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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..24f5b23 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #53390 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/53390) diff --git a/old/53390-8.txt b/old/53390-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index af65edf..0000000 --- a/old/53390-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,4833 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Motor Matt's Mandarin, 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 Mandarin - or, Turning A Trick For Tsan Ti - -Author: Stanley R. Matthews - -Release Date: October 28, 2016 [EBook #53390] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MOTOR MATT'S MANDARIN *** - - - - -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. 30 - - SEPT. 18, 1909 - - FIVE - CENTS - - MOTOR MATT'S - MANDARIN - - OR TURNING A TRICK - FOR TSAN TI - - _By THE AUTHOR OF - MOTOR MATT_ - - _STREET & SMITH_ - _PUBLISHERS_ - _NEW YORK_ - -[Illustration: _Certainly it was not a time to laugh but Motor Matt -could hardly help it_] - - - - -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. 30.= NEW YORK, September 18, 1909. =Price Five Cents.= - - - - -MOTOR MATT'S MANDARIN; - -OR, - -TURNING A TRICK FOR TSAN TI. - - - By the author of "MOTOR MATT." - - - - -CONTENTS - - - CHAPTER I. ON THE MOUNTAINSIDE. - CHAPTER II. THE YELLOW CORD. - CHAPTER III. THE GLASS BALLS. - CHAPTER IV. THE PAPER CLUE. - CHAPTER V. PUTTING TWO AND TWO TOGETHER. - CHAPTER VI. A SMASH. - CHAPTER VII. NIP AND TUCK. - CHAPTER VIII. TSAN TI VANISHES AGAIN. - CHAPTER IX. TRICKED ONCE MORE. - CHAPTER X. THE DIAMOND MERCHANT. - CHAPTER XI. THE OLD SUGAR CAMP. - CHAPTER XII. A TIGHT CORNER. - CHAPTER XIII. A MASTER ROGUE. - CHAPTER XIV. THE GLASS SPHERES. - CHAPTER XV. THE EYE OF BUDDHA. - CHAPTER XVI. THE BROKEN HOODOO. - A REAL PIRATE. - SOME QUEER PHILIPPINE CUSTOMS. - HIGH LEAPS BY DEER. - - - - -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. - - =Tsan Ti=, Mandarin of the Red Button, who appeals to Motor Matt for - help in a very peculiar undertaking. - - =Sam Wing=, a San Francisco Chinaman, member of a _tong_ that is - amiably disposed toward Tsan Ti. - - =Kien Lung=, courier of the Chinese Regent, who respectfully delivers - the yellow cord to Tsan Ti. - - =Grattan=, a masterful rogue who consummates one of the cleverest - robberies in the annals of crime. - - =Bunce=, a sailor who assists Grattan and makes considerable trouble - for the motor boys and the mandarin. - - =Goldstein=, a diamond broker with a penchant for dealing in stolen - goods. - - =Pryne=, a brother-in-law of Grattan, who plays a short but important - part in the events of the story. - - - - -CHAPTER I. - -ON THE MOUNTAINSIDE. - - -"Sufferin' treadmills! Say, pard, here's where I drop down in the shade -and catch my breath. How much farther have we got to go?" - -"Not more than a mile, Joe." - -"We must have gone a couple of hundred miles already." - -"We've traveled about six miles, all told." - -"Speak to me about that! A mile up and down is a heap longer than a -mile on the straightaway. We've been hanging to this sidehill like a -couple of flies to a wall. What do you say to a rest?" - -"I'm willing, Joe; and here's a good place. Look out for that tree -root. It's a bad one, and runs straight across the road." - -Motor Matt and his cowboy pard, Joe McGlory, were pop-popping their way -up a steep mountainside on a couple of motor cycles. They were bound -for the Mountain House, a hotel on the very crest of the uplift. - -A day boat had brought them down the Hudson River from Albany, and -they had disembarked at Catskill Landing, hired the two machines, and -started for the big hotel. - -The motor cycles were making hard work of the climb--such hard work, -in fact, that the boys, time and time again, had been compelled to get -out of their saddles and lead the heavy wheels up a particularly steep -place in the trail. This was trying labor, and McGlory's enthusiasm -over the adventure had been on the wane for some time. - -The big root of a tree, lying across the road like a half-buried -railroad tie, was safely dodged, and under the shade of the tree to -which the root belonged Matt and McGlory threw themselves down. - -The cowboy mopped his dripping face with a handkerchief, pulled off his -hat, and began fanning himself with it. - -"One of these two-wheeled buzz carts is all right," he remarked, "where -the motor does the work for you; but I'll be gad-hooked if there's any -fun doin' the work for the motor. And what's it all about? You don't -know, and I don't. We made this jump from the middle West to the effete -East on the strength of a few lines of 'con' talk. I wish people would -leave you alone when they get into trouble. Every stranger knows, -though, that all he's got to do is to send you a hurry-up call whenever -anything goes crosswise, and that you'll break your neck to boil out on -his part of the map and share his hard luck." - -McGlory finished with a grunt of disgust. - -"I've got a hunch, Joe," answered Matt, "that there's a whole lot to -that letter." - -"A whole lot of fake and false alarm. Read it again, if you've got -breath enough." - -"I've read it to you a dozen times already," protested Matt. - -"Then make it thirteen times, pard. The more you read it, the more I -realize what easy marks we are for paying any attention to it. It's -fine discipline, pard, to keep thinking where you've made a fool of -yourself." - -Matt laughed as he drew an envelope out of his coat pocket. The -envelope was addressed, in a queer hand, to "His Excellency, Motor -Matt, Engaged in aëroplane performances with Burton's Big Consolidated -Shows, Grand Rapids, Michigan." Drawing out the enclosed sheet, Matt -unfolded it. There was a humorous gleam in his gray eyes as he read -aloud the following: - - "HONORABLE AND MOST EXCELLENT SIR: It is necessary that I have of - your wonderful aid in matters exceedingly great and important. I, a - mandarin of the red button, with some store of English knowledge, - and much trouble, appeal to king of motor boys with overwhelming - desire that he come to me at Mountain House, near town named Catskill - Landing, in State of New York. Noble and affluent sir, will it be - insult should I offer one thousand dollars and expenses if I get my - wish for your most remarkable help? Not so, for I promise with much - goodness of heart. Let it be immediately that you come, and sooner if - convenient. May your days be fragrant as the blossoms of paradise, - your joys like the countless stars, and your years many and many. - - "'TSAN TI, OF THE RED BUTTON.'" - -"Sounds like a skin game," grumbled McGlory, as Matt returned the -letter to its envelope, and the latter to his pocket. - -"It's the first time a stranger in trouble ever sent me a letter like -that," remarked Matt. - -"Regular josh. Button, button, who's got the button? Not us, pard, -and we're _It_. There'll be no mandarin at the end of this blooming -trail we're running out. You take it from me. Now----" McGlory broke -off suddenly, his eyes fastened on the pitch of the road above. "Great -hocus-pocus!" he exclaimed, jumping to his feet. "See what's coming!" - -Matt, turning his eyes in the direction of his pard's pointing finger, -was likewise brought up standing by the spectacle that met his gaze. - -A bicycle was coasting down the steep path, coming with the speed of -a limited express train; and some fifty feet behind this bicycle came -another, moving at a rate equally swift. - -In the saddle of the leading machine was a fat Chinaman--a Chinaman -of consequence, to judge by his looks. He wore a black cap, yellow -blouse and trousers and embroidered sandals. His thin, baggy garments -fluttered and snapped about him as he shot down the road, and his -pigtail, fully a yard long, and bound at the end with a ribbon, stood -out straight behind him. - -The Celestial behind was leaner and dressed in garments more subdued. -It was exceedingly plain to the two boys that his heart was in his -work, and that the end and aim of his labors was the overhauling of the -man ahead. - -"Wow!" wheezed the fat fugitive. "Wow! wow! wow!" - -For about two seconds this stirring situation was before the eyes of -Matt and McGlory. Then the tree root insinuated itself into proceedings. - -The fugitive saw the root heaving across his path with a promise of -disaster, but going around it was out of the question, and stopping the -speeding wheel an impossibility. - -The inevitable happened. Matt and McGlory saw the bicycle bound into -the air and turn a half somersault. The fat Chinaman landed on his back -with the wheel on top of him; then machine and Chinaman rolled over and -over until the impetus of the flight was spent. - -The two boys ran to the unfortunate bicyclist, gathered him up, and -separated him from the broken wheel. The Celestial refused to be lifted -to his feet, but contented himself with sitting up. - -"My cap, excellent friend," he requested, pointing to where the cap was -lying. - -"Gee, but that was a jolt!" commiserated McGlory. "How do you feel -about now?" - -"Kindest regards for your inquiry," said the Chinaman, extracting a -small stone from the collar of his blouse, and then emptying a pint of -dust from one of his flowing sleeves. "I am variously shaken, thank -you, but the terrible part is yet to come. Kindly recede until it is -over, and add further to my obligations." - -Matt had picked up the black cap. As he handed it to the Chinaman, he -observed that there was a red button in the centre of the flat top. - -He was astonished at the Chinaman's manner, no less than at his use of -English. His clothes were all awry, and soiled with dust, but he seemed -to mind that as little as he did his bruises. - -Putting the cap on his head, he took a fan from somewhere about his -person, waved the boys aside with it, then opened it with a "snap," and -proceeded methodically to fan himself. His eyes were turned up the road. - -Matt and McGlory exchanged wondering glances as they stepped apart. - -The other Chinaman, having a greater space in which to manoeuvre, had -managed to avoid the tree root. By means of the brake he had caused his -machine to slow down, and had then leaped off. After carefully leaning -the bicycle against a tree, he approached his fat countryman in a most -deferential manner. The latter nodded gravely from his seat on the -ground. - -The pursuer thereupon flung himself to his knees, and beat his forehead -three times in the dust. - -After that, the fat Chinaman said something. Presumably it was in his -native tongue, for it sounded like heathen gibberish, and the boys -could make nothing out of it. - -But the lean Chinaman seemed to understand. Lifting himself and sitting -back on his heels, he pushed a hand into the breast of his coat, and -brought out a little black box about the size of a cigarette case. -This, with every sign of respect and veneration, he offered to the -other Celestial. - -The fat man took the box, waved his fan, and eased himself of a few -more remarks. The lean fellow once more kotowed, then arose silently, -regained his wheel, and vanished from sight down the road. The fat -Mongolian was left balancing the black box in his hand and eying it -with pensive interest. - -"Well, speak to me about this!" breathed McGlory. "What do you make out -of it, Matt?" - -"Not a thing," whispered Matt. "That fellow has a red button in his -cap." - -McGlory showed traces of excitement. - -"Glory, and all hands round!" he gasped. "Have you any notion that the -chink we're looking for has lammed into us in this violent fashion, -right here on the mountainside?" - -"Give it up. Watch; see what he's up to." - -The fat Chinaman, laying aside his fan, took the box in his left palm, -and, with the fingers of his right hand, pressed a spring. - -The lid flew open. On top of something in the box lay a white card -covered with Chinese hieroglyphics. The Chinaman lifted the card and -read the written words. His yellow face turned to the color of old -cheese, his eyes closed spasmodically, and his breath came quick and -raspingly. McGlory grabbed Matt's arm. - -"There's something on that card, Matt," said he, "that's got our fat -friend on the run." - -While the boys continued to look, the Chinaman laid aside the card, and -drew from the box a pliable yellow cord, a yard in length. - -That was all there was in the box, just the card and the cord. - -Feeling that there was a deep mystery here, and a mystery in which he -and his chum were concerned, the king of the motor boys stepped forward. - -"Tsan Ti?" he queried. - -Box and cord fell from the fat Chinaman's hands, and he turned an -eagerly inquiring look in Matt's direction. - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -THE YELLOW CORD. - - -"Excellent youth," said the Chinaman, "you pronounce my name. How is -this?" - -"I'm Motor Matt," answered the king of the motor boys, "and this is my -chum, Joe McGlory. You asked us to come, and here we are. There's your -letter to me." - -Matt opened the written sheet and held it in front of Tsan Ti's face. -The Celestial's face underwent a change. A flicker of hope ran through -the fear and consternation. - -"_Omito fuh!_" he muttered, rising slowly to his feet. "The five -hundred gods have covered me with much disgrace, this last hour, but -now they bring me a gleam of hope from the clouds of despair. By the -plumes of the sacred peacock, I bow before you with much gratefulness." - -He bowed--or tried to. His ponderous stomach interfered with the -manoeuvre, and he caught a crick in his back--the direct result, -probably, of his recent spill. - -"You are here to be of aid to the unfortunate mandarin, are you not, -illustrious sirs?" went on Tsan Ti, leaning against a tree, and -rubbing his right sandal up and down his left shin. Quite likely the -left shin was barked, and the right sandal was affording it consolation. - -"First aid to the injured, Tsan," grinned McGlory, getting a good deal -of fun out of this novel encounter. - -The cowboy had met many Chinamen, but never before one of this sort. -The experience was mildly exciting. - -"Wit," chanted Tsan Ti, "is the weapon of the wise, the idol of the -fool; a runaway knock at laughter's door; arrows from the quiver of -genius; intellectual lightning from the thunder clouds of talent; the -lever of----" - -"Sufferin' cats!" exploded McGlory. "What is he talking about? In that -letter, Tsan, you speak about insulting us with a thousand plunks and -expenses. Was that a rhinecaboo or the real thing?" - -Without changing his countenance by so much as a line, Tsan Ti lifted -the bottom of his blouse, and unbuttoned the pocket of a leather belt -around his huge girth. From the pocket he took five gold double eagles -in good American money. - -"Have I the understanding," he asked, "that you will be of help to my -distress?" - -"Tell us, first," answered Matt, a little bewildered by the mandarin's -queer talk and actions, "what it is you want." - -"What I want, notable friend, is the Eye of Buddha, the great -ruby which was stolen from the forehead of the idol in temple of -Hai-chwang-sze, in the city named Canton. I, even I, now the most -miserable of creatures, was guardian of the temple when this theft -occurred. I fled to find the thief, and Kien Lung, by order of the Son -of the Morning, our imperial regent, fled after me with that invitation -to death, the yellow cord." - -Tsan Ti pointed to the ground where the cord was lying. His flabby -cheeks grew hueless, and he caught his breath. - -"An invitation to death?" repeated Matt, staring at the yellow cord. - -"It is so, gracious youth," explained Tsan Ti. "When our regent wishes -one of his officials to efface himself, he sends the yellow cord. It is -the death warrant. The card tells me that I have two weeks before it is -necessary that I should strangle myself. This happy dispatch must be -performed unless, through you, I can recover the Eye of Buddha. So runs -the scroll." - -"Speak to me about this!" muttered McGlory. "But look here, old man, -you don't have to strangle yourself because some High Mucky Muck, a few -thousand miles off, sends you the thing to do it with, do you?" - -"Unless it is done," was the calm response, "I shall be disgraced for -all time, and my memory reviled." - -"Oh, blazes! I'd rather be a live Chinaman in disgrace, than a dead one -with a monument a mile high." - -"You converse without knowledge," said Tsan Ti. - -"That's horse sense, anyhow." - -"Let's get at the nub of this thing, Tsan Ti," said Matt, feeling a -deep interest in the strange Chinaman in spite of himself. "You were -in charge of a Canton temple in which was an image of Buddha. That -image had a ruby set in the forehead. The ruby was stolen. You ran -away from China to find the thief, and this Kien Lung, as you call -him, trailed after you with the yellow cord from the regent. The cord -was accompanied by a written order to the effect that, if you did -not succeed in recovering the ruby in two weeks, you must strangle -yourself. Before the cord was delivered to you, you sent that letter to -me." - -"What you say is true," answered Tsan Ti. "I have been for a long -period endeavoring to keep away from Kien Lung. I knew what he had -to give me, and I did not want it. Now that I have the cord, you can -understand, out of courtesy I must slay myself--unless, through you, I -regain the Eye of Buddha." - -"How did you come to pick _me_ out for an assistant?" went on Matt. -"What you ought to have is a detective. This part of the country is -full of detectives." - -"I cannot trust the detectives. The ruby is valuable, and I am a -discredited mandarin in a far country. The detectives would keep the -ruby, and then there would be for me only death by the cord. I read in -the public prints generous and never-to-be-forgotten things about Motor -Matt, and my heart assures me that you are the one, and the only one, -to come to my aid." - -"You tune up like a professor," remarked McGlory. "Where'd you corral -so much good pidgin, Tsan?" - -"I was educated in one of your institutions of learning," was the -reply. "But, illustrious sirs, shall we return to the hotel on the -mountain top? I have this go-devil machine to pay for. It did not -belong to me. A dozen of the machines were near the porch of the hotel, -where I was drinking tea. I saw Kien Lung coming toward me along the -porch, and I left my tea and sprang to one of the machines. I learned -to ride while I was educating myself in this country. Kien Lung was -also able to ride, but that I did not know until I saw him later. Shall -we go on to the hotel? I am bruised and in much distress." - -"We might just as well find out all you can tell us about the Eye of -Buddha before we go to the hotel," returned Matt. "We are by ourselves, -here, and I'd like to get all the information possible." - -Tsan Ti picked up the card and the yellow cord. Thoughtfully he twisted -the cord around and around his fat palm and tucked it into the black -box. On the cord he placed the card, and over all closed the box lid. -With a rumbling sigh, he dropped the black box into the breast of his -blouse. - -"Foreign devils," said he, once more bracing himself against the tree -trunk, "call the temple of Hai-chwang-sze the Honam Joss House. It is -by the beautiful river, in the suburb named Honam. Around the temple -there is a wall. The avenue of a thousand delights leads from the great -gate to the temple courts, and noble banyan trees shade the avenue. At -vespers, some weeks ago, two foreign devils were present. The hour was -five in the afternoon. One of the foreign devils was English, and wore -a tourist hat with a pugree; the other had but a single eye. Lob Loo, a -priest, told me what happened. - -"The Englishman threw a shimmering ball upon the temple floor. Odors -came from it, quick as an eyeflash. Quick as another eyeflash, the -priests reeled where they stood, their senses leaving them. Lob Loo -tells me the foreign devils had covered their faces suddenly with white -masks. Then, after seeing that much, Lob Loo lost his five senses, and -wandered in fields of darkness. - -"When Lob Loo opened his eyes, he saw glass fragments on the floor, and -a ladder of silk swinging from the neck of the god. The image, renowned -sirs, is twenty feet in height, and to reach the ruby eye the foreign -devils had to climb. The eye was gone. When Lob Loo told me these -things, I was seized of a mighty fear, and fled to Hongkong. There the -five hundred gods favored me, and I learned that a man in a tourist -hat with a pugree, and another with a single eye, had sailed for San -Francisco. Quickly I caught the next steamer, after sending cable -messages to the leaders of a San Francisco _tong_ who are Cantonese, -and friends of mine. When the ship brought the thieves through the -Golden Gate, some of the _tong_ watched the landing. The thieves were -in San Francisco three days, and Sam Wing followed them when they -left for Chicago, then for New York, and then for these Catskill -Mountains. When I reached San Francisco, the leading men of the _tong_ -had telegrams from Sam Wing. By use of the telegrams, I followed, and -arrived here. Wing had left a writing for me at the hotel, telling me -to wait. I waited, but Wing had disappeared. I kept on waiting, and -out of my discouragement, remarkable sir, I wrote to you. That is all, -until this morning, when Kien Lung came with the yellow cord. Two weeks -are left me. If the Eye of Buddha is not found in that time, then"--and -Tsan Ti tapped the breast of his sagging blouse--"all that remains is -the quick dispatch." - -Both Matt and McGlory had listened with intense interest to this odd -yarn. Although a heathen, and lately keeper of a heathen temple, the -mandarin was nevertheless a person of culture and of considerable -importance. The sending of the yellow cord was a custom of his country, -and it was evident that he intended to abide by the custom in case the -Eye of Buddha was not recovered within two weeks. - -"Shall we turn the trick for him, pard?" asked McGlory. "This palaver -of his makes a bit of a hit with me. I'd hate like Sam Hill to have him -shut off his breath with that yellow cord. If----" - -The hum of an approaching automobile reached the ears of those at the -roadside. The machine was coming from above, and Matt pulled the broken -bicycle out of the road. - -The boys and the mandarin stood in a group while waiting for the car -to pass. Tsan Ti, seemingly wrapped up in his own miseries, gave no -attention to the car, at first. - -There were two passengers in the car--the driver, and another in the -tonneau. - -The car, on the down grade, was coming at a terrific clip, and the man -in the tonneau was hanging on for dear life and yelling at the top of -his voice: - -"Avast there, mate, or you'll have me overboard! By the seven holy -spritsails----" - -The voice broke off and gave vent to a frantic yell. Although the -driver had shut off the power and applied a brake, the car had leaped -into the air when it struck the root. - -The man in the tonneau shot straight up into the air for two or three -feet, and Matt and McGlory had a glimpse of a grizzled red face with -a patch over one eye, a fringe of "mutton-chop" whiskers, and a blue -sailor cap. - -"The mariner!" came in a clamoring wheeze, from Tsan Ti. - -As the automobile whirled past, the mandarin flung himself crazily at -the rear of the tonneau, only to be knocked head over heels for his -pains. - -As he floundered in the dust, Matt rushed for his motor cycle. - -"Is that one of the two men who stole the ruby?" cried Matt. - -"What fortune!" puffed Tsan Ti. "Pursue and capture the villain! If he -has the Eye of Buddha----" - -But the rest of it was lost. Matt, followed by McGlory, was tearing -away on the track of the automobile. - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -THE GLASS BALLS. - - -Turning the trick for Tsan Ti--as McGlory had termed it--was destined -to entangle the motor boys in a whirl of the most astounding events; -and these events, as novel as they were mysterious, followed each other -like the reports of a Gatling gun. - -The journey to Albany, and down the river to Catskill Landing, and -thence by motor cycle part way up the mountain, had been monotonous; -but from the moment the mandarin and the bicycle went sprawling into -the air over the tree root, and the lads had made the Chinaman's -acquaintance, Fate began whirling the wheel of amazing events. - -Matt and McGlory had had no time to discuss the weird tale recounted -for their benefit by the mandarin. There was no opportunity to view -the theft of the Eye of Buddha from any angle save that offered by the -philosophical Tsan Ti. No sooner had the ostensible facts connected -with the stolen ruby been retailed, than one of the thieves flashed -down the mountain road, leaving the boys no choice but to fling away -after him. - -The two motor cycles had absolutely no chance to go wrong on that -downhill trail. Had either motor "bucked," the weight of the heavy -machine would have hurled its rider onward in a breakneck coast toward -the foot of the hill. - -"Sufferin' streaks!" cried the cowboy. "If we were to meet anybody -coming up, there'd be nothing left but the pieces!" - -"I'm keeping a lookout ahead, Joe!" Matt called back, over his shoulder. - -He was in the lead, and his rear wheel was firing a stream of dust and -sand into McGlory's eyes. But the cowboy was too excited to pay much -attention to that. - -"We're goin' off half-cocked, seems to me!" he yelled. "We've known -that fat chink for about ten minutes, and here we are, lamming into his -game like a couple of wolves. What's the use of brains, pard, if you -don't use 'em?" - -"While we were thinking matters over," Matt answered, ripping around a -sharp turn, "the one-eyed man would be getting away." - -"What're we going to do when we overhaul him? Make an offhand demand -for the Eye of Buddha? It sounds flat enough, and if the webfoot tells -us we're crazy, and gives us the laugh, what're we going to do?" - -"Brakes! brakes!" cried Matt, and his motor cycle began to stagger and -buck-jump as he angled for a halt. - -McGlory was startled by the command, but instantly he obeyed it. In -order to avoid running his chum down, he not only bore down with the -brakes but also swerved toward the roadside. He came to a sudden stop -in a thicket of bushes, and extricated himself with some difficulty. - -Matt was in the road, his motor cycle leaning against a tree. A yard in -front of him lay a flat cap. He pointed to it. - -"What's that to do with a breakneck stop like we just made?" snorted -the cowboy. "It's not the headgear we want, pard, but the man that owns -it." - -"Sure," returned Matt. "Look farther down the road, Joe, and then -you'll understand." - -A straight drop in the road stretched ahead of the boys for a quarter -of a mile. Halfway along the stretch was the automobile. The machine -was at a stop, and the driver and the one-eyed man were leaning over -the motor. The hood had been opened, and the driver was tinkering. - -"Something has gone wrong," said Matt, "and it happened soon after the -sailor had lost his cap. Our one-eyed friend, I think, will come back -after his property. If he does, we'll talk with him. We can't go too -far in this business, you know. I have considerable confidence in Tsan -Ti, but still we're not absolutely sure of our ground." - -"The poor old duck is bound to snuff himself out with the yellow cord -if he don't recover the ruby," returned the cowboy. "That's what hits -me close to home. We're going it blind"--and here McGlory dug some of -the sand out of his eyes--"and we jumped into this with a touch-and-go -that don't seem reasonable; still, I've got a sneaking notion we're on -the right track. What's that on the hat ribbon?" - -Matt had picked up the hat, and was turning it over in his hand. - -"It's the name of a boat, I suppose," answered Matt, taking a look at -the gilt letters. "'_Hottentot_,'" he added, reading the name. - -"Oh, tell me!" exclaimed McGlory. "_Hottentot!_ That's a warm label for -a boat. But, say! Suppose One-Eye don't think enough of his cap to come -back for it?" - -"But he will," answered Matt. "This will bring him, I'll bet something -handsome." - -As he spoke. Matt pulled a square of folded paper out of the crown of -the cap. - -"Cowboy trick!" grinned McGlory. "Carryin' letters under the sweatband -of a Stetson reminds me of home." - -Matt had stepped to the roadside, the folded paper to one hand and the -cap in the other. - -"Had we better?" he pondered, voicing his thoughts. - -"Better what?" queried McGlory. - -"Why, keep this paper. It may prove important." - -"Sure, keep it! What're you side-stepping for about a little thing like -that? We're after the Eye of Buddha, and if that paper has anything to -do with it, the thing's ours by rights." - -"But suppose Tsan Ti is working some game of his own? That was a -fearsome yarn he gave us, Joe." - -"Sufferin' tenderfeet! Say, didn't we come all the way from Michigan -to help him? Think of that yellow cord, and what it means to---- Oh, -Moses!" the cowboy broke off. "Here comes the webfoot, now." - -Matt, taking a chance that the sailor was a thief, that he had guilty -knowledge of the whereabouts of the Eye of Buddha, and that the paper -might furnish valuable information, thrust the note into his pocket, -and hastily replaced it with a bit of paper quickly drawn from his -coat. Then, tossing the hat into the road, he stepped out and waited. - -The sailor was scrambling up the steep ascent with the agility of an A. -B. making for the maintop. At sight of Matt, appearing suddenly above -him, he hesitated, only to come on again at redoubled speed. - -"Ahoy, shipmates!" bellowed the old salt, as soon as he had come close -enough for a hail. "Seen anythin' of a bit of headgear hereabouts?" - -"There it is," Matt answered, pointing. - -"Blow me tight if there it ain't!" He jumped for the hat, and gathered -it in with a sweep of one hand. "Obliged to ye," he added, looking -into the crown, and then placing the hat on his head with visible -satisfaction. - -He would have turned and made off down the road, had not Matt stepped -toward him and lifted his hand. - -"Just a minute, my friend," said Matt. - -The sailor flashed a look toward the automobile. The driver had closed -the hood, and was waving his arms. - -"Nary a minute have I got to spare, shipmate," the sailor answered. -"The skipper of that craft has plugged the hole in her bow, and we're -ready to trip anchor and bear away." - -"Wait!" and a sternness crept into Matt's voice. "We must have a talk -with you. Perhaps you'll save yourself trouble if you give us a few -minutes of your time." - -At the word "trouble," the sailor squared around. - -"Now, shiver me," he cried, "I'm just beginning to take the cut of your -jib. Trouble, says you. Are ye sailin' in company with that chink we -passed a ways back on our course?" - -"What do you know about the Eye of Buddha?" demanded Matt. - -"Oh, ho," roared the other, "so that's yer lay, my hearty? Well, you -take my advice, and keep your finger out o' that pie. I'm not sayin' a -word about the Eye o' Buddha. Mayhap I know somethin' consarnin' the -same, an' mayhap I don't. But I wouldn't give the fag end o' nothin' -mixed in a kittle o' hot water for your chances if you stick an oar in -that little matter." - -There was that about the sailor which convinced Matt that he knew more -concerning the ruby than he cared to tell. - -"Stop!" cried the king of the motor boys. - -"Not me," was the gruff answer, and both of the sailor's hands dropped -into his pockets. - -"If he won't stop," cried McGlory, "then here's where we make him!" - -He and Matt started on a run toward the sailor. The latter whirled -around, his arms drew back, and his hands shot forward. Two round, -glimmering objects left his palms and tinkled into fragments at -the feet of the two boys. An overpowering odor arose in the still -air--wafted upward in a cloud of strangling fumes that caught at the -throats of Matt and McGlory, blinded their eyes, and sapped at their -strength. - -McGlory fell to his knees. - -"The--glass--balls----" he gasped, and flattened out helplessly, the -last word fading into a gurgle. - -"Leave the Eye o' Buddha alone!" were the hoarse words that echoed in -Matt's ears. - -And they were the last sounds of which he was cognizant for some time. -He crumpled down at the side of his chum, made one last desperate -struggle to recover his strength, and then the darkness closed him in. - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -THE PAPER CLUE. - - -Now and then there are episodes in life which, when they are past and -one comes to look back on them, seem more like dreams than actual -occurrences. This matter of the Chinaman, the Eye of Buddha, the -sailor, and the glass balls looked particularly unreal to Motor Matt -and Joe McGlory. - -When Matt opened his eyes, he found himself in a hammock. For a minute -or two he lay quiet, trying to figure out how and when he had got into -the hammock, and where Joe was, and just how much of a dream he had had. - -The hammock was strung between a couple of trees, and from a distance -came a subdued chatter of voices, and the low, soft strains of an -orchestra. - -Matt sat up in the hammock and looked in the direction from which the -sounds came. The lofty, porticoed front of a huge hotel was no more -than two hundred feet away. Men in flannels and women in lawn dresses -were coming and going about the porticoes, and the music was wafted out -from inside the building. - -The young motorist's bewilderment grew, and he brushed a hand across -his eyes. Then he looked in another direction. Two yards from the tree -supporting one end of the hammock, the ground broke sharply into a -precipitous descent, falling sheer away for a hundred feet or more. -He could look off over a rolling country checkered with meadows and -grainland and timber patches, with a river cutting through the vista -and holding the scene together like a silver ribbon. - -He drew a long breath, and swerved his gaze to the right. Here there -was another hammock, one end of it secured to the same tree that helped -support Matt's airy couch, and the other end to a third tree which -formed an acute angle with respect to the other two. - -In this second hammock was McGlory. Like Matt, he was sitting up; and, -like Matt again, he was staring. - -Leaning against one of the three trees, were the two motor cycles. - -"Joe!" cried Matt. "Is that you?" - -"Hooray!" exclaimed the cowboy, with sudden animation. "I was just -waiting for you to speak, in order to make sure I wasn't still asleep. -Jumpin' jee-whiskers, what a dream I've had!" - -"Where are we?" inquired Matt. - -A puzzled look crossed the cowboy's face. - -"Don't you _sabe_ that?" he returned. - -"No." - -"Shucks! That's just the question I was going to bat up to you." - -"How did we get here?" - -"I'm by, again. But, sufferin' brain-twisters, what a dream I've had!" -He began laughing softly to himself. - -"What sort of a dream was it?" went on Matt. - -"Funnier'n a Piute picnic! It was all mixed up with a fat Chinaman, -and a yellow cord, and a ruby called the Eye of Buddha, and a one-eyed -sailor, and--and a couple of glass balls. Oh, speak to me about that! -Say, pard, but it was a corker! The fat chink was doing all sorts of -funny stunts, tumbling off a bike, and all over himself." - -"There wasn't any dream about it," declared Matt, swinging his feet to -the ground with sudden energy. - -The laugh died out of McGlory's face, and a blank look took its place. - -"Go on!" he scoffed, not a little startled. - -"Two fellows couldn't have the same kind of a dream," persisted Matt, -"and I went through identically the same things you did. That proves -they were _real_! But--but," and Matt's voice wavered, "how did we get -here?" - -"There are the motor cycles we used when we buzzed out of Catskill -Landing," and McGlory brightened as he pointed to the two wheels. - -"I see," mused Matt, drumming his forehead with his knuckles. "Nobody -seems to be paying much attention to us," he added, his eyes on the -groups around the hotel porches. - -"Not a terrible sight, and that's a fact," agreed McGlory. "But why -should they, pard? They don't know us." - -"Somebody must have brought us here and laid us in the hammocks. The -last I remember we were down and out. Now, Joe, a move of that kind -would naturally stir up a commotion." - -"Well, yes," admitted the cowboy, going blank again, "Are you and I -locoed, Matt, or what?" - -"Come on and let's try and find out." - -Matt started for a man who was sitting in a canvas chair smoking a -cigar and nursing a golf club on his knees. McGlory trailed after him. - -"I beg your pardon, sir," said Matt, halting beside the chair, "but -have you been here long?" - -"Two weeks," was the answer with a hard stare. "I come to the Mountain -House every summer, and spend my va----" - -"I mean," interrupted Matt, "were you sitting here when my friend and I -were brought in?" - -"Brought in? You weren't brought in. You two rode in on those motor -cycles, leaned them against the tree, and preëmpted the hammocks." - -"Sufferin' lunatics!" breathed McGlory. "I reckon we'd better call -somebody in to look at our plumbing, pard." - -"What appears to be the trouble?" went on the stranger, politely -curious. - -"It just 'appears,' and that's all," rambled the cowboy. "If we could -only get a strangle-hold on the trouble, and hog-tie it, maybe we could -take it apart, and see what makes it act so." - -The stranger sprang up, grabbed his golf stick, and looked alarmed. - -"Never mind my friend, sir," said Matt reassuringly; "we're just a -little bit bothered, that's all." - -"A little bit!" repeated the stranger ironically; "it looks to me like -a whole lot." - -"This is the Mountain House, is it?" went on Matt. He was severely -shocked himself, but tried manfully to hide it while trying to work out -the mystery. - -"Certainly, sir," growled the man with the golf stick. "Don't you try -to make game of me, young man! I'm old enough to be your father, and -such----" - -"We are not trying to make game of any one," protested Matt. - -"But somebody is making game of _us_," put in McGlory, "and playing us -up and down and all across the table. Here in these hills is where Rip -Van Winkle went to sleep, ain't it? I wonder if he dreamed about fat -Chinamen, yellow cords, one-eyed sailors, and----" - -"Cut it out, Joe!" whispered Matt sternly, grabbing his chum by the -arm and pulling him toward the hotel. "Can't you see he thinks we're -crazy?" - -"_Thinks_ we're crazy?" stuttered the cowboy. "Then I've got a cinch on -him, for I _know_ we are. Where next?" - -"We'll go into the hotel and make some inquiries," replied Matt, noting -how the man with the cigar and the golf stick turned in his chair to -keep an eye on them. "And for Heaven's sake, Joe," Matt added, "let me -do the talking. If you don't, we're liable to be locked up." - -"We ought to be locked up," mumbled McGlory. "We're lost, and we -ought to be shooed into some safe corral and kept there till we find -ourselves. Sufferin' hurricanes! What kind of a brain-storm are we -going through, _any_how?" - -Matt and McGlory passed through the chattering groups on the porch -and entered the lobby of the hotel. The music, which now came to them -in increased volume, was accompanied by a clatter of dishes from the -dining room. Matt laid a direct course for the counter at one side of -the lobby. - -"Can you tell me," he asked, leaning over the counter and addressing -the carefully groomed clerk, "If there is a gentleman named Tsan Ti -staying at this hotel?" - -"Come again, please," was the answer. "What was that name?" - -"Tsan Ti." - -"Where's he from?" - -"Canton, China." - -"Wears a black cap and a yellow kimono," put in Joe. "Button in the -cap--red button. He's the high old Whoop-a-gamus that bossed the temple -of What-you-call-um and let the Eye of Buddha get away from him. He -_must_ be here." - -"Such jocosity is out of place," said the clerk chillingly. - -"Sufferin' zero!" muttered McGlory. "I reckon his home ranch is the -North Pole. What's jocosity, Matt?" - -"Then Tsan Ti isn't here?" asked Matt. - -"Certainly _not_. You might try the Hotel Kaaterskill." - -"Kaaterskill!" minced McGlory. "Now, what the blooming----" - -"Joe," muttered Matt, grasping his chum's arm, and pulling him away. -"What's come over you, anyhow? You're acting like a Hottentot." - -"That's it!" cried Joe. - -"What?" - -"The name that one-eyed webfoot had on his cap. Hottentot! Hottentot! -Hottentot!" - -"Joe!" warned Matt, for the cowboy had sung out the word at the top of -his voice. "What _ails_ you? Great spark plugs!" - -McGlory brushed a hand across his face. - -"I feel like I'd taken a foolish powder, pard," he answered huskily. -"Let's get out of here before I make a holy show of myself." - -All at sea, they went back to the hammocks and sat down by the two -motor cycles. - -"And this," remarked McGlory, breaking a long silence, "is what you -call turning the trick for Tsan Ti! I told you that letter we received -in Grand Rapids was plain bunk. Read it again, pard." - -"I've read it thirteen times, Joe," answered Matt. - -"Well, read it fourteen times and break the hoodoo." - -Matt took the envelope from his pocket, and drew out the inclosed -sheet. Then he stared, then whistled, then leaned back against the -tree. - -"Now it's you who's doped," grinned McGlory. "Can't you read it?" - -"Sure," answered Matt; "listen." - - "'BUNCE: Be in Purling at ten a. m., Thursday. Show this to Pryne - at the general store in the village, and Pryne will show you to me. - Important developments. Mum's the word. GRATTAN.'" - -McGlory threw off his hat, and pawed at his hair. - -"Put a chain on us, somebody, _please_!" he gasped. "Where, oh, where, -did you get that?" - -"Here's a paper clue," said Matt. "I took this out of that cap we found -in the road, and, by an oversight, I tucked that letter from Tsan -Ti into the cap so the sailor wouldn't notice the original note was -missing." - -"Then there _was_ a cap," muttered McGlory, "and it _did_ have -'Hottentot' on the ribbon, and you _sure_ took out a note, and it's a -cinch there _was_ a sailor. Now, if all that's true, then where, in the -name of the great hocus-pocus, is the fat Chinaman?" - - - - -CHAPTER V. - -PUTTING TWO AND TWO TOGETHER. - - -With a sudden thought, Matt stepped to the motor cycle McGlory had -used, and gave the front wheel a critical examination. - -"What's that for?" asked the cowboy. - -"I'm only putting two and two together, Joe," Matt answered, returning -to his place at his chum's side. - -"I reckon they make five, this inning," said McGlory. - -"I believe I've got the hang of it," went on Matt. "You're just getting -back to your natural self, Joe. Ever since we awoke in those hammocks, -and up to this minute, you've been a trifle 'flighty.'" - -"Well," acknowledged McGlory, "I felt as though I'd been browsing on -loco weed." - -"How do you account for it?" - -"I don't. You're doing this sum in arithmetic. What's the answer?" - -"Glass balls," said Matt. - -"Speak to me about those glass balls! That webfoot threw two of them, -and they smashed right in front of us! And--and---- But, say, pard, -it's not in reason to think that two things like those balls could lay -us out." - -"Remember how the Eye of Buddha was stolen? The one-eyed sailor and -the Englishman broke one of the glass balls in the temple, and all the -priests were laid out." - -"Oh, well, if you're going to take any stock in that fat Chinaman and -his yarn, I reckon you----" - -"Now, listen," continued Matt earnestly. "Strange as it may seem, Joe, -there _are_ balls like those Tsan Ti was telling us about. We have had -an experience with them, and we _know_. I suppose the glass spheres are -filled with some powerful narcotic fumes which are set free the moment -the balls are broken." - -"It's not in reason," protested Joe. - -"It's a hard thing to believe that such objects exist, I'll admit," -proceeded Matt, "but we have got to credit the evidence of our senses. -While one of the balls was enough to overcome the priests, in the -temple, it was necessary for the sailor to use two against us, there -in the open. The air, naturally, would soon dissipate the fumes. I -shouldn't wonder," Matt added reflectively, "but those balls were -invented by the Chinese. They seem to have a knack for that sort of -thing." - -"Queerest knock-out drops I ever heard of." - -"When you and I recovered sufficient strength to get up out of the -road," continued Matt, "we hadn't yet recovered full possession of our -wits. You remember, Joe, your front tire was punctured. Well, that -puncture was neatly mended, and the air pump must have been used to -inflate the tire again. You and I must have done that, then rode up -here and taken possession of the hammocks." - -The cowboy whistled. - -"Able to make repairs, and to navigate, but plumb locoed for all that, -eh?" he remarked. - -"That's my idea, Joe. When we finally recovered our senses, in these -hammocks, all that had happened seemed to have been a dream." - -"Seems so yet, pard. What's become of Tsan Ti? And the other hatchet -boy that brought the yellow cord? They don't know anything about Tsan -at the hotel, so he must have been overworking his imagination when -he told us he had been having tea there. And that other yarn about -seeing the man with the yellow cord and ducking on a borrowed wheel -to get away from him! Say, I reckon they'd have known something about -a commotion of that sort if it had happened here." McGlory wagged -his head incredulously. "The fat chink is up to something, Matt," he -finished, "and he's been talking with the double tongue." - -"I'll admit," said Matt, "that there are some parts of the problem that -look rather dubious, but, on the whole, Tsan Ti's story holds together -pretty well. That story of the ruby was corroborated, in a way, by the -sailor. From the fellow's actions, he must have known a good deal about -the Eye of Buddha. Why did he throw the glass balls at us? Simply to -keep us from following him. If the sailor hadn't been guilty of some -treacherous work, he wouldn't have done that." - -"I'm over my head," muttered McGlory. "But, if the mandarin is so -hungry to have us help him, what's the reason he's making himself -absent? Why isn't he here?" - -"Let's give him time to get here. We weren't on that mountainside for -more than two hours. It was nine when we left Catskill Landing, and -about half-past ten, I should say, when we met Tsan Ti. It's nearly -one, now." - -"Well, what's the next move, pard? Are you going to that Purling place -and ask for Pryne at the general store?" - -"Not right away. We'll give Tsan Ti a chance to present himself, first." - -"You don't think"--and here McGlory assumed a tragic look--"that Tsan -would go off into the timber and use that yellow cord, do you?" - -"He has two weeks before he has to do that." - -"_Has_ to do it! Why, he don't have to do it at all, except to be -polite to that squinch-eyed boss of the Flowery Kingdom. Honest, these -chinks are the limit." - -Matt got up and pulled his motor cycle away from the tree. - -"Let's go into the hotel, and have dinner, Joe," he suggested. "If we -don't hear anything from Tsan Ti by four, this afternoon, we'll return -to Catskill." - -"And not do anything about that paper you got out of the sailor's hat?" -asked the cowboy. - -"If Tsan Ti doesn't think we're worth bothering with, after we've come -all the way from Grand Rapids to lend him a hand, we'll let him do his -own hunting for the ruby." - -"Keno, correct, and then some," agreed the cowboy heartily. "I've -thought, all along, there'd be some sort of bobble about this Eastern -trip. But let's eat. I've been hungry enough to sit in at chuck-pile -any time the last three hours." - -The boys left their wheels in charge of a man who looked after the -motor cars belonging to guests, and went into the office for the second -time. The clerk surveyed McGlory with pronounced disfavor while Matt -was registering. The cowboy met the look with an easy grin, and, after -he and Matt had washed their faces, brushed their hair, and knocked the -dust out of their clothes, they went into the big dining room and did -full justice to an excellent meal. - -Neither had much to say about Tsan Ti. Matt was half fearing the -mandarin's business was a good deal of a wild-goose chase, and that -the ponderous Celestial, for reasons of his own, had absented himself -permanently. - -Following the meal, the boys went out to sit on the veranda. They had -hardly taken their chairs when a big red automobile, with a rumble seat -behind in place of a tonneau, sizzled up to the front of the hotel and -came to a stop. - -There was one man in the car. As soon as the dust had settled a little, -a black cap with a red button, a long queue, and a yellow blouse -emerged with startling distinctness upon the gaze of the two boys. - -McGlory sat in his chair as though paralyzed. - -"It's Tsan Ti!" he murmured feebly, switching his eyes to Matt. - -"Tsan Ti, and no mistake," answered Matt. - -"First he rides a bike," said the cowboy, rapidly recovering, "and now -he blows in on us at the steering wheel of a gasoline cart. He's the -handiest all-around heathen I ever met up with. And look at him! He -acts just as though nothing had happened. Well, let me know about that, -will you?" - -Tsan Ti turned sidewise in the driver's seat, and swept his gaze over -the front of the hotel. He was less than half a minute getting the -range of the motor boys. Lifting a hand, he beckoned for them to come. - -"He wants us," said Matt grimly. "We'd better go, and hear what he has -to say for himself." - -"That's the talk!" agreed McGlory. - -A bland smile crossed the flabby face of the Chinaman as the boys came -close. - -"Embark, distinguished friends," said he. - -After all the rough and tumble of the morning, Tsan Ti now appeared in -perfect condition. He was entirely at his ease, and as well groomed a -mandarin as ever left the Chinese Empire. - -"Just a minute, Tsan Ti," returned Matt coldly. "There are a few things -we would like to have explained before we go any farther in this -business of yours." - -"All shall be made transparent to you, most excellent youth," was the -reply, "only just now embark, so that we may proceed on our way." - -"You said you were stopping at the Mountain House," said Matt severely. - -"A play upon words, no more. I was staying at the Kaaterskill. What -says the great Confucius? 