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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: Brave and Bold Weekly No 362, A Taxicab Tangle - or, The Mission of the Motor Boys - -Author: Stanley R. Matthews - -Release Date: November 26, 2016 [EBook #53602] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BRAVE AND BOLD WEEKLY NO 362 *** - - - - -Produced by David Edwards, Craig Kirkwood, 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: 601px;"> -<img id="coverpage" src="images/cover.jpg" width="601" height="850" alt="Cover" /> -</div> - -<div style="padding-top:4em"> - -<div class="transnote"> -<h2 style="margin-top: 0em">Transcriber’s Notes:</h2> - -<p>The Table of Contents was created by the transcriber and placed in -the public domain.</p> - -<p><a href="#TN_end">Additional Transcriber’s Notes</a> are at the -end.</p> -</div></div> - - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<div class="boxit"> -<p class="center xlargefont boldfont">TABLE OF CONTENTS</p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#CHAPTER_I_A_LETTER_AND_A_SURPRISE">CHAPTER I. A LETTER—AND A SURPRISE.</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#CHAPTER_II_STARTLING_NEWS">CHAPTER II. STARTLING NEWS.</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#CHAPTER_III_A_TWISTED_SKEIN">CHAPTER III. A TWISTED SKEIN.</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV_MOTOR_MATTS_DUTY">CHAPTER IV. MOTOR MATT’S DUTY.</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#CHAPTER_V_HOW_MCGLORY_WAS_FOOLED">CHAPTER V. HOW MCGLORY WAS FOOLED.</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI_ON_THE_BOSTON_PIKE">CHAPTER VI. ON THE BOSTON PIKE.</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII_THE_JOURNEYS_END">CHAPTER VII. THE JOURNEY’S END.</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII_CHUMS_IN_COUNCIL">CHAPTER VIII. CHUMS IN COUNCIL.</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX_A_DARING_PLOT">CHAPTER IX. A DARING PLOT.</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#CHAPTER_X_PRISONERS">CHAPTER X. PRISONERS.</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI_BOLD_WORK">CHAPTER XI. BOLD WORK.</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII_PURSUIT">CHAPTER XII. PURSUIT.</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII_IN_AND_OUT_OF_LEEVILLE">CHAPTER XIII. IN AND OUT OF LEEVILLE.</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV_SENDING_THE_TELEGRAM">CHAPTER XIV. SENDING THE TELEGRAM.</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV_AT_THE_BANK">CHAPTER XV. AT THE BANK.</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI_A_CLOSE_SHAVE">CHAPTER XVI. A CLOSE SHAVE.</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#FACE_TO_FACE_WITH_A_MAD_DOG">FACE TO FACE WITH A MAD DOG.</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#THE_BOOMERANG">THE BOOMERANG.</a></p> -</div> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;"> -<img src="images/frontispiece.jpg" width="600" height="614" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p>Turning to give his attention to the young fellow who was lying beside the taxicab, Matt received -another start. Strands of long, yellow hair had been released and were waving about Granger’s head.</p></div> -</div> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p> - -<div class="boxit2"> -<p class="center" style="font-size:200%">BRAVE <span style="font-size:60%">AND</span> BOLD<br /> -<span style="font-size:70%">WEEKLY</span></p> -</div> - -<div class="boxit3"> -<p class="center smallfont"><em>Issued Weekly. By subscription $2.50 per year. Copyright, 1909, by</em> <span class="smcap">Street & Smith</span>, <em>79-89 Seventh Avenue, New York, N. Y.</em></p> -</div> - -<div class="boxit1"> -<p class="center"><b>No. 362.</b> <span style="padding-left:4em; padding-right:4em">NEW YORK, November 27, 1909.</span> <b>Price Five Cents.</b></p> -</div> - -<h1><span style="font-size:125%">A TAXICAB TANGLE;</span><br /> -<span class="largefont">OR,</span><br /> -<span class="xxlargefont">The Mission of the Motor Boys.</span></h1> - -<hr class="short" /> - -<p class="xlargefont center">By STANLEY R. MATTHEWS.</p> - -<hr class="short" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I_A_LETTER_AND_A_SURPRISE" id="CHAPTER_I_A_LETTER_AND_A_SURPRISE">CHAPTER I.<br /> -<span class="titlefont">A LETTER—AND A SURPRISE.</span></a></h2> - - -<p>“For its size, pard, I reckon this is about the biggest -town on the map. We’ve been here five days, and the -traffic squad has been some busy with our bubble-wagon, -but if there’s any part of this burg we haven’t seen, -now’s the time to get out a search warrant, and go after -it. What’s on for to-day?”</p> - -<p>Joe McGlory was the speaker. He and his chum, Matt -King, known far and wide as Motor Matt, were in the -lobby of the big hotel in which they had established themselves -when they first arrived in New York. In a couple -of “sleepy-hollow” chairs they were watching the endless -tide of humanity, as it ebbed and flowed through -the great rotunda.</p> - -<p>For five days the gasoline motor had whirled the boys -in every direction, an automobile rushing them around -the city, with side trips to Coney Island, north as far as -Tarrytown, and across the river as far as Fort Lee, while -a power boat had given them a view of the bay and the -sound. Out of these five days, too, they had spent one -afternoon fishing near City Island, and had given up -several hours to watching the oystermen off Sound -Beach.</p> - -<p>Matt, having lived in the Berkshires, and having put in -some time working for a motor manufactory in Albany, -had visited the metropolis many times. He was able, -therefore, to act as pilot for his cowboy pard.</p> - -<p>“I thought,” he remarked, “that it’s about time we -coupled a little business with this random knocking -around. There’s a man in the Flatiron Building who is -interested in aviation—I heard of him through Cameron, -up at Fort Totten—and I believe we’ll call and have a little -talk. It might lead to something, you know.”</p> - -<p>“Aviation!” muttered the cowboy. “That’s a brand-new -one. Tell me what it’s about, pard.”</p> - -<p>“Aviation,” and Matt coughed impressively, “is the -science of flight on a heavier-than-air machine. When -we used that Traquair aëroplane, Joe, we were aviators.”</p> - -<p>“Much obliged, professor,” grinned the cowboy. -“When we scooted through the air we were aviating, eh? -Well, between you and me and the brindle maverick, I’d -rather aviate than do anything else. All we lack, now, is -a bird’s-eye view of the met-ro-po-lus. Let’s get a flying -machine from this man in the Flatiron Building, and -‘do’ the town from overhead. We can roost on top of the -Statue of Liberty, see how Grant’s Tomb looks from the -clouds, scrape the top of the Singer Building, give the -Metropolitan——”</p> - -<p>“That’s a dream,” laughed Matt. “It will be a long -time before there’s much flying done over the city of New -York. I’m going to see if we have any mail. After that, -we’ll get a car and start for downtown.”</p> - -<p>McGlory sat back in his chair and waited while his -chum disappeared in the crowd. When Matt got back, -he showed his comrade a letter.</p> - -<p>“Who’s it from?” inquired McGlory.</p> - -<p>“Not being a mind reader, Joe,” Matt replied, “I’ll -have to pass,” and he handed the letter to the cowboy.</p> - -<p>“For me?” cried McGlory.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Your name’s on the envelope. The letter, as you -see, has been forwarded from Catskill.”</p> - -<p>“Speak to me about this! I haven’t had a letter since -you and I left ’Frisco. Who in the wide world is writing -to me, and what for?”</p> - -<p>McGlory opened the letter and pulled out two folded -sheets. His amazement grew as he read. Presently his -surprise gave way to a look of delight, and he chuckled -jubilantly.</p> - -<p>“This is from the colonel,” said he.</p> - -<p>“Who’s the colonel?” asked Matt.</p> - -<p>“Why, Colonel Mark Antony Billings, of Tucson, -Arizona. Everybody in the Southwest knows the colonel. -He’s in the mining business, the colonel is, and -he tells me that I’m on the ragged edge of dropping into -a fortune.”</p> - -<p>A man of forty, rather “loudly” dressed, was seated -behind the boys, smoking and reading a newspaper. He -was not so deeply interested in the paper as he pretended -to be, for he got up suddenly, stepped to a marble column -near Matt’s chair, and leaned there, still with the -cigar between his lips, and the paper in front of his eyes. -But he was not smoking, and neither was he reading. -He was listening.</p> - -<p>“Bully!” exclaimed the overjoyed Matt, all agog with -interest. “I’d like to see you come into a whole lot of -money, Joe.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I haven’t got this yet, pard. There’s a string -to it. The colonel’s got one end of the string, ’way off -there in Tucson, and the other end is here in New York -with a baited hook tied to it. This long-distance fishing -is mighty uncertain.”</p> - -<p>“What is it? A mining deal?”</p> - -<p>“Listen, pard. About a year ago I had a notion I’d -like to get rich out of this mining game. Riding range -was my long suit, but gold mines seemed to offer better -prospects. I had five hundred saved up and to my credit -in the Tucson bank. The colonel got next to it, and he -told me about the ‘Pauper’s Dream’ claim, which needed -only a fifty-foot shaft to make it show up a bonanza. I -gave the colonel my five hundred, and he got a lot more -fellows to chip in. Then the colonel went ahead, built -a ten-stamp mill, and started digging the shaft. When -that shaft got down fifty feet, ore indications had petered -out complete; and when it got down a hundred feet, there -wasn’t even a limestone stringer—nothing but country -rock, with no more yellow metal than you’d find in the -sand at Far Rockaway. I bade an affectionate farewell -to my five hundred, and asked my friends to rope-down -and tie me, and snake me over to the nearest asylum for -the feeble-minded if I ever dropped so much as a two-bit -piece into another hole in the ground. After that, I forgot -about the colonel and the ‘Pauper’s Dream.’ But -things have been happening since I’ve been away from -Tucson. Read the letter for yourself, pard. It will explain -the whole situation to you. After you read it, tell -me what you think. You might go over it out loud, while -I sit back here, drink in your words, and try to imagine -myself the big high boy with a brownstone front on -Easy Street.”</p> - -<p>Matt took the sheet which McGlory handed to him, -and read aloud, as follows:</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>“<span class="smcap">My Dear Young Friend</span>: I knew the ‘Pauper’s -Dream’ was all right, and I said all along it was the -goods, although there were some who doubted me. -Within the last three months we have picked up -a vein of free milling ore which assays one thousand -dollars to the ton—and there’s a mountain of it. Your -stock, just on this three months’ showing, is worth, at a -conservative estimate, five hundred dollars a share—and -you paid only five dollars a share for it! You’re worth -fifty thousand now, but you’ll be worth ten times that if -the deal I have on with certain New York parties goes -through.</p> - -<p>“Now, from an item I read in the papers, I find you -are at Catskill, New York, with that young motor wonder, -Matt King, so I am hustling this letter right off to -you. By express, to-day, I am sending, consigned to the -Merchants’ & Miners’ National Bank, for you, two gold -bars which weigh-up five thousand dollars each. Inclosed -herewith you will find an order on the bank to -deliver the bars to you. On Wednesday evening, the -twenty-fourth, there will be a meeting of the proposed -Eastern Syndicate in the offices of Random & Griggs, -No. — Liberty Street. You can help the deal along by -taking the bullion to these capitalists, along with my affidavit—which -is with the bars—stating that the gold -came out of a week’s run at the ‘Pauper’s Dream’ with -our little ten-stamp mill. That will do the business. -Random & Griggs have had an expert here looking -over the mine. After you show the bullion at the syndicate’s -meeting, return it to the bank.</p> - -<p>“I am not sure that this letter will reach you. If it -doesn’t, I shall have to get some one else to take the -gold to the meeting. Would come myself, but am head -over heels in work here, and can’t leave the ‘Dream’ for -a minute. Wire me as soon as you get this letter. I -hope that you are in a position to attend to this matter, -my lad, because there is no one else I could trust as I -could you, with ten thousand dollars’ worth of gold -bullion.</p> - -<p>“Catskill is only a little way from New York City, and -you can run down there and attend to this. Let me know -at once if you will.</p> - -<p class="marginrightindent1">“Sincerely yours,</p> - -<p class="marginrightindent">“<span class="smcap">M. A. Billings.</span>”</p></blockquote> - -<p>“Fine!” cried Matt heartily, grabbing his chum’s hand -as he returned the letter.</p> - -<p>“It sounds like a yarn from the ‘Thousand and One -Nights,’” returned the cowboy, “and I’m not going to -call myself Gotrox until the ‘Pauper’s Dream’ is sold, and -the fortune is in the bank, subject to Joe McGlory’s -check.”</p> - -<p>“This is Monday,” went on Matt, “and the meeting of -the syndicate is called for Wednesday evening.”</p> - -<p>“Plenty of time,” said McGlory. “I’m not going to -let the prospect of wealth keep me from enjoying the -sights for the next three days.”</p> - -<p>“Well,” returned Matt, “there’s one thing you’ve got -to do, and at least two more it would be wise for you -to do, without delay.”</p> - -<p>“The thing I’ve got to do, Matt, is to wire the colonel -that I’m on deck and ready to look after the bullion. -What are the two things it would be wise for me to do?”</p> - -<p>“Why, call at the bank and see whether the bullion is -there.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t want to load up with it before Wednesday afternoon.”</p> - -<p>“Of course not, but find out whether it has arrived in -New York. Then I’d call on Random & Griggs, introduce<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span> -yourself, and tell them you’ll be around Wednesday -evening.”</p> - -<p>“Keno! You’ll go with me, won’t you?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t think it will be necessary, Joe. While you’re -attending to this, I’ll make my call at the Flatiron -Building.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll have to hunt up Random & Griggs, and I haven’t -the least notion where to find the Merchants’ & Miners’ -National Bank.”</p> - -<p>“We’ll get all that out of the directory.”</p> - -<p>“Then where am I to cross trails with you again?”</p> - -<p>“Come to the Flatiron Building in two hours; that,” -and Matt flashed a look at a clock, “will bring us together -at ten. You’ll find me on the walk, at the point of the -Flatiron Building, at ten o’clock.”</p> - -<p>“Correct.” McGlory put the folded papers back into -the envelope, and stowed the envelope in his pocket. “I -reckon I won’t get lost, strayed, or stolen while I’m attending -to this business of the colonel’s, but from the -time I take that bullion out of the bank, Wednesday afternoon, -until I get it into some safe place again, you’ve -got to hang onto me.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll be with you, then, of course,” Matt laughed. -“Now, let’s get the street addresses of the bank and the -firm of Random & Griggs, and then our trails will -divide for a couple of hours.”</p> - -<p>The boys got up and moved away. The man by the -marble column stared after them for a moment, a gleam -of growing resolution showing in his black eyes. Turning -suddenly, he dropped his newspaper into one of the -vacant chairs and bolted for the street.</p> - -<p>His mind had evolved a plan, and it was aimed at the -motor boys.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II_STARTLING_NEWS" id="CHAPTER_II_STARTLING_NEWS">CHAPTER II.<br /> -<span class="titlefont">STARTLING NEWS.</span></a></h2> - - -<p>Matt and McGlory decided that they would not use an -automobile for their morning’s work. The cowboy would -go downtown by the subway and Matt would use a surface -car. They separated, McGlory rather dazed and -skeptical about his prospective fortune, and Matt more -confident and highly delighted over his chum’s unexpected -good luck.</p> - -<p>It chanced that Matt had spent some time in Arizona, -and he knew, from near-at-hand observation, how suddenly -the wheel of fortune changes for better or for -worse in mining affairs.</p> - -<p>One of Matt’s best friends, “Chub” McReady, had -leaped from poverty to wealth by such a turn of the -wheel, and Matt was prepared to believe that the same -dazzling luck could come McGlory’s way.</p> - -<p>Within half an hour after leaving his chum, the young -motorist was in the Flatiron Building, asking the man on -duty at the elevators where he could find Mr. James -Arthur Lafitte, the gentleman whom Cameron had mentioned -as being interested in the problem of aëronautics. -Lafitte, Cameron had told Matt, was a member of the -Aëro Club, had owned a balloon of his own, and had -made many ascensions from the town of Pittsfield, Massachusetts—which -was near Matt’s old home in the Berkshire -Hills; but, Cameron had also said, Lafitte had given -up plain ballooning for dirigibles, and, finally, had turned -his back on dirigibles for heavier-than-air machines. He -was a civil engineer of an inventive turn, and with an -adventurous nature—just the sort of person Matt would -like to meet.</p> - -<p>Having learned the number of Lafitte’s suite of rooms, -Matt stepped aboard the elevator and was whisked skyward. -Getting out under the roof, he made his way to -the door bearing Lafitte’s name, and passed inside.</p> - -<p>A young man, in his shirt sleeves, was working at a -drawing table. Matt asked for Mr. Lafitte, and was informed, -much to his disappointment, that he was at his -workshop on Long Island, and would probably not be in -the city for two or three days.</p> - -<p>Matt introduced himself to the young man, who was a -draughtsman for Lafitte, and who immediately laid aside -his compasses and pencil, and climbed down from his -high stool to grasp the caller’s hand.</p> - -<p>“Mr. Lafitte has heard a good deal about you,” said he, -“and has followed your work pretty closely. He’ll be -sorry not to have seen you, Motor Matt. Can’t you come -in again? Better still, can’t you run out to his workshop -and see him?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know,” Matt answered. “I’m in the city with -a friend, and he has a little business to attend to which -will probably take up some of our time.”</p> - -<p>“I think,” went on the other, “that you won’t regret -taking the time to talk with Mr. Lafitte. He’s working -on something, out there at his Long Island place, which -is going to make a big stir, one of these days.”</p> - -<p>“Something on the aëroplane order?”</p> - -<p>The draughtsman looked thoughtful for a moment.</p> - -<p>“Suppose,” said he, “that something was discovered -which had fifty times the buoyancy of hydrogen gas, that -the buoyancy could be regulated at will by electrically -heated platinum wires—would that revolutionize this flying -proposition?”</p> - -<p>Matt was struck at once with the far-reaching influence -of the novel proposition.</p> - -<p>“It would, certainly,” he declared. “Is that what——”</p> - -<p>“I’m not saying any more than that, Motor Matt,” -broke in the young man; “in fact, I <em>can’t</em> say anything -more, but you take the trouble to talk with Mr. Lafitte. -It may be worth something to you.”</p> - -<p>Matt lingered in the office for a few minutes longer, -then went away. The spell cast over him by the clerk’s -words went with him. He had often thought and -dreamed along the lines of the subject the draughtsman -had mentioned.</p> - -<p>The drawback, in the matter of dirigible balloons, lay in -the fact that the huge bag, necessary to keep them aloft, -made them the sport of every wind that blew. If the volume -of gas could be reduced, then, naturally, the smaller -the gas bag, the more practicable the dirigible would -become. With the volume of gas reduced <em>fifty times</em>, a -field opened for power-driven balloons which fairly took -Matt’s breath away. And this lifting power of Lafitte’s -was under control! This seemed to offer realization of -another of Matt’s dreams—of an automobile flying machine, -a surface and air craft which could fly along the -roads as well as leap aloft and sail through the atmosphere -above him.</p> - -<p>Carried away by his thoughts, Matt suddenly came -back to his sober senses and found himself staring blankly -into a window filled with pipes and tobacco at the -V-shaped point of the Flatiron Building. He laughed -under his breath as he dismissed his wild visions.</p> - -<p>“I won’t take any stock in this new gas,” he muttered,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span> -“until I can see it demonstrated. Just now I’m more interested -in Joe and his good luck than in anything else.”</p> - -<p>He looked at his watch. It was only half-past nine, -and it would be half an hour, at least, before he could expect -his chum. Matt had suddenly remembered, too, that -it would probably be ten o’clock before Joe could finish -his business at the bank, and that would delay his arrival -at the Flatiron Building until after the appointed -time.</p> - -<p>Crossing over into Madison Square, Matt idled away -his time, roaming around and building air castles for -McGlory. The cowboy was a fine fellow, a lad of sterling -worth, and fortune could not have visited her favors upon -one more deserving.</p> - -<p>By ten o’clock Matt was back at the Flatiron Building. -As he came around on the Fifth Avenue side, a taxicab -drew up at the curb, the door opened, and a lad sprang -out. The youth was well dressed and carried a small tin -box.</p> - -<p>Matt supposed the lad was some one who had business -inside the building, and merely gave him a casual glance -as he strolled on. Matt had not gone far, however, before -he felt a hand on his shoulder. He whirled around, -thinking it was McGlory, and was a little surprised to -observe the youth who had got out of the taxicab.</p> - -<p>“Are you Motor Matt?” came a low voice.</p> - -<p>“That’s my name,” answered Matt.</p> - -<p>“And you’re waiting here for your friend, Joe McGlory?”</p> - -<p>“He was to meet me here at ten,” said Matt, his surprise -growing.</p> - -<p>“Well,” went on the lad, a tinge of color coming into -his face, “he—he won’t be able to meet you.”</p> - -<p>“Won’t be able to meet me?” echoed Matt. “Is business -keeping him?”</p> - -<p>“That’s it. I’m from the office of Random & Griggs, -and Mr. McGlory wants you in a hurry.”</p> - -<p>“What does he want me for?”</p> - -<p>“That’s more than I know. You see, I’m only a messenger -in the brokers’ office.”</p> - -<p>He was a well-dressed young fellow, for a messenger, -but Matt knew that some of the messengers, from the -Wall Street section, spend a good share of their salary on -clothes, and, in fact, are required to dress well.</p> - -<p>“I can’t imagine what Joe wants me for,” said the -wondering Matt, “but I’ll go with you to Liberty Street -and find out.”</p> - -<p>“He’s not at the office, now,” went on the messenger, -“but started into the country with Mr. Random just as I -left the office to come after you.”</p> - -<p>“What in the world is Joe going into the country for?”</p> - -<p>“That’s too many for me. All he told me to tell you -was that it had something to do with the ‘Pauper’s -Dream.’ He said you’d understand.”</p> - -<p>This was startling news for Matt, inasmuch as it -seemed to indicate that McGlory had encountered a snag -of some kind in the matter of the mine.</p> - -<p>“We’d better hurry,” urged the messenger, as Matt -stood reflecting upon the odd twist the “Pauper’s Dream” -matter was taking.</p> - -<p>“All right,” said Motor Matt.</p> - -<p>Accompanying the young fellow to the taxicab, Matt -climbed inside and the messenger followed and closed the -door. The driver, it appeared, already had his instructions, -and the machine was off the moment the door had -closed.</p> - -<p>“My name is Granger, Motor Matt,” observed the -messenger, “Harold Granger.”</p> - -<p>“You don’t look much like a granger,” laughed Matt, -taking in the messenger’s trim, up-to-date garments.</p> - -<p>Harold Granger joined in the laugh.</p> - -<p>“What’s in a name, anyhow?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“That’s so,” answered Matt good-naturedly. “I’d give -a good deal to know what’s gone crossways with McGlory. -I suppose you haven’t any idea?”</p> - -<p>“There are not many leaks to Mr. Random’s private -room,” answered Harold, “and I can’t even guess what’s -going on. Mr. Random seemed excited, though, and it -takes a lot to make <em>him</em> show his nerves.”</p> - -<p>“Where are we going?”</p> - -<p>“To Rye, a small place beyond Mamaroneck.”</p> - -<p>“Great spark-plugs!” exclaimed Matt, watching the -figures jump up in the dial, recording the distance they -were covering in dollars and cents. “What’s the use of -using a taxicab for a trip like that? You ought to have -hired a touring car by the hour.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, this was the only car handy, and Mr. Random -never stops at expense.”</p> - -<p>“Why couldn’t he and McGlory have come by way of -the Flatiron Building and picked me up?”</p> - -<p>“I think Mr. McGlory said you were not expecting -him until ten o’clock.”</p> - -<p>“That needn’t have made any difference. Joe knew -where I was to be in the Flatiron Building and he could -have come for me.”</p> - -<p>“He and Mr. Random seemed to be in a hurry,” was -the indefinite response, “and that’s all I know.”</p> - -<p>When the taxicab got beyond the place where the -eight-miles-an-hour speed limit did not interfere, the -driver let the machine out, and the figures in the dial -danced a jig. But Random & Griggs were furnishing -the music for the dance, and Matt composed himself.</p> - -<p>“You’re a stranger in New York, aren’t you?” Harold -inquired.</p> - -<p>“I haven’t been in the city for a long time,” Matt answered.</p> - -<p>“This is the Pelham Road,” the messenger went on, -“and that’s the sound, over there.”</p> - -<p>“I was never out this way before,” said Matt, -“but——”</p> - -<p>Just at that moment something went wrong with the -taxicab. There was a wobble, a wild lurch sidewise, a -brief jump across the road, and a terrific jolt as the machine -came to a halt. The body of the car was thrown -over to a dangerous angle, Matt was flung violently -against Harold Granger, and both of them struck the -door. Under the impact of their bodies, the door yielded, -and they fell out of the vehicle and into the road.</p> - -<p>Malt had given vent to a sharp exclamation, and his -companion had uttered a shrill cry. The next moment -they were on the ground, Matt picking himself up quickly, -a little shaken but in no wise injured.</p> - -<p>The taxicab, he saw at a glance, had dived from the -road into a stone wall. The driver had vanished, and -Matt took a hurried glance over the wall to see if he had -landed on the other side of it. He was not there, and -the mystery as to his whereabouts deepened.