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diff --git a/old/53607-h/53607-h.htm b/old/53607-h/53607-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 019f38c..0000000 --- a/old/53607-h/53607-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,6291 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" - "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> -<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> - <head> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" /> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> - <title> - The Project Gutenberg eBook of Brave and Bold Weekly No. 363, A Hoodoo Machine; or, The Motor Boys' Runabout No. 1313, by Stanley R. Matthews. - </title> - <style type="text/css"> - -body { - margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - - h1,h2 { - text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ - clear: both; -} - -p { - margin-top: .51em; - text-align: justify; - margin-bottom: .49em; -} - -/*Modified horizontal rules to fix ePub display issue*/ -hr { - width: 33%; - margin-top: 2em; - margin-bottom: 2em; - margin-left: 33.5%; - margin-right: 33.5%; - clear: both; -} - -hr.tb {width: 45%; margin-left: 27.5%; margin-right: 27.5%;} -hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} -hr.short{margin-top:0.5em; margin-bottom:0.5em;width: 10%; margin-left: 45%; margin-right: 45%;} -/*End modified horizontal rule CSS*/ - -table { - margin-left: auto; - margin-right: auto; -} - -.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ - /* visibility: hidden; */ - position: absolute; - left: 92%; - font-size: smaller; - text-align: right; -} /* page numbers */ - -.boxit{ - max-width: 24em; - padding: 1em; - border: 0em solid black; - margin: 0 auto; } - -.boxit1{ - max-width: 45em; - padding: 0.05em; - border-style:solid; - border-color:black; - border-width: 0.1em 0em 0.1em 0em; - margin: 0 auto; } - -.boxit2{ - max-width: 45em; - padding: 0em; - border: 0.2em solid black; - margin: 0 auto; } - -.boxit3{ - max-width: 45em; - padding: 0em; - border: 0em solid black; - margin: 0 auto; } - -.boxad{ - max-width: 35em; - padding: 0em 1em 0em 1em; - border: 0em solid black; - margin: 0 auto;} - -.displayinline{display:inline-block; line-height:1.2} - -.doublerule{ - max-width: 45em; - padding: 0.05em; - border-style:solid; - border-color:black; - border-width: 0.1em 0em 0.1em 0em; - margin: 0 auto; } - -.spacedquote{padding-left:0.6em; padding-right:0.6em} - -.hangindent{ - text-indent: -1.5em; - padding-left: 1.5em; - text-align:left;} - -/* Numbered list with hanging indent, for 1, 2, and 3 digit numbers */ -.numberitem2{ - text-align: left; - vertical-align: top; - margin-left:0.5em; - text-indent: -1.3em; - padding-left: 1.3em; } - -.numberitem3{ - text-align: left; - vertical-align: top; - text-indent: -2.5em; - padding-left: 2.5em; } -/* End of numbered indent CSS*/ - -.center {text-align: center;} - -.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} - -.caption {font-weight: bold;} - -/*Right alignment*/ -.marginrightindent{text-align:right;margin-right:0.75em;} - -/* Images */ -.figcenter { - margin: auto; - text-align: center; -} - -/* Transcriber's notes */ -.transnote {background-color: #E6E6FA; - color: black; - font-size:smaller; - padding:0.5em; - margin-bottom:5em; - font-family:sans-serif, serif; } - -/*CSS to set font sizes*/ -/*font sizes for non-header font changes*/ -.xxlargefont{font-size: xx-large} -.xlargefont{font-size: x-large} -.largefont{font-size: large} -.smallfont{font-size: small} -.boldfont{font-weight:bold} -.sansseriffont{font-family:sans-serif} -.titlefont{font-size:medium} - -/*CSS to force a page break in ePub*/ -div.chapter {page-break-before: always;} - -/*CSS markup for handhelds -- put at end of CSS*/ -@media handheld -{ - img {max-width: 100%; height: auto;} /*Limit width to display*/ -} -/*End CSS for handhelds*/ - - </style> - </head> -<body> - - -<pre> - -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Brave and Bold Weekly No. 363, A Hoodoo -Machine;, by Stanley R. Matthews - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Brave and Bold Weekly No. 363, A Hoodoo Machine; - or, The Motor Boys' Runabout No. 1313. - -Author: Stanley R. Matthews - -Release Date: November 26, 2016 [EBook #53607] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BRAVE AND BOLD WEEKLY NO 363 *** - - - - -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: 598px;"> -<img id="coverpage" src="images/cover.jpg" width="598" 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_THE_CAR_THAT_WOULDNT_BEHAVE">CHAPTER I. THE CAR THAT WOULDN’T BEHAVE.</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#CHAPTER_II_MATT_KINGS_RESOLVE">CHAPTER II. MATT KING’S RESOLVE.</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#CHAPTER_III_A_DEMON_IN_CONTROL">CHAPTER III. A DEMON IN CONTROL.</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV_THE_MANILA_ENVELOPE">CHAPTER IV. THE MANILA ENVELOPE.</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#CHAPTER_V_THE_UNEXPECTED">CHAPTER V. THE UNEXPECTED.</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI_A_DIFFERENCE_OF_OPINION">CHAPTER VI. A DIFFERENCE OF OPINION.</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII_AN_OLD_FRIEND">CHAPTER VII. AN OLD FRIEND.</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII_THE_COLONEL_TRIES_PERSUASION">CHAPTER VIII. THE COLONEL TRIES PERSUASION.</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX_WHAT_AILS_MGLORY">CHAPTER IX. WHAT AILS M’GLORY?</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#CHAPTER_X_IN_THE_GARAGE">CHAPTER X. IN THE GARAGE.</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI_UNCLE_TOM_AGAIN">CHAPTER XI. UNCLE TOM AGAIN.</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII_A_STARTLING_MYSTERY">CHAPTER XII. A STARTLING MYSTERY.</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII_IMPORTANT_DISCLOSURES">CHAPTER XIII. IMPORTANT DISCLOSURES.</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV_MGLORYS_LESSON">CHAPTER XIV. M’GLORY’S LESSON.</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV_HURLING_A_BOMB">CHAPTER XV. HURLING A BOMB.</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI_LOST_A_FORTUNE">CHAPTER XVI. LOST—A FORTUNE.</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#THE_MISSING_BOATS">THE MISSING BOATS.</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#ESKIMOS_TAKE_TO_REINDEERS">ESKIMOS TAKE TO REINDEERS.</a></p> -</div> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 650px;"> -<img src="images/frontispiece.jpg" width="650" height="661" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p>A freight train was almost at the crossing, and, unless -Motor Matt could check the runabout in its wild flight, it would surely -be demolished by the onrushing locomotive.</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. 363.</b> <span style="padding-left:4em; padding-right:4em">NEW YORK, December 4, 1909.</span> <b>Price Five Cents.</b></p> -</div> - -<h1><span style="font-size:125%">A HOODOO MACHINE;</span><br /> -<span class="largefont">OR,</span><br /> -<span class="xxlargefont">The Motor Boys’ Runabout No. 1313.</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_THE_CAR_THAT_WOULDNT_BEHAVE" id="CHAPTER_I_THE_CAR_THAT_WOULDNT_BEHAVE">CHAPTER I.<br /> -<span class="titlefont">THE CAR THAT WOULDN’T BEHAVE.</span></a></h2> - - -<p>“Sufferin’ whirligigs, Pard Matt! Look at that bubble -wagon! Is it trying to turn a handspring, or ‘skin -the cat,’ or climb that telephone pole? I reckon the -longhorn up front don’t know how to run the thing. -Either that, or else he’s ‘bug’ with a big ‘B.’”</p> - -<p>“I should say it’s the car that’s ‘bug,’ Joe. The driver -seems to be trying to control the machine in the proper -manner, but it won’t be controlled. What’s your notion -of it, Billy?”</p> - -<p>“Hoodoo car, Matt. Look at the number of her—thirteen -thirteen. Double hoodoo. You couldn’t expect -no chug wagon with such a tag to behave anything else -than disgraceful. Lo and behold you, if she don’t turn -turtle in the ditch before she goes many more miles -then my name’s not Billy Wells. Watch ’er; keep your -eye on ’er an’ I’ll bet you see something.”</p> - -<p>The three boys were driving along the Jericho Pike -well toward Krug’s Corner—Matt King, Joe McGlory, -and Billy Wells. Billy belonged with a New York -garage from which the boys had secured the touring -car they were using that morning. He was a living -road map, this Billy, and could go anywhere up-state, -or over Long Island, or in Jersey on the darkest -night that ever fell, and he knew every minute just -where he was.</p> - -<p>Matt was doing the driving, and Billy sat beside him -as guide, counselor, and friend. In the back of the -machine was McGlory.</p> - -<p>That was Thursday. Matt and his chum were heeding -a summons that carried them toward the Malvern -Country Club, near Hempstead. After transacting their -business at the Country Club—they did not know what -it was, but believed it would not take them long—they -were planning to return to Krug’s Corner for their -noon meal, and then back to Manhattan by Jackson -Avenue and the Williamsburg Bridge. But plans are -easily made, sometimes, and not so easily carried out.</p> - -<p>The day was bright, the roads were good, and the -motor boys were enjoying themselves. Well along the -Jericho Pike they had come up with a white runabout, -two seats in front and a deck behind, and the actions -of this car aroused their curiosity to such an extent -that Matt slowed down the big machine in order that -he and those with him could follow and watch the performance.</p> - -<p>There was only one passenger in the white car, and he -was having his hands full.</p> - -<p>The runabout would angle from one side of the road -to the other, in apparent defiance of the way the steering -wheel was held, and sometimes it would go its eccentric -course slowly and sometimes with a rush—so -far as those in the other car could see—without any -change in the speed gear.</p> - -<p>The driver of the runabout worked frantically to keep -the machine where it ought to be, but the task was too -much for him.</p> - -<p>Once a telephone pole gave him a close shave, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span> -once his unmanageable car gave a sidewise lurch that -almost hurled it into a machine going the other way.</p> - -<p>“What’s the matter?” Matt hailed.</p> - -<p>The man in the runabout looked around with a facial -expression that was far from angelic.</p> - -<p>“If I knew what was the matter with this confounded -car,” he cried in exasperation, “do you think I’d be side-stepping -all over the road the way I am?” Then, muttering -to himself, he humped over the steering wheel -again.</p> - -<p>“He’s happy—I don’t think,” chuckled McGlory. -“The car’s getting on his nerves.”</p> - -<p>“A car like that would get on anybody’s nerves,” -commented Billy. “The number’s enough to set mine -on edge. Thirteen’s unlucky, no matter where you find -it. That’s right. And when you get two thirteens -bunched together, you’ve sure got a combination that -points a car for the scrap heap. I wouldn’t hold down -the cushions in that roadster for all the money in New -York. No, sir, that I wouldn’t,” and Billy shook his -head forebodingly.</p> - -<p>“Oh, splash!” scoffed Matt. “When a car fools -around like that, Billy, there’s something wrong with -its internal apparatus.”</p> - -<p>“Matt,” went on Billy solemnly, “I’ve seen cars that -hadn’t a thing wrong with ’em, but they was just naturally -crazy and never’d run right. Steer ’em straight, -an’ they’d go crooked; point ’em crooked, an’ they’d go -straight; throw on the reverse, an’ they’d go for’ard; -give ’em the third speed an’ they’d crawl; give ’em the -first an’ they’d tear away like lightnin’—and all the -while, mind you, the engine was running as sweet as any -engine you ever see. The Old Boy himself takes charge -of some cars the moment they’re sold and in a customer’s -hands. I’ve worked in a garage for five years, -and I know.”</p> - -<p>Matt laughed. McGlory laughed, too, but not so -mirthfully. The cowboy had a little superstition in his -make-up and Billy’s remarks had left a fleeting impression.</p> - -<p>“Gammon, Billy, gammon,” said Matt. “If a car is -built right, and works right, it is going to run right. -That stands to reason.”</p> - -<p>“A lot of things happen,” insisted Billy, “that don’t -stand to reason. Now, take that runabout. The engine’s -working fine—from the sound of it. Eh?”</p> - -<p>Matt admitted that, so far as the hum of the motor -was concerned, the machinery seemed to be doing its -part.</p> - -<p>“Well, then,” cried the triumphant Billy, “why don’t -the blooming car run like it ought to?”</p> - -<p>“It’s the steering gear that’s wrong,” Matt answered, -“not the engine, or——”</p> - -<p>Bang!</p> - -<p>Just then the runabout blew up a forward tire. The -machine tried to turn a somersault, and its passenger -went over on the hood and tried to knock off one of -the gas lamps with his head. When Matt brought the -touring car to the side of the runabout, and halted, -the man was on his feet, shaking his fist at the silent -white tormentor.</p> - -<p>“If I had a stick of dynamite,” he declared wrathfully, -“I’d blow this infernal machine to kingdom come! -I’ve been fiddling around the Jericho Road for two mortal -hours, and I could have made better time if I’d -left the car and gone on afoot. But I’ll hang to it, and -make it take me where I’m going. By George, I’ll not -be beaten by a senseless contraption of tires, mud -guards, and machinery.”</p> - -<p>Matt had jumped out of the touring car and was -sniffing at the damaged tire.</p> - -<p>“What makes that smell of gasoline?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“I put in a tube this morning, and washed out the -chalk with gasoline,” said the man.</p> - -<p>“Never use gasoline for cleaning the tubes,” counseled -Matt. “Get all the chalk you can from the outer -tube, and then soak it in wood naphtha or ordinary alcohol. -No wonder your tire blew up. You left gasoline -in the shoe, and when it got hot, it mixed with a -little air in the tube and something had to happen. Have -you got another shoe?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“And a jack?”</p> - -<p>“Of course. When a man goes out with a car like -this he ought to carry a small garage around with -him.”</p> - -<p>“Well, we’ll help you get on the shoe.”</p> - -<p>Matt and Billy worked. McGlory stood near, watching -and talking with the owner of the car.</p> - -<p>After the tire had been repaired, Matt looked over -the runabout critically. Much to his amazement, he -could find nothing wrong.</p> - -<p>“It’s the double hoodoo,” whispered Billy; “that’s all -that’s the trouble.”</p> - -<p>“Much obliged to you,” said the man, cranking up. -“Now we’ll see how she acts.”</p> - -<p>He got in, went through the operations for a fresh -start, but the runabout began backing. While the man -shouted, and said things, the runabout backed in a circle -around the big touring car, then dropped rearward -down a shallow embankment at the roadside—and its -passenger had another spill, out over the rear deck this -time. For a second, he stood on his head and shoulders, -then turned clear over and made a quick move sideways -in getting to his feet. He was afraid, evidently, that -the runabout was coming on top of him. But the car, -almost in defiance of the laws of gravitation, hung -to the side of the steep bank, its position nearly perpendicular.</p> - -<p>“Speak to me about that!” gasped McGlory.</p> - -<p>Matt was scared. From the top of the bank he stood -staring while the man got out of the way.</p> - -<p>“Are you all right?” Matt asked.</p> - -<p>“No thanks to that fiendish machine if I am,” sputtered -the man, laboring frantically up the slope. “It -has tried to kill me in a dozen different ways since I -left home with it. I’m done. Life’s too short to bother -with such an infernal car as that.”</p> - -<p>Fairly boiling with rage, he started along the road on -foot.</p> - -<p>“Wait a minute!” shouted Matt. “Where you going?”</p> - -<p>The man turned.</p> - -<p>“Krug’s,” he answered. “I’ll get a decent, respectable -car there to take me on.”</p> - -<p>“You can telephone to a garage from Krug’s,” suggested -Billy, “and they can send some one to get the -runabout home.”</p> - -<p>“I’m done with the runabout, I tell you. It can stay -where it is until the tires rot, for all of me.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll agree to get it back to the city for you,” said -Matt. “My name’s King, Matt King, and I’m staying -at——”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span></p> - -<p>The man’s rage subsided a little.</p> - -<p>“You’re Matt King?” he inquired.</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“I understand, now, how you happen to know so -much about tubes. They say you’re pretty well up in -motors, too. Well, here’s where I give you the job of -your life. Matt King, I make you a present of that -runabout. Take it—but Heaven help you if you try -to run it.”</p> - -<p>Thereupon the man whirled around and strode off.</p> - -<p>“Oh, I say,” yelled Matt, “you don’t mean it. Wait, -and I’ll——”</p> - -<p>But the man swung onward, paying no heed to what -Matt was calling after him.</p> - -<p>Matt King turned and peered in amazement at his -cowboy chum.</p> - -<p>“Sufferin’ tenterhooks!” exclaimed McGlory. “You’re -loaded up with a bunch of trouble now, pard.”</p> - -<p>“Come on,” urged Billy, moving toward the touring -car with considerable haste. “Don’t lay a finger on -that runabout—don’t have a thing to do with it.”</p> - -<p>But Matt was face to face with a proposition that -caught his fancy. A refractory automobile! Never yet -had he encountered a machine that had got the best -of him. And this runabout couldn’t do it—he was positive -of that.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II_MATT_KINGS_RESOLVE" id="CHAPTER_II_MATT_KINGS_RESOLVE">CHAPTER II.<br /> -<span class="titlefont ">MATT KING’S RESOLVE.</span></a></h2> - - -<p>“That man was so mad he was locoed,” observed the -cowboy.</p> - -<p>“Certainly he was, Joe,” agreed Matt. “If he hadn’t -been, he’d never have given away that machine. It’s -a powerful car and worth twenty-five hundred of any -man’s money.”</p> - -<p>“Don’t tamper with it, Matt,” implored Billy. “When -that fellow gets over his mad spell he’ll want the runabout -back. Let him have it—and let him find it right -where he left it.”</p> - -<p>“If he hadn’t been worked up like he was,” said Matt, -“he wouldn’t have given the car to me. I won’t take -it, of course, but Joe and I will use it to take us to the -Malvern Country Club, and then back to Manhattan. -By to-morrow that fellow will be looking for me and -wanting his car back.”</p> - -<p>“You wouldn’t think of such a thing as wanting to -bother with that runabout!” gasped Billy, from his seat -in the touring car.</p> - -<p>“Yes, I would,” answered Matt. “Why not?”</p> - -<p>“The number—thirteen thirteen!”</p> - -<p>“Bosh!”</p> - -<p>“It’s a hoodoo car.”</p> - -<p>“Never mind about that, Billy. You go on to Krug’s -Corner and get a stout rope. If you overtake the owner -of the runabout you can give him a lift. See him, anyhow, -and tell him we’ll take the runabout to New -York and that he can have it whenever he wants it.”</p> - -<p>“Don’t do it!” begged Billy. “I’ve seen enough of -these hoodoo cars to know they’ll prove the death of -somebody. Don’t let that runabout prove the death of -you!”</p> - -<p>“Go get the rope, Billy,” said Matt sharply, “and -hustle back with it.”</p> - -<p>There was that in the voice of Matt King which proved -that he had made up his mind, and that there was no -shaking his determination. With an ominous movement -of the head, Billy started for Krug’s Corner.</p> - -<p>“Pard,” remarked McGlory earnestly, “I reckon the -runabout is heap bad medicine. Do you think you ought -to mix up with it?”</p> - -<p>“Are you going back on me, Joe?” asked Matt.</p> - -<p>“Not so you can notice. I’d get on a streak of -greased lightning with you, if you said the word, and -help you ride it to the end of the One-way Trail, but -I think this is too big an order for us. Sufferin’ thunderbolts! -Why, pard, that car won’t mind the helm or -do the thing it ought to do even when you pull the -right thing. When it began to crawfish around the road, -the reverse wasn’t on.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know about that. It’s on now,” and he looked -down at the runabout. “I guess the man must have -thrown on the reverse instinctively when the tire blew -up. Think of rinsing the chalk from the outer tube -with gasoline!” Matt laughed. “There was good cause -for the tire going wrong, and there may be other good -and sufficient causes for the machine’s sizzling around -like it did. Anyhow, we’ll try it, and see how it will -behave for us.”</p> - -<p>“But how can we lay a course for the Malvern Country -Club? Billy will have to show us.”</p> - -<p>“Billy can tell us how to go, and we’ll get to the -Country Club all right. Hello! What’s this?”</p> - -<p>Matt began slipping and sliding down the slope at -the side of the runabout. Just at the point where the -driver of the car had taken his header, the young motorist -picked up a long manila envelope, unsealed.</p> - -<p>“I reckon that dropped out of the man’s clothes while -he was upside down,” ventured McGlory.</p> - -<p>“That’s a cinch,” said Matt. “There’s no address on -the envelope, and no printed card in the corner, but it -may be we can find the man’s name and address on the -papers inside. If he won’t come for his car, we’ll take -it to him.”</p> - -<p>“I’m a Piute,” mumbled McGlory, “if I feel right -about this runabout business.”</p> - -<p>“Billy’s talk about hoodoo cars has got you on the -run,” grinned Matt. “You’ll feel different when we’re -slamming along the pike with the runabout under perfect -control. It’s my opinion that man doesn’t know -a whole lot about running a car.”</p> - -<p>While Matt was moving here and there about the -steep bank, making a few investigations of the “hoodoo” -machine, Billy came racing back.</p> - -<p>“There’s your rope, Matt,” said he, tossing a coiled -cable into the road.</p> - -<p>Matt crept warily up the bank to the front of the -runabout.</p> - -<p>“Did you see the man, Billy?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“Sure I did. Let him ride with me for half a mile.”</p> - -<p>“You told him what we were going to do?”</p> - -<p>“I did. He says that if you get that car back to the -city, and try to turn it over to him, he’ll have you arrested -for assault with intent to do great bodily damage. -He says the runabout is a powder mine, and liable -to blow up at any minute. ‘Tell Matt King to keep it,’ -he said, ‘providing he’s got the nerve.’ That’s the way -he handed it to me. Take my advice,” Billy clamored -desperately, “and leave it alone!”</p> - -<p>“Joe and I are going to use it,” answered Matt.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span> -“Hand me an end of that rope, pard,” he added to the -cowboy.</p> - -<p>McGlory passed him the rope, and Matt made it secure -to the front of the runabout.</p> - -<p>“Back up, Billy,” called Matt, “and tie the other end -of the rope to the touring car. You’ve got to give us -a lift into the road.”</p> - -<p>“What if something should happen?” demurred Billy.</p> - -<p>“Nonsense!” said Matt impatiently.</p> - -<p>“You can’t give the car back to that fellow if he -won’t take it.”</p> - -<p>“We’ll make him take it. He’s a very foolish man, -and he’s going to feel differently when his temper -cools.”</p> - -<p>Billy, not in a very comfortable frame of mind, backed -the touring car close to the edge of the bank. The -rope was made fast, and Matt and McGlory went to the -foot of the bank to push while the big machine pulled.</p> - -<p>The attempt was successful. The runabout sputtered—perhaps -defiantly—as it yielded to the tugging and -rolled up the slope. Matt looked the machine over -and could not find that it had suffered any by the slide -down the slope.