'The cautious seldom err.' I was cautious. -Time passes swiftly, and----" - -"Get out and explain everything to us, Tsan Ti," broke in Matt firmly. -"If you want us to help you, you've got to take time to set us right -on a few important matters. We hadn't talked twenty minutes with you -before we jumped in to give you a helping hand--and succeeded in -getting ourselves into trouble. As you say, 'the cautious seldom err.' -That means us, you know, as well as you." - -The mandarin heaved a sigh of disappointment, floundered out of the -machine, and accompanied the boys in the direction of the three trees -and the swinging hammocks. - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - -A SMASH. - - -The Hotel Kaaterskill was within a stone's throw of the Mountain House. -So far as situation went, there was small choice between them, but Matt -resented Tsan Ti's deception in declaring he was staying at one when he -was really staying at the other. It seemed so trivial a matter compared -with the mandarin's critical situation--as set forth by himself. - -"I don't like the way you are acting, Tsan Ti," said Matt, as soon -as they had reached the trees. "In your letter to me you asked me to -meet you at the Mountain House; and on the mountainside, after you -received the yellow cord, you spoke about our going up to the Mountain -House; and again, as I remember it, it was on the porch of the Mountain -House where you were drinking tea when you saw Kien Lung coming toward -you, and bolted away on the bicycle. What excuse was there for such a -deception? And how can we help you if you are not open and aboveboard -with us?" - -"The left hand, honored and exalted sir," returned Tsan Ti, "must not -know what the right hand does when one is so unfortunate as I. Sam -Wing, in leaving word for me at the house named Kaaterskill, remarked -upon the courier Kien Lung being after me upon his unhappy errand, -and counseled that I keep myself obscurely. But I should have made -communication with you at the Mountain House had you arrived by that -place for meeting me. My intentions were high-minded, albeit secretive." - -"Then, for now," pursued Matt, "we will let that pass. Why did you -vanish from the mountainside after we had been left to chase the -one-eyed sailor? He threw two of those glass balls at us, and we were -dropped in the road, unconscious. It was not a long distance from where -we had left you, and you could easily have come down to us." - -"_Omito fuh!_" muttered Tsan Ti. "My regret is most consuming! The -gods crossed my will, notable one; nothing else could have kept me at -a distance from you. It was thus. Young men on bicycles, pursuing Kien -Lung and me who had made away at high speed on two of their go-devil -machines, swarmed suddenly around me like the sacred rocks in the -banyans at Honam. In spite of my entreaties, they carried me to the -Kaaterskill, and there I made repayment for the broken machine, and for -the one which Kien Lung took for himself and did not return. These -affairs occupied me profoundly until half an hour since; then I hired -yonder devil wagon and started to find you. Behold, you were on the -veranda of the hotel as I fared past. Confucius said, in ancient times, -'When I have presented one corner of a subject, and the pupil cannot of -himself make out the other three, I do not repeat my lesson.' So the -sight of you informed me the sailor of the single eye had escaped, and -I concluded best that we hurry after him. Am I not right, honorable -friend?" - -"He's good with his bazoo," remarked McGlory. "I reckon he makes out a -clean case for himself." - -Matt was satisfied. Still, he thought that instead of attending to his -personal appearance and running around hiring an automobile, Tsan Ti -might have taken some quicker method of finding out what had happened -down the mountainside. But he was a Chinaman, and his ways and means -were not those of a Caucasian. - -"Where did you learn to drive an automobile, Tsan Ti?" asked Matt. - -"We have the devil wagons in Canton. There are many in the foreign -quarter, and I have one of my own." Tsan Ti fanned himself and looked -troubled. "There is something," he went on presently, "of which I must -inform you. Perhaps, when you know, you will leave me to find the Eye -of Buddha unaided. But it is right that I should tell you." - -"What is it?" inquired Matt. - -"This, courageous youth: The ten thousand demons of misfortune have -been let loose upon those most closely concerned with the loss of the -ruby. While the great Buddha sits eyeless in the temple at Honam, his -wrath falls upon me in particular; and, now that you are helping me, it -will likewise fall upon you. Disasters have crowded upon me, and if you -keep on in the search, they will surely overtake you. Already you have -had experience of them." - -"Sufferin' snakes!" grunted McGlory. "It'll take more'n a heathen idol -over in China to get me on the run." - -"I guess we'll face the music," laughed Matt. "That ruby eye may be a -hoodoo, but we're not superstitious enough to get scared." - -"Excellent!" wheezed Tsan Ti. "I have done well to secure your -invaluable services. Shall we now proceed down the mountain in pursuit -of the sailor?" - -"Why, he may be a hundred miles from here by this time." - -"Not so!" was the positive answer. "I have my warning that he is near, -and that we must hasten." - -"Warning?" repeated Matt. - -Tsan Ti poked two fingers down the neck of his blouse and fished up a -small black V-shaped object attached to a gold chain. - -"Observe," he said solemnly, "my jade-stone amulet, covered with choice -ideographs from the Book of Auguries. When it burns the skin upon the -speaking of a name, then have I a warning. Look!" He held the stone -on his fat palm. "With it thus I breathe the words 'one-eyed thief' -and"--he winced as though from pain--"the amulet nearly burns." - -McGlory dropped his head, and his shoulders shook with suppressed -mirth. Never had he met so humorous a person as this mandarin of the -red button, with his yellow cord, his jade-stone amulet, and his load -of trouble. - -Matt was also possessed of a desire to laugh, but managed to keep his -features straight. Tsan Ti observed the incredulity of the boys, and -dropped the amulet back down his blouse. - -"Let us go, doubting ones," he puffed, "and you will see. Come, -accompany me, and you will not be long in learning why the amulet -burns!" - -"Our motor cycles are here, at the garage," demurred Matt, "and----" - -"They will be safely kept until you come for them again. Let us, as you -say, hustle." - -He was up and waddling toward the automobile before Matt or McGlory -could answer. The boys followed him, Matt climbing into the front seat -at the mandarin's side, and the cowboy getting into the seat behind. - -"Hadn't I better drive?" queried Matt. - -"It is a pleasure for me to guide and control the pounding demon," the -Chinaman answered. "Ha, we start." - -But they did not start. Naturally, the long halt had not left enough -gas in the cylinders to take the spark, and Tsan Ti had neglected to -use the crank. - -Matt got down and turned the engine over--and came within one of being -run down before he could get out of the way. Regaining the car at a -flying leap, he snuggled down in his seat and proceeded to hold his -breath. Of all the reckless drivers he had ever seen, Tsan Ti was -the limit. He banged over the edge of the level into the long slope, -engaging the high speed so quickly that Matt wondered he did not strip -the gear. As the car lurched, and swayed, and bounded Tsan Ti's joy -shone in his puffy face. - -"Glory to glory, and all hands 'round!" yelled the cowboy, from behind. -"Change seats with him, Matt! If you don't, he'll string us from the -Mountain House clean to Catskill." - -Matt leaned over and gave the steering wheel a turn barely in time -to keep them from hitting a tree. The wake the machine left behind -it looked like a zigzag streak. First they were on one side of the -road, and then on the other, juggling back and forth by the narrowest -of margins, and keeping right side up in defiance with every law of -gravity with which Matt was familiar. - -"Cut out the high speed!" shouted Matt. "It's suicide to use that gear -on such a slope as this. We could coast down this hill without an ounce -of power." - -A mud guard was loose, and it rattled horribly. The Chinaman was -feeding too much gasoline part of the time, and not enough the rest of -the time. Now and again, the cylinders would misfire, pop wildly, then -jump into a racing hum. That high-powered roadster made as much noise -as a railroad train; and what with Matt yelling directions, and McGlory -whooping like a Comanche at every close call they nipped out of, the -uproar was tremendous. - -Through it all the fat Chinaman glowed and, at intervals, gave vent to -ecstatic howls. Whenever they escaped a tree that had threatened them, -he exploded jubilantly. - -"I can't stand this, pard!" roared McGlory. "I'm goin' to jump out, if -you don't stop him!" - -To argue with Tsan Ti, in all that turmoil of sound, was out of the -question. - -Hardly had the cowboy ceased speaking when, through the wild hubbub of -noise, Matt thought he heard a sharp detonation. Of this he was not -sure, but, almost immediately, a front tire blew up, and the machine -swerved wildly. - -Bang--_crash!_ - -The automobile made a wild effort to climb a tree, and the next thing -Motor Matt realized was the fact that he was turning handsprings in the -road. - -Silence, sudden and grim, followed the frantic medley of sound. A bird -twittered somewhere off in the woods, and the flutelike notes hit -Matt's tortured ear-drums like a volley of musketry. - -He got up, dazedly. His hat was gone, and one of his trouser legs was -missing. The back of his head, still tender from a blow he had received -in Grand Rapids, reminded him by a sharp twinge that it had been badly -treated. - -Matt limped to the tree that had caused the wreck, and leaned against -it. Then, and not till then, was he able to make a comprehensive view -of the scene. - -The front of the automobile was badly smashed--so badly that it was a -wonder Matt had ever escaped with his life. One of the forward wheels -had come off. - -McGlory, in his shirt sleeves--and with one sleeve missing--was on his -hands and knees. He was facing the mandarin--staring at that remarkable -person with a well-what-do-you-think-of-that expression. - -The mandarin was sitting up in the road. The black cap with the red -button was hanging to one side of his head, one of his embroidered -sandals was gone, and the yellow silk blouse and trousers were torn. -In some manner the steering wheel had become detached from the post, -and Tsan Ti was hanging to it like grim death. He seemed still to be -driving, for the steering wheel was in the correct position. - -Certainly it was not a time to laugh, but Motor Matt could hardly help -it. - - - - -CHAPTER VII. - -NIP AND TUCK. - - -"That's right," whooped McGlory, twisting his head to get a look at -Matt, "laugh--laugh, and enjoy yourself! Sufferin' smash-ups! It's -a wonder the hospital corps didn't have to shovel us up in a bushel -basket." - -"Are you hurt, Joe?" inquired Matt. - -"Hurt?" snapped McGlory, his gorge rising. "Oh, no, of course not! We -weren't going more than a hundred and twenty miles an hour when we hit -that tree, so how could I possibly have suffered any damage? This comes -of trotting a heat with a half-baked rat-eater. Here's where I quit. -That's right. Go on and hunt your idol's eye, if you want to. Say, if I -could get hold of that yellow cord, I'd strangle the mandarin myself." - -McGlory climbed to his feet lamely and looked himself over, up and -down. His coat was about twenty feet away, in one place, and his hat -lay at an equal distance in another. As he moved about collecting his -property and muttering to himself, Matt stepped to the side of Tsan Ti. - -The mandarin, still dazed and bewildered, continued to cling to the -steering wheel. Matt bent down and took the wheel away from him. - -"Illustrious friend," said the Chinaman, blinking his eyes, "the -suddenness was most remarkable. Once more the thousand demons of -misfortune have visited their wrath upon me!" - -"Don't talk about misfortune," returned Matt. "We're the luckiest -fellows that ever lived to get out of a wreck like that with whole -skins. The car's a ruin, Tsan Ti, and you'll have to pay for it." - -"Of what use is money, interesting youth, to a mandarin who has -received the yellow cord? I have rice fields and tea plantations, -and millions of taels to my credit. The bagatelle of a cost does not -concern me." - -Matt helped him upright and dusted him off. As soon as he had pushed a -foot into the missing sandal, he gave vent to a wail, and sat down on -the side of the machine. - -"Such vastness of misfortune takes my courage," he groaned. "The Eye -of Buddha can not be recovered with all the thousand demons fighting -against me. The jade-stone amulet burns me fiercely----" - -"Wish it had burned a hole clear through you before you'd ever written -that letter to Matt," cried McGlory. - -"I have involved two honorable assistants in my so-great ill luck," -went on the mandarin. - -"Never mind that," said Matt. "I thought you knew how to drive a car?" - -"He's the craziest thing on wheels when it comes to drivin' a bubble," -called out McGlory. "Here's where I quit. Scratch my entry in the race -for the Eye of Buddha. I always know when I've got enough. We've had -four hours of this, and it's a-plenty." - -Motor Matt began looking for his cap. Where it had gone was a mystery. -He finally discovered it hanging to a clump of bushes. As he turned -around, he was startled to see Tsan Ti with the yellow cord coiled -about his throat. - -Could it be possible that the mandarin, cast down by his latest -accident, was on the point of carrying out the mandate of the regent? - -"I say!" shouted Matt, hurrying forward. - -But the Chinaman was interrupted in his fell purpose by an explosion in -the car directly behind him. - -Bang! - -He jumped about four feet, straight up in the air. Matt saw a tongue of -flame shoot upward from the car. - -The gasoline tank had been smashed. The inflammable contents, dripping -upon the hot exhaust pipe leading from the muffler, must have caused -the blaze. - -Sizz-z-, _bang_, boom! - -The gasoline was vaporizing. As the startled mandarin watched the -blaze, paralyzed and speechless by the unexpected exhibition, the -yellow cord swung limply downward from his throat. McGlory rushed up -behind him, and jerked the cord away. Tsan Ti did not seem to notice -the manoeuvre--he was all wrapped up in the blaze and the explosions. - -The fire shot skyward, and Matt grabbed the Chinaman and hauled him to -a safe distance. - -"Bring the wheel, Joe," Matt yelled, "the one that came off!" - -McGlory had not the least notion what Matt wanted with the wheel, but -he got it, and they were all well down the road when a final terrific -boom scattered fragments of the wreck every which way and sent little -jets of flame from the diffused gasoline spitting in all directions. - -"Good-by, you old benzine buggy!" said McGlory, addressing the -flame-wrapped car. "You wasn't worth much, anyways, but I bet the -mandarin bleeds for twice your value, just the same. What you looking -at that wheel for, Matt?" he finished, turning to his chum. - -"It was punctured by a bullet," replied Matt, pointing to a clean-cut -rent in the shoe. - -"Bullet?" echoed McGlory. "Speak to me about that! I didn't hear any -shooting." - -"The car made so much noise that's not to be wondered at. I wasn't sure -that what I'd heard was a shot, but----" - -Matt had lifted his head to speak to McGlory. As he did so, his eyes -glimpsed a figure skulking among the bushes at the roadside. The -sunshine, and the glare from the fire, caused a ghastly radiance to -hover about the bushes. - -In the weird shadows of the bushes and trees, a face stood out -prominently--a face topped with a sailor hat, fringed with mutton-chop -whiskers, and with a patch over one eye. - -The king of the motor boys gave a whoop and darted for the bushes. -The face vanished as if by magic, but Matt kept furiously on, McGlory -chasing after him. - -"What's to pay, pard?" the cowboy was demanding. - -"The sailor!" flung back Matt. "I saw him in the brush! He must have -been the one who put that bullet into our front tire!" - -"Whoop-ya!" yelled McGlory, all his hostility springing to the surface -and causing him to forget his announced determination to "quit" and let -the mandarin shift for himself. "Let's put the kibosh on him! He's the -cause of all this. Hang the idol's eye! We've got an account of our own -to settle. But look out for the glass balls." - -Ahead of him Matt could hear the crash and crackle of undergrowth, and -now and then he caught a glimpse of the racing sailor. - -The timber grew more dense, and presently, just as Matt thought he had -the fellow, he was brought up short with the quarry out of sight and -hearing. - -"He's dodged away," panted the cowboy. "Maybe he's doubled back." - -"I'd have heard him if he'd done that," answered Matt. "He has either -stopped, and is lying low, or else he has gone on ahead. I thought I -had him, for a minute. Come on, Joe!" - -Matt flung onward, and leaped suddenly from the edge of the timber into -a cornfield on a little flat between two shoulders of the mountain. -He stopped and listened. The leaves of the corn rustled in the faint -breeze, and, in the centre of the field, an ungainly scarecrow half -reared itself above the tasseled stalks. - -"He's in the corn, that's where he is," puffed the cowboy. "Mind your -eye, pard, and look out for the dope balls." - -"You go one way across the field," suggested Matt, "and I'll go the -other. Sharp's the word now, old chap. We're giving that fellow the run -of his life, and he's having it nip and tuck to get away." - -The field was not large, and Matt and McGlory crossed it rapidly, the -king of the motor boys on one side of the scarecrow, and the cowboy on -the other. They met on the opposite side of the field, without having -seen the sailor. - -"I reckon he's dodged us!" growled McGlory, in savage disappointment. -"The ornery old webfoot has----" - -He stopped aghast, his eyes on the scarecrow. The tattered figure was -moving briskly through the corn, toward the side of the field from -which the boys had just come. - -"There he goes!" shouted Matt, darting away again. "He got into the -scarecrow's clothes, and didn't have the nerve to wait until we had -left the field." - -"Speak--speak to me about--about this!" returned McGlory breathlessly, -plunging after his chum through the rustling rows. - -Once more in the woods, the boys found themselves even closer to the -fleeting mariner than they had been before. He was in plain sight now, -and shedding his ragged disguise as he raced for liberty. - -Up the shoulder of the mountain he went, pawing and scrambling, then -down on the other side, Matt and McGlory close after him. He was making -strenuously for a cleared space at the foot of the little slope. In the -centre of the clearing were the remains of a stone wall, and near the -wall stood a little stone house. The house appeared to be deserted, and -the half-opened door swung awry on one hinge. - -"He's makin' for the 'dobe!" wheezed the cowboy. - -The words had hardly left his lips before the sailor vanished within -the stone walls. Matt ran recklessly after him. - -"Look out for the double-X brand of dope!" warned McGlory. "You know -what he did before, Matt." - -But Matt was already inside the house. The interior apparently -consisted of a hall and two rooms, although the boarded-up windows cast -a funereal gloom over the place, and made it difficult to see anything -distinctly. Matt sprang through one of the two doors that opened off -the hall, and McGlory, still clamoring wildly for his chum to beware of -the glass balls, followed. - -Slam went the door of the room--probably the only door in the house -that was in commission--and rattle-rattle went a key in the lock. - -Then came a husky laugh, and the words: - -"Belay a bit, you swabs! Leave the Eye o' Buddha alone. An' that's a -warnin'." - -Feet pattered along the hall and out of it. - -"Nip and tuck," sang out McGlory, while Matt wrestled with the door, -"and it wasn't the webfoot that got nipped, not so any one could -notice. Catch your breath, pard, and calm down. Old One Eye has made -his getaway, and we might just as well laugh as be sorry." - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. - -TSAN TI VANISHES AGAIN. - - -There was wisdom in the cowboy's words, and Matt gave over his attack -on the door and turned to his chum with a disappointed laugh. - -"We can get out of here easy enough," said he, "but the sailor gains -so much time while we're doing it that he wins out in the race. Great -spark plugs, but we're having a time! I'm almost tempted to think -that those ten thousand demons, the mandarin talks about, are really -pestering us." - -"Ten thousand horned toads," scoffed McGlory. "This is what we -naturally get for trying to turn an impossible trick for a heathen. -What was the good of paying any attention to that letter, in the first -place?" - -"Well," answered Matt, "we've discussed that point a good many times -already, Joe. I wanted to go to New York, anyway, and it was only a -little out of our road to come down the river and drop off at Catskill -Landing." - -"Suppose we get our wheels, go back to Catskill, and then take the next -boat down the river? What's the good of all this strain we've taken -upon ourselves? If we don't let well enough alone, something is sure -going to snap, and like as not it'll be mighty serious. It's a wonder -we ever came through that smash-up with our scalps." - -There was one window in the room. Matt had passed to it and was making -an examination. The glass was broken out of the sash, and the boards -nailed to the outside of the casing were loose. He pushed two of the -boards off, leaving a gap through which he and his chum could easily -crawl. - -"If we'd done this in the first place, Joe," said he, "we might have -picked up the mariner's trail before he had got too far away." - -"Too late now. It was our luck to get into the only room in the 'dobe, -I reckon, that had a good door and a usable lock." - -"Well," returned Matt, "let's get out and hunt up the mandarin. I hope -he won't make 'way with himself while we're moseying around in this -part of the woods." - -The boys climbed through the window and the gap in the boards, and Matt -made a casual survey of the house's vicinity. Of course the sailor was -gone, and had left no clue as to the direction of his flight. - -Setting their faces in the direction of the road, the boys started off -briskly on their return to the wrecked car. - -"There's one thing you didn't do, pard," remarked McGlory, while they -were on their way through the timber. - -"What's that?" - -"Why, you didn't lisp a word to the mandarin about that note you took -from the Hottentot's cap. Maybe, if the Chinaman knew about that, he'd -quit thinking of doing the polite and courteous thing for the regent." - -"I had intended telling Tsan Ti about the note," returned Matt, struck -by the illuminating suggestion, "but I hadn't time. I'll put it up to -Tsan Ti, though, the first thing after we meet him again." - -"I've got the yellow string. If he has to make the happy dispatch with -that, then I've blocked his game for a while. I don't know much about -the etiquette of this yellow-cord _game_. Do you?" - -"No." - -"Well, leaving that out of the discussion for now, here's another -point. Do you reckon old One Eye has found out, yet, how you juggled -the notes on him?" - -"I can't see as that makes much difference," answered Matt. - -"He left us in a hurry, there at that stone house. If he'd known we had -the note, why didn't he stop and palaver about it?" - -"We were two against him, and he was in too much of a hurry." - -"Why didn't he use the glass balls and take the note away from us while -we were down and out?" - -"Probably his supply of glass balls is running low." - -"That note is to be shown to the man in Purling, and the man in -Purling is then to show the bearer of the note where this Grattan is. -Now----" - -"That's a chance for us to find Grattan," cut in Matt. - -"You're planning on that, are you? Sufferin' trouble! If it wouldn't be -actin' more like a hired man than a pard, I'd go on a strike." - -"We're onto this mandarin's business now, Joe," said Matt, "and we -ought to see it through to a finish." - -"It'll be our finish, I reckon." - -At this moment they stepped out onto the road close to the car. The -machine was a charred and twisted wreck, and fit only for the junk -heap. Matt looked around for Tsan Ti, but he was nowhere in evidence. - -"Vanished again!" exclaimed McGlory. - -Matt threw back his head and shouted the mandarin's name at the top -of his voice. No answer was returned, but the echoes of the call had -hardly died away before they were taken up by the humming of another -motor, and a little runabout came whirling down the road and brought up -at the side of the wrecked car. - -Two men were in the runabout, and one of the men was in a tremendously -bad humor. The angry individual jumped from the runabout and peered at -the number on the smoking board at the rear of the chassis. - -"It was my car, all right!" he cried. "And look at it! Great Scott, -just look at it! Total loss, and only a fat chink to look to for -damages. Oh, I'm s, t, u, n, g to the queen's taste, all right. Who're -you?" he demanded, whirling suddenly on the boys. - -Matt told him. - -"You're from up the mountain, are you?" inquired Matt. - -"Where else?" replied the other crossly. "What's become of the chink -that hired this car? Do you know?" - -"Probably he's gone back to the hotel." - -"Oh, probably," was the sarcastic retort; "yes, probably! I've got -money that says he's sloped for good. Look here. They say there were -two fellows in the car with the chink when it left the Mountain House. -Are you the fellows?" - -"Yes." - -"Then, by jing, I'll hold _you_. Twenty-five hundred is what I want, -and I want it quick." - -"Oh, rats!" grunted the man in the runabout. "I'll bet those fellows -couldn't rake up twenty-five hundred cents. Quit foolin', Jackson, and -let's go back." - -Matt and McGlory, after their recent experiences in the collision and -while chasing the sailor, were most assuredly not looking their best. -But they could have drawn a draft on Chicago for twenty-five hundred -dollars and had it honored--had they been so minded. - -"Oh, say moo and chase yourself!" cried McGlory. "You rented the car to -the Chinaman; you didn't rent it to us." - -"I'm going to hold you, anyhow," declared the man called Jackson. - -"You'll have a good time trying it," retorted the cowboy truculently. - -Jackson stepped toward McGlory. - -"Don't you get gay with me," he shouted. "I'm not going to lose a -twenty-five hundred dollar car and not make somebody smart for it. I -told the chink that was what the car was worth." - -"I know something about cars," put in Matt mildly, "and this one is out -of date--four years old, if it's a day. If it had been a modern car, -with the gasoline tank in the right place, it would never have caught -fire, and you could have saved something out of the wreck. The proper -feed is by gravity, and the right place for the tank is under the -seat----" - -"Oh, you!" sneered Jackson, "what do you know about cars?" - -"He can forget more in a minute about these chug wagons," bristled -McGlory, "than you know in a year. Put that in your brier and whiff -it. This fellow's Motor Matt, motor expert, late of Burton's Big -Consolidated Shows, where he's been exhibiting the Traquair aëroplane. -Now bear down on your soft pedal, will you?" - -"Thunder!" breathed the man in the runabout. - -"Is--is that a fact?" queried Jackson, visibly impressed. - -"It's a fact," said Matt, "but it needn't make any difference in this -case. That car of yours, Jackson, would have been dear at a thousand -dollars. You'll get every cent the car is worth, too. The Chinaman who -hired it is a mandarin. He's in this country on private business. He -has tea plantations, rice fields, and money in the bank till you can't -rest. Now, stop worrying about the damages and give my chum and me a -lift up the hill. We'll find Tsan Ti at the Kaaterskill. That's where -he's been staying for a week or two." - -Jackson was mollified. - -"Of course," said he, "I don't want to be rough with anybody, but you -understand how it is. This country is hard on cars, and I have to -charge good prices and be sure the cars are hired by men who can put -up for them if they go over a cliff or meet with any other kind of a -wreck. I'm obliged to you for your information about Tsan Ti. He's been -a good deal of a conundrum at the Kaaterskill since he's put up there. -A man, riding up from below, passed a couple of Chinamen chin-chinning -beside this wreck, and he brought word to me. That's how Jim and I -happened to come down." - -"You say the man from below passed _two_ Chinamen talking near the -car?" queried Matt, with a surprised glance at McGlory. - -"That's what he said." - -"There was only the mandarin in the car when we had the smash," said -Matt. "Where could that other one have come from?" - -McGlory said nothing, but his face was full of things he might have -said--doubts of the mandarin, of course, and vague suspicions of double -dealing. - -Jim backed the runabout around, and Matt and McGlory crowded into it. -There was a hard climb up the hill, overloaded as the runabout was, but -finally the Mountain House was passed and the other hotel reached. - -The boys, in their tattered garments, aroused considerable curiosity -among the hotel guests as they crossed the colonnaded porches and made -their way into the office. They inquired for Tsan Ti, and bellboys were -sent to the Chinaman's room and around the porches and grounds, calling -his name. - -But he wasn't to be found. - -"Up a stump some more," growled McGlory, "and all because that -jade-stone amulet got overheated and caused the mandarin to look for -trouble. Oh, blazes! _When_ will we ever acquire a proper amount of -horse sense for a couple of our size? You couldn't expect much more of -me, Matt, but--well, pard, I'm surprised at _you_." - - - - -CHAPTER IX. - -TRICKED ONCE MORE. - - -Matt and McGlory were bruised and sore. They were also pretty tired. -From the moment they had met Tsan Ti on the mountainside that morning, -they had been knocked about from pillar to post. - -"If trouble will please hold off for a couple of hours," said McGlory, -"I'll give a good imitation of a fellow snatching his forty winks -and getting ready for another round. What do you say, Matt? The -mandarin isn't here. He may come, but I wouldn't bet on it, as I'm -sort of losing faith in the yellow boy with the red button. He has a -disagreeable habit of getting out from under whenever anything goes -wrong, and we find ourselves stalled. I reckon, though, you'll want to -stay here and give him a chance to blow in?" - -"We can hold on here for two or three hours," answered Matt, "take a -bath, and a rub down, and a bit of a rest, then fasten our clothes -together with a supply of safety pins and motor back to Catskill and -get another outfit of clothes from our grips. Then, after a good -night's sleep, we'll go to Purling." - -"No matter whether the mandarin shows up or not?" - -"No matter what the mandarin does, Joe. I've worked up a big interest -in that Eye of Buddha, and I'm going to find out whether it's a fair -shake or a myth." - -"I'll bet all my share of the aëroplane money against two bits that we -never see the old hatchet boy again, and also that something hits us -before we can get back to Catskill." - -"You're guessing, Joe." - -"Well, that's my chirp, in anything from doughnuts to double eagles. -That Jackson party might as well hang that wrecked bubble in a tree as -a memento--the man with the rice fields and the tea plantations, and so -on, has started for the high timber just to dodge paying for that pile -of scrap down the trail." - -"You're wrong," said Matt confidently. - -"Wait till the cards are all on the table, pard, and then we'll see." - -They had a most refreshing bath and a long rest in a couple of -lazy-back chairs on an upper veranda. Orders had been left with the -clerk that word should be brought to them at once if Tsan Ti put in an -appearance. - -McGlory awoke from a drowse to unbosom himself of a subject which had -not, as yet, claimed its proper share of attention. - -"The fellow who came up the mountain and told Jackson there was a -burning car piled by the roadside," said he, "said there were two -Chinamen watching the conflagration. Think chink number two was Kien -Lung with another yellow cord, Matt?" - -"No." - -"Then who was he?" - -"I've been thinking that it was Sam Wing, the San Francisco Chinaman, -who has been keeping track of the two thieves for the mandarin." - -"That's you!" exclaimed McGlory. "Why, I never thought of that dark -horse. Have you any notion he coaxed the mandarin away on important -business?" - -"That's likely." - -"Anything's likely. For instance, it's quite likely the fat Chinaman is -a washee-washee boy from 'Frisco with a fine, large imagination, and -that he's stringing us." - -"Why should he want to do that?" - -"No _sabe_, but there's a lot of things we can't _sabe_ concerning this -layout." - -"Tsan Ti has money----" - -"He showed us all of a hundred in double eagles. But did he let us get -our hands on the coin? Not any. He allows, in his large and offhand -way, that he has millions of taels--but that may be one of his tales," -and McGlory grinned. - -"Anyhow," said Matt doggedly, "we ride to Purling to-morrow and see the -man at the general store." - -Matt fell into a drowse again. No one from the office came to announce -the arrival of Tsan Ti, and when the hour arrived for the evening meal -the boys had their supper sent to their room. They were not arrayed -properly for "dining out." - -Following the meal they patched up their garments with safety pins, -settled their bill, and walked over to the Mountain House garage. Dusk -was falling as they trundled their machines into the road and lighted -their lamps. - -"We'll have an easier time of it going down the mountain," said Matt, -"than we had coming up." - -"Don't be so sure, pard," answered McGlory. "There are a number of -things to trouble us besides the road." - -"Don't cross any trouble bridges until you come to them, Joe," advised -Matt. - -The motor boys were feeling a little stiff and sore, but their engines -were humming cheerfully, and there was a joy for them in the downward -spin through the woods. - -They remembered the tree root, and slowed down for it as it came under -their headlights; and they also remembered the location of the wrecked -automobile and gave it a wide berth. - -At about the place where they had encountered the one-eyed sailor, with -everything going smoothly and a fair prospect of reaching Catskill in -record time, the crack of a firearm suddenly split the still air to the -left of the road. Startled, they clamped on the brakes and came to a -halt in time to hear a shrill cry of "Help! help!" ringing out weirdly -from the dark woods. - -"Sufferin' hold-ups!" murmured McGlory. "And here we are with nothing -more than a couple of jack-knives to our names." - -"What do you suppose it can be?" asked Matt, dropping the bracket from -his rear wheel and letting the motor cycle stand in the road. - -He moved off toward the left and listened. - -"There's a row on in there," declared McGlory. "I can hear some one -pounding around in the timber." - -"So can I," said Matt. "We've got to do what we can, Joe. That may mean -robbery--or worse. Come on!" - -The generous instincts of the motor boys prompted them to go at once to -the assistance of a possible victim, and they hurried into the timber. -The sounds of scuffling which they had heard died out suddenly, and -while they were moving around through the gloom, trying to locate the -scene of the trouble, there reached their ears the chug-chugging of -motors getting under way. - -"Our motor cycles!" exclaimed Matt, darting back toward the road. - -"Gad-hook it all!" cried McGlory; "it was a frame-up! A trick to run -off our wheels!" - -Although they were only a few moments regaining the road, the lamps of -the two motor cycles were gleaming more than a hundred feet away. - -"Stop!" yelled Matt, racing down the road. - -His answer was a raucous laugh--such a laugh as they had heard before. -And then came the words, bellowed hoarsely: - -"Leave the Eye o' Buddha alone!" - -After that silence, during which the gleaming lamps turned an angle in -the road and were blotted from sight. - -"Seems to me," said McGlory grimly, "I've heard that voice before." - -Motor Matt did not reply at once. Perhaps his feelings were too deep -for words. - -"And I was expecting something, too!" said the cowboy, in a spasm of -self-reproach. "Sufferin' easy marks! Matt, some of the stuff from -those glass balls must still be playing hob with our brains. Otherwise, -how is it these backsets keep happening in one, two, three order? There -go a pair of motor bikes that'll stand us in four hundred good big -cart wheels. That was right, what you said before we left those wheels -and flocked into the timber. That shot and those sounds of a scuffle -_did_ mean robbery. That's a lesson for us never to help a person in -distress. Likewise it's a hint that we'd better pull out and leave the -mandarin to manage his own troubles." - -"It's a hint that we'd better go to Purling to-morrow and look for -Grattan," and there was an unwonted sharpness in Motor Matt's voice -that caused McGlory to straighten up and take notice. - -"When you tune up that way," said the cowboy, "it means mischief. There -was another man with the Hottentot. Do you think the _hombre_ was this -Grattan sharp?" - -"No. Grattan is expecting the sailor at Purling to-morrow. This was -some one else." - -"The ruby thieves have quite an extensive gang. It's walk for us, from -here to Catskill." - -"From here to the first farmhouse," corrected Matt. "We'll get some one -to take us to Catskill with a horse and buggy." - -He bit off his words crisp and sharp, which, to McGlory, proved how -deeply he resented the scurvy trick by which they had been lured away -from the motor cycles. - -"How easy it is to understand things when you look back at' em," -philosophized the cowboy, swinging along at Matt's side, down the dark -road. "The webfoot and his pal fired that shot and raised a yell for -help, then they jumped up and down in the bushes, and the result had -all the effect of a knock-down and drag-out. One-Eye must have had us -spotted, and he and his pal were lingering in the trailside brush, -watching for our headlights. Oh, yes, it was easy. The 'illustrious -ones' tumbled over themselves to fall into the trap. If I had that----" - -"There's a farmhouse," said Matt, and indicated a point of light close -to the foot of the mountain. "Nearly every house in these parts is -either a boarding house or a hotel. We can get a rig, all right, I'm -pretty sure." - - - - -CHAPTER X. - -THE DIAMOND MERCHANT. - - -It was midnight before the motor boys were deposited on the walk in -front of their hotel in Catskill. A team and two-seated wagon had -brought them, and they had not left the vicinity of the road at the -foot of the mountain until they had driven around for an hour, made -inquiries concerning two men on motor cycles, given a description of -the sailor, and passed word that the men were thieves and were to be -arrested and held if found. - -Matt, according to agreement, paid the driver who had brought them to -Catskill five dollars for his services. - -Before going to bed Matt gathered a little information concerning the -village of Purling. He learned that it was six miles from Cairo, and -that Cairo was on the railroad and could be reached by a morning train. - -But the train would not serve. By proceeding to the village in that -way, the boys would not be able to arrive before noon, and, according -to the note in the sailor's cap, they were expected at the general -store by ten o'clock. - -"We'll hire an automobile," said Matt, "and a driver that knows the -mountains. I guess we'd better speak for the machine to-night." - -At the same place where they had secured the motor cycles they -arranged for a touring car and a driver who knew the country, but the -arrangement was not effected until they had deposited three hundred -dollars as a guaranty that the motor cycles would be returned, or the -owner indemnified for their loss. - -"Three hundred plunks gone where the woodbine twineth," mourned -McGlory, as they were going to bed, "and all because we're helping to -turn a trick for Tsan Ti. Good business--I don't think." - -"This Grattan," said Matt, "is probably lying low somewhere near -Purling. If he isn't, he wouldn't be making it so hard for his pal -to get at him. The sailor will be there, and he won't get to see -Grattan without the letter. We'll catch the fellow, and we may catch -Grattan--say nothing of the possibility of recovering the Eye of -Buddha." - -"We'll draw a blank in the matter of that idol's eye, pard, you take it -from me. But there's a chance of our putting a fancy kibosh on Bunce -and getting back the go-devil machines. Still, there's also a splendid -chance for a fall down. Listen. The _Hottentot_ man examines the note -in his cap. He sees it's not the few lines he got from Grattan, but a -lot of 'con' talk from the mandarin. That leaves One Eye in the air, -but gives him a line on _us_. What'll happen? I wish I knew." - -"The sailor may not look at the letter in his hat until he gets to -Purling, so----" - -"Don't think it, pard. That would be too much luck to come at a time -when we're hocussed crisscross and both ways." - -By seven the boys were up, had overhauled their grips, and got into -fresh clothes, and were sitting down to breakfast at the first call. By -seven-thirty the touring car was at the door for them, freshly groomed -and shining like a new dollar. - -It was a sixty horse-power machine, and a family carryall for the -personal use of the proprietor of the garage. Not having been used for -hackabout purposes, the car was more dependable than one that had been -hammered about over the rough roads by anybody who could tell the spark -plug from the magneto and had five dollars an hour to pay for a junket. - -The proprietor, who was a good fellow at heart and wanted to do -everything possible to help the boys recover the stolen motor cycles, -made this concession. So, with Matt in the driver's seat, the native -who knew the way beside him, and McGlory with the tonneau all to -himself, the touring car flashed out of Catskill Landing and took to -the hills. - -Of the drive Motor Matt made that morning, the driver on his left -entertained the most enthusiastic recollections. Never had he seen a -car handled so cleverly; and when the car balked--which the best of -cars will do now and then--the way the king of the motor boys located -the difficulty and adjusted it was something to think about. - -At nine-thirty the touring car landed its passengers in front of the -general store. Two men were sunning themselves on the bench in front, -and a sleeping dog looked up lazily, snapped at a fly, and then went to -sleep again. - -"Where's Mr. Pryne?" asked Matt, stepping up to the two men on the -bench. - -"I'm Pryne," answered one of the two, measuring Matt with an expectant -light in his faded blue eyes. - -"Look at this," said Matt, and presented the letter from Grattan. - -The man, who was roughly dressed and certainly had nothing to do with -the