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diff --git a/old/52891-8.txt b/old/52891-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 0e73059..0000000 --- a/old/52891-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,5036 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Motor Matt's Make Up, 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 Make Up - or, Playing a New Role - -Author: Stanley R. Matthews - -Release Date: August 25, 2016 [EBook #52891] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MOTOR MATT'S MAKE UP *** - - - - -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. 29 - SEPT. 11, 1909 - - FIVE - CENTS - - MOTOR MATT'S - MAKE UP - - OR PLAYING - A NEW ROLE - - _BY - THE AUTHOR - OF - "MOTOR MATT"_ - - _Street & Smith - Publishers - New York_ - -[Illustration: _"Maskee!" cried the astounded Hindoo as Motor Matt -leaped at him_] - - - - -MOTOR STORIES - -THRILLING ADVENTURE MOTOR FICTION - -_Issued Weekly. By subscription $2.50 per year. Copyright, 1909, by_ -STREET & SMITH, _79-89 Seventh Avenue, New York, N. Y._ - - =No. 29.= NEW YORK, September 11, 1909. =Price Five Cents.= - - - - -MOTOR MATT'S MAKE-UP; - -OR, - -PLAYING A NEW RÔLE. - -By the author of "MOTOR MATT." - - - - -CONTENTS - - - CHAPTER I. HIGH JINKS IN THE SIDE SHOW. - CHAPTER II. THE "BARKER" SHOWS HIS TEETH. - CHAPTER III. THE MAN FROM WASHINGTON. - CHAPTER IV. A CLUE IN HINDOOSTANEE. - CHAPTER V. SOMETHING WRONG. - CHAPTER VI. A BLUNDER IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION. - CHAPTER VII. THE HOUSE WITH THE GREEN SHUTTERS. - CHAPTER VIII. THE PILE OF SOOT. - CHAPTER IX. MATT MEETS AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE. - CHAPTER X. RESCUE! - CHAPTER XI. BILL WILY REPENTS. - CHAPTER XII. MATT LAYS HIS PLANS. - CHAPTER XIII. MOTOR CAR AND AEROPLANE. - CHAPTER XIV. THE OAK OPENING. - CHAPTER XV. AEROPLANE WINS! - CHAPTER XVI. CONCLUSION. - A BRAVE DEED. - A LOCOMOTIVE HERO. - GEESE DROWN A SQUIRREL. - - - - -CHARACTERS THAT APPEAR IN THIS STORY. - - - =Matt King=, otherwise Motor Matt. - - =Joe McGlory=, a young cowboy who proves himself a lad of worth and - character, and whose eccentricities are all on the humorous side. A - good chum to tie to--a point Motor Matt is quick to perceive. - - =Carl Pretzel=, an old chum who flags Motor Matt and more trouble - than he can manage, at about the same time. In the rôle of detective, - he makes many blunders, wise and otherwise, finding success only to - wonder how he did it. - - =Ping=, the Chinese boy. - - =Ben Ali=, the Hindoo hypnotist and elephant trainer, who executes a - master-stroke in the matter of his niece, Margaret Manners, and finds - that a letter in Hindoostanee can sometimes prove a boomerang. - - =Dhondaram and Aurung Zeeb=, two Hindoos who have appeared before as - confederates of the crafty Ben Ali, and who now show themselves for - the last time in their villainous part, and vanish--one into prison - and the other into parts unknown. - - =Margaret Manners=, the niece of the rascally Ben Ali and a ward of - the British nation temporarily. In her particular case, justice is - slow in righting a grievous wrong--and would have been slower but for - Motor Matt and his aëroplane. - - =Reginald Pierce Twomley=, who represents the British ambassador, - wears a monocle, and who, in a passage at arms with Dhondaram, proves - himself a man in McGlory's eyes and a near-pard. - - =Boss Burton=, manager and proprietor of the "Big Consolidated," who, - in his usual manner, forms hasty conclusions, discovers his errors, - and shows no sign of repentance. - - =The Bearded Lady, the Armless Wonder, the Elastic Skin Man, the Zulu - chief and the Ossified Man=, all freaks in the side-show tent, who - appear briefly but brilliantly in the light of a Roman candle. - - - - -CHAPTER I. - -HIGH JINKS IN THE SIDE SHOW. - - -"Hello, dere, Viskers!" grinned Carl Pretzel, reaching up to grab the -hairy paw of the Zulu chief. - -"Howdy, Dutch!" answered the chief, with a nasal twang that suggested -New England. "By Jocks, I ain't seen yeou in quite a spell. How's -tricks, huh?" - -"Dricks iss fine, I bed you. Say, sheef, dis iss mein leedle shink -bard, Ping Pong. He iss der pest efer--oxcept me. Shake hants, Ping, -mit a Zulu sheef vat vas porn near Pangor, Maine." - -"Tickled tew death," said the chief effusively, taking the yellow palm -of a small Chinaman who pushed himself closer to the platform. - -The scene was the side-show tent of the "Big Consolidated," Boss -Burton's "Tented Aggregation of the World's Marvels." The show had -raised its "tops" at Reid's Lake, near the city of Grand Rapids. A high -wind had prevented Motor Matt from giving his outdoor exhibition of -aëroplane flying, and the disappointed crowds were besieging the side -show, eager to beguile the time until the doors for the big show were -open. - -With the exception of Carl and Ping, no outsiders had yet entered the -side-show tent. Carl, having once played the banjo for the Zulu chief -while he was dancing on broken glass in his bare feet, was a privileged -character. He had walked into the tent without so much as a "by your -leave," and he had escorted Ping without any adverse comment by the man -on the door. - -The freaks and wonders of the side show were all on their platforms and -ready to be viewed. The Ossified Man had been dusted off for the last -time, the Bearded Lady had just arranged her beard most becomingly, the -Elastic Skin Man was giving a few warming-up snaps to his rubberoid -epidermis, the Educated Pig was being put through a preliminary stunt -by the gentlemanly exhibitor, and the Armless Wonder was sticking a -copy of the Stars and Stripes in the base of a wooden pyramid--using -his toes. - -The Armless Wonder occupied the same platform as the Zulu chief. His -specialty was to stand on his head on the wooden pyramid, hold a Roman -candle with one foot, light it with the other, and shoot vari-colored -balls through a hole in the tent roof. In front of the Wonder, -neatly piled on the little stage, were half a dozen long paper tubes -containing the fire balls. - -"How you was, Dutch?" inquired the Wonder, doubling up in his chair and -drawing a bandanna handkerchief over his perspiring face with his foot. - -"_Ganz goot_," laughed Carl, carelessly picking up one of the Roman -candles. "I vill make you acguainted, oof you blease, mit mein leedle -shink bard." - -"Shake!" cried the Wonder heartily, offering his right foot. "It does -me proud to meet up with a friend of Pretzel's." - -"Allee same happy days," remarked Ping, releasing the foot and backing -away. - -"Yeou tew kids aire chums, huh?" put in the Zulu chief, leaning down to -arrange the row of photographs in front of him. - -"Surest t'ing vat you know," answered Carl. - -"Dutchy boy heap fine," declared Ping. "We both one-piecee pards." - -"That's the talk!" exclaimed the Armless Wonder. "Too much weather for -the flyin' machine to-day, huh? Motor Matt was afeared to go up, I -reckon, Dutch?" - -"Afraidt?" protested Carl. "Modor Matt vasn't afraidt oof anyt'ing. -He couldn't haf shtaid ofer der show grounds, und dot's der reason he -dit'nt go oop. Der vind vould haf plowed him galley-vest, und den some." - -"I see. These here aëroplanes are hard things to handle, and----Holy -smoke! Drop it! Put it out!" - -Carl, as has already been stated, had picked up one of the Roman -candles. While talking with the Armless Wonder, he leaned back against -a tent pole and clasped his hands--the candle in one of them--behind -him. - -Ping had stepped back. The Roman candle, held fuse end outward, looked -most inviting. Digging a match out of his kimono, Ping scratched it on -the pole and applied the flame unseen to the fuse. - -While the Armless Wonder was talking, Carl heard a long-drawn-out hiss, -a smell of smoke came to his nostrils, and a Niagara of sparks floated -around him. Naturally he was startled, and it flashed over him that -something was wrong with the Roman candle. Bringing the candle around -in front of him for examination, he had it leveled at the Wonder the -very instant the first fire ball was due. The ball was not behind -schedule. Rushing from the end of the tube, it caught the Wonder in the -breast, and he turned a back somersault off the platform. - -Bewildered by the mysterious cause of the situation, Carl swerved the -candle in order to get a look through the smoke and sparks at the place -where the Wonder had been seated. - -A roar came from the Zulu chief. A ball of flaming red had slapped -against his shoulder, and he jumped for the next platform on the right. -Landing on the edge, his weight overturned the structure. There was a -scream from the Bearded Lady and a whoop from the Elastic Skin Man, and -the next moment they landed in a tangled heap on top of the Zulu chief. - -"Put it out!" the Armless Wonder continued to yell. - -"Point it up or down!" bellowed the gentlemanly trainer of the Educated -Pig. - -"Ged some vater!" howled Carl, running back and forth and waving the -candle; "ged a pucket oof vater und I vill drown der t'ing in it!" - -The Dutch boy didn't know what to do. If he dropped the candle he -might get hit with some of the balls himself, and if he turned it -straight upward he might set fire to the top of the tent. While he was -running up and down, trying frantically to think of some way out of the -trouble, of course the fire stick was continuing to unload. - -Whizz--slap! - -A wad of yellow fire hit the Pig, which squealed and bolted. The -gentlemanly attendant tried to head off the Porcine Marvel, but it ran -between his outspread feet and knocked him off the stand. A rain of -lettered blocks followed. - -The frantic Pig bunted into Ping, tripped him, and hurled him against -Carl. Both boys went down, and Carl rolled over and over, discharging -red, white, and blue balls as he revolved. - -Up to that moment the Ossified Man had escaped. But now his turn had -come. He was said to have been turning to stone for thirty years, and -was supposed to be so brittle that he had to be handled with extreme -care. - -The first ball that struck him, however, caused him to jump off his -board slab with a yell. From the way he rushed to get out of the tent, -it was pretty certain that he was as wiry and pliable as the average. - -The Educated Pig, to an accompaniment of yells, howls, and screams, -and with the lurid glare of the popping balls lighting the smoky -interior of the tent, ran on blindly, overturned the stage set aside -for the Zulu chief and the Armless Wonder, showered broken glass over -everybody, and then tore through the tent wall and out into the open. - -Naturally, this Bedlam, suddenly turned loose in the tent, had excited -the wonder and curiosity of the ticket seller, the "barker," and the -man at the door. - -As the man at the door looked in, the last of the balls struck him -below the belt, and he collapsed in the arms of the "barker," who was -crowding in behind him. - -The last of the balls! That hollow, pasteboard tube seemed to have been -a perfect mine of shooting stars. It had disgorged itself of a dozen. -Carl had not counted them--he was too busy with other matters--but it -seemed to him as though the tube had been fully an hour getting rid of -its contents. - -A madder assortment of freaks it would have been harder to find than -wrangled and protested, there in the side-show tent, while they rubbed -their bruises and shook the kinks out of themselves. - -"It was one of the Armless Wonder's Roman candles," came in sepulchral -tones from the Ossified Man as he climbed back to his slab. - -"I'll quit the show, and give two weeks' notice this minute," piped the -Bearded Lady as she picked her way through the scattered glass, "if -they don't cut out these fireworks. My goodness! You might just as well -be killed outright as scart to death. Wha'ju jump onto our stage for?" -and she glared at the chief, who was gently massaging his burned spot. - -"By Jocks," answered the chief, "I didn't care where I jumped s'long's -I got away from the fireworks." - -"It was the Dutchman done it," flared the Wonder. - -"He's a freak," rumbled the Ossified Man. "Kick him out." - -"I don'd peen a freak," said Carl angrily, throwing the burned-out tube -at the O. M. "Oof I vas, den here iss vere I should shday." - -"Did you set that Roman candle to goin'?" demanded the "barker" -fiercely. - -"I don'd set him to going, py chimineddy! I hat him in my handt, und he -vent off mit himseluf. Dot's all aboudt it." - -"This ain't no place for them kind o' jokes," cried the Elastic Skin -Man. "He's played hob with this outfit: Give him a h'ist!" - -The ticket seller, the "barker," and the man on the door all three -fell upon Carl. Between them they had the Dutch boy turning cartwheels -through the entrance. - -Ping, the cause of all the trouble, slipped away quietly under the -canvas wall--but not until he had picked up something white from the -earthen floor of the tent. The object lay close to where Carl had lain, -and Ping conceived the idea that it belonged to the Dutch boy and that -it was his duty to recover it and return it to the owner. - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -THE "BARKER" SHOWS HIS TEETH. - - -When Carl finally rounded up his wits he found himself sitting under -the lee of the "animal top," leaning against one of the guy ropes. The -wind was blowing half a gale, and the big tents swayed and tugged at -their fastenings. There was only one idea just then in the Dutch boy's -mind, and that was this: - -"How dit dot Roman gandle go off mit itseluf? I remember taking him in -my handt und holting him pehindt me, und den--whizz, bang! Ach, how der -shparks dit fly! Dere vas fordy-'lefen palls in der gandle, und I hit a -freak mit efery pall. Donnervetter, vat a hot time!" - -At this point Ping came rounding the curved canvas wall, head to the -wind, blouse and wide trousers flapping, and pulling himself along by -means of the guy ropes. - -"Hello, Clal!" he called, mooring himself to a tent stake. - -"Hello yourseluf once!" answered Carl, drawing one powder-blackened -hand up and down his trousers leg. "How you like der pooty firevorks?" - -"By Klismus!" grinned the Chinaman, "him velly fine. Fleaks no likee." - -"How dit der gandle go off mit itseluf? Tell me dose." - -Ping's grin faded from his yellow face, and he grew solemn and serious. - -"No savvy, Clal. Him devil joss stick, awri'. Whoosh!" - -A sudden suspicion darted through Carl's brain as he stared at Ping. -The Chinese boy was altogether too serious. - -"Py shiminy grickets!" whooped Carl, "vas it you dot douched him off -ven der gandle vas my pack pehindt und I don'd see? Dit you make all -der drouples? Oof I vas sure oof dot, den I vould eat you oop like some -ham santviches." - -Ping gave a yell of protest. - -"We allee same fliends, huh?" he demanded. "Why my makee tlouble fo' -fliend?" - -"Vell, I don'd know for vy, aber such chokes iss nod vat I like. Oof I -findt oudt dot you lit der gandle, den I vill ged efen for dot. You bed -my life, I pay efery debt vat I owe." - -Ping looked serious. Then, glad that he was able to change the subject, -he remarked: - -"You losee one piecee papel in tent, Clal?" - -"I don't got one piecee paper, shink. How could I lose somet'ing vat I -don't got?" - -"My findee him same place you makee tumble. Look." - -Ping drew the folded sheet from his blouse. Carl stretched out his hand. - -"I vill take a look at dot," said he. - -When opened flat, the sheet contained writing, but it was not writing -that Carl could read. - -"Vedder it iss a ledder or nod," mused Carl, "I don'd know. Vat I see -on dis paper looks schust like hen dracks. It don'd vas English, und it -don'd vas German. Iss it shink wriding, Ping?" - -Ping dropped to his knees and examined the sheet of paper upside down -and sideways. - -"My no savvy," he answered. "Him not China writing. Some fleak lettee -dlop--him fleak writing. Him no gottee sense." - -Carl wrinkled his brows ominously. - -"I tell you somet'ing," said he. "Dere iss more to dis alretty as we -know, Ping. I peen a tedectif. Meppy you vill make a tedectif, too. -Subbose we findt oudt vat der ledder iss aboudt?" - -"Plaps we no makee find out." - -"Dot's vere der tedectif part comes in." - -"Plaps we no gottee sense enough, Clal." - -"_Ach, du lieber!_" grunted Carl. "Ditn't I findt dot Margaret Manners -vat vas draveling mit der show? Ditn't I get dot Ben Ali Hindoo feller -on der run? Ditn't I vin fife tousant tollars?" - -"You no gettee fi' thousan' dol'." - -"I vill get dot. It has to come from Inchia, und Inchia iss more as ten -tousant miles from vere I am. It takes time to get money from Inchia. I -was a shmard feller to do all dot. Meppy I gif you some lessons und you -vill be as shmard as vat I am." - -"Plaps." - -"You vant to choin in mit me, hey?" - -"Awri'. No savvy pidgin, Clal. What we do?" - -Before Carl could answer, the "barker" for the side show came running -around the tent wall. Carl grabbed the letter out of Ping's hand and -thrust it into his pocket. - -"What yuh got there?" demanded the "barker," coming to a halt and -glaring at Carl. - -"You don'd got some pitzness to know," was the Dutch boy's calm reply. - -The "barker's" name was Bill Wily, but, on account of his shady -character, he was generally known as Wily Bill. - -"I lost a letter durin' that shake-up in the tent," said Wily Bill, -truculently, "an' it looked to me as though that sheet yuh just tucked -away in your jeans was the one. Hand it over." - -"Don'd get gay mit yourseluf," warned Carl, rising to his feet. - -"Where'd yuh git that paper?" - -"Dot's for me to know. Oof you get pitzness any blace else, don'd let -us keep you a minid. Moof on. I don'd like you none too vell, anyhow." - -"You'll give me that paper," declared Wily Bill angrily, "or I'll twist -that Dutch neck o' yours." - -"Meppy you vill," answered Carl, "aber I don'd tink. Here it iss -different as it vas in der show. You don'd got der freaks und der -odders to helup." - -"I'll find Burton," fumed Wily Bill, "and I'll tell him yuh've stole -that there paper off me." - -"Den you vill be telling Purton vat ain'd so." - -The "barker" took a step forward. - -"Yuh goin' to give me that?" he shouted. - -"Say," answered Carl, with a happy thought, "you tell me vat iss in der -ledder, den oof it agrees mit vat iss dere you prove he belong mit you, -und I gif him oop. Oddervise, nod. Hey?" - -"Oh, you fall off the earth!" growled Wily Bill. "I don't have to tell -what's in the letter in order to prove it's mine, see? Fork over." - -Carl had thought he might get Wily Bill to translate the "hen tracks," -but the "barker" either could not or would not. - -"You und me don'd agree on dot," said Carl stoutly. "You tell me vat -iss in der ledder, oder you don'd get him. Dot's all aboudt it." - -"Look here," and Wily Bill made a threatening gesture with his clinched -fist, "pass that over or I'll push yer face inter yer back hair. Now, -then. Cough up or take the consequences." - -"I dradder fighdt as eat some meals!" whooped Carl. "Come on vonce, -oof dot's der game. Hit me in der eye! Dot geds my madt oop kevicker -as anyt'ing, und I fighdt pedder der madder vat I ged. Eider eye, it -_machts nichts aus_. Blease!" - -With a savage exclamation, Wily Bill threw himself forward and lunged -with the full force of his right. Carl ducked sideways. The fist missed -him, and the impetus of the blow hurled Wily Bill over the guy rope. - -Boss Burton, the proprietor of the show, seeing the clash from a -distance, was hurrying up to take a part in proceedings. He arrived -just in time to collide with the tumbling form of the "barker." - -It was with difficulty that Burton retained his footing. The breath was -knocked out of him, and as he tottered and gasped he glared at Wily -Bill. - -"Dere iss Poss Purton," chuckled Carl. "Schust tell him vat you vant -und see vat he say." - -"What're you roughing things up like this for, Wily?" demanded the -showman. "You know very well I don't allow any fighting on the show -grounds." - -"That Dutchman," answered the "barker," getting his temper a little in -hand, "has got a letter belongin' to me. I want it, an' he won't give -it up." - -"Is that so, Carl?" asked Burton, whirling on the Dutch boy. - -"I don'd know vedder or nod it iss so," replied Carl. "I got a ledder, -und he say it pelongs by him. Aber he von't say vat iss in der ledder, -so how could I know?" - -"Isn't the envelope addressed?" - -"Dere iss no enfellup." - -"Isn't there a name on the letter?" - -"Dere iss no name anyvere." - -"It's from a pal o' mine, Burton," explained Wily Bill, "and I dropped -it out of my kick in the tent. This Dutch lobster and that chink turned -on a row in the side show. The Dutchman got one of the Armless Wonder's -Roman candles, and while he held it behind him the chink touched a -match to it, and we had all kinds of fireworks for a----" - -"Donner und blitzen!" yelled Carl, facing Ping and shaking his fist. -"Den it _vas_ you, hey? I von't be no tedectif mit you! You vas no bard -to blay sooch a choke! I vill ged efen, yah, so hellup me! Oof you----" - -"That will do," cut in Boss Burton sternly. "We'll settle this letter -business before we do anything else. Where did you get the thing, Carl?" - -"Dot false-alarm chink gif him by me," answered Carl, watching angrily -while Ping allowed the wind to waft him out of sight around the -side-show tent. - -"Where did he get it?" - -"He picked him oop from vere I lay on der groundt. Dot's vat he say, -aber my confidences in him vas padly shook." - -"Give it to me." - -There was no dodging such an order from the proprietor of the show, and -the folded sheet was handed over. - -Burton looked at the letter. While he was doing so, Wily Bill made a -desperate grab for it. The showman was too quick for the "barker," and -jerked the sheet out of reach. - -"That's your game, is it?" growled Burton. "Go back to your job, Wily. -Come to me after the show, and we'll talk this over. I don't like the -way you're acting in this matter, and if you know when you're well off, -you'll put your foot on the soft pedal and keep it there. Not a word! -Clear out!" - -With a black scowl, and a look at Carl that boded him no good, Wily -Bill turned on his heel and made his way back to the side show. - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -THE MAN FROM WASHINGTON. - - -"Sufferin' hurricanes, what a blow!" remarked Joe McGlory. "What good's -a flying machine, pard, when a spell of weather puts it down and out? -The _Comet's_ a back number in a hatful of wind." - -"Hatful!" repeated Motor Matt. "If this breeze isn't doing fifty miles -an hour I'm no hand at guessing." - -The two motor boys were in their old rendezvous, the calliope tent, -sitting on a couple of overturned buckets and listening to the roar -and boom of bellying canvas, the flutter and snap of banners, and