</p> - -<p>“It’ll hang together till it gets you, Motor Matt,” observed -Billy grewsomely. “That’s the way with these -hoodoo cars. They never go to pieces till they kill somebody.”</p> - -<p>“You’re too good a driver, Billy, to talk such foolishness,” -returned Matt. “Now, tell us how to get to the -Malvern Country Club.”</p> - -<p>“Ain’t I going with you?”</p> - -<p>“Three of us couldn’t ride very comfortably in the -runabout.”</p> - -<p>“But hadn’t I better go along in the touring car so -as to be handy in case of accidents?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, Joe and I will get along. We’re not going to -have any accidents if we can help it—and I feel pretty -sure we can.”</p> - -<p>Billy laid out the course the boys were to take with -considerable detail. When he was through, Matt felt -that he had the route clearly fixed in his mind.</p> - -<p>“If the runabout’s too much for you,” Billy finished, -“all you’ve got to do is to phone the garage, and I’ll -come a-runnin’.”</p> - -<p>“Where did you get the rope?” asked Matt.</p> - -<p>Billy told him he had borrowed it at Krug’s.</p> - -<p>“We’ll leave it there,” said Matt, “on our way past -the Corner.”</p> - -<p>“You may never get to Krug’s,” answered Billy, in -extreme dejection.</p> - -<p>“Pile in, Joe,” said Matt, “and we’ll throw in the -clutch and scoot.”</p> - -<p>McGlory, it must be admitted, climbed into the runabout -in a way that proved his lack of confidence. Matt -cranked up, listening with deep satisfaction to the smooth -singing of the engine, and then got into the driver’s -seat.</p> - -<p>Billy, in the touring car, watched tremulously and -waited. From his appearance, he was plainly expecting -that the white car would turn a few cartwheels and -perhaps land upside down in the middle of the road -with Matt and McGlory underneath.</p> - -<p>But nothing of the sort happened. Car No. 1313 -moved off in the direction of Krug’s as nice as you -please—moved on a hair line, with none of the distressing -wabbling which characterized its previous performance -with its owner at the wheel.</p> - -<p>The cowboy gathered confidence. Looking behind, he -waved his hat at Billy.</p> - -<p>“Don’t whistle till you’re out of the woods!” yelled -Billy.</p> - -<p>He shouted something else, but his words faded out in -the increasing distance.</p> - -<p>“Speak to me concerning this!” laughed McGlory, -straightening around in his seat. “This little old chug -cart is a false alarm, after all. It seems to understand -that there’s a fellow in charge who knows the ropes -up and down and across. Fine!”</p> - -<p>“We’ll see the owner of the machine at Krug’s,” said -Matt, “and get his address.”</p> - -<p>“But he can’t have the runabout till we’re done with -it,” protested McGlory.</p> - -<p>“I should say not! We’ve sent Billy home, and that -leaves us only this car to take us back. Ah, there’s -Krug’s! We’ll stop for a few minutes.”</p> - -<p>Matt tried to stop, but he couldn’t. He went through -all the motions for cutting off the flow of gasoline and -switching off the spark. The clutch was out, but the -engine still had the car, and the engine wouldn’t stop.</p> - -<p>An automobile was just coming out of the sheds. The -runabout came within an ace of a head-on collision. -Fortunately the steering gear still worked, and Matt -scraped mud guards with the other car and he and his -cowboy chum bounded on along the road.</p> - -<p>McGlory yelled frantically. “Jump!” he cried; “let -the old contraption run its blooming head off!”</p> - -<p>But Matt wouldn’t jump, and he wouldn’t let his chum -go over the flying wheels. Dazed and bewildered, he -bore down on the brake.</p> - -<p>The speed slackened, but they were half a mile beyond -Krug’s before the car made up its mind to stop. -Then McGlory tumbled out, while Matt sat astounded, -his arms folded over the steering wheel and such a -look on his face as the cowboy had never seen there -before.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III_A_DEMON_IN_CONTROL" id="CHAPTER_III_A_DEMON_IN_CONTROL">CHAPTER III.<br /> -<span class="titlefont ">A DEMON IN CONTROL.</span></a></h2> - - -<p>“Get out of that, pard! Get out!” McGlory was -wild with apprehension, and sprang up and down at -the roadside and waved his arms. “The way that car -acts would make the hair stand up on a buffalo robe! -What are you staying there for?”</p> - -<p>“I’m trying to guess how that happened,” said Matt.</p> - -<p>“Then stop guessing. You can guess till you’re black -in the face and you’ll still be up in the air. Cut loose -from that bubble wagon—that’s your cue and mine.”</p> - -<p>“There’s a reason for the car acting as it does,” declared -Matt, “and I’m going to get down to the bottom -of the mystery. We might just as well put in a little -time right here. It’s not a very long run to the Malvern -Country Club, and we can waste another half hour without -missing your appointment.”</p> - -<p>“If you took my advice,” muttered McGlory, “you -wouldn’t touch that machine with a ten-foot pole.”</p> - -<p>There was a determined look on Matt’s face as he -leaped into the road and began an exhaustive examination. -He could find nothing wrong; nevertheless, he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span> -went over the ignition system carefully, step by step; -then he took the carburetor to pieces, ran pins through -the spray nozzle and sandpapered the float guides; and, -after that, he went under the car, broke the gasoline -connections and drew wires through the tubes.</p> - -<p>The cowboy heaved a long breath of relief as Matt -reappeared from under the car.</p> - -<p>“Find anything out of whack, pard?” McGlory asked.</p> - -<p>“Not a thing,” answered the mystified Matt.</p> - -<p>“Then you’re about ready to admit there’s a demon -in control of the car?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t believe in demons.”</p> - -<p>“If a car won’t stop when it ought to stop, and if it -won’t go straight when you’re steering that way, and if -it backs up when everything is set for going ahead, I’m -a Piute if I don’t think there’s something else got a hand -in running it.”</p> - -<p>Matt was silent. He was facing a proposition that -was new to him, but he was dealing with motor details -with which he was perfectly familiar. Here was an ordinary -four-cycle engine, and an ordinary float-feed -carburetor; the transmission was of the common sliding-gear -variety; the fuel tank was under the seat, and -the gasoline was fed into the engine by gravity. Why -was it that the different parts did not coöperate as -they should?</p> - -<p>“Come on, Joe,” said Matt, putting on the coat which -he had laid off while at work, “we’ll go back to Krug’s -and see if my tinkering has helped any.”</p> - -<p>“I can’t pass up the invitation, pard,” returned McGlory, -“but if any one else gave it to me, I’d say <i lang="es" xml:lang="es">manana</i>. -Every minute we’re aboard that runabout, we’re -sitting on a thunderbolt that’s not more than half tame. -Here goes, anyhow.”</p> - -<p>The cowboy climbed to his place, and Matt “turned -the engine over” and got in beside him. Then they -backed until the runabout was headed the other way, -whereupon Matt changed speeds and they slid over the -pike as easily as a girl tripping to market. No. 1313 -behaved like the prince of cars. No one, from its present -performance, could ever have dreamed that it was -anything but the mildest-mannered little buzz wagon -that had ever come out of the shop.</p> - -<p>“I’m stumped,” declared McGlory. “She acts as -though she had never thought of such a thing as taking -the bit in her teeth. I reckon, pard, you must have -done something that started her to working in the right -way.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll never be able to understand how she ran for half -a mile without any gas in the cylinders or any spark -to cause an explosion,” said Matt, as he came to a stop -in front of Krug’s. “Return the rope, Joe,” he added, -“and see if you can find the owner of the runabout.”</p> - -<p>McGlory was gone for ten minutes. When he came -back he reported that the man who had cut loose from -the runabout was nowhere to be found, and that a fellow -answering his description had been taken into a -car by a friend and had motored off in the direction of -Hempstead.</p> - -<p>“Then,” said Matt, “we’ll stop thinking about the -owner of the car and continue to use it just as though -it belonged to us.”</p> - -<p>They turned south from the Corner and moved away -in the direction of Hempstead at a good rate of speed. -The runabout kept up its excellent behavior, answering -instantly Matt’s slightest touch on steering wheel or levers.</p> - -<p>“You’ve got the best of her, pard,” observed McGlory. -“When you hip-locked with her, after she ran away -from Krug’s, you must have poked a wire into something -that was causing all the trouble.”</p> - -<p>“I couldn’t have done that,” answered Matt. “Still, -no matter what the reason, the car is acting handsomely -now, and we’ll let it go at that. Read that telegram to -me again, Joe.”</p> - -<p>McGlory fished around in his pocket until he had -brought up a folded yellow sheet. Opening it out, he -read as follows:</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>“‘Meeting of syndicate in the matter of ”Pauper’s -Dream“ Mine postponed from Wednesday night to -Thursday night. Meet me eleven o’clock Thursday Malvern -Country Club, near Hempstead, Long Island. Important.</p> - -<p class="marginrightindent">“‘<span class="smcap">Joshua Griggs.</span>’”</p> -</blockquote> - -<p>The “Pauper’s Dream” Mine was located near Tucson, -in Arizona. It was owned by a stock company, -and the cowboy had a hundred shares of the stock. A -friend of his, named Colonel Mark Antony Billings, had -induced him to invest in the “Pauper’s Dream” when -it was little more than an undeveloped claim. Development -seemingly proved the claim worthless, and McGlory -had been surprised, while he and Matt were in -New York, to receive a letter stating that a rich vein -had been struck, and that the colonel was planning to -sell the property at a big figure to a syndicate of New -York capitalists. Random & Griggs, brokers, in Liberty -Street, were the colonel’s New York agents, and the -meeting of the syndicate was to be held in their office.</p> - -<p>Two bars of gold bullion from the “Pauper’s Dream” -mill had been sent by the colonel to New York, and -McGlory had been requested to get the bullion and exhibit -it to the members of the syndicate at the meeting. -Matt and McGlory had had a good deal of trouble with -that bullion, and the cowboy was not intending to take -it from the bank, to whose care it had been consigned, -until three o’clock in the afternoon.</p> - -<p>Meanwhile, this telegram from Griggs was taking the -boys to the Malvern Country Club; but just why it was -necessary for McGlory to talk with Griggs was more -than either of the lads could understand.</p> - -<p>“Griggs, I reckon,” said McGlory, as he returned the -telegram to his pocket, “is one of the members of the -firm of Random & Griggs.”</p> - -<p>“That’s my guess,” returned Matt; “but, if he is, why -couldn’t he talk with you at the office in Liberty Street -instead of having you come all the way out here?”</p> - -<p>“I’ll have to shy at that, pard. Maybe Griggs is a -plutocrat, and is accustomed to having people jump -whenever he cracks the whip. Like as not he didn’t -want to go in to the office to-day and just shot that -message at us to save him the trouble of going too far -for a palaver.”</p> - -<p>“He told you all it was necessary for you to know, -in the message. The meeting was postponed from last -night to to-night. What else is there that he could -want to tell you?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Pass again. Maybe he wants to ask about the -colonel’s health, or——”</p> - -<p>The cowboy bit off his words suddenly. Without the -least warning, the runabout had made a wild lunge toward -the side of the road.</p> - -<p>“She’s cut loose again!” yelled McGlory, hanging to -the seat with both hands.</p> - -<p>Matt was holding the steering wheel firmly. So far -as he could see, there was not the least excuse for -the car’s making that frantic plunge toward the roadside.</p> - -<p>Just ahead of the machine was a railroad track, and -the noise of an approaching train was loud in the boys’ -ears. Matt was thinking that, if the runabout repeated -the performance it had given at Krug’s Corner, he, and -Joe, and the car, stood a grave chance of being hung -up on the pilot of a locomotive.</p> - -<p>Before he could disengage the clutch or give a kick at -the switch, one of the forward wheels struck a bowlder. -The car jumped, throwing McGlory out on one side and -Matt on the other.</p> - -<p>As Matt fell, he caught at the two levers on the -right of the driver’s seat and clung to them desperately. -Although the car was running wild, with no -hand on the steering wheel, yet it bounded away along -the centre of the road, dragging Matt along with it.</p> - -<p>With his elbows on the footboard, and the lower half -of his body trailing in the dust, Matt endeavored again -and again to get back on the running board and regain -a grip on the steering wheel.</p> - -<p>A freight train was almost at the crossing. Unless -Matt could check the runabout in its wild flight, it would -surely be demolished by the locomotive or else hurl -itself to destruction against the sides of the swiftly -moving box cars.</p> - -<p>The situation was desperate to the last degree. Unless -he could get hold of the steering wheel and regain his -seat, nothing could be done to avert the threatening catastrophe. -If he let go, and abandoned the runabout to -its fate, he was in danger of being thrown under the -racing wheels.</p> - -<p>A demon of perversity seemed to possess the car and -to be bent upon the destruction of Matt King.</p> - -<p>Again and again the young motorist tried to reach -the steering post with one hand and wriggled up onto -the running board. Each attempt was unsuccessful -until a lurch of the car helped in executing the manœuvre.</p> - -<p>Hanging to the wheel, Matt threw himself over the -upright levers, dropped into the driver’s seat, disengaged -the clutch and jammed both brakes home.</p> - -<p>Even then he was in doubt as to whether he would -succeed in stopping the car. If it continued mysteriously -to refuse control, there was certain destruction for -both Matt and the car against the side of the train, -the box cars of which were already flashing over the -crossing.</p> - -<p>But the car stopped—stopped within a yard of the -rushing box cars!</p> - -<p>Matt dared not throw in the reverse, fearing the -machine might move forward instead of backward, so -he dropped into the road and lay there, panting and -exhausted, while the freight rolled on.</p> - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV_THE_MANILA_ENVELOPE" id="CHAPTER_IV_THE_MANILA_ENVELOPE">CHAPTER IV.<br /> -<span class="titlefont ">THE MANILA ENVELOPE.</span></a></h2> - - -<p>“Sufferin’ doom! I’m beginning to think Billy had -a bean on the right number, pard, when he said this -car would have to kill somebody before it settled down -and acted as though it was civilized.”</p> - -<p>Matt looked up and saw his cowboy chum. McGlory -was rubbing a bruise on the side of his face and was -carrying the long manila envelope in his hand.</p> - -<p>“Why didn’t you let the car go to blazes?” demanded -the cowboy. “What did you want to hang on to it for? -The best place for the blamed thing is the junk pile.”</p> - -<p>“I couldn’t let go without getting run over,” explained -Matt, rising to his feet.</p> - -<p>“Well, you’d feel a heap more comfortable under a -pneumatic tire than you would under a train of box -cars!”</p> - -<p>McGlory’s face was white, and his voice trembled. -The strain he had been under was just beginning to -tell on him.</p> - -<p>“The owner of the runabout,” he went on, “showed -his good sense when he cut loose from it. The car’s -like a broncho, Matt, and you never can tell when its -fiendishness is going to break loose. If we had a keg -of powder, I’m a Piegan if I wouldn’t scatter that -sizz wagon all over this part of Long Island.”</p> - -<p>McGlory glared savagely at the white, innocent-looking -machine.</p> - -<p>The freight train had passed, and Matt was leaning -against the car and cudgeling his brains to think -of some reason for the runabout’s acting as it did.</p> - -<p>“It brought us out of Krug’s Corner as nice as you -please,” he mused.</p> - -<p>“Which is just the way it took us into Krug’s Corner,” -proceeded the cowboy. “That’s the way the pesky -thing works. First it lulls you into thinking it wouldn’t -side-step, or buck-jump, or do anything else that was -crooked or underhand for the world; then, when you -think you’re all right, the runabout hauls off and hands -you one. That’s the meanest kind of treachery—reaching -out the glad hand only to land on you with a -bunch of fives. There’s something human about that -car, Matt.”</p> - -<p>“Inhuman, I should say,” muttered Matt. “Well, it’s -too much for me. Get in, Joe, and we’ll cross the track -to those trees over there and rest up a little before we -go on to the Malvern Country Club.”</p> - -<p>“Damaged much, pard?”</p> - -<p>“Jolted some, that’s all.”</p> - -<p>“Same here. I landed in the road like a thousand -of brick. This is my first experience with a crazy automobile, -and you can bet your moccasins it will be -the last. I didn’t know there was such a thing.”</p> - -<p>“There isn’t,” said Matt. “How can you put together -a lot of machine and have anything but a senseless piece -of mechanism?”</p> - -<p>“I’m by, when you pin me right down, pard, but if -this car isn’t locoed, then what’s the matter with it?”</p> - -<p>“Something must go wrong.”</p> - -<p>“Goes wrong and then fixes itself,” jeered the cowboy. -“If you’d look the blamed thing over this minute, -you wouldn’t be able to find anything out of order.”</p> - -<p>Once more Matt started the car, and once more it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span> -acted like a sane and sensible machine, carrying the -boys to the shade of the trees and stopping obediently -to let them alight.</p> - -<p>Matt flung himself down on the grass at the roadside -and examined his watch to ascertain whether it -had been injured. He found the timepiece in good condition.</p> - -<p>“Ten-fifteen, Joe,” he observed, replacing the watch -in his vest and noticing that his chum was still carrying -the manila envelope in his hand as he sat down -beside him. “What are you holding that envelope for?” -he inquired.</p> - -<p>“I reckon I’ve gone off the jump myself, Matt,” -laughed McGlory. “It dropped out of my pocket when -I fell into the road. I picked it up, but have been too -badly rattled ever since to do anything but hold it in -my hand.”</p> - -<p>McGlory was about to put it in his pocket when Matt -suggested that he examine the contents and see if he -could discover the name and address of the man who -owned the runabout.</p> - -<p>The cowboy pulled out a couple of papers. Unfolding -one of them, he read some typewritten words and -gave a gasp and turned blank eyes on his chum.</p> - -<p>“What’s wrong?” queried Matt.</p> - -<p>“Listen to this,” was the answer. “‘Private Report -on the Pauper’s Dream Mine, by Hannibal J. Levitt, -Mining Engineer, of New York City.’ Wouldn’t that -rattle your spurs, Matt?” cried McGlory. “The syndicate -had an expert go out to Arizona and make an examination -of the ‘Pauper’s Dream,’—you remember the -colonel told me about that, in his letter. Here’s the report! -It drops into our hands by the queerest happen-chance -you ever heard of. Mister Man takes a header -from a crazy chug cart, unloads the machine onto you, -and then hustles for Krug’s, leaving the report behind. -He’s not at Krug’s when we get there, so the report -is left in our hands. This couldn’t have happened once -in a million times, pard!”</p> - -<p>Matt was rubbing his bruised shins and allowing the -amazing event to drift through his brain. It was queer, -there was no mistake about it. In fact, all the experiences -of the boys that Thursday morning were on the -“queer” order.</p> - -<p>“You say,” said Matt, “that the document is headed -‘Private Report.’ Why should it be a private report if -it is for the syndicate?”</p> - -<p>“Private for the syndicate, I reckon.”</p> - -<p>“Hardly that, Joe. Unless there’s some skullduggery -that report ought to be public property—public enough -so that it could go into a prospectus. What’s the other -paper?”</p> - -<p>McGlory opened the other document, and found it to -be a letter from Colonel Billings, dated nearly a month -previous.</p> - -<p>“It’s a letter from the colonel, Matt,” the cowboy -announced, “and is addressed to Levitt. The colonel -says he will not pay Levitt the balance due until Levitt -sends him the private report on the ‘Pauper’s Dream’ -proposition.”</p> - -<p>“Great spark plugs!” exclaimed Matt.</p> - -<p>“What’s strange about that?” demanded McGlory. “If -Levitt made an examination of the property he certainly -expects pay for it.”</p> - -<p>“But not from the colonel, Joe! Levitt was examining -the mine for the syndicate, and he’s not entitled -to any money from the colonel unless he’s doing shady -work of some kind.”</p> - -<p>“Speak to me about that!” muttered McGlory. “It -looks as though we’d grabbed a live wire when we got -hold of this yellow envelope.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t like the way the business stacks up,” said -Matt earnestly. “The owner of this troublesome runabout -happens to be Hannibal J. Levitt, and he’s playing -an unscrupulous double game. Glance through that -report and give me the gist of it.”</p> - -<p>Eagerly—and a little apprehensively—McGlory looked -through the private report. His face grew longer and -longer as he read.</p> - -<p>“Sufferin’ poorhouses!” he cried at last. “Levitt says, -in this report, that the ‘Pauper’s Dream’ isn’t a mine, -but a pocket, and that the pocket has been worked out. -In other words, pard, my hundred shares of stock are -worth just about what they’ll bring for scrap paper. -And the colonel had me worked up till I thought I was -going to be a millionaire! Riddle: Where was Moses -when the light went out?”</p> - -<p>McGlory fell back on the grass and kicked up his -heels dejectedly.</p> - -<p>“Can’t you see through the dodge your Tucson colonel -is working, Joe?” asked Matt.</p> - -<p>“Dodge?” echoed McGlory. “The ‘Pauper’s Dream’ -is just a hole in the ground. We can’t any of us dodge -that.”</p> - -<p>“The colonel,” went on Matt quietly, “is paying Levitt -to make a false report to the syndicate. To-night the -syndicate meets and decides whether or not it will buy -the ‘Pauper’s Dream.’ Levitt’s false report has already -been submitted, I suppose, and read. You show up at -the meeting with the two bars of bullion, and a sworn -statement from the colonel that they came out of the -ten-stamp mill on the ‘Dream’ during one week’s run. -That clinches the proposition. The syndicate, relying -on Levitt’s honesty, and, incidentally, on the colonel’s, -pay over a big sum for a worthless hole in the ground, -and——”</p> - -<p>The cowboy leaped erect, flushed and excited.</p> - -<p>“And the colonel,” he cried, “divides the proceeds -among the stockholders! That gives me a big profit on -my five hundred. Oh, well, I reckon I’ve got my dipper -right side up during this rain.”</p> - -<p>McGlory chuckled. Matt stared at him as though he -hardly believed what he heard.</p> - -<p>“Pard,” said Matt quietly, “it’s a game of out-and-out -robbery.”</p> - -<p>“That’s the syndicate’s lookout, not mine. If they -want to drop half a million into that hole in the ground, -what is it to me?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t think you mean that, Joe,” said Matt, getting -up. “We’ll go on to the Malvern Country Club and -find out what Griggs has to say to you. We’ve got -plenty of time to figure the matter over before the Syndicate -meets to-night.”