have
+four more in the race besides me."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, by thunder!" Brady stood off and regarded
+Matt as though he was a natural curiosity. "Why, you're
+no more than a kid! They had your picture in the
+paper, after that Kansas race, but you're a heap younger
+than I thought. I guess you've forgotten more about
+gasolene-motors than a whole lot of people ever knew."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, it isn't so bad as that. I came here to do you a
+good turn, Mr. Brady, and I can't see the sense of raking
+up my past history. Your air-ship has been stolen, hasn't
+it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Stolen?" Brady gave another startled jump. "Not
+that anybody knows of. Why? What put that in your
+head?"</p>
+
+<p>Matt was "stumped." He looked blankly at Carl and
+found that Carl had turned an equally blank look at him.</p>
+
+<p>"Where is the Hawk now?" queried Matt.</p>
+
+<p>"She went out on a trial spin with three men in the
+car. Expect her back any moment."</p>
+
+<p>There was a shifty look in Brady's face, and he spoke
+in a fashion that aroused Matt's suspicions.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Then the Hawk wasn't stolen and you didn't send
+two men with a horse and buggy to look for her?"
+queried Matt. "We saw the air-ship, but there were
+only a couple of men in the car and the machine was out
+of control. We tried to stop the craft by means of the
+drag-rope, but the rope broke loose and the Hawk got
+away. One of the men on board dropped a roll of papers
+out of his coat-pocket and we picked it up."</p>
+
+<p>Brady looked at the other man. The glances they
+exchanged were significant, and both swore softly.</p>
+
+<p>"Here's a purty kettle o' fish!" growled the fellow
+with the pipe. "What dy'ye s'pose has happened,
+Brady?"</p>
+
+<p>Brady muttered something unintelligible, and whirled
+to Matt with a scowl.</p>
+
+<p>"That roll of papers belongs to me," said he. "Just
+pass 'em over, King."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know whether I ought to give them to you,
+Mr. Brady, or to the police," answered Matt, making no
+move to take the roll from his pocket.</p>
+
+<p>"Police!" exclaimed Brady. "What the blazes are you
+talking about? The fellow on that car was working for
+me, and the papers belong to me."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you ought to be able to identify the roll," proceeded
+Matt, coolly. "What did it contain, Mr. Brady?"</p>
+
+<p>"Just papers."</p>
+
+<p>"Typewritten-papers?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, yes, some of them were typewritten."</p>
+
+<p>"How were they tied up? In a piece of yellow paper?"</p>
+
+<p>"That's it. Hand 'em over. It's queer they got lost
+out of the car in that way, but mighty lucky you picked
+'em up."</p>
+
+<p>"I guess you're thinking of the wrong roll," said
+Matt, coolly. "The one you've described isn't the one
+we found."</p>
+
+<p>"Whether the description is right or wrong, the papers
+are mine, and I'll have 'em!"</p>
+
+<p>Brady, in sudden temper, hurled himself at Matt. The
+other man, taking his cue from Brady, jumped for Carl
+and grabbed him by the arm.</p>
+
+<p>"Hoop-e-la!" tuned up Carl. "Be jeerful, eferypody!
+Here's somet-ing vat ve ditn't oxbect!" And, with that,
+the Dutch boy began struggling and using his fists.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.</a></h2>
+
+<p class="chaptitle">THE KETTLE CONTINUES TO BOIL.</p>
+
+
+<p>Both Matt and Carl were well skilled in the art of
+self-defense. Matt, perhaps, was a shade more adept in
+the use of his fists. Neither of the lads, however, had
+been looking for violence, and the sudden attack of
+Brady and the other man had taken them by surprise.</p>
+
+<p>The two men had plenty of muscle, and Brady was
+desperately determined to secure the roll of papers. The
+very fact that he was using force to accomplish his designs
+proved that he was not entitled to the papers. For
+that reason, Matt was determined to keep them away
+from him at all costs.</p>
+
+<p>"Hold the Dutchman, Pete!" puffed Brady, hanging
+to the collar of Matt's leather coat and trying to get one
+hand into the inside pocket.</p>
+
+<p>"Quiet, Dutchy," threatened Pete, as he and Carl
+swung back and forth across the big shed. "I'll strangle
+ye if ye ain't peaceable. Ye ain't got no sense, roughin'
+things up like&mdash;wow!"</p>
+
+<p>At that instant, Carl landed a telling blow on the point
+of Pete's chin. A bushel of shooting-stars must have
+danced in front of Pete's eyes, for the jolt hurled him
+backward and caused him to claw the air in an attempt
+to keep his balance. He was not more than an instant
+getting the whip-hand of himself, and when he came out
+of his brief daze he was as mad as a hornet.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll kill ye for that!" he yelled, and picked up a heavy
+hammer that lay on the floor.</p>
+
+<p>Pete was between Carl and the open end of the shed;
+he was likewise between Carl and Matt and Brady. The
+struggle had carried Pete and the Dutch boy down
+toward the middle of the balloon house.</p>
+
+<p>Matt, out of the tails of his eyes, saw the dangerous
+position in which Pete's temper was placing Carl. The
+young motorist had been successfully fending off the attempt
+of Brady to get into his coat pocket; now, thinking
+Carl might need him, he undertook more aggressive
+measures.</p>
+
+<p>An empty box, which had evidently been used as a
+seat, stood just within the big door. With a sudden
+lurch, Matt heaved himself against Brady and knocked
+him backward over the box.</p>
+
+<p>As Brady felt himself falling, the instinct to save himself
+caused him to let go of Matt. The instant the young
+motorist found himself with the free use of his fists, he
+let drive at Brady and still further helped him over the
+box.</p>
+
+<p>With a roar of anger, Brady doubled up on the floor.
+Matt whirled and darted for Pete, reaching that scoundrel
+just in time to catch the arm that was whirling the
+heavy hammer.</p>
+
+<p>The hammer was wrenched away, and Matt cast it
+against the wall of the balloon house.</p>
+
+<p>"Cut for it, Carl!" cried Matt. "Run for the road!"</p>
+
+<p>"You bed my life!" wheezed Carl. "Dis blace don'd
+vas gedding fery comfordable."</p>
+
+<p>Brady was picking himself up from the floor as the
+boys rushed past with Pete in hot pursuit.</p>
+
+<p>"Get those papers!" yelled Brady.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll git that Dutch kid if it costs me my life!"
+whooped Pete.</p>
+
+<p>Brady rushed after Pete, and there was a chase across
+the marshy meadow toward the road.</p>
+
+<p>Carl was chunky of build and not nearly so good in a
+sprint as was Matt. Matt was in the lead on the rush
+from the balloon house, but, anticipating that Carl might
+have further trouble with Pete, he slackened his pace.</p>
+
+<p>It was well that he did so. Pete was steadily gaining
+on Carl and would undoubtedly have overtaken him had
+Matt not executed a quick move with an empty salt barrel
+that lay in the line of flight.</p>
+
+<p>At the right moment, Matt rolled the salt barrel in
+front of the enraged Pete. Pete's shins slammed against
+it, then he dropped on it and plowed up the mucky soil
+with the top of his head.</p>
+
+<p>So far as the set-to was concerned, it was settled right
+there, Brady being so far in the rear that the boys were
+able to clear the fence and get into the automobile before
+he could come anywhere near them. As a matter of fact,
+Brady gave up the fight as soon as he had witnessed
+Pete's mishap with the barrel.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>As the two chums glided away toward the more thickly
+settled part of South Chicago, they could look back and
+see Brady assisting the disgruntled Pete to an erect position.
+The barrel had been smashed, and Brady was
+scraping the mud off Pete with one of the staves.</p>
+
+<p>"How you like dot, hey?" gloried Carl, standing up in
+the automobile and shaking his fist. "You vill know pedder
+der next time dan to make some foolishness mit
+Modor Matt und his bard. Yah, yah, yah!"</p>
+
+<p>Carl wanted to be as tantalizing as he could, but the
+automobile was getting too far away. Sinking down in
+the seat beside Matt, the Dutch boy chuckled blithely.</p>
+
+<p>"Dis has peen a pooty fine leedle trip, Matt," he observed,
+"und has peen full oop mit oxcidement oof a
+nofel kindt, yah, so helup me. Dot's vat I like. I'll bed
+my life dose fellers t'ink dey vas fell on mit a brick
+house. Vat's der madder mit Prady, anyvays?"</p>
+
+<p>"There's something queer about that air-ship affair,"
+answered Matt, thoughtfully. "The two men who rode
+past us in that buggy said the pair in the car were
+thieves, but Brady didn't know anything about the
+Hawk's being stolen. Brady said, too, that there ought
+to have been three men in the car instead of two. The
+one who was missing may have been the driver. That
+would account for the poor work the other two were
+making with the engine."</p>
+
+<p>"Ve can make some guesses," said Carl, shaking his
+head, "aber ve don'd know nodding. Dot roll oof bapers
+don'd pelong to Prady. Vell, oof dot's der gase, whose
+bapers vas dey?"</p>
+
+<p>"That's a conundrum."</p>
+
+<p>"Vill you dake dem py der bolice?"</p>
+
+<p>"I've been thinking of that, and I believe I'll talk with
+Mr. Harkrider before I do anything more. He'll tell us
+just what to do, and I'm sure his advice will be good.
+You see, Carl, we're not entitled to the papers any more
+than Brady is, when you come to figure the thing down
+to a fine point. If the fellow who lost them out of the
+car turned up and claimed them, we'd have to give them
+to him."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Harkrider was superintendent for the Lestrange
+Manufacturing Company, the Eastern representatives of
+the Jarrot Automobile Company of St. Louis. Following
+the Borden cup race, in Kansas, Matt had entered the
+services of the Jarrot people, and they had sent him to
+Chicago to take part in the five-day race at the Coliseum.
+While waiting for the race to start, Matt and Carl had
+had the use of any machine they wanted in the Lestrange
+garage, so they had put in their time riding around the
+city and out into the suburbs. That is how they happened
+to be on the road beyond South Chicago at the
+time the Hawk was running away with the two aeronauts.</p>
+
+<p>Unusual experiences always seemed to gravitate toward
+Matt, and this air-ship affair was one of the most novel
+that had ever come his way. What it was leading up to,
+he did not know, but it was evident there was a whole
+lot more to the matter than appeared on the surface.</p>
+
+<p>After a quick and uneventful run into Chicago, Matt
+drove the automobile into the Lestrange garage and
+asked for Mr. Harkrider. To his disappointment, Mr.
+Harkrider had left for the day and would not return to
+the garage until the following morning.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Matt, as he and Carl left the garage and
+proceeded toward their boarding house, "I guess the delay
+won't make much difference. I'll be busy with the
+race to-morrow, but you can take the papers, Carl, and
+do with them whatever Mr. Harkrider advises."</p>
+
+<p>It was nearly supper time, and after the boys had had
+a wash, and a good meal, they went up to their room.</p>
+
+<p>Close to eight o'clock, just as they were getting ready
+for bed, a rap fell on the door. Matt answered the summons
+and found a boy with a telegram.</p>
+
+<p>The young motorist had been receiving a great many
+telegrams, since his Kansas victory, and supposed the
+message must be from some motor-car manufacturer
+who wanted to secure his services.</p>
+
+<p>But he was destined to a surprise.</p>
+
+<p>The telegram had been sent to the Lestrange garage,
+and by the foreman there forwarded to the boarding
+place.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">Matt King</span>, Care Lestrange Company, Chicago:</p>
+
+<p>"Come immediately to twenty-one-naught-nine Hoyne
+Street, South Chicago. Important matter relative to
+runaway air-ship. I will pay your expenses.</p>
+
+<p class="sig">
+"<span class="smcap">Hamilton Jerrold.</span>"<br />
+</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>"More aboudt dot air-ship pitzness," muttered Carl.
+"Who vas dot Jerrold feller?"</p>
+
+<p>"He must be the man that Brady told us about," said
+Matt. "Jerrold seems to be a rival of Brady's, in this
+air-ship matter, and the message looks like a good clue.
+It won't do any harm to follow it up, anyhow."</p>
+
+<p>"Dere iss somet'ing about dot vat I don'd like," demurred
+Carl. "I got some hunches dere iss underhandt
+vork afoot."</p>
+
+<p>"I know there's underhand work going on," said Matt,
+"but we've been rung in on the deal and have got to
+see it through. I'm curious to learn more about the
+affair."</p>
+
+<p>"Meppy dot same curiosidy vill make you some
+drouples," suggested Carl. "You can't haf dot, ven der
+racing iss on do-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>"The Jarrot people have several good men in the five-day
+race, so it won't make much difference if I'm not one
+of the drivers. Anyhow, I don't intend to be all day in
+South Chicago."</p>
+
+<p>"It don'd look righdt for you to go pack dere alone,"
+grumbled Carl. "I vouldn't be easy a minid."</p>
+
+<p>"I am not going alone," laughed Matt. "You're going
+along, Carl."</p>
+
+<p>The Dutch boy brightened at once and had no more
+objections to offer.</p>
+
+<p>"Ach, dot's tifferent! Ve vill shdart ad vonce. How
+ve go? On a pubble?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, we'll take a railroad train. I don't want to go
+fooling with a car at this time of night."</p>
+
+<p>"Is dere a train ve can ketch?"</p>
+
+<p>"Lots of them. South Chicago is a suburb, and we
+can leave here every half hour. We ought to be back
+by midnight."</p>
+
+<p>Without debating the matter further, the boys started
+forthwith.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.</a></h2>
+
+<p class="chaptitle">2109 HOYNE STREET.</p>
+
+
+<p>Hoyne Street was easily found. A number of blast
+furnaces stood so near the house the two chums were
+looking for that the flames from their tall chimneys<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span>
+lighted up the surroundings so brilliantly that they were
+able to read the number over the door.</p>
+
+<p>The house was a two-story frame structure. The gas
+and smoke from the neighboring iron mills had shriveled
+and scorched everything in that part of the town. Even
+by night, and under the glow of the furnaces, Hoyne
+Street had a dismal and dreary appearance.</p>
+
+<p>No. 2109 was set well back from the sidewalk. Two
+branching wings, in front, made the house look like a
+deserted manufacturing plant. This impression was
+heightened by several broken windows.</p>
+
+<p>There were no lights in the windows other than the
+reflected glare from the high chimneys.</p>
+
+<p>"Whoosh!" muttered Carl, as he and Matt came close
+to the front of the house and read the number. "Dot's
+der blace, Matt, aber it don'd look pooty goot to me.
+Der feller vat lifs dere don'd got enough money, I bed
+you, to pay for sending dot delegram. Der hen oof
+drouple iss aboudt to hatch somet'ing."</p>
+
+<p>"It may be," answered Matt, who likewise had a queer
+premonition of trouble, "but we've come this far and I'm
+going to see the thing through. If anything goes wrong
+in that house it will be on account of that roll of blue
+prints. I'll leave the roll with you, Carl, and you can
+stay outside. I won't be in the house more than fifteen
+minutes at most."</p>
+
+<p>"Vell, you look a leedle oudt, Matt, dot's all. Oof
+somet'ing goes wrong mit you, led off a yell und I vill
+come gallywhooping."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think anything will go wrong with me if I
+haven't those papers in my pocket."</p>
+
+<p>Carl shivered.</p>
+
+<p>"Chee, but der leedle fires on der chimneys iss prighdt.
+Somet'ing aboudt dis blace gifs me a creepiness oof der
+skin. Be jeerful, be jeerful! Don'd shday in dere longer
+as den minids, Matt, oder I vas likely to t'row fits."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll come out as soon as I can, Carl," answered Matt.
+"Don't fret. I'm able to take care of myself in a pinch."</p>
+
+<p>"Oof you see der pinch fairst, yah, I bed you! Aber
+oof der pinch come ven you don'd vas looking, den vat?"</p>
+
+<p>Matt laughed as he turned away, climbed a short flight
+of steps and drummed on the front door. He had to rap
+three or four times before his summons was answered.</p>
+
+<p>A light showed itself through a fan-shaped transom
+over the door, and a hand could be heard fumbling with
+a rusty bolt. In a minute or so the door was drawn open
+and a girl stood revealed. She carried a lamp with a
+smoked chimney, and one of her slender hands protected
+the flame from the draft.</p>
+
+<p>She was eighteen or nineteen years old, and, in spite
+of her coarse calico gown, she was extremely pretty. Her
+prettiness, however, was not what impressed Matt. The
+first thing he noticed was that the hand shielding the
+lamp was trembling. Lifting his eyes to the girl's face,
+he observed that she wore a frightened look.</p>
+
+<p>"Does Mr. Jerrold live here?" Matt asked.</p>
+
+<p>The girl stared at him; her lips moved, but no sound
+came through them. Matt repeated the question.</p>
+
+<p>"Y-y-yes," faltered the girl.</p>
+
+<p>"My name's King," answered Matt. "Mr. Jerrold sent
+me a telegram and asked me to come here to-night."</p>
+
+<p>The girl leaned forward eagerly as though she would
+say something. Before she could speak, if she had intended
+to, a sound as of some one moving in the darkness
+behind her, caused her to draw back.</p>
+
+<p>"Please come in," she said breathlessly.</p>
+
+<p>Matt entered the hall. The girl closed the door behind
+him and then, with the lamp shaking in her hand,
+led him into a room off the hall.</p>
+
+<p>The room was evidently a parlor, although its furniture
+was meager and shabby.</p>
+
+<p>"Please sit down," said the girl, placing the lamp on a
+table. "Mr. B&mdash;Mr. Jerrold will be here in a few moments.
+Would you like to read while you're waiting?"</p>
+
+<p>Matt started to decline, but the girl had already picked
+up a book from the table, opened it and was handing it
+to him.</p>
+
+<p>He looked at her in astonishment. From her frightened
+face his eyes fell to the book that was quivering
+in her hand. There was an appeal in her manner which
+caused him to take the book.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you," said he.</p>
+
+<p>The book was opened at the fly leaf. On the leaf was
+written the following:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"You are trapped. I would have warned you, if I
+could, but he would have killed me. Now you are in the
+house, you can't get away. Do whatever you are told to
+do and all will be well. Lay the book back on the table,
+and don't let any one know what you have read here."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Matt was astounded. Trapped! And he had walked
+into the trap with his eyes wide open!</p>
+
+<p>Who was the girl and why had she run the risk to
+warn him? And what good was her warning to do if he
+did not take advantage of it and make his escape?</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Now you are in the house, you can't get away."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>He read those words again, and after he had read
+them he looked about the room curiously. There were
+two windows in the room and they were screened with
+thick curtains. Matt, however, could see no one. If the
+trap had been sprung where were the ones who had
+sprung it?</p>
+
+<p>He realized that if he made an attempt to get out of
+the house now, those who had entrapped him would immediately
+conclude that the girl had given him a warning.
+Thus he would not only fail to get away, but would
+bring punishment upon the girl for her attempt to help
+him.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"Do whatever you are told to do and all will be well."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>He read that over again and made up his mind that
+he would follow the advice. He laid the book back on
+the table, and, just at that moment, the girl re-entered the
+room.</p>
+
+<p>"I have read that book," said he.</p>
+
+<p>"Here's a newspaper," said she.</p>
+
+<p>As she held the paper in front of him she pointed to an
+article, evidently intending that he should read it.</p>
+
+<p>The girl was a mystery to Matt. From her manner
+there was no doubt about her being anxious to do whatever
+she could to shield him.</p>
+
+<p>Leaving the paper in his hands, she walked over to the
+table, opened the book and deftly extracted the fly leaf.
+Then she vanished from the room once more.</p>
+
+<p>Matt drew his chair closer to the table so that he could
+get the full benefit of the dim light.</p>
+
+<p>The first thing he noticed was that the paper was a
+week old. It was a Chicago daily. The column to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span>
+which the girl had called his attention was headed,
+"Burglaries Continue! Astonishing Series of Robberies
+in South Chicago are Still Kept Up! Thieves Make Off
+With Loot and Leave Not a Clue Behind! Police Authorities
+Baffled! Latest Victims Hartz &amp; Greer, Jewelers!"</p>
+
+<p>Here followed an account dealing with a number of
+mysterious burglaries, but Matt, because of the danger in
+which he found himself, did not give the article the
+attention he would otherwise have done.</p>
+
+<p>He did wonder, however, why it was that the girl had
+pointed out the article to him. While he was wondering,
+a step sounded in the hall and a form showed itself in the
+hall door.</p>
+
+<p>The man was Brady!</p>
+
+<p>Matt sprang up. Brady came into the room with an
+easy air and gave vent to a short laugh.</p>
+
+<p>He was quite a different looking man when out of his
+greasy overclothes, but there was no doubting his identity.