store, studied the writing carefully. - -"This is all right," he remarked; "_all_ right, but"--and his eyes -traveled doubtfully over McGlory--"only one was expected." - -"Don't worry about that, Mr. Pryne," answered Matt genially; "this -chap," and he lowered his voice to a whisper, "is a pal." - -"There's another one to go," murmured Pryne. - -Matt was startled; then, thinking the other one was the sailor, he -braced himself for short, sharp work. "Where is the other one, Pryne?" - -"Here," and Pryne indicated the other man who had been sitting with him -on the bench. - -Matt gave more careful attention to this other individual. He was a -Hebrew--one glance was sufficient to decide that. Also, he was ornately -clad, wearing many large diamonds and making a fulsome display of -heavy gold watch chain. The Jew pushed forward with a wink and an -ingratiating smile. - -"Goldstein is der name," said he, thrusting out a hand. "I'm der -man from New York, yes, der"--and he whispered the rest in Matt's -ear--"diamond merchant. You know for vat I come." - -A thrill ran through the king of the motor boys. No, he did not know -"for vat" the diamond merchant had come, but he guessed that it was to -purchase the Eye of Buddha. The mandarin's story was being borne out by -every fresh development. - -"We're a little ahead of time," observed Pryne, "but I guess it won't -make no difference." - -"Not the least," replied Matt. "I don't believe it will be necessary -for me to take my pal along, so I'll just give him a few instructions -about the motor car and we'll be going. This way, Joe," and Matt took -McGlory to one side for a brief talk. - -"What you going to do when you reach where you're going, with all that -gang against you?" whispered the cowboy. "The outfit would be more than -a handful for the two of us--and here you're cutting me out of the game -right at the start." - -"No," whispered Matt, "I'm not cutting you out of the game. You've got -the most important part to play. Listen. Find a constable, if you can -do it in a hurry, and pick up two or three more men and follow us. Do -it carefully, so that Pryne won't suspect. Also tell the driver of -the car to look out for the one-eyed sailor. If he comes here at ten -o'clock, tell the driver to have him captured and held--and the other -man, too, if they both come. That's your programme, Joe, and everything -depends on you." - -The cowboy's eyes began to glitter and snap as the gist and vital -importance of his pard's instructions drifted through his mind. - -"You know you can bank on me, Matt," he answered. "But don't move too -fast--make a delay. I've got a lot to do, and you're liable to get so -far ahead I'll lose track of you." - -"I'll delay matters as much as I can." - -Matt returned to Goldstein. - -"Where's Pryne?" he queried, observing, with a qualm, that the guide -had vanished. - -"He is gone for der team," replied Goldstein. "I am sorry," he added, -jumping to another subject, "that der price of precious stones is come -down. Fancy prices don't rule no more for such luxuries." - -"You'll have to pay something for this treasure from the temple of -Honam if you get it," answered Matt. - -"I will do all that is in reason, yes, but der chances vas great, and I -take them." - -"Haven't Grattan and I taken chances, Goldstein?" returned Matt sharply. - -"You have, yes. Well, we shall see, we shall see." - -Goldstein was carrying a small satchel which he kept in hand -continually, whether he was sitting down or standing up. - -"I come prepared to talk business," he said, with a sly grin, directing -his glance at the satchel. "My orders was to wait here until Bunce iss -arrived with der letter. I had a letter myself," he laughed. - -At this juncture Pryne drove around the corner of the building and drew -up at the platform in front of the store. - -"Jump in, gents," said he. "It won't be long till I snake you out to my -place." - -Matt and Goldstein climbed into the back seat. Under the seat was a bag -of ground feed. As Pryne was driving out of town, Matt drew his knife -from his pocket, opened the blade, and dropped a hand over the back of -the seat. - -A jab or two with the knife made a hole in the bag. The wagon was -an old one, and the boards in the bottom of the box had wide cracks -between them. Looking back casually, Matt saw that a fine trail of -"middlings" was leaking into the road. - -"That will do the trick," he thought exultantly. "My cowboy pard can be -depended on to attend to the rest." - - - - -CHAPTER XI. - -THE OLD SUGAR CAMP. - - -Pryne's team was by no means a swift one. The horses jogged slowly out -into the hills, Pryne constantly plying a gad. - -"Seems to me like," remarked Pryne, looking around suddenly, "that -Grattan allowed Bunce had only one eye." - -"That's another pal of his," said Matt coolly. "You've got us mixed, -Pryne." - -"Waal, mebby. Git ap, there," he added to the horses; "you critters are -slower'n merlasses in January." - -For a few minutes they rode in silence, the dust eddying around them -and only the creak of the wagon, the thump of the horses' hoofs, and -the swish of the gad breaking the stillness. - -Goldstein, his satchel on his knees, kept flicking a gaudy and heavily -perfumed handkerchief in front of his face to clear away the dust. -Matt was busy with his thoughts, and was wondering what was to happen -at the end of the journey. - -Abruptly, Pryne turned again in his seat. - -"Seems, too," he ventured, "as how Grattan said this Bunce was a sailor -an' wore sailor clothes." - -"That's the other fellow again, Pryne," Matt smiled. "You haven't got -much of a memory, I guess." - -"Waal, it ain't long, but it's mighty keen." - -"My cracious," murmured Goldstein, "but der dust is bad. How much -farther is it yet?" - -"We turn at the next crossroads and pull up a hill," answered Pryne; -"then we leave the hill road for a ways, an' we're there. It's my ole -sugar camp. Trees is mostly played out, though, an' we don't make sugar -there no more. It kinder 'pears to me like," he added, another thought -striking him, "Grattan said Bunce had whiskers around his jaws." - -"That's the other pal," said Matt. - -"Git ap, there, Prince!" called Pryne, slapping the off horse with the -gad. - -"How long have you known Grattan, Pryne?" inquired Matt. - -"Always, since I got married. My wife's his sister. Annaballe--that's -the old woman--she's English, she is. Come over visitin' in Cairo, -ten year back, an' I up and asked her to marry me. Grattan was to the -weddin', an' that was the first an' only time we'd met till a few days -ago. Great traveler, Grat is. He's been to Ejup, an' Rooshia, an' Chiny -an' all them countries. Great traveler. Takes pictur's for these here -movin'-picture machines." - -Matt heard this with interest. It reminded him of another time when -he had encountered a moving-picture man and had had a particularly -thrilling experience. And this experience with Grattan promised to be -even more thrilling. - -"Is the sugar camp a safe place?" asked Matt. - -"Nobody ever goes to the old camp now no more," replied Pryne. - -"My cracious, vat a dust!" said Goldstein. "How big is der Eye?" he -whispered to Matt. - -"Wait till you see it," Matt answered. - -"Pigeon's blood, yes?" - -Matt supposed he meant to ask if the Eye of Buddha was a pigeon's blood -ruby. Taking a chance, Matt nodded. - -"She is a true Oriental, eh?" went on Goldstein, a greedy glint coming -into his eyes. - -"It must be if it comes from China." - -"So! If she weigh five carat, she is vorth ten times so much as a -diamond. But diamonds ain't vorth so much now." - -Matt looked behind him. The sack of middlings was half emptied. - -"Are we halfway to the old sugar camp, Pryne?" Matt called. - -"Better'n that," was the reply. "Here's where we turn for up the hill." - -The hill was long and high, and the road turned into a little-used -trail and ascended through timber. The horses pulled and panted and the -gad fell mercilessly. - -"Somethin' of a climb," said Pryne casually. "One of them tires back -there is loose--the one on the right-hand side. Kinder keep an eye on -it, will you?" - -Matt looked at the tire, which was on his side of the wagon. As yet, -it was all right. Matt hoped it would remain so, for if Pryne got out -to drive it on he might discover the loss of his middlings--and other -things which would have a tendency to excite his suspicions. - -"Der dust ain't so much here," observed Goldstein, in a tone of relief. - -"Ain't so many wagons to churn it up," said Pryne. - -Then fell silence again, Matt busy with his thoughts. - -Where was Tsan Ti? While Matt was running down the Eye of Buddha for -him, what was the Chinaman, to whom the recovery of the ruby meant so -much, doing? - -These speculations were bootless, and Matt fell to thinking of the -glass balls. If Grattan had a supply of them, all the men McGlory could -bring would not be able to prevent him from getting away. - -Success in the king of the motor boys' venture hung by an exceedingly -slender thread. - -"It will be hard business to cut it up," came the voice of Goldstein, -breaking roughly into Matt's somber reflections. - -"Hard to cut what up?" Matt asked. - -"Der Eye. When it ain't best to sell precious stones in one piece, then -we cut them up." - -Matt understood what the Jew was driving at. Large diamonds are hard -to market, especially if the diamonds have been stolen. In order to -dispose of them they are often cut up into smaller stones. - -"You see," proceeded Goldstein, "dis ruby is valuable because of its -size, yes. Der size makes all der difference. If it is cut under fife -carat, dere vasn't much sale. Anyhow, diamonds is sheaper as they was. -I lose a lot of money by der fall in der price of diamonds." - -"Here's where we turn from the hill road an' strike out for the sugar -camp," remarked Pryne. - -He swerved from the steep road as he spoke and drove into a bumpy swath -cut through the timber. For half a mile or more they jolted and banged -along, then Pryne pulled to a halt. - -"I'll hitch here," said he, getting out, "an' I'll leave the rig. -The rest of the way we'll go on foot. It ain't fur," he added -hastily, noticing the solicitous glance which Goldstein threw at his -patent-leather shoes. - -"First time I efer come to a place like this to buy precious stones," -remarked the Jew, clambering slowly down. - -Matt had a bad two minutes waiting for Pryne to hitch the horses and -fearing he would come to the rear of the wagon and discover the slashed -bag of feed. But Pryne was apparently unsuspicious. - -Turning away from the tree to which he had hitched the horses, he -called to Matt and Goldstein to follow him. - -Their path took them through the old sugar "bush," among maples that -were dead and dying and whose trunks were deeply scarred by the sap -hunters. Presently an old log building came into view. - -"There's the place," said Pryne. - -Part of the building was nothing more than a tumble-down shed. One end -of the structure, however, was walled in, and seemed to have been made -habitable by the use of rough boards. - -A length of stovepipe stuck up through the roof--about the only visible -sign that the place was used as a dwelling. - -With Pryne in the lead, the odd little group moved around the side of -the log wall to a door. - -To say that Matt's heart did not beat more quickly, or that visions of -violence did not float before his mental gaze, would be to say that he -was not human. - -He had a keen realization of the dangers into which he was about to -throw himself. The moment he passed the door deception would be a -thing of the past. Grattan would recognize him as a stranger--a prying -stranger who had come to the sugar camp with the intention of securing -the Eye of Buddha. - -Matt's problem was to engage Grattan's attention, and keep him from -going to extremes, until McGlory should arrive with reënforcements. - -Just how Matt was to do this he did not know. He was trusting to -luck--and luck had not been favoring him to any great extent lately. - -The door of the log hut was closed. Pryne rapped on it. - -"Who's there?" demanded a voice from within. - -"It's Pryne, Grat," was the answer. - -"Goldstein and Bunce with you?" - -"Sure. I've fetched 'em." - -"Then bring them in. I'm ready and waiting." - -Pryne bore down on the wooden latch and threw open the door. - -"Go right in, gents," said he, stepping back. - -Goldstein, with a laugh, passed through the door first. Matt followed. -Pryne brought up the rear and closed the door. - -What light there was in the one room in which Matt found himself came -through the broken roof. There were no windows in the log walls. - -"He was there, all right, Grat," cried Pryne, with a loud guffaw, "an' -he didn't make no bones about comin' with me. He was mighty anxious to -come, seemed like, but I don't calculate he guessed he'd find so many -folks here." - -Matt's eyes, by that time, had become accustomed to the gloom, and he -was able to look around and distinguish various objects. - -First, he saw a heavy-set man on a bench. This man had a dark face and -a sinister eye, and was leaning back against the wall. Both his hands -clung to a buckthorn cane with a large wooden handle. The cane was -crossed against one of his knees and held it slightly elevated. - -"Throw yer binnacle lights this way, my hearty, as soon's ye're done -sizin' up my shipmate," came a voice from the opposite side of the room. - -Matt whirled, a startled exclamation escaping his lips. - -It was the one-eyed sailor who had spoken. The fellow was sitting on -another bench, a wide grin on his weather-beaten face. - -The trap had been sprung--and it was the most complete trap Matt had -ever been in. - -"I told ye more'n once to leave the Eye o' Buddha alone," chuckled -Bunce, "but ye wouldn't take a warnin'. _Now_, see where ye are!" - - - - -CHAPTER XII. - -A TIGHT CORNER. - - -It was a characteristic of Motor Matt that he never became "rattled." -A clear head and steady nerves were absolutely essential in his chosen -career. To these he added a quick and sure judgment. - -"Surprised, are you?" asked Grattan, with a choppy laugh. - -"Well, yes, in a way," replied Matt coolly. - -"I wonder if you know what you're up against?" - -"You have a stolen ruby, called the Eye of Buddha, and Goldstein is -here to buy it." - -"My cracious!" gasped the Jew, throwing up his hands. - -There was no doubting his surprise, so Matt knew that he, at least, was -not in the plot. - -"Close your face, Goldstein," scowled Grattan. "This business isn't -going to bother you. Take a seat, Motor Matt," he added. "We'll have a -little chin-chin before we get busy." - -There was an empty bench along the end wall. Matt walked over to it and -seated himself, glad that there was to be a "chin-chin." This meant -delay, and would give time for McGlory to arrive with reënforcements. - -"I don't understand what's der matter," gulped Goldstein, pressing back -against the wall and hugging his satchel in his arms. "I don't like der -looks of things, no." - -"You can't help the looks of things," snapped Grattan, "and you'll -understand the situation a lot better before you get away from this -sugar camp. Sit down." - -There was a three-legged stool close to the Jew, and he dropped down on -it in a state of semi-collapse. His eyes passed to Pryne, who had drawn -a revolver and was standing in front of the door. Undoubtedly Goldstein -had a lot of money in his satchel with which to pay for the ruby, so it -is small wonder he was worried upon finding himself a participator in -such a scene. - -"I thought der young feller was Bunce!" he exclaimed, moistening his -dry lips with his tongue. - -"Put a stopper on your jaw-tackle!" yelled the sailor. "That's the line -we've run out to you for now, and you'll lay to it." - -The Jew swallowed hard on a lump in his throat and fell limply against -the wall behind him. - -Goldstein had even more to lose as the outcome of that desperate -situation than had Matt, but the king of the motor boys saw at a glance -that he was absolutely useless so far as resistance was concerned. - -Grattan dropped his suspended foot on the floor and turned to Pryne. - -"Did any one come with Motor Matt, Pryne?" he inquired. - -"Two fellers come with him," was the response. "They got to Purling in -a automobile." - -"Who were those fellows, Motor Matt?" demanded Grattan, shooting a -sharp glance at the young motorist. - -"The driver of the car, from Catskill Landing," said Matt, "and my -chum, Joe McGlory." - -"Why did you leave them in Purling?" - -"The driver had to stay to look after the car, and I didn't think it -was necessary to bring McGlory along for a bodyguard." - -Grattan threw back his head and peered at Matt through half-closed eyes. - -"You're a cool one," he remarked. "Why were you coming here to see me?" - -"I wanted to get the ruby." - -Bunce roared. Grattan commanded silence sharply, and the sailor's -merriment ceased as suddenly as it had begun. - -"Did you think," went on Grattan, "that you could, single-handed, take -the ruby from me by force?" - -Matt was silent. - -"Or did you think you could talk me out of it?" - -"I hadn't much of an idea what I could do," said Matt. "It was just -barely possible you'd be generous enough, when you learned the -circumstances, to give or sell the Eye of Buddha to Tsan Ti." - -Grattan curbed the old sailor's fresh inclination to laugh with a quick -look. - -"What are the circumstances?" he queried. - -"Tsan Ti has received the yellow cord. If he does not recover the -idol's eye in two weeks, he must destroy himself." - -"Young man," said Grattan, "I have been two years planning to get my -clutches on the Eye of Buddha. I have haunted Canton, feasted my eyes -upon that priceless splash of red in the forehead of the idol in the -Honam Joss House until the itch to possess it fairly drove me mad. But -the temple was too well guarded, the priests too many, and the walls -too high. It was only when I learned of the balls of Ptah and their -powers that the feat looked at all feasible. In order to see these -balls of Ptah for myself, I made the long journey from Hongkong to the -ruins of Karnak on the Nile." - -Taking the buckthorn cane under his arm, Grattan stepped across the -room to a table near the bench where Bunce was sitting. On the table -rested a small box with a strap handle. Grattan opened the lid of the -box, and from a nest of cotton picked one of the shimmering glass -balls. He handled the ball gently, and a glow came into his eyes as he -held it up. - -"A quantity of these balls," he proceeded, "were unearthed a year ago -from among the ruins of Karnak. They are of Egyptian glass, thousands -of years old, and each of the big beads has blown into its surface -the _praenomen_ of Hatasu, a queen who is conjectured to have lived -more than fourteen hundred years before our era. A party of workmen -discovered the balls, and chanced to break one of them." Grattan -paused, turning the shimmering sphere around and around in his hand. -"All the workmen," he went on, "were thrown into an unconscious -condition, and it was in this manner that the peculiar properties of -the balls were discovered. Why they are called the balls of Ptah I -don't know, and what they contain that has such a peculiar effect on -living beings, no one has ever been able to discover. But I heard of -them, stole a dozen, and tried one on the museum guards in making my -escape. It answered the purpose," he went on dryly. "If it had not, I -would have been caught." - -Almost reverently he replaced the ball in the cotton-lined case and -closed the lid. Returning to his bench, he resumed his original -position, sweeping an amused glance around him at the awed faces of -Goldstein, Pryne, and Matt. - -"Armed with one of the balls of Ptah," he proceeded, "I picked up the -ancient mariner"--he nodded toward Bunce--"and we manufactured a silk -ladder twenty feet long, and weighted it at one end. Then, one day, -we repaired to the Honam Joss House at five in the afternoon. That -ball of Egyptian glass, crushed to fragments on the floor, overcame -the priests. Bunce and I protected our own faces with masks, equipped -with oxygen tubes reaching into small tanks of compressed air in our -pockets. To throw the weighted end of the ladder over the head of Ptah -took us possibly a minute; for me to climb the ladder and dig the ruby -from the idol's forehead consumed possibly five minutes; and for Bunce -and me to get out of the temple took five minutes more. We were safely -out of Canton when the storm broke." - -Matt had listened to all this in supreme wonder. The audacity of the -undertaking caused his pulses to stir, but he wondered why Grattan -should recount such an exploit to him, and in the hearing of Pryne and -Goldstein. - -"You know now," continued Grattan, "what the Eye of Buddha has cost me, -and you say it is just barely possible I would be generous enough to -yield the gem to Tsan Ti in order to save his life!" - -"Or you might sell it to him," suggested Matt. - -"I might, if he could pay what it is worth." - -"Grattan," spoke up Goldstein with sudden fervor, "you have promised me -der first shance!" - -"Keep still!" growled Grattan. "You'll get all the chance you want -before you leave here." - -"The mandarin is a rich man," said Matt, who, of course, was parleying -merely to gain time. - -"He has a little money with him, but that is all. Every plantation he -owns in China, every string of cash in his strong boxes is guarded by -the regent. If he does not recover the Eye of Buddha, the property -will be confiscated. And he can't touch a cent of his fortune until he -returns the ruby to its place in the idol's head. So, you see, your -friend, the mandarin of the red button, is in a bally hard fix. He -can't buy the ruby, and certainly I won't give it to him." - -This was intensely interesting to Matt. He was listening, now, in a -casual way, for the approach of McGlory and his party, and he was -planning what he could do with the balls of Ptah in order to keep -Grattan from using them. - -"You're a clever lad, Motor Matt," went on Grattan, "and I admire -clever people. You performed a neat trick when you removed that folded -note from Bunce's cap. It was a foolish place to keep such a thing, but -Bunce is a good deal of a fool. For instance, I reached the Catskill -Mountains with six of the balls of Ptah--the only ones of the kind to -be had--and the crack-brained sailor man stole two of them and threw -them away on you and your chum, gaining little and losing something -which might prove of priceless value to us." - -"Now, shipmate," began Bunce, in a wheedling voice, "you don't get the -right splice on that piece of rope; you----" - -"That'll do," said Grattan, waving his hand. - -Bunce subsided. The power of Grattan over the sailor was absolute. It -was easy to see whose had been the plotting mind and the guiding hand -in the exploits of the two. - -"You are sharp enough to wonder, I suppose," said Grattan, again -addressing Matt, "why I am going into these private details for your -benefit. The answer is simple. Our plans are laid to leave here -to-day. You can't stop us, no one can stop us. The balls of Ptah will -disarm all opposition, and the four of them will see us out of the -country with Goldstein's money." - -"But if Goldstein has the Eye of Buddha," said Matt, "I will know it -and can prove it. He can't hold stolen property." - -"Certainly he can't. Goldstein gets the ruby and we get Goldstein's -money. You have Goldstein arrested and prove in a court of law that he -bought the idol's eye from the original thieves. Then----" - -A howl came from Goldstein. - -"I von't buy, I von't buy! That is a skin game. I von't buy der stone." - -"Oh, yes, you will," and, for the first time, a laugh came from -Grattan's lips. "You've brought the money and you'll buy before you -leave." - -Then, for the first time, Goldstein understood the true meaning of the -situation. He flashed a wild look at Pryne and the revolver, and sank -back against the wall and groaned. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII. - -A MASTER ROGUE. - - -"As I said before," resumed Grattan, "I admire clever people. Goldstein -is not clever. I send a letter to him at New York and tell him to come -to Purling, ask for Pryne at the general store, and bring money enough -to buy the Eye of Buddha. His covetous soul prompts him to defy the -law, buy the ruby for half its value, and cheat Bunce and me. He rushes -into the trap. I tell you he is as big a fool as Bunce--almost." - -"Mercy!" begged Goldstein. "Oh, Mister Grattan, don't rob me! Der price -of diamonds has gone off, and I lose much money----" - -"Silence!" thundered Grattan. - -Goldstein fell whimpering back against the wall. - -"It was only by a chance, Motor Matt," went on Grattan, "that I -discovered your trick in exchanging a letter of your own for one of -mine in the ancient mariner's cap. Bunce did not know I was harbored -in this old sugar camp. Pryne knew it, and also my sister, who happens -to be Pryne's wife. No one else knew it. Bunce and I had discovered -that we were being trailed by a San Francisco Chinaman, and that he was -firing telegrams back to the slope for Tsan Ti. From Catskill I came -here to wait until the ruby could be exchanged for Goldstein's money. -Bunce went around the vicinity of Catskill keeping watch for the spying -Chinaman, and for Tsan Ti. He didn't find the 'Frisco hatchet boy, but -he did discover, this forenoon, that the mandarin was staying at the -hotel on the mountain. Bunce was traveling around in an automobile, and -he had my letter asking him to come to Purling, which I had mailed to -him at the Catskill post office. When he found Tsan Ti was staying in -the hotel, Bunce thought he would hurry to Purling and take his chance -of finding me. On the way down the mountain, as ill luck would have it, -he passed you and the mandarin. Then came that exchange of notes. When -Bunce discovered that, his panic was still further increased. The road -he took to Purling passed along the foot of this hill. - -"I was out taking my constitutional, at the time, and fate threw Bunce -and me together, for I hailed him as he was passing. The driver of the -automobile was a man we both knew we could trust. Bunce and I had a -talk, and I read the letter you had put in his hat in the place of the -one I had sent. The circumstances attending the exchange of that note -convinced me that in you I had an uncommonly clever person to deal -with. I guessed that you would use the note and try to find out where -I was. I didn't want you to do that, but I arranged with Pryne, if you -did, to bring you out here. I also sent Bunce on the rightabout back -to the mountainside, and told him to make away with your motor cycles. -That, I hoped, would keep you from Purling by giving you something else -to hunt for instead of the Eye of Buddha. But I didn't know you--I -failed to do your cleverness full justice. - -"Bunce went into hiding at the roadside from the mountain top, knowing -you would have to come that way. When you sped down the road in an -automobile, with your chum and Tsan Ti, Bunce was rattled. He had been -expecting you on motor cycles, and had framed up a little plan which -he worked so successfully later. However, he put a bullet into one of -the automobile tires and caused a smash. The fool! He came near getting -us into the toils of the law so deep we could never have escaped. His -folly continued, however, when he skulked close to the burning machine -to note the extent of the ruin he had caused. He had a close call when -you took after him. More by luck than by any good judgment, he got away -from you, and was close enough to see and hear what went on when the -owner of the wrecked automobile met and talked with you in the road. - -"Bunce hunted up the driver of the car, who had been waiting for him in -a convenient place not far from the road. The two went into hiding in -the brush, spotted your motor-cycle lamps, captured your machines, and -the wheels are now handily by to help us in our getaway." - -Matt had listened to this talk abstractedly. He was waiting and -listening for McGlory and the reënforcements. Why didn't they come? -They had had ample time, and Matt was positive they would pick up -the trail he had left and follow without difficulty. McGlory was a -good trailer, and he would be quick to understand the sifted line of -middlings when he saw it. - -"Shipmate," said Bunce, "you haven't given me my proper rating. It -wasn't all luck an' touch an' go with me. I done noble, I did." - -"You mean well, Bunce, but you're not clever," said Grattan. - -"My eye! Wasn't it clever the way I put on them scarecrow fixin's in -the cornfield?" - -"And then lost your nerve and ducked while Motor Matt and his chum were -looking at you? Oh, yes, that _was_ clever." - -There was scorn in Grattan's voice. - -Matt had heard enough to realize that Grattan was a master rogue. He -was playing a bold game, and with consummate skill. He was willing to -talk, to lay bare the innermost details of his work, for he had planned -escape and felt sure he would get away. Matt wondered if he would not -succeed in spite of McGlory and the men he was to bring with him. - -Those balls, those balls of Ptah! They appeared to be the key that was -to help Grattan through the coil of the law. - -"I am rewarding you, Motor Matt, for your cleverness," pursued Grattan, -"and for the narrow escape Bunce gave you in that automobile. The -reward is the Eye of Buddha. I sell it to Goldstein for the money he -has in that satchel; then, while Bunce and I are safely out of the hut, -I break one of the balls of Ptah by hurling it through the open door; -you and Goldstein become unconscious; you recover and make a prisoner -of Goldstein; and, finally, by due process of law, you recover the ruby -for Tsan Ti. Very simple. So far as I can see, Goldstein is the only -one to suffer." - -Matt was still listening, listening. Where in the world was McGlory? - -Grattan turned toward the shivering Jew. - -"Goldstein," said he sternly, "how much money have you in that satchel?" - -"Mercy, Mr. Grattan!" implored the diamond merchant. "I have lost much -money by der decline in----" - -"How much have you in the satchel?" repeated Grattan. - -"Only a little, Mr. Grattan. I dit not bring much." - -"Didn't you bring enough to pay a good price for the ruby?" - -"How was I to know vat der ruby was worth? Fife thousand dollars is -what I brought----" - -"Five thousand! Five thousand to pay me for two years of planning, and -the risk! You have brought more than that." - -"Where is der ruby, Mr. Grattan?" - -"Where you'll not find it until I see how much money you have in the -satchel. Give it to Bunce. Bunce, you open the grip and count the -money." - -"Don't do that, please, Mr. Grattan! I have lost much money by der drop -in----" - -"Take it over and give it to Bunce." - -Tremblingly, Goldstein got up with his precious satchel. His face was -pallid, and he seemed scarcely able to move. He started toward the -sailor; then, suddenly, when he was close to Pryne, he whirled and -grabbed at the exposed revolver. - -The satchel dropped, and Goldstein, with the fury of desperation, -fought like a madman. It was his money he was fighting for--money that -was, perhaps, dearer to him than life itself. Nothing else could have -goaded him into such a mad attempt to escape from the hut. - -Bunce sprang toward the struggling pair at the door, and Grattan also -arose and stepped toward them. - -This offered Matt a chance for a daring _coup_. Unseen in the -excitement, and unheard because of the noise of the scuffle, he glided -to the table and opened the box. Deftly he extracted one of the balls -and allowed the box-cover to fall into place. The ball passed into his -pocket. - -While he stood by the table, Grattan suddenly caught sight of him. - -"Go back to your bench, Motor Matt!" he ordered. "You have everything -to gain and nothing to lose by sitting tight and obeying orders. Get -back, I tell you." - -Matt backed to the bench and sat down. Bunce and Pryne flung Goldstein -to the floor, and while Pryne kicked him toward his seat Bunce regained -his own place with the satchel. - -"I did not think Goldstein had it in him," laughed Grattan. "When -you take his money, you touch him in a vital place. Be sensible, -Goldstein," he added. "We've got too strong a grip on you." - -The Jew lifted himself to the stool, bruised and battered. His head was -bowed and he presented a pitiable sight. - -"Now, then, Bunce," said Grattan, "look into the satchel. Let's see how -much Goldstein brought with him for purposes of barter. I didn't expect -to get anywhere near what the Eye of Buddha was worth, but----" - -There came a pounding on the door. Instantly all were on their feet, -consternation written large in every face but Grattan's and Matt's. -Grattan believed that, even with intruders at hand, he was master of -the situation. Matt, armed with one of the balls of Ptah, was inclined -to dispute the question with him. - -"Open up!" cried a voice. - -There was a bar across the door and Pryne stood with one hand on the -fastening to make sure it held against the attack. Grattan fluttered a -hand for silence. - -"Who's there?" he demanded. - -"Porter, the constable, from Purling, and five other men." - -Grattan leaped to the table and caught up the box. Holding it in -front of him, the buckthorn cane under his arm, he whispered to his -confederates: - -"Bunce, you and Pryne stand ready to leave the room. When I give the -word, go--and go quick." - -Then, lifting his voice, Grattan added: - -"Open the door, Pryne, and admit the constable from Purling and five -men." - -Pryne bent to the bar. - -"Stop!" cried Matt. - -Pryne raised himself quickly. He and Bunce, Grattan and even Goldstein -stared at the king of the motor boys. - -Matt was standing on the bench, his right hand lifted, and one of the -shimmering spheres in his hand. - -"Don't come in here yet, McGlory!" shouted Matt. "I'll give the word -when I want you to come. You see, Grattan," he added, "I'd a little -rather have my friends stay on the outside until they can come in here -_after_ I break the glass ball." - - - - -CHAPTER XIV. - -THE GLASS SPHERES. - - -Tremors shook the one-eyed sailor. The satchel quivered in his hands. -Pryne was filled with consternation, and showed it as plainly as did -Bunce. The full meaning of the situation had not dawned on Goldstein -as yet, but the light was slowly breaking. Grattan alone, of all those -confronting Matt, seemed in full possession of his wits. - -"Don't throw that, don't throw that!" stuttered Bunce. "Avast, I say!" - -"Where'd he get the thing?" demanded Pryne. - -"Clever lad!" murmured Grattan. "You must have taken that out of the -box during the disturbance caused by Goldstein. I saw you by the table, -but I didn't think that was your game. Well, what are you intending to -do? You have one of the balls and I have three. I don't know that I -grasp your intentions." - -"If these glass balls are broken," answered Matt steadily, "it means -that all of us, every person in this room, will be stretched out on the -floor, unconscious and helpless. Those outside will escape the effects -of the narcotic, or whatever it is contained in the spheres. Those who -are at the door happen to be my friends. They will wait a space; then, -after the fumes have cleared out of the room, they will come in, make -prisoners of you, Bunce and Pryne, save Goldstein's money for him, and -recover the Eye of Buddha." - -"Let me understand this fully," continued Grattan. "How do you know -those outside are your friends?" - -"Listen," said Matt. "McGlory!" he called. - -"On deck, pard!" came the answer of the cowboy. "You're in a nice row -of stumps, I must say. Who's in there with you?" - -"Grattan, Bunce, Goldstein, and Pryne." - -"What's the layout?" - -"I'm on a bench at one side of the room with one of the glass balls. -Grattan stands opposite me with three more. If I throw the ball I'm -holding, then I want you fellows to wait until it's safe to come in." - -"Speak to me about that!" - -Grattan was thoughtful. - -"How did those fellows manage to find their way here?" he asked. - -"Pryne had a sack of ground feed in the back of the wagon. I slashed it -with my knife and we left a plain trail." - -"Jumpin' Mariar!" breathed Pryne. - -"You've hit it off nicely, Pryne!" scowled Grattan. "Annabelle ought -to be proud of you for that. Bunce isn't the only fool I've been -tied up with, this time." He turned again to the king of the motor -boys. "You're deeper than I imagined, but you're a point shy in your -reasoning, son. You'll not get the Eye of Buddha by proceeding in that -fashion. I was dealing generously with you when I offered to trade the -ruby for Goldstein's money." - -"You have no right to rob Goldstein," said Matt. "I couldn't help you -without being equally guilty." - -"Goot boy!" applauded Goldstein. "That's der truth." - -"This diamond merchant," argued Grattan, "is only a 'fence' for stolen -property. He came out here to cheat me, cheat Tsan Ti, cheat the law. -We're simply beating him at his own game." - -"Two wrongs never made a right," answered Matt. - -"You talk foolishly. But, even though you carry out your plan, I say -again _you will not get the Eye of Buddha_. That is safely hidden where -it will never be found. Besides--look at Bunce." - -Matt had been giving his full attention to Grattan. He now swerved his -eyes toward the sailor and found a revolver leveled in his direction. - -"Here's Scoldin' Sairy starin' ye in the face," said Bunce. "Don't -tease us no more or she'll speak." - -"The moment that ball leaves your hand, Motor Matt," declared Grattan, -"Bunce will fire. The rest of us will be left merely unconscious on the -floor, but you--well, you're clever enough to imagine what will happen -to _you_. Are you willing to talk sense? I promise to leave the Eye of -Buddha with Goldstein in exchange for his satchel of money, but we must -be allowed to escape with the satchel." - -"I'll not help you rob Goldstein," answered Matt. - -"Ye'd rather be sent to Davy Jones' locker, I suppose?" put in Bunce. -"That's where ye'll go, as quick an' sure as though ye was wrapped in -canvas and thrown over the side with a hundred-pound shot at yer pins." - -Goldstein, palpitating between hope and despair, watched and listened -to this crossfire of threat and defiance wherein the fate of his money -was at stake. A half-crazy light arose in his eyes and he seemed -meditating some desperate move. - -Grattan lifted his voice. - -"Hello, out there! We've got Motor Matt under the point of a revolver, -and if you don't retreat from the vicinity of this hut, there'll be -shooting." - -"Is that so, pard!" came wildly from McGlory. - -"Stay where you are," cried Matt. "They won't shoot--they don't dare." - -"Bunce," began Grattan, "you'd better----" - -Grattan had no time to finish. With a wild yell of fury Goldstein flung -himself at Grattan and seized the buckthorn cane, jerking it away and -whirling it about his head. - -"The buckthorn!" shouted Bunce, in more of a panic than the Jew's -manoeuvre seemed to call for; "he's got the buckthorn cane!" - -Grattan let go of his temper for the first time, and whirled and leaped -at Goldstein. The Jew struck at him viciously, the blow falling short -and knocking the box of glass balls out of his hand and upon the floor. - -"Mask! mask!" bellowed Grattan. - -The box flew open as it fell and Matt caught a glimpse of broken glass -fragments flying out of it, and of something white lifted to the faces -of Grattan and Bunce. All was turmoil in the room. Grattan rushed -at Goldstein and tried to recover the cane. Matt flung at him the -ball--the last conscious act the king of the motor boys could remember. - -The pungent odor arose to his nostrils, choking him, blinding his eyes -and robbing him of his strength. He crashed down from the bench, and -then a mighty hand seemed to sweep over him and drop a black pall of -silence. - -Motor Matt opened his eyes. He was lying out in the sun, the bare -boughs of the maples over him, and McGlory kneeling at his side. - -"You had a rough time of it, old pard," said McGlory, "but you didn't -stop a bullet--and that's some satisfaction." - -Matt groped around in his mind to pick up the trend of events. Suddenly -all the details flashed through his brain. - -"What became of Grattan and Bunce?" he asked, sitting up. - -"They smashed through a boarded-up window, pard," replied McGlory. - -"And got away?" - -"Like a couple of streaks. They used our motor cycles." - -"Why don't you follow them?" - -"Follow them? What's the good? That happened an hour ago. The Purling -constable rushed back to the village to do some telephoning, and it's -barely possible the two tinhorns will be corralled. I wouldn't bank on -it, though. Luck hasn't been coming that way for us since we struck the -Catskills." - -"An hour ago!" muttered Matt, rubbing his forehead. "It seems as though -all this excitement had only just happened." - -"That's the way those dope balls act. I was afraid of 'em. And it -wasn't so blooming pleasant for us fellows to stand out here while -all that ruction was going on in the house. When One Eye and his pal -crashed through the window--or maybe it wasn't a window but a hole in -the wall that was just patched up with boards--we all took after 'em. -Out close to the road they jumped on a couple of motor cycles--ours, by -the looks of them--and were off a-smoking. When they came out of the -cabin they had white things over their faces----" - -"Masks," said Matt. "They had them handy. But for that you'd have found -them in the cabin along with Goldstein and me. By the way, where _is_ -Goldstein?" - -"We left him in the house. We weren't in so much of a hurry to bring -him to his senses as we were you." - -"And Pryne--what's become of him?" - -"Stretched out beside the diamond buyer." - -"Did you find the Eye of Buddha?" - -"That's a dream, Matt. No, we didn't find it. All we found was a -satchel of money--the satchel Goldstein had with him at the store in -Purling." - -"There were six of you--five with the constable. Where are the other -four?" - -"The constable miscalled the number," laughed McGlory, "so his talk -would have a bigger effect. There were only four of us all told. You -see, we left the driver of the car in Purling to look after Bunce when -he showed up there. And he was here, all the time! Sufferin' surprises! -Say, I was sure stumped when I heard the Hottentot was in that cabin." - -"There were three besides you," went on Matt, persisting in his attempt -to get the matter of numbers straight in his mind, "and the constable -has gone to Purling. Where are the other two?" - -"Here they come," and McGlory pointed to a couple of Chinamen, who at -that moment emerged from the hut. - -Matt stared and rubbed his eyes. - -"Am I still under the influence of those glass balls?" he muttered, "or -is that really Tsan Ti coming this way?" - -"It's the mandarin, fast enough," chuckled McGlory, "and the chink -that's with him is Sam Wing." - -Observing that Matt had recovered his senses, Tsan Ti hastened forward. - - - - -CHAPTER XV. - -THE EYE OF BUDDHA. - - -Tsan Ti was not particularly happy. He seemed pleased to meet Matt once -more, but underlying this pleasure was a deep and settled melancholy. - -"Greetings, astonishing friend," said the mandarin. "You have performed -actions never to be forgotten; imperishable deeds which----" - -"Cut out the frills, Tsan Ti," interrupted Matt, "and tell me where you -went after Joe and I left you at the wrecked car." - -"Sam Wing approached me while I was seeking exhaustively for the yellow -cord, which I had lost and which I had the overwhelming desire to use. -Sam Wing was ascending the mountain, traveling on foot, to gain the top -and find me. He had a report to convey. He conveyed it. He had seen -the aged mariner in Purling, and he had come at once for me. I stopped -for nothing--not even to explain my absence to you who had left me in -such hurry. I went with Sam Wing forthwith, and we found some one to -transport us to Purling. There we watched out the night in vain, and -toward morning repaired to the house of a poor person, who afforded us -food and a couch on which to rest. I was resting when Sam Wing came to -my side and declared there was a youth in the place who was hunting for -the peace officer. I went out, hoping to meet the peace officer myself -and ask for news of the sailor. Imagine my marvelous astonishment upon -discovering your distinguished friend. He wanted men and he could find -few, so Sam Wing and myself accompanied him. Accept my congratulations, -eminent friend, upon your escape. It is with sorrow, however, that I -view the flight of the sailor and that other, whom I saw, on a former -momentous occasion, wearing a sun hat with a pugree. These, I imagine, -assisted their escape out of the sense-destroying fumes." - -From his blouse, Tsan Ti developed two squares of white cloth with -holes clipped in each to fit a pair of eyes. A strong odor of drugs -accompanied the display of the masks. - -"It was objects similar to these," went on the mandarin in pensive -retrospection, "with which the thieves covered their faces in the -temple at Honam. Pah!" and he flung the bits of cloth from him in -repulsion. - -"You were a long time getting here, Joe," said Matt, turning to his -chum. - -"I was a long time getting the constable," answered Joe, "and there -wasn't another _hombre_ in the town who cared to take the risk of going -with me. Finally I found the constable, and then Tsan Ti and Sam Wing -came our way. We started, in a rig the constable borrowed from in front -of the general store." - -"You picked up the trail?" - -"Tell me about that!" laughed McGlory. "Sure we picked it up, pard. How -could we have missed it?" - -"It is unfortunate," spoke up Tsan Ti gloomily, "that the yellow -cord was lost at the time the devil car took fire. It was of great -importance to me as the means of carrying out the invitation given by -our gracious regent. The sailor and his confederate have fled, and the -Eye of Buddha has gone with them. The ten thousand demons of misfortune -continue to make me feel their displeasure. There is nothing left but -the happy dispatch." - -"Aw, cheer up," growled McGlory. "Buy a string of laundries, somewhere, -and tell your gracious regent to go hang." - -"I am bound by ancient ceremony to accept and use the cord," insisted -Tsan Ti, mildly but firmly. - -"Well, you've got a few days yet. Don't use the cord until you have to." - -"I cannot use it until I find it, solicitous friend." - -"Suppose you never find it?" - -"Then Kien Lung will hunt for me and give me a second." - -"Sufferin' heathens!" murmured McGlory, in disgust. - -Matt got to his feet. - -"Let's go and see how Goldstein is getting along," he suggested. "What -became of that satchel, Joe?" - -"We left it in the house--thought that was the safest place for it." - -"We'll have to take care of that. It contains the money Goldstein -brought to use in buying the Eye of Buddha." - -Together Matt, McGlory, Tsan Ti and Sam Wing made their way back to the -hut. Just as they reached the door Goldstein sprang to his feet, the -buckthorn cane in his