</p> - -<p>Turning to give his attention to Granger, Matt received -another start. The young fellow was lying beside -the taxicab, lifting himself weakly on one arm. His tin -box had dropped near him, and his derby hat had fallen -off. Strands of long, yellow hair, which must have been<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span> -done into a coil and hidden under a wig of some sort, had -been released and were waving about Granger’s shoulders.</p> - -<p>A woman! Here was a pretty tangle, and Motor Matt -was astounded.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III_A_TWISTED_SKEIN" id="CHAPTER_III_A_TWISTED_SKEIN">CHAPTER III.<br /> -<span class="titlefont">A TWISTED SKEIN.</span></a></h2> - - -<p>As though a taxicab, minus its driver and running -amuck into a stone wall, was not enough hard luck to -throw across the path of Motor Matt, he had also to deal -with a young woman masquerading in man’s attire. But -for the mishap to the taxicab, Matt would probably never -have discovered that the supposed youth was other than -“he” seemed.</p> - -<p>There were a number of details that perplexed our -young friend just then, and among them—and not the -least—was the strange disappearance of the driver -of the machine. This problem, however, would have to -wait. Matt felt that the young woman should claim his -first attention.</p> - -<p>“Are you hurt?” he asked, feeling more concern on -that point than he would have done had his companion -been of the other sex.</p> - -<p>“No,” answered the girl, her face reddening with -mortification.</p> - -<p>Matt started to help her up, but she regained her feet -without his aid and picked up the tin box and the hat.</p> - -<p>“I suppose, Miss Granger,” said he, “that I should -have known, from the way those yellow tresses were -smoothed upward at the back of your head, that—that -you were not what you were trying to appear; but, of -course, I wasn’t looking for any such deception as this.”</p> - -<p>Tears sprang to the girl’s eyes.</p> - -<p>“I—I don’t know what you will think of me,” she -murmured. “You see, a man has so much better chance -for getting on in the world that I—I have been obliged -to play this—this rôle in—in self-defense.”</p> - -<p>“You have played the rôle for some time?”</p> - -<p>“For—for a year, now.”</p> - -<p>“You can’t expect me to believe that, Miss Granger,” -said Matt calmly.</p> - -<p>“Why not?” she flashed.</p> - -<p>“Well,” he answered, “you would have cut off those -long locks if you had made a business of playing such a -part for a year. That would have been the reasonable -thing to do, and I am sure you would have done it.”</p> - -<p>“Do you doubt my word?” she asked defiantly.</p> - -<p>“I don’t want to doubt your word, Miss Granger, but -I have to take matters as I find them. You’re not a -messenger for Random & Griggs, either, are you?”</p> - -<p>She did not reply.</p> - -<p>“And all this about my chum, Joe McGlory, going into -the country and wanting me to join him, isn’t true, is it?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, it’s true,” she declared desperately. “You’ll -have to go with me if you <a id="Ref_5"></a>want to find Mr. McGlory.”</p> - -<p>“Did McGlory go into the country in a touring car with -Mr. Random?”</p> - -<p>This was another question which the girl did not see -fit to answer.</p> - -<p>“You’re not frank with me,” continued Matt, “and how -can you expect me to have any confidence in you? Have -you any idea what became of the driver of the taxicab?”</p> - -<p>“No,” she replied.</p> - -<p>“I’m going back down the road to look for him. While -I’m gone, Miss Granger, you do a little good, hard thinking. -I guess you’ll make up your mind that it’s best to -be perfectly frank with me.”</p> - -<p>Without saying anything further, Matt turned away -and started back along the road. He was caught in a -twisted skein of events, and was the more perturbed -because he could not think of any possible object the girl -might have in trying to deceive him.</p> - -<p>But, whatever plot was afoot, Matt was positive that -the accident to the taxicab had nothing whatever to do -with it. That had been something outside the girl’s calculations, -and an investigation might lead to results.</p> - -<p>The driver had not been long off the seat of the taxicab -when the machine collided with the wall. This was self-evident, -for the machine could not have proceeded any -great distance without a controlling hand on the steering -wheel.</p> - -<p>Less than a hundred feet from the spot where the accident -had happened, Matt found the driver sitting up at -the edge of some bushes by the roadside. He was covered -with dust, and was holding his hat in his hands. -There was a vacant stare in his eyes as he watched Matt -approach.</p> - -<p>“What’s the matter with you?” queried Matt.</p> - -<p>The driver acted as though he did not understand. He -began turning the hat around and around in his hands -and peering into the crown in the abstracted fashion of -one who is struggling with a hard mental problem.</p> - -<p>A little way back, Matt remembered that they had -passed a road house. If he could get the driver to the -road house, perhaps the people there could do something -for him.</p> - -<p>“Come,” said he, catching the man by the arm and -trying to lift him. “You are sick, and I’ll help you to -a place where they can look after you.”</p> - -<p>Mechanically the driver put his hat on his head and -got to his feet. For a moment he stood still, staring at -Matt speculatively, as though trying to guess who he was -and where he had come from; then, suddenly, he whirled -and broke from Matt’s grasp, running farther back into -the bushes.</p> - -<p>In half a dozen leaps Matt was upon him again, and -had caught him firmly by the collar.</p> - -<p>“I’m a friend of yours,” he said soothingly, “and I -want to take you to a place where you can be cared for. -You’re not right in your head.”</p> - -<p>“Who are you?” mumbled the driver.</p> - -<p>“Can’t you remember me? I was in your taxicab; you -picked me up at the Flatiron Building.”</p> - -<p>“What taxicab?” the man asked, drawing one hand -across his forehead.</p> - -<p>“Yours.”</p> - -<p>The man’s blank look slowly yielded to a glimmering -of reason.</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes,” he muttered, “I—I remember. The young -chap hired me at Herald Square. I was to take him to -the Flatiron Building, pick up another fare, and then go -along the Pelham Road as far as Rye. I guess I’ve got -that straight.”</p> - -<p>“Sure it was at Herald Square that the young fellow -hired you?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I’m positive of it.”</p> - -<p>The driver was getting back his wits by swift degrees.</p> - -<p>“What was the matter with you?” asked Matt.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Sort of a fit. I used to have ’em a whole lot, but -this is the first that’s come on me for purty nigh six -months. No matter what I’m doin’, I jest drop an’ don’t -know a thing for a minute or two; then, after I come -out of it, I’m gen’rally a little while piecin’ things together.”</p> - -<p>“You shouldn’t be driving a taxicab, if you’re subject -to such spells.”</p> - -<p>“Thought I’d got over ’em. I won’t have another, -now, for two or three weeks, anyway. Didn’t you see -me when I tumbled from the seat?”</p> - -<p>“No.”</p> - -<p>“That’s blamed queer! Didn’t you hear me, either?”</p> - -<p>“No.”</p> - -<p>“How did you find out I was gone from up front?”</p> - -<p>“The taxi jumped into a stone wall,” answered Matt -dryly, “and threw us out. If you’ll step out of this patch -of brush you can see the machine.”</p> - -<p>“Was it damaged much?” asked the man anxiously.</p> - -<p>“It doesn’t seem to be.”</p> - -<p>“Think I can tinker it up so as to take you and that -other young chap on to Rye?”</p> - -<p>“That’s where you’re to take us, is it?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“And the young fellow hired you at Herald Square?”</p> - -<p>“Say, my brain’s as clear as yours, now. I know jest -what I’m sayin’. I was hired at Herald Square to take -him to the Flatiron Buildin’, and then to pick you——”</p> - -<p>“All right,” cut in Matt. “Do you know who the -young fellow is?”</p> - -<p>“Don’t know him from Adam. Never saw him before.”</p> - -<p>“After you get to Rye, what——”</p> - -<p>The drumming of a motor car, traveling swiftly, was -heard at that moment. The car was close and, through -the bushes, Matt caught a glimpse of its fleeting red body -as it plunged past.</p> - -<p>Thinking that the car, which seemed to be big and -powerful, might be used for towing the taxicab—in case -it was very seriously damaged—to the nearest garage, -Matt jumped for the road.</p> - -<p>By the time he had gained the road, however, the -touring car was abreast of the taxicab and forging -straight onward at a tremendous clip. Matt’s intention -of hailing the machine was lost in a spasm of astonishment -the moment he had caught sight of the single passenger -in the tonneau. There was one man in front with -the driver, but the passenger in the tonneau—there could -be no doubt about it—was Joe McGlory!</p> - -<p>By the time Matt had recovered full possession of his -senses, the touring car was out of sight.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV_MOTOR_MATTS_DUTY" id="CHAPTER_IV_MOTOR_MATTS_DUTY">CHAPTER IV.<br /> -<span class="titlefont">MOTOR MATT’S DUTY.</span></a></h2> - - -<p>For Matt, in this queer taxicab tangle, one mystery -was piling upon another. Joe McGlory, in a faster car -than the “taxi,” had left New York after Matt and the -girl had taken their departure. Joe might be with Mr. -Random, but the girl had certainly made a misstatement -when she said that the cowboy and the broker had hurried -off in advance of the taxicab. But then, the girl -had made many misstatements.</p> - -<p>By the narrow margin of no more than thirty seconds, -Matt had failed to reach the road in time to hail the -touring car. Fate works with trifles, drawing her thread -fine from the insignificant affairs of life.</p> - -<p>The driver came unsteadily through the bushes and -stood at Matt’s side, gazing toward the taxicab.</p> - -<p>“What was you intendin’ to do?” he asked of Matt.</p> - -<p>“I was thinking we could hail that automobile and, if -the taxicab was too badly injured to proceed under its -own power, we could have the machine towed to the -nearest garage.”</p> - -<p>“We won’t have any trouble findin’ a car to tow us—if -we have to. If the machine ain’t too badly smashed, I’m -goin’ to take you on to Rye.”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps I’d better do the driving,” suggested Matt.</p> - -<p>“Bosh! I’m all right for two or three weeks. The -spells ain’t bad, but they’re mighty inconvenient.”</p> - -<p>“I should say so!” exclaimed Matt. “That other passenger -and myself might have been killed.”</p> - -<p>“You wasn’t either of you hurt, was you?”</p> - -<p>That was the first remark the driver had made that -showed any solicitude for his passengers.</p> - -<p>“No,” Matt answered. “Let’s get back and see if we -can repair the taxi.”</p> - -<p>When they reached the taxicab, the girl was sitting on -a stone near the machine. Her long tresses had been -replaced under the derby hat, and she looked sufficiently -boyish to keep up the deception—so far as the driver was -concerned. Matt passed her with hardly a glance, and -helped the driver make his investigation.</p> - -<p>No serious damage had been done to the taxicab. A -lamp was smashed, and some of the electric terminals -had been jarred from their posts, but not a tire had been -punctured, and the machine seemed as capable as ever of -taking the road.</p> - -<p>If the girl was curious as to the sudden disappearance -and reappearance of the driver, she kept her curiosity to -herself. When the driver had backed the machine into -the road and headed it eastward, Matt turned to the girl.</p> - -<p>“Rye is the place we are bound for?” he said tentatively.</p> - -<p>She gave him a quick, troubled glance.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” she answered.</p> - -<p>Probably she was wondering whether he was intending -to keep on with the journey.</p> - -<p>“Then,” proceeded Matt, “let’s get inside. We’ve lost -a good deal of time.”</p> - -<p>He held the door open and the girl got into the vehicle. -He followed her, after telling the driver to make his best -speed.</p> - -<p>“The driver had some sort of a fit,” Matt explained, -when they were once more under way, “and fell off the -seat. You didn’t see him when he dropped, did you?”</p> - -<p>“If I had,” she answered, somewhat tartly, “I should -have spoken about it.”</p> - -<p>“Of course,” returned Matt calmly. “So many peculiar -things are happening, though, that I wasn’t sure but the -disappearance of the driver might have had something to -do with your plans.”</p> - -<p>“<em>My</em> plans?” she echoed.</p> - -<p>“I don’t know whose plans they are, but I suppose, if -some one else laid them, you are pretty well informed or -you couldn’t carry them out. What are we to do when -we get to Rye?”</p> - -<p>“There will be another automobile there—a fast car—waiting -to take us on along the Boston Post Road.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span></p> - -<p>“How far?”</p> - -<p>“Somewhere between Loon Lake and Stoughton, on -the Boston Pike.”</p> - -<p>Again Matt was astounded.</p> - -<p>“That’s pretty close to Boston, isn’t it?” he inquired.</p> - -<p>“It’s a good deal closer to Boston than it is to New -York.”</p> - -<p>“When do you think we’ll get to—to where we’re -going?”</p> - -<p>“Some time to-night,” was the careless response.</p> - -<p>“You don’t seem to realize,” said Matt, just the barest -riffle of temper showing itself, “that I hadn’t any intention -of taking such a long ride as this when I left the -Flatiron Building.”</p> - -<p>“Your friend wants you,” said the girl. “If that’s not -enough to keep you on the long ride, then you can get out -at Mamaroneck—we’ve already passed New Rochelle—and -take the train back to New York.”</p> - -<p>The girl’s indifferent manner puzzled him. She must -have seen the touring car pass the taxicab, and she must -have known that Joe McGlory was in the car. What this -had to do with her present attitude, if anything, Matt -could not guess. For all that, he felt positive she did not -think he had seen the touring car dash along the road -with McGlory.</p> - -<p>“You told me McGlory had left New York ahead of -us,” said he.</p> - -<p>“That’s what I was told.”</p> - -<p>“As a matter of fact, he didn’t leave until after we did, -for he passed us while I was looking for the missing -driver.”</p> - -<p>She shot a quick look at him.</p> - -<p>“You saw that, did you?” she inquired.</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“Then why didn’t you stop the car and find out what -Mr. McGlory wanted?”</p> - -<p>“The car was going too fast. Besides, I didn’t know -my friend was in the car until it was too far away.”</p> - -<p>She laughed softly.</p> - -<p>“Then you <em>do</em> have a little confidence in me, after all?”</p> - -<p>“Not a bit,” answered Matt, with a little laugh. “For -reasons of your own, I believe you’re going to take -me to the place where some one else is taking McGlory. -I don’t know why, but I suppose I’ll find out if I wait -long enough. Anyway, if Joe McGlory is in any sort of -trouble, my place is at his side. And if you try to get -away from me before I find McGlory,” he threatened, -“I shall turn you over to the police in one of these small -towns we’re passing through.”</p> - -<p>“You couldn’t do that without a legal excuse.”</p> - -<p>“Haven’t I a legal excuse? You got me away from -New York by telling me something that wasn’t true.”</p> - -<p>“You don’t know, yet, that what I told you isn’t true. -I don’t think you could have me arrested for something -that hasn’t happened.”</p> - -<p>Some desperate purpose was urging the girl on. What -it was, and why it should be desperate, were beyond -Matt’s comprehension.</p> - -<p>“You’re a young man with a mission,” said the girl, -turning a pair of frosty blue eyes upon the young fellow -beside her, “and the mission is to get to where we’re -going, and find Mr. McGlory. You’ll be a whole lot -wiser after that.”</p> - -<p>Matt, in his own mind, did not doubt this statement. -But that reflection in no wise helped him just then.</p> - -<p>Presently the girl began peering through the window -in the top of the door, watching the roadside as they -scurried along.</p> - -<p>“What are you looking for, Miss Granger?” asked -Matt, after the girl had been peering steadily through -the glass for several minutes.</p> - -<p>“For the other car,” she answered, without looking -around.</p> - -<p>“You said that was to be waiting for us at Rye.”</p> - -<p>“It may have come this way to meet us, and——Ah, -stop!” she cried, lifting her voice. “We’ll get out here, -driver.”</p> - -<p>The driver was a surprised man as he brought the -taxicab to a halt. It was a lonely piece of road where -they had come to a stop, shadowed deeply, as it was, by a -thick growth of trees on either side.</p> - -<p>“It’s a mile, yet, before we get to the town,” demurred -the driver.</p> - -<p>“We’ll stop here,” said the girl decisively.</p> - -<p>“I can’t see the other car,” spoke up Matt, looking in -vain for the automobile that was to take them on.</p> - -<p>Although he did not see another car, yet his eye was -caught and held by something white fluttering from a -bush. While the girl was settling with the driver, Matt -made his way to the roadside and examined the fluttering -object. It was a white cloth, and had evidently been tied -to the bush as a signal.</p> - -<p>“Wait a minute!” shouted Matt, as the driver was -climbing back into his seat.</p> - -<p>Both the driver and the girl whirled around and stared -in his direction.</p> - -<p>“I may want to go back to New York in the taxicab,” -continued Matt. “I’d like to talk with you a minute, Mr. -Granger,” he added, putting a little emphasis on the -“mister.”</p> - -<p>The girl advanced slowly toward him.</p> - -<p>“Go back, if you’re afraid to go on and do what your -friend wants you to do,” said she.</p> - -<p>“I’m not at all certain,” said Matt, “that I’m doing -what my friend wants me to do. The only reason I’m -keeping on with you is because I saw McGlory pass me -in that red touring car. I’d like to ask you, Miss Granger, -if you stopped because you saw this signal,” and -Matt turned and pointed to the white cloth.</p> - -<p>“That’s the reason I stopped, Motor Matt,” the girl -replied promptly.</p> - -<p>“The plans you are following seem to have been laid -with a good deal of care, and to point to something that -may prove pretty serious. I think, Miss Granger, that -you and I will go on to Rye, and stop there.”</p> - -<p>“I’m not going to stop at Rye,” answered the girl, with -spirit.</p> - -<p>“I think you will,” answered Matt coolly. “On second -thought, I believe it’s my duty to turn you over to the -authorities until I can find out something more about my -chum. You can explain to the judge why you’re disguised -as you are.”</p> - -<p>“You don’t mean that!” gasped the girl, starting back.</p> - -<p>“I do,” declared Matt. “As I said, I believe it’s my -duty, and——”</p> - -<p>At that precise juncture, something descended over -Matt’s head, thrown from behind. It might have been a -shawl, or an automobile coat, or a piece of cloth—there -was no time to take particular note of it. The attack came -so suddenly, and so unexpectedly, that he was not able -to defend himself.</p> - -<p>With his face smothered in the thick folds, he was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span> -drawn roughly backward. A foot tripped him, and he -measured his length on the ground. The next moment -he was seized by strong hands and dragged through the -bushes and into the woods. He struggled blindly and -fiercely against his unseen captors, but they were too -many of them. He was powerless to free himself, and -the smothering cloth that covered his head and shoulders -made it impossible for him to call for help.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V_HOW_MCGLORY_WAS_FOOLED" id="CHAPTER_V_HOW_MCGLORY_WAS_FOOLED">CHAPTER V.<br /> -<span class="titlefont">HOW MCGLORY WAS FOOLED.</span></a></h2> - - -<p>McGlory found his way to the address in Liberty Street -without any difficulty. But he was too early. The Stock -Exchange had not yet opened, and only a few clerks were -at work in the brokerage offices of Random & Griggs.</p> - -<p>The cowboy sat down in a room where there were a -number of chairs facing a big blackboard. There were -a stepladder and a chair in front of the blackboard, and -off to one side was a machine in a glass case with a high -basket standing under it. A ribbon of paper hung from -the machine into the basket. This, of course, was the -“ticker” which received and recorded the quotations of -stocks at the Exchange, but it was not yet time for it to -begin work.</p> - -<p>McGlory and Matt were at least an hour too early in -setting about their morning’s business.</p> - -<p>While the cowboy sat in his chair in front of the blackboard, -wondering how long he could wait for Random -or Griggs and yet be at the Flatiron Building as per appointment -with Matt, a man sauntered in, looked at an -office boy who was just going out with an armful of -ticker tape, and then approached McGlory.</p> - -<p>He was the gentleman in the noisy apparel—he of the -cigar, and the newspaper, and the listening ear and -scheming brain. He was playing boldly, for the stakes -were worth the risk.</p> - -<p>“Young man,” said he to McGlory, “are you waiting -for some one?”</p> - -<p>“I’m waiting for one of the big high boys that boss the -layout,” answered McGlory.</p> - -<p>“Indeed!” The man flashed a quick look around and -made sure that only he and McGlory were in the room. -“Well,” he went on, “I am Mr. Random.”</p> - -<p>“Fine!” exclaimed the cowboy, getting up. “I’m Joe -McGlory, from the land of sun, sand, solitude, and pay-streaks. -I’ve run in here to——”</p> - -<p>McGlory got no further. Random grabbed his hand -effusively.</p> - -<p>“We’ve been expecting you,” said he. “We have a -meeting of the syndicate on Wednesday evening, and a -letter from the colonel gives your name and informs us -that you will be on deck with the bullion from the test -run of the mill. If the gold shows up properly, there’s -no doubt about our people coming across with the money. -But we can’t talk here—some one is liable to drop in on -us at any moment. This business is private, very private. -Come with me, Mr. McGlory, and I’ll find a place where -we can have a little star-chamber session.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t want to tear you away from business,” protested -McGlory.</p> - -<p>Random waved his hand deprecatingly.</p> - -<p>“Griggs will look after the office,” said he. “This ‘Pauper’s -Dream’ matter is a big deal to swing, and I guess -it’s worth a few hours of my time. This way.”</p> - -<p>Random walked out into Liberty Street, rounded a -corner, entered a door, passed through a barroom, and -finally piloted the cowboy into a small apartment, furnished -with two chairs, a table, and an electric fan.</p> - -<p>After he and McGlory had seated themselves, Random -pushed an electric button. A waiter appeared.</p> - -<p>“What are you drinking, Mr. McGlory?” inquired Random. -“I can recommend their Scotch highballs, and as -for cocktails, they put up a dry Martini here that goes -down like oil, and stirs you up like a torchlight procession.”</p> - -<p>“Elegant!” cackled McGlory. “I reckon, neighbor,” -and he cocked up his eye at the waiter, “that I’ll trouble -you for a seltzer lemonade, mixed with a pickled cherry -and the cross-section of a ripe orange.”</p> - -<p>“You don’t mean to say that you’re from Arizona, and -don’t irrigate!” gasped Random.</p> - -<p>“We irrigate with water, and that’s always been good -enough for your Uncle Joseph. Besides, I’m training -with Motor Matt, and our work calls for a clear brain -and a steady hand. Seltzer lemonade for mine.”</p> - -<p>“You’ll have a cigar?”</p> - -<p>“That’s another thing I miss in the high jump.”</p> - -<p>“Give me the same as usual, Jack,” said Random, to the -waiter. “You’re a lad of high principles, I see,” remarked -the broker, when the waiter had retired.</p> - -<p>“It’s a matter of business, rather than of principle. -Whenever an <i lang="es" xml:lang="es">hombre</i> gets his trouble appetite worked up, -the first thing he does is to take on a cargo of red-eye. -That points him straight for fireworks and fatalities.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know but you’re right,” said Random reflectively.</p> - -<p>The waiter returned, and Random mixed himself something -while McGlory fished around in his lemonade for -the “pickled” cherry. Over their glasses they talked at -some length, the broker seeking information about the -section of Arizona where the colonel had begun operations -on the “Pauper’s Dream.”</p> - -<p>“What time is it, Mr. Random?” asked McGlory, in -the midst of their talk.</p> - -<p>“Just ten,” replied Random, with a look at his watch.</p> - -<p>“Sufferin’ schedules!” cried the cowboy, starting up. -“I’m to meet Pard Matt at ten, at the Flatiron Building. -On my way there, I’ve got to drop in at the bank.”</p> - -<p>“Why are you to call at the bank?” asked Random.</p> - -<p>“To find out whether the bullion has got here, and to -show them my order for it from the colonel.”</p> - -<p>“You have the order with you?”</p> - -<p>“Sure thing. Just got it this morning.”</p> - -<p>“It won’t be necessary for you to go to the bank, Mr. -McGlory,” said Random. “I’ve been there, myself, and -I know the bullion has arrived. As for showing the -order, you won’t have to do that until you take out the -gold, on Wednesday.”</p> - -<p>“Wouldn’t it be a good scheme to get acquainted with -the bank men?”</p> - -<p>“Not at all! If they doubt your authority to receive -the bullion, in spite of the colonel’s order, a word from -me will make everything all right. I believe I will go -with you to the Flatiron Building. I’ve heard of this -Motor Matt, and should like to meet him.”</p> - -<p>McGlory wondered a little at the cheerful way in which -Random left Griggs to look after the brokerage business; -at the same time, the cowboy felt not a little flattered to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span> -have Random neglect his personal affairs for the purpose -of meeting Matt.</p> - -<p>A cab carried them to the Flatiron Building, and Random -waited on the walk while McGlory went bushwhacking -for Matt. But Matt wasn’t in evidence.</p> - -<p>“Perhaps he got tired waiting for you,” suggested Random, -“and went away?”</p> - -<p>“Nary, he wouldn’t,” returned the puzzled McGlory, “I -reckon he’s talking with an aviator, upstairs, and has lost -track of the time. I’ll go find Lafitte, and, ten to one, my -pard will be with him. Wait here for a brace of shakes, -Mr. Random, and——”</p> - -<p>Just then a man pushed forward from the entrance to -the cigar store. The man wore a cap and gloves, and -looked like a chauffeur.</p> - -<p>“I beg your pardon,” said he, addressing McGlory, “but -are you Motor Matt’s chum?”</p> - -<p>“That’s me,” answered the cowboy.</p> - -<p>“McGlory’s your name, isn’t it?”</p> - -<p>“Joe McGlory, that’s the label.”