the -whistle of violently disturbed air around the tent poles. - -The big card played by Burton was the aëroplane flights, two of -which were given every day, before the afternoon and the evening -performance--wind and weather permitting. Since the motor boys' -engagement with Burton, Matt had not failed to take the aëroplane aloft -on an average of more than two days a week. This violent wind made -the morning flight at Reid's Lake one of the "off" days. There was a -chance, however, that the wind would go down with the sun, and that it -would be possible to do a little flying before the evening show. - -It was Saturday, and the "Big Consolidated" was to remain at Reid's -Lake over Sunday and give two performances Monday. On Monday, -therefore, it was quite possible the _Comet_ would be able to carry out -her part of the circus programme. - -"Up in North Dakota," observed Joe McGlory, "where it blows like sin -when it _does_ blow, you've capered around in the sky in the face of a -breeze every bit as strong as this, Matt." - -"There it was different," answered the young motorist. "I didn't have -to manipulate the machine over the show grounds, and there were not -thousands of people directly underneath to suffer if the aëroplane -didn't come down in the place from which it started. I don't want any -more accidents like the one we had at Jackson." - -"Where a snake short-circuited the engine, and you had all kinds of -hair-raising experiences," breathed McGlory. "Speak to me about that! -By gorry, I wouldn't even look on while you pulled off another such -performance, pard, for a million in yellow boys!" - -Before the king of the motor boys could make any reply, Landers, the -man who had charge of the calliope, showed himself in the tent door. -Behind him trailed a smooth-faced man of forty, in a cap and gray -tweeds. - -"That's Motor Matt," said Landers, pointing to the young motorist. -"This gentleman wants a word with you, Matt," he added, "and I -volunteered to show him where you could be found." - -Landers ducked away again, and the stranger pushed into the tent. - -"Fancy!" he exclaimed, staring at Matt, then at McGlory, and then -letting his eyes wander around the tent. "So this is Motor Matt. Ah, by -Jove!" - -McGlory picked up a bucket, emptied the water out of it, and turned it -upside down. - -"Sit down, pilgrim," said the cowboy, "and make yourself comfortable." - -The other pulled up his trousers at the knees and deposited himself -carefully on the bucket. He laughed a little, lifted a round piece of -glass from his coat and tucked it into his right eye, and then took -another look at Matt and McGlory. - -"Only fancy!" he murmured. - -"If you want to join the show," said McGlory, with a wink at Matt, -"you'll have to see Burton." - -"Join the show?" returned the other. "Why, I don't want to join the -blooming circus. I'm just looking for Motor Matt, don't you know." - -"You're not looking for him, neighbor, but at him. It's your move." - -"Deuced odd, that. My move. In other words, I'm to tell my business, -eh? It's private, very. I want to talk with Motor Matt alone." - -McGlory started to get up, but Matt stopped him with a gesture. - -"This is my chum, Joe McGlory," said he. "I have no secrets from him. -Fire away, sir." - -"Aw," drawled the other. "Well, if that's the way of it, then here -goes." - -Drawing a morocco case from his pocket, the stranger extracted a card -and handed it to Matt. - -"Reginald Pierce Twomley," ran the legend on the card; then, down in -the lower left-hand corner were the words: "Attaché British Embassy, -Washington." - -Matt passed the card to McGlory. - -"Glad to see you, Mr. Twomley," said Matt. "What can we do for you?" - -Reginald Pierce Twomley lighted a cigarette. It was a pretty cigarette, -with a gilt monogram on one side. He offered the case to the boys, but -they respectfully declined. - -"Aw, let us approach our business with method," said Mr. Twomley. "I -have come from Washington--aw--on very important business. Allow me to -prove my right to act as agent for his excellency the Ambassador by -recapitulating a few facts with which you must be familiar. - -"At one time, my dear sir, there was with this circus a Hindoo mahout -who called himself Ben Ali. That was not his real name, but it will -serve. With Ben Ali was a young lady who was called Haidee. Ben -Ali was a rotter--the worst case of thug that ever came out of the -Bombay presidency--and he had a powerful rajah for a brother. Ben Ali -took care of the rajah's elephant herd. The rajah's sister married -one Lionel Manners. Manners died, his wife perished by the infernal -practice of _suttee_--even now secretly practised in spite of the -English government--and Ben Ali left India with Manners' only daughter, -Margaret. The girl known as Haidee was in reality Margaret Manners. Am -I correct?" - -Matt nodded. - -"Ben Ali was an adept in the hypnotic line," proceeded Twomley, looking -thoughtfully into the smoke of his cigarette, "and Miss Manners was -in this country and with the show against her will. Her uncle, the -rascally Ben Ali, kept her under his evil influence, and was gradually -causing her to forget even her own identity. The mahout bore a grudge -against his powerful brother, the rajah, and he had stolen the girl in -a spirit of revenge. Eventually, he hoped to force the rajah to pay -many rupees for Miss Manners before Ben Ali released her. But this is -beside the mark. I don't care a hap'orth about that part of it. The -point that concerns the British Ambassador, Sir Roger Morse-Edwards, is -this: - -"You and your friends, Motor Matt, discovered who Haidee really was. -You rescued her from the evil spell of the mahout, and she was left in -Lafayette, Indiana, in charge of a worthy English lady, pending advices -from her uncle, the rajah, in India. We have received advices, not from -the rajah, but direct from our foreign office. I was sent forthwith -to Lafayette to get Miss Manners, take her to New York, and, with a -suitable maid as companion, send her by first steamer to Liverpool, and -so to London." - -"Good!" exclaimed Matt, with visible satisfaction. "Miss Manners is -a very fine girl, and I suppose her future will make up for the many -hardships she has undergone while in this country." - -"Exactly," answered Twomley, "if we could find her. But we can't. She -has disappeared." - -"Disappeared?" gasped Matt. - -"That is the way of it. I went to this English lady in Lafayette, -and she received me with astonishment. Several days before a man, -professing to be from the ambassador, had called and taken Miss -Manners away. We are done, done as brown as a kipper, and a telegram -to Washington brought an answer requesting me to hunt up this show and -have a talk with you." - -Motor Matt was astounded. And so was McGlory. - -"Have you any idea who the man was that called on the English woman in -Lafayette and took Miss Manners away?" - -"No. The Lafayette police are looking for him." - -"Have you any idea that Ben Ali is mixed up in the affair?" - -"I have, Motor Matt, and a very clear idea. I was ten years in India, -and learned the natives there, and their ways. It was for that, I -fancy, that Sir Roger asked me to come for Miss Manners. While I was -about taking the train at Lafayette, yesterday, I received another -message from the ambassador. That message informed me that a telegram -had been received from Ben Ali, informing Sir Roger that he again -had the girl in his possession, and that she would be delivered to -any agent Sir Roger might send after her on payment of ten thousand -pounds." - -"Fifty thousand dollars!" exclaimed Matt. Then he whistled. - -"Old Ben Ali is out for the stuff," muttered McGlory grimly. - -"He's a crafty beggar!" commented Twomley. "I left all the telegrams -with the police, and Sir Roger is taking the whole matter up with the -United States state department. The Secret Service of the government -will presently be at work on this case, for it is of international -importance. Can you give any information, Motor Matt, that will help us -find Ben Ali, or Miss Manners?" - -Matt shook his head. - -"Why doesn't the ambassador agree to send some one to meet Ben Ali? -Then the rascal could be caught." - -"He's too clever to let himself be caught. He----" - -Just here Boss Burton strode into the tent, followed by Carl. - -"Shut up about that, Carl," the showman was growling. "You haven't any -right to that letter, and I'm going to keep it." - -"I'm in der tedectif pitzness," returned Carl, "und I need dot ledder, -py shinks, to helup unrafel der case. Modor Matt," and Carl appealed to -his pard, "make Purton gif me der ledder." - -"What letter?" demanded Matt. - -"I'll tell you what we'll do," said Burton to Carl; "we'll leave the -letter with Matt. If Wily can prove it's his, then Matt can turn the -thing over to him." - -Burton handed a folded sheet to Matt. The latter, entirely in the dark, -opened the sheet and laid it on his knee. - -"What sort of writing is this?" he asked. - -"That's too many for me. It isn't Chinese--Carl said Ping told him -that--and it isn't Dutch. Of course, it's not English. And who it -belongs to, or where it came from, or what's the good of it, is more -than I know. But it appears to have caused a lot of bother." - -"It's Hindoostanee," spoke up Twomley, staring at the open sheet. "I -can read the language. If you wish, I'll translate it." - -Then, for the first time, Burton and Carl turned on the Englishman and -took his measure. - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -A CLUE IN HINDOOSTANEE. - - -"Who are you, my friend?" inquired Burton bluntly. - -"A friend of Motor Matt," replied Twomley easily. "He'll vouch for me, -I fancy." - -"Mr. Twomley, attaché of the British Legation at Washington, Burton," -said Matt. "Mr. Burton," Matt added to the Englishman, "is the -proprietor of the show. The other lad is Carl Pretzel, who is also -a chum of mine. We can talk over this matter before them. Carl had -everything to do with the finding of Margaret Manners, back there at -Lafayette." - -"Aw," drawled Twomley, screwing his monocle in his eye, and regarding -the Dutch boy, "he's the claimant for that thousand pounds reward, I -dare say." - -Tremors of excitement ran galloping through Carl. - -"Haf you prought der money?" he fluttered. "Vas you looking for me to -pay ofer dot rewart?" - -"I am sorry to say that I haven't brought the money. That matter is -still in abeyance." - -"Vat iss dot?" asked the puzzled Carl. "I don'd _verstch_ dot vort -apeyance." - -"He means the matter is still pending, Carl," put in Matt. "In other -words, you haven't got the money yet." - -"I know dot, aber vill I ged it? Dot's vat gifs me some vorries." - -"The rajah's a regular topper," said Twomley. "He'd never miss a -thousand pounds, and I fancy he'll do the right thing." - -"Mooch opliged," breathed Carl, in deep satisfaction. "It vas a -habbiness to know dot I ged him some dime." - -"Now, if you wish," went on Twomley, stretching out his hand for the -letter. - -"Just a moment, Mr. Twomley," said Matt. "We don't know much about this -letter, and I'd like to find out where and how Carl got it, and what -the dispute is about." - -The Dutch boy launched into an explanation, beginning with the Roman -candle and ending at the place where Burton refused to turn the letter -over to Wily Bill. Carl touched but lightly on the culpability of Ping -in the matter of the Roman candle. In this he was wise. Motor Matt's -orders were to the effect that there should be no bickering between the -Dutch boy and the Chinese lad. They had been at swords' points for a -long while and had only recently developed a friendly feeling for each -other. - -"I always sized up that Wily Bill for a false alarm," remarked McGlory. -"Can he read that Hindoostanee lingo? I'll bet my spurs he can't! If -that's the case, what's he doing with the letter?" - -"He must have wanted it a whole lot," said Matt, "or he wouldn't have -made such a fight to get it. Perhaps the letter itself will be a clue. -Tell us what's in it, Mr. Twomley," and Matt passed the letter to the -Englishman. - -The latter studied the sheet with absorbed attention. Finally he sprang -up. - -"By Jove!" he exploded. - -"What's the matter?" inquired Matt. - -"This is luck! Just fancy such a clue coming into our hands at this -very moment when it is most needed. Aw, it's--aw--incredible." - -"You might give us a chance to pass judgment on that, Mr. Twomley," -returned Burton. "Maybe it's not so incredible as you seem to think." - -"It was written by Ben Ali," said the attaché. - -"_That_ tinhorn!" exclaimed McGlory. "I thought we'd cut him out of our -herd altogether. Beats creation how he keeps bobbing up." - -"Who's it for?" spoke up Matt. "Has Bill Wily any right to it?" - -"The name of Wily doesn't appear anywhere in the writing," answered -Twomley. "In fact, the letter's addressed to a fellow named Dhondaram." - -Here was another hot shot. Both McGlory and Matt were brought excitedly -to their feet. - -"Dhondaram!" growled Burton, with an expressive glance at the king of -the motor boys. "I thought we'd heard the last of that villain." - -"Who was he?" demanded Twomley. - -"A Hindoo----" - -"So I gather from the name." - -"He blew into the show grounds with a cobra and a home-made flute, when -we were at Jackson, and I gave him Ben Ali's place as driver of our -man-killin' elephant, Rajah. Oh, he did a lot of things, Dhondaram did. -We captured him, but he got loose and dropped off the train between -stations." - -"Aw, Ben Ali didn't know that," reflected Twomley. "Ben Ali must have -thought he was still with the show, and sent this letter to him." - -"What does the letter say?" asked Matt, with some impatience. - -"It asked Dhondaram to finish his work as soon as possible and to join -Ben Ali, with the money, in short order." - -A silence followed, and during the silence the motor boys exchanged -wondering looks. - -"What was Dhondaram's work?" queried Twomley. - -"Nothing more or less than putting Pard Matt out of the running," -replied McGlory. "Ben Ali's on the warpath against Matt, because of -what he did in Lafayette, and Dhondaram tried hard to wipe my pard off -the slate." - -"Ben Ali speaks of money," went on Twomley. "What does that mean?" - -Burton muttered wrathfully. - -"I'll bet a thousand," said he, "that refers to the proceeds of -the afternoon performance in Jackson, which the ticket man and -this Dhondaram tried to get away with. Ben Ali put up the job with -Dhondaram, and the ticket man was helping them out." - -"Matters must have been lively all around in Jackson," observed -Twomley. "Dhondaram didn't get the money?" - -"Not so you could notice," answered McGlory. "Pard Matt jumped in and -plugged that little game." - -"Ben Ali," reasoned the king of the motor boys, "has probably been -thinking of recapturing Miss Manners for some time. All he had -Dhondaram try to do, in Jackson, was to help on his villainous schemes. -But Dhondaram failed. Probably Ben Ali is needing some money pretty -badly, about now. What is the date of that letter, Mr. Twomley?" - -"There is no date." - -"Then there's no telling how long Bill Wily has carried it in his -pocket?" - -The attaché shook his head. - -"He must have got it after we left Jackson, pard," interposed McGlory. -"If he had got it before, he'd have passed it on to Dhondaram." - -"How he got it at all is a mystery," mused the young motorist. "He has -probably seen and talked with Ben Ali." - -"Before the show got to Jackson, then," continued the cowboy, who was -doing a little sharp thinking. "If he had talked with Ben Ali after the -doings in Jackson, he'd have told the old skinner how Dhondaram fell -down." - -"There's a clue here, but it's not so promising as it might be," came -disappointedly from the Englishman. - -Matt walked toward the tent door. - -"Our best clue," said he decisively, "is Bill Wily. We'd better go to -the side show and have a talk with him." - -"Bring him here, Matt," suggested Burton. "We can talk with him in this -place to better advantage than in the side-show tent. I'll go with you -and make sure he comes. The rest of you wait," and the showman started -from the calliope tent after Matt. - -Inquiry of the man on the door at the side show developed the fact that -Bill Wily had started for town. He had been gone about five minutes, -Matt and Burton were informed, and had left the show grounds for the -street-car track. - -"He's making a getaway!" averred Burton. - -"That's the way it looks," agreed Matt. "We've got to stop him, if we -can." - -Without loss of time the king of the motor boys and the showman hustled -for the place where the street-car track made a loop, just beyond a big -concert garden. They were hoping to catch Wily before he could board a -car. - -But in this they were disappointed. A car was moving off in the -direction of town, and all their frantic yells and gestures were -powerless to secure the attention of the conductor. - -"It'll be fifteen minutes before there's another car," panted Burton, -"and by that time the 'barker' will be--the deuce only knows where. -It's a cinch, Matt, that he's scared, and is running away. If there was -an automobile handy, we could overhaul the car." Burton looked in every -direction. "But, of course," he added, "whenever you want a chug-wagon -there's none in sight." - -A familiar humming drew Motor Matt's attention. Looking in the -direction of the sound, he saw a motor-cycle spinning along the road -from the direction of Grand Rapids. A young fellow of nineteen or -twenty was in the saddle. - -"There's something that will do--if we can borrow it," said Matt, and -jumped into the road and waved his hands. - -The motorcycle came to a stop. - -"Are you flagging me?" asked the driver of the machine. - -"Yes," said Matt hurriedly. "I want to overhaul the street car that -just left here. There's a man aboard that we've got to catch. Will you -let me take your motorcycle?" - -"Well, I guess not!" was the reply. "The last time I loaned this -machine I was two days getting it back into shape again." - -"I'll give you twenty dollars for the use of it, young man," put in -Burton eagerly. - -"No inducement," was the answer. - -"There's hard luck for you, Motor Matt," grunted Burton. - -The young fellow had been on the point of starting away, but he -suddenly paused and turned to Matt. - -"Are you Matt King," he asked, "the fellow they call Motor Matt?" - -"Yes," was the reply. - -"Doing an aëroplane stunt with the show?" - -"Yes." - -"Well, take the machine. It won't cost you a cent, either. I work in -a motor-car factory in the Rapids, and we've heard a good deal about -you there. I'm tickled to death to be able to help you out. Bring the -machine back here when you're done with it, and you'll find me waiting." - -"Such is fame!" laughed Burton. - -With a hasty word of thanks, Matt headed the machine the other way and -got into the saddle. - -One turn of the pedal and the motor took up its cycle. Half a minute -later the king of the motor boys was out of sight down the road. - - - - -CHAPTER V. - -SOMETHING WRONG. - - -McGlory, Carl, and Twomley waited in the calliope tent until their -patience was exhausted. - -"Py shiminy," fluttered Carl, "I bed you somet'ing for nodding dot Vily -Pill don'd vas by der site show yet." - -"I reckon you've dropped a bean on the right number," agreed the -cowboy. "What's our next jump, your highness?" - -The question was put to the Englishman. - -"Aw, I say," said the latter, in remonstrance, "I'm not that, don't -you know. I'm not of the peerage. An uncle and three cousins, all -distressingly healthy, stand between me and an earldom." - -"I want to know!" murmured McGlory, in mock surprise. "Why, I didn't -think any one this side a lord could wear one of those little window -panes in the right eye." - -"You jest," said Twomley, with a faint smile. "Fancy!" - -"Well, anyhow, what are we going to do? Sit here and wait, or hit the -trail ourselves and find out what's doing?" - -"Hit the trail?" echoed Twomley, lifting his brows. "Deuced odd, that. -Why should we hit it, and what shall we hit it with?" - -"Vat a ignorance!" murmured Carl. - -"We'll hit it with our feet, excellency," went on McGlory. - -He had a hearty contempt for the monocle, and took it out on the wearer. - -"I don't know whether I rise to that," returned Twomley, "but if it -means to go forth and look into the cause of our friends' delay in -returning with Wily Bill, then, it's ay, ay, with a will." - -"Come on, then, and we'll vamose." - -McGlory led the way to the side-show tent, and Twomley and Carl -followed him closely. - -The crowds had long since entered the big tents, and the performance -in the "circus top" was in full blast. With the beginning of the "big -show" there was no business left for the annex, and the ticket seller -was withdrawn under the lee of a canvas wall, hobnobbing with the man -on the door. These two informed McGlory, Twomley, and Carl that Wily -Bill had left for town on the street car, and that Motor Matt and -Burton had started for the car line in the hope of overhauling him. But -that had been all of half an hour before. - -The three searchers immediately departed for the car-line loop. There -they found Burton and a young fellow kicking their heels impatiently -and keeping their eyes down the track. - -"Where's Matt?" asked McGlory. - -"Ask us something easy," replied Burton. "Wily has hiked for town. When -we got here the car he was on was too far down the track to stop. This -young man"--the showman indicated his companion--"came along on a motor -cycle. Matt borrowed the machine with the intention of overtaking -the car and bringing Wily back, but neither has shown up yet. Must be -something wrong." - -"Vell, I bed you!" said Carl anxiously. "On some modor cycles -Mile-a-minid Matt alvays geds vere he iss going pefore he shtarts. -Somet'ing has gone crossvays alretty, und dot's no tream." - -"I'm doing a century to-day," remarked the motor cycle owner, "and this -is cutting into my time." - -"Don't fret about your wheel, neighbor," spoke up McGlory. "You'll get -it back, all right." - -"I'm not fretting. Motor Matt's welcome to a dozen of the gasoline -bikes if I had 'em. But I'd like to be moving on." - -Burton looked at his watch. - -"Matt's been gone thirty-five minutes," he announced. - -"If he was running all the time," observed the lad from the motor-car -works, "he could be thirty-five miles from here." - -"Perhaps," ventured Twomley, "he has mucked the play, somehow." - -"Mucked the play!" exclaimed the exasperated McGlory. "That's not his -style, your lordship." - -"We'll wait twenty-five minutes longer," announced Burton. "If Matt -isn't back by then, this young man and I will start along the car track -in my runabout and we'll see what we can find." - -"Dake me along," clamored Carl. "I vas afraidt somet'ing iss wrong mit -Matt." - -"If there are any extra passengers in the runabout," said McGlory -resolutely, "I'm the one." - -"My word!" muttered Twomley. "I hope everything's all serene, I do, -indeed. I'm a juggins at waiting when there's so much excitement going -on." - -"Juggins is good," grunted McGlory. "You can retire somewhere, Mr. -Twomley, and hold onto your nerves while the rest of us hunt up the -'barker.' You'll not shine much till we find Wily Bill, anyhow." - -"You're an odd stick," answered Twomley, whose good nature was not a -thing to be ruffled. - -He was sharp enough to see that the cowboy had a pique at him, and he -had sufficient good sense to take it calmly. - -"Py shinks," said Carl, after ten more weary minutes had passed, "Matt -has hat time to do some centuries himseluf, und I can't guess it oudt -for vy he don'd get pack. Oof you don'd dake me in der runaboudt, den, -so helup me, I vill valk. Anydink is pedder to shtand as uncerdainties." - -Carl constantly watched the road that paralleled the car track. And so, -for the most part, did the Englishman. - -"My word, but it is trying!" murmured Twomley. "If we could only see a -bit of dust, then we'd know Motor Matt was coming, and my relief would -be profound." - -"Dust! _Ach, himmelblitzen!