hand. - -"Look at him!" exclaimed McGlory. "He's still locoed, Matt, and in -about the same state of mind you and I were when we repaired that -bursted tire, rode to the Mountain House, and went to sleep in the -hammocks." - -The diamond merchant's face was full of anger and apprehension. His -clouded faculties were still possessed of the notion, it seemed, that -his satchel of money continued to be the object of Grattan's designs. - -Jumping at the log wall, Goldstein struck a terrific blow with the head -of the cane. - -"I hope he keeps hammering the wall," breathed the cowboy. "If he ever -came at one of us like that we'd have to take him down and lash his -hands and feet. Gee, but he's vicious." - -Again and again Goldstein struck the logs with the cane. At last the -head of the cane snapped and flew into fragments, and a glittering -object flashed toward the door, struck Sam Wing and dropped downward. A -gleam of sun caught the object, and it glowed like a huge drop of blood. - -A chattering screech went up from Tsan Ti, and forthwith he slumped to -his knees and picked the object up in his trembling hands. - -Startled Chinese words came from Sam Wing; the mandarin answered, and -there followed a frantic give and take of native gibberish, mostly -whoops, grunts and falling inflections. - -"Sufferin' gold mines!" cried McGlory. "Say, pard, is that red thing -the Eye of Buddha?" - -"It must be," answered Matt excitedly, hurrying into the room and -picking up the cane and some of the fragments of the head. "Great spark -plugs!" he exclaimed, examining the pieces. - -"What do you make out, pard?" demanded McGlory. - -"Why," went on Matt, "the head of the cane was hollow, _and the ruby -was concealed in it_!" - -"No!" - -"Fact! Here, look for yourself. I wondered why Grattan was so careful -of that cane. The last thing I remember was seeing him rush at -Goldstein and try to get the cane away from him. Goldstein had grabbed -the stick and had knocked the box of glass balls out of Grattan's hand -with it. Of course, at the time Grattan tried to get the stick back, -the balls were spilling their knock-out fumes all over the room, and -he couldn't waste much time getting into his mask and lighting out. He -had to leave the cane behind--it was either that or be laid out by the -glass balls and captured. Perhaps he thought we'd never find out the -ruby was in the cane and that he could come back later and recover it." - -"Goldstein has smashed the mystery!" jubilated McGlory, "and when he -comes to he won't know a thing about it." - -Matt was dazed, and the two excited Chinamen were still gabbling like a -couple of frantic ducks; McGlory was walking around, rubbing his eyes, -and Goldstein was sitting on the stool undergoing the last stage of his -awakening. - -"What's der matter?" inquired the diamond broker. "Where is--what -is---- Ach, der satchel, der satchel!" - -His eyes had alighted on the grip, and he shot off the stool and -gathered up the precious object. His first move was to open it and make -sure of the contents. - -"Where is Grattan?" he asked, with a sudden tremor. "Where is der -feller that wanted to steal my money?" - -"You don't have to fret about him any more," said McGlory. "He's lit -out--in something of a hurry. I don't reckon he'll be back." - -"What a lucky escape, what a lucky escape!" chanted Goldstein; "mein -gracious, what a lucky escape!" - -Matt, observing that Tsan Ti and Sam Wing were not yet done with their -wild felicitations, strolled around the room. He saw the place where -Bunce and Grattan had crashed through the wall. Fire, at some time or -other when the sugar makers were boiling their sap, had eaten into the -logs, leaving a large hole which had been covered with boards. Grattan -and Bunce, knowing about the weak spot in the wall, had chose to get -out of the cabin in that way rather than by attempting to pass through -the door. - -While Matt was looking at the breach in the timbers, he heard a series -of shouts from the Chinamen. A glance in their direction gave him a -fleeting glimpse of Pryne, forcing his way through the door and over -the heads of Tsan Ti and Sam Wing. - -"That tinhorn's getting away!" shouted McGlory. - -He would have chased after Pryne had Matt not gripped him by the -shoulder and held him back. - -"Let the fellow go," said Matt. "He was roped into the game by Grattan, -and was only a tool, at the most. We've recovered the Eye of Buddha, -and have saved Goldstein's money for him, so I guess we're doing well -enough." - -The rough way the Chinamen had been treated by Pryne appeared to -have made them remember that there were others in the cabin besides -themselves. - -Tsan Ti got up, balanced the ruby on the palm of his hand, and stepped -toward Matt, as happy a mandarin as could be found, in China or out of -it. - -"See, estimable and glorious friend," he cried. "This is the Eye of -Buddha, which caused me so much misfortune and came near to causing -my death. It has been found, and but for you it would have been lost -to me forever. My life is yours, illustrious one, my fortune, my -lands--everything I own!" - -Matt paid little heed to the mandarin's rapturous talk. His eyes were -on the ruby, which was as large as a small hen's egg and of the true -pigeon's blood color. Its flashing beauty was marvelous to behold. - -"Out of my goodness of heart," went on the mandarin, "and from no -desire to insult, believe me, I shall present my eminent friend with a -thousand dollars and his expenses. Is it well, excellent one?" - -"Quite well, thank you," laughed McGlory, answering for his chum. -"Here, Tsan, take this and send it back to your gracious regent. Tell -him to use it on himself, and oblige." - -With that, the cowboy laid the ominous yellow cord across the -mandarin's shoulders. - - - - -CHAPTER XVI. - -THE BROKEN HOODOO. - - -The constable, in leaving the sugar camp for Purling to do his -telephoning, had taken his own rig. Having finished his work in -Purling, he made his return journey to the sugar camp in the automobile -which Matt and McGlory had hired. A few words were enough to convince -the driver of the car that it was useless for him to wait at the -general store for the one-eyed sailor. - -The automobile could not ascend the rough hill road, but waited at the -foot of the slope while the constable climbed to the sugar camp and -informed those there that a conveyance was ready to take them wherever -they wanted to go. - -Pryne having suddenly recovered and bolted, only Matt, McGlory, -Goldstein, and the two Chinamen were in the hut. Without loss of time -they accompanied the constable down the long wooded slope. - -"What are the prospects for capturing Bunce and Grattan, officer?" -inquired Matt, while they were slipping toward the foot of the hill. - -"Mighty poor," answered the constable, "if you want me to give it -to you straight. But I've done everythin' I could. There ain't any -telegraft line to Purling, so I had to telephone my message to Cairo. -They're pretty much all over the hills by now." - -"Then what makes you think Bunce and Grattan will get away?" - -"Why, they'll be goin' so tarnation fast on them pesky machines there -won't be any constable in the hills with an eye quick enough to -recognize 'em from the description. Anyhow, what do you care? The fat -Chinaman's happy, an' the Jew's so glad he walks lop-sided. What is it -to you whether them hoodlums git away or not?" - -"Oh, hear him!" muttered McGlory. "It means three hundred cold, hard -plunks to us, constable. The two pesky machines that took those -tinhorns away have to be paid for by Motor Matt and Pard McGlory." - -"Do tell!" - -"If you hated to hear it as bad as I hate to tell it you wouldn't ask -me to repeat." - -"Noble sir," spoke up Tsan Ti, "you and your worshipful friend shall -not be out a single tael. I, whom you have benefited, will pay for the -go-devil machines. That, if you will allow me, comes in as part of your -expenses." - -"Now, by heck," said the constable, "that's what I call doin' the -han'some thing. I've put in a leetle time myself, to-day," he added, -"an' I cal-late I'm out nigh onto ten dollars. But I helped do some -good, an' that's enough fer me." - -"Here, exalted sir," observed the mandarin, and dropped a twenty-dollar -gold piece into the constable's palm. - -"I don't believe I got any change," said the officer. - -"No change would be acceptable to me," answered Tsan Ti, with dignity. - -"Waal, now, ain't I tickled? There's a dress in that fer S'manthy an' -the kids. 'Bliged to ye." - -"The old boy's beginning to get generous, Matt," whispered McGlory. -"Maybe, after all, he really intends to fork over that thousand and -expenses." - -"Of course he does," said Matt. - -When they reached the automobile, all six of them crowded into the -car. Seven passengers--counting the driver--made tight squeezing in -accommodations built for five, but Goldstein and the constable were -dropped at Purling, and comfort followed those who remained, thereon. - -Goldstein, following his burst of ecstasy over the recovery of the -satchel, had relapsed into a subdued condition. Very likely he realized -that he was under something of a cloud, inasmuch as he had come to -Purling to treat with a thief for the loot of a magnificent haul. -Goldstein remembered that Grattan had not been at all backward in -giving Motor Matt the details of everything connected with the Eye of -Buddha, and the reflections of the diamond broker could not have been -at all comfortable or reassuring. - -Matt allowed the Jew to go his way without a rebuke. He felt that -the man had been punished enough; and, besides, he was the cause of -their discovering the place where the ruby had been concealed. But for -Goldstein, the Eye of Buddha might never have been located. - -On the way to Catskill from Purling, Matt gave an account of what had -taken place in the old sugar camp. Grattan had been at considerable -pains to explain many things that had been dark to Matt and his -friends, and the king of the motor boys passed along the explanation. - -The history of the Egyptian balls was particularly interesting to Tsan -Ti, no less than other details connected with the robbery; and the way -Bunce had played tag up and down the mountainside with Matt and McGlory -held a deep fascination for the cowboy. - -"Taking this little fracas by and large," observed McGlory, when Matt -had finished, "I think it's about the most novel piece of business I -ever had anything to do with. It began with a lot of 'con' paper talk -shoved at Pard Matt by Tsan Ti, and from the moment we met up with -the mandarin there's been nothing to it but excitement, and a little -uncertainty as to just where the lightning was going to strike next." - -"You two illustrious young men," said Tsan Ti gravely, "have laid me -under staggering obligations. Money may pay you for your loss of time, -but nothing except my gratitude can requite you for the excellence of -your service. You will hear from me through Sam Wing to-morrow." - -The boys got out of the automobile at the hotel, and Matt had the car -take Tsan Ti and Sam Wing up the mountain to the Kaaterskill. - -"They're a pair of pretty good chinks, after all," said McGlory, "and -I'm glad to think I had a little something to do with keeping the -yellow cord from getting in its work on Tsan Ti." - -On the following day, Tsan Ti sent Sam Wing to Catskill with a heavy -canvas bag. - -"Me blingee flom Tsan Ti," explained Sam Wing. "Him takee choo-choo -tlain fol San Flisco, bymby ketchee boat fol China. Heap happy." - -"He has a right to be happy," said McGlory. - -"How much did he have to put up for that wrecked motor car, Sam?" asked -Matt. - -"Twenty-fi' hunnerd dol'." - -"He went and stung him!" whooped McGlory. "The old robber." - -"No makee hurt. Twenty-fi' hunnerd dol' all same Tsan Ti likee -twenty-fi' cent to me. Him plenty lichee man." - -When Sam Wing went away, Matt and McGlory dumped the contents of the -canvas sack out on the table. The money was all in gold, and totaled -two thousand dollars, even. - -"He figured out expenses at a thousand dollars," remarked the cowboy. -"They're 'way inside that figure." - -"He's the sort of fellow, Joe," said Matt, "who'd rather pay a man ten -dollars when he only owed him five, than five when he owed ten." - -"Sure! He's the clear quill, but he sure had me guessing, the way he -jumped around. I'll bet he connected with more good, hard jolts on this -trip to America than he ever encountered in his life before." - -"We came pretty near it, ourselves," laughed Matt. "I can't remember -that I ever had a more violent time." - -"It was some strenuous, and that's a fact. If you live a hundred years, -pard, and drive automobiles all the while, you'll never scrape closer -to kingdom come, and miss it, than you did when we came down the -mountainside with the mandarin at the steering wheel." - -"I wouldn't go through that experience again for ten times the amount -of money there was in that bag." - -"I wouldn't, either--not for the Eye of Buddha. There's no easy money -in turning a trick for Tsan Ti. I reckon we earned all we got." - - -THE END. - - - - -THE NEXT NUMBER (31) WILL CONTAIN - -Motor Matt's Mariner; - -OR, - -FILLING THE BILL FOR BUNCE. - - - "Buddha's Eye"--The Green Patch--Motor Matt, Trustee--Bunce has - a Plan--Bunce Speaks a Good Word for Himself--The Home-made - Speeder--Trapped--The Cut-out Under the Ledge--Between the Eyes--The - Man from the "Iris"--Aboard the Steam Yacht--Grattan's Triumph--From - the Open Port--Landed, and Strung--A Crafty Oriental--The Mandarin - Wins. - - - - -MOTOR STORIES - -THRILLING ADVENTURE MOTOR FICTION - -NEW YORK, September 18, 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 REAL PIRATE. - - -"At the time I commenced following the sea," said old Captain Gifford, -in relating a thrilling experience of his early life, "there were -pirates all about the West Indies, and the dread of them was always -uppermost in a sailor's thoughts. We didn't mind the yellow fever. When -a man died with that, he died--it was a visitation of Providence, and -his fate was to be thought upon calmly and sorrowfully; there was no -horror in the reflection. But to be murdered--murdered upon the high -seas--that was a thing which it made one sick to think of. - -"Resistance on the part of a ship's crew, if unsuccessful, was certain -death--and often, too, in the most cruel form; for the revengeful, -drunken pirates, with their worst passions aroused by the conflict, -would in such a case take delight in torturing their victims. And even -where no opposition had been attempted, the plea that 'dead men tell no -tales' was generally sufficient to insure the massacre of all on board. - -"So you see it was about as long as it was broad. There was very little -encouragement to surrender. It was simply a question as to whether one -would die fighting like a lion or be butchered on the deck like a sheep. - -"Of course there were exceptions; but these were not frequent enough -to inspire much hope in the event of capture. Slaughter was the rule, -and if not committed in every instance, the fortunate ones might thank -their stars. - -"In those days we used to hear dreadful stories of such tragedies. -Sometimes these would come to light through the confessions of -condemned pirates; while in other cases a single survivor of some -hapless crew of a merchantman would relate the tale of the capture and -death of his shipmates--he himself having been spared through some -freak of the miscreants, perhaps to serve on board their vessel. - -"I commenced following the sea at the age of fifteen, making my first -voyage in the brig _Agenora_, Captain Christopher Allen, bound to -Trinidad de Cuba. In all there were nine persons belonging to her, -being the captain, the two mates, and the cook, with five hands before -the mast, counting a son of Captain Allen and myself. But, of course, I -did not amount to much at that time. - -"Young Argo Allen was seventeen, so that he had the advantage of me -by two years, besides having made one voyage to the West Indies. He -was one of the best fellows that ever lived; and having learned on his -first voyage to 'hand, reef, and steer' after a fashion, he was always -ready to assist me to the extent of his knowledge. Indeed, I think one -young sailor generally feels a sort of pride in helping another who -knows less than himself. - -"We had a long passage out, with calms and head winds, and Argo and -I talked much of pirates. He told me how scared he had been upon his -former voyage, when the vessel was overtaken by a low, black schooner, -which, upon coming up with her, sailed past within a cable's length, -with a crew of fifty or sixty horrible-looking wretches staring at the -brig in perfect silence. - -"'After getting a little ahead,' said Argo, 'she tacked and came back. -My hair rose right up then--it fairly lifted my hat! But she simply -repassed us on the other side, and went off about her business.' - -"'How do you account for it all?' I asked. - -"'Oh, that's easy enough,' he replied. 'We were outward bound, with -a cargo of New England produce, and the pirates knew that we were -not likely to have money on board. This was all that saved us; but I -wouldn't be so scared again for the price of the brig!' - -"So Argo Allen had seen a real pirate, and it actually made me look -up to him with a kind of admiring awe, not that I had any desire to -meet with a like experience; but then it must, I thought, have been so -thrilling--such a thing to think of and to tell of! - -"On arriving at Trinidad, we disposed of our cargo at a very high -price; while, on the other hand, our return invoice of molasses was -purchased at an unusually low figure; so that, after loading for home, -Captain Allen found that he had, above all expenses, a good three -thousand dollars in doubloons. - -"Meanwhile Argo and I were greatly pleased at meeting with two of our -townspeople, a Mr. and Mrs. Howard; and it delighted us still more to -learn that they were to take passage with us for the North. They had -been sojourning in Cuba for a number of months, but were now anxious to -go home, as the yellow fever season had arrived and there were already -many cases of it in the city. - -"Although Captain Allen was in high spirits at having made such a -profitable voyage, he felt some uneasiness at the idea of sailing with -so much money on board. The pirates, he said, had their spies in all -the Cuban ports, and these secret agents, by watching the run of trade, -could easily determine what vessels were likely to offer the most -tempting booty. - -"At length, all being ready, and Mr. and Mrs. Howard coming off to us, -we hove up our anchor and made sail. The greatest danger, Captain Allen -believed, would be close off the port, and so he had given out that -we should probably remain three or four days longer. It may have been -this which saved us from being molested at the start, and I think it -was. - -"But now an unexpected misfortune came upon us. We sailed with the -land breeze very early in the morning, and while we were getting under -way one of our crew was taken down with the yellow fever. We were only -a few miles clear of the land when another was attacked in the same -manner, and before night the cook and second mate also took to their -berths. We kept on, however, and indeed the course of the wind would -have prevented us from returning had we thought of doing so. - -"There remained, capable of doing duty, only the captain and chief -mate, one old seaman, Argo, and myself; but Captain Allen said that -should no more of us be disabled, the vessel could still be managed. As -a last resort, he added, he might put into Havana or Key West. - -"On the second day we passed that famous resort of the West Indian -pirates, the Isle of Pines. The _Agenora_ gave it a wide berth, I -assure you; but our hearts were in our throats for the whole fifty -miles of its coast line. It seemed as if the breeze were all the time -threatening to die out and leave us becalmed there. However, we ran the -gantlet in safety, and continued our course toward Cape St. Antonio, -the most western point of Cuba. - -"During the following night, the chief mate and the remaining seaman -were both stricken with the fever, leaving only the captain and us two -boys, together with our passenger, Mr. Howard, to handle the brig, with -six dreadfully sick people on board. - -"This was a sad state of things; but the breeze was bright and fair, -and we hoped to double Cape St. Antonio the next day, thus getting to -the northward of Cuba, after which it would be easy to reach Havana. - -"On that day, however, it fell entirely calm, with a dense fog covering -the sea, so that the vessel lay idle, heading by turns all around the -compass. - -"We had by this time nearly come up with the cape, and it was a bad -place to meet with a calm, for this headland was a notorious piratical -rendezvous, almost as much so as the Isle of Pines. However, if we must -lie helpless, the fog would be in our favor, the captain said. - -"In the meantime Mrs. Howard showed herself an extraordinary woman. She -was only twenty-four years old--a mere girl, as it were, and a very -beautiful one--but she seemed as if she knew just what to do and how to -do it. She cooked for us who were well, and, in spite of her husband's -remonstrances, braved all the danger of attending upon the sick, like a -veritable Florence Nightingale. - -"After lasting for about twenty-four hours the fog disappeared and a -light breeze sprang up. A current had taken us along for some miles, -and we were directly off Cape St. Antonio. - -"At first no water craft of any description was to be seen, but -presently we were startled at perceiving a small sloop-rigged vessel -putting out from the land and making directly toward us. That she must -be a pirate was beyond all question, as no other vessel would have been -hiding in such a place. - -"Looking through his glass, the captain saw that, in addition to her -sails, she had out a number of long sweeps, or oars, and this at once -told us that there was no possibility of escaping from her with the -faint breeze which we had. - -"The _Agenora_ carried two six-pounders and a good supply of small -arms, yet, with only four of us to handle them, they offered but a -forlorn hope against thirty or forty men, with probably a heavy pivot -gun and other cannon. Nevertheless, there was but one thing to do, and -that was to fight to the death if necessary. - -"'My poor wife!' we heard Mr. Howard say to the captain; 'she shall -never fall into the hands of those wretches while I have a single -breath remaining.' - -"Captain Allen was pale, but very cool. He and Mr. Howard loaded the -six-pounders, while we boys attended the muskets, putting heavy charges -into all of them. - -"In a short time we were able to count the sweeps which the sloop had -out. They were fourteen in number--seven on a side, with two men at -each. This made twenty-eight men, besides the fellow at the tiller and -six or seven others; so that there were at least thirty-five of them. -The only cannon that we could see was one mounted amidships, and no -doubt on a pivot. - -"As they got nearer we brought the _Agenora_ around so that both the -six-pounders would bear upon them, and then Captain Allen sighted one -of the guns, while Mr. Howard stood by with a glowing portfire, ready -to clap it upon the priming at the word. - -"'Now,' said the captain presently, 'let it go!' - -"Instantly there was a deafening bang! and the recoil of the gun fairly -shook the brig. How we watched for the result! Skip, skip, skip, went -the shot from wave to wave, close to the sloop, yet without touching -her. - -"Almost before we could speak or think, a sheet of smoke burst from the -pirate vessel, and 'pat, pat, pat,' right on board of us, came a charge -of grape shot, and a twelve-pound ball--as we found afterward it must -have been, from the hole it made in our bulwarks. - -"There was no time to lose, and our second cannon was fired as quickly -as possible; but its contents missed the pirate, though they struck -near enough to throw a shower of spray upon her deck. - -"Again the miscreants fired in return, and redoubled their labor at the -sweeps. The breeze was at last wholly gone, so that they had to depend -entirely upon their strength of muscle, but of this they had enough and -to spare. - -"Argo and myself now opened fire with the muskets--'bang, bang, bang!' -but I don't think we hit a single one of the villains. We saw them -loading their big gun for a third shot, and it seemed as if, at such -short range, they must tear us all to pieces. But Captain Allen and -Mr. Howard were also loading--cramming one of the six-pounders to the -muzzle with grape and cannon balls. - -"The pirates were just ready to fire as the captain ranged along his -gun. - -"'Quick, Mr. Howard!' he cried. 'Touch her off!' - -"The report rang through our ears, and we could have shouted as we saw -the effect. The sloop's long gun was tumbled over, and the men who -managed it strewn mangled upon the deck. A number of the heavy sweeps -dropped from the hands that held them, or were sent whirling into the -air. I think this one discharge must have killed more than a dozen men. - -"For a few moments the victory appeared to be won; but just then the -_Agenora_ swung around in such a manner that neither of the cannons -could be made to bear upon the enemy. The pirates saw our dilemma, and -a few powerful strokes of their sweeps brought them right under our bow. - -"We ran forward to prevent them from boarding, but they swarmed over -the bowsprit and head rail, cutlass in hand, till it was plain that two -men and two boys were to be no match for such a number of desperate -villains. In spite of all we could do, they were in a fair way to make -short work with us, when on a sudden the scene was changed. - -"Mrs. Howard had anticipated such an emergency from the very first, and -now, with a ladle in one hand and a kettle of boiling hot tar in the -other, she ran to our relief. - -"The tar in such a state could be dipped up as easily as water, and in -a quarter of a minute all the headmost pirates had got it full in their -faces. Filling their eyes and mouths, or running down their half-naked -breasts, it must have put them in great agony. They went tumbling back -upon those behind them, and as we quickly followed up our advantage, -the deck was almost instantly cleared. - -"In a few minutes the sloop was making all possible speed away from us, -but she had out only six sweeps instead of the fourteen with which she -had commenced the chase. - -"All of us except Mrs. Howard had been more or less wounded, so that we -did not attempt to molest the pirates as they retreated; while on their -part, as the cannon we had knocked over for them was their only one, -they could not fire upon us. I think they must have had nearly twenty -men killed or disabled, to say nothing of those who were scalded by the -hot tar. - -"I shall never forget how carefully Mrs. Howard bound up the ugly -cuts in our arms. She seemed to know everything, just like one's own -mother--and yet she was such a young woman! - -"We got a breeze soon after the fight was over, and were thankful for -it, too, as we did not know how many more pirates there might be in the -neighborhood. It took us around Cape St. Antonio, and two days later we -arrived at Key West, where we were put into quarantine. - -"Of our yellow-fever patients, two died just as we dropped anchor, but -the remaining four soon after began to improve and finally recovered. -We lay in quarantine for a number of weeks, and then, with the vessel -thoroughly fumigated, were permitted to sail for home. - -"Upon our arrival there, the good old _Agenora_ became an object of -much curiosity, while as to Mrs. Howard, she was visited by a host of -friends, anxious to hear the story of our peril from her own lips. - -"I am sometimes asked if in all my seafaring life it was ever my -fortune to meet with a real pirate--one whom I knew to be such. To that -question I think myself justified in saying 'yes'--and further, that it -was an experience which I never desired to repeat." - - - - -SOME QUEER PHILIPPINE CUSTOMS. - - -The occurrence of a death in a Filipino family in Bulacan is the signal -for an immediate celebration. "Our brother has gone to a happy land, -and we must rejoice," they say. Relatives and friends are invited to -come, and an orchestra is summoned. Then the dancing and feasting -begin, and continue until the time of the funeral, which in this -climate takes place within twenty-four hours. - -Those who have the means buy a black cloth-covered casket ornamented -with spangles and bows of bright blue ribbon. The poor rent the "town -coffin," a plain tin box, evidently designed for those of medium -stature, for a year or two ago, in a funeral procession, the feet of -the deceased, incased in bright blue plush chinelas, were seen sticking -out at one end. - -The orchestra heads the procession through the streets, usually playing -some lively air learned from the American soldiers. The popular funeral -music is "A Hot Time," and it keeps the procession moving at a brisk -pace. - -Thursday is the favorite day for weddings in Bulacan, as it is "bargain -day" in the matrimonial market. On Thursdays the priest marries many -couples at a time, and consequently at less expense to each couple. -Four o'clock in the morning is the favorite hour. Following the -ceremony the newly married pair return to the bride's home, where -dancing and feasting ensue till sundown. - -A bride to whose wedding feast some Americans were invited had a -romantic prelude to her nuptials. The parents of the bride were -strenuously opposed to the match, owing to a strong disinclination on -the part of the groom to do any sort of labor. So Anastasia was sent -up into the mountains to visit among relatives, and traces of her -whereabouts were carefully concealed from Felicidad, the groom elect. - -But Felicidad, although too indolent to support his prospective bride, -did not purpose that another should win her, so he summoned several -faithful friends to his aid and began an active search. His devotion -was rewarded with success, and three weeks later Felicidad returned in -triumph, with radiant Anastasia borne aloft on the shoulders of two of -his trusty friends. - -The following Thursday, in company with fifteen other happy couples, -they were married. - - - - -HIGH LEAPS BY DEER. - - -Mr. Gordon Boles, a sportsman who has hunted all over the world, -has recorded some remarkable leaps taken by deer when pursued. His -observations have been chiefly in his native district, Exmoor, the land -of "Lorna Doone," in India, and in Northwestern Canada. Uncontrollable -fear and partial blindness caused by long pursuit, he gives as reasons -for deer taking leaps which usually end in death. Once, while hunting -with the Devon and Somerset stag hounds, he saw a hind leap 300 -feet from a cliff to the seashore. She was dashed to pieces. In the -excitement of the chase one of the hounds followed her. - -On another occasion a stag made a bold burst for the open, going -straight for the sea. He came to the edge of a cliff, some hundreds of -feet above the beach, and then dashed restlessly backward and forward, -as if seeking a path to descend. - -He either missed his footing or jumped, and when the hunters came up -he was seen below, a shattered mass, with the horns broken into small -pieces. Mr. Boles is inclined to think that the stag committed suicide -deliberately. - -Another deer, which made the leap at about the same place, landed -safely and swam out to sea. Men pursued him in a boat and killed him. - -In India Mr. Boles wounded a sambur, which resembles somewhat the -common deer. The sambur showed fight on a narrow path overhanging a -precipice. Mr. Boles fired again, but in his excitement aimed too low, -the ball passing beneath the deer and striking the ground just back of -his hind legs. The deer turned and deliberately leaped over the height. - -A fine buck he wounded in Northwestern Canada, when pursued by the dog, -jumped from a height of 100 feet into a shallow stream and broke his -neck. - - - - -LATEST ISSUES - - -BUFFALO BILL STORIES - -The most original stories of Western adventure. The only weekly -containing the adventures of the famous Buffalo Bill. =High art colored -covers. Thirty-two big pages. Price, 5 cents.= - - 425--Buffalo Bill's Balloon Escape; or, Out of the Grip of the Great - Swamp. - - 426--Buffalo Bill and the Guerrillas; or, The Flower Girl of San - Felipe. - - 427--Buffalo Bill's Border War; or, The Mexican Vendetta. - - 428--Buffalo Bill's Mexican Mix-up; or, The Bullfighter's Defiance. - - 429--Buffalo Bill and the Gamecock; or, The Red Trail on the Canadian. - - 430--Buffalo Bill and the Cheyenne Raiders; or, The Spurs of the - Gamecock. - - 431--Buffalo Bill's Whirlwind Finish; or, The Gamecock Wins. - - 432--Buffalo Bill's Santa Fe Secret; or, The Brave of Taos. - - 433--Buffalo Bill and the Taos Terror; or, The Rites of the Red - Estufa. - - 434--Buffalo Bill's Bracelet of Gold; or, The Hidden Death. - - 435--Buffalo Bill and the Border Baron; or, The Cattle King of No - Man's Land. - - -BRAVE AND BOLD WEEKLY - -All kinds of stories that boys like. The biggest and best nickel's -worth ever offered. =High art colored covers. Thirty-two big pages. -Price, 5 cents.= - - 338--Working His Way Upward; or, From Footlights to Riches. By Fred - Thorpe. - - 339--The Fourteenth Boy; or, How Vin Lovell Won Out. By Weldon J. - Cobb. - - 340--Among the Nomads; or, Life in the Open. By the author of - "Through Air to Fame." - - 341--Bob, the Acrobat; or, Hustle and Win Out. By Harrie Irving - Hancock. - - 342--Through the Earth; or, Jack Nelson's Invention. By Fred Thorpe. - - 343--The Boy Chief; or, Comrades of Camp and Trail. By John De Morgan. - - 344--Smart Alec; or, Bound to Get There. By Weldon J. Cobb. - - 345--Climbing Up; or, The Meanest Boy Alive. By Harrie Irving Hancock. - - 346--Comrades Three; or, With Gordon Keith in the South Seas. By - Lawrence White, Jr. - - 347--A Young Snake-charmer; or, The Fortunes of Dick Erway. By Fred - Thorpe. - - 348--Checked Through to Mars; or, Adventures in Other Worlds. By - Weldon J. Cobb. - - 349--Fighting the Cowards; or, Among the Georgia Moonshiners. By - Harrie Irving Hancock. - - 350--The Mud River Boys; or, The Fight for Penlow's Mill. By John L. - Douglas. - - 351--Grit and Wit; or, Two of a Kind. By Fred Thorpe. - - -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. - - -_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. - -Italics are represented with _underscores_, bold with =equal signs=. - -Throughout this text version, the oe ligature in manoeuvre has been -expanded; the ligature is retained in the HTML version. - -Page 6, changed "consarnin 'the" to "consarnin' the". - -Page 9, removed unnecessary quote before "Tsan Ti turned sidewise." - -Page 18, corrected "boy's" to "boys'" in "king of the motor boys'." - -Page 24, removed unnecessary quote after "revolver leveled in his -direction." - -Page 29, corrected double to single quote before "dead men tell no -tales." - -Page 30, corrected typo Angenora in "The _Agenora_ carried two -six-pounders". - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's Motor Matt's Mandarin, by Stanley R. 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Matthews. - </title> - <style type="text/css"> - -body { - margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - - h1,h2,h3 { - text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ - clear: both; -} - -p { - margin-top: .51em; - text-align: justify; - margin-bottom: .49em; -} - -hr { - width: 33%; - margin-top: 2em; - margin-bottom: 2em; - margin-left: auto; - margin-right: auto; - clear: both; -} - -hr.chap {width: 65%} -hr.full {width: 95%;} -hr.r5 {width: 5%; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;} - -table { - margin-left: auto; - margin-right: auto; -} - - .tdl {text-align: left;} - .tdr {text-align: right;} - .tdc {text-align: center;} - -.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ - /* visibility: hidden; */ - position: absolute; - left: 92%; - font-size: smaller; - text-align: right; -} /* page numbers */ - -.bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} - -.bt {border-top: solid 2px;} - -.br {border-right: solid 2px;} - -.bbox {border: solid 2px;} - -.center {text-align: center;} - -.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} - -.u {text-decoration: underline;} - -/* Images */ -.figcenter { - margin: auto; - text-align: center; -} - -/* Transcriber's notes */ -.transnote {background-color: #E6E6FA; - color: black; - font-size:smaller; - padding:0.5em; - margin-bottom:5em; - font-family:sans-serif, serif; } -img { border: 0; } -.huge { font-size: 200%; } -.large { font-size: 150%; } -.medium { font-size: 125%; } -.small { font-size: 75%; } -.chaptitle { text-align: center; } -.sig { text-align: right; margin-right: 1.5em; } - </style> - </head> -<body> - - -<pre> - -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Motor Matt's Mandarin, 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 Mandarin - or, Turning A Trick For Tsan Ti - -Author: Stanley R. Matthews - -Release Date: October 28, 2016 [EBook #53390] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MOTOR MATT'S MANDARIN *** - - - - -Produced by David Edwards, Demian Katz and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (Images -courtesy of the Digital Library@Villanova University -(http://digital.library.villanova.edu/)) - - - - - - -</pre> - - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> -<a href="images/coverlarge.jpg"><img src="images/cover.jpg" width="400" height="564" alt="Certainly it was not a time -to laugh but Motor Matt could -hardly help it" /></a> -</div> - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<h1>MOTOR STORIES</h1> - -<table summary="scaffold"> -<tr> -<td style="width: 50%; padding-right: 1.5em;" class="tdr"> -THRILLING<br /> -ADVENTURE -</td> -<td style="width: 50%; padding-left: 1.5em;" class="tdl"> -MOTOR<br /> -FICTION -</td> -</tr><tr> -<td class="bb bt tdl"> -No. 30<br /> -SEPT. 18, 1909. -</td> -<td class="bb bt tdr"> -FIVE<br /> -CENTS -</td> -</tr><tr> -<td class="tdr large" style="padding-right: 0.5em;"> -MOTOR MATT'S<br /> -MANDARIN -</td><td class="tdr large"> -<span class="smcap">or</span> TURNING A TRICK<br /> -FOR TSAN TI -</td></tr> -<tr><td> </td><td class="tdc"><i>By THE AUTHOR OF<br /> -MOTOR MATT</i></td></tr> -<tr><td> </td><td class="tdr"> -<i><span class="smcap">Street & Smith</span></i><br /> -<i><span class="smcap">Publishers</span></i><br /> -<i><span class="smcap">New York</span></i> -</td> -</tr></table> -<hr class="chap" /> - - -<table summary="scaffold" class="bbox"> -<tr><td colspan="2" class="tdc huge">MOTOR STORIES</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdr large" style="padding-right: .25em;">THRILLING ADVENTURE</td><td class="tdl large" style="padding-left: .25em;">MOTOR FICTION</td></tr> -</table> - -<p class="center"> -<i>Issued Weekly. By subscription $2.50 per year. Copyright, 1909, by</i> <span class="smcap">Street & Smith</span>, <i>79-89 Seventh Avenue, New York, N. Y.</i><br /> -</p> - -<table summary="scaffold" class="bb bt"> -<tr><td style="width: 33%;" class="tdl"><b>No. 30.</b></td><td style="width: 33%;" class="tdc">NEW YORK, September 18, 1909.</td><td style="width: 33%;" class="tdr"><b>Price Five Cents.</b></td></tr> -</table> - -<p class="center huge">MOTOR MATT'S MANDARIN;</p> - -<p class="center">OR,</p> - -<p class="center large">TURNING A TRICK FOR TSAN TI.</p> - -<hr class="r5" /> -<p class="center">By the author of "MOTOR MATT."</p> -<hr class="r5" /> - -<hr class="chap" /> - - - -<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS">CONTENTS</a></h2> - -<p class="center"> -<a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I. ON THE MOUNTAINSIDE.</a><br /> -<a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II. THE YELLOW CORD.</a><br /> -<a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III. THE GLASS BALLS.</a><br /> -<a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV. THE PAPER CLUE.</a><br /> -<a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V. PUTTING TWO AND TWO TOGETHER.</a><br /> -<a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI. A SMASH.</a><br /> -<a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII. NIP AND TUCK.</a><br /> -<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII. TSAN TI VANISHES AGAIN.</a><br /> -<a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX. TRICKED ONCE MORE.</a><br /> -<a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X. THE DIAMOND MERCHANT.</a><br /> -<a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI. THE OLD SUGAR CAMP.</a><br /> -<a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII. A TIGHT CORNER.</a><br /> -<a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII. A MASTER ROGUE.</a><br /> -<a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV. THE GLASS SPHERES.</a><br /> -<a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV. THE EYE OF BUDDHA.</a><br /> -<a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI. THE BROKEN HOODOO.</a><br /> -<a href="#A_REAL_PIRATE">A REAL PIRATE.</a><br /> -<a href="#SOME_QUEER_PHILIPPINE_CUSTOMS">SOME QUEER PHILIPPINE CUSTOMS.</a><br /> -<a href="#HIGH_LEAPS_BY_DEER">HIGH LEAPS BY DEER.</a><br /> -</p> - - -<div class="bbox"> - - -<h2><a name="CHARACTERS_THAT_APPEAR_IN_THIS_STORY" id="CHARACTERS_THAT_APPEAR_IN_THIS_STORY">CHARACTERS THAT APPEAR IN THIS STORY.</a></h2> - -<blockquote> - -<p><b>Matt King</b>, otherwise Motor Matt.</p> - -<p><b>Joe McGlory</b>, 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.</p> - -<p><b>Tsan Ti</b>, Mandarin of the Red Button, who appeals to Motor Matt -for help in a very peculiar undertaking.</p> - -<p><b>Sam Wing</b>, a San Francisco Chinaman, member of a <i>tong</i> that is -amiably disposed toward Tsan Ti.</p> - -<p><b>Kien Lung</b>, courier of the Chinese Regent, who respectfully delivers -the yellow cord to Tsan Ti.</p> - -<p><b>Grattan</b>, a masterful rogue who consummates one of the cleverest -robberies in the annals of crime.</p> - -<p><b>Bunce</b>, a sailor who assists Grattan and makes considerable trouble -for the motor boys and the mandarin.</p> - -<p><b>Goldstein</b>, a diamond broker with a penchant for dealing in stolen -goods.</p> - -<p><b>Pryne</b>, a brother-in-law of Grattan, who plays a short but important -part in the events of the story.</p></blockquote> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I.</a></h2> - -<p class="chaptitle">ON THE MOUNTAINSIDE.</p> - - -<p>"Sufferin' treadmills! Say, pard, here's where I drop -down in the shade and catch my breath. How much -farther have we got to go?"</p> - -<p>"Not more than a mile, Joe."</p> - -<p>"We must have gone a couple of hundred miles already."</p> - -<p>"We've traveled about six miles, all told."</p> - -<p>"Speak to me about that! A mile up and down is a -heap longer than a mile on the straightaway. We've -been hanging to this sidehill like a couple of flies to a -wall. What do you say to a rest?"</p> - -<p>"I'm willing, Joe; and here's a good place. Look out -for that tree root. It's a bad one, and runs straight -across the road."</p> - -<p>Motor Matt and his cowboy pard, Joe McGlory, were -pop-popping their way up a steep mountainside on a couple -of motor cycles. They were bound for the Mountain -House, a hotel on the very crest of the uplift.</p> - -<p>A day boat had brought them down the Hudson River -from Albany, and they had disembarked at Catskill Landing, -hired the two machines, and started for the big -hotel.</p> - -<p>The motor cycles were making hard work of the climb—such -hard work, in fact, that the boys, time and time -again, had been compelled to get out of their saddles -and lead the heavy wheels up a particularly steep place in -the trail. This was trying labor, and McGlory's enthusiasm -over the adventure had been on the wane for some -time.</p> - -<p>The big root of a tree, lying across the road like a -half-buried railroad tie, was safely dodged, and under -the shade of the tree to which the root belonged Matt -and McGlory threw themselves down.</p> - -<p>The cowboy mopped his dripping face with a handkerchief, -pulled off his hat, and began fanning himself -with it.</p> - -<p>"One of these two-wheeled buzz carts is all right," he -remarked, "where the motor does the work for you; but -I'll be gad-hooked if there's any fun doin' the work for -the motor. And what's it all about? You don't know, -and I don't. We made this jump from the middle West -to the effete East on the strength of a few lines of 'con'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span> -talk. I wish people would leave you alone when they -get into trouble. Every stranger knows, though, that -all he's got to do is to send you a hurry-up call whenever -anything goes crosswise, and that you'll break your -neck to boil out on his part of the map and share his -hard luck."</p> - -<p>McGlory finished with a grunt of disgust.</p> - -<p>"I've got a hunch, Joe," answered Matt, "that there's -a whole lot to that letter."</p> - -<p>"A whole lot of fake and false alarm. Read it again, -if you've got breath enough."</p> - -<p>"I've read it to you a dozen times already," protested -Matt.</p> - -<p>"Then make it thirteen times, pard. The more you -read it, the more I realize what easy marks we are for -paying any attention to it. It's fine discipline, pard, to -keep thinking where you've made a fool of yourself."</p> - -<p>Matt laughed as he drew an envelope out of his coat -pocket. The envelope was addressed, in a queer hand, to -"His Excellency, Motor Matt, Engaged in aëroplane performances -with Burton's Big Consolidated Shows, Grand -Rapids, Michigan." Drawing out the enclosed sheet, -Matt unfolded it. There was a humorous gleam in his -gray eyes as he read aloud the following:</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>"<span class="smcap">Honorable and Most Excellent Sir</span>: It is necessary -that I have of your wonderful aid in matters exceedingly -great and important. I, a mandarin of the red -button, with some store of English knowledge, and much -trouble, appeal to king of motor boys with overwhelming -desire that he come to me at Mountain House, near town -named Catskill Landing, in State of New York. Noble -and affluent sir, will it be insult should I offer one thousand -dollars and expenses if I get my wish for your most -remarkable help? Not so, for I promise with much -goodness of heart. Let it be immediately that you come, -and sooner if convenient. May your days be fragrant -as the blossoms of paradise, your joys like the countless -stars, and your years many and many.</p> - -<p class="sig"> -"'<span class="smcap">Tsan Ti, of the Red Button.</span>'"<br /> -</p></blockquote> - -<p>"Sounds like a skin game," grumbled McGlory, as -Matt returned the letter to its envelope, and the latter -to his pocket.</p> - -<p>"It's the first time a stranger in trouble ever sent me -a letter like that," remarked Matt.