</p> - -<p>Matt’s face was set and determined, and there was a -smouldering light in his gray eyes, which proved that -he had nerved himself for some duty which might be -disagreeable. McGlory was wrapped in thought—so -concerned in his own affairs that he forgot Matt, forgot -the treacherous nature of the runabout, forgot everything -but the “Pauper’s Dream” and his chances for -winning or losing a fortune.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V_THE_UNEXPECTED" id="CHAPTER_V_THE_UNEXPECTED">CHAPTER V.<br /> -<span class="titlefont ">THE UNEXPECTED.</span></a></h2> - - -<p>The unexpected happened at least twice to the motor -boys between ten-thirty and eleven o’clock that Thursday -morning. First, they naturally expected to have -trouble with the runabout, but it carried out its work -handsomely and deposited them in the Malvern Country -Club garage at precisely five minutes of eleven.</p> - -<p>There was not much talk between the boys during the -ride. McGlory was concerned with his “Pauper’s -Dream” reflections—and Matt had reflections of his own. -Besides his thoughts, which were none too agreeable, -Matt had to recall Billy’s instructions for finding the -way, and also to be on the alert for any sudden tantrum -on the part of the runabout. But the tantrum did not -develop, and the boys left the garage and made their -way across the broad lawn of the clubhouse to a porch -which extended along the front of the building.</p> - -<p>“I’d like to see Mr. Joshua Griggs,” said McGlory to -a stout person wearing side-whiskers and knee breeches. -The servant looked the boys over.</p> - -<p>“Wot nyme?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“Matt King and Joe McGlory—two nymes.”</p> - -<p>“’E’s hexpecting you. This w’y, please.”</p> - -<p>The boys were ushered through a great apartment -with a beamed ceiling and a fireplace that covered half -of one end of the room, up a flight of broad stairs, and -along a wide hall. Here the servant paused by a door -and knocked. A mumble of voices, coming from the -other side of the door, ceased abruptly.</p> - -<p>“What’s wanted?” demanded some one.</p> - -<p>“Mr. McGlory hand friend, sir.”</p> - -<p>“Send ’em in.”</p> - -<p>The servant pushed open the door, drew to one side, -and bowed the boys out of the hall. Then the unexpected -happened for the second time.</p> - -<p>There were two men in the room, and the atmosphere -was thick with tobacco smoke and a reek of liquor. A -box of cigars was on a table; also a decanter and two -glasses, a bowl of cracked ice, and a bottle of “fizz” -water.</p> - -<p>A man was seated in a comfortable chair, rocking and -smoking. This man was Hannibal J. Levitt, owner of -the unmanageable runabout.</p> - -<p>The other man was tall and gaunt. He wore a black -frock coat and gray trousers, a flowing tie, and a big -diamond in the front of his pleated white shirt. His -hair was a trifle long and a trifle thin on the crown. A -mustache spread widely from his upper lip; and a wisp -of pointed beard decorated his chin.</p> - -<p>This latter individual exploded a hearty laugh as -McGlory recoiled and stared like a person in a trance.</p> - -<p>“Howdy, son?” barked the man in the long coat, -sweeping down on the cowboy and seizing his hand. -“Something of a surprise, hey? Lookin’ for Griggs, by -gad, and you find me!”</p> - -<p>“Colonel!” gulped McGlory. “Speak to me about this! -Why, I thought you were in Tucson?”</p> - -<p>“Made up my mind at the last minute that I’d better -trek eastward and make sure the deal for the ‘Dream’ -went through.” He slapped McGlory on the back. “A -fortune, my boy, for all of us, by gad! The ‘Dream’s’ -a bonanza—gold from the grass roots down. But present -your friend; present your friend.”</p> - -<p>The colonel turned beamingly toward Matt.</p> - -<p>“My pard, Matt King,” said McGlory. “Everybody -has heard of him, I reckon.”</p> - -<p>“You do me proud,” bubbled the colonel, seizing -Matt’s hand and pumping his arm up and down. “A -friend of McGlory’s is a friend of mine. Allow me”—and -he turned toward Levitt, only to find Levitt leaning -across the table, his jaws agape. “Well, well, well!” -mumbled the colonel. “What’s flagged you, Levitt?”</p> - -<p>“We’ve met before,” grinned Levitt.</p> - -<p>“How’s that?”</p> - -<p>“These are the young fellows to whom I gave that -confounded runabout.”</p> - -<p>“A conspiracy, by gad, to keep me from meeting McGlory! -How’d you expect him to get here in a motor -wagon you couldn’t run yourself?”</p> - -<p>“I didn’t know who the lads were, colonel, or I’d have -been more considerate. But”—and here he turned to -Matt—“how <em>did</em> you do it?”</p> - -<p>“We had plenty of trouble with the machine,” said -Matt, “but we made it bring us.”</p> - -<p>The situation was clearing. Levitt, at the time Matt -and McGlory had met him that morning, was also on -his way to the Malvern Country Club.</p> - -<p>“Re-markable!” cooed the colonel. “But it’s a terrible -land for dust, ain’t it?” He poured something from the -decanter into the glasses. “Irrigate!” he said. “Advance -by file, my young friends, and refresh the inner -man.”</p> - -<p>“None for me, colonel,” answered Matt, whose opinion -of the colonel was dropping by swift degrees.</p> - -<p>“That’s the way I stack up, too, colonel,” grinned McGlory.</p> - -<p>The colonel looked horrified.</p> - -<p>“From Arizona, Joseph,” he murmured, “and you -won’t indulge? Ex-traordinary, I must say. Smoke?” -And he indicated the box of cigars.</p> - -<p>“No, colonel,” declined Matt.</p> - -<p>A sheepish look crossed McGlory’s face as he met the -colonel’s inquiring eye.</p> - -<p>“I’m in line with my pard,” said he.</p> - -<p>“Astounding!” gasped the colonel. “Both habits are -reprehensible—exceedingly so. I honor you highly, my -lads, but—ahem!—your shining example is one by which -I may not profit.” He turned to the mining engineer. -“The fire-water is before us, Levitt,” said he; “charge!”</p> - -<p>Two hands gripped the glasses simultaneously, and a -gurgling followed. The colonel dried his lips elaborately -with a large yellow handkerchief.</p> - -<p>“The day, Joseph,” he resumed, “is not far distant -when you can own a private yacht, a racing stable, an -imported car, and a lordly mansion. I have come personally -to New York to drive the business through and -clinch it. To-night we show the moneyed interests what -we’ve got up our wide and flowing sleeves. Half a million -in coin, my son, will rise to the bait like a speckled -trout to the alluring fly. But be seated, be seated; let’s -all be seated.”</p> - -<p>Matt took a chair by an open window, and McGlory -dropped into another at a little distance.</p> - -<p>“The telegram I received, colonel,” observed the cowboy, -“was signed ‘Joshua Griggs.’”</p> - -<p>“Even so, my dear youth,” smiled the colonel, lowering -himself into a chair and lifting his feet to the top of -the table. “Mr. Griggs lives in Hempstead. I am enjoying -his hospitality, and he has put me up at this most<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span> -delightful club. I arrived yesterday afternoon, and I -yearned to clasp your honest palm before we met in -Liberty Street to-night. Incidentally, I will relieve you -of further responsibility in the matter of the bullion. Being -somewhat fatigued after my long and arduous railroad -journey, the Syndicate meeting was put off. To-night, -however, we shall be there; and to-night, my son, -we put our fortunes to the touch.”</p> - -<p>The colonel was altogether too loquacious to suit Matt—too -fluent and insincere. That he was entirely capable -of engineering a huge swindle Matt felt sure. And Matt -regretted to note that the colonel exerted a powerful -influence over McGlory.</p> - -<p>“Is this deal for the ‘Pauper’s Dream’ on the level, -colonel?” inquired the cowboy.</p> - -<p>A lighted bomb, suddenly dropped in front of the colonel -and Levitt, would not have caused more consternation. -The colonel’s feet fell from the table with a bang, -and the mining engineer once more threw himself half-way -across the table top.</p> - -<p>There followed a period of silence. The colonel, after -an odd look at Levitt, was first to speak.</p> - -<p>“McGlory,” said he, “you are my friend, and I would -take a good deal from a friend. Has my integrity ever -been questioned? Have you any reason to believe that -this mining deal is not on the level?”</p> - -<p>“Shucks!” deprecated McGlory. “Is the syndicate -anxious to buy a pocket that’s been worked out? Have -they got so much money, these Syndicate fellows, that -they want to drop some of it into a mine that’s a ‘dream’ -in more senses of the word than one?”</p> - -<p>This was another bomb. Levitt went white, and -breathed hard. Colonel Billings drew a deep breath, -studied McGlory’s face, and then looked at the ceiling. -Then once more he was first to speak.</p> - -<p>“My son,” said he, “you talk like a buck ’Pache with -more tizwin aboard than is good for him. And yet you -must be in your sober senses. What are your grounds -for expressing yourself in that—er—preposterous manner? -I wait to learn!”</p> - -<p>“Well,” answered the cowboy, “when Levitt took his -header from that runabout of his, on the Jericho Pike, a -long yellow envelope dropped from his pocket——”</p> - -<p>“I breathe again!” interjected the colonel. “You -found it, McGlory?”</p> - -<p>“That’s the size of it.”</p> - -<p>“And you read the contents of that yellow envelope?”</p> - -<p>“Matt and I wanted to find out the name of the man -who owned the runabout. That’s how we happened to -read the ‘private report.’ It wasn’t good reading, -colonel.”</p> - -<p>“It was for private perusal by the inner circle, my -son,” said the colonel. “Levitt and I were vastly worried -over the loss of that report. I will trouble you for -it, my boy.”</p> - -<p>The colonel reached out his hand. McGlory took the -envelope from his pocket, and was about to pass it over -when Matt reached forward and caught it from his -fingers.</p> - -<p>“I beg your pardon,” said Matt, “but I was the one -who found this envelope. I gave it to Joe when I threw -off my coat, east of Krug’s Corner, to tinker with the -runabout. I am going to take care of it.”</p> - -<p>All four were on their feet—Matt determined, McGlory -puzzled and bewildered, the colonel wrathful, and -Levitt with a dangerous gleam in his eyes.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI_A_DIFFERENCE_OF_OPINION" id="CHAPTER_VI_A_DIFFERENCE_OF_OPINION">CHAPTER VI.<br /> -<span class="titlefont ">A DIFFERENCE OF OPINION.</span></a></h2> - - -<p>“Well, by gad!” exclaimed the colonel, realizing suddenly -what sort of a lad he had to deal with in Matt -King.</p> - -<p>“What’s that for, pard?” inquired McGlory.</p> - -<p>“It don’t belong to you, or to McGlory, or to any one -but me!” said Levitt. “If you try to keep that document, -King, you’re nothing more nor less than a thief.”</p> - -<p>The red ran into Matt’s face.</p> - -<p>“Softly, softly,” breathed the colonel. “This talk of -thieves, Levitt, is a little premature. Matt King is a -friend of McGlory’s, and he could not be that if there -was any yellow streak in his nature. No, by gad! We -are all gentlemen here. King, sir, if that manila envelope -contains papers belonging to our mutual friend, -Levitt, you will return them to him, will you not?”</p> - -<p>“After a while,” said Matt; “not immediately.”</p> - -<p>The colonel seemed thunderstruck.</p> - -<p>“You hear?” muttered Levitt, between his teeth. -“He’s trying to play double with us, Billings! Those -papers mean a whole lot to me, and I’m going to have -them!”</p> - -<p>The colonel’s mood underwent a change. Attempts at -conciliation having failed, there now remained nothing -but vigorous action. His first move was to pass rapidly -to the door, turn a key in the lock, and drop the key -into his pocket. Then he once more approached Matt.</p> - -<p>“May I inquire, young man,” he bristled, “what you -mean by this most remarkable conduct?”</p> - -<p>“I’m trying to protect Joe and myself,” Matt answered.</p> - -<p>“Protect? Protect yourself and Joe against what, in -Heaven’s name?”</p> - -<p>“Against being drawn into a criminal act by you and -Levitt, and being compelled to take the consequences.”</p> - -<p>“He talks like a fool!” snapped the mining engineer.</p> - -<p>“He is misinformed, that’s all,” said the colonel.</p> - -<p>“I’m not misinformed,” went on Matt sturdily. “These -New York capitalists hired Levitt to go to Arizona and -investigate the ‘Pauper’s Dream.’ He made two reports, -one private and the other for the members of the Syndicate. -One says the mine is no good, and the other, -of course, gives it a glittering recommendation.”</p> - -<p>“How do you know,” asked Levitt, his voice shaking -with anger, “that the Syndicate’s report is different from -the other?”</p> - -<p>“Because Colonel Billings is paying you for making -it,” replied Matt. “Would the colonel give you good -money for handing that private report over to the Syndicate? -Hardly. Colonel Billings is here to sell the -mine.”</p> - -<p>“How do you know Billings is paying me anything?”</p> - -<p>“He has already paid you a little, and you came out -here this morning to receive the rest of it. If that crazy -runabout of yours hadn’t interfered, you’d have been -able to turn the private report over to the colonel, and no -one would ever have been the wiser.”</p> - -<p>“How do you know all this?” Levitt’s voice was -husky.</p> - -<p>“There was a letter from the colonel in the envelope -along with the report.”</p> - -<p>“By gad!” Billings whirled on the mining engineer.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span> -“You don’t mean to say, Levitt,” he asked, “that you had -so little sense as to keep that letter of mine?”</p> - -<p>“Why shouldn’t I keep it? It was the only thing in -the way of an agreement that I had with you.”</p> - -<p>“Then”—and the colonel tossed his hands—“that lets -in the search light on the two of us.”</p> - -<p>“And we’ve caught a tartar in this meddling young -whelp,” ground out Levitt, waving his hand toward -Matt.</p> - -<p>“He’s an intelligent youth, Levitt,” declared the colonel, -“and amenable to reason. Let me talk with him. -My dear young man,” said the colonel to Matt, “assuming -that what you say about the report is true, in what -way are you legally liable through association with -Levitt and myself?”</p> - -<p>“You’re trying to swindle a company of New York -capitalists,” answered Matt, “and Joe and I, not knowing -the deal was crooked, have already been dragged -into it. If we allowed the plot to go on we would be -equally guilty with you and Levitt, and we could be -arrested and sent to prison.”</p> - -<p>A tolerant smile crossed the colonel’s face.</p> - -<p>“Suppose I assure you that there is not the remotest -possibility of any of us going to prison,” said he; “will -you give up that report and letter?”</p> - -<p>Matt hesitated, not because his determination was -wavering, but because he wanted to put his thoughts in -the right words.</p> - -<p>“It means a fortune to McGlory,” urged the colonel; -“and what kind of a fellow are you to euchre a friend -out of a fortune?”</p> - -<p>“It’s not an honest fortune,” declared Matt, “and Joe -can’t afford to accept it. Besides, what good would it -do him if he found himself in the penitentiary for obtaining -money under false pretenses?”</p> - -<p>The colonel was beginning to lose patience.</p> - -<p>“You’ve got less sense than any cub of your years -I ever met up with!” he cried irritably. “How much -money do you want for that report and letter? That’s -your play, I reckon; and I’d rather shell out a hundred -or two than have any trouble with you. How much do -I bleed?”</p> - -<p>The colonel measured Matt with wrathful and inquiring -eyes.</p> - -<p>“You haven’t money enough to buy me!” declared -Matt.</p> - -<p>“Aw, cut it short!” broke in Levitt savagely. “What’s -the use of fooling with him any longer?</p> - -<p>“Wait!” cautioned the colonel. “McGlory,” he went -on, to the cowboy, “what do you mean by lugging such -a two-faced longhorn into a private and important council -like this?”</p> - -<p>“You’re wide of your trail, colonel,” said McGlory, -with spirit. “There’s nothing two-faced about Matt -King, and you can spread your blankets and go to sleep -on that. He’s the clear quill from spurs to sombrero, -and the best pard that ever rode sign with me. Don’t -you make any mistake in taking his sizing.”</p> - -<p>“Well, what is he trying to rope down and tie your -bright prospects for?”</p> - -<p>“He’s got more sense in a minute than I have in a -year, and you can bet your boot straps he knows what -he’s doing—even if I don’t.”</p> - -<p>“You’re far wide of your trail, Joseph. Matt King is -committing an illegal act this minute. He has property -belonging to Levitt and refuses to give it up. He could -be jailed for a thief. But we’re not going to jail him. -We’ll just take that report and letter from him.”</p> - -<p>“Then you’ll have to walk over me to do it, colonel!” -asserted McGlory.</p> - -<p>“By gad!” muttered the colonel. “You’ve got as little -sense as he has.”</p> - -<p>“Brainwork never was my long suit, but I’ve seen -enough of Pard Matt to feel safe in banking on any -notion that he bats up to me.”</p> - -<p>“Bah!” gibed the colonel. “I’ll talk with you later, -McGlory, and take pains to show you the error of your -way. As for Matt King, he’s a false friend. He’s jealous -because you’re about to come into a fortune, and -he’s doing all he can to shift the cut and leave you -stranded.”</p> - -<p>“That’s not true!” said Matt. “Joe knows me better -than that.”</p> - -<p>“Sure I do, pard. Come on, and let’s get out of here.”</p> - -<p>The actions of the two men were threatening. McGlory -started toward the door; but happened to remember -that it was locked, and that the colonel had the key -in his pocket.</p> - -<p>“Cough up the key, colonel,” said the cowboy. “Don’t -force me to yell and have up that fellow with the knee -pants and the lilocks.”</p> - -<p>“It will be better for you youngsters,” growled the -colonel, “if you don’t raise a commotion. The surest -way to see the inside of a lockup is by calling for help. -Are you going to hand over those papers?” And he -turned to Matt. “Last call.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll return them,” said Matt, “but not till after that -meeting to-night.”</p> - -<p>He slipped the manila envelope into the breast of his -coat. Having planned what he considered was the best -move, the young motorist was never more resolute in -seeking to carry it out. Even though he was retaining -Levitt’s property, yet right and justice upheld him in -doing so.</p> - -<p>“By Jupiter,” murmured Levitt, his eyes flaming, -“he’s intending to take that private report to the Syndicate -meeting to-night! If he does——” He gulped -on his words, finishing with a significant glance at Billings.</p> - -<p>Matt was wondering how he and McGlory could get -out of the room without making too much of a scene. -He understood very well that the colonel could inaugurate -a pursuit, in case he and his chum succeeded in -getting away with the envelope and its contents, and -that, for a time at least, any story the colonel and -Levitt chose to tell would be accepted. Temporary advantage -was all on the side of the colonel and the mining -engineer.</p> - -<p>“He won’t show that paper at the meeting, Levitt,” -gritted the colonel, now thoroughly aroused. “We’re -done fooling with him.”</p> - -<p>He stepped toward Matt from one side, while Levitt -advanced from the other. The cowboy tried to push -closer to his chum, but the colonel held him back. One -of the colonel’s hands went groping in the direction -of a hip pocket. Matt guessed what the hand was after.</p> - -<p>“The window, Joe!” he called.</p> - -<p>Simultaneously with the words, the king of the motor -boys whirled, pushed through the window, lowered himself -swiftly from the sill, and dropped.</p> - -<p>The colonel grabbed at the hands on the sill, but they -pulled out from under his gripping fingers; then, looking<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span> -downward, he saw the lithe, agile form of Matt -King lift itself from a flower bed and fade from sight -around a corner of the building.</p> - -<p>Two young fellows with golf sticks were crossing the -lawn and had witnessed Matt’s drop from the window. -Naturally they were surprised at the peculiar proceeding -and stood looking up at the colonel.</p> - -<p>“Catch him!” bawled the colonel; “he’s a thief!”</p> - -<p>That was enough. The two members of the Country -Club darted away after Matt.</p> - -<p>McGlory was making preparations to drop from the -other window, but the colonel grabbed him at the critical -moment and forced him into a chair.</p> - -<p>“Off with you, Levitt!” the colonel called. “You can -catch that young cub! And when you do overhaul him -get the report and the letter at any cost.”</p> - -<p>As he finished the colonel flung the door key toward -the engineer. The latter let himself out of the room -and bounded excitedly down the stairs.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII_AN_OLD_FRIEND" id="CHAPTER_VII_AN_OLD_FRIEND">CHAPTER VII.<br /> -<span class="titlefont ">AN OLD FRIEND.</span></a></h2> - - -<p>Matt hoped that McGlory would be able to follow -him; but, if the cowboy found this to be impossible, -then Matt would do his best to prevent the report from -falling into the hands of the colonel and Levitt. That -report was the one thing of vital importance. On it -alone hinged the success or failure of the colonel’s gigantic -swindling operations. Matt must escape capture -at any cost, in order to retain possession of the report.</p> - -<p>The course of his flight carried him toward the rear -of the Country Club grounds. He heard the colonel’s -shout to the young men just in from the golf links, and -he knew there would be a pursuit. Of course Matt could -explain the situation and perhaps escape legal complications, -but if caught he would be compelled to give up -the report.</p> - -<p>He darted across a tennis court, leaped the net, dodged -behind a clump of lilac bushes, and ran toward the edge -of a grove that bordered the Country Club grounds on -that side. Between the lilacs and the grove was a rustic -pavilion. A flower bed was near the pavilion, and an -old negro was kneeling beside the bed, his back toward -Matt, and industriously pulling weeds. Matt had not -much time to give to the negro, but hoped that he was -giving his whole attention to his work. As he came -around the pavilion Matt heard sounds which indicated -that more pursuers were after him—these coming from -the direction of the garage and the stables.</p> - -<p>To reach the timber without being seen seemed hopeless, -and Matt looked hurriedly around for some place -in which he could secrete himself.</p> - -<p>The floor of the pavilion was elevated some two feet -or more above the surface of the ground. The opening -between the floor and the ground was filled in with -panels of close latticework. One of the panels was -broken, and Matt dropped to his knees and crawled -through it.</p> - -<p>This was not as secure a hiding place as he would -have selected, if he could have had his choice, but his -emergency was such that he had no time to look farther.</p> - -<p>Lying flat on the ground, so that his form would not -be visible to his pursuers, Matt watched and waited.</p> - -<p>The two young men with the golf sticks broke into -view around the lilac bushes. They were closely followed -by three others, employees of the club, evidently, -for they wore overclothes. Matt recognized one of -them as having been in the garage when he and McGlory -left the runabout there.</p> - -<p>The old negro had lifted himself to his feet and was -facing the five pursuers. Freedom or capture for Matt -depended upon what the old negro knew. Scarcely -breathing, the king of the motor boys listened for what -was to come.