_ Vy, Matt vill go so fast on dot machine -der dust vill be a mile pehindt und you don'd see dot." - -"Here's something," came from McGlory. "Speak to me about it, will -you? Where's Ping? Little Slant-eyes is always around when anything is -doing, but I haven't seen him since he finished watering the calliope." - -Carl knew why Ping wasn't around. Ping was afraid Carl would do -something to him to play even for the Roman-candle business. Oh, yes, -that was an easy one for Carl to guess. There was secret satisfaction -for the Dutch boy in the reflection. And he gloated over it and kept it -to himself. - -"Time's up," announced Burton, snapping his watch, "and here's where -I go for the runabout. My thoroughbred is hitched to the buggy, so be -ready to go with me," he added to the owner of the motor cycle. - -"I'm not worrying about the wheel, understand," said the lad, "but -about the century I'm to turn. I'm making it right in the teeth of this -wind." - -Inside of five minutes Burton came with the runabout, his Kentucky -thoroughbred stamping off the ground at a record pace. - -The runabout seat was narrow, and Burton and the lad from the motor-car -factory filled it comfortably. But they took McGlory on their knees and -whipped away, leaving Twomley and Carl gazing after them disconsolately. - -Hardly were the runabout and its passengers out of sight when a car -rounded the loop and deposited its passengers on the platform. - -"Led's ged on der car, Misder Dumley," suggested Carl. "Ve vill vatch -der road as ve go, und oof ve see somet'ing ve vill trop off. I peen a -tedectif feller, und oof dere iss any clues dey von't ged avay from me." - -"Go you!" answered Twomley heartily. - -Any sort of action was a relief for his impatience, and he and Carl -scrambled aboard the car. - -Meanwhile the pedigreed Kentucky cob was pounding off the distance. -In the horse's performance the proud showman lost sight of the main -business in hand--temporarily. - -"See that knee action!" he exulted. "Did either of you ever see a -prettier bit of traveling? We're doing a mile in two-thirty!" - -"Bother the horse!" growled McGlory. "Keep your eyes on the road for -clues." - -"Clues! I'll bet money the 'barker' wouldn't get off the car. How could -Matt make him? He couldn't, of course. Nothing short of a cop and a -warrant could make Wily Bill leave the car if he was set for reaching -Grand Rapids. I might have known that, if I had stopped to think. We'll -have to keep right on into town--and, then, like as not, we won't find -either Matt or Wily. Now----" - -"Whoa!" cried McGlory. "You're shy a few, Burton. Here's where we stop." - -"What's up?" returned Burton, reining in his spirited roadster. - -"Look there!" - -McGlory pointed to the left-hand side of the road. Close to a steep -bank, against a clump of bushes, stood the motor cycle. - -"Jupiter!" exclaimed Burton. - -"Great Scott!" cried the owner of the machine. - -McGlory tumbled clear of the runabout and started toward the bushes. -He had not taken half a dozen steps, however, before he came to a dead -stop. - -A form fluttered out of the bushes and approached him excitedly. - -"Ping!" gasped the cowboy. "Speak to me about this! Where'd you come -from, Ping? And where's Pard Matt?" - -The Chinese boy's feelings apparently defied expression. He tried to -speak, but his lips moved soundlessly. Hopping up and down in his -sandals, he waved his arms and pointed--not toward Grand Rapids, but -off across a piece of rough woodland. - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - -A BLUNDER IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION. - - -Ping had felt certain that his move in touching off the Roman candle -had not been seen. It was a disagreeable surprise to him, therefore, -when Bill Wily told Carl just who was responsible for the fireworks. - -Ping and Carl were trying hard to be pards. Their hearts were not in -the attempt, for deep in the spirit of each one slumbered a latent -animosity against the other. But they had to try to fraternize. Motor -Matt had issued an edict to the effect that, if they did not become -pards, he and McGlory would cut them out of the motor boys' combination. - -So the lads did their utmost to appear friendly. They wandered around -together, and whenever Matt or McGlory was in sight they locked arms -and addressed each other in terms of endearment. When they were away -from Matt and McGlory they still kept up the pretense, but in a manner -that was more subdued. - -Ping could not resist the temptation to touch a match to the Roman -candle. He had not expected to cause such a disturbance, and the fact -that chaos had reigned in the side show, and that his culpability had -become known, filled him with apprehension. - -Carl would tell Matt, and Matt would sidetrack his Chinese pard. Ping -worried, and had no desire to see Matt, or any one else. The show -was to be at Reid's Lake for three days, and there was no Sunday -performance. Ping, therefore, could flock by himself until Monday -afternoon. - -Ping's work consisted of watering the steam calliope, and in helping -the aëroplane take its running start for the flights. Owing to the -wind, there would be no morning flight, and--very likely, as he argued -to himself--no afternoon ascension, either. And Ping knew Motor Matt -would not work on Sunday. - -Taken all in all, this was a most propitious time for Ping to absent -himself from the show grounds. With the idea that he would go into -Grand Rapids and hunt up some of his countrymen, he left the grounds -and made his way around the concert garden to the car-line loop. - -Here his nerve began to fail him, and he allowed two or three cars -to come and go without getting aboard. Finally he bolstered up his -tottering resolution and climbed into one of the cars. - -Looking through the open window, after he had taken his seat, he saw -Wily Bill swing up by the hand rails. - -Ping was asking himself what this could mean when the car pulled out. -A little worried, he knew not for what reason, he got up from his seat -and walked to the forward platform, thinking it well to keep out of -Bill Wily's sight. - -Suddenly he became aware of something. A voice, from far behind, was -shouting for the car to stop. The passengers, thrusting their heads -from the windows, were looking back, and some of them were talking -excitedly. - -Ping, hanging out from the lower step, turned his gaze rearward, and -what he saw caused his heart to thump wildly against his ribs. - -One of the little two-wheeled devil wagons was rushing along the road -that paralleled the track, coming like a limited choo-choo train, and -Motor Matt was in the saddle! - -Ping had but one thought. The Dutch boy had told Matt about the Roman -candle, and Matt was chasing the street car in order to remove his -Chinese pard, read the riot act to him, and cast him adrift. - -What a turn Ping had! He crouched down on the step, and the clatter of -the gong, as the conductor gave the motorman the bell from the rear -platform, sent a shiver of dread through his nerves. - -Rather than face Matt and be cut out of the motor boys' combination, -Ping would have done almost anything. The only thing that suggested -itself at that moment was to jump and run. His original intention to -lie low until the Roman-candle incident blew over grew stronger in his -mind. - -The car was beginning to slow down, but it was still proceeding at a -lively gait when Ping threw himself straight out from the lower step. - -The Chinese boy did not know the proper way to alight from a swiftly -moving trolley car, and the result of his leap can be imagined. - -The passengers who were looking out from that side of the car had a -vision of a small Chinaman in the air, pigtail flying. The next instant -the Chinaman touched ground, but found it moving too fast for a secure -foothold. Ping bounded into the air again, his slouch hat going in one -direction, his sandals in another, and he himself describing what is -technically known as a parabola. The Le Bons--the best "kinkers" in the -Big Consolidated--could not have twisted themselves into more fantastic -shapes than did Ping during that stunt of ground-and-lofty tumbling. He -landed on the ground like a frog taking to the water from the top of -a toadstool, and he wound up his performance by throwing a number of -choice cartwheels and then sitting up in the dust and looking around in -considerable mental perturbation. - -About the first thing he saw and was able to realize was that another -besides himself had made a jump from the car. The other was Wily Bill, -and he must have dropped from the rear platform a little before Ping -dropped from the platform forward. - -Wily Bill, however, must have known how to jump from a swiftly moving -car and yet keep his balance, for he was on his feet and making a dash -for a brushy bank at the roadside. - -Motor Matt had swerved his motor cycle and was making in the "barker's" -direction, calling loudly the while for him to stop. - -The light that dawned on Ping, just then, was a good balm for his -bruises. - -Matt was not chasing him, after all, but had been hot on the trail of -Wily Bill! - -While Ping sat there in the dust, hat and sandals gone, his clothes -torn and awry, and himself more or less disorganized, he saw Wily Bill -scramble up the steep bank and vanish among the bushes on the top of -it. Possibly thirty seconds later, Matt sprang from the motor cycle, -leaped up the ascent like an antelope, and likewise vanished. - -"By Klismus!" murmured Ping, rubbing his knees. "Velly funny pidgin! My -no savvy. One piecee queer biz, you bettee. Wow! China boy all blokee -up! Motol Matt no wanchee pullee pin on China boy. Hoop-a-la!" - -Between his physical pain on account of his bruises and his rejoicing -over the discovery that Matt had not been following him, Ping failed -to observe that the street car had stopped and backed up to the place -nearest the spot where he was crooning to himself and rubbing his -bruised limbs. It was not until the conductor and the motorman faced -him that Ping realized that he was the object of their consideration. - -"Didju fall off?" asked the conductor. - -"No makee fall," answered Ping, cocking up his almond eyes, "makee -jump." - -"Blamed wonder yu didn't break yer neck!" growled the motorman. "Chinks -don't know nothin' anyhow." - -"Hurt?" asked the conductor, animated by a laudable desire to avoid a -damage suit in behalf of the company. - -"Heap sore," chattered Ping, "no bleakee bone. Hoop-a-la!" he -jubilated, a wide grin cutting his yellow face in half. "Woosh!" he -added, as the grin faded and a look of pain took its place. - -"Well, I'm stumped!" muttered the conductor. "Is he crazy, or what?" he -added, looking at the motorman. - -"Pass it up," snapped the motorman. "Chinks is only half baked, best -you can say for 'em. Let's snake 'im aboard and go on. We've lost -enough time." - -One got on either side of Ping and lifted him to his feet. They would -have dragged him to the car had he not resisted. - -"Leavee 'lone!" he shouted, squirming. - -"Oh, snakes!" ground out the exasperated motorman. "Ain't you fer the -Rapids?" - -"No wanchee go Glan' Lapids!" declared Ping. "Why my makee jump my -wanchee go Glan' Lapids?" - -"That's so," said the conductor. "What did he jump from the car for if -he wanted to go on with us? We'll leave him, Jim. I thought, when I saw -him hit the ground, we'd have to take him to the hospital, but he seems -to be all right." - -Jim, with an angry exclamation, let go of Ping and hustled back to -his place at the front end of the car. The conductor mounted the rear -platform, and the starting bell jingled. - -As the passengers looked back, they saw the Chinese boy attempt a war -dance in his stocking feet, then suddenly cease and reach down to clasp -his right shin. - -"He's got out o' some lunatic asylum," thought the conductor. "Well, -it's none o' my funeral," he added, and went into the car and began -collecting fares. - -Ping, when the car was out of sight, limped around collecting his -scattered wardrobe. While he was about it, he was wondering, in his -feeble way, why Motor Matt was chasing Bill Wily. - -Probably, he reasoned, Wily had cut up so rough with Carl that Matt had -thought best to pursue the man and call him to account. - -Ping was not in very good condition to take part in the chase, but if -he could manage it, and proved of some assistance to Motor Matt, such -a move would go far toward making his peace with the king of the motor -boys. - -"My makee tly," groaned Ping, limping to the place where the motor -cycle had been left. - -With infinite patience he crawled up the steep slope. One of his legs -felt as though it didn't belong to him--it seemed more like a cork leg -than anything else, and was numb from ankle to thigh. But, somehow, he -managed to get up the bank with it. Pausing there, he called aloud for -Motor Matt. His voice echoed weirdly in the scant timber of the rocky -ground in front of him, and the shout brought no response. - -"My findee Motol Matt," declared the Chinese lad to himself, as he -limped into the timber. "My ketchee Motol Matt, mebby ketchee Wily -Bill. Woosh! Hoop-a-la!" - - - - -CHAPTER VII. - -THE HOUSE WITH THE GREEN SHUTTERS. - - -While making his slow and painful way among the scrub oaks that grew -out of the stony earth, Ping was looking in all directions for Matt and -Wily. He was listening, too, with all his ears. But he could neither -see nor hear anything of the two for whom he was searching. - -"My findee!" he said, with dogged determination. "Motol Matt no chasee -China boy, him chasee Wily Bill," and again he exulted. - -Action was perhaps the best tonic he could have had. As he swung -onward, the leg which did not seem to belong to him began to remind -him, in no uncertain manner, that it was really his, and that he was -responsible for its condition. - -A slow pain made itself manifest, running up the member like a streak -of lightning and giving Ping a "gone" feeling in the pit of his -stomach. But he was "game." Shutting his teeth on more than one groan, -he kept resolutely on through the bleak timber, looking and listening. - -Finally he came out on a rough crossroad, which he followed. Five -minutes of wabbling along this road brought him to the end of it--and -across the end squatted a dingy white house with green shutters. -The shutters were closed, and the house had the appearance of being -deserted. - -Here, Ping felt, was the end of his trail. He was on the wrong track, -and the question that pressed upon him was what he should do next. - -Withdrawing to a clump of bushes, he sat down and gave the matter -extended thought. - -Who lived in the house? And was there any one at home? If there was any -one in the place, would they talk with him and tell him whether they -had seen Matt or the side-show man? - -Ping, unlike Carl, made no boasts of being a "tedectif." He could -blunder around and, maybe, stumble upon something worth while, but it -would be purely a hit-and-miss performance. - -Yes, he decided, he had better go to the house and see whether there -was anybody there. - -Barely had he made up his mind when, with amazing suddenness, Bill Wily -rushed around the corner of the house, jammed a key into the door, and -disappeared. - -He did not close the door behind him, being, as it seemed, in too much -of a hurry to attend to such trifling matters. - -While Ping was still wrenched with this startling exhibition, an even -more astounding spectacle was wafted his way. - -Motor Matt followed Wily around the house corner, paused an instant in -front of the open door, then was swallowed up in the dark interior. - -Ping had not called out, for amazement had held him speechless. - -The Chinese boy had blundered in leaping from the street car, but, as -it had chanced, that had been a blunder in the right direction. All the -heathen gods of luck had been ranged on his side, too, when he followed -the crossroad and went into communion with himself in the clump of -bushes facing the green-shuttered house. - -In about two minutes, Ping figured, Matt would have Bill Wily by the -heels. So it followed, if Ping was to have any part in the capture, he -would have to hurry. - -In the excitement of the moment he forgot his bruises, emerged from the -undergrowth, and made his way rapidly toward the house. - -At the open door he stopped, thrust his head into the hallway, and used -his ears. - -The silence was intense, and not the faintest sound was to be heard. - -There was something weirdly mysterious about this. With Matt and Wily -both in the house, and each more or less hostile toward the other, -there should have been a good deal of noise. - -A qualm raced through Ping's nerves. - -There was something ominous about mysteries, and he had made it a rule -to fight shy of ominous things. He did not consider them at all good -for a Chinaman's health, or his peace of mind. - -And a Melican house, too, deserted and with closed shutters, offered -dangers not lightly to be reckoned with. - -But Ping, as yet, was Motor Matt's pard; and whereever Motor Matt led -the way, then Ping would be more of a hired man than a pard if he did -not follow. Shutting his teeth hard, and breathing only when necessary, -the Chinese boy crossed the threshold of the house with the green -shutters. - -He was in a narrow hall that extended through the house from front to -rear. A stairway led to the second floor, and two doors opened off to -left and right. - -Throttling his fears, Ping moved toward the door on the right, his -sandals scuffling over the uncarpeted floor. There was no furniture in -the house, and the floor was bare. - -The swish of the sandals sent vague fears cantering through the little -Celestial, and he curled up his toes in order to wedge the soles of his -footgear closer to the bottoms of his feet. - -The room he entered was dark. With a trembling hand he groped in his -blouse for matches. Had he lost his matches in taking that header from -the street car? His fears in that respect were short-lived, for he -quickly found half a dozen of the small fire-sticks. - -Scratching one, he held it up and peered around. The room was -empty--bare as a last year's bird's nest. Going back into the hall, he -examined a room on the opposite side. That one also was empty, and over -all the emptiness arose a musty odor as of a building long untenanted. - -Two more rooms remained to be examined on the first floor. - -One of these was the kitchen, and a quantity of soot had drifted down -and lay in a heap on the floor. Ping kept away from the soot, and was -glad afterward that he had done so. Across the hall was the last of -the four rooms comprising the lower part of the house--dark, deserted, -and musty as were the other three. - -Failure to encounter danger of any visible sort had heartened Ping -wonderfully. - -"My makee go up stlails," he thought. "Mebby my ketchee something -top-side." - -He moved softly, but the stairs creaked and rasped under his sandals in -spite of his wariness. - -There were four rooms upstairs, just as there were below, and in none -of the dark chambers did he discover any trace of Motor Matt or of Wily -Bill. - -Ping was "stumped." The longer he thought of the mystery the more -terrified he became. - -He believed in demons. Ben Ali, he knew, was possessed of them, for he -had heard how the Hindoo, with his eyes alone, had put people to sleep -and made them do strange things while they dreamed. - -Ping, naturally, had no idea that Ben Ali was in any way concerned with -Matt's pursuit of Wily Bill, but the Chinaman's mind reverted to Ben -Ali, and Aurung Zeeb, and Dhondaram, three Hindoos, all of whom, at -various times, had formed a part of the Big Consolidated. - -Had he dared, Ping would have shouted Matt's name at the top of his -voice. But he was afraid. A dragon, spouting fire from its red mouth, -and with a hundred claw-armed feet, might materialize and attack him, -did he dare awake the echoes of that sombre house. - -Turning swiftly away from the last room, Ping got astride the -banisters, slid to the bottom of the stairs, and ducked through the -front door. - -The bright sunshine was never pleasanter to him than at that moment. He -gulped down a few draughts of pure outside air and started off toward -the bushes, bent upon a little solitary reflection. - -By a sudden thought, he whirled abruptly, softly drew the door shut, -turned the key in the lock, and then slipped the key into his pocket. - -He had locked the door on the mysteries, and he hoped the fiends of -darkness would respect the barrier until he could think of some way to -exorcise them. - -Once more in his original place among the bushes, Ping watched the -house warily and tried to approach the problem in a reasonable way. - -But it was not a question of reason. His investigation had developed -facts that defied every logical process. - -What had become of Motor Matt? - -This was the point that disturbed the Chinese boy most. If he could -find Motor Matt, he would be content to leave the question of Wily's -whereabouts out of the count. - -Abruptly Ping had an idea. Perhaps Wily had rushed out of a rear door, -and Matt had followed him? During his investigations, Ping had tried no -doors or windows. - -Getting to his feet, he made a circle around the house. There was one -door in the rear, and only one. Cautiously he approached and tried the -knob. The door was locked. - -As for the windows, every one was tightly closed in with the green -shutters. - -These discoveries left Ping in a daze. After several minutes of -bewilderment, he finally made up his mind to return to the show -grounds, find McGlory, and acquaint him with the situation. McGlory -would know what to do! - -Then, there was the two-wheeled devil wagon Motor Matt had left at the -foot of the bank, by the roadside. A hazy idea of riding the machine -back to the show grounds passed through the Chinaman's mind. - -To regain the road by the street-car track took time, but the distance -was covered much more rapidly than Ping had covered it coming the other -way. - -Strange to relate, the Chinese boy's bruises caused him little concern. -All his aches and pains were lost in the details of the inexplicable -situation connected with the deserted house. - -While he was in the brush, at the foot of the bank, eying the motor -cycle a bit dubiously, he heard a patter of hoofs, a grind of wheels, -and a sound of voices. - -Looking up, he saw Burton's runabout at a stop. Burton was in the -buggy, and so was a young fellow Ping had never seen before--and -McGlory. The cowboy was just scrambling out of the vehicle and starting -in the direction of the motor cycle. - -The sight of reinforcements caused all Ping's wonder, and doubt, and -apprehension to revive with redoubled force. He attempted to shout, but -no words escaped his lips. Rushing forth to meet McGlory, he waved his -arms and pointed in the direction of the house with the green shutters. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. - -THE PILE OF SOOT. - - -Ping was not many minutes recovering the use of his tongue. McGlory -grabbed him and shook his powers of speech back into their normal -condition. - -"Where's Motor Matt?" cried McGlory. - -"My no savvy!" - -"How did you happen to be here?" - -"Stleet cal." - -"What're you making a run from the show grounds for without saying a -word to Matt?" - -That was a point which Ping did not care to reveal. He was not above -being careless with the truth in a pinch, having been raised that way. -But, while he might resort to a little harmless fiction with McGlory, -he would have cut his tongue out before he would have fibbed to Motor -Matt. - -"Makee see Wily Bill ketchee cal," Ping explained; "my ketchee same -cal. Follow Wily Bill. Wily Bill jump from cal. My jump, too. Tumble -all ovel load. Wily Bill lun fo' top-side bank. Motol Matt chasee. -Motol Matt leavee gas hlorsee by bank. My follow, no findee." - -Out of this pigeon English McGlory captured a few germs of sense. - -"What the nation was he following Wily for?" demanded Burton. "How did -he know we wanted Wily?" - -Ping was still equal to the emergency. - -"Dutchy boy havee low with Wily Bill," he explained. - -"That's right," went on Burton; "you _were_ around during the row. I'd -forgotten that. That may have been enough to put you on Wily's trail, -although I can't figure it out exactly. But you followed him, and then -you followed Matt when he ran after Wily. They went up the bank and -into the woods, you say?" - -"Allee same." - -"Then where did they go?" demanded McGlory. - -"Makee tlacks fo' house with green blinds." - -"They made tracks for a house with green blinds? Now we're getting at -it. Where's this house?" - -"Othel side woods. My findee, you savvy; makee sit down, do heap big -think. Bymby, 'long come Wily Bill, unlock do', go in house. Plenty -soon, 'long come Motol Matt, go in house, too." Ping became oppressed -with the awe aroused by the event next to be described, and his voice -sank into a husky whisper. "My makee tlacks inside, hunt evel place, no -can find. House allee same empty. Motol Matt disappeal, vanish, makee -go up in smoke. Woosh! My plenty 'flaid." - -"What's he givin' us?" snorted Burton. "He's talking through his hat, -seems like, to me." - -"He's run into something that he can't cumtux," returned McGlory. "It's -plain enough, though, that a house with green shutters is at the end of -our trail. Ping can take us there, and it will be up to us to do the -rest." - -"Say, young feller!" cried Burton, standing up in the runabout and -addressing the lad from the motor-car works. - -The latter was pulling his motor cycle out of the bushes and making -ready to forge away on the rest of his "century" run. - -"Well?" returned the youth, one leg over the saddle and ready to pedal -off. - -"Load that machine into the runabout and drive this rig back to the -show grounds for me, will you?" requested Burton. "I'm hungry to see -this game through, and I can't leave the horse hitched in the road." - -"Couldn't get the motor cycle into the buggy," was the answer. "Anyhow, -I guess I've helped you about as much as you could reasonably expect." - -"There's twenty coming to you," went on Burton. "Take the rig back and -I'll make it thirty." - -"There's nothing coming to me. I told Motor Matt he could use the -machine, and welcome. Now that he's done with it, I'll go on with my -run." - -The motor began to pop, and presently settled into a steady hum. A -minute later the motor cycle and its rider were out of sight. - -Just then, when it looked as though Burton was to be permanently -retired from the rest of the pursuit, a street car from the lake -rattled to a halt, and Carl and Twomley dropped from the steps. - -"Here's the Englishman," muttered McGlory, without much enthusiasm. - -"And Carl!" added Burton. "He'll take the rig back for me, and the rest -of us will start for the house with the green shutters." - -"Vat's to pay?" clamored Carl, running toward McGlory and Ping. - -Ping's confidence in Carl, like Carl's confidence in Ping, was badly -"shook." The Chinese boy backed away. - -"Here, Carl," cried Burton. "Jump into the runabout and take it back to -the grounds for me. I've got business with McGlory." - -"Meppy I don'd got some pitzness mit McGlory, same as you," demurred -Carl. "Vere iss Modor Matt?" - -"There's no time to palaver, Carl," interposed McGlory. "Take the rig -back." - -When Matt was away, McGlory was the boss. Carl could not very well -disobey such a pointblank order. Much against his will, he climbed into -the runabout. - -"My word!" cried Twomley. "You seem to have discovered a clue of some -sort. Who's the Chinaman?" - -"Never mind that, now," returned Barton. "Come with us, Twomley, and -we'll tell you as we go along." - -"Lead off, Ping," ordered McGlory. - -Carl, very much out of temper, shook his fist at Burton, and then at -Ping. Following this, he turned the rig the other way and rode moodily -back toward the show grounds. - -Ping, meanwhile, had climbed the bank, and was leading the party of -investigators through the woods in the direction of the crossroad. As -they went along, Burton was telling Twomley what Ping had discovered. - -The information given by the Chinaman was lacking in many important -points, but its very incompleteness added to the tensity of the -situation. - -When they came to the end of the crossroad, Ping halted and indicated -the house with the green shutters. - -"You say," remarked McGlory, giving the house a swift sizing, "that -Wily Bill ran into the house?" - -"All same," answered Ping. - -"And that Pard Matt trailed after him?" - -"All same." - -"Then you went in, looked around, and couldn't see anything of either -of them?" - -"My no findee." Ping shivered. "When my makee come out, my lockee do'." - -He dug up the key and handed it to McGlory. - -"Well," declared McGlory, "if Motor Matt and Wily Bill went in there, -and didn't come out again, we'll find them." - -"If the Chinaman didn't find them," struck in Twomley, "they must have -come out." - -"We'll soon know what's what," and the cowboy made his way to the door, -thrust the key into the lock, and pushed the door ajar. - -The same dark, funereal silence that had greeted Ping stared McGlory, -Burton, and Twomley in the face. - -"My no findee," chattered Ping, drawing back; "you no findee." - -McGlory pressed into the hall. - -"I'll take the rooms on the left," said he, "and the rest of you take -the ones on the right. Do your bushwhacking, and then, if you don't -find anything, meet me at the foot of the stairs for a look overhead." - -Nothing was found. The back door was securely bolted on the inside, and -all the windows and blinds of the various lower windows firmly fastened. - -The situation upstairs was exactly the same. Puzzled and bewildered, -the party returned to the lower hall. - -"If Ping's giving it to us straight," said McGlory, "neither Matt nor -Wily got out of here. They couldn't have gone through the rear door or -any of the windows, without leaving them open. And they couldn't have -left by the front door because it was locked, and Ping had the key." - -"They might have slipped out while Ping was nosing around upstairs," -suggested Burton. - -"They'd have made some noise," objected the cowboy. "Matt didn't have -any call to keep quiet, and Ping would surely have heard him. Let's go -back to the rear rooms again." - -Burton and Twomley had examined the kitchen. McGlory now looked that -room over for himself. - -He was no more than two minutes in picking up a clue. The lighted match -which he held close to the floor showed footprints outlined in black. -He traced them to the pile of soot under the chimney. - -"Here's where we find something!" he cried. "Open those shutters, you -fellows! We want light while we run out this trail of soot." - -Twomley and Burton unfastened the windows and pushed back the blinds on -their screeching hinges. The sunlight, drifting into the room, brought -out the trail with weird distinctness. - -"Maybe the Chinaman blundered into the soot and left the trail," -hazarded Burton. - -"My no makee tlail," declared Ping. "No touchee soot." - -"There's only one of the chink, anyhow, pards," said McGlory, "and at -least two pairs of feet walked through that pile of black stuff. One -man wore shoes, and the other wore slippers. The slippers left marks -a good deal like Ping's sandals, but the marks are too big for Ping. -We'll find out a few things now, I reckon." - -With eyes bent sharply on the floor, the cowboy crossed the kitchen -into the hall, and then moved along the hall to a spot under the stairs. - -The stairs were not enclosed, but sprang directly from the hall floor. -In the angle formed by the flight and the floor the sooty trail -vanished. - -"Now what?" queried Burton. "It looks like we were up in the air as -much as ever." - -Without replying, McGlory drew his knife from his pocket, opened it, -and went down on his knees. - - - - -CHAPTER IX. - -MATT MEETS AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE. - - -Matt's pursuit of the street car reminded him of his old motor-cycle -days in Arizona. The familiar hum of the twin cylinders between his -knees carried his mind back to his ill-fated gasoline marvel, the -_Comet_, in honor of which he had named the aëroplane he was using with -the show. - -The borrowed motor cycle had all the improvements, and the way it could -run warmed the cockles of Matt's heart. In less than a minute after -leaving Burton and the machine's owner, the king of the motor boys was -shooting along the road like a bullet out of a gun. - -He was pursuing an electric car that ran at a high rate of speed, but -the motor cycle must have been going five feet to the car's one. Before -Matt fairly realized it he was within sight of the car. - -When he was close enough to be heard he began to call to the conductor -to stop. The passengers heard him, as the row of heads thrust out from -each side of the car conclusively proved; and the conductor also heard -him, for he appeared on the rear platform. - -Matt could see the conductor reaching for the bell rope. At the same -time, Wily Bill rushed out on the back platform, took in the situation -at a startled glance, and then dropped dexterously from the car at the -track side. - -Matt was so wrapped up in what Wily Bill was doing that Ping's leap -from the front platform escaped him entirely. - -Wily Bill scurried for the side of the road, and Matt shut off the -power and glided after him. - -"Hold up there, Wily!" cried Matt. - -The "barker" paid no attention, but plunged up the bank and darted off -into the timber. - -By that time Motor Matt's blood was up. He knew that a great deal -depended on the capture of Wily. If the "barker" could be made to tell -when and how he had received that note in Hindoostanee, a clue to -the whereabouts of Ben Ali and the missing Margaret Manners would be -secured. - -Appreciating fully the exigencies of the case, Matt sprang from the -wheel and leaped up the bank. From the top of the rise he could see -nothing of Wily, but a crashing of the undergrowth told him plainly in -which direction the man had gone. He was but an instant in taking after -him. - -Wily's actions were those of a guilty man; in fact, they inferred a -deeper guilt than the mere possession of a note in Hindoostanee would -indicate. - -This, naturally, made the fellow's capture all the more important. - -For a quarter of a mile, Matt judged, Wily led him a chase through the -woods. The "barker" had lost a little of his lead, but was keeping up -his fierce pace with a good deal of vigor. Then, suddenly, he began to -double. Matt would run on, looking and listening, only to find that -there was no thrashing brush ahead. When he stopped, the sounds made -by the fleeing fugitive had changed their direction, and the young -motorist had to whirl and take another course. - -For some time this variation of the game of hare and hounds continued, -Matt drawing steadily nearer and nearer. - -At last Matt caught his first glimpse of Wily, since he had fled over -the bank from the street car, at the rear of a house whose windows were -closed with green shutters. - -Wily stood out against the house wall, his form sharply defined, just -as Matt rushed from a fringe of hazels. The "barker" cast a look over -his shoulder, gave vent to a panting exclamation, and darted around the -end of the house. - -When Matt reached the front of the structure, Wily had vanished. The -key to his disappearance was furnished by the wide-swinging front door, -key still in the lock. Besides, Wily had not had time to go around the -other side of the house, or to get into the woods again, so Matt knew -he must have entered the building. - -With scarcely a moment's hesitation, the king of the motor boys -followed the fugitive. - -Coming in out of the bright sunshine, the darkness of the shut-in hall -was intense. As Matt ran on past one of the doors leading to a room on -the right a sinewy, turbaned form leaped out and a fist shot through -the gloom, landing on the back of Matt's head with tremendous force. - -Matt staggered, regained his balance, and whirled around. His brain -was reeling, but, looking toward the light that entered at the open -door, he saw that the man who had struck him was not Wily, as he had -imagined, but a Hindoo--none other than his old acquaintance, Dhondaram. - -Flinging out his arms, he leaped at the Hindoo. Then it was that Wily -completed the work that Dhondaram had begun. Another blow from behind, -savagely given with all the "barker's" strength, caused Matt to sink to -his knees and then straighten out unconscious on the bare floor. - -"You saw what was goin' on?" asked Wily breathlessly. - -"Even so, sahib," answered the other, in a low tone. - -"I'm in luck to find you here. Wasn't intendin' to blow in at this -place till night--but any port in a storm. Pick him up and let's get -away somewhere." - -"The kitchen, sahib." - -Between them, the unconscious king of the motor boys was lifted and -carried into the kitchen. - -"Hang it!" growled Wily, floundering through the soot pile; "this -won't do. There may be more after me. There's another place, under the -stairs. Sharp's the word, now. Carry him there." - -Matt was not bereft of his senses for long. There was too much steel -and whalebone in his athletic body to keep him steeped in oblivion for -any great length of time. - -The first thing he saw, when his eyes slowly opened, was a candle -planted in the earth. - -He was lying, hands and feet bound and a cloth over his mouth, in a -sort of pit. Above him were the stringers and boards of a floor. - -A few moments passed while he was picking up the thread of events. -While he was piecing details together, he heard a light footfall on the -floor overhead, advancing and retreating. Later there came the creaking -of boards as of some one climbing a flight of stairs. - -Wily and Dhondaram, silent and motionless as statues, knelt in the -earth, the fluttering gleam of the candle over them, and were listening -to the footfalls with bated breath. - -From the manner of these two Matt understood forthwith that the person -in the upper part of the house must be one whom his captors feared. -Had it not been for the cloth that smothered his lips, Matt would have -shouted at the top of his voice and so have informed a possible friend -where he was. - -Inasmuch as he could neither move nor make an audible sound, the -prisoner lay quiet. - -There was no cellar under this house with the green shutters, only -a scooped-out place in the earth where possibly potatoes and other -vegetables had been kept. - -Presently the footsteps once more descended the stairs and could be -heard leaving the house. Wily turned to Dhondaram with a deep breath of -relief. - -"That was a close call," he muttered. "If we'd been a second later -gettin' down here----" - -He bit off his words quickly. The door had slammed and the grating of a -key could be heard. - -"_Maskee!_" rumbled Dhondaram. "The door has been closed and locked, -sahib. You left the key in the door." - -"I was in too big a hurry to do anythin' else. As it was, Motor Matt -came within one of layin' hands on me. See if he's got his wits back." - -On hands and knees the Hindoo crept to Matt's side and peered into his -face. Matt kept his eyes closed. - -"Not yet, sahib," answered Dhondaram. "It is well. He shall not waken -in this world. The goddess Kali----" - -Dhondaram did not finish the sentence. He had referred to the malign -Hindoo deity invoked by thugs, and it may be he thought the talk -unsuited to American ears. Lifting himself on his knees, he drew from -the breast of his jacket a glittering blade. - -The next moment Wily Bill had caught his arm. - -"Chuck it!" he growled sternly. - -The Hindoo turned his glittering eyes on the "barker." - -"Sahib, you do not understood," said he, in a hissing voice. - -"I understood you're intendin' to use the knife," answered Wily Bill, -"an' I won't have it. What d'you take me for? They don't hang people -in this State, but I don't intend to pass the rest o' my days in the -'pen.' Put that knife back where you took it from." - -"It is my duty to do this thing," flared the Hindoo. - -"Go on!" - -"Ben Ali saved my life in my own country, and I joined the show of -Burra Burton because he told me. I tried to remove Motor Matt because -he told me. That will pay my debt to Ben Ali. I failed in my work while -I was with the show, but now----" - -"You're goin' to fail here, too. I've got a tender regard for my -liberty, an' that's why I was runnin' away from the show grounds. There -was a fracas turned on in the side-show tent, an' I got mixed up in -it. Durin' the row I lost a letter that came to me by mail--a letter -that contained somethin' for you. Ben Ali, in my letter, said where he -wanted to meet you. I don't know what he said in your letter, as that -was in Hindoostanee." - -Dhondaram's eyes glowed expectantly, and he held out his hand. - -"The writing, sahib." - -"I haven't got it. Didn't I just tell you it was lost? That's what made -me bolt from the grounds. One of Motor Matt's friends got the thing, -and when I tried to get it, Burton took possession of it. If that -letter's ever translated, I'll bet it contains stuff that would make -the show too hot to hold me. I got away while there was time--but there -wasn't any too much time, at that. If----" - -Dhondaram drew back. - -"Motor Matt, sahib," muttered Dhondaram, "he's listening to your talk." - -The prisoner had opened his eyes, and the keen glance of the Hindoo had -detected it. Both Dhondaram and Wily turned their gaze on Matt. - - - - -CHAPTER X. - -RESCUE! - - -Motor Matt understood full well the gravity of his situation. Never -until that moment had he known the cause of the murderous Dhondaram's -hostility to him, but now it appeared that he was merely seeking to -cancel a debt which he owed Ben Ali. - -Bill Wily's regard for his own welfare was all that stood between Motor -Matt and the knife of the misguided Hindoo. - -"Give me that knife, Dhondaram," ordered Wily. - -"I will keep the knife, sahib," replied the other. - -"Keep it, then, and be hanged to you," answered Wily angrily, "but -you'll settle with me if you try any knife tricks on the prisoner. I -guess you rise to that, all right enough. Take off the gag. I want to -talk with Motor Matt." - -Dhondaram bent down and removed the cloth. - -"I'm a 'barker,'" went on Wily, still addressing the Hindoo and making -brief display of a revolver, "but here's somethin' that bites as well -as barks. Put away that knife." - -Silently the Hindoo returned the knife to his jacket and sank back on -his heels. - -"What was you chasin' me for, Motor Matt?" asked Wily. - -"Why were you running away from me?" Matt countered. - -"That's my business. You answer my question. I guess you'd better treat -me white, 'cause it's me that keeps the Hindoo from doin' a little -knife work on you." - -"Burton wanted you to tell him something about that letter," Matt -answered, making up his mind that a little of the truth would not be -out of place. - -"Oh, ho!" muttered Wily. "Does he think I can read Hindoostanee?" - -"No. What he wanted to know was where you got the letter. The Hindoos -who have been connected with the show haven't turned out very -well--they are all fugitives from the law, even Dhondaram." - -Not a ripple crossed the placid brown face of the Hindoo; only his -glittering eyes revealed the feeling that slumbered in the depths of -his soul. - -"I guessed there'd be a stir about that letter," went on Wily, "an' -that's the reason I made up my mind to pull out. I'd had to explain, -an' no matter what I'd said I'd have been fired, anyway. I used to live -in Grand Rapids, and the home town was a good place for me to cut loose -from the show, see?" - -"Why are you treating me like this?" asked Matt quietly. - -"Couldn't help it. Them kid pards o' yours was the cause o' the hull -bloomin' twist-up!" Wily Bill swore savagely under his breath. "I'd -like to take the kinks out o' that Dutchman. He's too much on the -buttinsky order. You chased after me, hung on, an' wouldn't let go. -What else could I do but make myself safe?" - -"You didn't have to have Dhondaram knock me down." - -"It wasn't him did that. He tried, but I had to finish the job. But I -was treatin' you well, at that. I could have dropped down back of a -clump