</p> - -<p>"Regular josh. Button, button, who's got the button? -Not us, pard, and we're <i>It</i>. There'll be no mandarin at -the end of this blooming trail we're running out. You -take it from me. Now——" McGlory broke off suddenly, -his eyes fastened on the pitch of the road above. -"Great hocus-pocus!" he exclaimed, jumping to his feet. -"See what's coming!"</p> - -<p>Matt, turning his eyes in the direction of his pard's -pointing finger, was likewise brought up standing by -the spectacle that met his gaze.</p> - -<p>A bicycle was coasting down the steep path, coming -with the speed of a limited express train; and some fifty -feet behind this bicycle came another, moving at a rate -equally swift.</p> - -<p>In the saddle of the leading machine was a fat Chinaman—a -Chinaman of consequence, to judge by his looks. -He wore a black cap, yellow blouse and trousers and embroidered -sandals. His thin, baggy garments fluttered -and snapped about him as he shot down the road, and -his pigtail, fully a yard long, and bound at the end with -a ribbon, stood out straight behind him.</p> - -<p>The Celestial behind was leaner and dressed in garments -more subdued. It was exceedingly plain to the -two boys that his heart was in his work, and that the -end and aim of his labors was the overhauling of the -man ahead.</p> - -<p>"Wow!" wheezed the fat fugitive. "Wow! wow! -wow!"</p> - -<p>For about two seconds this stirring situation was before -the eyes of Matt and McGlory. Then the tree root -insinuated itself into proceedings.</p> - -<p>The fugitive saw the root heaving across his path -with a promise of disaster, but going around it was out -of the question, and stopping the speeding wheel an impossibility.</p> - -<p>The inevitable happened. Matt and McGlory saw the -bicycle bound into the air and turn a half somersault. -The fat Chinaman landed on his back with the wheel on -top of him; then machine and Chinaman rolled over and -over until the impetus of the flight was spent.</p> - -<p>The two boys ran to the unfortunate bicyclist, gathered -him up, and separated him from the broken wheel. The -Celestial refused to be lifted to his feet, but contented -himself with sitting up.</p> - -<p>"My cap, excellent friend," he requested, pointing to -where the cap was lying.</p> - -<p>"Gee, but that was a jolt!" commiserated McGlory. -"How do you feel about now?"</p> - -<p>"Kindest regards for your inquiry," said the Chinaman, -extracting a small stone from the collar of his -blouse, and then emptying a pint of dust from one of -his flowing sleeves. "I am variously shaken, thank you, -but the terrible part is yet to come. Kindly recede until -it is over, and add further to my obligations."</p> - -<p>Matt had picked up the black cap. As he handed it to -the Chinaman, he observed that there was a red button -in the centre of the flat top.</p> - -<p>He was astonished at the Chinaman's manner, no less -than at his use of English. His clothes were all awry, -and soiled with dust, but he seemed to mind that as -little as he did his bruises.</p> - -<p>Putting the cap on his head, he took a fan from somewhere -about his person, waved the boys aside with it, -then opened it with a "snap," and proceeded methodically -to fan himself. His eyes were turned up the road.</p> - -<p>Matt and McGlory exchanged wondering glances as -they stepped apart.</p> - -<p>The other Chinaman, having a greater space in which -to manœuvre, had managed to avoid the tree root. By -means of the brake he had caused his machine to slow -down, and had then leaped off. After carefully leaning -the bicycle against a tree, he approached his fat countryman -in a most deferential manner. The latter nodded -gravely from his seat on the ground.</p> - -<p>The pursuer thereupon flung himself to his knees, and -beat his forehead three times in the dust.</p> - -<p>After that, the fat Chinaman said something. Presumably -it was in his native tongue, for it sounded like -heathen gibberish, and the boys could make nothing -out of it.</p> - -<p>But the lean Chinaman seemed to understand. Lifting -himself and sitting back on his heels, he pushed a hand -into the breast of his coat, and brought out a little black -box about the size of a cigarette case. This, with every<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> -sign of respect and veneration, he offered to the other -Celestial.</p> - -<p>The fat man took the box, waved his fan, and eased -himself of a few more remarks. The lean fellow once -more kotowed, then arose silently, regained his wheel, -and vanished from sight down the road. The fat Mongolian -was left balancing the black box in his hand and -eying it with pensive interest.</p> - -<p>"Well, speak to me about this!" breathed McGlory. -"What do you make out of it, Matt?"</p> - -<p>"Not a thing," whispered Matt. "That fellow has a -red button in his cap."</p> - -<p>McGlory showed traces of excitement.</p> - -<p>"Glory, and all hands round!" he gasped. "Have you -any notion that the chink we're looking for has lammed -into us in this violent fashion, right here on the mountainside?"</p> - -<p>"Give it up. Watch; see what he's up to."</p> - -<p>The fat Chinaman, laying aside his fan, took the box -in his left palm, and, with the fingers of his right hand, -pressed a spring.</p> - -<p>The lid flew open. On top of something in the box -lay a white card covered with Chinese hieroglyphics. -The Chinaman lifted the card and read the written -words. His yellow face turned to the color of old cheese, -his eyes closed spasmodically, and his breath came quick -and raspingly. McGlory grabbed Matt's arm.</p> - -<p>"There's something on that card, Matt," said he, -"that's got our fat friend on the run."</p> - -<p>While the boys continued to look, the Chinaman laid -aside the card, and drew from the box a pliable yellow -cord, a yard in length.</p> - -<p>That was all there was in the box, just the card and -the cord.</p> - -<p>Feeling that there was a deep mystery here, and a -mystery in which he and his chum were concerned, the -king of the motor boys stepped forward.</p> - -<p>"Tsan Ti?" he queried.</p> - -<p>Box and cord fell from the fat Chinaman's hands, and -he turned an eagerly inquiring look in Matt's direction.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.</a></h2> - -<p class="chaptitle">THE YELLOW CORD.</p> - - -<p>"Excellent youth," said the Chinaman, "you pronounce -my name. How is this?"</p> - -<p>"I'm Motor Matt," answered the king of the motor -boys, "and this is my chum, Joe McGlory. You asked us -to come, and here we are. There's your letter to me."</p> - -<p>Matt opened the written sheet and held it in front of -Tsan Ti's face. The Celestial's face underwent a change. -A flicker of hope ran through the fear and consternation.</p> - -<p>"<i>Omito fuh!</i>" he muttered, rising slowly to his feet. -"The five hundred gods have covered me with much disgrace, -this last hour, but now they bring me a gleam -of hope from the clouds of despair. By the plumes of -the sacred peacock, I bow before you with much gratefulness."</p> - -<p>He bowed—or tried to. His ponderous stomach interfered -with the manœuvre, and he caught a crick in his -back—the direct result, probably, of his recent spill.</p> - -<p>"You are here to be of aid to the unfortunate mandarin, -are you not, illustrious sirs?" went on Tsan Ti, -leaning against a tree, and rubbing his right sandal up -and down his left shin. Quite likely the left shin was -barked, and the right sandal was affording it consolation.</p> - -<p>"First aid to the injured, Tsan," grinned McGlory, -getting a good deal of fun out of this novel encounter.</p> - -<p>The cowboy had met many Chinamen, but never before -one of this sort. The experience was mildly exciting.</p> - -<p>"Wit," chanted Tsan Ti, "is the weapon of the wise, -the idol of the fool; a runaway knock at laughter's door; -arrows from the quiver of genius; intellectual lightning -from the thunder clouds of talent; the lever of——"</p> - -<p>"Sufferin' cats!" exploded McGlory. "What is he -talking about? In that letter, Tsan, you speak about -insulting us with a thousand plunks and expenses. Was -that a rhinecaboo or the real thing?"</p> - -<p>Without changing his countenance by so much as a -line, Tsan Ti lifted the bottom of his blouse, and unbuttoned -the pocket of a leather belt around his huge -girth. From the pocket he took five gold double eagles -in good American money.</p> - -<p>"Have I the understanding," he asked, "that you will -be of help to my distress?"</p> - -<p>"Tell us, first," answered Matt, a little bewildered by -the mandarin's queer talk and actions, "what it is you -want."</p> - -<p>"What I want, notable friend, is the Eye of Buddha, -the great ruby which was stolen from the forehead of -the idol in temple of Hai-chwang-sze, in the city named -Canton. I, even I, now the most miserable of creatures, -was guardian of the temple when this theft occurred. I -fled to find the thief, and Kien Lung, by order of the -Son of the Morning, our imperial regent, fled after me -with that invitation to death, the yellow cord."</p> - -<p>Tsan Ti pointed to the ground where the cord was -lying. His flabby cheeks grew hueless, and he caught -his breath.</p> - -<p>"An invitation to death?" repeated Matt, staring at -the yellow cord.</p> - -<p>"It is so, gracious youth," explained Tsan Ti. "When -our regent wishes one of his officials to efface himself, -he sends the yellow cord. It is the death warrant. The -card tells me that I have two weeks before it is necessary -that I should strangle myself. This happy dispatch -must be performed unless, through you, I can recover -the Eye of Buddha. So runs the scroll."</p> - -<p>"Speak to me about this!" muttered McGlory. "But -look here, old man, you don't have to strangle yourself -because some High Mucky Muck, a few thousand miles -off, sends you the thing to do it with, do you?"</p> - -<p>"Unless it is done," was the calm response, "I shall -be disgraced for all time, and my memory reviled."</p> - -<p>"Oh, blazes! I'd rather be a live Chinaman in disgrace, -than a dead one with a monument a mile high."</p> - -<p>"You converse without knowledge," said Tsan Ti.</p> - -<p>"That's horse sense, anyhow."</p> - -<p>"Let's get at the nub of this thing, Tsan Ti," said -Matt, feeling a deep interest in the strange Chinaman -in spite of himself. "You were in charge of a Canton -temple in which was an image of Buddha. That image -had a ruby set in the forehead. The ruby was stolen. -You ran away from China to find the thief, and this Kien -Lung, as you call him, trailed after you with the yellow -cord from the regent. The cord was accompanied by a -written order to the effect that, if you did not succeed -in recovering the ruby in two weeks, you must strangle<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> -yourself. Before the cord was delivered to you, you -sent that letter to me."</p> - -<p>"What you say is true," answered Tsan Ti. "I have -been for a long period endeavoring to keep away from -Kien Lung. I knew what he had to give me, and I did -not want it. Now that I have the cord, you can understand, -out of courtesy I must slay myself—unless, -through you, I regain the Eye of Buddha."</p> - -<p>"How did you come to pick <i>me</i> out for an assistant?" -went on Matt. "What you ought to have is a detective. -This part of the country is full of detectives."</p> - -<p>"I cannot trust the detectives. The ruby is valuable, -and I am a discredited mandarin in a far country. The -detectives would keep the ruby, and then there would -be for me only death by the cord. I read in the public -prints generous and never-to-be-forgotten things about -Motor Matt, and my heart assures me that you are the -one, and the only one, to come to my aid."</p> - -<p>"You tune up like a professor," remarked McGlory. -"Where'd you corral so much good pidgin, Tsan?"</p> - -<p>"I was educated in one of your institutions of learning," -was the reply. "But, illustrious sirs, shall we return -to the hotel on the mountain top? I have this go-devil -machine to pay for. It did not belong to me. A -dozen of the machines were near the porch of the hotel, -where I was drinking tea. I saw Kien Lung coming -toward me along the porch, and I left my tea and sprang -to one of the machines. I learned to ride while I was -educating myself in this country. Kien Lung was also -able to ride, but that I did not know until I saw him -later. Shall we go on to the hotel? I am bruised and in -much distress."</p> - -<p>"We might just as well find out all you can tell us -about the Eye of Buddha before we go to the hotel," returned -Matt. "We are by ourselves, here, and I'd like -to get all the information possible."</p> - -<p>Tsan Ti picked up the card and the yellow cord. -Thoughtfully he twisted the cord around and around his -fat palm and tucked it into the black box. On the cord -he placed the card, and over all closed the box lid. With -a rumbling sigh, he dropped the black box into the breast -of his blouse.</p> - -<p>"Foreign devils," said he, once more bracing himself -against the tree trunk, "call the temple of Hai-chwang-sze -the Honam Joss House. It is by the beautiful river, -in the suburb named Honam. Around the temple there -is a wall. The avenue of a thousand delights leads from -the great gate to the temple courts, and noble banyan -trees shade the avenue. At vespers, some weeks ago, -two foreign devils were present. The hour was five in -the afternoon. One of the foreign devils was English, -and wore a tourist hat with a pugree; the other had but -a single eye. Lob Loo, a priest, told me what happened.</p> - -<p>"The Englishman threw a shimmering ball upon the -temple floor. Odors came from it, quick as an eyeflash. -Quick as another eyeflash, the priests reeled -where they stood, their senses leaving them. Lob Loo -tells me the foreign devils had covered their faces suddenly -with white masks. Then, after seeing that much, -Lob Loo lost his five senses, and wandered in fields of -darkness.</p> - -<p>"When Lob Loo opened his eyes, he saw glass fragments -on the floor, and a ladder of silk swinging from -the neck of the god. The image, renowned sirs, is -twenty feet in height, and to reach the ruby eye the -foreign devils had to climb. The eye was gone. When -Lob Loo told me these things, I was seized of a mighty -fear, and fled to Hongkong. There the five hundred -gods favored me, and I learned that a man in a tourist -hat with a pugree, and another with a single eye, had -sailed for San Francisco. Quickly I caught the next -steamer, after sending cable messages to the leaders of -a San Francisco <i>tong</i> who are Cantonese, and friends of -mine. When the ship brought the thieves through the -Golden Gate, some of the <i>tong</i> watched the landing. The -thieves were in San Francisco three days, and Sam -Wing followed them when they left for Chicago, then -for New York, and then for these Catskill Mountains. -When I reached San Francisco, the leading men of the -<i>tong</i> had telegrams from Sam Wing. By use of the -telegrams, I followed, and arrived here. Wing had left -a writing for me at the hotel, telling me to wait. I -waited, but Wing had disappeared. I kept on waiting, -and out of my discouragement, remarkable sir, I wrote -to you. That is all, until this morning, when Kien Lung -came with the yellow cord. Two weeks are left me. If -the Eye of Buddha is not found in that time, then"—and -Tsan Ti tapped the breast of his sagging blouse—"all -that remains is the quick dispatch."</p> - -<p>Both Matt and McGlory had listened with intense -interest to this odd yarn. Although a heathen, and lately -keeper of a heathen temple, the mandarin was nevertheless -a person of culture and of considerable importance. -The sending of the yellow cord was a custom of his country, -and it was evident that he intended to abide by the -custom in case the Eye of Buddha was not recovered -within two weeks.</p> - -<p>"Shall we turn the trick for him, pard?" asked McGlory. -"This palaver of his makes a bit of a hit with -me. I'd hate like Sam Hill to have him shut off his -breath with that yellow cord. If——"</p> - -<p>The hum of an approaching automobile reached the -ears of those at the roadside. The machine was coming -from above, and Matt pulled the broken bicycle out of -the road.</p> - -<p>The boys and the mandarin stood in a group while -waiting for the car to pass. Tsan Ti, seemingly wrapped -up in his own miseries, gave no attention to the car, at -first.</p> - -<p>There were two passengers in the car—the driver, and -another in the tonneau.</p> - -<p>The car, on the down grade, was coming at a terrific -clip, and the man in the tonneau was hanging on for -dear life and yelling at the top of his voice:</p> - -<p>"Avast there, mate, or you'll have me overboard! By -the seven holy spritsails——"</p> - -<p>The voice broke off and gave vent to a frantic yell. -Although the driver had shut off the power and applied -a brake, the car had leaped into the air when it struck -the root.</p> - -<p>The man in the tonneau shot straight up into the air -for two or three feet, and Matt and McGlory had a -glimpse of a grizzled red face with a patch over one eye, -a fringe of "mutton-chop" whiskers, and a blue sailor -cap.</p> - -<p>"The mariner!" came in a clamoring wheeze, from -Tsan Ti.</p> - -<p>As the automobile whirled past, the mandarin flung -himself crazily at the rear of the tonneau, only to be -knocked head over heels for his pains.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span></p> - -<p>As he floundered in the dust, Matt rushed for his -motor cycle.</p> - -<p>"Is that one of the two men who stole the ruby?" cried -Matt.</p> - -<p>"What fortune!" puffed Tsan Ti. "Pursue and capture -the villain! If he has the Eye of Buddha——"</p> - -<p>But the rest of it was lost. Matt, followed by McGlory, -was tearing away on the track of the automobile.</p> - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.</a></h2> - -<p class="chaptitle">THE GLASS BALLS.</p> - - -<p>Turning the trick for Tsan Ti—as McGlory had termed -it—was destined to entangle the motor boys in a whirl -of the most astounding events; and these events, as novel -as they were mysterious, followed each other like the -reports of a Gatling gun.</p> - -<p>The journey to Albany, and down the river to Catskill -Landing, and thence by motor cycle part way up the -mountain, had been monotonous; but from the moment -the mandarin and the bicycle went sprawling into the air -over the tree root, and the lads had made the Chinaman's -acquaintance, Fate began whirling the wheel of -amazing events.</p> - -<p>Matt and McGlory had had no time to discuss the -weird tale recounted for their benefit by the mandarin. -There was no opportunity to view the theft of the Eye of -Buddha from any angle save that offered by the philosophical -Tsan Ti. No sooner had the ostensible facts -connected with the stolen ruby been retailed, than one -of the thieves flashed down the mountain road, leaving -the boys no choice but to fling away after him.</p> - -<p>The two motor cycles had absolutely no chance to go -wrong on that downhill trail. Had either motor -"bucked," the weight of the heavy machine would have -hurled its rider onward in a breakneck coast toward the -foot of the hill.</p> - -<p>"Sufferin' streaks!" cried the cowboy. "If we were -to meet anybody coming up, there'd be nothing left but -the pieces!"</p> - -<p>"I'm keeping a lookout ahead, Joe!" Matt called back, -over his shoulder.</p> - -<p>He was in the lead, and his rear wheel was firing a -stream of dust and sand into McGlory's eyes. But the -cowboy was too excited to pay much attention to that.</p> - -<p>"We're goin' off half-cocked, seems to me!" he yelled. -"We've known that fat chink for about ten minutes, and -here we are, lamming into his game like a couple of -wolves. What's the use of brains, pard, if you don't use -'em?"</p> - -<p>"While we were thinking matters over," Matt answered, -ripping around a sharp turn, "the one-eyed man -would be getting away."</p> - -<p>"What're we going to do when we overhaul him? -Make an offhand demand for the Eye of Buddha? It -sounds flat enough, and if the webfoot tells us we're -crazy, and gives us the laugh, what're we going to do?"</p> - -<p>"Brakes! brakes!" cried Matt, and his motor cycle began -to stagger and buck-jump as he angled for a halt.</p> - -<p>McGlory was startled by the command, but instantly -he obeyed it. In order to avoid running his chum down, -he not only bore down with the brakes but also swerved -toward the roadside. He came to a sudden stop in a -thicket of bushes, and extricated himself with some difficulty.</p> - -<p>Matt was in the road, his motor cycle leaning against -a tree. A yard in front of him lay a flat cap. He -pointed to it.</p> - -<p>"What's that to do with a breakneck stop like we -just made?" snorted the cowboy. "It's not the headgear -we want, pard, but the man that owns it."</p> - -<p>"Sure," returned Matt. "Look farther down the road, -Joe, and then you'll understand."</p> - -<p>A straight drop in the road stretched ahead of the boys -for a quarter of a mile. Halfway along the stretch was -the automobile. The machine was at a stop, and the -driver and the one-eyed man were leaning over the motor. -The hood had been opened, and the driver was -tinkering.</p> - -<p>"Something has gone wrong," said Matt, "and it happened -soon after the sailor had lost his cap. Our one-eyed -friend, I think, will come back after his property. -If he does, we'll talk with him. We can't go too far -in this business, you know. I have considerable confidence -in Tsan Ti, but still we're not absolutely sure of -our ground."</p> - -<p>"The poor old duck is bound to snuff himself out with -the yellow cord if he don't recover the ruby," returned -the cowboy. "That's what hits me close to home. We're -going it blind"—and here McGlory dug some of the sand -out of his eyes—"and we jumped into this with a touch-and-go -that don't seem reasonable; still, I've got a sneaking -notion we're on the right track. What's that on the -hat ribbon?"</p> - -<p>Matt had picked up the hat, and was turning it over -in his hand.</p> - -<p>"It's the name of a boat, I suppose," answered Matt, -taking a look at the gilt letters. "'<i>Hottentot</i>,'" he -added, reading the name.</p> - -<p>"Oh, tell me!" exclaimed McGlory. "<i>Hottentot!</i> -That's a warm label for a boat. But, say! Suppose -One-Eye don't think enough of his cap to come back -for it?"</p> - -<p>"But he will," answered Matt. "This will bring him, -I'll bet something handsome."</p> - -<p>As he spoke. Matt pulled a square of folded paper -out of the crown of the cap.</p> - -<p>"Cowboy trick!" grinned McGlory. "Carryin' letters -under the sweatband of a Stetson reminds me of home."</p> - -<p>Matt had stepped to the roadside, the folded paper to -one hand and the cap in the other.</p> - -<p>"Had we better?" he pondered, voicing his thoughts.</p> - -<p>"Better what?" queried McGlory.</p> - -<p>"Why, keep this paper. It may prove important."</p> - -<p>"Sure, keep it! What're you side-stepping for about -a little thing like that? We're after the Eye of Buddha, -and if that paper has anything to do with it, the -thing's ours by rights."</p> - -<p>"But suppose Tsan Ti is working some game of his -own? That was a fearsome yarn he gave us, Joe."</p> - -<p>"Sufferin' tenderfeet! Say, didn't we come all the -way from Michigan to help him? Think of that yellow -cord, and what it means to—— Oh, Moses!" the cowboy -broke off. "Here comes the webfoot, now."</p> - -<p>Matt, taking a chance that the sailor was a thief, that -he had guilty knowledge of the whereabouts of the Eye -of Buddha, and that the paper might furnish valuable -information, thrust the note into his pocket, and hastily -replaced it with a bit of paper quickly drawn from his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> -coat. Then, tossing the hat into the road, he stepped out -and waited.</p> - -<p>The sailor was scrambling up the steep ascent with -the agility of an A. B. making for the maintop. At -sight of Matt, appearing suddenly above him, he hesitated, -only to come on again at redoubled speed.</p> - -<p>"Ahoy, shipmates!" bellowed the old salt, as soon as -he had come close enough for a hail. "Seen anythin' of -a bit of headgear hereabouts?"</p> - -<p>"There it is," Matt answered, pointing.</p> - -<p>"Blow me tight if there it ain't!" He jumped for the -hat, and gathered it in with a sweep of one hand. -"Obliged to ye," he added, looking into the crown, and -then placing the hat on his head with visible satisfaction.</p> - -<p>He would have turned and made off down the road, -had not Matt stepped toward him and lifted his hand.</p> - -<p>"Just a minute, my friend," said Matt.</p> - -<p>The sailor flashed a look toward the automobile. The -driver had closed the hood, and was waving his arms.</p> - -<p>"Nary a minute have I got to spare, shipmate," the -sailor answered. "The skipper of that craft has plugged -the hole in her bow, and we're ready to trip anchor and -bear away."</p> - -<p>"Wait!" and a sternness crept into Matt's voice. "We -must have a talk with you. Perhaps you'll save yourself -trouble if you give us a few minutes of your time."</p> - -<p>At the word "trouble," the sailor squared around.</p> - -<p>"Now, shiver me," he cried, "I'm just beginning to -take the cut of your jib. Trouble, says you. Are ye -sailin' in company with that chink we passed a ways -back on our course?"</p> - -<p>"What do you know about the Eye of Buddha?" demanded -Matt.</p> - -<p>"Oh, ho," roared the other, "so that's yer lay, my -hearty? Well, you take my advice, and keep your finger -out o' that pie. I'm not sayin' a word about the Eye -o' Buddha. Mayhap I know somethin' consarnin' the -same, an' mayhap I don't. But I wouldn't give the fag -end o' nothin' mixed in a kittle o' hot water for your -chances if you stick an oar in that little matter."</p> - -<p>There was that about the sailor which convinced Matt -that he knew more concerning the ruby than he cared -to tell.</p> - -<p>"Stop!" cried the king of the motor boys.</p> - -<p>"Not me," was the gruff answer, and both of the -sailor's hands dropped into his pockets.</p> - -<p>"If he won't stop," cried McGlory, "then here's where -we make him!"</p> - -<p>He and Matt started on a run toward the sailor. The -latter whirled around, his arms drew back, and his hands -shot forward. Two round, glimmering objects left his -palms and tinkled into fragments at the feet of the two -boys. An overpowering odor arose in the still air—wafted -upward in a cloud of strangling fumes that caught -at the throats of Matt and McGlory, blinded their eyes, -and sapped at their strength.</p> - -<p>McGlory fell to his knees.</p> - -<p>"The—glass—balls——" he gasped, and flattened out -helplessly, the last word fading into a gurgle.</p> - -<p>"Leave the Eye o' Buddha alone!" were the hoarse -words that echoed in Matt's ears.</p> - -<p>And they were the last sounds of which he was cognizant -for some time. He crumpled down at the side of -his chum, made one last desperate struggle to recover -his strength, and then the darkness closed him in.</p> - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.</a></h2> - -<p class="chaptitle">THE PAPER CLUE.</p> - - -<p>Now and then there are episodes in life which, when -they are past and one comes to look back on them, seem -more like dreams than actual occurrences. This matter -of the Chinaman, the Eye of Buddha, the sailor, and the -glass balls looked particularly unreal to Motor Matt and -Joe McGlory.</p> - -<p>When Matt opened his eyes, he found himself in a -hammock. For a minute or two he lay quiet, trying to -figure out how and when he had got into the hammock, -and where Joe was, and just how much of a dream he -had had.</p> - -<p>The hammock was strung between a couple of trees, -and from a distance came a subdued chatter of voices, -and the low, soft strains of an orchestra.</p> - -<p>Matt sat up in the hammock and looked in the direction -from which the sounds came. The lofty, porticoed -front of a huge hotel was no more than two hundred feet -away. Men in flannels and women in lawn dresses were -coming and going about the porticoes, and the music was -wafted out from inside the building.</p> - -<p>The young motorist's bewilderment grew, and he -brushed a hand across his eyes. Then he looked in another -direction. Two yards from the tree supporting -one end of the hammock, the ground broke sharply into -a precipitous descent, falling sheer away for a hundred -feet or more. He could look off over a rolling country -checkered with meadows and grainland and timber -patches, with a river cutting through the vista and holding -the scene together like a silver ribbon.</p> - -<p>He drew a long breath, and swerved his gaze to the -right. Here there was another hammock, one end of it -secured to the same tree that helped support Matt's airy -couch, and the other end to a third tree which formed an -acute angle with respect to the other two.</p> - -<p>In this second hammock was McGlory. Like Matt, he -was sitting up; and, like Matt again, he was staring.</p> - -<p>Leaning against one of the three trees, were the two -motor cycles.</p> - -<p>"Joe!" cried Matt. "Is that you?"</p> - -<p>"Hooray!" exclaimed the cowboy, with sudden animation. -"I was just waiting for you to speak, in order to -make sure I wasn't still asleep. Jumpin' jee-whiskers, -what a dream I've had!"</p> - -<p>"Where are we?" inquired Matt.</p> - -<p>A puzzled look crossed the cowboy's face.</p> - -<p>"Don't you <i>sabe</i> that?" he returned.</p> - -<p>"No."</p> - -<p>"Shucks! That's just the question I was going to bat -up to you."</p> - -<p>"How did we get here?"</p> - -<p>"I'm by, again. But, sufferin' brain-twisters, what a -dream I've had!" He began laughing softly to himself.</p> - -<p>"What sort of a dream was it?" went on Matt.</p> - -<p>"Funnier'n a Piute picnic! It was all mixed up with -a fat Chinaman, and a yellow cord, and a ruby called -the Eye of Buddha, and a one-eyed sailor, and—and a -couple of glass balls. Oh, speak to me about that! Say, -pard, but it was a corker! The fat chink was doing all -sorts of funny stunts, tumbling off a bike, and all over -himself."</p> - -<p>"There wasn't any dream about it," declared Matt, -swinging his feet to the ground with sudden energy.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span></p> - -<p>The laugh died out of McGlory's face, and a blank -look took its place.</p> - -<p>"Go on!" he scoffed, not a little startled.</p> - -<p>"Two fellows couldn't have the same kind of a dream," -persisted Matt, "and I went through identically the same -things you did. That proves they were <i>real</i>! But—but," -and Matt's voice wavered, "how did we get here?"</p> - -<p>"There are the motor cycles we used when we buzzed -out of Catskill Landing," and McGlory brightened as -he pointed to the two wheels.</p> - -<p>"I see," mused Matt, drumming his forehead with his -knuckles. "Nobody seems to be paying much attention -to us," he added, his eyes on the groups around the hotel -porches.</p> - -<p>"Not a terrible sight, and that's a fact," agreed McGlory. -"But why should they, pard? They don't know -us."</p> - -<p>"Somebody must have brought us here and laid us in -the hammocks. The last I remember we were down and -out. Now, Joe, a move of that kind would naturally stir -up a commotion."</p> - -<p>"Well, yes," admitted the cowboy, going blank again, -"Are you and I locoed, Matt, or what?"</p> - -<p>"Come on and let's try and find out."</p> - -<p>Matt started for a man who was sitting in a canvas -chair smoking a cigar and nursing a golf club on his -knees. McGlory trailed after him.</p> - -<p>"I beg your pardon, sir," said Matt, halting beside the -chair, "but have you been here long?"</p> - -<p>"Two weeks," was the answer with a hard stare. "I -come to the Mountain House every summer, and spend -my va——"</p> - -<p>"I mean," interrupted Matt, "were you sitting here -when my friend and I were brought in?"</p> - -<p>"Brought in? You weren't brought in. You two rode -in on those motor cycles, leaned them against the tree, -and preëmpted the hammocks."</p> - -<p>"Sufferin' lunatics!" breathed McGlory. "I reckon -we'd better call somebody in to look at our plumbing, -pard."</p> - -<p>"What appears to be the trouble?" went on the stranger, -politely curious.</p> - -<p>"It just 'appears,' and that's all," rambled the cowboy. -"If we could only get a strangle-hold on the trouble, and -hog-tie it, maybe we could take it apart, and see what -makes it act so."</p> - -<p>The stranger sprang up, grabbed his golf stick, and -looked alarmed.</p> - -<p>"Never mind my friend, sir," said Matt reassuringly; -"we're just a little bit bothered, that's all."</p> - -<p>"A little bit!" repeated the stranger ironically; "it -looks to me like a whole lot."</p> - -<p>"This is the Mountain House, is it?" went on Matt. -He was severely shocked himself, but tried manfully to -hide it while trying to work out the mystery.</p> - -<p>"Certainly, sir," growled the man with the golf stick. -"Don't you try to make game of me, young man! I'm -old enough to be your father, and such——"</p> - -<p>"We are not trying to make game of any one," protested -Matt.</p> - -<p>"But somebody is making game of <i>us</i>," put in McGlory, -"and playing us up and down and all across the -table. Here in these hills is where Rip Van Winkle -went to sleep, ain't it? I wonder if he dreamed about fat -Chinamen, yellow cords, one-eyed sailors, and——"</p> - -<p>"Cut it out, Joe!" whispered Matt sternly, grabbing -his chum by the arm and pulling him toward the hotel. -"Can't you see he thinks we're crazy?"</p> - -<p>"<i>Thinks</i> we're crazy?" stuttered the cowboy. "Then -I've got a cinch on him, for I <i>know</i> we are. Where -next?"</p> - -<p>"We'll go into the hotel and make some inquiries," replied -Matt, noting how the man with the cigar and the -golf stick turned in his chair to keep an eye on them. -"And for Heaven's sake, Joe," Matt added, "let me do -the talking. If you don't, we're liable to be locked up."</p> - -<p>"We ought to be locked up," mumbled McGlory. -"We're lost, and we ought to be shooed into some safe -corral and kept there till we find ourselves. Sufferin' -hurricanes! What kind of a brain-storm are we going -through, <i>any</i>how?"</p> - -<p>Matt and McGlory passed through the chattering -groups on the porch and entered the lobby of the hotel. -The music, which now came to them in increased volume, -was accompanied by a clatter of dishes from the dining -room. Matt laid a direct course for the counter at one -side of the lobby.</p> - -<p>"Can you tell me," he asked, leaning over the counter -and addressing the carefully groomed clerk, "If there is -a gentleman named Tsan Ti staying at this hotel?"</p> - -<p>"Come again, please," was the answer. "What was -that name?"</p> - -<p>"Tsan Ti."</p> - -<p>"Where's he from?"</p> - -<p>"Canton, China."</p> - -<p>"Wears a black cap and a yellow kimono," put in Joe. -"Button in the cap—red button. He's the high old -Whoop-a-gamus that bossed the temple of What-you-call-um -and let the Eye of Buddha get away from him. -He <i>must</i> be here."</p> - -<p>"Such jocosity is out of place," said the clerk chillingly.</p> - -<p>"Sufferin' zero!" muttered McGlory. "I reckon his -home ranch is the North Pole. What's jocosity, Matt?"</p> - -<p>"Then Tsan Ti isn't here?" asked Matt.</p> - -<p>"Certainly <i>not</i>. You might try the Hotel Kaaterskill."</p> - -<p>"Kaaterskill!" minced McGlory. "Now, what the -blooming——"</p> - -<p>"Joe," muttered Matt, grasping his chum's arm, and -pulling him away. "What's come over you, anyhow? -You're acting like a Hottentot."</p> - -<p>"That's it!" cried Joe.</p> - -<p>"What?"</p> - -<p>"The name that one-eyed webfoot had on his cap. -Hottentot! Hottentot! Hottentot!"</p> - -<p>"Joe!" warned Matt, for the cowboy had sung out the -word at the top of his voice. "What <i>ails</i> you? Great -spark plugs!"</p> - -<p>McGlory brushed a hand across his face.</p> - -<p>"I feel like I'd taken a foolish powder, pard," he answered -huskily. "Let's get out of here before I make -a holy show of myself."</p> - -<p>All at sea, they went back to the hammocks and sat -down by the two motor cycles.</p> - -<p>"And this," remarked McGlory, breaking a long silence, -"is what you call turning the trick for Tsan Ti! I -told you that letter we received in Grand Rapids was -plain bunk. Read it again, pard."</p> - -<p>"I've read it thirteen times, Joe," answered Matt.</p> - -<p>"Well, read it fourteen times and break the hoodoo."</p> - -<p>Matt took the envelope from his pocket, and drew out -the inclosed sheet. Then he stared, then whistled, then -leaned back against the tree.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Now it's you who's doped," grinned McGlory. "Can't -you read it?"</p> - -<p>"Sure," answered Matt; "listen."</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>"'<span class="smcap">Bunce</span>: Be in Purling at ten a. m., Thursday. Show -this to Pryne at the general store in the village, and -Pryne will show you to me. Important developments. -Mum's the word.</p> - -<p class="sig"> -<span class="smcap">Grattan.</span>'"<br /> -</p></blockquote> - -<p>McGlory threw off his hat, and pawed at his hair.</p> - -<p>"Put a chain on us, somebody, <i>please</i>!" he gasped. -"Where, oh, where, did you get that?"</p> - -<p>"Here's a paper clue," said Matt. "I took this out of -that cap we found in the road, and, by an oversight, I -tucked that letter from Tsan Ti into the cap so the sailor -wouldn't notice the original note was missing."</p> - -<p>"Then there <i>was</i> a cap," muttered McGlory, "and it -<i>did</i> have 'Hottentot' on the ribbon, and you <i>sure</i> took out -a note, and it's a cinch there <i>was</i> a sailor. Now, if all -that's true, then where, in the name of the great hocus-pocus, -is the fat Chinaman?"</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.</a></h2> - -<p class="chaptitle">PUTTING TWO AND TWO TOGETHER.</p> - - -<p>With a sudden thought, Matt stepped to the motor -cycle McGlory had used, and gave the front wheel a -critical examination.</p> - -<p>"What's that for?" asked the cowboy.</p> - -<p>"I'm only putting two and two together, Joe," Matt -answered, returning to his place at his chum's side.</p> - -<p>"I reckon they make five, this inning," said McGlory.</p> - -<p>"I believe I've got the hang of it," went on Matt. -"You're just getting back to your natural self, Joe. Ever -since we awoke in those hammocks, and up to this minute, -you've been a trifle 'flighty.'"</p> - -<p>"Well," acknowledged McGlory, "I felt as though I'd -been browsing on loco weed."</p> - -<p>"How do you account for it?"</p> - -<p>"I don't. You're doing this sum in arithmetic. What's -the answer?"</p> - -<p>"Glass balls," said Matt.</p> - -<p>"Speak to me about those glass balls! That webfoot -threw two of them, and they smashed right in front of -us! And—and—— But, say, pard, it's not in reason -to think that two things like those balls could lay us -out."</p> - -<p>"Remember how the Eye of Buddha was stolen? The -one-eyed sailor and the Englishman broke one of the -glass balls in the temple, and all the priests were laid -out."</p> - -<p>"Oh, well, if you're going to take any stock in that fat -Chinaman and his yarn, I reckon you——"</p> - -<p>"Now, listen," continued Matt earnestly. "Strange as -it may seem, Joe, there <i>are</i> balls like those Tsan Ti was -telling us about. We have had an experience with them, -and we <i>know</i>. I suppose the glass spheres are filled -with some powerful narcotic fumes which are set free -the moment the balls are broken."</p> - -<p>"It's not in reason," protested Joe.</p> - -<p>"It's a hard thing to believe that such objects exist, -I'll admit," proceeded Matt, "but we have got to credit -the evidence of our senses. While one of the balls was -enough to overcome the priests, in the temple, it was necessary -for the sailor to use two against us, there in the -open. The air, naturally, would soon dissipate the fumes. -I shouldn't wonder," Matt added reflectively, "but those -balls were invented by the Chinese. They seem to have -a knack for that sort of thing."</p> - -<p>"Queerest knock-out drops I ever heard of."</p> - -<p>"When you and I recovered sufficient strength to get -up out of the road," continued Matt, "we hadn't yet recovered -full possession of our wits. You remember, Joe, -your front tire was punctured. Well, that puncture was -neatly mended, and the air pump must have been used -to inflate the tire again. You and I must have done that, -then rode up here and taken possession of the hammocks."</p> - -<p>The cowboy whistled.</p> - -<p>"Able to make repairs, and to navigate, but plumb locoed -for all that, eh?" he remarked.</p> - -<p>"That's my idea, Joe. When we finally recovered our -senses, in these hammocks, all that had happened seemed -to have been a dream."</p> - -<p>"Seems so yet, pard. What's become of Tsan Ti? And -the other hatchet boy that brought the yellow cord? They -don't know anything about Tsan at the hotel, so he must -have been overworking his imagination when he told us -he had been having tea there. And that other yarn -about seeing the man with the yellow cord and ducking -on a borrowed wheel to get away from him! Say, I -reckon they'd have known something about a commotion -of that sort if it had happened here." McGlory wagged -his head incredulously. "The fat chink is up to something, -Matt," he finished, "and he's been talking with -the double tongue."</p> - -<p>"I'll admit," said Matt, "that there are some parts of -the problem that look rather dubious, but, on the whole, -Tsan Ti's story holds together pretty well. That story -of the ruby was corroborated, in a way, by the sailor. -From the fellow's actions, he must have known a good -deal about the Eye of Buddha. Why did he throw the -glass balls at us? Simply to keep us from following -him. If the sailor hadn't been guilty of some treacherous -work, he wouldn't have done that."</p> - -<p>"I'm over my head," muttered McGlory. "But, if the -mandarin is so hungry to have us help him, what's the -reason he's making himself absent? Why isn't he here?"</p> - -<p>"Let's give him time to get here. We weren't on that -mountainside for more than two hours. It was nine -when we left Catskill Landing, and about half-past ten, I -should say, when we met Tsan Ti. It's nearly one, now."</p> - -<p>"Well, what's the next move, pard? Are you going -to that Purling place and ask for Pryne at the general -store?"</p> - -<p>"Not right away. We'll give Tsan Ti a chance to -present himself, first."</p> - -<p>"You don't think"—and here McGlory assumed a -tragic look—"that Tsan would go off into the timber and -use that yellow cord, do you?"</p> - -<p>"He has two weeks before he has to do that."</p> - -<p>"<i>Has</i> to do it! Why, he don't have to do it at all, -except to be polite to that squinch-eyed boss of the Flowery -Kingdom. Honest, these chinks are the limit."</p> - -<p>Matt got up and pulled his motor cycle away from the -tree.</p> - -<p>"Let's go into the hotel, and have dinner, Joe," he -suggested. "If we don't hear anything from Tsan Ti by -four, this afternoon, we'll return to Catskill."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span></p> - -<p>"And not do anything about that paper you got out of -the sailor's hat?" asked the cowboy.</p> - -<p>"If Tsan Ti doesn't think we're worth bothering with, -after we've come all the way from Grand Rapids to lend -him a hand, we'll let him do his own hunting for the -ruby."</p> - -<p>"Keno, correct, and then some," agreed the cowboy -heartily. "I've thought, all along, there'd be some sort -of bobble about this Eastern trip. But let's eat. I've -been hungry enough to sit in at chuck-pile any time the -last three hours."</p> - -<p>The boys left their wheels in charge of a man who -looked after the motor cars belonging to guests, and -went into the office for the second time. The clerk surveyed -McGlory with pronounced disfavor while Matt -was registering. The cowboy met the look with an easy -grin, and, after he and Matt had washed their faces, -brushed their hair, and knocked the dust out of their -clothes, they went into the big dining room and did full -justice to an excellent meal.</p> - -<p>Neither had much to say about Tsan Ti. Matt was -half fearing the mandarin's business was a good deal of -a wild-goose chase, and that the ponderous Celestial, for -reasons of his own, had absented himself permanently.</p> - -<p>Following the meal, the boys went out to sit on the -veranda. They had hardly taken their chairs when a -big red automobile, with a rumble seat behind in place -of a tonneau, sizzled up to the front of the hotel and -came to a stop.</p> - -<p>There was one man in the car. As soon as the dust -had settled a little, a black cap with a red button, a long -queue, and a yellow blouse emerged with startling distinctness -upon the gaze of the two boys.</p> - -<p>McGlory sat in his chair as though paralyzed.</p> - -<p>"It's Tsan Ti!" he murmured feebly, switching his -eyes to Matt.</p> - -<p>"Tsan Ti, and no mistake," answered Matt.</p> - -<p>"First he rides a bike," said the cowboy, rapidly recovering, -"and now he blows in on us at the steering -wheel of a gasoline cart. He's the handiest all-around -heathen I ever met up with. And look at him! He acts -just as though nothing had happened. Well, let me know -about that, will you?"</p> - -<p>Tsan Ti turned sidewise in the driver's seat, and swept -his gaze over the front of the hotel. He was less than -half a minute getting the range of the motor boys. Lifting -a hand, he beckoned for them to come.</p> - -<p>"He wants us," said Matt grimly. "We'd better go, -and hear what he has to say for himself."</p> - -<p>"That's the talk!" agreed McGlory.</p> - -<p>A bland smile crossed the flabby face of the Chinaman -as the boys came close.</p> - -<p>"Embark, distinguished friends," said he.</p> - -<p>After all the rough and tumble of the morning, Tsan -Ti now appeared in perfect condition. He was entirely -at his ease, and as well groomed a mandarin as ever left -the Chinese Empire.</p> - -<p>"Just a minute, Tsan Ti," returned Matt coldly. "There -are a few things we would like to have explained before -we go any farther in this business of yours."</p> - -<p>"All shall be made transparent to you, most excellent -youth," was the reply, "only just now embark, so that -we may proceed on our way."</p> - -<p>"You said you were stopping at the Mountain House," -said Matt severely.</p> - -<p>"A play upon words, no more. I was staying at the -Kaaterskill. What says the great Confucius? 'The cautious -seldom err.' I was cautious. Time passes swiftly, -and——"</p> - -<p>"Get out and explain everything to us, Tsan Ti," broke -in Matt firmly. "If you want us to help you, you've got -to take time to set us right on a few important matters. -We hadn't talked twenty minutes with you before we -jumped in to give you a helping hand—and succeeded -in getting ourselves into trouble. As you say, 'the cautious -seldom err.' That means us, you know, as well as -you."</p> - -<p>The mandarin heaved a sigh of disappointment, floundered -out of the machine, and accompanied the boys in -the direction of the three trees and the swinging hammocks.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.</a></h2> - -<p class="chaptitle">A SMASH.