</p> - -<p>“Say, uncle,” panted one of the young men from the -links, “did you see a fellow running this way?”</p> - -<p>“Ah did, suh,” replied the negro. “Ah was as close -tuh him as whut me an’ yo’ is, boss.”</p> - -<p>Levitt at that instant rushed around the bushes. He -was in time to hear the negro’s answer to the question.</p> - -<p>“Which way did he go?” Levitt demanded. “He’s a -thief, and we’ve got to capture him and recover some -stolen property. Which way did he run? Quick!”</p> - -<p>The old darky turned and deliberately pointed away -from the pavilion and to a point in the encompassing -timber which led toward the road, well to the north of -the clubhouse.</p> - -<p>“Dat’s de way he went, boss,” said he, “an’, by golly, -he went jess a-hummin’.”</p> - -<p>“This way, men!” shouted Levitt, leaping off in the -direction indicated by the negro.</p> - -<p>The six pursuers disappeared at a run, and left Matt -gasping with astonishment. Why had the old darky -put them on the wrong track? It was preposterous to -think that the negro had himself been deceived.</p> - -<p>While Matt was turning the matter over in his mind, -and puzzling his brain with it, the negro began to -whistle softly and to limp in the direction of the pavilion. -On reaching the broken panel of latticework, -he leaned against the railing of the pavilion.</p> - -<p>“How yo’ lak dat, Marse Matt?” he chuckled. -“Didn’t Ah done send um on de wrong track, huh? En -yo’ all thought Ah wasn’t lookin’ at yo’, en dat Ah -didn’t know who yo’ was! Har, har, har!”</p> - -<p>The darky laughed softly as he finished talking.</p> - -<p>Matt’s wonderment continued to grow.</p> - -<p>“Great spark plugs!” he muttered, recognizing an old -acquaintance. “Is it—can it be—Uncle Tom?”</p> - -<p>“Dat’s who Ah is, marse! Hit’s been a right sma’t -of er while since Ah had de pleasuah ob seein’ yo’. De -las’ time we was togedder was in Denvah. ’Membah -all dem excitin’ times we had in Arizony, dat time dat -Topsy gal en me was wif dat Uncle Tom’s Cabin -comp’ny? Golly, I ain’t nevah gwineter fo’git dat! -Who’s been doin’ yo’ mascottin’ lately, huh? ’Pears lak -no one had, f’om de ha’d luck yo’ is in.”</p> - -<p>Matt recalled Uncle Tom very vividly. The aged -negro had belonged to a stranded company of players, -and Matt had helped them out of their difficulties. But -that had happened in the Southwest, and here was Uncle -Tom about as far East as he could get. The world -is not so large, after all, and many strange and unexpected -meetings occur.</p> - -<p>“I’m more surprised than I can tell, Uncle Tom,” said -Matt, “to run across you, here on Long Island, and at -a time when I certainly needed a friend. It may be -that you can help me even more, but——”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Ah’s pinin’ tuh do all dat Ah can fo’ yo’, Marse -Matt,” interposed the darky earnestly.</p> - -<p>“But,” went on Matt, “this is hardly a safe place for -me. If the coast is clear I guess I’d better crawl out -and get into the woods.”</p> - -<p>“Yo’s right erbout dat, marse. Ah’s so plumb tickled -tuh see yo’ dat I come mighty nigh fo’gittin’ yo’s bein’ -hunted fo’. Wait twell Ah take er look erroun’.”</p> - -<p>Uncle Tom stepped away from the pavilion and swept -a keen glance over the grounds in that vicinity.</p> - -<p>“De coast am cleah, Marse Matt,” he announced, returning -to the side of the pavilion. “Yo come out an’ -hike fo’ de woods, en Ah’ll foller yuh. Den we can -talk a li’l, en you can tell me whut mo’ de ole man can -do.”</p> - -<p>Matt pushed through the broken lattice and gained -the timber line at a point opposite the place where his -pursuers had vanished. Here, for a time, he was safe, -and he sank down behind a mask of brush. Uncle Tom -was not long in reaching his side.</p> - -<p>“Golly,” he beamed, looking Matt over, “but hit’s good -fo’ sore eyes jess tuh see yo’, marse. Ah nevah expected -nuffin’ lak dis. Mouty peculiah how folks meets -up wif one anotheh sometimes, dat-er-way.”</p> - -<p>“How did you happen to wander in this direction, -Uncle Tom?” Matt asked.</p> - -<p>“Mascottin’,” answered the old man gravely. “Ah -be’n mascottin’ fo’ er prize fighteh. Terry, de Cricket, is -whut he called himse’f, en Ah won a fight fo’ him in -Denvah, en another in Kansas City; but in New Yawk -Terry, de Cricket, done ’spected me tuh do all de wo’k, -en he went down wif er chirp, en dey counted ten on -him. Ah couldn’t help dat, but Terry he ’low Ah was -losin’ mah mascottin’ ability, en he turned me loose. -Topsy done got er job in er house in Hempstead, en -Ah picked up dis place at de Country Club. But Ah -doan’ like hit, marse. Ah’s er ole man, en hit’s backachin’ -wo’k. Yo’ needs er mascot bad, en now’s de time -tuh take me on.”</p> - -<p>Uncle Tom was a humorous old rascal, and professed -to believe that he possessed mystical powers as a luck -bringer. He declared that he had helped Matt, and -Matt humored him by letting him think so, giving him -a few dollars now and then to help him keep body and -soul together.</p> - -<p>“I’m not in shape just now, Uncle Tom,” said Matt, -“to hire a private mascot of your abilities. You see, I’m -mixed up in a bit of trouble that I’ve got to work -through alone.”</p> - -<p>“Bymby, Marse Matt, mebby yo’ all can make er place -fo’ Uncle Tom?” pleaded the negro. “Jess remembah -whut Ah’s done fo’ yo’ in de past. Ah nevah mascotted -fo’ anybody dat Ah liked so well as yo’se’f. Dat’s right. -Has yo’ got a dollah yo’ can let go of wifout material -damage to yo’ own welfare?”</p> - -<p>Matt extracted a five-dollar bill from his pocket and -pushed it into the negro’s yellow palm. Uncle Tom’s -gratitude was so intense it was almost morbid.</p> - -<p>“Yo’s de fines’ fellah dat evah was,” he declared, -grabbing Matt’s hand and hanging to it. “Dat’s de -trufe. Ah’d raddah wo’k fo’ you fo’ nuffin dan fo’ some -odders fo’ er millyun dollahs er day. Dat’s right. Yo’s -de same ole Marse Matt, en yo’——”</p> - -<p>“I haven’t much time to talk, Uncle Tom,” interrupted -Matt. “When I left the clubhouse I had to drop from -a second-story window. I made it all right, but I left a -friend behind. My friend’s name is Joe McGlory. Do -you think you could get word to him?”</p> - -<p>“Shuah Ah can!” replied the old negro promptly. -“What kin’ ob a lookin’ fellah is dat ’ar Joe McGlory?”</p> - -<p>Matt described his chum’s appearance, and the darky -listened closely.</p> - -<p>“Find out,” Matt finished, “whether McGlory is still -upstairs in the clubhouse. If he is I don’t suppose you -can communicate with him, for you will have to do it -privately. Providing you can get word to him, tell him -to meet me in the grove at the roadside, a quarter of a -mile north of the clubhouse. Got that?”</p> - -<p>“Yas, I done got dat, marse.”</p> - -<p>“If you can’t get word to McGlory inside of an hour, -then you come and tell me, will you?”</p> - -<p>“Yo’ knows, Marse Matt, yo’ can count on Uncle -Tom. Ah’ll do whut yo’ say, en Ah’ll wo’k mah ole haid -off mascottin’ fo’ yo’ while Ah’m doin’ it.”</p> - -<p>The old darky slipped away through the edge of the -timber, and Matt, none too sanguine, proceeded to lay -a course for the spot where he hoped to be joined by -his cowboy chum.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII_THE_COLONEL_TRIES_PERSUASION" id="CHAPTER_VIII_THE_COLONEL_TRIES_PERSUASION">CHAPTER VIII.<br /> -<span class="titlefont ">THE COLONEL TRIES PERSUASION.</span></a></h2> - - -<p>For a few moments McGlory struggled in the grasp -of Colonel Billings. He was excited, and angry over -the way Matt had been treated, and he would not have -hesitated to do the colonel an injury if he could thereby -have escaped from the room and followed his pard.</p> - -<p>“Quiet!” ordered the colonel sternly. “You don’t understand -this thing, McGlory, or you wouldn’t be fighting -to escape from me. I’m the best friend you ever -had, if you only knew it.”</p> - -<p>“Nary, you ain’t!” panted the cowboy. “My best -friend just risked his neck dropping out of the window. -You’re trying to get me into trouble, and Pard Matt is -trying to keep me out. Take your hands off me, colonel!”</p> - -<p>“I will, Joe, just as soon as you promise to sit still -and hear what I have to say.”</p> - -<p>McGlory reflected that it was too late to follow Matt, -who was probably doing his best to evade Levitt and -the others who were hot on his trail. The cowboy reasoned -that he could find his chum later, and that there -could be no harm in listening to what the colonel had -to say.</p> - -<p>“Go on,” said he curtly.</p> - -<p>“You’ll stay right where you are until I’m done?” -asked the colonel.</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>Billings drew back, dropped into a chair, and laid a -friendly hand on the cowboy’s knee. His voice changed, -sounding the depths of friendly interest and personal -regard.</p> - -<p>“Joe,” he remarked, “ever since your father took the -One-way Trail I’ve sort of felt that I was responsible -for your welfare. I knew your father mighty well—better -than any one else in Tucson, I reckon—and him -and me was bosom friends.”</p> - -<p>McGlory had no personal knowledge on this point, but -he was willing to take the colonel’s word for it.</p> - -<p>“If I can do anything for Joe,” the colonel went on,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span> -“I says to myself that I won’t leave a stone unturned to -do it. When the ‘Pauper’s Dream’ proposition came under -my management I knew I had the chance I wanted -to turn your way. I sold you a hundred shares of the -stock at five dollars a share, and we went on to develop -the claim.”</p> - -<p>“And there wasn’t any more gold in the shaft,” spoke -up the cowboy dryly, “than there was in a New England -well.”</p> - -<p>“That’s what everybody thought,” returned the colonel, -“but I knew better.”</p> - -<p>He got up, went to the table, and helped himself to -a drink from the decanter.</p> - -<p>“Better have a nip, son, eh?” he asked, as by an -afterthought, before leaving the table.</p> - -<p>“Not for me,” replied McGlory stoutly. “Pard Matt -don’t believe in that sort of thing, and I get along -better when I make his notions my own. I’ve found -that out more than once.”</p> - -<p>The colonel sighed resignedly, but did not press the -point. Returning to his chair, he continued his persuasions.</p> - -<p>“I knew when I sold you that stock that there was a -reef of rich gold ore under the ‘Pauper’s Dream.’ I -didn’t want it found until the right minute. Those who -had bought stock in the claim got scared. Some of -them sold their stock back to me for a song. When I’d -got enough of the stock to give me a controlling interest -<em>I found the gold vein</em>.”</p> - -<p>“That was a double play,” said McGlory bluntly. -“There wasn’t anything fair about that, colonel.”</p> - -<p>“It was all fair. Some of the stockholders were trying -to freeze me out. By letting them think there wasn’t -any gold in the ‘Dream’ I turned the tables and froze -<em>them</em> out. It was simply a game of diamond cut diamond—and -I was a little too sharp for my enemies. -That was all right, wasn’t it?”</p> - -<p>McGlory thought the colonel had a fair excuse for -acting as he had done.</p> - -<p>“When we laid open that gold vein,” pursued the -colonel, “buyers flocked around the ‘Pauper’s Dream’ -like crows around a cornfield. They wanted to buy. -I saw a chance to deal with this New York syndicate -for big money, so I had the syndicate send out an expert -to examine our property. Levitt came. I asked -him to make out a true report for the syndicate and a -private, false report for—other uses.”</p> - -<p>McGlory opened his eyes.</p> - -<p>“I see I’ve got you guessing,” laughed the colonel -gently. “This is how that private report came to be -made out—that private report on which your misguided -friend has built such a fabric of unjust suspicions. The -men I had frozen out of the company began to threaten -legal proceedings. The proceedings wouldn’t have -amounted to that”—and the colonel snapped his fingers—“for -those fellows hadn’t a leg to stand on; but do -you know what they could have done? Why, they’d -have tied up the mine for a year or two and prevented -the sale to the syndicate. In order to get around that -I hired Levitt to make out that fake report, and leave -it where those soreheads could see it. Now my hands -are free. The sale can be made to the syndicate, and -we’ll all win a fortune—providing your misguided friend -doesn’t take that cock-and-bull story of his to the meeting -to-night.“</p> - -<p>“Couldn’t you explain the matter to the syndicate, -colonel, just as you have to me?” asked the cowboy.</p> - -<p>“I could, yes; but they’d shy off. A little thing like -that sometimes knocks a big deal galley-west. It’s best -not to let any intimation of that fake report reach the -ears of the syndicate until we have the syndicate’s money -safely in our clothes. Young King means well—I’ll -give him credit for that—but he’s shy a couple of chips -this hand, and if he butts in we’re going to be left out -in the cold. That’s all there is to it.”</p> - -<p>“Why didn’t you explain this to Matt?”</p> - -<p>“The explanation is for our own stockholders, and not -for outsiders. A word, a whisper might leak through -and reach the fellows who could block the deal. We -mustn’t allow that. My boy, my boy”—and here the -colonel became very gentle, very fatherly—“I’m doing -the best I can for you. I’m trying to hand you a fortune, -and you’ve got to help me—in spite of Pard Matt. -It’s your duty to help me. You’ll never have such a -chance to pick out a brownstone front on Easy Street, -and you mustn’t let the opportunity slip through your -fingers.”</p> - -<p>To say that Joe McGlory was not influenced by the -colonel’s words would be to say that he was not human. -The cowboy wanted money, not for its own sake, but for -the great things he felt he could do with it. Not the -least of the cowboy’s desires was to help Matt in some -of his far-reaching aims in the motor field. He accepted -Billings’ story, and he reached out and gripped -his hand heartily.</p> - -<p>“I’m with you, chaps, taps, and latigoes!” he exclaimed. -“But say, can’t I tell Pard Matt? If he -knew——”</p> - -<p>But the colonel was afraid of “Pard Matt.” The -king of the motor boys had a brain altogether too keen.</p> - -<p>“Not a word, not a syllable,” adjured Billings. “All -that I have said, Joe, you must keep under your hat—until -after the meeting to-night and until after the -‘Dream’ is sold. You must buckle in and help me and -let Matt think what he will. Afterward, when the -money is divided, you can show Pard Matt where he -was wrong, and he’ll be glad to think that he did not -interfere with us in our work.”</p> - -<p>“But he’s going to interfere,” murmured McGlory. -“Whenever Matt King sets out to do a thing he does<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> -it. That’s his style. He’s got the fake report, and he’ll -use it at the meeting to-night—thinking he’s doing me -a good turn.”</p> - -<p>“I believe that Levitt will catch him,” asserted the -colonel.</p> - -<p>“You don’t know my pard as well as I do,” returned -the cowboy dejectedly. “I wonder if I couldn’t——” -McGlory paused.</p> - -<p>“Couldn’t what?” urged the colonel.</p> - -<p>“Never mind now. I’m going out and see if I can’t -do something.”</p> - -<p>Billings stared steadily at the lad for a moment.</p> - -<p>“All right,” said he, “go and do what you can. Remember -I have confidence in you, and you’re not to -breathe a word regarding what we have talked about. -I shall have to get to New York before three o’clock. -The bank closes then, and I’ve got to get that bullion. -I’ll have to start in a fast car by one. Come back and -report to me before I leave.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll do it,” replied the cowboy, hurrying out of the -room.</p> - -<p>The colonel chuckled, threw himself back in a chair, -and lighted a cigar.</p> - -<p>“Easy, easy, easy!” he muttered. “I can wrap McGlory -around my fingers and not half try. Now, if -King is captured, and if I can be sure he won’t meddle -with me to-night, everything will be serene.”</p> - -<p>The resourceful colonel accepted his worries calmly. -He had too much dignity to take part in a foot race, -so he remained in a comfortable chair by the window -and waited for news.</p> - -<p>McGlory was back in ten minutes. His face was -glowing.</p> - -<p>“Matt King dodged Levitt and all the rest who were -trailing him,” he reported.</p> - -<p>“What!” The colonel arose excitedly from his seat.</p> - -<p>“Don’t fret, colonel,” grinned the cowboy, “it’s not so -bad as that. An old darky who works around the club -grounds helped Matt make his getaway. Matt asked -him to tell me to meet him in the woods at the roadside, -a quarter of a mile north. That’s where I’m going -now. You’ll hear from me before one o’clock, colonel.”</p> - -<p>“What are you going to do?” rapped out the colonel.</p> - -<p>“Something that will make the deal a sure go. I -haven’t time to talk much. <i lang="es" xml:lang="es">Adios</i>, for now.”</p> - -<p>McGlory was away again like a shot, leaving the -colonel wondering—and fretting a little.</p> - -<p>A few minutes later Levitt came gloomily into the -room.</p> - -<p>“That young cub gave us the slip,” said he savagely, -“and I never had such a run in my life. The fat’s in -the fire, Billings.”</p> - -<p>“Not so, my friend,” returned the colonel, his quick -wit grasping something that looked like an opportunity. -“Can you get hold of a man who will help you? Are -you acquainted with any one about the club grounds -who can be trusted to do a little brisk work and then -keep quiet about it?”</p> - -<p>“Well, yes. The man in the garage is known to me, -and he’s out for anything that’s got a dollar in it. But -what of it?”</p> - -<p>The colonel’s plan was based on the information just -communicated to him by McGlory. He went into the -matter swiftly, but exhaustively, and when he had done -the gloom had vanished from Levitt’s face.</p> - -<p>“It will work, it will work,” murmured the mining -engineer, rubbing his hands.</p> - -<p>“Then go and work it,” said the colonel briskly.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX_WHAT_AILS_MGLORY" id="CHAPTER_IX_WHAT_AILS_MGLORY">CHAPTER IX.<br /> -<span class="titlefont ">WHAT AILS M’GLORY?</span></a></h2> - - -<p>Matt King, in a clump of bushes a quarter of a mile -north of the Malvern Country Club, watched the road -and waited for his chum. He had not much hope that -McGlory would join him, for he believed that the cowboy -would be held a prisoner by the colonel.</p> - -<p>What Matt was doing, in this particular matter, was -all for his friend. McGlory had become entangled with -a gang of confidence men, who were playing boldly for -big stakes. Whether the dishonest game won out or -failed, Joe McGlory must have nothing to do with it. -If he profited by the crime he would be called on to -suffer at the hands of the law; and, even if the law -never reached him, his conscience would make him miserable -all his life for the part he had played in such -a huge swindling scheme.</p> - -<p>Matt, at any cost to himself, meant to keep McGlory -clear of Billings and his criminal work. What is a -friend for if not to stand shoulder to shoulder with a -chum and save his good name? This touched upon one -of Matt’s principles—one of his rules of conduct long -ago formulated and steadily adhered to. And it was -a code which had played a big part in his many successes.</p> - -<p>Minute after minute slipped away, and then Matt’s -heart bounded as he heard a crunch of footsteps around -a turn in the wooded road. It might be Uncle Tom -who was coming, however, with a report of his failure -to deliver the message to McGlory. Peering through -the bushes, hoping against hope, Matt’s fears suddenly -subsided and an expression of thankfulness escaped his -lips.</p> - -<p>McGlory was coming!</p> - -<p>Matt gave a low whistle. The cowboy answered it, -and was soon at his friend’s side, gripping his hands.</p> - -<p>“Bully for you, old chap!” exclaimed McGlory. “I’d -like to see the gang that could lay <em>you</em> by the heels when -you make up your mind to get away.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span></p> - -<p>“You saw Uncle Tom, then?”</p> - -<p>“Sure, or I shouldn’t be here. Old Ebony-face thinks -you’re about the whole works, from the way he talks. -A lot of queer things have happened to-day, but the -queerest is your meeting Uncle Tom in this out-of-the-way -corner of Long Island.”</p> - -<p>“Wrong, Joe. The queerest—and the best—thing -that’s happened is the way we picked up that private -report of Levitt’s. We have to thank the crazy runabout -for that.”</p> - -<p>McGlory, although of a different opinion on that -point since listening to the colonel’s persuasions, did not -allow Matt to think that he disagreed with him.</p> - -<p>“How did you make it?” the cowboy asked. “Uncle -Tom didn’t tell me much about that. Principally he -worked his bazoo letting me know what a great mascot -he was, and how he used to pull luck your way down in -Arizona.”</p> - -<p>Matt, briefly as he could, told about the pavilion in -the rear of the club grounds, and how Uncle Tom had -sent his pursuers on the wrong track.</p> - -<p>McGlory laughed delightedly. He was playing a -part with an important point in view, and it was necessary -to pull the wool over Matt’s eyes. A despicable -part it was, for one who had benefited at Matt’s hands -as had McGlory; but the cowboy was filled with the -colonel’s specious arguments and crafty explanations, -and believed that, when the dust of the affair had settled, -and Matt knew everything, he would thank his cowboy -chum for preventing him from making a big mistake.</p> - -<p>“The colonel is a schemer, Joe,” declared Matt.</p> - -<p>“You bet your spurs he is,” chuckled McGlory. -“That’s the way they raise ’em out in Tucson. The -only way to keep a fellow from getting ahead of you is -to get ahead of him first.”</p> - -<p>Matt did not approve of these sentiments, nor of the -hearty admiration the cowboy seemed to have for them.</p> - -<p>“Billings is scheming the best he knows how,” went -on Matt, “to get himself into trouble, Joe, and he’s -figuring to drag you into it.”</p> - -<p>“But you’re figuring the other way,” answered McGlory, -“and I’ll back your headwork against the colonel’s -any old time. What are you planning to do now?”</p> - -<p>“I’ll have to know, first, what the situation is at the -clubhouse as regards yourself. How is that you happen -to be at large?”</p> - -<p>“Well, pard, the colonel couldn’t do anything with me, -so he let me go. You’ve got the report, you know.”</p> - -<p>The cowboy was weaving a tangled web. The farther -he went in his deceptions the more he was obliged -to misstate the facts.</p> - -<p>“You can go and come around the clubhouse,” continued -Matt, “without being in any danger from the -colonel and Levitt?”</p> - -<p>“That’s the way of it.”</p> - -<p>“Then our next move is to get back to Manhattan. -And, of course, we’ll have to use the runabout.”</p> - -<p>“Why, Matt, we may run off the other end of Long -Island if we try to use that chug cart!”</p> - -<p>“We’ve got to use it, just the same, and you’re the -one to get it from the garage. The quicker we start -on the return trip the better.”</p> - -<p>“You’re going to be at that meeting to-night?”</p> - -<p>“We’re both going to be there. You’re to offer the -private report in evidence, and tell all about our adventures -this morning. I guess that will spike the colonel’s -gun and block his little game of wholesale robbery.”</p> - -<p>“Then my fortune will go glimmering,” said Joe, but -not with much concern.</p> - -<p>“Better to let a questionable fortune go glimmering, -pard,” answered Matt earnestly, “than to do a dishonest -thing that would bother you all your life. And perhaps,” -he added solemnly, “it might get you into jail.”</p> - -<p>“Wow!” shivered the cowboy, feigning trepidation. -“That’s an elegant prospect—I don’t think.”