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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e5fd828 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #52138 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/52138) diff --git a/old/52138-8.txt b/old/52138-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index ce73c7e..0000000 --- a/old/52138-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,5004 +0,0 @@ -Project Gutenberg's Motor Matt's Engagement, by Stanley R. Matthews - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Motor Matt's Engagement - or, On The Road With A Show - -Author: Stanley R. Matthews - -Release Date: May 23, 2016 [EBook #52138] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MOTOR MATT'S ENGAGEMENT *** - - - - -Produced by David Edwards, Demian Katz and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (Images -courtesy of the Digital Library@Villanova University -(http://digital.library.villanova.edu/)) - - - - - - - - - - MOTOR STORIES - - THRILLING - ADVENTURE - - MOTOR - FICTION - - NO. 27 - AUG. 28, 1909 - - FIVE - CENTS - - - MOTOR MATT'S - ENGAGEMENT - - OR ON THE ROAD - WITH A SHOW - - _STREET & SMITH - PUBLISHERS - NEW YORK_ - -[Illustration: _Motor Matt, as he coaxed the last ounce of speed -from the motor, shouted encouragingly to the terrified girl on the -trapeze._] - - - - -MOTOR STORIES - -THRILLING ADVENTURE MOTOR FICTION - -_Issued Weekly. By subscription $2.50 per year. Copyright, 1909, by_ -STREET & SMITH, _79-89 Seventh Avenue, New York, N. Y._ - - No. 27. NEW YORK, August 28, 1909. Price Five Cents. - - - - -Motor Matt's Engagement; - -OR, - -ON THE ROAD WITH A SHOW. - -By the author of "MOTOR MATT." - - - - -CONTENTS - - - CHAPTER I. "ON THE BANKS OF THE WABASH." - CHAPTER II. IN THE CALLIOPE TENT. - CHAPTER III. AN EAVESDROPPER. - CHAPTER IV. QUEER PROCEEDINGS. - CHAPTER V. MOTOR MATT PROTESTS. - CHAPTER VI. ABLAZE IN THE AIR. - CHAPTER VII. WAS IT TREACHERY? - CHAPTER VIII. A CALL FOR HELP. - CHAPTER IX. BLACK MAGIC. - CHAPTER X. THE MAHOUT'S FLIGHT. - CHAPTER XI. THE PAPER TRAIL. - CHAPTER XII. CARL TURNS A TRICK. - CHAPTER XIII. THE LACQUERED BOX. - CHAPTER XIV. THE HYPNOTIST'S VICTIM. - CHAPTER XV. "FOR THE SAKE OF HAIDEE!" - CHAPTER XVI. THE RAJAH'S NIECE. - SAVED BY A FALLING TREE. - How They Captured the Python. - ON THE ROAD TO MANDALAY. - - - - -CHARACTERS THAT APPEAR IN THIS STORY. - - - =Motor Matt King.= - - =Joe McGlory=, a young cowboy who proves himself a lad of worth and - character, and whose eccentricities are all on the humorous side. A - good chum to tie to--a point Motor Matt is quick to perceive. - - =Ping=, a Chinese boy who insists on working for Motor Matt, and who - contrives to make himself valuable, perhaps invaluable. - - =Carl Pretzel=, an old chum who flags Motor Matt and more trouble - than he can manage, at about the same time. In the rôle of detective, - he makes many blunders, wise and otherwise, finding success only to - wonder how he did it. - - =Ben Ali=, an elephant driver; a Hindoo gifted in the arts for which - his country is famous and infamous. The uncle of Margaret Manners, he - revenges himself upon his brother, the rajah, in a way that proves - his own undoing. - - =Aurung Zeeb=, another elephant driver, and a friend of Ben Ali, - assisting in his scoundrelly work. - - =Haidee=, whose real name is Margaret Manners, a girl from India, who - becomes the hypnotic subject of Ben Ali, and is saved from him by - Motor Matt and Carl. - - =Boss Burton=, manager and proprietor of the Big Consolidated Shows. - A man who tries to be "square," in his own remarkable way. - - - - -CHAPTER I. - -"ON THE BANKS OF THE WABASH." - - -Strange, how a few harmless ingredients, thrown together and mixed, -will set the trouble pot a-boiling. - -Saltpeter is an innocent and useful product, and so is charcoal and -sulphur; but seventy-five per cent. of the first, fifteen per cent. of -the second, and ten per cent. of the third, when properly mixed, will -make gunpowder--an explosive that has slain millions, made kingdoms -over into republics, and changed the map of the world again and again. - -So, on this beautiful morning, with the banks of the Wabash River for a -setting, fate was juggling with a few trifling elements for the purpose -of combining them and manufacturing trouble. - -The Big Consolidated Shows were pitching their tents near that part of -the river, and two of the ingredients that helped form the dangerous -mixture were connected with the "tented aggregation." - -One was the big elephant, Rajah, who had a tremendous thirst and was -wabbling along toward the river for a drink; the other was a Chinese -boy, dipping a couple of pails of water from the stream for the steam -calliope. The third element--the one having no connection with the -show--was a German youth with a weakness for bursting into song. - -The elephant, dryer than the desert of Sahara, was making big and rapid -tracks for the brightly gleaming water, the Chinaman was leisurely -filling his pails, and the German was strolling along the bank, dusty -from a long tramp and with a stick over his shoulder from which swung a -bundle bound up in a knotted handkerchief. - -If the German had known how to sing he would not have attracted the -attention of the Chinaman; and if the Chinaman had not looked and -grunted his disgust, the German would not have become hostile; and if -Rajah, the elephant, had not possessed such a playful disposition, the -German and the Chinaman would probably have separated with no more than -a few mongrel words of personal opinion. But fate was working overtime -that day, and had an eye for weird combinations. - - "Ach, der moon vas shining pright upon der Vabash, - From der fieldts dere comes some shmells oof new-mown hay, - Droo der candlelight der sycamores vas gleaming, - On der panks oof der Vabash, righdt avay!" - -This was the German's song, and it sounded as though it had been played -on a fish horn. The Chinaman could be seen to shiver as he deposited -a pailful of water on the bank, straightened erect, and looked at the -singer. There was that in his slant eyes which brought the German to a -halt. - -"Don'd you like der song, shink?" demanded the Dutchman, pushing out -his chin in an irritating way. - -"Woosh!" snorted the Chinaman, "you makee sing all same like poodle dog -makee howl." - -"Py shiminy," cried the Dutchman, "I fight pedder as I sing. I don'd -let no monkey mit a pigdail make some foolishness mit me." - -"Dutchy boy clazy," declared the Celestial. - -"I nefer liked der shinks anyways," went on the other, dropping his -stick and his bundle. "Dey vas sheap skates, you bet you, und vas -alvays taking avay goot shobs from American fellers. I vill tie you oop -in some bowknots mit your pigdail und trop you py der rifer. Yah, so." - -"Dutchy boy makee spell 'able,'" and the Chinaman, with supreme -contempt, picked up his empty pail. - -"You peen afraidt mit yourseluf!" shouted the Dutchman. - -"My plenty busy; makee cally water fo' calliope. No gottee time to -fight. Come 'lound after palade, China boy makee Dutchy boy suppa' fo' -lion." - -"Dot's me," breathed the Dutchman, picking up his stick and bundle. -"I'll be aroundt after dot barade, you bed my life, und I don'd make -some subber for der lion, neider." - -He started on slowly. - -Unnoticed by either of the boys, the mahout on Rajah's neck had kept -the elephant close to the river bank. The mahout was dozing, and Rajah -was filling the piece of hose, more generally known as his trunk, with -Wabash water and squirting it into his open mouth. - -Now, Rajah was an eccentric elephant. There were times when he was full -of mischief and playful, and other times when the wild jungle blood got -the upper hand of him and he became dangerous. - -On two or three occasions, when Old Ben, the African lion, had tried -to mix things with the royal Bengal tiger, Rajah had been called in to -separate the fighters with a well-directed stream, hurled with catapult -force from his trunk. - -Rajah's cunning little eyes had been taking in the quarrel between the -Dutchman and the Chinaman. Something prompted him to elevate his trunk -and throw a stream after the retreating Dutch boy. - -The lad was knocked off his feet, his stick going one way and his -bundle the other. He jumped to his feet, spluttering, and whirled -around. - -Rajah was innocently squirting a dozen or more gallons of the river -into his capacious throat, but the Chinaman, the empty pail still in -his hand, was laughing so that he almost fell off the bank. - -It was the most natural thing in the world for the Dutch boy, in the -excitement of the moment, to lay the whole blame on the Chinese boy's -shoulders. - -The Dutchman had not seen Rajah use his trunk, and the Chinaman had. It -was very laughable, and the Chinaman's cackling mirth was unrestrained. - -The Dutchman saw only the empty bucket in the Chinaman's hand, and it -seemed certain the deluge of water had come from the bucket. - -"I gif you fits for dot, py shiminy!" whooped the Teuton. - -"No can do!" declared the Celestial. - -The Dutchman came on with a bound, his dripping clothes sprinkling -everything in his vicinity. - -The Chinaman threw the bucket. The other dodged. The bucket sailed on -through the air and struck Delhi, Rajah's mate, a sharp rap on her big, -fanning ear. Delhi trumpeted loudly and started furiously after the -boys. - -Both the Chinaman and the Dutchman, their faculties completely wrapped -up in their quarrel, gave no attention to the elephants. Coming -together like a thousand of brick, they clinched and wrestled back and -forth on the bank. - -Delhi, wild with anger, gave no heed to the fierce prodding of her -mahout, but rushed onward, her trunk stretched eagerly ahead of her -and twitching and curving in its desire to lay hold of the struggling -youngsters. - -For a second the prospect was very dark for the Teuton and the -Celestial. What would have happened to them is problematical if Delhi -had had her way. But the big brute was not allowed to work her will. -Rajah interfered; not out of any desire to be of help to the boys, but -rather to assist his mate in securing vengeance. - -Quickly Rajah aimed his trunk and hurled a stream of water. The jet -struck the two boys, lifted them from their feet, and hurled them into -the river. The lads were tossed from the bank in just the nick of time. -Hardly were they clear of the spot where they had been wrestling when -Delhi's disappointed trunk swept over it. - -Rajah's mahout, of course, had aroused himself, and he and the other -man got busy bringing the elephants into subjection. - -The Dutchman and the Chinaman had fallen into deep water. It was -necessary to disentangle themselves from each other in order to swim -and keep from being drowned. - -As Delhi backed away from the water's edge, under the blows of her -mahout's sharp, steel prod, she flung the Dutchman's bundle and stick -at the thrashing forms in the water, and followed these with the -buckets. - -"I can do oop a shink mit vone hand," gurgled the Dutchman, as his -dripping head appeared above the surface of the river; "aber ven a -goople oof elephants iss rung indo der game, den I don'd---- Wow!" - -The handkerchief bundle, hurled with terrific force, struck him on the -head and sent him under. - -"Dutchy boy no good!" spluttered the Chinaman. "Him velly fine false -alarm---- Woosh!" - -One of the buckets hit the Celestial in the small of the back and -he vanished in a flurry of bubbles. When he and the Dutchman again -reappeared, Delhi and Rajah were under control and no further danger -threatened. - -"What's the matter with you two kids?" cried Delhi's mahout, excited -and angry. - -"Der shink drew some vater on me," answered the Dutchman, "und made -more monkey-doodle pitzness dan I vould shtand for." - -"Him no savvy," declared the Chinese. "El'fant makee thlow water." - -Rajah's mahout was a Hindoo. In a queer jargon of broken English, he -described the way Rajah had hosed down the Dutchman as the latter was -walking off. - -The other mahout lost his wrath in a flood of merriment. - -"It's all a mistake!" he called. "Come out o' the wet and stop your -foolishness. If ye try to do any more fightin', I'll set Delhi onto you -ag'in." - -The Dutchman labored ashore with his stick and his bundle, and the -Chinaman followed with his buckets. - -"What do you s'pose Motor Matt would think of this, Ping?" went on the -mahout. "If he----" - -But what the mahout was intending to say was lost in a roar of -amazement and delight from the Dutchman. - -"Vat's dot? Modor Matt? Vere he iss, anyvay? Say, I vas his bard, und I -peen looking for him efery blace, longer as I can dell. Shpeak, vonce! -Vere iss Modor Matt?" - -"China boy Motol Matt's pard," spoke up the dripping Ping. "My workee -fo' Motol Matt; Dutchy boy no workee." - -"Py shiminy, I dell you some more dot I peen Carl Pretzel," shouted -the Dutchman, "und dot I vas looking for der show, und ditn't know I -vould findt Modor Matt at der same dime. Vere iss he, misder?" and Carl -appealed anxiously to the mahout. - -"He's travelin' with the show, youngster," answered the mahout, "an' -doin' a flyin'-machine stunt twice a day. If ye want to find him, hike -for the show grounds." - -Without paying any further attention to Ping or the elephants, Carl -gathered in his cap--which lay at the water's edge, and was the only -thing belonging to him that was not dripping wet--and laid a rapid -course for the top of the bank. - -Ping, filling the pails, started after Carl, worrying not a little over -this new pard of Motor Matt's who had appeared so unexpectedly on the -scene. - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -IN THE CALLIOPE TENT. - - -"I don't like it, pard, and you can bet your moccasins on that," said -Joe McGlory. - -"There are a whole lot of things about this business I don't fancy," -returned Motor Matt; "but we're under contract, Joe, and Boss Burton -says he'll give us an extra fifty a week if we do the trick." - -"But the girl! What's her notion about it? Hanging to a trapeze under -the aëroplane isn't a stunt to be sneezed at." - -"She's anxious to do the trick. She'll get fifty dollars a week for it, -and the money looks good to her." - -"There's the danger, pard. Her neck's worth more than fifty plunks a -week." - -"She's a little brick, that Haidee--pure grit. I'll see that she's not -placed in much danger." - -"You'll have your hands full looking after yourself and the aëroplane. -Sufferin' whirligigs! You know how hard it is to manage the _Comet_ -when there's a weight suspended beneath." - -"I can do it," declared Matt. - -"Of course you can do, old socks--you can do anything when you set your -mind to it. But, tell me this, what has that old elephant driver, Ben -Ali, got to do with Haidee? Ben Ali's a Hindoo, and Haidee is almost as -white as an American girl." - -"Ben Ali's her uncle, Joe. Haidee's mother was Ben Ali's sister, and -Haidee's father was an English officer living in Bombay. The girl told -me all this yesterday at the time she begged me to do what Boss Burton -wanted and let her trail the _Comet_ aloft on the trapeze." - -"Funny combination," muttered Joe. - -McGlory was in his overclothes, and had just finished getting the -aëroplane ready for the parade. The "animal top"--that is, the -menagerie tent--had been hoisted, and the small canvas lean-to that -housed the steam calliope had been put in place alongside. The calliope -was not in the lean-to, but was out on the grounds, being put in shape -for the parade. - -Matt and Joe usually came to the calliope tent to make themselves -ready for the street procession. They, together with Ping, had been -three weeks with the Big Consolidated, Matt making ascensions in the -aëroplane twice daily, following the parade and just before the evening -performance--wind and weather permitting. So proficient had Matt become -in handling the flying machine that nothing short of a stiff gale or -a hard rain kept him from carrying out his engagements for a double -exhibition each day. - -The aëroplane had caught the popular fancy, and had proved the biggest -kind of a card for Boss Burton, proprietor of the show. Under its -own motive power, the machine formed a star feature of the parade, -traveling slowly on the bicycle wheels which were necessary in giving -it a start when flights were made. - -From tip to tip, the wings of the aëroplane measured more than thirty -feet. Of course it could not travel in the parade with such a stretch -of surface across the streets, so Matt had arranged the bicycle wheels -in such a manner that the _Comet_ moved sideways in the procession, -the king of the motor boys, his cowboy pard, and his Chinese comrade -occupying positions in the seats on the lower wing. - -When Matt and his friends first joined the outfit, Boss Burton had -supplied them with bespangled apparel, which, if they had worn it, -would, according to McGlory, have made them "a holy show." - -Matt and McGlory balked at the glittering costumes, but Ping had hung -to his beadwork and gilt trimmings with a fierce determination there -was no shaking. - -McGlory compromised with Burton by getting into a swell cowboy rig, but -for Matt there was no such thing as compromise. This engagement with -the show was purely a business proposition, and he refused to make a -spectacle out of himself. He looked well, too, in his unostentatious -blue cap and clothes, and was given many a cheer as the aëroplane -pitched and shivered along in the procession. - -Boss Burton was a shrewd manager, and it was said that he lay awake -nights while section two of the show train was making its jumps between -stands, thinking up new acts that would thrill the patrons of the Big -Consolidated. His last idea was to hitch a trapeze to the bottom of the -aëroplane, and have Haidee, Ben Ali's pretty niece, perform on the -flying bar while Matt was manoeuvring the _Comet_ over the show grounds. - -It was this new wrinkle that had drawn objections from McGlory when he -and Matt had retired to the calliope tent to make ready for the parade. - -About all Matt had to do to get ready was to wash and brush himself. -McGlory, on the other hand, had to get into a blue shirt, corduroy -trousers, "chaps," tight, high-heeled boots, and a broad-brimmed -sombrero. - -"What's become of Ping?" asked Matt, stepping to the tent flap and -looking off over the busy grounds. - -It would be an hour before the parade could start, and the bright -sun glowed over a scene of feverish activity. The side-show tents, -the stable tents, and cook tent were already up. A small army of men -was working on the circus "top," and the rhythmical thump of mauls -on tent stakes could be heard on every hand. Horses in two, four, -six, and eight-horse teams were moving about; band wagons, cages, and -chariots were being dusted and cleaned; the painted banners in front -of the side-show were being laced to their guys; the candy "butchers" -were getting their places in readiness, and throughout the various -occupations of the men ran an orderly disorder, everywhere noticeable. - -But Matt could see nothing of Ping, and he turned away to where -McGlory, his foot on an overturned bucket, was buckling a big-roweled -Mexican spur to his heel. - -"Ping is always promptness itself in getting into his tinsel frills and -furbelows," remarked Matt, "and I can't understand what's keeping the -boy so late this morning." - -"He's been put on the steam calliope, pard," laughed McGlory, dropping -his foot from the bucket and stamping until the rowel jingled. -"Little Squinch-eye seems to have fallen in love with that bunch -of steam whistles. He tried to play 'Yankee Doodle' on the pipes, -in Indianapolis, and had almost stampeded the elephants before the -calliope man could choke him off. Sufferin' jangles, pard, you never -heard such a sound." - -Before Matt could make any response, a soft voice called from outside: - -"Motor Matt! Can I come in a minute?" - -"Sure," replied Matt heartily. - -A lithe, graceful form, in velvet and spangles, leaped lightly through -the opening. - -"Haidee!" exclaimed Matt, staring. - -The girl bowed laughingly and threw a kiss, just as she was in the -habit of doing after her trapeze work in the "big top." - -"Yes, friends," she answered; "Haidee, the Flying Marvel, who is to do -a turn on Motor Matt's flying machine just before the doors open. I am -also to ride on the top wing of the _Comet_ during the parade. Will I -do?" - -Lifting her arms, she pirouetted around for the observation of the -boys, then paused and smiled bewitchingly. - -"Do?" cried McGlory. "Why, sis, you'll be the hit of the piece. All I -hope"--and McGlory's face went rather long--"is that you and Matt come -through your trip in the air without any trouble." - -"I'm not afraid!" declared Haidee. - -"No more you're not, sis. If you were riding on the lower wing with -Matt the whole game would be different; but you're to hang under the -machine, and there'll be more pitching and plunging than if you were -aboard a bucking bronk. Hang on, that's all, and don't try to hang by -your heels." - -"I'll get an extra fifty dollars a week!" cried the girl. - -It was plain to be seen that she placed great store on that "fifty -dollars a week." - -"What does your uncle, Ben Ali, think of it, Haidee?" asked Matt. - -A barely perceptible frown crossed the girl's face. What was passing in -her mind? Whatever her thoughts were, they found no echo in her answer. - -"Uncle Ben is glad to have me do it," and Haidee retreated toward the -door. - -"Have you seen Ping, Haidee?" inquired Matt. - -"When I saw him last," was the response, "he was walking toward the -river with a couple of buckets. I'll be going, now. I'll see you again -when the parade starts. That trapeze act on the aëroplane will make a -great hit, don't you think?" - -"It ought to," said Matt. - -The girl vanished. - -"I'll walk over to the steam music box," remarked McGlory, "and see if -I can spot our pigtail friend." - -"All right," returned Matt, dropping down on an overturned bucket and -pulling a pencil and memorandum book from his pocket. - -Before he could begin to figure, he heard a voice addressing McGlory at -the tent door--and it was a voice that brought him up rigidly erect and -staring. - -"Say, misder, iss dis der shteam cantalope tent?" - -McGlory laughed. - -"Well, yes, Dutchy, you've made a bull's-eye first clatter. Here's -where they keep the 'cantalope.' What's the matter with you? Look like -you'd gone in swimming and forgotten to take off your clothes." - -"I tropped in der rifer mit meinseluf, und id vas vetter as I t'ought. -Say, vonce, iss Modor Matt aroundt der blace?" - -"He's inside, and---- Sufferin' whirlwinds, but you're in a hurry!" - -A bedraggled form, with a dripping bundle in one hand and a stick in -the other, hurled itself through the opening with a yell. - -"Matt! Mein olt pard, Matt!" - -The next instant Carl Pretzel had rushed forward and twined his -water-soaked arms about the king of the motor boys. The Dutchman's -delight was of the frantic kind, and he gurgled and whooped, and -blubbered, and wrestled with Matt in a life-and-death grip. - -McGlory, in amazement, watched from the entrance. - -"Carl!" exclaimed Matt. "By all that's good, if it isn't Carl! Great -spark plugs, old chap, where did you drop from?" - -"Ach, from novere und eferyvere. Vat a habbiness! I peen so dickled mit -meinseluf I feel like I vas going to pust! My olt raggie, Matt, vat I -ain'd seen alreddy for a t'ousant years!" - -Just then there was a rush behind McGlory, and some one nearly knocked -him over getting into the tent. - -"My workee fo' Motol Matt!" shrilled a high, angry voice. "Dutchy boy -no workee!" - -Ping was terribly hostile, but McGlory caught and held him. - -Carl tore himself loose from Matt and would have rushed at Ping had he -not been restrained. - -"Looks like they'd both been in the river," remarked McGlory. - -"What's the trouble here, boys?" asked Matt. - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -AN EAVESDROPPER. - - -Both Carl and Ping tried to explain matters at the same time. Each -talked loud, in the hope of drowning out the other, and the jargon was -terrific. Finally McGlory got a hand over the Chinaman's mouth, and -Carl was able to give his side of the question. After that, Ping had -his say. - -"There's been no cause whatever for this flare-up," said Matt. -"Everybody knows that Carl can't sing, but everybody who's acquainted -with him, too, knows that he's got more pluck to the square inch than -any fellow of his size. Carl's all right, Ping. He went around South -America with Dick Ferral and me on that submarine, and we parted -company in San Francisco just before I met up with Joe. Shake hands," -and Matt pushed Carl toward the Chinaman. - -"My workee fo' Motol Matt," whispered Ping, who had likewise been given -a push by the cowboy; "Dutchy boy no workee, huh?" - -"You're both pards of mine," said Matt, "and you've got to be friends. -Now, shake hands." - -The shaking was done--rather hesitatingly, it is true, but nevertheless -it was done. - -"Now," went on Matt, "you get into your regalia, Ping. Carl, you can -get out of your wet clothes and put on Joe's working suit. While you're -about it, tell me how you happen to be here. You stay and listen, Joe," -the young motorist added. "I want you to like Carl as well as I do." - -"That's me, pard," laughed McGlory, taking a seat on one of the -buckets. "There's plenty of ginger in the Dutchman, and that's what -cuts the ice with me." - -Ping, covertly watching and listening, moved over to his bag of clothes -and began rigging himself out in his gorgeous raiment. Carl, talking as -he worked, removed his water-logged costume. - -"I vas a tedectif, Matt," said he gravely. - -"What's that?" demanded McGlory. - -"Detective," smiled the king of the motor boys. "My Dutch pard has been -making a sleuth out of himself." - -"Yah, so," pursued Carl. "Tick Verral vent off mit his uncle, in -Tenver, und I run avay to San Francisco looking for Matt. He don'd -vas dere some more, und I can't find oudt nodding aboudt vere he vas -gone. I haf to do somet'ing vile vaiting for him to turn oop, und so I -go indo der tedectif pitzness. Dot's great vork, I bed you. You findt -somet'ing for somepody, und dey gif you all kindts oof money. Fine!" - -"How much have you made at the business, Carl?" queried Matt. - -"Vell, nodding, so far as I haf gone, Matt. Aber I don'd haf no luck -mit it. I vas schust learning der ropes. A feller hat his money took -avay in 'Frisco. I ged oudt oof dot mit a proken headt, und don'd findt -der money. Vell, next a olt laty in Salt Lake City loses her parrot, -und say she gif ten tollar vould I findt him. I ketch der parrot off -a push schust ven anodder feller lays holt oof him. Ve fight for der -pird, der pird iss kilt, und some more I don'd ged nodding, only a -plack eye und some fierce talk from der olt laty. Aber I don'd ged -tiscouraged, nod at all. I vork on mit meinseluf. - -"Pympy, I peen in Chicago--der blace vere ve vas, Matt, mit der air -ship. Dot's a great town for der tedectif pitzness, I bed you. I try to -hire oudt by a prifate tedectif achency, aber dey don'd vant me. I keep -afder dose fellers, und afder I was t'rown from der office a gouple oof -times I valked in on dem by der fire escape. Den dey gif me some chobs." - -"What sort of a job did they give you, Carl?" - -By that time the Dutch boy had stripped and put on McGlory's clothes. -Reaching for his water-logged bundle, he untied it, and fished a folded -newspaper from an assortment of rubber collars, socks, and red cotton -handkerchiefs. - -The newspaper was very damp, and had to be handled with care. - -"Dis iss some English papers, Matt," explained Carl. "Id vas brinted in -Lonton, und dose tedectif fellers had him py deir office. How mooch iss -a t'ousant pounds in Unidet Shtates money, hey?" - -"Five thousand dollars." - -"Veil, dot's der chob--making dot fife t'ousant. I bet you I get rich -vone oof dose tays." - -"You have to do something, don't you, before you get the money?" -queried McGlory, with a wink at Matt. - -"Ach, dot's nodding," answered Carl, in a large, offhand manner. "Readt -dot, Matt." - -Matt took the wet newspaper and read a marked paragraph, which ran as -follows: - - "£1,000 Reward! This sum will be paid for any information concerning - one Margaret Manners, last known to be in Calcutta, India. Miss - Manners is about eighteen years of age, and is the only daughter of - the late Captain Lionel Manners, of the English Army, stationed at - Bombay. Miss Manners disappeared from her home, under mysterious - circumstances, and it is possible she went to America and engaged in - the circus business. Any one with knowledge concerning the missing - person, and desirous of obtaining the reward, will please communicate - with Arthur Hoppleson, Solicitor, 10 Kent's Road, London, W. C. - Further information, which cannot be publicly printed, will be - cheerfully furnished." - -Motor Matt, after reading the paragraph to himself, read it aloud. - -"Why," grinned McGlory, "that outfit of detectives was working your -German friend, Matt. They gave him that and sent him on a wild-goose -chase, just to get rid of him." - -"Dot's a misdake," declared Carl. "Dose fellers saw I meant pitzness, -py shinks, und dey gif me der hardest case dey hat. Yah, so. Since den -I haf peen looking for shows. Eferyvere I hear aboudt some shows I hike -avay. Aber I don'd findt Miss Manners. She don'd vas in der mooseums, -oder in der Vild Vest shows, or in Rinklings; und oof she vasn't in -der Pig Gonsolidated, den I vas oop some shtumps. My money has blayed -oudt, und I hat to rite in a pox car to Lafayette, Intiana. Here I vas -shdrolling along tovard der show groundts ven I see dot shink mit der -puckets, und hat sooch a scrap. Afder der scrap vas ofer, a man on a -elephant shpeak about Motor Matt. Den I don'd t'ink oof nodding more. I -come, so kevick as bossiple, to findt my olt raggie. Und here ve vas, -togedder like ve used to be." A broad smile covered Carl's face. "Now -I don'd care for nodding. Oof you t'ink you could help me findt Miss -Manners, den I vill be opliged, und gif you part oof der revard--a -gouple oof pounds oof id, anyvay." - -"It looks to me, Carl," said Matt, handing back the paper, "as though -the men in that detective office were trying to have some fun with you. -Have you written to London to secure further information?" - -Carl looked startled. - -"Vell," he admitted, "I ditn't t'ink oof dat." - -"You're a fine detective, you are," said Matt. "You might as well hunt -for a needle in a haystack as to hunt for this English girl. Can't you -see? You've got a pretty wide field to cover, and it is only _supposed_ -that she came to America and engaged in the circus business." - -Carl ran his fingers through his carroty hair. - -"Meppy dot's right," he mused. "Oof dose fellers in Chicago vas making -some monkey-doodle pitzness mit me, you bed you I vould like to fool -dem. Meppy I findt der girl. Den vat? V'y, dose tedectif fellers feel -like t'irty cent. You vas vorking for der show, Matt?" - -"We've an engagement with the manager for making flights in our -aëroplane." - -"Vat's dose?" - -"What's an aëroplane? Why, Carl, it's a heavier-than-air flying -machine." - -"So? Und you go oop in id?" - -"Yes." - -Carl sat on a bucket and ruminated for a space. - -"You know pooty near efery vone dot vorks for der show, hey?" he asked. - -"Yes, I know every one." - -"Iss dere a girl mit der name oof Markaret Manners?" - -"No. But she'd have a different name if she was with a show, Carl. -Performers hardly ever use their real names." - -"Dot's righdt, too." Once more Carl ran his fingers through his mop of -hair. "Iss der any vone connected mit der show vat has a shtrawperry -mark on der arm?" he asked, brightening. - -"Strawberry mark on the arm?" repeated Matt. "Why, Carl, that -advertisement doesn't say anything about such a thing." - -"I know dot, aber efery young laty you read aboudt vat's lost has der -shtrawperry mark on der----" - -McGlory let off a roar of laughter. Carl straightened up with a pained -look on his fat face. - -"Carl," cried McGlory, "you're a great sleuth, and no mistake! You jump -at too many conclusions." - -"Dere don'd vas anyt'ing else to chump ad," returned Carl. "Dis vas a -dark case, you bed you, und dere has to be some guessings. Dot's vat I -make now, der guessings." - -"Pretty woolly guessing, at that, and----" - -McGlory broke off abruptly to follow a sudden movement on Matt's part. -The canvas forming the side of the menagerie tent had shaken, as though -there was some one on the other side of it. Matt, seeing the shiver -of the canvas, leaped for the wall. The next moment he had lifted the -canvas and was looking into the other tent. - -A tall, brown-faced man, wearing a turban and an embroidered jacket, -was just vanishing through the tent entrance. Matt dropped the canvas -and turned away, a thoughtful look taking the place of the smile with -which he had listened to Carl's talk. - -"What was it, pard?" asked McGlory. - -"An eavesdropper," replied Matt. - -"Speak to me about that!" exclaimed McGlory. "If some one thought the -Dutchman's yarn worth listening to, then perhaps there's something in -it." - -"Perhaps." Motor Matt's brow wrinkled perplexedly. - -"Who was the fellow? Could you recognize him?" - -"It was Ben Ali." - -McGlory bounded up, excited, and his own face reflecting some of the -perplexity that shone in his friend's. - -Before the conversation could be continued, however, a man thrust his -head into the calliope tent. - -"They're waiting for you fellows," he announced. "Hustle!" - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -QUEER PROCEEDINGS. - - -The place occupied by the aëroplane in the procession was almost at the -end, and just behind the herd of four elephants. Rajah, owing to his -freakish disposition, was always the fourth elephant of the string, -Delhi his mate, immediately preceding him. With peaceable brutes ahead, -Rajah might usually be depended upon not to cut any capers. - -It will be seen from this that the _Comet_ followed on the heels of -Rajah. - -The parade was almost in readiness for the start when Matt, McGlory, -and Ping reached the aëroplane. Hostlers were running about placing -plumes in the head-stalls of the horses, drivers were climbing to their -seats, the wild animal trainer was getting into the open cage, and the -members of the band were tinkering with their instruments. - -Haidee was standing by the aëroplane when Matt, McGlory, and Ping -reached the machine. - -"All ready, Haidee?" asked Matt. - -The girl turned and looked at him blankly. Her face was unusually -white, and there was a vacant stare in her eyes. - -"What's to pay, sis?" asked McGlory, with a surprised look at Matt. -"Don't you feel well?" - -"I am well." - -The words came in an unnatural voice and with parrot-like precision. - -Boss Burton came hustling down the line in his runabout. - -"Hurry up, Matt," he called. "Help Haidee to a place on the upper wing -of the _Comet_." - -Matt stepped over to the runabout. - -"What's the matter with the girl?" he asked, in a low tone. - -"Matter?" echoed Burton, fixing a keen look on the girl. "By Jupiter, -she's got one of her spells again! She hasn't had one of those for a -month, now, and I thought they'd about left her for good." - -"Is she subject to spells of that kind?" - -"She used to be. There's something queer about them, but they don't -last long." - -"We shouldn't put her on the upper wing, then. There's no seat there, -and nothing to hold on to." - -The sharp, impatient notes of a trumpet came from the head of the line. - -"Well, put her somewhere," said Burton impatiently, and whirled his -horse. - -"Get on the top plane, Ping," said Matt, hurrying back to the _Comet_. -"Haidee is going to ride on the lower wing with us." - -"Awri'," chirped Ping, and McGlory gave him a leg up. - -Haidee, moving like an automaton, made no objection to this -arrangement. She took her place obediently on the lower wing of the -machine, between Matt and McGlory, and the engine was started. - -When the elephants began to move, Matt switched the power into the -bicycle wheels, and the aëroplane lurched over the uneven ground. -Reaching the road, the _Comet_ went more steadily; and when the -procession wound into the paved thoroughfares, the movement was -comparatively easy. - -Ben Ali, from the neck of Rajah, kept turning around and looking back -at the three on the lower plane of the _Comet_. - -Matt, McGlory, and Haidee, on account of the wings of the aëroplane -being turned lengthwise of the street, rode facing the sidewalk on the -left. In order to see them, Ben Ali was obliged to keep Rajah somewhat -out of the line. - -"What's the matter with Ben Ali?" asked McGlory, leaning forward and -talking in front of Haidee. "He's showing a heap more interest in the -_Comet_ than he ever did before." - -Matt shook his head, and met steadily the piercing eyes of the Hindoo -until they were turned forward again. - -"What is your uncle looking this way for, Haidee?" he asked. - -"I don't know." - -The girl expressed herself in the same mechanical way she had done -before. - -"Haidee isn't herself," said Matt, "and I guess her uncle is worried. -Change seats with her, Joe." - -Matt wanted to talk with his cowboy chum and did not want to be under -the necessity of passing his words around the girl. - -"Move over, sis," requested McGlory, standing up and balancing himself -on the foot-rest. - -The girl quietly slipped along the plane. - -Cheer after cheer greeted the aëroplane and the king of the motor boys -as soon as the crowded thoroughfares were reached. Ping, on the upper -wing, and clad in all his barbaric finery, was as proud as a peacock. -Haidee, on the other hand, paid absolutely no attention to the crowds. -She sat rigidly in her place, like a girl carved from stone, keeping -her unblinking eyes straight ahead of her. - -"I'm plumb beat, and no mistake," breathed McGlory, in Matt's ear. "I -never saw Haidee like this before. She acts to me like she was locoed." - -"Boss Burton told me, just before we started," answered Matt, in a low -tone, "that she was subject to 'spells.' This is the first one she has -had in a month, Burton says." - -"Can you savvy it?" - -"No." - -"Ben Ali seems worried out of his wits. Watch how he keeps Rajah -zigzagging back and forth across the trail, so he can get a look at the -girl every now and then. I wonder if Haidee knows what she's about?" - -"She must. If she didn't she wouldn't be riding in the aëroplane." - -The bands played, the crowds waved hands and handkerchiefs and cheered, -the clowns carried out all their funny stunts, and the procession moved -on through the city of Lafayette. Students from Purdue University -followed the paraders and blew long blasts through tin horns. Rajah -showed signs of becoming restless, and Ben Ali's attention had to be -given entirely to the big brute. - -Matt, with one hand on the steering lever, kept the unwieldy machine -moving in a straight track. - -"What do you suppose Ben Ali was listening to Carl's talk for, there on -the inside of the menagerie tent?" inquired the cowboy, his voice so -low it could not possibly reach Haidee. "I had a notion that----" - -"Sh-h-h!" Matt interrupted. "I had the same notion, Joe, but it was -only a wild guess, at the most. He's a prying chap, that Ben Ali, and -he might have had only a casual interest in what Carl was saying." - -"I'll bet a ten-dollar bill against a chink wash ticket that there was -something more to it than that." - -"Well, if there was, it's bound to come out, sooner or later. Say -nothing, but keep your eyes open." - -"I've always felt that there was a mystery about the girl and Ben Ali, -and that----" - -McGlory broke off suddenly. Haidee, with the quickness of lightning, -had leaned over behind him and jerked one of the levers at Matt's side. - -The next instant the big aëroplane took a wild jump forward. The king -of the motor boys was alive to the danger in an instant. - -"Hold the girl!" he cried, and instantly flung the lever back. - -The front ends of the two great wings had hurled themselves against -Rajah. The huge animal trumpeted wildly and swung about on his hind -legs with trunk uplifted. - -It seemed as though he would surely charge the _Comet_, wreck the -machine, and kill or maim the four who were riding in it. - -McGlory, with Haidee in his arms, leaped from the foot-rest into the -road. Ping rolled off the opposite side of the upper plane. - -Had Matt deserted his post, the _Comet_ would certainly have been -seriously damaged, if not totally wrecked. But, in spite of the danger -that threatened him, he kept his seat. - -Quick as a flash, he threw in the reverse. The bulky machine began -wabbling away on the back track, the clown in the donkey cart behind, -and the acrobatic "haymakers" in their trick wagon, driving frantically -out of the way. - -Ben Ali was using his sharp prod with apparent frenzy, but the jabbing -point had not the least effect. Rajah started for Matt and the _Comet_. - -Then, had not Delhi's mahout been self-possessed and quick, the worst -would have happened. - -People in the street jumped for the walk, and those on the walk pushing -into the open doors of shops. Shrieks and cries went up from the women, -and men yelled in consternation. - -Across Rajah's path, with a rush, charged Delhi, coming to a halt -and blocking the way. Rajah tried to go around, but Delhi backed and -continued to cut off his retreat. - -By that time Boss Burton had whirled to the scene in the runabout, -and half a dozen men, from the forward wagons, were all around Rajah, -belaboring the brute with cudgels, whips, and whatever they could get -their hands on. - -Rajah's incipient rage was soon quelled by this heroic treatment. - -"What happened?" demanded Burton, drawing up beside the aëroplane. - -"The machine made a jump," answered Matt, not wishing to put the blame -on the girl. "Rajah was too close. Tell Ben Ali to pay more attention -to the elephant and less to us, and to keep in the centre of the road." - -Burton was angry. The fault seemed to lie with Matt, but Ben Ali caught -the brunt of the showman's ire. - -Ping, his yellow face like a piece of old cheese, got back on the upper -wing, and McGlory led Haidee to the _Comet_ and helped her to her seat. - -"Speak to me about that!" gulped the cowboy. "I'm a Piegan if I didn't -think you and the old _Comet_ were done for. What possessed the girl?" - -"Give it up," answered Matt grimly. "As you said a while ago, pard, -these are queer proceedings. Just watch Haidee every minute." - -"She didn't know what she was doing, and you can gamble a blue stack on -that." - -"Of course she didn't. That's why I didn't tell Burton the real cause -of the trouble. Keep it to yourself, Joe." - - - - -CHAPTER V. - -MOTOR MATT PROTESTS. - - -The parade was finished without further incident worthy of note, a -huge crowd following it back to the show grounds to see the aëroplane -flight. As soon as the grounds were reached, Ben Ali came for Haidee. -There was a burning light in his black eyes, and he was shaking like a -man with the ague. - -"Just a minute, Ben Ali," said Matt, catching the Hindoo by the sleeve -of his embroidered coat and leading him apart. "What's the matter with -your niece?" - -"Salaam, sahib," chattered Ben Ali. "Haidee all right soon." - -"She can't make an ascension with me, Ben Ali. She was the cause of -that trouble, and it would be sheer madness to take her aloft on that -trapeze." - -"Yis, sahib, _such baht_" (that is true). Ben Ali drew a quivering hand -over his forehead. "But she be well like ever soon, sahib." - -Ben Ali whirled away, took Haidee by the hand, and vanished among the -wagons. - -Boss Burton strode to the scene. - -"What ails that brown rascal?" he asked, staring after Ben Ali. "He's -in as bad a taking as the girl. What did he say about her? I've never -been able to get him to tell me anything about her spells." - -"He tells me that she will be all right in a little while," answered -Matt. - -"Then we'll delay the flight. It will be half an hour yet before all -the people get here." - -Matt peered at the showman as though he thought him out of his senses. - -"You don't mean to say that you want the girl to ride a trapeze under -the _Comet_?" he demanded. - -"Why not?" Burton answered. "You said you'd take her, and she's willing -to go--she wants to go." - -"When I said I'd take her," returned Matt, "I didn't know anything -about her spells. Suppose she were to have one while we're in the air? -Why, Burton, she might throw herself from the trapeze." - -"No," declared the other, "she wouldn't do that. After she has one -spell, I understand she doesn't have another for days, or weeks. It's -been a month since she had the last. Why, in St. Paul, she had one ten -minutes before she went to the ring for her trapeze work--and she never -did better. If Ben Ali says she'll be all right in a little while he -ought to know." - -"I protest against allowing her to go up in the aëroplane," said Matt -firmly. "When the machine is off the ground it has to have my whole -attention. I won't be able to look after Haidee without endangering -both our lives." - -A hard look came into Burton's face. - -"I'm paying you five hundred a week for the stunt you pull off with the -flying machine, ain't I?" he demanded harshly. - -"You are," was the young motorist's calm response. - -"And I'm giving the fifty on top of that for taking the girl up with -you?" - -"That was your proposition." - -"And you agreed to it?" - -"That was before I knew Haidee was afflicted in this way, Burton." - -"Bosh!" scoffed the showman. "The thing has got on your nerves." - -"So it has," acknowledged Matt. "I'm not going to place Haidee in any -danger, if I can help it." - -"And that shot goes as it lays, Burton," spoke up McGlory, who had been -taking a deep interest in the talk. "If you think Motor Matt is going -to risk the girl's neck, or his own, for a little fifty a week, you've -got another guess coming." - -Boss Burton had set his heart on that trapeze act. It was a decided -novelty, and he could not cut it out of his calculations. - -"Am I to understand," he went on, taking a look at the gathering -crowds, "that you'll break your contract rather than take Haidee up -with you?" - -"That's what you're to understand!" snapped McGlory. "We'll not hem, -and haw, and side-step, not for a holy minute." - -"It's this way, Burton," continued Matt. "Haidee can't go up on the -trapeze--we have to take a running start, you know, and it would be -impossible. She'll have to ride up on the lower plane; then, after we -are well clear of the ground, she'll have to drop from the footboard -with the trapeze in her hands. If she's not entirely herself, the drop -from the footboard to the end of the trapeze ropes will be too much for -her. She'll fall." - -"But I told you that after she comes out of these things she's as fit -as ever," cried Burton. "It's a still day--the best we've had for -flying since you joined the show. I don't want to give up the idea." - -"And you don't want to see Haidee killed before your eyes, do you?" -asked Matt coldly. - -"Oh, splash! There'll be nothing of that kind. Ah, look! Here she -comes, and she's just as well as ever." - -Matt and McGlory turned. Haidee, ready for the ascent, was hurrying -toward the machine from the direction of the tent. She moved swiftly -and gracefully, and there was nothing mechanical in her actions--as -there had been during the parade. The pallor had left her cheeks and -the vacant look was gone from her eyes. Matt and McGlory were astounded -at the sudden change in her. - -"Are you all ready for me, Motor Matt?" she asked eagerly. - -The trapeze was ready. That had been attached to the under plane of the -_Comet_ and the bar lashed to the foot-rest before the parade. But Matt -was not ready. - -"How are you feeling, Haidee?" asked Matt kindly. - -"Fine!" she declared. - -"Do you remember what happened during the parade?" - -A puzzled look crossed her face. - -"I can't remember a thing about that," she declared. "In fact, -everything has been a blank almost from the time I left the calliope -tent, where I was talking with you, until I came to myself in the -menagerie tent with Uncle Ben." - -Matt bowed his head thoughtfully. - -"What's the matter?" asked the girl, in a quivering voice. "Aren't you -going to take me up with the _Comet_?" - -"He's afraid you'll have a spell while you're in the air, Haidee, and -drop off the bar," jeered Burton. - -The girl stepped forward and caught Matt's sleeve. - -"Oh, it can't be true!" she exclaimed tearfully. "Motor Matt, you're -not going to keep me from making that extra money? I need it! I must -have it!" - -The girl's earnestness made Matt waver. - -"It won't do," spoke up McGlory decidedly. - -"Joe!" and Haidee turned on him. "Why can't you understand that I'm -just as able as ever to do my trapeze work? I'll not have another of -those queer spells for a long time." - -"That's what you think, sis," answered McGlory, "but if anything -happened to you my pard would remember it as long as he lived. He has -just protested to Burton against taking you up. And he had a bean on -the right number when he said what he did." - -"_I'm_ taking the chances," said Haidee, "and nothing will happen." - -The aëroplane was at rest on the hard roadway running across the -show grounds. For a distance of twenty feet on each side of the road -strong ropes were stretched to keep back the crowd. The throng was now -pressing against the ropes, clamoring for the aëroplane to make its -flight. - -"If this performance don't come off," said Boss Burton, "it will be a -tough blow for the Big Consolidated. I advertised this trapeze stunt -on the flying machine in the morning papers, wiring it ahead from -Indianapolis. It's _got_ to be done, that's all. Every promise made in -our bills is always carried out. That's what has given this show a -hold with the people. I don't say one thing and then do another." - -"Circumstances alter cases," returned Matt. - -"If you don't want to take Haidee, will you take Archie le Bon?" - -Archie le Bon was one of the Le Bon Brothers, iron-nerved men who -performed wonderful flying feats on the trapeze. - -"Certainly I'll take Archie le Bon," replied Matt, glad to find such -a way out of the disagreement. "Bring him here while I'm getting the -machine ready." - -Haidee began to cry, but Burton took her by the arm and led her away, -talking earnestly and in a low voice. - -A trick was worked on the king of the motor boys that morning, and it -was something for which he never forgave Boss Burton. And it was a -trick carried to a successful conclusion almost under the very eyes of -McGlory and Ping. Matt, being busy with the aëroplane and the motor, -did not discover it until too late. - -Matt went over the machinery of the _Comet_ with the same care he -exercised before every flight. A loose bolt or screw might spell death -for him if it escaped his attention. - -When he was through with his examination, and had taken his seat ready -for the flight. Le Bon appeared. He was in his shirt sleeves, not -having had time to exchange his everyday clothes for ring costume. - -"I'll run with the machine," said Le Bon, "and climb over the lower -plane from behind when it gets to running too fast for me." - -"That will do," answered Matt. - -Amid the breathless silence of the crowd, Matt set the motor to working. - -"Ready!" he called. - -The machine started along the road, gaining in speed with every foot of -its progress. - -At the end of fifty feet it was going faster than a man could run; and -at a hundred feet it was darting along at thirty miles an hour. This -was the gait that enabled the wing to pick the machine off the ground. - -As the _Comet_ slid upward along its airy path, the astounded McGlory -saw Le Bon far back toward the point from which the machine had -started. Thinking that, through some mistake, Le Bon had been left -behind, McGlory turned toward the mounting aëroplane. - -Then the trick dawned upon him. - -Haidee was climbing over the lower plane toward Motor Matt, now and -again turning to wave her hand at the cheering crowd! - -And McGlory saw something else--something that had a fearful -significance in the light of later events. - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - -ABLAZE IN THE AIR. - - -When the king of the motor boys was in the air with the _Comet_, every -power of mind and body was trained to the work of looking after the -machine. - -Flying in an aëroplane is vastly more difficult than sailing in a -balloon. In the case of a gas bag, an aëronaut has only to throw out -ballast, take his ease, and trust to luck; but, with a heavier-than-air -machine, the aviator must rely upon the quickness of his wits and his -dexterity. - -Aëroplane flying, in a large measure, is a knack, and must be acquired. -The air pressure never touches the machine in exactly the same point -for two consecutive seconds, and, because of this, the centre of -gravity is constantly changing. Centre of gravity and centre of air -pressure must coincide at all times if the machine is to be kept in the -air, and the success or failure to do this proves the competency or the -incompetency of the operator. - -The Traquair aëroplane--upon which model Matt's machine had been -built--preserved its equilibrium while aloft by an elongation, or -contraction, of the wing tips. A lever regulated this; and, whenever -Matt was flying, the lever was moving continuously, the ends of the -wings darting out and in with lightning-like rapidity, one side -presenting greater wing area to the pressure while the other presented -less, and vice versa. - -Motor Matt's engagement with Boss Burton did not cover long flights. -Usually, if the weather was propitious, he made it a point to remain -aloft about fifteen minutes, circling about the show grounds, turning -sharp corners and cutting airy "figure eights," in order to show the -capabilities of the aëroplane. - -"Get your trapeze over, Le Bon!" he called, while they were steadily -mounting. - -A laugh was his answer--a silvery ripple of a laugh that had a familiar -ring in his ears and now filled him with consternation. He dared not -look around. - -"Haidee!" he exclaimed. - -"Are you mad at me, Motor Matt?" came the voice of the girl. - -She cautiously slipped into the seat beside him, her heightened color -and sparkling eyes showing her excitement. - -"This was a trick," went on Matt calmly, attending to his work with an -indifference more apparent than real, "which you and Le Bon and Burton -played on me?" - -"It was Burton's idea, and he told it to me while we were going after -Archie le Bon. Archie was to pretend to run with the machine, and I was -to be with him. When the machine got to going too fast for us, Archie -was to drop to one side and I was to spring to the lower wing. Your -back would be in my direction, and you couldn't see me." - -"That wasn't like you, Haidee," said Matt. - -"Are you mad?" - -"What's the use of being put out with you? I'll have something to say -to Burton and Le Bon when I get back to the grounds." - -"You thought you were doing something to help me--I know that--but you -didn't understand I was perfectly able to carry out my part of the -programme. As it is now, I came along and you couldn't help yourself. -Are you going to try and keep me from dropping under the machine with -the trapeze?" - -"No," was the grim reply, "now that you are here you can go on with -your work. Hold to the hand grip on the edge of the plane while you -unlash the bar." - -Perfectly cool, and in complete command of her nerves, Haidee knelt on -the foot-rest, clinging to the plane with one hand while she unlashed -the trapeze bar with the other. - -"I'm ready, Motor Matt," said Haidee. - -She was sitting on the edge of the seat, holding the bar in both hands. - -Matt had brought the _Comet_ to an even keel, some fifty feet over the -show grounds. They were traveling about thirty miles an hour--a snail's -pace for the _Comet_--and Matt was about to make a turn over the river -and traverse the length of the grounds going the other way. - -"Now, listen," said he to the girl. "I'm going to tilt the _Comet_ -sharply upward and ascend for about fifty feet, then I'm going to -reverse the position and descend for fifty feet in the same sharp -angle. When we turn for the descent, Haidee, drop from the foot-rest -when I give the word. The pull of your body, when it falls, will drag -on the machine, but never mind that--hang on and don't get scared. As -soon as I can I will bring the machine to a level. Understand?" - -"Yes." - -"And another thing. While you're moving on the bar, just remember to do -it quietly and easily. You've seen the two Japs at work in the show, I -know. When the big fellow balances the pole on his shoulder, and the -little fellow goes up, every move is made as though there would be a -smash if they were not careful." - -"I understand," said the girl. - -The machine had been brought around and was heading toward the grounds. -Matt twisted the small forward planes, which laid the course for -ascending or descending. At the same time he speeded up the motor. - -The _Comet_ pointed upward; then, at the top of her course, was as -quickly turned and aimed toward the earth. - -Matt caught a glimpse of a sea of upturned faces. The machine was -rushing downward at a frightful pace. - -"_Now!_" shouted Matt. - -He saw the girl poise birdlike on the foot-rest, then sink from it with -the trapeze. So great was the slant of the aëroplane that she seemed to -fall forward. - -There was a jar as the bar reached the end of the ropes, and, with the -girl's weight, was caught and held. The _Comet_ made an erratic wabble -and lurched sideways like a great bird, wounded on the wing. - -Haidee withstood the jolt admirably, and Matt twirled the lever -operating the steering planes. - -Sounds from the earth always reach aëronauts with startling -distinctness. The shouts of consternation which came from the throats -of the spectators could be heard, and also the murmur of relief as the -_Comet_ righted herself, and the trapeze and the girl swung back under -the machine. - -Controlling the aëroplane was always more difficult when there was a -weight suspended beneath, but Matt had counted upon this, and he forced -the _Comet_ back and forth over the show grounds, holding the machine -fairly steady. - -Three times he and Haidee circled over the "tops" with their gay -streamers, cheer upon cheer following them from below. - -Matt had been in the air more than fifteen minutes, and he was just -manoeuvring toward the starting and stopping point, when the cheers -were suddenly turned to cries of fear and alarm. He could see the -people below waving their arms and pointing upward. - -For an instant the young motorist's heart sank. He felt sure that -something had gone wrong with the girl. - -This conviction had hardly formed before it was dissipated. A smell of -smoke came to his nostrils, and to his ears a crackle of flames. Matt -turned his head. - -The left wing of the aëroplane was on fire! - -A thrill of horror shot through him. In the air, he and Haidee, with a -blazing flying machine alone between them and death! The very thought -was enough to wrench the stoutest nerves. - -"Haidee!" yelled Matt. - -"Yes," came the stifled response, from underneath the _Comet_. - -"Are you all right?" - -"Yes." - -"Hang to the bar--don't lose your nerve!" - -Matt's mind was grappling with the complex situation. To get safely -to the ground in the shortest possible time was the problem that -confronted him. - -How the wing had caught fire he did not know, and had not the time even -to guess. It sufficed that the plane was ablaze, and that the longer it -blazed and ate into the fabric the less resistance the plane made to -the atmosphere. And it was this resistance that spelled life for the -king of the motor boys and the girl! - -To drop the blazing aëroplane into that sea of heads below meant injury -to some of the spectators. Matt must avoid this and reach the earth in -the roped-off lane from which the ascent had been made. - -He put the clamps on his nerves, and, with brain perfectly clear, drove -the aëroplane about at a sharp angle. - -Then, if ever, the machine was true to its name, for as it darted -onward, the smoke and flame that streamed out behind must have given it -the look of a comet. - -Could he drop to earth, the young motorist was asking himself, before -the fire struck either of the gasoline tanks? - -Motor Matt, as he coaxed the last ounce of speed from the motor, -shouted encouragingly to the terrified girl on the trapeze. - -Suddenly, below him opened the narrow lane roped off along the road. A -buzz of excited voices echoed in his ears. With steady hand he shut off -the power and glided downward. - -"Drop from the bar and run, Haidee," he shouted, "as soon as we come -close to the ground." - -There was a response from the girl, but the clamor of the crowd -prevented him from hearing what it was. - -The next moment the blazing aëroplane settled into the road and glided -along on the bicycle wheels. - -McGlory, Carl, and Ping were on hand, the cowboy in charge of a -detachment of canvasmen with buckets. A hiss of steam, as water struck -the flames, rose in the air. - -"Careful!" cried Matt, restraining the impetuous assault of the fire -fighters. "Don't climb over the machine and damage it! Keep them back, -Joe! Here, some of you, drench the wings on the right side and keep the -fire from spreading." - -Ably directed by Matt and McGlory, the fire was extinguished. Leaving -the damaged aëroplane in charge of Carl and Ping, Matt limped off -toward the calliope tent, accompanied by his cowboy chum. - - - - -CHAPTER VII. - -WAS IT TREACHERY? - - -"Where's Haidee?" asked Matt. - -"Oh, bother the girl!" cried McGlory savagely. - -Matt turned on him with a surprised look. - -"What's the matter with you, pard?" he asked. - -"Well, it's apples to ashes that I was never so badly shaken up in my -life before as I am this minute. Sufferin' Judas! Say, I'd never have -believed it." - -The crowd was dense. Some of the people were moving off toward the -city, some were making for the side-show, and others were trying to -get close to the king of the motor boys. Matt, having just finished a -sensational flight, was an object of curiosity and admiration. - -Neither he nor McGlory paid any attention to the demonstration around -them, but moved briskly onward toward the calliope tent. - -"I can't rise to you, Joe," said the puzzled Matt. "What's on your -mind?" - -"Something more'n my hat, and you can bet your moccasins on that." - -"Where did Haidee go?" - -"That leather-faced tinhorn uncle of hers grabbed her and took her away -the minute she dropped from the trapeze." - -"She wasn't hurt, was she?" - -"I didn't take any trouble to find out. She walked off spry enough." - -McGlory was gruff to the point of incivility. It was evident to Matt -that he had been mightily stirred. - -"What's the matter with you?" demanded Matt. - -"Wait till we get into the calliope tent, and out of this crowd and the -dust--then I'll tell you." - -"Didn't you discover the trick Boss Burton played on me with the help -of Haidee and Le Bon, Joe?" - -"Oh, speak to me about that!" snarled the cowboy. "Nary, I didn't, -pard, until it was too everlastin'ly late to stop the run of the cards. -Burton! We've got a bone to pick with him; and, after it's picked, I -feel like cramming it down his throat. He was bound to have the girl -go up, and he worked it in his sneaking, underhand way! I don't like -this layout, Matt. You've had the closest call that's ever come your -way since you took to flying. Sufferin' cats! Say, my heart was in my -throat all the while I was looking on. I was expecting that any minute -the fire would reach the gasoline, that both tanks would let go, and -that you, and the girl, and the _Comet_ would all be wiped out in a big -noise and a splotch of flame." - -By this time they had reached the calliope tent, and were able to duck -inside and get away from the crowd. - -The calliope was there, and filling the larger part of the interior. -The big steam organ was shrouded in a canvas cover, and only the lower -rims of the wagon wheels on which it was mounted were to be seen. - -Matt dropped down on a heap of straw and leaned back wearily against a -side pole. McGlory threw himself down beside him, his face thoughtful -and angry. - -"I hadn't any notion Burton was running in a rhinecaboo," said the -cowboy presently, "until the _Comet_ had jumped into the air and I had -looked back and seen Le Bon near the place from which the machine had -started. When I turned and looked at you and the _Comet_, there was the -Haidee girl perched on the lower wing, throwin' kisses to the crowd. I -knew then that Burton had turned his trick, and I lammed loose a yell; -but there was too much noise for you to hear it. I kept my eyes on the -aëroplane and the girl and--and I saw something then that made my hair -curl later when the fire broke out." - -"What was it?" asked Matt. - -"Haidee, pushing something out on the left-hand wing and jabbing it -down there with a hatpin, so it would stay." - -"We must have been three or four hundred feet away from you, Joe," -returned Matt, "and how could you see it was a hatpin?" - -McGlory sat up, opened the front of his coat, and drew a blistered -hatpin out of the lining. - -"I hunted around under the machine, while we were fighting the fire," -he explained, "and picked up that. So, you see, I know it was a hatpin." - -A frown crossed Matt's face. - -"What do you make out of that move of Haidee's?" he asked. - -"She pinned a ball of something soaked in oil to the wing and touched -it off," averred McGlory. "It smouldered for a while and then blazed up -and set fire to the canvas." - -"Joe," returned Matt incredulously, "you must be mistaken. I've always -been a friend of Haidee's. Why should she want to destroy the _Comet_, -or me? When you come to that, why should she want to take her own life? -That's virtually what it would have amounted to if the fire had reached -the gasoline tanks." - -"Who could have started the fire, if it wasn't the girl?" demanded -McGlory. "She was the one." - -Matt was nonplused. His cowboy chum seemed to have drawn a correct -inference, but the supposition was so preposterous the king of the -motor boys could take no stock in it. - -"We've got to use a little common sense, Joe," insisted Matt. "The girl -wouldn't have the least motive in the world for trying to do such a -thing as set fire to the _Comet_!" - -"We've got to bank on what we see," answered McGlory, "no matter -whether we want to believe our eyes or not. Look at it! Haidee comes -to the aëroplane for the parade like a wooden figure of a girl, moving -like a puppet worked by strings. Suddenly she flashes out of her locoed -condition and pulls a lever that slams the _Comet_ against Rajah's -heels. Well, we protected the girl from that because we believed she -was having one of her 'spells.' She came out of the spell all of a -sudden and lopes down to where the aëroplane stands ready for the -start. She seems as well as ever, and begs to go up on the trapeze. A -trick is played on us, and she _does_ go up. Then, once more, she gets -the _Comet_ into trouble. I can't savvy the blooming layout, but I'm -keen to know that some one is starting in to do us up. And Haidee is -one of our enemies." - -Just then Boss Burton pushed into the tent. He was nervous and cast -furtive glances at Motor Matt. - -"Great business!" he exclaimed. "Le Bon got juggled out of the -ascension, after all, and Haidee, the sly minx! did her stunt on the -trapeze, just as she had planned. How in the world did the machine take -fire? Crossed wires, or something?" - -"You need not try to dodge responsibility, Burton," said Matt sharply. -"You put up the trick that was played on me." - -"On my honor, King----" - -"Don't talk that way," interrupted Matt. "Come out flat-footed and -admit it." - -"Well," grinned Burton, a little sheepishly, "if you put it that way, -I'll have to acknowledge the corn. But the girl was clear-headed, -wasn't she? She didn't fall off the trapeze, and she pulled off some -hair-raising tricks on that flying bar that set the crowd gasping. It -was the biggest novelty in the way of an act that any show ever put up. -Results will show at the ticket wagon this afternoon. Too confoundedly -bad, though, that the thing should have been marred by that fire. How -long will it take you to fix up the machine? Can you do it in time for -an ascent to-night? I've planned to have Haidee shoot off skyrockets -from the trapeze, and Roman candles, and all that." - -"You'll have to cut out the fireworks, Burton," said Matt dryly. "It -will take a full day to repair the _Comet_." - -Burton "went up in the air" on the instant. - -"Think of the loss!" he exclaimed. "You've got to repair the machine in -time for the ascent this evening. If it's a matter of men, King, I'll -give you a dozen to help." - -"It's not a matter of men," said Matt. "Joe and I are the only ones -who can work on the _Comet_. And listen to this--I mean it, and if you -don't like it we'll break our contract right here--Haidee has gone up -with me for the last time. I'll take Archie le Bon, or any one else you -want to send, but not Haidee." - -"Is this what you call treating me square?" fumed Burton. - -"Sufferin' Ananias!" grunted McGlory. "You're a nice lame duck to talk -about being treated square! You've got a treacherous outfit, Burton, -and Pard Matt and I are not beginning to like it any too well." - -Matt, thinking McGlory might tell what Haidee had done, gave him a -restraining look. - -"You're responsible for the trouble that overtook the _Comet_, Burton," -proceeded Matt. - -"Me?" echoed the showman, aghast. "Well, I'd like to know how you -figure it." - -"Through your schemes, and over my protest, Haidee made the ascent with -me." - -"I'll admit that." - -"If she hadn't made the ascent, there'd have been no fire." - -"Do you mean to say----" - -"Now, don't jump at any conclusions. I know what I'm talking about -when I tell you that there'd have been no fire if Haidee hadn't made -the ascent with me. That isn't saying, mark you, that the girl is to -blame for what happened. Would she want to burn the aëroplane and drop -herself and me plump into the show grounds? If----" - -Just then a weird thing happened. The calliope gave a sharp clatter of -high notes. - -All present in the tent gave astounded attention to the canvas-covered -music box. - -"Spooks!" grinned Joe. - -"There was enough steam left in the calliope to play a few notes," -suggested Burton. - -"But the notes couldn't play themselves," said Matt, and made a rush -for the calliope. - -The keyboard was in one end of the calliope wagon, and the canvas was -draped over the chair occupied by the operator when the steam wagon was -in use. - -With a pull, Matt jerked aside the canvas that covered the rear of the -calliope, and there, crouching in a chair, was Ben Ali! - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. - -A CALL FOR HELP. - - -"Well, sizzlin' thunderbolts!" gasped the amazed Burton. - -At first, Ben Ali sat blinking at those before him, apparently too -dazed to move. - -"He's an eavesdropper!" cried McGlory, "and this ain't the first time -we've caught him at it, either. Grab him, Matt! Wring that thin neck of -his!" - -Ben Ali regained his wits, then, and very suddenly. With a panther-like -spring, he cleared the wagon on the side opposite that where Motor -Matt was standing, dodged McGlory, who tried to head him off, shook -a glittering knife in Boss Burton's face, and vanished under the -wall of the menagerie tent. It was all so neatly done that the three -in the calliope lean-to were left staring at each other in helpless -astonishment. - -McGlory rushed furiously at the menagerie tent wall, lifted the canvas, -then dropped it and rushed back. - -"Not for me!" he breathed. "Rajah is right there, teetering back and -forth from side to side, and winding his trunk around everything in -sight." - -"Where was Ben Ali?" demanded Burton, a glitter rising in his eyes. - -"Getting out under the cages on the other side of the tent," replied -McGlory. "I'll see if I can't head him off." - -With that the cowboy shot out of the lean-to. Matt didn't think the -effort to catch Ben Ali worth while, and once more dropped down on the -pile of straw. - -For a few moments Boss Burton walked back and forth in front of him, -hands behind his back, head bowed in thought, and a black frown on his -face. Abruptly he halted in front of Matt. - -"The infernal Hindoo drew a knife on me!" he scowled. - -Matt nodded. The fact had been too plain to call for comment. - -"I'd pull the pin on Ben Ali in half a minute," continued Boss Burton, -"if it wasn't for Haidee." - -"Where did you pick up Ben Ali and Haidee?" inquired Matt. - -"In Wisconsin," was the answer, "just as the show was starting out of -its winter quarters. Rajah had run amuck, wounded a horse, smashed a -wagon, and come within an ace of killing his keeper. Ben Ali applied -for the job of looking after him, and I let him have it. He's been the -only one, so far, who could take care of Rajah." - -"Where did the girl come in?" - -"She came in with her uncle, of course. Ben Ali said his niece was good -on the flying bar, and he brought her to see me. When she came she was -in one of her spells, and looked and acted like a puppet, with some one -pulling the wires. I wasn't much impressed with her, but gave her a -try-out. She recovered from the spell and acted just as she did to-day, -when she went up with the _Comet_--perfectly natural. She gave a good -performance--mighty good--and I made a deal with her uncle. That's the -way I got tangled up with the pair. Why?" - -The showman transfixed Matt with a curious glance. - -"Oh, nothing," said Matt carelessly. "The Hindoo and the girl have -always been something of a mystery to me, and I wanted to find out what -you knew about them. Where did they come from?" - -"Give it up. I never look into the past of people who hire out to me. -If they're capable, and do their work, that's enough. From what McGlory -said, and from what I've seen, Ben Ali appears to have been sneaking -around here, listening to what you and your friends were saying. If he -hadn't inadvertently touched the keyboard of the calliope we shouldn't -have known he was under the cover. Have you any notion what he means by -that sort of work?" - -"No." - -"Well, it's deuced queer, and that's all I can say. Do you think he -ought to be bounced?" - -"Yes, but I wouldn't do it." - -"On Haidee's account?" - -"Partly that; partly, too, because, if you keep him on the pay roll, -we may be able to learn something about him and the girl. I'm a bit -curious about them, Burton." - -"It's a bad habit--this of getting too curious. It's dollars and cents -for me to have the two with the show. What's more," and his remarks -took a more personal turn, "it's money in my pocket to have the _Comet_ -go up this afternoon with Haidee shooting Roman candles from the -trapeze. When are you going to get busy with the repairs?" - -"After I eat something." - -"Well, rush the work, Matt. Do the best you can." - -"It won't be Haidee who rides the trapeze next time the _Comet_ takes -to the air," said the king of the motor boys firmly. - -"Well, Archie le Bon, then," returned Burton, with much disappointment. - -As he went out, McGlory came in, passing him in the entrance. - -"Nothing doing," reported the cowboy. "Where the Hindoo went is a -conundrum. I couldn't find anybody about the grounds who had even seen -him since he walked Haidee away from the burning aëroplane." - -While McGlory, disgusted with his ill success and the turn events were -taking, there on the banks of the Wabash, slumped down on a bucket and -mopped his perspiring face, Motor Matt dropped into a brown study. - -"These Hindoos are crafty fellows, Joe," he remarked, after a while. -"They're clever at a great many things we Americans don't understand -anything about. I knew one of them once. He was the servant of a man -who happened to be the uncle of one of the finest young fellows that -ever stepped--brave Dick Ferral. This particular Hindoo I was able to -study at close range." - -"What are you leading up to by this sort of talk?" asked McGlory, -cocking his head on one side and squinting his eyes. - -He had this habit when anything puzzled him. - -"I'm leading up to the element of mystery that hangs over the events -of to-day. India is a land of mystery. The people are a dreamy set, -and now and then one of them will go off into the woods, or the -desert, and spend several years as a devotee. When he comes back to -civilization again he's able to do wonderful things. I've heard that -these fakirs can throw a rope into the air and that it will hang there; -and that they can make a boy climb the rope, up, and up, until he -disappears. Then rope, boy, and all but the fakir will vanish." - -"Fakes," grunted Joe. "Such things ain't in reason, pard. You know what -a fakir is in this country, and I reckon he's not much better in India." - -"Of course it's a fake," said Matt, "but it's a pretty smooth piece -of magic. The Hindoo devotees could give Hermann and all the other -magicians cards and spades and then beat them out." - -"I'm blamed if I can see yet where all this talk of yours leads to." - -"I'm only, what you might call, thinking out loud," laughed Matt. -"Haidee's actions puzzle me. Her uncle is a Hindoo, and he may be an -adept in magic. If he is, just how much has the girl's queer actions to -do with Ben Ali? It's something to think about. I'm glad Burton isn't -going to cut loose from the Hindoo and the girl. The more I see of -them, the more curious I'm becoming." - -"Ben Ali, pard," grinned McGlory, "is a little bit curious about us, I -reckon, from the way he's pryin' around. How do you account for that?" - -Matt shook his head. - -"I can't account for it, Joe, but perhaps we'll be able to do so -later." He got up. "How about something to eat?" he asked. "We'll have -to have dinner, then take something to the boys, and get busy patching -up the aëroplane." - -"Did you ever know me to shy at a meal?" asked McGlory, promptly -getting up. "We'll hit the chuck layout, and then----" - -It was nearly time for the doors to open, and inside and out the two -big "tops" there was a bustle of preparation. The "spielers" in the -ticket stands at the side-show were yelling, people were crowding about -the ticket wagon, where they were to buy pasteboards admitting them to -the "big show," and a band was playing in the road beyond the grounds. - -Above all these various sounds there came a call, wild and frantic. -It reached the ears of the two boys in the calliope tent with strange -distinctness, and cut McGlory short while he was talking. - -"Helup! Helup, somepody, or I vas a goner!" - -The cowboy gave a jump for the door, only a foot or two behind Matt. - -"Was that your Dutch pard?" cried McGlory. - -"It was his voice, plain enough," answered Matt, looking around sharply. - -"What could have gone wrong with him?" - -"I can't imagine--here, in broad daylight, with the grounds full of -people." - -"It's trouble of the worst kind if we're to take the words as they -sounded." - -Matt believed this fully. Carl Pretzel was not the lad to give a false -alarm, and he had clearly put his whole heart into the words Matt and -McGlory had heard. - -"Where did the call come from?" went on McGlory, mystified. - -"It seemed to come from everywhere, and from nowhere," replied Matt. -"Look into the menagerie tent, Joe." - -While McGlory was lifting the canvas and taking a look through the -animal show, Matt rounded the outside of the lean-to, searching every -place with keen eyes. - -Carl was nowhere to be found. As Matt drifted back toward the door of -the calliope tent, McGlory emerged and joined him. - -"He's not mixed up with the animals," reported the cowboy. - -"And I can't get any trace of him out here," said Matt. "Let's walk -over to the aëroplane. Carl and Ping were to watch the machine, and -I'm pretty sure neither of them would leave it without orders unless -something pretty serious had gone wrong." - -Vaguely alarmed, the two chums pushed their way through the crowd -toward the place where the _Comet_ had been left. - - - - -CHAPTER IX. - -BLACK MAGIC. - - -While the parade was passing through town, Carl had been "sleuthing." -The fact that he was wearing McGlory's working clothes gave him an -idea. He didn't look like himself, so why not be some one else? All -the detective books he had ever read had a good deal to say about -disguises. Carl was already disguised, so he made up his mind that he -would be a dago laborer. - -After watching the parade file out of the show grounds, he slouched -over to the side-show tent. A man was just finishing lacing the picture -of a wild man to the guy ropes. Carl shuffled up to him. - -"I peen der Idaliano man," he remarked, in a wonderful combination of -Dutch and Italian dialect, "und I, peen make-a der look for a leedl-a -gal mit der name oof Manners. Haf-a you seen-a der girl aroundt loose -some-a-veres?" - -The canvasman looked Carl over, and then, being of a grouchy -disposition, and thinking Carl was trying to make fun of him, he gave -him a push that landed him against a banner containing a painted -portrait of the elastic-skin man. The banner was even more elastic than -the image it bore on its surface, for Carl rebounded and struck one -of the "barkers," who happened to be passing with his hands full of -ice-cream cones for the bearded lady and the Zulu chief. - -Disaster happened. The "barker" fell, with the Dutch "tedectif" on top -of him--and the ice-cream cones in between. - -The "barker" indulged in violent language, and began using his hands. -Carl was pretty good at that himself, and retaliated. Two canvasmen -pulled the two apart. Carl had the contents of a cone in his hair, and -the "barker" had the contents of another down the back of his neck. - -"Where'd that ijut come from?" yelled the "barker," dancing up and down -among the broken cones. - -"Who left der cage toor oben?" cried Carl, digging at his hair. "Der -papoon vas esgaped." - -"You put up your lightning rod," growled the "barker," "or you'll git -hit with a large wad of electricity." - -"Come on mit it!" whooped Carl, fanning the air with his fists. "No -vone can make some ice-gream freezers oudt oof me mitoudt hafing -drouples!" - -"That'll do you," snorted the canvasman who had hold of Carl, and -thereupon raced him for twenty feet and gave him a shove that turned -him head over heels across a guy rope. - -"Dot's der vay," mourned Carl, picking himself up and gathering in his -hat. "Der tedectif pitzness comes by hardt knocks, und nodding else. -Vere can I do some more?" - -His head felt cold and uncomfortable, even after he had mopped it dry -with a red cotton handkerchief. - -He went over to the horse tent. The tent was nearly empty, all the live -stock except a trick mule being in the parade. The mule would not have -been there, but he was too tricky to trust in the procession. A man -with a red shirt, and his sleeves rolled up, sat on a bale of hay close -to the mule. The man was smoking. - -"Hello, vonce," flagged Carl. - -"Hello yourself," answered the man. - -"I peen some Idaliano mans," remarked Carl, "und I vas make-a der look -for Markaret Manners, yes. Haf-a you seen-a der gal?" - -"Take a sneak," said the man. - -"She iss-a leedle-a gal aboudt so high, yes," and Carl put out his -hand. "I peen-a der poor Idaliano man, aber I gif-a you fife tollars, -py shiminy, oof-a you tell-a me where-a der gal iss." - -"You can't josh me," went on the man earnestly. "Hike, before I knock -off your block." - -Carl continued to stand his ground and ask questions; then, the next -thing he knew, the hostler had jumped up and rushed for him. Carl -sprang back to get out of the way, unfortunately pushing against the -hind heels of the mule. The mule knew what to do, in the circumstances, -and did it with vigor. - -Carl was kicked against the man with the pipe, and that worthy turned a -back somersault as neatly as any "kinker" belonging to the show. - -The Dutch boy limped hastily around the end of the horse tent and -crawled into an empty canvas wagon. The mule's heels had struck him -with the force of a battering-ram, and he felt weak up and down the -small of the back. Besides, the wagon was a good place in which to hide -from the hostler. - -Cautiously he watched over the wagon's side. The hostler came around -the side of the tent, looked in all directions, and then retired, -muttering, in the direction of the bale of hay. - -Carl chuckled as he dropped down on a roll of extra canvas, but the -chuckle died in a whimper as he became conscious of his sore spots. - -"I vonder how Cherlock Holmes efer lifed to do vat he dit," he -murmured, curling up on the canvas. "Der tedectif pitzness iss hit und -miss from vone end to der odder, und den I don'd get some revards. -Meppy I vill shleep und forged id." - -When Carl woke up, he looked over the side of the wagon and saw a -burning flying machine in the air, and he heard the wild yells of the -crowd. Probably it was the yelling that awoke him. - -"Py shinks," he cried, "dot's my bard, Modor Matt! He iss purnin' oop -mit himseluf. Fire! Fire! Helup!" and Carl rolled out of the wagon and -raced toward the spot where the machine seemed to be coming down. - -McGlory, white-faced but determined, was marshaling a lot of men with -buckets of water. Carl dropped in. When the machine landed, he set to -with the rest and helped extinguish the flames. - -Then, after he had congratulated Matt, Carl and Ping were placed on -guard. - -In spite of the fact that Carl had shaken hands with Ping, he continued -to have very little use for the Chinaman. And Ping, to judge from -appearances, had no more use for the Dutchman. They did not speak. -One sat down on one side of the machine and the other sat down on the -other. Then a brown man, wearing an embroidered coat and a turban, -drove up on a small cage wagon drawn by one horse. He got off the wagon -and stepped up to Carl. - -"How-do, sahib?" said the man. - -Carl remembered him. He was the fellow who had been dozing on Rajah's -back at the river. Also he was the man who had taken charge of the girl -who had dropped off the trapeze when the burning aëroplane came down. - -Carl had a startling thought--it flashed over him like an inspiration. - -"How you vas?" answered the Dutch boy genially. - -"You come 'long with Ben Ali," said the man. - -"Nod on your dindype," replied Carl. "I vas vatching der machine for -Modor Matt." - -"_You come!_" hissed Ben Ali. - -Then Carl noted something very remarkable. The Hindoo's eyes began to -blaze, and dance, and show wonderful lights in their depths. - -"Shtop mit it!" said Carl. "You peen a mesmerizer, und I don'd like -dot." - -Carl knew he couldn't be hypnotized against his will, but the Hindoo's -eyes were working havoc with his nerves. - -"_You come!