+Matt's fist had left a bruise on the side of Brady's
+face, and the spot was covered with a square of court-plaster.</p>
+
+<p>"Surprised?" queried Brady, dropping into a chair.</p>
+
+<p>Before seating himself he was careful to draw the chair
+in front of the hall door.</p>
+
+<p>"Were you the one who sent me that telegram?" asked
+Matt.</p>
+
+<p>"Guilty!" was the chuckling response. "You were expecting
+to meet Jerrold, eh? I was a little in doubt as to
+whether you'd bite at the bait, but took a chance. You're
+a mighty accommodating young fellow, King. Why,
+you came all the way out here, at this time of night, just
+to give Jerrold those papers! Didn't it strike you as being
+a little bit queer that Jerrold should have asked you
+to come and see him when it was his business to go and
+see you? And then, again, how did you think Jerrold
+got hold of your name and address? Oh, well, you've a
+lot to learn yet, my lad."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm learning you pretty fast, Brady," said Matt. "You
+have fooled me, but you've gained nothing by it."</p>
+
+<p>"I think I have," was the other's cool reply.</p>
+
+<p>"You'll not get that bundle of papers."</p>
+
+<p>"No? Haven't you got them with you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I left them where they'd be safe."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you suspected there was something a little off-color
+about that telegram?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Plucky boy! Nevertheless, you dropped into my trap,
+and that's the main thing. Those papers cost me a good
+deal of scheming, and if you were really thoughtful
+enough to leave them in a safe place, I'm mighty sorry."</p>
+
+<p>"You can search me," said Matt, "if you're not willing
+to take my word."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll search you quick enough."</p>
+
+<p>"Then hurry up; I want to get away from here."</p>
+
+<p>"Those papers are not the whole of it," went on Brady.
+"I want to make you a proposition, King. I need a
+motorist for the Hawk, and I think you'd about fill the
+bill. How would five hundred a month strike you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Five thousand a month wouldn't strike me. In the
+first place, Mr. Brady, I don't like your methods and
+wouldn't work for you at any price; and, in the next
+place, I am already in the employ of the Lestrange people."</p>
+
+<p>"You'll work for me all right whether you like my
+methods or not." There was an ugly look in Brady's
+eyes and an ugly note in his voice. "You're just the sort
+of youngster I need, and now that I've got a grip on you
+I don't intend to let you get away."</p>
+
+<p>"It takes two to make that sort of a bargain!"</p>
+
+<p>Matt had edged around toward one of the windows
+with the intention of making a break through the door.</p>
+
+<p>Brady got up.</p>
+
+<p>"What are you waiting for, Pete?" he called.</p>
+
+<p>Matt turned a quick gaze about him, wondering from
+which direction Pete was to appear. Then, quick as a
+lightning flash, the curtain behind him gave way and fell
+in smothering folds over his head and shoulders. Two
+brawny arms encircled him like the jaws of a vise.</p>
+
+<p>He fought with all his strength, and tried to yell to
+Carl. But one effort was as ineffectual as the other.</p>
+
+<p>Pete and Brady had him between them, and he was
+utterly powerless.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.</a></h2>
+
+<p class="chaptitle">CARL INVESTIGATES.</p>
+
+
+<p>Carl hated a "waiting" game. If there was anything
+going on, he liked to be right in the midst of it. On top
+of all this, he was vaguely suspicious of everything connected
+with that telegram.</p>
+
+<p>When Matt went up and knocked on the door of the
+house, Carl was hoping the summons would not be answered;
+but when the door opened, and Matt disappeared
+inside the house, Carl's real worries began.</p>
+
+<p>Pacing back and forth on the walk, the Dutch boy impatiently
+counted the seconds and checked off the minutes.
+No sound came from the building, and, after the
+light had vanished from the hall, not a ray was to be
+seen at any of the windows.</p>
+
+<p>"I t'ink, py shiminy," muttered Carl to himself, "dot
+der fifdeen minids vas oop. Vell, I count off fife more
+schust for goot measure. After dot, oof Matt don'd
+come, I vill make some infestigations."</p>
+
+<p>Owing to the lateness of the hour, and the obscure section
+of the town through which that part of Hoyne
+Street ran, no one passed the front of the house. Carl's
+solitary vigil was not relieved by the sight of any chance
+traveler.</p>
+
+<p>Mentally he checked off another five minutes. During
+the counting he fancied he heard a noise in the house, but
+it was so muffled and indistinct he could not be sure.
+Matt did not show himself, and Carl started his investigations.</p>
+
+<p>His first move was to run up the steps and pound on
+the door. Although he made enough noise to wake the
+entire neighborhood, he couldn't bring anybody to the
+entrance. He tried the knob, but found the door fastened.
+Then he hurled his weight against the door in the hope
+of breaking it in. The door must have been in better
+repair than the rest of the house, for it withstood his
+attack with scarcely a shiver.</p>
+
+<p>Carl's temper was always pretty close to the surface,
+and his failure to get into the house caused him to forget
+his forebodings on Matt's account and to get good
+and mad on his own.</p>
+
+<p>"I vill find Matt oof I haf to preak down a vinder!"
+fumed Carl, jumping down from the steps and starting
+to run around the side of the house.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Hello, there!" shouted a voice most unexpectedly
+from the sidewalk. "What're you up to, hey?"</p>
+
+<p>Carl halted and looked around. In the glow of the
+furnace fires he saw a man standing in front of the
+house.</p>
+
+<p>"Vat iss it your pitzness?" he snapped. "I'm going to
+ged indo dot blace oof I haf to preak holes in it!"</p>
+
+<p>"I'll make it my business, quick enough!" called the
+other. "Come here, and be quick about it."</p>
+
+<p>There was authority in the voice, and the command
+was accompanied by a backward sweep of the hand under
+a long coat. When the hand reappeared, there was a
+glimmering object clutched in the fingers. The light also
+glimmered on two rows of buttons on the speaker's coat.</p>
+
+<p>"Ach, du lieber!" muttered Carl. "You vas an officer,
+hey?"</p>
+
+<p>"Come here, quick!" ordered the man. "Tell me
+where that balloon came from. It seemed to rise from
+around in this vicinity somewhere."</p>
+
+<p>By that time, Carl had reached the walk. The officer
+pointed upward, and Carl's eyes, following the finger,
+saw an air-ship clearly outlined against the glow of the
+blazing chimneys. The cigar-shaped gas-bag and the
+pendent car stood out plainly. The front end of the air-ship
+was pointed upward, and it was vanishing swiftly
+into the night.</p>
+
+<p>"Himmelblitzen!" gasped Carl. "Dot vas der Hawk!
+It must be der Hawk!"</p>
+
+<p>"Hawk, eh?" returned the officer. "What do you
+know about it? The thing seemed to rise up in the air
+from around here."</p>
+
+<p>"Iss dot so?" cried Carl, excitedly. "Vell, I ditn't see
+him, und dot's righdt. I vas drying so hardt as anyt'ing
+to ged indo der house."</p>
+
+<p>"I heard you tryin' to break in the door. Don't you
+know it's against the law to do that?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don'd care for der law! My bard vent indo dot
+house und left me to vait. Ven I vait plendy long enough
+for him und he don'd come, den I make some infestigations.
+No vone answers my knock on der door, und for
+vy iss dot?"</p>
+
+<p>"You say a friend of yours is in the house?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sure! Don'd I vas delling you?"</p>
+
+<p>"When did he go in?"</p>
+
+<p>"Haluf oof an hour ago&mdash;all oof dot."</p>
+
+<p>The officer began questioning Carl and got from him
+pretty near the whole of the affair&mdash;Matt's name and occupation,
+the experience with the air-ship in the early
+part of the afternoon, nearly everything concerning the
+roll of papers, the receipt of the telegram, and the night
+visit of the boys to South Chicago.</p>
+
+<p>This policeman was an intelligent member of the force,
+and he at once concluded that here was a matter which
+called for official investigation.</p>
+
+<p>"We'll get into the house and find out about your
+friend," said he. "Your yarn is a queer one, but has the
+true ring, and it's evident there's shady work of some
+kind going on."</p>
+
+<p>"Shaty vork? Vell, you bed you! Vere iss Matt?
+Dot's vat I vand to know vorse as anyt'ing else. I ditn't
+vant him to go in dere, anyvay, aber ven he makes oop
+his mindt to do somet'ing, den it vas as goot as done
+und vat I say don'd cut some ice."</p>
+
+<p>"If he's in there we'll get him," said the officer, decidedly.</p>
+
+<p>As a preliminary to more drastic operations, he went
+up to the door and pounded on it with his night-stick.
+The summons, although several times repeated, was not
+answered. Thereupon the policeman and Carl, throwing
+their united weight upon the door, burst the bolt from
+its fastenings and tumbled into the hall.</p>
+
+<p>The darkness of the interior was relieved only by the
+glare of the furnaces coming in at the transom. Silence
+reigned everywhere.</p>
+
+<p>"I don'd like der looks oof t'ings," muttered Carl, forebodingly.
+"Dere don'd vas anypody ad home now, aber
+ven Matt come in dere vas plendy oof people here. Vat
+toes it mean, officer?"</p>
+
+<p>"We'll try and find out what it means."</p>
+
+<p>There was an electric dark lantern at the policeman's
+belt. Taking the lantern in his hand he switched on the
+light and sent a bright gleam into every nook and corner
+of the hall.</p>
+
+<p>No sign of Matt, nor of any of the occupants of the
+house, was revealed. There were only two or three
+rooms furnished on the lower floor, and none at all on
+the floor above. Every part of the house was searched,
+and the last place of all to pass under the policeman's
+and Carl's scrutiny was the shallow basement.</p>
+
+<p>It was evident to both searchers that people had been
+in the house up to a very recent moment, for in one of
+the first-floor rooms there remained an odor of tobacco
+smoke, but there was no living person anywhere in evidence.</p>
+
+<p>"Don'd dot peat ter tickens?" murmured Carl. "Matt
+come in der front door, und he ditn't come oudt oof it.
+Oof he vas daken away it must haf peen py der pack oof
+der house. Meppy ve pedder haf a look ad der pack
+yardt?"</p>
+
+<p>"Wait a minute," answered the officer.</p>
+
+<p>Bending down he picked some object off the floor and
+examined it under the rays of the lantern. An exclamation
+of surprise and wonder fell from his lips.</p>
+
+<p>"Vat it iss?" queried Carl.</p>
+
+<p>"Here's the biggest kind of a find!" was the response.
+"Thunder! this must be my lucky night."</p>
+
+<p>"How you figger dot?"</p>
+
+<p>"This is a canvas bag."</p>
+
+<p>"Yah, I see dot, aber it ditn't pelong by Matt und it
+don'd dell us nodding aboudt vere he vas."</p>
+
+<p>"It's marked 'Hartz &amp; Greer, Jewelers,'" went on the
+policeman, his voice shaking with excitement. "That's
+a firm doing business right here in South Chicago, and
+their store was burglarized mysteriously a little more
+than a week ago. Some fifteen thousand dollars' worth
+of jewelry and diamonds were taken, and this," the officer
+shook the canvas bag, "<i>this</i> is the first clue any one
+has found to the robbers!"</p>
+
+<p>"Shiminy Grismus!" muttered Carl. "Dis must haf
+peen der blace vere der t'ieves hat deir hang-oudt. Aber
+dot don'd got some interest for me. Vat I vant to know
+iss, vere iss Modor Matt? Dis pitzness iss gedding on
+my nerfs aboudt like dot odder time ven he tissabeared
+schust pefore der cup race. Shtick der pag in your
+bocket, officer, und led's haf some looks at der pack
+yardt."</p>
+
+<p>The policeman, now wrapped heart and soul in the
+hunt, put the bag away in the breast of his coat.</p>
+
+<p>The door leading into the back yard, as they had already
+discovered, was unlocked. The rear premises
+were enclosed by a high board fence, and the beacons<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span>
+that capped the neighboring chimneys lighted the enclosure
+sufficiently so that the lantern was not needed.</p>
+
+<p>There was a very perceptible odor of gasolene in the
+back yard. The moment Carl sniffed it, he gave vent to
+a stifled yell and grabbed the policeman's arm with both
+hands.</p>
+
+<p>"What's to pay now?" demanded the policeman.</p>
+
+<p>"Der air-ship!" gasped Carl.</p>
+
+<p>The officer threw a startled look at the sky.</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, it ain'd oop dere," went on Carl. "It vas in
+dis pack yardt&mdash;yah, so helup me! Der gasolene used in
+der modor make der shmell. Don'd you ondershtand?
+Dey filled der tank here, und shpilled some oof der gasolene!
+Dose fellers haf run off from dis blace mit Matt,
+und dey have dook him along. Ach, himmelblitzen, vat
+a luck!"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII.</a></h2>
+
+<p class="chaptitle">JERROLD, BRADY'S RIVAL.</p>
+
+
+<p>"Thunder!" cried the policeman, catching the Dutch
+boy's drift, "you're right, as sure as my name is Sam
+Harris! Your friend went off in that air-ship."</p>
+
+<p>"He ditn't vent," protested Carl, in a temper, "he vas
+dook."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, he was carried off in the thing, no matter
+whether he went of his own free will or was taken by
+force. If we each of us had a pair of wings we might
+follow the flyin' machine, but we ain't got 'em, so we'll
+have to do what we can on the ground."</p>
+
+<p>"Dere iss a palloon house oudt on der roadt py der
+rolling mills," suggested Carl. "Meppy der Hawk vas
+dere. Dot's vere Prady keeps him ven he ain'd sky-hootin'
+t'roo der clouds. Meppy ve go und take a look
+at der palloon house, eh?"</p>
+
+<p>"I know the place, and it won't do any harm to go
+there and look&mdash;but the fellow who ran off with your
+friend would be foolish to drop down there."</p>
+
+<p>"Vell, foolish or nod, ve look efery blace vat ve can."</p>
+
+<p>The balloon house was not a great way from that part
+of Hoyne Street, and Harris and Carl reached it after a
+cross-lots walk of five minutes.</p>
+
+<p>They found the great doors open, but there was no
+air-ship in the place and no one on watch around it.
+Furthermore, an examination of the interior showed that
+an extensive clean-up had been made of the various tools
+which Matt and Carl had seen in the place during the
+afternoon. Everything of value had been removed.</p>
+
+<p>Carl explained all this for the officer's benefit.</p>
+
+<p>"It's a cinch the owner of the air-ship has changed his
+headquarters," commented Harris. "Brady, you say, the
+fellow's name is? Well, he's an inventor. One of his
+inventions is a patent 'jimmy'&mdash;which, of course, he
+wouldn't dare to patent. We've been watching his air-ship
+operations, here in South Chicago, but they seemed
+straight and legitimate enough."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know dot feller, Hamildon Jerrold?" asked
+Carl.</p>
+
+<p>"Sure, I know him. He's all right, Jerrold is, although
+everybody looks on him as a harmless sort of crank."</p>
+
+<p>"He don'd lif in dot blace vere der chimney fires iss?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; he hangs out in a different part of town."</p>
+
+<p>"Den, you see, it vas a put-oop chob all aroundt. It
+vas Prady, I bed you, vat sendt dot delegram, got Matt
+in a drap, und den flew off mit him in der Hawk. Meppy
+ve make a call on Jerrold?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'll call up the department and report," said Harris,
+"so they can send another man on my beat while I'm
+fooling around on this case."</p>
+
+<p>They hurried back into town and the officer unlocked
+one of the lamp-post boxes and reported to headquarters.</p>
+
+<p>"All right," said he as he rejoined Carl. "Now we'll
+put in the rest of the night, if we have to. If Brady has
+had a hand in the robberies that have been going on here,
+this is liable to be good and profitable work for me."</p>
+
+<p>Jerrold lived almost a mile from the place where Harris
+had done his telephoning. He had a large, rambling
+old house set far back in a dense mass of trees and
+shrubbery.</p>
+
+<p>"He's a good deal of a hermit," explained Harris, as
+he and Carl proceeded along the walk to the front door.
+"A harmless old skate, but he's pretty broad between the
+eyes, at that."</p>
+
+<p>It was after midnight, and, as might be supposed, the
+house was dark. A knock on the door brought a night-capped
+head from an upper window.</p>
+
+<p>"Who's down there?" demanded a voice. "Is it you,
+Payne?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, Mr. Jerrold," answered Harris, "it's a police officer.
+I've come to see you on important business."</p>
+
+<p>"Have you found the Hawk?" cried Jerrold; "did you
+get back the plans those rascals stole from me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Come down and let us in," said the officer. "We want
+to talk with you."</p>
+
+<p>"Wait a minute."</p>
+
+<p>The head was withdrawn and the window dropped. A
+little while later, the front door opened and Jerrold
+showed himself, carrying a candle. Carl recognized him
+as one of the two men who had been pursuing the Hawk
+in the buggy.</p>
+
+<p>"Don'd you know me, Misder Jerrold?" asked Carl.</p>
+
+<p>The inventor stared at him and shook his head.
+Thereupon Carl explained where and when they had met.
+Jerrold's brows wrinkled in a frown.</p>
+
+<p>Leading his callers into a small sitting room he asked
+them to sit down.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you know about this fellow Brady, Jerrold?"
+asked Harris, by way of getting at the business in hand.</p>
+
+<p>"I know he's a scoundrel!" declared Jerrold with emphasis.
+"He's a good mechanic, though, and in spite of
+his shady record I took him on here to help me build my
+air-ship, the Eagle. After he had been with me for a
+while, I found he was stealing my ideas and building an
+air-ship of his own. Then I discharged him. Since then
+he's been attending to his own operations and I have
+been attending to mine. There are several important
+points about my machine, though, which Brady has been
+anxious to discover. He has tried to bribe Payne, the
+man who works for me, to give up a set of my blue
+prints, and he has tried to get them in other underhand
+ways. At about eleven o'clock, yesterday, three of
+Brady's men tried out-and-out robbery. That safe was
+forced"&mdash;Jerrold pointed to a small steel safe in one corner
+of the room&mdash;"and the roll of blue prints taken out.
+Payne and I were in the workshop at the time. We
+had just put the finishing touches to the Eagle and were
+inflating the bag for a trial. I heard a suspicious sound
+from the house and ran into this room. One of the
+thieves had just cleared an open window, another was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span>
+getting out and the third was making ready to go. I
+had a wrench in my hand and I hurled it at the man in
+the room. He dropped without a groan. Payne came,
+just then, and we went after the other two. Brady's
+air-ship was waiting for them in the rear of the house,
+and the two robbers got into it and were away before we
+could catch them. Payne and I got a horse and buggy,
+as quick as we could, but by that time the air-ship was
+no more than a speck in the sky, off to the south. We
+followed, keeping the course the air-ship had taken. The
+men aboard didn't seem to know how to handle the craft
+very well, and I was hoping some accident would happen,
+that the craft would come down and that I would be
+able to get back my blue prints."</p>
+
+<p>Jerrold halted for a little, his face flaming with anger
+and indignation.</p>
+
+<p>"I haven't my patents, yet," he went on, in a few moments,
+"and haven't even been able to establish a caveat,
+so, you see, if Brady should get ahead of me at the
+patent office he would snatch a fortune out of my hands.
+For," and here the inventor threw back his head with
+laudable pride, "I claim to have invented an air-ship
+that can be used for commercial purposes&mdash;the first machine
+of the kind that will successfully navigate the air
+against the strongest wind that blows. But if that scoundrel
+Brady takes from me the fruits of my toil, I shall
+be ruined!"</p>
+
+<p>Jerrold's body slumped forward in his chair, and he
+crouched there in an attitude of extreme dejection.</p>
+
+<p>"Where's the fellow you knocked down with the
+wrench?" asked Harris, his professional mind dealing
+with the more practicable aspects of the case.</p>
+
+<p>"When Payne and I got back to the room, after pursuing
+the other two rascals to the Hawk," answered
+Jerrold, "the man had vanished. I suppose he recovered
+from the effects of the blow and took himself off."</p>
+
+<p>"He vas der feller vat drove der modor in der Hawk,"
+explained Carl, "und ven he vas pud down und oudt, der
+odder fellers made poor vork oof triving der machine.
+Aber dot ain'd vat I got on my mindt, schust now."
+Carl pulled the roll of blue prints from his pocket. "Dere,
+Misder Jerrold," said he, "iss vat you lost. Take it mit
+der gombliments oof Modor Matt&mdash;my bard who iss
+gone I don'd know vere. Oof you hat shtopped a leedle
+in der puggy, und toldt us vat I haf heardt schust now,
+den, by shinks, you vould haf got der bapers pack a long
+dime ago."</p>
+
+<p>A cry of delight broke from Jerrold's lips. For a moment
+he stared at the roll, then swooped down on it with
+both hands, caught it away from Carl and began removing
+the wrapper with trembling fingers.</p>
+
+<p>"Here they are, here they are," he crooned joyfully,
+pawing the blue prints over and counting them, one by
+one; "they're all here, and&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>He stopped short and stared blankly at the envelope,
+which had fallen out of the blue-prints and dropped on
+the carpet.</p>
+
+<p>"What's that?" asked Harris.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know," replied Jerrold; "it's nothing of mine
+and wasn't in the safe, to my recollection, at the time
+the blue prints were taken."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, it may be yours, for all that. If it was in the
+roll, it stands to reason it must have been in the safe.
+Better open it. Probably you can tell from the contents
+whether it is yours or not."</p>
+
+<p>Harris picked up the envelope and handed it to Jerrold.