</p> - - -<p>The Hotel Kaaterskill was within a stone's throw of -the Mountain House. So far as situation went, there -was small choice between them, but Matt resented Tsan -Ti's deception in declaring he was staying at one when -he was really staying at the other. It seemed so trivial -a matter compared with the mandarin's critical situation—as -set forth by himself.</p> - -<p>"I don't like the way you are acting, Tsan Ti," said -Matt, as soon as they had reached the trees. "In your -letter to me you asked me to meet you at the Mountain -House; and on the mountainside, after you received the -yellow cord, you spoke about our going up to the Mountain -House; and again, as I remember it, it was on the -porch of the Mountain House where you were drinking -tea when you saw Kien Lung coming toward you, and -bolted away on the bicycle. What excuse was there for -such a deception? And how can we help you if you -are not open and aboveboard with us?"</p> - -<p>"The left hand, honored and exalted sir," returned -Tsan Ti, "must not know what the right hand does when -one is so unfortunate as I. Sam Wing, in leaving word -for me at the house named Kaaterskill, remarked upon -the courier Kien Lung being after me upon his unhappy -errand, and counseled that I keep myself obscurely. But -I should have made communication with you at the -Mountain House had you arrived by that place for meeting -me. My intentions were high-minded, albeit secretive."</p> - -<p>"Then, for now," pursued Matt, "we will let that pass. -Why did you vanish from the mountainside after we -had been left to chase the one-eyed sailor? He threw -two of those glass balls at us, and we were dropped in -the road, unconscious. It was not a long distance from -where we had left you, and you could easily have come -down to us."</p> - -<p>"<i>Omito fuh!</i>" muttered Tsan Ti. "My regret is most -consuming! The gods crossed my will, notable one; -nothing else could have kept me at a distance from you. -It was thus. Young men on bicycles, pursuing Kien -Lung and me who had made away at high speed on two -of their go-devil machines, swarmed suddenly around -me like the sacred rocks in the banyans at Honam. In -spite of my entreaties, they carried me to the Kaaterskill, -and there I made repayment for the broken machine, and -for the one which Kien Lung took for himself and did<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> -not return. These affairs occupied me profoundly until -half an hour since; then I hired yonder devil wagon and -started to find you. Behold, you were on the veranda -of the hotel as I fared past. Confucius said, in ancient -times, 'When I have presented one corner of a subject, -and the pupil cannot of himself make out the other three, -I do not repeat my lesson.' So the sight of you informed -me the sailor of the single eye had escaped, and I concluded -best that we hurry after him. Am I not right, -honorable friend?"</p> - -<p>"He's good with his bazoo," remarked McGlory. "I -reckon he makes out a clean case for himself."</p> - -<p>Matt was satisfied. Still, he thought that instead of -attending to his personal appearance and running around -hiring an automobile, Tsan Ti might have taken some -quicker method of finding out what had happened down -the mountainside. But he was a Chinaman, and his -ways and means were not those of a Caucasian.</p> - -<p>"Where did you learn to drive an automobile, Tsan -Ti?" asked Matt.</p> - -<p>"We have the devil wagons in Canton. There are -many in the foreign quarter, and I have one of my own." -Tsan Ti fanned himself and looked troubled. "There is -something," he went on presently, "of which I must inform -you. Perhaps, when you know, you will leave me -to find the Eye of Buddha unaided. But it is right that -I should tell you."</p> - -<p>"What is it?" inquired Matt.</p> - -<p>"This, courageous youth: The ten thousand demons of -misfortune have been let loose upon those most closely -concerned with the loss of the ruby. While the great -Buddha sits eyeless in the temple at Honam, his wrath -falls upon me in particular; and, now that you are helping -me, it will likewise fall upon you. Disasters have -crowded upon me, and if you keep on in the search, they -will surely overtake you. Already you have had experience -of them."</p> - -<p>"Sufferin' snakes!" grunted McGlory. "It'll take -more'n a heathen idol over in China to get me on the -run."</p> - -<p>"I guess we'll face the music," laughed Matt. "That -ruby eye may be a hoodoo, but we're not superstitious -enough to get scared."</p> - -<p>"Excellent!" wheezed Tsan Ti. "I have done well to -secure your invaluable services. Shall we now proceed -down the mountain in pursuit of the sailor?"</p> - -<p>"Why, he may be a hundred miles from here by this -time."</p> - -<p>"Not so!" was the positive answer. "I have my warning -that he is near, and that we must hasten."</p> - -<p>"Warning?" repeated Matt.</p> - -<p>Tsan Ti poked two fingers down the neck of his blouse -and fished up a small black V-shaped object attached to -a gold chain.</p> - -<p>"Observe," he said solemnly, "my jade-stone amulet, -covered with choice ideographs from the Book of Auguries. -When it burns the skin upon the speaking of a -name, then have I a warning. Look!" He held the -stone on his fat palm. "With it thus I breathe the words -'one-eyed thief' and"—he winced as though from pain—"the -amulet nearly burns."</p> - -<p>McGlory dropped his head, and his shoulders shook -with suppressed mirth. Never had he met so humorous -a person as this mandarin of the red button, with his -yellow cord, his jade-stone amulet, and his load of -trouble.</p> - -<p>Matt was also possessed of a desire to laugh, but managed -to keep his features straight. Tsan Ti observed the -incredulity of the boys, and dropped the amulet back -down his blouse.</p> - -<p>"Let us go, doubting ones," he puffed, "and you will -see. Come, accompany me, and you will not be long in -learning why the amulet burns!"</p> - -<p>"Our motor cycles are here, at the garage," demurred -Matt, "and——"</p> - -<p>"They will be safely kept until you come for them -again. Let us, as you say, hustle."</p> - -<p>He was up and waddling toward the automobile before -Matt or McGlory could answer. The boys followed -him, Matt climbing into the front seat at the mandarin's -side, and the cowboy getting into the seat behind.</p> - -<p>"Hadn't I better drive?" queried Matt.</p> - -<p>"It is a pleasure for me to guide and control the pounding -demon," the Chinaman answered. "Ha, we start."</p> - -<p>But they did not start. Naturally, the long halt had -not left enough gas in the cylinders to take the spark, and -Tsan Ti had neglected to use the crank.</p> - -<p>Matt got down and turned the engine over—and came -within one of being run down before he could get out -of the way. Regaining the car at a flying leap, he -snuggled down in his seat and proceeded to hold his -breath. Of all the reckless drivers he had ever seen, -Tsan Ti was the limit. He banged over the edge of the -level into the long slope, engaging the high speed so -quickly that Matt wondered he did not strip the gear. -As the car lurched, and swayed, and bounded Tsan Ti's -joy shone in his puffy face.</p> - -<p>"Glory to glory, and all hands 'round!" yelled the cowboy, -from behind. "Change seats with him, Matt! If -you don't, he'll string us from the Mountain House clean -to Catskill."</p> - -<p>Matt leaned over and gave the steering wheel a turn -barely in time to keep them from hitting a tree. The -wake the machine left behind it looked like a zigzag -streak. First they were on one side of the road, and -then on the other, juggling back and forth by the narrowest -of margins, and keeping right side up in defiance -with every law of gravity with which Matt was -familiar.</p> - -<p>"Cut out the high speed!" shouted Matt. "It's suicide -to use that gear on such a slope as this. We could -coast down this hill without an ounce of power."</p> - -<p>A mud guard was loose, and it rattled horribly. The -Chinaman was feeding too much gasoline part of the -time, and not enough the rest of the time. Now and -again, the cylinders would misfire, pop wildly, then jump -into a racing hum. That high-powered roadster made -as much noise as a railroad train; and what with Matt -yelling directions, and McGlory whooping like a Comanche -at every close call they nipped out of, the uproar -was tremendous.</p> - -<p>Through it all the fat Chinaman glowed and, at intervals, -gave vent to ecstatic howls. Whenever they escaped -a tree that had threatened them, he exploded jubilantly.</p> - -<p>"I can't stand this, pard!" roared McGlory. "I'm -goin' to jump out, if you don't stop him!"</p> - -<p>To argue with Tsan Ti, in all that turmoil of sound, -was out of the question.</p> - -<p>Hardly had the cowboy ceased speaking when, through -the wild hubbub of noise, Matt thought he heard a sharp -detonation. Of this he was not sure, but, almost immediately,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> -a front tire blew up, and the machine swerved -wildly.</p> - -<p>Bang—<i>crash!</i></p> - -<p>The automobile made a wild effort to climb a tree, -and the next thing Motor Matt realized was the fact -that he was turning handsprings in the road.</p> - -<p>Silence, sudden and grim, followed the frantic medley -of sound. A bird twittered somewhere off in the woods, -and the flutelike notes hit Matt's tortured ear-drums -like a volley of musketry.</p> - -<p>He got up, dazedly. His hat was gone, and one of -his trouser legs was missing. The back of his head, still -tender from a blow he had received in Grand Rapids, -reminded him by a sharp twinge that it had been badly -treated.</p> - -<p>Matt limped to the tree that had caused the wreck, and -leaned against it. Then, and not till then, was he able to -make a comprehensive view of the scene.</p> - -<p>The front of the automobile was badly smashed—so -badly that it was a wonder Matt had ever escaped with -his life. One of the forward wheels had come off.</p> - -<p>McGlory, in his shirt sleeves—and with one sleeve -missing—was on his hands and knees. He was facing -the mandarin—staring at that remarkable person with -a well-what-do-you-think-of-that expression.</p> - -<p>The mandarin was sitting up in the road. The black -cap with the red button was hanging to one side of his -head, one of his embroidered sandals was gone, and the -yellow silk blouse and trousers were torn. In some manner -the steering wheel had become detached from the -post, and Tsan Ti was hanging to it like grim death. He -seemed still to be driving, for the steering wheel was -in the correct position.</p> - -<p>Certainly it was not a time to laugh, but Motor Matt -could hardly help it.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII.</a></h2> - -<p class="chaptitle">NIP AND TUCK.</p> - - -<p>"That's right," whooped McGlory, twisting his head -to get a look at Matt, "laugh—laugh, and enjoy yourself! -Sufferin' smash-ups! It's a wonder the hospital -corps didn't have to shovel us up in a bushel basket."</p> - -<p>"Are you hurt, Joe?" inquired Matt.</p> - -<p>"Hurt?" snapped McGlory, his gorge rising. "Oh, no, -of course not! We weren't going more than a hundred -and twenty miles an hour when we hit that tree, so how -could I possibly have suffered any damage? This comes -of trotting a heat with a half-baked rat-eater. Here's -where I quit. That's right. Go on and hunt your idol's -eye, if you want to. Say, if I could get hold of that -yellow cord, I'd strangle the mandarin myself."</p> - -<p>McGlory climbed to his feet lamely and looked himself -over, up and down. His coat was about twenty feet -away, in one place, and his hat lay at an equal distance -in another. As he moved about collecting his property -and muttering to himself, Matt stepped to the side of -Tsan Ti.</p> - -<p>The mandarin, still dazed and bewildered, continued to -cling to the steering wheel. Matt bent down and took -the wheel away from him.</p> - -<p>"Illustrious friend," said the Chinaman, blinking his -eyes, "the suddenness was most remarkable. Once more -the thousand demons of misfortune have visited their -wrath upon me!"</p> - -<p>"Don't talk about misfortune," returned Matt. "We're -the luckiest fellows that ever lived to get out of a -wreck like that with whole skins. The car's a ruin, Tsan -Ti, and you'll have to pay for it."</p> - -<p>"Of what use is money, interesting youth, to a mandarin -who has received the yellow cord? I have rice -fields and tea plantations, and millions of taels to my -credit. The bagatelle of a cost does not concern me."</p> - -<p>Matt helped him upright and dusted him off. As soon -as he had pushed a foot into the missing sandal, he gave -vent to a wail, and sat down on the side of the machine.</p> - -<p>"Such vastness of misfortune takes my courage," he -groaned. "The Eye of Buddha can not be recovered -with all the thousand demons fighting against me. The -jade-stone amulet burns me fiercely——"</p> - -<p>"Wish it had burned a hole clear through you before -you'd ever written that letter to Matt," cried McGlory.</p> - -<p>"I have involved two honorable assistants in my so-great -ill luck," went on the mandarin.</p> - -<p>"Never mind that," said Matt. "I thought you knew -how to drive a car?"</p> - -<p>"He's the craziest thing on wheels when it comes to -drivin' a bubble," called out McGlory. "Here's where -I quit. Scratch my entry in the race for the Eye of -Buddha. I always know when I've got enough. We've -had four hours of this, and it's a-plenty."</p> - -<p>Motor Matt began looking for his cap. Where it had -gone was a mystery. He finally discovered it hanging -to a clump of bushes. As he turned around, he was -startled to see Tsan Ti with the yellow cord coiled about -his throat.</p> - -<p>Could it be possible that the mandarin, cast down by -his latest accident, was on the point of carrying out the -mandate of the regent?</p> - -<p>"I say!" shouted Matt, hurrying forward.</p> - -<p>But the Chinaman was interrupted in his fell purpose -by an explosion in the car directly behind him.</p> - -<p>Bang!</p> - -<p>He jumped about four feet, straight up in the air. -Matt saw a tongue of flame shoot upward from the car.</p> - -<p>The gasoline tank had been smashed. The inflammable -contents, dripping upon the hot exhaust pipe leading -from the muffler, must have caused the blaze.</p> - -<p>Sizz-z-, <i>bang</i>, boom!</p> - -<p>The gasoline was vaporizing. As the startled mandarin -watched the blaze, paralyzed and speechless by -the unexpected exhibition, the yellow cord swung limply -downward from his throat. McGlory rushed up behind -him, and jerked the cord away. Tsan Ti did not seem -to notice the manœuvre—he was all wrapped up in the -blaze and the explosions.</p> - -<p>The fire shot skyward, and Matt grabbed the Chinaman -and hauled him to a safe distance.</p> - -<p>"Bring the wheel, Joe," Matt yelled, "the one that -came off!"</p> - -<p>McGlory had not the least notion what Matt wanted -with the wheel, but he got it, and they were all well -down the road when a final terrific boom scattered -fragments of the wreck every which way and sent little -jets of flame from the diffused gasoline spitting in all -directions.</p> - -<p>"Good-by, you old benzine buggy!" said McGlory, addressing -the flame-wrapped car. "You wasn't worth<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> -much, anyways, but I bet the mandarin bleeds for twice -your value, just the same. What you looking at that -wheel for, Matt?" he finished, turning to his chum.</p> - -<p>"It was punctured by a bullet," replied Matt, pointing -to a clean-cut rent in the shoe.</p> - -<p>"Bullet?" echoed McGlory. "Speak to me about that! -I didn't hear any shooting."</p> - -<p>"The car made so much noise that's not to be wondered -at. I wasn't sure that what I'd heard was a shot, -but——"</p> - -<p>Matt had lifted his head to speak to McGlory. As he -did so, his eyes glimpsed a figure skulking among the -bushes at the roadside. The sunshine, and the glare from -the fire, caused a ghastly radiance to hover about the -bushes.</p> - -<p>In the weird shadows of the bushes and trees, a face -stood out prominently—a face topped with a sailor hat, -fringed with mutton-chop whiskers, and with a patch -over one eye.</p> - -<p>The king of the motor boys gave a whoop and darted -for the bushes. The face vanished as if by magic, but -Matt kept furiously on, McGlory chasing after him.</p> - -<p>"What's to pay, pard?" the cowboy was demanding.</p> - -<p>"The sailor!" flung back Matt. "I saw him in the -brush! He must have been the one who put that bullet -into our front tire!"</p> - -<p>"Whoop-ya!" yelled McGlory, all his hostility springing -to the surface and causing him to forget his announced -determination to "quit" and let the mandarin -shift for himself. "Let's put the kibosh on him! He's -the cause of all this. Hang the idol's eye! We've got -an account of our own to settle. But look out for the -glass balls."</p> - -<p>Ahead of him Matt could hear the crash and crackle -of undergrowth, and now and then he caught a glimpse -of the racing sailor.</p> - -<p>The timber grew more dense, and presently, just as -Matt thought he had the fellow, he was brought up short -with the quarry out of sight and hearing.</p> - -<p>"He's dodged away," panted the cowboy. "Maybe -he's doubled back."</p> - -<p>"I'd have heard him if he'd done that," answered Matt. -"He has either stopped, and is lying low, or else he has -gone on ahead. I thought I had him, for a minute. -Come on, Joe!"</p> - -<p>Matt flung onward, and leaped suddenly from the edge -of the timber into a cornfield on a little flat between two -shoulders of the mountain. He stopped and listened. -The leaves of the corn rustled in the faint breeze, and, -in the centre of the field, an ungainly scarecrow half -reared itself above the tasseled stalks.</p> - -<p>"He's in the corn, that's where he is," puffed the cowboy. -"Mind your eye, pard, and look out for the dope -balls."</p> - -<p>"You go one way across the field," suggested Matt, -"and I'll go the other. Sharp's the word now, old chap. -We're giving that fellow the run of his life, and he's -having it nip and tuck to get away."</p> - -<p>The field was not large, and Matt and McGlory -crossed it rapidly, the king of the motor boys on one -side of the scarecrow, and the cowboy on the other. -They met on the opposite side of the field, without having -seen the sailor.</p> - -<p>"I reckon he's dodged us!" growled McGlory, in savage -disappointment. "The ornery old webfoot has——"</p> - -<p>He stopped aghast, his eyes on the scarecrow. The -tattered figure was moving briskly through the corn, toward -the side of the field from which the boys had just -come.</p> - -<p>"There he goes!" shouted Matt, darting away again. -"He got into the scarecrow's clothes, and didn't have the -nerve to wait until we had left the field."</p> - -<p>"Speak—speak to me about—about this!" returned -McGlory breathlessly, plunging after his chum through -the rustling rows.</p> - -<p>Once more in the woods, the boys found themselves -even closer to the fleeting mariner than they had been -before. He was in plain sight now, and shedding his -ragged disguise as he raced for liberty.</p> - -<p>Up the shoulder of the mountain he went, pawing and -scrambling, then down on the other side, Matt and McGlory -close after him. He was making strenuously for -a cleared space at the foot of the little slope. In the -centre of the clearing were the remains of a stone wall, -and near the wall stood a little stone house. The house -appeared to be deserted, and the half-opened door swung -awry on one hinge.</p> - -<p>"He's makin' for the 'dobe!" wheezed the cowboy.</p> - -<p>The words had hardly left his lips before the sailor -vanished within the stone walls. Matt ran recklessly -after him.</p> - -<p>"Look out for the double-X brand of dope!" warned -McGlory. "You know what he did before, Matt."</p> - -<p>But Matt was already inside the house. The interior -apparently consisted of a hall and two rooms, although -the boarded-up windows cast a funereal gloom over the -place, and made it difficult to see anything distinctly. -Matt sprang through one of the two doors that opened -off the hall, and McGlory, still clamoring wildly for his -chum to beware of the glass balls, followed.</p> - -<p>Slam went the door of the room—probably the only -door in the house that was in commission—and rattle-rattle -went a key in the lock.</p> - -<p>Then came a husky laugh, and the words:</p> - -<p>"Belay a bit, you swabs! Leave the Eye o' Buddha -alone. An' that's a warnin'."</p> - -<p>Feet pattered along the hall and out of it.</p> - -<p>"Nip and tuck," sang out McGlory, while Matt -wrestled with the door, "and it wasn't the webfoot that -got nipped, not so any one could notice. Catch your -breath, pard, and calm down. Old One Eye has made -his getaway, and we might just as well laugh as be -sorry."</p> - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII.</a></h2> - -<p class="chaptitle">TSAN TI VANISHES AGAIN.</p> - - -<p>There was wisdom in the cowboy's words, and Matt -gave over his attack on the door and turned to his chum -with a disappointed laugh.</p> - -<p>"We can get out of here easy enough," said he, "but -the sailor gains so much time while we're doing it that -he wins out in the race. Great spark plugs, but we're -having a time! I'm almost tempted to think that those -ten thousand demons, the mandarin talks about, are -really pestering us."</p> - -<p>"Ten thousand horned toads," scoffed McGlory. "This -is what we naturally get for trying to turn an impossible -trick for a heathen. What was the good of paying any -attention to that letter, in the first place?"</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Well," answered Matt, "we've discussed that point -a good many times already, Joe. I wanted to go to New -York, anyway, and it was only a little out of our road -to come down the river and drop off at Catskill Landing."</p> - -<p>"Suppose we get our wheels, go back to Catskill, and -then take the next boat down the river? What's the -good of all this strain we've taken upon ourselves? If -we don't let well enough alone, something is sure going -to snap, and like as not it'll be mighty serious. It's a -wonder we ever came through that smash-up with our -scalps."</p> - -<p>There was one window in the room. Matt had passed -to it and was making an examination. The glass was -broken out of the sash, and the boards nailed to the outside -of the casing were loose. He pushed two of the -boards off, leaving a gap through which he and his chum -could easily crawl.</p> - -<p>"If we'd done this in the first place, Joe," said he, "we -might have picked up the mariner's trail before he had -got too far away."</p> - -<p>"Too late now. It was our luck to get into the only -room in the 'dobe, I reckon, that had a good door and a -usable lock."</p> - -<p>"Well," returned Matt, "let's get out and hunt up the -mandarin. I hope he won't make 'way with himself -while we're moseying around in this part of the woods."</p> - -<p>The boys climbed through the window and the gap in -the boards, and Matt made a casual survey of the house's -vicinity. Of course the sailor was gone, and had left -no clue as to the direction of his flight.</p> - -<p>Setting their faces in the direction of the road, the -boys started off briskly on their return to the wrecked -car.</p> - -<p>"There's one thing you didn't do, pard," remarked -McGlory, while they were on their way through the -timber.</p> - -<p>"What's that?"</p> - -<p>"Why, you didn't lisp a word to the mandarin about -that note you took from the Hottentot's cap. Maybe, if -the Chinaman knew about that, he'd quit thinking of -doing the polite and courteous thing for the regent."</p> - -<p>"I had intended telling Tsan Ti about the note," returned -Matt, struck by the illuminating suggestion, "but -I hadn't time. I'll put it up to Tsan Ti, though, the first -thing after we meet him again."</p> - -<p>"I've got the yellow string. If he has to make the -happy dispatch with that, then I've blocked his game -for a while. I don't know much about the etiquette of -this yellow-cord <i>game</i>. Do you?"</p> - -<p>"No."</p> - -<p>"Well, leaving that out of the discussion for now, -here's another point. Do you reckon old One Eye has -found out, yet, how you juggled the notes on him?"</p> - -<p>"I can't see as that makes much difference," answered -Matt.</p> - -<p>"He left us in a hurry, there at that stone house. If -he'd known we had the note, why didn't he stop and -palaver about it?"</p> - -<p>"We were two against him, and he was in too much -of a hurry."</p> - -<p>"Why didn't he use the glass balls and take the note -away from us while we were down and out?"</p> - -<p>"Probably his supply of glass balls is running low."</p> - -<p>"That note is to be shown to the man in Purling, and -the man in Purling is then to show the bearer of the -note where this Grattan is. Now——"</p> - -<p>"That's a chance for us to find Grattan," cut in Matt.</p> - -<p>"You're planning on that, are you? Sufferin' trouble! -If it wouldn't be actin' more like a hired man than a -pard, I'd go on a strike."</p> - -<p>"We're onto this mandarin's business now, Joe," said -Matt, "and we ought to see it through to a finish."</p> - -<p>"It'll be our finish, I reckon."</p> - -<p>At this moment they stepped out onto the road close -to the car. The machine was a charred and twisted -wreck, and fit only for the junk heap. Matt looked -around for Tsan Ti, but he was nowhere in evidence.</p> - -<p>"Vanished again!" exclaimed McGlory.</p> - -<p>Matt threw back his head and shouted the mandarin's -name at the top of his voice. No answer was returned, -but the echoes of the call had hardly died away before -they were taken up by the humming of another motor, -and a little runabout came whirling down the road and -brought up at the side of the wrecked car.</p> - -<p>Two men were in the runabout, and one of the men -was in a tremendously bad humor. The angry individual -jumped from the runabout and peered at the number -on the smoking board at the rear of the chassis.</p> - -<p>"It was my car, all right!" he cried. "And look at it! -Great Scott, just look at it! Total loss, and only a fat -chink to look to for damages. Oh, I'm s, t, u, n, g to -the queen's taste, all right. Who're you?" he demanded, -whirling suddenly on the boys.</p> - -<p>Matt told him.</p> - -<p>"You're from up the mountain, are you?" inquired -Matt.</p> - -<p>"Where else?" replied the other crossly. "What's -become of the chink that hired this car? Do you know?"</p> - -<p>"Probably he's gone back to the hotel."</p> - -<p>"Oh, probably," was the sarcastic retort; "yes, probably! -I've got money that says he's sloped for good. -Look here. They say there were two fellows in the car -with the chink when it left the Mountain House. Are -you the fellows?"</p> - -<p>"Yes."</p> - -<p>"Then, by jing, I'll hold <i>you</i>. Twenty-five hundred -is what I want, and I want it quick."</p> - -<p>"Oh, rats!" grunted the man in the runabout. "I'll -bet those fellows couldn't rake up twenty-five hundred -cents. Quit foolin', Jackson, and let's go back."</p> - -<p>Matt and McGlory, after their recent experiences in -the collision and while chasing the sailor, were most assuredly -not looking their best. But they could have -drawn a draft on Chicago for twenty-five hundred dollars -and had it honored—had they been so minded.</p> - -<p>"Oh, say moo and chase yourself!" cried McGlory. -"You rented the car to the Chinaman; you didn't rent it -to us."</p> - -<p>"I'm going to hold you, anyhow," declared the man -called Jackson.</p> - -<p>"You'll have a good time trying it," retorted the cowboy -truculently.</p> - -<p>Jackson stepped toward McGlory.</p> - -<p>"Don't you get gay with me," he shouted. "I'm not -going to lose a twenty-five hundred dollar car and not -make somebody smart for it. I told the chink that was -what the car was worth."</p> - -<p>"I know something about cars," put in Matt mildly, -"and this one is out of date—four years old, if it's a day. -If it had been a modern car, with the gasoline tank in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> -the right place, it would never have caught fire, and you -could have saved something out of the wreck. The -proper feed is by gravity, and the right place for the -tank is under the seat——"</p> - -<p>"Oh, you!" sneered Jackson, "what do you know about -cars?"</p> - -<p>"He can forget more in a minute about these chug -wagons," bristled McGlory, "than you know in a year. -Put that in your brier and whiff it. This fellow's Motor -Matt, motor expert, late of Burton's Big Consolidated -Shows, where he's been exhibiting the Traquair -aëroplane. Now bear down on your soft pedal, will -you?"</p> - -<p>"Thunder!" breathed the man in the runabout.</p> - -<p>"Is—is that a fact?" queried Jackson, visibly impressed.</p> - -<p>"It's a fact," said Matt, "but it needn't make any difference -in this case. That car of yours, Jackson, would -have been dear at a thousand dollars. You'll get every -cent the car is worth, too. The Chinaman who hired it is -a mandarin. He's in this country on private business. -He has tea plantations, rice fields, and money in the bank -till you can't rest. Now, stop worrying about the damages -and give my chum and me a lift up the hill. We'll -find Tsan Ti at the Kaaterskill. That's where he's been -staying for a week or two."</p> - -<p>Jackson was mollified.</p> - -<p>"Of course," said he, "I don't want to be rough with -anybody, but you understand how it is. This country is -hard on cars, and I have to charge good prices and be -sure the cars are hired by men who can put up for them -if they go over a cliff or meet with any other kind of a -wreck. I'm obliged to you for your information about -Tsan Ti. He's been a good deal of a conundrum at the -Kaaterskill since he's put up there. A man, riding up -from below, passed a couple of Chinamen chin-chinning -beside this wreck, and he brought word to me. That's -how Jim and I happened to come down."</p> - -<p>"You say the man from below passed <i>two</i> Chinamen -talking near the car?" queried Matt, with a surprised -glance at McGlory.</p> - -<p>"That's what he said."</p> - -<p>"There was only the mandarin in the car when we had -the smash," said Matt. "Where could that other one -have come from?"</p> - -<p>McGlory said nothing, but his face was full of things -he might have said—doubts of the mandarin, of course, -and vague suspicions of double dealing.</p> - -<p>Jim backed the runabout around, and Matt and McGlory -crowded into it. There was a hard climb up the -hill, overloaded as the runabout was, but finally the -Mountain House was passed and the other hotel reached.</p> - -<p>The boys, in their tattered garments, aroused considerable -curiosity among the hotel guests as they crossed -the colonnaded porches and made their way into the -office. They inquired for Tsan Ti, and bellboys were -sent to the Chinaman's room and around the porches and -grounds, calling his name.</p> - -<p>But he wasn't to be found.</p> - -<p>"Up a stump some more," growled McGlory, "and all -because that jade-stone amulet got overheated and caused -the mandarin to look for trouble. Oh, blazes! <i>When</i> -will we ever acquire a proper amount of horse sense for -a couple of our size? You couldn't expect much more -of me, Matt, but—well, pard, I'm surprised at <i>you</i>."</p> - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX.</a></h2> - -<p class="chaptitle">TRICKED ONCE MORE.</p> - - -<p>Matt and McGlory were bruised and sore. They were -also pretty tired. From the moment they had met Tsan -Ti on the mountainside that morning, they had been -knocked about from pillar to post.</p> - -<p>"If trouble will please hold off for a couple of hours," -said McGlory, "I'll give a good imitation of a fellow -snatching his forty winks and getting ready for another -round. What do you say, Matt? The mandarin isn't -here. He may come, but I wouldn't bet on it, as I'm -sort of losing faith in the yellow boy with the red button. -He has a disagreeable habit of getting out from under -whenever anything goes wrong, and we find ourselves -stalled. I reckon, though, you'll want to stay here and -give him a chance to blow in?"</p> - -<p>"We can hold on here for two or three hours," answered -Matt, "take a bath, and a rub down, and a bit of -a rest, then fasten our clothes together with a supply of -safety pins and motor back to Catskill and get another -outfit of clothes from our grips. Then, after a good -night's sleep, we'll go to Purling."</p> - -<p>"No matter whether the mandarin shows up or not?"</p> - -<p>"No matter what the mandarin does, Joe. I've worked -up a big interest in that Eye of Buddha, and I'm going -to find out whether it's a fair shake or a myth."</p> - -<p>"I'll bet all my share of the aëroplane money against -two bits that we never see the old hatchet boy again, and -also that something hits us before we can get back to -Catskill."</p> - -<p>"You're guessing, Joe."</p> - -<p>"Well, that's my chirp, in anything from doughnuts to -double eagles. That Jackson party might as well hang -that wrecked bubble in a tree as a memento—the man -with the rice fields and the tea plantations, and so on, -has started for the high timber just to dodge paying for -that pile of scrap down the trail."</p> - -<p>"You're wrong," said Matt confidently.</p> - -<p>"Wait till the cards are all on the table, pard, and then -we'll see."</p> - -<p>They had a most refreshing bath and a long rest in a -couple of lazy-back chairs on an upper veranda. Orders -had been left with the clerk that word should be brought -to them at once if Tsan Ti put in an appearance.</p> - -<p>McGlory awoke from a drowse to unbosom himself of -a subject which had not, as yet, claimed its proper share -of attention.</p> - -<p>"The fellow who came up the mountain and told Jackson -there was a burning car piled by the roadside," said -he, "said there were two Chinamen watching the conflagration. -Think chink number two was Kien Lung -with another yellow cord, Matt?"</p> - -<p>"No."</p> - -<p>"Then who was he?"</p> - -<p>"I've been thinking that it was Sam Wing, the San -Francisco Chinaman, who has been keeping track of the -two thieves for the mandarin."</p> - -<p>"That's you!" exclaimed McGlory. "Why, I never -thought of that dark horse. Have you any notion he -coaxed the mandarin away on important business?"</p> - -<p>"That's likely."</p> - -<p>"Anything's likely. For instance, it's quite likely the -fat Chinaman is a washee-washee boy from 'Frisco with -a fine, large imagination, and that he's stringing us."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Why should he want to do that?"</p> - -<p>"No <i>sabe</i>, but there's a lot of things we can't <i>sabe</i> -concerning this layout."</p> - -<p>"Tsan Ti has money——"</p> - -<p>"He showed us all of a hundred in double eagles. But -did he let us get our hands on the coin? Not any. He -allows, in his large and offhand way, that he has millions -of taels—but that may be one of his tales," and McGlory -grinned.</p> - -<p>"Anyhow," said Matt doggedly, "we ride to Purling -to-morrow and see the man at the general store."</p> - -<p>Matt fell into a drowse again. No one from the office -came to announce the arrival of Tsan Ti, and when the -hour arrived for the evening meal the boys had their -supper sent to their room. They were not arrayed properly -for "dining out."</p> - -<p>Following the meal they patched up their garments -with safety pins, settled their bill, and walked over to the -Mountain House garage. Dusk was falling as they -trundled their machines into the road and lighted their -lamps.</p> - -<p>"We'll have an easier time of it going down the mountain," -said Matt, "than we had coming up."</p> - -<p>"Don't be so sure, pard," answered McGlory. "There -are a number of things to trouble us besides the road."</p> - -<p>"Don't cross any trouble bridges until you come to -them, Joe," advised Matt.</p> - -<p>The motor boys were feeling a little stiff and sore, -but their engines were humming cheerfully, and there -was a joy for them in the downward spin through the -woods.</p> - -<p>They remembered the tree root, and slowed down for -it as it came under their headlights; and they also remembered -the location of the wrecked automobile and -gave it a wide berth.</p> - -<p>At about the place where they had encountered the -one-eyed sailor, with everything going smoothly and a -fair prospect of reaching Catskill in record time, the -crack of a firearm suddenly split the still air to the left -of the road. Startled, they clamped on the brakes and -came to a halt in time to hear a shrill cry of "Help! -help!" ringing out weirdly from the dark woods.</p> - -<p>"Sufferin' hold-ups!" murmured McGlory. "And -here we are with nothing more than a couple of jack-knives -to our names."</p> - -<p>"What do you suppose it can be?" asked Matt, dropping -the bracket from his rear wheel and letting the -motor cycle stand in the road.</p> - -<p>He moved off toward the left and listened.</p> - -<p>"There's a row on in there," declared McGlory. "I -can hear some one pounding around in the timber."</p> - -<p>"So can I," said Matt. "We've got to do what we can, -Joe. That may mean robbery—or worse. Come on!"</p> - -<p>The generous instincts of the motor boys prompted -them to go at once to the assistance of a possible victim, -and they hurried into the timber. The sounds of -scuffling which they had heard died out suddenly, and -while they were moving around through the gloom, trying -to locate the scene of the trouble, there reached their -ears the chug-chugging of motors getting under way.</p> - -<p>"Our motor cycles!" exclaimed Matt, darting back -toward the road.</p> - -<p>"Gad-hook it all!" cried McGlory; "it was a frame-up! -A trick to run off our wheels!"</p> - -<p>Although they were only a few moments regaining the -road, the lamps of the two motor cycles were gleaming -more than a hundred feet away.</p> - -<p>"Stop!" yelled Matt, racing down the road.</p> - -<p>His answer was a raucous laugh—such a laugh as they -had heard before. And then came the words, bellowed -hoarsely:</p> - -<p>"Leave the Eye o' Buddha alone!"</p> - -<p>After that silence, during which the gleaming lamps -turned an angle in the road and were blotted from -sight.</p> - -<p>"Seems to me," said McGlory grimly, "I've heard that -voice before."</p> - -<p>Motor Matt did not reply at once. Perhaps his feelings -were too deep for words.</p> - -<p>"And I was expecting something, too!" said the cowboy, -in a spasm of self-reproach. "Sufferin' easy marks! -Matt, some of the stuff from those glass balls must still -be playing hob with our brains. Otherwise, how is it -these backsets keep happening in one, two, three order? -There go a pair of motor bikes that'll stand us in four -hundred good big cart wheels. That was right, what -you said before we left those wheels and flocked into the -timber. That shot and those sounds of a scuffle <i>did</i> mean -robbery. That's a lesson for us never to help a person in -distress. Likewise it's a hint that we'd better pull out -and leave the mandarin to manage his own troubles."</p> - -<p>"It's a hint that we'd better go to Purling to-morrow -and look for Grattan," and there was an unwonted -sharpness in Motor Matt's voice that caused McGlory to -straighten up and take notice.</p> - -<p>"When you tune up that way," said the cowboy, "it -means mischief. There was another man with the Hottentot. -Do you think the <i>hombre</i> was this Grattan -sharp?"</p> - -<p>"No. Grattan is expecting the sailor at Purling to-morrow. -This was some one else."</p> - -<p>"The ruby thieves have quite an extensive gang. It's -walk for us, from here to Catskill."</p> - -<p>"From here to the first farmhouse," corrected Matt. -"We'll get some one to take us to Catskill with a horse -and buggy."</p> - -<p>He bit off his words crisp and sharp, which, to McGlory, -proved how deeply he resented the scurvy trick -by which they had been lured away from the motor -cycles.</p> - -<p>"How easy it is to understand things when you look -back at' em," philosophized the cowboy, swinging along -at Matt's side, down the dark road. "The webfoot and -his pal fired that shot and raised a yell for help, then -they jumped up and down in the bushes, and the result -had all the effect of a knock-down and drag-out. One-Eye -must have had us spotted, and he and his pal were -lingering in the trailside brush, watching for our headlights. -Oh, yes, it was easy. The 'illustrious ones' tumbled<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> -over themselves to fall into the trap. If I had -that——"</p> - -<p>"There's a farmhouse," said Matt, and indicated a -point of light close to the foot of the mountain. "Nearly -every house in these parts is either a boarding house or -a hotel. We can get a rig, all right, I'm pretty sure."</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X.</a></h2> - -<p class="chaptitle">THE DIAMOND MERCHANT.</p> - - -<p>It was midnight before the motor boys were deposited -on the walk in front of their hotel in Catskill. A team -and two-seated wagon had brought them, and they had -not left the vicinity of the road at the foot of the mountain -until they had driven around for an hour, made inquiries -concerning two men on motor cycles, given a -description of the sailor, and passed word that the men -were thieves and were to be arrested and held if found.</p> - -<p>Matt, according to agreement, paid the driver who -had brought them to Catskill five dollars for his services.</p> - -<p>Before going to bed Matt gathered a little information -concerning the village of Purling. He learned that it -was six miles from Cairo, and that Cairo was on the railroad -and could be reached by a morning train.</p> - -<p>But the train would not serve. By proceeding to the -village in that way, the boys would not be able to arrive -before noon, and, according to the note in the sailor's -cap, they were expected at the general store by ten -o'clock.</p> - -<p>"We'll hire an automobile," said Matt, "and a driver -that knows the mountains. I guess we'd better speak for -the machine to-night."</p> - -<p>At the same place where they had secured the motor -cycles they arranged for a touring car and a driver who -knew the country, but the arrangement was not effected -until they had deposited three hundred dollars as a -guaranty that the motor cycles would be returned, or the -owner indemnified for their loss.</p> - -<p>"Three hundred plunks gone where the woodbine -twineth," mourned McGlory, as they were going to bed, -"and all because we're helping to turn a trick for Tsan -Ti. Good business—I don't think."</p> - -<p>"This Grattan," said Matt, "is probably lying low -somewhere near Purling. If he isn't, he wouldn't be -making it so hard for his pal to get at him. The sailor -will be there, and he won't get to see Grattan without -the letter. We'll catch the fellow, and we may catch -Grattan—say nothing of the possibility of recovering -the Eye of Buddha."</p> - -<p>"We'll draw a blank in the matter of that idol's eye, -pard, you take it from me. But there's a chance of our -putting a fancy kibosh on Bunce and getting back the -go-devil machines. Still, there's also a splendid chance -for a fall down. Listen. The <i>Hottentot</i> man examines -the note in his cap. He sees it's not the few lines he got -from Grattan, but a lot of 'con' talk from the mandarin. -That leaves One Eye in the air, but gives him a line on -<i>us</i>. What'll happen? I wish I knew."</p> - -<p>"The sailor may not look at the letter in his hat until -he gets to Purling, so——"</p> - -<p>"Don't think it, pard. That would be too much luck to -come at a time when we're hocussed crisscross and both -ways."</p> - -<p>By seven the boys were up, had overhauled their grips, -and got into fresh clothes, and were sitting down to -breakfast at the first call. By seven-thirty the touring -car was at the door for them, freshly groomed and shining -like a new dollar.</p> - -<p>It was a sixty horse-power machine, and a family carryall -for the personal use of the proprietor of the garage. -Not having been used for hackabout purposes, the car -was more dependable than one that had been hammered -about over the rough roads by anybody who could tell the -spark plug from the magneto and had five dollars an -hour to pay for a junket.</p> - -<p>The proprietor, who was a good fellow at heart and -wanted to do everything possible to help the boys recover -the stolen motor cycles, made this concession. So, -with Matt in the driver's seat, the native who knew the -way beside him, and McGlory with the tonneau all to -himself, the touring car flashed out of Catskill Landing -and took to the hills.</p> - -<p>Of the drive Motor Matt made that morning, the -driver on his left entertained the most enthusiastic recollections. -Never had he seen a car handled so cleverly; -and when the car balked—which the best of cars will do -now and then—the way the king of the motor boys located -the difficulty and adjusted it was something to -think about.</p> - -<p>At nine-thirty the touring car landed its passengers in -front of the general store. Two men were sunning themselves -on the bench in front, and a sleeping dog looked -up lazily, snapped at a fly, and then went to sleep again.</p> - -<p>"Where's Mr. Pryne?" asked Matt, stepping up to the -two men on the bench.</p> - -<p>"I'm Pryne," answered one of the two, measuring -Matt with an expectant light in his faded blue eyes.</p> - -<p>"Look at this," said Matt, and presented the letter -from Grattan.</p> - -<p>The man, who was roughly dressed and certainly had -nothing to do with the store, studied the writing carefully.</p> - -<p>"This is all right," he remarked; "<i>all</i> right, but"—and -his eyes traveled doubtfully over McGlory—"only -one was expected."</p> - -<p>"Don't worry about that, Mr. Pryne," answered Matt -genially; "this chap," and he lowered his voice to a -whisper, "is a pal."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span></p> - -<p>"There's another one to go," murmured Pryne.</p> - -<p>Matt was startled; then, thinking the other one was -the sailor, he braced himself for short, sharp work. -"Where is the other one, Pryne?"</p> - -<p>"Here," and Pryne indicated the other man who had -been sitting with him on the bench.</p> - -<p>Matt gave more careful attention to this other individual. -He was a Hebrew—one glance was sufficient to -decide that. Also, he was ornately clad, wearing many -large diamonds and making a fulsome display of heavy -gold watch chain. The Jew pushed forward with a -wink and an ingratiating smile.</p> - -<p>"Goldstein is der name," said he, thrusting out a hand. -"I'm der man from New York, yes, der"—and he whispered -the rest in Matt's ear—"diamond merchant. You -know for vat I come."</p> - -<p>A thrill ran through the king of the motor boys. No, -he did not know "for vat" the diamond merchant had -come, but he guessed that it was to purchase the Eye of -Buddha. The mandarin's story was being borne out by -every fresh development.</p> - -<p>"We're a little ahead of time," observed Pryne, "but -I guess it won't make no difference."</p> - -<p>"Not the least," replied Matt. "I don't believe it will -be necessary for me to take my pal along, so I'll just -give him a few instructions about the motor car and -we'll be going. This way, Joe," and Matt took McGlory -to one side for a brief talk.