</p> - -<p>“What’s more,” went on Matt, driving his suspicions -home, “the colonel’s such a schemer that I doubt -whether, if he should swindle the syndicate out of a lot -of money, he ever turned over a penny of it to you or -to any of the other original stockholders.”</p> - -<p>This caused the cowboy an inward tremor. But he -allowed the fear to pass. Colonel Billings was his father’s -friend—he had said so himself; and the colonel -felt a responsibility for his welfare—which is also what -the colonel had said himself. In the light of the colonel’s -persuasions the cowboy was taking his word in -everything.</p> - -<p>“Well,” remarked the cowboy, “the colonel is up -against the real thing now. He’s due for such a slam as -he never had before. We’re the boys to do it; eh, -Matt?”</p> - -<p>“We’ll make a stand for the right,” said Matt, “and -work shoulder to shoulder to win out. The colonel talks -about a fortune. You and I can make plenty of money, -Joe. I think we have proved that. The motors are -mighty good friends to tie to, whether they’re hitched -to submarines, automobiles, or aëroplanes. We’ll pin -our faith to the explosive engine, and one of these days -it will land us honestly in Easy Street.”</p> - -<p>The colonel, McGlory remembered, had mentioned -“Easy Street.” But not as Matt had done it. The -longer the cowboy talked with his chum the more he -hated himself for the part he was playing. If he talked -with Matt too long McGlory was sure his purpose -would slip from him, and that he would let out everything -about the inner history of the colonel’s manipulations -of the “Pauper’s Dream.”</p> - -<p>“I’d like to look inside that manila envelope once -more, pard,” said McGlory. “There’s a part of that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span> -private report I didn’t sabe, and I’d like to read it over -again.”</p> - -<p>Matt King promptly drew the envelope from his -pocket and passed it to his chum.</p> - -<p>“It’s evidence of the rascality of two men, Joe,” remarked -Matt, “and——”</p> - -<p>McGlory sprang up quickly and stepped out into the -road. He paused there, flashing his eyes up and down. -Apparently he was looking for somebody or something, -but really he was fighting with himself. He had reached -the point where he must play up his scheme for all it -was worth, or else turn his back on Billings and a fortune.</p> - -<p>The cowboy felt sure he was about to do the right -thing, but to put himself in a wrong light with his beloved -pard for only a few days was proving a harder -task than he had reckoned on. Abruptly he clinched his -resolve. Slipping the manila envelope into his pocket, -he turned to look at the apprehensive face of Matt -among the bushes.</p> - -<p>“What is it, Joe?” queried Matt. “Some one coming?”</p> - -<p>“Some one going,” replied the cowboy, “and it’s me. -You don’t understand this, pard. Don’t think too hard -of me until you know everything.”</p> - -<p>Thereupon McGlory whirled and took to his heels, -racing in the direction of the clubhouse.</p> - -<p>Matt was so amazed he could not move or speak. -What ailed McGlory? What did he mean?</p> - -<p>“Joe!” he shouted, starting up from the bushes.</p> - -<p>But the cowboy was already around the turn in the -road and lost to Matt’s astounded eyes.</p> - -<p>While Matt King stood there, his mind nearly a blank, -staring down the road and wondering, a sharp voice came -from behind him.</p> - -<p>“Quick on it, Kelly! Now’s your chance!”</p> - -<p>It was Levitt’s voice. Matt turned, only to be confronted -by the burly individual from the club garage. -In a flash the man grabbed him and hurled him crashing -to his back among the bushes.</p> - -<p>“Steady, my lad!” threatened Kelly. “I don’t want -ter be any rougher with ye than I have ter, but orders -is orders—an’ they say you’re a thief.”</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X_IN_THE_GARAGE" id="CHAPTER_X_IN_THE_GARAGE">CHAPTER X.<br /> -<span class="titlefont ">IN THE GARAGE.</span></a></h2> - - -<p>Matt was so bewildered on account of McGlory’s actions -that he offered little resistance to Kelly and Levitt. -Anyhow, the manila envelope had been taken from him, -and Levitt—as Matt reasoned—had nothing to gain by -the capture.</p> - -<p>“Here’s the rope, Kelly,” said the mining engineer, -coming close. “Better put it on him.”</p> - -<p>“You don’t have to tie me,” protested Matt. “I’m not -a thief, Levitt, and you know it. I’m willing to go, -and go quietly, wherever you want to take me. I guess -I can explain the affair to the authorities so that I’ll -soon have my liberty.”</p> - -<p>Levitt gave him an odd look.</p> - -<p>“We’ll see about that,” he answered. “Tie his hands, -anyway, Kelly,” he added.</p> - -<p>Matt lay quietly while the rope was placed around -his wrists. He was wondering why Levitt didn’t search -him for the report. To all appearances the engineer -wasn’t giving a thought to the document.</p> - -<p>“I haven’t that manila envelope, Levitt,” said Matt. -“If you’ve made a prisoner of me just to recover that -you’re having your trouble for nothing.”</p> - -<p>“I knew you didn’t have the envelope,” was the surprising -answer. “McGlory got that. Kelly and I were -close enough to hear him talking with you and to see -him when he ran down the road. He fooled you that -time, and no mistake.”</p> - -<p>There was growing bitterness in Matt’s heart as he -listened.</p> - -<p>“You knew McGlory was to take the private report -from me?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“Well, Billings told me the cowboy had put up a deal -of some kind.”</p> - -<p>“So McGlory had planned the scheme with Billings, -had he?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“And McGlory took the report to Billings?”</p> - -<p>“That’s where he went with it.”</p> - -<p>The breath hung in Matt’s throat. His chum’s treachery -had been deliberately planned and executed. McGlory -was playing into the colonel’s hands, and bringing -about his own undoing. Naturally Matt inferred that -his friend thought more of his prospective fortune than -of his comradeship. Choosing the dishonest wealth, he -had turned his back on his friend.</p> - -<p>Sad and disheartened, Matt allowed Kelly to pilot -him through the woods. With head down, the young -motorist stumbled onward, more concerned with his sorrowful -reflections than he was over the place to which -he was being taken.</p> - -<p>Suddenly Matt’s forward movement was stayed, and -he heard Levitt speaking:</p> - -<p>“I’ll look out for him, Kelly, and you go ahead and -make sure that there’s no one around.”</p> - -<p>Matt lifted his eyes. They were at the edge of the -woods, immediately behind the garage.</p> - -<p>While Levitt took charge of him, the prisoner saw -Kelly cross the open space separating the timber line -from the garage, and enter the building by a rear door. -He came back presently, leaving the door ajar.</p> - -<p>“Not a soul there, Levitt,” said he. “Come on with -him, and come quick.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span></p> - -<p>Matt was hurried over the intervening space and into -the garage. There were only two cars in the garage—the -runabout and a large touring car—and not another -person in sight.</p> - -<p>Matt, pushed to the foot of a stairway leading to the -second floor, was told to climb upward. He obeyed. -At the top of the flight there was a door. Kelly pushed -it open, drew Matt inside, and Levitt came after them.</p> - -<p>“Are you sure you understand just what you’re to do, -Kelly?” inquired Levitt, in an anxious tone.</p> - -<p>“Sure I do,” answered Kelly. “There wasn’t so much -of it that I can’t remember it all.”</p> - -<p>“Do your work faithfully and you’ll never regret it.”</p> - -<p>Levitt drew back out of the room and closed the door -behind him.</p> - -<p>“Lay down on that bunk there, my lad,” said Kelly, -pointing to a cot at one side of the small room.</p> - -<p>It was a room set apart for the man in charge of the -garage, and was rudely but comfortably furnished.</p> - -<p>Matt, still cast down by his cowboy chum’s treachery, -was as yet taking but little interest in what happened to -him. He stumbled over upon the cot, glad of an opportunity -to rest with some degree of comfort while his -mind regained its normal powers and allowed him to -think clearly of McGlory’s case.</p> - -<p>Kelly secured his feet with an end of the rope that -bound his hands.</p> - -<p>“I’m going to be as considerate of ye, King,” observed -Kelly, “as I can. No harm is intended to ye—if there -was I wouldn’t be helpin’. But ye’ve got to stay here -for a while, an’ orders is that ye’re to remain quiet. The -garage is more or less of a public place, an’ yer confinement -is to be private. If people happened to be below -ye might yell. That wouldn’t do, now, would it? I’m -going to tie this piece of cloth over yer mouth jest to -make sure ye don’t say anythin’ so loud it can be heard -downstairs.”</p> - -<p>“Wait a minute, Kelly,” said Matt. “Do you know -anything about my chum, Joe McGlory?”</p> - -<p>“Never a thing. He’s the boy who came with ye in -that runabout?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“Well, he’s not known to me at all. You’re the lad -that gave us that chase, and Levitt says you’re a thief. -Ye don’t look it, now, but orders is to hold ye, an’ that’s -what I’m doin’.”</p> - -<p>“You’re helping Colonel Billings and Levitt carry -out a big swindling game by this work, Kelly.”</p> - -<p>“So? Well, lad, I can’t look out for other people. -Number One—which is Kelly, d’ye mind—is enough fer -me to take care of.”</p> - -<p>“If I’m a thief, why doesn’t Levitt take me to Hempstead -and have me locked up by the police?”</p> - -<p>“Levitt doesn’t want to disgrace ye by such a move. -Bein’ locked up by the police gives a lad a bad record. -Ye’re far an’ away better off with me here. We’re to -be together three days, and——”</p> - -<p>“Three days!”</p> - -<p>“The same—no more, no less. We’re going to get -along like old cronies, if ye only behave. Now for the -gag.”</p> - -<p>Matt submitted while the cloth was put in place. -Barely had Kelly finished when a car was heard puffing -into the big room below.</p> - -<p>Kelly jumped to a round opening in the floor, near -one end of the room. It was a stovepipe hole, but the -pipe was missing.</p> - -<p>“One of the members, my lad,” said Kelly, turning -away from his observation of the room underneath and -speaking in a guarded voice. “I’ll have to go and look -after the car. But ye won’t get lonesome against the -time I come back. Ye’ve plenty to think of, I take it, -an’ that will use up yer time.”</p> - -<p>Kelly went out, slamming the door, and Matt could -hear him hurrying down the stairs.</p> - -<p>Three days! Matt was to be kept in the garage for -three days!</p> - -<p>That, no doubt, was to prevent him from interfering -with the colonel’s plans in New York.</p> - -<p>The colonel had won McGlory over, and there would -be no interference from him. But perhaps, even without -that “private report,” Matt could do something with -the syndicate. It might be that he could save the cowboy -in spite of himself.</p> - -<p>Matt had noticed, while he and the cowboy were in -the clubhouse talking with the colonel, that the trickster -from Arizona had a powerful influence over McGlory. -The colonel had made good use of that influence, and -had succeeded in turning the cowboy against his best -friend.</p> - -<p>The people who had brought the car into the garage -had left. A mumble of talk had floated up through the -stovepipe hole, and the prisoner was able to keep the -general run of events that took place in the garage.</p> - -<p>He could hear Kelly tinkering with the car that had -just arrived. In the midst of the sounds he heard footfalls, -and then a voice, lifted high:</p> - -<p>“Hello! Where’s the man that runs this place?”</p> - -<p>That was the colonel. Angry blood leaped in Matt’s -veins as he listened.</p> - -<p>“Here, sir,” responded Kelly.</p> - -<p>“Is that big touring car of Griggs’ in shape for the -road?”</p> - -<p>“Fit as a fiddle, sir, an’ full up with oil and gasoline.”</p> - -<p>Then followed cranking, and the sputter of an engine -picking up its cycle; and, after that, the moving off of -the car.</p> - -<p>“The colonel’s away to New York,” thought Matt<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> -darkly. “He’s gone to get the two bars of bullion before -the bank closes. That’s step number one in the -big robbery. I wonder if Levitt and McGlory are with -him?”</p> - -<p>For an hour or two longer Kelly was alone and busy -in the garage. A tin clock hung on one wall of the -bedroom, and from where Matt lay he was able to watch -the moving hands.</p> - -<p>“If I accomplish anything,” Matt thought, “I shall -have to reach New York by eight o’clock. How am I -to get out of here and to the nearest railroad station?”</p> - -<p>That was his problem, and it looked as though he -would have to work it out unaided.</p> - -<p>He tried to free himself of the ropes, but Kelly had -tied them too securely. In order to work at them to -better advantage, he swung his bound feet over the -side of the cot and sat up. But the ropes defied every -effort he made to release his hands.</p> - -<p>With the idea of watching what took place in the -garage, he slipped to his knees on the floor and then -straightened out at full length. By rolling carefully, he -succeeded in reaching the stovepipe hole.</p> - -<p>His view was limited, but it commanded the broad -doors leading into the big room. Kelly was working -somewhere in the rear, and could not be seen.</p> - -<p>Matt was about to roll away, when two figures appeared -in the door. One was McGlory and the other -was Levitt.</p> - -<p>“Kelly!” shouted Levitt.</p> - -<p>“Here!” answered Kelly, coming forward.</p> - -<p>“Got a car we can use for a trip back to the city?”</p> - -<p>“Only the runabout this young fellow came in.”</p> - -<p>“I’m a Piute,” growled McGlory, “if I want to fool -with destruction by ridin’ in that.”</p> - -<p>“I feel the same way, McGlory,” said Levitt, “but -we’ve got to get to New York. If there’s no other car -we’ll have to chance that one.”</p> - -<p>“Sufferin’ trouble!” groaned McGlory. “It takes -Pard Matt to get any kind of service out of that old -flugee. You can’t handle it, Levitt. I saw the kind of -work you made of it. Can’t we get a rig to take us to -the railroad station?”</p> - -<p>“There are no rigs here,” answered Levitt. “It’s -either the runabout—or travel afoot.”</p> - -<p>“I’m a cowpuncher, and a cowpuncher ain’t built right -for footwork. Well, let’s chance old Death and Destruction. -We’ve got to be at that meeting, and we’ve -five hours to get there. If the runabout don’t go backward -more than it does ahead, I reckon we can make it.”</p> - -<p>Levitt seemed as dubious over the attempt to ride in -the runabout as was McGlory.</p> - -<p>“Sure,” remarked Kelly, “she looks like a nice, easy-ridin’ -little car. I’ve cleaned her, and oiled her, and -pumped her full of fuel, and she ought to travel.”</p> - -<p>“She ought to, that’s a fact,” said Levitt, “but I’m -afraid she won’t. However, we’ve got to take a chance. -Hop in, McGlory.”</p> - -<p>Levitt speeded up the engine and threw in the clutch. -The runabout moved quietly out of the garage.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI_UNCLE_TOM_AGAIN" id="CHAPTER_XI_UNCLE_TOM_AGAIN">CHAPTER XI.<br /> -<span class="titlefont ">UNCLE TOM AGAIN.</span></a></h2> - - -<p>Why hadn’t McGlory and Levitt gone to the city with -Colonel Billings?</p> - -<p>This is the mental question Matt put to himself, and -he was at a loss for a logical answer.</p> - -<p>If McGlory and Levitt were hand and glove with the -colonel in working out his nefarious scheme, then there -was no reason in the world why they should not be traveling -together—unless the big touring car used by the -colonel had been loaded to its capacity. This did not -seem possible.</p> - -<p>Nor could it be that Levitt and McGlory were taking -the runabout to get it out of Matt’s way. They didn’t -want to use the car, and they had asked Kelly for another.</p> - -<p>Matt, with his curiosity still unsatisfied, was on the -point of rolling back to his cot, when some one else appeared -in the doorway. Hope leaped within him when -he recognized Uncle Tom.</p> - -<p>Uncle Tom! Matt had forgotten all about the old -negro.</p> - -<p>“Marse Kelly, sah,” piped Uncle Tom, “where is yo’?”</p> - -<p>“Here,” answered Kelly, coming forward. “What do -you want?”</p> - -<p>“Marse Partington, whut jess come in on his car, -wants tuh speak wif yo’ er minit, Marse Kelly. He done -sont me tuh fotch yuh.”</p> - -<p>“What does he want?”</p> - -<p>“He didn’t say, suh. He jess say, ‘Tom, yo’ lazy niggah, -run tuh de garage an’ tell Kelly Ah wants tuh see -him right off.’ Dat’s whut he say, an’ ev’rybody knows -Ah’s de hardest wo’kin’ man about de place. Lazy! Ah -ain’t so spry as I uster be, but, by golly, Ah’s——”</p> - -<p>“Where is Mr. Partington, Tom?” interrupted Kelly.</p> - -<p>“Jess sta’tin’ fo’ de golf links, suh.”</p> - -<p>Kelly started, and Uncle Tom started with him. -Matt’s heart sank. If he could only have attracted the -old negro’s attention there would have been some one -to help him in making an escape.</p> - -<p>While Matt lay on the floor, again furiously working -at the ropes, Uncle Tom slipped stealthily back into the -garage. His old rheumatic legs carried him with unusual -rapidity out of sight toward the rear of the room, -and Matt could hear him, a moment later, clambering -up the stairs.</p> - -<p>Brave old Uncle Tom! He knew of Matt’s plight, -and was coming to help him.</p> - -<p>The door of the bedroom was unlocked, and the darky<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span> -came hurriedly into the room. He was shaking with -excitement, and lost not a moment hurrying to Matt’s -side.</p> - -<p>“Marse Kelly would kill me daid ef he knew whut -Ah was doin’,” muttered the old negro. “We’s got tuh -hurry, Marse Matt. Marse Partington didn’t want -Marse Kelly, en dar’s gwine ter be ructions when Kelly -gits back.”</p> - -<p>With trembling fingers he plucked away the gag.</p> - -<p>“Don’t be scared, Uncle Tom,” said Matt reassuringly. -“Just get my hands loose and I’ll take care of -Kelly if he tries to interfere with us. I’ll look after -you.”</p> - -<p>“Ah’s done lost mah job, Motah Matt,” quavered -Uncle Tom, as he worked at the rope around Matt’s -wrists. “Ah’s done got tuh git away f’om dis club -place er dat ’ar Kelly will prove de def ob me.”</p> - -<p>“You can go away with me,” said Matt.</p> - -<p>“But dey all owes me fo’ dollahs fo’ wo’k!”</p> - -<p>“I’ll pay you five times that, Uncle Tom, for what -you’re doing.”</p> - -<p>“Golly!” and the old negro’s courage seemed to return; -“five times fo’ is fifty. Whatum Ah gwine tuh -do wif fifty dollahs? Ah won’t hab tuh wo’k no mo’ -fo’ six mont’s.”</p> - -<p>Uncle Tom’s multiplication was of a weird variety, -but Matt did not correct his mistake.</p> - -<p>Finally the knots were loosened so that Matt could -slip his hands from the encompassing coils, and he was -but a minute more in freeing his feet.</p> - -<p>“Now, then, Uncle Tom,” cried he, “this way—as fast -as you can come!”</p> - -<p>He sprang to the door, Uncle Tom lurching after him.</p> - -<p>“Doan’ yo’ git too fur away, Marse Matt,” pleaded -the negro. “Ef dat Kelly meets me alone by mahse’f, -Ah’s gwine ter be a daid niggah. Stay by me.”</p> - -<p>Matt lessened his pace so that Uncle Tom could follow -him closely out of the room and down the stairs. -They started to leave by the front of the garage, but, as -ill luck would have it, Kelly, red and wrathful, leaped -through the door directly in front of Matt.</p> - -<p>“Fo’ de lan’ sakes!” wailed Uncle Tom, staggering -limply back against the wall.</p> - -<p>“Clear out by the rear door, Uncle Tom!” shouted -Matt, picking up a heavy wrench from the floor.</p> - -<p>Uncle Tom scrambled for the rear of the garage at -a remarkable rate of speed.</p> - -<p>Kelly swore.</p> - -<p>“So this was that nigger’s game, was it?” he growled. -“I knew something was up when I found Partington, and -he said he hadn’t sent fer me! I’ll skin that black villain -alive!”</p> - -<p>“You’ll deal with me first, Kelly,” said Matt.</p> - -<p>“Oh, you!” grunted Kelly. “Git back upstairs. It -won’t take more’n a minute to wind up your clock!”</p> - -<p>The garage man drew a revolver. That he happened -to have the weapon spoke volumes for the responsibility -he felt as the jailer for Motor Matt.</p> - -<p>“Put up that revolver!” ordered Matt sternly.</p> - -<p>“Here’s the way I put it up,” answered Kelly, lifting -the weapon and pointing it full at Matt. “Up them -stairs with ye, an’ no more ifs nor ands about it.”</p> - -<p>“Look here, Kelly,” expostulated Matt, “you’re getting -yourself into mighty deep water, and——”</p> - -<p>Matt was talking for a purpose—and the purpose was -to give him an opportunity to use the wrench. Suddenly -he found his chance, and the heavy instrument -shot forward and struck Kelly on the wrist of his -lifted arm. A cry of pain escaped the man, and he -reeled back, dropping the revolver.</p> - -<p>Matt tried to spring past him, but Kelly, writhing with -pain though he was, pulled himself together and struck -out viciously with his left fist. Matt dodged quickly -and evaded the blow. The next instant he had used his -right fist with terrific force, hurling Kelly out of his -way and depositing him on the floor in a heap.</p> - -<p>How long Kelly sat on the floor, piecing together his -scattered train of thought, he did not know; but when -his faculties returned to him, Matt was gone.</p> - -<p>Kelly, muttering to himself and with both hands groping -about his bruised forehead, staggered to the door and -looked away in the direction of the road.</p> - -<p>There was no one to be seen. Greatly shaken, Kelly -stumbled back to a chair near a workbench and deposited -himself in it.</p> - -<p>“Felt like a batterin’-ram,” mumbled Kelly. “If I had -been kicked by a mule it wouldn’t have knocked me out -more’n what it did. Who’d have thought that lad had -so much ginger in him? Whisht, now, while I think -what’s to be done.”</p> - -<p>Matt King’s escape, Kelly knew, ought to be communicated -to Levitt, in some way, but how was it to be -done? Levitt was between the clubhouse and New -York in an automobile.</p> - -<p>Ah, Kelly had it! He would call up Krug’s and -tell some one there to lay for Levitt and bring him to -the telephone.</p> - -<p>Kelly, alert and eager to undo some of the damage -that had been caused the plans of Levitt by Matt’s escape, -hurried to the phone in the rear of the garage, -and was soon connected with Krug’s.</p> - -<p>“Any one there who knows Hannibal J. Levitt?” he -asked.</p> - -<p>“I’ll find out,” answered a voice from the other end -of the wire.</p> - -<p>“Well, hurry up!” implored Kelly. “I’m in a tearing -rush.”</p> - -<p>In about a minute—an hour it seemed to the impatient -Kelly—another voice floated back along the wire.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span></p> - -<p>“I know Mr. Levitt,” said the voice. “He was here -this morning, but he’s not here now.”</p> - -<p>“Sure he’s not there?” responded Kelly. “This is the -garage at the Malvern Country Club—get that? Levitt -left here in a runabout an hour ago, bound for New -York. He ought to pass your place in a little while. -Lay for him. If you can, get him to the phone and -have him call up Kelly—Kelly at the Malvern Country -Club garage, understand—it will be worth a fiver to -Levitt. Have somebody watch for the runabout an’ -flag Levitt. Will you?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>Kelly, highly pleased with himself, hung up the receiver. -Then he waited—waited an hour, two hours, -three hours—waited until nightfall, till 7 o’clock, 8 -o’clock, 9 o’clock came, but no call arrived from Krug’s.</p> - -<p>The reason was that Levitt did not pass Krug’s Corner. -It was the only route from the Malvern Country -Club to New York—but, nevertheless, Levitt did not -pass.