+The latter took it from him with a puzzled expression
+on his face.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm pretty sure this isn't mine," said he, turning the
+envelope over and over.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you've got to be absolutely sure," returned Harris.</p>
+
+<p>Jerrold, thus urged, tore open the envelope, drew out
+the sheet and cast his eyes over it.</p>
+
+<p>"No," he declared, "it doesn't belong to me. The
+thieves must have put it in with the blue prints."</p>
+
+<p>"Let's have a look at it," said the officer.</p>
+
+<p>Drawing closer to the candle, Harris proceeded to read
+the letter. While he read, his face brightened and a look
+of surprise and exultation rose in his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Another clue, and a hot one!" he cried. He whirled
+on Carl. "With this as a guide," he went on, "it's dollars
+to doughnuts we can trace your friend and get him
+away from that scoundrel, Brady!"</p>
+
+<p>"Ach, vat a habbiness!" expanded Carl. "Readt it
+oudt to me, Harris, und be kevick ad it."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII.</a></h2>
+
+<p class="chaptitle">JERROLD'S GRATITUDE.</p>
+
+
+<p>"The letter," explained Harris, "was written by Brady,
+and was evidently entrusted to the men in the Hawk for
+delivery to some one else. It's full of pointers, and a
+slicker bit of evidence it would be hard to find. And to
+think how it dropped into the hands of Motor Matt!
+The whole affair sounds like a 'pipe.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Tell me about that!" cried Jerrold, his shock of joy
+having passed and left him leisure for other things.
+"Who is this Motor Matt, and how did he happen to get
+hold of the blue prints?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ve vill go ofer dot lader, Misder Jerrold," said Carl,
+impatiently. "Schust now, dough, I vant to hear vat der
+ledder say. Readt him oudt, Harris! I vas so uneasy
+ofer it I don'd vas aple to sit shdill."</p>
+
+<p>"It's addressed to a man called Whipple," went on
+Harris, "and here's the way it runs:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>"'Grove, Needham and Harper, with one of my improved
+jimmies, are going to make another try for those
+blue prints of Jerrold's. If they get them&mdash;and I think
+they can, for our plans are well laid&mdash;they'll carry the
+papers to Willoughby's swamp in the Hawk and leave
+them with you. We will quit our operations in South
+Chicago, clean out the balloon house (I have already sold
+the building for old lumber) and make our future headquarters
+in the swamp. It will be safer there. After
+we improve the Hawk according to Jerrold's plans, we
+will have a ship in which we can go anywhere, and with
+which we can do anything. All we need is a competent
+motorist&mdash;Harper's good enough for an amateur, but we
+need a professional. I'll try and bring one with me, when
+I come. Meanwhile, until I show up at the swamp, I
+want you to take good care of the blue prints.</p>
+
+<p class="sig">
+"'H. B.'"<br />
+</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>A great light dawned on Carl during the reading of
+the letter&mdash;a light so strong that it left him blinking.</p>
+
+<p>"Py chimineddy," he gurgled, "I know now vy dot<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span>
+Prady run off mit Matt! He say in der ledder dot he
+vants some brofessional to run dot air-ship. Vell, Matt
+knows more as anypody aboudt modors, und so Prady
+dook him off. Vat a high-hantet pitzness! Und Prady
+has captured a hornet oof he dit pud know it! He vill
+t'ink he has a handtful ven he dries to make Matt vork
+for him."</p>
+
+<p>"From this," proceeded Harris, waving the letter, "it
+seems that Brady had already laid his plans to quit
+South Chicago. In the letter, over his own signature,
+he admits sending three of his men to steal the blue
+prints. By a chance, and owing to the course of events
+in keeping the driver of the air-ship from getting away
+with the other two thieves, this roll and the letter dropped
+into the hands of Motor Matt. Undoubtedly, Motor
+Matt has been taken to Willoughby's swamp."</p>
+
+<p>"Und vere iss dot?" asked Carl.</p>
+
+<p>"I know about the swamp," went on Harris, "for I
+helped some Chicago officers run down a couple of escaped
+prisoners there, once. It's a bad hole, but there is
+a sort of island in the middle of it that has been the resort
+of criminals for a good many years. To get through
+the water, and mud, and tangled bushes to the island is
+a hard job for any one who has to go on foot. Still, it
+can be done. Brady and his men, of course, can use the
+Hawk, and all they have to do is to sail through the air
+and drop down where they want to go. The difficulties
+of the swamp won't bother them at all. The place is
+about four miles from Lake Station, Indiana."</p>
+
+<p>"Vell," said Carl, eagerly, "led's go dere. Der kevicker
+vat ve go, der kevicker vat ve can helup Matt. He iss
+my bard, und he needs me now."</p>
+
+<p>The Dutch boy got up and started for the door.
+Bounding from his chair, Jerrold overtook him and
+grabbed his arm.</p>
+
+<p>"Wait!" he commanded, "I've only got a faint grasp
+of the situation, but from what I can figure out you're
+going to need me. First, though, I want to hear all
+about this Motor Matt. He has done a whole lot for
+Hamilton Jerrold, and Jerrold is a man who always tries
+to pay his debts. Tell me how the blue prints got into
+the hands of Motor Matt."</p>
+
+<p>"Aber ve vas in a hurry!" cried Carl. "Villoughpy's
+svamp iss a goot vays off, und&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"You'll save time in the end by losing a little here and
+now," averred Jerrold, drawing Carl to a chair and pushing
+him down into it. "Go on! Give me the whole of it,
+between you, and be quick."</p>
+
+<p>There was a compelling note in the inventor's words
+and manner, that demanded attention. Carl yielded and
+struck into an explanation of the events of the preceding
+afternoon. Whenever his impatience led him to skip any
+of the details, Harris, who recognized the advantage of
+letting Jerrold know everything, picked up the ignored
+detail and made Carl go over it.</p>
+
+<p>Jerrold's interest and excitement increased as he listened.
+When Carl described how he and Matt had
+fought with Brady and Pete at the balloon house and
+kept them from getting the blue prints, Jerrold clapped
+his hands and shouted "Bravo!" And when Carl told
+of the bogus telegram that had brought the boys to South
+Chicago, Jerrold's face clouded with indignation and
+anger.</p>
+
+<p>"Motor Matt," declared Jerrold, when Carl had finally
+finished, "has done a lot for me, and he's going to find
+that Hamilton Jerrold knows how to be grateful. I
+agree with Harris that there is hardly a doubt but that
+Brady has taken young King to Willoughby's swamp.
+Brady wants the young motorist for the Hawk, and intends
+to have him, whether or no. According to Harris,
+the swamp's a difficult place to get at for those not
+equipped with an air-ship. That's where I come in.
+This way, friends!"</p>
+
+<p>With that, the inventor caught up his candle and led
+the way through the house and out at a back door.</p>
+
+<p>By then it was nearly three o'clock, and the very
+darkest part of the night. A gust of wind blew out the
+candle, which had been about as effective as a glow-worm,
+and the three were left at the foot of the rear
+steps staring at a fluttering expanse of canvas.</p>
+
+<p>The canvas formed a sort of V-shaped tent, long and
+high and secured with many guy-ropes. Because of the
+darkness it was difficult to get any kind of an idea as to
+the size of the tent, but that was a minor point.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll have to get a lantern," said Jerrold. "Wait a
+minute."</p>
+
+<p>"I've got a dark lantern, Jerrold," interposed Harris,
+"and I guess that will do."</p>
+
+<p>"Fine!" exclaimed Jerrold, as Harris switched on the
+current and swung the beam of light around him. "This
+way," the inventor added, and ducked through the end
+of the tent.</p>
+
+<p>In the gloomy interior a weird sight was disclosed&mdash;something
+so new and novel as to send an uncanny sensation
+along the nerves of Carl and Harris.</p>
+
+<p>Here was another cigar-shaped gas-bag, and another
+suspended car. The car itself was stationary, but the
+bag, because of the drafts that surged through the tent,
+was bobbing and swaying like some monster, anxious to
+be unleashed.</p>
+
+<p>The flickering gleam from the dark lantern could only
+disclose a part of the air-ship at a time.</p>
+
+<p>"Ach," muttered Carl, "dot makes my nerfs shake
+und shake like anyt'ing. Sooch a horrible t'ing vat it
+iss!"</p>
+
+<p>"That's because you're not familiar with such a craft,"
+said Jerrold. "Payne and I have worked over it for
+years, and only yesterday saw the completion of our
+labors. It was six o'clock last night before the bag was
+fully inflated. We had to use common illuminating-gas,
+too, and the not more buoyant hydrogen. I have called
+the air-ship the 'Eagle,' and if you sweep that light along
+the side of the bag you will see the name."</p>
+
+<p>This was a bit of byplay that took time and was utterly
+needless, but a great pride throbbed in the inventor's
+words, and even the smallest detail of the air-ship was
+fraught with the utmost importance to him.</p>
+
+<p>"Everything about the craft," Jerrold went on, "is of
+the very best. The motor is the lightest, strongest and
+most powerful ever constructed. The car will carry half
+a dozen, easily. Sand-bags are suspended from each end
+of the gas-bag. When I pull in the sand-bag at the
+front end, the equilibrium is displaced, the bag points
+upward, and the propeller forces the air-ship to rise. So,
+when I wish to descend, I pull in the sand-bag at the rear
+point of the bag. When both bags are hanging loose,
+the Eagle swims in the air on an even keel. Now, the
+steering rudder, which also helps in maneuvering the ship,
+is a little idea of my own and&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Ach, hang der shdeering rutter!" broke in Carl, impatiently.
+"Harris und I haf got to go afder Matt und<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span>
+ve can't vait aroundt here any longer. Ve haf got to go
+py dot svamp, und&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Exactly!" broke in the inventor. "The Eagle, fully
+inflated and with a tank full of gasoline, is waiting for
+a trial spin in the morning. I have the honor to propose
+that we use the craft now, proceed to Willoughby's
+swamp and rescue Motor Matt. That will save time, and
+a whole lot of hardships in forcing your way through
+mud and water and tangled brush in order to reach the
+island."</p>
+
+<p>Harris had already gathered the inventor's idea, even
+before he began putting it into words; Carl, however,
+had not anticipated the suggestion, and he was dazed
+by it.</p>
+
+<p>"You mean to dake us py der svamp in der Eagle?" he
+asked, in some trepidation.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Ach, himmel! I nefer rode mit a air-ship. Vill I be
+seasick py it?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think so. You see, I have never navigated
+an air-ship myself, but I'll bank on the Eagle doing its
+work. I can run the engine."</p>
+
+<p>"Vat oof it shouldt durn oopside town mit us vile ve
+vas a mile in der air?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'll guarantee it won't do that."</p>
+
+<p>"Vell, vedder or nod," said Carl, "I am going afder
+my bard. Oof der tangers vas greadt, I take dem; und
+oof dey vasn't so greadt, den I take dem, too. Matt
+vouldt do more as dot for me, yah, I bed you!"</p>
+
+<p>Harris was also afflicted with doubts.</p>
+
+<p>"The ground has always been good enough for me,
+Jerrold," said he, "and whenever I get my feet off it
+and go up any distance I have a bad case of vertigo. If
+I should get dizzy and fall off the car&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"You won't," interrupted the inventor; "people never
+get dizzy in balloons."</p>
+
+<p>"You're sure it won't tip over and spill us out?"</p>
+
+<p>"Positive."</p>
+
+<p>"You don't know much about it yourself, you know,
+having never been up in it."</p>
+
+<p>"That scoundrel, Brady, has used the Hawk with fair
+success, and the Hawk is modeled on the same lines as
+the Eagle, only the Eagle has improvements which Brady
+was not able to get hold of and put on his own machine.
+Shall we go to the rescue of Motor Matt? Come, my
+friends, time is flying."</p>
+
+<p>"Und ve ought to be flying, too," said Carl, now eager
+to make the ascension.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll take a chance," observed Harris.</p>
+
+<p>"Good!" applauded Jerrold.</p>
+
+<p>The next moment he had vanished in the darkness and
+could be heard pulling at some ropes. In less than a
+minute the entire top of the tent fell away, revealing the
+stars.</p>
+
+<p>"Get into the car," said Jerrold, "there, just forward
+of the driver's seat."</p>
+
+<p>With the aid of his lantern Harris picked out the place
+where he and Carl were to stow themselves, and they
+climbed into the car as directed.</p>
+
+<p>Immediately after that, Jerrold got over the rail and
+took his seat at the levers. It was impossible to see just
+what he was doing, but the clank of a lever came from
+his vicinity and slowly the front of the gas-bag began
+to point upward.</p>
+
+<p>"Now we're ready," called the inventor.</p>
+
+<p>The popping of a motor began and gradually gathered
+into a swift murmur.</p>
+
+<p>"And now we're off," added Jerrold. "Stay right
+where you are and don't change your positions unless I
+tell you."</p>
+
+<p>The whir of the propeller started, and the house and
+shrubbery began slipping away from under those in the
+car.</p>
+
+<p>"Ach, du lieber!" gasped Carl. "Der eart' vas falling
+avay from us. I vill say my brayers forvarts, packvarts
+und sidevays, oof it vill helup any."</p>
+
+<p>"I've got a bad case of rattles, myself," admitted Harris.
+"But it's for your pard, my boy."</p>
+
+<p>"You bed my life!" returned Carl, "aber I never dit
+anyt'ing pefore for dot bard oof mine dot dook so mooch
+nerf as vat dis toes. I vill shud my eyes, und you dell
+me, blease, ven ve reach der svamp!"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX.</a></h2>
+
+<p class="chaptitle">ABOARD THE HAWK.</p>
+
+
+<p>Taken at a disadvantage and with two brawny ruffians
+ranged against him, Motor Matt was unable to make any
+defense. As he lay on the floor, head and shoulders
+still swathed in the window-curtain, one of his antagonists
+held him while the other bound his hands and feet
+with a rope. He was then lifted and carried for some
+distance. Naturally he could have no idea where or in
+what direction he was being carried.</p>
+
+<p>A few steps were descended and he heard a door softly
+closed. The cool air of outdoors laved his hands&mdash;he was
+sensible of that, although the hot stuffiness of the curtain
+prevented the night air from reaching his face.</p>
+
+<p>He was lifted over something, he did not know what,
+and laid down in cramped quarters. A conversation was
+going on around him, but in tones so low he was not
+able to distinguish the words. He fancied that he heard
+the girl's voice, although his head was so muffled he
+could not be sure.</p>
+
+<p>Presently the unmistakable explosions of a motor came
+to him.</p>
+
+<p>"Brady is taking me away somewhere in an automobile,"
+he thought, and wondered where Carl was that he
+could not see the machine.</p>
+
+<p>A moment later he felt a gentle, swaying motion as
+though he was being gently swung in a hammock.</p>
+
+<p>Several minutes passed, and then Brady's voice spoke,
+in a tone so loud that Matt was able to hear what he
+said.</p>
+
+<p>"Take the curtain off his head, Pete, and untie him.
+It's time he took hold here. Keep your revolver handy
+for use in case he gets obstreperous. He's full of ginger
+and will have to be tamed."</p>
+
+<p>Matt felt some one working at his cords. They were
+stripped away quickly, and the curtain whisked from his
+head. He jumped up, the floor under him swinging with
+the quick move and almost upsetting him.</p>
+
+<p>"Careful, there!" warned Brady. "Where do you think
+you are, anyhow?"</p>
+
+<p>Matt was dumfounded. Overhead was the long gas-bag
+of the Hawk. In front of him, at the mechanism of
+the machine, sat a dusky form which he recognized as
+belonging to Brady. Brady's hands were on the levers.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>With a shout of anger Matt jumped toward Brady,
+the car lurching and swaying with his frantic movements.</p>
+
+<p>"Stand where ye are!" came the husky, threatening
+voice of Pete, from behind. "Do as I tell ye, King, or
+I'll shoot."</p>
+
+<p>Matt turned around. Standing with his back braced
+against an upright timber that held the car to the oval
+ring under the gas-bag was Brady's burly assistant. He
+held a dark object in his hand and Matt knew it must
+be a revolver.</p>
+
+<p>"Where are you taking me?" demanded Matt.</p>
+
+<p>"Turn around this way," said Brady. "Now that you
+know what'll happen to you if you get too hostile, maybe
+we can have a bit of a talk together."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't shoot!" implored a feminine voice; "I don't
+want to have any shooting, dad!"</p>
+
+<p>The voice came from a bundle on the floor, close to
+where Pete was standing. By looking sharply, Matt was
+able to see a white, ghost-like face hovering against the
+rail.</p>
+
+<p>The girl had been brought along with them! Matt
+was glad, for her sake, that he had not got into a rough-and-tumble
+with Brady.</p>
+
+<p>Without seeming to pay the girl more than passing attention,
+the young motorist turned toward the man in the
+chair.</p>
+
+<p>"Well?" said he, crisply. "What have you got to say
+about this, Brady? I guess you could be arrested for
+what you've done, all right."</p>
+
+<p>Brady laughed.</p>
+
+<p>"How's a policeman coming up here to get at me?"
+he asked. "An air-ship is a great thing for a fellow
+who wants to turn a few tricks in spite of the law."</p>
+
+<p>"That's your game, is it? Well, what have you to gain
+by running off with me? I told you I didn't have that
+roll of papers."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm out the blue prints, but I'm in a good motorist.
+I'll not be able to improve the Hawk according to Jerrold's
+plans, but I guess I've got hold of a driver that's
+good enough to make up for most of the improvements."</p>
+
+<p>"If you think I'm going to drive this car for you,"
+said Matt, "you're away off in your calculations."</p>
+
+<p>"That's what you think now, but you'll change your
+tune before long," said Brady, easily. "I know this air-ship
+pretty well, and I installed the motor. All it needed
+for that was a good machinist and a good inventor. I'm
+not a good driver, though, and I've picked you for the
+job. The offer I made back at the house goes. Five
+hundred a month. Pretty good pay, eh, for a boy of
+your age?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't care how much you offer, Brady. As I have
+already told you, no amount of money could hire me to
+work for you. You're a scoundrel, clear through. What
+you've done to-night proves it.</p>
+
+<p>"Bear a little to the left, Brady!" called Pete, who was
+evidently on the lookout. "You're getting too far to the
+north."</p>
+
+<p>Brady moved one of the levers, and the ease and certainty
+with which the air-ship swung to the new direction
+brought Matt's admiration uppermost. Never had he
+been able to resist the lure of untried machinery, and
+here was an experience so novel that it carried him out
+of his troubled environment, so to speak. For a moment,
+suspended in that starlit void and swimming noiselessly
+through the night, he yielded himself to the fascinations
+of the new experience.</p>
+
+<p>"How powerful a motor have you?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Ten horse-power," answered Brady, "and it weighs
+forty pounds."</p>
+
+<p>"How do you steer the machine up and down, and
+right and left?"</p>
+
+<p>"That's where I've got the bulge on Jerrold. One
+rudder with two cross-section planes does all of that.
+This lever here&mdash;I don't know whether you can see it or
+not from where you stand&mdash;gives the up and down 'dip'
+to the rudder that makes the machine rise or fall. By
+moving the lever right or left, the air-ship turns in the
+corresponding direction."</p>
+
+<p>"Take me back," ordered Matt, "and land me at the
+place where you took me from."</p>
+
+<p>"You've got a picture of me doing that!" scoffed
+Brady. "Now that I've caught you, I'm going to keep
+you, see? You're just the sort of a lad I need in my
+business. Grove and Needham, when they finally got
+back to South Chicago with the air-ship, told me all
+about you. If I'd known what I do now at the time
+you called at the balloon house, I'd have taken a different
+tack."</p>
+
+<p>A muttered imprecation came from Pete. He was
+thinking of his fall over the barrel.</p>
+
+<p>"Those fellows got back without breaking their necks,
+did they?" queried Matt.</p>
+
+<p>"Just about. When they told me what had happened,
+I sent off that telegram."</p>
+
+<p>"We might just as well look this thing square in the
+face, Brady," said Matt. "You've acted the part of a
+scoundrel in your dealings with me, and you haven't
+gained anything by it. If you don't turn back and put
+me down in South Chicago, I'll make more trouble for
+you than you can well take care of."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll take my chances on that, my bantam. I like your
+spirit, and we're going to get along fine. Just cast in
+your lot with mine, and I'll make a rich man out of you.
+In the Hawk we can travel all over this continent, from
+Hudson Bay to Patagonia. Where men never went before,
+we can go. No mountain range is so high that we
+can't cross it, and no desert is so barren that we can't
+wing our way comfortably over it."</p>
+
+<p>Matt stared at the dark figure in the chair. If any
+honest man had talked to him in that way, the young
+motorist would have been tempted to become an aeronaut,
+for he could see plainly the possibilities of a serviceable
+air-ship; but as for Brady, he was a criminal, and that
+cut him off from any consideration on Matt's part.</p>
+
+<p>The young motorist sank down on his knees and looked
+over the side of the car. They were perhaps a thousand
+feet in the air. Houses, villages, dark expanses of timber
+and lighter stretches of meadow swept past them, moving
+out from under the car like a dark panorama.</p>
+
+<p>Driving an automobile at speed was like flying, but
+here was flying itself. The new sensation gripped Matt
+and thrilled him in every nerve.</p>
+
+<p>"How are we heading, Pete?" called Brady.</p>
+
+<p>Pete was leaning over the opposite side of the car,
+looking forward.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm jest tryin' to git my bearin's, Brady," he answered.