</p> - -<p>"What you going to do when you reach where you're -going, with all that gang against you?" whispered the -cowboy. "The outfit would be more than a handful for -the two of us—and here you're cutting me out of the -game right at the start."</p> - -<p>"No," whispered Matt, "I'm not cutting you out of -the game. You've got the most important part to play. -Listen. Find a constable, if you can do it in a hurry, -and pick up two or three more men and follow us. Do -it carefully, so that Pryne won't suspect. Also tell the -driver of the car to look out for the one-eyed sailor. If -he comes here at ten o'clock, tell the driver to have him -captured and held—and the other man, too, if they both -come. That's your programme, Joe, and everything depends -on you."</p> - -<p>The cowboy's eyes began to glitter and snap as the -gist and vital importance of his pard's instructions -drifted through his mind.</p> - -<p>"You know you can bank on me, Matt," he answered. -"But don't move too fast—make a delay. I've got a lot -to do, and you're liable to get so far ahead I'll lose track -of you."</p> - -<p>"I'll delay matters as much as I can."</p> - -<p>Matt returned to Goldstein.</p> - -<p>"Where's Pryne?" he queried, observing, with a qualm, -that the guide had vanished.</p> - -<p>"He is gone for der team," replied Goldstein. "I am -sorry," he added, jumping to another subject, "that der -price of precious stones is come down. Fancy prices -don't rule no more for such luxuries."</p> - -<p>"You'll have to pay something for this treasure from -the temple of Honam if you get it," answered Matt.</p> - -<p>"I will do all that is in reason, yes, but der chances vas -great, and I take them."</p> - -<p>"Haven't Grattan and I taken chances, Goldstein?" -returned Matt sharply.</p> - -<p>"You have, yes. Well, we shall see, we shall see."</p> - -<p>Goldstein was carrying a small satchel which he kept -in hand continually, whether he was sitting down or -standing up.</p> - -<p>"I come prepared to talk business," he said, with a -sly grin, directing his glance at the satchel. "My orders -was to wait here until Bunce iss arrived with der letter. -I had a letter myself," he laughed.</p> - -<p>At this juncture Pryne drove around the corner of the -building and drew up at the platform in front of the -store.</p> - -<p>"Jump in, gents," said he. "It won't be long till I -snake you out to my place."</p> - -<p>Matt and Goldstein climbed into the back seat. Under -the seat was a bag of ground feed. As Pryne was -driving out of town, Matt drew his knife from his pocket, -opened the blade, and dropped a hand over the back of -the seat.</p> - -<p>A jab or two with the knife made a hole in the bag. -The wagon was an old one, and the boards in the bottom -of the box had wide cracks between them. Looking -back casually, Matt saw that a fine trail of "middlings" -was leaking into the road.</p> - -<p>"That will do the trick," he thought exultantly. "My -cowboy pard can be depended on to attend to the rest."</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI.</a></h2> - -<p class="chaptitle">THE OLD SUGAR CAMP.</p> - - -<p>Pryne's team was by no means a swift one. The -horses jogged slowly out into the hills, Pryne constantly -plying a gad.</p> - -<p>"Seems to me like," remarked Pryne, looking around -suddenly, "that Grattan allowed Bunce had only one eye."</p> - -<p>"That's another pal of his," said Matt coolly. "You've -got us mixed, Pryne."</p> - -<p>"Waal, mebby. Git ap, there," he added to the horses; -"you critters are slower'n merlasses in January."</p> - -<p>For a few minutes they rode in silence, the dust eddying -around them and only the creak of the wagon, the -thump of the horses' hoofs, and the swish of the gad -breaking the stillness.</p> - -<p>Goldstein, his satchel on his knees, kept flicking a -gaudy and heavily perfumed handkerchief in front of his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> -face to clear away the dust. Matt was busy with his -thoughts, and was wondering what was to happen at the -end of the journey.</p> - -<p>Abruptly, Pryne turned again in his seat.</p> - -<p>"Seems, too," he ventured, "as how Grattan said this -Bunce was a sailor an' wore sailor clothes."</p> - -<p>"That's the other fellow again, Pryne," Matt smiled. -"You haven't got much of a memory, I guess."</p> - -<p>"Waal, it ain't long, but it's mighty keen."</p> - -<p>"My cracious," murmured Goldstein, "but der dust is -bad. How much farther is it yet?"</p> - -<p>"We turn at the next crossroads and pull up a hill," -answered Pryne; "then we leave the hill road for a -ways, an' we're there. It's my ole sugar camp. Trees is -mostly played out, though, an' we don't make sugar there -no more. It kinder 'pears to me like," he added, another -thought striking him, "Grattan said Bunce had whiskers -around his jaws."</p> - -<p>"That's the other pal," said Matt.</p> - -<p>"Git ap, there, Prince!" called Pryne, slapping the off -horse with the gad.</p> - -<p>"How long have you known Grattan, Pryne?" inquired -Matt.</p> - -<p>"Always, since I got married. My wife's his sister. -Annaballe—that's the old woman—she's English, she is. -Come over visitin' in Cairo, ten year back, an' I up and -asked her to marry me. Grattan was to the weddin', -an' that was the first an' only time we'd met till a few -days ago. Great traveler, Grat is. He's been to Ejup, -an' Rooshia, an' Chiny an' all them countries. Great -traveler. Takes pictur's for these here movin'-picture -machines."</p> - -<p>Matt heard this with interest. It reminded him of another -time when he had encountered a moving-picture -man and had had a particularly thrilling experience. -And this experience with Grattan promised to be even -more thrilling.</p> - -<p>"Is the sugar camp a safe place?" asked Matt.</p> - -<p>"Nobody ever goes to the old camp now no more," -replied Pryne.</p> - -<p>"My cracious, vat a dust!" said Goldstein. "How big -is der Eye?" he whispered to Matt.</p> - -<p>"Wait till you see it," Matt answered.</p> - -<p>"Pigeon's blood, yes?"</p> - -<p>Matt supposed he meant to ask if the Eye of Buddha -was a pigeon's blood ruby. Taking a chance, Matt -nodded.</p> - -<p>"She is a true Oriental, eh?" went on Goldstein, a -greedy glint coming into his eyes.</p> - -<p>"It must be if it comes from China."</p> - -<p>"So! If she weigh five carat, she is vorth ten times -so much as a diamond. But diamonds ain't vorth so -much now."</p> - -<p>Matt looked behind him. The sack of middlings was -half emptied.</p> - -<p>"Are we halfway to the old sugar camp, Pryne?" -Matt called.</p> - -<p>"Better'n that," was the reply. "Here's where we -turn for up the hill."</p> - -<p>The hill was long and high, and the road turned into -a little-used trail and ascended through timber. The -horses pulled and panted and the gad fell mercilessly.</p> - -<p>"Somethin' of a climb," said Pryne casually. "One of -them tires back there is loose—the one on the right-hand -side. Kinder keep an eye on it, will you?"</p> - -<p>Matt looked at the tire, which was on his side of the -wagon. As yet, it was all right. Matt hoped it would -remain so, for if Pryne got out to drive it on he might -discover the loss of his middlings—and other things -which would have a tendency to excite his suspicions.</p> - -<p>"Der dust ain't so much here," observed Goldstein, in -a tone of relief.</p> - -<p>"Ain't so many wagons to churn it up," said Pryne.</p> - -<p>Then fell silence again, Matt busy with his thoughts.</p> - -<p>Where was Tsan Ti? While Matt was running down -the Eye of Buddha for him, what was the Chinaman, to -whom the recovery of the ruby meant so much, doing?</p> - -<p>These speculations were bootless, and Matt fell to -thinking of the glass balls. If Grattan had a supply of -them, all the men McGlory could bring would not be -able to prevent him from getting away.</p> - -<p>Success in the king of the motor boys' venture hung -by an exceedingly slender thread.</p> - -<p>"It will be hard business to cut it up," came the voice -of Goldstein, breaking roughly into Matt's somber reflections.</p> - -<p>"Hard to cut what up?" Matt asked.</p> - -<p>"Der Eye. When it ain't best to sell precious stones in -one piece, then we cut them up."</p> - -<p>Matt understood what the Jew was driving at. Large -diamonds are hard to market, especially if the diamonds -have been stolen. In order to dispose of them they are -often cut up into smaller stones.</p> - -<p>"You see," proceeded Goldstein, "dis ruby is valuable -because of its size, yes. Der size makes all der difference. -If it is cut under fife carat, dere vasn't much sale. -Anyhow, diamonds is sheaper as they was. I lose a lot -of money by der fall in der price of diamonds."</p> - -<p>"Here's where we turn from the hill road an' strike -out for the sugar camp," remarked Pryne.</p> - -<p>He swerved from the steep road as he spoke and -drove into a bumpy swath cut through the timber. For -half a mile or more they jolted and banged along, then -Pryne pulled to a halt.</p> - -<p>"I'll hitch here," said he, getting out, "an' I'll leave -the rig. The rest of the way we'll go on foot. It ain't -fur," he added hastily, noticing the solicitous glance -which Goldstein threw at his patent-leather shoes.</p> - -<p>"First time I efer come to a place like this to buy precious<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> -stones," remarked the Jew, clambering slowly -down.</p> - -<p>Matt had a bad two minutes waiting for Pryne to -hitch the horses and fearing he would come to the rear -of the wagon and discover the slashed bag of feed. But -Pryne was apparently unsuspicious.</p> - -<p>Turning away from the tree to which he had hitched -the horses, he called to Matt and Goldstein to follow -him.</p> - -<p>Their path took them through the old sugar "bush," -among maples that were dead and dying and whose -trunks were deeply scarred by the sap hunters. Presently -an old log building came into view.</p> - -<p>"There's the place," said Pryne.</p> - -<p>Part of the building was nothing more than a tumble-down -shed. One end of the structure, however, was -walled in, and seemed to have been made habitable by -the use of rough boards.</p> - -<p>A length of stovepipe stuck up through the roof—about -the only visible sign that the place was used as a -dwelling.</p> - -<p>With Pryne in the lead, the odd little group moved -around the side of the log wall to a door.</p> - -<p>To say that Matt's heart did not beat more quickly, or -that visions of violence did not float before his mental -gaze, would be to say that he was not human.</p> - -<p>He had a keen realization of the dangers into which -he was about to throw himself. The moment he passed -the door deception would be a thing of the past. Grattan -would recognize him as a stranger—a prying -stranger who had come to the sugar camp with the intention -of securing the Eye of Buddha.</p> - -<p>Matt's problem was to engage Grattan's attention, and -keep him from going to extremes, until McGlory should -arrive with reënforcements.</p> - -<p>Just how Matt was to do this he did not know. He -was trusting to luck—and luck had not been favoring -him to any great extent lately.</p> - -<p>The door of the log hut was closed. Pryne rapped -on it.</p> - -<p>"Who's there?" demanded a voice from within.</p> - -<p>"It's Pryne, Grat," was the answer.</p> - -<p>"Goldstein and Bunce with you?"</p> - -<p>"Sure. I've fetched 'em."</p> - -<p>"Then bring them in. I'm ready and waiting."</p> - -<p>Pryne bore down on the wooden latch and threw open -the door.</p> - -<p>"Go right in, gents," said he, stepping back.</p> - -<p>Goldstein, with a laugh, passed through the door first. -Matt followed. Pryne brought up the rear and closed -the door.</p> - -<p>What light there was in the one room in which Matt -found himself came through the broken roof. There -were no windows in the log walls.</p> - -<p>"He was there, all right, Grat," cried Pryne, with a -loud guffaw, "an' he didn't make no bones about comin' -with me. He was mighty anxious to come, seemed like, -but I don't calculate he guessed he'd find so many folks -here."</p> - -<p>Matt's eyes, by that time, had become accustomed to -the gloom, and he was able to look around and distinguish -various objects.</p> - -<p>First, he saw a heavy-set man on a bench. This man -had a dark face and a sinister eye, and was leaning back -against the wall. Both his hands clung to a buckthorn -cane with a large wooden handle. The cane was crossed -against one of his knees and held it slightly elevated.</p> - -<p>"Throw yer binnacle lights this way, my hearty, as -soon's ye're done sizin' up my shipmate," came a voice -from the opposite side of the room.</p> - -<p>Matt whirled, a startled exclamation escaping his lips.</p> - -<p>It was the one-eyed sailor who had spoken. The fellow -was sitting on another bench, a wide grin on his -weather-beaten face.</p> - -<p>The trap had been sprung—and it was the most complete -trap Matt had ever been in.</p> - -<p>"I told ye more'n once to leave the Eye o' Buddha -alone," chuckled Bunce, "but ye wouldn't take a warnin'. -<i>Now</i>, see where ye are!"</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII.</a></h2> - -<p class="chaptitle">A TIGHT CORNER.</p> - - -<p>It was a characteristic of Motor Matt that he never -became "rattled." A clear head and steady nerves were -absolutely essential in his chosen career. To these he -added a quick and sure judgment.</p> - -<p>"Surprised, are you?" asked Grattan, with a choppy -laugh.</p> - -<p>"Well, yes, in a way," replied Matt coolly.</p> - -<p>"I wonder if you know what you're up against?"</p> - -<p>"You have a stolen ruby, called the Eye of Buddha, -and Goldstein is here to buy it."</p> - -<p>"My cracious!" gasped the Jew, throwing up his hands.</p> - -<p>There was no doubting his surprise, so Matt knew that -he, at least, was not in the plot.</p> - -<p>"Close your face, Goldstein," scowled Grattan. "This -business isn't going to bother you. Take a seat, Motor -Matt," he added. "We'll have a little chin-chin before -we get busy."</p> - -<p>There was an empty bench along the end wall. Matt -walked over to it and seated himself, glad that there was -to be a "chin-chin." This meant delay, and would give -time for McGlory to arrive with reënforcements.</p> - -<p>"I don't understand what's der matter," gulped Goldstein, -pressing back against the wall and hugging his -satchel in his arms. "I don't like der looks of things, -no."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span></p> - -<p>"You can't help the looks of things," snapped Grattan, -"and you'll understand the situation a lot better before -you get away from this sugar camp. Sit down."</p> - -<p>There was a three-legged stool close to the Jew, and he -dropped down on it in a state of semi-collapse. His eyes -passed to Pryne, who had drawn a revolver and was -standing in front of the door. Undoubtedly Goldstein -had a lot of money in his satchel with which to pay for -the ruby, so it is small wonder he was worried upon -finding himself a participator in such a scene.</p> - -<p>"I thought der young feller was Bunce!" he exclaimed, -moistening his dry lips with his tongue.</p> - -<p>"Put a stopper on your jaw-tackle!" yelled the sailor. -"That's the line we've run out to you for now, and you'll -lay to it."</p> - -<p>The Jew swallowed hard on a lump in his throat and -fell limply against the wall behind him.</p> - -<p>Goldstein had even more to lose as the outcome of that -desperate situation than had Matt, but the king of the -motor boys saw at a glance that he was absolutely useless -so far as resistance was concerned.</p> - -<p>Grattan dropped his suspended foot on the floor and -turned to Pryne.</p> - -<p>"Did any one come with Motor Matt, Pryne?" he inquired.</p> - -<p>"Two fellers come with him," was the response. -"They got to Purling in a automobile."</p> - -<p>"Who were those fellows, Motor Matt?" demanded -Grattan, shooting a sharp glance at the young motorist.</p> - -<p>"The driver of the car, from Catskill Landing," said -Matt, "and my chum, Joe McGlory."</p> - -<p>"Why did you leave them in Purling?"</p> - -<p>"The driver had to stay to look after the car, and I -didn't think it was necessary to bring McGlory along for -a bodyguard."</p> - -<p>Grattan threw back his head and peered at Matt -through half-closed eyes.</p> - -<p>"You're a cool one," he remarked. "Why were you -coming here to see me?"</p> - -<p>"I wanted to get the ruby."</p> - -<p>Bunce roared. Grattan commanded silence sharply, -and the sailor's merriment ceased as suddenly as it had -begun.</p> - -<p>"Did you think," went on Grattan, "that you could, -single-handed, take the ruby from me by force?"</p> - -<p>Matt was silent.</p> - -<p>"Or did you think you could talk me out of it?"</p> - -<p>"I hadn't much of an idea what I could do," said Matt. -"It was just barely possible you'd be generous enough, -when you learned the circumstances, to give or sell the -Eye of Buddha to Tsan Ti."</p> - -<p>Grattan curbed the old sailor's fresh inclination to -laugh with a quick look.</p> - -<p>"What are the circumstances?" he queried.</p> - -<p>"Tsan Ti has received the yellow cord. If he does not -recover the idol's eye in two weeks, he must destroy himself."</p> - -<p>"Young man," said Grattan, "I have been two years -planning to get my clutches on the Eye of Buddha. I -have haunted Canton, feasted my eyes upon that priceless -splash of red in the forehead of the idol in the -Honam Joss House until the itch to possess it fairly -drove me mad. But the temple was too well guarded, -the priests too many, and the walls too high. It was -only when I learned of the balls of Ptah and their powers -that the feat looked at all feasible. In order to see -these balls of Ptah for myself, I made the long journey -from Hongkong to the ruins of Karnak on the Nile."</p> - -<p>Taking the buckthorn cane under his arm, Grattan -stepped across the room to a table near the bench where -Bunce was sitting. On the table rested a small box with -a strap handle. Grattan opened the lid of the box, and -from a nest of cotton picked one of the shimmering glass -balls. He handled the ball gently, and a glow came into -his eyes as he held it up.</p> - -<p>"A quantity of these balls," he proceeded, "were unearthed -a year ago from among the ruins of Karnak. -They are of Egyptian glass, thousands of years old, and -each of the big beads has blown into its surface the -<i>praenomen</i> of Hatasu, a queen who is conjectured to -have lived more than fourteen hundred years before our -era. A party of workmen discovered the balls, and -chanced to break one of them." Grattan paused, turning -the shimmering sphere around and around in his -hand. "All the workmen," he went on, "were thrown -into an unconscious condition, and it was in this manner -that the peculiar properties of the balls were discovered. -Why they are called the balls of Ptah I don't know, and -what they contain that has such a peculiar effect on living -beings, no one has ever been able to discover. But I -heard of them, stole a dozen, and tried one on the -museum guards in making my escape. It answered the -purpose," he went on dryly. "If it had not, I would -have been caught."</p> - -<p>Almost reverently he replaced the ball in the cotton-lined -case and closed the lid. Returning to his bench, -he resumed his original position, sweeping an amused -glance around him at the awed faces of Goldstein, Pryne, -and Matt.</p> - -<p>"Armed with one of the balls of Ptah," he proceeded, -"I picked up the ancient mariner"—he nodded toward -Bunce—"and we manufactured a silk ladder twenty feet -long, and weighted it at one end. Then, one day, we repaired -to the Honam Joss House at five in the afternoon. -That ball of Egyptian glass, crushed to fragments -on the floor, overcame the priests. Bunce and I -protected our own faces with masks, equipped with oxygen -tubes reaching into small tanks of compressed air in -our pockets. To throw the weighted end of the ladder -over the head of Ptah took us possibly a minute; for me<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> -to climb the ladder and dig the ruby from the idol's -forehead consumed possibly five minutes; and for Bunce -and me to get out of the temple took five minutes more. -We were safely out of Canton when the storm broke."</p> - -<p>Matt had listened to all this in supreme wonder. The -audacity of the undertaking caused his pulses to stir, but -he wondered why Grattan should recount such an exploit -to him, and in the hearing of Pryne and Goldstein.</p> - -<p>"You know now," continued Grattan, "what the Eye -of Buddha has cost me, and you say it is just barely -possible I would be generous enough to yield the gem to -Tsan Ti in order to save his life!"</p> - -<p>"Or you might sell it to him," suggested Matt.</p> - -<p>"I might, if he could pay what it is worth."</p> - -<p>"Grattan," spoke up Goldstein with sudden fervor, -"you have promised me der first shance!"</p> - -<p>"Keep still!" growled Grattan. "You'll get all the -chance you want before you leave here."</p> - -<p>"The mandarin is a rich man," said Matt, who, of -course, was parleying merely to gain time.</p> - -<p>"He has a little money with him, but that is all. Every -plantation he owns in China, every string of cash in his -strong boxes is guarded by the regent. If he does not -recover the Eye of Buddha, the property will be confiscated. -And he can't touch a cent of his fortune until -he returns the ruby to its place in the idol's head. So, -you see, your friend, the mandarin of the red button, is -in a bally hard fix. He can't buy the ruby, and certainly -I won't give it to him."</p> - -<p>This was intensely interesting to Matt. He was listening, -now, in a casual way, for the approach of McGlory -and his party, and he was planning what he could do -with the balls of Ptah in order to keep Grattan from -using them.</p> - -<p>"You're a clever lad, Motor Matt," went on Grattan, -"and I admire clever people. You performed a neat trick -when you removed that folded note from Bunce's cap. -It was a foolish place to keep such a thing, but Bunce is -a good deal of a fool. For instance, I reached the Catskill -Mountains with six of the balls of Ptah—the only -ones of the kind to be had—and the crack-brained sailor -man stole two of them and threw them away on you and -your chum, gaining little and losing something which -might prove of priceless value to us."</p> - -<p>"Now, shipmate," began Bunce, in a wheedling voice, -"you don't get the right splice on that piece of rope; -you——"</p> - -<p>"That'll do," said Grattan, waving his hand.</p> - -<p>Bunce subsided. The power of Grattan over the sailor -was absolute. It was easy to see whose had been the -plotting mind and the guiding hand in the exploits of the -two.</p> - -<p>"You are sharp enough to wonder, I suppose," said -Grattan, again addressing Matt, "why I am going into -these private details for your benefit. The answer is simple. -Our plans are laid to leave here to-day. You can't -stop us, no one can stop us. The balls of Ptah will disarm -all opposition, and the four of them will see us out -of the country with Goldstein's money."</p> - -<p>"But if Goldstein has the Eye of Buddha," said Matt, -"I will know it and can prove it. He can't hold stolen -property."</p> - -<p>"Certainly he can't. Goldstein gets the ruby and we -get Goldstein's money. You have Goldstein arrested -and prove in a court of law that he bought the idol's -eye from the original thieves. Then——"</p> - -<p>A howl came from Goldstein.</p> - -<p>"I von't buy, I von't buy! That is a skin game. I -von't buy der stone."</p> - -<p>"Oh, yes, you will," and, for the first time, a laugh -came from Grattan's lips. "You've brought the money -and you'll buy before you leave."</p> - -<p>Then, for the first time, Goldstein understood the true -meaning of the situation. He flashed a wild look at -Pryne and the revolver, and sank back against the wall -and groaned.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII.</a></h2> - -<p class="chaptitle">A MASTER ROGUE.</p> - - -<p>"As I said before," resumed Grattan, "I admire clever -people. Goldstein is not clever. I send a letter to him -at New York and tell him to come to Purling, ask for -Pryne at the general store, and bring money enough to -buy the Eye of Buddha. His covetous soul prompts him -to defy the law, buy the ruby for half its value, and cheat -Bunce and me. He rushes into the trap. I tell you he -is as big a fool as Bunce—almost."</p> - -<p>"Mercy!" begged Goldstein. "Oh, Mister Grattan, -don't rob me! Der price of diamonds has gone off, and -I lose much money——"</p> - -<p>"Silence!" thundered Grattan.</p> - -<p>Goldstein fell whimpering back against the wall.</p> - -<p>"It was only by a chance, Motor Matt," went on Grattan, -"that I discovered your trick in exchanging a letter -of your own for one of mine in the ancient mariner's -cap. Bunce did not know I was harbored in this old -sugar camp. Pryne knew it, and also my sister, who -happens to be Pryne's wife. No one else knew it. Bunce -and I had discovered that we were being trailed by a San -Francisco Chinaman, and that he was firing telegrams -back to the slope for Tsan Ti. From Catskill I came -here to wait until the ruby could be exchanged for Goldstein's -money. Bunce went around the vicinity of Catskill -keeping watch for the spying Chinaman, and for -Tsan Ti. He didn't find the 'Frisco hatchet boy, but he -did discover, this forenoon, that the mandarin was staying -at the hotel on the mountain. Bunce was traveling -around in an automobile, and he had my letter asking<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> -him to come to Purling, which I had mailed to him at -the Catskill post office. When he found Tsan Ti was -staying in the hotel, Bunce thought he would hurry to -Purling and take his chance of finding me. On the way -down the mountain, as ill luck would have it, he passed -you and the mandarin. Then came that exchange of -notes. When Bunce discovered that, his panic was still -further increased. The road he took to Purling passed -along the foot of this hill.</p> - -<p>"I was out taking my constitutional, at the time, and -fate threw Bunce and me together, for I hailed him as -he was passing. The driver of the automobile was a -man we both knew we could trust. Bunce and I had a -talk, and I read the letter you had put in his hat in the -place of the one I had sent. The circumstances attending -the exchange of that note convinced me that in you I -had an uncommonly clever person to deal with. I -guessed that you would use the note and try to find out -where I was. I didn't want you to do that, but I arranged -with Pryne, if you did, to bring you out here. I -also sent Bunce on the rightabout back to the mountainside, -and told him to make away with your motor cycles. -That, I hoped, would keep you from Purling by giving -you something else to hunt for instead of the Eye of -Buddha. But I didn't know you—I failed to do your -cleverness full justice.</p> - -<p>"Bunce went into hiding at the roadside from the -mountain top, knowing you would have to come that -way. When you sped down the road in an automobile, -with your chum and Tsan Ti, Bunce was rattled. He -had been expecting you on motor cycles, and had framed -up a little plan which he worked so successfully later. -However, he put a bullet into one of the automobile -tires and caused a smash. The fool! He came near getting -us into the toils of the law so deep we could never -have escaped. His folly continued, however, when he -skulked close to the burning machine to note the extent -of the ruin he had caused. He had a close call when -you took after him. More by luck than by any good -judgment, he got away from you, and was close enough -to see and hear what went on when the owner of the -wrecked automobile met and talked with you in the road.</p> - -<p>"Bunce hunted up the driver of the car, who had been -waiting for him in a convenient place not far from the -road. The two went into hiding in the brush, spotted -your motor-cycle lamps, captured your machines, and the -wheels are now handily by to help us in our getaway."</p> - -<p>Matt had listened to this talk abstractedly. He was -waiting and listening for McGlory and the reënforcements. -Why didn't they come? They had had ample -time, and Matt was positive they would pick up the trail -he had left and follow without difficulty. McGlory was -a good trailer, and he would be quick to understand the -sifted line of middlings when he saw it.</p> - -<p>"Shipmate," said Bunce, "you haven't given me my -proper rating. It wasn't all luck an' touch an' go with -me. I done noble, I did."</p> - -<p>"You mean well, Bunce, but you're not clever," said -Grattan.</p> - -<p>"My eye! Wasn't it clever the way I put on them -scarecrow fixin's in the cornfield?"</p> - -<p>"And then lost your nerve and ducked while Motor -Matt and his chum were looking at you? Oh, yes, that -<i>was</i> clever."</p> - -<p>There was scorn in Grattan's voice.</p> - -<p>Matt had heard enough to realize that Grattan was a -master rogue. He was playing a bold game, and with -consummate skill. He was willing to talk, to lay bare -the innermost details of his work, for he had planned -escape and felt sure he would get away. Matt wondered -if he would not succeed in spite of McGlory and the -men he was to bring with him.</p> - -<p>Those balls, those balls of Ptah! They appeared to be -the key that was to help Grattan through the coil of the -law.</p> - -<p>"I am rewarding you, Motor Matt, for your cleverness," -pursued Grattan, "and for the narrow escape -Bunce gave you in that automobile. The reward is the -Eye of Buddha. I sell it to Goldstein for the money -he has in that satchel; then, while Bunce and I are safely -out of the hut, I break one of the balls of Ptah by hurling -it through the open door; you and Goldstein become unconscious; -you recover and make a prisoner of Goldstein; -and, finally, by due process of law, you recover the ruby -for Tsan Ti. Very simple. So far as I can see, Goldstein -is the only one to suffer."</p> - -<p>Matt was still listening, listening. Where in the world -was McGlory?</p> - -<p>Grattan turned toward the shivering Jew.</p> - -<p>"Goldstein," said he sternly, "how much money have -you in that satchel?"</p> - -<p>"Mercy, Mr. Grattan!" implored the diamond merchant. -"I have lost much money by der decline in——"</p> - -<p>"How much have you in the satchel?" repeated Grattan.</p> - -<p>"Only a little, Mr. Grattan. I dit not bring much."</p> - -<p>"Didn't you bring enough to pay a good price for the -ruby?"</p> - -<p>"How was I to know vat der ruby was worth? Fife -thousand dollars is what I brought——"</p> - -<p>"Five thousand! Five thousand to pay me for two -years of planning, and the risk! You have brought more -than that."</p> - -<p>"Where is der ruby, Mr. Grattan?"</p> - -<p>"Where you'll not find it until I see how much money -you have in the satchel. Give it to Bunce. Bunce, you -open the grip and count the money."</p> - -<p>"Don't do that, please, Mr. Grattan! I have lost much -money by der drop in——"</p> - -<p>"Take it over and give it to Bunce."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span></p> - -<p>Tremblingly, Goldstein got up with his precious -satchel. His face was pallid, and he seemed scarcely able -to move. He started toward the sailor; then, suddenly, -when he was close to Pryne, he whirled and grabbed at -the exposed revolver.</p> - -<p>The satchel dropped, and Goldstein, with the fury of -desperation, fought like a madman. It was his money -he was fighting for—money that was, perhaps, dearer to -him than life itself. Nothing else could have goaded him -into such a mad attempt to escape from the hut.</p> - -<p>Bunce sprang toward the struggling pair at the door, -and Grattan also arose and stepped toward them.</p> - -<p>This offered Matt a chance for a daring <i>coup</i>. Unseen -in the excitement, and unheard because of the noise of -the scuffle, he glided to the table and opened the box. -Deftly he extracted one of the balls and allowed the box-cover -to fall into place. The ball passed into his pocket.</p> - -<p>While he stood by the table, Grattan suddenly caught -sight of him.</p> - -<p>"Go back to your bench, Motor Matt!" he ordered. -"You have everything to gain and nothing to lose by -sitting tight and obeying orders. Get back, I tell you."</p> - -<p>Matt backed to the bench and sat down. Bunce and -Pryne flung Goldstein to the floor, and while Pryne -kicked him toward his seat Bunce regained his own place -with the satchel.</p> - -<p>"I did not think Goldstein had it in him," laughed -Grattan. "When you take his money, you touch him in a -vital place. Be sensible, Goldstein," he added. "We've -got too strong a grip on you."</p> - -<p>The Jew lifted himself to the stool, bruised and battered. -His head was bowed and he presented a pitiable -sight.</p> - -<p>"Now, then, Bunce," said Grattan, "look into the -satchel. Let's see how much Goldstein brought with -him for purposes of barter. I didn't expect to get anywhere -near what the Eye of Buddha was worth, but——"</p> - -<p>There came a pounding on the door. Instantly all -were on their feet, consternation written large in every -face but Grattan's and Matt's. Grattan believed that, -even with intruders at hand, he was master of the situation. -Matt, armed with one of the balls of Ptah, was -inclined to dispute the question with him.</p> - -<p>"Open up!" cried a voice.</p> - -<p>There was a bar across the door and Pryne stood with -one hand on the fastening to make sure it held against -the attack. Grattan fluttered a hand for silence.</p> - -<p>"Who's there?" he demanded.</p> - -<p>"Porter, the constable, from Purling, and five other -men."</p> - -<p>Grattan leaped to the table and caught up the box. -Holding it in front of him, the buckthorn cane under -his arm, he whispered to his confederates:</p> - -<p>"Bunce, you and Pryne stand ready to leave the room. -When I give the word, go—and go quick."</p> - -<p>Then, lifting his voice, Grattan added:</p> - -<p>"Open the door, Pryne, and admit the constable from -Purling and five men."</p> - -<p>Pryne bent to the bar.</p> - -<p>"Stop!" cried Matt.</p> - -<p>Pryne raised himself quickly. He and Bunce, Grattan -and even Goldstein stared at the king of the motor boys.</p> - -<p>Matt was standing on the bench, his right hand lifted, -and one of the shimmering spheres in his hand.</p> - -<p>"Don't come in here yet, McGlory!" shouted Matt. -"I'll give the word when I want you to come. You see, -Grattan," he added, "I'd a little rather have my friends -stay on the outside until they can come in here <i>after</i> I -break the glass ball."</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV.</a></h2> - -<p class="chaptitle">THE GLASS SPHERES.</p> - - -<p>Tremors shook the one-eyed sailor. The satchel quivered -in his hands. Pryne was filled with consternation, -and showed it as plainly as did Bunce. The full meaning -of the situation had not dawned on Goldstein as yet, -but the light was slowly breaking. Grattan alone, of all -those confronting Matt, seemed in full possession of his -wits.</p> - -<p>"Don't throw that, don't throw that!" stuttered Bunce. -"Avast, I say!"</p> - -<p>"Where'd he get the thing?" demanded Pryne.</p> - -<p>"Clever lad!" murmured Grattan. "You must have -taken that out of the box during the disturbance caused -by Goldstein. I saw you by the table, but I didn't think -that was your game. Well, what are you intending to -do? You have one of the balls and I have three. I -don't know that I grasp your intentions."</p> - -<p>"If these glass balls are broken," answered Matt -steadily, "it means that all of us, every person in this -room, will be stretched out on the floor, unconscious and -helpless. Those outside will escape the effects of the -narcotic, or whatever it is contained in the spheres. -Those who are at the door happen to be my friends. -They will wait a space; then, after the fumes have -cleared out of the room, they will come in, make prisoners -of you, Bunce and Pryne, save Goldstein's money -for him, and recover the Eye of Buddha."</p> - -<p>"Let me understand this fully," continued Grattan. -"How do you know those outside are your friends?"</p> - -<p>"Listen," said Matt. "McGlory!" he called.</p> - -<p>"On deck, pard!" came the answer of the cowboy. -"You're in a nice row of stumps, I must say. Who's in -there with you?"</p> - -<p>"Grattan, Bunce, Goldstein, and Pryne."</p> - -<p>"What's the layout?"</p> - -<p>"I'm on a bench at one side of the room with one of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> -the glass balls. Grattan stands opposite me with three -more. If I throw the ball I'm holding, then I want you -fellows to wait until it's safe to come in."</p> - -<p>"Speak to me about that!"</p> - -<p>Grattan was thoughtful.</p> - -<p>"How did those fellows manage to find their way -here?" he asked.</p> - -<p>"Pryne had a sack of ground feed in the back of the -wagon. I slashed it with my knife and we left a plain -trail."</p> - -<p>"Jumpin' Mariar!" breathed Pryne.</p> - -<p>"You've hit it off nicely, Pryne!" scowled Grattan. -"Annabelle ought to be proud of you for that. Bunce -isn't the only fool I've been tied up with, this time." He -turned again to the king of the motor boys. "You're -deeper than I imagined, but you're a point shy in your -reasoning, son. You'll not get the Eye of Buddha by -proceeding in that fashion. I was dealing generously -with you when I offered to trade the ruby for Goldstein's -money."</p> - -<p>"You have no right to rob Goldstein," said Matt. "I -couldn't help you without being equally guilty."</p> - -<p>"Goot boy!" applauded Goldstein. "That's der truth."</p> - -<p>"This diamond merchant," argued Grattan, "is only a -'fence' for stolen property. He came out here to cheat -me, cheat Tsan Ti, cheat the law. We're simply beating -him at his own game."</p> - -<p>"Two wrongs never made a right," answered Matt.</p> - -<p>"You talk foolishly. But, even though you carry out -your plan, I say again <i>you will not get the Eye of Buddha</i>. -That is safely hidden where it will never be found. -Besides—look at Bunce."</p> - -<p>Matt had been giving his full attention to Grattan. -He now swerved his eyes toward the sailor and found a -revolver leveled in his direction.</p> - -<p>"Here's Scoldin' Sairy starin' ye in the face," said -Bunce. "Don't tease us no more or she'll speak."</p> - -<p>"The moment that ball leaves your hand, Motor Matt," -declared Grattan, "Bunce will fire. The rest of us will -be left merely unconscious on the floor, but you—well, -you're clever enough to imagine what will happen to <i>you</i>. -Are you willing to talk sense? I promise to leave the -Eye of Buddha with Goldstein in exchange for his -satchel of money, but we must be allowed to escape with -the satchel."</p> - -<p>"I'll not help you rob Goldstein," answered Matt.</p> - -<p>"Ye'd rather be sent to Davy Jones' locker, I suppose?" -put in Bunce. "That's where ye'll go, as quick -an' sure as though ye was wrapped in canvas and thrown -over the side with a hundred-pound shot at yer pins."</p> - -<p>Goldstein, palpitating between hope and despair, -watched and listened to this crossfire of threat and defiance -wherein the fate of his money was at stake. A -half-crazy light arose in his eyes and he seemed meditating -some desperate move.</p> - -<p>Grattan lifted his voice.</p> - -<p>"Hello, out there! We've got Motor Matt under the -point of a revolver, and if you don't retreat from the vicinity -of this hut, there'll be shooting."</p> - -<p>"Is that so, pard!" came wildly from McGlory.</p> - -<p>"Stay where you are," cried Matt. "They won't shoot—they -don't dare."</p> - -<p>"Bunce," began Grattan, "you'd better——"</p> - -<p>Grattan had no time to finish. With a wild yell of -fury Goldstein flung himself at Grattan and seized the -buckthorn cane, jerking it away and whirling it about -his head.</p> - -<p>"The buckthorn!" shouted Bunce, in more of a panic -than the Jew's manœuvre seemed to call for; "he's got -the buckthorn cane!"</p> - -<p>Grattan let go of his temper for the first time, and -whirled and leaped at Goldstein. The Jew struck at him -viciously, the blow falling short and knocking the box of -glass balls out of his hand and upon the floor.</p> - -<p>"Mask! mask!" bellowed Grattan.</p> - -<p>The box flew open as it fell and Matt caught a glimpse -of broken glass fragments flying out of it, and of something -white lifted to the faces of Grattan and Bunce. -All was turmoil in the room. Grattan rushed at Goldstein -and tried to recover the cane. Matt flung at him -the ball—the last conscious act the king of the motor -boys could remember.</p> - -<p>The pungent odor arose to his nostrils, choking him, -blinding his eyes and robbing him of his strength. He -crashed down from the bench, and then a mighty hand -seemed to sweep over him and drop a black pall of -silence.</p> - -<p>Motor Matt opened his eyes. He was lying out in the -sun, the bare boughs of the maples over him, and McGlory -kneeling at his side.</p> - -<p>"You had a rough time of it, old pard," said McGlory, -"but you didn't stop a bullet—and that's some satisfaction."</p> - -<p>Matt groped around in his mind to pick up the trend -of events. Suddenly all the details flashed through his -brain.</p> - -<p>"What became of Grattan and Bunce?" he asked, sitting -up.</p> - -<p>"They smashed through a boarded-up window, pard," -replied McGlory.</p> - -<p>"And got away?"</p> - -<p>"Like a couple of streaks. They used our motor -cycles."</p> - -<p>"Why don't you follow them?"</p> - -<p>"Follow them? What's the good? That happened an -hour ago. The Purling constable rushed back to the -village to do some telephoning, and it's barely possible -the two tinhorns will be corralled. I wouldn't bank on it, -though. Luck hasn't been coming that way for us since -we struck the Catskills."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span></p> - -<p>"An hour ago!" muttered Matt, rubbing his forehead. -"It seems as though all this excitement had only just -happened."</p> - -<p>"That's the way those dope balls act. I was afraid of -'em. And it wasn't so blooming pleasant for us fellows -to stand out here while all that ruction was going on in -the house. When One Eye and his pal crashed through -the window—or maybe it wasn't a window but a hole in -the wall that was just patched up with boards—we all -took after 'em. Out close to the road they jumped on a -couple of motor cycles—ours, by the looks of them—and -were off a-smoking. When they came out of the cabin -they had white things over their faces——"</p> - -<p>"Masks," said Matt. "They had them handy. But for -that you'd have found them in the cabin along with Goldstein -and me. By the way, where <i>is</i> Goldstein?"</p> - -<p>"We left him in the house. We weren't in so much -of a hurry to bring him to his senses as we were you."</p> - -<p>"And Pryne—what's become of him?"</p> - -<p>"Stretched out beside the diamond buyer."</p> - -<p>"Did you find the Eye of Buddha?"</p> - -<p>"That's a dream, Matt. No, we didn't find it. All we -found was a satchel of money—the satchel Goldstein had -with him at the store in Purling."</p> - -<p>"There were six of you—five with the constable. -Where are the other four?"</p> - -<p>"The constable miscalled the number," laughed McGlory, -"so his talk would have a bigger effect. There -were only four of us all told. You see, we left the -driver of the car in Purling to look after Bunce when he -showed up there. And he was here, all the time! Sufferin' -surprises! Say, I was sure stumped when I heard -the Hottentot was in that cabin."</p> - -<p>"There were three besides you," went on Matt, persisting -in his attempt to get the matter of numbers -straight in his mind, "and the constable has gone to Purling. -Where are the other two?"</p> - -<p>"Here they come," and McGlory pointed to a couple -of Chinamen, who at that moment emerged from the hut.</p> - -<p>Matt stared and rubbed his eyes.</p> - -<p>"Am I still under the influence of those glass balls?" -he muttered, "or is that really Tsan Ti coming this way?"</p> - -<p>"It's the mandarin, fast enough," chuckled McGlory, -"and the chink that's with him is Sam Wing."</p> - -<p>Observing that Matt had recovered his senses, Tsan Ti -hastened forward.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV.</a></h2> - -<p class="chaptitle">THE EYE OF BUDDHA.</p> - - -<p>Tsan Ti was not particularly happy. He seemed -pleased to meet Matt once more, but underlying this -pleasure was a deep and settled melancholy.</p> - -<p>"Greetings, astonishing friend," said the mandarin. -"You have performed actions never to be forgotten; imperishable -deeds which——"</p> - -<p>"Cut out the frills, Tsan Ti," interrupted Matt, "and -tell me where you went after Joe and I left you at the -wrecked car."</p> - -<p>"Sam Wing approached me while I was seeking exhaustively -for the yellow cord, which I had lost and -which I had the overwhelming desire to use. Sam Wing -was ascending the mountain, traveling on foot, to gain -the top and find me. He had a report to convey. He -conveyed it. He had seen the aged mariner in Purling, -and he had come at once for me. I stopped for nothing—not -even to explain my absence to you who had -left me in such hurry. I went with Sam Wing forthwith, -and we found some one to transport us to Purling. There -we watched out the night in vain, and toward morning -repaired to the house of a poor person, who afforded us -food and a couch on which to rest. I was resting when -Sam Wing came to my side and declared there was a -youth in the place who was hunting for the peace officer. -I went out, hoping to meet the peace officer myself -and ask for news of the sailor. Imagine my marvelous -astonishment upon discovering your distinguished -friend. He wanted men and he could find few, so Sam -Wing and myself accompanied him. Accept my congratulations, -eminent friend, upon your escape. It is with -sorrow, however, that I view the flight of the sailor and -that other, whom I saw, on a former momentous occasion, -wearing a sun hat with a pugree. These, I imagine, -assisted their escape out of the sense-destroying fumes."</p> - -<p>From his blouse, Tsan Ti developed two squares of -white cloth with holes clipped in each to fit a pair of -eyes. A strong odor of drugs accompanied the display -of the masks.</p> - -<p>"It was objects similar to these," went on the mandarin -in pensive retrospection, "with which the thieves -covered their faces in the temple at Honam. Pah!" and -he flung the bits of cloth from him in repulsion.</p> - -<p>"You were a long time getting here, Joe," said Matt, -turning to his chum.</p> - -<p>"I was a long time getting the constable," answered -Joe, "and there wasn't another <i>hombre</i> in the town who -cared to take the risk of going with me. Finally I found -the constable, and then Tsan Ti and Sam Wing came -our way. We started, in a rig the constable borrowed -from in front of the general store."</p> - -<p>"You picked up the trail?"</p> - -<p>"Tell me about that!" laughed McGlory. "Sure we -picked it up, pard. How could we have missed it?"</p> - -<p>"It is unfortunate," spoke up Tsan Ti gloomily, "that -the yellow cord was lost at the time the devil car took -fire. It was of great importance to me as the means of -carrying out the invitation given by our gracious regent.