_" - -The words of Ben Ali were imperative. Carl, seemingly unable to remove -his own eyes from the Hindoo's, followed as Ben Ali retreated toward -the wagon. At the end of the wagon Ben Ali made some passes with his -hands in front of Carl's face, then opened the door. - -"You get in, sahib!" - -Carl climbed into the wagon mechanically. Slam went the door and click -went a key in the padlock. - -The _Comet_ had come down from its disastrous flight at a considerable -distance from the tents. There were no people in the immediate vicinity -save Ping. - -The little Chinaman, on hands and knees under the lower wing of the -aëroplane, was watching covertly all that took place. - -After locking the door of the cage wagon, Ben Ali took a cautious look -around him. He saw no one. - -Climbing up on one of the forward wheels, he took a slouch hat and a -long linen duster from the seat, removed his embroidered coat and his -turban, got into the hat and duster, climbed to the seat, picked up the -reins, and drove off. - -Ping had seen it all, but had made no attempt to interfere. And he made -no attempt now. - -He did not like the "Dutchy boy." He was afraid Carl would take away -from him his job with Motor Matt. - -It was with secret rejoicing, therefore, that the Chinaman saw Carl -locked in the wagon and hauled away. - -"Hoop-a-la!" chattered Ping, as he returned to his place and once more -went on watch. - -The wagon used by Ben Ali, on this momentous occasion, was technically -known as the monkey wagon. Two of the monkeys had eaten something which -did not agree with them, and had died in Indianapolis. The three that -remained had been taken out and put in another cage, with a collection -known as "The Happy Family." This, of course, left the monkey wagon -empty. - -Burton was figuring on using it for one of the ant-eaters, but there -were some repairs to be made before the wagon could be put to that use. -The repairs dragged, and so Ben Ali found his opportunity to use the -cage. - -Straight across the show grounds drove the disguised Hindoo. None of -the employees who saw him recognized him or questioned his right to use -the monkey wagon. Different gangs had different duties, and no one knew -but that this strange driver was off to town on some important mission. - -Ben Ali drove within a hundred feet of the calliope tent. When he was -well beyond it, a yell came from inside the wagon. - -"Helup! Helup, somepody, or I vas a goner!" - -A shiver ran through Ben Ali. He made ready to leap from the wagon, -but thought better of it when he saw that the call had attracted no -attention and was not repeated. - -"Sahib keep still!" he called, kicking the end of the wagon with his -heels. - -And thus, with not a sound coming from the interior of the monkey -wagon, the artful Hindoo adept drove into the road and headed the horse -away from the town and into the country. - - - - -CHAPTER X. - -THE MAHOUT'S FLIGHT. - - -When Matt and McGlory, hurrying to the aëroplane to make inquiries -concerning Carl, came within sight of Ping, they saw him calmly -occupied twirling a set of jackstones. - -"Ping!" called Matt. - -"Awri'!" answered Ping, slipping the jackstones into a pocket of his -blouse and immediately getting up. - -"Where's Carl?" - -"Dutchy boy no good. Him lun away." - -"Run away?" echoed McGlory. "Here's a slam! When and how, Ping?" - -"Ben Ali dlive 'lound in wagon. Him say to Dutchy boy, 'You come.' -Dutchy boy makee come chop-chop. Ben Ali shuttee do', put on Melican -coat, Melican hat, makee dlive off. Woosh! Dutchy boy no good." - -This offhand description of what had happened to Carl was received with -startled wonder by Matt and McGlory. - -"When was this?" demanded Matt. - -"Plaps fi' minit, plaps ten minit. No gottee clock, Motol Matt; no -savvy time." - -"You say Ben Ali drove up in a wagon?" - -"Dlive up in monkey wagon. Put Dutchy boy in monkey wagon." - -"And then he locked Carl inside?" - -"Allee same." - -"And took off his turban and embroidered coat and replaced them with -another hat and coat?" - -"Melican hat, plenty long coat." - -"Wouldn't that rattle your spurs, pard?" murmured McGlory. - -"What did Ben Ali do?" went on Matt, resolved to get at the bottom of -the matter, if possible. - -"Him makee funny look with eye," replied Ping. "By Klismus! him blame' -funny look. One piecee devil shine in eye." - -"Hypnotized!" grunted McGlory. - -"You can't easily hypnotize a person against his will," averred Matt. -"It's not hard to guess that Carl was a good way from being willing to -go with Ben Ali." - -"What the dickens did Ben Ali want to run off Carl for?" queried -McGlory. - -"This business gets more and more mysterious, Joe," returned Matt, "the -farther we go into it." - -"And that yell we heard!" - -"That certainly came from Carl. Ben Ali must have driven past the -calliope tent while we were talking inside. The fact that Carl gave a -yell for help proves that he wasn't wholly hypnotized." - -"He may have come out from under the influence just long enough to give -a whoop," suggested the cowboy. - -"Let's go back and hunt up Burton," said Matt. "He'll want his monkey -wagon, and, of course, we've got to get hold of Carl." - -"It's news to discover that Ben Ali is a hypnotist," observed McGlory, -as he and Matt whirled and started to retrace the ground over which -they had just passed. - -"I told you these Hindoos were a crafty set," answered Matt. - -The doors were open and the crowd was vanishing inside the big tents. -The grounds were not so congested with people as they had been, and it -was easier to get about and hunt for Burton. - -As it chanced, they ran plump into the manager just as they were -rounding the dressing tent at the end of the circus "top." - -Burton was red and perspiring, and there was wrath in his face. - -"I've been looking all around for you fellows," he cried. "You can run -one of these here buzz-wagons, can't you, Matt?" - -"Yes," replied Matt, "but----" - -"Come along," interrupted Burton, grabbing Matt by the arm, "we haven't -any time to spare." - -"Wait!" protested Matt, drawing back. "Have you seen----" - -"Can't wait," fumed Burton. "I've hired a chug-car; and there's a race -on. Haidee has skipped. Aurung Zeeb, one of the other Hindoo mahouts, -has helped her get away. They've taken my runabout. Confound such -blooming luck, anyhow!" - -Here was news, and no mistake. Ben Ali running off with Carl, and -Aurung Zeeb taking to the open with the showman's Kentucky cob and -rubber-tired buggy! - -"Do you know where Aurung Zeeb and Haidee went?" asked Matt. - -"I haven't the least notion," was the wrathful answer, "but we've got -to find them. I don't care a straw about Zeeb, or the girl, but that -runabout rig is worth six hundred dollars, just as it stands." - -"Well, if you don't know which way the rig went," argued Matt, "it's -foolish to go chasing them and depending on luck to point the way." - -"We've got to do something!" declared Burton. - -"Where's Ben Ali?" - -"Oh, hang Ben Ali! I haven't seen him since he flashed that knife in my -face." - -"We've just discovered," proceeded Matt, "that he has skipped out, too, -and taken your monkey wagon along." - -"Sure of that?" - -"Ping just told us. Not only that, Burton, but he took my Dutch -pard--the lad that came this morning--with him. Carl was locked in the -cage." - -"Worse and worse," ground out Burton. "How'd Ben Ali ever manage to do -that?" - -"On the face of it, I should say that Ben Ali had hypnotized Carl." - -"Nonsense! What does an elephant driver know about hypnotism? Still, -this begins to look like a comprehensive plan to steal a monkey wagon -and a runabout and leave me in the lurch. What do you think of that -Haidee girl to do a thing like this? She seemed mighty anxious to earn -money, yet here she skips out with about a hundred in cash to her -credit." - -"It's hard to understand the turn events have taken," said Matt. "But I -wouldn't blame Haidee too much until you know more about her--and about -Ben Ali." - -"I want my horses and my rolling stock," fretted Burton. "The rest of -the outfit can go hang, if I get back the plunder." - -"You said something about an automobile," said Matt. - -"There's a car here, and the man that owns it is seeing the show. He -said I could have the use of the car all afternoon for fifty dollars. -He thought I was an easy mark, and I let him think so. He's got the -money and I've got the car. After he'd gone inside, I happened to -remember that I couldn't run the thing, so I chased off looking for -you. Here we are," and the three, who had been walking in the direction -of the road, came to the side of a large automobile. - -It was a good machine, with all of six cylinders under the hood. - -"If you're a mind reader, and can tell where we ought to go, Burton," -said Motor Matt, "I'll get you there. I feel right at home when I'm in -the driver's seat of a motor car." - -"Wait till I ask somebody," and Burton whirled and flew away. - -"Gone to have some fortune teller read his palm," laughed McGlory. "Oh, -but he's wild when he gets started." - -"I don't blame him for worrying," said Matt. "He was offered four -hundred, spot cash, for that Kentucky cob, in Indianapolis. Shouldn't -wonder if he stood to lose a thousand dollars if the runaways can't -be overhauled. And he hasn't much time to overhaul them, either, Joe. -The three sections of the show train have got to be on the move toward -South Bend by three in the morning. I'm worried some myself, on Carl's -account. What has that crafty mahout got at the back of his head? I -wish I knew. You and I are going to stay right here in Lafayette until -we can find out something about Carl." - -"Sure we are," agreed the cowboy heartily. "But here comes Burton, and -he looks as though he'd found out something." - -"One of the canvasmen," announced Burton breathlessly, as he came up -with the boys, "says that he saw the monkey wagon heading south into -the country. Can't find out which way the runabout headed, but we'll -take after the other outfit. Get in and drive the machine for all -you're worth." - -Matt passed around in front, and was pleased with the business-like -manner in which the motor took up its cycle. - -"Here's where we throw in the high-speed clutch and scoot," said Matt, -settling into the driver's seat with a glad feeling tingling along his -nerves. It had suddenly occurred to him that he would rather motor in -a high-powered car than do anything else that had so far claimed his -attention. In such a machine, "miles were his minions and distance his -slave." "Here we go," he finished, and away bounded the car. - -Matt took time to wonder at the nature of a plutocrat who, for fifty -dollars, would trust such a beautiful piece of mechanism in the hands -of a showman. But the fact was accomplished, and guesses at the reason -were futile. - -They came to a hill--a steepish kind of a hill, too--and they went over -it without a change of gear. Motor Matt laughed exultantly. - -"Took it on the high speed!" he cried. "A car that can do that is a -corker." - -On the opposite side of the hill, as they were scorching down with the -speedometer needle playing around the fifty-eight mark, a team and -wagon containing a farmer and his family were almost backed off the -road. Matt tampered with the brakes, but the car was going too fast to -feel the bind of the brake grip. - -"Never mind!" cried Burton, from his place at Matt's side. "That outfit -is going to the show to-night. If I see 'em, I'll pass 'em all in -with fifty-cent chairs. Now, boy, hit 'er up. I've got to recover my -property before night sets in, and this may be a long chase." - -"Long chase!" yelped McGlory derisively from the tonneau. "How can -it be a long chase when we're going like this? Hang on to your hair, -Burton! Mile-a-minute Matt's at the steering wheel." - - - - -CHAPTER XI. - -THE PAPER TRAIL. - - -The coils hummed merrily to the six-cylinder accompaniment. The wind -whistled and sang in the ears of the three who were plunging along at a -speed which was bound to get them somewhere in short order. - -Then, as might be expected, something happened. It was no accident to -the car. The road spread apart in two equally well-traveled branches, -and Matt shut off and came to a stop at the forks. - -"The canvasman, of course," said the young motorist, looking around at -Burton, "couldn't tell you which fork the monkey wagon would take." - -"Here's a go!" muttered Burton. "If we take one fork, we may be -hustling off on the wrong scent. At a guess, I should say take the -right-hand branch." - -"Let's not do any guessing until we have to," Matt returned. "My cowboy -chum here is a good hand at picking up trails. Show us how they do it -in Arizona, Joe." - -McGlory was out of the car in a flash and giving his attention to the -surface of the road. - -"You might as well try to hunt for the print of a rabbit's foot in the -trail of a herd of stampeded steers," said McGlory, after five precious -minutes spent in fruitless examination. - -"What sort of a cowboy are you, anyhow?" scoffed Burton. - -"Well, look," answered McGlory. "The ground is all cut up with people -coming to the show, and it's none too soft. I couldn't pick out the -tread of a traction thrashing machine in all this jumble of prints." - -"Any one coming on either road?" queried Burton, standing up and -looking. "If there is, we could inquire as to whether they'd passed the -monkey wagon." - -"See any one?" asked Matt. - -"Not a soul," and the showman plumped disappointedly down in his seat. - -"Just a minute, Joe," interposed Matt, as the cowboy was about to climb -back into the tonneau. "What's that white object in the road?" Matt -pointed as he spoke. "There's one, just over the left-hand fork, and -another beyond it." - -"If you stop to bother with paper scraps," cried Burton, "we'll never -get anywhere." - -McGlory, however, turned back and picked up the object to which Matt -had called his attention. - -It was a scrap of paper, just as Burton had said. The scrap was a -ragged square, as though it had been roughly torn, and measured about -two inches across. - -The cowboy examined it casually at first, then his face changed, and he -gave it closer attention. - -"My handwriting," he declared, looking up at Matt. - -"How can that be?" scoffed Burton. - -"I don't know how it can be," replied McGlory, "but it's a fact, all -the same. I had a memorandum book, and have jotted down various things -in it." - -"Where'd you leave the memorandum book?" jested the showman -impatiently; "in the monkey wagon?" - -"Nary, I didn't. I left it in the hip pocket of my working clothes." - -"And Carl had on the clothes!" exclaimed Matt, with a jubilant ring in -his voice. "Carl must have scattered that trail for our benefit." - -He stood up in the automobile and looked back over the road they had -traveled. - -"Why," he went on, "we haven't been as observing as we should have -been. There's a paper trail, and Carl must have started it pretty soon -after the monkey wagon left the show grounds." - -"Well, well!" muttered Burton. "Say, Matt, that Dutch chum of yours is -quite a lad, after all. The idea of his thinking of that." - -"Carl always has his head with him," declared Matt. "Climb in, Joe. The -left fork for ours." - -McGlory pulled the crank, before he got in, for the stop had killed the -engine. - -"It's a cinch," said McGlory, as he resumed his place in the tonneau, -"that Carl wasn't hypnotized when he dropped those scraps. How _could_ -he drop 'em? That's what beats me. Why, he was locked in, so Ping said." - -"There was a hole in the floor," explained Burton. "Not a very big one, -but big enough for an ant-eater to get a foot through. I was going to -repair the cage, but haven't had time to attend to it." - -"Why didn't Carl yell again?" went on McGlory. "If he had yelled long -enough, and loud enough, some one would have been bound to hear him and -stop Ben Ali." - -"This is another case where Carl's using his head," put in Matt. "He's -playing some dodge or other." - -"He's showing up a whole lot stronger than I ever imagined he could," -said the cowboy. "I had sized him up for a two-spot at any sort -of headwork. Got my opinion, I reckon, from the way those Chicago -detectives fooled him." - -"He's not so slow as you imagine, Joe," said Matt. "Now keep an eye out -for scraps!" - -"We can't get into a scrap with those Hindoos any too quick to suit -me," laughed McGlory, hanging out over the side of the motor car. - -Once more the whirling, headlong rush of the car was resumed. No sooner -had Burton, or McGlory, discovered a bit of white in the roadway ahead -than it was lost to sight behind. - -Then, after four or five miles of this, the three in the car raised -an object, drawn up at the roadside, which brought the car to a halt. -The object was the monkey wagon, horse gone from the shafts, rear door -swinging open, and not a soul in the vicinity. - -"Here's another queer twist," grumbled Burton, as all three got out to -make a close survey of the wagon. "What do you think of it, Matt?" - -Matt and McGlory thrust their heads in at the door. - -"Phew!" gurgled the cowboy, drawing back. "There's a mineral well, in -Lafayette, that's a dead ringer for the smell inside that cage wagon." - -"I haven't had it swabbed out yet," apologized Burton. - -"Here's the hole where Carl dropped out the paper scraps," Matt called, -from inside the wagon. - -"And here's something else, pard!" yelled McGlory. - -Matt came out of the wagon and found his cowboy chum calling Burton's -attention to marks in the road. - -"What do you make of it, Joe?" asked Matt, coming closer. - -"Well," answered McGlory, reading the "signs," "a one-horse buggy with -rubber tires stopped here, alongside the monkey wagon. Look how the -road's tramped up, ahead there. The horse was restive during the halt, -and did some pawing." - -"Great guns!" murmured Burton. "My runabout!" - -"I think it's pretty clear now," observed Matt. "Aurung Zeeb and Haidee -didn't get away at the same time Ben Ali and Carl did, or else they -took a different course. Anyhow, they came up with the wagon. The -runabout's faster, so the whole party went on with it." - -"They might get three people into the runabout, by crowding," said -Burton, "but they never could get four people into it." - -"That's why the horse was taken from the monkey wagon," went on Matt. -"Aurung Zeeb or Ben Ali must have ridden the animal." - -"By Jove, King, I wish I had your head for getting at things! That was -the way of it--it _must_ have been the way of it. Let's pile back into -the machine and hustle on." - -They all felt that the chase was drawing to a close. The runabout was a -faster vehicle than the monkey wagon, but there was not the ghost of a -show for the Kentucky horse getting away from the automobile. - -From that point on, the paper trail was not in evidence. - -"Carl wasn't able to drop any more scraps," said Matt. "When he was -inside the monkey wagon he was out of sight and could do about as he -pleased; crowded into the runabout with Ben Ali and Haidee, and with -Aurung Zeeb riding behind, he couldn't possibly drop a clue to guide -us." - -"The Dutchman seems to have taken it for granted that he'd be -followed," hazarded Burton. - -"He knows very well," returned Matt, "that I wouldn't stand around -and let him worry through this run of hard luck alone. Look out for -the runabout. The way I figure it, the rig can't be more than ten or -fifteen minutes ahead of us." - -"How do you figure it, Matt?" asked Burton. - -"Well, from the time Joe and I heard Carl call for help. I don't -believe it was more than half an hour from that time until we were -hitting the high places with this automobile. Eh, Joe?" - -"No more than that, pard," answered McGlory. - -"I should think we'd have gained more than fifteen or twenty minutes on -the Hindoos, the rate we've been coming," remarked Burton. - -"Possibly we have. If that's so, then the runabout can't be even ten -minutes ahead of us. Now----" - -"Runabout!" yelled McGlory. - -He was standing up in the tonneau and peering ahead. The road, at this -point, was bordered with heavy timber on both sides, but in half a -minute Matt and Burton could each see the vehicle to which the cowboy -had called their attention. - -It wasn't a runabout, as it proved, but a two-seated "democrat" wagon, -drawn by a team, and conveying another party townward--presumably for -the evening performance of the Big Consolidated. - -McGlory's disappointment was keen. And his feelings, for that matter, -were matched by those of Motor Matt and Burton. - -Matt halted the automobile and, when the wagon came alongside, asked -the driver if he had been passed by a runabout farther along the road. - -The party had come five miles on that road and, according to the -driver, hadn't been passed by anything on wheels going the other way. - -For a space those in the automobile were in a quandary. - -"What's amiss?" fumed Burton. "Are we on the wrong track, after all, in -spite of your Dutch friend and his paper trail, and McGlory's reading -the signs at the monkey wagon?" - -Matt suddenly threw in the reverse and began to turn. - -"Only one thing could have happened," he averred. - -"What's that?" - -"Why, the people in the runabout must have heard us coming and turned -from the road into the woods." - -"Let her out on the back track, then!" cried Burton. "If the Hindoos -think they've dodged us, they've probably pulled out into the road and -started the other way." - -This seemed to have been the case, for three minutes speeding over the -return trail brought those in the automobile in sight of the runabout. - -This time it _was_ the runabout, and no mistake, and the Kentucky cob -was stretching out like a race horse under the frantic plying of a whip. - -Burton reached behind him, under his coat, and brought a revolver into -view. - -"We'll find out about this business before we're many minutes older!" -he exclaimed grimly. - - - - -CHAPTER XII. - -CARL TURNS A TRICK. - - -Something has been said about Carl Pretzel having an idea that was -almost an inspiration, at the time he was approached by the Hindoo at -the aëroplane. - -This it was that led him into the monkey wagon. The slam of the door -and the grate of the key in the padlock struck a sudden tremor to the -Dutch boy's heart. - -Was he making a fool of himself or not? Would a trained detective have -proceeded in that manner? - -His heart failed him, and he gave the wild yell for help. - -He had hardly given the cry before he repented of it. What would Motor -Matt think of his nerve if he could know the game he had embarked upon, -and how he had been stampeded in playing it? - -No; if that call had done no harm, Carl would not repeat it. He would -see the business through and try and match wits with the Hindoo. - -In spite of the noise on the show grounds, Carl heard Ben Ali's heels -bang against the end of the wagon, and also the stern voice commanding -him to keep silent. - -Carl kept silent. He was almost smothered by the closeness of his -prison chamber, and the terrific odor that assailed him, but he -comforted himself with the thought that detectives don't always have -things their own way when they're tracking down a criminal. Anyhow, -even his present discomfort was better than the hard knocks his -"sleuthing" had so far given him. - -He was not long in discovering the hole in the floor of the wagon. The -memorandum book he had discovered soon after getting into the borrowed -clothes. - -Of course he knew that Motor Matt would follow him! That was the kind -of fellow the king of the motor boys was; never had he turned his back -on a pard in distress. - -Carl, too, was morally certain that Ping had seen him get into the -monkey wagon. Motor Matt would discover this from the Chinaman, and -then would come the pursuit. - -The thing for Carl to do was to point the way by which he had been -carried off. The hole in the floor, and the memorandum book in his -pocket, were not long in giving him the right tip. - -Sitting down on the bottom of the cage, Carl occupied himself in -tearing the leaves of the book into scraps and poking the scraps -through the opening. - -How far Ben Ali drove Carl did not know, but it seemed as though the -Hindoo had been hours on the road. There was a pain in Carl's back, -where the mule had left its token of remembrance, and the jolt of the -wagon was far from pleasant. - -Presently there came the rapid beat of a horse's hoofs, a whir of -wheels, and a sudden stop of the monkey wagon. The other sounds ceased -at the same moment. - -For a second or two Carl imagined that Matt had overhauled Ben Ali, but -this fancy was dispelled by the strange words that passed between Ben -Ali and some one else. - -The mahout could be heard climbing swiftly down from his perch and -moving around to the rear of the wagon. Carl slipped the book into his -pocket and drew away from the hole in the floor. - -Once more the key grated in the padlock. The door was drawn open and -Ben Ali was revealed, looming large in the rush of sunlight, a bared -knife in his hand. - -"You come, sahib," said Ben Ali. - -Carl got up and moved toward the door. There Ben Ali caught his eyes -for a space and held them with the same weird looks indulged in near -the aëroplane on the show grounds. - -The Dutchman instantly grew automatic in his movements, keeping his -eyes straight ahead and following Ben Ali's every gesture. - -Carl had seen persons hypnotized, and knew how they acted. - -"You come," repeated Ben Ali sternly, and Carl jumped down from the -wagon. - -They were in a country road. There was a smart-looking horse and buggy -beside the monkey wagon, and Haidee was on the seat. If appearances -were to be believed, she was in another of her spells. - -"Sahib get in de buggy," ordered Ben Ali. - -Carl climbed over the wheel obediently and sat down beside the girl. -She paid not the least attention to him, nor he to her. Ben Ali climbed -in beside them, squeezed into the seat, and took the reins from -Haidee's hands. - -Meanwhile, Carl had been looking at another brown man in a turban who -was unhitching the horse from the monkey wagon. - -Ben Ali waited until the horse was out of the shafts and the second -Hindoo on its back, then he started the Kentucky cob off along the -road. His companion trotted along behind. - -Dropping any more paper scraps was out of the question. Carl was too -tightly wedged in between Ben Ali and Haidee to use his hands; besides, -he could not have made a move that would not instantly have been seen. - -Presently the Hindoo on the horse called out something in his unknown -jargon. Ben Ali answered, and the runabout was turned from the road and -into the woods. - -Possibly they proceeded a hundred feet into the timber. At the end of -that distance their progress was halted by a creek with steep banks. - -Ben Ali got out. While standing on the ground facing Carl, he made -sinuous movements with his slim brown hands--passes, most probably, -designed to keep Carl in a hypnotic state. - -The girl shuddered, suddenly, and drew a hand across her eyes. - -"Uncle Ben!" she exclaimed, with a sharp cry, "where am I?" - -"You are safe," said Ben Ali. "You are not to work with de trapeze -any more, not be with de show any more. We are quit with de show. -_Kabultah, meetoowah?_" - -"Yes, yes," breathed the girl, "I understand. But where are we going? I -don't want to be in a trance any more. I want to know what I say, what -I do--all the time." - -The man's face hardened. - -"You come, Haidee," he said, gently but none the less firmly. - -The girl got up and climbed down from the wagon. - -"Sahib!" he cried sharply. "You come, too." - -Carl likewise climbed to the ground. - -"You are asleep," went on Ben Ali, coming up to Carl and bringing his -face close. "You know not anything what you do. Sit!" - -Carl sank down on the bank of the creek. - -The other Hindoo had dismounted. Stepping away from his horse, he -turned the runabout rig the other way, so that the cob faced the road. -Then he tied the animal. - -Meanwhile, Ben Ali, seating himself cross-legged on the ground, had -drawn a small black box from his breast. It was a lacquered box and -shone like ebony in the gleam of sun that drifted down through the -trees. - -Haidee uttered an exclamation and stretched out her hands. - -"It is mine, Uncle Ben! It belongs to me." - -"Yis, _meetoowah_," agreed Ben Ali, "it belong to you, but I keep it. -That is safer, better." - -He put down the box and listened, hissing to attract the attention of -the other Hindoo. - -"Aurung Zeeb!" - -The other turned, and Ben Ali motioned toward the road. - -The sound of an approaching motor car broke the stillness. It grew -rapidly in volume, passed a point abreast of those in the woods, and -went on, dying away in the distance. - -Excitement shone in the faces of the Hindoos, and there was alarm in -the face of the girl. - -"What is it?" she cried. "Uncle Ben----" - -"Silence, _meetooowah_!" commanded the Hindoo. - -Taking the lacquered box in his hand, Ben Ali leaped erect and -chattered wildly with Aurung Zeeb. After that, he came to Carl, his -face full of anxiety and alarm, and made more passes. - -"You come," he ordered, "get back in de buggy." - -Carl followed as Ben Ali backed away in the direction of the runabout. -The Hindoo stood close to the wheel until Carl was in the seat. - -At that moment a smothered scream came from Haidee. Aurung Zeeb jumped -toward her, letting go the bridle of his horse as he did so. Ben Ali -muttered something under his breath, put the lacquered box on the -runabout seat beside Carl, and started toward Aurung Zeeb and the girl. - -"You must tell me what you are doing," panted the girl, facing the -Hindoos with flashing eyes. "That is Boss Burton's horse and buggy. Why -have you got the rig here? What are we doing here? Tell me, Uncle Ben! -I must know." - -Ben Ali tried to quiet her. Carl was in a quiver. The lines were twined -about the whip on the dashboard of the runabout, and both Hindoos were -fully fifteen feet away. It looked like a propitious moment for escape. -Carl had not accomplished much, but he was patting himself on the back -because of the way he had fooled Ben Ali. Now, if he could get away, -and take the runabout with him---- - -Carl never thought very long over any proposition. Nor did he give much -time to this. - -Swooping down on the dashboard, he grabbed up the lines and the whip. - -"Gid ap mit yourself!" he yelled, and struck the horse. - -With a snort the animal bounded forward, breaking the strap that -secured him to the tree and almost throwing Carl from the seat. - -The other horse took fright and bounded away, while Carl went lurching -and plunging in a wild dash for the road. - -How he ever reached the road without coming to grief against the many -trees he grazed in his dash was something which would have puzzled a -wiser head than his. - -He paid not the least attention to the Hindoos, nor to Haidee. He was -thinking of Carl, and trying to guess how much money he would get for -bringing back the stolen horse and runabout. - -For once, he thought exultantly, he was making the detective business -_pay_. - -Whirling into the road, he headed the horse back toward town, plying -the whip and hustling the best he knew how. - -It was a marvel that the runabout held together. But it did. Suddenly a -firearm spoke sharply from somewhere in the rear. - -Carl did not look behind. He had but one thought, and that was that the -Hindoos must be phenomenal runners, and that they were chasing him on -foot and firing as they came. - -He bent forward over the dashboard and urged the cob to a wilder pace. - -Then, while he was using the whip, an angry voice roared from alongside -the runabout: - -"Stop lashing that horse! Stop, I tell you!" - -Carl became faintly aware that there was an automobile dashing along -the road side by side with the runabout. - -"Carl!" shouted a familiar voice. "Stop your running! Don't you know -who we are?" - -Then the excited Dutchman became aware of the situation and pulled back -on the lines. - -He chuckled delightedly as he jerked and sawed on the bit. - -He, Carl Pretzel, had been running away from his old pard! What a joke! - -And there, in the automobile with Matt, was the manager of the show. - -It wouldn't be long, now, before Carl found out how much he was to get -for recovering the stolen horse and runabout. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII. - -THE LACQUERED BOX. - - -Probably that Kentucky horse of Burton's had never been treated in his -life as he was that afternoon. He was muddy with sweat and dust, and -his high-strung spirits, by that time thoroughly aroused, rebelled -against the curb. - -In order to help Carl out, Motor Matt drove the car past the horse and -partly across the road. This served to bring the animal to a halt. - -"By Jove!" stormed Burton, "I wouldn't have had this happen for a -hundred dollars! It's a wonder if the horse isn't ruined!" - -He flopped out of the automobile and approached the horse's head. - -"Whoa, Colonel!" he murmured soothingly. "Whoa, old boy!" - -Then, getting one hand on the bit, he held the animal while he petted -and wheedled and patted the lathered neck. - -"Der rig vas shtole py der Hindoo," said Carl, "und I haf recofered it -und prought it pack. Dot comes oof being a goot tedectif, py shinks! -How mooch iss id vort'?" - -"Worth?" scowled Burton. "If the animal is injured I'll charge you up -for it. Don't you know how to take care of a horse?" - -"Don'd you vas going to pay me someding?" gasped Carl. - -"Pay?" snorted Burton, in no mood to consider a reward after seeing his -favorite horse mistreated. "Why, I feel like I wanted to use the whip -on you! What did you run away from us for?" - -"I t'ought you vas der Hindoos," explained Carl feebly. "Say, Matt," -he added, turning to his chum, "der feller don't vas going to gif me -someding! Vat a miserliness! Und me going droo all vat I dit!" - -"Where did you get the runabout, Carl?" asked Matt. - -He thought Boss Burton was a little unreasonable, but was not disposed -to make any comments. Burton's ways were sometimes far from meeting -Matt's approval--and they had never been farther from it than during -the events of that exciting day. - -"I shteal him from der Hindoos," said Carl, "und make some gedavays -by der shkin oof my teet', you bed you! I hat to run der horse, Matt, -oder I vouldn't have made der esgape. Vone oof der Hindoos had a knife, -und dey vas bot' det safage I can't dell. Der odder horse vat pulled -der cage vagon iss somevere aheadt. He got avay und vent like some -shdreaks." - -"You climb down," snapped Burton, coming back to the side of the -runabout. "I'll take the rig back to the grounds and send one of the -teamsters for the monkey wagon. You'll bring along the automobile, -Matt?" he added, getting into the runabout as Carl got out. - -"Yes," answered Matt. - -"Ain't you going on with us to look up the Hindoos and Haidee?" asked -McGlory. "Going to hang back before we run out the trail, Burton?" - -"I don't care anything about them," was the reply, "so long as I've -recovered my own property. What's this?" and the showman picked up the -lacquered box. - -Carl stared at it. Evidently he had forgotten all about it, up to that -moment. - -"Py chimineddy!" he muttered. "Dot's der Hindoo's! He tropped id on der -seat pefore I run avay mit der rig." - -"Then I'll take it with me," said Burton. "Perhaps it's of enough value -so that the rascal will come after it. If he does, I can read the riot -act to him." - -"I guess you'd better leave that with Carl, Burton," spoke up Matt. -"You don't care to bother with the Hindoos, and we may think it's worth -while." - -"Oh, well, if that's the way you feel about it," and the showman tossed -the box to Carl. "Mind," he added, as he started off, "you're not to -get into any trouble with that automobile." - -Burton was soon out of sight. - -"He's the limit, that fellow!" growled McGlory. "He might have tipped -Carl a five-case note, but he wouldn't. He's a skinner." - -"Nodding doing in der tedectif pitzness," said Carl resignedly, getting -into the automobile beside Matt. "Same like alvays I ged der vorst oof -id. Vile vorking on der Manners gase, I haf peen in a row mit Ping, in -a row mit a canvasman und a 'parker' for der site-show, in some more -rows mit a shtable feller, got kicked in der pack mit a mu-el, und -carried avay in some vagons vat shmelled like a glue factory. Und vat -I ged? Dot Purton feller he say he vould like to pound me mit der vip. -Ach, vell, ve can't pecome greadt tedectifs mitoudt a leedle hardt luck -at her shtart." - -"Tell us what happened to you, Carl," said Matt, "and be quick about -it." - -Carl sketched his adventures, with now and then an urging toward -brevity from Matt. - -"Ven I see dot Hindoo coming, at der time he made some brisoners -oof me," expounded Carl, on reaching that part of his recital, "I -remempered der girl vat come down in der flying machine, und vat he -valked avay mit, und I got der t'ought, like lightning, dot meppy der -feller know someding aboudt Markaret Manners, vat iss atverdised for -in der Lonton baper. Abner nit, it don'd vas der case. I schust let -meinseluf pertend dot I vas mesmerized so dot I could go along by der -Hindoo und meppy findt oudt someding. I don't findt oudt anyt'ing." - -Carl's disgust was great, and he brought his story to a quick -conclusion. - -"We'll go look for the Hindoos and Haidee," said Matt. "As I jog along, -Carl, you keep watch for the place where you turned from the road. -Meanwhile, Joe," Matt added, "you take the lacquered box and open it. -We'll see what's inside. The contents may shed a little light on this -mystery of the girl." - -"Der Hindoos und der girl von't be vere dey vas," remarked Carl, -handing the box to McGlory. - -"They can't possibly be far away," answered Matt. "They have to travel -on foot, now, and will be compelled to go slow." - -"This box is locked, pard," called McGlory. - -"Force the lid, then," said Matt. "It's necessary, according to my -notion, that we try and find out something about Haidee. And for the -girl's good." - -McGlory opened his pocketknife and inserted the blade between the box -and the lid. The lock splintered out under pressure. - -"She's open, pard," announced the cowboy. - -"What's inside?" - -"A bundle of letters tied with a piece of twine." - -"Ah!" - -"They have English stamps," went on McGlory, "and are postmarked at -London." - -"Better and better! And they're addressed to----" - -"Miss Margaret Manners, Calcutta, India." - -Carl nearly fell off the seat. - -"Ach, du lieber!" he sputtered, "I vas ketching my breat'. A clue, py -shinks! Dot Haidee knows vere der fife-t'ousant-tollar girl iss, I bed -you!" - -"Knows where the girl is?" echoed Matt. - -"Sure t'ing. How vouldt Haidee haf Markaret Manners' ledders oof she -ditn't know somet'ing aboudt der English girl? A few more knocks, py -shiminy, und I vill make der fife t'ousant tollars!" - -"Carl," said Matt, "you've got a wooden head when it comes to -sleuthing. Why, Haidee is Margaret Manners herself. I've had a hunch to -that effect for two or three hours." - -Once more Carl had to hold on with both hands to keep from going by the -board. He could only breathe hard and think of what he would do with -all the money that was coming to him. - -"What else is there in the box, Joe?" asked Matt. "Anything but the -letters?" - -"Just one thing, pard," replied McGlory. "It looks like a decoration of -some kind." - -McGlory held the object over Matt's shoulder, so he could see it. - -It was a bronze Maltese cross, with a royal crown in the centre -surmounted by a lion, and the words "For Valour" stamped on the cross -under the crown. The cross hung from a V-shaped piece attached to a -bar, and the bar was attached to a faded red ribbon. Across the bar -was engraved the name "Lionel Manners." - -"I feel like taking off my hat in the presence of that, pards," said -Matt. - -"Why?" demanded Joe. - -"It's a Victoria Cross," returned Matt, "and is only given to persons -for a deed of gallantry and daring. When the ribbon is red, it shows -that the winner of the cross belonged to the army; when blue, to -the navy. Captain Lionel Manners must have been a brave man, and -it's a pity his daughter should be treated as she has been. Carl, -you've blundered onto a big thing--and you couldn't have blundered so -successfully once in a thousand times. Put the letters and the cross -back in the box, Joe. We'll keep them safe for the girl. If----" - -"Dere's der blace," interrupted Carl, pointing to the roadside. - -Motor Matt brought the automobile to a stop. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV. - -THE HYPNOTIST'S VICTIM. - - -"You and I will go and look for the Hindoos, Joe," said Matt, getting -out of the car. "Carl will stay here and take care of the automobile." - -"Vat oof der Hindoos ged avay from you und come ad me?" queried Carl, -in a panic. "I bed you dey vas sore ofer vat I dit." - -"If they should happen to attack you," answered Matt, "run away from -them. You used to know something about driving a car, Carl." - -"All righdt," said Carl, with deep satisfaction. "I'll run avay from -some drouples oof any come in my tirection. Look oudt for Ben Ali. He -has a knife." - -Matt and McGlory, after securing a few further directions from Carl, -started into the woods on their way to the creek. They moved warily in -single file, Matt taking the lead. - -As they made their way onward, they saw evidences of Carl's wild dash -for the road in the runabout, broken bushes and trees blazed at about -the height of a buggy axle. - -"It's a wonder that runabout wasn't strung all the way from the creek -to the road," murmured McGlory. "The Dutchman's luck has landed on him -all in a bunch." - -"Carl has a knack for blundering in the right direction," said Matt. -"But he has as much grit as you'll find in any lad of his size. Think -how he fooled that Ben Ali! Made the Hindoo believe he was hypnotized." - -"And Carl had only the faintest notion what he was doing it for!" -chuckled McGlory. "Say, pard, I'd like to have seen those Hindoos when -Carl woke up and used the whip on that horse of Burton's." - -"Hist!" warned Matt, "we're close to the creek." - -There were evidences in plenty that the bank of the creek had been -recently occupied--broken bushes and an imprint of human feet in the -damp soil. As Matt and McGlory had supposed, however, there was no sign -of Haidee or the Hindoos in the vicinity. - -"Here's where we're up a stump, pard," said McGlory. "I wonder if I -could pick up the trail and find which way the outfit went?" - -"Try it," said Matt. - -McGlory skirmished around for ten minutes. - -"I reckon I've got it," he announced, at the end of that time. "Unless -I'm far wide of my trail, Matt, they went down the creek." - -"Then that's the direction for us. Step off, Joe, and be lively." - -Although the boys believed the Hindoos and Haidee must be far in -advance of them, yet they moved forward cautiously, being exceedingly -careful not to rustle the bushes as they passed or to step on any twigs -that would crackle under their feet. - -As a matter of fact, they had not been five minutes on their way down -the creek before the cowboy whirled abruptly with a finger on his lips; -then, motioning to Matt, he dropped to his knees. - -Matt followed suit and crept alongside McGlory. - -"We're in luck, too," whispered the cowboy. "They're right ahead of us, -all three of them. Listen, and you can hear them talking." - -Matt raised his head and listened intently. A faint sound of voices was -borne to his ears. - -"Let's creep up on them, Joe," he suggested. "They're two against us, -you know, and they'll make a pretty big handful, if they're armed." - -"We know Ben Ali has a knife, but that is probably all the weapons -they've got. If they had guns, then Carl would never have made his -getaway." - -Redoubling their caution, the boys crawled forward, screening their -advance by keeping bunches of undergrowth in front of them as much as -they could. - -The voices grew steadily louder, until it became manifest that the -brown men were jabbering in Hindustani. - -Finally the boys arrived as close as they deemed it best to go, for -they had Ben Ali, Aurung Zeeb, and Haidee in plain view. - -The three were in a little oak opening on the creek bank. Haidee was -sitting on a log, and the other two were standing and talking rapidly. - -A moment after the boys were able to see them and note what was going -on, the Hindoos stopping their talking. Aurung Zeeb drew off to one -side, and Ben Ali stepped in front of the girl. - -"Haidee, _meetoowah_!" he called. - -The girl lifted her head. - -"You must go into de trance, _meetoowah_," said Ben Ali. - -With a heart-breaking cry the girl flung herself on her knees in front -of him. - -"No, no, Uncle Ben!" she wailed, "don't make me do things I can't -remember--things I don't want to do! What happened during the parade -this morning? And what happened while I was in the air with Motor Matt? -You will not tell me and I do not know! Oh, Uncle Ben----" - -"Haidee!" - -The voice was clear and keen cut. There was something in the tones of -it that lifted the girl erect and uncomplaining, and held her as by a -magnet with her eyes on the snaky, dancing orbs of Ben Ali. - -The power of the Hindoo over the girl must have been tremendous. - -The boys, shivering with horror, watched the Hindoo as he waved his -arms gracefully and made his sinuous passes. He was no more than a -minute or two in effecting his work. - -By swift degrees Haidee's face lost its expression and became as though -graven from stone; her eyes grew dull and her whole manner listless. - -"Haidee, you sleep," came monotonously from Ben Ali, as his hands -dropped. "You hear me, _meetoowah_? You understand?" - -"Yes," answered the girl, in the clacking, parrot-like voice with which -the boys were somewhat familiar. - -"You are never to remember, _meetoowah_, what you do in de parade, or -what you do on de flying machine," continued Ben Ali. "When you wake, -you forget all that, and how I tell you to pull the lever when de -parade reach de min'ral well, or pin de fireball as it smoulder to de -wing of de machine. You forget all that, huh?" - -"Yes." - -"You are bright, lively girl, _meetoowah_" went on the Hindoo. "You are -gay, happy, but you are under de power, yes, all de time. You go back -to de show, and you tell them that Ben Ali and Aurung Zeeb ver' bad -mans and run away with Haidee, that you make de escape. Then you get -from Boss Burton the money he owe and come to Linton Hotel in Lafayette -sometime this night. You understand, _meetoowah_?" - -"Yes." - -"And you not let anybody know you come to Linton Hotel, _meetoowah_." - -"No." - -"And at all time when you wake you forget you was Margaret Manners, and -you remember all time when you wake that you only Haidee." - -"Yes." - -"Also, you try get back de box that b'long to you, de little lacquered -box. Remember that, Haidee. Get de box if you can and bring it with de -money to Uncle Ben Ali at de Linton Hotel in Lafayette." - -"Yes." - -"And you all time forget when you wake dat you Margaret Manners, -and----" - -Something happened to the hypnotist, right then and there. - -Unable to endure longer the scene transpiring under their eyes, the -boys had crept forward until they were close to Ben Ali and Aurung Zeeb. - -Matt, behind Ben Ali, arose suddenly and caught the Hindoo by the -shoulders, flinging him down on his back and holding him there with -both hands about his throat. - -McGlory, it had been planned, should make a simultaneous attack, in the -same manner, upon Aurung Zeeb; but that individual was keener-eyed than -his companion. He saw McGlory just as the cowboy was about to spring. -With a loud cry of warning, Aurung Zeeb broke away in a panic and fled -into the timber. - -McGlory did not follow him. Ben Ali, choking and wriggling under the -tense fingers of the king of the motor boys, had made a desperate -effort and drawn his knife. The cowboy had glimpsed the blade, -shimmering in a gleam of sun, and had leaped forward and caught the -Hindoo's hand. - -"We've got the scoundrel!" exulted McGlory. "I reckon this is the last -stunt of this sort he'll ever lay hand to." - -Ben Ali tried to speak. Matt saw the attempt and removed his rigid -fingers from the prisoner's throat, slipping his hands down and -gripping one of the man's arms. - -"Hold his other arm, Joe," panted Matt. "I want to talk with him. I've -got to talk with him. A great wrong has been done Haidee, and if it is -righted Ben Ali is the only one to do it." - -McGlory was puzzled, but yielded immediate obedience. - -"Look at the girl," he whispered, as he laid both hands on the -prisoner's other arm. - -There was a look of sharp pain in Haidee's face. Her hands were -clutching her throat, and she was swaying where she stood. - -"Haidee feel what you do to me," gurgled Ben Ali. "You hurt me, you -hurt her. You do not understand de power." - -"He's talkin' with two tongues!" declared McGlory. - -"No," said Matt, "he tells the truth. As I told you, Joe, we've -got to make use of the scoundrel for Haidee's benefit. Don't mind -Haidee--she'll be all right by the time we are through with Ben Ali." - - - - -CHAPTER XV. - -"FOR THE SAKE OF HAIDEE!" - - -Motor Matt knew something about hypnotism, having acquired the -knowledge in the casual way most boys learn about such occult and, at -times, fascinating subjects. - -The young motorist knew, for instance, that if it was suggested to -Margaret Manners often enough in a hypnotic state that she was only -Haidee, the girl would come to forget her own personality. Even when -out of the trance she would be confused and bewildered in trying to -recall her real name and her past life. - -It was to undo some of this evil that Matt was eager for a talk with -the Hindoo. - -"Ben Ali," said Matt sternly, "we have the box of letters and Captain -Manners' Victoria Cross. In order to make you suffer terribly for what -you have done, we have only to turn you over to the authorities and let -them cable to London. There is a thousand pounds sterling offered as a -reward for the recovery of Margaret Manners; and for you there would be -a long term in prison. You understand that, don't you?" - -There was a crafty look on the Hindoo's face as he answered. - -"Yes, sahib. But you not do anything with me. De girl is in de trance. -I have her in my power." - -"And we have you in our power," said Matt, appreciating to the full the -strong hold Ben Ali had on them, as well as on the girl. - -"But, by and by, when we have finished de talk, de young sahib will let -me go." - -Matt was deeply thoughtful for a few moments. - -"Yes," he answered deliberately, "if you will answer my questions, and -do what I tell you to do, we will let you go." - -"Pard!" remonstrated Joe. - -"I know what I am doing, Joe," returned Matt. - -"De young sahib is wise," put in the smiling Ben Ali, his eyes -beginning to gleam and dance in an attempt to get the king of the motor -boys under their influence. - -"Pah!" murmured Matt disgustedly. "You can hold his arm with one hand, -Joe. Place the other hand over his eyes." - -"He's a fiend," growled McGlory, as his palm dropped over the upper -part of Ben Ali's face. - -The Hindoo laughed noiselessly. - -"Will you talk with me frankly and answer my questions, Ben Ali," -proceeded Matt, "providing we promise to let you go?" - -"Yes, sahib." - -"Then, first, who are you?" - -"De brother of a great rajah in my own land, and de brother of de great -rajah's sister. That sister married de Captain Manners, Margaret's -father." - -"I see," breathed Matt, his eyes wandering to the girl. - -Haidee had grown quiet, her face expressionless and her eyes staring -and vacant, as before. - -"I, with my rich rajah brother," continued Ben Ali, with bitterness, -"was only de driver of his elephants. No more. I work. He live in -luxury and do not anything. Captain Manners die. Then his wife, she -die, too. _Suttee._ She burn on de funeral pyre, as our custom is in my -land. De husband die, then de widow die. Margaret she live. My brother, -de rajah, give me money, send me to Calcutta after Margaret. I go. I -get de girl and we take ship to America. Hah! On de way I tell Margaret -it is her uncle, de rajah's wish, that she go to de Vassar school in -America, that I follow order when I take her there. She believe what I -say. On de steamer I begin de trances. She not like them, but she agree -at first. By and by she not able to help herself. I tell her she not -remember who she is when she wake, that she only Haidee. She b'leeve." -The scoundrel laughed. "I have de so great power with the eyes and the -hands, sahib." - -"Why did you join a show and take the girl with you?" demanded Matt, a -feeling of horror and repulsion for Ben Ali growing in his heart. - -"I have to live, sahib. My money give out. I know how to drive de -elephant, so I hear of de show and go there. Boss Burton hire me. I -speak of Haidee. He hire her, too." - -"Did she know how to perform on the trapeze--she, the niece of a -powerful rajah and daughter of an English gentleman?" - -"She know not anything about that. I put her in de trance and tell her -she know. Then she perform on de trapeze better than any." - -"Why did you want her to go up on the flying machine?" - -"Cut it short," growled McGlory huskily. "I feel like using the knife -on the villain, pard. He ain't fit to live." - -"You listened to me while I was talking with my friends in the calliope -tent this morning," continued Matt. "Why was that?" - -"I was afraid of de Dutch boy," answered Ben Ali, "and I was more -afraid when I hear what he tell. After that, I be afraid of all of you. -You understan'? I thought you take Haidee away from me." - -"You hypnotized her before the parade and told her to do something to -make me trouble?" - -"Yes, sahib," was the prompt response. "I wanted you out of de way. I -was afraid." - -"Scoundrel!" muttered Matt. "Why, you placed Haidee herself in danger." - -"I was Rajah's mahout. I could have kept de elephant from hurting -Haidee." - -"Was she hypnotized when she came to the aëroplane and played that -trick to go up in the machine with me?" - -"She was, yes, sahib." - -"And you gave her something to be used in setting the aëroplane afire?" - -"Yes, sahib. It was de smouldering fire ball, with de coal in its -heart. When de machine go up, and de win' fan it, den by and by it -break into flame and set fire to de machine." - -Ben Ali was frank, brutally frank. But he had Motor Matt's promise that -he should go free, and he seemed to gloat over his evil deeds and to -wish that not a detail be left out. - -"She did not act, when she was in the aëroplane, as she did when she -was in the parade," said Matt. - -"I make her act different, sahib. I tell her how she was to be. I have -de so great power I do that. Other fakirs not so great as Ben Ali." - -"We've heard enough," said Matt. "Now, as yet, you have only partly -earned your freedom, Ben Ali. You have still to do what I shall tell -you." - -"What is that, sahib?" - -"You will, by the aid of hypnotism, undo all the evil you have done, -as much as possible. For instance, you will impress on Haidee, as she -stands there, the truth that she is Margaret Manners, and that she will -remember it, and all her past, when she wakes. After that, you are to -waken her and take yourself off." - -"Yes," answered the Hindoo. "My freedom is dear to me. Perhaps"--and he -smiled--"I have something yet to do with Motor Matt." - -"If you cross my path again, Ben Ali," returned the king of the motor -boys, "there will be no promise binding me to let you go free. If you -are wise, you will stay away from me and my friends, and from Haidee." - -"I take my chance, if that is it. To awaken Haidee I must be on my -feet." - -"You will lie as you are!" declared Matt sharply. "You can do your work -as well this way as in any other." - -"I will try," said the Hindoo, after a moment's pause. Then, in a loud -voice, he called: "Haidee!" - -The girl turned her eyes upon him. - -"Yes," she answered. - -"When you wake, _meetoowah_, you will remember that you are Margaret -Manners." - -"Yes." - -"You will remember all, everything--Calcutta, your father, Captain -Manners, your mother, your mother's brother, de rajah. But you forget -Ben Ali, and you think no more of him. You understand?" - -"Yes." - -This, in a little different language, Ben Ali repeated several times. - -"Now, young sahib," said he, "let me up till I wake Haidee." - -"Hold to him on that side, Joe," cautioned Matt, "but give him the use -of his hands. When Haidee wakes, release him." - -"Sufferin' fairy tales!" grumbled McGlory. "I hate to do it, pard, and -that's honest, but I reckon, from what I've heard, that you know what -you're about. It's a hard way to bring right and justice to the girl -by letting this scoundrel escape the law, but there don't seem to be -anything else for it." - -Slowly the boys got up and permitted Ben Ali to struggle to his feet. -When he was erect, both still gripped him by the waist in order to -prevent him from committing any treachery. - -Ben Ali leaned forward and waved his hands. - -"Awake, _meetoowah_!" he called sharply. "You are yourself again, -Margaret Manners! Awake!" - -The girl started, and lifted both hands to her temples. It was enough, -and Motor Matt was satisfied. - -"Let him go, Joe," said Matt, "but keep his knife." - -The boys, at the same moment, withdrew their hands and stepped back. -Ben Ali, with a wild, snarling laugh, sprang into the woods and -vanished. - -"What is it?" asked Margaret Manners, in a puzzled voice. "Where am I? -Ah, is that you, Motor Matt? And Joe!" - -"Yes, sis," returned the cowboy, his voice full of gentleness, "it's -your friend McGlory, and the best friend you ever had if you did but -know it--Motor Matt." - -"Come," said Matt briskly, "we must hustle back to the automobile. Carl -will have a fit wondering what has become of us." - - - - -CHAPTER XVI. - -THE RAJAH'S NIECE. - - -The events of that wonderful day all seemed like a dream to Motor Matt -when he came to look back on them. The coming of Carl, loaded with a -joke sprung upon him by the detectives in Chicago--a joke, by the way, -that proved a boomerang--and the dangers and perils that trailed after -the Dutch boy and finally ended in most marvelous success--all these -seemed but the figments of disordered fancy. - -But the damaged aëroplane remained to tell of the dangers, and Carl was -there in the flesh, and Margaret Manners was present, freed of the evil -shadow that had blighted her young life. - -The afternoon performance had been over for some time when Matt, -Joe, Carl, and Margaret--for now she must be Margaret and not -Haidee--returned to the show grounds. - -The owner of the motor car was walking up and down in fretful mood, -thinking, perhaps, that he had done a most unwise thing in letting his -machine get out of his hands. - -Burton was with him and seeking to pacify his fears. But the sight of -the motor car alone did that. - -"Well," exclaimed Burton, "you've got one of 'em, Matt. She is the most -valuable of the lot, to me. Where are the other two?" - -"They escaped," answered Matt shortly. "And Haidee, Mr. Burton, is no -longer an employee of the Big Consolidated." - -"What!" cried Burton. "Do you mean to say she isn't going up on the -aëroplane any more, and that she'll not touch off Roman candles or----" - -"I told you she'd never do that, some time ago," said Matt keenly. - -Burton seemed to have a way of forgetting the things he did not want to -hear. - -"Well, anyhow," went on the showman, as soon as they had all alighted, -and the owner of the car had got into it and tooted joyfully away, -"come to the mess tent and tell me what happened." - -"Haven't time, Burton," said Matt. "Miss Manners is going to the best -hotel in town, and I've got some telegrams to send." - -"Telegrams?" Burton pricked up his ears and showed signs of excitement. -"There isn't another show trying to hire you away from me, is there? -Don't forget your written contract, Matt!" - -"I'm not forgetting that," returned Matt, inclined to laugh. "The -telegram I am going to send is to the British ambassador at Washington, -and the cablegram I am going to get on the wires is to an attorney in -London, England." - -"Jupiter!" exclaimed Burton. "It looks to me as though you wouldn't get -through in time to go on with section two of the show train." - -"We won't," continued Matt, "and that's what I'm going to tell you -about. We'll be a couple of days making repairs on the aëroplane, -and we'll make them here. After the work is done, we'll join the Big -Consolidated at the town where it happens to be at that time." - -"Your contract, sir!" fumed Burton. "You are----" - -"No repairs on the aëroplane would have been necessary," interrupted -Motor Matt, "if you had not played that trick on me and substituted -Haidee for Le Bon. Just remember that. I shall expect you to pay the -bills for the repairs, too." - -Burton received these remarks in silence. - -"When I and my friends are ready to join you," went on the king of -the motor boys, "we'll go by air line in the _Comet_, and if you have -any good paper, we'll scatter it all along the route. It will be the -biggest kind of an advertisement for you, Burton." - -This was a master stroke, if Burton yearned for one thing more than -another, it was to make his name a household word. - -"Great!" he cried. "But you won't be more than two days here, will you, -Matt?" - -"We'll try not to be." - -"And you'll scatter the paper?" - -"Certainly." - -"Fine! I'll have it for you. Where'll I send it?" - -"To the Bramble House." - -"It will be there. Make the bill for repairs as light as possible, and -draw on me for the amount. That's fair, ain't it?" - -"Just about." - -"Ask anybody and they'll tell you Boss Burton is the soul of honesty, -and that every promise he makes in his paper is carried out to the -letter. What will you do with the aëroplane?" - -"McGlory and Ping will look after it to-night. Tomorrow they will have -it removed to some place where we can work on it comfortably." - -"All right--have it your way. I'm the easiest fellow to get along with -that you ever saw, when I see a chap is going to treat me square. Good -luck to you--to all of you." - -The party separated. McGlory went over into the show grounds to join -Ping at the aëroplane, and Matt and Carl escorted Miss Manners to the -Bramble House. Carl went to the show, when the tents were being pulled -down that night, and got Miss Manners' trunk and his own clothes from -the calliope tent. Carl, it will be recalled, was wearing McGlory's -work clothes, and McGlory was going to need them. - -Most of the luggage belonging to Matt and his friend went on by train -with the show impedimenta, to be reclaimed at some town farther along -the route. - -Matt sent his telegram and his cablegram, and in neither did he conceal -the fact that all the glory of the achievement belonged to Carl Pretzel. - -The Dutch boy was terribly set up over his success. Until far into the -night he kept Matt up, trying to find out what he should do with his -five thousand dollars. Carl was about evenly divided, in his opinions, -as to whether he should buy an aëroplane of his own, or a circus. Matt -discouraged him on both points. - -Next morning the _Comet_, under its own power, dragged its battered -pinions to a big blacksmith shop, and there the motor boys got actively -to work on the repairs. - -The damage was confined almost entirely to the canvas covering the left -wing. None of the supports were injured. - -In two days' time the aëroplane was as good as new. At the close of the -second day, when Matt and McGlory reached the hotel with their work -finished, so far as the _Comet_ was concerned, they found an English -gentleman who represented the British embassy. - -This gentleman had come, personally, to assume charge of Miss Manners; -and, by this very act, the boys understood that the young woman was -something of a personage. - -The Englishman said nothing about the reward, and Carl began to worry. -Finally he broached the subject himself, only to learn that the five -thousand dollars must come from India, and that it would be a month, -possibly two months, before it could be turned over. - -Carl was disgusted. He had expected to have the money all spent before -two months had passed. - -"Dot's der vay mit der tedectif pitzness," he remarked gloomily. "Even -ven you vin you don't get nodding." - -"But you're bound to get it, Carl," laughed McGlory, "sooner or later." - -"Meppy so mooch lader dot I vill be olt und gray-heated und not know -nodding aboudt how to shpend him. How vas I going to lif in der -meandime, huh? Tell me dose." - -"Come along with us," said Matt, "and stay with the Big Consolidated -until your money comes." - -"I don'd like dot Purton feller," growled Carl. "He iss der vorst case -oof stingy vat I efer see. Shdill, id iss vort' someding to be mit -Modor Matt. Yah, so helup me, I vill go." - -Ping was not in love with this arrangement, but had to bow to it. - -The gentleman from Washington took the next train back to the capital, -arranging to have Miss Manners left in the care of an estimable lady in -Lafayette until word should come from India. - - -THE END. - - - - -THE NEXT NUMBER (28) WILL CONTAIN - -Motor Matt's "Short Circuit" - -OR, - -THE MAHOUT'S VOW. - - The Serpent Charmer--A Bad Elephant--Burton's Luck--Motor Matt's - Courage--Dhondaram's Excuse--Robbery--Between the Wagons--A Peg to - Hang Suspicions On--A Waiting Game--A Trick at the Start--In the Air - With a Cobra--A Scientific Fact--Ping On the Wrong Track--Facing a - Traitor--Meeting the Hindoo--A Bit of a Backset - - - - -MOTOR STORIES - -THRILLING ADVENTURE MOTOR FICTION - -NEW YORK, August 28, 1909. - - -TERMS TO MOTOR STORIES MAIL SUBSCRIBERS. - -(_Postage Free._) - -Single Copies or Back Numbers, 5c. Each. - - 3 months 65c. - 4 months 85c. - 6 months $1.25 - One year 2.50 - 2 copies one year 4.00 - 1 copy two years 4.00 - -=How to Send Money=--By post-office or express money-order, registered -letter, bank check or draft, at our risk. At your own risk if sent by -currency, coin, or postage-stamps in ordinary letter. - -=Receipts=--Receipt of your remittance is acknowledged by proper change -of number on your label. If not correct you have not been properly -credited, and should let us know at once. - - ORMOND G. SMITH, } - GEORGE C. SMITH, } _Proprietors_. - - STREET & SMITH, Publishers, - 79-89 Seventh Avenue, New York City. - - - - -SAVED BY A FALLING TREE. - - -Winter still reigned, and Louis and Allen Wright were snowshoeing back -to the lumber camp where they worked. - -It was a small camp upon the Tobago River, near the Ottawa, close to -the border between the Provinces of Ontario and Quebec, and the pine -had for the most part been cut long ago. There was a little pine left, -however, with a good deal of pulp wood and mixed timber to be got out, -and the foreman had sent the boys to look over a patch of spruce about -twelve miles from the shanty. They were returning with their axes upon -the frozen Tobago River, which formed a convenient roadway through the -tangled and snowy Canadian forest. - -The boys were not professional "lumber jacks," but they were both -deeply desirous of acquiring a couple of hundred dollars to cover the -expenses of a course in mining engineering, and that winter high wages -were being offered for even inexperienced men in the lumber camps. - -As they were country-bred youths, they took to the work naturally, and -Allen, although he had not yet come to his full strength, speedily -developed a surprising dexterity with the axe. He could "lay" a tree -within a few inches of where he desired it to fall, and had been the -instrument of victory several times in lumbering matches with rival -camps. - -It was late in February and still bitterly cold, but the deep snow -was packing and softening. In a few weeks the ice might break up, and -mountains of logs were piled upon the river in readiness for the drive. - -About three miles before it reached the shanty the river broke into -rapids for about thirty rods before it fell tumultuously over a low -ridge of rocks. - -It was necessary to make a detour round this obstacle, and Allen went -ashore at a cautious distance from the water. Louis, however, remained -upon the ice, walking almost to the verge, and looking over into the -inky stream. - -"Be careful, Lou! That ice is getting rotten!" Allen shouted from the -bank. - -"It's as strong as rock. Look!" answered Louis, jumping in his rackets -with a heavy thud upon the snow. - -He proved the reverse of what he intended. There was a dull cracking -under the snow and a startled shout from the reckless snowshoer. A -great cake of ice broke off, drifting away, with Louis standing on it. -He balanced unsteadily for a moment, staggered, and plunged off with a -terrified yell, going clean out of sight under the icy water. - -The cake of ice drifted over the rapids and broke up. Allen had -scarcely time to move before his brother reappeared, struggling feebly, -and evidently almost paralyzed by the cold immersion. By good luck he -managed to catch the top of a projecting rock at the head of the fall, -and there he clung, driven against the rock by the force of the current. - -"Hold on a minute, Lou! I'll get you out!" screamed Allen frantically. -Louis turned a blue face toward him, without answering. - -Allen tore and kicked off his snowshoes, and was on the point of -plunging into the water; but common sense returned to him in time. -Louis was in the middle of the stream, thirty feet away. Allen could -never reach him through that swift, deep current, and if he could, he -would be so chilled as to be incapable of giving any sort of help. - -But the boy certainly could not hold on long in his present position, -and should he let go he would be swept over the rapids and under the -ice at the foot. His life hung on seconds. - -Allen could think of no plan. He shouted encouraging words without -knowing what he said, while his eyes roved desperately up and down the -snowy shores in search of some inspiration. - -If he had only a rope, or anything to make a bridge--and then his eye -fell upon a tall, dead pine "stub," barkless and almost branchless, -standing a few feet back from the stream. - -It was long enough to reach to the imperiled youth, if it could be -felled so accurately as to lie close beside him. But a foot or two -above or below him would make it useless, and to aim too closely would -be to run a deadly risk of crushing the boy under the falling trunk. - -By a queer vagary of his excited brain he remembered William Tell -and the apple. He would have to perform a somewhat similar feat of -marksmanship; but it was the only chance that he could think of. He -plunged through the snow for his axe, wallowed back to the dead stub, -and began to chop. - -In the need for action his nerves grew suddenly cool. The feat was a -more delicate one than he had ever attempted, and his brother's life -hung upon his steadiness of nerve and muscle. But he cut quietly and -without haste. The great yellow chips flew, and a wide notch grew in -the trunk. - -In a few moments he shifted to the other side, cut another notch, and -sighted for the probable direction of the fall of the stub. He could -not tell how the roots held. He would have to leave that important -factor to chance, but he cut, now delicately, now strongly, till the -tremor through the axe handle told that the trunk was growing unsteady. - -It was a critical moment. He sighted again most carefully, and cut out -a few small chips here and there. The stub tottered. It was standing -poised upon a thin edge of uncut wood, and he stood behind it and -pushed, cautiously, and then heavily. - -The tall trunk wavered, and the fibres snapped loudly. It hesitated, -bowed, and Allen leaped away from the butt. Down came the pine, roaring -through the air. - -It crashed into the water with a mighty wave and splash that hid boy -and rock. Allen had a moment of horrified belief that his brother had -been crushed under it. A moment later he saw that Louis was unhurt. -But the tree had actually grazed the rock. It had fallen within eight -inches of the boy's body. - -It made a perfect bridge as it lay, but in his nervous reaction Allen -was almost too shaky to walk the trunk and pull his brother out. He -did it, although how he got him to land he never quite knew. Louis was -almost unconscious, and his wet clothes froze instantly into a mass of -ice. - -He would certainly have lapsed into sleep and died, but Allen piled the -pine chips about the stump and had a fire blazing in a few seconds. The -dry stump burned like pitch, producing a furnace-like heat; and Allen -partly undressed his brother and rubbed him hard with snow. Under this -heroic treatment Louis came back to painful consciousness, and the -fierce heat from the pine did the rest. But it was several hours before -he was able to resume the tramp, and it was dark when they reached the -shanty. - - - - -How They Captured the Python. - - -Hamburg, as many know, is the great headquarters of the trade in wild -animals for menageries and "zoos." To Hamburg are shipped lions, -elephants, and giraffes, captured in South and East Africa, tigers from -India, jaguars and tapirs from South America, gorillas from the Congo, -orang-outangs from Borneo, and, in fact, about every kind of beast, -bird, and reptile from all quarters of the globe. - -The warehouses of the two principal firms engaged in this business are -interesting places to visit after the arrival of a "beast ship," with -news of unusually large specimens of animal life. - -The narrator made such a visit some months ago on the arrival of a -remarkably large, brilliantly marked python, shipped from Padang, -Sumatra. This colubrine giant is more than thirty feet in length, and -was bespoken by the Austrian government for a zoo at Budapest. - -But the story of its capture is even more interesting than the huge -creature itself, for this python had fallen a victim to its fondness -for the notes of a violin. - -There is a telegraph line extending across Sumatra, from Padang, -connecting that port, by means of submarine cables, with Batavia, and -Singapore. - -Along this line of land wire are a number of interior stations. One -of these, called Pali-lo-pom, has been in charge of an operator -named Carlos Gambrino, a mestizo from Batavia, Java, educated at the -industrial school there. - -The station is on a hillock in the valley of the River Kampar, and is -adjacent to dense forest, jungle, and a long morass. It is a solitary -little place, consisting merely of four or five thatched huts, elevated -on posts to a height of six feet from the ground, to be more secure -from noxious insects, reptiles, and wild beasts. - -As a general rule Gambrino has little enough to do, except listen to -the monotonous ticking of the instrument. For solace and company, -therefore, he frequently had recourse to his violin. - -Thatched houses on posts in Sumatra are not commonly supplied with -glass windows; but Gambrino had afforded himself the luxury of a -two-pane sash, set to slide in an aperture in the side wall of his hut, -and some five or six months ago, during the wet season, he was sitting -at this window one afternoon, as he played his violin, when he saw the -head of a large serpent rise out of the high grass, at a distance of -seventy or eighty yards. - -His first impulse was to get his carbine and try to shoot the monster, -for he saw that it was a very large python, and not a desirable -neighbor. But something in the attitude of the reptile led him to -surmise that it had raised itself to hear the violin, and he passed at -once to a lively air. - -As long as he continued playing the python remained there, apparently -motionless; but when he ceased it drew its head down, and he saw -nothing more of it that day, although he went out with his gun to look -for it. - -Nearly a fortnight passed, and the incident had gone from his -mind--for large snakes are not uncommon in Sumatra--when one night, as -he was playing the violin to some native acquaintances who had come to -the hut, they heard the sounds made by a large snake sliding across the -bamboo platform or floor of the little veranda. On looking out with a -light, one of the party saw a huge mottled python gliding away. - -But it was not until the reptile appeared a third time, raising its -head near his window, that the telegrapher became certain that it was -really his violin which attracted it. - -In the meantime the operator at Padang, with whom Gambrino held daily -conversations by wire, had told him that the German agent of a Hamburg -house at that port would pay ten pounds, English money, for such a -python as he described. - -Gambrino began scheming to capture the reptile. In one of the huts at -the station there was stored a quantity of fibre rope, such as is used -in Sumatra for bridging small rivers and ravines. - -Gambrino contrived three large nooses from this rope, which he elevated -horizontally, on bamboo poles, to the height of his window, and carried -the drawing ends of the nooses inside the hut. - -This was done after the operator had ascertained that at times the -snake would come about the house and raise its head as if it heard the -violin. - -Some time later the python was beguiled by the music into raising its -head inside one of the nooses, which a native, who was on the watch -while Gambrino played, instantly jerked tight. - -What followed was exciting. The reptile resented the trick with vigor, -and showed itself possessed of far more strength than they had expected. - -The rope had been made fast to a beam inside, and the snake nearly -pulled the entire structure down, making it rock and creak in a way -that caused Gambrino and his native ally to leap to the ground in haste -from a back entrance. The reptile coiled its body about the posts and -pulled desperately to break away. Altogether, it was a wild night at -this little remote telegraph station. - -The next morning a crowd of natives collected; and as the python had by -this time exhausted itself, they contrived to hoist its head as high as -the roof of the hut and to secure its tail. - -It was then lowered into a molasses hogshead, which was covered over -and trussed up securely with ropes. - -In this condition the python was drawn to Padang on a bullock cart. It -is said to weigh more than four hundred pounds. - - - - -ON THE ROAD TO MANDALAY. - - -All of us who were singing "On the Road to Mandalay" a few years -ago--and there were mighty few of us who let it alone vocally--will -be a bit surprised to be informed that Rangoon, where the dawn comes -up like thunder and other interesting things happen, looks to the -approaching tourist like an up-to-date American business centre. - -In fact, according to a writer, the capital of Burma has many American -towns beat a mile in the civic improvement line. "Its electric-lighted -highways, all broad, neatly paved and well drained; its brilliantly -illuminated boulevards, with rows of graceful, well-trimmed trees -bordering both sides; its blocks of buildings, all laid out after a -carefully considered plan, showing little of architectural beauty but -much of austere regularity, astonish the stranger. - -"When you take into consideration the fact that Rangoon has a system -of parks and parkways with beautiful shade trees, choice flowers, -and crystal lakes, artificial and natural, dotted about them, and -that it provides breathing spaces for people living in congested -districts, you cannot but form a good idea of the aliveness of the -municipal corporation. A good horse-carriage service, now being rapidly -superseded by the trolley, makes transportation easy and cheap. The -city has provided splendid schools and playgrounds. Yet sixty years ago -Rangoon was a mere fishing village." - -One item from Mr. Kipling's picture of Rangoon referred to the -elephants hauling teakwood in "the slushy, squdgy creek." Well, they -are still at it, working with wonderful precision and an apparent -sense of responsibility. They don't try to soldier, never get in one -another's way or mixed up with the machinery, no matter how cramped -they may be for room. - -Some of them take the teak logs which have been floated down the river -and tow them ashore. Then they drag them to the sawmills, either -rolling them with one foot while they walk on three, pushing them with -their tusks, or pulling them with a chain attached to a breast strap. - -Inside the mill an elephant selects a log, picks it out with his tusks, -kicks it up to the saw with his toes, then tying his trunk in a kind of -knot around the log, holds it against the teeth of the saw while it is -made into boards, pushing aside the outside slabs as they are cut off -and adjusting the log to make boards of the proper thickness. - -Then he piles the boards up neatly, standing off to examine the effect, -and if he finds a board out of line carefully adjusting it. Sometimes a -pair of elephants working together exchange peculiar grunts, as if they -were giving and receiving directions. - -They are used in Burma for various purposes. The young calves are -ridden like horses, with a soft pad and stirrups. They are found -especially valuable in bad country, and may be ridden fifty or sixty -miles a day. A tap on the side of the head, a slight pressure of the -knee, or a word whispered in the ear is all that is required to guide -them. - -It is not at all a difficult matter for an elephant in prime condition -to outrun a fast horse, but they cannot jump. A deep ditch only six or -seven feet wide is impassable to them. - -Working elephants are in their prime when they are twenty-five years -old. They are expensive to feed, it being declared in Rangoon that an -elephant eats a quarter of his weight in feed every day. An average -day's food for one is certainly eight hundred pounds. - -Socially Burma is unlike other Oriental countries. Men and women--even -young men and women--walk together in the streets and mingle in social -gatherings. Courtship always precedes the marriage. - -The Burmans are ardent lovers, and when a young man and woman find that -their parents do not approve of the match they usually repair to the -woods and return after a day or two as man and wife, sure of parental -forgiveness. Marriage among Burmans is an extremely simple affair. -The only ceremony performed is the eating together out of the same -bowl of rice. Usually a feast is given to the relatives and friends -of the families concerned. No sacrifices are offered, no services are -performed. - -The Burman wears a smile on his countenance, laughs and looks upon -life through rose-colored spectacles. Both the women and the men -wear rich-hued silken clothes. But while there is gayety there is no -indecorum or impropriety. - -For women Burma is a little heaven on earth, if we are to believe -enthusiastic writers. Mrs. Burman is ubiquitous. Jewelry stores -containing untold wealth in pearls, rubies, and other gems are in -charge of women. Markets and fruit stalls are run by women. - -At the railroad station a woman sells you the tickets and another one -is ready to take dictation and to do your type-writing. Not long ago a -woman stockbroker died leaving a fortune which she had made herself. -But the Burmese woman does not let business interfere with motherhood. -She runs the shop with one hand and the children with the other. - -When she marries the woman retains her own name, and any property -she may have inherited or acquired. When divorced she is expected to -support her children, but this is no hardship for her, since she cared -for them when she lived with her husband. The Burmese child rarely sees -the father, but is brought up to look to its mother for guidance and -support. - -The Burmese woman takes a great interest in public affairs, and the -portals of the University of Rangoon have been open to her for a number -of years. Her intelligence, her beauty, her freedom from racial caste -prejudice, all make her an acceptable bride in the eyes of foreigners -who go to Burma. - -Marriage with a foreigner means as a rule that she can live in plenty -and comfort without working. Naturally she looks upon such a marriage -with favor. The Burmans are of Mongolian origin, and consequently -the Chinese and Burmese marriage produces a virile race. With this -exception the intermixture of races in Burma has not proved desirable. - -This is especially so in case of marriages between Europeans and -Burmans. The offspring of such marriages are termed Eurasians, who -unfortunately seem to be looked down upon both by full-blooded -Europeans and Burmans. - -Almost as difficult a problem as that of the Eurasian is the tobacco -problem in Burma. Men, women, and children smoke. The cheroot at -which they almost incessantly puff is eighteen inches long and about -a quarter of an inch in diameter. It is wrapped in a banana leaf, and -its mouthpiece consists of bamboo. The Burman tobacco is so strong that -only one-fourth of the filling of the cheroot consists of tobacco. The -balance is a mixture of innocuous herbs. - -If possible the Burman exceeds other Asiatics in hospitality. He -is par excellence the host of Asia. Any stranger may stroll into a -Burman dwelling and demand hospitality for at least three days. No -remuneration is expected. Opposite a Burmese house one usually finds -earthen pots of water placed for the use of the traveler, under a roof -especially made to shelter the water from the hot rays of the tropical -sun. These pots are tightly covered with earthen lids, which protect -the water from dirt and dust. - -The social life of the Burmans is interesting in the extreme. They -indulge in boxing matches, pony, bullock, and boat races, cock -fighting, splitting cocoanuts, snake charming, and juggling. Chess and -dominoes are the favorite games. Theatres are in great vogue. The plot -of the play is usually somewhat monotonous, for almost invariably the -hero is a prince of the blood royal, the heroine is a princess, and the -rustics from the villages figure as clowns and jesters. - -The dancing, though different from what it is in the Occident, is -not without interest to a Westerner. The motions of the dancers are -graceful and spry. Burman amusements last days and nights. The best -known secular festival is the pwe. - -The entertainment is melodramatic. Comedy and tragedy are introduced, -music and dancing are included. The plot of the play is flimsy. The -performance includes tricks of clowns who are masters of their art and -intensely amusing. The musical instruments in the orchestra consist of -a circle of drums, gongs, trumpets, and wooden clappers, and the music -out-Wagners Wagner in its deafening noise. - -Many religious festivals are celebrated. Probably the occasion when -presents are distributed to the priests is the most interesting. The -people bring their presents and pile them up outside an alley made of -bamboo latticework. One brings candles, another matches, another brass -vessels, etc., as though some previous arrangement had been made as to -just what each one shall give. - -For the most part the donors are women, and all of them are dressed in -their best. The monks, attended by a boy carrying a large basket, pass -down the bamboo alley in single file, and each basket is filled with -presents. A trio of masqueraders with faces blackened, dancing to comic -music, follows the procession. Anything that has not been distributed -to the priests is gathered up by them. - - - - -LATEST ISSUES - - -BUFFALO BILL STORIES - -The most original stories of Western adventure. The only weekly -containing the adventures of the famous Buffalo Bill. =High art colored -covers.= =Thirty-two big pages.= =Price, 5 cents.= - - 425--Buffalo Bill's Balloon Escape; or, Out of the Grip of the Great - Swamp. - - 426--Buffalo Bill and the Guerrillas; or, The Flower Girl of San - Felipe. - - 427--Buffalo Bill's Border War; or, The Mexican Vendetta. - - 428--Buffalo Bill's Mexican Mix-up; or, The Bullfighter's Defiance. - - 429--Buffalo Bill and the Gamecock; or, The Red Trail on the Canadian. - - 430--Buffalo Bill and the Cheyenne Raiders; or, The Spurs of the - Gamecock. - - 431--Buffalo Bill's Whirlwind Finish; or, The Gamecock Wins. - - 432--Buffalo Bill's Santa Fe Secret; or, The Brave of Taos. - - 433--Buffalo Bill and the Taos Terror; or, The Rites of the Red - Estufa. - - 434--Buffalo Bill's Bracelet of Gold; or, The Hidden Death. - - 435--Buffalo Bill and the Border Baron; or, The Cattle King of No - Man's Land. - - -BRAVE AND BOLD WEEKLY - -All kinds of stories that boys like. The biggest and best nickel's -worth ever offered. =High art colored covers.= =Thirty-two big pages.= -=Price, 5 cents.