+"It's so pesky dark it's hard to make out jest
+where we are."</p>
+
+<p>Matt stole a look at Pete's back. The hand gripping
+the revolver lay on the rail. By one quick move Matt
+could have snatched the weapon. As the idea swept
+through his mind he cautiously changed his position.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Just then a soft hand rested on his and he saw the
+girl's face pressed close.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't do anything desperate!" she whispered, imploringly.
+"Do whatever dad says&mdash;it will be better for
+you. When we get to where we're going, I'll help you
+escape, and&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I think, Brady," called Pete, "that ye're still too fur
+to the north. Better shift a leetle more to the left. I
+won't be sartin, though, that I'm right."</p>
+
+<p>"I ought to be there on the lookout," answered Brady.
+"Come here, King, and take the engine."</p>
+
+<p>The girl's words had influenced Matt powerfully. On
+top of that was the alluring prospect of handling a new
+machine.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll take the engine for a while, Brady," said he, getting
+up, "but you're to remember I'll not hire out to
+you."</p>
+
+<p>"All I ask is for you to handle the motor," replied
+Brady. "You'll come to your oats quick enough, I'll
+gamble on that. You watch King, Pete," he added to
+the other man, "and make sure he sends the Hawk where
+I tell him to. If he tries to send her anywhere else,
+you know what to do."</p>
+
+<p>"That's no josh," answered Pete.</p>
+
+<p>Brady left the chair and went forward. Matt dropped
+into the vacant seat and began studying the various levers
+with his groping hands.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X.</a></h2>
+
+<p class="chaptitle">WILLOUGHBY'S SWAMP.</p>
+
+
+<p>Pete kept his weapon prominently displayed, and
+through the gloom Matt could see the ruffian's arm partly
+lifted as though ready on the instant to bring the firearm
+into use. This alert attitude on Pete's part, however,
+was more for show than for anything else&mdash;at least,
+Matt so regarded it. Brady was not anxious to go to
+desperate extremes with Matt, especially since he wanted
+him as driver for the air-ship.</p>
+
+<p>Brady, taking up a position where he could peer ahead,
+was scanning the dim landscape sharply.</p>
+
+<p>"Swing her to the left!" he called.</p>
+
+<p>Matt instantly applied the steering lever. Instead of
+swinging to the left, however, the Hawk made a half-turn
+to the right.</p>
+
+<p>Up came the revolver. With a sharp cry, the girl
+reached up and caught Pete's arm.</p>
+
+<p>"To the <i>left</i>, I said!" roared Brady.</p>
+
+<p>"You'll have to give me the chance to learn the machine,"
+answered Matt, coolly, as he continued working
+the lever and brought the Hawk around to the proper
+course. "These levers are new to me. When we steer
+an auto we do it with a wheel."</p>
+
+<p>"I thought ye knowed all about motors," jeered Pete.</p>
+
+<p>"I know something about motors," replied Matt, "but
+not the first thing about air-ships."</p>
+
+<p>As near as Matt could judge, they were proceeding at
+a speed of something like thirty miles an hour. He
+speeded up the engine a little and was surprised at the
+smoothness with which it worked. The propeller hummed
+in a low, husky drone that was quite different from the
+song of the cylinders.</p>
+
+<p>He moved the steering lever backward a couple of
+notches. Immediately the rudder was tilted and the
+Hawk began to climb upward.</p>
+
+<p>"Stop that!" yelled Brady. "We're high enough.
+What are you trying to do?"</p>
+
+<p>"Learning the machine," answered Matt, and threw the
+lever forward.</p>
+
+<p>The front end of the gas-bag tipped downward, and
+the air-ship slid toward the earth with a suddenness that
+almost threw Brady over the rail.</p>
+
+<p>"That'll do you!" he whooped. "Get her on a level
+again, and be quick about it. You can handle the machine,
+all right, and I don't want you to do anything but
+what you're told."</p>
+
+<p>"All right," said Matt quietly.</p>
+
+<p>For five minutes longer they continued to swim onward
+through the air. A long string of lights shot across
+the gloomy landscape below them, and a whistle came
+upward from the earth with startling distinctness.</p>
+
+<p>"There goes a train, whistlin' fer Lake Station," remarked
+Pete.</p>
+
+<p>"We'll be over the town in a minute," said Brady, "and
+then it won't be long until we get to the swamp."</p>
+
+<p>"What swamp?" asked Matt.</p>
+
+<p>"Never ye mind," was Pete's surly rejoinder. "Ye're
+here to obey orders an' not ask any fool questions."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think it very foolish for a fellow to ask where
+he's being taken."</p>
+
+<p>"Mebby not, but ye ain't findin' anythin' out, see?"</p>
+
+<p>Matt had been doing a good deal of guessing about
+Carl. What would his chum do? What was he doing
+then? He felt pretty sure that Carl would get into the
+house and go through it from cellar to roof.</p>
+
+<p>But Matt knew that Carl had a good sensible head in
+cases of emergency. Now and again the Dutch boy's
+temper was apt to make trouble with his reasoning, but
+in the long run Carl could always be counted on to do
+the right thing.</p>
+
+<p>So Matt was not worrying very much about his chum.
+Carl would take good care of the blue prints and ultimately
+they would find their rightful owner.</p>
+
+<p>"Ha!" exclaimed Brady, suddenly, "there's the signal!
+I'll go back and take charge of the motor while we make
+the landing, Pete, and you take the lookout."</p>
+
+<p>Matt gave place to Brady and then stood at the rail,
+watching developments curiously.</p>
+
+<p>Below the air-ship was a great splotch of black shadow,
+stretching away on all sides as far as the eye could reach.
+Evidently this was the swamp. The Hawk was sailing
+across the swamp toward a big fire that glowed in the
+distance.</p>
+
+<p>With Brady steering and Pete directing, the Hawk approached
+closer and closer to the fire.</p>
+
+<p>"Drop 'er, Brady!" Pete presently called; "we're close
+on the island."</p>
+
+<p>The nose of the air-ship ducked downward and, for
+perhaps twenty seconds, she raced earthward; then Brady
+diminished the speed of their descent by slow degrees.</p>
+
+<p>Matt, braced on the sloping floor of the car, watched
+the fire apparently come up toward them. A little later
+he was able to make out three human figures against the
+firelit background below, and a bare little plateau took
+vague form under his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>He watched the landing keenly, and noted how Brady
+suddenly shifted the steering rudder so as to bring the
+Hawk on an even keel, the lower supports of the car just
+grazing the ground.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The three figures by the fire ran close.</p>
+
+<p>"How's everything, Brady?" cried a voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Finer than silk," called back Brady. "Stand by to
+catch the ropes, you fellows."</p>
+
+<p>The murmur of the motor ceased, the revolving propeller
+came to a stop, and Pete flung out two ropes, one
+on each side of the car.</p>
+
+<p>The ropes were caught by the men on the ground, a
+bight of each was thrown around a stout stake driven
+into the earth at an angle, and the air-ship was drawn
+down and safely moored.</p>
+
+<p>Matt was now able to understand why Brady had taken
+his place as driver for the landing. Not only was the
+method of making a landing new to Matt, but there was
+also danger, unless one was familiar with the place, of
+scraping the trees that covered the swamp and hemmed
+in the cleared space called the "island."</p>
+
+<p>Matt started to spring over the rail of the car.</p>
+
+<p>"Stop, King!" cried Brady. "You don't want to make
+a bolt for the timber and get mired in the swamp, do
+you? Just remember you're still under orders. Take
+him to the roost, Needham, you and Whipple. Better tie
+him up until he gets used to the place and to our society.
+He's a bit strange, here, and none too willing
+to stay."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you bring the loot, Brady?" called one of the
+men.</p>
+
+<p>"Sure! This is moving-day with us and you didn't
+think I was going to leave all that stuff on Hoyne Street,
+did you? Get out of the car, King," he went on, to Matt.
+"Whipple and Needham will take care of you."</p>
+
+<p>Two of the three men had stepped to the side of the
+car. In the light of the fire, which was blazing at a safe
+distance from the air-ship, Matt discovered that Needham
+and Grove had been the two aeronauts who had had
+such hard luck with the Hawk during the preceding
+day.</p>
+
+<p>Needham, who, with Whipple, was facing Matt and
+waiting for him to get over the air-ship's rail, gave a
+husky laugh.</p>
+
+<p>"We got out of that scrape, all right," said he, "even if
+we did lose our drag-rope."</p>
+
+<p>"And you got me into another scrape," said Matt.
+"You fellows will pay for this!"</p>
+
+<p>"Chirp low, young feller," warned Whipple, catching
+him by the arm as he gained the ground; "your cue is to
+make friends with us an' not bluster about what ye're
+goin' ter do. There's five husky men here, an' we're all
+surrounded by a swamp that would mire ye up ter the
+eyes if ye tried ter git through it. Oh, I reckon ye won't
+git away ter make any of us pay fer anythin'! This
+way, an' step lively."</p>
+
+<p>With Needham and Whipple on each side of him and
+hanging to an arm, Matt was led across the open space,
+past the fire, and to the door of a small, roughly built
+shanty. A little way off there was another building, fully
+as small but apparently somewhat better built.</p>
+
+<p>"This here's the roost," announced Whipple, "an' it's
+where ye're ter pass the rest o' the night. Come in, an'
+come peaceable."</p>
+
+<p>It was part of Matt's plan, hastily formed on the air-ship
+just after the girl had spoken to him, to accept passively
+whatever came his way&mdash;at least for a time. The
+girl had said that she would help him escape, and there
+was that about her which had awakened his confidence.
+Not only that, but there was also something in the girl's
+face that had aroused his sympathy. She had a history,
+he was sure, and one that was far from pleasant.</p>
+
+<p>There were five cots in the "roost," and Matt was told
+to lie down on one of them.</p>
+
+<p>"Harper used to sleep there," remarked Needham, as
+Matt stretched himself out on the hard bed, "and the
+deuce only knows where poor old Harper is now. You're
+taking his place, King, and so it's only right you should
+have his cot."</p>
+
+<p>It was on Matt's tongue to say that Needham had another
+guess coming, but he held his peace. He would
+not show too much of the hostile side of his feelings until
+he had had a chance to talk with the girl.</p>
+
+<p>"What's the use of tying me," expostulated Matt, as
+ropes were being put in place around his wrists and
+ankles, "if it's impossible for me to get away?"</p>
+
+<p>"Orders," answered Whipple, curtly.</p>
+
+<p>After Matt was made secure, Whipple and Needham
+went out of the hut. The young motorist had had a trying
+day, and even his exciting situation was powerless to
+keep the sleep from his eyes. He dozed off, while his
+thoughts were trying to straighten out the queer tangle
+in which events had bound him. He roused up for a
+moment when Pete, Whipple, Needham and Grove came
+into the hut and dropped down on their cots, but almost
+immediately he went to sleep again.</p>
+
+<p>It seemed as though he had hardly closed his eyes the
+second time before he was awakened by a light hand
+pressed upon his forehead. The other cots in the room
+were empty, it was morning, and the girl was standing
+beside him.</p>
+
+<p>"I have brought your breakfast," said she, in a low
+voice. "We can talk a little, but will have to be quick.
+Dad, or some of the men, may come in here at any second!
+There's a lot that you've got to know, and&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>She was interrupted by the sharp explosion of a firearm
+outside. Stifling a cry, she whirled from the cot and
+ran to the open door.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI.</a></h2>
+
+<p class="chaptitle">A FOE IN THE AIR.</p>
+
+
+<p>"What is it?" asked Matt, struggling up on the cot.</p>
+
+<p>No revolver had caused the report he had heard. From
+the sound he knew that a rifle had been fired.</p>
+
+<p>A babel of excited voices now came to him from without,
+accompanied by sounds of running feet diminishing
+rapidly in the distance. Then came another report, and
+another, both from a more distant point than the first.</p>
+
+<p>The girl stepped through the doorway and was looking
+upward.</p>
+
+<p>"Take off these ropes!" called Matt. "Let me get out
+there and see what is going on!"</p>
+
+<p>The girl turned and reentered the hut. Her face wore
+an expression of the utmost concern.</p>
+
+<p>"No," said she, "I can't release you just now. If dad
+was to come and find that I'd set you free, he would suspect
+me at once and that would spoil my plans."</p>
+
+<p>"But what was the cause of that shooting?" persisted
+Matt.</p>
+
+<p>"There's another air-ship over the island&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Another air-ship?" echoed Matt.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. It must be Jerrold's, although how he ever<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span>
+found out where dad was is more than I know. Dad
+and the rest were shooting at the air-ship with rifles."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll bet it's somebody who's come looking for me!"
+exclaimed Matt. "If your father and his gang should
+kill anybody&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"They won't," interrupted the girl, confidently; "dad
+knows better than to do anything of that kind. They'll
+try to put a bullet or two into the gas-bag of the air-ship
+and frighten Jerrold away."</p>
+
+<p>"Go and take another look," said Matt, anxiously. "See
+what they're doing."</p>
+
+<p>The girl glided to the doorway again.</p>
+
+<p>"The other air-ship is moving off," the girl reported,
+with a measure of relief in her voice, as she came back.
+"I think the bullets must have injured the propeller, or
+some of the machinery, for the air-ship is moving very
+slowly and seems to be in trouble."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you see how many were aboard?"</p>
+
+<p>"There were three in the car&mdash;one of them was Jerrold,
+and he was managing the motor."</p>
+
+<p>"The other two," asked Matt, eagerly, "do you know
+who they were?"</p>
+
+<p>"One of them was in uniform, and looked like a policeman.
+The other was short and thick-set and looked like
+a German."</p>
+
+<p>"Carl!" exclaimed Matt, jubilantly. "Good old Carl!
+How did he ever find out where I was, I wonder?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'll bet dad is trying to guess the same thing," said
+the girl. "He'll be badly cut up over this. But it's no
+more than he ought to expect," she added. "Whenever
+a man breaks the law he'll have to pay for it, sooner
+or later."</p>
+
+<p>"What has your father been doing?" asked Matt.</p>
+
+<p>"I came to talk with you about that. While I'm giving
+you your breakfast, I'll tell you my plans. Dad, and all
+the rest except Whipple, are off in the swamp, somewhere,
+keeping track of Jerrold's air-ship, and that will
+give us a chance."</p>
+
+<p>Matt swung his bound feet over the edge of the cot,
+and while he sat there the girl drew a chair close and
+began giving him his breakfast.</p>
+
+<p>"Dad has been doing a lot of criminal things," said the
+girl, "and all he built that air-ship for was to make it
+easy for him to rob people and get away without being
+found out. Didn't you guess that when I showed you
+that article in the paper? I thought you might."</p>
+
+<p>"I've been mighty thick-headed," answered Matt, between
+mouthfuls, "and I never thought the thing through
+that far. Possibly it's because so much has been happening
+to me since I went into that place on Hoyne
+Street."</p>
+
+<p>"It's nearly broken my heart having dad act like he's
+been doing," said the girl, her lips quivering. "If mother
+had lived she'd have kept dad straight, but when she died
+dad just seemed to go to the dogs. He has tried to
+make the people in South Chicago think he was just an
+honest inventor, but, even at that, he stole all his ideas
+from Jerrold. That balloon house, that he built out of
+some of the proceeds of his first robbery, was put up
+for what they call a 'blind.' With a big house like that,
+out in plain sight, dad felt that everybody would think
+his work was open and aboveboard. When he committed
+any robberies, the Hawk was taken from the
+shed in the dead of night, and Harper would steer it for
+the place they were to rob. The blackest kind of a night
+was always selected, and only flat-topped buildings were
+robbed. You see, the air-ship would alight on the roof,
+and dad and the rest would break into the building from
+the top. When they left they always went in the same
+way they came, and the police were puzzled because they
+could not find any clues in the lower part of the buildings."</p>
+
+<p>"It was a slick scheme," commented Matt.</p>
+
+<p>"That's the way Hartz &amp; Greer's place was robbed,"
+proceeded the girl. "Dad and the rest got fifteen thousand
+dollars' worth of goods from Hartz &amp; Greer, and
+for more than a week the stuff has been hidden in that
+house on Hoyne Street. But now dad has left South
+Chicago for good and all. He's afraid the police are
+beginning to suspect him, and that Jerrold might try to
+do something on account of those stolen blue prints."</p>
+
+<p>It was perfectly plain to Matt that the girl's recital
+of these crimes, in which her father had played the
+leading part, was anything but easy for her. She was
+talking from a sense of duty, and Matt honored and admired
+her for the stand she was taking.</p>
+
+<p>"It doesn't seem possible," said he, gently, "that Brady
+is your father."</p>
+
+<p>"But he is," she answered brokenly, "and he has
+brought shame and disgrace on me. But what could I
+do? Dad knows how I feel about his actions, and he has
+watched me and kept me away from other people ever
+since he began his stealing. When you came to the
+house, last night, it was the first chance I have had to
+tell what I know. I overheard dad and Pete planning
+what they were going to do if you came, and&mdash;and I
+hoped you would come, although I knew you would
+never leave the house until you were taken away as dad's
+prisoner. I felt sure, though, that I could help you to
+escape, and I feel even more sure of that now than I
+did before."</p>
+
+<p>"What is your name?" asked Matt, his eyes full on
+the girl's face.</p>
+
+<p>"Helen," she answered.</p>
+
+<p>"What are your plans, Helen?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"My plan," she went on, "is for you to get away from
+the swamp in the Hawk, and to take the stuff stolen from
+Hartz &amp; Greer with you. That will stop everything, for
+dad will be perfectly helpless without the air-ship. Then,
+too, you can return the stolen diamonds and jewelry to
+Hartz &amp; Greer, and that will go far toward righting one
+wrong. When you are back in South Chicago, you can
+send the police here and&mdash;and they can capture dad
+and the rest."</p>
+
+<p>Matt had finished eating and the girl had put aside the
+dishes. Suddenly she broke down and hid her face in
+her apron. For a few moments she sobbed convulsively.</p>
+
+<p>Small wonder her feelings overcame her! In carrying
+out her ideas of right and justice, she had planned to
+give her own father into the hands of the law.</p>
+
+<p>"You're a noble girl, Helen!" declared Matt. "But
+how am I to get away in the air-ship and to take the
+stolen property with me?"</p>
+
+<p>"You already know how to run the machine," said
+the girl, recovering herself a little and looking up, "and
+when the right time arrives I will come here and take
+off your ropes. As for the stolen property, I will see to
+it that that is put in the car before you start. There will
+be danger in what you do, but, from what I have heard,
+you know how to win out in spite of it."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I will run any risk to get away from here," returned
+Matt, gravely, "but when I go you must go with me.
+This is no place for you&mdash;with such a thieving gang!"</p>
+
+<p>"I must stay here," the girl said resolutely. "Even
+though I am sending my father to prison I want to be
+with him to the last. If something isn't done," she continued
+passionately, "he will go on and on, constantly
+from bad to worse, and perhaps some time"&mdash;her face
+blanched as she spoke&mdash;"he might receive worse than a
+prison sentence. It is the only way to save him."</p>
+
+<p>It was clear that Helen Brady had spent much time in
+thinking out and planning her present course, and how
+much mental anguish and bitterness of spirit her conclusion
+had cost her, only she could know.</p>
+
+<p>"I am ready to do whatever you want me to," said
+Matt, "and if you think it best to stay here, all right. I
+still believe, though, you ought to leave this place with
+me."</p>
+
+<p>"No, no," she replied firmly. "I have thought it all out
+a dozen times, and I have made up my mind as to what it
+is right for me to do. You must get away from here
+in the air-ship. With the Hawk taken away from him,
+dad will be helpless."</p>
+
+<p>"Haven't you any friends or relatives to whom you
+could go?" asked Matt.</p>
+
+<p>"I have relatives on my mother's side, but they won't
+have anything to do with dad or me&mdash;simply because dad
+is what he is. They have asked me to leave dad and
+come to them, but I know my place and what it is right
+for me to do."</p>
+
+<p>A brief silence fell between the two, during which Matt
+turned the queer problem over in his mind.</p>
+
+<p>"When do you think your plan can be carried out?" he
+asked presently.</p>
+
+<p>"It has got to be soon, if at all," she answered. "I
+don't know what effect this appearance of Jerrold's air-ship
+over the swamp will have on dad, but I hope it won't
+interfere with my plans. We'll have to wait a little while
+and see. Whipple is watching the Hawk now, and&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Just at that moment a heavy step was heard outside.