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> -The sailor and his confederate have fled, and the Eye of -Buddha has gone with them. The ten thousand demons -of misfortune continue to make me feel their displeasure. -There is nothing left but the happy dispatch."</p> - -<p>"Aw, cheer up," growled McGlory. "Buy a string of -laundries, somewhere, and tell your gracious regent to -go hang."</p> - -<p>"I am bound by ancient ceremony to accept and use -the cord," insisted Tsan Ti, mildly but firmly.</p> - -<p>"Well, you've got a few days yet. Don't use the cord -until you have to."</p> - -<p>"I cannot use it until I find it, solicitous friend."</p> - -<p>"Suppose you never find it?"</p> - -<p>"Then Kien Lung will hunt for me and give me a -second."</p> - -<p>"Sufferin' heathens!" murmured McGlory, in disgust.</p> - -<p>Matt got to his feet.</p> - -<p>"Let's go and see how Goldstein is getting along," he -suggested. "What became of that satchel, Joe?"</p> - -<p>"We left it in the house—thought that was the safest -place for it."</p> - -<p>"We'll have to take care of that. It contains the money -Goldstein brought to use in buying the Eye of Buddha."</p> - -<p>Together Matt, McGlory, Tsan Ti and Sam Wing -made their way back to the hut. Just as they reached the -door Goldstein sprang to his feet, the buckthorn cane in -his hand.</p> - -<p>"Look at him!" exclaimed McGlory. "He's still locoed, -Matt, and in about the same state of mind you -and I were when we repaired that bursted tire, rode to -the Mountain House, and went to sleep in the hammocks."</p> - -<p>The diamond merchant's face was full of anger and -apprehension. His clouded faculties were still possessed -of the notion, it seemed, that his satchel of money continued -to be the object of Grattan's designs.</p> - -<p>Jumping at the log wall, Goldstein struck a terrific -blow with the head of the cane.</p> - -<p>"I hope he keeps hammering the wall," breathed the -cowboy. "If he ever came at one of us like that we'd -have to take him down and lash his hands and feet. Gee, -but he's vicious."</p> - -<p>Again and again Goldstein struck the logs with the -cane. At last the head of the cane snapped and flew into -fragments, and a glittering object flashed toward the -door, struck Sam Wing and dropped downward. A -gleam of sun caught the object, and it glowed like a huge -drop of blood.</p> - -<p>A chattering screech went up from Tsan Ti, and forthwith -he slumped to his knees and picked the object up -in his trembling hands.</p> - -<p>Startled Chinese words came from Sam Wing; the -mandarin answered, and there followed a frantic give -and take of native gibberish, mostly whoops, grunts and -falling inflections.</p> - -<p>"Sufferin' gold mines!" cried McGlory. "Say, pard, -is that red thing the Eye of Buddha?"</p> - -<p>"It must be," answered Matt excitedly, hurrying into -the room and picking up the cane and some of the fragments -of the head. "Great spark plugs!" he exclaimed, -examining the pieces.</p> - -<p>"What do you make out, pard?" demanded McGlory.</p> - -<p>"Why," went on Matt, "the head of the cane was -hollow, <i>and the ruby was concealed in it</i>!"</p> - -<p>"No!"</p> - -<p>"Fact! Here, look for yourself. I wondered why -Grattan was so careful of that cane. The last thing I -remember was seeing him rush at Goldstein and try to -get the cane away from him. Goldstein had grabbed the -stick and had knocked the box of glass balls out of Grattan's -hand with it. Of course, at the time Grattan tried -to get the stick back, the balls were spilling their knock-out -fumes all over the room, and he couldn't waste much -time getting into his mask and lighting out. He had to -leave the cane behind—it was either that or be laid out -by the glass balls and captured. Perhaps he thought -we'd never find out the ruby was in the cane and that he -could come back later and recover it."</p> - -<p>"Goldstein has smashed the mystery!" jubilated McGlory, -"and when he comes to he won't know a thing -about it."</p> - -<p>Matt was dazed, and the two excited Chinamen were -still gabbling like a couple of frantic ducks; McGlory -was walking around, rubbing his eyes, and Goldstein was -sitting on the stool undergoing the last stage of his -awakening.</p> - -<p>"What's der matter?" inquired the diamond broker. -"Where is—what is—— Ach, der satchel, der satchel!"</p> - -<p>His eyes had alighted on the grip, and he shot off -the stool and gathered up the precious object. His first -move was to open it and make sure of the contents.</p> - -<p>"Where is Grattan?" he asked, with a sudden tremor. -"Where is der feller that wanted to steal my money?"</p> - -<p>"You don't have to fret about him any more," said -McGlory. "He's lit out—in something of a hurry. I -don't reckon he'll be back."</p> - -<p>"What a lucky escape, what a lucky escape!" chanted -Goldstein; "mein gracious, what a lucky escape!"</p> - -<p>Matt, observing that Tsan Ti and Sam Wing were not -yet done with their wild felicitations, strolled around the -room. He saw the place where Bunce and Grattan had -crashed through the wall. Fire, at some time or other -when the sugar makers were boiling their sap, had eaten -into the logs, leaving a large hole which had been covered -with boards. Grattan and Bunce, knowing about -the weak spot in the wall, had chose to get out of the -cabin in that way rather than by attempting to pass -through the door.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span></p> - -<p>While Matt was looking at the breach in the timbers, -he heard a series of shouts from the Chinamen. A glance -in their direction gave him a fleeting glimpse of Pryne, -forcing his way through the door and over the heads of -Tsan Ti and Sam Wing.</p> - -<p>"That tinhorn's getting away!" shouted McGlory.</p> - -<p>He would have chased after Pryne had Matt not -gripped him by the shoulder and held him back.</p> - -<p>"Let the fellow go," said Matt. "He was roped into -the game by Grattan, and was only a tool, at the most. -We've recovered the Eye of Buddha, and have saved -Goldstein's money for him, so I guess we're doing well -enough."</p> - -<p>The rough way the Chinamen had been treated by -Pryne appeared to have made them remember that there -were others in the cabin besides themselves.</p> - -<p>Tsan Ti got up, balanced the ruby on the palm of his -hand, and stepped toward Matt, as happy a mandarin as -could be found, in China or out of it.</p> - -<p>"See, estimable and glorious friend," he cried. "This -is the Eye of Buddha, which caused me so much misfortune -and came near to causing my death. It has -been found, and but for you it would have been lost to -me forever. My life is yours, illustrious one, my fortune, -my lands—everything I own!"</p> - -<p>Matt paid little heed to the mandarin's rapturous talk. -His eyes were on the ruby, which was as large as a -small hen's egg and of the true pigeon's blood color. Its -flashing beauty was marvelous to behold.</p> - -<p>"Out of my goodness of heart," went on the mandarin, -"and from no desire to insult, believe me, I shall present -my eminent friend with a thousand dollars and his expenses. -Is it well, excellent one?"</p> - -<p>"Quite well, thank you," laughed McGlory, answering -for his chum. "Here, Tsan, take this and send it back -to your gracious regent. Tell him to use it on himself, -and oblige."</p> - -<p>With that, the cowboy laid the ominous yellow cord -across the mandarin's shoulders.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI.</a></h2> - -<p class="chaptitle">THE BROKEN HOODOO.</p> - - -<p>The constable, in leaving the sugar camp for Purling -to do his telephoning, had taken his own rig. Having -finished his work in Purling, he made his return journey -to the sugar camp in the automobile which Matt and McGlory -had hired. A few words were enough to convince -the driver of the car that it was useless for him -to wait at the general store for the one-eyed sailor.</p> - -<p>The automobile could not ascend the rough hill road, -but waited at the foot of the slope while the constable -climbed to the sugar camp and informed those there that -a conveyance was ready to take them wherever they -wanted to go.</p> - -<p>Pryne having suddenly recovered and bolted, only -Matt, McGlory, Goldstein, and the two Chinamen were in -the hut. Without loss of time they accompanied the constable -down the long wooded slope.</p> - -<p>"What are the prospects for capturing Bunce and -Grattan, officer?" inquired Matt, while they were slipping -toward the foot of the hill.</p> - -<p>"Mighty poor," answered the constable, "if you want -me to give it to you straight. But I've done everythin' -I could. There ain't any telegraft line to Purling, so I -had to telephone my message to Cairo. They're pretty -much all over the hills by now."</p> - -<p>"Then what makes you think Bunce and Grattan will -get away?"</p> - -<p>"Why, they'll be goin' so tarnation fast on them pesky -machines there won't be any constable in the hills with -an eye quick enough to recognize 'em from the description. -Anyhow, what do you care? The fat Chinaman's -happy, an' the Jew's so glad he walks lop-sided. What -is it to you whether them hoodlums git away or not?"</p> - -<p>"Oh, hear him!" muttered McGlory. "It means three -hundred cold, hard plunks to us, constable. The two -pesky machines that took those tinhorns away have to be -paid for by Motor Matt and Pard McGlory."</p> - -<p>"Do tell!"</p> - -<p>"If you hated to hear it as bad as I hate to tell it you -wouldn't ask me to repeat."</p> - -<p>"Noble sir," spoke up Tsan Ti, "you and your worshipful -friend shall not be out a single tael. I, whom -you have benefited, will pay for the go-devil machines. -That, if you will allow me, comes in as part of your expenses."</p> - -<p>"Now, by heck," said the constable, "that's what I -call doin' the han'some thing. I've put in a leetle time -myself, to-day," he added, "an' I cal-late I'm out nigh -onto ten dollars. But I helped do some good, an' that's -enough fer me."</p> - -<p>"Here, exalted sir," observed the mandarin, and -dropped a twenty-dollar gold piece into the constable's -palm.</p> - -<p>"I don't believe I got any change," said the officer.</p> - -<p>"No change would be acceptable to me," answered -Tsan Ti, with dignity.</p> - -<p>"Waal, now, ain't I tickled? There's a dress in that -fer S'manthy an' the kids. 'Bliged to ye."</p> - -<p>"The old boy's beginning to get generous, Matt," whispered -McGlory. "Maybe, after all, he really intends to -fork over that thousand and expenses."</p> - -<p>"Of course he does," said Matt.</p> - -<p>When they reached the automobile, all six of them -crowded into the car. Seven passengers—counting the -driver—made tight squeezing in accommodations built -for five, but Goldstein and the constable were dropped<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> -at Purling, and comfort followed those who remained, -thereon.</p> - -<p>Goldstein, following his burst of ecstasy over the recovery -of the satchel, had relapsed into a subdued condition. -Very likely he realized that he was under something -of a cloud, inasmuch as he had come to Purling to -treat with a thief for the loot of a magnificent haul. -Goldstein remembered that Grattan had not been at all -backward in giving Motor Matt the details of everything -connected with the Eye of Buddha, and the reflections -of the diamond broker could not have been at all comfortable -or reassuring.</p> - -<p>Matt allowed the Jew to go his way without a rebuke. -He felt that the man had been punished enough; and, -besides, he was the cause of their discovering the place -where the ruby had been concealed. But for Goldstein, -the Eye of Buddha might never have been located.</p> - -<p>On the way to Catskill from Purling, Matt gave an -account of what had taken place in the old sugar camp. -Grattan had been at considerable pains to explain many -things that had been dark to Matt and his friends, and -the king of the motor boys passed along the explanation.</p> - -<p>The history of the Egyptian balls was particularly interesting -to Tsan Ti, no less than other details connected -with the robbery; and the way Bunce had played tag up -and down the mountainside with Matt and McGlory held -a deep fascination for the cowboy.</p> - -<p>"Taking this little fracas by and large," observed McGlory, -when Matt had finished, "I think it's about the -most novel piece of business I ever had anything to do -with. It began with a lot of 'con' paper talk shoved at -Pard Matt by Tsan Ti, and from the moment we met up -with the mandarin there's been nothing to it but excitement, -and a little uncertainty as to just where the lightning -was going to strike next."</p> - -<p>"You two illustrious young men," said Tsan Ti -gravely, "have laid me under staggering obligations. -Money may pay you for your loss of time, but nothing -except my gratitude can requite you for the excellence -of your service. You will hear from me through Sam -Wing to-morrow."</p> - -<p>The boys got out of the automobile at the hotel, and -Matt had the car take Tsan Ti and Sam Wing up the -mountain to the Kaaterskill.</p> - -<p>"They're a pair of pretty good chinks, after all," said -McGlory, "and I'm glad to think I had a little something -to do with keeping the yellow cord from getting -in its work on Tsan Ti."</p> - -<p>On the following day, Tsan Ti sent Sam Wing to Catskill -with a heavy canvas bag.</p> - -<p>"Me blingee flom Tsan Ti," explained Sam Wing. -"Him takee choo-choo tlain fol San Flisco, bymby ketchee -boat fol China. Heap happy."</p> - -<p>"He has a right to be happy," said McGlory.</p> - -<p>"How much did he have to put up for that wrecked -motor car, Sam?" asked Matt.</p> - -<p>"Twenty-fi' hunnerd dol'."</p> - -<p>"He went and stung him!" whooped McGlory. "The -old robber."</p> - -<p>"No makee hurt. Twenty-fi' hunnerd dol' all same -Tsan Ti likee twenty-fi' cent to me. Him plenty lichee -man."</p> - -<p>When Sam Wing went away, Matt and McGlory -dumped the contents of the canvas sack out on the table. -The money was all in gold, and totaled two thousand -dollars, even.</p> - -<p>"He figured out expenses at a thousand dollars," remarked -the cowboy. "They're 'way inside that figure."</p> - -<p>"He's the sort of fellow, Joe," said Matt, "who'd rather -pay a man ten dollars when he only owed him five, -than five when he owed ten."</p> - -<p>"Sure! He's the clear quill, but he sure had me guessing, -the way he jumped around. I'll bet he connected -with more good, hard jolts on this trip to America than -he ever encountered in his life before."</p> - -<p>"We came pretty near it, ourselves," laughed Matt. -"I can't remember that I ever had a more violent time."</p> - -<p>"It was some strenuous, and that's a fact. If you live -a hundred years, pard, and drive automobiles all the -while, you'll never scrape closer to kingdom come, and -miss it, than you did when we came down the mountainside -with the mandarin at the steering wheel."</p> - -<p>"I wouldn't go through that experience again for ten -times the amount of money there was in that bag."</p> - -<p>"I wouldn't, either—not for the Eye of Buddha. -There's no easy money in turning a trick for Tsan Ti. I -reckon we earned all we got."</p> - - -<p class="center">THE END.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<p class="center medium">THE NEXT NUMBER (31) WILL CONTAIN</p> - -<p class="center huge">Motor Matt's Mariner;</p> - -<p class="center medium">OR,</p> - -<p class="center large">FILLING THE BILL FOR BUNCE.</p> - -<hr class="r5" /> - -<blockquote> - -<p>"Buddha's Eye"—The Green Patch—Motor Matt, -Trustee—Bunce has a Plan—Bunce Speaks -a Good Word for Himself—The Home-made -Speeder—Trapped—The Cut-out Under the -Ledge—Between the Eyes—The Man from the -"Iris"—Aboard the Steam Yacht—Grattan's -Triumph—From the Open Port—Landed, and -Strung—A Crafty Oriental—The Mandarin Wins.</p></blockquote> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span></p> - - - - -<table summary="scaffold" class="bbox"> -<tr><td colspan="2" class="tdc huge">MOTOR STORIES</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdr large" style="padding-right: .25em;">THRILLING ADVENTURE</td><td class="tdl large" style="padding-left: .25em;">MOTOR FICTION</td></tr> -</table> - -<p class="center">NEW YORK, September 18, 1909.</p> - - -<p class="center"><b>TERMS TO MOTOR STORIES MAIL SUBSCRIBERS.</b></p> - -<p class="center">(<i>Postage Free.</i>)</p> - -<p class="center"><b>Single Copies or Back Numbers, 5c. Each.</b></p> - -<table summary="Terms"> -<tr><td>3 months</td><td class="tdr">65c.</td></tr> -<tr><td>4 months</td><td class="tdr">85c.</td></tr> -<tr><td>6 months</td><td class="tdr">$1.25</td></tr> -<tr><td>One year</td><td class="tdr">2.50</td></tr> -<tr><td>2 copies one year</td><td class="tdr">4.00</td></tr> -<tr><td>1 copy two years</td><td class="tdr">4.00</td></tr> -</table> - -<p><b>How to Send Money</b>—By post-office or express money-order, -registered letter, bank check or draft, at our risk. At your own risk if sent -by currency, coin, or postage-stamps in ordinary letter.</p> - -<p><b>Receipts</b>—Receipt of your remittance is acknowledged by proper -change of number on your label. If not correct you have not been properly -credited, and should let us know at once.</p> - -<table summary="scaffold"> -<tr><td> -<span class="smcap">Ormond G. Smith</span>,<br /> -<span class="smcap">George C. Smith</span>, -</td> -<td style="font-size: 200%">}</td><td style="padding-right: 1em;"><i>Proprietors</i>.</td> -<td class="tdc"> -<b>STREET & SMITH, Publishers,<br /> -79-89 Seventh Avenue, New York City.</b> -</td></tr></table> - - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="A_REAL_PIRATE" id="A_REAL_PIRATE">A REAL PIRATE.</a></h2> - - -<p>"At the time I commenced following the sea," said old -Captain Gifford, in relating a thrilling experience of his -early life, "there were pirates all about the West Indies, and -the dread of them was always uppermost in a sailor's -thoughts. We didn't mind the yellow fever. When a man -died with that, he died—it was a visitation of Providence, -and his fate was to be thought upon calmly and sorrowfully; -there was no horror in the reflection. But to be murdered—murdered -upon the high seas—that was a thing which it -made one sick to think of.</p> - -<p>"Resistance on the part of a ship's crew, if unsuccessful, -was certain death—and often, too, in the most cruel form; -for the revengeful, drunken pirates, with their worst passions -aroused by the conflict, would in such a case take delight -in torturing their victims. And even where no opposition -had been attempted, the plea that 'dead men tell no -tales' was generally sufficient to insure the massacre of all -on board.</p> - -<p>"So you see it was about as long as it was broad. There -was very little encouragement to surrender. It was simply a -question as to whether one would die fighting like a lion or -be butchered on the deck like a sheep.</p> - -<p>"Of course there were exceptions; but these were not frequent -enough to inspire much hope in the event of capture. -Slaughter was the rule, and if not committed in every instance, -the fortunate ones might thank their stars.</p> - -<p>"In those days we used to hear dreadful stories of such -tragedies. Sometimes these would come to light through the -confessions of condemned pirates; while in other cases a -single survivor of some hapless crew of a merchantman -would relate the tale of the capture and death of his shipmates—he -himself having been spared through some freak -of the miscreants, perhaps to serve on board their vessel.</p> - -<p>"I commenced following the sea at the age of fifteen, making -my first voyage in the brig <i>Agenora</i>, Captain Christopher -Allen, bound to Trinidad de Cuba. In all there were nine -persons belonging to her, being the captain, the two mates, -and the cook, with five hands before the mast, counting a -son of Captain Allen and myself. But, of course, I did not -amount to much at that time.</p> - -<p>"Young Argo Allen was seventeen, so that he had the advantage -of me by two years, besides having made one voyage -to the West Indies. He was one of the best fellows that ever -lived; and having learned on his first voyage to 'hand, reef, -and steer' after a fashion, he was always ready to assist me -to the extent of his knowledge. Indeed, I think one young -sailor generally feels a sort of pride in helping another who -knows less than himself.</p> - -<p>"We had a long passage out, with calms and head winds, -and Argo and I talked much of pirates. He told me how -scared he had been upon his former voyage, when the vessel -was overtaken by a low, black schooner, which, upon coming -up with her, sailed past within a cable's length, with a crew -of fifty or sixty horrible-looking wretches staring at the brig -in perfect silence.</p> - -<p>"'After getting a little ahead,' said Argo, 'she tacked and -came back. My hair rose right up then—it fairly lifted my -hat! But she simply repassed us on the other side, and went -off about her business.'</p> - -<p>"'How do you account for it all?' I asked.</p> - -<p>"'Oh, that's easy enough,' he replied. 'We were outward -bound, with a cargo of New England produce, and the pirates -knew that we were not likely to have money on board. This -was all that saved us; but I wouldn't be so scared again for -the price of the brig!'</p> - -<p>"So Argo Allen had seen a real pirate, and it actually made -me look up to him with a kind of admiring awe, not that I -had any desire to meet with a like experience; but then it -must, I thought, have been so thrilling—such a thing to -think of and to tell of!</p> - -<p>"On arriving at Trinidad, we disposed of our cargo at a -very high price; while, on the other hand, our return invoice -of molasses was purchased at an unusually low figure; so -that, after loading for home, Captain Allen found that he had, -above all expenses, a good three thousand dollars in -doubloons.</p> - -<p>"Meanwhile Argo and I were greatly pleased at meeting -with two of our townspeople, a Mr. and Mrs. Howard; and -it delighted us still more to learn that they were to take -passage with us for the North. They had been sojourning -in Cuba for a number of months, but were now anxious to -go home, as the yellow fever season had arrived and there -were already many cases of it in the city.</p> - -<p>"Although Captain Allen was in high spirits at having -made such a profitable voyage, he felt some uneasiness at the -idea of sailing with so much money on board. The pirates, -he said, had their spies in all the Cuban ports, and these -secret agents, by watching the run of trade, could easily determine -what vessels were likely to offer the most tempting -booty.</p> - -<p>"At length, all being ready, and Mr. and Mrs. Howard -coming off to us, we hove up our anchor and made sail. The -greatest danger, Captain Allen believed, would be close off -the port, and so he had given out that we should probably -remain three or four days longer. It may have been this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> -which saved us from being molested at the start, and I think -it was.</p> - -<p>"But now an unexpected misfortune came upon us. We -sailed with the land breeze very early in the morning, and -while we were getting under way one of our crew was taken -down with the yellow fever. We were only a few miles -clear of the land when another was attacked in the same -manner, and before night the cook and second mate also took -to their berths. We kept on, however, and indeed the course -of the wind would have prevented us from returning had we -thought of doing so.</p> - -<p>"There remained, capable of doing duty, only the captain -and chief mate, one old seaman, Argo, and myself; but Captain -Allen said that should no more of us be disabled, the -vessel could still be managed. As a last resort, he added, he -might put into Havana or Key West.</p> - -<p>"On the second day we passed that famous resort of the -West Indian pirates, the Isle of Pines. The <i>Agenora</i> gave -it a wide berth, I assure you; but our hearts were in our -throats for the whole fifty miles of its coast line. It seemed -as if the breeze were all the time threatening to die out and -leave us becalmed there. However, we ran the gantlet in -safety, and continued our course toward Cape St. Antonio, -the most western point of Cuba.</p> - -<p>"During the following night, the chief mate and the remaining -seaman were both stricken with the fever, leaving -only the captain and us two boys, together with our passenger, -Mr. Howard, to handle the brig, with six dreadfully -sick people on board.</p> - -<p>"This was a sad state of things; but the breeze was bright -and fair, and we hoped to double Cape St. Antonio the next -day, thus getting to the northward of Cuba, after which it -would be easy to reach Havana.</p> - -<p>"On that day, however, it fell entirely calm, with a dense -fog covering the sea, so that the vessel lay idle, heading by -turns all around the compass.</p> - -<p>"We had by this time nearly come up with the cape, and -it was a bad place to meet with a calm, for this headland was -a notorious piratical rendezvous, almost as much so as the -Isle of Pines. However, if we must lie helpless, the fog -would be in our favor, the captain said.</p> - -<p>"In the meantime Mrs. Howard showed herself an extraordinary -woman. She was only twenty-four years old—a -mere girl, as it were, and a very beautiful one—but she -seemed as if she knew just what to do and how to do it. -She cooked for us who were well, and, in spite of her husband's -remonstrances, braved all the danger of attending -upon the sick, like a veritable Florence Nightingale.</p> - -<p>"After lasting for about twenty-four hours the fog disappeared -and a light breeze sprang up. A current had taken -us along for some miles, and we were directly off Cape St. -Antonio.</p> - -<p>"At first no water craft of any description was to be seen, -but presently we were startled at perceiving a small sloop-rigged -vessel putting out from the land and making directly -toward us. That she must be a pirate was beyond all question, -as no other vessel would have been hiding in such a -place.</p> - -<p>"Looking through his glass, the captain saw that, in addition -to her sails, she had out a number of long sweeps, or -oars, and this at once told us that there was no possibility of -escaping from her with the faint breeze which we had.</p> - -<p>"The <i>Agenora</i> carried two six-pounders and a good supply -of small arms, yet, with only four of us to handle them, -they offered but a forlorn hope against thirty or forty men, -with probably a heavy pivot gun and other cannon. Nevertheless, -there was but one thing to do, and that was to fight -to the death if necessary.</p> - -<p>"'My poor wife!' we heard Mr. Howard say to the captain; -'she shall never fall into the hands of those wretches -while I have a single breath remaining.'</p> - -<p>"Captain Allen was pale, but very cool. He and Mr. Howard -loaded the six-pounders, while we boys attended the muskets, -putting heavy charges into all of them.</p> - -<p>"In a short time we were able to count the sweeps which -the sloop had out. They were fourteen in number—seven on -a side, with two men at each. This made twenty-eight men, -besides the fellow at the tiller and six or seven others; so -that there were at least thirty-five of them. The only cannon -that we could see was one mounted amidships, and no doubt -on a pivot.</p> - -<p>"As they got nearer we brought the <i>Agenora</i> around so -that both the six-pounders would bear upon them, and then -Captain Allen sighted one of the guns, while Mr. Howard -stood by with a glowing portfire, ready to clap it upon the -priming at the word.</p> - -<p>"'Now,' said the captain presently, 'let it go!'</p> - -<p>"Instantly there was a deafening bang! and the recoil of -the gun fairly shook the brig. How we watched for the -result! Skip, skip, skip, went the shot from wave to wave, -close to the sloop, yet without touching her.</p> - -<p>"Almost before we could speak or think, a sheet of smoke -burst from the pirate vessel, and 'pat, pat, pat,' right on -board of us, came a charge of grape shot, and a twelve-pound -ball—as we found afterward it must have been, from -the hole it made in our bulwarks.</p> - -<p>"There was no time to lose, and our second cannon was -fired as quickly as possible; but its contents missed the -pirate, though they struck near enough to throw a shower of -spray upon her deck.</p> - -<p>"Again the miscreants fired in return, and redoubled their -labor at the sweeps. The breeze was at last wholly gone, so -that they had to depend entirely upon their strength of -muscle, but of this they had enough and to spare.</p> - -<p>"Argo and myself now opened fire with the muskets—'bang, -bang, bang!' but I don't think we hit a single one of -the villains. We saw them loading their big gun for a third -shot, and it seemed as if, at such short range, they must tear -us all to pieces. But Captain Allen and Mr. Howard were -also loading—cramming one of the six-pounders to the -muzzle with grape and cannon balls.</p> - -<p>"The pirates were just ready to fire as the captain ranged -along his gun.</p> - -<p>"'Quick, Mr. Howard!' he cried. 'Touch her off!'</p> - -<p>"The report rang through our ears, and we could have -shouted as we saw the effect. The sloop's long gun was -tumbled over, and the men who managed it strewn mangled -upon the deck. A number of the heavy sweeps dropped from -the hands that held them, or were sent whirling into the air.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> -I think this one discharge must have killed more than a -dozen men.</p> - -<p>"For a few moments the victory appeared to be won; but -just then the <i>Agenora</i> swung around in such a manner that -neither of the cannons could be made to bear upon the enemy. -The pirates saw our dilemma, and a few powerful strokes -of their sweeps brought them right under our bow.</p> - -<p>"We ran forward to prevent them from boarding, but -they swarmed over the bowsprit and head rail, cutlass in -hand, till it was plain that two men and two boys were to be -no match for such a number of desperate villains. In spite -of all we could do, they were in a fair way to make short -work with us, when on a sudden the scene was changed.</p> - -<p>"Mrs. Howard had anticipated such an emergency from -the very first, and now, with a ladle in one hand and a kettle -of boiling hot tar in the other, she ran to our relief.</p> - -<p>"The tar in such a state could be dipped up as easily as -water, and in a quarter of a minute all the headmost pirates -had got it full in their faces. Filling their eyes and mouths, -or running down their half-naked breasts, it must have put -them in great agony. They went tumbling back upon those -behind them, and as we quickly followed up our advantage, -the deck was almost instantly cleared.</p> - -<p>"In a few minutes the sloop was making all possible speed -away from us, but she had out only six sweeps instead of -the fourteen with which she had commenced the chase.</p> - -<p>"All of us except Mrs. Howard had been more or less -wounded, so that we did not attempt to molest the pirates as -they retreated; while on their part, as the cannon we had -knocked over for them was their only one, they could not -fire upon us. I think they must have had nearly twenty men -killed or disabled, to say nothing of those who were scalded -by the hot tar.</p> - -<p>"I shall never forget how carefully Mrs. Howard bound -up the ugly cuts in our arms. She seemed to know everything, -just like one's own mother—and yet she was such a -young woman!</p> - -<p>"We got a breeze soon after the fight was over, and were -thankful for it, too, as we did not know how many more -pirates there might be in the neighborhood. It took us -around Cape St. Antonio, and two days later we arrived at -Key West, where we were put into quarantine.</p> - -<p>"Of our yellow-fever patients, two died just as we dropped -anchor, but the remaining four soon after began to improve -and finally recovered. We lay in quarantine for a number of -weeks, and then, with the vessel thoroughly fumigated, were -permitted to sail for home.</p> - -<p>"Upon our arrival there, the good old <i>Agenora</i> became an -object of much curiosity, while as to Mrs. Howard, she was -visited by a host of friends, anxious to hear the story of our -peril from her own lips.</p> - -<p>"I am sometimes asked if in all my seafaring life it was -ever my fortune to meet with a real pirate—one whom I -knew to be such. To that question I think myself justified -in saying 'yes'—and further, that it was an experience which -I never desired to repeat."</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="SOME_QUEER_PHILIPPINE_CUSTOMS" id="SOME_QUEER_PHILIPPINE_CUSTOMS">SOME QUEER PHILIPPINE CUSTOMS.</a></h2> - - -<p>The occurrence of a death in a Filipino family in Bulacan -is the signal for an immediate celebration. "Our brother -has gone to a happy land, and we must rejoice," they say. -Relatives and friends are invited to come, and an orchestra -is summoned. Then the dancing and feasting begin, and -continue until the time of the funeral, which in this climate -takes place within twenty-four hours.</p> - -<p>Those who have the means buy a black cloth-covered -casket ornamented with spangles and bows of bright blue -ribbon. The poor rent the "town coffin," a plain tin box, -evidently designed for those of medium stature, for a year -or two ago, in a funeral procession, the feet of the deceased, -incased in bright blue plush chinelas, were seen sticking out -at one end.</p> - -<p>The orchestra heads the procession through the streets, -usually playing some lively air learned from the American -soldiers. The popular funeral music is "A Hot Time," and -it keeps the procession moving at a brisk pace.</p> - -<p>Thursday is the favorite day for weddings in Bulacan, as -it is "bargain day" in the matrimonial market. On Thursdays -the priest marries many couples at a time, and consequently -at less expense to each couple. Four o'clock in the -morning is the favorite hour. Following the ceremony the -newly married pair return to the bride's home, where dancing -and feasting ensue till sundown.</p> - -<p>A bride to whose wedding feast some Americans were -invited had a romantic prelude to her nuptials. The parents -of the bride were strenuously opposed to the match, owing -to a strong disinclination on the part of the groom to do any -sort of labor. So Anastasia was sent up into the mountains -to visit among relatives, and traces of her whereabouts were -carefully concealed from Felicidad, the groom elect.</p> - -<p>But Felicidad, although too indolent to support his prospective -bride, did not purpose that another should win her, -so he summoned several faithful friends to his aid and began -an active search. His devotion was rewarded with success, -and three weeks later Felicidad returned in triumph, with -radiant Anastasia borne aloft on the shoulders of two of his -trusty friends.</p> - -<p>The following Thursday, in company with fifteen other -happy couples, they were married.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="HIGH_LEAPS_BY_DEER" id="HIGH_LEAPS_BY_DEER">HIGH LEAPS BY DEER.</a></h2> - - -<p>Mr. Gordon Boles, a sportsman who has hunted all over -the world, has recorded some remarkable leaps taken by -deer when pursued. His observations have been chiefly in -his native district, Exmoor, the land of "Lorna Doone," in -India, and in Northwestern Canada. Uncontrollable fear -and partial blindness caused by long pursuit, he gives as -reasons for deer taking leaps which usually end in death. -Once, while hunting with the Devon and Somerset stag -hounds, he saw a hind leap 300 feet from a cliff to the seashore. -She was dashed to pieces. In the excitement of the -chase one of the hounds followed her.</p> - -<p>On another occasion a stag made a bold burst for the -open, going straight for the sea. He came to the edge of a -cliff, some hundreds of feet above the beach, and then dashed -restlessly backward and forward, as if seeking a path to -descend.</p> - -<p>He either missed his footing or jumped, and when the -hunters came up he was seen below, a shattered mass, with -the horns broken into small pieces. Mr. Boles is inclined -to think that the stag committed suicide deliberately.</p> - -<p>Another deer, which made the leap at about the same -place, landed safely and swam out to sea. Men pursued him -in a boat and killed him.</p> - -<p>In India Mr. Boles wounded a sambur, which resembles -somewhat the common deer. The sambur showed fight on -a narrow path overhanging a precipice. Mr. Boles fired -again, but in his excitement aimed too low, the ball passing -beneath the deer and striking the ground just back of his -hind legs. The deer turned and deliberately leaped over the -height.</p> - -<p>A fine buck he wounded in Northwestern Canada, when -pursued by the dog, jumped from a height of 100 feet into -a shallow stream and broke his neck.</p> - - - - -<h2 class="huge bb"> -<a href="images/i1large.jpg"><img src="images/i1.jpg" width="48" height="23" alt="hand" /></a> -<a name="LATEST_ISSUES" id="LATEST_ISSUES">LATEST ISSUES</a> -<a href="images/i2large.jpg"><img src="images/i2.jpg" width="48" height="23" alt="hand" /></a> -</h2> - - -<h3>BUFFALO BILL STORIES</h3> - -<p>The most original stories of Western adventure. The only weekly containing the adventures of the famous -Buffalo Bill. <b>High art colored covers. Thirty-two big pages. Price, 5 cents.</b></p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>425—Buffalo Bill's Balloon Escape; or, Out of the Grip of the -Great Swamp.</p> - -<p>426—Buffalo Bill and the Guerrillas; or, The Flower Girl of San -Felipe.</p> - -<p>427—Buffalo Bill's Border War; or, The Mexican Vendetta.</p> - -<p>428—Buffalo Bill's Mexican Mix-up; or, The Bullfighter's Defiance.</p> - -<p>429—Buffalo Bill and the Gamecock; or, The Red Trail on the -Canadian.</p> - -<p>430—Buffalo Bill and the Cheyenne Raiders; or, The Spurs of -the Gamecock.</p> - -<p>431—Buffalo Bill's Whirlwind Finish; or, The Gamecock Wins.</p> - -<p>432—Buffalo Bill's Santa Fe Secret; or, The Brave of Taos.</p> - -<p>433—Buffalo Bill and the Taos Terror; or, The Rites of the Red -Estufa.</p> - -<p>434—Buffalo Bill's Bracelet of Gold; or, The Hidden Death.</p> - -<p>435—Buffalo Bill and the Border Baron; or, The Cattle King of -No Man's Land.</p></blockquote> - -<hr class="r5" /> - -<h3>BRAVE AND BOLD WEEKLY</h3> - -<p>All kinds of stories that boys like. The biggest and best nickel's worth ever offered. <b>High art colored -covers. Thirty-two big pages. Price, 5 cents.</b></p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>338—Working His Way Upward; or, From Footlights to Riches. -By Fred Thorpe.</p> - -<p>339—The Fourteenth Boy; or, How Vin Lovell Won Out. By -Weldon J. Cobb.</p> - -<p>340—Among the Nomads; or, Life in the Open. By the author -of "Through Air to Fame."</p> - -<p>341—Bob, the Acrobat; or, Hustle and Win Out. By Harrie -Irving Hancock.</p> - -<p>342—Through the Earth; or, Jack Nelson's Invention. By Fred -Thorpe.</p> - -<p>343—The Boy Chief; or, Comrades of Camp and Trail. By John -De Morgan.</p> - -<p>344—Smart Alec; or, Bound to Get There. By Weldon J. Cobb.</p> - -<p>345—Climbing Up; or, The Meanest Boy Alive. By Harrie -Irving Hancock.</p> - -<p>346—Comrades Three; or, With Gordon Keith in the South -Seas. By Lawrence White, Jr.</p> - -<p>347—A Young Snake-charmer; or, The Fortunes of Dick Erway. -By Fred Thorpe.</p> - -<p>348—Checked Through to Mars; or, Adventures in Other Worlds. -By Weldon J. Cobb.</p> - -<p>349—Fighting the Cowards; or, Among the Georgia Moonshiners. -By Harrie Irving Hancock.</p> - -<p>350—The Mud River Boys; or, The Fight for Penlow's Mill. By -John L. Douglas.</p> - -<p>351—Grit and Wit; or, Two of a Kind. By Fred Thorpe.</p></blockquote> - -<hr class="r5" /> - -<h3>MOTOR STORIES</h3> - -<p>The latest and best five-cent weekly. We won't say how interesting it is. See for yourself. <b>High art -colored covers. Thirty-two big pages. Price, 5 cents.</b></p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>16—Motor Matt's Quest; or, Three Chums in Strange Waters.</p> - -<p>17—Motor Matt's Close Call; or, The Snare of Don Carlos.</p> - -<p>18—Motor Matt in Brazil; or, Under the Amazon.</p> - -<p>19—Motor Matt's Defiance; or, Around the Horn.</p> - -<p>20—Motor Matt Makes Good; or, Another Victory for the Motor -Boys.</p> - -<p>21—Motor Matt's Launch; or, A Friend in Need.</p> - -<p>22—Motor Matt's Enemies; or, A Struggle for the Right.</p> - -<p>23—Motor Matt's Prize; or, The Pluck That Wins.</p> - -<p>24—Motor Matt on the Wing; or, Flying for Fame and Fortune.</p> - -<p>25—Motor Matt's Reverse; or, Caught in a Losing Game.</p> - -<p>26—Motor Matt's "Make or Break"; or, Advancing the Spark of -Friendship.</p> - -<p>27—Motor Matt's Engagement; or, On the Road With a Show.</p> - -<p>28—Motor Matt's "Short Circuit"; or, The Mahout's Vow.</p> - -<p>29—Motor Matt's Make-up; or, Playing a New Rôle.</p></blockquote> - - -<p><i>For sale by all newsdealers, or will be sent to any address on receipt of price, -5 cents per copy, in money or postage stamps, by</i></p> - -<p class="center large">STREET & SMITH, Publishers, 79-89 Seventh Avenue, New York</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p><b class="medium">IF YOU WANT ANY BACK NUMBERS</b> of our Weeklies and cannot procure them from your newsdealer, they can be -obtained from this office direct. Fill out the following Order Blank and send it to -us with the price of the Weeklies you want and we will send them to you by return mail. <b>POSTAGE STAMPS TAKEN THE SAME AS MONEY.</b></p></blockquote> - -<hr class="r5" /> - -<table summary="form" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5"> - -<tr><td colspan="6" class="tdr sig">________________________ <i>190</i></td></tr> -<tr><td colspan="6"><i>STREET & SMITH, 79-89 Seventh Avenue, New York City.</i><br /> -<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>Dear Sirs: Enclosed please find</i> ___________________________ <i>cents for which send me</i>:</span> -</td></tr> -<tr><td> </td></tr> -<tr><td><b>TIP TOP WEEKLY,</b></td><td class="tdc"><b>Nos.</b></td><td class="br">______________________</td> -<td><b>BUFFALO BILL STORIES,</b></td><td class="tdc"><b>Nos.</b></td><td>______________________</td></tr> - -<tr><td><b>NICK CARTER WEEKLY,</b></td><td class="tdc"><b>"</b></td><td class="br">______________________</td> -<td><b>BRAVE AND BOLD WEEKLY,</b></td><td class="tdc"><b>"</b></td><td>______________________</td></tr> - -<tr><td><b>DIAMOND DICK WEEKLY,</b></td><td class="tdc"><b>"</b></td><td class="br">______________________</td> -<td><b>MOTOR STORIES,</b></td><td class="tdc"><b>"</b></td><td>______________________</td></tr> - -<tr><td> </td></tr> -<tr><td colspan="6" class="tdc"> -<i>Name</i> ________________ <i>Street</i> ________________ <i>City</i> ________________ <i>State</i> ________________<br /> -</td></tr></table> -<hr class="chap" /> - - - - -<h2><a name="A_GREAT_SUCCESS" id="A_GREAT_SUCCESS">A GREAT SUCCESS!!</a></h2> -<hr class="full" /> -<p class="center huge u">MOTOR STORIES</p> - - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - - -<p class="center"><i>HERE ARE THE TITLES NOW READY AND THOSE TO BE PUBLISHED</i>:</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>1—Motor Matt; or, The King of the Wheel.</p> - -<p>2—Motor Matt's Daring; or, True to His Friends.</p> - -<p>3—Motor Matt's Century Run; or, The Governor's -Courier.</p> - -<p>4—Motor Matt's Race; or, The Last Flight of the -"Comet."</p> - -<p>5—Motor Matt's Mystery; or, Foiling a Secret -Plot.</p> - -<p>6—Motor Matt's Red Flier; or, On the High -Gear.</p> - -<p>7—Motor Matt's Clue; or, The Phantom Auto.</p> - -<p>8—Motor Matt's Triumph; or, Three Speeds -Forward.</p> - -<p>9—Motor Matt's Air Ship; or, The Rival Inventors.</p> - -<p>10—Motor Matt's Hard Luck; or, The Balloon -House Plot.</p> - -<p>11—Motor Matt's Daring Rescue; or, The Strange -Case of Helen Brady.</p> - -<p>12—Motor Matt's Peril; or, Cast Away in the -Bahamas.</p> - -<p>13—Motor Matt's Queer Find; or, The Secret of the -Iron Chest.</p> - -<p>14—Motor Matt's Promise; or, The Wreck of the -"Hawk."</p> - -<p>15—Motor Matt's Submarine; or, The Strange Cruise -of the "Grampus."</p> - -<p>16—Motor Matt's Quest; or, Three Chums in -Strange Waters.</p> - -<p>17—Motor Matt's Close Call; or, The Snare of Don -Carlos.</p> - -<p>18—Motor Matt in Brazil; or, Under the Amazon.</p> - -<p>19—Motor Matt's Defiance; or, Around the Horn.</p> - -<p>20—Motor Matt Makes Good; or, Another Victory -for the Motor Boys.</p> - -<p>21—Motor Matt's Launch; or, A Friend in Need.</p> - -<p>22—Motor Matt's Enemies; or, A Struggle for the -Right.</p> - -<p>23—Motor Matt's Prize; or, The Pluck that Wins.</p> - -<p>24—Motor Matt on the Wing; or, Flying for Fame -and Fortune.</p> - -<p>25—Motor Matt's Reverse; or, Caught in a Losing -Game.</p> - -<p>26—Motor Matt's "Make or Break"; or, Advancing -the Spark of Friendship.</p> - -<p>27—Motor Matt's Engagement; or, On the Road -With a Show.</p> - -<p>28—Motor Matt's "Short Circuit"; or, The Mahout's -Vow.</p></blockquote> - -<p class="center small">To be Published on September 6th.</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>29—Motor Matt's Make-up; or, Playing a New -Role.</p></blockquote> - -<p class="center small">To be Published on September 13th.</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>30—Motor Matt's Mandarin; or, Turning a Trick -for Tsan Ti.</p></blockquote> - -<p class="center small">To be Published on September 20th.</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>31—Motor Matt's Mariner; or, Filling the Bill for -Bunce.</p></blockquote> - -<p class="center small">To be Published on September 27th.</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>32—Motor Matt's Double-trouble; or, The Last of -the Hoodoo.</p></blockquote> - - -<p class="large center">PRICE, FIVE CENTS</p> - -<p class="center">At all newsdealers, or sent, postpaid, by the publishers upon receipt of the price.</p> - -<hr class="full" /> - -<table summary="scaffold" style="width: 50%;"> -<tr class="medium"><td style="width: 33%">STREET & SMITH,</td><td class="tdc"><i>Publishers</i>,</td><td class="tdr" style="width: 33%">NEW YORK</td></tr> -</table> -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="transnote"> -<h2><a name="Transcribers_Notes" id="Transcribers_Notes">Transcriber's Notes:</a></h2> - - -<p>Added table of contents.</p> - -<p>Images may be clicked to view larger versions.</p> - -<p>Page 6, changed "consarnin 'the" to "consarnin' the".</p> - -<p>Page 9, removed unnecessary quote before "Tsan Ti turned sidewise."</p> - -<p>Page 18, corrected "boy's" to "boys'" in "king of the motor boys'."</p> - -<p>Page 24, removed unnecessary quote after "revolver leveled in his direction."</p> - -<p>Page 29, corrected double to single quote before "dead men tell no tales."</p> - -<p>Page 30, corrected typo Angenora in "The <i>Agenora</i> carried two six-pounders".</p> - -</div> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's Motor Matt's Mandarin, by Stanley R. 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