</p> - -<p>The white runabout passed, however, and it had two -passengers.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII_A_STARTLING_MYSTERY" id="CHAPTER_XII_A_STARTLING_MYSTERY">CHAPTER XII.<br /> -<span class="titlefont ">A STARTLING MYSTERY.</span></a></h2> - - -<p>Matt, on leaving the garage, gave a hasty look around -for Uncle Tom. The old negro was not in sight. Matt -could not spend any time looking for him, in that particular -place, and ran for the road, hoping to find Uncle -Tom waiting for him farther on.</p> - -<p>In this he was not disappointed. Well toward the place -where Matt had had his memorable interview with his -cowboy pard, the negro pushed out of the undergrowth.</p> - -<p>“Marse Matt,” he chattered, “Ah’s been er-waitin’. -Ah ’low’ed ye’d come dishyer way. Whut done happen -tuh dat Kelly?”</p> - -<p>“I got away from him,” Matt answered.</p> - -<p>“By golly, Ah got away, too. Nevah run so fas’ en -mah life. Five times fo’ is fifty. Yo’ all ain’t er-fo’gittin’ -dat, is yuh?”</p> - -<p>“No, Uncle Tom; I’m not forgetting anything.”</p> - -<p>Matt had nearly a hundred dollars in his pocket, and -if he had not thought he was going to need considerable -extra money for his trip back to the city he’d been given -the negro nearly the whole of it.</p> - -<p>“There’s your fifty, Uncle Tom,” said Matt. “You -go to Hempstead and stay with Topsy until you can -find another job.”</p> - -<p>“Ah doan’ want no job twell Ah git out ob money, -marse, en den Ah’s hopin’ ye’ll be ready tuh take me -on as yo’ private mascot. Ah tells yuh, marse, yo’s -monsus short on luck, seems lak. Yo’s had a powahful -bad streak to-day. Where’d yo’ hab been ef it hadn’t -been fo’ Ole Tom? Golly, Ah’s afeared tuh guess!”</p> - -<p>“How did you know I was up there over the garage?”</p> - -<p>“Ah seed yo’ when yo’ was brought intuh de garage, -marse. Marse Whitmore, at de clubhouse, done sent me -tuh ask Kelly somethin’, en Kelly wasn’t erroun’ de -place. Ah waited; den Ah seed yo’ come in froo de -back do’, yo’ han’s all tied lak dey was, en Ah jess -scrooched down behin’ a car an’ waited twell yo’ was -took to Kelly’s room. Den Ah went off tuh think whut -all Ah was gwine tuh do tuh help yo’. Ah clean fo’got -’bout Marse Whitmore. Went tuh hunt him up, but he -had done lef’ de place where he was. De idee got intuh -mah ole haid dat Ah could git Kelly away fom de -garage by tellin’ him somebody else wanted tuh see him, -en Ah wo’ked hit out, yassuh. En she wo’ked, didn’t -she? Yo’ knows ’bout dat. Say, marse, is five times -fo’ fifty er skiventy? ’Pears lak Ah ain’t jess right en -mah ’rithmetic.”</p> - -<p>“It’s nearer fifty than seventy, Uncle Tom. If I -could spare any more money, though, I’d give it to you.”</p> - -<p>“Yo’s allers gen’rous lak dat, en dat’s de reason Ah -likes tuh mascot fo’ yo’. When does yo’ all think yo’ll -need me?”</p> - -<p>“I can’t tell that for a while, Uncle Tom. You go to -Hempstead and stay with Topsy. That’s the place -for you. You’re getting altogether too old to work.”</p> - -<p>“Huccome yo’ lef’ Denvah? Whar yo’ all been, huh?”</p> - -<p>“I’ve been in a good many places, Uncle Tom, since I -left Denver. I’m certainly going to do something for -you, Uncle Tom,” answered Matt; “but I can’t say just -when.”</p> - -<p>“Ah’s got fifty-five dollahs, marse, en hit’ll las’ me er -long while, yassuh, but doan’ yo’ git de notion hit’ll las’ -too long. When hit plays out Ah wants tuh wo’k fo’ -yo’.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll have to hurry, Uncle Tom,” said Matt. “You -can stroll along to Hempstead and take your time; but -I’ve got important business in New York.”</p> - -<p>“Yo’s allers doin’ somethin’. Nevah seed sich a fellah -fo’ bein’ evahlastin’ly on de go. Ah’m gwine tuh root -fo’ yo’, marse. ’Deed Ah is. When good luck come yo’ -way, jess yo’ ricollect hit’s Uncle Tom mascottin’. But -Ah can do a heap bettah at dat ef Ah’m ’long clos’ tuh -yo’. Dishyer long-range mascottin’ done li’ble tuh wind -up on er snag. ’Membah dat, too.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll remember everything, Uncle Tom,” said Matt. -“You stay in Hempstead with Topsy. Good-by.”</p> - -<p>“Good-by, Marse Matt.”</p> - -<p>Matt shook the darky’s hand warmly, turned and hurried -on along the road.</p> - -<p>Uncle Tom was a grafter, but nevertheless Matt had -a warm place in his heart for the old fellow. His peculiarities -were all on the humorous side, and Matt could -have enjoyed his talk if circumstances had been different.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span></p> - -<p>While Matt was striding onward, his thoughts keeping -pace with his swift gait, he heard suddenly the hum -of a motor in the distance.</p> - -<p>All motors have the same sort of music. The tempo -changes with work at the throttle, but a trained ear can -follow the shifting gears; and, now and then, there’s -a man who will recognize his car by the croon of the -engine alone.</p> - -<p>It seemed to Matt that there was something familiar -in the sound he heard.</p> - -<p>The road, for a long distance at that particular point, -lay in a straight stretch.</p> - -<p>The car was coming toward Matt, but the trees on -either side of the road made the approaching machine -indistinct. Their boughs dropped low, and the deep -shadows of the westering sun lay heavily across the -thoroughfare.</p> - -<p>Suddenly Matt caught a glimpse of white flashing in -the gloom.</p> - -<p>The runabout! ran his startled thought.</p> - -<p>Yes, undoubtedly it was the strange hoodoo car that -was approaching.</p> - -<p>What did it mean?</p> - -<p>Were Levitt and McGlory returning to the Country -Club? Had they found the car more than they could -manage, and were they taking it back to the garage?</p> - -<p>This did not seem a satisfactory explanation, and yet -Matt could think of nothing else.</p> - -<p>At a halt in the middle of the road Matt waited for -the car to draw near. If McGlory was in the machine, -that was as good a time as any for a meeting and an explanation.</p> - -<p>But the cowboy was not in the car, nor was Levitt, -so far as Matt could see, or anybody else.</p> - -<p>The car was on the reverse, and backing down the -road, most marvelously keeping a straight line, although -now and then lurching sideways a little and narrowly -escaping the trunk of a tree at the roadside.</p> - -<p>Here was a startling mystery!</p> - -<p>What had happened to McGlory and Levitt?</p> - -<p>While Matt wondered, he was making preparations -to board the car and do his best to get it under control.</p> - -<p>It was coming at a slow rate of speed, and to leap -aboard would not be difficult.</p> - -<p>When within a dozen feet of the young motorist, the -car seemed to recognize an enemy and to attempt to -turn aside.</p> - -<p>Matt ran forward, stopped, executed a flying leap and -gained the running board. Another moment and he -was in the driver’s seat and had brought the car to a -halt.</p> - -<p>The reverse gear was engaged, so the runabout had -ample warrant for crawfishing along the road.</p> - -<p>There was nothing in the car, however, that offered -any clue to the mystery of what had become of the -two who had taken the runabout from the Country Club -garage.</p> - -<p>Matt got down and made a hurried examination. The -car was in as good condition as ever, and rebuffed his -efforts at getting clues.</p> - -<p>There was something uncanny about the machine. -Matt admitted it to himself. It acted in a way that defied -all explanation, at times, and that alone was enough -to get on a chauffeur’s nerves.</p> - -<p>Perhaps Billy was right, and that the “double hoodoo,” -in some incomprehensible manner, was accountable for -the car’s tantrums.</p> - -<p>So far as McGlory and Levitt were concerned, there -was a possibility that the car had misbehaved so outrageously -that they had put on the reverse and cast it -adrift, to go where it would.</p> - -<p>But there were other travelers in the road to think of. -Levitt and McGlory would scarcely take chances of -wrecking some other machine, or of running down a carriage, -or some pedestrian.</p> - -<p>Matt was deeply puzzled.</p> - -<p>“Well,” he thought, “I want a way to return to New -York, and here it is. It meets me on the road, and I -should be foolish not to take advantage of it. Quite -likely Joe and Levitt have found other and more satisfactory -means for reaching the city. I don’t blame them -for changing to another car, if they had the opportunity, -or for taking a railroad train if they happened to be -conveniently near one. There’s no railroad very close -to this place, though, and the runabout couldn’t have -come far, with no one in control.”</p> - -<p>There was enough gas in the cylinders so that the -motor took the spark. The runabout leaped ahead, perfectly -obedient to Matt’s hand.</p> - -<p>As he swept along he looked and listened for some -signs of McGlory and Levitt. He came upon the two -missing passengers suddenly—and what he saw caused -him to jam down hard on the brakes and leap from the -car before it was fairly at a stop.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII_IMPORTANT_DISCLOSURES" id="CHAPTER_XIII_IMPORTANT_DISCLOSURES">CHAPTER XIII.<br /> -<span class="titlefont ">IMPORTANT DISCLOSURES.</span></a></h2> - - -<p>Joe McGlory was kneeling beside the road, tying a -handkerchief bandage around the forehead of Levitt. -The latter was sprawled out limply on the ground, his -clothing torn and disarranged.</p> - -<p>“What’s the matter, Joe?” asked Matt.</p> - -<p>The cowboy’s face was pale, and the set lines of it -indicated that he was himself in pain.</p> - -<p>“That’s you, is it, pard?” he asked huskily.</p> - -<p>For a useless question McGlory threw a good deal of -feeling into it.</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span></p> - -<p>“I might have known you’d come pounding along if I -was in trouble. Levitt is badly hurt. He’s been unconscious -ever since he dropped in the road. I can’t -bring him back to his senses—but I haven’t been able to -do much, being about half knocked out.”</p> - -<p>Matt went down on his knees, laid a hand over Levitt’s -heart, and then felt of his pulse.</p> - -<p>“He’ll do, I think, Joe. Is he hurt anywhere else except -in the head?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t think so. He was thrown headfirst against -the tree there.”</p> - -<p>Matt lifted the bandage and surveyed the wound. -The light was none too good, and he asked his chum -to strike a match.</p> - -<p>“It may be a fracture of the skull,” said Matt, replacing -the bandage. “We’ve got to get him into the -hands of a doctor.”</p> - -<p>“Hempstead’s the nearest place, I reckon. It can’t -be more than a mile from here.”</p> - -<p>“We’ll go there.”</p> - -<p>Riding on two seats, with an unconscious and wounded -man to look after, was not going to be child’s play for -Matt and McGlory—particularly as the cowboy was not -in very good condition himself. Then, too, cramped as -he was going to be, Matt would have to look after the -runabout. That might be an easy matter, and it might -not. It all depended on how the runabout was going to -act.</p> - -<p>“Can you help me get him into the car, Joe?” asked -Matt.</p> - -<p>“I’m not good for much, Matt,” was the response; -“but I’ll do what I can.”</p> - -<p>“What’s the matter with you?”</p> - -<p>“Just shaken up, I reckon. I’ve had a good many -falls, but never one like that before.”</p> - -<p>Matt, when Levitt was lifted, contrived to carry most -of the burden. McGlory groaned when the limp form -of Levitt was in the car, and grabbed at the car seat to -support himself.</p> - -<p>“Something has happened to you, old chap, besides -a mere shaking up,” averred Matt. “I guess I’ll have -to leave you at Hempstead with Levitt.”</p> - -<p>“Nary, you don’t. I’ve got to get to that meeting.”</p> - -<p>Matt made no answer to this. It brought up a subject -which he was not yet ready to discuss.</p> - -<p>“Get into the car, Joe,” said he. “Hold Levitt’s head -up between your knees, if you can. I won’t be able to -help support him—the car will take all my attention.”</p> - -<p>“If this infernal contraption goes off the jump again,” -scowled McGlory, “it’s liable to do for all of us.”</p> - -<p>In a few moments they were loaded. The cowboy, -braced in the seat, supported the upper half of Levitt’s -body between his knees. This left Matt elbow room for -running the car.</p> - -<p>The runabout started off cleverly enough, and Matt -believed it would act well for the short trip to Hempstead.</p> - -<p>“How did the accident happen, Joe?” he asked, when -they were well away.</p> - -<p>“I wish somebody would tell me,” answered McGlory. -“We were going along at not more than twenty-five -miles an hour when, without any warning, it buck-jumped, -and stopped dead. Levitt was thrown out -sideways against the tree. I missed the trees, but took -the roadside on my head and shoulders, as near as I can -recollect. I was dazed for a couple of minutes, and -when I rounded up my wits I saw Levitt unconscious, a -dozen feet from where I was lying. That’s all. I was -trying to tinker him up when you came along. Where -did you pick up the car?”</p> - -<p>“A little way back on the road. It was on the reverse, -and moving slowly.”</p> - -<p>“How did it get on the reverse?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know.”</p> - -<p>“Nor I. Sufferin’ brain twisters! The same thing -happened on the Jericho Pike this morning, you remember.”</p> - -<p>Matt was silent. Before either he or the cowboy -could speak Levitt began to talk.</p> - -<p>“Play the game, Billings! If you’re going to hocus -the syndicate, you’ve got to pay me money enough to -make it worth while. A quarter of the proceeds, Billings, -or I give Random & Griggs my private report. -That will cook your goose.”</p> - -<p>McGlory gasped.</p> - -<p>“He’s delirious,” said Matt.</p> - -<p>“He—he thinks he’s talking with Billings,” said McGlory. -“Speak to me about that!”</p> - -<p>“It’s just as I told you, Joe,” went on Matt quietly. -“Your colonel is out to make a big winning, and to -make it dishonestly. If he——”</p> - -<p>Levitt began again.</p> - -<p>“You didn’t know I had that private report, did you?” -A weird laugh came with the words. “I’m a bit foxy -myself, colonel. The ‘Pauper’s Dream’ isn’t worth what -it cost to put down the shaft. You haven’t any vein. -There was a pocket, but the pocket has been worked out. -You’ve got to come across with a pile if you make me -suppress that private report.”</p> - -<p>“I’m the biggest blockhead that walks the face o’ the -earth!” declared McGlory. “I——”</p> - -<p>Levitt interrupted him.</p> - -<p>“Keep your eye on Matt King, Billings! If lightning -hits us, that cub will be back of it!”</p> - -<p>There was something grewsome about that limp form -with its bandaged head, swaying between McGlory’s -unsteady knees and mumbling villainous revelations.</p> - -<p>For a while Levitt was silent, and the runabout glided -through the outskirts of Hempstead and Matt inquired -the way to the nearest doctor.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span></p> - -<p>The car continued to remain on its good behavior, -and carried its passengers steadily and safely to the -walk in front of the doctor’s office. Some bystanders -helped carry Levitt in, and he was laid on a couch, very -white and weak and continuing to mumble his delirious -disclosures.</p> - -<p>“What’s the trouble with him?” inquired the doctor.</p> - -<p>“Automobile accident,” answered Matt briefly.</p> - -<p>“They’re always happening,” commented the medical -man grimly. “Who is he?”</p> - -<p>“Hannibal J. Levitt. We’ll have to leave him in your -care, doctor. My friend and I have got to hurry on to -New York to attend a meeting at eight o’clock to-night.”</p> - -<p>The doctor, busily examining Levitt, turned up a suspicious -face.</p> - -<p>“You’ll have to tell me a little bit more about this -man before you go,” said he. “He may have been hurt -in an automobile accident, or he may have been hit on -the head with a sand bag.”</p> - -<p>“Sufferin’ hold-ups!” muttered McGlory. “Do you -take us for strong-arm men?”</p> - -<p>Just at that moment a policeman entered.</p> - -<p>“Heard there was an injured man brought in here, -doc,” said he.</p> - -<p>The doctor explained—not only about the injured man, -but about Matt’s hurry to get away to New York.</p> - -<p>The policeman also became suspicious. Matt, however, -took him apart and went into a somewhat lengthy -explanation. He told who he was, and managed to -convince the officer of his identity. The name of Matt -King was not unknown to the bluecoat, and he was prepared -to take all that Matt said in good faith.</p> - -<p>“It’s all right, Doc,” said the officer, as soon as Matt -had finished talking; “these young fellows didn’t have -anything more to do with that man’s condition than you -or I. We’ll look after Levitt. Badly hurt?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“Seriously?”</p> - -<p>“Not dangerously, if that’s what you mean.”</p> - -<p>“Then we’re free to go, are we, officer?” asked Matt.</p> - -<p>“Sure. Skip whenever you’re ready. If I want you -or your friend I’ll phone your New York hotel.”</p> - -<p>Matt and McGlory, followed by the troubled eyes of -the doctor, went out to the runabout. Before starting, -Matt got the lamps to going.</p> - -<p>“Now for Manhattan,” said he, climbing to his seat.</p> - -<p>“Or the ditch,” added McGlory. “The way I feel now -I don’t care much what happens to us.”</p> - -<p>“That’s a funny way for you to feel, Joe,” said Matt -quietly.</p> - -<p>The car moved off in fine order—an exhibition which -made Matt feel like congratulating himself.</p> - -<p>“I’m entitled to my feelings, pard. For what I’ve done -to-day you ought to cut me out of your herd.”</p> - -<p>“You made a mistake——”</p> - -<p>“A big one; and there was no excuse for it.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, there was, Joe. There must have been.”</p> - -<p>McGlory mumbled to himself and fell silent.</p> - -<p>“You hadn’t got far along the road from the clubhouse,” -said Matt, “when the accident happened. But -you must have been gone an hour. If your pace was -twenty-five miles an hour, how——”</p> - -<p>“The car bothered us like Sam Hill,” cut in McGlory. -“If it wasn’t one thing, it was two. Neither Levitt nor -I was as good a hand at tinkering as you, and we had -to hunt quite a spell before we located the troubles.”</p> - -<p>“You found something wrong?”</p> - -<p>“A dozen things!”</p> - -<p>“That’s strange! When this runabout gets to acting -up, it usually seems to be without any cause whatever.”</p> - -<p>“Well,” finished the cowboy, “that explains how we -were going twenty-five miles an hour, at the time the -accident happened, and didn’t get any farther from the -Malvern Country Club.”</p> - -<p>After this there was another silence between the -chums. McGlory was getting ready to explain, and -Matt patiently waited.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV_MGLORYS_LESSON" id="CHAPTER_XIV_MGLORYS_LESSON">CHAPTER XIV.<br /> -<span class="titlefont ">M’GLORY’S LESSON.</span></a></h2> - - -<p>“Pard,” said McGlory finally, “I’ve connected with a -lesson this afternoon that’s made the biggest kind of an -impression on me.”</p> - -<p>“What sort of a lesson, Joe?” asked Matt.</p> - -<p>“The kind that hits you plumb between the eyes like -a bolt of lightning. Did you ever think you were smart, -and then wake up and find yourself the biggest fool in -seven states? No, I don’t reckon you ever did. That’s -not the way Pard Matt is built.”</p> - -<p>“That’s where you’re wrong, Joe. I’ve been there. -We all of us take a wrong course, now and then. We -wouldn’t be human if we didn’t.”</p> - -<p>“Sufferin’ horn toads! Why, I thought all along I was -starring myself, and that I’d laugh at you in a few days -for being the one who’d made the bobble.”</p> - -<p>“The trouble with you was, Joe, Colonel Billings had -too much influence over you.”</p> - -<p>“He’s got an oily tongue, Matt, and a brain that’s a -wonder. After you dropped from the window, the -colonel nailed me and pinned me down in a chair. I -was as mad as a hornet, and ready to give him a right -hook to the jaw, or any other kind of a right-hander -that would make him take the count. That’s how I felt -for about a minute—red-hot and boiling. But only for a -minute. The colonel started his tongue, and I fell on his -neck and shed tears of joy because he had singled me -out to help feather-finger the kicks of the plutocrats.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> -Not in those words, however. The colonel made it look -like a just and warranted proceeding.</p> - -<p>“The colonel allows Pard Matt is a blockhead, and -that he’s taken a few facts and used ’em as signboards -for the wrong trail. The colonel admits hiring Levitt -to make a bogus report; but the bogus report, according -to the colonel, was the one we found, and not the other -gilt-edged prospectus submitted to the syndicate.”</p> - -<p>“Why did he hire Levitt to make a report saying that -the mine was no good?” inquired the amazed Matt.</p> - -<p>“He didn’t, pard; he only said he did. I find there’s -some sort of a difference between what the colonel really -does and what he tells people he does. He knew the -‘Pauper’s Dream’ was rich, long before he sold me my -stock. Then some of the stockholders who knew the -same thing tried to freeze the colonel out. But the -colonel was too wise. He sank the shaft without finding -any gold—just to fool the stockholders who wanted -to get rid of him. These fellows immediately sold out -to the colonel, so that the colonel got hold of the majority -of the stock. That means, of course, that he had -the entire say about everything connected with the mine.</p> - -<p>“As soon as he has the ‘Pauper’s Dream’ cinched, -Billings begins to hit the simon-pure, ne-plus-ultra gold-bearing -vein. Buyers flock to the scene. The colonel -picks out this syndicate of Random & Griggs’ as the -boys to get the mine. Levitt comes out to examine the -mine for the syndicate. The stockholders who have been -frozen out begin to grow restive, and to threaten legal -complications. Then Billings shows his fine Italian hand -by hiring Levitt to make out that report, saying the -‘Dream’ is a pocket, and that the pocket is empty. That’s -for the soreheaded stockholders to see, and they see it. -So, in that way, legal complications are sidetracked -while the colonel is selling the mine to the syndicate.”</p> - -<p>McGlory relapsed into silence for a mile, while the -runabout behaved beautifully and drove long shafts of -light from the search lamps into the growing dark.</p> - -<p>“That,” continued the cowboy, stirring, “is the yarn -the colonel put up to me. I swallowed it. But, pard, I -wanted to tell you. The colonel said you mustn’t know -a thing until after the deal was closed and the proceeds -divided. As I figure it now, I reckon the colonel was -afraid you’d jab a little horse sense into his yarn and -puncture it. Anyhow, the truth remains that he made -me believe I’d lose a fortune by telling you the truth -about that private report. ‘Tell your friend about it -later,’ says the colonel, ‘and then have a good laugh with -him over the way he was fooled.’ So I smoothed down -my rising feathers, laid low, and planned to sneak the -private report on you all by myself.</p> - -<p>“You know how I did that. You trusted me, and -asked the old darky to tell me where you were. As soon -as Uncle Tom had delivered your message, I rushed -right off to the colonel and repeated it to him. Then -I met you, executed my brilliant play, got the report, and -delivered it to my good friend the colonel. He now has -it in his pocket, or else he has burned it. Anyhow, you -can bet a million against the hole in a doughnut that he -don’t show that report to the syndicate. The question -is, pard, will those syndicate people believe you and -me?”</p> - -<p>“It won’t matter much,” answered Matt, “whether -they do or don’t. By jumping in there and telling them -the truth, we’ll be placing ourselves on record.”