+A man appeared in the doorway, stared in at Matt and
+the girl for an instant, and then strode into the hut.</p>
+
+<p>The man was Brady, and his face was black as a
+thundercloud.</p>
+
+<p>"What're you doing here so long?" he cried angrily to
+the girl. "Clear out! I've got something I want to talk
+over with King."</p>
+
+<p>With a supplicating look at her father, the girl got up
+and passed out of the hut.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII.</a></h2>
+
+<p class="chaptitle">BRADY CHANGES HIS PLANS.</p>
+
+
+<p>"You've played the devil with me, and no mistake!"
+scowled Brady, whirling on Matt the moment the girl
+was gone.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't see how you make that out," said Matt.
+"You're the one that's made all the trouble, Brady."</p>
+
+<p>Brady's little eyes glittered as they rested on Matt.
+For a few moments he paced angrily back and forth
+across the hut.</p>
+
+<p>"How in thunder," he cried suddenly, "did Jerrold ever
+manage to get a line on me? He was over the swamp,
+a short time ago, with his air-ship, and he'd have landed
+here if we hadn't driven him off. Jerrold knows where
+I am, and he has the means of getting to the island.
+We've crippled his craft, though, and he's had to haul off
+for repairs. While he's gone, I've got to change my
+plans, somehow, and be ready for him when he comes
+back. That Dutch kid who was with you at the balloon
+house yesterday was in the car of the air-ship, and there
+was also a policeman along. How did that come?"</p>
+
+<p>"You know as much about it as I do, Brady," replied
+Matt. "I disappeared from that Hoyne Street house,
+last night, and I suppose my chum has been getting clues
+about me and following them up. That's the kind of a
+lad he is."</p>
+
+<p>"Where did he get any clues that would bring him out
+here?"</p>
+
+<p>"Give it up."</p>
+
+<p>Brady took a few more turns across the room, presently
+halting in front of Matt.</p>
+
+<p>"You didn't bring that roll of blue prints to Hoyne
+Street, last night," said he. "Where did you leave it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Left it out in front of the house," grinned Matt.</p>
+
+<p>Brady started.</p>
+
+<p>"In front of the house?" he echoed.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Cached?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly."</p>
+
+<p>"Under the sidewalk?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; in the pocket of my Dutch pard."</p>
+
+<p>Brady stared incredulously. Then he swore.</p>
+
+<p>"That Dutchman was out in front all the while you
+were in the house?"</p>
+
+<p>Matt nodded.</p>
+
+<p>"He came with me from Chicago. I got to thinking
+there might be a trap in the house, and that some one
+was there who wanted the blue prints, so I made up my
+mind that it would be a wise move to leave Carl out in
+front, and to let him keep the roll."</p>
+
+<p>"That chum of yours must have seen the Hawk when
+she climbed out of the back yard," growled Brady, "but
+how in the fiend's name was he able to get Jerrold and
+the Eagle and follow us? It was dark, and we had a
+long start of them."</p>
+
+<p>"One guess is as good as another," said Matt, calmly.
+"I told you you'd get yourself into trouble if you tried
+to make a prisoner of me. The best thing you can do
+now is to send me back to South Chicago in the air-ship."</p>
+
+<p>"Think I'm a fool?" snarled Brady. "It may be that
+you're all that stands between me and my men and capture.
+I'll hang onto you, King, and I'll let that Dutch
+pard of yours know that if Jerrold don't keep away from
+this swamp with his air-ship you're going to connect with
+your finish. It's neck or nothing with me, now, and I'll
+go any length to keep myself out of the 'pen.' I've laid
+out a fine campaign for the Hawk, and I don't intend to
+have all my plans nipped in the bud, right at the start-off."</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose," said Matt, scathingly, "that your campaign
+is one of robbery, and that you're going to make a
+pirate ship out of the Hawk?"</p>
+
+<p>"That's where you put your finger on the right button!"
+declared Brady. "I'm going to be a freebooter,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span>
+and take my toll wherever I can find it. It's easy to
+swoop down on a lot of spoil, pick it up and make off
+with it. And what can the law do?" He laughed
+mockingly. "Policemen will have to have wings to get
+anywhere near me."</p>
+
+<p>"And that's what you wanted me for, is it?" cried Matt,
+indignantly; "to drive the Hawk around through the air
+and help out your villainous plans! I would let you kill
+me first."</p>
+
+<p>"Rot! I'm going to stick to my original intentions, but
+there's got to be something of a change in my immediate
+plans. We've all got to pull out of here and to
+take what plunder we've got cached in the swamp. The
+Hawk will have to make three or four trips, and they
+must be made before Jerrold and his air-ship can interfere
+with us. If Jerrold fixes up his air-ship and comes
+back, we'll just tell him what will happen to you if he
+lingers in the vicinity of the swamp. I'm banking on
+that to send him packing again, and to keep him out of
+sight until I can make a change of base. You'll go away
+on the Hawk's first trip, and it will probably be only half
+an hour before you can start."</p>
+
+<p>Brady started for the door, but halted before he reached
+it and faced around.</p>
+
+<p>"Either one of two things happened to put that Dutchman
+and Jerrold on my track," said he. "Either Harper
+has been caught, and has told what he knows, or else a
+letter I gave Needham to deliver to Whipple, here in
+the swamp, has fallen into the hands of the police. It
+don't make much difference, though, how Jerrold got
+next to our hang-out. The main thing is that he knows
+where we are, and that you will be put in a mighty tight
+corner if he keeps on trying to make trouble for me.
+That's about all, King. I want you to understand what
+you're up against and be ready for whatever happens.
+I'm not going to have my plans knocked galley-west just
+as I'm on the point of launching them."</p>
+
+<p>With another black scowl, expressive of his savage determination,
+Hector Brady strode out of the hut.</p>
+
+<p>Matt was beginning to understand why Helen preferred
+to see her father in prison rather than free to
+carry out his campaign of lawlessness. Possessing a
+practical air-ship like the Hawk, Brady could commit
+untold depredations and snap his fingers in open defiance
+of the law.</p>
+
+<p>The young motorist shuddered to think of the scoundrel's
+comprehensive plans, and of the part he had intended
+to make his prisoner play in them.</p>
+
+<p>Helen's reasoning was logical, and the expedient she
+had suggested was as simple as it was effective. By
+taking the Hawk away from Brady she would make it
+impossible for him to follow out his nefarious schemes.
+The beautiful simplicity of the countercheck aroused
+Matt's admiration.</p>
+
+<p>But how was the countercheck to be brought about?
+The appearance of Jerrold's air-ship over the swamp had
+made doubly difficult the work the girl was counting
+upon having done. Not only that, but the coming of the
+Eagle had increased Matt's peril. There was no doubt
+in the young motorist's mind but that Brady would go to
+any extreme in order to keep himself and his companions
+from being captured.</p>
+
+<p>All these different aspects of the situation floated
+through Motor Matt's mind swiftly. Two or three minutes
+after Brady had left the hut, and while Matt was
+still considering the problem that confronted the girl,
+Helen herself stole in through the door.</p>
+
+<p>Her face was haggard, but her eyes were bright and
+full of resolution.</p>
+
+<p>"You shouldn't be here," protested Matt. "Your father
+suspected something when he found you with me a little
+while ago and ordered you away. What if he should
+come back and see you here again?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think he'll come back, but I've got to take the
+risk, even if he does." The girl spoke quickly and steadily
+and made her way swiftly to Matt's side. "Dad has
+changed his plans&mdash;I was listening to all he said, out
+there at the back of the hut. He's going to use the
+Hawk to take us all away from the swamp, and <i>you're
+going to go on the Hawk's first trip</i>! That means that
+we must do what we can, at once. If we fail now, everything
+is lost."</p>
+
+<p>She was breathlessly eager, but her calmness at such a
+moment surprised Matt. Lifting her hands she took a
+small poniard from the bosom of her dress, bent down
+and severed the cords that secured Matt's hands. Then,
+with one downward stroke of the keen blade, she freed
+his feet.</p>
+
+<p>"Where are your father and the rest of the men?"
+asked Matt.</p>
+
+<p>Before she answered, Helen glided to the door and took
+a cautious look outside.</p>
+
+<p>"Some of the stolen goods have been hidden among
+the bushes of the swamp," said she, returning to Matt.
+"You are to be sent away with the loot, on the first
+trip, and dad himself will have to take you. He, and
+everybody except Whipple, have gone to the swamp.
+Whipple has a rifle and is guarding the Hawk. Whatever
+we do, Matt, we've got to do in a hurry. The bag
+of goods taken from Hartz &amp; Greer is behind this hut,"
+she pointed to an unglazed opening in the rear wall as
+she spoke. "While the rest are in the swamp, I will
+go to the Hawk and talk with Whipple, getting around
+on the other side of him so that his back will be in this
+direction. While I am holding his attention, you will
+creep up on him from behind and, between us, we will
+try and get the rifle. It's a desperate chance, but we
+will do the best we can."</p>
+
+<p>"You're a brave girl, Helen!" declared Matt.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm doing what I think is right, and that always helps
+a person's courage. I'm more worried about you than I
+am about myself. If anything should go wrong&mdash;if anything
+should happen to you because of the help you are
+giving me&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>For the first time her voice faltered. Matt reached out
+and caught her hand reassuringly.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't fret about me," said he. "There won't be any
+trouble about my getting the best of Whipple, with you
+to help. Is the Hawk all ready for a flight? I mean is
+there plenty of gasoline in the tank, and plenty of oil?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, dad has seen to that. So far as the air-ship is
+concerned, it is ready to carry you quickly and safely out
+of the swamp. Now I will steal out of the hut and talk
+with Whipple."</p>
+
+<p>Once more she started for the door. Hardly had she
+reached it, however, when she drew back with a gasp of
+consternation. Turning, she beckoned to Matt.</p>
+
+<p>"Too late!" she whispered, her voice sharp with anguish
+and disappointment. "Oh, why have they come
+just at this time!"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Matt glided quickly to her side and peered out through
+the half-opened door.</p>
+
+<p>What he saw was well calculated to discourage him
+and the girl.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII.</a></h2>
+
+<p class="chaptitle">INTO THE SWAMP.</p>
+
+
+<p>Needham, Pete, Grove and Brady had not been long
+carrying out their work of recovering the cached goods.
+They were returning from the edge of the bushy timber,
+ascending the slight elevation of the "island" on their
+way to the Hawk, each bearing an armful of plunder.</p>
+
+<p>In his stealings, Brady had not bothered with bulky
+articles but had confined himself to "lifting" smaller and
+richer loot. The stuff was all in small sacks.</p>
+
+<p>As the men walked past the "roost" on their course to
+the air-ship, Matt and the girl withdrew from the door
+to avoid being seen. Through a crack in the wall, however,
+they were able to keep close track of what went on.</p>
+
+<p>On reaching the Hawk, the bundles were deposited on
+the ground. Whipple, leaning on his rifle, stood watching
+while the bags were heaped up at the side of the
+air-ship.</p>
+
+<p>For a few moments the villainous crew had their heads
+together in close and earnest conversation. Now and
+again their eyes were lifted aloft, evidently on the alert
+for some sign of the Eagle. Brady, it could be seen,
+did most of the talking. Suddenly, after a sharp scrutiny
+overhead, Brady whirled around and started for the hut.</p>
+
+<p>"He's coming after you!" half sobbed the girl.</p>
+
+<p>"What's the reason I can't escape through that window
+in the rear wall," asked Matt, hurriedly, "and take refuge
+in the swamp?"</p>
+
+<p>The idea seemed to electrify the girl.</p>
+
+<p>"I hadn't thought of that," she whispered, catching his
+arm and starting for the window. "The back of the hut
+is close to the trees and bushes on this side of the island,
+and I know something about the reefs of dry ground
+running through the swamp in the vicinity of this place.
+Come!" she added; "we must hurry."</p>
+
+<p>Her despair had vanished in a flash, and her steadiness
+and resolution had all come back. She climbed through
+the window and, as Matt followed, she was picking up a
+small bag that had stood close to the rear wall.</p>
+
+<p>Without speaking, and once more clasping his arm, she
+hurried him into the tangled bushes that came up to
+within a few feet of the hut. There, screened by a dense
+thicket, they paused to note further developments.</p>
+
+<p>Their position, of course, rendered it impossible for
+them to see the front of the hut, but they were so close
+they could hear Brady's oath of astonishment and alarm
+when he discovered that Matt was missing.</p>
+
+<p>The next moment Brady could be seen rushing around
+the side of the hut and a little way in the direction of
+the group standing beside the Hawk.</p>
+
+<p>"He's gone!" roared Brady. "The cub's got loose and
+skipped!"</p>
+
+<p>The rest were roused into frantic activity.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll sw'ar he didn't git out while I was watchin' the
+Hawk," cried Whipple. "Anyways, he can't be fur off."</p>
+
+<p>"Hustle around!" fumed Brady. "Get into the swamp,
+every man-jack of you, and find that whelp wherever he
+is. I wouldn't have him get clear for a thousand, cold!"
+All the gang forthwith became exceedingly busy. They
+darted off in various directions, and Brady himself, accompanied
+by Grove, started for the side of the island
+from which Matt and the girl were watching.</p>
+
+<p>"We'll have to get away from here!" breathed the girl,
+turning. "Follow me, Matt, and be careful where you
+step. If you're not careful, you may find yourself mired
+in the swamp."</p>
+
+<p>"Trust me for that," answered Matt. "I'll carry this,"
+he added, taking the bag from the girl's hands.</p>
+
+<p>The swamp, into which they were now headed, presented
+a matted tangle of undergrowth growing among
+the trees. Through the bushes could be seen a glimmer
+of stagnant water, and the whole place seemed as dank
+and loathsome as a tropical jungle.</p>
+
+<p>The girl picked her way carefully, parting the bushes
+ahead of her and stepping from hummock to hummock.
+Finally they reached a little bare uplift of dry earth, and
+halted to listen. They could hear nothing of pursuit, and
+the girl drew a long breath of relief.</p>
+
+<p>"Dad don't know that I've explored this swamp," said
+she. "I have lived on the island for nearly six months&mdash;dad
+used to keep me here while he was doing his thieving
+in South Chicago, so I wouldn't be able to tell what I
+know and give him away, I guess."</p>
+
+<p>She sank down on the flat piece of turf for a few moments'
+rest. The ground, although dry, shivered under
+them as they moved, and seemed every moment as though
+about to give way beneath their weight and let them down
+into the morass.</p>
+
+<p>"This is a treacherous-looking place," remarked Matt,
+peering off into the trees and bushes that hemmed them
+in on every side.</p>
+
+<p>"It's all of that," replied the girl.</p>
+
+<p>"It would be easy for a person to get lost."</p>
+
+<p>"Not easy for me, as I know it too well."</p>
+
+<p>"If I can get away in the Hawk," went on Matt, after
+a brief silence, "this will make it necessary for you to
+go with me."</p>
+
+<p>"Why?" she queried, lifting her wide, dark eyes to
+his.</p>
+
+<p>"Can't you understand? Your father and his men will
+discover that you are not on the island, and they will
+suspect that you helped me out of the hut. What will
+your father do when he finds that out?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>A shiver swept through the girl's slight form.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose he will half kill me," she answered. "But
+I shall stay with him. I am his daughter, and it's my
+duty to be with him to the end."</p>
+
+<p>"You mustn't be foolish," said Matt, inclined to get
+out of patience. "You're carrying your idea of duty to
+your father altogether too far."</p>
+
+<p>"I've thought it all out," she answered firmly, "and
+my mind is made up. Please don't try to argue with
+me. It may not be possible for you to get away in the
+air-ship now," she added, with a sigh of regret. "If you
+can't, I will try and get you through the swamp. I don't
+know anything about it, though, after we get a little
+away from the island."</p>
+
+<p>"Then," proceeded Matt, not giving up his argument
+that Helen Brady should go away with him, "your father
+will be madder than ever when he finds out you have
+taken the goods stolen from Hartz &amp; Greer."</p>
+
+<p>"That's what I expect, but it's right that the stuff
+should be returned. A person ought to have principles,
+Matt, and I don't think a person amounts to much if he
+or she can't stand a little suffering on account of their
+principles."</p>
+
+<p>"That's right, too," muttered Matt.</p>
+
+<p>"There's fifteen thousand dollars' worth of diamonds
+and jewelry in that bag," Helen went on, "and Hartz &amp;
+Greer have offered a reward of twenty-five hundred to
+any one who will return the property."</p>
+
+<p>"That money will go to you," said Matt, promptly.
+"It's right that it should. Look at the risks you're taking
+to have it put into the hands of its rightful owners
+again! Some time, Helen, you will be rid of your father,
+and then the money will come handy."</p>
+
+<p>She was gazing at him steadily, and there was something
+of rebuke in her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"You don't mean that, Matt," said she, quietly.</p>
+
+<p>"Why not?" he demanded.</p>
+
+<p>"Would it be right for me to take a reward for returning
+property my own father had stolen?"</p>
+
+<p>Matt was amazed by the simple directness of the girl's
+reasoning. And she was right, entirely right. Nevertheless
+it took one of fine character to reason and to
+act as the girl was doing.</p>
+
+<p>"If you succeed in getting away with the bag," Helen
+continued, "I want you to give it back to the rightful
+owners. Tell them it comes from Hector Brady's daughter,
+and that she hopes they will not be too hard on her
+father."</p>
+
+<p>"You bet I'll tell them," said Matt. "What's more, I'll
+get through this swamp on foot, if I have to, and I'll
+consider it a mighty fine thing to lug the bag along and
+turn it over to Hartz &amp; Greer."</p>
+
+<p>"I felt sure you'd help me," murmured the girl. "There
+was something in your face that told me you could be
+depended on the moment I looked at you at the door of
+that Hoyne Street house."</p>
+
+<p>"Then the impression was mutual," said Matt. "If I
+hadn't read honesty in your face, along with a desire to
+help me, I'd have made a rush out of that room in the
+Hoyne Street place the moment I read your warning on
+the fly leaf of the book."</p>
+
+<p>"It was well you didn't do that. You'd have been
+caught. Pete was behind the window curtain all the
+time. That was why I had to write what I wanted you
+to know, and call your attention to it indirectly. If you
+had&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>The girl was interrupted by a distant rustle of bushes.
+Stifling the words on her lips, she sprang erect.</p>
+
+<p>"Dad's coming this way," she whispered. "I don't
+think he has the least idea where we've gone, but he
+seems to be blundering in the right direction. We'll have
+to hurry on."</p>
+
+<p>Once more they resumed their flight, Matt carrying
+the bag and carefully following in his companion's footsteps.</p>
+
+<p>The way became increasingly difficult, and the bushes
+even denser than they had been at the point where they
+had entered the swamp. Then, too, the hummocks which
+offered them foothold became farther apart so that it was
+necessary to leap almost blindly through the brush in
+getting from one to another.</p>
+
+<p>Occasionally they halted and listened, but were unable
+to hear any sound behind them to indicate that Brady and
+Grove were still on the right track.</p>
+
+<p>Just as Matt was congratulating himself that they had
+again eluded their pursuers, a cry from the girl, muffled
+but full of distress, reached him.</p>
+
+<p>Between him and her a screen of bushes intervened,
+and the cry had come a moment after she had taken a
+headlong plunge through the leafy tangle.</p>
+
+<p>Not knowing what could have happened, and fearing
+the worst, Matt shifted the bag to his other arm, drew
+his leather cap well down over his forehead so that the
+visor would protect his eyes, and leaped boldly after the
+girl.</p>
+
+<p>By good luck, rather than by any calculation on his
+part, he landed on a shaking hummock, and found that
+Helen had plunged into the watery morass.</p>
+
+<p>Dropping the bag, he reached down, grasped her about
+the waist and dragged her from the clutching grip of
+the swamp.</p>
+
+<p>"We'll have to go back," were the girl's first words, as
+he held her on the narrow foothold.</p>
+
+<p>"Why?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>She waved her hand in the direction toward which they
+were going.</p>
+
+<p>An open space, clear of trees and bushes, lay before
+them&mdash;a veritable quagmire with not a place in all its
+extent where they could set their feet.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>They would have to go back! With Brady and Grove
+on one side of them, and this impassable bog on the
+other, it looked as though they had been caught between
+two fires.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV.</a></h2>
+
+<p class="chaptitle">A DESPERATE CHANCE.</p>
+
+
+<p>Once more the girl was plunged into despair.</p>
+
+<p>"We'll have to give up," she whispered, tearfully. "We
+have tried hard, but luck is against us. For several
+minutes we have been traveling over ground I know
+nothing about. When I saw that open stretch of swamp,
+my heart failed me and I fell off the firm ground. You
+see what a horrible place this is, Matt!"</p>
+
+<p>"Isn't there any way to get around to the other side of
+the island?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, we could have done that, but I was trying to
+take you as far as I could toward the other edge of the
+swamp."</p>
+
+<p>"We'll have to give that up, now, and work our way
+around the island."</p>
+
+<p>"In going back," faltered the girl, "we may meet dad
+and Grove!"</p>
+
+<p>"We must take the chance," he answered; "there's
+nothing else for it."</p>
+
+<p>"And in going around the island," proceeded the girl,
+dejectedly, "we may meet some of the others who are
+looking for us."</p>
+
+<p>"That's another risk we will have to run. Come on,"
+he continued, picking up the bag. "I'll lead the way
+back."</p>
+
+<p>"You've got a way about you," said Helen, "that gives
+a person courage."</p>
+
+<p>"A fellow would be a pretty poor stick," returned Matt,
+"who couldn't keep his nerve with a girl like you to help
+him."</p>
+
+<p>Helen's dress was torn by the bushes, and her hands
+and face were scratched and bleeding; but she seemed
+to mind her physical discomforts very little, so eager was
+she to have Matt's escape prove successful.</p>
+
+<p>Listening intently for any sounds made by Brady and
+Grove, Matt and the girl started back over the course
+they had recently covered.</p>
+
+<p>They had not gone far when the sounds they feared
+came to them. As they stood together and listened, they
+could hear Brady and Grove talking back and forth.