</p> - -<p>“Well, Motor Matt had a hurry-up call into the country. -It’s a long ride, and he went by automobile. He -wants you to follow him, and he hired me to wait for you -and then take you after him. That’s my chug cart,” and -the man pointed to a red touring car at the curb.</p> - -<p>“Speak to me about this!” cried McGlory. “What’s to -pay? Do you know?”</p> - -<p>“Motor Matt didn’t say. All he wanted was for me to -follow him with you in my car.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll bet a bushel of Mexican dollars it has something -to do with Lafitte,” hazarded the cowboy. “Of course, -I’ll go. Mr. Random,” and he turned to the broker, “I’m -sorry you couldn’t meet up with my pard, but I’ll bring -him around to your office Wednesday.”</p> - -<p>“Just a minute, Mr. McGlory,” and the broker took the -cowboy’s hand and drew him to one side. “I don’t like -the looks of this thing,” he went on, in a low tone.</p> - -<p>“How’s that?” asked McGlory, surprised.</p> - -<p>“I don’t know, but I’ve got a presentiment that something’s -wrong.”</p> - -<p>“There’s something unexpected happened to Pard -Matt,” said McGlory, “or he wouldn’t have piked off like -this. But his orders are clear enough. I’m to follow -him, so it’s me for the country.”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps,” and Random wrinkled his brows, “this has -something to do with the ‘Pauper’s Dream.’”</p> - -<p>McGlory laughed incredulously.</p> - -<p>“I can’t see how,” he answered.</p> - -<p>“Neither can I, but it’s possible, all the same. We’re -to get a good fat commission for placing that property, -and I don’t intend to let the commission slip through my -fingers.”</p> - -<p>“It’s a cinch, Mr. Random, that you’re barking up the -wrong tree. This business of Matt’s has more to do with -flying machines than with mines, and I’ll bet my moccasins -on it.”</p> - -<p>“If you haven’t any objections, Mr. McGlory, I’d like -to ride with you and make sure.”</p> - -<p>“The shuffer says it’s a long trip.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t care how long it is, just so I can assure myself -that nothing is going crossways with the ‘Pauper’s -Dream.’”</p> - -<p>“All right, neighbor. If that’s how you feel about it, -you’re welcome to one corner of the bubble-wagon.”</p> - -<p>The three of them climbed into the touring car, Random -in front with the driver, and McGlory in the tonneau. -As soon as they were seated, the car began working -its way through the crowded streets toward a section -less congested with traffic. As the way cleared, the speed -increased. Once on the Pelham Road, the chauffeur -“hit ’er up,” and the red car devoured the miles in a way -that brought joy to McGlory’s soul.</p> - -<p>When they passed a taxicab, with its nose rammed into -a stone fence, the chauffeur remarked that the taxi was -a good ways from home. Mr. Random looked thoughtful, -but he made no request that the red car slacken its -speed. McGlory saw a young fellow sitting on a bowlder, -but the spectacle afforded by the taxicab and the supposed -youth meant nothing to him. His mind was circling -about Motor Matt.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI_ON_THE_BOSTON_PIKE" id="CHAPTER_VI_ON_THE_BOSTON_PIKE">CHAPTER VI.<br /> -<span class="titlefont">ON THE BOSTON PIKE.</span></a></h2> - - -<p>Motor Matt, helpless and half stifled among the bushes, -felt lashings being put on his arms and legs; then, while -some one laid a hand on the cloth and pressed it tightly -over his lips, a bit of conversation was wafted to him -from the road. Because of the smothering cloth, the -voices seemed to come from a great distance, although -the spoken words were distinct enough.</p> - -<p>“What’re you tryin’ to do with that chap?”</p> - -<p>This was the driver of the taxicab. His curiosity, as -was quite natural, had been aroused by the treacherous -attack on Matt.</p> - -<p>“That’s all right, my friend,” replied a voice—a voice -Matt had not heard before.</p> - -<p>“Maybe it’s all right, but it looks mighty crooked to -me. Two of you threw a cloth over that chap’s head, -downed him, an’ dragged him into the brush. I got a -warm notion of goin’ on to Rye and gettin’ a constable.”</p> - -<p>The other man laughed.</p> - -<p>“You’d be making a fool of yourself, if you did. I’m -from Matteawan, and the young fellow is an escaped -lunatic. He’s a desperate chap to deal with, and we had -to take him by surprise in order to capture him.”</p> - -<p>A long whistle followed those words.</p> - -<p>“Great Scott! Say, he didn’t look like he was dippy.”</p> - -<p>“Some of ’em never look the part—until they find -you’re after ’em.”</p> - -<p>“Why didn’t you nab him in New York, instead o’ -bringin’ him ’way out here?”</p> - -<p>“He’s armed, and he’d have put up a fight. In a -crowded street, some one would have been hurt. It was -better to lure him off here, into the country.”</p> - -<p>“I guess you know your business. Who’s the other -young chap?”</p> - -<p>“He’s the lunatic’s brother.”</p> - -<p>“I see.”</p> - -<p>“You needn’t say anything about this, driver. The -family wouldn’t like to have it known. You’ve been put -to a little extra trouble, and here’s a ten to make up for -it.”</p> - -<p>“That’s han’some, an’ I’m obliged to you.”</p> - -<p>It can be imagined, perhaps, what Matt’s feelings were -as he listened to this. He tried frantically to burst the -cords that secured his arms, but the tying had been too -securely done. He made an attempt, too, to call out and -inform the driver of the taxicab that the tale he was listening<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span> -to was false, but the hand over his face pressed the -cloth more firmly down upon his lips.</p> - -<p>Resigning himself to the situation, Matt listened while -the purr of a motor came to his ears and died away in -the direction of New York. A friend who might have -saved him was gone, and Matt was completely at the -mercy of his captors.</p> - -<p>Some one came through the bushes; there were two of -them, it seemed, and they talked as they approached.</p> - -<p>“I was up in the air when I heard Motor Matt say he -was to stop at Rye,” said the voice that had talked with -the taxi driver. “What was the matter, Pearl?”</p> - -<p>It was the girl who answered, and she told briefly how -the driver had fallen from the seat of the taxicab, how -Matt had discovered her disguise, and how his suspicions -had been aroused.</p> - -<p>“I was up in the air myself, dad,” finished the girl, -drawing a deep breath of relief. “But we’re all right, -now. The way you pulled the wool over the eyes of that -taxicab man was splendid.”</p> - -<p>“Doing the right thing at the right time, Pearl, is your -father’s long suit. Where were you when Tibbits went -past in the red car?”</p> - -<p>“Sitting on a stone at the roadside.”</p> - -<p>“Where was Motor Matt?”</p> - -<p>“Back along the road in the brush, looking for the -driver.”</p> - -<p>“And those in the red car never saw him!”</p> - -<p>“No, but he saw them and recognized McGlory.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, well, this is our day for luck, and no mistake. -Watch the road, Pearl, while we’re getting out our own -car. We don’t want to be seen lifting a bound man -into it.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll watch,” the girl answered.</p> - -<p>Matt was still further impressed with the comprehensive -nature of the plans launched against him and -McGlory. Three motor cars had been used in the game, -and there must be at least four men in the plot besides -the girl. But what was the purpose of the plotters? -What end were they seeking to gain by all this high-handed, -criminal work?</p> - -<p>From off to the left Matt could hear the pounding of -a motor as it took up its cycle. After the engine had -settled into a steady hum, the crunching of the bushes -indicated that a heavy car was being forced through them -into the road.</p> - -<p>“All right, Dimmock!” called a voice.</p> - -<p>“Is the road clear, Sanders?” answered Dimmock.</p> - -<p>“There’s not a soul in sight.”</p> - -<p>“Then come here and help me. We’ll take this coat -from Motor Matt’s head and replace it with a gag—a -twisted handkerchief will do. The quicker we can get -him into the car, now, the better.”</p> - -<p>The next moment the smothering cloth was jerked -from Matt’s head and shoulders. He had just time to -gulp down a deep breath of air when the twisted handkerchief -was forced between his teeth and knotted in -place.</p> - -<p>He saw a slender, wiry man, soberly but richly dressed, -and another, short, thick-set, and wearing a long dust -coat and cap.</p> - -<p>“Take him by the feet, Sanders,” said the slender man, -who, from this, Matt knew to be Dimmock.</p> - -<p>Between them Matt was lifted, carried out to the road, -and shoved into the tonneau of a touring car, while the -girl held the door open. There was a top to the car, and -Matt was made to sit on the floor and lean back against -the seat.</p> - -<p>By every means in his power Matt tried to let his captors -know that he wanted to talk with them, but they -either could not understand him, or else had no intention -of letting him relieve his mind. The girl and Dimmock -seated themselves on either side of Matt, and the same -coat that had been used in effecting Matt’s capture was -dropped over him.</p> - -<p>In this manner the strange party started away along the -road, the prisoner unable to see anything of the route -they were taking.</p> - -<p>Matt was sensible of the swiftness of their flight, and -of the driver’s perfect mastery of the machine. The explosion -in the cylinders was unfailing, the mixture of air -and gasoline was perfect, and the coils hummed their -beautiful rhythm to the well-timed spark.</p> - -<p>Gradually there was forming, in Matt’s mind, an idea -that these desperate plotters had made some huge mistake. -He could not account, in any other way, for the -execution of such a plan as they were carrying out.</p> - -<p>He and McGlory were not being kidnapped to be held -for ransom. Such an idea was preposterous. Matt had -no relatives, so far as he knew, rich or poor; and neither -had McGlory.</p> - -<p>Yes, Matt was sure that Dimmock, and his daughter, -and Tibbits, the man who had dashed past with McGlory -in the red car, were blundering in some way. At the end -of the journey, wherever that might be, the mistake must -be discovered, and the motor boys would be released.</p> - -<p>The point that troubled Matt a little was the fact that -his cowboy pard was not a prisoner. He appeared to be -traveling in the red car of his own free will. Was that -because he had been lured away, and had not yet had his -suspicions aroused?</p> - -<p>There was little talk between Dimmock and his daughter, -and Sanders was attending strictly to his driving. -Now and then, however, a word was dropped as the car -slowed down which gave Matt an inkling as to the course -they were taking.</p> - -<p>“Stamford,” and “Bridgeport” were on the line of their -flight, and this proved conclusively that they were proceeding -in the direction of Boston.</p> - -<p>The day was warm, and Matt, crouched uncomfortably -under the coat, was having anything but an enjoyable -ride. By twisting about, however, he managed to give -some relief to his cramped limbs.</p> - -<p>Hour after hour the car swept on. Once they halted -at a filling station to replenish their supply of gasoline, -but the man in charge of the supply tank was kept -adroitly in ignorance of the fact that there was a prisoner -in the tonneau.</p> - -<p>By degrees a numbness crept along Matt’s limbs, and -a drowsiness enwrapped his brain. He slept, in spite of -his many discomforts, and was awakened, finally, by a -rattle from somewhere forward of the tonneau.</p> - -<p>The car was at a stop.</p> - -<p>“What was the trouble, Sanders?” called the voice of -Dimmock.</p> - -<p>“Nothing much,” answered Sanders. “It’s fixed now.”</p> - -<p>“Why not let Motor Matt sit up here on the seat between -us?” suggested the girl. “It’s so dark no one -could see him—even if we happened to be passed by another -car.”</p> - -<p>“We might as well give him a little comfort, I suppose,” -answered Dimmock.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span></p> - -<p>Thereupon the coat was pulled away, and Matt found -that it was night. Dimmock reached down and helped -him up on the seat.</p> - -<p>“We’re doing this for your comfort, Motor Matt,” said -Dimmock. “I hope you’ll appreciate it, and not try to -make any trouble for us.”</p> - -<p>Matt moved his cramped joints and stretched his legs -the full width of the tonneau. There were shadowy -bluffs on each side of the road, and a tracery of boughs -lay against the lighter background of sky. From the -fragrant odor, Matt gathered that they were in the depths -of a pine forest. He gurgled ineffectively behind the -gag.</p> - -<p>“He wants to talk, dad,” said the girl. “Why not let -him? If any one comes you can prevent him from calling -out.”</p> - -<p>“You’ve got too much heart, girl, for this kind of -work,” returned Dimmock. Nevertheless, he fumbled -with the knots at the back of Matt’s head, and removed -the handkerchief.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII_THE_JOURNEYS_END" id="CHAPTER_VII_THE_JOURNEYS_END">CHAPTER VII.<br /> -<span class="titlefont">THE JOURNEY’S END.</span></a></h2> - - -<p>Matt inhaled deep breaths of the pine-scented air. The -ozone held tonic properties and freshened him wonderfully.</p> - -<p>“It’s been a long time since I had breakfast, Mr. Dimmock,” -were his first words.</p> - -<p>“You’ve skipped dinner,” returned Dimmock, evidently -pleased to note that the prisoner was taking recent -events in such a matter-of-fact way, “but you’ll have -a fine supper to make up for it. In less than an hour -from now we’ll be where we’re going.”</p> - -<p>Sanders cranked up, climbed into his seat, and the car -moved on through the forest aisle, the searchlights boring -bright holes in the dark.</p> - -<p>“Where is the journey’s end to be?” inquired Matt.</p> - -<p>“Somewhere between Loon Lake and Stoughton. -That’s all you’re to know.”</p> - -<p>“This is the Boston Pike?”</p> - -<p>“We’ve been traveling the Boston Pike for a long time—but -I guess that knowledge won’t help you much if -you ever wanted to find the house again.”</p> - -<p>“We’re about due at Matteawan, aren’t we?”</p> - -<p>Dimmock laughed at that, and the laugh was echoed -by the girl.</p> - -<p>“I had to tell the taxicab driver something,” said Dimmock.</p> - -<p>“This is quite a plot you’re working out,” pursued -Matt.</p> - -<p>“It was rather hastily evolved by Tibbits, but it seems -to be doing the work.”</p> - -<p>“Tibbits, if I’ve got it right, is the man with McGlory?”</p> - -<p>“You’ve got it right.”</p> - -<p>“Did you bring my chum from Liberty Street?”</p> - -<p>“Of course, Motor Matt, I hadn’t anything to do with -that part of it. Pearl and Sanders and I were to look -after you.”</p> - -<p>“How did you happen to be hidden away on the Boston -Post Road?”</p> - -<p>“We thought that was safer than to meet you at Rye.”</p> - -<p>Dimmock had a complaisant air—entirely the air of a -man whose plans are succeeding, and with ultimate victory -assured.</p> - -<p>“What was the use of all this juggling with taxicabs -and touring cars?” continued Matt.</p> - -<p>He was groping for information, in order to lead up -to the announcement that Tibbits, Dimmock, and the rest -were having their trouble for their pains.</p> - -<p>“You see,” explained Dimmock, “it was easier for -Pearl to work alone, and pretend to be a messenger for -the brokers. If Sanders and I had been along, you’d -have suspected something.”</p> - -<p>“I suspected something, anyhow, and if you hadn’t resorted -to violence, back there on the road, your daughter -would have been held in the Rye police station until I -could have learned more about what was going on.”</p> - -<p>“Which shows our wisdom in waiting for you on the -other side of Rye,” commented Dimmock.</p> - -<p>“What’s back of all this, Dimmock?” demanded Matt.</p> - -<p>“You’ll find that out later,” was the reply. “Tibbits -is at the head of this little conspiracy, and most of the -talking must be left for him.”</p> - -<p>“How did you know I was to meet my chum at the -Flatiron Building at ten o’clock?”</p> - -<p>“That’s something else you’ll have to learn from Tibbits.”</p> - -<p>“Do you know how Tibbits got McGlory to take his -ride into the country?”</p> - -<p>“Just as we got you, if the business worked out according -to plan. You were told that your chum wanted -you, and McGlory was told that you wanted him. That -seemed to be enough,” and Dimmock laughed under his -breath.</p> - -<p>“There’s been a mistake, Dimmock,” said Matt earnestly.</p> - -<p>“Not on our side,” answered Dimmock.</p> - -<p>“Ever since ten o’clock this morning you and your pals -have played fast and loose with the law, and you’re under -a delusion of some sort.”</p> - -<p>“You’re the one who is under a delusion.”</p> - -<p>“I believe you’ll find out differently. I feel so sure of -that, that I’m perfectly willing to go with you to the end -of the journey. The facts will come out, at that time.”</p> - -<p>“They will,” said Dimmock, with emphasis.</p> - -<p>“My mission is to find my chum——”</p> - -<p>“You’ll have fulfilled your mission when we get to -where we’re going.”</p> - -<p>“McGlory will be there?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“That’s all I can ask. Take these ropes off me, can’t -you? I’m too anxious to find McGlory to try to get -away.”</p> - -<p>“The ropes won’t be removed until we reach the -house.”</p> - -<p>“What’s to be done at the house?”</p> - -<p>“Nothing to your physical harm. You and McGlory -will be entertained there for a few days. You’ll be able -to eat, drink, and enjoy yourselves—within certain prescribed -limits.”</p> - -<p>“But we can’t do that!” cried Matt, suddenly remembering -that his chum had to be back in New York by -Wednesday afternoon.</p> - -<p>“You’ll have to stay at the house,” was the decided -answer.</p> - -<p>“Why? What’s the reason?”</p> - -<p>“I have talked all I’m going to about the whys and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span> -wherefores. Whatever else you learn you’ll have to get -from Tibbits.”</p> - -<p>Matt relapsed into silence, while the car continued to -speed along the gloomy, tree-bordered road, following -the long shafts of light like a phantom locomotive on -gleaming rails.</p> - -<p>Suddenly there was a lessening of the speed, a swerve -to the right, a quick stop, and the touring car was nosing -a big iron gate, hung between square brick pillars.</p> - -<p>“Here we are,” said Sanders.</p> - -<p>“See if the gates are locked, Sanders,” ordered Dimmock. -“They shouldn’t be. Tibbits said he would leave -them unfastened.”</p> - -<p>Matt leaned forward to watch the glow from the -searchlights as it played over the massive iron work, -penetrated the heavy bars, and lost itself in a dense mass -of trees and shrubbery beyond.</p> - -<p>The gates were not fastened, and Sanders pushed them -wide. After running the car into the yard, the driver -left it standing on a graveled drive while he returned to -close the gates, and lock them.</p> - -<p>“What sort of a place is this, Dimmock?” asked Matt, -peering around, but seeing little, except the heavy shadows -cast by trees and bushes.</p> - -<p>“It’s a fine old place,” replied Dimmock, “and you and -your chum should feel highly flattered at being entertained -here. The family, as it fortunately happens for -Tibbits and the rest of us, are in Europe this summer.”</p> - -<p>“Then you haven’t any right here?”</p> - -<p>“We have borrowed the use of the house. Tibbits has -the run of the place, and we’re here by his invitation.”</p> - -<p>Sanders got back and started the car slowly. The gravel -road wound through the trees, and finally the searchlights -flashed out upon the front of a large mansion. -The great house was silhouetted against the sky, and the -car lights swept the front door as the machine turned and -halted at the broad front steps.</p> - -<p>A glow appeared suddenly in the fanlight over the -door. Sanders gave three quick, sharp blasts of the horn. -This seemed to be a signal, for the door opened as if by -magic, and a man showed darkly in the entrance.</p> - -<p>“That you, Dimmock?” called the man.</p> - -<p>“Who else could it be, Tibbits?” answered Dimmock. -“Did you get here safely with McGlory?”</p> - -<p>“Yes. And you? Have you got Motor Matt?”</p> - -<p>“We have.”</p> - -<p>An exclamation of satisfaction fell from Tibbits’ lips.</p> - -<p>“I was afraid Pearl had had trouble,” said he. “We -passed her on the road, sitting beside a taxicab that had -run head-on into a stone wall. Motor Matt was nowhere -in sight, and I thought he had suspected that something -was wrong, and had escaped. I didn’t dare stop and ask -any questions, you see, because McGlory was with us.”</p> - -<p>“We came near having a streak of hard luck there, -Tibbits, but we pulled through all right. What shall we -do with Motor Matt?”</p> - -<p>“Bring him in, of course. His chum’s anxious to see -him, and I suppose he’s equally anxious to see McGlory.”</p> - -<p>“He’s tied,” said Dimmock.</p> - -<p>“Then untie him. He won’t get away.”</p> - -<p>Tibbits pulled something from his pocket that flashed -in the lamplight.</p> - -<p>“I’ll keep him under the point of this,” Tibbits went -on, “until he gets where I want him to go.”</p> - -<p>Sanders, standing on the footboard of the car, leaned -into the tonneau and helped Dimmock remove the cords -that bound Matt’s arms and legs. When the cords were -removed, Matt tried to stand, but tottered back upon the -seat.</p> - -<p>“Pretty rough treatment you’ve had, eh?” laughed -Dimmock. “Well, you’ll be entertained so royally here, -Motor Matt, that you’ll forget all the unpleasant things -that have happened to you.”</p> - -<p>In a few moments, Matt was able to climb out of the -tonneau. Tibbits’ revolver was leveled at him the instant -he dropped down from the footboards.</p> - -<p>“Walk straight up the steps, Motor Matt,” ordered -Tibbits, “and on into the house. I’ll follow and tell you -which way to go. Be nice about it, and nothing will -happen.”</p> - -<p>Matt mounted the steps. Tibbits backed to one side, -to let him pass, and the hall light shone over his face. -Matt looked at him sharply. The man was a stranger, -and he was positive he had never seen him before. This -was another fact to clinch Matt’s theory that Tibbits and -his pals were making a mistake.</p> - -<p>Up the steps, through the great doors, and into a -richly furnished hall Matt passed, Tibbits, still with the -revolver aimed, following him closely.</p> - -<p>“Keep straight on along the hall,” ordered Tibbits.</p> - -<p>Matt kept on. The musty, close odor of a house, long -shut up, assailed his nostrils, and offered proof that Dimmock -had told the truth when he asserted that the family -were in Europe.</p> - -<p>“That door on the right,” said Tibbits. “Go in there.”</p> - -<p>Matt opened the door. As he closed it behind him he -heard the rasp of a key in the lock, and the “click” of a -thrown bolt.</p> - -<p>“Pard!” came an overjoyed yell.</p> - -<p>The next moment Matt was caught and given a bear’s -hug.</p> - -<p>“Joe!” exclaimed the delighted Matt.</p> - -<p>“Sure, it’s Joe,” whooped the cowboy. “What’s going -on here, anyhow? What do you want me for?”</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII_CHUMS_IN_COUNCIL" id="CHAPTER_VIII_CHUMS_IN_COUNCIL">CHAPTER VIII.<br /> -<span class="titlefont">CHUMS IN COUNCIL.</span></a></h2> - - -<p>McGlory was under the impression that Matt had sent -for him. In spite of the strange proceedings through -which the cowboy had passed, he still believed that Tibbits -had brought him on that long ride according to the -wishes of his friend. Even the locking of the door, after -Matt had entered the room, did not appear to have -aroused any suspicions in McGlory’s mind.</p> - -<p>Matt looked around. He was in a large room, lined -with bookcases. At one end of the apartment was a -magnificent fireplace. A thick carpet, that gave one the -impression of walking on down, covered the floor. White -busts looked out from niches in the wall, and comfortable -chairs were scattered around. A light, suspended -from the ceiling, cast a warm glow over the room, and -over a table, heaped with food, and set with places for -two.</p> - -<p>“I’ve been waiting here for an hour,” grumbled McGlory. -“Where have you been, pard, and what sort of a -layout is this that you’ve brought me into?”</p> - -<p>Matt removed his hat and threw it upon a couch; then,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span> -seating himself in a chair, he began rubbing his hands -and arms and staring at his chum.</p> - -<p>“What’s the trouble with you, pard?” asked McGlory. -“You act as though you were in a trance.”</p> - -<p>“I am,” returned Matt. “I’m hardly able to credit my -senses. In the first place, Joe, I never sent for you and -asked you to come here.”</p> - -<p>The cowboy gave a jump.</p> - -<p>“Why, the driver of that red car told me——”</p> - -<p>“I guess he told you what some one else told me. I -was informed that you had come into the country with -Mr. Random, of Random & Griggs, and that you -wanted me to follow you. That’s why I’m here.”</p> - -<p>McGlory slumped into a chair, and brushed a hand -across his forehead.</p> - -<p>“Sufferin’ brain twisters!” he muttered. “I came out -here to find you, and you came out here to find me!”</p> - -<p>“And here we are,” laughed Matt.</p> - -<p>“And what are we here for?” gasped McGlory.</p> - -<p>“Give it up. But I think somebody has made a big -mistake, and that they’re going to find it out before -they’re many hours older. If that’s our supper on the -table, suppose we get busy with it. I haven’t had anything -to eat since morning.”</p> - -<p>“I had dinner in Bridgeport,” said McGlory. “I was -mighty well treated, I’ll say that—and that only makes it -harder for me to understand what’s in the wind. I don’t -think any one would run away with us just for the fun -of the thing.”</p> - -<p>“It would be more of a joke on the other fellows than -it would on us,” averred Matt, moving to the table and -taking a seat. “How long has this supper been here, -Joe?”</p> - -<p>“About half an hour,” returned the cowboy, taking a -chair opposite his chum. “Random is here,” he said -suddenly.</p> - -<p>“Random, of Random & Griggs?” inquired Matt, -showing some surprise.</p> - -<p>“What other Random could it be?”</p> - -<p>Matt helped himself to a cold roast beef sandwich and -a glass of lemonade.</p> - -<p>“Tell me what happened to you, Joe,” said he. “I can -eat and listen at the same time. Besides, I guess I’m -hungrier than you are. You had dinner, and I didn’t.”</p> - -<p>McGlory told of his call at the Liberty Street office, of -meeting Random, of his talk with Random in the restaurant, -of Random’s going with him to the Flatiron Building, -of the failure to find Matt, and of the yarn told by -the driver of the red car.</p> - -<p>“We came through the country lickety-whoop,” the -cowboy finished, “but it was the longest kind of a ride, -and I wondered what in Sam Hill you were doing ’way -over in Massachusetts. It was after sundown when we -got to this place. Some one met the driver of the red car -at the door, and said that Motor Matt hadn’t come yet, -and that we were to wait for him. Random and I came -into this room. By and by, a servant began to spread the -table for chuck-pile, but layin’ covers for only two. I -guessed a little about that, and asked the servant who -he was intending to leave out, Random or Motor Matt. -It was orders, he said, and that was all he knew about it.