= - - 338--Working His Way Upward; or, From Footlights to Riches. By Fred - Thorpe. - - 339--The Fourteenth Boy; or, How Vin Lovell Won Out. By Weldon J. - Cobb. - - 340--Among the Nomads; or, Life in the Open. By the author of - "Through Air to Fame." - - 341--Bob, the Acrobat; or, Hustle and Win Out. By Harrie Irving - Hancock. - - 342--Through the Earth; or, Jack Nelson's Invention. By Fred Thorpe. - - 343--The Boy Chief; or, Comrades of Camp and Trail. By John De Morgan. - - 344--Smart Alec; or, Bound to Get There. By Weldon J. Cobb. - - 345--Climbing Up; or, The Meanest Boy Alive. By Harrie Irving Hancock. - - 346--Comrades Three; or, With Gordon Keith in the South Seas. By - Lawrence White, Jr. - - 347--A Young Snake-charmer; or, The Fortunes of Dick Erway. By Fred - Thorpe. - - 348--Checked Through to Mars; or, Adventures in Other Worlds. By - Weldon J. Cobb. - - 349--Fighting the Cowards; or, Among the Georgia Moonshiners. By - Harrie Irving Hancock. - - 350--The Mud River Boys; or, The Fight for Penlow's Mill. By John L. - Douglas. - - 351--Grit and Wit; or, Two of a Kind. By Fred Thorpe. - - -MOTOR STORIES - -The latest and best five-cent weekly. We won't say how interesting -it is. See for yourself. =High art colored covers.= =Thirty-two big -pages.= =Price, 5 cents.= - - 16--Motor Matt's Quest; or, Three Chums in Strange Waters. - - 17--Motor Matt's Close Call; or, The Snare of Don Carlos. - - 18--Motor Matt in Brazil; or, Under the Amazon. - - 19--Motor Matt's Defiance; or, Around the Horn. - - 20--Motor Matt Makes Good; or, Another Victory for the Motor Boys. - - 21--Motor Matt's Launch; or, A Friend in Need. - - 22--Motor Matt's Enemies; or, A Struggle for the Right. - - 23--Motor Matt's Prize; or, The Pluck That Wins. - - 24--Motor Matt on the Wing; or, Flying for Fame and Fortune. - - 25--Motor Matt's Reverse; or, Caught in a Losing Game. - - 26--Motor Matt's "Make or Break"; or, Advancing the Spark of Friendship. - - 27--Motor Matt's Engagement; or, On the Road With a Show. - - 28--Motor Matt's "Short Circuit"; or, The Mahout's Vow. - - 29--Motor Matt's Make-up; or, Playing a New Rôle. - - -_For sale by all newsdealers, or will be sent to any address on receipt -of price, 5 cents per copy, in money or postage stamps, by_ - -STREET & SMITH, Publishers, 79-89 Seventh Avenue, New York - - -=IF YOU WANT ANY BACK NUMBERS= of our Weeklies and cannot procure them -from your newsdealer, they can be obtained from this office direct. -Fill out the following Order Blank and send it to us with the price -of the Weeklies you want and we will send them to you by return mail. -=POSTAGE STAMPS TAKEN THE SAME AS MONEY.= - - - ________________________ _190_ - - _STREET & SMITH, 79-89 Seventh Avenue, New York City._ - - _Dear Sirs: Enclosed please find_ ___________________________ - _cents for which send me_: - - TIP TOP WEEKLY, Nos. ________________________________ - - NICK CARTER WEEKLY, " ________________________________ - - DIAMOND DICK WEEKLY, " ________________________________ - - BUFFALO BILL STORIES, " ________________________________ - - BRAVE AND BOLD WEEKLY, " ________________________________ - - MOTOR STORIES, " ________________________________ - - _Name_ ________________ _Street_ ________________ - - _City_ ________________ _State_ ________________ - - - - -A GREAT SUCCESS!! - -MOTOR STORIES - - -Every boy who reads one of the splendid adventures of Motor Matt, which -are making their appearance in this weekly, is at once surprised and -delighted. Surprised at the generous quantity of reading matter that we -are giving for five cents; delighted with the fascinating interest of -the stories, second only to those published in the Tip Top Weekly. - -Matt has positive mechanical genius, and while his adventures are -unusual, they are, however, drawn so true to life that the reader can -clearly see how it is possible for the ordinary boy to experience them. - - -_HERE ARE THE TITLES NOW READY AND THOSE TO BE PUBLISHED_: - - 1--Motor Matt; or, The King of the Wheel. - - 2--Motor Matt's Daring; or, True to His Friends. - - 3--Motor Matt's Century Run; or, The Governor's Courier. - - 4--Motor Matt's Race; or, The Last Flight of the "Comet." - - 5--Motor Matt's Mystery; or, Foiling a Secret Plot. - - 6--Motor Matt's Red Flier; or, On the High Gear. - - 7--Motor Matt's Clue; or, The Phantom Auto. - - 8--Motor Matt's Triumph; or, Three Speeds Forward. - - 9--Motor Matt's Air Ship; or, The Rival Inventors. - - 10--Motor Matt's Hard Luck; or, The Balloon House Plot. - - 11--Motor Matt's Daring Rescue; or, The Strange Case of Helen Brady. - - 12--Motor Matt's Peril; or, Cast Away in the Bahamas. - - 13--Motor Matt's Queer Find; or, The Secret of the Iron Chest. - - 14--Motor Matt's Promise; or, The Wreck of the "Hawk." - - 15--Motor Matt's Submarine; or, The Strange Cruise of the "Grampus." - - 16--Motor Matt's Quest; or, Three Chums in Strange Waters. - - 17--Motor Matt's Close Call; or, The Snare of Don Carlos. - - 18--Motor Matt in Brazil; or, Under the Amazon. - - 19--Motor Matt's Defiance; or, Around the Horn. - - 20--Motor Matt Makes Good; or, Another Victory for the Motor Boys. - - 21--Motor Matt's Launch; or, A Friend in Need. - - 22--Motor Matt's Enemies; or, A Struggle for the Right. - - 23--Motor Matt's Prize; or, The Pluck that Wins. - - 24--Motor Matt on the Wing; or, Flying for Fame and Fortune. - -To be Published on August 9th. - - 25--Motor Matt's Reverse; or, Caught in a Losing Game. - -To be Published on August 16th. - - 26--Motor Matt's "Make or Break"; or, Advancing the Spark of - Friendship. - -To be Published on August 23d. - - 27--Motor Matt's Engagement; or, On the Road With a Show. - -To be Published on August 30th. - - 28--Motor Matt's "Short Circuit"; or, The Mahout's Vow. - - -PRICE, FIVE CENTS - -At all newsdealers, or sent, postpaid, by the publishers upon receipt -of the price. - - STREET & SMITH, _Publishers_, NEW YORK - - - - -Transcriber's Notes: - - -Added table of contents. - -Italics are represented with _underscores_, bold with =equal signs=. - -Converted oe ligatures to "oe" for this text version; ligatures -retained in HTML edition. - -Page 3, changed "an an" to "as an" in "white as an American." - -Page 10, changed "me" to "we" in "we were going after Archie" - -Page 18, corrected typo "MsGlory" in "McGlory was out of the car." - -Page 22, changed "of" to "off" in "as he started off." - -Page 27, corrected typo "metoowah" in "Awake, _meetoowah_!" - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's Motor Matt's Engagement, by Stanley R. 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Matthews. - </title> - <style type="text/css"> - -body { - margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - - h1,h2,h3 { - text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ - clear: both; -} - -p { - margin-top: .51em; - text-align: justify; - margin-bottom: .49em; -} - -hr { - width: 33%; - margin-top: 2em; - margin-bottom: 2em; - margin-left: auto; - margin-right: auto; - clear: both; -} - -hr.chap {width: 65%} -hr.full {width: 95%;} -hr.r5 {width: 5%; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;} - -table { - margin-left: auto; - margin-right: auto; -} - - .tdl {text-align: left;} - .tdr {text-align: right;} - .tdc {text-align: center;} - -.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ - /* visibility: hidden; */ - position: absolute; - left: 92%; - font-size: smaller; - text-align: right; -} /* page numbers */ - -.bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} - -.bt {border-top: solid 2px;} - -.br {border-right: solid 2px;} - -.bbox {border: solid 2px;} - -.center {text-align: center;} - -.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} - -.u {text-decoration: underline;} - -/* Images */ -.figcenter { - margin: auto; - text-align: center; -} - -/* Poetry */ -.poem { - margin-left:10%; - margin-right:10%; - text-align: left; -} - -.poem br {display: none;} - -.poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} - -/* Transcriber's notes */ -.transnote {background-color: #E6E6FA; - color: black; - font-size:smaller; - padding:0.5em; - margin-bottom:5em; - font-family:sans-serif, serif; } - .poem span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} - .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} -img { border: 0; } -.huge { font-size: 200%; } -.large { font-size: 150%; } -.medium { font-size: 125%; } -.small { font-size: 75%; } -.chaptitle { text-align: center; } -.sig { text-align: right; margin-right: 1.5em; } - </style> - </head> -<body> - - -<pre> - -Project Gutenberg's Motor Matt's Engagement, by Stanley R. Matthews - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Motor Matt's Engagement - or, On The Road With A Show - -Author: Stanley R. Matthews - -Release Date: May 23, 2016 [EBook #52138] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MOTOR MATT'S ENGAGEMENT *** - - - - -Produced by David Edwards, Demian Katz and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (Images -courtesy of the Digital Library@Villanova University -(http://digital.library.villanova.edu/)) - - - - - - -</pre> - - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;"> -<a href="images/coverlarge.jpg"><img src="images/cover.jpg" width="400" height="570" alt="Motor Matt, as he coaxed the last ounce -of speed from the motor, shouted encouragingly -to the terrified girl -on the trapeze." /></a> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - - - -<h1>MOTOR STORIES</h1> - -<table summary="scaffold"> -<tr> -<td style="width: 50%; padding-right: 1.5em;" class="tdr"> -THRILLING<br /> -ADVENTURE -</td> -<td style="width: 50%; padding-left: 1.5em;" class="tdl"> -MOTOR<br /> -FICTION -</td> -</tr><tr> -<td class="bb bt tdl"> -NO. 27<br /> -AUG. 28, 1909. -</td> -<td class="bb bt tdr"> -FIVE<br /> -CENTS -</td> -</tr><tr> -<td class="tdr large" style="padding-right: 0.5em;"> -MOTOR MATT'S<br /> -ENGAGEMENT -</td><td class="tdr large"> -<span class="smcap">or</span> ON THE ROAD<br /> -WITH A SHOW -</td></tr> -<tr><td> </td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdl"> -<span class="smcap"><i>Street & Smith<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Publishers</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 3em;">New York</span></i></span> -</td> -</tr></table> -<hr class="chap" /> - - - - -<table summary="scaffold" class="bbox"> -<tr><td colspan="2" class="tdc huge">MOTOR STORIES</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdr large" style="padding-right: .25em;">THRILLING ADVENTURE</td><td class="tdl large" style="padding-left: .25em;">MOTOR FICTION</td></tr> -</table> - -<p class="center"><i>Issued Weekly. By subscription $2.50 per year. Copyright, 1909, by</i> <span class="smcap">Street & Smith</span>, <i>79-89 Seventh Avenue, New York, N. Y.</i></p> - -<table summary="scaffold" class="bb bt"> -<tr><td style="width: 33%;" class="tdl">No. 27.</td><td style="width: 33%;" class="tdc">NEW YORK, August 28, 1909.</td><td style="width: 33%;" class="tdr">Price Five Cents.</td></tr> -</table> - - - - -<p class="center huge">Motor Matt's Engagement;</p> - -<p class="center">OR,</p> - -<p class="center large">ON THE ROAD WITH A SHOW.</p> - -<hr class="r5" /> -<p class="center">By the author of "MOTOR MATT."</p> -<hr class="r5" /> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS">CONTENTS</a></h2> - -<p class="center"> -<a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I. "ON THE BANKS OF THE WABASH."</a><br /> -<a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II. IN THE CALLIOPE TENT.</a><br /> -<a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III. AN EAVESDROPPER.</a><br /> -<a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV. QUEER PROCEEDINGS.</a><br /> -<a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V. MOTOR MATT PROTESTS.</a><br /> -<a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI. ABLAZE IN THE AIR.</a><br /> -<a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII. WAS IT TREACHERY?</a><br /> -<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII. A CALL FOR HELP.</a><br /> -<a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX. BLACK MAGIC.</a><br /> -<a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X. THE MAHOUT'S FLIGHT.</a><br /> -<a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI. THE PAPER TRAIL.</a><br /> -<a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII. CARL TURNS A TRICK.</a><br /> -<a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII. THE LACQUERED BOX.</a><br /> -<a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV. THE HYPNOTIST'S VICTIM.</a><br /> -<a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV. "FOR THE SAKE OF HAIDEE!"</a><br /> -<a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI. THE RAJAH'S NIECE.</a><br /> -<a href="#SAVED_BY_A_FALLING_TREE">SAVED BY A FALLING TREE.</a><br /> -<a href="#How_They_Captured_the_Python">How They Captured the Python.</a><br /> -<a href="#ON_THE_ROAD_TO_MANDALAY">ON THE ROAD TO MANDALAY.</a><br /> -</p> - - - -<div class="bbox"> - -<h2><a name="CHARACTERS_THAT_APPEAR_IN_THIS_STORY" id="CHARACTERS_THAT_APPEAR_IN_THIS_STORY">CHARACTERS THAT APPEAR IN THIS STORY.</a></h2> - - -<blockquote> - -<p><b>Motor Matt King.</b></p> - -<p><b>Joe McGlory</b>, a young cowboy who proves himself a lad of worth -and character, and whose eccentricities are all on the humorous -side. A good chum to tie to—a point Motor Matt is quick to -perceive.</p> - -<p><b>Ping</b>, a Chinese boy who insists on working for Motor Matt, and -who contrives to make himself valuable, perhaps invaluable.</p> - -<p><b>Carl Pretzel</b>, an old chum who flags Motor Matt and more trouble -than he can manage, at about the same time. In the rôle of -detective, he makes many blunders, wise and otherwise, finding -success only to wonder how he did it.</p> - -<p><b>Ben Ali</b>, an elephant driver; a Hindoo gifted in the arts for which -his country is famous and infamous. The uncle of Margaret -Manners, he revenges himself upon his brother, the rajah, in a -way that proves his own undoing.</p> - -<p><b>Aurung Zeeb</b>, another elephant driver, and a friend of Ben Ali, -assisting in his scoundrelly work.</p> - -<p><b>Haidee</b>, whose real name is Margaret Manners, a girl from India, -who becomes the hypnotic subject of Ben Ali, and is saved from -him by Motor Matt and Carl.</p> - -<p><b>Boss Burton</b>, manager and proprietor of the Big Consolidated -Shows. A man who tries to be "square," in his own remarkable -way.</p></blockquote> - -</div> - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I.</a></h2> - -<p class="chaptitle">"ON THE BANKS OF THE WABASH."</p> - - -<p>Strange, how a few harmless ingredients, thrown together -and mixed, will set the trouble pot a-boiling.</p> - -<p>Saltpeter is an innocent and useful product, and so is -charcoal and sulphur; but seventy-five per cent. of the -first, fifteen per cent. of the second, and ten per cent. of -the third, when properly mixed, will make gunpowder—an -explosive that has slain millions, made kingdoms -over into republics, and changed the map of the world -again and again.</p> - -<p>So, on this beautiful morning, with the banks of the -Wabash River for a setting, fate was juggling with a -few trifling elements for the purpose of combining them -and manufacturing trouble.</p> - -<p>The Big Consolidated Shows were pitching their -tents near that part of the river, and two of the ingredients -that helped form the dangerous mixture were connected -with the "tented aggregation."</p> - -<p>One was the big elephant, Rajah, who had a tremendous -thirst and was wabbling along toward the river -for a drink; the other was a Chinese boy, dipping a -couple of pails of water from the stream for the steam -calliope. The third element—the one having no connection -with the show—was a German youth with a weakness -for bursting into song.</p> - -<p>The elephant, dryer than the desert of Sahara, was -making big and rapid tracks for the brightly gleaming -water, the Chinaman was leisurely filling his pails, and -the German was strolling along the bank, dusty from a -long tramp and with a stick over his shoulder from -which swung a bundle bound up in a knotted handkerchief.</p> - -<p>If the German had known how to sing he would not -have attracted the attention of the Chinaman; and if the -Chinaman had not looked and grunted his disgust, the -German would not have become hostile; and if Rajah, -the elephant, had not possessed such a playful disposition, -the German and the Chinaman would probably have -separated with no more than a few mongrel words of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span> -personal opinion. But fate was working overtime that -day, and had an eye for weird combinations.</p> - -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">"Ach, der moon vas shining pright upon der Vabash,<br /></span> -<span class="i2">From der fieldts dere comes some shmells oof new-mown hay,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Droo der candlelight der sycamores vas gleaming,<br /></span> -<span class="i2">On der panks oof der Vabash, righdt avay!"<br /></span> -</div></div> - -<p>This was the German's song, and it sounded as though -it had been played on a fish horn. The Chinaman could -be seen to shiver as he deposited a pailful of water on -the bank, straightened erect, and looked at the singer. -There was that in his slant eyes which brought the German -to a halt.</p> - -<p>"Don'd you like der song, shink?" demanded the -Dutchman, pushing out his chin in an irritating way.</p> - -<p>"Woosh!" snorted the Chinaman, "you makee sing all -same like poodle dog makee howl."</p> - -<p>"Py shiminy," cried the Dutchman, "I fight pedder as -I sing. I don'd let no monkey mit a pigdail make some -foolishness mit me."</p> - -<p>"Dutchy boy clazy," declared the Celestial.</p> - -<p>"I nefer liked der shinks anyways," went on the other, -dropping his stick and his bundle. "Dey vas sheap -skates, you bet you, und vas alvays taking avay goot -shobs from American fellers. I vill tie you oop in some -bowknots mit your pigdail und trop you py der rifer. -Yah, so."</p> - -<p>"Dutchy boy makee spell 'able,'" and the Chinaman, -with supreme contempt, picked up his empty pail.</p> - -<p>"You peen afraidt mit yourseluf!" shouted the Dutchman.</p> - -<p>"My plenty busy; makee cally water fo' calliope. No -gottee time to fight. Come 'lound after palade, China -boy makee Dutchy boy suppa' fo' lion."</p> - -<p>"Dot's me," breathed the Dutchman, picking up his -stick and bundle. "I'll be aroundt after dot barade, you -bed my life, und I don'd make some subber for der lion, -neider."</p> - -<p>He started on slowly.</p> - -<p>Unnoticed by either of the boys, the mahout on Rajah's -neck had kept the elephant close to the river bank. The -mahout was dozing, and Rajah was filling the piece of -hose, more generally known as his trunk, with Wabash -water and squirting it into his open mouth.</p> - -<p>Now, Rajah was an eccentric elephant. There were -times when he was full of mischief and playful, and -other times when the wild jungle blood got the upper -hand of him and he became dangerous.</p> - -<p>On two or three occasions, when Old Ben, the African -lion, had tried to mix things with the royal Bengal -tiger, Rajah had been called in to separate the fighters -with a well-directed stream, hurled with catapult force -from his trunk.</p> - -<p>Rajah's cunning little eyes had been taking in the -quarrel between the Dutchman and the Chinaman. Something -prompted him to elevate his trunk and throw a -stream after the retreating Dutch boy.</p> - -<p>The lad was knocked off his feet, his stick going one -way and his bundle the other. He jumped to his feet, -spluttering, and whirled around.</p> - -<p>Rajah was innocently squirting a dozen or more gallons -of the river into his capacious throat, but the Chinaman, -the empty pail still in his hand, was laughing so that -he almost fell off the bank.</p> - -<p>It was the most natural thing in the world for the -Dutch boy, in the excitement of the moment, to lay the -whole blame on the Chinese boy's shoulders.</p> - -<p>The Dutchman had not seen Rajah use his trunk, and -the Chinaman had. It was very laughable, and the -Chinaman's cackling mirth was unrestrained.</p> - -<p>The Dutchman saw only the empty bucket in the -Chinaman's hand, and it seemed certain the deluge of -water had come from the bucket.</p> - -<p>"I gif you fits for dot, py shiminy!" whooped the -Teuton.</p> - -<p>"No can do!" declared the Celestial.</p> - -<p>The Dutchman came on with a bound, his dripping -clothes sprinkling everything in his vicinity.</p> - -<p>The Chinaman threw the bucket. The other dodged. -The bucket sailed on through the air and struck Delhi, -Rajah's mate, a sharp rap on her big, fanning ear. Delhi -trumpeted loudly and started furiously after the boys.</p> - -<p>Both the Chinaman and the Dutchman, their faculties -completely wrapped up in their quarrel, gave no attention -to the elephants. Coming together like a thousand of -brick, they clinched and wrestled back and forth on the -bank.</p> - -<p>Delhi, wild with anger, gave no heed to the fierce -prodding of her mahout, but rushed onward, her trunk -stretched eagerly ahead of her and twitching and curving -in its desire to lay hold of the struggling youngsters.</p> - -<p>For a second the prospect was very dark for the -Teuton and the Celestial. What would have happened -to them is problematical if Delhi had had her way. But -the big brute was not allowed to work her will. Rajah -interfered; not out of any desire to be of help to the -boys, but rather to assist his mate in securing vengeance.</p> - -<p>Quickly Rajah aimed his trunk and hurled a stream of -water. The jet struck the two boys, lifted them from -their feet, and hurled them into the river. The lads were -tossed from the bank in just the nick of time. Hardly -were they clear of the spot where they had been wrestling -when Delhi's disappointed trunk swept over it.</p> - -<p>Rajah's mahout, of course, had aroused himself, and -he and the other man got busy bringing the elephants -into subjection.</p> - -<p>The Dutchman and the Chinaman had fallen into deep -water. It was necessary to disentangle themselves from -each other in order to swim and keep from being -drowned.</p> - -<p>As Delhi backed away from the water's edge, under the -blows of her mahout's sharp, steel prod, she flung the -Dutchman's bundle and stick at the thrashing forms in -the water, and followed these with the buckets.</p> - -<p>"I can do oop a shink mit vone hand," gurgled the -Dutchman, as his dripping head appeared above the surface -of the river; "aber ven a goople oof elephants iss -rung indo der game, den I don'd—— Wow!"</p> - -<p>The handkerchief bundle, hurled with terrific force, -struck him on the head and sent him under.</p> - -<p>"Dutchy boy no good!" spluttered the Chinaman. -"Him velly fine false alarm—— Woosh!"</p> - -<p>One of the buckets hit the Celestial in the small of the -back and he vanished in a flurry of bubbles. When he -and the Dutchman again reappeared, Delhi and Rajah -were under control and no further danger threatened.</p> - -<p>"What's the matter with you two kids?" cried Delhi's -mahout, excited and angry.</p> - -<p>"Der shink drew some vater on me," answered the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> -Dutchman, "und made more monkey-doodle pitzness dan -I vould shtand for."</p> - -<p>"Him no savvy," declared the Chinese. "El'fant makee -thlow water."</p> - -<p>Rajah's mahout was a Hindoo. In a queer jargon of -broken English, he described the way Rajah had hosed -down the Dutchman as the latter was walking off.</p> - -<p>The other mahout lost his wrath in a flood of merriment.</p> - -<p>"It's all a mistake!" he called. "Come out o' the wet -and stop your foolishness. If ye try to do any more -fightin', I'll set Delhi onto you ag'in."</p> - -<p>The Dutchman labored ashore with his stick and his -bundle, and the Chinaman followed with his buckets.</p> - -<p>"What do you s'pose Motor Matt would think of this, -Ping?" went on the mahout. "If he——"</p> - -<p>But what the mahout was intending to say was lost -in a roar of amazement and delight from the Dutchman.</p> - -<p>"Vat's dot? Modor Matt? Vere he iss, anyvay? Say, -I vas his bard, und I peen looking for him efery blace, -longer as I can dell. Shpeak, vonce! Vere iss Modor -Matt?"</p> - -<p>"China boy Motol Matt's pard," spoke up the dripping -Ping. "My workee fo' Motol Matt; Dutchy boy no -workee."</p> - -<p>"Py shiminy, I dell you some more dot I peen Carl -Pretzel," shouted the Dutchman, "und dot I vas looking -for der show, und ditn't know I vould findt Modor Matt -at der same dime. Vere iss he, misder?" and Carl appealed -anxiously to the mahout.</p> - -<p>"He's travelin' with the show, youngster," answered -the mahout, "an' doin' a flyin'-machine stunt twice a day. -If ye want to find him, hike for the show grounds."</p> - -<p>Without paying any further attention to Ping or the -elephants, Carl gathered in his cap—which lay at the -water's edge, and was the only thing belonging to him -that was not dripping wet—and laid a rapid course for -the top of the bank.</p> - -<p>Ping, filling the pails, started after Carl, worrying not -a little over this new pard of Motor Matt's who had -appeared so unexpectedly on the scene.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.</a></h2> - -<p class="chaptitle">IN THE CALLIOPE TENT.</p> - - -<p>"I don't like it, pard, and you can bet your moccasins -on that," said Joe McGlory.</p> - -<p>"There are a whole lot of things about this business -I don't fancy," returned Motor Matt; "but we're under -contract, Joe, and Boss Burton says he'll give us an -extra fifty a week if we do the trick."</p> - -<p>"But the girl! What's her notion about it? Hanging -to a trapeze under the aëroplane isn't a stunt to be -sneezed at."</p> - -<p>"She's anxious to do the trick. She'll get fifty dollars -a week for it, and the money looks good to her."</p> - -<p>"There's the danger, pard. Her neck's worth more -than fifty plunks a week."</p> - -<p>"She's a little brick, that Haidee—pure grit. I'll see -that she's not placed in much danger."</p> - -<p>"You'll have your hands full looking after yourself -and the aëroplane. Sufferin' whirligigs! You know how -hard it is to manage the <i>Comet</i> when there's a weight -suspended beneath."</p> - -<p>"I can do it," declared Matt.</p> - -<p>"Of course you can do, old socks—you can do anything -when you set your mind to it. But, tell me this, -what has that old elephant driver, Ben Ali, got to do -with Haidee? Ben Ali's a Hindoo, and Haidee is almost -as white as an American girl."</p> - -<p>"Ben Ali's her uncle, Joe. Haidee's mother was Ben -Ali's sister, and Haidee's father was an English officer -living in Bombay. The girl told me all this yesterday -at the time she begged me to do what Boss Burton -wanted and let her trail the <i>Comet</i> aloft on the trapeze."</p> - -<p>"Funny combination," muttered Joe.</p> - -<p>McGlory was in his overclothes, and had just finished -getting the aëroplane ready for the parade. The "animal -top"—that is, the menagerie tent—had been hoisted, and -the small canvas lean-to that housed the steam calliope -had been put in place alongside. The calliope was not -in the lean-to, but was out on the grounds, being put -in shape for the parade.</p> - -<p>Matt and Joe usually came to the calliope tent to -make themselves ready for the street procession. They, -together with Ping, had been three weeks with the Big -Consolidated, Matt making ascensions in the aëroplane -twice daily, following the parade and just before the -evening performance—wind and weather permitting. So -proficient had Matt become in handling the flying machine -that nothing short of a stiff gale or a hard rain -kept him from carrying out his engagements for a double -exhibition each day.</p> - -<p>The aëroplane had caught the popular fancy, and had -proved the biggest kind of a card for Boss Burton, -proprietor of the show. Under its own motive power, the -machine formed a star feature of the parade, traveling -slowly on the bicycle wheels which were necessary in -giving it a start when flights were made.</p> - -<p>From tip to tip, the wings of the aëroplane measured -more than thirty feet. Of course it could not travel in -the parade with such a stretch of surface across the -streets, so Matt had arranged the bicycle wheels in such -a manner that the <i>Comet</i> moved sideways in the procession, -the king of the motor boys, his cowboy pard, -and his Chinese comrade occupying positions in the seats -on the lower wing.</p> - -<p>When Matt and his friends first joined the outfit, Boss -Burton had supplied them with bespangled apparel, -which, if they had worn it, would, according to McGlory, -have made them "a holy show."</p> - -<p>Matt and McGlory balked at the glittering costumes, -but Ping had hung to his beadwork and gilt trimmings -with a fierce determination there was no shaking.</p> - -<p>McGlory compromised with Burton by getting into a -swell cowboy rig, but for Matt there was no such thing -as compromise. This engagement with the show was -purely a business proposition, and he refused to make -a spectacle out of himself. He looked well, too, in his -unostentatious blue cap and clothes, and was given many -a cheer as the aëroplane pitched and shivered along in -the procession.</p> - -<p>Boss Burton was a shrewd manager, and it was said -that he lay awake nights while section two of the show -train was making its jumps between stands, thinking -up new acts that would thrill the patrons of the Big -Consolidated. His last idea was to hitch a trapeze to -the bottom of the aëroplane, and have Haidee, Ben Ali's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> -pretty niece, perform on the flying bar while Matt was -manœuvring the <i>Comet</i> over the show grounds.</p> - -<p>It was this new wrinkle that had drawn objections -from McGlory when he and Matt had retired to the -calliope tent to make ready for the parade.</p> - -<p>About all Matt had to do to get ready was to wash -and brush himself. McGlory, on the other hand, had -to get into a blue shirt, corduroy trousers, "chaps," -tight, high-heeled boots, and a broad-brimmed sombrero.</p> - -<p>"What's become of Ping?" asked Matt, stepping to -the tent flap and looking off over the busy grounds.</p> - -<p>It would be an hour before the parade could start, -and the bright sun glowed over a scene of feverish activity. -The side-show tents, the stable tents, and cook -tent were already up. A small army of men was working -on the circus "top," and the rhythmical thump of -mauls on tent stakes could be heard on every hand. -Horses in two, four, six, and eight-horse teams were -moving about; band wagons, cages, and chariots were -being dusted and cleaned; the painted banners in front -of the side-show were being laced to their guys; the -candy "butchers" were getting their places in readiness, -and throughout the various occupations of the men ran -an orderly disorder, everywhere noticeable.</p> - -<p>But Matt could see nothing of Ping, and he turned -away to where McGlory, his foot on an overturned -bucket, was buckling a big-roweled Mexican spur to his -heel.</p> - -<p>"Ping is always promptness itself in getting into his -tinsel frills and furbelows," remarked Matt, "and I -can't understand what's keeping the boy so late this -morning."</p> - -<p>"He's been put on the steam calliope, pard," laughed -McGlory, dropping his foot from the bucket and stamping -until the rowel jingled. "Little Squinch-eye seems -to have fallen in love with that bunch of steam whistles. -He tried to play 'Yankee Doodle' on the pipes, in Indianapolis, -and had almost stampeded the elephants before -the calliope man could choke him off. Sufferin' jangles, -pard, you never heard such a sound."</p> - -<p>Before Matt could make any response, a soft voice -called from outside:</p> - -<p>"Motor Matt! Can I come in a minute?"</p> - -<p>"Sure," replied Matt heartily.</p> - -<p>A lithe, graceful form, in velvet and spangles, leaped -lightly through the opening.</p> - -<p>"Haidee!" exclaimed Matt, staring.</p> - -<p>The girl bowed laughingly and threw a kiss, just as -she was in the habit of doing after her trapeze work -in the "big top."</p> - -<p>"Yes, friends," she answered; "Haidee, the Flying -Marvel, who is to do a turn on Motor Matt's flying -machine just before the doors open. I am also to ride -on the top wing of the <i>Comet</i> during the parade. Will -I do?"</p> - -<p>Lifting her arms, she pirouetted around for the observation -of the boys, then paused and smiled bewitchingly.</p> - -<p>"Do?" cried McGlory. "Why, sis, you'll be the hit -of the piece. All I hope"—and McGlory's face went -rather long—"is that you and Matt come through your -trip in the air without any trouble."</p> - -<p>"I'm not afraid!" declared Haidee.</p> - -<p>"No more you're not, sis. If you were riding on -the lower wing with Matt the whole game would be -different; but you're to hang under the machine, and -there'll be more pitching and plunging than if you were -aboard a bucking bronk. Hang on, that's all, and don't -try to hang by your heels."</p> - -<p>"I'll get an extra fifty dollars a week!" cried the -girl.</p> - -<p>It was plain to be seen that she placed great store on -that "fifty dollars a week."</p> - -<p>"What does your uncle, Ben Ali, think of it, Haidee?" -asked Matt.</p> - -<p>A barely perceptible frown crossed the girl's face. -What was passing in her mind? Whatever her thoughts -were, they found no echo in her answer.</p> - -<p>"Uncle Ben is glad to have me do it," and Haidee -retreated toward the door.</p> - -<p>"Have you seen Ping, Haidee?" inquired Matt.</p> - -<p>"When I saw him last," was the response, "he was -walking toward the river with a couple of buckets. I'll -be going, now. I'll see you again when the parade -starts. That trapeze act on the aëroplane will make a -great hit, don't you think?"</p> - -<p>"It ought to," said Matt.</p> - -<p>The girl vanished.</p> - -<p>"I'll walk over to the steam music box," remarked -McGlory, "and see if I can spot our pigtail friend."</p> - -<p>"All right," returned Matt, dropping down on an -overturned bucket and pulling a pencil and memorandum -book from his pocket.</p> - -<p>Before he could begin to figure, he heard a voice addressing -McGlory at the tent door—and it was a voice -that brought him up rigidly erect and staring.</p> - -<p>"Say, misder, iss dis der shteam cantalope tent?"</p> - -<p>McGlory laughed.</p> - -<p>"Well, yes, Dutchy, you've made a bull's-eye first -clatter. Here's where they keep the 'cantalope.' What's -the matter with you? Look like you'd gone in swimming -and forgotten to take off your clothes."</p> - -<p>"I tropped in der rifer mit meinseluf, und id vas -vetter as I t'ought. Say, vonce, iss Modor Matt aroundt -der blace?"</p> - -<p>"He's inside, and—— Sufferin' whirlwinds, but you're -in a hurry!"</p> - -<p>A bedraggled form, with a dripping bundle in one -hand and a stick in the other, hurled itself through the -opening with a yell.</p> - -<p>"Matt! Mein olt pard, Matt!"</p> - -<p>The next instant Carl Pretzel had rushed forward -and twined his water-soaked arms about the king of the -motor boys. The Dutchman's delight was of the frantic -kind, and he gurgled and whooped, and blubbered, and -wrestled with Matt in a life-and-death grip.</p> - -<p>McGlory, in amazement, watched from the entrance.</p> - -<p>"Carl!" exclaimed Matt. "By all that's good, if it -isn't Carl! Great spark plugs, old chap, where did you -drop from?"</p> - -<p>"Ach, from novere und eferyvere. Vat a habbiness! -I peen so dickled mit meinseluf I feel like I vas going -to pust! My olt raggie, Matt, vat I ain'd seen alreddy -for a t'ousant years!"</p> - -<p>Just then there was a rush behind McGlory, and -some one nearly knocked him over getting into the tent.</p> - -<p>"My workee fo' Motol Matt!" shrilled a high, angry -voice. "Dutchy boy no workee!"</p> - -<p>Ping was terribly hostile, but McGlory caught and -held him.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span></p> - -<p>Carl tore himself loose from Matt and would have -rushed at Ping had he not been restrained.</p> - -<p>"Looks like they'd both been in the river," remarked -McGlory.</p> - -<p>"What's the trouble here, boys?" asked Matt.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.</a></h2> - -<p class="chaptitle">AN EAVESDROPPER.</p> - - -<p>Both Carl and Ping tried to explain matters at the -same time. Each talked loud, in the hope of drowning -out the other, and the jargon was terrific. Finally McGlory -got a hand over the Chinaman's mouth, and Carl -was able to give his side of the question. After that, -Ping had his say.</p> - -<p>"There's been no cause whatever for this flare-up," -said Matt. "Everybody knows that Carl can't sing, but -everybody who's acquainted with him, too, knows that -he's got more pluck to the square inch than any fellow -of his size. Carl's all right, Ping. He went around -South America with Dick Ferral and me on that submarine, -and we parted company in San Francisco just -before I met up with Joe. Shake hands," and Matt -pushed Carl toward the Chinaman.</p> - -<p>"My workee fo' Motol Matt," whispered Ping, who -had likewise been given a push by the cowboy; "Dutchy -boy no workee, huh?"</p> - -<p>"You're both pards of mine," said Matt, "and you've -got to be friends. Now, shake hands."</p> - -<p>The shaking was done—rather hesitatingly, it is true, -but nevertheless it was done.</p> - -<p>"Now," went on Matt, "you get into your regalia, -Ping. Carl, you can get out of your wet clothes and -put on Joe's working suit. While you're about it, tell -me how you happen to be here. You stay and listen, -Joe," the young motorist added. "I want you to like -Carl as well as I do."</p> - -<p>"That's me, pard," laughed McGlory, taking a seat -on one of the buckets. "There's plenty of ginger in -the Dutchman, and that's what cuts the ice with me."</p> - -<p>Ping, covertly watching and listening, moved over to -his bag of clothes and began rigging himself out in his -gorgeous raiment. Carl, talking as he worked, removed -his water-logged costume.</p> - -<p>"I vas a tedectif, Matt," said he gravely.</p> - -<p>"What's that?" demanded McGlory.</p> - -<p>"Detective," smiled the king of the motor boys. "My -Dutch pard has been making a sleuth out of himself."</p> - -<p>"Yah, so," pursued Carl. "Tick Verral vent off mit -his uncle, in Tenver, und I run avay to San Francisco -looking for Matt. He don'd vas dere some more, und I -can't find oudt nodding aboudt vere he vas gone. I haf -to do somet'ing vile vaiting for him to turn oop, und -so I go indo der tedectif pitzness. Dot's great vork, -I bed you. You findt somet'ing for somepody, und dey -gif you all kindts oof money. Fine!"</p> - -<p>"How much have you made at the business, Carl?" -queried Matt.</p> - -<p>"Vell, nodding, so far as I haf gone, Matt. Aber I -don'd haf no luck mit it. I vas schust learning der -ropes. A feller hat his money took avay in 'Frisco. I -ged oudt oof dot mit a proken headt, und don'd findt -der money. Vell, next a olt laty in Salt Lake City -loses her parrot, und say she gif ten tollar vould I findt -him. I ketch der parrot off a push schust ven anodder -feller lays holt oof him. Ve fight for der pird, der pird -iss kilt, und some more I don'd ged nodding, only a -plack eye und some fierce talk from der olt laty. Aber -I don'd ged tiscouraged, nod at all. I vork on mit -meinseluf.</p> - -<p>"Pympy, I peen in Chicago—der blace vere ve vas, -Matt, mit der air ship. Dot's a great town for der -tedectif pitzness, I bed you. I try to hire oudt by a -prifate tedectif achency, aber dey don'd vant me. I keep -afder dose fellers, und afder I was t'rown from der -office a gouple oof times I valked in on dem by der -fire escape. Den dey gif me some chobs."</p> - -<p>"What sort of a job did they give you, Carl?"</p> - -<p>By that time the Dutch boy had stripped and put on -McGlory's clothes. Reaching for his water-logged bundle, -he untied it, and fished a folded newspaper from -an assortment of rubber collars, socks, and red cotton -handkerchiefs.</p> - -<p>The newspaper was very damp, and had to be handled -with care.</p> - -<p>"Dis iss some English papers, Matt," explained Carl. -"Id vas brinted in Lonton, und dose tedectif fellers had -him py deir office. How mooch iss a t'ousant pounds -in Unidet Shtates money, hey?"</p> - -<p>"Five thousand dollars."</p> - -<p>"Veil, dot's der chob—making dot fife t'ousant. I bet -you I get rich vone oof dose tays."</p> - -<p>"You have to do something, don't you, before you get -the money?" queried McGlory, with a wink at Matt.</p> - -<p>"Ach, dot's nodding," answered Carl, in a large, offhand -manner. "Readt dot, Matt."</p> - -<p>Matt took the wet newspaper and read a marked -paragraph, which ran as follows:</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>"£1,000 Reward! This sum will be paid for any information -concerning one Margaret Manners, last known -to be in Calcutta, India. Miss Manners is about eighteen -years of age, and is the only daughter of the late Captain -Lionel Manners, of the English Army, stationed -at Bombay. Miss Manners disappeared from her home, -under mysterious circumstances, and it is possible she -went to America and engaged in the circus business. -Any one with knowledge concerning the missing person, -and desirous of obtaining the reward, will please communicate -with Arthur Hoppleson, Solicitor, 10 Kent's -Road, London, W. C. Further information, which cannot -be publicly printed, will be cheerfully furnished."</p></blockquote> - -<p>Motor Matt, after reading the paragraph to himself, -read it aloud.</p> - -<p>"Why," grinned McGlory, "that outfit of detectives -was working your German friend, Matt. They gave -him that and sent him on a wild-goose chase, just to -get rid of him."</p> - -<p>"Dot's a misdake," declared Carl. "Dose fellers saw -I meant pitzness, py shinks, und dey gif me der hardest -case dey hat. Yah, so. Since den I haf peen looking -for shows. Eferyvere I hear aboudt some shows I hike -avay. Aber I don'd findt Miss Manners. She don'd -vas in der mooseums, oder in der Vild Vest shows, or in -Rinklings; und oof she vasn't in der Pig Gonsolidated, -den I vas oop some shtumps. My money has blayed -oudt, und I hat to rite in a pox car to Lafayette, -Intiana. Here I vas shdrolling along tovard der show<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> -groundts ven I see dot shink mit der puckets, und hat -sooch a scrap. Afder der scrap vas ofer, a man on a -elephant shpeak about Motor Matt. Den I don'd t'ink -oof nodding more. I come, so kevick as bossiple, to -findt my olt raggie. Und here ve vas, togedder like ve -used to be." A broad smile covered Carl's face. "Now -I don'd care for nodding. Oof you t'ink you could -help me findt Miss Manners, den I vill be opliged, und -gif you part oof der revard—a gouple oof pounds oof -id, anyvay."</p> - -<p>"It looks to me, Carl," said Matt, handing back the -paper, "as though the men in that detective office were -trying to have some fun with you. Have you written -to London to secure further information?"</p> - -<p>Carl looked startled.</p> - -<p>"Vell," he admitted, "I ditn't t'ink oof dat."</p> - -<p>"You're a fine detective, you are," said Matt. "You -might as well hunt for a needle in a haystack as to hunt -for this English girl. Can't you see? You've got a -pretty wide field to cover, and it is only <i>supposed</i> that -she came to America and engaged in the circus business."</p> - -<p>Carl ran his fingers through his carroty hair.</p> - -<p>"Meppy dot's right," he mused. "Oof dose fellers in -Chicago vas making some monkey-doodle pitzness mit -me, you bed you I vould like to fool dem. Meppy I -findt der girl. Den vat? V'y, dose tedectif fellers feel -like t'irty cent. You vas vorking for der show, Matt?"</p> - -<p>"We've an engagement with the manager for making -flights in our aëroplane."</p> - -<p>"Vat's dose?"</p> - -<p>"What's an aëroplane? Why, Carl, it's a heavier-than-air -flying machine."</p> - -<p>"So? Und you go oop in id?"</p> - -<p>"Yes."</p> - -<p>Carl sat on a bucket and ruminated for a space.</p> - -<p>"You know pooty near efery vone dot vorks for der -show, hey?" he asked.</p> - -<p>"Yes, I know every one."</p> - -<p>"Iss dere a girl mit der name oof Markaret Manners?"</p> - -<p>"No. But she'd have a different name if she was -with a show, Carl. Performers hardly ever use their -real names."