o' bushes, there in the timber, and picked you off with this." -Wily touched his hip pocket. "But I didn't. That ain't my style. I'd -rather have you like this an' come to a little agreement with you. As -for Dhondaram, I hadn't an idea he was in the house. I'd given him a -key, an' I knew he might be here, but I wasn't expectin' him so soon. -Mebby it was lucky for me that he was around." - -"So that's it, eh?" commented Matt sarcastically. "You've been meeting -Dhondaram, and helping him, when you knew he had been a prisoner of -Burton's and had escaped from the show train between Jackson and -Kalamazoo. If a person helps a fugitive of the law to escape, he is -guilty of a crime and can be punished for it." - -"There you hit it! But I was ducking out--and you wouldn't let me duck. -I'm going to leave, in spite of you and Burton. That's the worst I've -done--talkin' with Dhondaram and carryin' Hindoostanee letters. But -I'll not be jugged for that, or----" - -A hiss of warning came from Dhondaram. At the same moment he leaned -down and replaced the cloth over Matt's lips. - -Distant voices were heard, then the sound of a key rattling in a lock. - -"The fellow that was here before has brought some others," whispered -Wily. "Hang the luck! I wish we had got out o' here while we had the -chance. Now, then, we're in for it an' no mistake." - -"Listen, sahib!" frowned the Hindoo. - -The voices that had been heard outside the house were now talking in -the hall. It was impossible to distinguish words, but Matt's heart -leaped as he recognized McGlory's voice and Burton's. - -They were looking for him! - -"They cannot find us down here, sahib," murmured the Hindoo, his voice -soft and purring as that of a tiger cat. "They will go as the first one -went, then we can leave." - -This was Wily's hope. Breathlessly he listened to the sounds above. -The footsteps and the voices faded away into the upper regions of the -building. - -"Now," muttered Wily, "we might be able to dodge through the front -door. They're all upstairs." - -Dhondaram shook his head. - -"The door in the floor, sahib, cannot be found," he whispered -reassuringly. "The _feringhis_ will not discover us. Be patient." - -Presently Matt heard his friends returning to the lower floor, heard -them enter the kitchen, heard the sound of lifted windows and opening -blinds, marked the slow and steady advance from the kitchen into the -hall, and along the hall to a point under the stairs. - -By then, even Dhondaram had begun to take alarm. - -"They're at the trap!" gasped Wily Bill. - -"Is there no way out of this hole, sahib?" demanded Dhondaram through -his teeth. - -"Only by the way we came in. I lived in this house and I know all about -it." - -Dhondaram smashed the flat of his hand down over the light of the -candle. The Stygian blackness that reigned showed plainly the rim of -daylight under the lifting door. - -"The revolver!" hissed Dhondaram. "Shoot, sahib!" - -"No, I tell you!" answered Wily. "I'll have none o' that, or----" - -With a savage snarl, Dhondaram hurled himself on Wily Bill in a furious -effort to secure the revolver and fight off the approaching rescuers. - -The trapdoor had been thrown entirely back, and daylight was flooding -the pit. The sounds of the struggle between the Hindoo and Wily Bill -reached the ears of those above. - -"Here they are!" cried the voice of McGlory, and instantly he leaped -downward. - -With a blow of his fist the Hindoo staggered the cowboy, leaped upward, -and gained the floor. - -"Dhondaram!" yelled Burton, who was just preparing to follow McGlory -down under the floor. - -The word was hardly out of his lips before the showman was compelled to -drop back to avoid a sweeping blow of the knife in the Hindoo's hand. - -McGlory was looking for Matt, and paid little attention to the Hindoo. -He found his pard with his groping hands, for his eyes were blinded by -the sudden change from day to the darkness of the pit. - -"Bully for you, pard!" exclaimed McGlory. "Lashed hand and foot, or I'm -a Piegan! Speak to me about this, will you? And gagged, too. Sufferin' -blazes, but you've had a time! There, how's that?" - -The cowboy pulled away the cloth. - -"Wily's here," were Matt's first words. "He and the Hindoo had a fight, -and----" - -"Bother Wily! It's you I'm after," and, with his open knife, McGlory -slashed at the cords. "Now we can look after Wily." - -Leaving that part of the work to his chum, Matt leaped upward and -climbed over the edge of the floor. Burton was running toward one of -the front rooms. - -"Where's the Hindoo?" cried Matt. - -"The Englishman tagged him in here, after heading him off at the door," -panted Burton. "I always knew that thug was a killer, and if I hadn't -been quick he'd have knifed me." - -A smash of glass came from the front room and two of the blinds were -smashed open. The light afforded by this gave Matt and Burton a view of -a desperate struggle in which the attaché of the British Legation was -proving himself a whole man, in every sense of the word. - -Unarmed, and with every disregard for his personal danger, Twomley had -set upon the Hindoo. Dhondaram's knife had ripped Twomley's coat and -brought a stain of red, but the Englishman had both hands around the -Hindoo's throat, and they were flinging here and there around the room. - -The smash of glass and the crash of the blinds had been caused by -Dhondaram falling heavily against one of the windows. Then suddenly, -before either Matt or Burton could go to his aid, Twomley hurled his -antagonist from him with terrific force. The Hindoo fell sprawling -against the wall, and dropped stunned to the floor. His knife slipped -from his hand, and Burton kicked it aside while he and Matt threw -themselves upon the supine figure. - -"Take his turban," said Matt, "and bind his hands with it." - -The turban was merely a long strip of twisted cloth, and there were two -or three yards of it--enough for both his wrists and ankles. - -Barely was the tying finished when McGlory drove Wily into the room -with his own six-shooter. - -"Talk about this, friends," laughed McGlory. "Wily Bill fights with -the Hindoo, and has the tuck about all taken out of him. I snatch his -revolver, and then we come out from under the floor, Wily in the lead -and acting real peaceable. You've caught Dhondaram, too. Everything's -lovely, eh?" - -"All serene," answered the Englishman. - -He had removed his coat and was binding his handkerchief about his arm. - -"Twomley captured Dhondaram, Joe," said Matt, "and did it alone." - -"Getting stabbed for his pains," added Burton. - -"A scratch," was Twomley's cool response. "How could you expect me -to do a thing like that without getting a nick or two? A pretty show -altogether. And it might have been a good deal worse." - - - - -CHAPTER XI. - -BILL WILY REPENTS. - - -McGlory motioned Wily to take a seat on the floor, near Dhondaram, and -then turned toward Twomley. - -"So you put the kibosh on our brown friend all by yourself, did you?" -he asked. - -"It wasn't much," was the diffident answer. "I know these Hindoos -somewhat." - -"You're the clear quill," said McGlory, "and I've got a different -estimate of you. What do you think?" he added to Burton. "They had my -pard down in the spud cellar, covered with ropes and gagged." - -"Nice how-d'ye-do!" growled Burton. "What sort of a way is that to act, -Bill Wily?" and he flashed a look of anger and contempt at the "barker." - -"I've made a holy show of myself," mumbled Bill Wily. "That comes of -gettin' confidential with these here chocolate-colored crooks. They're -no good." - -"What do you think of yourself, hey?" - -"Not much, Burton, an' that's a fact. I'm down and out, and just -because I wanted to shake your show an' not have any trouble. What a -lot of excitement over nothin' at all!" - -"Fancy that!" remarked Twomley, mildly surprised. "I guess the man -doesn't know the true state of affairs." - -"He'll know everything before we're done with him," snapped Burton. - -"You're not goin' to bear down too hard on me, are you, Burton?" -pleaded Wily. - -"Why shouldn't I?" - -"What've I done?" - -"I can't tell that till I hear what happened to Motor Matt. If these -disgraceful proceedings get out, it will be a black eye for the show." - -Boss Burton was a queer fish. He had always a high regard for carrying -out every promise he made in his show "paper," and was also solicitous -about the good name of the Big Consolidated; at the same time, he had -done a number of things which gave Matt a poor opinion of his character. - -Matt, taking advantage of the opening afforded him, told what had -happened after he had left Burton on the motor cycle. The rough -treatment he had received brought scowls to the faces of McGlory and -Burton. - -"That Hindoo might have knifed you, and all on account of Wily there!" -breathed the showman. - -"But he didn't," returned Matt, "and that was on account of Wily, too. -Keep that in mind, Burton." - -"Your head, pard," said the cowboy solicitously. "You've had a couple -of good hard raps, and I'll bet that block of yours feels as big as a -barrel." - -"I'm like Twomley," smiled Matt, "and couldn't expect to come through -such a tussle without a few marks. But it's nothing serious. Another -thing, Burton," he added, turning to the showman, "just recollect that, -if Wily wanted to, he could have used that thing Joe has in his hand. -But he wouldn't, and he fought with Dhondaram rather than let him use -it." - -"Wily hadn't the nerve," commented Burton. "He's in the parlor class -when it comes to strong-arm work. He's more of a shell worker and a -confidence man." - -"Don't be rough, Burton," begged Wily Bill. - -"What've you got to say for yourself?" - -"I'm blamed sorry things turned out like they did. That's all." - -"Just how sorry are you? Sorry enough to make a clean breast of -everything?" - -"That depends on what'll happen to me. You let the ticket man off when -he and Dhondaram tried to loot the Jackson proceeds. I didn't do half -as much as him." - -"Tell me what you've done, and then I'll tell you what I'm goin' to -do," said Burton. - -"I knew Ben Ali pretty well when he was with the show," returned Wily, -"but he didn't put it up with _me_ to help steal the ticket-wagon -money. I'm not makin' such a terrible sight as spieler for that -side-show outfit, and when I get a letter in Kalamazoo, inclosin' -another in Hindoostanee and askin' me to deliver same, what am I goin' -to do? That letter contained a money order for ten dollars." - -"And it was from Ben Ali?" asked Motor Matt. - -Wily nodded. - -"We got into Kalamazoo about three in the morning," proceeded Wily -Bill, "and when I dropped off the train, Dhondaram stepped out from -between a couple o' box cars----" - -"It was the night we left Jackson that we had Dhondaram lashed and -lying in the aisle of the sleeper on section two of the show train," -interrupted Burton. "He got loose and skipped. I fired a shot at him, -but he jumped off the train. How could he have done that and then shown -up in Kalamazoo the morning we got there?" - -The showman was trying to pick flaws in Wily's narrative, but the -"barker" was equal to the emergency. - -"For the reason, Burton, that he didn't jump off the train. Dhondaram -rode the platform, and now and then he dodged down on the bumpers when -the train men came too close. As I say, he met me as I dropped off, and -we had a bit of a chin together." - -"Why didn't you grab him," demanded Burton, "and turn him over to me?" - -"That's where I was lame, I expect, but you forget I was a friend of -Ben Ali's, and Dhondaram was also a friend. That made a sort of hitch -between us. Then, too, Dhondaram told me he was expecting word from -Ben Ali in my care. I hadn't received any word, and I told him so. -Dhondaram said that I would get a letter, sooner or later, and that -he'd like to meet me somewhere near Grand Rapids. That's when I told -him about this house and gave him one of my keys to it." - -"What have you got to do with this house?" queried Burton. - -"I happen to own it," was the surprising answer. "It ain't worth much, -an' it's been condemned by a railroad that intends runnin' a line of -rails and ties right over the place where it stands. For that reason -it's closed up. I'm to get twelve hundred dollars for the property any -day now. Why," and Wily Bill looked around, "when I was a kid I used to -live here. When the folks died I rented the house an' took to roamin' -around. It was a good place to meet Dhondaram and give him a letter if -there was any come from Ben Ali. I wasn't expectin', though, to call -here before night. The letter from Ben Ali reached me in Kalamazoo in -the afternoon, at a time when Dhondaram must have been travelin' north." - -"What did you do with your part of the letter?" - -Wily's profession of repentance seemed to be sincere, and Burton and -Matt were doing their utmost to find out everything he was able to -tell. Dhondaram, sitting on the floor with his back against the wall, -glared at Wily fixedly while he talked. The savage menace of the -Hindoo's look, however, seemed to make not the slightest impression on -the "barker." - -"I tore up my part o' the letter, Burton," replied Wily. "Didn't think -it best to carry it around. If I'd torn up Dhondaram's part, too, I -guess I'd have been a whole lot better off." - -"I guess you would," agreed the showman dryly. "What had Ben Ali to say -to you?" - -"He told me where he wanted Dhondaram to meet him. You see, Ben Ali's -been busy, an' hasn't been payin' much attention to what's been goin' -on in the show." - -"By Jove," put in Twomley, "I should say he had been busy." - -"Ben Ali didn't know Dhondaram had cooked his goose, so far as the show -was concerned, in Jackson, the same day he joined on." - -"Where did Ben Ali send his letter from?" inquired Matt. - -"Lafayette." - -"And where does he want to meet Dhondaram?" - -"Five miles west of the Rapids, on the wagon road to Elgin. There's an -openin' in the woods, somewhere there, and Ben Ali wants Dhondaram to -join him at the place to-morrow morning. I don't know what's up, but I -guess it's somethin' mighty important for the Hindoos." - -"Does Ben Ali know about this house of yours?" - -"Not a thing. I never told him. I guess I was foolish to jump off the -car and run over here, but the ruction in the side show and the loss -o' that Hindoostanee letter sure got me on the run. I thought mebby, -if I couldn't dodge Motor Matt in the woods, I could get him somewhere -and have a talk with him that would let me out. But things didn't come -out as I wanted. I couldn't shake him in the timber, so I rushed for -the house. Dhondaram was here, ahead o' schedule, an' he complicated -matters a-considerable." - -"Do you think," asked Matt, "that we could go to that place on the -Elgin road and meet Ben Ali instead of letting Dhondaram do it?" - -Twomley started, for he instantly caught Matt's idea. Dhondaram -likewise showed much concern, and undoubtedly he surmised what was at -the back of the young motorist's head. - -"I don't think you could," replied Wily. "Ben Ali ain't nobody's fool, -and he'll have the road watched to see that only the right party comes. -If the wrong party comes, then Ben Ali, more'n likely, 'll fade out of -the oak openin'. You can't get there any way by road without Ben Ali -findin' out just who's after him. That's my notion." - -"Suppose we should come in on him from both sides at once?" suggested -Burton. - -"Then he'd slide out between you. Oh, he's a slippery proposition, that -boy!" - -Twomley nodded affirmatively. - -"He speaks the truth," he averred. "A man who can do what Ben Ali has -done is a rogue of the first water." - -"There's a way to get at him," said Matt confidently. "Here, in a -thickly populated country, that scoundrel can't have things his own -way." - -"He's takin' chances," put in Wily, "but that's his stock in -trade--takin' chances an' throwin' in a little hypnotism now an' then. -Why he's so particular about meetin' Dhondaram is what gets me." - -"He needs money," said Burton sarcastically, "and he has to run a few -risks to get it." - -"I've got a plan," said Matt, starting toward the door. - -"What is it?" asked Burton and McGlory. - -Matt turned around in the doorway and cast a suggestive glance at Wily -and Dhondaram. - -"I'll not go into it now," said he, "but it all depends on the -truthfulness of Bill Wily. If Wily has given us a straight story, -then the plan will work. If it does, then I shall insist that Wily be -allowed to go free, without any punishment for what he has done. If -the plan doesn't succeed, and Ben Ali is not out on the Elgin road -to-morrow morning, I think Wily can be put through for the work he has -done here in this old house." - -"I'm willin' to leave it that way," said Wily, "providin' you're -careful how you come onto Ben Ali, so as not to scare him away, an' -providin' Boss Burton gives me his word to back up Motor Matt's." - -"I'm in on the deal," declared Burton. - -"Both Wily and Dhondaram will have to be left here under suitable guard -until after the plan is executed," continued Matt. - -"Count me in as one of the guard," spoke up Twomley, lighting a -cigarette, "but send over some food and something to sit on. And," he -finished, pointing to the weapon in the cowboy's hand, "Mr. McGlory -might lend me that." - -"McGlory will stay and help you with your guard duty," said Matt. "I'll -have to hurry off now. I suppose Ping and Carl are at the show grounds -and are looking after the aëroplane?" - -"Ping!" exclaimed McGlory, looking around. "Why, where the nation is -he? He was the one who brought us here, and I haven't thought of him -until this minute. But Carl's at the grounds, Matt. Anyhow, one of the -canvasmen is on duty at the aëroplane's berth." - -"Don't fret about the machine," reassured Burton. "I'm going right back -to the grounds and I'll look after it personally." - -"Just a minute, gents," called Wily. "How did you fellows know we were -under the floor." - -"You walked in the soot," laughed Burton derisively. "McGlory can tell -you all about that." - -Thereupon he and Motor Matt left the room. They passed the trap in the -hall floor, and Matt observed that it was flush with the boards and -difficult to locate for any one who did not know it was there. - -"I guess the trouble I had here, Burton," remarked Matt, as he and the -showman passed through the front door, "will turn out to be a pretty -good thing, after all." - -"Not for Ben Ali," returned Burton, "if he is caught and turned over to -Twomley." - -"I was thinking of Margaret Manners," said Matt. - - - - -CHAPTER XII. - -MATT LAYS HIS PLANS. - - -On the way through the woods and back to the road by the car track, -Motor Matt was extremely thoughtful. - -By Ben Ali's cleverness in getting some white man to represent the -agent of the British ambassador, the Hindoo had succeeded in luring his -niece from the home of the English woman in whose care the girl had -been left. - -Once this was accomplished, it was easy to guess how the artful Hindoo -had proceeded. Miss Manners had been a hypnotic subject for so long -that it was useless for her to attempt to fight against the black -magic of her rascally uncle. He had but to catch her eye and snap his -fingers, and the girl would be utterly in his power. - -To fight such a man as Ben Ali called for ways and means at once bold -and wary. He was not to be easily snared. - -"You're as mum as an oyster," grunted Burton, as they neared the road. -"I've spoken to you half a dozen times, and you didn't seem to hear me. -Come back to earth now, and tell me what's on your mind?" - -"I'll tell you later, Burton," laughed Matt. "I've got a hard problem -to solve, and I don't want to say anything about it until it's all -worked out." - -"From what you said at that house with the green shutters, I take it -you're not going back to the show with me?" - -"No." - -"Be back there in time to take the aëroplane aloft at six-thirty? The -wind's down, and you can pull off the trick." - -"There'll be no aëroplane flight this afternoon, Burton. I have more -important matters to attend to." - -Burton began to bristle. - -"By Jerry," he cried, "what am I giving you your salary for? We've -missed one ascension to-day, and the people will be wild if we don't -have one this afternoon." - -"Then," answered Matt, "tell them that we'll give an aëroplane -performance for the whole of Grand Rapids to-morrow. That ought to -satisfy them, and I know you'll make a lot of capital out of it." - -Burton stopped stock-still and stared. - -"You're crazy?" he bluntly inquired. "To-morrow's Sunday, and I've -never yet been able to get you to make an ascension on Sunday. -Backsliding, eh?" - -"For this one time," said Matt. "I'm not doing this for the benefit of -your show, Burton, but because, as I size the matter up now, there's -nothing else to be done." - -"Whew!" whistled the showman, "you're about the biggest conundrum, now -and then, that I ever tackled. When'll you get back to the grounds?" - -"This evening, some time." - -"Hunt for me the minute you get there, and let me know what's up." - -They found Ping waiting for them in the road. He was a -disconsolate-looking Chinaman, and ran up to Matt the moment he slipped -down the steep bank. - -"You heap mad with Ping, huh?" the Chinese boy chattered. "You know him -makee shoot Loman candle, play plenty hob with side show? Woosh! My -velly bad China boy." - -Matt laughed. That laugh caused Ping to brighten. - -"I'll have to forgive you this once, Ping," said Matt. "A whole lot of -good has resulted from that flare-up in the side-show tent. But I don't -like practical jokes--you know that. Get on the car and go back to the -grounds with Burton. As for the Roman-candle business, we'll talk about -that later." - -"You no pullee pin on China boy?" faltered Ping. - -"No. You make your peace with Carl, that's all." - -"Hoop-a-la!" said Ping, and limped aboard an electric car that Burton -had flagged. - -Matt caught a car going the other way, and, as soon as he reached -Monroe Street, hurried to the nearest automobile garage, bent upon -making the most of the daylight that remained. - -He hired a car and a driver who knew the city. It was a small roadster, -and Matt had the driver take him beyond the city limits and out for -five miles on the Elgin road. - -They passed through a small oak opening, which looked as though it -might be the place where Ben Ali was to meet his crony, Dhondaram. - -"This will be far enough," said Matt. "Now, turn around and take us -back to town." - -The king of the motor boys gave careful attention to all the landmarks, -going both ways. Returning, dusk had begun to fall, and his survey -could not be as comprehensive as the one made on the outward trip. -However, he was abundantly satisfied with the information he had -acquired. - -When they reached