</p> - -<p>“After a while, Random got up, told me to wait, and -said he would try and find some one who could tell him -something. Next thing I know, <em>you</em> walk in on me, and -the door is locked behind you. Speak to me about this! -Where’s Random?”</p> - -<p>“The man’s name isn’t Random, Joe,” said Matt, “but -Tibbits.”</p> - -<p>“Tibbits?” echoed McGlory blankly. “But he met me -at Random’s office.”</p> - -<p>“That may be, but he’s Tibbits, just the same.”</p> - -<p>“If he’s Tibbits, why did he tell me his label was Random?”</p> - -<p>“Because that was part of the plot. By posing as Random, -Tibbits knew he would have a lot more influence -over you. He kept you from going to the bank, he accompanied -you to the Flatiron Building, and he came out -here with you. He might not have been able to do all -that if you had known he wasn’t Random, and that he -wasn’t interested in the ‘Pauper’s Dream.’”</p> - -<p>The cowboy scowled, and drummed his fingers on the -table. Matt helped himself to a piece of pie, and another -glass of lemonade.</p> - -<p>“Can’t you choke off, pard,” begged the cowboy, “and -tell me how they played tag with you? Sufferin’ tenterhooks, -but this business has got me all at sea.”</p> - -<p>“I’m at sea, too,” said Matt, “but we’re pretty comfortable, -so far, and I guess we can wait a little for the -thing to work itself out. That’s the way with most mysteries. -If you leave them alone they’ll solve themselves.”</p> - -<p>“What happened to you? Bat it up to me!”</p> - -<p>Matt recounted the manner in which he had been beguiled -into the open country by the supposed messenger; -and he told about the accident to the taxicab, the revelation -that the supposed youth was a girl, the finding of -the driver, the passing of the red touring car with McGlory -in the tonneau, the work of Dimmock and Sanders, -a mile west of Rye, and the journey through Connecticut -and into Massachusetts, finishing with his meeting with -McGlory.</p> - -<p>The cowboy listened, spellbound.</p> - -<p>“You’ve had the hot end of this, so far, pard,” said he, -“and no mistake. But wouldn’t the whole game just naturally -rattle your spurs? What’s the good of it? How -are Tibbits, Dimmock, and the rest going to make anything -by their work?”</p> - -<p>“That’s where I’m muddled, too,” acknowledged Matt, -drawing away from the table and resuming his easy-chair. -“I think, Joe, that Tibbits, who seems to have -been the one that planned this thing, has made an error.”</p> - -<p>“That he’s bobbled, and thinks we’re some other -fellows?”</p> - -<p>“Not that, exactly, for they appear to know a whole -lot about us, and our business. Where they’ve made -their mistake, it strikes me, is in thinking that we’re -mixed up in some affair we don’t know anything about. -If that’s the case, then the fact will come out, before -very long. All we’ve got to do is to wait until Tibbits -comes for a talk with us.”</p> - -<p>“I’m hanged if I want to wait!” fumed McGlory. -“They’ve fooled us, they’ve got us here, and I’m a Piute -if I’m going to stay!”</p> - -<p>Jumping up, he ran to one of the two windows of the -room. Pushing back the heavy hangings, he raised the -lower sash. As he did so, a voice called up from the -darkness outside:</p> - -<p>“Git back in there, an’ close the winder! If ye don’t, -I’ll shoot.”</p> - -<p>The cowboy appeared dashed.</p> - -<p>“You might have expected that, Joe,” laughed Matt. -“You didn’t think, did you, that Tibbits would go to all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> -this trouble and then leave us free to leave the house if -we wanted to?”</p> - -<p>McGlory closed the window and returned dazedly to -his chair.</p> - -<p>“Sufferin’ poorhouses!” he mumbled. “I reckon they -think we’re millionaires in disguise, and that our folks -will hand over a lot of money to ransom us. The laugh’s -on them, and no mistake.”</p> - -<p>“Let’s take things easy,” advised Matt, “until we can -learn more about the game the gang are playing.”</p> - -<p>As Matt finished, the key rattled in the lock, the door -was pushed open, and Tibbits entered. He had some -wearing apparel thrown over his arm, and dropped it the -moment he was inside the room. The door was closed -behind him, by unseen hands, and again locked.</p> - -<p>With an angry exclamation, McGlory sprang to his -feet and started toward Tibbits. The latter, with a quick -movement, brought out the weapon which Matt had already -become acquainted with.</p> - -<p>“Steady,” warned Tibbits, smiling, but none the less -determined. “Let’s all be nice and comfortable,” he -begged, “and no harm will be done. You lads are my -guests. Consider yourselves so, and we’ll get along -swimmingly. It was a cold supper I provided, but it was -the best I could do, under the circumstances. If you——”</p> - -<p>“See here, you!” shouted McGlory. “Tell me whether -your name is Tibbits or Random.”</p> - -<p>“Tibbits,” was the reply.</p> - -<p>“And you haven’t anything to do with that brokerage -firm in Liberty Street?”</p> - -<p>“Not a thing. The first time I was ever there was this -morning.”</p> - -<p>“What did you——”</p> - -<p>“If you’ll give me a chance, McGlory,” interposed Tibbits, -“I’ll explain everything to the complete satisfaction -of Motor Matt and yourself.”</p> - -<p>“‘Complete satisfaction!’” muttered McGlory. “That -means you’re to fill a pretty big order. But go ahead, -Tibbits, and let’s find out where we stand.”</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX_A_DARING_PLOT" id="CHAPTER_IX_A_DARING_PLOT">CHAPTER IX.<br /> -<span class="titlefont">A DARING PLOT.</span></a></h2> - - -<p>“Let me assure you, in the first place,” said Tibbits, -still keeping his revolver prominently displayed, “that no -harm is intended either of you lads. You are to remain -here in these comfortable surroundings for a week. At -the end of that time you will be released, and can make -your way back to New York.”</p> - -<p>“Guess again about that,” spoke up the cowboy. “There -are important doings for me in New York Wednesday, -and we’ll have to tear ourselves away from you by to-morrow -afternoon, at the latest.”</p> - -<p>“You’ve got to stay here a week,” insisted Tibbits.</p> - -<p>“You don’t understand,” went on McGlory. “There’s -a meeting at the office of Random & Griggs Wednesday -evening, and I’ve just got to be there. That’s all -there is to it.”</p> - -<p>Tibbits fixed his glittering eyes on McGlory for a -moment.</p> - -<p>“That excuse won’t do,” said he. “You can’t make up -a yarn like that out of whole cloth, and expect me to -swallow it.”</p> - -<p>“Sufferin’ blockheads!” grunted McGlory. “There, -read that.”</p> - -<p>Jerking the colonel’s letter from his pocket, McGlory -tossed it to Tibbits.</p> - -<p>The latter removed the two folded sheets from the envelope. -After glancing at one, he stooped down and -pushed it under the door. The paper was caught and -drawn from sight by some one in the hall.</p> - -<p>“The order for the bullion!” called Tibbits. “Got it, -Dimmock?”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” answered Dimmock, from the other side of the -door.</p> - -<p>Tibbits placed the other sheet in the envelope and -flipped it back to McGlory.</p> - -<p>“Much obliged,” said Tibbits. “It’s hardly necessary -to read the letter from the colonel. I heard Motor Matt -read it aloud to you in the hotel, this morning.”</p> - -<p>Both boys were dazed by the light that suddenly -dawned upon them.</p> - -<p>“You blamed tinhorn,” cried McGlory, “are you making -a play to get hold of those two bars of bullion?”</p> - -<p>“And you never thought of it!” laughed Tibbits. -“What else did you suppose we were going to all this -trouble for? You wanted to call at the bank, and I didn’t -want you to. If you had gone there, the bank officials -would have seen you. That would have made it difficult -for me to palm off another Joe McGlory in your place. I -am obliged to you for giving up the order for the bullion -with so little persuasion on my part.”</p> - -<p>The cowboy’s wrath was so great that he fairly hopped -up and down.</p> - -<p>“You think you’re going to get away with this,” he -shouted, “but you’ll be fooled. You’re nothing more than -just a common thief, eh? And you live in a place like -this!” The cowboy looked around the room.</p> - -<p>“I don’t live here—not regularly,” said Tibbits. “My -uncle lives here, and I’m taking care of the place while -he and his family are in Germany.” A sly leer accompanied -the words. “It was only by chance that I happened -to be in the hotel, this morning, and also by chance -that I overheard Motor Matt reading that letter from -Arizona. It looked like a fine opportunity to get hold -of some easy money. I’m a black sheep. My uncle, who -owns this place, thinks I’ve reformed, but he’s mistaken.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span> -When opportunity knocks at my door, she finds me hospitable. -How long did it take me to find Dimmock after -I learned the contents of that letter, discovered what Joe -McGlory was going to do, and where he was to meet -Motor Matt after he had done it? Just fifteen minutes, -by the watch. Dimmock—his real name is not that—is -a gentleman of fallen fortunes. Wall Street ruined him. -He was as anxious as I to pick up a little ready money, -and he and Pearl entered heartily into the spirit of the -adventure. Dimmock knew Sanders. In happier days, -Sanders used to be Dimmock’s chauffeur. I left Dimmock, -Pearl, and Sanders to take care of Motor Matt, -while I gave my attention to McGlory. I had to have a -car and a chauffeur, but I knew where to find them. Pearl -is to play the rôle of Joe McGlory, and I’ve a lad for the -part of Motor Matt. They will dress themselves in your -clothes, call at the Merchants’ & Miners’ with the order, -and get the bullion. They’ll not have any trouble. -The colonel has written the bank telling the cashier to -hand over the gold when McGlory comes for it with his -written order. It will be easy. Dimmock and I will -clean up nine thousand dollars, net, divide it equally, then -leave for parts unknown. You boys will be kept here for -a week, and then released. Dimmock, Pearl, and I will -be out of the way, long before that time. Rather clever, I -call all that. Don’t you?”</p> - -<p>Certainly there was a fiendish cunning in it all, but it -was not the sort of “cleverness” that appealed to the -motor boys. They were awed by the very audacity of -the scheme, and by the facility with which the rest of the -plot could be carried out. Simply by keeping Matt and -McGlory cooped up in that house, Tibbits could have -Dimmock’s daughter and some one else play the parts of -the motor boys and secure the gold.</p> - -<p>“You’re one of these tinhorns, Tibbits,” observed the -cowboy, “who’d stand up a stage or snake a game of -faro.”</p> - -<p>“I’m not taking any money out of <em>your</em> pocket,” said -Tibbits.</p> - -<p>“You’re robbing me of a fortune! If that gold isn’t -produced at the meeting in Random & Griggs’ office, -the deal for the ‘Pauper’s Dream’ mine may fall through. -I’ve got a hundred shares of stock in the ‘Pauper’s -Dream.’”</p> - -<p>“The deal won’t fall through just because the two bars -of bullion have been taken,” asserted Tibbits, “that is, not -if Random & Griggs’ men really mean business.”</p> - -<p>“You don’t know anything about that, Tibbits,” put in -Matt. “But, no matter whether the deal falls through or -not, you needn’t think that McGlory is going to agree to -let you do what you have planned with that bullion.”</p> - -<p>“What will McGlory do?” chuckled Tibbits; “what -<em>can</em> he do? You boys are safely bottled up here. Dimmock -and I and Pearl and the other young fellow go -back to New York to-night. Some time to-morrow, before -the bank closes, we will have secured the bullion. -You boys will be here, and the rest of us will be—where -you can never find us.”</p> - -<p>“It’s a pretty small stake to run such a risk for,” said -Matt.</p> - -<p>“Beggars can’t be choosers,” said Tibbits coolly. “But -time presses. There”—and Tibbits pointed to the clothes -he had brought into the library—“is something for you -lads to put on. I’ll take the garments you’re wearing -now, if you please.”</p> - -<p>“You’ll <em>take</em> ’em, all right,” answered McGlory defiantly, -“if you get ’em at all.”</p> - -<p>“Come, come,” continued Tibbits impatiently. “I have -men enough to take the clothes by force, but I don’t want -to get them that way. Strip!”</p> - -<p>Neither Matt nor McGlory made any move to obey the -command.</p> - -<p>“Oh, well,” observed Tibbits, “if you’re going to force -a rough and tumble, that’s your lookout. Dimmock!” he -called.</p> - -<p>“What is it, Tibbits?” came Dimmock’s voice from the -hall.</p> - -<p>“Come in, and bring Sanders and Riley.”</p> - -<p>“Wait a minute,” called Matt. With four armed men -against him and McGlory, Matt saw the futility of resistance. -“We’ll give you our clothes, Tibbits, but under -protest.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll put the protest on file,” grinned Tibbits. “Never -mind bringing Sanders and Riley, Dimmock,” he shouted.</p> - -<p>“I’m going to fight this out,” flared McGlory. “If they -get my clothes, they’ll get ’em in rags. What’s the good -of taking ’em, anyhow? The bank folks have never -seen either of us, Matt—Tibbits took precious good care -they shouldn’t see me.”</p> - -<p>“As for that,” said Tibbits, “we want all the corroborative -detail we can give the rôles Pearl and the young fellow -are to play.”</p> - -<p>Matt stepped over to McGlory.</p> - -<p>“It won’t do any good to hang out, Joe,” he counseled, -in a low voice. “They’re too many for us. Let them go -ahead with their plan—we can’t stop that part of it—but -there may be something else we can do.”</p> - -<p>“They’ve treated us like a couple of wooden Indians,” -sputtered the cowboy, “and——”</p> - -<p>“And we’ve acted like a couple,” finished Matt. “Why, -we never guessed what their scheme was until Tibbits -told us. Take everything out of your pockets, and let -them have your clothes. I’m going to do the same.”</p> - -<p>With that, he began stripping his pockets of personal -property and laying it on the table. McGlory followed -suit. Then coats, trousers, and hats were thrown in a -heap, and the boys got into the garments Tibbits had -brought.</p> - -<p>In point of quality, the clothes the boys now put on -were far and away better than the ones they had taken<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span> -off. And the fit of them, too, was passably good; but it -chanced that McGlory’s outfit was a full dress suit, and -Matt’s was a Norfolk jacket outfit—a get-up he cordially -detested.</p> - -<p>Tibbits remained until the boys were decked out in -their borrowed gear.</p> - -<p>“I didn’t use much discrimination, in McGlory’s case, -and that’s a fact,” said Tibbits, with a laugh, “but I -brought what I could find in uncle’s wardrobe that -looked as though it would fit. I trust,” he added, with a -regret that was undoubtedly feigned, “that you lads won’t -cherish any hard feelings?”</p> - -<p>“We’ll do all we can to block you,” answered McGlory, -“and will be tickled to death to see you behind the bars. -That’s the way we stack up.”</p> - -<p>“You can’t get out of here, remember that,” proceeded -Tibbits, the clothes over one arm. “Try the windows, -and you’ll stop a bullet; break down the door, and you’ll -run into the same sort of trouble.”</p> - -<p>He knocked on the door.</p> - -<p>“I’m through in here, Dimmock,” he called. “Let me -out.”</p> - -<p>The door opened.</p> - -<p>“Good-by,” said Tibbits mockingly, and faded into the -hall.</p> - -<p>McGlory roared wrathfully, and shook his fist at the -locked door. Motor Matt lowered himself into a chair -and grew thoughtful.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X_PRISONERS" id="CHAPTER_X_PRISONERS">CHAPTER X.<br /> -<span class="titlefont">PRISONERS.</span></a></h2> - - -<p>“And this,” grunted McGlory, “is what he calls explaining -matters to our ‘complete satisfaction.’ Satisfaction! -Sufferin’ Hottentots! Do I look satisfied?”</p> - -<p>The cowboy, in his dress suit and boiling with rage, -looked far from satisfied. In fact, he presented such a -humorous spectacle that Matt laughed.</p> - -<p>“Oh,” he grunted disgustedly, “you’d laugh, Matt, if -you were going to be hung. But think what this means -to me! I want to dig up the hatchet and go on the war-path.”</p> - -<p>“There’s nothing we can do just now, Joe,” said Matt, -straightening his face.</p> - -<p>“What sort of a girl is that daughter of Dimmock’s, to -go helping her father in lawless work like this?”</p> - -<p>“I can’t understand her,” returned Matt. “But I can -tell you one thing.”</p> - -<p>“Then tell it.”</p> - -<p>“If Pearl Dimmock gets into your clothes and tries to -palm herself off as Joe McGlory, the bank people are -going to get suspicious.”</p> - -<p>“She played the game on you, pard, and you didn’t get -suspicious until you got dumped out of the taxicab.”</p> - -<p>“I was thinking more about you, then, than I was about -the supposed messenger. In the matter of the bank, the -case is different. Miss Dimmock goes in there, asks for -the bullion, and turns over the colonel’s order for it. The -order is all straight enough, but the bank won’t let go of -that gold until they’re sure the one who brings the order -is Joe McGlory. I’m thinking the hardest part of Tibbits’ -work is yet to come, and that the chances are about -even whether he’ll win or lose.”</p> - -<p>“We can’t leave it like that, pard. We’ve got to get -out of here and make a rush for New York. That’s all -there is to it. Tibbits, Dimmock, the girl, and the fellow -who’s to understudy you, will get away from here to-night. -That will leave fewer people to watch us, and I -don’t see why we can’t make a break, somehow, and carry -it through with ground to spare.”</p> - -<p>“We’ll have to consider it.”</p> - -<p>“There’s not much time to think it over. New York’s -a long ways off, and we’ve got to get there by the time the -bank opens, to-morrow.”</p> - -<p>“Not necessarily.”</p> - -<p>McGlory’s face went blank.</p> - -<p>“What do you mean by that, pard?” he queried.</p> - -<p>Matt hitched his chair closer.</p> - -<p>“Suppose we don’t get away from here until to-morrow -morning, Joe,” said he, “why couldn’t we send a -telegram to the bank? Wouldn’t that do just as well as -though we dropped in there personally?”</p> - -<p>“I’m the prize blockhead, all right,” muttered McGlory. -“Of course, a telegram will do, in case we can’t get out -of here in time to reach New York before the bank opens. -But let’s try to break out.”</p> - -<p>The cowboy got up and looked around reflectively.</p> - -<p>“Where’ll we try first?” asked Matt.</p> - -<p>“Watch me!” answered his chum, his face lighting up. -He made a dash for the fireplace.</p> - -<p>“Here’s where this clawhammer suit catches it,” said -he, crawling into the opening.</p> - -<p>The fireplace was large, and Matt waited eagerly, expecting -results. In a few moments, McGlory reappeared -with soot on his hands.</p> - -<p>“Not any,” he muttered disappointedly. “There’s a -sharp turn in the flue, and the opening isn’t any more’n -six inches wide. No getting out by the chimney, pard. -I’ll try the window again, and see how careful I can be -when I lift it.”</p> - -<p>McGlory pushed up the windows with very little noise, -but the vigilant guard outside heard him, nevertheless.</p> - -<p>“Back in there,” was the gruff order, boomed from -the darkness, “or I’ll shake a bullet at ye.”</p> - -<p>The cowboy closed the window.</p> - -<p>“The galoot out there is right on the job,” said he, -and moved to the door.</p> - -<p>Bending out a key ring, which he happened to have in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span> -his pocket, he contrived a picklock; but no sooner did he -begin operations than a voice from the hall ordered him -to stop.</p> - -<p>“You see how it is, Joe,” whispered Matt. “The best -thing for us to do is to lie low for a while. Wait until -after Tibbits, Dimmock, and the others are away.”</p> - -<p>“They must be away now.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t think so. I haven’t heard any motor cars -leaving the place; and, besides that, it will take some time -for Miss Dimmock and the fellow who’s to play Motor -Matt to get ready. Let’s try and get a little sleep, Joe. -If we have some rest, we’ll be better able to cope with -the situation later.”</p> - -<p>“Sleep! Why, pard, I couldn’t sleep any more’n I -could fly—or aviate, without anything to aviate with.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I’m off for a nap by myself, then. Wake me, -Joe, if anything happens.”</p> - -<p>Matt threw himself down on the couch, and was asleep -almost as soon as he had straightened out. It seemed to -him that he had no more than closed his eyes before he -felt a tug at his arm. He sat up quickly.</p> - -<p>“What is it?” he whispered.</p> - -<p>“Listen,” returned McGlory.</p> - -<p>What Matt heard was the distinct throbbing of an automobile, -dying swiftly into silence.</p> - -<p>“They’re off,” said the cowboy.</p> - -<p>“Did that machine leave the house?” Matt asked.</p> - -<p>“Yes. Now, what are we going to do?”</p> - -<p>“Try the window and the door again, Joe.”</p> - -<p>The cowboy repeated his earlier attempts, only to be -gruffly warned by the vigilant guards, outside the house -and in the hall.</p> - -<p>“How many men do you reckon Tibbits left here?” -growled McGlory.</p> - -<p>“I wish I knew. He seems to have had quite a gang.”</p> - -<p>“And they’re all after a little of that ten thousand dollars!” -muttered McGlory. “Pretty small pickings for -fellows like Dimmock and Tibbits. I can size them up -for that sort of grafters.”</p> - -<p>“I think we’d better wait till morning before we make -any more attempts to get away,” said Matt.</p> - -<p>“I reckon we’ll have to,” answered McGlory, in a discouraged -tone.</p> - -<p>“What sort of fellow was that who came in here, last -night, and put our supper on the table?”</p> - -<p>“A runt of a chap in an apron and a square white cap. -Why?”</p> - -<p>“Nothing—now.”</p> - -<p>Without any further remarks, Matt shifted his position -on the couch, and again went to sleep.</p> - -<p>He awoke without being roused, and sat up on the edge -of the couch. Daylight was just glimmering through the -trees. McGlory, sprawled out on the carpet, with the -clawhammer coat rolled into a pillow, was slumbering -soundly.</p> - -<p>Quietly Matt got up and went to the window, where -the cowboy had made his several attempts the night before.</p> - -<p>The window looked off toward the stables. To the -right of the house was a vine-covered pergola, and between -the stables and the pergola ran the graveled drive, -leading around the house from the front gate. What interested -Matt particularly, however, was a red touring -car in the drive, close to the pergola.</p> - -<p>Undoubtedly it was the same car that had brought -McGlory and Tibbits from New York. Tibbits and Dimmock, -on their return to the city, had used the other car—the -one driven by Sanders.</p> - -<p>The presence of that car spelled possibilities for the -motor boys, if——</p> - -<p>Matt’s gaze dropped to the side of the house. A man -was sitting under the two library windows, smoking a -pipe. Across his knees rested a revolver.</p> - -<p>Before the motor boys could avail themselves of the -red touring car they would have to eliminate the guard. -How could that be accomplished?</p> - -<p>Matt turned from the window, revolving the problem -in his mind. He could think of no method of escape -short of boldly leaping from the window and trusting to -luck—and the revolver made such an attempt too risky. -A plan, which he had thought of vaguely during the -night, recurred to him. This idea had the servant for its -nucleus, and promised little better than a sortie by the -window.</p> - -<p>McGlory, hearing his chum moving around the room, -stirred and sat up on the floor.</p> - -<p>“What are you prowling around for, Matt?” he asked, -yawning sleepily.</p> - -<p>“Averaging up the chances,” Matt answered. “Come -here, Joe.”</p> - -<p>McGlory got up and went to his chum’s side. Matt -pointed to the red touring car.</p> - -<p>“If we could get out of here and get hold of <em>that</em>,” he -murmured, “we might do something.”</p> - -<p>“The boy with the gun looks sort of fierce,” reflected -the cowboy; “still, you never can tell just what a fellow’s -going to do with a revolver. If——”</p> - -<p>The key rattled in the lock. Matt dropped quickly -down on the couch and pretended to be asleep. McGlory, -taking his cue from Matt, resumed his place on the floor.</p> - -<p>A man, in white cap and apron, entered the room with -a tray of steaming food. The door was closed and fastened -behind him. Without trying to waken the boys—whom -he must have supposed to be asleep—the man -picked his way around McGlory, placed the tray on the -table, and began collecting the scattered remnants of the -supper. His back was toward Matt.</p> - -<p>Noiselessly as a gliding serpent, Matt arose and slipped -across the space separating him from the man; then,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> -leaning forward, he caught him about the middle with -his left arm, at the same time covering his lips with his -right hand.</p> - -<p>The man began to squirm, kicking out with his feet -and fighting fiercely to get away.</p> - -<p>McGlory, who had been watching the progress of -events, and wondering what Matt was trying to do, went -to his chum’s aid. The man was forced to his knees, and -then to the floor. Lying on his back, Matt’s hand still -over his mouth, he stared upward with frightened eyes.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI_BOLD_WORK" id="CHAPTER_XI_BOLD_WORK">CHAPTER XI.<br /> -<span class="titlefont">BOLD WORK.</span></a></h2> - - -<p>“Softly, Joe, softly!” whispered Matt, stifling his own -heavy breathing. “Twist a couple of napkins into ropes. -Be quick!”</p> - -<p>McGlory had not the least notion what Matt was trying -to accomplish, but he knew it was something which -might help their escape.</p> - -<p>“Be quiet,” hissed Matt, in the man’s ear, “and you’ll -not be hurt, but if you move, or try to call out”—his -voice grew menacing—“you’ll wish you hadn’t!”</p> - -<p>McGlory dropped to his knees with the two napkins -and began tying one of them about the prisoner’s ankles. -He followed this by knotting the other around the servant’s -wrists.</p> - -<p>“What next?” he asked breathlessly.</p> - -<p>“Put on the white cap and apron,” instructed Matt, -“then pick up the tray and rap on the door. When the -door’s opened, throw the tray in the face of the fellow in -the hall. There’ll be a commotion, and perhaps the guard -outside will leave the windows. If he does, I’ll get out -and make for the red car. Meet me somewhere along the -drive, this side the gate. It’s a desperate chance, Joe, -but it’s all we have.”</p> - -<p>The cowboy chuckled delightedly as he removed the -apron from the prostrate prisoner and tied it about his -waist; then, picking up the cap, he set it on his head, and -grabbed the tray.</p> - -<p>“I’m ready,” he whispered, stepping toward the door. -“Bravo, pard! It’s the reckless things that win!”