+Their voices, and the crashing of the bushes, were growing
+rapidly in volume, and proved that they were coming
+closer.</p>
+
+<p>The girl began to tremble. Matt pressed her hand reassuringly.
+Off to the right of the course they had been
+following his quick eye detected a foothold among the
+matted bushes. He pointed it out to his companion.</p>
+
+<p>"Get there, quick!" he whispered.</p>
+
+<p>She leaped for the spot at once, and he was not slow
+in following her. Then, crouching down, they peered
+through the thicket.</p>
+
+<p>Brady came jumping into sight, clutching a revolver in
+his hand.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm positive I heard something ahead, Grove!" he
+cried.</p>
+
+<p>"It must be King, then," answered Grove, floundering
+along in the rear. "He's been makin' a better hike of it
+through this blasted swamp than I ever thought he
+could."</p>
+
+<p>"There's an open stretch farther along," went on
+Brady, grimly. "That'll stop him, and we'll have him
+in a few minutes."</p>
+
+<p>Brady leaped out of sight, and Grove likewise jumped
+past and vanished.</p>
+
+<p>The girl had scarcely breathed while the two men were
+so close to them.</p>
+
+<p>"Now we've got a chance," whispered Matt. "While
+they're going on toward that open part of the swamp,
+we'll get back toward the island and double around it."</p>
+
+<p>"We won't have to go far, now," rejoined the girl,
+her hopes rising, "before we can turn to the right and
+start around the island."</p>
+
+<p>Matt continued to lead the way back, making the best
+time he possibly could. When the girl called softly to
+him, he stopped.</p>
+
+<p>"Here's where we turn," said she. "I'd better go
+ahead from now on."</p>
+
+<p>He waited for her to gain his side, then followed as
+she continued to make her way onward through the bewildering
+tangle. Time and again Matt, if alone, would
+have lost his bearings, but Helen, being on familiar
+ground, was never for one moment at a loss.</p>
+
+<p>Their one fear now was that they should encounter
+some of the others who were searching, but they heard
+nothing to cause them the slightest uneasiness.</p>
+
+<p>At last, after half an hour of tiring work, Helen drew
+to a halt.</p>
+
+<p>"We're about opposite the place where the air-ship is
+moored," said she.</p>
+
+<p>"That's where we want to be," answered Matt. "Make
+for the edge of the island, Helen, as close to the air-ship
+as you can get."</p>
+
+<p>Once more the girl started off. The bushes thinned
+perceptibly as they came closer and closer to the solid
+ground. This rendered the going easier, and it also enabled
+Matt and the girl to make less noise in getting
+through the undergrowth. In nearing the island they
+redoubled their caution, and when they finally reached
+a spot from which they could look out and take in the
+situation in the vicinity of the "roost" and the air-ship,
+they congratulated themselves on the care they had exercised.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>They were not more than a dozen feet from the place
+where the Hawk was secured.</p>
+
+<p>Two rifles were leaning against the car, and two of the
+men&mdash;Grove and Needham&mdash;were sitting on the ground,
+occasionally looking aloft.</p>
+
+<p>Brady, Whipple and Pete were no where in sight.</p>
+
+<p>"We must have crippled that air-ship of Jerrold's pretty
+badly," Needham was saying. "If King hadn't made
+this delay for us, the Hawk would have been well away
+on her first trip."</p>
+
+<p>"That kid is a slippery customer," growled Grove.
+"The old man is riled for fair over the way he's cuttin'
+up."</p>
+
+<p>"What's the use o' botherin' with him? The thing to
+do is to cut out o' this an' leave King in the swamp."</p>
+
+<p>"I reckon Brady'd do that, if it wasn't for the bag of
+loot King seems to have taken along with him."</p>
+
+<p>Both men had thrown off their hats, and Grove was
+nursing a number of scratches on his face and hands.</p>
+
+<p>"We had a rough time of it," said he, "an' the old
+man sent me back to find out if any of the rest had had
+any success. If King had been found, I was to fire a
+signal-shot with one of the rifles."</p>
+
+<p>"Hang the luck, anyhow!" snorted Needham. "It was
+the worst thing Brady ever done when he tangled up
+with King. The lad has a will of his own, an' I knew
+well enough he'd never take hold an' help us out runnin'
+the motor."</p>
+
+<p>"King has got more backbone than any fellow of his
+age I ever saw, and that's a fact. The girl must have
+helped him. And that's another place where Brady has
+been lame, all along. He ought to have sent the girl
+away, somewhere. She hasn't got any business hanging
+out with a gang like this."</p>
+
+<p>While Matt had been watching and listening, he had
+been turning over several plans in his mind. Here was a
+chance, albeit a desperate one, for getting hold of the
+air-ship.</p>
+
+<p>He turned to the girl.</p>
+
+<p>"Helen," he whispered, "I'm going to see if I can't
+capture the Hawk."</p>
+
+<p>"You can't," she returned, fearfully. "Grove and
+Needham are armed and&mdash;and they'll shoot."</p>
+
+<p>"They can't shoot if I get hold of those rifles first,"
+went on Matt, still speaking in guarded tones.</p>
+
+<p>"How will you do that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Their backs are toward us. I'll creep as close to the
+Hawk as I can, then, if they hear me, as they probably
+will, I'll make a rush for the guns."</p>
+
+<p>The girl was silent for a moment.</p>
+
+<p>"There's nothing else to be done," she whispered, at
+last. "Count on me, Matt, to do whatever I can to help."</p>
+
+<p>"You keep back, Helen," he counseled. "If I succeed
+in getting the guns, I won't need your help; if I don't,
+your help would do little good. Here I go."</p>
+
+<p>Slowly and cautiously Matt crept out of the bushes.
+The car of the air-ship was between him and the men,
+and this served to screen him, up to a certain point;
+but the two rifles were leaning against the opposite side
+of the car, and in order to lay hold of them he would
+either have to go around the long framework, or else
+cross the car. He made up his mind to take the latter
+course.</p>
+
+<p>Without being discovered, he managed to reach the side
+of the car; then, just as he was rising to step over the
+rail, Needham caught sight of him.</p>
+
+<p>With a wild yell Needham gained his feet. The yell
+brought Grove up like a shot. For an instant, the two
+rascals were paralyzed by the unexpected appearance of
+Matt. Their moment of inaction afforded the young
+motorist just the opportunity he needed.</p>
+
+<p>Flinging himself into the car, and across it, he snatched
+the rifles away from the rail, just as the hands of Grove
+and Needham were outstretched to take them.</p>
+
+<p>One of the weapons he flung behind him.</p>
+
+<p>"Nail him!" cried Grove; "down him, before he gets
+a chance to shoot!"</p>
+
+<p>Needham, no less than Grove, realized the necessity of
+capturing Matt. Matt, however, had no intention of
+using the remaining rifle on either of the two men;
+neither did he have it in mind to let them get away, or
+rough-handle him.</p>
+
+<p>As the two rushed forward, Matt flung the rifle to his
+shoulder, and his gray eye sparkled menacingly along the
+barrel.</p>
+
+<p>"Keep off!" he warned, swaying the muzzle of the gun
+back and forth so as to keep both men under it; "keep
+away from me and stand right where you are! I mean
+business, right from the drop of the hat, and you fellows
+might as well understand it."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV.</a></h2>
+
+<p class="chaptitle">A DARING ESCAPE.</p>
+
+
+<p>The menace of the steady gray eye and the swaying
+gun muzzle were enough for Grove and Needham.</p>
+
+<p>"Here's a go!" growled Needham, casting a yearning
+look around him toward the timber.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm going to make a 'go' of it, all right," averred
+Matt, grimly, "no two ways about that. What are you
+doing with your right hand, Needham?"</p>
+
+<p>Needham's hand had wandered toward his hip. Matt
+was watching both scoundrels so sharply that not a
+move they made escaped him.</p>
+
+<p>Needham brought his hand around in front of him.</p>
+
+<p>"What are you trying to do, King?" queried Grove,
+evidently seeking to gain time and give Brady, Pete or
+Whipple a chance to come on the scene.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"I'm trying to get away from this place," replied Matt,
+"and I've not much time to waste in talk. I guess you
+know that fully as well as I do."</p>
+
+<p>Still keeping the rifle trained on the two men, he
+climbed out of the car to the ground.</p>
+
+<p>"Now," he went on, "I'll tell you fellows what you're
+to do, and then we'll be able to work quicker. You will
+both get into the car, and get in together so that I can
+cover you more easily with this one gun. Needham will
+then place his back against the upright timber that helps
+suspend the car from the hoop&mdash;and mind you take the
+timber farthest from the driver's seat. On the bottom
+of the car there's a coil of small rope. With that, Grove
+will tie Needham to the upright. Is that clear?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, what the blazes&mdash;&mdash;" began Grove, but Matt
+cut him short.</p>
+
+<p>"There's no time for talk, I tell you!" he called,
+sharply. "Brady and the other two may show up here,
+and I'm going to have this work done before that happens."</p>
+
+<p>"But&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Get into the car!"</p>
+
+<p>Matt's finger flexed ever so slightly upon the trigger
+of the gun. The watchful eyes of Grove and Needham
+detected the movement and both made haste to tumble
+into the car.</p>
+
+<p>"I'd give a farm to know what you've got up your
+sleeve," growled Needham, as he backed slowly against
+the upright timber.</p>
+
+<p>"Move more quickly," warned Matt, "or you'll find
+what I've got in this gun. I used to be in Arizona, and
+I know how they deal with matters of this sort down
+there. They're not in the habit of wasting so many
+words as I'm doing. Pick up that rope, Grove," he
+added, "and get busy with it. Mind you tie hard knots!
+No fast-and-loose plays at this stage of the game."</p>
+
+<p>Grove was a bit languid in his operations, and as he
+worked he gave more attention to the quarters from
+which Brady, Pete and Whipple might be expected than
+he did to the tying of Needham.</p>
+
+<p>"Grove," called Matt, sternly, "I'm not going to bother
+much more with you! Move faster, and pass some of
+that rope around Needham's arms. I don't want his
+hands left free. Pull the coils tighter."</p>
+
+<p>After a fashion, Grove got his comrade tied.</p>
+
+<p>"Will that do you?" he demanded, gruffly, turning to
+glare at Matt.</p>
+
+<p>"That will answer. Now turn your back to Needham's."</p>
+
+<p>"Say, by thunder I'm not going to stand for&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Turn your back!</i>"</p>
+
+<p>Matt shoved the muzzle of the rifle toward Grove's
+breast, and the man made haste to place himself against
+the upright piece of the car's framework.</p>
+
+<p>It was Matt's intention, then, to drop the rifle and
+proceed with the tying of Grove himself, but the girl
+suddenly appeared and climbed into the car.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll do the rest, Matt," said she, picking up the loose
+end of the rope.</p>
+
+<p>Matt had planned to have the girl remain in the thicket,
+taking no part in his operations; but she had different
+ideas.</p>
+
+<p>Grove and Needham both glared at the girl.</p>
+
+<p>"The old man will make you sorry for this!" fumed
+Grove.</p>
+
+<p>"I expect he will," replied the girl. "He has made
+me sorry for a lot of things lately."</p>
+
+<p>Around and around the bodies of the two men Helen
+coiled the rope. Then, when she had come to the end
+of it, she made it fast with a knot.</p>
+
+<p>Pausing a moment after she had finished, she drew a
+revolver out of Needham's hip-pocket and dropped it on
+the driver's seat.</p>
+
+<p>"You had better have that in your own hands, Matt,"
+said she, quietly. "It will be easier to handle than the
+rifle."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't get out of the car, Helen," called Matt, as the
+girl was about to climb over the rail. "You can't stay
+here after this."</p>
+
+<p>"I can and I must."</p>
+
+<p>Her resolve to remain with her father was unshaken;
+but there was a bright light in her eyes which Matt had
+not seen there before. Evidently the success that was
+attending Matt's plans to get away with the air-ship had
+lifted a grievous load from her spirits.</p>
+
+<p>Walking around the car, Helen picked up the bag
+which they had taken with them into the swamp.</p>
+
+<p>"This must go with you, Matt," she continued, pushing
+the bag under the driver's seat, "along with the rest of
+the stuff piled up on the ground there."</p>
+
+<p>While she was on that side of the car she cast off the
+mooring-rope and flung it into the air-ship.</p>
+
+<p>Matt dropped the rifle and released the rope on the
+other side.</p>
+
+<p>The Hawk was now in readiness to take to flight. With
+nothing to hold it, the gas-bag began to feel the effects
+of the wind that was blowing and to move about in answer
+to the faint gusts. But it rode on an even keel, for
+its buoyancy had to be accelerated by the propeller before
+it would rise, or could be maneuvered.</p>
+
+<p>The girl had started toward the bags, heaped up on the
+ground. Before she could reach them, however, a loud
+yell from the opposite side of the island caused her to
+halt in consternation.</p>
+
+<p>"Dad!" she cried, wildly; "he's coming!"</p>
+
+<p>"Brady! This way, quick!"</p>
+
+<p>The clamoring whoops went up from Needham and
+Grove as they struggled fiercely to free themselves.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Matt, seeing that there was not an instant to be lost,
+leaped into the car and tilted the steering-rudder at an
+angle which would carry the air-ship upward.</p>
+
+<p>"Come along!" he shouted to the girl as he started the
+engine. "Get into the car, Helen!"</p>
+
+<p>"Hurry, hurry!" screamed the girl, running directly
+away from the car and in the direction of Brady and
+Pete, who were making for the Hawk at a run.</p>
+
+<p>A pang of regret ran through Matt at the thought of
+leaving Helen Brady behind to bear the brunt of her
+father's anger; but there was no time for argument. He
+started the propeller, and the Hawk began to move up
+the airy incline toward the tops of the trees that walled
+in the edge of the "island."</p>
+
+<p>The struggles of Matt's two prisoners became desperately
+frantic. So violently did they wrestle with their
+bonds that the car tipped and swayed dangerously. Matt
+had no time to give to them, just then, being wholly
+wrapped up in the maneuvering of the Hawk.</p>
+
+<p>He gave the rudder a further tilt, throwing the air-ship
+to an angle that caused Grove's feet to slip from
+under him, so that only the support of the rope and the
+upright held him to his place.</p>
+
+<p>"Shoot!" he bellowed. "Why don't you blaze away at
+him, Brady?"</p>
+
+<p>Brady had evidently held his fire, hoping to get the
+air-ship back without injury; and, even now, as his rifle
+and Pete's began to crack murderously, the target of
+their bullets was Matt.</p>
+
+<p>Two or three of the leaden spheres zipped past Matt's
+head, missing him by the narrowest of margins.
+Strangely enough, however, Matt was more worried
+about the harm the bullets might do the gas-bag, or the
+machinery, than he was about any damage they might
+do him.</p>
+
+<p>Faster and faster he speeded up the engine, and the
+Hawk raced toward the clouds. She cleared the tops of
+the trees, gained the clear sky, and, at a height of five
+hundred feet, was brought to an even keel.</p>
+
+<p>Then, and not till then, did Matt venture a look below.
+He was just in time to catch one fleeting glimpse of those
+he had left behind on the "island." What he saw aroused
+his anger and indignation.</p>
+
+<p>Helen, still true to her resolve to help Matt, had seized
+hold of her father's rifle and was struggling to keep him
+from using it. The minute figures were strangely clear,
+and Matt saw Brady lift his fist and strike the girl down.
+Then the tops of the trees interposed and cut off the unpleasant
+sight. Matt faced about, a steely glint in his
+gray eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Here's a fine lay out!" Grove was clamoring, far gone
+with chagrin and baffled rage. "One kid, single-handed,
+captures two of us and runs off with the air-ship, right
+under the noses of Brady and the rest! Oh, well, we're
+entitled to all we get out of this. We don't deserve anything
+better."</p>
+
+<p>"You'll get something more than you expect," said
+Matt, picking up the revolver and pushing it into his
+pocket, "if you don't stop squirming around like that.
+It's hard to steer when you're rocking the car in such a
+fashion. You fellows are my prisoners, so make the best
+of it."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," growled Grove, "and us two aeronauts will have
+a fine tale to tell when you take us where you're going
+to. You've stolen this car. That'll cook your goose for
+you."</p>
+
+<p>"Brady," answered Matt, "can have his air-ship back
+whenever he wants to show up and claim it."</p>
+
+<p>There followed a brief silence, during which Matt
+noted that the wind was brisk, and from the north, and
+exulted over the speed the Hawk developed in the teeth
+of it.</p>
+
+<p>Needham was first to break the silence.</p>
+
+<p>"If I had my hat, and was able," said he, craning his
+head around to get a look at Matt, "I'd take it off to you."</p>
+
+<p>The lad in the driver's seat made no response. He
+was hurrying toward South Chicago.</p>
+
+<p>Where was the Eagle? The skies in every direction
+were clear and the other air-ship was nowhere to be seen.</p>
+
+<p>Motor Matt, as he drove the air-ship steadily against
+the wind, kept close watch of the captured aeronauts.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI.</a></h2>
+
+<p class="chaptitle">THE END OF THE MID-AIR TRAIL.</p>
+
+
+<p>The failure of Carl, Harris and Jerrold to make a
+landing on the "island" has already been recorded.</p>
+
+<p>They had seen the Hawk, moored at one edge of the
+cleared space, and they had seen Brady and the others;
+but, of course, it had been impossible for them to see
+anything of Matt. The young motorist, at that time, was
+bound hand and foot and lying on the cot in the hut.</p>
+
+<p>With bullets flying around them and threatening injury
+to the Eagle, it was not policy to remain hovering
+over such a nest of desperate scoundrels very long.</p>
+
+<p>"We'll get out of here," cried Harris, angrily, "and
+come back with men and guns enough to give those fellows
+a taste of their own medicine. Don't let any harm
+come to the air-ship, Jerrold. We're going to need her,
+later."</p>
+
+<p>Just as Harris finished speaking, a bullet slapped into
+the motor and the machinery at once began to go wrong.</p>
+
+<p>"Too late," responded Jerrold grimly; "they've already
+nipped us."</p>
+
+<p>"Py chimineddy," roared Carl, "I vish I hat somet'ing
+vat I could shoot mit ad dem fillains!"</p>
+
+<p>Limping and staggering, Jerrold managed to urge the
+Eagle out of harm's way.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"She won't drop on us, will she?" asked Harris, looking
+anxiously downward at the tree-tops.</p>
+
+<p>"No," replied Jerrold, "the gas-bag is uninjured, so we
+can't fall; and the motor is working, too, after a fashion,
+and that enables us to make a slow rate of speed. But
+there will have to be some repairs before we can do anything
+more with the air-ship."</p>
+
+<p>"Where'll we go to make them? Back to South Chicago?"</p>
+
+<p>"Lake Station is nearer. We'll come down there and
+ascertain the extent of the damage. It may be that we
+shall have to go back to South Chicago if the injury is at
+all serious."</p>
+
+<p>"All right," acquiesced Harris. "I'll be able to do
+some telephoning and get a few more men out here from
+headquarters. I'll have them bring rifles, and then we'll
+give Brady a set-to that he'll remember."</p>
+
+<p>"I ditn't see Matt in der blace," mourned Carl.</p>
+
+<p>"He may have been there," said Harris. "There were
+two sheds, and they may be keeping your chum a prisoner
+in one of them."</p>
+
+<p>"Vell, vile ve're avay fixing oop der Eagle, meppy dose
+fellers pack dere vill fly off mit demselufs in der Hawk.
+Oof dey do dot, den ve vill have some drouple for our
+pains."</p>
+
+<p>"We shall have to keep watch of the sky in the direction
+of the swamp," said Jerrold. "By doing that we
+can tell whether or not the Hawk gets away."</p>
+
+<p>Carl made that his work.</p>
+
+<p>"I don'd know how I can see mit der naked eye ven
+ve ged py Lake Sdation," he remarked.</p>
+
+<p>"We'll have to hunt up a spyglass, or a pair of binoculars,"
+suggested Harris.</p>
+
+<p>"Vat oof der Hawk moofs pefore we ged dem?"</p>
+
+<p>"Then we'll be up against it, and no mistake."</p>
+
+<p>There was a lot of excitement in the little town of
+Lake Station when a real, sure enough air-ship descended
+close to the blacksmith shop. The whole population
+gathered and stared.</p>
+
+<p>While Jerrold was busy tinkering with his crippled
+motor, Carl succeeded in finding an old-fashioned spyglass
+and climbed with it to the top of the highest building
+in town. There he perched himself on the edge of
+the roof and watched continually in the direction of Willoughby's
+swamp.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, Harris had been talking with police headquarters
+in South Chicago. As a result, three officers
+were detailed to catch the first train for Lake Station.</p>
+
+<p>The repairs to be made to the Eagle were somewhat
+extensive, and taxed the capacity of the blacksmith shop.