</p> - -<p>"Dot's righdt, too." Once more Carl ran his fingers -through his mop of hair. "Iss der any vone connected -mit der show vat has a shtrawperry mark on der arm?" -he asked, brightening.</p> - -<p>"Strawberry mark on the arm?" repeated Matt. -"Why, Carl, that advertisement doesn't say anything -about such a thing."</p> - -<p>"I know dot, aber efery young laty you read aboudt -vat's lost has der shtrawperry mark on der——"</p> - -<p>McGlory let off a roar of laughter. Carl straightened -up with a pained look on his fat face.</p> - -<p>"Carl," cried McGlory, "you're a great sleuth, and no -mistake! You jump at too many conclusions."</p> - -<p>"Dere don'd vas anyt'ing else to chump ad," returned -Carl. "Dis vas a dark case, you bed you, und dere has -to be some guessings. Dot's vat I make now, der guessings."</p> - -<p>"Pretty woolly guessing, at that, and——"</p> - -<p>McGlory broke off abruptly to follow a sudden movement -on Matt's part. The canvas forming the side of -the menagerie tent had shaken, as though there was -some one on the other side of it. Matt, seeing the -shiver of the canvas, leaped for the wall. The next -moment he had lifted the canvas and was looking into -the other tent.</p> - -<p>A tall, brown-faced man, wearing a turban and an -embroidered jacket, was just vanishing through the tent -entrance. Matt dropped the canvas and turned away, -a thoughtful look taking the place of the smile with -which he had listened to Carl's talk.</p> - -<p>"What was it, pard?" asked McGlory.</p> - -<p>"An eavesdropper," replied Matt.</p> - -<p>"Speak to me about that!" exclaimed McGlory. "If -some one thought the Dutchman's yarn worth listening -to, then perhaps there's something in it."</p> - -<p>"Perhaps." Motor Matt's brow wrinkled perplexedly.</p> - -<p>"Who was the fellow? Could you recognize him?"</p> - -<p>"It was Ben Ali."</p> - -<p>McGlory bounded up, excited, and his own face reflecting -some of the perplexity that shone in his friend's.</p> - -<p>Before the conversation could be continued, however, -a man thrust his head into the calliope tent.</p> - -<p>"They're waiting for you fellows," he announced. -"Hustle!"</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.</a></h2> - -<p class="chaptitle">QUEER PROCEEDINGS.</p> - - -<p>The place occupied by the aëroplane in the procession -was almost at the end, and just behind the herd of -four elephants. Rajah, owing to his freakish disposition, -was always the fourth elephant of the string, Delhi -his mate, immediately preceding him. With peaceable -brutes ahead, Rajah might usually be depended upon -not to cut any capers.</p> - -<p>It will be seen from this that the <i>Comet</i> followed on -the heels of Rajah.</p> - -<p>The parade was almost in readiness for the start when -Matt, McGlory, and Ping reached the aëroplane. Hostlers -were running about placing plumes in the head-stalls -of the horses, drivers were climbing to their seats, -the wild animal trainer was getting into the open cage, -and the members of the band were tinkering with their -instruments.</p> - -<p>Haidee was standing by the aëroplane when Matt, McGlory, -and Ping reached the machine.</p> - -<p>"All ready, Haidee?" asked Matt.</p> - -<p>The girl turned and looked at him blankly. Her face -was unusually white, and there was a vacant stare in her -eyes.</p> - -<p>"What's to pay, sis?" asked McGlory, with a surprised -look at Matt. "Don't you feel well?"</p> - -<p>"I am well."</p> - -<p>The words came in an unnatural voice and with parrot-like -precision.</p> - -<p>Boss Burton came hustling down the line in his runabout.</p> - -<p>"Hurry up, Matt," he called. "Help Haidee to a place -on the upper wing of the <i>Comet</i>."</p> - -<p>Matt stepped over to the runabout.</p> - -<p>"What's the matter with the girl?" he asked, in a -low tone.</p> - -<p>"Matter?" echoed Burton, fixing a keen look on the -girl. "By Jupiter, she's got one of her spells again! -She hasn't had one of those for a month, now, and I -thought they'd about left her for good."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Is she subject to spells of that kind?"</p> - -<p>"She used to be. There's something queer about them, -but they don't last long."</p> - -<p>"We shouldn't put her on the upper wing, then. -There's no seat there, and nothing to hold on to."</p> - -<p>The sharp, impatient notes of a trumpet came from -the head of the line.</p> - -<p>"Well, put her somewhere," said Burton impatiently, -and whirled his horse.</p> - -<p>"Get on the top plane, Ping," said Matt, hurrying back -to the <i>Comet</i>. "Haidee is going to ride on the lower -wing with us."</p> - -<p>"Awri'," chirped Ping, and McGlory gave him a -leg up.</p> - -<p>Haidee, moving like an automaton, made no objection -to this arrangement. She took her place obediently on -the lower wing of the machine, between Matt and McGlory, -and the engine was started.</p> - -<p>When the elephants began to move, Matt switched the -power into the bicycle wheels, and the aëroplane lurched -over the uneven ground. Reaching the road, the <i>Comet</i> -went more steadily; and when the procession wound into -the paved thoroughfares, the movement was comparatively -easy.</p> - -<p>Ben Ali, from the neck of Rajah, kept turning around -and looking back at the three on the lower plane of the -<i>Comet</i>.</p> - -<p>Matt, McGlory, and Haidee, on account of the wings -of the aëroplane being turned lengthwise of the street, -rode facing the sidewalk on the left. In order to see -them, Ben Ali was obliged to keep Rajah somewhat out -of the line.</p> - -<p>"What's the matter with Ben Ali?" asked McGlory, -leaning forward and talking in front of Haidee. "He's -showing a heap more interest in the <i>Comet</i> than he ever -did before."</p> - -<p>Matt shook his head, and met steadily the piercing -eyes of the Hindoo until they were turned forward -again.</p> - -<p>"What is your uncle looking this way for, Haidee?" he -asked.</p> - -<p>"I don't know."</p> - -<p>The girl expressed herself in the same mechanical -way she had done before.</p> - -<p>"Haidee isn't herself," said Matt, "and I guess her -uncle is worried. Change seats with her, Joe."</p> - -<p>Matt wanted to talk with his cowboy chum and did -not want to be under the necessity of passing his words -around the girl.</p> - -<p>"Move over, sis," requested McGlory, standing up and -balancing himself on the foot-rest.</p> - -<p>The girl quietly slipped along the plane.</p> - -<p>Cheer after cheer greeted the aëroplane and the king -of the motor boys as soon as the crowded thoroughfares -were reached. Ping, on the upper wing, and clad -in all his barbaric finery, was as proud as a peacock. -Haidee, on the other hand, paid absolutely no attention -to the crowds. She sat rigidly in her place, like a girl -carved from stone, keeping her unblinking eyes straight -ahead of her.</p> - -<p>"I'm plumb beat, and no mistake," breathed McGlory, -in Matt's ear. "I never saw Haidee like this before. -She acts to me like she was locoed."</p> - -<p>"Boss Burton told me, just before we started," answered -Matt, in a low tone, "that she was subject to -'spells.' This is the first one she has had in a month, -Burton says."</p> - -<p>"Can you savvy it?"</p> - -<p>"No."</p> - -<p>"Ben Ali seems worried out of his wits. Watch how -he keeps Rajah zigzagging back and forth across the -trail, so he can get a look at the girl every now and -then. I wonder if Haidee knows what she's about?"</p> - -<p>"She must. If she didn't she wouldn't be riding in -the aëroplane."</p> - -<p>The bands played, the crowds waved hands and handkerchiefs -and cheered, the clowns carried out all their -funny stunts, and the procession moved on through the -city of Lafayette. Students from Purdue University -followed the paraders and blew long blasts through tin -horns. Rajah showed signs of becoming restless, and -Ben Ali's attention had to be given entirely to the big -brute.</p> - -<p>Matt, with one hand on the steering lever, kept the -unwieldy machine moving in a straight track.</p> - -<p>"What do you suppose Ben Ali was listening to Carl's -talk for, there on the inside of the menagerie tent?" -inquired the cowboy, his voice so low it could not possibly -reach Haidee. "I had a notion that——"</p> - -<p>"Sh-h-h!" Matt interrupted. "I had the same notion, -Joe, but it was only a wild guess, at the most. He's -a prying chap, that Ben Ali, and he might have had -only a casual interest in what Carl was saying."</p> - -<p>"I'll bet a ten-dollar bill against a chink wash ticket -that there was something more to it than that."</p> - -<p>"Well, if there was, it's bound to come out, sooner -or later. Say nothing, but keep your eyes open."</p> - -<p>"I've always felt that there was a mystery about the -girl and Ben Ali, and that——"</p> - -<p>McGlory broke off suddenly. Haidee, with the quickness -of lightning, had leaned over behind him and jerked -one of the levers at Matt's side.</p> - -<p>The next instant the big aëroplane took a wild jump -forward. The king of the motor boys was alive to the -danger in an instant.</p> - -<p>"Hold the girl!" he cried, and instantly flung the lever -back.</p> - -<p>The front ends of the two great wings had hurled -themselves against Rajah. The huge animal trumpeted -wildly and swung about on his hind legs with trunk -uplifted.</p> - -<p>It seemed as though he would surely charge the <i>Comet</i>, -wreck the machine, and kill or maim the four who were -riding in it.</p> - -<p>McGlory, with Haidee in his arms, leaped from the -foot-rest into the road. Ping rolled off the opposite side -of the upper plane.</p> - -<p>Had Matt deserted his post, the <i>Comet</i> would certainly -have been seriously damaged, if not totally -wrecked. But, in spite of the danger that threatened -him, he kept his seat.</p> - -<p>Quick as a flash, he threw in the reverse. The bulky -machine began wabbling away on the back track, the -clown in the donkey cart behind, and the acrobatic "haymakers" -in their trick wagon, driving frantically out of -the way.</p> - -<p>Ben Ali was using his sharp prod with apparent -frenzy, but the jabbing point had not the least effect. -Rajah started for Matt and the <i>Comet</i>.</p> - -<p>Then, had not Delhi's mahout been self-possessed and -quick, the worst would have happened.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span></p> - -<p>People in the street jumped for the walk, and those -on the walk pushing into the open doors of shops. -Shrieks and cries went up from the women, and men -yelled in consternation.</p> - -<p>Across Rajah's path, with a rush, charged Delhi, -coming to a halt and blocking the way. Rajah tried -to go around, but Delhi backed and continued to cut -off his retreat.</p> - -<p>By that time Boss Burton had whirled to the scene -in the runabout, and half a dozen men, from the forward -wagons, were all around Rajah, belaboring the brute -with cudgels, whips, and whatever they could get their -hands on.</p> - -<p>Rajah's incipient rage was soon quelled by this heroic -treatment.</p> - -<p>"What happened?" demanded Burton, drawing up beside -the aëroplane.</p> - -<p>"The machine made a jump," answered Matt, not -wishing to put the blame on the girl. "Rajah was too -close. Tell Ben Ali to pay more attention to the elephant -and less to us, and to keep in the centre of the -road."</p> - -<p>Burton was angry. The fault seemed to lie with Matt, -but Ben Ali caught the brunt of the showman's ire.</p> - -<p>Ping, his yellow face like a piece of old cheese, got -back on the upper wing, and McGlory led Haidee to the -<i>Comet</i> and helped her to her seat.</p> - -<p>"Speak to me about that!" gulped the cowboy. "I'm -a Piegan if I didn't think you and the old <i>Comet</i> were -done for. What possessed the girl?"</p> - -<p>"Give it up," answered Matt grimly. "As you said -a while ago, pard, these are queer proceedings. Just -watch Haidee every minute."</p> - -<p>"She didn't know what she was doing, and you can -gamble a blue stack on that."</p> - -<p>"Of course she didn't. That's why I didn't tell Burton -the real cause of the trouble. Keep it to yourself, -Joe."</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.</a></h2> - -<p class="chaptitle">MOTOR MATT PROTESTS.</p> - - -<p>The parade was finished without further incident worthy -of note, a huge crowd following it back to the show -grounds to see the aëroplane flight. As soon as the -grounds were reached, Ben Ali came for Haidee. There -was a burning light in his black eyes, and he was shaking -like a man with the ague.</p> - -<p>"Just a minute, Ben Ali," said Matt, catching the -Hindoo by the sleeve of his embroidered coat and leading -him apart. "What's the matter with your niece?"</p> - -<p>"Salaam, sahib," chattered Ben Ali. "Haidee all -right soon."</p> - -<p>"She can't make an ascension with me, Ben Ali. She -was the cause of that trouble, and it would be sheer -madness to take her aloft on that trapeze."</p> - -<p>"Yis, sahib, <i>such baht</i>" (that is true). Ben Ali drew -a quivering hand over his forehead. "But she be well -like ever soon, sahib."</p> - -<p>Ben Ali whirled away, took Haidee by the hand, and -vanished among the wagons.</p> - -<p>Boss Burton strode to the scene.</p> - -<p>"What ails that brown rascal?" he asked, staring after -Ben Ali. "He's in as bad a taking as the girl. What -did he say about her? I've never been able to get him -to tell me anything about her spells."</p> - -<p>"He tells me that she will be all right in a little -while," answered Matt.</p> - -<p>"Then we'll delay the flight. It will be half an hour -yet before all the people get here."</p> - -<p>Matt peered at the showman as though he thought him -out of his senses.</p> - -<p>"You don't mean to say that you want the girl to -ride a trapeze under the <i>Comet</i>?" he demanded.</p> - -<p>"Why not?" Burton answered. "You said you'd take -her, and she's willing to go—she wants to go."</p> - -<p>"When I said I'd take her," returned Matt, "I didn't -know anything about her spells. Suppose she were to -have one while we're in the air? Why, Burton, she -might throw herself from the trapeze."</p> - -<p>"No," declared the other, "she wouldn't do that. After -she has one spell, I understand she doesn't have another -for days, or weeks. It's been a month since she had the -last. Why, in St. Paul, she had one ten minutes before -she went to the ring for her trapeze work—and she -never did better. If Ben Ali says she'll be all right in -a little while he ought to know."</p> - -<p>"I protest against allowing her to go up in the aëroplane," -said Matt firmly. "When the machine is off the -ground it has to have my whole attention. I won't be -able to look after Haidee without endangering both our -lives."</p> - -<p>A hard look came into Burton's face.</p> - -<p>"I'm paying you five hundred a week for the stunt -you pull off with the flying machine, ain't I?" he demanded -harshly.</p> - -<p>"You are," was the young motorist's calm response.</p> - -<p>"And I'm giving the fifty on top of that for taking -the girl up with you?"</p> - -<p>"That was your proposition."</p> - -<p>"And you agreed to it?"</p> - -<p>"That was before I knew Haidee was afflicted in this -way, Burton."</p> - -<p>"Bosh!" scoffed the showman. "The thing has got on -your nerves."</p> - -<p>"So it has," acknowledged Matt. "I'm not going to -place Haidee in any danger, if I can help it."</p> - -<p>"And that shot goes as it lays, Burton," spoke up -McGlory, who had been taking a deep interest in the -talk. "If you think Motor Matt is going to risk the -girl's neck, or his own, for a little fifty a week, you've -got another guess coming."</p> - -<p>Boss Burton had set his heart on that trapeze act. -It was a decided novelty, and he could not cut it out of -his calculations.</p> - -<p>"Am I to understand," he went on, taking a look at the -gathering crowds, "that you'll break your contract rather -than take Haidee up with you?"</p> - -<p>"That's what you're to understand!" snapped McGlory. -"We'll not hem, and haw, and side-step, not for a holy -minute."</p> - -<p>"It's this way, Burton," continued Matt. "Haidee -can't go up on the trapeze—we have to take a running -start, you know, and it would be impossible. She'll have -to ride up on the lower plane; then, after we are well -clear of the ground, she'll have to drop from the footboard -with the trapeze in her hands. If she's not entirely -herself, the drop from the footboard to the end of -the trapeze ropes will be too much for her. She'll -fall."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span></p> - -<p>"But I told you that after she comes out of these -things she's as fit as ever," cried Burton. "It's a still -day—the best we've had for flying since you joined the -show. I don't want to give up the idea."</p> - -<p>"And you don't want to see Haidee killed before your -eyes, do you?" asked Matt coldly.</p> - -<p>"Oh, splash! There'll be nothing of that kind. Ah, -look! Here she comes, and she's just as well as ever."</p> - -<p>Matt and McGlory turned. Haidee, ready for the ascent, -was hurrying toward the machine from the direction -of the tent. She moved swiftly and gracefully, and -there was nothing mechanical in her actions—as there -had been during the parade. The pallor had left her -cheeks and the vacant look was gone from her eyes. -Matt and McGlory were astounded at the sudden change -in her.</p> - -<p>"Are you all ready for me, Motor Matt?" she asked -eagerly.</p> - -<p>The trapeze was ready. That had been attached to the -under plane of the <i>Comet</i> and the bar lashed to the foot-rest -before the parade. But Matt was not ready.</p> - -<p>"How are you feeling, Haidee?" asked Matt kindly.</p> - -<p>"Fine!" she declared.</p> - -<p>"Do you remember what happened during the parade?"</p> - -<p>A puzzled look crossed her face.</p> - -<p>"I can't remember a thing about that," she declared. -"In fact, everything has been a blank almost from the -time I left the calliope tent, where I was talking with -you, until I came to myself in the menagerie tent with -Uncle Ben."</p> - -<p>Matt bowed his head thoughtfully.</p> - -<p>"What's the matter?" asked the girl, in a quivering -voice. "Aren't you going to take me up with the -<i>Comet</i>?"</p> - -<p>"He's afraid you'll have a spell while you're in the -air, Haidee, and drop off the bar," jeered Burton.</p> - -<p>The girl stepped forward and caught Matt's sleeve.</p> - -<p>"Oh, it can't be true!" she exclaimed tearfully. "Motor -Matt, you're not going to keep me from making that -extra money? I need it! I must have it!"</p> - -<p>The girl's earnestness made Matt waver.</p> - -<p>"It won't do," spoke up McGlory decidedly.</p> - -<p>"Joe!" and Haidee turned on him. "Why can't you -understand that I'm just as able as ever to do my -trapeze work? I'll not have another of those queer -spells for a long time."</p> - -<p>"That's what you think, sis," answered McGlory, "but -if anything happened to you my pard would remember it -as long as he lived. He has just protested to Burton -against taking you up. And he had a bean on the right -number when he said what he did."</p> - -<p>"<i>I'm</i> taking the chances," said Haidee, "and nothing -will happen."</p> - -<p>The aëroplane was at rest on the hard roadway running -across the show grounds. For a distance of twenty -feet on each side of the road strong ropes were stretched -to keep back the crowd. The throng was now pressing -against the ropes, clamoring for the aëroplane to make its -flight.</p> - -<p>"If this performance don't come off," said Boss Burton, -"it will be a tough blow for the Big Consolidated. -I advertised this trapeze stunt on the flying machine in -the morning papers, wiring it ahead from Indianapolis. -It's <i>got</i> to be done, that's all. Every promise made in -our bills is always carried out. That's what has given -this show a hold with the people. I don't say one thing -and then do another."</p> - -<p>"Circumstances alter cases," returned Matt.</p> - -<p>"If you don't want to take Haidee, will you take -Archie le Bon?"</p> - -<p>Archie le Bon was one of the Le Bon Brothers, iron-nerved -men who performed wonderful flying feats on the -trapeze.</p> - -<p>"Certainly I'll take Archie le Bon," replied Matt, glad -to find such a way out of the disagreement. "Bring -him here while I'm getting the machine ready."</p> - -<p>Haidee began to cry, but Burton took her by the arm -and led her away, talking earnestly and in a low voice.</p> - -<p>A trick was worked on the king of the motor boys -that morning, and it was something for which he never -forgave Boss Burton. And it was a trick carried to a -successful conclusion almost under the very eyes of McGlory -and Ping. Matt, being busy with the aëroplane -and the motor, did not discover it until too late.</p> - -<p>Matt went over the machinery of the <i>Comet</i> with the -same care he exercised before every flight. A loose bolt -or screw might spell death for him if it escaped his -attention.</p> - -<p>When he was through with his examination, and had -taken his seat ready for the flight. Le Bon appeared. -He was in his shirt sleeves, not having had time to -exchange his everyday clothes for ring costume.</p> - -<p>"I'll run with the machine," said Le Bon, "and climb -over the lower plane from behind when it gets to running -too fast for me."</p> - -<p>"That will do," answered Matt.</p> - -<p>Amid the breathless silence of the crowd, Matt set the -motor to working.</p> - -<p>"Ready!" he called.</p> - -<p>The machine started along the road, gaining in speed -with every foot of its progress.</p> - -<p>At the end of fifty feet it was going faster than a -man could run; and at a hundred feet it was darting -along at thirty miles an hour. This was the gait that -enabled the wing to pick the machine off the ground.</p> - -<p>As the <i>Comet</i> slid upward along its airy path, the -astounded McGlory saw Le Bon far back toward the -point from which the machine had started. Thinking -that, through some mistake, Le Bon had been left behind, -McGlory turned toward the mounting aëroplane.</p> - -<p>Then the trick dawned upon him.</p> - -<p>Haidee was climbing over the lower plane toward -Motor Matt, now and again turning to wave her hand -at the cheering crowd!</p> - -<p>And McGlory saw something else—something that had -a fearful significance in the light of later events.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.</a></h2> - -<p class="chaptitle">ABLAZE IN THE AIR.</p> - - -<p>When the king of the motor boys was in the air with -the <i>Comet</i>, every power of mind and body was trained -to the work of looking after the machine.</p> - -<p>Flying in an aëroplane is vastly more difficult than -sailing in a balloon. In the case of a gas bag, an -aëronaut has only to throw out ballast, take his ease, -and trust to luck; but, with a heavier-than-air machine,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> -the aviator must rely upon the quickness of his wits and -his dexterity.</p> - -<p>Aëroplane flying, in a large measure, is a knack, and -must be acquired. The air pressure never touches the -machine in exactly the same point for two consecutive -seconds, and, because of this, the centre of gravity is -constantly changing. Centre of gravity and centre of -air pressure must coincide at all times if the machine is to -be kept in the air, and the success or failure to do this -proves the competency or the incompetency of the operator.</p> - -<p>The Traquair aëroplane—upon which model Matt's -machine had been built—preserved its equilibrium while -aloft by an elongation, or contraction, of the wing tips. -A lever regulated this; and, whenever Matt was flying, -the lever was moving continuously, the ends of the -wings darting out and in with lightning-like rapidity, one -side presenting greater wing area to the pressure while -the other presented less, and vice versa.</p> - -<p>Motor Matt's engagement with Boss Burton did not -cover long flights. Usually, if the weather was propitious, -he made it a point to remain aloft about fifteen minutes, -circling about the show grounds, turning sharp corners -and cutting airy "figure eights," in order to show the -capabilities of the aëroplane.</p> - -<p>"Get your trapeze over, Le Bon!" he called, while -they were steadily mounting.</p> - -<p>A laugh was his answer—a silvery ripple of a laugh -that had a familiar ring in his ears and now filled him -with consternation. He dared not look around.</p> - -<p>"Haidee!" he exclaimed.</p> - -<p>"Are you mad at me, Motor Matt?" came the voice -of the girl.</p> - -<p>She cautiously slipped into the seat beside him, her -heightened color and sparkling eyes showing her excitement.</p> - -<p>"This was a trick," went on Matt calmly, attending -to his work with an indifference more apparent than -real, "which you and Le Bon and Burton played on -me?"</p> - -<p>"It was Burton's idea, and he told it to me while we -were going after Archie le Bon. Archie was to pretend -to run with the machine, and I was to be with him. -When the machine got to going too fast for us, Archie -was to drop to one side and I was to spring to the -lower wing. Your back would be in my direction, and -you couldn't see me."</p> - -<p>"That wasn't like you, Haidee," said Matt.</p> - -<p>"Are you mad?"</p> - -<p>"What's the use of being put out with you? I'll -have something to say to Burton and Le Bon when I -get back to the grounds."</p> - -<p>"You thought you were doing something to help me—I -know that—but you didn't understand I was perfectly -able to carry out my part of the programme. As it is now, -I came along and you couldn't help yourself. Are you -going to try and keep me from dropping under the machine -with the trapeze?"</p> - -<p>"No," was the grim reply, "now that you are here you -can go on with your work. Hold to the hand grip on -the edge of the plane while you unlash the bar."</p> - -<p>Perfectly cool, and in complete command of her -nerves, Haidee knelt on the foot-rest, clinging to the -plane with one hand while she unlashed the trapeze bar -with the other.</p> - -<p>"I'm ready, Motor Matt," said Haidee.</p> - -<p>She was sitting on the edge of the seat, holding the -bar in both hands.</p> - -<p>Matt had brought the <i>Comet</i> to an even keel, some -fifty feet over the show grounds. They were traveling -about thirty miles an hour—a snail's pace for the <i>Comet</i>—and -Matt was about to make a turn over the river and -traverse the length of the grounds going the other way.</p> - -<p>"Now, listen," said he to the girl. "I'm going to tilt -the <i>Comet</i> sharply upward and ascend for about fifty -feet, then I'm going to reverse the position and descend -for fifty feet in the same sharp angle. When we turn -for the descent, Haidee, drop from the foot-rest when -I give the word. The pull of your body, when it falls, -will drag on the machine, but never mind that—hang -on and don't get scared. As soon as I can I will bring -the machine to a level. Understand?"</p> - -<p>"Yes."</p> - -<p>"And another thing. While you're moving on the bar, -just remember to do it quietly and easily. You've seen -the two Japs at work in the show, I know. When the -big fellow balances the pole on his shoulder, and the -little fellow goes up, every move is made as though -there would be a smash if they were not careful."</p> - -<p>"I understand," said the girl.</p> - -<p>The machine had been brought around and was heading -toward the grounds. Matt twisted the small forward -planes, which laid the course for ascending or descending. -At the same time he speeded up the motor.</p> - -<p>The <i>Comet</i> pointed upward; then, at the top of her -course, was as quickly turned and aimed toward the -earth.</p> - -<p>Matt caught a glimpse of a sea of upturned faces. -The machine was rushing downward at a frightful pace.</p> - -<p>"<i>Now!</i>" shouted Matt.</p> - -<p>He saw the girl poise birdlike on the foot-rest, then -sink from it with the trapeze. So great was the slant -of the aëroplane that she seemed to fall forward.</p> - -<p>There was a jar as the bar reached the end of the -ropes, and, with the girl's weight, was caught and held. -The <i>Comet</i> made an erratic wabble and lurched sideways -like a great bird, wounded on the wing.</p> - -<p>Haidee withstood the jolt admirably, and Matt twirled -the lever operating the steering planes.</p> - -<p>Sounds from the earth always reach aëronauts with -startling distinctness. The shouts of consternation which -came from the throats of the spectators could be heard, -and also the murmur of relief as the <i>Comet</i> righted herself, -and the trapeze and the girl swung back under the -machine.</p> - -<p>Controlling the aëroplane was always more difficult -when there was a weight suspended beneath, but Matt -had counted upon this, and he forced the <i>Comet</i> back -and forth over the show grounds, holding the machine -fairly steady.</p> - -<p>Three times he and Haidee circled over the "tops" -with their gay streamers, cheer upon cheer following -them from below.</p> - -<p>Matt had been in the air more than fifteen minutes, -and he was just manœuvring toward the starting and -stopping point, when the cheers were suddenly turned to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> -cries of fear and alarm. He could see the people below -waving their arms and pointing upward.</p> - -<p>For an instant the young motorist's heart sank. He -felt sure that something had gone wrong with the girl.</p> - -<p>This conviction had hardly formed before it was dissipated. -A smell of smoke came to his nostrils, and to -his ears a crackle of flames. Matt turned his head.</p> - -<p>The left wing of the aëroplane was on fire!</p> - -<p>A thrill of horror shot through him. In the air, he -and Haidee, with a blazing flying machine alone between -them and death! The very thought was enough to -wrench the stoutest nerves.</p> - -<p>"Haidee!" yelled Matt.</p> - -<p>"Yes," came the stifled response, from underneath the -<i>Comet</i>.</p> - -<p>"Are you all right?"</p> - -<p>"Yes."</p> - -<p>"Hang to the bar—don't lose your nerve!"</p> - -<p>Matt's mind was grappling with the complex situation. -To get safely to the ground in the shortest possible time -was the problem that confronted him.</p> - -<p>How the wing had caught fire he did not know, and -had not the time even to guess. It sufficed that the plane -was ablaze, and that the longer it blazed and ate into the -fabric the less resistance the plane made to the atmosphere. -And it was this resistance that spelled life for -the king of the motor boys and the girl!</p> - -<p>To drop the blazing aëroplane into that sea of heads -below meant injury to some of the spectators. Matt -must avoid this and reach the earth in the roped-off -lane from which the ascent had been made.</p> - -<p>He put the clamps on his nerves, and, with brain perfectly -clear, drove the aëroplane about at a sharp angle.</p> - -<p>Then, if ever, the machine was true to its name, for -as it darted onward, the smoke and flame that streamed -out behind must have given it the look of a comet.</p> - -<p>Could he drop to earth, the young motorist was asking -himself, before the fire struck either of the gasoline -tanks?</p> - -<p>Motor Matt, as he coaxed the last ounce of speed -from the motor, shouted encouragingly to the terrified -girl on the trapeze.</p> - -<p>Suddenly, below him opened the narrow lane roped -off along the road. A buzz of excited voices echoed in -his ears. With steady hand he shut off the power and -glided downward.</p> - -<p>"Drop from the bar and run, Haidee," he shouted, -"as soon as we come close to the ground."</p> - -<p>There was a response from the girl, but the clamor -of the crowd prevented him from hearing what it was.</p> - -<p>The next moment the blazing aëroplane settled into -the road and glided along on the bicycle wheels.</p> - -<p>McGlory, Carl, and Ping were on hand, the cowboy in -charge of a detachment of canvasmen with buckets. A -hiss of steam, as water struck the flames, rose in the air.</p> - -<p>"Careful!" cried Matt, restraining the impetuous assault -of the fire fighters. "Don't climb over the machine -and damage it! Keep them back, Joe! Here, some of -you, drench the wings on the right side and keep the -fire from spreading."</p> - -<p>Ably directed by Matt and McGlory, the fire was extinguished. -Leaving the damaged aëroplane in charge -of Carl and Ping, Matt limped off toward the calliope -tent, accompanied by his cowboy chum.</p> - - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII.</a></h2> - -<p class="chaptitle">WAS IT TREACHERY?</p> - - -<p>"Where's Haidee?" asked Matt.</p> - -<p>"Oh, bother the girl!" cried McGlory savagely.</p> - -<p>Matt turned on him with a surprised look.</p> - -<p>"What's the matter with you, pard?" he asked.</p> - -<p>"Well, it's apples to ashes that I was never so badly -shaken up in my life before as I am this minute. Sufferin' -Judas! Say, I'd never have believed it."</p> - -<p>The crowd was dense. Some of the people were moving -off toward the city, some were making for the side-show, -and others were trying to get close to the king of -the motor boys. Matt, having just finished a sensational -flight, was an object of curiosity and admiration.</p> - -<p>Neither he nor McGlory paid any attention to the -demonstration around them, but moved briskly onward -toward the calliope tent.</p> - -<p>"I can't rise to you, Joe," said the puzzled Matt. -"What's on your mind?"</p> - -<p>"Something more'n my hat, and you can bet your moccasins -on that."</p> - -<p>"Where did Haidee go?"</p> - -<p>"That leather-faced tinhorn uncle of hers grabbed her -and took her away the minute she dropped from the -trapeze."</p> - -<p>"She wasn't hurt, was she?"</p> - -<p>"I didn't take any trouble to find out. She walked off -spry enough."</p> - -<p>McGlory was gruff to the point of incivility. It was -evident to Matt that he had been mightily stirred.</p> - -<p>"What's the matter with you?" demanded Matt.</p> - -<p>"Wait till we get into the calliope tent, and out of -this crowd and the dust—then I'll tell you."</p> - -<p>"Didn't you discover the trick Boss Burton played on -me with the help of Haidee and Le Bon, Joe?"</p> - -<p>"Oh, speak to me about that!" snarled the cowboy. -"Nary, I didn't, pard, until it was too everlastin'ly late -to stop the run of the cards. Burton! We've got a bone -to pick with him; and, after it's picked, I feel like cramming -it down his throat. He was bound to have the girl -go up, and he worked it in his sneaking, underhand -way! I don't like this layout, Matt. You've had the -closest call that's ever come your way since you took to -flying. Sufferin' cats! Say, my heart was in my throat -all the while I was looking on. I was expecting that -any minute the fire would reach the gasoline, that both -tanks would let go, and that you, and the girl, and the -<i>Comet</i> would all be wiped out in a big noise and a -splotch of flame."</p> - -<p>By this time they had reached the calliope tent, and -were able to duck inside and get away from the crowd.</p> - -<p>The calliope was there, and filling the larger part of -the interior. The big steam organ was shrouded in a -canvas cover, and only the lower rims of the wagon -wheels on which it was mounted were to be seen.</p> - -<p>Matt dropped down on a heap of straw and leaned -back wearily against a side pole. McGlory threw himself -down beside him, his face thoughtful and angry.</p> - -<p>"I hadn't any notion Burton was running in a rhinecaboo," -said the cowboy presently, "until the <i>Comet</i> had -jumped into the air and I had looked back and seen Le -Bon near the place from which the machine had started. -When I turned and looked at you and the <i>Comet</i>, there -was the Haidee girl perched on the lower wing, throwin'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> -kisses to the crowd. I knew then that Burton had turned -his trick, and I lammed loose a yell; but there was too -much noise for you to hear it. I kept my eyes on the -aëroplane and the girl and—and I saw something then -that made my hair curl later when the fire broke out."</p> - -<p>"What was it?" asked Matt.</p> - -<p>"Haidee, pushing something out on the left-hand wing -and jabbing it down there with a hatpin, so it would -stay."</p> - -<p>"We must have been three or four hundred feet away -from you, Joe," returned Matt, "and how could you see -it was a hatpin?"</p> - -<p>McGlory sat up, opened the front of his coat, and -drew a blistered hatpin out of the lining.</p> - -<p>"I hunted around under the machine, while we were -fighting the fire," he explained, "and picked up that. -So, you see, I know it was a hatpin."</p> - -<p>A frown crossed Matt's face.</p> - -<p>"What do you make out of that move of Haidee's?" -he asked.</p> - -<p>"She pinned a ball of something soaked in oil to the -wing and touched it off," averred McGlory. "It smouldered -for a while and then blazed up and set fire to the -canvas."</p> - -<p>"Joe," returned Matt incredulously, "you must be mistaken. -I've always been a friend of Haidee's. Why -should she want to destroy the <i>Comet</i>, or me? When -you come to that, why should she want to take her own -life? That's virtually what it would have amounted to -if the fire had reached the gasoline tanks."</p> - -<p>"Who could have started the fire, if it wasn't the girl?" -demanded McGlory. "She was the one."</p> - -<p>Matt was nonplused. His cowboy chum seemed to -have drawn a correct inference, but the supposition was -so preposterous the king of the motor boys could take -no stock in it.</p> - -<p>"We've got to use a little common sense, Joe," insisted -Matt. "The girl wouldn't have the least motive in the -world for trying to do such a thing as set fire to the -<i>Comet</i>!"</p> - -<p>"We've got to bank on what we see," answered McGlory, -"no matter whether we want to believe our eyes -or not. Look at it! Haidee comes to the aëroplane for -the parade like a wooden figure of a girl, moving like a -puppet worked by strings. Suddenly she flashes out of -her locoed condition and pulls a lever that slams the -<i>Comet</i> against Rajah's heels. Well, we protected the girl -from that because we believed she was having one of her -'spells.' She came out of the spell all of a sudden and -lopes down to where the aëroplane stands ready for the -start. She seems as well as ever, and begs to go up on -the trapeze. A trick is played on us, and she <i>does</i> go up. -Then, once more, she gets the <i>Comet</i> into trouble. I -can't savvy the blooming layout, but I'm keen to know -that some one is starting in to do us up. And Haidee -is one of our enemies."</p> - -<p>Just then Boss Burton pushed into the tent. He was -nervous and cast furtive glances at Motor Matt.</p> - -<p>"Great business!" he exclaimed. "Le Bon got juggled -out of the ascension, after all, and Haidee, the sly minx! -did her stunt on the trapeze, just as she had planned. -How in the world did the machine take fire? Crossed -wires, or something?"</p> - -<p>"You need not try to dodge responsibility, Burton," -said Matt sharply. "You put up the trick that was -played on me."</p> - -<p>"On my honor, King——"</p> - -<p>"Don't talk that way," interrupted Matt. "Come out -flat-footed and admit it."</p> - -<p>"Well," grinned Burton, a little sheepishly, "if you put -it that way, I'll have to acknowledge the corn. But the -girl was clear-headed, wasn't she? She didn't fall off -the trapeze, and she pulled off some hair-raising tricks -on that flying bar that set the crowd gasping. It was the -biggest novelty in the way of an act that any show ever -put up. Results will show at the ticket wagon this afternoon. -Too confoundedly bad, though, that the thing -should have been marred by that fire. How long will it -take you to fix up the machine? Can you do it in time -for an ascent to-night? I've planned to have Haidee -shoot off skyrockets from the trapeze, and Roman -candles, and all that."</p> - -<p>"You'll have to cut out the fireworks, Burton," said -Matt dryly. "It will take a full day to repair the <i>Comet</i>."</p> - -<p>Burton "went up in the air" on the instant.</p> - -<p>"Think of the loss!" he exclaimed. "You've got to repair -the machine in time for the ascent this evening. If -it's a matter of men, King, I'll give you a dozen to help."</p> - -<p>"It's not a matter of men," said Matt. "Joe and I are -the only ones who can work on the <i>Comet</i>. And listen to -this—I mean it, and if you don't like it we'll break our -contract right here—Haidee has gone up with me for -the last time. I'll take Archie le Bon, or any one else -you want to send, but not Haidee."</p> - -<p>"Is this what you call treating me square?" fumed -Burton.</p> - -<p>"Sufferin' Ananias!" grunted McGlory. "You're a -nice lame duck to talk about being treated square! You've -got a treacherous outfit, Burton, and Pard Matt and I -are not beginning to like it any too well."</p> - -<p>Matt, thinking McGlory might tell what Haidee had -done, gave him a restraining look.</p> - -<p>"You're responsible for the trouble that overtook the -<i>Comet</i>, Burton," proceeded Matt.</p> - -<p>"Me?" echoed the showman, aghast. "Well, I'd like -to know how you figure it."</p> - -<p>"Through your schemes, and over my protest, Haidee -made the ascent with me."</p> - -<p>"I'll admit that."</p> - -<p>"If she hadn't made the ascent, there'd have been no -fire."</p> - -<p>"Do you mean to say——"</p> - -<p>"Now, don't jump at any conclusions. I know what -I'm talking about when I tell you that there'd have been -no fire if Haidee hadn't made the ascent with me. That -isn't saying, mark you, that the girl is to blame for what -happened. Would she want to burn the aëroplane and -drop herself and me plump into the show grounds? -If——"</p> - -<p>Just then a weird thing happened. The calliope gave -a sharp clatter of high notes.</p> - -<p>All present in the tent gave astounded attention to the -canvas-covered music box.</p> - -<p>"Spooks!" grinned Joe.</p> - -<p>"There was enough steam left in the calliope to play a -few notes," suggested Burton.</p> - -<p>"But the notes couldn't play themselves," said Matt, -and made a rush for the calliope.</p> - -<p>The keyboard was in one end of the calliope wagon,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> -and the canvas was draped over the chair occupied by -the operator when the steam wagon was in use.</p> - -<p>With a pull, Matt jerked aside the canvas that covered -the rear of the calliope, and there, crouching in a chair, -was Ben Ali!</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII.</a></h2> - -<p class="chaptitle">A CALL FOR HELP.</p> - - -<p>"Well, sizzlin' thunderbolts!" gasped the amazed -Burton.</p> - -<p>At first, Ben Ali sat blinking at those before him, apparently -too dazed to move.</p> - -<p>"He's an eavesdropper!" cried McGlory, "and this -ain't the first time we've caught him at it, either. Grab -him, Matt! Wring that thin neck of his!"</p> - -<p>Ben Ali regained his wits, then, and very suddenly. -With a panther-like spring, he cleared the wagon on the -side opposite that where Motor Matt was standing, -dodged McGlory, who tried to head him off, shook a -glittering knife in Boss Burton's face, and vanished under -the wall of the menagerie tent. It was all so neatly -done that the three in the calliope lean-to were left -staring at each other in helpless astonishment.</p> - -<p>McGlory rushed furiously at the menagerie tent wall, -lifted the canvas, then dropped it and rushed back.</p> - -<p>"Not for me!" he breathed. "Rajah is right there, -teetering back and forth from side to side, and winding -his trunk around everything in sight."</p> - -<p>"Where was Ben Ali?" demanded Burton, a glitter -rising in his eyes.</p> - -<p>"Getting out under the cages on the other side of the -tent," replied McGlory. "I'll see if I can't head him -off."</p> - -<p>With that the cowboy shot out of the lean-to. Matt -didn't think the effort to catch Ben Ali worth while, -and once more dropped down on the pile of straw.</p> - -<p>For a few moments Boss Burton walked back and -forth in front of him, hands behind his back, head bowed -in thought, and a black frown on his face. Abruptly he -halted in front of Matt.</p> - -<p>"The infernal Hindoo drew a knife on me!" he -scowled.</p> - -<p>Matt nodded. The fact had been too plain to call for -comment.