</p> - -<p>“Sometimes,” qualified Matt; “if you can’t——”</p> - -<p>The guard in the hall shook the doorknob.</p> - -<p>“Why are you so long, Paul?” he called.</p> - -<p>It was not Dimmock’s voice—proof that Dimmock had -really gone, and that another guard had taken his place. -The question put McGlory in a quandary. He and Matt -both recognized the dilemma, in a flash. The cowboy was -about to speak, presumably in an attempt to imitate the -servant’s voice, but Matt restrained him with a gesture.</p> - -<p>“Tell the man outside you’re coming—tell him to open -the door!”</p> - -<p>Matt King hissed the words in the prisoner’s ear, and -lifted the hand he was using for a gag.</p> - -<p>One word from the servant would ruin every chance. -Was the fellow frightened enough to do Matt’s bidding? -McGlory looked over his shoulder and glared savagely at -the man on the floor.</p> - -<p>“Paul!” cried the guard, once more rattling the door.</p> - -<p>“I’m coming,” said the man, but with a shiver of dread -in his voice. “Open the door, Miles!”</p> - -<p>“What’s the matter with you, anyhow?” grumbled -Miles. “You’ve been in there more’n five minutes.”</p> - -<p>As the door opened, McGlory temporarily deceiving -Miles with the tray and the white cap and apron, stepped -out.</p> - -<p>“Are they asleep,” began Miles, “or——Thunder!” -the guard broke off; “you’re not——”</p> - -<p>The cry was interrupted by a smash of dishes. There -came a yell from Miles, a snarling shout from McGlory, -and then the impact of a heavy blow. After that, running -feet could be heard, and the opening of a door.</p> - -<p>“Help!” roared Miles; “this way, Barney! The -prisoners are on the hike!”</p> - -<p>Matt, paying no more attention to the servant, jumped -for the door. He saw a mess of food and broken crockery -in the hall, and daylight entering through the open -door. Miles was just vanishing in pursuit of McGlory.</p> - -<p>It was now Matt’s turn to see what he could do. Was -“Barney” the man on guard below the windows? If he -was, and if he had answered Miles’ call, then the way -was clear in that direction. But there was not a second -to be lost. If McGlory got away, he would need the red -car. And so would Matt, for that matter. If the automobile -was left behind, the baffled guards would use it in -giving pursuit.</p> - -<p>In two leaps Matt was at the window and looking out. -Barney’s chair was empty!</p> - -<p>To throw up the window and leap to the ground took -only a moment, and Matt immediately laid a straight line -for the automobile.</p> - -<p>He was not long in covering the distance that separated -him from the car, but many doubts flashed through his -mind while he was on the way.</p> - -<p>If the switch plug had been removed, if the gasoline or -oil was low, if——</p> - -<p>But he was hoping for the best, and the best came his -way, then, when the smiles of fortune were so grievously -needed.</p> - -<p>Whether there was any one in his vicinity, or not, he -did not take time to discover. Reaching the front of the -car—which, by good luck, was pointing in the direction -of the pike—he grabbed frantically at the crank, and -gave it a heave.</p> - -<p><em>Chuff, chuff, chuff-chuff!</em> The sputter died impotently.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span> -Manipulating the switch, and the lever controlling -the fuel supply, he tried again. This time the engine -was successfully “turned over,” and took up its cycle.</p> - -<p>“Hi, there!” called a voice from the direction of the -stables. “Stop, I tell ye!”</p> - -<p>Matt had no time for the approaching man, but leaped -into the car, and was off. A detonation sounded above -the noise of the laboring motor, and something whistled -viciously past Matt’s ear.</p> - -<p>But, by then, the lad’s blood was hot for success, and -he would have dared anything.</p> - -<p>Like a thing of life the red car leaped around the -corner of the house, taking a sharp curve with two -wheels in the air. Only a short distance separated the -fleeing car from the gate, but between the gate and the -car was one of the guards. Matt knew at a glance it was -not Barney. The chances were that it was Miles.</p> - -<p>“Halt!” yelled the man.</p> - -<p>“Get out of the way,” shouted Matt, “or I’ll run over -you!”</p> - -<p>The man got out of the way, hurling himself from the -road barely in the nick of time. He did not appear to be -armed; at any rate, no lead followed Matt.</p> - -<p>But where was McGlory? Matt had no sooner begun -to worry about his chum than the cowboy, breathless -from running, staggered from behind a clump of lilac -bushes and flung up his hands.</p> - -<p>With a hasty look behind, Matt slowed the machine.</p> - -<p>“It’s all up with us,” puffed McGlory, hanging over -the edge of the car. “We’ll have to leave the machine -and take to our heels.”</p> - -<p>“Why?” flashed Matt.</p> - -<p>“The gates are locked.”</p> - -<p>For an instant Matt was stunned. The gates—locked! -Of course, they would be locked! Why had he not -thought of that when he was planning to use the red car -for their escape?</p> - -<p>“We’ll never get away if we trust to our heels, Joe,” -said Matt grimly. “Get in—be quick!”</p> - -<p>By that time, Miles had been joined by Barney, and -by the man who had called to Matt from the stables. -The three, feeling sure that they had the car in a trap, -were advancing cautiously, watching to see what the boys -would do next.</p> - -<p>McGlory did not know what plan Matt had formed; -but, nevertheless, he scrambled into the tonneau.</p> - -<p>“How’ll you get past the gates?” cried the cowboy, -standing erect in the tonneau, and clinging to the coat -rail.</p> - -<p>“Get down in the bottom of the tonneau!” ordered -Matt, without looking around.</p> - -<p>Little by little he let the car out, and the iron barriers -came threateningly into view. When a hundred feet -away from them the car was going so fast that the gates -seemed to be jumping toward it.</p> - -<p>But the purpose of his daring comrade was clear to -McGlory, and the idea left him gasping.</p> - -<p>Matt was going to storm the gates! He was hurling -the red car toward them like a cannon ball.</p> - -<p>The cowboy fell limply down behind the front seats, -wondering vaguely where he and Matt would be after the -smash.</p> - -<p>Even as the thought formed in his mind, there came a -crash, a jar that shook the automobile in every part, and -made it reel drunkenly, and a clash of broken glass. After -a wild stagger, the car seemed to gather itself for a -spring; then it flung itself onward into the road, turned, -and glided off on the straightaway.</p> - -<p>Dazed and bewildered, McGlory lifted himself in the -rocking tonneau and looked at Matt, who was still in the -driver’s seat, still bending over the wheel, and still coaxing -the demoralized red flyer to its best gait.</p> - -<p>Certainly the car was demoralized—not internally, for -the motor was doing its work nobly—but the bonnet was -bent and broken, the lamps were smashed, and the woodwork -splintered and scarred.</p> - -<p>“Sufferin’ earthquakes!” gasped McGlory, looking back -at the gates.</p> - -<p>The gates had been torn ajar, and one of them had been -plucked bodily off the brick pier from which it had -swung.</p> - -<p>“Are you hurt, pard?” cried McGlory.</p> - -<p>“No,” answered Matt, “but it was rather a close call -for the tires.”</p> - -<p>“Tires? Hang the tires! It was a close call for <em>you</em>.”</p> - -<p>“Not so close as you’d think. I knew if we could force -the gates we’d get through safely. Each gate would give -way in a solid piece, and there’d be no splinters. We -made it, Joe, we made it!”</p> - -<p>“But the car has been damaged——”</p> - -<p>“We couldn’t help that, Joe! If we keep Tibbits and -Dimmock from carrying out that robbery, we have to get -to a telegraph office in short order.”</p> - -<p>At that moment the motor showed signs of distress. -First it missed fire, and then went dead altogether.</p> - -<p>“Watch behind, Joe,” called Matt, as he sprang into -the road and began an investigation to discover what was -wrong.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII_PURSUIT" id="CHAPTER_XII_PURSUIT">CHAPTER XII.<br /> -<span class="titlefont">PURSUIT.</span></a></h2> - - -<p>“Sufferin’ cyclones!” exclaimed McGlory, keeping close -watch of the road behind; “after that jolt it would be a -wonder, pard, if something didn’t go wrong with the -motor. By rights, considering what this car has gone -through, it ought to be a scrap heap.”</p> - -<p>Matt adjusted one of the battery wires, then crawled<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> -under the car with a wrench. The cowboy could hear -him at work; but he could hear something else, too, and -that was a patter of hoofs and a grind of wheels.</p> - -<p>“Horse and buggy coming, Matt!” he called. “Miles -and Barney are hot after us. I took Miles’ gun away -from him, and I can use it, if you say so.”</p> - -<p>“Not on your life, Joe!” Matt answered, crawling from -under the car and looking back over the road. “That -would complicate the affair. We’re not to do any fighting, -but just show our heels. We’re on the defensive -entirely—remember that.”</p> - -<p>The horse, driven by Miles, was coming at a gallop.</p> - -<p>“I don’t see what they want horses and buggies at that -big house for,” growled McGlory. “Automobiles go with -a place like that—and when the family’s in Europe, the -bubble-wagons ought to all be in a Boston garage. Will -the motor work now, Matt, or have we got to use our -heels?”</p> - -<p>The car started. The motor was still somewhat out of -order, but gave the car a speed that easily carried it away -from the horse and buggy.</p> - -<p>“I reckon we’ll get clear, pard,” observed McGlory, -albeit with an anxious, questioning note in his voice.</p> - -<p>“We’ll kill the engine again,” answered Matt, “if we -keep running it while it’s out of order.”</p> - -<p>“Then, kill it, but get as far away from Miles and -Barney, and as near a telegraph office, as you can, before -we have to take to the woods.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know anything about this country,” said Matt. -“What is the nearest town in this direction, Joe?”</p> - -<p>“I’ve been trying to think of that ever since we got -through the gates, and headed this way, but I can’t seem -to remember, pard.”</p> - -<p>“It’s poor policy, Joe, to run the engine to a standstill. -Everything may depend on the car before we get out of -these woods.”</p> - -<p>The motor was rapidly going from bad to worse. Matt -stopped suddenly, threw on the reverse, and backed the -car into the bushes.</p> - -<p>“What’s that for?” asked the cowboy.</p> - -<p>“I’m hoping Miles and Barney will pass us, and give -us a little time to do some more tinkering,” replied Matt.</p> - -<p>“Even if that rig does pass us, we can’t follow it.”</p> - -<p>“We can go the other way, Joe. I think the nearest -town is in that direction, anyhow.”</p> - -<p>“Do you mean to pass that house again?”</p> - -<p>“Why not? I don’t think there are enough men left -at the place to interfere with us.”</p> - -<p>Matt got down and began pulling up the bent bushes -in front of the car. While he was at work, the galloping -horse could be heard, and he drew back hastily, and knelt -down to see what happened.</p> - -<p>There was no occasion for alarm. Miles and Barney -dashed past without giving so much as a glance in the -direction of the motor boys.</p> - -<p>“Good enough!” exclaimed McGlory. “There’s the -chance you wanted, Matt. Can I do anything to help you -fix the car?”</p> - -<p>“Two of us can shorten the work a whole lot,” said -Matt.</p> - -<p>He showed McGlory what to do, and for ten minutes -both boys were busy. At the end of that time, Matt announced -that he was fairly well satisfied with the repairs.</p> - -<p>“There’s enough gasoline and oil to take us fifty -miles,” he added.</p> - -<p>“In other words,” said the cowboy, “we can go clear -to Boston, if we have to. What time is it, pard?”</p> - -<p>“Nine o’clock.”</p> - -<p>McGlory was startled.</p> - -<p>“Nine o’clock!” he repeated. “We’ve got to have a telegram -on the wires by ten. Let’s pull out and hit the -high places.”</p> - -<p>There was no indication, so far as the boys could see, -that Miles and Barney had discovered the trick which -the boys had played on them. If the two men were coming -back, they were still a good way off.</p> - -<p>The steady hum of the motor, when Matt started it, -filled the boys with delight. There did not seem any -doubt but that the machine would perform every duty demanded -of it. Matt put on the high speed, and they -darted back over the course which they had recently covered.</p> - -<p>As they drew near they watched anxiously for some -sign of those who still remained at the house. No man -showed himself, however, and the car flung past the -wrecked gates and bore away northward.</p> - -<p>“Miles and Barney are welcome to catch us—if they -can,” exulted McGlory, who was riding in front with -Matt.</p> - -<p>The wind of the motor boys’ flight whistled and sang -in their ears, and the engine continued to hum merrily -and steadily. There was a good deal of rattling, for the -mudguards and footboards were loose, but the motor -itself was working as well as the day it had come from -the factory.</p> - -<p>“Sanders must have gone with Tibbits and Dimmock,” -remarked Matt.</p> - -<p>“There was quite a party of pirates in that other car,” -said McGlory.</p> - -<p>“Did you ever see Miles or Barney before we broke -out of the house, Joe?”</p> - -<p>“I never saw Barney, Matt, but Miles was the fellow -who brought Tibbits and me from New York.”</p> - -<p>“You must have had quite a set-to with Miles in the -hall.”</p> - -<p>“Speak to me about that!” laughed McGlory. “Miles -was one surprised man, and don’t you forget it, pard. -The skirmish was short, and I reckon it was the tray of -chuck that did the work for the shuffer. He got the hot -coffee full in his face, and when he fell back he dropped<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span> -his revolver. I hit him once, just to give me time to -pick up the gun, and then I made for the front door. -If that had been locked——”</p> - -<p>McGlory winced.</p> - -<p>“But it wasn’t,” said Matt. “I heard you rush out of -the house, and I got to the hall door just in time to see -Miles going after you. He gave you quite a run, didn’t -he?”</p> - -<p>“I ran till I was black in the face, Matt, doubling back, -dodging around flower beds, and getting mixed up with -all kinds of horticultural arrangements. Gee, man, but -that’s a fine old place to be used by such a gang!”</p> - -<p>“It will cost a hundred or two to repair those gates.”</p> - -<p>“And two or three hundred, I reckon, to get this car -back in its usual shape.”</p> - -<p>“More than that, Joe. I don’t think five hundred will -repair the car as it was before we used it for a battering-ram.”</p> - -<p>“That ten thousand in bullion is costing the tinhorns -pretty dear,” commented the cowboy.</p> - -<p>“They’ll not be paying anything for damages. If Miles -owns this car, he’s the one that foots this part of the -bill.”</p> - -<p>The cowboy laughed.</p> - -<p>“I’ll bet Miles pretty near had an attack of heart -failure when he saw you aiming the car at those iron -gates, and giving it full speed ahead!”</p> - -<p>“We can understand why Miles is so eager to catch us, -I think,” answered Matt.</p> - -<p>McGlory’s thoughts went off on another tack.</p> - -<p>“About what time was it, do you think,” he asked, -“when Tibbits and his gang left the house, last night?”</p> - -<p>“I didn’t look at my watch,” said Matt. “How long -had I been asleep when you awoke me?”</p> - -<p>“About two hours.”</p> - -<p>“Then it was nearly midnight when the car pulled -out.”</p> - -<p>“How long would it take that outfit to reach New -York?”</p> - -<p>This was rather an important point. Up to that moment, -Matt had not given it much thought.</p> - -<p>“I should think,” said he, after a little reflection, “that -the trip would take eight or ten hours. The car would -have to hit a smart clip, at that, and keep it up.”</p> - -<p>“Then Tibbits and his gang couldn’t reach the city -before nine or ten o’clock?” queried McGlory.</p> - -<p>“I don’t think they could.”</p> - -<p>“I reckon there’s plenty of hope, yet,” and the cowboy -heaved a long breath. “There’s a house, Matt,” he -added abruptly. “We’re getting out of the woods.”</p> - -<p>“We’ll probably see a town pretty soon. Wonder what -the speed limit is through the villages in this part of the -country?”</p> - -<p>“Never mind the speed limit, pard. Keep her wide -open.”</p> - -<p>Five minutes more of rapid traveling saw the houses -thicken along the road. People began to be seen, and -two or three machines were passed.</p> - -<p>“Better slow down,” a passenger in one of the cars -called to the boys as they scurried past. “They’ll nab -you in Leeville if you don’t.”</p> - -<p>Matt thought the advice good, and heeded it.</p> - -<p>The disreputable appearance of the red car excited a -good deal of curiosity. McGlory, too, came in for a fair -share of guying. He had on the dress suit, of course, -and, although he had lost the white cap, he still wore the -apron.</p> - -<p>“I’ve been too excited to think about the apron,” he -laughed, removing the object, and casting it into the -road. “I’m wearing this dress suit, I reckon, at the -wrong end of the day, but I can’t get rid of that for a -while yet.”</p> - -<p>Neither of the boys had a hat, but that fact was of -minor importance.</p> - -<p>A turn in the road brought them into the outskirts of -a village. The road itself formed the main street of the -place, and while the boys were jogging at a very leisurely -gait toward the huddle of store buildings, a man in a -flannel shirt and with his trousers tucked in his boot tops, -jumped across the road, dragging a rattling chain behind -him.</p> - -<p>One end of the chain was fastened to a tree, and before -the battered car reached the man, the other end had been -similarly secured.</p> - -<p>“Sufferin’ blockades!” cried McGlory, as Matt shut -off the power and put on the brake. “What’s the matter -with that Rube?”</p> - -<p>The man who had manipulated the chain advanced -upon the boys from his side of the road, a badge of authority -in the form of a tin star. At the same moment, -another man descended upon the car from the opposite -side of the pike.</p> - -<p>“This looks as though it might prove interesting,” muttered -Matt. “What do you want?” he called to the man -with the star.</p> - -<p>“My name’s Hawkins,” snapped the officer, “and I’m -town constable. You two fellers are pinched.”</p> - -<p>“Pinched?” echoed McGlory. “Why, neighbor, we -weren’t going eight miles an hour.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t keer a blame how fast ye was goin’,” proceeded -the constable aggressively. “That ain’t why ye’re -arrested. Got a telephone message from the old Higbee -place, sayin’ as how two fellers, answerin’ your description, -had stole a motor car. Hiram an’ me’ll jest -git in an’ ride with ye to the lockup.”</p> - -<p>Telephone! The motor boys had entirely forgotten -that modern, everyday convenience.</p> - -<p>They had been trapped in Leeville—and a telephone -message had turned the trick!</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII_IN_AND_OUT_OF_LEEVILLE" id="CHAPTER_XIII_IN_AND_OUT_OF_LEEVILLE">CHAPTER XIII.<br /> -<span class="titlefont">IN AND OUT OF LEEVILLE.</span></a></h2> - - -<p>“Mr. Hawkins,” said Matt, attempting to argue the -matter, and show the constable the error of his way, -“you’re a little mistaken in this matter.”</p> - -<p>“’Way wide of the trail,” chipped in McGlory.</p> - -<p>“You can’t teach me no law,” scowled the constable. -“I know my business.”</p> - -<p>“Of course you do,” went on Matt, signing to McGlory -to let him do the talking. “I’m not saying that -you don’t know all about the law, or are not trying to do -your duty. It’s the fellow at the other end of the line -who has started you wrong.”</p> - -<p>“D’you own this car?” demanded Hawkins, slapping -the broken hood.</p> - -<p>“No, but——”</p> - -<p>“Didn’t you run away with it?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, but if you’ll let——”</p> - -<p>“I calculate that’s a-plenty,” cut in Hawkins, with a -triumphant look at Hiram. “We’ll hop in an’ show ye -the way to the jail.”</p> - -<p>“I want to explain this,” cried Matt.</p> - -<p>“Oh, ye do!” gibed the constable. “I can tell, just by -the look of you, you’re a pair of scalawags. You can’t do -any explainin’ that’ll help your case any.”</p> - -<p>“Take us before a justice,” pleaded Matt.</p> - -<p>“The jedge is away, fishin’, an’ he won’t hold court -till this arternoon. I’ll haul ye up in front o’ him, soon -enough, an’ if he don’t hold ye to a higher court to answer -for the larceny of one benzine buggy, I’ll miss <em>my</em> -guess. Hiram,” and the constable turned to his comrade, -“I’ll git in with ’em, so’st to make sure they don’t -run, then you take down the chain, an’ git in, too.”</p> - -<p>“You bet I will,” assented Hiram, with great alacrity.</p> - -<p>“Is there a telegraph office in town?” asked Matt, -while Hiram was removing the chain.</p> - -<p>“’Course there is,” replied Hawkins. “We got a railroad, -too, and an op’ry house, and everythin’ else that -makes a town worth livin’ in.”</p> - -<p>“We want to stop at the telegraph office and send a -message,” said Matt.</p> - -<p>“No, ye don’t! You fellers can’t play any shenanigin -tricks on Bill Hawkins. I’m too old a hand to be come -over by two younkers like you.”</p> - -<p>“Sufferin’ jaybirds!” growled McGlory. “Say, constable, -this message we want to send is mighty important. -If we can get it through, it will prevent a ten-thousand-dollar -robbery in New York.”</p> - -<p>Bill Hawkins laughed.</p> - -<p>“You’re funnier’n a Joe Miller joke book,” said he. -“Jest as though ye could make me swaller a yarn like -that. Git in, Hiram,” he added. “You drive this automobile -right down Main Street till I tell ye to stop,” he -finished, addressing Matt.</p> - -<p>“Will you let me send that telegram?” pleaded McGlory. -“It will only take a minute.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I guess not,” said the constable, snapping his -lean jaws decisively. “Start the car,” he ordered sternly.</p> - -<p>Matt took two five-dollar bills from his pocket, offering -one to each of the men.</p> - -<p>“You can read the telegram, Mr. Hawkins,” said Matt. -“It’s important.”</p> - -<p>Hawkins went up on his toes and fairly bristled.</p> - -<p>“Say,” he snorted, “you ain’t got money enough to -bribe me from doin’ my duty. Now I <em>know</em> ye’re -crooked. Tryin’ to bribe Bill Hawkins! Well, by jing! -What d’ye think o’ that, Hiram?”</p> - -<p>“Scand’lous!” gurgled Hiram, horror-stricken.</p> - -<p>McGlory leaned toward Matt.</p> - -<p>“Put on full speed, pard,” he whispered excitedly, -“and let’s snake ’em out into the country.”</p> - -<p>But Matt shook his head and started the car slowly -into the village.</p> - -<p>All the inhabitants of the place, Matt judged, had been -drawn to the scene of the “arrest.” Men, women, children, -and dogs clustered around the car, and proceeded -with it as it took its melancholy way along the street.</p> - -<p>“There’s the place,” said Hawkins, pointing, “that two-story -red buildin’ on the right. Hardware store on the -first floor and the jail’s upstairs.”</p> - -<p>Matt steered for the curb, and halted the car at the -edge of the walk, then Hawkins took him in charge, -Hiram looked after McGlory, and the motor boys were -led toward an outside stairway by which they were to -climb to the “jail.”</p> - -<p>The cowboy, halting at the foot of the stairs, renewed -his desperate attempt to get permission to send his telegram. -Hiram spoke harshly, Hawkins put in a few warm -words, and the crowd jeered. Then McGlory gave up, -and followed Hawkins and Matt as they climbed the -stairs.</p> - -<p>The second floor of the building was partitioned into -two rooms. A sign proclaimed that the front room was -occupied by a “Justice of the Peace,” while another sign, -bearing the one word, “Jail,” set forth the uses to which -the rear room was put.</p> - -<p>Matt and McGlory, it appeared, were the only occupants -of the jail. The room was meagrely furnished, -with a table, a cot, and two chairs, and there were two -grated windows overlooking the rear of the premises.</p> - -<p>Here the motor boys were left, McGlory sinking disconsolately -into one of the chairs, while Matt roamed -around, making himself as familiar as possible with the -situation.</p> - -<p>From the grated windows he could look off for half a -block to the railroad station. The station building was -about as large as a good-sized packing case, and there -was one spur track, running between the main track and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> -the rear of the hardware store, with a lonely flat car on -the rails.</p> - -<p>“Here’s a go!” wailed McGlory. “Jugged! Jugged by -a country constable, just when a telegram might save the -day for us in New York! Sufferin’ cats! Can’t we do -something, pard? We’re not going to let a couple of -hayseeds knock us out like this, are we?”</p> - -<p>Matt was trying the bars at the windows. The ends -of the bars were set into the wood of the casing, and the -casing was old, and partly decayed.</p> - -<p>“We can break out,” said Matt, “but what good will -that do us, Joe? We’d be apprehended by the villagers -before you could get to the telegraph office. It won’t be -possible to send a message from here.”</p> - -<p>“How can we send it from anywhere,” cried the cowboy, -“if we don’t get away from this place?”</p> - -<p>“Jail-breakers are apt to have quite a hard time of it.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll take my chances on the hard time if we can make -a getaway.”</p> - -<p>“The only thing for us to do, so far as I can see, is to -wait till the judge gets back from his fishing trip. We -can talk to <em>him</em>, and he’ll have to listen to us.”</p> - -<p>Matt sat down, and McGlory, grumbling his disgust, -started up and went to one of the windows. Laying hold -of a bar he gave it a wrench, breaking the end completely -out of the wood. A gap was left, through which the -boys might squeeze their way to liberty—if it seemed -advisable.</p> - -<p>“There’s a shed under the window,” reported McGlory. -“We could get out on the shed and reach the ground too -easy for any use.”</p> - -<p>“That part of it is all right,” returned Matt, “but how -could we get out of town without being seen? There’s -the rub, Joe. Be guided by me, and let’s wait for the -justice.”</p> - -<p>“There’s no telling when he’ll get here. Why, right -now, this minute, Tibbits may have his pals at the bank!”</p> - -<p>Urged on by his frantic thoughts, the cowboy began -hoisting the window. In a few moments, a path to freedom, -through the bars and over the shed roof, lay open -to the motor boys.</p> - -<p>“Let’s make a try of it, pard,” pleaded McGlory. “We -can reach the spur track, crawl along it through the -bushes, and maybe get out of the town. Then we can -hoof it to the next town, drop in at a telegraph office——”</p> - -<p>“And find a telegram from Leeville asking the authorities -to capture and hold us as jail-breakers,” said Matt.</p> - -<p>“We haven’t done anything we ought to be jugged for, -have we?” demanded McGlory.</p> - -<p>“Of course not.”</p> - -<p>“Then it’s right for us to get away if we can, isn’t it?”