+Had Jerrold been in his own workroom he could have
+fixed up the motor more easily and quickly, but to take
+the Eagle back to South Chicago would have resulted in
+a loss of time.</p>
+
+<p>Hour after hour the inventor labored, helped by the
+blacksmith and eyed with wonder by the townspeople.
+The detail of officers arrived, and they could do nothing
+but wait until the Eagle was ready to carry them to the
+"island" in the swamp. Any attempt to reach the
+"island" on foot was hardly to be considered.</p>
+
+<p>While Jerrold's labors were nearing completion, a yell
+from Carl called the attention of Harris.</p>
+
+<p>"What's the matter with you?" he shouted.</p>
+
+<p>Carl was dancing around on the roof top, waving the
+spyglass frantically.</p>
+
+<p>"Come oop!" he cried, wildly. "Der Hawk is gedding
+avay mit itseluf! Ach, plazes, vat a luck!"</p>
+
+<p>Harris made haste to reach the top of the building
+where Carl had been patiently waiting and watching.</p>
+
+<p>"Pud der spyglass to your eye, Harris," said Carl,
+"und look off to der nort'. Ach, dose fellers haf made
+some ged-avays, und I bed you dey have dook Matt
+along!"</p>
+
+<p>With the glass at his eye, Harris swept the horizon in
+the direction indicated by Carl. Finally he found what
+he was looking for&mdash;an oblong blot gliding through the
+heavens and proceeding in a northerly direction.</p>
+
+<p>"That's the Hawk, all right," said he, in a tone of
+intense disappointment, "but why is it heading in that
+direction?"</p>
+
+<p>"Prady vouldn't dare go pack by Sout' Chicago," said
+Carl. "I bed you somet'ing for nodding he has got
+anodder hang-oudt in dot tirections. Ach, vat vill I do
+for dot bard oof mine?"</p>
+
+<p>Gloomily the two descended from the roof, and Carl
+returned the spyglass to its owner.</p>
+
+<p>Half an hour later the Eagle was ready for flight, and
+the officers and Carl got aboard. It was decided to proceed
+to the swamp and look over the "island" and then,
+if nothing of importance developed, to return to South
+Chicago.</p>
+
+<p>The Eagle's motor, apparently, worked as well as ever,
+and the four miles separating Willoughby's swamp from
+Lake Station were covered in record time.</p>
+
+<p>As they neared the "island" the officers made ready to
+use their guns. There was no hostile demonstration,
+however, and not a soul was anywhere in sight. The
+Eagle descended, and the officers, accompanied by the
+anxious Carl, proceeded to make a search.</p>
+
+<p>They found nothing but two meagerly furnished houses,
+apparently recently deserted. Silence reigned everywhere,
+ominous of events that had happened.</p>
+
+<p>"Vell," said Carl, gloomily, "dis means dot I haf got
+to do some more looking for Modor Matt. Der gang
+haf made off mit him some more, und I vas so tisappointed
+as I can't dell."</p>
+
+<p>For that matter, they were all disappointed&mdash;Jerrold
+in particular. Motor Matt had served Jerrold well, and
+the inventor had been anxious to make him some repayment
+in kind.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>But there was nothing left for the air-ship party to
+do but to point the Eagle toward home. As the air-ship
+passed the rolling mills and came close to the balloon
+house where Brady had formerly housed the Hawk, it
+was observed by those in the car that the doors of the
+big building were closed, and that two officers had mounted
+guard in front of them.</p>
+
+<p>"That means something," muttered Harris. "Drop
+lower, Jerrold, so I can talk with those two cops."</p>
+
+<p>Jerrold descended until the top of the car was nearly
+on a level with the balloon house, and Harris leaned over
+the guard rail.</p>
+
+<p>"Hello!" he called. "What are you fellows doing
+there?"</p>
+
+<p>"Watching the air-ship," was the astounding answer.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you mean to say that Brady's air-ship is in that
+balloon house?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sure."</p>
+
+<p>"Has Brady been captured?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, no. You went after him, didn't you?"</p>
+
+<p>"We went after him, but he and his men fired on us
+and damaged our motor. We went to Lake Station to
+fix the machinery, and while we were there we caught
+sight of the Hawk, through a spyglass, making north.
+As soon as we could, we started for the swamp, but there
+was no one there. Naturally, we supposed that Brady
+and his gang had made their escape, and it's mighty
+surprising to hear that the Hawk is back in its old cage
+and didn't bring Brady along."</p>
+
+<p>"The Hawk brought Motor Matt&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Carl gave a yell and nearly fell out of the car.</p>
+
+<p>"Modor Matt?" he shouted. "Vas you shdringing me,
+oder iss it shdraight goots?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm giving it to you straight," answered the officer on
+the ground. "Motor Matt got away from the swamp
+and brought two prisoners with him, in the Hawk. They
+were two of the men who robbed Jerrold of his plans."</p>
+
+<p>"Zum lauderbach haben, mich shtets&mdash;&mdash;" began Carl,
+singing loudly and then interrupting himself to gloat.
+"Dot's my bard vat dit dot! Yah, so! Leedle Modor
+Matt who iss alvays doing t'ings vat you don'd oxbect.
+He has shtarred himseluf some more, you bed you! Vere
+iss Modor Matt now, officer?" Carl called down.</p>
+
+<p>"He took a train into Chicago&mdash;said he was behind his
+schedule for that five-day race. The two prisoners are
+at police headquarters."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, by thunder!" muttered Harris, mopping his face
+with a red handkerchief, "that Motor Matt must be a
+regular young phenomenon!"</p>
+
+<p>"I never heard of anything to beat him!" averred Jerrold.</p>
+
+<p>"Und you nefer vill!" declared Carl. "He iss vone oof
+dose fellers vat can't be peat."</p>
+
+<p>"You might take us to police headquarters, Jerrold,"
+suggested Harris.</p>
+
+<p>"Und you mighdt shtop on der vay py der railroadt
+sdation," piped Carl. "I vant to ged py Chicago so
+kevick as der nation vill led me."</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>When Carl next saw Matt, the young motorist was
+spinning around the great oval in a Jarrot machine, which
+he knew so well and had driven to victory in Kansas.
+The five-day race was not for one driver alone, but several
+drivers were to be at the steering wheel of each car.
+Matt had reached the Coliseum just in time to take his
+place in the racing schedule.</p>
+
+<p>Every time Matt whirled around the oval, Carl had
+something to say to him, but it was not until evening
+that the boys were able to get together for a talk.</p>
+
+<p>They decided between them that Brady, and those
+whom Matt had left on the "island," must have made
+their escape from the swamp by a secret route known
+only to themselves.</p>
+
+<p>Where Harper, the driver of the Hawk was, was likewise
+a mystery to the police.</p>
+
+<p>Matt had turned the bag of loot stolen from Hartz &amp;
+Greer over to the police with instructions to say that it
+was recovered by Miss Brady, and that no reward would
+be accepted for its return.</p>
+
+<p>"How you tink dot air-ship pitzness is, anyvays, Matt?"
+asked Carl, when the boys had had their talk out and
+were ready to crawl into bed.</p>
+
+<p>"I <i>like</i> it," answered Matt, enthusiastically, "and I wish
+I could have more of it!"</p>
+
+<p>His wish was destined to fulfillment, for, as events
+proved, his thrilling work in South Chicago and at Willoughby's
+swamp was but the beginning of a series of
+air-ship experiences. Matt may have congratulated himself
+with the thought that he was through with Hector
+Brady, but Brady was by no means done with Matt&mdash;as
+will be made clear in the story to follow.</p>
+
+
+<p class="center">THE END.</p>
+
+
+<p class="center medium">THE NEXT NUMBER (10) WILL CONTAIN</p>
+
+<p class="center huge">Motor Matt's Hard Luck;</p>
+
+<p class="center medium">OR,</p>
+
+<p class="center large">THE BALLOON-HOUSE PLOT.</p>
+
+<hr class="r5" />
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>An Old Friend&mdash;A Trap&mdash;Overboard&mdash;Rescued&mdash;Buying
+the Hawk&mdash;Matt Scores Against Jameson&mdash;At the
+Balloon House&mdash;The Plot of the Brady Gang&mdash;Carl
+is Surprised&mdash;Helen Brady's Clue&mdash;Jerrold Gives His
+Aid&mdash;Grand Haven&mdash;The Line On Brady&mdash;The
+Woods by the River&mdash;Brady a Prisoner&mdash;Back in
+South Chicago.</p></blockquote>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<table summary="scaffold" class="bbox">
+<tr><td colspan="2" class="tdc huge">MOTOR STORIES</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdr large" style="padding-right: .25em;">THRILLING ADVENTURE</td><td class="tdl large" style="padding-left: .25em;">MOTOR FICTION</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+
+<p>NEW YORK, April 24, 1909.</p>
+
+<p class="center"><b>TERMS TO MOTOR STORIES MAIL SUBSCRIBERS.</b></p>
+
+<p class="center">(<i>Postage Free.</i>)</p>
+
+<p class="center"><b>Single Copies or Back Numbers, 5c. Each.</b></p>
+
+<table summary="Terms">
+<tr><td>3 months</td><td class="tdr">65c.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>4 months</td><td class="tdr">85c.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>6 months</td><td class="tdr">$1.25</td></tr>
+<tr><td>One year</td><td class="tdr">2.50</td></tr>
+<tr><td>2 copies one year</td><td class="tdr">4.00</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1 copy two years</td><td class="tdr">4.00</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<p><b>How to Send Money</b>&mdash;By post-office or express money-order,
+registered letter, bank check or draft, at our risk. At your own risk if sent
+by currency, coin, or postage-stamps in ordinary letter.</p>
+
+<p><b>Receipts</b>&mdash;Receipt of your remittance is acknowledged by proper
+change of number on your label. If not correct you have not been properly
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+
+<table summary="scaffold">
+<tr><td>
+<span class="smcap">Ormond G. Smith</span>,<br />
+<span class="smcap">George C. Smith</span>,
+</td>
+<td style="font-size: 200%">}</td><td style="padding-right: 1em;"><i>Proprietors</i>.</td>
+<td class="tdc">
+<b>STREET &amp; SMITH, Publishers,<br />
+79-89 Seventh Avenue, New York City.</b>
+</td></tr></table>
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="THE_BIG_CYPRESS" id="THE_BIG_CYPRESS">THE BIG CYPRESS.</a></h2>
+
+
+<p>The rifle cracked and the piece of boiler plate, which had
+been erected as target against the bank fifty yards away, fell
+shattered like a pane of glass.</p>
+
+<p>"How's that, Colonel Fearon?" coolly inquired the young
+fellow, who had fired the shot, as he turned to the tall, sallow-faced
+man who stood beside him.</p>
+
+<p>A curious expression crossed the latter's face, but he answered
+quickly, "Amazing, Rutherford! Simply astonishing.
+I could never have believed such a thing possible. A pom-pom
+shell could hardly have smashed the plate more effectually."</p>
+
+<p>The boy&mdash;he was hardly more&mdash;laughed. "I thought it
+would startle you, colonel. Will you feel justified in sending
+me up to Washington?"</p>
+
+<p>"I reckon that's the place for you to go to, Rutherford.
+The war department'll need that new bullet of yours in their
+business. You mean to tell me you invented that bullet all
+by yourself?"</p>
+
+<p>"I did, colonel. You see, I was always fond of dabbling in
+chemistry and the idea for this came to me one day when I
+was at work in my father's store. I didn't worry about it
+much, until the poor old man went broke, and then it struck
+me there was money in it. It was the mayor of our town,
+Orangeville, told me to come to you. He said that you
+could give me the proper introductions."</p>
+
+<p>"He was right," said Colonel Fearon. "I can fix you up
+with the proper people. Let me have a shot."</p>
+
+<p>Lionel Rutherford handed the colonel a cartridge, which
+outwardly looked precisely similar to an ordinary rifle cartridge.
+He then walked across the lawn of fine Bermuda
+grass, put a fresh piece of steel plate in position, and came
+back.</p>
+
+<p>The colonel fired, and, as before, the tough steel simply
+sprang to pieces and lay in scattered fragments on the grass.</p>
+
+<p>"I reckon there's more money in this than in keeping
+store," said the colonel thoughtfully. "Rutherford, I'll be
+pleased if you'll stay here at my house for a day or two till
+I can write to the proper people."</p>
+
+<p>Young Rutherford thanked him warmly and the two
+walked back toward the long, low, wide verandaed house.</p>
+
+<p>Late that night the colonel and his son, Randal Fearon,
+sat together in the well-appointed smoking room and talked
+earnestly in low tones.</p>
+
+<p>"There's thousands in it, father," said the younger man
+sharply. "Thousands!"</p>
+
+<p>"I know that as well as yourself," returned the other irritably.
+"But the invention's not yours or mine."</p>
+
+<p>"What's Rutherford?" sneered Randal. "Here he is, a
+fellow who's never known anything of life, who's lived all
+his days in a little one-horse backwoods town, and now he's
+going to roll in riches while we are on the edge of bankruptcy."</p>
+
+<p>He paused, and glanced at his father, who sat fidgeting
+uneasily. The colonel, fine-looking man that he was, was as
+weak-willed as his tall, thin, sharp-faced son was strong.</p>
+
+<p>"A real nice scandal there'll be when we go smash," went
+on Randal Fearon. "Think of the headlines. 'Fraudulent
+Bankruptcy. Prominent Floridian lives beyond his means.'
+How the yellow press'll revel in it!"</p>
+
+<p>Again the colonel moved uneasily. "I don't see how you're
+going to get the specifications from him, anyhow," he said
+at last.</p>
+
+<p>"You leave that to me," replied Randal with sneering emphasis.</p>
+
+<p>"Look you here, Randal, I won't have any violence." For
+once Colonel Fearon spoke decidedly.</p>
+
+<p>"I guess you needn't worry your head about that," answered
+Randal. "I've got the whole plan cut and dried.
+You've asked him to stay?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said the colonel. "He will stay."</p>
+
+<p>Randal laughed as if pleased. "That's all right. To-morrow
+we'll settle it, Pete Dally and I."</p>
+
+<p>"How?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'll tell you in the morning. Don't worry yourself. As
+you are so anxious to avoid it, I promise you there shall be
+no violence."</p>
+
+<p>Randal chuckled in ugly fashion as he got up, flung the
+stump of his cigar into the fireplace, and, lighting a small
+hand lamp, left the room.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>"How much farther have we got to go before we run into
+any of this game you talked about, Mr. Fearon?" asked
+Rutherford as he stopped and wiped the perspiration from his
+streaming face.</p>
+
+<p>"I thought we'd have seen a buck before now," replied
+Randal Fearon. "We don't often have to come this far into
+the Big Cypress to find game, do we, Pete?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sah; we gen'rally finds it quite clos' to the aidge of
+de swamp," said Pete, who was a burly, square-shouldered
+negro with a face as black as ebony.</p>
+
+<p>Rutherford was rather puzzled. That morning Randal
+Fearon had suggested that it would be very good fun to go
+shooting in the Big Cypress, a huge tract of wild, swampy
+forest, the edge of which was about five miles from Colonel
+Fearon's place.</p>
+
+<p>"You might try the effect of some of your explosive bullets,"
+Randal had suggested; and Rutherford had laughed
+and said that there wouldn't be much left of any game
+smaller than a buffalo or an elephant if struck by one of his
+projectiles.</p>
+
+<p>All the same, being a keen sportsman, he had willingly
+agreed to the shoot. What puzzled him was that they should<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>
+have tramped for hours through this steaming bush, which
+reeked with signs of game, and yet not seen a single thing to
+shoot at.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you worry. We shall find deer soon," said Randal
+when Rutherford expressed his astonishment. "We're getting
+near a good place now. I reckon we'd better stop and
+eat our dinner first. Pete, make a fire."</p>
+
+<p>Pete Dally dropped the big haversack he was carrying over
+his broad shoulders, and obeyed. In a very few minutes a
+fire was blazing, and the fragrant fumes of frying bacon and
+strong coffee filled the close, steamy air. Lionel Rutherford,
+tired by the long tramp and the hot-house atmosphere of the
+jungle, enjoyed the meal greatly.</p>
+
+<p>After they had finished they marched on again. They had
+left the pine trees behind, and were pushing along a narrow
+track through a forest of great ilex, bastard oak, and magnolia.
+The undergrowth was of saw palmetto, growing in
+huge, impenetrable clumps, among which the muddy track
+wound in and out.</p>
+
+<p>The scent of yellow jasmine was almost stifling, but the
+only life visible was an occasional cardinal bird with its
+vivid crimson plumage, or a stub-tailed water moccasin which
+raised its triangular, copper-hued head with an ugly hiss and
+dragged itself sluggishly out of sight among the tangled
+herbage.</p>
+
+<p>The path was so narrow that they were compelled to walk
+in single file. Randal made Pete lead the way. More than
+once the negro had tried to drop behind, but each time Randal
+roughly ordered him to push ahead.</p>
+
+<p>The silence of the swamp grew as oppressive as the intense
+heat. It began to get upon young Rutherford's nerves.</p>
+
+<p>"A tough place to get lost in," he said at last.</p>
+
+<p>Randal turned quickly. There was a queer expression on
+his sharp face as he replied:</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, pretty bad, I reckon."</p>
+
+<p>Somehow, Rutherford fancied there was something sinister
+in his tone.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't like the chap," he thought to himself. "I wish I
+hadn't come." Then common sense got the better of his
+fears. "It's the place, not the people, that's worrying me.
+These big hamaks are worse than a desert. There you can
+see the sky; here it's like one great, green prison."</p>
+
+<p>"Look out, sah. Dah's a wild cat in dat tree," suddenly
+hissed Pete Dally, and slipped out of the path into the thicket.
+"Quiet or youse done frighten him."</p>
+
+<p>Rutherford, all excitement, slipped his rifle from his shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>But Randal barred his way. He was standing still, peering
+up into the tree indicated.</p>
+
+<p>"Where? I don't see it," he exclaimed harshly.</p>
+
+<p>"Dere it am, sah. On dat big fork," declared Pete, pointing.