the garage, Matt bargained with the proprietor for a -powerful touring car, with the same driver who had already been with -him, to be at the show grounds at Reid's Lake at eight o'clock the -following morning. - -After that, he dropped in at a restaurant and had a good meal, then -boarded a car for the lake, and rode back to the grounds with a crowd -of people who were going to the evening performance of the show. - -He had a good deal of amusement listening to the disappointed -expressions of the people regarding the failure of Burton to have any -aëroplane flights. Mixed up in the talk were a number of complimentary -references to Motor Matt and his chums. These, so far as they applied -to himself, the king of the motor boys tried not to hear. But, -nevertheless, they caused a glow of satisfaction to mount to his face. -It was certainly pleasant to know how his efforts in the line of duty -had struck a popular chord. - -That wild half-hour in the air, over Jackson, when Matt found his -batteries short-circuited by a coiling cobra, had been exploited -through the press. These, while arousing the popular admiration, only -made the general disappointment more keen because of the failure of the -Saturday flights at Reid's Lake. - -When Matt got off the car at the lake, he made his way to the -brilliantly lighted show grounds, and repaired immediately to the -calliope tent. - -Burton was there, smoking a cigar and nervously walking back and forth -in front of the canvas-covered calliope. - -"The people are pulling me all to pieces, Matt," he cried the moment -the king of the motor boys entered the tent. "They're saying we could -just as well have had a flight to-night, that I'm not living up to my -promises, and all that. By Jerry, it hurts!" - -"Let it be announced in the circus tent," said Matt, "that there'll -be a flight to-morrow morning at nine o'clock--not for exhibition -purposes, as Motor Matt doesn't give a performance on Sunday--and that -all who wish to can see it." - -"Good!" declared Burton. "I guess that'll catch them. But what are you -making the flight for, if not to please the people?" - -"For the purpose of backcapping Ben Ali, capturing him, and finding -out where he has taken Margaret Manners." - -Burton whirled around and gave Matt a steady look. - -"What have you got up your sleeve?" he demanded curtly. "Are you going -to try that, all alone, in the _Comet_?" - -"Not all alone. You, and Twomley, and Joe are going to help. Send -Harris and another trusty man over to that house with the green -shutters, will you, and have them relieve the Englishman and McGlory. I -want them here to talk with them." - -Harris was Burton's brother-in-law, and a thoroughly reliable man in -every respect. - -"I've already sent them supper, a lantern, and a couple of chairs," -said Burton, "but it seems to me all foolishness to hold the prisoners -in the house. Why not send 'em to jail, where they belong?" - -"Because Wily may not belong in jail, and because, if Dhondaram is -taken there to-night, Ben Ali might hear of it and not present himself -in that oak opening on the Elgin road to-morrow." - -"Can't you tell me what you're going to do?" - -"Not till Twomley and Joe get here." - -With that, Matt dropped down on a cot, at one side of the tent, and -tried to get a little rest. He was used to the band, and to the many -other sounds that characterized a show just preceding a performance, -and these did not bother him; but his head! that had suddenly begun to -remind him that it had been badly treated during the afternoon. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII. - -MOTOR CAR AND AEROPLANE. - - -It was about nine o'clock in the evening when Matt was awakened by the -arrival of McGlory and Twomley. Burton, curious and eager, came into -the calliope tent with them. - -"I'll tell you what my plan is," said Matt, sitting up on the edge of -the cot, "and then you can all go to bed and get a good night's rest. -Ben Ali is a crafty scoundrel, and it is necessary for us to capture -him in order to find out what he has done with Miss Manners." - -"That's the point," approved Twomley. "If we can't get hold of Ben Ali, -the Secret Service men will have a bally time locating the girl." - -"I'm inclined to think that Bill Wily told nothing but the truth," -proceeded Matt. - -"You never can tell about Wily," struck in Burton. "It's because he's -so shifty and unreliable that they call him Wily Bill. I wouldn't bank -too much on what he says." - -"It's neck or nothing with him," suggested Twomley. "He has everything -to lose by not telling the truth, and I believe the fellow appreciates -that fact." - -"You can gamble a blue stack he does!" declared McGlory. "Did you see -the look Dhondaram gave him while he was handing us that long palaver? -If the Hindoo ever gets foot-loose, I wouldn't stand in Wily's shoes -for a bushel of pesos." - -"To my mind," said Matt, "the fact that Dhondaram was in that house -proves the truth of Wily's story. Well, true or false, my whole plan -is built up on what the 'barker' told us. We're to assume that Ben Ali -will be in that oak opening, five miles from Grand Rapids on the Elgin -road." - -"Who knows whether there's an opening there or not?" asked Burton. - -When the showman once lost confidence in a man, he put no trust in -anything the man might do or say. - -"The opening is there," said Matt. "I went out in an automobile and saw -it for myself." - -"Ah! So that's what you passed up the afternoon flight for, eh?" - -"Partly," answered Matt. "Now, let us suppose that Ben Ali is in that -opening to-morrow, waiting for Dhondaram to arrive with money which -Ben Ali thinks he has stolen. Quite likely the Hindoo will have some -one with him--perhaps the old ticket man whom you discharged, Burton, -and perhaps Aurung Zeeb. This ticket man has played the part of the -agent representing the British ambassador in turning that trick in -Lafayette----" - -"Sufferin' traitors!" chanted McGlory. "I've a hunch, pard, your -finger's on the right button." - -"So," pursued Matt, "it is fair to assume that Ben Ali has some one -to watch the Elgin road in the vicinity of the oak opening. If he is -warned that any suspicious persons are approaching, the Hindoo will -slide away snakelike and dodge pursuit." - -Twomley nodded. - -"You're a fair daisy, Motor Matt, in placing the situation squarely in -front of us. By Jove, it looks like a hard nut to crack." - -"Matt will crack it," averred McGlory. "Listen, now, to how he proposes -to do it." - -"How are you going about it?" inquired Burton impatiently. "I've had -this on my mind ever since you and I left the house with the green -shutters, and I can't tell how nervous you make me hanging fire about -it. Seems like a mighty simple thing to go out in the woods, meet a -fellow where he intends to be, and nab him." - -"Not so deuced simple as you suppose, Mr. Burton," returned Twomley, -"when you consider the character of the man, and his ability to make -passes, look at you, and give you your ticket to the Land of Nod." - -"We're going to work out this problem by motor car and aëroplane," said -Matt. - -"Aëroplane!" exclaimed McGlory. "That means you and me, pard." - -"The motor car for you, Joe," smiled Matt. "You and Twomley, and Burton -will go along the Elgin road in that." - -"What's the good?" demurred Burton. "You all seem to think it a cinch -that the car will be seen, and that Ben Ali will get out of the way." - -"You'll lag behind, you and your car," continued Matt, "and you'll let -me and the aëroplane move ahead. I'll keep over the road as well as I -can, and you can see me. When I sight our quarry I'll descend; then you -can put on all speed and come up." - -"The aëroplane will be a dead give-away!" asserted Burton. "Ben Ali and -his outposts will see that as quick, or quicker, than they will the -automobile." - -"Suppose Ben Ali sees only one man on the machine, and thinks that the -man is Dhondaram?" asked Matt. "Would he run, then?" - -There was a silence, a startled silence, while the words of the young -motorist were being pondered by his listeners. - -"How'll Ben Ali think Dhondaram is running the _Comet_, pard?" queried -McGlory. - -"Because the man on the aëroplane will not look very much like Motor -Matt, and _will_ look a little like a Hindoo." - -"You're going to make up for the part?" - -"It won't be much of a make-up. A white robe over my ordinary clothes -will do." - -"But your face----" - -"In the air and at a distance, my face won't tell against the -deception. When the _Comet_ has landed in the opening, then it will -be Ben Ali and me for it--with an automobile full of reinforcements -rushing to the scene." - -"It sounds good," said McGlory thoughtfully. - -"Here's something," observed Twomley, who had a clear head and a quick -brain. "Ben Ali can think for himself. Won't he think it queer that -Dhondaram is navigating the flying machine? Dhondaram, I make no doubt, -is highly gifted, but will Ben Ali credit him with skill enough to -operate the aëroplane?" - -"He may not," admitted Matt; "still, if Ben Ali sees the machine, and -a man in it who looks like Dhondaram, even if Ben Ali doubts he'll -hold his ground in order to make sure. Ben Ali won't run from one man. -Besides, he's expecting Dhondaram. That's a weighty point." - -"I believe it will work," said Twomley. "At any rate, it will hold Ben -Ali in the opening until the automobile has a chance to come close. -Then the scoundrel is ours, no matter what he tries to do. By Jove, I -like the idea!" - -"Another thing," spoke up McGlory. "If Ben Ali smells a rat and tries -to make a run, Matt can keep over him and follow him." - -"Hardly that, Joe," returned Matt. "The woods are pretty thick along -the Elgin road, and you know how big the top of a tree looks when -you're gazing down on it. Besides, if there's any wind, the _Comet_ is -going to be a fair-sized handful to take care of." - -"There you are," said Burton. "How do you know the opening is big -enough for you to come down in? It won't do," and something akin to -panic took hold of the showman, "to damage the aëroplane." - -"Oh, go off somewhere, Burton, and wring out your wet blanket," growled -McGlory. "You're tryin' to throw it over everything." - -"We've got to get a look at this business from every angle," said -Burton doggedly. - -"Well, be easy about the oak opening," came from Matt. "It's large -enough to alight in and to start from. If there's only a little wind, -there'll be no danger." - -The Englishman reached over and took Matt's hand. - -"Allow me," said he, with a solemn handshake. "Win or lose, my bucko, -you have my admiration." - -Matt flushed. - -"Why," said he, "this is all talk, as yet, Twomley." - -"It's the sort of talk, my lad, that precedes notable achievements. -Nine-tenths of all the great work that's done owes more to the head -than to the hands. What about the automobile?" - -"That will be here at eight o'clock in the morning." - -"You even thought of that! I suppose I'll have to be catching a car for -town." - -Twomley got up and flung away the remains of a cigarette. - -"You'd better stay here," suggested Matt. "There's an extra cot behind -the calliope, and I'm sure Burton will give you your breakfast in the -morning." - -Twomley cast a glance around him. The odor from the animal tent, -of which the calliope house was only a lean-to, was strong and -disquieting. A lantern, tied to one of the tent poles, shed a murky -light over the litter of buckets and ropes that strewed the tent floor. -Matt had made ready for bed by kicking off his shoes and removing his -coat and hat. It was all very primitive. In Washington Twomley looked -as though he might have been of a fastidious nature. But, whatever he -was at Washington, he was "game" at Reid's Lake. - -"Go you," said he briefly. "Just where is that cot, my dear sir?" - -McGlory dragged it out for him and opened it up. - -"I'll pull it away from the wall of the animal top," said the cowboy. -"Rajah, the bad elephant, is just on the other side of that piece of -canvas, and he has the habit of snooping around in here with his trunk." - -"I don't fancy Rajah will bother me," and Twomley shucked out of his -low patent leathers. - -"I could almost make a pard out of you," remarked McGlory. - -"Nice work you've mapped out for Sunday," was Burton's sly fling as he -paused at the door on his way out. "Motor Matt, who refused to make -flights on Sunday for me for an extra hundred a week, lays out to pull -off a go like this! Well, I'm surprised." - -"Fate is no respecter of the calendar, Burton," Matt replied, with -some show of feeling. "I'll work all day to-morrow if I can accomplish -anything for Margaret Manners." - -"Shake again," said the attaché. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV. - -THE OAK OPENING. - - -Reid's Lake was a popular resort, and a large crowd rendezvoused there -on Sundays and holidays. The coming of the crowd, however, had shifted -to the beginning of the day, so that the start of the aëroplane might -be witnessed. - -Owing to Burton's enterprise, an "extra" of one of the evening dailies -was on the Grand Rapids streets at nine in the evening, announcing, in -large type, that Boss Burton, regretting the disappointment caused the -Grand Rapids people because of the failure of the aëroplane ascensions -on the first day of the show, was glad to announce that the king of the -motor boys would take his famous machine aloft on the following morning -at nine o'clock. - -This was one of the little things Burton could do, on occasion, which -jarred on Matt's nerves. He made it appear in the news columns as -though Matt was making the ascension because Burton had so willed it, -and as though the showman had willed it because of the disappointment -which had been caused the Great Rapids people on the first day of the -show. - -When Matt discovered this, it was too late to remedy it. He had the -satisfaction, however, of telling Burton just what he thought. - -Extra cars were put on the run between town and the lake to accommodate -the crowds. And the people came not only in the street cars, but also -in carriages, wagons, and automobiles. - -Carl and Ping had slept under the lower wings of the _Comet_, as was -their usual custom when the weather was at all propitious, and to -the casual observer it would have looked as though the Roman-candle -incident had been entirely forgotten. - -Matt was early at the machine, looking it over carefully and making -sure that everything was in readiness. The _Comet_, he found, had never -been in better trim for work than she was that morning. - -Then, too, such a day for aëroplane flying could not have been -surpassed. There was not enough wind stirring to flutter the banners on -the tent tops. - -It was necessary for McGlory, Twomley, and Burton to get away somewhat -in advance of Matt, and to take up a position beyond the outskirts of -the city on the Elgin road. At sharp eight-forty-five the motor car -got away. - -McGlory was usually in charge of the start during the aëroplane -flights, but now Matt placed Carl in command. The importance of the -position filled Carl with glory, and was correspondingly depressing to -Ping, who really knew more about the aëroplane than Carl could have -learned in a hundred years. - -Carl and Ping were assisted by half a dozen stout canvasmen. - -Before Matt took his seat, to the wonder of the crowd pressing against -the guard ropes, he shook out a white robe and arranged it about him in -such a manner as to leave his arms perfectly clear, but covering every -part of his clothing. - -After that he stepped on the footboard and dropped down in front of the -motor. - -The canvasmen, divided by Carl into two groups of three each, were -placed behind the wings. - -"All ready, Carl!" called Matt. - -"Retty it iss!" shouted Carl. - -The motor started merrily, the bicycle wheels began to turn, and the -canvasmen to push. - -Slowly the _Comet_ gathered headway. Faster and faster it went, leaving -the canvasmen behind; then, like a great bird, it soared into the air, -followed by wild cheering. - -A vagrant puff of wind struck the planes, just over the concert garden, -and only quick work on the part of the intrepid young motorist averted -a disaster. Gathering headway under the impetus of the thrashing -propeller, the aëroplane darted upward into the blue and began reaching -out toward the city. - -Matt, while manipulating the aëroplane, had little time for sights and -scenes below him. He was obliged to keep every faculty riveted on his -work. Now and again, however, as he took his bearings and laid his -course, he glimpsed the staring people in the roadways and on rooftops. -Some of these spectators had opera glasses and binoculars. - -Over the flat roofs of the city he whirled, cheered almost continuously. - -The motor had never worked better. Everything depended on the motor. -If the power had happened to fail, Matt could have glided harmlessly -down the airy slope to earth--providing the city afforded him a good -clear space in which to alight. A street zigzagged with telegraph, and -telephone, and electric light wires was not such a place. - -Passing the close-packed buildings of the business section, Matt gained -the residence districts, and held on in a straight line for the Elgin -road. He watched his landmarks, and, while they looked differently to -him from aloft than they did from the ground, he knew he was going -right when he saw the waiting automobile. - -McGlory was standing up and waving his hat. - -Throwing full speed into the propeller, Matt set the automobile a -fifty-mile pace. At such a speed only a few minutes were necessary to -carry the flying machine close to the oak opening where Ben Ali was to -be in waiting for Dhondaram. - -Peering forward and downward, Matt guided and manoeuvred the _Comet_ by -sense of touch alone, watching eagerly the while for the great gap in -the woods. - -Finally he saw it, and what he glimpsed in the centre of the cleared -space--etched into his brain as by the instantaneous operation of a -photographic lens--was startling, to say the least. - -The irregular circle of the opening was crossed through its centre -by the hard, level road. Off to one side of the road were the dying -embers of a fire, and near the fire lay a bundle, on which a young -woman was sitting, her head bowed dejectedly. A turbaned figure stood -at a distance from the girl--the figure covered with a red robe and -its brown, staring face uplifted. This was Ben Ali. And the girl--who -was she? Was it possible, _could_ it be possible, that the girl was -Margaret Manners? A wild hope leaped in Motor Matt's breast. - -Ben Ali leaned on a club, leaned and watched with never a move -toward running away. Probably he was speculating as to whether his -confederate, Dhondaram, had learned to operate the air craft. - -Matt gave Ben Ali scant time to come to a conclusion. Quick work was -now in order, and the _Comet_ ducked downward and slid through the air -with slowing motor. Guided by a true, steady hand, the wheels brushed -the roadway, then began to turn as the weight of the machine rested -more heavily upon them. A short run of a dozen feet brought the _Comet_ -to a stop. - -Ben Ali had not stirred from the place where Matt had first seen him -standing. - -Gathering the white robe about him, Motor Matt stepped hurriedly to the -ground and ran toward Ben Ali. - -The Hindoo, staring serpent-like, recoiled, his red robe falling away -slightly as his hands raised the club. - -"Ben Ali," cried the king of the motor boys, "I have caught you at -another of your tricks. Did you think I was Dhondaram? Dhondaram is a -prisoner, and you will soon join him in jail." - -There followed a tense moment, during which Ben Ali's eyes glowed and -scintillated with their marvelous powers, and his hands tightened on -the bludgeon. - -It was not a time to delay matters, and the young motorist made ready -for desperate work against the arrival of the automobile. - -"_Maskee!