</p> - -<p>“Certainly, Joe, but I don’t see how we can manage it.”</p> - -<p>Just at that moment a distant whistle was heard.</p> - -<p>“A train!” exclaimed McGlory. “If it stops here, -Matt, why can’t we——”</p> - -<p>Matt caught the inspiration of his chum’s words. -Again fortune was favoring him and McGlory. There -was a chance to escape, but they would have to be quick -if they took advantage of it.</p> - -<p>“Crawl through the window, Joe!” whispered Matt. -“Be wary! The jig’s up if we’re seen.”</p> - -<p>The cowboy began at once crowding himself through -the bars. He succeeded, and alighted on the roof of the -shed on hands and knees. Matt followed, made his way -carefully over the top of the shed, dropped from the edge -of the roof, and found himself beside his chum at the -rear of the hardware store.</p> - -<p>The train was just pulling into the station. Without -losing a moment, the boys scrambled over a fence, skirmished -onward under the screen of the flat car, dodged -beneath it, raced across the narrow stretch separating the -spur from the main track, and climbed aboard the forward -coach of the train.</p> - -<p>The station was on the other side of the cars, and, so -far as the boys could discover, not an inhabitant of the -village had seen them.</p> - -<p>Where the train was going they did not know; but they -did know that it would halt at a more friendly town than -Leeville, that there would be a telegraph office in the -town, and that they could forward their message to New -York.</p> - -<p>“In and out of Leeville,” murmured the cowboy, as he -and Matt sank breathlessly into a seat. “I reckon old -Bill Hawkins will have another guess coming, eh?”</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV_SENDING_THE_TELEGRAM" id="CHAPTER_XIV_SENDING_THE_TELEGRAM">CHAPTER XIV.<br /> -<span class="titlefont">SENDING THE TELEGRAM.</span></a></h2> - - -<p>The conductor, when he came through the train collecting -tickets, was somewhat taken aback at the sight of -Matt and McGlory.</p> - -<p>“Where’d you get on?” he inquired, looking the boys -over and grinning a little at McGlory’s bare head and -dress suit.</p> - -<p>“At Leeville,” said Matt.</p> - -<p>“There was only one man got on at Leeville. I didn’t -see you.”</p> - -<p>“We climbed aboard the train on the side that was -away from the station,” explained McGlory. “We were -in a rush, and got aboard the handiest way we could.”</p> - -<p>“You were in so big a rush that you forgot your hats,” -commented the conductor suspiciously. “Where are you -going?”</p> - -<p>“Where does this train go, conductor?” put in Matt.</p> - -<p>“Fall River.”</p> - -<p>“Then we’ll pay our fares to Fall River,” and Matt -handed the conductor a bill.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span></p> - -<p>“You’re a queer pair, and no mistake,” said the railroad -man, while making change.</p> - -<p>“What’s the next stop?” continued Matt.</p> - -<p>“Stoughton.”</p> - -<p>“Do you stop long enough at Stoughton so we could -get off and send a telegram?”</p> - -<p>“You have the message all written out and I guess -you’ll have time.”</p> - -<p>With a puzzled look at the boys, the conductor left the -car.</p> - -<p>Matt, on the back of the colonel’s letter to McGlory, -began writing out the message.</p> - -<p>“Mark it ‘rush’” said McGlory, “and address it to -the cashier of the Merchants’ & Miners’ National.”</p> - -<p>“I’ve got that,” answered Matt.</p> - -<p>Then, as plainly as he could, he wrote the following:</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>“Order for two bars bullion, given to Joe McGlory by -Colonel M. A. Billings, of Tucson, Arizona, stolen. If -presented, hold bullion until you hear from me.</p> - -<p class="marginrightindent">“<span class="smcap">Joe McGlory.</span>”</p></blockquote> - -<p>Matt handed the message to his chum to read.</p> - -<p>“That’ll do the trick,” said McGlory, “providing the -gold hasn’t already been delivered. I hope that car of -Tibbits’ broke down somewhere, and that he was hung -up for a few hours on the road to New York. That’s our -only hope, Matt.”</p> - -<p>Before Matt could answer, the conductor came along -the aisle, ushering a gray-whiskered man who was carrying -a carpetbag.</p> - -<p>“Here they are,” said the conductor to his companion, -halting opposite the boys. “Do you know them?”</p> - -<p>“Well, by hokey!” ejaculated the other, staring at the -motor boys as though they were a couple of ghosts.</p> - -<p>“Know them?” repeated the conductor.</p> - -<p>“I’ve seen ’em, conductor,” was the reply. “Bill Hawkins, -our town constable, arrested them two fellers for -stealin’ an automobile, an’ they was put in the lockup -not more’n an hour ago. How the nation did you fellers -git out?”</p> - -<p>That was not a time to dodge responsibility. The -truth, and the whole truth, must be told.</p> - -<p>“I had an idea something was wrong with you two -chaps,” frowned the conductor. “This man”—he nodded -to the gray-bearded stranger—“got on at Leeville, so I -thought I’d bring him forward to have a look at you. -Surprising information he’s giving me. What have you -got to say for yourselves?”</p> - -<p>Sternness had crept into the conductor’s voice.</p> - -<p>“The gentleman from Leeville is telling the truth,” replied -Matt. “I and my chum <em>were</em> arrested by the constable -and put in the Leeville town jail, but we twisted a -bar from the window, crawled over the roof of a shed, -and caught this train.”</p> - -<p>“Well, well!” gasped the man from Leeville.</p> - -<p>“You’ll get off at Stoughton, all right,” said the conductor, -“but it’ll be for something beside sending a telegram.”</p> - -<p>“Wait a minute, conductor,” begged Matt. “If you -and the other gentleman have time to listen, I want to -tell you just what happened. We’ll be as quick as we -can.”</p> - -<p>The conductor hesitated.</p> - -<p>“There are two sides to a story, you know,” went on -Matt earnestly. “You’ve got one side, and now, in justice -to us, you ought to have ours.”</p> - -<p>There was something in Matt’s steady gray eyes that -lent a powerful appeal to his words. The conductor, -turning back the forward seat, motioned to the man from -Leeville to sit by the window.</p> - -<p>“Now,” said the conductor, sitting down, “I haven’t got -much time. We’ll be at Stoughton in fifteen minutes. -Fire away.”</p> - -<p>A good deal of detail was necessary, if Matt wanted to -make out a strong case for himself and McGlory, so he -began with the receipt of the colonel’s letter by his chum, -and offered the letter in evidence. It was read by both -the conductor and the Leeville man.</p> - -<p>Then, taking events in sequence, Matt went over his -and McGlory’s experiences during the preceding day, -while they were prisoners in the old Higbee house and -while they were fighting for their freedom.</p> - -<p>It was an exciting story, and was listened to with deepest -interest, not only by the conductor and the Leeville -man, but also by two or three other passengers, as well.</p> - -<p>“By hokey,” murmured the Leeville man, when the -recital was finished, “if that’s the truth, young feller, you -an’ your friend ought to have a medal. I never heard -anythin’ like it before.”</p> - -<p>“You said you wanted to send a telegram from Stoughton,” -observed the conductor. “Who was the telegram -going to?”</p> - -<p>“To the New York bank,” replied Matt, “in order to -keep the bullion from being delivered to Tibbits and his -gang.”</p> - -<p>“Have you written out the message?”</p> - -<p>“Here it is,” and Matt turned over the colonel’s letter -and showed the message to the trainman.</p> - -<p>The conductor read it through carefully, and then read -it aloud to the man from Leeville.</p> - -<p>“To my mind,” said the conductor, “this is evidence -that these lads are telling the truth. They wrote that -message before I brought you here to identify them, so -they couldn’t have framed it up to get out of a tight -place.”</p> - -<p>“I’m pretty sure they’re tellin’ the truth,” returned the -man from Leeville, “because their story holds together. -Mr. Higbee, I happen to know, has a nephew who’s a -good deal of a black sheep. His name ain’t Tibbits, but -it ain’t likely he’d have given his real name while doin’ -underhand work like what he was up to. Mr. Higbee,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span> -too, left this nephew at the country place to look after -it while he an’ his family are abroad.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll bank on Motor Matt and Joe McGlory!” declared -the conductor, reaching over to slap each of the boys -on the shoulder. “If that Leeville constable had known -as much as the law allows, he’d have given the lads -a chance to tell their side of the story; and for him to -refuse to let them send such an important telegram was -an outrage. I hope,” the conductor added to Matt, “that -the message will be received in time to save the bullion. -In order to make sure that it is rushed through, you’d -better let me attend to the sending of it myself.”</p> - -<p>“That’s mighty kind of you,” said Matt gratefully.</p> - -<p>“Don’t mention it, my lad,” the trainman answered. -“I’m glad to be able to do something for you.”</p> - -<p>“I’m goin’ to Fall River to visit my married daughter,” -put in the Leeville man, “an’ when I git back home, I’ll -let Hawkins know what I think of his fool way of doing -bizness. It’ll cost him his job, next ’lection, you can lay -to that.”</p> - -<p>“I wouldn’t bear down too hard on him,” counseled -Matt. “Hawkins thought he was doing his duty.”</p> - -<p>“He’s a false alarm,” growled McGlory, “and he ought -to have the pin pulled on him. Maybe I’ve lost a fortune -through his foolishness—I don’t know.”</p> - -<p>At that juncture the train began to slow down.</p> - -<p>“Stoughton!” called the conductor, getting up and -making for the rear door of the car.</p> - -<p>Matt and McGlory watched the conductor as he crossed -the station platform and disappeared inside the telegraph -office. He was gone for a couple of minutes, and when -he reappeared he signaled for the train to pull out.</p> - -<p>“That’s done, my lads,” he announced, when he again -came into the car. “In less than half an hour the telegram -should be in the hands of the cashier.”</p> - -<p>“I hope to gracious it’ll git there in time,” said the -Leeville man. “I’d hate to have it said that ten thousand -dollars was lost jest because a constable in our town -hadn’t sense enough to do the right thing.”</p> - -<p>“Something ought to be done to the rest of that rascally -gang at the old Higbee house,” suggested the conductor.</p> - -<p>“It’s too late for that,” said Matt. “As soon as Joe and -I got clear away from them, the scoundrels probably proceeded -to make themselves scarce.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll bet they’re absent a whole lot,” chimed in the -cowboy. “It was a good deal of scheming they did just -for a measly ten thousand dollars.”</p> - -<p>“That sum is plenty large enough to make a whole lot -of men go wrong,” asserted the conductor. “But, say, -I’d like to have a picture of you two boys breaking -through those iron gates in that automobile! It’s a wonder -you didn’t get killed.”</p> - -<p>“I should say so!” breathed the man from Leeville. -“You ought to’ve seen them gates, conductor. I’ve seen -’em, dozens o’ times. They’re big, an’ high, an’ hinged to -heavy brick columns. It’s a miracle that car wasn’t -smashed to kindlin’ wood, an’ the youngsters along with -it.”</p> - -<p>“I was pretty sure we’d get through,” said Matt, “or -we wouldn’t have tried it.”</p> - -<p>“He’s the lad to figure things out,” expanded McGlory -proudly. “His mind works like a rapid-fire gun, an’ it -ain’t often he misses the bull’s-eye, either.”</p> - -<p>“I guess you hit it off about right,” laughed the conductor. -“I’m glad you had the nerve to tell me the whole -story, Motor Matt, and that you didn’t try to dodge -when I confronted you with this gentleman from Leeville. -What you’ve said has made me your friend, and -I’ll bet the Leeville man feels the same way.”</p> - -<p>“You bet he does,” avowed that gentleman, with emphasis.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV_AT_THE_BANK" id="CHAPTER_XV_AT_THE_BANK">CHAPTER XV.<br /> -<span class="titlefont">AT THE BANK.</span></a></h2> - - -<p>It was about two o’clock in the afternoon when a touring -car drew up in front of the Merchants’ & Miners’ -Bank. There were five passengers in the automobile—four -besides the driver.</p> - -<p>The driver was Sanders, and beside Sanders sat Tibbits. -In the tonneau were Dimmock, his daughter, and a -young fellow who wore clothes that were a very poor fit -and who seemed exceedingly nervous.</p> - -<p>“Buck up!” admonished Dimmock to the young man. -“Show what you’re made of now, Charley.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll—I’ll do the best I can,” answered Charley.</p> - -<p>“Let <em>me</em> do the talking,” said Miss Dimmock.</p> - -<p>The girl’s attire was scarcely better, in the matter of fit, -than was Charley’s, but she wore her costume with an -easy grace that made up for any of the other shortcomings.</p> - -<p>“We’ll wait for you around the corner,” said Tibbits, -as the girl and the young fellow got out.</p> - -<p>There was a worried look on Dimmock’s face as the -touring car left the front of the bank and moved slowly -along the street.</p> - -<p>“It’s a lot of trouble and risk we’re taking for ten -thousand dollars,” he muttered.</p> - -<p>“You’ve taken more trouble and risk for less, Dimmock,” -said Tibbits.</p> - -<p>“I have, yes,” admitted the other, his face gray with -anxiety, “but never before have I asked Pearl to help -me in such a matter. It will be the last time.”</p> - -<p>“Bah!” sneered Tibbits.</p> - -<p>Meantime, the girl and Charley had entered the bank. -Charley’s nervousness had increased to a painful degree. -The frosty blue eyes of the girl, observing his abstracted -manner, led her to infer that Charley, so far from being a -help, would prove a source of danger.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span></p> - -<p>“You stay back here, Motor Matt,” she whispered, -“and I’ll talk with the cashier alone.”</p> - -<p>Charley was only too glad to receive a command of -that kind. Leaning against a writing desk at the wall, -he watched his companion as she boldly made her way -to the railing behind which the cashier transacted his -business. Something like admiration awoke in Charley’s -soul—that is, if there can be anything admirable in such -an attempt as the girl was about to make.</p> - -<p>The long, yellow tresses had been cut from the girl’s -head—a sacrifice demanded by the exigencies of the case.</p> - -<p>The cashier, as it chanced, was busy with some one -else. Calmly and patiently the girl waited. Finally the -other customer went away, and the girl pushed respectfully -up to the railing and stood under the sharp eyes of -the bank official.</p> - -<p>“What can I do for you?” asked the cashier briskly.</p> - -<p>“This will explain, I think,” said the girl, presenting -the colonel’s order for the bullion.</p> - -<p>The cashier glanced at the order, then gave the girl a -keen scrutiny.</p> - -<p>“You are Joe McGlory, are you?” he queried.</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“Are you personally acquainted with the gentleman -who sent you this order?”</p> - -<p>“I am.”</p> - -<p>It was a pity, indeed, that Dimmock should have forced -his daughter into such a tangle of deception; and doubly -a pity that one so young and fair could have played the -despicable part so boldly, and given her false answers -without a tremor, or a pang of conscience.</p> - -<p>“Have you any other means of identifying yourself?” -went on the cashier.</p> - -<p>Here was the place where the supposed Motor Matt -was to be used, but Charley had not proved equal to the -part.</p> - -<p>“I’m a stranger in town,” said the girl, “and I had supposed -that order of the colonel’s was enough.”</p> - -<p>“Our orders are to deliver the bullion upon the presentation -of this demand. You understand, Mr. McGlory, -that we are simply acting as trustees for Colonel -Billings.”</p> - -<p>The cashier looked at the paper reflectively. He had -many important matters on his mind, matters in which -hundreds of thousands were concerned, and two gold bars -were a mere bagatelle.</p> - -<p>Again he studied the girl. She met his eyes frankly.</p> - -<p>“After all,” said the cashier, “this order lets us out. -I will give you a receipt to sign, and while you are putting -your name to it, I will have the bullion brought from -the safe.”</p> - -<p>He scribbled a few words on a pad of printed receipt -blanks, tore off the top slip and handed it to the girl, nodding -his head toward a writing desk. Pearl stepped to -the desk, and the cashier pressed an electric call for one -of the bank attachés.</p> - -<p>The employee who answered the call brought with him -a telegram.</p> - -<p>“That message just came, sir,” said he, “and is marked -‘rush.’”</p> - -<p>The cashier took the message.</p> - -<p>“Get me that bag of bullion from the vault, Jenkins,” -said he, tearing the end off the yellow envelope, “the two -bars of gold from Colonel Billings, of Tucson, Arizona.”</p> - -<p>“Very well, sir.”</p> - -<p>Jenkins started. The cashier read the telegram at a -glance. Not a line in his face quivered.</p> - -<p>“Oh, Jenkins!” he called.</p> - -<p>The clerk came back.</p> - -<p>“Instead of getting the bullion,” said the cashier, in a -low voice, “bring the bank policeman.”</p> - -<p>Jenkins nodded and started of again, this time in a different -direction.</p> - -<p>“Here is the receipt, sir,” said the girl.</p> - -<p>“Ah,” smiled the cashier, getting up and opening a -wicket. “It will take some little time to get the bullion, -Mr. McGlory, and you had better step into my private -room and wait. Keep the receipt until you receive the -gold. That is only business, you know.”</p> - -<p>He led the girl across the open space in front of his -desk, pushed ajar a door, and waved the girl into the -private room; then, returning to his chair, he waited.</p> - -<p>Meantime, Jenkins had found the bank policeman.</p> - -<p>“Mr. Hamilton wants you at once, George,” said -Jenkins.</p> - -<p>Charley overheard the words, and he had already seen -the cashier talking with Jenkins and ushering the girl -into the private room. That was quite enough for -Charley, and he left the bank in a hurry.</p> - -<p>“What is it, Mr. Hamilton?” asked the policeman, -leaning over the cashier’s railing.</p> - -<p>The cashier handed up the message for the policeman -to read.</p> - -<p>“That sounds business-like, Mr. Hamilton,” said the -policeman, dropping the message on the cashier’s desk.</p> - -<p>“Very much so, George.”</p> - -<p>“It’s from Stoughton, Massachusetts.”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“If the order comes in here, we can arrest the man -that brings it.”</p> - -<p>“It has already been handed in, George. Here it is.”</p> - -<p>A startled look crossed the policeman’s face.</p> - -<p>“Was the bullion delivered?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“Not yet. A young man who says he is Joe McGlory -is in my private room. You know what to do. Take him -out the side entrance so there won’t be a scene out front.”</p> - -<p>The policeman passed through the wicket and entered -the private room. The cashier turned, serene as ever, to -give a greeting to one of the bank’s customers.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span></p> - -<p>A call from the door of his private room caused the -cashier to turn.</p> - -<p>“Just a moment, Mr. Hamilton,” said the policeman.</p> - -<p>The cashier stepped to the door, and the policeman -took his arm and drew him inside.</p> - -<p>The room was empty!</p> - -<p>Then, for the first time, the cashier showed annoyance -and concern.</p> - -<p>“How do you suppose that happened, George?” he -demanded.</p> - -<p>The policeman pointed to an open window.</p> - -<p>“I have always said, Mr. Hamilton,” he remarked, -clinching a point that he had been hammering at for a -long time, “that you ought to have bars across that window. -All the other windows are protected, and that one -should be. The fellow got out, dropped ten feet to the -alley, and has escaped.”</p> - -<p>“But why did he leave?” queried the cashier. “I am -sure he didn’t learn anything from me.”</p> - -<p>“Chaps of that sort are naturally suspicious. The mere -fact that you asked him into the private room was -enough.”</p> - -<p>“See if there is any trace of him outside. He’s a -youngish chap, seventeen or eighteen, I should say, rather -effeminate in appearance, and wears——”</p> - -<p>“I saw him when he came in, sir,” broke in the policeman. -“It will be useless to hunt for him, but I’ll see what -I can do.”</p> - -<p>“Anyhow,” and the cashier laughed as the policeman -hurried away, “we’ve got the bullion.”</p> - -<p>What was it that had aroused Pearl Dimmock’s suspicions? -Only the secret workings of her own mind could -reveal that point. Perhaps, at the last moment, her courage -failed her, and she could not carry out the plan. -This would be the charitable supposition.</p> - -<p>Yet, be that as it may, the girl vanished, and even her -sex remained a mystery to the cashier and the policeman. -The telegram, sent from Stoughton by the motor boys, -had fulfilled its mission. That the girl had escaped was, -to them, an unimportant detail. The main thing was to -foil Tibbits and keep the bullion.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI_A_CLOSE_SHAVE" id="CHAPTER_XVI_A_CLOSE_SHAVE">CHAPTER XVI.<br /> -<span class="titlefont">A CLOSE SHAVE.</span></a></h2> - - -<p>Motor Matt and Joe McGlory reached Fall River in -the afternoon. They had planned to catch one of the -night boats for New York, and there was an hour or two -at their disposal. They put in the time to good advantage -buying clothes. Mr. Jacobs, the man from Leeville, was -familiar with the town and, before going to his daughter’s, -was glad to show the boys around and give them all -the aid he could.</p> - -<p>When he left Matt and McGlory, the lads were completely -equipped in new “hand-me-downs,” and feeling -more like themselves.</p> - -<p>There was a little fear, on their part, that Bill Hawkins -might have used the telegraph lines and that they would -have trouble in Fall River. But the trouble did not materialize.</p> - -<p>“We’re jail-breakers, all right,” laughed McGlory, -when they were safely in their stateroom aboard the -sound steamer, “but Constable Bill, I reckon, has found -out something about Miles and Barney that keeps him -from running out our trail.”</p> - -<p>“Hawkins and his friend Hiram,” said Matt, “have -discovered that they’ve made a mistake. I don’t see how -they could have learned this from Miles or Barney, -though, and I’m rather inclined to think that the justice -of the peace got back from his fishing trip and said a few -words in our behalf.”</p> - -<p>“What’s the difference, pard, so long as we’re at large? -We’ve lost two suits of clothes and collided with a lot of -hard knocks, but we got that telegram off.”</p> - -<p>“Also,” laughed Matt, “we’ve spoiled a pair of nice -iron gates, destroyed some Higbee china, and played hob -with one of the finest motor cars I ever handled. I guess -the damage isn’t all on one side.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll be ‘completely satisfied,’ as Tibbits remarked, -when I learn that the bullion has been saved.”</p> - -<p>“We’ll discover that to-morrow.”</p> - -<p>The motor boys slept their way down the sound, and -reached New York early enough to go to their hotel and -have breakfast before the bank opened. Immediately -after breakfast they took an elevated train for downtown.</p> - -<p>“I’ve connected with a good lesson, pard, during this -taxicab tangle,” remarked McGlory.</p> - -<p>The cowboy was constantly thinking of various matters -connected with recent experiences, and entering them on -the profit side of his personal account.</p> - -<p>“What’s this one, Joe?” asked Matt.</p> - -<p>“Never to read an important letter aloud in a public -place. That’s the thing that got us into this mix with -Tibbits. He happened to be in this hotel, and he happened -to hear the letter. After that—well, I reckon the -memory of what happened is still pretty green.”</p> - -<p>It was with some trepidation that the boys entered the -Merchants’ & Miners’ Bank and made their way to the -cashier’s desk.</p> - -<p>“What can I do for you?”</p> - -<p>It was the same brusque query which the cashier put so -many times a day that its use had become a habit.</p> - -<p>“You can do a whole lot for me, <i lang="es" xml:lang="es">amigo</i>,” said McGlory. -“Principally, though, I’m pining to learn whether two -gold bars from Tucson, Arizona, are still in your strong -box.”</p> - -<p>The cashier was interested at once.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Why do you ask?” he inquired, leaning back in his -chair and studying the faces of the boys.</p> - -<p>He was a proficient reader of character; as a matter of -fact, he had to be. The ability to take a man’s sizing at a -glance had saved him from many a pitfall.</p> - -<p>“Now you’re hitting me right at home,” said the cowboy. -“If that gold is here, I’m the happiest maverick -that ever strayed from the Southwest; if it’s not here, I’m -due to get unpleasant tidings from the colonel. You see, -<i lang="es" xml:lang="es">amigo</i>, I’m the easy mark they call Joe McGlory.”</p> - -<p>A slow smile was working its way over the cashier’s -face. There was something open and free about Joe -McGlory—too free, at times, those who did not know -him might have been tempted to think.</p> - -<p>“You don’t look much like the Joe McGlory who came -here yesterday,” remarked the cashier casually.</p> - -<p>The cowboy lopped down on the railing.</p> - -<p>“I’m going to ask for a hot flat and a cup of ginger -tea in a minute,” he murmured dejectedly. “Friend, was -there a yellow-haired stranger here yesterday, in my -clothes?”</p> - -<p>“Such a person called. Whether he wore your clothes, -or not, of course I can’t say.”</p> - -<p>“Woosh! Johnny Hardluck is getting ready to hand -me one. Stand close, Matt. I’m going to need you, I -reckon. Yes, <i lang="es" xml:lang="es">amigo</i>, they were my clothes. Did she -give you an order from the colonel for the bullion?”</p> - -<p>“She?” echoed the cashier, lifting his brows.</p> - -<p>“Of course you couldn’t know that,” said McGlory, -“but the fellow who claimed to be me was a <i lang="es" xml:lang="es">moharrie</i>. -She gave you the colonel’s order and you handed her the -gold?”</p> - -<p>“No. I had her sign a receipt and was just about to -send for the gold when a telegram arrived. I had——”</p> - -<p>“Then—then——”</p> - -<p>“Just a minute, please. I had the young woman step -into my private room, and instead of sending for the -gold I sent for the bank policeman. When he went into -the room to arrest the girl, she had vanished. Something, -I suppose, had aroused her suspicions. At any rate, she -slipped from a window and made good her escape. I’m -very sorry it happened. It is a blow at law and order -for such a would-be criminal to get away.”</p> - -<p>The cowboy stared; then a glow overspread his face, -and he grabbed for the cashier’s hand.