+And then as Randal stepped forward, the negro slipped
+back round a clump of palmetto, and Rutherford felt a hand
+fall sharply on his arm, while these words were whispered
+in his ear:</p>
+
+<p>"Dat man mean you no good, sah. Watch me, an' doan'
+do what he say."</p>
+
+<p>He turned in amazement, but Peter was already gone. He
+had glided back, and was standing at Randal's elbow, pointing
+out the exact spot where he alleged he had seen the cat.</p>
+
+<p>But there was no cat there now, and Rutherford wondered
+if there ever had been. Randal cursed Pete angrily, and once
+more they moved forward.</p>
+
+<p>Rutherford, more worried than he cared to own even to
+himself, followed, as before, the last of the little procession.</p>
+
+<p>It was getting late and the bullfrogs had begun to bellow
+harshly in unseen pools in the forest. But there was no decrease
+in the sullen heat. Not a breath stirred the moist,
+stagnant air, and the farther they went the thicker grew the
+tangled vegetation till there was no longer any sign of a
+path. In unbroken silence the three forced their way through
+primeval forest.</p>
+
+<p>Presently trees broke away, and they stood upon the muddy
+marge of a reedy lagoon, across the stagnant waters of which
+the low sun cast a lurid light.</p>
+
+<p>"Here we are," said Randal Fearon sharply. "This is
+where the deer come down to drink. You wait, Rutherford,
+in the bushes here, and you'll soon get a shot. Pete and I
+will take up our places on the far side. Then whatever comes
+some of us will get a buck."</p>
+
+<p>"Watch me, and don't do what he says." Pete's words
+were ringing in Rutherford's ears. He cast a glance at the
+negro. Pete made a quick sign, which the English boy took
+to mean that he was to follow instead of remaining.</p>
+
+<p>Next moment Randal had plunged off through the palmetto
+with Pete at his heels.</p>
+
+<p>"What's it all mean?" muttered Rutherford angrily. "Is
+Fearon fooling me, or is it Pete? Of the two, I infinitely
+prefer the nigger. I'll do what he says."</p>
+
+<p>He left his shelter, and moved as quietly as possible on
+the track of the other two.</p>
+
+<p>Sure enough, they did go round the pool! Rutherford
+began to wonder if he was wrong; whether Pete for some
+unknown reason was fooling him.</p>
+
+<p>The going was dreadful. The ground below the almost
+impenetrable palmetto was deep mud. Swarms of mosquitoes
+rose and stung viciously. Lionel was afraid that the crashing
+of the parted bushes would betray him.</p>
+
+<p>He knew he was falling a long way behind, and panic
+seized him that he might lose the others. Though young
+Rutherford had lived all his life in America, yet he had never
+been in a big swamp like this. The store had kept him busy.</p>
+
+<p>At last he reached the spot which Randal had pointed out
+as his own shooting station. To his horror, there was no one
+there. Randal and Pete had both disappeared. He was alone
+in the tangled heart of this monstrous swamp, and knew that
+without help he could never hope to find his way out.</p>
+
+<p>After the first moment of panic Lionel Rutherford pulled
+himself together. He had plenty of pluck. He rapidly considered
+the situation. For some reason best known to himself
+Randal Fearon wished to abandon him, to lose him in the
+swamp. But he himself had no idea of dying of hunger,
+fever, or snakebite in this impenetrable wilderness. He had
+two courses open&mdash;go back and try to find his way out along
+the trail they had come by, or follow after Randal and Pete.</p>
+
+<p>There were no objections to the first. It was a very long
+way, and it was doubtful if he could find it even in broad
+daylight. As it was, it would be dark in an hour. Besides,
+Pete had certainly meant him to follow.</p>
+
+<p>Randal must mean to spend the night in the swamp. That
+was clear. Therefore he must have some camping place.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll follow," muttered the boy between set teeth, and
+started off.</p>
+
+<p>Though the sun was not yet down, it was already dusk
+beneath the thick shade of the towering timber, and in the
+half light the trail was most difficult to follow. The others
+had long ago passed out of hearing.</p>
+
+<p>The night life of the swamp was waking. Enormous owls
+hooted weirdly, then came the thundering bellow of a bull
+alligator, and presently above all these the ghastly, half-human
+shriek of a panther calling to its mate.</p>
+
+<p>Stumbling and struggling, Lionel hurried on. In a little
+he came to a thick belt of tall saw grass. The two pairs of
+footmarks entered it, but the trails beyond were so confused
+with the passage of deer and other animals that the boy recognized
+with a shock that he could not follow the human
+footsteps.</p>
+
+<p>Very near despair, he turned back. No, he could not find
+Randal's trail. He stopped. "I'm done!" he muttered hopelessly,
+and stood straining his ears for any sound of his
+former companions.</p>
+
+<p>Just then, as he was almost giving up, he caught sight of
+a morsel of something white stuck on a broken stem beside
+the trail. It was a tiny piece of paper, and on it, marked
+with a muddy finger tip, an arrow pointing in a certain direction.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"Pete!" exclaimed Lionel joyfully. A load rolled off his
+mind. Marking the direction carefully, he pushed on fast.
+Now he was on the lookout, he found other signs; a broken
+twig, a stick, laid in the path.</p>
+
+<p>Darkness fell rapidly. There is little twilight in Florida.</p>
+
+<p>"They can't go much farther," he said. He was right.
+In a very short time the dull glow of a fire showed where the
+others had camped.</p>
+
+<p>"What shall I do?" he asked himself. "Go right up and
+tackle Randal Fearon? No; he'd have some excuse ready,
+and I'd only get Pete into trouble. I must wait till Randal
+goes to sleep."</p>
+
+<p>The mosquitoes were savage. Young Rutherford, tired and
+hungry, found it maddening to wait in the damp gloom, and
+watch Randal gorge on the supper which Pete cooked.
+Nearly two hours passed before Randal, having finished a
+cigar, rolled himself, head and all, in a blanket and lay down.</p>
+
+<p>A few minutes more, and a snore told Rutherford it was
+safe to venture closer.</p>
+
+<p>Pete heard him, and glided out. The black man chuckled
+silently when he saw the boy. "Reckoned you'd be along,
+sah. You foun' de sign Pete lef' for you. Now de firs' thing
+is you eat. Den we talk."</p>
+
+<p>He put corn, bread, and bacon into Rutherford's hands, and
+the boy made a hearty meal.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, sah," said Pete. "You see what dat man want to
+do. He lose you in de swamp, den go home, say you fell in
+de water and was drowned. Den he an' his dad, dey take
+dat blow-up bullet ob yours an' sell him."</p>
+
+<p>Lionel Rutherford was aghast. He had never dreamed of
+such wickedness.</p>
+
+<p>"But we beat dem," went on Pete, with a chuckle. "I like
+you, an' I hate dat Randal."</p>
+
+<p>"What can we do?" asked Lionel eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, we play de same trick on him he try play on you.
+We take all de stuff, go off, an' leab him. He no more find
+his way out of de Big Cypress dan you. Only Pete know de
+trails."</p>
+
+<p>"That won't do, Pete," returned Lionel sharply. "I won't
+be any party to murder."</p>
+
+<p>Pete was amazed. He expostulated strongly.</p>
+
+<p>"No, I'll tell you what we will do, Pete. We'll go off and
+hide, and let him think he's lost. We'll follow and watch,
+and when he's got the soul nearly scared out of him we'll
+find him again. See?"</p>
+
+<p>Pete saw. He chuckled again in high good humor. "Dat's
+a very fine game, sah. We play dat to-morrow morning.
+Now I take de things away, an' when Randal wake he find no
+breakfast, no Pete, no nothing."</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>"He done lost hisself, sure pop!" declared Pete.</p>
+
+<p>It was nine o'clock next morning, and Lionel Rutherford
+and the negro had been following Randal for more than an
+hour.</p>
+
+<p>His language when he woke up and found Pete gone had
+been something appalling.</p>
+
+<p>Having found that this did no good, he had started off back
+along the track they had come by on the previous day, but in
+less than ten minutes he was off it; and the two, who followed
+at a discreet distance, had watched his growing fury
+and fright when he found himself quite lost in the pathless
+depths of the wilderness.</p>
+
+<p>"He can't go dat way much furder," observed Pete. "He
+gettin' down in de deal bad swamp. He go in up to his fool
+neck if he don't be keerful."</p>
+
+<p>Sure enough the quaking muck-land broke beneath the
+young scoundrel's weight, and in he went. With a yell of
+fright he caught at a branch, pulled himself out, and staggered
+back.</p>
+
+<p>"What's he going to do now?" whispered Lionel.</p>
+
+<p>"Reckon he going climb dat tree an' see whar he am."</p>
+
+<p>Pete was right. Randal began shinning up the stem of a
+tall, slender tree by the water's edge, the only one which
+seemed to give a possible view of any of the surrounding
+country. No doubt he thought he might spot the trail from
+the summit.</p>
+
+<p>Rutherford, who had been staring hard at the tree, suddenly
+clutched Pete's arm. "What's that thing up in the branches
+just above him?" he asked sharply.</p>
+
+<p>Pete took a long stare. "By golly, sah, it am a snake!
+An' a mighty big one, sure!"</p>
+
+<p>Rutherford started forward, slipping a cartridge into his
+rifle.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't shoot, sah," whispered Pete. "Dat ain't no poison
+snake. It am only a old white oak snake."</p>
+
+<p>"Looks like an ugly customer," muttered Lionel.</p>
+
+<p>At this moment Randal reached the first boughs and stood
+up. The movement alarmed the snake, which raised its ugly
+head and hissed sharply.</p>
+
+<p>Randal heard the hiss, and, turning, saw the reptile. He
+gave a scream of terror, and almost lost his hold. Then he
+backed rapidly on to a branch which actually overhung the
+creek.</p>
+
+<p>"Time to end this now," said Rutherford, raising his rifle.
+"I shall shoot the snake."</p>
+
+<p>Pete seized his arm. "De snake won't hurt him, sah. But
+dey will."</p>
+
+<p>He pointed to the water. The big alligator had seen Randal,
+and silently moved up till it was just beneath him. Another
+of almost equal size had also risen to the surface.
+Yellow eyes agleam, the hideous brutes were watching for
+this rash intruder upon their domain.</p>
+
+<p>At the very instant there was a snapping crackle. The
+bough on which Randal cowered was breaking. And the
+wretched man, clinging vainly for a hold, had caught sight
+of the huge reptiles below. He screamed till the forest resounded
+with his agonizing cries.</p>
+
+<p>He snatched at the branches above, but could reach only
+twigs, which broke in his grasp. He was falling clean into
+the open jaws of the alligators.</p>
+
+<p>If Rutherford's rifle had been loaded only with an ordinary
+cartridge nothing could have saved Randal. It was just pure
+luck that he had flung one of his explosives into the breech.</p>
+
+<p>Simultaneous with Randal's fall the rifle spoke. The bullet
+caught the nearest alligator on the side of the head, and
+the air was full of mangled fragments of flesh and bone.</p>
+
+<p>Into this horrible geyser Randal dropped heavily and vanished.</p>
+
+<p>Next moment he rose again, and struck out madly for the
+bank.</p>
+
+<p>"I can't shoot again," cried Lionel. "I should kill him if
+I did."</p>
+
+<p>"Dere ain't no need to," said the negro. "You done scared
+de stuffin' out ob dat oder gator."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank goodness he's safe," exclaimed Lionel as Randal
+scrambled ashore and fell in a heap on the bank. "Now
+we'd better get him home."</p>
+
+<p>Pete laughed. "Yes, sah. I reckon he done had enough
+ob de Big Cypress."</p>
+
+<p>When Randal came round Rutherford soon realized he
+had no more to fear. The fellow's nerve was broken. He
+shivered and trembled like a frightened child.</p>
+
+<p>They took him home, and then Lionel went boldly to Colonel
+Fearon, and told him the whole story plump and plain.
+When he had finished the colonel sat speechless. His face
+was gray and pinched.</p>
+
+<p>Lionel looked at him. "I shan't make any trouble for you,"
+he said coolly. "All I want is those introductions. Write
+them now, and I'll take them myself to Washington."</p>
+
+<p>Without a word the colonel obeyed.</p>
+
+<p>Lionel Rutherford is now a rich and rising man. Pete
+is his faithful major-domo. Whenever Lionel gets a holiday
+the two go off down south for a week or two of shooting.
+But they never again penetrated the desolate depths of the
+Great Cypress.</p>
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+
+
+
+<h2 class="huge bb">
+<a href="images/i1large.jpg"><img src="images/i1.jpg" width="48" height="23" alt="hand" /></a>
+<a name="LATEST_ISSUES" id="LATEST_ISSUES">LATEST ISSUES</a>
+<a href="images/i2large.jpg"><img src="images/i2.jpg" width="48" height="23" alt="hand" /></a>
+</h2>
+
+
+<hr class="r5" />
+<h3>BUFFALO BILL STORIES</h3>
+
+<p>The most original stories of Western adventure. The only weekly containing the adventures of the famous
+Buffalo Bill. <b>High art colored covers. Thirty-two big pages. Price, 5 cents.</b></p>
+
+<p>
+405&mdash;Buffalo Bill and the Rope Wizard; or, A Tie-up with the Riata King.<br />
+406&mdash;Buffalo Bill's Fiesta; or, At Outs with the Duke of Cimarron.<br />
+407&mdash;Buffalo Bill Among the Cheyennes; or, The Rescue of Paquita.<br />
+408&mdash;Buffalo Bill Besieged; or, Texas Kid's Last Trail.<br />
+409&mdash;Buffalo Bill and the Red Hand; or, The Ranch of Mystery.<br />
+410&mdash;Buffalo Bill's Tree-Trunk Drift; or, The Cold Game "Gent" from Red Tail.<br />
+411&mdash;Buffalo Bill and the Spectre; or, A Queer Layout in Spook Caņon.<br />
+412&mdash;Buffalo Bill and the Red Feathers; or, The Pard Who Went Wrong.<br />
+413&mdash;Buffalo Bill's King Stroke; or, Old Fire-top's Finish.<br />
+414&mdash;Buffalo Bill, the Desert Cyclone; or, The Wild Pigs of the Cumbres.<br />
+415&mdash;Buffalo Bill's Cumbres Scouts; or, The Wild Pigs Corralled.<br />
+</p>
+
+
+<hr class="r5" />
+<h3>BRAVE AND BOLD WEEKLY</h3>
+
+<p>All kinds of stories that boys like. The biggest and best nickel's worth ever offered. <b>High art colored
+covers. Thirty-two big pages. Price, 5 cents.</b></p>
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p>321&mdash;Madcap Max, The Boy Adventurer; or, Lost in the Land
+of the Mahdi. By Frank Sheridan.<br />
+322&mdash;Always to the Front; or, For Fun and Fortune. By Cornelius
+Shea.<br />
+323&mdash;Caught in a Trap; or, The Great Diamond Case. By
+Harrie Irving Hancock.<br />
+324&mdash;For Big Money; or, Beating His Way to the Pacific. By
+Fred Thorpe.<br />
+325&mdash;Muscles of Steel; or, The Boy Wonder. By Weldon J.
+Cobb.<br />
+326&mdash;Gordon Keith in Zululand; or, How "Checkers" Held the
+Fort. By Lawrence White, Jr.<br />
+327&mdash;The Boys' Revolt; or, Right Against Might. By Harrie
+Irving Hancock.<br />
+328&mdash;The Mystic Isle; or, In Peril of His Life. By Fred Thorpe.<br />
+329&mdash;A Million a Minute; or, A Brace of Meteors. By Weldon
+J. Cobb.<br />
+330&mdash;Gordon Keith Under African Skies; or, Four Comrades
+in the Danger Zone. By Lawrence White, Jr.<br />
+331&mdash;Two Chums Afloat; or, The Cruise of the "Arrow." By
+Cornelius Shea.</p></blockquote>
+
+
+<hr class="r5" />
+<h3>MOTOR STORIES</h3>
+
+<p>The latest and best five-cent weekly. We won't say how interesting it is. See for yourself. <b>High art
+colored covers. Thirty-two big pages. Price, 5 cents.</b></p>
+
+<p>
+1&mdash;Motor Matt; or, The King of the Wheel.<br />
+2&mdash;Motor Matt's Daring; or, True To His Friends.<br />
+3&mdash;Motor Matt's Century Run; or, The Governor's Courier.<br />
+4&mdash;Motor Matt's Race; or, The Last Flight of the "Comet."<br />
+5&mdash;Motor Matt's Mystery; or, Foiling a Secret Plot.<br />
+6&mdash;Motor Matt's Red Flier; or, On The High Gear.<br />
+7&mdash;Motor Matt's Clue; or, The Phantom Auto.<br />
+8&mdash;Motor Matt's Triumph; or, Three Speeds Forward.<br />
+9&mdash;Motor Matt's Air-Ship; or, The Rival Inventors.<br />
+</p>
+
+
+<p><i>For sale by all newsdealers, or will be sent to any address on receipt of price,
+5 cents per copy, in money or postage stamps, by</i></p>
+
+<p>STREET &amp; SMITH, Publishers, 79-89 Seventh Avenue, New York</p>
+
+
+<blockquote>
+
+<p><b class="medium">IF YOU WANT ANY BACK NUMBERS</b> of our Weeklies and cannot procure them from your newsdealer, they can be
+obtained from this office direct. Fill out the following Order Blank and send it to
+us with the price of the Weeklies you want and we will send them to you by return mail. <b>POSTAGE STAMPS TAKEN THE SAME AS MONEY.</b></p></blockquote>
+
+<hr class="r5" />
+
+<table summary="form" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5">
+
+<tr><td colspan="6" class="tdr sig">________________________ <i>190</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="6"><i>STREET &amp; SMITH, 79-89 Seventh Avenue, New York City.</i><br />
+<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>Dear Sirs: Enclosed please find</i> ___________________________ <i>cents for which send me</i>:</span>
+</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td><b>TIP TOP WEEKLY,</b></td><td class="tdc"><b>Nos.</b></td><td class="br">______________________</td>
+<td><b>BUFFALO BILL STORIES,</b></td><td class="tdc"><b>Nos.</b></td><td>______________________</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td><b>NICK CARTER WEEKLY,</b></td><td class="tdc"><b>"</b></td><td class="br">______________________</td>
+<td><b>BRAVE AND BOLD WEEKLY,</b></td><td class="tdc"><b>"</b></td><td>______________________</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td><b>DIAMOND DICK WEEKLY,</b></td><td class="tdc"><b>"</b></td><td class="br">______________________</td>
+<td><b>MOTOR STORIES,</b></td><td class="tdc"><b>"</b></td><td>______________________</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan="6" class="tdc">
+<i>Name</i> ________________ <i>Street</i> ________________ <i>City</i> ________________ <i>State</i> ________________<br />
+</td></tr></table>
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+
+
+
+<h2 class="bb"><a name="ADVENTURES_OF_A_BOY_GENIUS" id="ADVENTURES_OF_A_BOY_GENIUS">ADVENTURES OF A BOY GENIUS</a></h2>
+
+<p class="bb center huge">MOTOR STORIES</p>
+
+
+<p>Most five-cent weeklies are founded upon the adventures of boy wonders who perform all sorts of
+impossible feats and who never act or talk as a boy really does. This is displeasing to the intelligent boy of
+the present day, who is better educated, and who, consequently, demands more logical reading than the
+old-time boy did.</p>
+
+<p>The boys who want to learn something from what they read, as well as to be interested by it, will
+never find another publication that will satisfy them so well as MOTOR STORIES. "Motor Matt" is not
+an impossible boy character. He is simply a youth who has had considerable training in a machine shop
+where motors of all kinds were repaired, and who is possessed of a genius for mechanics. His sense of
+right and wrong is strongly developed, and his endeavors to insure certain people a square deal lead him
+into a series of the most astonishing, but at the same time the most natural, adventures that ever befell a boy.</p>
+
+<p>Buy the current number from your newsdealer. We feel sure that you will be just as enthusiastic
+about it as the fifty thousand other boys throughout the United States have become.</p>
+
+<p class="center"><b><i>HERE ARE THE TITLES NOW READY:</i></b></p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p><b>
+No. 1.&mdash;Motor Matt; or, The King of the Wheel.<br />
+No. 2.&mdash;Motor Matt's Daring; or, True to His Friends.<br />
+No. 3.&mdash;Motor Matt's Century Run; or, The Governor's Courier.<br />
+No. 4.&mdash;Motor Matt's Race; or, The Last Flight of the "Comet."<br />
+No. 5.&mdash;Motor Matt's Mystery; or, Foiling a Secret Plot.<br />
+No. 6.&mdash;Motor Matt's Red Flier; or, On the High Gear.<br />
+No. 7.&mdash;Motor Matt's Clue; or, The Phantom Auto.<br />
+</b></p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p class="center">TO BE PUBLISHED ON APRIL 12th</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p><b>
+No. 8.&mdash;Motor Matt's Triumph; or, Three Speeds Forward.<br />
+</b></p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p class="center">TO BE PUBLISHED ON APRIL 19th</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p><b>
+No. 9.&mdash;Motor Matt's Air-ship; or, The Rival Inventors.<br />
+</b></p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p class="center">TO BE PUBLISHED ON APRIL 26th</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p><b>
+No. 10.&mdash;Motor Matt's Hard Luck; or, The Balloon House Plot.<br />
+</b></p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p class="center">TO BE PUBLISHED ON MAY 3d</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p><b>
+No. 11.&mdash;Motor Matt's Daring Rescue; or, The Strange Case of Helen Brady.<br />
+</b></p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p class="center">TO BE PUBLISHED ON MAY 10th</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p><b>
+No. 12.&mdash;Motor Matt's Peril; or, Cast Away in the Bahamas.<br />
+</b></p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<hr class="r5" />
+
+<p class="bb">
+<b class="large">Price, Five Cents</b>        At all newsdealers, or sent, postpaid, by the publishers
+upon receipt of the price.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p class="center large"><i>STREET &amp; SMITH, Publishers, NEW YORK</i></p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<h2><a name="Transcribers_Notes" id="Transcribers_Notes">Transcriber's Notes:</a></h2>
+
+
+<p>Retained inconsistent hyphenation ("reentered" vs. "re-entered").</p>
+
+<p>Page 12, changed "anyhere" to "anywhere" ("we can go anywhere").</p>
+
+<p>Page 13, removed unnecessary quote before "In the letter, over his own signature." Changed "propellor"
+to "propeller" ("propeller forces the air-ship").</p>
+
+<p>Page 16, changed "Yon" to "You" ("You can handle the machine").</p>
+
+<p>Page 18, changed "times" to "time" ("right time arrives").</p>
+
+<p>Page 19, changed "geen" to "been" ("chum has been getting").</p>
+
+<p>Page 26, changed "Mat" to "Matt" ("get a look at Matt").</p>
+
+<p>Page 27, changed "nearer" to "neared" ("As they neared").</p>
+
+<p>Page 28, changed "bulding" to "building" ("big building were closed").</p>
+
+<p>Page 29, changed "crossel" to "crossed" ("curious expression crossed").
+Changed "outwarlly" to "outwardly" ("outwardly looked precisely").
+Changed "varandaed" to "verandaed."</p>
+
+<p>Page 30, changed "thicked" to "thicker" ("thicker grew the").</p>
+
+<p>Page 31, changed "clutchel" to "clutched" ("clutched Pete's arm").</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Motor Matt's Air Ship, by Stanley R. Matthews
+
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+</pre>
+
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