</p> - -<p>“I see. Then, if they’re skinned, we can read our -titles clear and they’ll have only themselves to blame. -But, pard, what have you been up to since I worked -through that brilliant trick and left you staring at me -from the bushes?”</p> - -<p>“I’ve been a prisoner in the loft over the garage,” answered -Matt.</p> - -<p>“A prisoner?” echoed McGlory. “How was that?”</p> - -<p>Matt told him the details.</p> - -<p>“Oh, speak to me about that!” growled the cowboy. -“Hannibal J. Levitt never mentioned the fact of your -capture to me. If I’d known what had happened to you, -pard, I’d have torn loose from the whole combination, -fortune or no fortune. Why,” sputtered McGlory, as -reflection brought the hidden details more and more before -him, “Levitt never could have made that play if I -hadn’t told Billings where I was to meet you! They -got their heads together and worked it out.”</p> - -<p>“Why didn’t you and Levitt ride into town with the -colonel, Joe?”</p> - -<p>“He thought it would be better for us to come by -ourselves. He was ’way ahead of time, you know, and -had to go to the bank before closing hours for the -bullion. It wasn’t necessary for Levitt and me to be -around until time for the meeting. Oh, I’ve had a fine -run for my auburn chip, and no mistake. I’ll resign, -here and now, from our partnership. The place for me -is the range. Cattle punching is about the scope of my -ability, and it ought to be the height of my ambition. -Consider my resignation handed in, pard.”</p> - -<p>“Then,” said Matt, “consider it declined. I won’t accept -it.”</p> - -<p>“Don’t make any misplay now, old chap,” begged McGlory. -“I’m about as dependable as this crazy runabout. -Sometimes I answer the control, but you’ve just -seen how I can take the bit in my teeth and play hob -with everything. I don’t think you can trust me, pard.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know any one I can trust better, Joe,” answered -Matt.</p> - -<p>“If you mean that, shake.”</p> - -<p>Their hands clasped for an instant, and McGlory -stifled a groan and clutched at his side.</p> - -<p>“Say,” demanded Matt, “what’s wrong with you?”</p> - -<p>“All jarred to pieces. That fall did it. When you -shook my right hand I thought I was coming apart.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span></p> - -<p>“I wish,” said Matt, “that I’d had the Hempstead -doctor look at you.”</p> - -<p>“Look at me? Well, I reckon he did. He looked at -me as though he thought I was a sandbagger. And -he came pretty near having it right, at that.”</p> - -<p>“You know what I mean, Joe.”</p> - -<p>“Sure, I do. But we didn’t have time. We may be -late for the meeting as it is. The colonel has showed his -bullion, and flashed that affidavit about its coming from -the ‘Pauper’s Dream’ as the result of a week’s run, and -perhaps the syndicate has been stampeded. We may be -too late.”</p> - -<p>“We’ll not be too late to go on record,” declared -Matt.</p> - -<p>“Tell me this, pard,” said the cowboy: “Why were -you piking for New York at the time you met the -runabout backing down the road with no one aboard?”</p> - -<p>“I had started for the meeting in Random & Griggs’ -office,” said Matt.</p> - -<p>“You were going there just the same, eh?”</p> - -<p>“Of course.”</p> - -<p>“While I was doing everything I could to help the -colonel get me into trouble, you were still hustling to -keep me out of it?”</p> - -<p>“I knew Billings had influenced you in some way, -Joe.”</p> - -<p>“That’s the sort of a fellow for a pard! Of course -you’re the lad to tie to. The wonder is that you’re still -willing to hang onto me.”</p> - -<p>“Random & Griggs must be as badly deceived in the -colonel as any one else,” observed Matt.</p> - -<p>“He can pull the wool over any one’s eyes, that fellow!”</p> - -<p>“He was stopping at Griggs’ house, and the broker -had put him up at the Country Club.”</p> - -<p>“That’s right! And how the colonel has used that -Country Club! The members of the club will be tickled -to death if they ever find it out. You can do something -to that tinhorn, Kelly, if you want to.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t want to. He was working for Levitt——”</p> - -<p>“Just as I was working for the colonel, eh? Maybe -he was as badly fooled, too.”</p> - -<p>For some time McGlory leaned back in his seat and -kept quiet. Matt was worried about him.</p> - -<p>“How do you feel now, Joe?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“I was just thinking,” answered McGlory, “that this -hoodoo car is trying to make up for the tough times it -has given us. It’s about the worst combination of cylinders, -rubber tires, and spark plugs that was ever put together, -but, for all that, if it hadn’t cut up a few tantrums -on the Jericho Pike this morning we’d never have found -out a thing about the colonel’s crooked work.”</p> - -<p>“That’s so. It’s an ill wind that blows nobody good, -pard.”</p> - -<p>“While the car’s running good, Matt, crowd the speed -limit. Let’s get to Liberty Street as soon as we can.”</p> - -<p>Matt proceeded to follow out his chum’s suggestion.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV_HURLING_A_BOMB" id="CHAPTER_XV_HURLING_A_BOMB">CHAPTER XV.<br /> -<span class="titlefont ">HURLING A BOMB.</span></a></h2> - - -<p>Half a dozen men were gathered in the private conference -room of Random & Griggs’ palatial brokerage -offices in Liberty Street. One of these half dozen was -the colonel. Another was Joshua Griggs. The remaining -four were capitalists.</p> - -<p>Colonel Mark Antony Billings was in his element. -He had never looked more impressive than he did then. -Levitt and McGlory had failed to arrive in time for the -meeting, but they might come later. In any event, -their presence was not of supreme importance.</p> - -<p>In front of the colonel, on the mahogany table, -sparkled the two bars of yellow bullion. They caught -the gleams from the incandescent lights and reflected -luring rays into the eyes of the capitalists.</p> - -<p>The capitalists seemed greatly impressed. Griggs—the -brokerage firm was to receive a very large commission -if the mine was sold—wore a broad and amiable -smile. The colonel was plausible and full of tact, answering -questions promptly.</p> - -<p>In the midst of the deliberations the quiet of Liberty -Street was disturbed by the sputter of an automobile. -For the most part, Liberty Street, in the vicinity of the -brokers’ offices, was a deserted cañon at that hour.</p> - -<p>But if the automobile disturbed the quiet of the street, -it did not disturb the deliberations of those in Random -& Griggs’ offices. It took a rap on the outer door to -do that. Mr. Griggs himself answered the summons.</p> - -<p>“McGlory and Levitt, colonel,” he called.</p> - -<p>Mr. Griggs had made a slight mistake. Hearing the -name McGlory, and understanding that Levitt was expected -with him, the broker had jumped at conclusions.</p> - -<p>“The expert, gentlemen,” smiled the colonel, addressing -the capitalists, “whom you sent to investigate my -little property. A very painstaking person, and reliable -to the last degree. McGlory is one of our original stockholders; -a young man—a mere lad, in fact—but sharp as -a steel trap.” The colonel lifted his voice. “Have them -come right in, Mr. Griggs,” he called.</p> - -<p>Matt King and McGlory did not stand on the order. -Supporting his chum by the arm, King and the cowboy -passed into the conference room and stood under the -astounded eyes of the colonel.</p> - -<p>“Why,” said Mr. Isidore Sleipnitz, one of the moneyed -men, “dot ain’t der expert, Levitt. Neider of ’em is -Levitt.”</p> - -<p>“But I’m McGlory,” said the cowboy, steadying himself -by leaning against a table. Although his face was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span> -white, his eyes glowed with resolution and steadfast purpose. -“Mr. Levitt was thrown from the automobile and -injured. He’s now in a doctor’s office in Hempstead. -This is my chum, Matt King. If he hadn’t picked me -up I’d never have got here.”</p> - -<p>The colonel, to put it colloquially, “smelled a rat.” -Something was wrong, and he knew it.</p> - -<p>“This meeting, gentlemen,” said he, “is not for outsiders. -Mr. King is not a stockholder in the ‘Pauper’s -Dream,’ nor, so far as I am informed, is he one of your -syndicate. I think he had better withdraw.”</p> - -<p>“I’m not going to withdraw,” said Matt, “until I tell -these gentlemen of your crooked transactions in the -matter of the mine you are trying to sell them. McGlory -and I have come here for that purpose, and——”</p> - -<p>“Silence!” roared the colonel, starting menacingly toward -Matt. “Do you think, for a minute, you can blow -in here and blacken my character in the eyes of these -gentlemen?” Billings struck a pose, and shoved one -hand into the breast of his long coat. “I am too well -known,” he went on, “to suffer from the maunderings of -a cub like you!”</p> - -<p>“I’d like to put in a few maunderings of my own, -colonel,” said McGlory. “I’ll have to hurry, too, for I -got badly shaken up in that accident that knocked out -Levitt. There were two reports——”</p> - -<p>“Silence!” thundered the colonel. “Get out of here, -McGlory! Clear out, I say, and take that other young -scoundrel with you. If you don’t, I’ll call the police!”</p> - -<p>Hiram McCormick, another of the capitalists, got up -from his chair and raised his hand.</p> - -<p>“This isn’t one of your Southwestern ‘rough-houses,’ -colonel,” said he, “so please remember that. Roar less -and listen more, will you? I am interested in hearing -what these young men have to say.”</p> - -<p>“If that’s the way you stack up,” clamored the colonel, -grabbing his slouch hat and his gold bullion from the -table, “I’ll make myself absent. I didn’t come here to -be insulted.”</p> - -<p>He started for the door. Before he could reach it the -door of a telephone booth opened and a blue-coated -man, with a star flashing on his breast, stepped in front -of him.</p> - -<p>The appearance of the policeman was a surprise to -the colonel, Griggs, Matt, and McGlory. The four capitalists -did not seem to think it anything out of the ordinary.</p> - -<p>“Where—where did that man come from?” inquired -Griggs.</p> - -<p>Inasmuch as he was a member of the firm that occupied -the offices, it might be supposed that he would have -had knowledge of any policeman secreted about the -premises. But it was plain he had not been informed of -the presence of this particular officer.</p> - -<p>Hiram McCormick was still on his feet. While the -colonel was glaring at the policeman, Mr. McCormick -observed calmly:</p> - -<p>“Mr. Griggs, we shall have to ask your pardon for -the presence of the officer. He slipped in, by my request, -before the colonel came, and while you were in the board -room.”</p> - -<p>“What’s he here for?” inquired Griggs.</p> - -<p>“That will appear later. Just now he is going to -keep the colonel with us while these young men relieve -their minds.”</p> - -<p>Colonel Billings understood that he was face to face -with disaster—a disaster so comprehensive that he could -not readily grasp it. Heeding a motion of the officer’s -hand, he dropped defiantly into a chair.</p> - -<p>“Now, my lad,” said McCormick to the cowboy.</p> - -<p>McGlory jumped at once into his recital. Beginning -away back in his New York experience, he told of the -trouble he and Matt had had on account of the bullion; -then, after showing the telegram which had been sent -to him over the signature of “Joshua Griggs,” he began -narrating the adventures which had fallen to him and -Matt on that eventful day. The colonel’s double-dealing -was shown up in all its ugly brazenness, and the -cowboy finished by regretting that he had not the private -report of Hannibal J. Levitt to offer in evidence.</p> - -<p>“Perhaps,” suggested Matt, “the colonel can show it -to you, if it has not already been destroyed.”</p> - -<p>“The colonel,” spoke up that gentleman witheringly, -“is not here to be bossed by a fellow of your stripe. -Your wild and woolly stories seem to have made a hit -with the representatives of capital, but they’re fakes, -and everybody here will know they’re fakes, before many -days.”</p> - -<p>“Gentlemen,” put in Mr. Griggs, whose faith in the -colonel was dying hard, “is it right to take the word of -these boys against a man so well known throughout the -Southwest as Colonel Billings?”</p> - -<p>Colonel Billings waved his hand gently but firmly -toward Mr. Griggs.</p> - -<p>“Never mind me, sir,” said he. “The kid element -seems to predominate in the meeting, and men of experience -and reason are relegated to the background. Don’t -disturb yourself on my account, I beg. There are other -bidders for the ‘Pauper’s Dream.’ The mine will be -snapped up before the week is over.”</p> - -<p>“Mr. Griggs,” went on Hiram McCormick, “these -young men have come here—one of them with everything -to lose and nothing to gain by blocking the sale -of the mine—and told us a most remarkable story of -guile and duplicity. I may say, however, that neither I -nor my associates are surprised. We have already had -cause to suspect the colonel of double-dealing. Two -experts were sent by us to examine the ‘Pauper’s -Dream.’ In matters of this sort, it is best not to place -all your faith in one man. Levitt went to the mine, made<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span> -himself known to the colonel, and examined the prospect -under his supervision. Perhaps it is not to be wondered -at that the colonel bought him. But the second -expert reached the mine in laborer’s clothes, and was -hired by the colonel to ‘salt’ the breast of the ‘Pauper’s -Dream’ tunnel. I have that man’s report here in my -pocket. It only arrived to-day, but my friends of this -projected syndicate have all read it. For this reason we -feared we might have trouble with the colonel, and so -we smuggled the policeman into the telephone booth.</p> - -<p>“Colonel Billings,” and McCormick turned and leveled -a hard look at the Arizona man, “your rascally game -would not have succeeded, even had these lads not come -here and told us of your knavery. We had you spotted. -From now on you will be blacklisted in this town, and -you will try in vain to float any other mining proposition -on New York capital. Mr. Griggs was deceived -in you, and he and his partner have our sympathy, and -have not lost a particle of our good will; but as for -you, if you are not out of the city within twenty-four -hours we shall try and see just how much responsibility -the law can put upon you for this day’s events. There -is the door; close it from the outside.”</p> - -<p>The colonel got up. Calmly he drew a canvas bag -from his pocket, and deliberately placed his gold bars -within it; then, holding the bag in one hand, he allowed -the other to dart toward his hip—a move young King -had seen before.</p> - -<p>“Look out for him!” warned Matt.</p> - -<p>The officer grabbed a revolver out of the colonel’s -hand in just the nick of time. There was a brief struggle, -but the colonel got the worst of it.</p> - -<p>“I’ll play even with that cub of a Matt King,” the -colonel was heard to breathe, “if it’s the last thing I -ever do.”</p> - -<p>“Take him out, officer,” said Hiram McCormick, in -undisguised contempt, “and, of course, you’ll confiscate -the weapon. This is not Arizona.”</p> - -<p>None too gently the policeman hustled Colonel Billings -out of the door. Hardly had they left when McGlory -staggered, tossed his hands, and fell heavily into -Matt’s arms.</p> - -<p>Instantly there was a flurry of excitement in the office, -Griggs, McCormick, and the others all hurrying -forward to be of what assistance they could.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI_LOST_A_FORTUNE" id="CHAPTER_XVI_LOST_A_FORTUNE">CHAPTER XVI.<br /> -<span class="titlefont ">LOST—A FORTUNE.</span></a></h2> - - -<p>Joe McGlory drifted back to conscience amid surroundings -that were entirely new to him. He was in a -white iron bed. On one side of the bed stood a woman -in a white cap and apron, and on the other side was a -man in black. Over the foot of the bed leaned Matt, -his anxious face clearing a little as McGlory opened his -eyes.</p> - -<p>“Ah!” murmured the doctor.</p> - -<p>“Where am I?” inquired the cowboy.</p> - -<p>“In the emergency ward of the City Hospital,” answered -the doctor.</p> - -<p>“I’ve got about as much right here as a maverick -steer in a watermelon patch. Sufferin’ sister, what a -jolt!”</p> - -<p>A smile sneaked over the doctor’s face. The nurse -turned her head. Matt laughed, highly delighted.</p> - -<p>“He’ll be all right, don’t you think so, doctor?” Matt -asked.</p> - -<p>“A lad who can come out from under the influence -of a narcotic with such a flow of spirits,” averred the -doctor, “is bound to be all right.”</p> - -<p>“What’s the matter with me?” the cowboy asked.</p> - -<p>“A couple of broken ribs.”</p> - -<p>“I thought I’d busted something! Say, Matt!”</p> - -<p>“What is it, Joe?”</p> - -<p>“The last I remember I was in the office of Random & -Griggs. When was that?”</p> - -<p>“Last night.”</p> - -<p>The cowboy turned his head so he could see the sunlight -coming through the window.</p> - -<p>“And now it’s this morning?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“When will I get out of here, doc? This afternoon?”</p> - -<p>“If you get out of here in less than two weeks you’ll -do well,” said the doctor.</p> - -<p>“Speak to me about that!” muttered McGlory.</p> - -<p>“It’s all right, Joe,” said Matt. “I’ll be here every -day to see you.”</p> - -<p>“Sure you will. I couldn’t stand it if you stayed -away. The old runabout got me, after all!”</p> - -<p>“You were lucky to escape as well as you did,” spoke -up the doctor. “You took a long automobile ride, after -you were hurt,” he added severely, “and did a number -of other things that were entirely unnecessary, and -which aggravated your condition.”</p> - -<p>“Correct, doc,” grinned McGlory; “I was aggravated -a whole lot, and no mistake. Where’s the hoodoo car -now, Matt?”</p> - -<p>“Billy’s got it in the garage.”</p> - -<p>“I wonder that Billy would have it there, considering -how he feels about it.”</p> - -<p>“Billy’s not the boss of the garage, Joe,” laughed -Matt. “If he was, probably he’d refuse to give the car -storage.”</p> - -<p>“Hear anything from Hempstead?”</p> - -<p>“Well, yes. Levitt is coming along as well as can be -expected.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t think you had better talk any more, my lad,” -interposed the doctor.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span></p> - -<p>“I’ll die if I don’t, doc,” declared McGlory. “Give -me a little more rope, can’t you?”</p> - -<p>“A little.”</p> - -<p>“Where’s the colonel, Matt?” went on McGlory.</p> - -<p>“No one knows, Joe. He was ordered out of town, -and I guess he’s gone, or going.”</p> - -<p>“He played hob with me, all right. How’s the syndicate?”</p> - -<p>“You’d feel highly complimented if you could hear -what they said about you.”</p> - -<p>“What did they say about <em>you</em>?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t remember.”</p> - -<p>“Sure you don’t. You never remember what’s said -about you, but whenever any one tips you off concernin’ -a pard you keep it right on tap. What are you going -to do for the two weeks I’m laid up?”</p> - -<p>“Just hang around and wait for you to get well, I -guess,” Matt laughed.</p> - -<p>“Don’t hike out of town, will you?”</p> - -<p>“No; I’m going to stay right here.”</p> - -<p>McGlory looked at the doctor.</p> - -<p>“He’s my pard, doc,” said he. “Matt’s his label, and -he’s the clear quill any way you take him.”</p> - -<p>“You both seem to stand pretty high in each other’s -estimation,” smiled the doctor.</p> - -<p>“I’m standing higher in his than I deserve.”</p> - -<p>“Cut that out, Joe,” said Matt.</p> - -<p>“I’ll cut it out and paste it in my hat so I won’t forget -it. It’s the best lesson I ever had, and I’m going to -profit by it. Lost—a fortune! That’s me. I was promised -a place on Easy Street, and here I am in the hospital.”</p> - -<p>McGlory chuckled.</p> - -<p>“You may have lost a fortune, Joe,” said Matt, “but -you’ve won something a whole lot better.”</p> - -<p>“I have—two busted ribs and a couple of weeks’ lay-off. -Oh, I’m a lucky dog!”</p> - -<p>“Don’t fret about the ribs or the lay-off, Joe,” counseled -Matt. “If you get to worrying, you may have to -stay here longer than two weeks.”</p> - -<p>“Funny how I shut my eyes in Random & Griggs’ -office,” remarked McGlory, leaping from one subject to -another with the abruptness of a person whose brain -is still a little befogged, “and open ’em here. That was -sure a hard ride from Hempstead in. I don’t know how -I managed to hang on. I reckon it was my wish to -play even with the colonel that held me up.”</p> - -<p>“The colonel got his deserts, Joe,” said Matt.</p> - -<p>“The syndicate was next to him all the time. Our -chasing in to tell what we knew didn’t make such a -terrible lot of difference.”</p> - -<p>“It put us on record, that’s all. It’s mighty important, -sometimes, to let people know where you stand.”</p> - -<p>“Correct, again. But listen. Didn’t Colonel Billings -pull a gun on you, Matt, before he left the office? Seems -to me I remember that.”</p> - -<p>“He pulled a gun, Joe; but I don’t know what he intended -to do with it.”</p> - -<p>“Then I’ll put you next, pard. He intended to play -even with you.”</p> - -<p>“Or you,” answered Matt.</p> - -<p>“Not me,” insisted Joe. “The colonel knows I haven’t -got sense enough to make him much trouble. But he’s -afraid of Matt King. Look out for him, pard.”</p> - -<p>“The colonel has his orders to leave town, and——”</p> - -<p>“That doesn’t mean that he’ll go. During the two -weeks I’m holding down this nice little bed here, you -keep both eyes skinned for Colonel Mark Antony Billings. -He’s liable to show his hand when you’re not -thinking he’s within a thousand miles of you. Pretty -sudden, the colonel is. He sprang a surprise on us when -we got to the Country Club and found him there to meet -us instead of Joshua Griggs. That’s a sample of the -way he does things, Matt. You look out for him.”</p> - -<p>“That will do now,” said the doctor authoritatively. -“You’ve talked more than you ought to.”</p> - -<p>“When’ll you blow in here again, pard?” added McGlory, -reaching out his hand.</p> - -<p>“This afternoon.”</p> - -<p>“That’s you. I’ve lost a fortune, pard, but I didn’t -let you get away from me. We’re pards, same as per -usual, and in spite of what happened at the Country -Club?”</p> - -<p>“Sure we are. That couldn’t make any difference, -Joe.”</p> - -<p>“It would have made a big difference with some fellows, -but Matt King’s of a different calibre.”</p> - -<p>“That’s what pards are for, Joe,” whispered Matt -as he let go his chum’s hand, “to stand by each other.”</p> - -<p>“Like you hung to me,” returned the cowboy, “and -not the way I stood by you. Well, I’ve had my lesson, -and we’ll let it go at that. <i lang="es" xml:lang="es">Adios!</i>”</p> - -<p>Matt turned and left the ward, and the hospital. -There were a lot of people in New York, but it seemed -like a mighty lonesome place now that McGlory was laid -up for repairs.</p> - -<p>The colonel, being a wise man, considered it good -policy to get away from New York, and head for his -favorite stamping grounds in the Southwest, for neither -Matt nor Joe ever saw him again.</p> - -<p>When Joe got well Matt had found something in his -favorite line of motors to engage their attention, and -with such a team of hustlers to drive things, the business -could not be anything but a success.</p> - -<p class="center" style="margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em">THE END.</p> - -<p>The next number (364) will contain “Pluck Beats Luck; -or, Tom Talbot’s Trials and Triumphs.” By John L. -Douglas.</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, December 4, 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. Each.