</p> - -<p>“Sorry!” he exclaimed. “Why, pard, this isn’t a time -to be sorry about anything! You’ve still got the colonel’s -gold in your safe, and I’m the happiest stray in all New -York! You hear that, Matt?” and he whirled and caught -his chum by both hands. “It was a close shave, but that -message of ours did the trick! The gold’s here, and Tibbits -has been done—done to a turn! If there weren’t so -many people around, I’d yell.”</p> - -<p>“You say you’re Joe McGlory?” said the cashier casually, -“but I’m from Missouri—after what happened yesterday. -You haven’t the colonel’s order, and even that -isn’t a safe means of identification. How are you going -to prove you’re Joe McGlory?”</p> - -<p>“My pard, Motor Matt, will go on record. Matt, am -I McGlory, Joseph Easy-mark McGlory?”</p> - -<p>“You’re Joe McGlory, all right,” laughed Matt.</p> - -<p>“That’s good, as far as it goes,” said the cashier, “but -who’s to vouch for Motor Matt?”</p> - -<p>“That’s me, pard,” bubbled McGlory. “We vouch for -each other.”</p> - -<p>The cashier joined in the merriment of the motor boys.</p> - -<p>“You’re a team,” said the cashier.</p> - -<p>“A whole team and something to spare,” chuckled the -cowboy. “Honest, I’m feeling so good over that bullion -that I’m nearly locoed.”</p> - -<p>“This will help to identify us,” said Matt.</p> - -<p>He took from his pocket the letter McGlory had received -from the colonel. The conductor, when sending -the telegram from Stoughton, had had the message copied -on a telegraph blank and had returned the letter to -Matt.</p> - -<p>The cashier read the letter carefully.</p> - -<p>“This also is good—as far as it goes,” he remarked. -“The order for the bullion came with this?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“And you lads sent me a telegram yesterday?”</p> - -<p>“You can bet your roll-top desk against a copper cent -we did. If you knew how we had to work to get that -telegram off to you, you’d rather think we sent it.”</p> - -<p>This, of course, was from the cowboy.</p> - -<p>“Where was the message sent from?”</p> - -<p>“From Stoughton, Massachusetts. Turn that letter -over, neighbor, and you’ll find a copy of the message on -the back of it.”</p> - -<p>The cashier read the copy.</p> - -<p>“That’s good circumstantial evidence, Mr. McGlory,” -said he, handing the letter to the cowboy, “and you can -have the colonel’s gold whenever you come after it. Will -you take it now?”</p> - -<p>“The meeting of the syndicate is called for to-night, at -the office of Random & Griggs,” said McGlory, “and I -don’t want those two bars until the last thing before the -bank closes at three o’clock. That bullion has caused -trouble enough, and I’m putting up my fences against -any more.”</p> - -<p>“Very well; come at three and you’ll get the gold.”</p> - -<p>The boys turned and slowly left the bank.</p> - -<p>“Somehow,” said the cowboy, “I’m glad that girl got -away.”</p> - -<p>“So am I,” answered Motor Matt.</p> - -<p class="center" style="margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em">THE END.</p> - -<p>The next number (363) will contain “A Hoodoo Machine; -or The Motor Boys’ Runabout No. 1313,” by -Stanley R. Matthews.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span></p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - - - -<div class="boxit2"> -<p class="center" style="font-size:200%">BRAVE <span style="font-size:60%">AND</span> BOLD<br /> -<span style="font-size:70%">WEEKLY</span></p> -</div> - -<div class="doublerule" style="margin-top:0.5em"></div> - -<p class="center">NEW YORK, November 27, 1909.</p> - -<div class="doublerule"></div> - -<div class="boxit3"> -<p class="center boldfont">TERMS TO BRAVE AND BOLD WEEKLY MAIL SUBSCRIBERS.</p> - -<p class="center">(<em>Postage Free.</em>)</p> - -<p class="center boldfont">Single Copies or Back Numbers, 5c. 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If not correct you have not been properly -credited, and should let us know at once.</p> -</div> - -<div class="center" style="margin-top:-1.5em"> -<p class="displayinline"><span class="smcap">Ormond G. Smith</span>,<br /> -<span class="smcap">George C. Smith</span>,</p> -<p class="displayinline" style="font-size:250%; vertical-align:10%">}</p> -<p class="displayinline" style="vertical-align:50%"><em>Proprietors.</em></p> -<p class="displayinline" style="padding-left:1em"><b>STREET & SMITH, Publishers,<br /> -79-89 Seventh Avenue, New York City.</b></p> -</div> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<h2><a name="FACE_TO_FACE_WITH_A_MAD_DOG" id="FACE_TO_FACE_WITH_A_MAD_DOG">FACE TO FACE WITH A MAD DOG.</a></h2> - - -<p>“I can’t say that I object very much to the muzzling order,” -remarked Captain Peyton. “I have had too many -experiences with mad dogs, and my voyage with one of them -I am never likely to forget.”</p> - -<p>“How was that?” we inquired eagerly; and after a little -pressing the captain spun us the following yarn:</p> - -<p>The thing happened, he began, on board the ship <em>Globe</em>, -when I was a young man before the mast, coming home in -her from Denmark.</p> - -<p>Our captain had procured the animal for a friend of his, -who lived somewhere in the country, and wanted such a dog -to keep off tramps and other trespassers.</p> - -<p>I have seldom seen a larger or more vicious-looking dog. -He was of the breed called the Great Dane, a kind noted for -size and fierceness; and though only a year old, he did honor -to both these characteristics.</p> - -<p>He would make friends with no one forward, and sometimes -would even show his large white teeth upon a too -familiar caress from the captain, his master pro tem.</p> - -<p>You may be sure that not a single one of us ever kicked -that dog out of the way or took any other liberty with him.</p> - -<p>“That animal will be a treasure to Captain Gale’s friend,” -the second mate remarked one day. “Why, if I had him I -should expect to come home some afternoon to find my wife -in half a dozen pieces, and my children lying about in little -strips. What can a man be thinking of to want such a -creature as that about the place?”</p> - -<p>We used to think that he had more teeth than other dogs—at -least, his mouth appeared absolutely full of them—two -great, white shining rows that it made one shudder to see.</p> - -<p>Once he snapped at little Roy Drew, the ship’s “boy,” and -took a piece out of his duck trousers, but without tearing his -flesh.</p> - -<p>Fortunately Captain Gale was at hand, and a loud, quick -shout from him prevented any further demonstration. He -accused Roy of carelessness, and said the dog would not have -attempted to hurt him if he had been minding his business.</p> - -<p>Roy was dreadfully frightened, though, for it was a narrow -escape.</p> - -<p>“That dog ought to be chained up,” said the first mate.</p> - -<p>“Nonsense!” retorted Captain Gale obstinately, “the animal -will not hurt any one if left alone, and the men must -not meddle with him if they do not wish to be bitten.”</p> - -<p>After a time the brute began to lose his appetite. He -slept more than usual, and at last refused his food altogether. -There was evidently something the matter with him.</p> - -<p>“It would be an awkward matter for us if he had hydrophobia,” -said the first mate.</p> - -<p>“He might easily do so,” replied the second mate. “They -say dogs generally behave like that before going mad.”</p> - -<p>We sailors also felt rather uneasy; but the captain, as -usual, treated the matter very lightly.</p> - -<p>“He may die, of course,” he said, as the mate suggested -some precaution, “but I won’t have him killed; and as to -tying him up just because he won’t eat, I shan’t do that -either. He may be all right again in a day or two.”</p> - -<p>Although the animal slept much, he would often get up -and turn around as if he were not easy in any position. His -eyes, too, had a very strange, glassy stare.</p> - -<p>He remained in this state for a week, sometimes moving a -few feet, but generally asleep.</p> - -<p>He growled at every one who came near him, and I believe -that even the captain, although too obstinate to acknowledge -it, would at last have been glad to see him -knocked on the head.</p> - -<p>When the crisis finally came, it came suddenly. Most of -the foremast hands were aloft in the rigging, I myself being -in the maintop. The mate was busy somewhere about the -deck, and the captain was leaning over the quarter rail, -watching his opportunity to strike a porpoise which had -come under the ship’s counter.</p> - -<p>Presently we heard him shout to the mate:</p> - -<p>“I’ve got him, Mr. Gibson! Come and lend a hand.”</p> - -<p>The officer hurried to assist him; but at that moment another -cry came from the man at the wheel:</p> - -<p>“Look out, Captain Gale! Look out, Mr. Gibson! The -dog is raving mad!”</p> - -<p>As he spoke he let go of the wheel and sprang for the -mizzen rigging. The captain and mate, looking hastily -round, saw the mad brute close behind them, leaping up -aimlessly and snapping at the air. I need not tell you that -they went into the shrouds probably more quickly than they -had ever done before.</p> - -<p>Every one not already aloft got there without loss of time, -so that the deck was soon entirely deserted.</p> - -<p>Meanwhile the dog was traversing the deck at a brisk -trot, snapping at everything in his way.</p> - -<p>Sometimes he would come to a full stop and spring -straight up; at others he would tear away at some large rope, -as if trying to devour it. Occasionally he uttered a wild, -dismal howl.</p> - -<p>What was to be done? Had he been a small dog we might -have attacked and killed him with handspikes; but with so -large and powerful a creature the case was different.</p> - -<p>The captain had a revolver in the cabin, but while we were -becalmed off the Orkney Islands he had shot away all his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span> -cartridges at sea birds that came near the ship, so that now -the firearm was useless.</p> - -<p>All this while the ship was left to herself, the topsails -backing and filling, and the spanker moving from side to -side.</p> - -<p>“Why not try to lasso the brute?” called out the mate at -last.</p> - -<p>The captain thought the suggestion worth acting upon, -and a number of us going down to the foot of the shrouds, -attempted to take off some coils of the running rigging from -the pins.</p> - -<p>But the dog was there before us, and, leaping up, he fixed -his teeth in the shrouds in a way that showed what would -be our fate if we did not keep out of his reach.</p> - -<p>However, as some of us were on one side of the ship and -some on the other, we finally succeeded in getting at the -slack of some of the ropes, and then, standing well up in the -shrouds, we did our best at lasso-throwing. But we were -no cowboys, and all our efforts resulted in failure.</p> - -<p>Our attempts served only to irritate the rabid animal, so -that he was now perfectly frantic, leaping, howling, and -rushing about in a terrible manner.</p> - -<p>Just as we had begun to despair of effecting anything in -this way we heard a shout from forward. It was little Roy -Drew.</p> - -<p>“Hello, there!” he said; “I’m on the bowsprit. I’ve just -come down the forestay. I see how he can be got overboard.”</p> - -<p>As we stood in the shrouds, the ship’s fore and main -courses, which were set, prevented us from seeing the boy, -but we could easily judge of his position and intention also.</p> - -<p>“Look out for yourself, Roy!” was the cry from more -than one voice, as all realized the fearful risk that he ran.</p> - -<p>But the little fellow had his plan. He made a great stamping -and shouting, and the dog, which happened just then to -be forward, leaped upon the forecastle.</p> - -<p>We, who were in the rigging, hurried down to the deck, -no longer thinking of any danger to ourselves, and then the -whole scene was before us.</p> - -<p>Roy had run out along the bowsprit and jib-boom, and the -dog was trying to follow him.</p> - -<p>The upper side of the bowsprit being flat, the mad animal -could easily traverse it, but we did not believe that he would -be able to walk on the jib-boom. To our great alarm, however, -we saw him dash out upon it without falling.</p> - -<p>“Roy! Roy!” we called, “take care of yourself—quick! -quick! Don’t let him get hold of you!”</p> - -<p>But the lad was prepared even for this. Away out on the -end of the boom he stood, with his hand on the flying jibstay, -and when the dog was within a few feet of him, he grasped -the hoops of the sail which were around it and went up the -log rope like a squirrel.</p> - -<p>The mad dog made a sort of half leap, as if to reach him, -staggered, lost his balance, and fell with a splash under the -ship’s bows.</p> - -<p>Probably the sudden immersion threw him into one of -those convulsive fits so common in the rabies, for, after a -few minutes of violent tumbling, he sank outright, and we -saw no more of him.</p> - -<p>“Now,” said Captain Gale, after all was over and the ship -had been put upon her course, “I’ll finish catching my porpoise.”</p> - -<p>And, sure enough, upon going to his line, he found the -iron still fast to it.</p> - -<p>During the remainder of the voyage, concluded Captain -Peyton, little Roy Drew was the hero of the ship. He had -performed what all the rest of us combined had been unable -to accomplish, and even the captain gave him full credit for -his gallant act.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<h2><a name="THE_BOOMERANG" id="THE_BOOMERANG">THE BOOMERANG.</a></h2> - - -<p>Since the memorable time when Captain Cook sailed into -Botany Bay in 1769 and saw the naked native Australian -poising erect to hurl his peculiar weapon, the boomerang has -continued to excite the curiosity and amazement of the -civilized world; and truly the finding of such a scientific -weapon in the hands of this so-called lowest order of mankind -is an astonishing fact, to be simply accepted as another -oddity of this odd, topsy-turvy corner of the world.</p> - -<p>This novel weapon became an intensely interesting object -to me very soon after arriving in Australia; and for the -purpose of studying it, I went persistently among the black -fellows, whose friendship I cultivated in different ways, and -so succeeded eventually in learning how to make and throw -the boomerang. So far, well and good; but of its history I -could learn nothing. Of the origin of the crooked stick -there is no knowledge; one can only conjecture. It is possible -it may have been born with the race itself from the accidental -throwing of a flat stick; for from childhood the black -fellow shows a natural bent for throwing things, as you can -see by watching him use his only other weapons, the spear -and club. The bow and arrow, so common in other lands, -is not used, except in the extreme northern portion of the -great island continent, where there is a mixture of the race -with the Papuan of New Guinea.</p> - -<p>There are the war boomerang, hunting boomerang, and -amusement boomerang. This last is used for light hunting, -such as killing ducks, cockatoos, and parrots, and is the one -that is referred to when speaking of the boomerang. These -sticks measure from a foot and a half to three feet and a half -in length, the fighting and hunting ones being the largest and -heaviest. The hardest and toughest wood is selected, and -the form of the weapon follows the grain of the wood; thus, -if the crook of the root or limb is little or much, so is the -form of the boomerang. You will find that nearly every one -is of a different shape. In my collection I have them varying -from almost straight to a shape like that of the letter V, -nearly straight, curved, plain, ornamented, some with -strange carvings, and all varying according to different sections -of the country and individual tribes, each having its -own make or style, showing respectively rough crudeness or -considerable finish, and being especially characteristic in the -ends or points—all of which a boomerang connoisseur will -distinguish at once, and locate as to tribe and section.</p> - -<p>In the black fellow’s humpy, where he keeps his collection -thrown down in a corner with a pile of spears, clubs, rags, -bark, and skins of kangaroo and wallaby, I have seen very -rare and curious specimens.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span></p> - -<p>The nomad black fellow makes his primitive humpy, or hut, -in a location chosen temporarily, according to his necessities -for hunting, fishing, and the like, by cutting a young sapling -half through about four feet from the ground, and bending it -over to a horizontal position, thus forming a ridge pole, -against which boughs and strips of bark are laid. The covered -side is always against the wind, and before the open -front a fire is always burning or smouldering. He does not -like the wind, and if it changes, presto! the humpy, too, is -changed in a twinkling.</p> - -<p>Down in this humpy corner, underneath the pile of bark -and skins, he will burrow like a rabbit when he goes to sleep, -and from the same place he will provide himself with a -weapon when starting off for a hunt.</p> - -<p>I have been with him at various times and in sundry -places, but remember particularly one tramp with a tall, -bushy-headed fellow, whom somebody had appropriately -named Long Green.</p> - -<p>Starting from the humpy, we crossed a little stretch of -scrubby country, and struck into the sun-fretted gum-tree -forest, locally known as “the bush.” The black fellow is -always on the alert for crooked boughs or roots, and as we -trudged on Long Green in his quiet way kept his keen eyes -on duty. Nothing escaped the observation of this child of -the bush—bird or animal, crooked stick, stripping bark, or -foot track, all were so many letters on the familiar page of -his only book, the book of Nature. However, finding nothing -near, he led the way in and out to a spot where he was -sure of getting crooked roots. When a suitable one was -found and cut away by Long Green’s hatchet, we turned our -faces humpyward.</p> - -<p>Arrived at the camp, fresh fuel was put on the smouldering -fire, the embers were blown into a lively flame, and then -the black fellow began operations by splitting the crook into -slabs, cutting them thinner and thinner until of the required -thickness. This was the first step in the making of a boomerang. -The next was to put the slabs on the fire, where we -watched them roasting and sizzling, for they were green and -full of sap. In this state the wood is very pliable, and from -time to time he took a crook off, held it between his toes, -knees, and teeth, and twisted out all its inequalities. I have -noticed that these people use their teeth with great dexterity.</p> - -<p>More chipping, then more roasting, and the growing boomerang -was now and again tossed carelessly on the ground just -to see how it would act, while he glanced at it sideways, gave -it a poke with his foot, and reminded me of a sedate old tom -cat playing with a mouse. At last he gave it a gentle shy -along the ground; then a stronger motion. It was buoyant, -satisfactory. For the finishing off, it was scraped with a -piece of broken bottle, the edges sharpened all around, and it -was done—the boomerang was made! “White fellow, boss, -chuck!” he said, handing it to me. It weighed about half a -pound; the under side was rather flat, yet not entirely so, and -the upper side slightly rounded, with the ends a little thinner -than the centre. It was about half an inch thick and two and -a half inches broad. After having amused myself while he -was making another, I handed it back to him and told him -to “chuck.” It proved to be a very good one, and he entertained -me with it for a long time. It is held with the flat -side down and the concave edge forward, and is thrown from -over the shoulder. At the moment when it leaves the hand -it must be in an upright or perpendicular position.</p> - -<p>The black fellow, with a short run and a grunt, sent the -thing with a sudden jerk at an angle of some twenty-five degrees. -After whirling through the air for nearly two hundred -feet it began to rise, and its flight curved toward the -left, taking in a circle of a hundred yards or more in diameter, -and fell close to our feet, while throughout its whole -course of nearly a thousand feet it kept up a harsh, whirring -sound, like the wings of a partridge in full flight, the rotary -motion giving it the appearance of a ring or wheel moving -through space. He caused it to form in its course the figure -eight a hundred yards in length, then again he sent it off in a -horizontal direction for a hundred feet or more, when it -quite suddenly turned and flew upward to a great height. It -would wheel along the ground in a straight course and also -in a circle, apparently possessed of some power in itself, -and the black fellow would jump up and down, talking and -ejaculating to it as though it understood him. He was an -excellent thrower, and made it perform two and even three -circles before falling to the ground. At his will it went from -right to left, and from left to right. Most all boomerangs -go but one way, being made for that purpose only.</p> - -<p>Now, all this seems contrary to the laws of nature and -mathematics; but it is all right, and all the eccentric movements -of the boomerang can be accounted for on scientific -principles. Projectile force, rotary motion, and gravitation -do it all, and though these are big words they mean something. -You must not expect to throw it successfully without -long practice. It is dangerous, too, in the hands of a beginner, -for it is then that it “shows off,” and is liable to run -wild and chase some bystander in a most vigorous manner. -It is all very amusing to see a man running to escape, but -he invariably runs the wrong way; and, if hit, it might be -a serious matter for him.</p> - -<p>There were several other humpies near by in the bush, and -whenever my black fellow threw the boomerang the other -fellows would shout “kout kout!” meaning “look out!” and -the women would seize the little naked blacks, and cuff them, -and tumble them into the humpies in a most unceremonious -manner; notwithstanding, their little black heads were soon -peeping out again. The larger boys, of some six or eight -years, were not interfered with, and they would run about -and bring the boomerangs which fell at a distance, for before -we got through there were several black fellows with -their boomerangs in the game. It was great fun. They -stood in a row, I among them, and we sent the boomerangs -chasing through the air. Some were thrown in one direction, -some the opposite, passing each other in their flight; -and as they began to return I had to hop about in a lively -way. The black fellows ditto.</p> - -<p>The boomerang has a favorite trick of hiding itself in -the grass or bushes, and I have looked for one in vain in -an open field, and given it up as lost, when, on returning the -next day, it was found at once. But they cannot hide from -these little black fellows. They have most wonderful eyes, -deep set in their heads, and their sight is perhaps keener -than that of any other member of the human race. When a -boomerang fell at a distance they would run as fast as they -could until near the place, then stand perfectly still for a -moment, like a hunting dog, make a dive into the bushes, -and reappear with the boomerang in the hand. One little -fellow was hit in the calf of his leg while standing thus. -It was a bad cut and bled freely. He disappeared among -the humpies without a whimper, soon coming out again with -a bandage of rags around the wounded leg.</p> - -<p>It was now late afternoon. I knew the blacks liked to -get in under cover before dark, so, with a half-crown to -Long Green, some cakes for the little bushy heads, and -good-bys, I walked off like a veritable savage, grasping -firmly my newly made aboriginal boomerang.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<div class="boxad"> -<p class="center sansseriffont boldfont xxlargefont">☛LATEST ISSUES☚</p> - -<p class="center boldfont xlargefont">BUFFALO BILL STORIES</p> - -<p>The most original stories of Western adventure. The only weekly containing the adventures of the famous -Buffalo Bill. <b>High art colored covers. Thirty-two big pages. Price, 5 cents.</b></p> - -<p class="numberitem3">437—Buffalo Bill’s Panhandle Man-hunt; or, The Comanche -Tigers.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">438—Buffalo Bill at Blossom Range; or, Juniper Joe’s Jubilee.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">439—Buffalo Bill and Juniper Joe; or, The Fool of Folly Mountain.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">440—Buffalo Bill’s Final Scoop; or, Tim Benson, the Tiger of -the Hills.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">441—Buffalo Bill at Clearwater; or, Scouting with Old Nick -Wharton.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">442—Buffalo Bill’s Winning Hand; or, The Mystery of Lost Lake.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">443—Buffalo Bill’s Cinch Claim; or, Bursting the Bubble.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">444—Buffalo Bill’s Comrades; or, Breaking the “Ring” that -Robbed the Indians.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">445—Buffalo Bill in the Bad Lands; or, A Brave Attempt to Prevent -a War.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">446—Buffalo Bill and the Boy Bugler; or, The Mysterious Girl -of Sacred Mountain.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">447—Buffalo Bill and the Heathen Chinee; or, The Missing Witness.</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="boxad"> -<p class="center boldfont xlargefont">BRAVE AND BOLD WEEKLY</p> - -<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> - -<p class="numberitem3">352—Right on Top; or, Yankee to the Backbone. By Cornelius -Shea.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">353—A Clue from Nowhere; or, On a Phantom Trail. By Harrie -Irving Hancock.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">354—Never Give Up; or, Harry Holton’s Resolve. By John L. -Douglas.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">355—Comrades Under Castro; or, Young Engineers in Venezuela. -By Victor St. Clair.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">356—The Silent City; or, Strange Adventures in an Unknown -Country. By Fred Thorpe.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">357—Gypsy Joe; or, The Young Nomad’s Triumph. By John De -Morgan.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">358—From Rocks to Riches; or, The Copper Coterie. By John -L. Douglas.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">359—Diplomat Dave; or, A Young Reporter on the Firing Line. -By Harrie Irving Hancock.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">360—Yankee Grit; or, With Stanley in “Darkest Africa.” By -Harrie Irving Hancock.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">361—The Tiger’s Claws; or, Out with the Mad Mullah. By -Weldon J. Cobb.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">362—A Taxicab Tangle; or, The Mission of the Motor Boys. -By Stanley R. Matthews.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">363—A Hoodoo Machine; or, The Motor Boys’ Runabout No. -1313. By the author of “A Taxicab Tangle.”</p> -</div> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="boxad"> -<p class="center boldfont xlargefont">TIP TOP WEEKLY</p> - -<p>The most popular publication for boys. The adventures of Frank and Dick Merriwell can be had only in -this weekly. <b>High art colored covers. Thirty-two pages. Price, 5 cents.