</p> - -<p>"I'd pull the pin on Ben Ali in half a minute," continued -Boss Burton, "if it wasn't for Haidee."</p> - -<p>"Where did you pick up Ben Ali and Haidee?" inquired -Matt.</p> - -<p>"In Wisconsin," was the answer, "just as the show -was starting out of its winter quarters. Rajah had run -amuck, wounded a horse, smashed a wagon, and come -within an ace of killing his keeper. Ben Ali applied -for the job of looking after him, and I let him have it. -He's been the only one, so far, who could take care of -Rajah."</p> - -<p>"Where did the girl come in?"</p> - -<p>"She came in with her uncle, of course. Ben Ali said -his niece was good on the flying bar, and he brought -her to see me. When she came she was in one of her -spells, and looked and acted like a puppet, with some one -pulling the wires. I wasn't much impressed with her, -but gave her a try-out. She recovered from the spell -and acted just as she did to-day, when she went up with -the <i>Comet</i>—perfectly natural. She gave a good performance—mighty -good—and I made a deal with her -uncle. That's the way I got tangled up with the pair. -Why?"</p> - -<p>The showman transfixed Matt with a curious glance.</p> - -<p>"Oh, nothing," said Matt carelessly. "The Hindoo -and the girl have always been something of a mystery -to me, and I wanted to find out what you knew about -them. Where did they come from?"</p> - -<p>"Give it up. I never look into the past of people -who hire out to me. If they're capable, and do their -work, that's enough. From what McGlory said, and -from what I've seen, Ben Ali appears to have been -sneaking around here, listening to what you and your -friends were saying. If he hadn't inadvertently touched -the keyboard of the calliope we shouldn't have known -he was under the cover. Have you any notion what he -means by that sort of work?"</p> - -<p>"No."</p> - -<p>"Well, it's deuced queer, and that's all I can say. Do -you think he ought to be bounced?"</p> - -<p>"Yes, but I wouldn't do it."</p> - -<p>"On Haidee's account?"</p> - -<p>"Partly that; partly, too, because, if you keep him on -the pay roll, we may be able to learn something about -him and the girl. I'm a bit curious about them, Burton."</p> - -<p>"It's a bad habit—this of getting too curious. It's -dollars and cents for me to have the two with the show. -What's more," and his remarks took a more personal -turn, "it's money in my pocket to have the <i>Comet</i> go -up this afternoon with Haidee shooting Roman candles -from the trapeze. When are you going to get busy with -the repairs?"</p> - -<p>"After I eat something."</p> - -<p>"Well, rush the work, Matt. Do the best you can."</p> - -<p>"It won't be Haidee who rides the trapeze next time -the <i>Comet</i> takes to the air," said the king of the motor -boys firmly.</p> - -<p>"Well, Archie le Bon, then," returned Burton, with -much disappointment.</p> - -<p>As he went out, McGlory came in, passing him in the -entrance.</p> - -<p>"Nothing doing," reported the cowboy. "Where the -Hindoo went is a conundrum. I couldn't find anybody -about the grounds who had even seen him since he -walked Haidee away from the burning aëroplane."</p> - -<p>While McGlory, disgusted with his ill success and the -turn events were taking, there on the banks of the -Wabash, slumped down on a bucket and mopped his -perspiring face, Motor Matt dropped into a brown -study.</p> - -<p>"These Hindoos are crafty fellows, Joe," he remarked, -after a while. "They're clever at a great many things -we Americans don't understand anything about. I knew -one of them once. He was the servant of a man who -happened to be the uncle of one of the finest young fellows -that ever stepped—brave Dick Ferral. This particular -Hindoo I was able to study at close range."</p> - -<p>"What are you leading up to by this sort of talk?" -asked McGlory, cocking his head on one side and squinting -his eyes.</p> - -<p>He had this habit when anything puzzled him.</p> - -<p>"I'm leading up to the element of mystery that hangs -over the events of to-day. India is a land of mystery. -The people are a dreamy set, and now and then one of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> -them will go off into the woods, or the desert, and spend -several years as a devotee. When he comes back to -civilization again he's able to do wonderful things. I've -heard that these fakirs can throw a rope into the air -and that it will hang there; and that they can make a -boy climb the rope, up, and up, until he disappears. -Then rope, boy, and all but the fakir will vanish."</p> - -<p>"Fakes," grunted Joe. "Such things ain't in reason, -pard. You know what a fakir is in this country, and -I reckon he's not much better in India."</p> - -<p>"Of course it's a fake," said Matt, "but it's a pretty -smooth piece of magic. The Hindoo devotees could give -Hermann and all the other magicians cards and spades -and then beat them out."</p> - -<p>"I'm blamed if I can see yet where all this talk of -yours leads to."</p> - -<p>"I'm only, what you might call, thinking out loud," -laughed Matt. "Haidee's actions puzzle me. Her uncle -is a Hindoo, and he may be an adept in magic. If he -is, just how much has the girl's queer actions to do -with Ben Ali? It's something to think about. I'm glad -Burton isn't going to cut loose from the Hindoo and the -girl. The more I see of them, the more curious I'm -becoming."</p> - -<p>"Ben Ali, pard," grinned McGlory, "is a little bit -curious about us, I reckon, from the way he's pryin' -around. How do you account for that?"</p> - -<p>Matt shook his head.</p> - -<p>"I can't account for it, Joe, but perhaps we'll be able -to do so later." He got up. "How about something to -eat?" he asked. "We'll have to have dinner, then take -something to the boys, and get busy patching up the -aëroplane."</p> - -<p>"Did you ever know me to shy at a meal?" asked -McGlory, promptly getting up. "We'll hit the chuck layout, -and then——"</p> - -<p>It was nearly time for the doors to open, and inside -and out the two big "tops" there was a bustle of preparation. -The "spielers" in the ticket stands at the side-show -were yelling, people were crowding about the ticket -wagon, where they were to buy pasteboards admitting -them to the "big show," and a band was playing in the -road beyond the grounds.</p> - -<p>Above all these various sounds there came a call, wild -and frantic. It reached the ears of the two boys in the -calliope tent with strange distinctness, and cut McGlory -short while he was talking.</p> - -<p>"Helup! Helup, somepody, or I vas a goner!"</p> - -<p>The cowboy gave a jump for the door, only a foot or -two behind Matt.</p> - -<p>"Was that your Dutch pard?" cried McGlory.</p> - -<p>"It was his voice, plain enough," answered Matt, looking -around sharply.</p> - -<p>"What could have gone wrong with him?"</p> - -<p>"I can't imagine—here, in broad daylight, with the -grounds full of people."</p> - -<p>"It's trouble of the worst kind if we're to take the -words as they sounded."</p> - -<p>Matt believed this fully. Carl Pretzel was not the -lad to give a false alarm, and he had clearly put his -whole heart into the words Matt and McGlory had -heard.</p> - -<p>"Where did the call come from?" went on McGlory, -mystified.</p> - -<p>"It seemed to come from everywhere, and from nowhere," -replied Matt. "Look into the menagerie tent, -Joe."</p> - -<p>While McGlory was lifting the canvas and taking a -look through the animal show, Matt rounded the outside -of the lean-to, searching every place with keen eyes.</p> - -<p>Carl was nowhere to be found. As Matt drifted back -toward the door of the calliope tent, McGlory emerged -and joined him.</p> - -<p>"He's not mixed up with the animals," reported the -cowboy.</p> - -<p>"And I can't get any trace of him out here," said -Matt. "Let's walk over to the aëroplane. Carl and -Ping were to watch the machine, and I'm pretty sure -neither of them would leave it without orders unless -something pretty serious had gone wrong."</p> - -<p>Vaguely alarmed, the two chums pushed their way -through the crowd toward the place where the <i>Comet</i> -had been left.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX.</a></h2> - -<p class="chaptitle">BLACK MAGIC.</p> - - -<p>While the parade was passing through town, Carl -had been "sleuthing." The fact that he was wearing -McGlory's working clothes gave him an idea. He didn't -look like himself, so why not be some one else? All -the detective books he had ever read had a good deal to -say about disguises. Carl was already disguised, so he -made up his mind that he would be a dago laborer.</p> - -<p>After watching the parade file out of the show -grounds, he slouched over to the side-show tent. A man -was just finishing lacing the picture of a wild man to -the guy ropes. Carl shuffled up to him.</p> - -<p>"I peen der Idaliano man," he remarked, in a wonderful -combination of Dutch and Italian dialect, "und I, -peen make-a der look for a leedl-a gal mit der name -oof Manners. Haf-a you seen-a der girl aroundt loose -some-a-veres?"</p> - -<p>The canvasman looked Carl over, and then, being -of a grouchy disposition, and thinking Carl was trying -to make fun of him, he gave him a push that landed -him against a banner containing a painted portrait of -the elastic-skin man. The banner was even more elastic -than the image it bore on its surface, for Carl rebounded -and struck one of the "barkers," who happened -to be passing with his hands full of ice-cream -cones for the bearded lady and the Zulu chief.</p> - -<p>Disaster happened. The "barker" fell, with the Dutch -"tedectif" on top of him—and the ice-cream cones in -between.</p> - -<p>The "barker" indulged in violent language, and began -using his hands. Carl was pretty good at that himself, -and retaliated. Two canvasmen pulled the two apart. -Carl had the contents of a cone in his hair, and the -"barker" had the contents of another down the back -of his neck.</p> - -<p>"Where'd that ijut come from?" yelled the "barker," -dancing up and down among the broken cones.</p> - -<p>"Who left der cage toor oben?" cried Carl, digging -at his hair. "Der papoon vas esgaped."</p> - -<p>"You put up your lightning rod," growled the -"barker," "or you'll git hit with a large wad of electricity."</p> - -<p>"Come on mit it!" whooped Carl, fanning the air with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> -his fists. "No vone can make some ice-gream freezers -oudt oof me mitoudt hafing drouples!"</p> - -<p>"That'll do you," snorted the canvasman who had hold -of Carl, and thereupon raced him for twenty feet and -gave him a shove that turned him head over heels across -a guy rope.</p> - -<p>"Dot's der vay," mourned Carl, picking himself up -and gathering in his hat. "Der tedectif pitzness comes -by hardt knocks, und nodding else. Vere can I do some -more?"</p> - -<p>His head felt cold and uncomfortable, even after he -had mopped it dry with a red cotton handkerchief.</p> - -<p>He went over to the horse tent. The tent was nearly -empty, all the live stock except a trick mule being in -the parade. The mule would not have been there, but he -was too tricky to trust in the procession. A man with -a red shirt, and his sleeves rolled up, sat on a bale -of hay close to the mule. The man was smoking.</p> - -<p>"Hello, vonce," flagged Carl.</p> - -<p>"Hello yourself," answered the man.</p> - -<p>"I peen some Idaliano mans," remarked Carl, "und -I vas make-a der look for Markaret Manners, yes. -Haf-a you seen-a der gal?"</p> - -<p>"Take a sneak," said the man.</p> - -<p>"She iss-a leedle-a gal aboudt so high, yes," and -Carl put out his hand. "I peen-a der poor Idaliano man, -aber I gif-a you fife tollars, py shiminy, oof-a you tell-a -me where-a der gal iss."</p> - -<p>"You can't josh me," went on the man earnestly. -"Hike, before I knock off your block."</p> - -<p>Carl continued to stand his ground and ask questions; -then, the next thing he knew, the hostler had jumped -up and rushed for him. Carl sprang back to get out of -the way, unfortunately pushing against the hind heels -of the mule. The mule knew what to do, in the circumstances, -and did it with vigor.</p> - -<p>Carl was kicked against the man with the pipe, and -that worthy turned a back somersault as neatly as any -"kinker" belonging to the show.</p> - -<p>The Dutch boy limped hastily around the end of the -horse tent and crawled into an empty canvas wagon. -The mule's heels had struck him with the force of a -battering-ram, and he felt weak up and down the small -of the back. Besides, the wagon was a good place in -which to hide from the hostler.</p> - -<p>Cautiously he watched over the wagon's side. The -hostler came around the side of the tent, looked in all -directions, and then retired, muttering, in the direction -of the bale of hay.</p> - -<p>Carl chuckled as he dropped down on a roll of extra -canvas, but the chuckle died in a whimper as he became -conscious of his sore spots.</p> - -<p>"I vonder how Cherlock Holmes efer lifed to do vat -he dit," he murmured, curling up on the canvas. "Der -tedectif pitzness iss hit und miss from vone end to der -odder, und den I don'd get some revards. Meppy I vill -shleep und forged id."</p> - -<p>When Carl woke up, he looked over the side of the -wagon and saw a burning flying machine in the air, and -he heard the wild yells of the crowd. Probably it was -the yelling that awoke him.</p> - -<p>"Py shinks," he cried, "dot's my bard, Modor Matt! -He iss purnin' oop mit himseluf. Fire! Fire! Helup!" -and Carl rolled out of the wagon and raced toward the -spot where the machine seemed to be coming down.</p> - -<p>McGlory, white-faced but determined, was marshaling -a lot of men with buckets of water. Carl dropped in. -When the machine landed, he set to with the rest and -helped extinguish the flames.</p> - -<p>Then, after he had congratulated Matt, Carl and Ping -were placed on guard.</p> - -<p>In spite of the fact that Carl had shaken hands with -Ping, he continued to have very little use for the Chinaman. -And Ping, to judge from appearances, had no -more use for the Dutchman. They did not speak. One -sat down on one side of the machine and the other sat -down on the other. Then a brown man, wearing an -embroidered coat and a turban, drove up on a small -cage wagon drawn by one horse. He got off the wagon -and stepped up to Carl.</p> - -<p>"How-do, sahib?" said the man.</p> - -<p>Carl remembered him. He was the fellow who had -been dozing on Rajah's back at the river. Also he was -the man who had taken charge of the girl who had -dropped off the trapeze when the burning aëroplane -came down.</p> - -<p>Carl had a startling thought—it flashed over him -like an inspiration.</p> - -<p>"How you vas?" answered the Dutch boy genially.</p> - -<p>"You come 'long with Ben Ali," said the man.</p> - -<p>"Nod on your dindype," replied Carl. "I vas vatching -der machine for Modor Matt."</p> - -<p>"<i>You come!</i>" hissed Ben Ali.</p> - -<p>Then Carl noted something very remarkable. The -Hindoo's eyes began to blaze, and dance, and show wonderful -lights in their depths.</p> - -<p>"Shtop mit it!" said Carl. "You peen a mesmerizer, -und I don'd like dot."</p> - -<p>Carl knew he couldn't be hypnotized against his will, -but the Hindoo's eyes were working havoc with his -nerves.</p> - -<p>"<i>You come!</i>"</p> - -<p>The words of Ben Ali were imperative. Carl, seemingly -unable to remove his own eyes from the Hindoo's, -followed as Ben Ali retreated toward the wagon. At -the end of the wagon Ben Ali made some passes with -his hands in front of Carl's face, then opened the door.</p> - -<p>"You get in, sahib!"</p> - -<p>Carl climbed into the wagon mechanically. Slam went -the door and click went a key in the padlock.</p> - -<p>The <i>Comet</i> had come down from its disastrous flight -at a considerable distance from the tents. There were -no people in the immediate vicinity save Ping.</p> - -<p>The little Chinaman, on hands and knees under the -lower wing of the aëroplane, was watching covertly all -that took place.</p> - -<p>After locking the door of the cage wagon, Ben Ali -took a cautious look around him. He saw no one.</p> - -<p>Climbing up on one of the forward wheels, he took a -slouch hat and a long linen duster from the seat, removed -his embroidered coat and his turban, got into the -hat and duster, climbed to the seat, picked up the reins, -and drove off.</p> - -<p>Ping had seen it all, but had made no attempt to interfere. -And he made no attempt now.</p> - -<p>He did not like the "Dutchy boy." He was afraid -Carl would take away from him his job with Motor -Matt.</p> - -<p>It was with secret rejoicing, therefore, that the Chinaman -saw Carl locked in the wagon and hauled away.</p> - -<p>"Hoop-a-la!" chattered Ping, as he returned to his -place and once more went on watch.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span></p> - -<p>The wagon used by Ben Ali, on this momentous occasion, -was technically known as the monkey wagon. -Two of the monkeys had eaten something which did not -agree with them, and had died in Indianapolis. The three -that remained had been taken out and put in another -cage, with a collection known as "The Happy Family." -This, of course, left the monkey wagon empty.</p> - -<p>Burton was figuring on using it for one of the ant-eaters, -but there were some repairs to be made before -the wagon could be put to that use. The repairs dragged, -and so Ben Ali found his opportunity to use the cage.</p> - -<p>Straight across the show grounds drove the disguised -Hindoo. None of the employees who saw him recognized -him or questioned his right to use the monkey -wagon. Different gangs had different duties, and no one -knew but that this strange driver was off to town on -some important mission.</p> - -<p>Ben Ali drove within a hundred feet of the calliope -tent. When he was well beyond it, a yell came from -inside the wagon.</p> - -<p>"Helup! Helup, somepody, or I vas a goner!"</p> - -<p>A shiver ran through Ben Ali. He made ready to -leap from the wagon, but thought better of it when -he saw that the call had attracted no attention and was -not repeated.</p> - -<p>"Sahib keep still!" he called, kicking the end of the -wagon with his heels.</p> - -<p>And thus, with not a sound coming from the interior -of the monkey wagon, the artful Hindoo adept drove -into the road and headed the horse away from the -town and into the country.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X.</a></h2> - -<p class="chaptitle">THE MAHOUT'S FLIGHT.</p> - - -<p>When Matt and McGlory, hurrying to the aëroplane to -make inquiries concerning Carl, came within sight of -Ping, they saw him calmly occupied twirling a set of -jackstones.</p> - -<p>"Ping!" called Matt.</p> - -<p>"Awri'!" answered Ping, slipping the jackstones into -a pocket of his blouse and immediately getting up.</p> - -<p>"Where's Carl?"</p> - -<p>"Dutchy boy no good. Him lun away."</p> - -<p>"Run away?" echoed McGlory. "Here's a slam! -When and how, Ping?"</p> - -<p>"Ben Ali dlive 'lound in wagon. Him say to Dutchy -boy, 'You come.' Dutchy boy makee come chop-chop. -Ben Ali shuttee do', put on Melican coat, Melican hat, -makee dlive off. Woosh! Dutchy boy no good."</p> - -<p>This offhand description of what had happened to -Carl was received with startled wonder by Matt and -McGlory.</p> - -<p>"When was this?" demanded Matt.</p> - -<p>"Plaps fi' minit, plaps ten minit. No gottee clock, -Motol Matt; no savvy time."</p> - -<p>"You say Ben Ali drove up in a wagon?"</p> - -<p>"Dlive up in monkey wagon. Put Dutchy boy in monkey -wagon."</p> - -<p>"And then he locked Carl inside?"</p> - -<p>"Allee same."</p> - -<p>"And took off his turban and embroidered coat and -replaced them with another hat and coat?"</p> - -<p>"Melican hat, plenty long coat."</p> - -<p>"Wouldn't that rattle your spurs, pard?" murmured -McGlory.</p> - -<p>"What did Ben Ali do?" went on Matt, resolved to -get at the bottom of the matter, if possible.</p> - -<p>"Him makee funny look with eye," replied Ping. "By -Klismus! him blame' funny look. One piecee devil shine -in eye."</p> - -<p>"Hypnotized!" grunted McGlory.</p> - -<p>"You can't easily hypnotize a person against his will," -averred Matt. "It's not hard to guess that Carl was -a good way from being willing to go with Ben Ali."</p> - -<p>"What the dickens did Ben Ali want to run off Carl -for?" queried McGlory.</p> - -<p>"This business gets more and more mysterious, Joe," -returned Matt, "the farther we go into it."</p> - -<p>"And that yell we heard!"</p> - -<p>"That certainly came from Carl. Ben Ali must have -driven past the calliope tent while we were talking inside. -The fact that Carl gave a yell for help proves -that he wasn't wholly hypnotized."</p> - -<p>"He may have come out from under the influence -just long enough to give a whoop," suggested the -cowboy.</p> - -<p>"Let's go back and hunt up Burton," said Matt. -"He'll want his monkey wagon, and, of course, we've -got to get hold of Carl."</p> - -<p>"It's news to discover that Ben Ali is a hypnotist," -observed McGlory, as he and Matt whirled and started -to retrace the ground over which they had just passed.</p> - -<p>"I told you these Hindoos were a crafty set," answered -Matt.</p> - -<p>The doors were open and the crowd was vanishing -inside the big tents. The grounds were not so congested -with people as they had been, and it was easier to get -about and hunt for Burton.</p> - -<p>As it chanced, they ran plump into the manager just -as they were rounding the dressing tent at the end of -the circus "top."</p> - -<p>Burton was red and perspiring, and there was wrath -in his face.</p> - -<p>"I've been looking all around for you fellows," he -cried. "You can run one of these here buzz-wagons, -can't you, Matt?"</p> - -<p>"Yes," replied Matt, "but——"</p> - -<p>"Come along," interrupted Burton, grabbing Matt by -the arm, "we haven't any time to spare."</p> - -<p>"Wait!" protested Matt, drawing back. "Have you -seen——"</p> - -<p>"Can't wait," fumed Burton. "I've hired a chug-car; -and there's a race on. Haidee has skipped. Aurung -Zeeb, one of the other Hindoo mahouts, has helped her -get away. They've taken my runabout. Confound such -blooming luck, anyhow!"</p> - -<p>Here was news, and no mistake. Ben Ali running off -with Carl, and Aurung Zeeb taking to the open with -the showman's Kentucky cob and rubber-tired buggy!</p> - -<p>"Do you know where Aurung Zeeb and Haidee -went?" asked Matt.</p> - -<p>"I haven't the least notion," was the wrathful answer, -"but we've got to find them. I don't care a straw -about Zeeb, or the girl, but that runabout rig is worth -six hundred dollars, just as it stands."</p> - -<p>"Well, if you don't know which way the rig went," -argued Matt, "it's foolish to go chasing them and depending -on luck to point the way."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span></p> - -<p>"We've got to do something!" declared Burton.</p> - -<p>"Where's Ben Ali?"</p> - -<p>"Oh, hang Ben Ali! I haven't seen him since he -flashed that knife in my face."</p> - -<p>"We've just discovered," proceeded Matt, "that he -has skipped out, too, and taken your monkey wagon -along."</p> - -<p>"Sure of that?"</p> - -<p>"Ping just told us. Not only that, Burton, but he -took my Dutch pard—the lad that came this morning—with -him. Carl was locked in the cage."</p> - -<p>"Worse and worse," ground out Burton. "How'd -Ben Ali ever manage to do that?"</p> - -<p>"On the face of it, I should say that Ben Ali had -hypnotized Carl."</p> - -<p>"Nonsense! What does an elephant driver know -about hypnotism? Still, this begins to look like a comprehensive -plan to steal a monkey wagon and a runabout -and leave me in the lurch. What do you think -of that Haidee girl to do a thing like this? She seemed -mighty anxious to earn money, yet here she skips out -with about a hundred in cash to her credit."</p> - -<p>"It's hard to understand the turn events have taken," -said Matt. "But I wouldn't blame Haidee too much -until you know more about her—and about Ben Ali."</p> - -<p>"I want my horses and my rolling stock," fretted -Burton. "The rest of the outfit can go hang, if I get -back the plunder."</p> - -<p>"You said something about an automobile," said Matt.</p> - -<p>"There's a car here, and the man that owns it is seeing -the show. He said I could have the use of the car all -afternoon for fifty dollars. He thought I was an easy -mark, and I let him think so. He's got the money and -I've got the car. After he'd gone inside, I happened -to remember that I couldn't run the thing, so I chased -off looking for you. Here we are," and the three, who -had been walking in the direction of the road, came to -the side of a large automobile.</p> - -<p>It was a good machine, with all of six cylinders under -the hood.</p> - -<p>"If you're a mind reader, and can tell where we ought -to go, Burton," said Motor Matt, "I'll get you there. -I feel right at home when I'm in the driver's seat of -a motor car."</p> - -<p>"Wait till I ask somebody," and Burton whirled and -flew away.</p> - -<p>"Gone to have some fortune teller read his palm," -laughed McGlory. "Oh, but he's wild when he gets -started."</p> - -<p>"I don't blame him for worrying," said Matt. "He -was offered four hundred, spot cash, for that Kentucky -cob, in Indianapolis. Shouldn't wonder if he stood to -lose a thousand dollars if the runaways can't be overhauled. -And he hasn't much time to overhaul them, -either, Joe. The three sections of the show train have -got to be on the move toward South Bend by three in -the morning. I'm worried some myself, on Carl's account. -What has that crafty mahout got at the back of -his head? I wish I knew. You and I are going to stay -right here in Lafayette until we can find out something -about Carl."</p> - -<p>"Sure we are," agreed the cowboy heartily. "But here -comes Burton, and he looks as though he'd found out -something."</p> - -<p>"One of the canvasmen," announced Burton breathlessly, -as he came up with the boys, "says that he saw -the monkey wagon heading south into the country. Can't -find out which way the runabout headed, but we'll take -after the other outfit. Get in and drive the machine for -all you're worth."</p> - -<p>Matt passed around in front, and was pleased with -the business-like manner in which the motor took up -its cycle.</p> - -<p>"Here's where we throw in the high-speed clutch and -scoot," said Matt, settling into the driver's seat with a -glad feeling tingling along his nerves. It had suddenly -occurred to him that he would rather motor in a high-powered -car than do anything else that had so far -claimed his attention. In such a machine, "miles were -his minions and distance his slave." "Here we go," he -finished, and away bounded the car.</p> - -<p>Matt took time to wonder at the nature of a plutocrat -who, for fifty dollars, would trust such a beautiful -piece of mechanism in the hands of a showman. But the -fact was accomplished, and guesses at the reason were -futile.</p> - -<p>They came to a hill—a steepish kind of a hill, too—and -they went over it without a change of gear. Motor -Matt laughed exultantly.</p> - -<p>"Took it on the high speed!" he cried. "A car that -can do that is a corker."</p> - -<p>On the opposite side of the hill, as they were scorching -down with the speedometer needle playing around -the fifty-eight mark, a team and wagon containing a -farmer and his family were almost backed off the road. -Matt tampered with the brakes, but the car was going -too fast to feel the bind of the brake grip.</p> - -<p>"Never mind!" cried Burton, from his place at Matt's -side. "That outfit is going to the show to-night. If I -see 'em, I'll pass 'em all in with fifty-cent chairs. Now, -boy, hit 'er up. I've got to recover my property before -night sets in, and this may be a long chase."</p> - -<p>"Long chase!" yelped McGlory derisively from the -tonneau. "How can it be a long chase when we're going -like this? Hang on to your hair, Burton! Mile-a-minute -Matt's at the steering wheel."</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI.</a></h2> - -<p class="chaptitle">THE PAPER TRAIL.</p> - - -<p>The coils hummed merrily to the six-cylinder accompaniment. -The wind whistled and sang in the ears of -the three who were plunging along at a speed which -was bound to get them somewhere in short order.</p> - -<p>Then, as might be expected, something happened. It -was no accident to the car. The road spread apart in -two equally well-traveled branches, and Matt shut off -and came to a stop at the forks.</p> - -<p>"The canvasman, of course," said the young motorist, -looking around at Burton, "couldn't tell you which fork -the monkey wagon would take."</p> - -<p>"Here's a go!" muttered Burton. "If we take one -fork, we may be hustling off on the wrong scent. At -a guess, I should say take the right-hand branch."</p> - -<p>"Let's not do any guessing until we have to," Matt -returned. "My cowboy chum here is a good hand at -picking up trails. Show us how they do it in Arizona, -Joe."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span></p> - -<p>McGlory was out of the car in a flash and giving his -attention to the surface of the road.</p> - -<p>"You might as well try to hunt for the print of a -rabbit's foot in the trail of a herd of stampeded steers," -said McGlory, after five precious minutes spent in fruitless -examination.</p> - -<p>"What sort of a cowboy are you, anyhow?" scoffed -Burton.</p> - -<p>"Well, look," answered McGlory. "The ground is all -cut up with people coming to the show, and it's none -too soft. I couldn't pick out the tread of a traction -thrashing machine in all this jumble of prints."</p> - -<p>"Any one coming on either road?" queried Burton, -standing up and looking. "If there is, we could inquire -as to whether they'd passed the monkey wagon."</p> - -<p>"See any one?" asked Matt.</p> - -<p>"Not a soul," and the showman plumped disappointedly -down in his seat.</p> - -<p>"Just a minute, Joe," interposed Matt, as the cowboy -was about to climb back into the tonneau. "What's that -white object in the road?" Matt pointed as he spoke. -"There's one, just over the left-hand fork, and another -beyond it."</p> - -<p>"If you stop to bother with paper scraps," cried Burton, -"we'll never get anywhere."</p> - -<p>McGlory, however, turned back and picked up the -object to which Matt had called his attention.</p> - -<p>It was a scrap of paper, just as Burton had said. -The scrap was a ragged square, as though it had been -roughly torn, and measured about two inches across.</p> - -<p>The cowboy examined it casually at first, then his -face changed, and he gave it closer attention.</p> - -<p>"My handwriting," he declared, looking up at Matt.</p> - -<p>"How can that be?" scoffed Burton.</p> - -<p>"I don't know how it can be," replied McGlory, "but -it's a fact, all the same. I had a memorandum book, -and have jotted down various things in it."</p> - -<p>"Where'd you leave the memorandum book?" jested -the showman impatiently; "in the monkey wagon?"</p> - -<p>"Nary, I didn't. I left it in the hip pocket of my -working clothes."</p> - -<p>"And Carl had on the clothes!" exclaimed Matt, with -a jubilant ring in his voice. "Carl must have scattered -that trail for our benefit."</p> - -<p>He stood up in the automobile and looked back over -the road they had traveled.</p> - -<p>"Why," he went on, "we haven't been as observing as -we should have been. There's a paper trail, and Carl -must have started it pretty soon after the monkey wagon -left the show grounds."</p> - -<p>"Well, well!" muttered Burton. "Say, Matt, that -Dutch chum of yours is quite a lad, after all. The idea -of his thinking of that."</p> - -<p>"Carl always has his head with him," declared Matt. -"Climb in, Joe. The left fork for ours."</p> - -<p>McGlory pulled the crank, before he got in, for the -stop had killed the engine.</p> - -<p>"It's a cinch," said McGlory, as he resumed his place -in the tonneau, "that Carl wasn't hypnotized when he -dropped those scraps. How <i>could</i> he drop 'em? That's -what beats me. Why, he was locked in, so Ping said."</p> - -<p>"There was a hole in the floor," explained Burton. -"Not a very big one, but big enough for an ant-eater -to get a foot through. I was going to repair the cage, -but haven't had time to attend to it."</p> - -<p>"Why didn't Carl yell again?" went on McGlory. "If -he had yelled long enough, and loud enough, some one -would have been bound to hear him and stop Ben Ali."</p> - -<p>"This is another case where Carl's using his head," -put in Matt. "He's playing some dodge or other."</p> - -<p>"He's showing up a whole lot stronger than I ever -imagined he could," said the cowboy. "I had sized him -up for a two-spot at any sort of headwork. Got my -opinion, I reckon, from the way those Chicago detectives -fooled him."</p> - -<p>"He's not so slow as you imagine, Joe," said Matt. -"Now keep an eye out for scraps!"</p> - -<p>"We can't get into a scrap with those Hindoos any -too quick to suit me," laughed McGlory, hanging out -over the side of the motor car.</p> - -<p>Once more the whirling, headlong rush of the car -was resumed. No sooner had Burton, or McGlory, discovered -a bit of white in the roadway ahead than it was -lost to sight behind.</p> - -<p>Then, after four or five miles of this, the three in -the car raised an object, drawn up at the roadside, -which brought the car to a halt. The object was the -monkey wagon, horse gone from the shafts, rear door -swinging open, and not a soul in the vicinity.</p> - -<p>"Here's another queer twist," grumbled Burton, as all -three got out to make a close survey of the wagon. -"What do you think of it, Matt?"</p> - -<p>Matt and McGlory thrust their heads in at the door.</p> - -<p>"Phew!" gurgled the cowboy, drawing back. "There's -a mineral well, in Lafayette, that's a dead ringer for -the smell inside that cage wagon."</p> - -<p>"I haven't had it swabbed out yet," apologized Burton.</p> - -<p>"Here's the hole where Carl dropped out the paper -scraps," Matt called, from inside the wagon.</p> - -<p>"And here's something else, pard!" yelled McGlory.</p> - -<p>Matt came out of the wagon and found his cowboy -chum calling Burton's attention to marks in the road.</p> - -<p>"What do you make of it, Joe?" asked Matt, coming -closer.</p> - -<p>"Well," answered McGlory, reading the "signs," "a -one-horse buggy with rubber tires stopped here, alongside -the monkey wagon. Look how the road's tramped up, -ahead there. The horse was restive during the halt, and -did some pawing."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Great guns!" murmured Burton. "My runabout!"</p> - -<p>"I think it's pretty clear now," observed Matt. "Aurung -Zeeb and Haidee didn't get away at the same time -Ben Ali and Carl did, or else they took a different -course. Anyhow, they came up with the wagon. The -runabout's faster, so the whole party went on with it."</p> - -<p>"They might get three people into the runabout, by -crowding," said Burton, "but they never could get four -people into it."</p> - -<p>"That's why the horse was taken from the monkey -wagon," went on Matt. "Aurung Zeeb or Ben Ali must -have ridden the animal."</p> - -<p>"By Jove, King, I wish I had your head for getting -at things! That was the way of it—it <i>must</i> have been -the way of it. Let's pile back into the machine and -hustle on."</p> - -<p>They all felt that the chase was drawing to a close. -The runabout was a faster vehicle than the monkey -wagon, but there was not the ghost of a show for the -Kentucky horse getting away from the automobile.</p> - -<p>From that point on, the paper trail was not in evidence.</p> - -<p>"Carl wasn't able to drop any more scraps," said -Matt. "When he was inside the monkey wagon he was -out of sight and could do about as he pleased; crowded -into the runabout with Ben Ali and Haidee, and with -Aurung Zeeb riding behind, he couldn't possibly drop -a clue to guide us."</p> - -<p>"The Dutchman seems to have taken it for granted -that he'd be followed," hazarded Burton.</p> - -<p>"He knows very well," returned Matt, "that I -wouldn't stand around and let him worry through this -run of hard luck alone. Look out for the runabout. -The way I figure it, the rig can't be more than ten or -fifteen minutes ahead of us."</p> - -<p>"How do you figure it, Matt?" asked Burton.</p> - -<p>"Well, from the time Joe and I heard Carl call for -help. I don't believe it was more than half an hour -from that time until we were hitting the high places -with this automobile. Eh, Joe?"</p> - -<p>"No more than that, pard," answered McGlory.</p> - -<p>"I should think we'd have gained more than fifteen or -twenty minutes on the Hindoos, the rate we've been coming," -remarked Burton.</p> - -<p>"Possibly we have. If that's so, then the runabout -can't be even ten minutes ahead of us. Now——"</p> - -<p>"Runabout!" yelled McGlory.</p> - -<p>He was standing up in the tonneau and peering ahead. -The road, at this point, was bordered with heavy timber -on both sides, but in half a minute Matt and Burton -could each see the vehicle to which the cowboy had -called their attention.</p> - -<p>It wasn't a runabout, as it proved, but a two-seated -"democrat" wagon, drawn by a team, and conveying -another party townward—presumably for the evening -performance of the Big Consolidated.</p> - -<p>McGlory's disappointment was keen. And his feelings, -for that matter, were matched by those of Motor -Matt and Burton.</p> - -<p>Matt halted the automobile and, when the wagon came -alongside, asked the driver if he had been passed by -a runabout farther along the road.</p> - -<p>The party had come five miles on that road and, -according to the driver, hadn't been passed by anything -on wheels going the other way.</p> - -<p>For a space those in the automobile were in a -quandary.</p> - -<p>"What's amiss?" fumed Burton. "Are we on the -wrong track, after all, in spite of your Dutch friend -and his paper trail, and McGlory's reading the signs at -the monkey wagon?"</p> - -<p>Matt suddenly threw in the reverse and began to turn.</p> - -<p>"Only one thing could have happened," he averred.</p> - -<p>"What's that?"</p> - -<p>"Why, the people in the runabout must have heard -us coming and turned from the road into the woods."</p> - -<p>"Let her out on the back track, then!" cried Burton. -"If the Hindoos think they've dodged us, they've probably -pulled out into the road and started the other way."</p> - -<p>This seemed to have been the case, for three minutes -speeding over the return trail brought those in the automobile -in sight of the runabout.</p> - -<p>This time it <i>was</i> the runabout, and no mistake, and -the Kentucky cob was stretching out like a race horse -under the frantic plying of a whip.</p> - -<p>Burton reached behind him, under his coat, and -brought a revolver into view.</p> - -<p>"We'll find out about this business before we're many -minutes older!" he exclaimed grimly.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII.</a></h2> - -<p class="chaptitle">CARL TURNS A TRICK.</p> - - -<p>Something has been said about Carl Pretzel having an -idea that was almost an inspiration, at the time he was -approached by the Hindoo at the aëroplane.</p> - -<p>This it was that led him into the monkey wagon. The -slam of the door and the grate of the key in the padlock -struck a sudden tremor to the Dutch boy's heart.</p> - -<p>Was he making a fool of himself or not? Would a -trained detective have proceeded in that manner?</p> - -<p>His heart failed him, and he gave the wild yell for -help.</p> - -<p>He had hardly given the cry before he repented of it. -What would Motor Matt think of his nerve if he could -know the game he had embarked upon, and how he had -been stampeded in playing it?</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span></p> - -<p>No; if that call had done no harm, Carl would not -repeat it. He would see the business through and try -and match wits with the Hindoo.</p> - -<p>In spite of the noise on the show grounds, Carl -heard Ben Ali's heels bang against the end of the wagon, -and also the stern voice commanding him to keep silent.</p> - -<p>Carl kept silent. He was almost smothered by the -closeness of his prison chamber, and the terrific odor -that assailed him, but he comforted himself with the -thought that detectives don't always have things their -own way when they're tracking down a criminal. Anyhow, -even his present discomfort was better than the -hard knocks his "sleuthing" had so far given him.</p> - -<p>He was not long in discovering the hole in the floor -of the wagon. The memorandum book he had discovered -soon after getting into the borrowed clothes.</p> - -<p>Of course he knew that Motor Matt would follow -him! That was the kind of fellow the king of the motor -boys was; never had he turned his back on a pard in distress.</p> - -<p>Carl, too, was morally certain that Ping had seen him -get into the monkey wagon. Motor Matt would discover -this from the Chinaman, and then would come the -pursuit.</p> - -<p>The thing for Carl to do was to point the way by -which he had been carried off. The hole in the floor, -and the memorandum book in his pocket, were not long -in giving him the right tip.</p> - -<p>Sitting down on the bottom of the cage, Carl occupied -himself in tearing the leaves of the book into scraps and -poking the scraps through the opening.</p> - -<p>How far Ben Ali drove Carl did not know, but it -seemed as though the Hindoo had been hours on the -road. There was a pain in Carl's back, where the mule -had left its token of remembrance, and the jolt of the -wagon was far from pleasant.</p> - -<p>Presently there came the rapid beat of a horse's hoofs, -a whir of wheels, and a sudden stop of the monkey -wagon. The other sounds ceased at the same moment.</p> - -<p>For a second or two Carl imagined that Matt had -overhauled Ben Ali, but this fancy was dispelled by the -strange words that passed between Ben Ali and some -one else.</p> - -<p>The mahout could be heard climbing swiftly down -from his perch and moving around to the rear of the -wagon. Carl slipped the book into his pocket and drew -away from the hole in the floor.</p> - -<p>Once more the key grated in the padlock. The door -was drawn open and Ben Ali was revealed, looming -large in the rush of sunlight, a bared knife in his hand.</p> - -<p>"You come, sahib," said Ben Ali.</p> - -<p>Carl got up and moved toward the door. There Ben -Ali caught his eyes for a space and held them with the -same weird looks indulged in near the aëroplane on the -show grounds.</p> - -<p>The Dutchman instantly grew automatic in his movements, -keeping his eyes straight ahead and following -Ben Ali's every gesture.</p> - -<p>Carl had seen persons hypnotized, and knew how they -acted.</p> - -<p>"You come," repeated Ben Ali sternly, and Carl -jumped down from the wagon.</p> - -<p>They were in a country road. There was a smart-looking -horse and buggy beside the monkey wagon, and -Haidee was on the seat. If appearances were to be believed, -she was in another of her spells.</p> - -<p>"Sahib get in de buggy," ordered Ben Ali.</p> - -<p>Carl climbed over the wheel obediently and sat down -beside the girl. She paid not the least attention to him, -nor he to her. Ben Ali climbed in beside them, squeezed -into the seat, and took the reins from Haidee's hands.</p> - -<p>Meanwhile, Carl had been looking at another brown -man in a turban who was unhitching the horse from the -monkey wagon.</p> - -<p>Ben Ali waited until the horse was out of the shafts -and the second Hindoo on its back, then he started the -Kentucky cob off along the road. His companion trotted -along behind.</p> - -<p>Dropping any more paper scraps was out of the question. -Carl was too tightly wedged in between Ben Ali -and Haidee to use his hands; besides, he could not have -made a move that would not instantly have been seen.</p> - -<p>Presently the Hindoo on the horse called out something -in his unknown jargon. Ben Ali answered, and -the runabout was turned from the road and into the -woods.</p> - -<p>Possibly they proceeded a hundred feet into the timber. -At the end of that distance their progress was -halted by a creek with steep banks.</p> - -<p>Ben Ali got out. While standing on the ground -facing Carl, he made sinuous movements with his slim -brown hands—passes, most probably, designed to keep -Carl in a hypnotic state.