_" cried the astounded Hindoo, as Motor Matt leaped at him. - -Ben Ali's amazement appeared to hold him paralyzed for the moment. It -was not until Matt had caught the club that he aroused himself and -began vigorous resistance. - -Every instant Matt expected the automobile to come whirling to the spot -with his friends. - -He had the club, but Ben Ali, with a tigrish spring, seized him about -the throat and clung to him like a leech, and all the while Ben Ali's -eyes were rolling about in a way that was horrible to behold. - -Matt dropped the club to catch at the Hindoo's straining arms. He felt -a wave of weakness sweep through him, while the flashing eyes continued -to exercise their baneful spell. - -Was he being hypnotized in spite of himself? He had read that this was -impossible, and that no man could be put in a state of hypnosis against -his will. Yet what did that strange weakness mean? - -A tremor ran through Matt's body. He tried to call aloud, but his lips -framed voiceless words. By degrees he felt himself growing weaker and -weaker, yielding more and more to the spell of the baneful orbs that -sought his undoing. - -Then, when it seemed as though he was about to come entirely under Ben -Ali's power, there fell a blow--sudden, quick, and accompanied by a -wild, feminine cry. - -Ben Ali's tense fingers relaxed their grip, his form slumped forward, -and Matt stood staring at the girl. - -She was Margaret Manners, there was not the least doubt of that. In -order to save him, the girl had seized the bludgeon, had approached her -uncle from behind, and struck him down. - -The girl's face was wild with grief, but there was a burning resolution -in the eyes. - -"I had to!" she cried hysterically. "I had to do that in order to save -you. It was the spell, the spell of the eyes! He would have made you -his victim, Motor Matt, just as certainly as he has worked his will -with me! Oh, let us get away from here! Quick!" In a frenzy of fear -she cast aside the club and seized his arm with both hands. "There are -others--Aurung Zeeb is one. They are armed, and they will soon be here." - -Matt dashed a hand across his forehead, as though to free his brain -from some frightful dream. - -"There are others, you say?" he gasped. - -"Yes, yes," she answered distractedly. - -"Where?" - -"Watching the road! They---- Ah, too late, too late!" - -Matt whirled and looked across the oak opening. From the side lying -nearest the town came a running figure. It was Aurung Zeeb. - -Where was the automobile? Matt could not hear it, and there was now no -time to wait. - -The girl had dropped to her knees and thrown her hands over her face. - -"Come!" he called, bending down and catching her by the arm. "We can -get away from here. Be brave, and trust to me!" - -The girl started up, and he ran with her toward the aëroplane. As they -drew near the machine, Matt saw another Hindoo coming into the opening -along the other road. - - - - -CHAPTER XV. - -AEROPLANE WINS! - - -Matt supposed that the automobile must have broken down somewhere on -the road. His friends had not arrived in time to help him, so he was -thrown upon his own resources. - -While he and Miss Manners were racing toward the aëroplane, Matt was -measuring his chances. The appearance of the second Hindoo, on the -other side of the opening, complicated the dangers of the situation. - -If these Hindoos were armed, as the girl had declared, then the case -was indeed desperate. In making its start, however, the _Comet_ would -be running away from Aurung Zeeb, and straight toward the other Hindoo. -This second man would have to leave the road or be run down; and if the -start was made quickly enough, the _Comet_ could get away from Aurung -Zeeb. - -"Sit there," cried Matt, lifting the girl to a seat on the lower plane. -"Hold on," he added, starting the motor, "and don't move." - -The girl's small fingers twined convulsively into the hand-holds. Matt -dropped into his own seat and turned the power into the bicycle wheels. -Slowly they took the push, the great wings lurching and swaying as the -aëroplane moved. - -Would it be possible for the machine, unaided by a crew of men behind -the wings, to take to the air before the trees on the opposite side of -the opening interfered? - -This was a momentous, nay, a vital, question, and could only be solved -by actual trial. - -Out of the tails of his eyes Matt saw Ben Ali rising groggily to his -feet. He flung up his arms and shouted. - -Crack! - -From behind came a bullet, ripping through the canvas of the upper -plane, but, fortunately, doing no damage to the machinery. Aurung Zeeb -was doing the firing. - -And this same Aurung Zeeb had failed Ben Ali once in a dangerous pinch. -This had caused a rupture of the friendly relations between the two -men, but their differences had evidently been patched up. Now Aurung -Zeeb was doing his utmost to help Ben Ali--and, perhaps, to land -himself in the same trouble in which Dhondaram had been entrapped. - -Another bullet was fired, but Aurung Zeeb must have been shooting as he -ran, for his aim was poor. - -Faster and faster raced the aëroplane, and Matt kept measuring the -distance between the machine and the trees on the farther side of -the opening. The Hindoo, in the road ahead, was running out of the -aëroplane's path like a frightened hare. - -By then, Ben Ali had joined in the chase, but the speed of the _Comet_ -was too great for the pursuers. - -They were close to the edge of the timber, very close, when Matt felt -the wings beginning to lift. A dozen feet farther and they were in the -air. - -In a flash the power was switched from the wheels to the propeller. The -aëroplane dropped a little before it yielded to the thrashing blades of -the screw; then it picked up the lost headway and arose. - -The upward tilt was frightful, but necessary if a wreck in the treetops -was to be avoided. - -Never a word had come from Margaret Manners. White as a ghost, she held -to her place, swaying her body to preserve a poise against the tilt and -pitch of the huge framework. - -The wheels brushed against the outer ends of the tree limbs, but the -machine continued to glide into the air, walking upward as though -climbing the rounds of a ladder. - -If the motor had failed from any cause, there could have been no -harmless gliding back to earth. A sheer drop downward would have been -the result. - -But the motor performed its work, and the trees presently hid the -Hindoos and screened the _Comet_ from any further attack. - -Then, and not till then, did the king of the motor boys draw a full -breath. - -"Are you holding on, Miss Manners?" asked Matt. - -"Yes," was the reply in a stifled voice. - -"You're not afraid?" - -"No." - -"Bravo! We'll soon be back at the show grounds. You have seen the last -of Ben Ali." - -High above the trees Matt brought the _Comet_ to an even keel, then -laid out in a straightaway flight toward the lake. This time he did not -follow the Elgin road, but struck across country the nearest way home. - -That was not the first time Margaret Manners had had a ride in the -aëroplane. Some time before, when, under the name of Haidee, she had -traveled with the Big Consolidated, she had ridden on a trapeze swung -below the machine. It was against Matt's will, and only a trick of -Burton's had made it possible for the girl to make the ascension. At -the time she was under hypnotic influence, and could not realize what -she was doing. So, it followed, this was really the first ride she had -ever taken in the aëroplane while mistress of her own faculties and -able to understand her situation. - -She behaved admirably, and did not even cry out when the wings tilted -sideways, or ducked forward with the seeming intention of hurling her -and Matt to the earth. - -There was no talk between the two. In silence Matt attended to his -work, drove the _Comet_ at speed over the show grounds, circled, and -came down in the roped-off space set apart for the machine. - -The crowds were still lingering, waiting for the aëroplane to return. -Cheering began as soon as the _Comet_ was in sight, and was kept up -until she was safely on the ground in the position from which she had -originally started. - -Carl and Ping were waiting, too, and the eyes of both boys were big -with astonishment when they saw and recognized Margaret Manners. - -"Vell, py shiminy grickets!" exclaimed Carl. - -The girl smiled at him wanly as Matt helped her from her seat. - -"You and Ping take care of the machine, Carl," cautioned Matt, as he -led Miss Manners to the guard ropes and parted a course for her through -the jostling mob. - -"Hurrah for Motor Matt!" shouted some one. "He goes out alone and comes -back with a passenger!" - -A laugh followed the cheer. - -"What's the price for a trip on the _Comet_?" called some one else. - -"Where does your air-ship line run?" - -"Give me a ticket to San Francisco!" - -Matt met the joking good-naturedly and piloted Miss Manners to the -calliope tent. The girl was tired and worn out. - -"You'd better get a little rest, Miss Manners," Matt suggested. "What -you have passed through this morning would have shaken nerves much -stronger than yours." - -"I don't want to rest," she answered; "I want to talk. You have saved -me again, Motor Matt, but what is the use of it all if I can't leave -this country and go to England, or back to India? Ben Ali will find me -again." - -"You are through with him," said Matt, "just as I told you. A man has -come from the British legation in Washington to get you and send you -away by the first boat leaving New York." - -"The man who came to Mrs. Chadwick's in Lafayette said the same thing," -answered the girl wearily. "It seems as though there is no escaping Ben -Ali." - -"Has he hypnotized you many times since he took you from Mrs. -Chadwick's?" asked Matt anxiously. - -"Only once. I gave up hope, and went with him without trying to resist. -He said he intended to send me back to India, but not until the rajah -had paid him a lot of rupees." - -"He treated you well?" - -"He always treated me well--in his way--but the horror of going into -a trance and saying and doing things I know nothing about is more -terrible than ever to me. It was the fear of a trance that made me -promise not to make Uncle Ben any trouble." - -"Who was the man who impersonated the agent of the British ambassador?" - -"I had never seen him before." - -"I thought that perhaps he might have been the man who sold tickets in -the ticket wagon for Burton--the one who was with the show when you and -Ben Ali were traveling with us." - -She shook her head. - -"I should have known that man if it had been he." - -"Where did the man take you?" - -"On the train somewhere. I thought we were going to Washington until we -got off the train at a little station and met Uncle Ben. It was then he -threw me into a trance, and when he awoke me we were at a little house -near the place where we went this morning to wait for Dhondaram. Aurung -Zeeb was at the house, and so was the other Hindoo--a man I had never -seen before. You are sure," the girl asked tremblingly, "that this -other agent of the British ambassador is really the person he pretends -to be?" - -The girl's lack of confidence was pitiable. She had suffered so much -that Matt could readily understand her feelings. - -"I am positive, Miss Manners," he answered gently. "You must rest now. -I will have Mrs. Harris come and stay with you for a while." - -The girl did not object, and Matt had soon found Mrs. Harris and sent -her to the calliope tent. - -Two hours later, while Matt was lounging around the front of the animal -tent, a tired party consisting of Burton, Twomley, and McGlory arrived -from the direction of the street-car line. - -"You Matt!" cried McGlory. "Why didn't you wait and give us a chance?" - -"If I'd waited much longer," answered Matt, "there wouldn't have been a -chance for anybody. Did you see me coming back from the oak opening?" - -"Did we?" echoed Twomley, putting his monocle in his eyes. "By Jove, I -should say we did. Fancy! You up aloft, sailing as nice as you please -with Miss Manners beside you, and Burton, McGlory, and me tramping -along the road." - -"What was the matter?" asked Matt. - -"Matter?" fumed Burton. "What's the matter when you set out in an -automobile and don't arrive where you're going? The motor bucked, three -miles out of Grand Rapids, and you sailed right along and never paid -any attention to us. McGlory, Twomley, and I started to walk the rest -of the distance, when we saw the machine couldn't be fixed up for an -hour or so, and before we'd gone a mile you sailed off in the direction -of the show grounds--and never looked our way! Oh, blazes! I'm done -with automobiles." - - - - -CHAPTER XVI. - -CONCLUSION. - - -Motor Matt's regret was keen over the failure to catch Ben Ali, Aurung -Zeeb, and the unknown Hindoo. It was one of those cases, however, where -it was best to be satisfied with the work accomplished, and to forget -the failure whereby three miscreants escaped the consequence of their -evil deeds. - -And it was possible that Ben Ali was not long to enjoy his freedom, -for Twomley asserted that all the powers of the United States Secret -Service would be bent toward accomplishing his ultimate capture. - -When it came to dealing legally with Dhondaram, a serious question -arose. If the Hindoo was to be punished severely, it would be necessary -to take him to Jackson, where the worst of his crimes had been -committed. This would require the presence of complaining witnesses, -of which Burton was one. For a man traveling from place to place -constantly, as was Burton, such a move could not be made without great -sacrifices. - -It was deemed better, therefore, to have Dhondaram brought to book for -the lesser crime committed in the house of the green shutters. "Assault -with murderous intent" was the charge, and a light sentence followed. - -Bill Wily, agreeably to promises given him, was released. Whether -he profited by his experience or not, Motor Matt never afterward -discovered. Such a lesson as he had had, however, should have been -enough for any man. For a little matter of ten dollars, he had entered -blindly into the schemes of Ben Ali--and Ben Ali's schemes left their -mark on every person who had anything to do with them. - -Twomley was a delighted Englishman, if there ever was one. He had -fulfilled the mission with which he had been intrusted by Sir Roger, -and he had done so after discovering that his errand to Lafayette, so -far as securing Miss Manners was concerned, was useless. - -A Roman candle in the side-show tent had lent itself to the -perpetration of a practical joke; and out of that joke had come the -clue which had made possible the second rescue of Margaret Manners. - -Carl was very much pleased to learn that so much good had developed -from a row in the freak tent, but whether or not he forgave Ping for -setting off the Roman candle is open to question. - -Carl had declared that he would "play even" with Ping for the candle -episode, and those who knew Carl best believed that he would prove as -good as his word. - -Monday morning Twomley and Miss Manners took a train for New York, but -not until both the attaché and the girl had expressed to Matt and the -motor boys their appreciation of all that they had done. - -It was somewhat indelicate of Carl, perhaps, to mention the matter of -his five thousand dollars before Miss Manners, but he was beginning -to worry about the money. As he expressed it, "Der longer vat der time -iss, der more vat I don'd seem to ged dot rewart. I peen sefendeen -years olt, und meppy I don'd lif more as sixdy years from now." - -Twomley assured Carl that he would do whatever he possibly could to -hurry the money along. And with this promise Carl had to be satisfied. - -With the turning over of Dhondaram to the police, the liberating of -Bill Wily, and the departure of Twomley and Miss Manners, a series of -thrilling incidents connected with Motor Matt's show career came to a -close. - -And Motor Matt's show experiences were likewise drawing near an end. -Just how close this end was he did not dream that Monday morning when -he and McGlory accompanied the attaché and his charge to the train. - -When the two boys got back to the show grounds, however, Boss Burton -had a telegram for Matt. - -Burton was frankly worried about that telegram. Some other showman, -he felt sure, was offering Matt a bigger salary for his aëroplane -performances. - -"Don't you forget for a minute," said Burton, watching keenly as Matt -opened the telegram, "that you're hooked up with me on a contract for -the season. You can't break that contract, you know." - -"There were conditions, Burton," said Matt. - -"The only condition I remember was something about the government -buying the aëroplane--which is all a dream. The government has bought -one of the machines, and that's enough. It takes a Motor Matt to run -one of those cranky Traquair air ships. It'll be a long while before -Uncle Sam buys another." - -Matt read the message through, gave a whoop of delight, and passed the -yellow slip on to McGlory. - -Then McGlory jubilated. - -"What's to pay?" demanded Burton. - -"Uncle Sam has done the trick!" crowed the cowboy. "He takes the -_Comet_ at the same price he paid for the _June Bug_--fifteen thousand -spot--machine to be crated and shipped immediately, if not sooner. -Whoop-ya! That settles the aëroplane business for King & McGlory. The -next game we get into will be something, I reckon, that I can take a -hand in, and not leave Pard Matt to do all the work." - -Burton's face grew gloomy. - -"Let me look at that message," he requested. - -Matt handed it to him, and he read it over two or three times, then -dropped it savagely, and ground it under his heel. - -"You don't _have_ to sell," said he angrily. "You can turn that offer -down if you want to." - -"No, I can't," Matt answered. "The sale was virtually made up in North -Dakota weeks ago. Besides, I'm not the only one interested in the -deal." - -"Who else besides McGlory?" - -"Why, Mrs. Traquair, the widow of Harry Traquair, who invented the -extension wings and a few other things that have made the aëroplane -a success. Half of the fifteen thousand the government pays for the -machine goes to Mrs. Traquair." - -"Oh, blazes!" growled Burton. "Don't tell the woman anything about it. -Send word back to the war department you don't want to sell; then I'll -make a new contract with you for a thousand a week. In seven or eight -weeks you boys will receive all your share of what the government pays -for the _Comet_." - -Matt listened to the showman gravely. - -"You don't mean what you say, Burton," said he. "If you think for -a minute that I'd play crooked with Mrs. Traquair, or with the -government, then you've got pretty far off your track. It's in our -contract that, if the government wants the machine, the contract -terminates. Here's where the motor boys' engagement with the Big -Consolidated comes to a close." - -"You'll make a couple of flights to-day, won't you?" asked Burton, -swallowing his disappointment. - -"Yes, I'll do that much for you," Matt answered, "and then, bright and -early to-morrow morning, we begin crating the machine for shipment." - -"Blamed if I don't sort of hate to see the machine go," murmured -McGlory. "Many a hair-raising old trip you've had in the _Comet_, pard, -with me below lookin' up at you and almost kicking the bucket with -heart failure! Mainy a thriller the machine has given us, and--well, I -reckon it's done some good, too." - -"That's the best part of it, Joe," said the king of the motor boys. - - -THE END. - - - - -THE NEXT NUMBER (30) WILL CONTAIN - -Motor Matt's Mandarin - -OR, - -Turning a Trick for Tsan Ti. - - On the Mountainside--The Yellow Cord--The Glass Balls--The Paper - Clue--Putting Two-and-two Together--A Smash--Nip and Tuck--Tsan Ti - Vanishes Again--Tricked Once More--The Diamond Merchant--The Old - Sugar Camp--A Tight Corner--The Glass Spheres--A Master Rogue--The - Eye of Buddha--The Broken Hoodoo. - - - - -MOTOR STORIES - -THRILLING ADVENTURE MOTOR FICTION - -NEW YORK, September 11, 1909. - - -TERMS TO MOTOR STORIES MAIL SUBSCRIBERS. - -(_Postage Free._) - -Single Copies or Back Numbers, 5c. Each. - - 3 months 65c. - 4 months 85c. - 6 months $1.25 - One year 2.50 - 2 copies one year 4.00 - 1 copy two years 4.00 - -=How to Send Money=--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. - -=Receipts=--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. - - ORMOND G. SMITH, } - GEORGE C. SMITH, } _Proprietors_. - - STREET & SMITH, Publishers, - 79-89 Seventh Avenue, New York City. - - - - -A BRAVE DEED. - - -The mining town of Capelton was alive with excitement. A -long-looked-for event was about to take place. Mr. Hilton, the owner of -the mines and more than half the village, was to give a ball in honor -of his son's twenty-first birthday, and also to celebrate the return of -his only daughter from the Parisian school to which she had been sent -when but ten years old. - -Carl Hilton was an only son, and because of his parents' indulgence had -become selfish and tyrannical. His father idolized him, and was blind -to his faults. He was to become a partner in the mines on attaining his -majority. As Mr. Hilton had been out of health for more than a year, -Carl had attended to most of the business, and he had so tyrannized -over the miners that they one and all hated him; but they loved and -respected his father, and for his sake bore in silence the abuse of the -son. - -To this birthday ball all the miners and their families had been -invited, and the rumors of the great beauty of Nina Hilton only added -to the excitement and anticipation. - -I will not weary the reader by a description of the affair, and no -event of interest occurred until supper was announced. It fell to the -lot of Fred Chase, one of the foremen in the mines, to escort the -beautiful Nina, and so deeply did they become engaged in conversation -that it was some minutes before Fred noticed that Carl sat directly -opposite, and was watching them closely. With an effort the young man -concealed his annoyance, and continued his attentions to Nina. - -"I intend to visit the mines to-morrow," said the girl, in tones loud -enough to be heard by her brother. "I want to descend the new shaft." - -"I shall be very happy to conduct you through the mines, but you must -not descend the new shaft, for it is not safe. I have warned your -brother that the roof of the mine is in danger of falling, but he only -laughs at me, and I fear some terrible accident will be the result of -his neglect." - -"You are a fool, Fred Chase! The shaft is safe enough; if you talk like -this, the men will all be afraid of it, and refuse to work. I shall -take Nina there myself to-morrow," said Carl angrily. - -The young man's face flushed, but he controlled himself, and answered -coldly: - -"I spoke the truth; the shaft is not safe, and unless more timber is -put in to support the roof, you will soon have proof that I am right. I -only hope that no lives will be lost." - -"Pooh! You are a coward. I will show you to-morrow how little faith I -put in your words." - -The eyes of all present were drawn to the two by Carl's excited tone, -and Fred's reply was plainly heard. - -"Call me a coward, if you will, but time will prove the truth of my -assertion. Neglect for twenty-four hours to order more timber to be -placed in the new shaft for the support of its roof, and you alone will -be responsible for what follows." - -Carl did not answer, but glanced angrily at Fred, who, after a minute's -pause, turned to Nina again, and changed the subject of conversation. - -The following morning Carl started for the new shaft alone. Nina -refused to accompany him, and begged him to delay his visit until the -roof was made secure. - -"Nonsense, sis! It is safe enough. That fool, Fred Chase, wanted to -impress you." - -Carl believed what he said. He had not visited the shaft for several -weeks, and had not seen the timbers bend beneath the weight of earth -above them. He reached the shaft just as half a dozen miners came -from it, and in answer to his inquiries, was told that Fred Chase and -another man had remained behind to finish filling the last car with ore. - -"I am going down," he said, and in a few minutes was lowered to the -bottom of the shaft. In the distance he could see the lights of the -two miners. He advanced toward them. By the light of his own lantern -he saw that some of the beams were bent; all seemed weighted to their -utmost capacity, and he could not but own to himself that Fred Chase -was right. He involuntarily shuddered as, in passing one large post, a -slight crackling sound was heard; but it was not repeated, and he went -on, determined to again make light of the matter. - -"You see, I am not afraid of your shaft," he said sneeringly, as he -reached the spot where the two men were standing with the now loaded -car beside them. - -"Only cowards need boast of their bravery," said Fred sternly. - -"I am going on a short distance to look at the ore; you may wait for -me at the foot of the shaft, and we will all be drawn up at once," -continued Carl. - -He strolled on, while Fred and his companion returned, as directed, to -the entrance. They had barely reached it when they heard a loud report -behind; a cry of fear mingled with the noise of falling rocks; then all -was still. - -With pallid faces the men looked at each other, for each knew what -had happened. The roof had fallen, and Carl Hilton was either crushed -beneath the rocks or imprisoned in the opening beyond. - -Only an instant did they stand motionless. Then Fred grasped the rope -and gave the signal to be hoisted to the top. - -They told their