</b></p> - -<p class="numberitem3">697—Dick Merriwell’s Ranch Friends; or, Sport on the Range.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">698—Frank Merriwell at Phantom Lake; or, The Mystery of the -Mad Doctor.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">699—Frank Merriwell’s Hold-back; or, The Boys of Bristol.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">700—Frank Merriwell’s Lively Lads; or, The Rival Campers.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">701—Frank Merriwell as Instructor; or, The Skill of the Wizard.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">702—Dick Merriwell’s Cayuse; or, The Star of the Big Range.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">703—Dick Merriwell’s Quirt; or, The Sting of the Lash.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">704—Dick Merriwell’s Freshman Friend; or, A Question of -Manhood.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">705—Dick Merriwell’s Best Form; or, Master of Himself.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">706—Dick Merriwell’s Prank; or, The Exposure of Artie Ettinger.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">707—Dick Merriwell’s Gambol; or, Sport at the County Fair.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">708—Dick Merriwell’s Gun; or, The Mystery of the Covers.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">709—Dick Merriwell at His Best; or, Rounding the Team Into -Form.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">710—Dick Merriwell’s Master Mind; or, The Mysterious Mr. -Snare.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">711—Dick Merriwell’s Dander; or, The Day of Reckoning.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">712—Dick Merriwell’s Hope; or, The Reliance of the Blue.</p> - -<p class="center"><em>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</em></p> - -<p class="center boldfont largefont">STREET & SMITH, Publishers, 79-89 Seventh Avenue, New York</p> -</div> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="boxad"> - -<p><span class="largefont"><b>IF YOU WANT ANY BACK NUMBERS</b></span> 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> - -<p style="padding-left:17em">....................<em>190</em></p> - -<p><em>STREET & SMITH, 79-89 Seventh Avenue, New York City.</em></p> - -<p style="padding-left:3em"><em>Dear Sirs: Enclosed please find</em>..........................<em>cents for which send me</em>:</p> - - -<p><span style="padding-right:5em">TIP TOP WEEKLY,</span> Nos ..............................</p> - -<p><span style="padding-right:2em">NICK CARTER WEEKLY,</span> <span class="spacedquote">“</span> ..............................</p> - -<p><span style="padding-right:1.1em">DIAMOND DICK WEEKLY,</span> <span class="spacedquote">“</span> ..............................</p> - -<p><span style="padding-right:1.65em">BUFFALO BILL STORIES,</span> <span class="spacedquote">“</span> ..............................</p> - -<p>BRAVE AND BOLD WEEKLY, <span class="spacedquote">“</span> ..............................</p> - -<p><em>Name</em>............................<em>Street</em>..........................<em>City</em>.......................<em>State</em>..............</p> -</div> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<div class="boxad"> -<p class="center boldfont xxlargefont">BRAVE AND BOLD WEEKLY</p> - -<p class="center sansseriffont boldfont"><span style="padding-right:2em">ISSUED EVERY WEDNESDAY</span> <span style="padding-left:2em">BEAUTIFUL COLORED COVERS</span></p> - -<p>If the boys of ten or fifteen years ago could have secured such thoroughly good adventure stories, of such -great length, at five cents per copy, the <b>Brave and Bold Weekly</b>, had it been published then, would have -had ten times its present large circulation. You see, in those days, stories of the quality of those now published -in the <b>Brave and Bold Weekly</b> were bound in cloth covers or else published little by little in boys’ -serial papers, under which circumstances each story was paid for at the rate of one dollar or more.</p> - -<p>Now we give the boys of America the opportunity of getting the same stories and better ones for five cents. -Do you not think it is a rare bargain? Just buy any one of the titles listed below and read it; you will not be -without <b>Brave and Bold</b> afterward. Each story is complete in itself and has no connection whatever with -any story that was published either before or after it.</p> - -<p>We give herewith a list of all of the back numbers in print. You can have your newsdealer order them or -they will be sent direct by the publishers to any address upon receipt of the price in money or postage stamps.</p> - -<p class="numberitem2">50—Labor’s Young Champion.</p> - -<p class="numberitem2">53—The Crimson Cross.</p> - -<p class="numberitem2">56—The Boat Club.</p> - -<p class="numberitem2">62—All Aboard.</p> - -<p class="numberitem2">65—Slow and Sure.</p> - -<p class="numberitem2">66—Little by Little.</p> - -<p class="numberitem2">67—Beyond the Frozen Seas.</p> - -<p class="numberitem2">69—Saved from the Gallows.</p> - -<p class="numberitem2">70—Checkmated by a Cadet.</p> - -<p class="numberitem2">73—Seared With Iron.</p> - -<p class="numberitem2">74—The Deuce and the King of -Diamonds.</p> - -<p class="numberitem2">75—Now or Never.</p> - -<p class="numberitem2">76—Blue-Blooded Ben.</p> - -<p class="numberitem2">77—Checkered Trails.</p> - -<p class="numberitem2">78—Figures and Faith.</p> - -<p class="numberitem2">79—The Trevalyn Bank Puzzle.</p> - -<p class="numberitem2">80—The Athlete of Rossville.</p> - -<p class="numberitem2">81—Try Again.</p> - -<p class="numberitem2">82—The Mysteries of Asia.</p> - -<p class="numberitem2">83—The Frozen Head.</p> - -<p class="numberitem2">84—Dick Danforth’s Death Charm.</p> - -<p class="numberitem2">85—Burt Allen’s Trial.</p> - -<p class="numberitem2">89—The Key to the Cipher.</p> - -<p class="numberitem2">90—Through Thick and Thin.</p> - -<p class="numberitem2">91—In Russia’s Power.</p> - -<p class="numberitem2">92—Jonah Mudd, the Mascot of -Hoodooville.</p> - -<p class="numberitem2">96—The Fortunes of a Foundling.</p> - -<p class="numberitem2">97—The Hunt for the Talisman.</p> - -<p class="numberitem2">98—Mystic Island.</p> - -<p class="numberitem2">99—Capt. Startle.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">100—Julius, the Street Boy.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">101—Shanghaied.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">102—Luke Jepson’s Treachery.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">103—Tangled Trails.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">106—Fred Desmond’s Mission.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">107—Tom Pinkney’s Fortune.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">108—Detective Clinket’s Investigations.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">109—In the Depths of the Dark -Continent.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">110—Barr, the Detective.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">111—A Bandit of Costa Rica.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">112—Dacy Dearborn’s Difficulties.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">113—Ben Folsom’s Courage.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">114—Daring Dick Goodloe’s Apprenticeship.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">115—Bowery Bill, the Wharf Rat.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">117—Col. Mysteria.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">118—Electric Bob’s Sea Cat.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">119—The Great Water Mystery.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">120—The Electric Train in the -Enchanted Valley.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">122—Lester Orton’s Legacy.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">123—The Luck of a Four-Leaf -Clover.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">124—Dandy Rex.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">125—The Mad Hermit of the Swamps.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">126—Fred Morden’s Rich Reward.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">127—In the Wonderful Land of Hez.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">128—Stonia Stedman’s Triumph.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">129—The Gypsy’s Legacy.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">130—The Rival Nines of Bayport.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">131—The Sword Hunters.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">132—Nimble Dick, the Circus Prince.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">134—Dick Darrel’s Vow.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">135—The Rival Reporters.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">136—Nick o’ the Night.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">137—The Tiger Tamer.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">138—Jack Kenneth at Oxford.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">139—The Young Fire Laddie.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">140—Dick Oakley’s Adventures.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">141—The Boy Athlete.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">142—Lance and Lasso.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">143—New England Nick.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">144—Air-Line Luke.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">145—Marmaduke, the Mustanger.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">146—The Young Desert Rovers.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">147—At Trigger Bar.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">148—Teddy, from Taos.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">149—Jigger and Ralph.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">150—Milo, the Animal King.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">151—Over Many Seas.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">152—Messenger Max, Detective.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">153—Limerick Larry.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">154—Happy Hans.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">155—Colorado, the Half-Breed.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">156—The Black Rider.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">157—Two Chums.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">158—Bantam Bob.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">159—“That Boy, Checkers.”</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">160—Bound Boy Frank.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">161—The Brazos Boy.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">162—Battery Bob.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">163—Business Bob.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">164—An Army Post Mystery.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">165—The Lost Captain.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">166—Never Say Die.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">167—Nature’s Gentleman.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">168—The African Trail.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">169—The Border Scouts.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">170—Secret Service Sam.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">171—Double-bar Ranch.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">172—Under Many Suns.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">173—Moonlight Morgan.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">174—The Girl Rancher.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">175—The Panther Tamer.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">176—On Terror Island.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">177—At the Double X Ranch.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">179—Warbling William.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">180—Engine No. 13.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">181—The Lost Chief.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">182—South-paw Steve.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">183—The Man of Fire.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">184—On Sampan and Junk.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">185—Dick Hardy’s School Scrapes.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">186—Cowboy Steve.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">187—Chip Conway’s White Clue.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">188—Tracked Across Europe.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">189—Cool Colorado.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">190—Captain Mystery.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">191—Silver Sallie.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">192—The Ranch Raiders.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">193—A Baptism of Fire.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">194—The Border Nomad.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">195—Mark Mallory’s Struggle.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">196—A Strange Clue.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">197—Ranch Rob.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">198—The Electric Wizard.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">199—Bob, the Shadow.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">200—Young Giants of the Gridiron.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">201—Dick Ellis, the Nighthawk Reporter.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">202—Pete, the Breaker Boy.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">203—Young Maverick, the Boy from -Nowhere.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">204—Tom, the Mystery Boy.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">205—Footlight Phil.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">206—The Sky Smugglers.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">207—Bart Benner’s Mine.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">208—The Young Ranchman.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">209—Bart Benner’s Cowboy Days.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">210—Gordon Keith in Java.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">211—Ned Hawley’s Fortune.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">212—Under False Colors.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">213—Bags, the Boy Detective.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">214—On the Pampas.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">215—The Crimson Clue.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">216—At the Red Horse.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">217—Rifle and Rod.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">218—Pards.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">219—Afloat with a Circus.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">220—Wide Awake.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">221—The Boy Caribou Hunters.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">222—Westward Ho.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">223—Mark Graham.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">225—“O. K.”</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">226—Marooned in the Ice.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">227—The Young Filibuster.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">228—Jack Leonard, Catcher.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">229—Cadet Clyde Connor.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">230—The Mark of a Thumb.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">231—Set Adrift.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">232—In the Land of the Slave -Hunters.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">233—The Boy in Black.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">234—A Wonder Worker.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">235—The Boys of the Mountain Inn.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">236—To Unknown Lands.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">237—Jocko, the Talking Monkey.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">238—The Rival Nines.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">239—Engineer Bob.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">240—Among the Witch-doctors.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">241—Dashing Tom Bexar.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">242—Lion-hearted Jack.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">243—In Montana’s Wilds.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">244—Rivals of the Pines.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">245—Roving Dick, the Chauffeur.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">246—Cast Away in the Jungle.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">247—The Sky Pilots.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">248—A Toss-up for Luck.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">249—A Madman’s Secret.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">250—Lionel’s Pluck.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">251—The Red Wafer.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">252—The Rivals of Riverwood.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">253—Jolly Jack Jolly.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">254—A Jay from Maine.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">255—Hank, the Hustler.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">256—At War with Mars.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">257—Railroad Ralph.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">258—Gordon Keith, Magician.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">259—Lucky-stone Dick.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">260—“Git Up and Git.”</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">261—Up-to-date.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">262—Gordon Keith’s Double.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">263—The Golden Harpoon.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">264—Barred Out.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">265—Bob Porter’s Schooldays.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">266—Gordon Keith, Whaler.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">267—Chums at Grandcourt.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">268—Partners Three.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">269—Dick Derby’s Double.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">270—Gordon Keith, Lumber-jack.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">271—Money to Spend.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">272—Always on Duty.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">273—Walt, the Wonder-Worker.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">274—Far Below the Equator.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">275—Pranks and Perils.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">276—Lost in the Ice.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">277—Simple Simon.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">278—Among the Arab Slave Raiders.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">279—The Phantom Boy.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">280—Round-the-World Boys.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">281—Nimble Jerry, the Young Athlete.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">282—Gordon Keith, Diver Detective.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">283—In the Woods.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">284—Track and Trestle.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">285—The Prince of Grit.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">286—The Road to Fez.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">287—Engineer Tom.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">288—Winning His Way.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">289—Life-line Larry.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">290—Dick Warren’s Rise.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">292—Two Tattered Heroes.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">293—A Slave for a Year.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">294—The Gilded Boy.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">295—Bicycle and Gun.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">296—Ahead of the Show.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">297—On the Wing.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">298—The Thumb-print Clue.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">299—Bootblack Bob.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">300—A Mascot of Hoodooville.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">301—Slam, Bang & Co.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">302—Frank Bolton’s Chase.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">303—In Unknown Worlds.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">304—Held for Ransom.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">305—Wilde & Woolley.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">306—The Young Horseman.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">307—Through the Air to Fame.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">308—The Double-faced Mystery.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">309—A Young West Pointer.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">310—Merle Merton’s Schooldays.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">311—Double-quick Dan.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">312—Louis Stanhope’s Success.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">313—Down-East Dave.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">314—The Young Marooners.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">315—Runaway and Rover.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">316—The House of Fear.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">317—Bert Chipley On Deck.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">318—Compound Interest.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">319—On His Mettle.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">320—The Tattooed Boy.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">321—Madcap Max, the Boy Adventurer.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">322—Always to the Front.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">323—Caught in a Trap.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">324—For Big Money.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">325—Muscles of Steel.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">326—Gordon Keith in Zululand.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">327—The Boys’ Revolt.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">328—The Mystic Isle.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">329—A Million a Minute.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">330—Gordon Keith Under African -Skies.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">331—Two Chums Afloat.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">332—In the Path of Duty.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">333—A Bid for Fortune.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">334—A Battle with Fate.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">335—Three Brave Boys.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">336—Archie Atwood, Champion.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">337—Dick Stanhope Afloat.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">338—Working His Way Upward.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">339—The Fourteenth Boy.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">340—Among the Nomads.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">341—Bob, the Acrobat.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">342—Through the Earth.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">343—The Boy Chief.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">344—Smart Alec.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">345—Climbing Up.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">346—Comrades Three.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">347—A Young Snake-Charmer.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">348—Checked Through to Mars.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">349—Fighting the Cowards.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">350—The Mud-River Boys.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">351—Grit and Wit.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">352—Right on Top.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">353—A Clue from Nowhere.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">354—Never Give Up.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">355—Comrades Under Castro.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">356—The Silent City.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">357—Gypsy Joe.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">358—From Rocks to Riches.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">359—Diplomat Dave.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">360—Yankee Grit.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">361—The Tiger’s Claws.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">362—A Taxicab Tangle.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">363—A Hoodoo Machine.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">364—Pluck Beats Luck.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">365—Two Young Adventurers.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">366—The Roustabout Boys.</p> - -<p><b>Price, Five Cents per Copy.</b> If you want any back numbers of our weeklies and cannot procure -them from your newsdealer, they can be obtained direct from this office. Postage stamps taken the same as money.</p> - -<p class="boldfont center">STREET & SMITH, PUBLISHERS, 79-89 SEVENTH AVE., NEW YORK CITY</p> -</div> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<div class="transnote"> -<h2 id="TN_end" style="margin-top: 0em">Transcriber’s Notes:</h2> - -<p>Punctuation has been made consistent.</p> - -<p>Variations in spelling and hyphenation were retained as they appear in -the original publication, except that obvious typographical errors -have been corrected.</p> - -<p>The following change was made:</p> - -<p><a href="#Ref_5">p. 5</a>: want to added (if you want to find)</p> - -</div> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Brave and Bold Weekly No 362, A -Taxicab Tangle, by Stanley R. 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