</p> - - -<div class="center"> -<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" summary="subscription terms"> -<tr><td>3 months</td><td style="text-align:right">65c.</td></tr> -<tr><td>4 months</td><td style="text-align:right">85c.</td></tr> -<tr><td>6 months</td><td style="text-align:right">$1.25</td></tr> -<tr><td>One year</td><td style="text-align:right">2.50</td></tr> -<tr><td>2 copies one year</td><td style="text-align:right">4.00</td></tr> -<tr><td>1 copy two years</td><td style="text-align:right">4.00</td></tr> -</table></div> - -<p><b>How to Send Money</b>—By post-office or express money order, -registered letter, bank check or draft, at our risk. At your own risk if sent -by currency, coin, or postage stamps in ordinary letter.</p> - -<p><b>Receipts</b>—Receipt of your remittance is acknowledged by proper -change of number on your label. If not correct you have not been properly -credited, and should let us know at once.</p> -</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="THE_MISSING_BOATS" id="THE_MISSING_BOATS">THE MISSING BOATS.</a></h2> - - -<p>Reflecting the hues of the sunset sky lay Lake Menatee -like a huge mirror.</p> - -<p>Not a ripple stirred its placid surface.</p> - -<p>The fading sunlight lent to its crystal depths the silver of -its dying glory.</p> - -<p>While along its shores the forest like an over-reaching -shield outstretched its giant arms to cast weird, fantastic -figures first on the white beach, and then out, out over the -transparent bosom of the waters, going farther, faster and -faster, deeper and darker, until the veil of twilight concealed -the beautiful scene.</p> - -<p>In the background the rugged Adirondacks kept watch -and ward over the treasures below, and on their seamed and -time-scarred forehead lingered the touch of sunlight long -after the shadows of gloom had robbed Lake Menatee of its -beauty.</p> - -<p>Not a living creature was to be seen to give life to the -solitude of nature.</p> - -<p>Three boats drawn up on the white sand lay side by side, -or at least within a few feet of each other.</p> - -<p>They were merely common, flat-bottom rowboats.</p> - -<p>There was nothing remarkable about them.</p> - -<p>The water may have reached to the stern of one, but to -not more than barely touch it.</p> - -<p>Still a close observer might have seen it move, slightly it -is true, but yet a movement perceptible.</p> - -<p>Gradually it neared the water’s edge, moved by an unseen -power.</p> - -<p>So slowly did it move that fully an hour must have passed -before it had gained a foot.</p> - -<p>Then the wind, which had died down at sunset, began -to sweep across the lake.</p> - -<p>Gently, at first, it stirred the water’s tranquil surface, as -if fearful of disturbing its repose.</p> - -<p>Anon it grew stronger.</p> - -<p>From the mountains it mustered its powers.</p> - -<p>The sleeping waters were awakened.</p> - -<p>In angry waves they beat the shores.</p> - -<p>The rising tide lent its aid to the mysterious force urging -the boat into its embrace.</p> - -<p>Thus the boat was carried more rapidly away, and yet in -the next two hours’ time scarcely three feet was added to -the space gone over.</p> - -<p>It must have been past midnight, when, with a last quivering -shock—a dying struggle, it seemed—and the boat swung -clear from the sand.</p> - -<p>A minute later it floated slowly away.</p> - -<p>At this moment a crash in the thick bushes, growing a -few rods from the shore, broke the calm and peaceful stillness -of the night.</p> - -<p>An instant later and the form of a man uprose from the -gloom of his covert.</p> - -<p>The moon was just peeping above the Adirondacks’ dark -crest, and it was light enough in the forest for one to have -seen that the man was past the prime of life, though his stalwart -form had borne the burden of years without losing its -erectness.</p> - -<p>He was somewhat roughly clad, and his long hair and -flowing beard were unkempt. His eyes flashed brightly, but -a puzzled look rested on his sun-bronzed face. His words, -that fell involuntarily from his lips, furnished the key to -his thoughts.</p> - -<p>“Waal, I hev got to believe it now. But if that don’t beat -all nater, then my name an’t Jarius Bede. See the thing -swim along, and there an’t been a living creetur near it -since long afore sundown! I can swear to that, for I an’t -let my eye off on’t in all that time. It is queer.”</p> - -<p>As he finished his soliloquy the speaker went down to the -shore, but he did not step upon the sandy beach.</p> - -<p>“I won’t do that,” he muttered, “for like as not I should -find myself in the midst of that pond afore I could say Bob -Bungles.”</p> - -<p>There was nothing to explain the mystery he had witnessed. -The other boats had not moved.</p> - -<p>“Waal, waal. I’ll trundle off hum,” concluded the mystified -Jarius Bede; “but as long as I stand up I know I shall -never see the beat of that!”</p> - -<p>Throwing his gun over his shoulder, for he was armed -with a long, single-barreled old queen’s arm that had evidently -seen its share of service, he left the place with long, -loping strides, in the direction of home.</p> - -<p>Ever and anon he glanced uneasily back, as if expecting -that he was to be followed by some mysterious foe.</p> - -<p>“Makes a feller feel queer. Hello! the boys are looking -for me, I bet. I’m glad to see that light ennyway.”</p> - -<p>A light was indeed visible in one of the valleys, and after -ten minutes’ walk he came to a rude house, or cabin, around -which could be seen a few acres of cultivated ground.</p> - -<p>It was the house of one of the few settlers who had located -in that wild, out-of-the-way region.</p> - -<p>Entering without knocking, half a dozen persons sprang -to their feet to greet him.</p> - -<p>This family consisted of Jabez Bede, brother to Jarius, -his wife, three strapping sons, and a buxom daughter of -eighteen.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Why, it’s only ’Rius!” exclaimed Dame Bede, with a look -of relief, as if she had feared some danger.</p> - -<p>“But where have you been all night, Jarius?” cried Jabez. -“We were gettin’ a-worrited ’bout yer.”</p> - -<p>“Jabez, I hev made a diskivery!”</p> - -<p>“What?” chorused the listeners in a breath.</p> - -<p>“I told yer I shouldn’t kem back till I had l’arnt sumthin’, -and I an’t, that, sure.”</p> - -<p>“It is about Ralph, I know it is!” exclaimed Mary Bede, -springing to his side with a glad look on her fair countenance. -“What have you learned, uncle? Tell me, quick.”</p> - -<p>“I can prove that he didn’t steal the boat,” was the triumphant -reply.</p> - -<p>“I knew that he didn’t. But tell us what you have -learned.”</p> - -<p>“Waal, waal, it’s cur’us, but it’s true. You know that the -three boats were left down on the shore as usual. Waal, I -hev been watchin’ them ever since an hour afore sundrop.”</p> - -<p>“Why, Jarius Bede, and we here a-waitin’ and a-worritin’ -’bout yer.”</p> - -<p>“Waal, it’s worth the time, I can tell yer.”</p> - -<p>While Jarius Bede is telling what he has witnessed we -would say that considerable excitement had been occasioned -among the few settlers in that vicinity by the frequent disappearance -of boats from the shores of the lake. No one -could tell where they had gone, but they were as effectually -lost as if the water had swallowed them up.</p> - -<p>Finally, Mary Bede’s lover, Ralph Horn, was accused of -stealing, or destroying them, which amounted to the same -thing, so long as they were irretrievably lost.</p> - -<p>We can understand now something of the eagerness with -which she listened to Jarius’ story. When he had finished all -were agape with wonder.</p> - -<p>“Waal, I never!” exclaimed Jabez. “Who’d a-thought it?”</p> - -<p>“And they will believe Ralph now?” asked Mary anxiously.</p> - -<p>“They can’t help it, only we have got to prove it to -them.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, yes,” said her father. “How’ll we do that, ’Rius? -It’s an orful story to believe.”</p> - -<p>“Let them see fer theirselves. Guess if they hed been with -me they’d a-thought somethin’ ’sides Ralph Horn was ’round -movin’ that boat. But I must catch a wink of sleep now. -In the mornin’ we’ll all go down and clear up the mystery.”</p> - -<p>A few minutes later the light was extinguished, and the -Bede family were in slumberland, though there may be a -doubt in regard to one member. But we won’t call any -names.</p> - -<p>They were all astir early the next morning, and immediately -after breakfast Jarius spread the news of his -discovery.</p> - -<p>It required no urging to get half a dozen to accompany -him to the lake, besides the three Bede boys.</p> - -<p>To the surprise even of Jarius, the boat he had seen leave -the shore so mysteriously the night before was nowhere to -be seen either upon the lake or on the shores.</p> - -<p>The other two were just as they had been left.</p> - -<p>“Let’s put one of them jest where the runaway was and -then watch it.”</p> - -<p>The idea was acted upon, and the entire party withdrew -into the cover of the growth to await the result.</p> - -<p>A long, tedious watch followed, but to the disappointment -of all, as well as the chagrin of Jarius, the boat remained as -motionless as a rock. Not a first move was noticed.</p> - -<p>“Wait a leetle longer,” whispered the puzzled Jarius; “I -thought I seed it wink jest a bit then.”</p> - -<p>Half an hour passed, and still the object of their vain -watch had not been seen to stir.</p> - -<p>“It’s cur’us,” muttered the leader; “but that other took -an orful long time to start. Why I was here nigh ’bout six -hours all told.”</p> - -<p>“Mebbe it has to be night for it to move,” suggested one.</p> - -<p>Be that the case or not, they watched until noon, when -they abandoned the fruitless task, and the mystery of the -missing boats was more unfathomable than ever.</p> - -<p>Some vented their disappointment upon Jarius Bede, and -others were silent, not knowing what to say.</p> - -<p>Jarius was completely dumfounded, and well he might be.</p> - -<p>“Tan’t any use to watch longer,” growled one. “We’ve -been a set of fools. The idea of a boat’s moving! Jarius -is mad, and we are fools. Come, we shall be the laughing-stock -of all who hear of it. I’ll bet my gun Jarius got us -down here on purpose for some game. If I thought he had——” -and a latent look shone in his flashing eyes.</p> - -<p>Jarius did not reply. He had enough to think of besides. -Dropping upon his knees, he looked the boat over and over, -and around it. He moved it, but it lay a dead weight upon -the earth.</p> - -<p>“It’s queer,” he muttered. “I can swear to what I saw -with my own eyes, but I don’t understand it.”</p> - -<p>He had regained his feet, and was about to leave the -place, when suddenly something seemed to catch his attention -and hold it.</p> - -<p>Pointing to the edge of the water a moment later, he -exclaimed:</p> - -<p>“Look there, boys! See that sand move! There’s something -under it! I—I have diskivered the mystery!”</p> - -<p>Seizing one of the boat’s paddles, Jarius quickly cleared -away the sand where he had seen it move, when a large -turtle was disclosed to their gaze.</p> - -<p>Upon further search another was found buried deeper -than its mate.</p> - -<p>“Waal, waal, it’s plain as daylight now. They were under -that boat and moved it! T’others were moved in the same -way. But we didn’t get this one over the critters.”</p> - -<p>“Who’d a-thought!” ejaculated his brother, while the -others were speechless with amazement.</p> - -<p>“But where do they go to?” asked one, at last.</p> - -<p>“I’ll tell yer!” cried Jarius, as a new idea suddenly entered -his head; “they drift down to the outlet and into Mad -River. You know an empty boat would fare hard there; -and we an’t never looked there for them.”</p> - -<p>Mad River found its way through a narrow, rocky defile -where few had ever penetrated, but an exploration into the -wild region was rewarded by discovering the wrecks of two -boats. Though the others were never found their disappearance -was no longer a mystery.</p> - -<p>Of course, Ralph Horn was cleared of all suspicion in the -affair, and that fall there was a happy wedding at the Bede -farm. We need not tell who the bride was, and we can’t tell -of “the years of happiness that followed,” as story-tellers -are wont to say, for it was only last week the marriage vows -were spoken.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="ESKIMOS_TAKE_TO_REINDEERS" id="ESKIMOS_TAKE_TO_REINDEERS">ESKIMOS TAKE TO REINDEERS.</a></h2> - - -<p>A letter from Alaska in the New York <cite>Sun</cite> recently has -the following interesting facts:</p> - -<p>Of the twenty thousand reindeer under government supervision -in Alaska about two thousand are above the Arctic -Circle where the climate is much more severe than in their -old feeding grounds in Siberia, from which they were carried -by the United States revenue cutters some years ago. -The reports of the local superintendents of reindeer herds -will be forwarded in this, the second mail to leave the Arctic -this year. These reports will show a very small increase in -the herds.</p> - -<p>The mortality among the fawns this last year was very -great, owing to the blizzards which swept over the tundras in -April and May when the fawning season was on. Newly born -fawns, unable to stand up in the blinding storms and help -themselves to nourishment, froze to death by hundreds within -ten minutes after birth. Wolves and half-wolf dogs also -killed many in some of the herds.</p> - -<p>At present the herds are kept out on the open tundra near -the sea, where there is no protection from the cutting blasts. -District Superintendent A. N. Evans has arranged to have -the deer taken inland next spring at least as far as the foothills, -where the peculiar white moss on which the creatures -feed is abundant, and where there is ample protection from -the winds. It is hoped that this will save the fawns and -prevent the heavy loss of the present year being repeated.</p> - -<p>An encouraging feature of the work here, far from markets -and utterly shut out from any considerable contact with -white men, is the fact that the native is slowly but certainly -coming to recognize the great possibilities of the reindeer -industry. While every effort has been made to give as many -natives as possible an interest in the herds by direct ownership -of some of the deer, the owners of deer are still a very -small minority.</p> - -<p>So valuable has a government apprenticeship come to be -considered that it has often been the deciding factor in determining -the outcome of the dusky love affairs. “When -you get some reindeer I will be your wife,” says the Innuit -maiden with the tattooed chin. These wise young ladies -know that the ownership of deer carries with it as a usual -thing three or four years of first-class government rations -and piles of cloth and clothing which Uncle Sam throws -about in the Arctic with a generous hand. So among the -natives there is developing a sort of reindeer aristocracy -quite at variance with the old democratic, communistic ideas -of the others who hold no property worth while, and who -have not been favored by the government.</p> - -<p>As only a limited number can be appointed apprentices -every year, and thus draw government rations, many are -now trying to get deer from other natives without waiting -for government favors. In this few have succeeded, for the -owners, recognizing their great value, are running the price -of female reindeer skyward. With the destruction of the -country’s game and the rising standard of life among the -natives the population will come more and more to depend -upon the reindeer industry, which will doubtless develop -rapidly.</p> - -<p>Living in a savage state of society with no other domestic -animal than the half-tamed malamoot dog, the process of -teaching the Eskimo how to take care of deer has been slow. -Severe measures have had to be resorted to in many cases to -compel the natives to keep their dogs from the deer camp.</p> - -<p>Also it has been found difficult to prevent those who have -no deer from shooting the unfortunate animals that stray -away from the herd. These are considered legitimate prey -and until recently were hunted the same as caribou. This -year, however, a great many of these stray deer have been -picked up and put back into the herds which they had deserted.</p> - -<p>It has thus been found necessary to put the native herder -through a course of training. Those who get their deer -directly from the government serve an apprenticeship of four -years. They are bound by a written contract, the strict -terms of which they cannot violate without peril of losing -their annual allotment of reindeer and suffering discharge -from the service.</p> - -<p>During the first three years of their apprenticeship they -receive in addition to the reindeer a generous supply of food -free of charge. Cloth, clothing, traps, guns, and ammunition -are also given to the fortunate apprentice, who soon becomes -a person of consequence in the community. For these governmental -favors the apprentice is supposed to take care of -his own deer and to assist in caring for the government deer.</p> - -<p>The work of the herder in a reindeer camp is not arduous, -and seems to be especially attractive to the carefree native. -Ordinarily the deer have a way of taking care of themselves -that suits the native. Every day an apprentice drives the -herd to some feeding ground, where they feed while the -herder saunters about or hunts ptarmigan or other game near -at hand.</p> - -<p>If the moss is poor the deer may feed for six hours, at the -end of which time they are driven back to the vicinity of the -camp and allowed to remain there until the next feeding -time, while the ease-loving servants of the government sleep -or whittle fine old ivory into curios to be traded off on the -ships for the tobacco which Uncle Sam overlooked in ordering -the shiploads of supplies which annually find their way to -the reindeer camps of Alaska.</p> - -<p>True, there is other work to be done. Every spring along -comes fawning season, and the deer herders have to stand -watch day and night by turns. Now and then the long, wild -note of the Arctic wolf is heard through the midwinter gloom -and a constant watch must be kept by well-armed men. The -repeating rifle made wolves so scarce, however, that dogs -are by far the greatest source of danger.</p> - -<p>It seems utterly impossible to train the malamoot dog to -herd deer. At sight of a deer the tamest malamoot becomes -as uncontrollable as though he had never known human -restraint and were once more a plain wolf.</p> - -<p>Besides guarding the herd occasionally from these dangers, -there are sled deer to be trained, and every June there is a -kind of round-up, when the young fawns are marked, along -with all deer that have changed owners during the year. In -the ear of each government deer a little aluminum button is -riveted securely, but all private owners and herders have a -mark which must be registered with the local superintendent -and also at Washington. This mark is made by cutting the -ear.</p> - -<p>So far the native in the Far North has made almost no use -of the wonderfully rich milk of the reindeer. This milk, -which is as white as the Arctic snows, is at least ninety -per cent. cream. In fact, it is practically all a rich, snow-white, -sugary cream. It is the most nourishing milk in the -world, but the government has so far supplied the camps -with condensed milk, and the herders have preferred opening -cans to milking deer.</p> - -<p>Unlike the Laplander, the Eskimo does not make a pet of -his favorite deer. When he wants to milk her she is lassoed -and thrown down. When her legs are carefully tied with -walrus skin strings and her horns are safely held by some -stout friend, the process of milking begins. When the last -drop is extracted the highly indignant animal is unlashed -and allowed to get up and go about her business.</p> - -<p>Sometimes a horn is knocked off or a leg broken before -the struggling reindeer understands that she is to be milked -and not branded or butchered. Under the circumstances the -dairying feature of Arctic life is not very prominent, and the -milkmaid’s song is not welcomed by the wise little animals -that have undergone the torture of one milking.</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">NICK CARTER WEEKLY</p> - -<p>The best detective stories on earth. Nick Carter’s exploits are read the world over. <b>High art colored -covers. Thirty-two big pages. Price, 5 cents.</b></p> - -<p class="numberitem3">662—A Tragedy of the Bowery; or, Nick Carter and Ida at Coney -Island.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">663—Four Scraps of Paper; or, Nick Carter’s Coney Island -Search.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">664—The Secret of the Mine; or, Nick Carter’s Coney Island -Mystery.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">665—The Dead Man in the Car; or, Nick Carter’s Hair Line Clue.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">666—Nick Carter’s Master Struggle; or, The Battle With the -Man-monkey.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">667—The Airshaft Spectre; or, Nick Carter’s Shrewd Surmise.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">668—The Broken Latch; or, Nick Carter’s Single Clue.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">669—Nick Carter’s Sudden Peril; or, The Riddle of the Rutgers -Street House.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">670—The Man With the Missing Thumb; or, Nick Carter’s -Chance Discovery.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">671—Feltman, the “Fence”; or, Nick Carter and the Hester -Street Feud.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">672—A Night with Nick Carter; or, The Kid-gloved Case.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">673—In the Nick of Time; or, Carter Finishes the Feltman Affair.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">674—The Dictator’s Treasure; or, Nick Carter Nips the Honduran -Plotters.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">675—Pieces of Eight; or, Nick Carter Solves a Strange Enigma.</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="boxad"> -<p class="center boldfont xlargefont">DIAMOND DICK WEEKLY</p> - -<p>The heroes of the stories published in this weekly are dear to the hearts of 60,000 boys. 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Price, 5 cents.</b></p> - -<p class="numberitem3">676—Diamond Dick’s Great Round-up; or, The End of the -Reign of Terror.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">677—Diamond Dick’s Buccaneer Boy; or, The Ship of the Burning -Sands.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">678—Diamond Dick’s Encouragement; or, A Runaway Boy at -the Haunted Ranch.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">679—Diamond Dick’s Shadow Dance; or, The Hunting of Grisly -White.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">680—Diamond Dick in Arizona; or, The Mystery of the Missing -President.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">681—Diamond Dick’s Power; or, The Affair on the Road from -Flagstaff.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">682—Diamond Dick Solves a Mystery; or, On the Trail of Job.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">683—Diamond Dick in the Colorado Cañon; or, Frank’s Sight of -Another World.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">684—Diamond Dick on the Farm; or, The Mission of the -Strangers.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">685—Diamond Dick and the Dummy Deacon; or, On a Silent -Trail.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">686—Diamond Dick’s Chase; or, On the Track of Charlie.</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> - -<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> -</div> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Brave and Bold Weekly No. 363, A -Hoodoo Machine;, by Stanley R. 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