sad story, and a messenger was dispatched to Mr. -Hilton's residence. Soon the entrance to the shaft was a scene of wild -excitement. The stricken relatives of the buried man had reached the -spot as soon as possible. The father offered large rewards to any who -would attempt the rescue of his son; but not a man would volunteer. - -Mr. Hilton doubled and trebled his reward, but to no avail; to his -entreaties were added the frantic pleading of the mother and Nina's -distressed sobs. - -Fred had stood silent, with his eyes bent on the ground, until the old -man, in sheer despair, cried out: - -"I will give half of my fortune, and it is a large one, to the men who -will help me reach my boy!" - -Fred came forward with a look of resolve on his face. "Mr. Hilton, not -for your entire fortune would I enter that mine to save your son; but -for humanity's sake, I will do my best to rescue him." - -A cheer from the miners greeted these brave words. With a wave of his -hand, Fred commanded silence, and running his eye over the crowd, said -slowly: - -"I must have three trusty men to help me. Who will go?" - -For an instant no one responded; then Charles Gray, Fred's chosen -companion, stepped to his side. - -"I will go, Fred," he said quietly. - -Two more men quickly followed the example of their brave leader, and, -armed with spades, bars, ropes, and a bottle of brandy, they were -lowered into the shaft. - -Then followed a time of anxious suspense to the waiting crowd, who -could only pray for the safety and success of the rescuing party. - -The first act of the workers was to place extra beams, a few of which -were lowered down the shaft for the purpose, as near as they could -to the fallen roof, to help bear any strain that might be resting on -those already there. In a few minutes they realized their wisdom, for a -cracking sound was heard which caused them to retreat toward the shaft; -but it was not repeated, and they returned to their work. At the end -of three hours of cautious digging they came to the car which Fred and -his companion had stayed behind to fill, and they stopped for a few -moments' rest. - -"He cannot be far from here, for we had barely reached the shaft when -the roof fell. Hark! What was that?" - -Fred stopped suddenly to listen. - -"It was a groan! He is alive! Let us get to work, for he must be quite -near," said Charlie Gray excitedly. - -With new zeal they worked on, and in half an hour they had reached an -opening caused by two large rocks, which had fallen together in such a -manner as to leave a space between them. In that space lay Carl, with -one arm doubled under him, and one foot pinioned by a large stone. The -poor fellow was terribly bruised and cut, but conscious. Very gently he -was lifted by the men and borne to the foot of the shaft. The signal -was given, and they were carefully drawn to the top, and when they laid -Carl on the ground a shout went up from the miners that echoed loudly -over the hills. - -"God bless you, Fred, and your brave companions!" said Mr. Hilton -huskily, as he grasped the young man by the hand. "From my heart I -thank you." - -"No thanks are due. I could not bear to see a fellow creature die -without trying to save him." - -The crowd soon dispersed, and Carl was conveyed to his home. After many -weeks of suffering he recovered; but the crushed foot was useless--he -was a cripple for life. - -As soon as he was able to do so, Carl sent for Fred. - -"Forgive me, Fred," he said frankly. "I was wrong not to heed your -advice, but my punishment has been great. Forget the past, and allow me -to thank you for saving my life." - -Fred could not refuse the apology thus offered, and the two became fast -friends. - -About a year afterward Mr. Hilton bestowed his daughter's hand upon the -brave young man who had saved his son's life, and on his wedding day -Fred became one of the owners of the mines. He is now a wealthy and -prosperous man, and, with his beautiful wife, is almost worshiped by -the miners. - - - - -A LOCOMOTIVE HERO. - - -Well, boys, if you wish it, I'll tell you the story. When I was a youth -of eighteen, and lived with my parents, I had a boyish ambition to -become an engineer, although I had been educated for loftier pursuits. - -During my college vacation, I constantly lounged about the station, -making friends with the officials, and especially with an engineer -named Silas Markley. I became much attached to this man, although he -was forty years of age and by no means a sociable fellow. - -He was my ideal of a brave, skillful, thoroughbred engineer, and I -looked up to him as something of a hero. He was not a married man, but -lived alone with his old mother. I was a frequent visitor at their -house, and I think they both took quite a fancy to me in their quiet, -undemonstrative way. - -When this Markley's fireman left him, I induced him to let me take his -place during the remainder of my vacation. He hesitated for some time -before he consented to humor my boyish whim; but he finally yielded, -and I was in great glee. - -The fact was that, in my idleness and the overworked state of my brain, -I craved for the excitement, and, besides, I had such longing dreams -of the fiery ride through the hills, mounted literally on the iron -horse. So I became an expert fireman, and liked it exceedingly; for the -excitement more than compensated for the rough work I was required to -do. - -But there came a time when I got my fill of excitement. Mrs. Markley -one day formed a plan which seemed to give her a good deal of -happiness. It was her son's birthday, and she wanted to go down to -Philadelphia in the train without letting him know anything about it, -and there purchase a present for him. She took me into her confidence, -and asked me to assist her. I arranged the preliminaries, got her into -the train without being noticed by Markley, who, of course, was busy -with his engine. - -The old lady was in high glee over the bit of innocent deception she -was practicing on her son. She enjoined me again not to tell Silas, and -then I left her and took my place. - -It was a midsummer day, and the weather was delightful. - -The train was one which stopped at the principal stations on the route. -On this occasion, as there were two specials on the line, it was run by -telegraph--that is, the engineer has simply to obey the instructions -which he receives at each station, so that he is put as a machine in -the hands of one controller, who directs all trains from a central -point, and thus has the whole line under his eye. If the engineer does -not obey to the least tittle his orders, it is destruction to the whole. - -Well, we started without mishap, and up to time, and easily reached the -first station in the time allotted to us. As we stopped there, a boy -ran alongside with the telegram, which he handed to the engineer. The -next moment I heard a smothered exclamation from Markley. - -"Go back," he said to the boy; "tell Williams to have the message -repeated; there's a mistake." - -The boy dashed off; in a few minutes he came flying back. - -"Had it repeated," he panted. "Williams is storming at you; says -there's no mistake, and you'd best get on." - -He thrust the second message up as he spoke. - -Markley read it, and stood hesitating for half a minute. - -There was dismay and utter perplexity in the expression of his face as -he looked at the telegram and the long train behind him. His lips moved -as if he were calculating chances, and his eyes suddenly quailed as if -he saw death at the end of the calculation. I was watching him with -considerable curiosity. I ventured to ask him what was the matter, and -what he was going to do. - -"I'm going to obey," he said curtly. - -The engine gave a long shriek of horror that made me start as if it -were Markley's own voice. The next instant we slipped out of the -station and dashed through low-lying farms at a speed which seemed -dangerous to me. - -"Put in more coal," said Markley. - -I shoveled in more, but took time. - -"We are going very fast, Markley." - -He did not answer. His eyes were fixed on the steam gauge, his lips -close shut. - -"More coal," he said. - -I threw it in. The fields and houses began to fly past half-seen. -We were nearing Dufreme, the next station. Markley's eyes went from -the gauge to the face of the timepiece and back. He moved like an -automaton. There was little more meaning in his face. - -"More!" he said, without turning his eye. - -"Markley, do you know you are going at the rate of sixty miles an hour?" - -"Coal!" - -I was alarmed at the stern, cold rigidity of the man. His pallor was -becoming frightful. I threw in the coal. At least we must stop at -Dufreme. That was the next halt. The little town was approaching. As -the first house came into view the engine sent its shrieks of warning; -it grew louder--still louder. - -We dashed over the switches, up to the station, where a group of -passengers waited, and passed it without the halt of an instant, -catching a glimpse of the appalled faces and the waiting crowd. Then we -were in the fields again. The speed now became literally breathless, -the furnace glared red hot. The heat, the velocity, the terrible -nervous strain of the man beside me seemed to weight the air. I found -myself drawing long, stertorous breaths, like one drowning. - -I heaped in the coal at intervals as he bade me. I did it because I -was oppressed by an odd sense of duty which I never had in my ordinary -brainwork. Since then I have understood how it is that dull, ignorant -men, without a spark of enthusiasm, show such heroism as soldiers, -firemen, and captains of wrecked vessels. - -It is this overpowering sense of routine duty. It's a finer thing than -sheer bravery, in my idea. However, I began to think that Markley was -mad--laboring under some frenzy from drink, though I had never seen him -touch liquor. - -He did not move hand or foot, except in the mechanical control of -his engine, his eyes going from the gauge to the timepiece with a -steadiness that was more terrible and threatening than any gleam -of insanity would have been. Once he glared back at the long train -sweeping after the engine with a headlong speed that rocked it from -side to side. - -One could imagine he saw a hundred men and women in the cars, talking, -reading, smoking, unconscious that their lives were all in the hold of -one man, whom I now suspected to be mad. I knew by his look that he -remembered that their lives were in his hand. He glanced at the clock. - -"Twenty miles," he muttered. "Throw on more coal, Jack; the fire is -going out." - -I did it. Yes, I did it. There was something in the face of that man I -could not resist. Then I climbed forward and shook him roughly by the -shoulder. - -"Markley," I shouted, "you are running this train into the jaws of -death!" - -"I know it," he replied quietly. - -"Your mother is on board." - -"Heavens!" - -He staggered to his feet. But even then he did not remove his eyes from -the gauge. - -"Make up the fire," he commanded, and pushed in the throttle valve. - -"I will not." - -"Make up the fire, Jack," very quietly. - -"I will not. You may kill yourself and your mother, but you shall not -murder me!" - -He looked at me. His kindly gray eyes glared like those of a wild -beast, but he controlled himself in a moment. - -"I could throw you off this engine, and make short work of you," he -said. "But, look here, do you see the station yonder?" - -I saw a faint streak in the sky about five miles ahead. - -"I was told to reach that station by six o'clock," he continued. "The -express train meeting us is due now. I ought to have laid by for it at -Defreme. I was told to come on. The track is a single one. Unless I -make the siding at the station in three minutes, we shall meet it in -yonder hollow." - -"Somebody's blunder?" I said. - -"Yes, I think so." - -I said nothing. I threw on coal. If I had had petroleum, I should have -thrown it on; but I never was calmer in my life. When death actually -stares a man in the face, it often frightens him into the most perfect -composure. Markley pushed the valve still farther. The engine began -to give a strange panting sound. Far off to the south I could see the -dense black smoke of a train. I looked at Markley inquiringly. He -nodded. It was the express. I stooped to the fire. - -"No more," he said. - -I looked across the clear summer sky at the gray smoke of the peaceful -little village, and beyond that at a black line coming closer, closer, -across the sky. Then I turned to the watch. In one minute more--well, -I confess I sat down and buried my face in my hands. I don't think -I tried to pray. I had a confused thought of mangled, dying men and -women--mothers and their babies. - -There was a terrible shriek from the engine, against which I leaned, -another in my face. A hot, hissing tempest swept past me. I looked up. -We were on the siding, and the express had gone by. It grazed our end -car in passing. In a sort of delirious joy, I sprang up and shouted to -Markley. He did not speak. He sat there immovable and cold as a stone. -I went to the train and brought his mother to him, and, when he opened -his eyes and took the old lady's hand in his, I turned hastily away. - -Yes, gentlemen, I have been in many a railway accident, but I have -always considered that the closest shave I ever had. - -What was the blunder? - -I don't know; Markley made light of it ever afterward, and kept it a -secret; but no man on the line stood so high in the confidence of the -company after that as he. By his coolness and nerve he had saved a -hundred lives. - - - - -GEESE DROWN A SQUIRREL. - - -Jack, a big gray squirrel, who, with his mate, Jill, inhabited the -island in the duck inclosure in the Bronx Park Zoo, New York City, -sacrificed his life to his love of high living. It was this way: - -Jack and Jill long ago discovered that by crossing over the -ten-foot-wide stream of water which separates the island from the -mainland on all sides they could reach a trough filled with corn, -which was replenished daily, for the ducks and geese, which rightfully -inhabit the pond and island. A wire fence dividing the inclosure used -by the mallard ducks from that enjoyed by the Canada geese offered a -means of communication between the island and the corn trough, and -Jack and Jill long ago became expert in running along the top of this -ticklish pathway. - -Daily the two squirrels made pilgrimages to the corn trough, eaten to -repletion, and then returned to the island. The ducks and the geese -always swam close to the fence, flapping their wings and uttering -hoarse cries of rage, but were never able to catch the nimble -squirrels. Little by little, however, Jack lost his native agility as -he partook of more and more of the rich food, and when he started back -from a particularly heavy feast he waddled slowly along the top of the -fence instead of hopping nimbly along as had been his wont. - -One of the mallards saw him and realized that he was too heavy and too -well fed to move hurriedly. The duck sounded a cry which brought all -of its mates, and they attacked Jack viciously. The squirrel tried to -hurry, but at last was pushed off the fence and fell into the pond. - -In an instant he was surrounded by big Canada geese. Persons on shore -saw him fight desperately for life, but finally he was forced under -water. The geese churned the pond into a foam, and when they swam -majestically away there was nothing to be seen of Jack. - -Jill, who ran back and forth on the shore of the island while Jack was -fighting for his life, retired to a tree after the tragedy, and has not -been seen since. Keepers think that she will not try to reach the corn -trough any more. - - - - -LATEST ISSUES - - -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.= - - 16--Motor Matt's Quest; or, Three Chums in Strange Waters. - - 17--Motor Matt's Close Call; or, The Snare of Don Carlos. - - 18--Motor Matt in Brazil; or, Under the Amazon. - - 19--Motor Matt's Defiance; or, Around the Horn. - - 20--Motor Matt Makes Good; or, Another Victory for the Motor Boys. - - 21--Motor Matt's Launch; or, A Friend in Need. - - 22--Motor Matt's Enemies; or, A Struggle for the Right. - - 23--Motor Matt's Prize; or, The Pluck That Wins. - - 24--Motor Matt on the Wing; or, Flying for Fame and Fortune. - - 25--Motor Matt's Reverse; or, Caught in a Losing Game. - - 26--Motor Matt's "Make or Break"; or, Advancing the Spark of - Friendship. - - 27--Motor Matt's Engagement; or, On the Road With a Show. - - 28--Motor Matt's "Short Circuit"; or, The Mahout's Vow. - - 29--Motor Matt's Make-up; or, Playing a New Rôle. - - -TIP TOP WEEKLY - -The most popular publication for boys. The adventures of Frank and Dick -Merriwell can be had only in this weekly. =High art colored covers. -Thirty-two pages. Price, 5 cents.= - - 687--Dick Merriwell's Colors; or, All For the Blue. - - 688--Dick Merriwell, Driver; or, The Race for the Daremore Cup. - - 689--Dick Merriwell on the Deep; or, The Cruise of the _Yale_. - - 690--Dick Merriwell in the North Woods; or, The Timber Thieves of the - Floodwood. - - 691--Dick Merriwell's Dandies; or, A Surprise for the Cowboy Nine. - - 692--Dick Merriwell's "Skyscooter"; or, Professor Pagan and the - "Princess." - - 693--Dick Merriwell in the Elk Mountains; or, The Search for "Dead - Injun" Mine. - - 694--Dick Merriwell in Utah; or, The Road to "Promised Land." - - 695--Dick Merriwell's Bluff; or, The Boy Who Ran Away. - - 696--Dick Merriwell in the Saddle; or, The Bunch from the Bar--Z. - - 697--Dick Merriwell's Ranch Friends; or, Sport on the Range. - - 698--Frank Merriwell at Phantom Lake; or, The Mystery of the Mad - Doctor. - - 699--Frank Merriwell's Hold-back; or, The Boys of Bristol. - - 700--Frank Merriwell's Lively Lads; or, The Rival Campers. - - -NICK CARTER WEEKLY - -The best detective stories on earth. Nick Carter's exploits are read -the world over. =High art colored covers. Thirty-two big pages. Price, -5 cents.= - - 649--The Triangle Clue; or, Nick Carter's Greenwich Village Case. - - 650--The Hollingsworth Puzzle; or, Nick Carter Three Times Baffled. - - 651--The Affair of the Missing Bonds; or, Nick Carter in the Harness. - - 652--The Green Box Clue; or, Nick Carter's Good Friend. - - 653--The Taxicab Mystery; or, Nick Carter Closes a Deal. - - 654--The Mystery of a Hotel Room; or, Nick Carter's Best Work. - - 655--The Tragedy of the Well; or, Nick Carter Under Suspicion. - - 656--The Black Hand; or, Chick Carter's Well-laid Plot. - - 657--The Black Hand Nemesis; or, Chick Carter and the Mysterious - Woman. - - 658--A Masterly Trick; or, Chick and the Beautiful Italian. - - 659--A Dangerous Man; or, Nick Carter and the Famous Castor Case. - - 660--Castor the Poisoner; or, Nick Carter Wins a Man. - - 661--The Castor Riddle; or, Nick Carter's Search for a Hidden Fortune. - - 662--A Tragedy of the Bowery; or, Nick Carter and Ida at Coney Island. - - 663--Four Scraps of Paper; or, Nick Carter's Coney Island Search. - - -_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_ ________________ - - - - -A GREAT SUCCESS!! - -MOTOR STORIES - - -Every boy who reads one of the splendid adventures of Motor Matt, which -are making their appearance in this weekly, is at once surprised and -delighted. Surprised at the generous quantity of reading matter that we -are giving for five cents; delighted with the fascinating interest of -the stories, second only to those published in the Tip Top Weekly. - -Matt has positive mechanical genius, and while his adventures are -unusual, they are, however, drawn so true to life that the reader can -clearly see how it is possible for the ordinary boy to experience them. - - -_HERE ARE THE TITLES NOW READY AND THOSE TO BE PUBLISHED_: - - 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. - - 10--Motor Matt's Hard Luck; or, The Balloon House Plot. - - 11--Motor Matt's Daring Rescue; or, The Strange Case of Helen Brady. - - 12--Motor Matt's Peril; or, Cast Away in the Bahamas. - - 13--Motor Matt's Queer Find; or, The Secret of the Iron Chest. - - 14--Motor Matt's Promise; or, The Wreck of the "Hawk." - - 15--Motor Matt's Submarine; or, The Strange Cruise of the "Grampus." - - 16--Motor Matt's Quest; or, Three Chums in Strange Waters. - - 17--Motor Matt's Close Call; or, The Snare of Don Carlos. - - 18--Motor Matt in Brazil; or, Under the Amazon. - - 19--Motor Matt's Defiance; or, Around the Horn. - - 20--Motor Matt Makes Good; or, Another Victory for the Motor Boys. - - 21--Motor Matt's Launch; or, A Friend in Need. - - 22--Motor Matt's Enemies; or, A Struggle for the Right. - - 23--Motor Matt's Prize; or, The Pluck that Wins. - - 24--Motor Matt on the Wing; or, Flying for Fame and Fortune. - - 25--Motor Matt's Reverse; or, Caught in a Losing Game. - - 26--Motor Matt's "Make or Break"; or, Advancing the Spark of - Friendship. - - 27--Motor Matt's Engagement; or, On the Road With a Show. - - 28--Motor Matt's "Short Circuit"; or, The Mahout's Vow. - -To be Published on September 6th. - - 29--Motor Matt's Make-up; or, Playing a New Role. - -To be Published on September 13th. - - 30--Motor Matt's Mandarin; or, Turning a Trick for Tsan Ti. - -To be Published on September 20th. - - 31--Motor Matt's Mariner; or, Filling the Bill for Bunce. - -To be Published on September 27th. - - 32--Motor Matt's Double-trouble; or, The Last of the Hoodoo. - - -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: - - -Added table of contents. - -Retained some inconsistent hyphenation; in many cases, words are -hyphenated when used as adjectives but unhyphenated when used as nouns. - -Italics are represented with _underscores_, bold with =equal signs=. - -Front and rear covers, accent is missing from "Role" in original; -retained inconsistency. - -Page 1, corrected ? to ! after "Howdy, Dutch!" - -Page 3, corrected "shimiiy" to "shiminy" in "Py shiminy grickets!" - -Page 4, corrected "Wiley" to "Wily" in "Go back to your job, Wily." - -Page 6, removed stray single quote after "going to keep it." - -Page 8, added missing quote before "I'm the one." - -Page 9, corrected typo "minues" in "Inside of five minutes." - -Page 11, removed unnecessary quote before "Yes, he decided." (Adding a -quote after "Yes" would also have been an option; however, this series -usually does not quote thoughts). - -Page 16, changed "doin 'a" to "doin' a." - -Page 18, changed "go" to "got" in "What have you got to do with this -house?" - -Page 19, changed "he" to "the" in "the loss o' that Hindoostanee." - -Page 21, changed "foolishnes" to "foolishness." - -Page 22, changed "fair to asume" to "fair to assume." Changed "every" -to "ever" in "on my mind ever since." - -Page 24, expanded oe ligature to "oe" for this text edition. Ligature -retained in HTML version. - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's Motor Matt's Make Up, by Stanley R. 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