</p> - -<p>The girl shuddered, suddenly, and drew a hand across -her eyes.</p> - -<p>"Uncle Ben!" she exclaimed, with a sharp cry, "where -am I?"</p> - -<p>"You are safe," said Ben Ali. "You are not to work -with de trapeze any more, not be with de show any -more. We are quit with de show. <i>Kabultah, meetoowah?</i>"</p> - -<p>"Yes, yes," breathed the girl, "I understand. But -where are we going? I don't want to be in a trance any -more. I want to know what I say, what I do—all the -time."</p> - -<p>The man's face hardened.</p> - -<p>"You come, Haidee," he said, gently but none the less -firmly.</p> - -<p>The girl got up and climbed down from the wagon.</p> - -<p>"Sahib!" he cried sharply. "You come, too."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span></p> - -<p>Carl likewise climbed to the ground.</p> - -<p>"You are asleep," went on Ben Ali, coming up to -Carl and bringing his face close. "You know not anything -what you do. Sit!"</p> - -<p>Carl sank down on the bank of the creek.</p> - -<p>The other Hindoo had dismounted. Stepping away -from his horse, he turned the runabout rig the other -way, so that the cob faced the road. Then he tied the -animal.</p> - -<p>Meanwhile, Ben Ali, seating himself cross-legged on -the ground, had drawn a small black box from his -breast. It was a lacquered box and shone like ebony in -the gleam of sun that drifted down through the trees.</p> - -<p>Haidee uttered an exclamation and stretched out her -hands.</p> - -<p>"It is mine, Uncle Ben! It belongs to me."</p> - -<p>"Yis, <i>meetoowah</i>," agreed Ben Ali, "it belong to you, -but I keep it. That is safer, better."</p> - -<p>He put down the box and listened, hissing to attract -the attention of the other Hindoo.</p> - -<p>"Aurung Zeeb!"</p> - -<p>The other turned, and Ben Ali motioned toward the -road.</p> - -<p>The sound of an approaching motor car broke the stillness. -It grew rapidly in volume, passed a point abreast -of those in the woods, and went on, dying away in the -distance.</p> - -<p>Excitement shone in the faces of the Hindoos, and -there was alarm in the face of the girl.</p> - -<p>"What is it?" she cried. "Uncle Ben——"</p> - -<p>"Silence, <i>meetooowah</i>!" commanded the Hindoo.</p> - -<p>Taking the lacquered box in his hand, Ben Ali leaped -erect and chattered wildly with Aurung Zeeb. After that, -he came to Carl, his face full of anxiety and alarm, and -made more passes.</p> - -<p>"You come," he ordered, "get back in de buggy."</p> - -<p>Carl followed as Ben Ali backed away in the direction -of the runabout. The Hindoo stood close to the -wheel until Carl was in the seat.</p> - -<p>At that moment a smothered scream came from Haidee. -Aurung Zeeb jumped toward her, letting go the -bridle of his horse as he did so. Ben Ali muttered -something under his breath, put the lacquered box on the -runabout seat beside Carl, and started toward Aurung -Zeeb and the girl.</p> - -<p>"You must tell me what you are doing," panted the -girl, facing the Hindoos with flashing eyes. "That is -Boss Burton's horse and buggy. Why have you got the -rig here? What are we doing here? Tell me, Uncle -Ben! I must know."</p> - -<p>Ben Ali tried to quiet her. Carl was in a quiver. -The lines were twined about the whip on the dashboard -of the runabout, and both Hindoos were fully fifteen -feet away. It looked like a propitious moment for escape. -Carl had not accomplished much, but he was patting -himself on the back because of the way he had -fooled Ben Ali. Now, if he could get away, and take -the runabout with him——</p> - -<p>Carl never thought very long over any proposition. -Nor did he give much time to this.</p> - -<p>Swooping down on the dashboard, he grabbed up the -lines and the whip.</p> - -<p>"Gid ap mit yourself!" he yelled, and struck the horse.</p> - -<p>With a snort the animal bounded forward, breaking -the strap that secured him to the tree and almost throwing -Carl from the seat.</p> - -<p>The other horse took fright and bounded away, while -Carl went lurching and plunging in a wild dash for the -road.</p> - -<p>How he ever reached the road without coming to -grief against the many trees he grazed in his dash was -something which would have puzzled a wiser head than -his.</p> - -<p>He paid not the least attention to the Hindoos, nor -to Haidee. He was thinking of Carl, and trying to -guess how much money he would get for bringing back -the stolen horse and runabout.</p> - -<p>For once, he thought exultantly, he was making the -detective business <i>pay</i>.</p> - -<p>Whirling into the road, he headed the horse back toward -town, plying the whip and hustling the best he -knew how.</p> - -<p>It was a marvel that the runabout held together. But -it did. Suddenly a firearm spoke sharply from somewhere -in the rear.</p> - -<p>Carl did not look behind. He had but one thought, -and that was that the Hindoos must be phenomenal runners, -and that they were chasing him on foot and firing -as they came.</p> - -<p>He bent forward over the dashboard and urged the -cob to a wilder pace.</p> - -<p>Then, while he was using the whip, an angry voice -roared from alongside the runabout:</p> - -<p>"Stop lashing that horse! Stop, I tell you!"</p> - -<p>Carl became faintly aware that there was an automobile -dashing along the road side by side with the -runabout.</p> - -<p>"Carl!" shouted a familiar voice. "Stop your running! -Don't you know who we are?"</p> - -<p>Then the excited Dutchman became aware of the situation -and pulled back on the lines.</p> - -<p>He chuckled delightedly as he jerked and sawed on -the bit.</p> - -<p>He, Carl Pretzel, had been running away from his old -pard! What a joke!</p> - -<p>And there, in the automobile with Matt, was the -manager of the show.</p> - -<p>It wouldn't be long, now, before Carl found out how -much he was to get for recovering the stolen horse and -runabout.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII.</a></h2> - -<p class="chaptitle">THE LACQUERED BOX.</p> - - -<p>Probably that Kentucky horse of Burton's had never -been treated in his life as he was that afternoon. He -was muddy with sweat and dust, and his high-strung -spirits, by that time thoroughly aroused, rebelled against -the curb.</p> - -<p>In order to help Carl out, Motor Matt drove the car -past the horse and partly across the road. This served -to bring the animal to a halt.</p> - -<p>"By Jove!" stormed Burton, "I wouldn't have had -this happen for a hundred dollars! It's a wonder if the -horse isn't ruined!"</p> - -<p>He flopped out of the automobile and approached the -horse's head.</p> - -<p>"Whoa, Colonel!" he murmured soothingly. "Whoa, -old boy!"</p> - -<p>Then, getting one hand on the bit, he held the animal -while he petted and wheedled and patted the lathered -neck.</p> - -<p>"Der rig vas shtole py der Hindoo," said Carl, "und -I haf recofered it und prought it pack. Dot comes oof -being a goot tedectif, py shinks! How mooch iss id -vort'?"</p> - -<p>"Worth?" scowled Burton. "If the animal is injured -I'll charge you up for it. Don't you know how to take -care of a horse?"</p> - -<p>"Don'd you vas going to pay me someding?" gasped -Carl.</p> - -<p>"Pay?" snorted Burton, in no mood to consider a reward -after seeing his favorite horse mistreated. "Why, I -feel like I wanted to use the whip on you! What did -you run away from us for?"</p> - -<p>"I t'ought you vas der Hindoos," explained Carl -feebly. "Say, Matt," he added, turning to his chum, -"der feller don't vas going to gif me someding! Vat a -miserliness! Und me going droo all vat I dit!"</p> - -<p>"Where did you get the runabout, Carl?" asked Matt.</p> - -<p>He thought Boss Burton was a little unreasonable, but -was not disposed to make any comments. Burton's ways -were sometimes far from meeting Matt's approval—and -they had never been farther from it than during the -events of that exciting day.</p> - -<p>"I shteal him from der Hindoos," said Carl, "und -make some gedavays by der shkin oof my teet', you -bed you! I hat to run der horse, Matt, oder I vouldn't -have made der esgape. Vone oof der Hindoos had a -knife, und dey vas bot' det safage I can't dell. Der -odder horse vat pulled der cage vagon iss somevere -aheadt. He got avay und vent like some shdreaks."</p> - -<p>"You climb down," snapped Burton, coming back to -the side of the runabout. "I'll take the rig back to the -grounds and send one of the teamsters for the monkey -wagon. You'll bring along the automobile, Matt?" he -added, getting into the runabout as Carl got out.</p> - -<p>"Yes," answered Matt.</p> - -<p>"Ain't you going on with us to look up the Hindoos -and Haidee?" asked McGlory. "Going to hang back -before we run out the trail, Burton?"</p> - -<p>"I don't care anything about them," was the reply, -"so long as I've recovered my own property. What's -this?" and the showman picked up the lacquered box.</p> - -<p>Carl stared at it. Evidently he had forgotten all about -it, up to that moment.</p> - -<p>"Py chimineddy!" he muttered. "Dot's der Hindoo's! -He tropped id on der seat pefore I run avay mit der -rig."</p> - -<p>"Then I'll take it with me," said Burton. "Perhaps -it's of enough value so that the rascal will come after -it. If he does, I can read the riot act to him."</p> - -<p>"I guess you'd better leave that with Carl, Burton," -spoke up Matt. "You don't care to bother with the Hindoos, -and we may think it's worth while."</p> - -<p>"Oh, well, if that's the way you feel about it," and -the showman tossed the box to Carl. "Mind," he added, -as he started off, "you're not to get into any trouble with -that automobile."</p> - -<p>Burton was soon out of sight.</p> - -<p>"He's the limit, that fellow!" growled McGlory. "He -might have tipped Carl a five-case note, but he wouldn't. -He's a skinner."</p> - -<p>"Nodding doing in der tedectif pitzness," said Carl resignedly, -getting into the automobile beside Matt. -"Same like alvays I ged der vorst oof id. Vile vorking -on der Manners gase, I haf peen in a row mit Ping, in -a row mit a canvasman und a 'parker' for der site-show, -in some more rows mit a shtable feller, got kicked in der -pack mit a mu-el, und carried avay in some vagons vat -shmelled like a glue factory. Und vat I ged? Dot Purton -feller he say he vould like to pound me mit der vip. -Ach, vell, ve can't pecome greadt tedectifs mitoudt a -leedle hardt luck at her shtart."</p> - -<p>"Tell us what happened to you, Carl," said Matt, "and -be quick about it."</p> - -<p>Carl sketched his adventures, with now and then an -urging toward brevity from Matt.</p> - -<p>"Ven I see dot Hindoo coming, at der time he made -some brisoners oof me," expounded Carl, on reaching -that part of his recital, "I remempered der girl vat come -down in der flying machine, und vat he valked avay mit, -und I got der t'ought, like lightning, dot meppy der -feller know someding aboudt Markaret Manners, vat -iss atverdised for in der Lonton baper. Abner nit, it -don'd vas der case. I schust let meinseluf pertend dot I -vas mesmerized so dot I could go along by der Hindoo -und meppy findt oudt someding. I don't findt oudt -anyt'ing."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span></p> - -<p>Carl's disgust was great, and he brought his story to a -quick conclusion.</p> - -<p>"We'll go look for the Hindoos and Haidee," said -Matt. "As I jog along, Carl, you keep watch for the -place where you turned from the road. Meanwhile, -Joe," Matt added, "you take the lacquered box and open -it. We'll see what's inside. The contents may shed a -little light on this mystery of the girl."</p> - -<p>"Der Hindoos und der girl von't be vere dey vas," -remarked Carl, handing the box to McGlory.</p> - -<p>"They can't possibly be far away," answered Matt. -"They have to travel on foot, now, and will be compelled -to go slow."</p> - -<p>"This box is locked, pard," called McGlory.</p> - -<p>"Force the lid, then," said Matt. "It's necessary, according -to my notion, that we try and find out something -about Haidee. And for the girl's good."</p> - -<p>McGlory opened his pocketknife and inserted the -blade between the box and the lid. The lock splintered -out under pressure.</p> - -<p>"She's open, pard," announced the cowboy.</p> - -<p>"What's inside?"</p> - -<p>"A bundle of letters tied with a piece of twine."</p> - -<p>"Ah!"</p> - -<p>"They have English stamps," went on McGlory, "and -are postmarked at London."</p> - -<p>"Better and better! And they're addressed to——"</p> - -<p>"Miss Margaret Manners, Calcutta, India."</p> - -<p>Carl nearly fell off the seat.</p> - -<p>"Ach, du lieber!" he sputtered, "I vas ketching my -breat'. A clue, py shinks! Dot Haidee knows vere der -fife-t'ousant-tollar girl iss, I bed you!"</p> - -<p>"Knows where the girl is?" echoed Matt.</p> - -<p>"Sure t'ing. How vouldt Haidee haf Markaret Manners' -ledders oof she ditn't know somet'ing aboudt der -English girl? A few more knocks, py shiminy, und I -vill make der fife t'ousant tollars!"</p> - -<p>"Carl," said Matt, "you've got a wooden head when -it comes to sleuthing. Why, Haidee is Margaret Manners -herself. I've had a hunch to that effect for two -or three hours."</p> - -<p>Once more Carl had to hold on with both hands to -keep from going by the board. He could only breathe -hard and think of what he would do with all the money -that was coming to him.</p> - -<p>"What else is there in the box, Joe?" asked Matt. -"Anything but the letters?"</p> - -<p>"Just one thing, pard," replied McGlory. "It looks -like a decoration of some kind."</p> - -<p>McGlory held the object over Matt's shoulder, so he -could see it.</p> - -<p>It was a bronze Maltese cross, with a royal crown -in the centre surmounted by a lion, and the words "For -Valour" stamped on the cross under the crown. The -cross hung from a V-shaped piece attached to a bar, -and the bar was attached to a faded red ribbon. Across -the bar was engraved the name "Lionel Manners."</p> - -<p>"I feel like taking off my hat in the presence of that, -pards," said Matt.</p> - -<p>"Why?" demanded Joe.</p> - -<p>"It's a Victoria Cross," returned Matt, "and is only -given to persons for a deed of gallantry and daring. -When the ribbon is red, it shows that the winner of the -cross belonged to the army; when blue, to the navy. -Captain Lionel Manners must have been a brave man, -and it's a pity his daughter should be treated as she has -been. Carl, you've blundered onto a big thing—and -you couldn't have blundered so successfully once in a -thousand times. Put the letters and the cross back in -the box, Joe. We'll keep them safe for the girl. -If——"</p> - -<p>"Dere's der blace," interrupted Carl, pointing to the -roadside.</p> - -<p>Motor Matt brought the automobile to a stop.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV.</a></h2> - -<p class="chaptitle">THE HYPNOTIST'S VICTIM.</p> - - -<p>"You and I will go and look for the Hindoos, Joe," -said Matt, getting out of the car. "Carl will stay here -and take care of the automobile."</p> - -<p>"Vat oof der Hindoos ged avay from you und come -ad me?" queried Carl, in a panic. "I bed you dey -vas sore ofer vat I dit."</p> - -<p>"If they should happen to attack you," answered -Matt, "run away from them. You used to know something -about driving a car, Carl."</p> - -<p>"All righdt," said Carl, with deep satisfaction. "I'll -run avay from some drouples oof any come in my -tirection. Look oudt for Ben Ali. He has a knife."</p> - -<p>Matt and McGlory, after securing a few further directions -from Carl, started into the woods on their way to -the creek. They moved warily in single file, Matt taking -the lead.</p> - -<p>As they made their way onward, they saw evidences of -Carl's wild dash for the road in the runabout, broken -bushes and trees blazed at about the height of a buggy -axle.</p> - -<p>"It's a wonder that runabout wasn't strung all the -way from the creek to the road," murmured McGlory. -"The Dutchman's luck has landed on him all in a -bunch."</p> - -<p>"Carl has a knack for blundering in the right direction," -said Matt. "But he has as much grit as you'll -find in any lad of his size. Think how he fooled that -Ben Ali! Made the Hindoo believe he was hypnotized."</p> - -<p>"And Carl had only the faintest notion what he was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> -doing it for!" chuckled McGlory. "Say, pard, I'd like -to have seen those Hindoos when Carl woke up and -used the whip on that horse of Burton's."</p> - -<p>"Hist!" warned Matt, "we're close to the creek."</p> - -<p>There were evidences in plenty that the bank of the -creek had been recently occupied—broken bushes and -an imprint of human feet in the damp soil. As Matt -and McGlory had supposed, however, there was no sign -of Haidee or the Hindoos in the vicinity.</p> - -<p>"Here's where we're up a stump, pard," said McGlory. -"I wonder if I could pick up the trail and find which -way the outfit went?"</p> - -<p>"Try it," said Matt.</p> - -<p>McGlory skirmished around for ten minutes.</p> - -<p>"I reckon I've got it," he announced, at the end of -that time. "Unless I'm far wide of my trail, Matt, they -went down the creek."</p> - -<p>"Then that's the direction for us. Step off, Joe, and -be lively."</p> - -<p>Although the boys believed the Hindoos and Haidee -must be far in advance of them, yet they moved forward -cautiously, being exceedingly careful not to rustle the -bushes as they passed or to step on any twigs that -would crackle under their feet.</p> - -<p>As a matter of fact, they had not been five minutes -on their way down the creek before the cowboy whirled -abruptly with a finger on his lips; then, motioning to -Matt, he dropped to his knees.</p> - -<p>Matt followed suit and crept alongside McGlory.</p> - -<p>"We're in luck, too," whispered the cowboy. "They're -right ahead of us, all three of them. Listen, and you -can hear them talking."</p> - -<p>Matt raised his head and listened intently. A faint -sound of voices was borne to his ears.</p> - -<p>"Let's creep up on them, Joe," he suggested. "They're -two against us, you know, and they'll make a pretty big -handful, if they're armed."</p> - -<p>"We know Ben Ali has a knife, but that is probably -all the weapons they've got. If they had guns, then -Carl would never have made his getaway."</p> - -<p>Redoubling their caution, the boys crawled forward, -screening their advance by keeping bunches of undergrowth -in front of them as much as they could.</p> - -<p>The voices grew steadily louder, until it became manifest -that the brown men were jabbering in Hindustani.</p> - -<p>Finally the boys arrived as close as they deemed it -best to go, for they had Ben Ali, Aurung Zeeb, and -Haidee in plain view.</p> - -<p>The three were in a little oak opening on the creek -bank. Haidee was sitting on a log, and the other two -were standing and talking rapidly.</p> - -<p>A moment after the boys were able to see them and -note what was going on, the Hindoos stopping their -talking. Aurung Zeeb drew off to one side, and Ben -Ali stepped in front of the girl.</p> - -<p>"Haidee, <i>meetoowah</i>!" he called.</p> - -<p>The girl lifted her head.</p> - -<p>"You must go into de trance, <i>meetoowah</i>," said Ben -Ali.</p> - -<p>With a heart-breaking cry the girl flung herself on her -knees in front of him.</p> - -<p>"No, no, Uncle Ben!" she wailed, "don't make me do -things I can't remember—things I don't want to do! -What happened during the parade this morning? And -what happened while I was in the air with Motor Matt? -You will not tell me and I do not know! Oh, Uncle -Ben——"</p> - -<p>"Haidee!"</p> - -<p>The voice was clear and keen cut. There was something -in the tones of it that lifted the girl erect and -uncomplaining, and held her as by a magnet with her -eyes on the snaky, dancing orbs of Ben Ali.</p> - -<p>The power of the Hindoo over the girl must have -been tremendous.</p> - -<p>The boys, shivering with horror, watched the Hindoo -as he waved his arms gracefully and made his sinuous -passes. He was no more than a minute or two in effecting -his work.</p> - -<p>By swift degrees Haidee's face lost its expression -and became as though graven from stone; her eyes grew -dull and her whole manner listless.</p> - -<p>"Haidee, you sleep," came monotonously from Ben -Ali, as his hands dropped. "You hear me, <i>meetoowah</i>? -You understand?"</p> - -<p>"Yes," answered the girl, in the clacking, parrot-like -voice with which the boys were somewhat familiar.</p> - -<p>"You are never to remember, <i>meetoowah</i>, what you do -in de parade, or what you do on de flying machine," -continued Ben Ali. "When you wake, you forget all -that, and how I tell you to pull the lever when de -parade reach de min'ral well, or pin de fireball as it -smoulder to de wing of de machine. You forget all that, -huh?"</p> - -<p>"Yes."</p> - -<p>"You are bright, lively girl, <i>meetoowah</i>" went on the -Hindoo. "You are gay, happy, but you are under de -power, yes, all de time. You go back to de show, and -you tell them that Ben Ali and Aurung Zeeb ver' bad -mans and run away with Haidee, that you make de -escape. Then you get from Boss Burton the money he -owe and come to Linton Hotel in Lafayette sometime -this night. You understand, <i>meetoowah</i>?"</p> - -<p>"Yes."</p> - -<p>"And you not let anybody know you come to Linton -Hotel, <i>meetoowah</i>."</p> - -<p>"No."</p> - -<p>"And at all time when you wake you forget you was -Margaret Manners, and you remember all time when you -wake that you only Haidee."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Yes."</p> - -<p>"Also, you try get back de box that b'long to you, de -little lacquered box. Remember that, Haidee. Get de -box if you can and bring it with de money to Uncle -Ben Ali at de Linton Hotel in Lafayette."</p> - -<p>"Yes."</p> - -<p>"And you all time forget when you wake dat you -Margaret Manners, and——"</p> - -<p>Something happened to the hypnotist, right then and -there.</p> - -<p>Unable to endure longer the scene transpiring under -their eyes, the boys had crept forward until they were -close to Ben Ali and Aurung Zeeb.</p> - -<p>Matt, behind Ben Ali, arose suddenly and caught the -Hindoo by the shoulders, flinging him down on his back -and holding him there with both hands about his throat.</p> - -<p>McGlory, it had been planned, should make a simultaneous -attack, in the same manner, upon Aurung Zeeb; -but that individual was keener-eyed than his companion. -He saw McGlory just as the cowboy was about to spring. -With a loud cry of warning, Aurung Zeeb broke away in -a panic and fled into the timber.</p> - -<p>McGlory did not follow him. Ben Ali, choking and -wriggling under the tense fingers of the king of the -motor boys, had made a desperate effort and drawn his -knife. The cowboy had glimpsed the blade, shimmering -in a gleam of sun, and had leaped forward and -caught the Hindoo's hand.</p> - -<p>"We've got the scoundrel!" exulted McGlory. "I -reckon this is the last stunt of this sort he'll ever lay -hand to."</p> - -<p>Ben Ali tried to speak. Matt saw the attempt and -removed his rigid fingers from the prisoner's throat, -slipping his hands down and gripping one of the man's -arms.</p> - -<p>"Hold his other arm, Joe," panted Matt. "I want to -talk with him. I've got to talk with him. A great -wrong has been done Haidee, and if it is righted Ben -Ali is the only one to do it."</p> - -<p>McGlory was puzzled, but yielded immediate obedience.</p> - -<p>"Look at the girl," he whispered, as he laid both -hands on the prisoner's other arm.</p> - -<p>There was a look of sharp pain in Haidee's face. Her -hands were clutching her throat, and she was swaying -where she stood.</p> - -<p>"Haidee feel what you do to me," gurgled Ben Ali. -"You hurt me, you hurt her. You do not understand -de power."</p> - -<p>"He's talkin' with two tongues!" declared McGlory.</p> - -<p>"No," said Matt, "he tells the truth. As I told you, -Joe, we've got to make use of the scoundrel for Haidee's -benefit. Don't mind Haidee—she'll be all right by the -time we are through with Ben Ali."</p> - - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV.</a></h2> - -<p class="chaptitle">"FOR THE SAKE OF HAIDEE!"</p> - - -<p>Motor Matt knew something about hypnotism, having -acquired the knowledge in the casual way most boys -learn about such occult and, at times, fascinating subjects.</p> - -<p>The young motorist knew, for instance, that if it was -suggested to Margaret Manners often enough in a hypnotic -state that she was only Haidee, the girl would -come to forget her own personality. Even when out of -the trance she would be confused and bewildered in trying -to recall her real name and her past life.</p> - -<p>It was to undo some of this evil that Matt was eager -for a talk with the Hindoo.</p> - -<p>"Ben Ali," said Matt sternly, "we have the box of -letters and Captain Manners' Victoria Cross. In order -to make you suffer terribly for what you have done, we -have only to turn you over to the authorities and let -them cable to London. There is a thousand pounds -sterling offered as a reward for the recovery of Margaret -Manners; and for you there would be a long term in -prison. You understand that, don't you?"</p> - -<p>There was a crafty look on the Hindoo's face as he -answered.</p> - -<p>"Yes, sahib. But you not do anything with me. De -girl is in de trance. I have her in my power."</p> - -<p>"And we have you in our power," said Matt, appreciating -to the full the strong hold Ben Ali had on them, -as well as on the girl.</p> - -<p>"But, by and by, when we have finished de talk, de -young sahib will let me go."</p> - -<p>Matt was deeply thoughtful for a few moments.</p> - -<p>"Yes," he answered deliberately, "if you will answer -my questions, and do what I tell you to do, we will let -you go."</p> - -<p>"Pard!" remonstrated Joe.</p> - -<p>"I know what I am doing, Joe," returned Matt.</p> - -<p>"De young sahib is wise," put in the smiling Ben Ali, -his eyes beginning to gleam and dance in an attempt to -get the king of the motor boys under their influence.</p> - -<p>"Pah!" murmured Matt disgustedly. "You can hold -his arm with one hand, Joe. Place the other hand over -his eyes."</p> - -<p>"He's a fiend," growled McGlory, as his palm dropped -over the upper part of Ben Ali's face.</p> - -<p>The Hindoo laughed noiselessly.</p> - -<p>"Will you talk with me frankly and answer my questions, -Ben Ali," proceeded Matt, "providing we promise -to let you go?"</p> - -<p>"Yes, sahib."</p> - -<p>"Then, first, who are you?"</p> - -<p>"De brother of a great rajah in my own land, and de -brother of de great rajah's sister. That sister married de -Captain Manners, Margaret's father."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span></p> - -<p>"I see," breathed Matt, his eyes wandering to the girl.</p> - -<p>Haidee had grown quiet, her face expressionless and -her eyes staring and vacant, as before.</p> - -<p>"I, with my rich rajah brother," continued Ben Ali, -with bitterness, "was only de driver of his elephants. -No more. I work. He live in luxury and do not anything. -Captain Manners die. Then his wife, she die, -too. <i>Suttee.</i> She burn on de funeral pyre, as our custom -is in my land. De husband die, then de widow die. -Margaret she live. My brother, de rajah, give me -money, send me to Calcutta after Margaret. I go. I -get de girl and we take ship to America. Hah! On de -way I tell Margaret it is her uncle, de rajah's wish, -that she go to de Vassar school in America, that I follow -order when I take her there. She believe what I say. -On de steamer I begin de trances. She not like them, -but she agree at first. By and by she not able to help -herself. I tell her she not remember who she is when -she wake, that she only Haidee. She b'leeve." The -scoundrel laughed. "I have de so great power with the -eyes and the hands, sahib."</p> - -<p>"Why did you join a show and take the girl with -you?" demanded Matt, a feeling of horror and repulsion -for Ben Ali growing in his heart.</p> - -<p>"I have to live, sahib. My money give out. I know -how to drive de elephant, so I hear of de show and go -there. Boss Burton hire me. I speak of Haidee. He -hire her, too."</p> - -<p>"Did she know how to perform on the trapeze—she, -the niece of a powerful rajah and daughter of an English -gentleman?"</p> - -<p>"She know not anything about that. I put her in de -trance and tell her she know. Then she perform on de -trapeze better than any."</p> - -<p>"Why did you want her to go up on the flying machine?"</p> - -<p>"Cut it short," growled McGlory huskily. "I feel -like using the knife on the villain, pard. He ain't fit -to live."</p> - -<p>"You listened to me while I was talking with my -friends in the calliope tent this morning," continued Matt. -"Why was that?"</p> - -<p>"I was afraid of de Dutch boy," answered Ben Ali, -"and I was more afraid when I hear what he tell. -After that, I be afraid of all of you. You understan'? -I thought you take Haidee away from me."</p> - -<p>"You hypnotized her before the parade and told her -to do something to make me trouble?"</p> - -<p>"Yes, sahib," was the prompt response. "I wanted you -out of de way. I was afraid."</p> - -<p>"Scoundrel!" muttered Matt. "Why, you placed Haidee -herself in danger."</p> - -<p>"I was Rajah's mahout. I could have kept de elephant -from hurting Haidee."</p> - -<p>"Was she hypnotized when she came to the aëroplane -and played that trick to go up in the machine with me?"</p> - -<p>"She was, yes, sahib."</p> - -<p>"And you gave her something to be used in setting -the aëroplane afire?"</p> - -<p>"Yes, sahib. It was de smouldering fire ball, with de -coal in its heart. When de machine go up, and de win' -fan it, den by and by it break into flame and set fire to -de machine."</p> - -<p>Ben Ali was frank, brutally frank. But he had Motor -Matt's promise that he should go free, and he seemed to -gloat over his evil deeds and to wish that not a detail -be left out.</p> - -<p>"She did not act, when she was in the aëroplane, as -she did when she was in the parade," said Matt.</p> - -<p>"I make her act different, sahib. I tell her how she -was to be. I have de so great power I do that. Other -fakirs not so great as Ben Ali."</p> - -<p>"We've heard enough," said Matt. "Now, as yet, you -have only partly earned your freedom, Ben Ali. You -have still to do what I shall tell you."</p> - -<p>"What is that, sahib?"</p> - -<p>"You will, by the aid of hypnotism, undo all the evil -you have done, as much as possible. For instance, you -will impress on Haidee, as she stands there, the truth -that she is Margaret Manners, and that she will remember -it, and all her past, when she wakes. After that, -you are to waken her and take yourself off."</p> - -<p>"Yes," answered the Hindoo. "My freedom is dear -to me. Perhaps"—and he smiled—"I have something yet -to do with Motor Matt."</p> - -<p>"If you cross my path again, Ben Ali," returned the -king of the motor boys, "there will be no promise binding -me to let you go free. If you are wise, you will -stay away from me and my friends, and from Haidee."</p> - -<p>"I take my chance, if that is it. To awaken Haidee -I must be on my feet."</p> - -<p>"You will lie as you are!" declared Matt sharply. -"You can do your work as well this way as in any -other."</p> - -<p>"I will try," said the Hindoo, after a moment's pause. -Then, in a loud voice, he called: "Haidee!"</p> - -<p>The girl turned her eyes upon him.</p> - -<p>"Yes," she answered.</p> - -<p>"When you wake, <i>meetoowah</i>, you will remember that -you are Margaret Manners."</p> - -<p>"Yes."</p> - -<p>"You will remember all, everything—Calcutta, your -father, Captain Manners, your mother, your mother's -brother, de rajah. But you forget Ben Ali, and you -think no more of him. You understand?"</p> - -<p>"Yes."</p> - -<p>This, in a little different language, Ben Ali repeated -several times.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span></p> - -<p>"Now, young sahib," said he, "let me up till I wake -Haidee."</p> - -<p>"Hold to him on that side, Joe," cautioned Matt, "but -give him the use of his hands. When Haidee wakes, -release him."</p> - -<p>"Sufferin' fairy tales!" grumbled McGlory. "I hate to -do it, pard, and that's honest, but I reckon, from what -I've heard, that you know what you're about. It's a -hard way to bring right and justice to the girl by letting -this scoundrel escape the law, but there don't seem -to be anything else for it."</p> - -<p>Slowly the boys got up and permitted Ben Ali to -struggle to his feet. When he was erect, both still -gripped him by the waist in order to prevent him from -committing any treachery.</p> - -<p>Ben Ali leaned forward and waved his hands.</p> - -<p>"Awake, <i>meetoowah</i>!" he called sharply. "You are -yourself again, Margaret Manners! Awake!"</p> - -<p>The girl started, and lifted both hands to her temples. -It was enough, and Motor Matt was satisfied.</p> - -<p>"Let him go, Joe," said Matt, "but keep his knife."</p> - -<p>The boys, at the same moment, withdrew their hands -and stepped back. Ben Ali, with a wild, snarling laugh, -sprang into the woods and vanished.</p> - -<p>"What is it?" asked Margaret Manners, in a puzzled -voice. "Where am I? Ah, is that you, Motor Matt? -And Joe!"</p> - -<p>"Yes, sis," returned the cowboy, his voice full of gentleness, -"it's your friend McGlory, and the best friend -you ever had if you did but know it—Motor Matt."</p> - -<p>"Come," said Matt briskly, "we must hustle back to -the automobile. Carl will have a fit wondering what -has become of us."</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI.</a></h2> - -<p class="chaptitle">THE RAJAH'S NIECE.</p> - - -<p>The events of that wonderful day all seemed like a -dream to Motor Matt when he came to look back on -them. The coming of Carl, loaded with a joke sprung -upon him by the detectives in Chicago—a joke, by the -way, that proved a boomerang—and the dangers and -perils that trailed after the Dutch boy and finally ended -in most marvelous success—all these seemed but the figments -of disordered fancy.</p> - -<p>But the damaged aëroplane remained to tell of the -dangers, and Carl was there in the flesh, and Margaret -Manners was present, freed of the evil shadow that had -blighted her young life.</p> - -<p>The afternoon performance had been over for some -time when Matt, Joe, Carl, and Margaret—for now she -must be Margaret and not Haidee—returned to the -show grounds.</p> - -<p>The owner of the motor car was walking up and -down in fretful mood, thinking, perhaps, that he had -done a most unwise thing in letting his machine get out -of his hands.</p> - -<p>Burton was with him and seeking to pacify his fears. -But the sight of the motor car alone did that.</p> - -<p>"Well," exclaimed Burton, "you've got one of 'em, -Matt. She is the most valuable of the lot, to me. Where -are the other two?"</p> - -<p>"They escaped," answered Matt shortly. "And Haidee, -Mr. Burton, is no longer an employee of the Big -Consolidated."</p> - -<p>"What!" cried Burton. "Do you mean to say she -isn't going up on the aëroplane any more, and that she'll -not touch off Roman candles or——"</p> - -<p>"I told you she'd never do that, some time ago," said -Matt keenly.</p> - -<p>Burton seemed to have a way of forgetting the things -he did not want to hear.</p> - -<p>"Well, anyhow," went on the showman, as soon as -they had all alighted, and the owner of the car had got -into it and tooted joyfully away, "come to the mess tent -and tell me what happened."</p> - -<p>"Haven't time, Burton," said Matt. "Miss Manners -is going to the best hotel in town, and I've got some -telegrams to send."</p> - -<p>"Telegrams?" Burton pricked up his ears and showed -signs of excitement. "There isn't another show trying -to hire you away from me, is there? Don't forget your -written contract, Matt!"</p> - -<p>"I'm not forgetting that," returned Matt, inclined to -laugh. "The telegram I am going to send is to the -British ambassador at Washington, and the cablegram -I am going to get on the wires is to an attorney in -London, England."</p> - -<p>"Jupiter!" exclaimed Burton. "It looks to me as -though you wouldn't get through in time to go on with -section two of the show train."</p> - -<p>"We won't," continued Matt, "and that's what I'm -going to tell you about. We'll be a couple of days -making repairs on the aëroplane, and we'll make them -here. After the work is done, we'll join the Big Consolidated -at the town where it happens to be at that -time."</p> - -<p>"Your contract, sir!" fumed Burton. "You are——"</p> - -<p>"No repairs on the aëroplane would have been necessary," -interrupted Motor Matt, "if you had not played -that trick on me and substituted Haidee for Le Bon. -Just remember that. I shall expect you to pay the bills -for the repairs, too."</p> - -<p>Burton received these remarks in silence.</p> - -<p>"When I and my friends are ready to join you," went -on the king of the motor boys, "we'll go by air line in -the <i>Comet</i>, and if you have any good paper, we'll scatter -it all along the route. It will be the biggest kind of an -advertisement for you, Burton."</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span></p> - -<p>This was a master stroke, if Burton yearned for one -thing more than another, it was to make his name a -household word.</p> - -<p>"Great!" he cried. "But you won't be more than two -days here, will you, Matt?"</p> - -<p>"We'll try not to be."</p> - -<p>"And you'll scatter the paper?"</p> - -<p>"Certainly."</p> - -<p>"Fine! I'll have it for you. Where'll I send it?"</p> - -<p>"To the Bramble House."</p> - -<p>"It will be there. Make the bill for repairs as light -as possible, and draw on me for the amount. That's -fair, ain't it?"</p> - -<p>"Just about."</p> - -<p>"Ask anybody and they'll tell you Boss Burton is the -soul of honesty, and that every promise he makes in his -paper is carried out to the letter. What will you do -with the aëroplane?"</p> - -<p>"McGlory and Ping will look after it to-night. Tomorrow -they will have it removed to some place where -we can work on it comfortably."</p> - -<p>"All right—have it your way. I'm the easiest fellow -to get along with that you ever saw, when I see a chap -is going to treat me square. Good luck to you—to all -of you."</p> - -<p>The party separated. McGlory went over into the -show grounds to join Ping at the aëroplane, and Matt -and Carl escorted Miss Manners to the Bramble House. -Carl went to the show, when the tents were being pulled -down that night, and got Miss Manners' trunk and his -own clothes from the calliope tent. Carl, it will be recalled, -was wearing McGlory's work clothes, and McGlory -was going to need them.</p> - -<p>Most of the luggage belonging to Matt and his -friend went on by train with the show impedimenta, to -be reclaimed at some town farther along the route.</p> - -<p>Matt sent his telegram and his cablegram, and in -neither did he conceal the fact that all the glory of the -achievement belonged to Carl Pretzel.</p> - -<p>The Dutch boy was terribly set up over his success. -Until far into the night he kept Matt up, trying to -find out what he should do with his five thousand dollars. -Carl was about evenly divided, in his opinions, as -to whether he should buy an aëroplane of his own, or a -circus. Matt discouraged him on both points.</p> - -<p>Next morning the <i>Comet</i>, under its own power, -dragged its battered pinions to a big blacksmith shop, -and there the motor boys got actively to work on the -repairs.</p> - -<p>The damage was confined almost entirely to the canvas -covering the left wing. None of the supports were -injured.</p> - -<p>In two days' time the aëroplane was as good as new. -At the close of the second day, when Matt and McGlory -reached the hotel with their work finished, so far as -the <i>Comet</i> was concerned, they found an English gentleman -who represented the British embassy.</p> - -<p>This gentleman had come, personally, to assume -charge of Miss Manners; and, by this very act, the boys -understood that the young woman was something of a -personage.</p> - -<p>The Englishman said nothing about the reward, and -Carl began to worry. Finally he broached the subject -himself, only to learn that the five thousand dollars -must come from India, and that it would be a month, -possibly two months, before it could be turned over.</p> - -<p>Carl was disgusted. He had expected to have the -money all spent before two months had passed.</p> - -<p>"Dot's der vay mit der tedectif pitzness," he remarked -gloomily. "Even ven you vin you don't get nodding."</p> - -<p>"But you're bound to get it, Carl," laughed McGlory, -"sooner or later."</p> - -<p>"Meppy so mooch lader dot I vill be olt und gray-heated -und not know nodding aboudt how to shpend him. -How vas I going to lif in der meandime, huh? Tell me -dose."</p> - -<p>"Come along with us," said Matt, "and stay with the -Big Consolidated until your money comes."</p> - -<p>"I don'd like dot Purton feller," growled Carl. "He -iss der vorst case oof stingy vat I efer see. Shdill, id -iss vort' someding to be mit Modor Matt. Yah, so -helup me, I vill go."</p> - -<p>Ping was not in love with this arrangement, but had -to bow to it.</p> - -<p>The gentleman from Washington took the next train -back to the capital, arranging to have Miss Manners -left in the care of an estimable lady in Lafayette until -word should come from India.</p> - - -<p class="center">THE END.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<p class="center medium">THE NEXT NUMBER (28) WILL CONTAIN</p> - -<p class="center huge">Motor Matt's "Short Circuit"</p> - -<p class="center medium">OR,</p> - -<p class="center large">THE MAHOUT'S VOW.</p> - -<hr class="r5" /> - -<blockquote> - -<p>The Serpent Charmer—A Bad Elephant—Burton's -Luck—Motor Matt's Courage—Dhondaram's -Excuse—Robbery—Between the Wagons—A -Peg to Hang Suspicions On—A Waiting Game—A -Trick at the Start—In the Air With a Cobra—A -Scientific Fact—Ping On the Wrong Track—Facing -a Traitor—Meeting the Hindoo—A -Bit of a Backset</p></blockquote> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span></p> - - - - -<table summary="scaffold" class="bbox"> -<tr><td colspan="2" class="tdc huge">MOTOR STORIES</td></tr> -<tr><td class="tdr large" style="padding-right: .25em;">THRILLING ADVENTURE</td><td class="tdl large" style="padding-left: .25em;">MOTOR FICTION</td></tr> -</table> - -<p class="center">NEW YORK, August 28, 1909.</p> - -<p class="center"><b>TERMS TO MOTOR STORIES MAIL SUBSCRIBERS.</b></p> - -<p class="center">(<i>Postage Free.</i>)</p> - -<p class="center"><b>Single Copies or Back Numbers, 5c. Each.</b></p> - -<table summary="Terms"> -<tr><td>3 months</td><td class="tdr">65c.</td></tr> -<tr><td>4 months</td><td class="tdr">85c.</td></tr> -<tr><td>6 months</td><td class="tdr">$1.25</td></tr> -<tr><td>One year</td><td class="tdr">2.50</td></tr> -<tr><td>2 copies one year</td><td class="tdr">4.00</td></tr> -<tr><td>1 copy two years</td><td class="tdr">4.00</td></tr> -</table> - -<p><b>How to Send Money</b>—By post-office or express money-order, -registered letter, bank check or draft, at our risk. At your own risk if sent -by currency, coin, or postage-stamps in ordinary letter.</p> - -<p><b>Receipts</b>—Receipt of your remittance is acknowledged by proper -change of number on your label. If not correct you have not been properly -credited, and should let us know at once.</p> - -<table summary="scaffold"> -<tr><td> -<span class="smcap">Ormond G. Smith</span>,<br /> -<span class="smcap">George C. Smith</span>, -</td> -<td style="font-size: 200%">}</td><td style="padding-right: 1em;"><i>Proprietors</i>.</td> -<td class="tdc"> -<b>STREET & SMITH, Publishers,<br /> -79-89 Seventh Avenue, New York City.</b> -</td></tr></table> - - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="SAVED_BY_A_FALLING_TREE" id="SAVED_BY_A_FALLING_TREE">SAVED BY A FALLING TREE.</a></h2> - - -<p>Winter still reigned, and Louis and Allen Wright were -snowshoeing back to the lumber camp where they worked.</p> - -<p>It was a small camp upon the Tobago River, near the Ottawa, -close to the border between the Provinces of Ontario -and Quebec, and the pine had for the most part been cut -long ago. There was a little pine left, however, with a good -deal of pulp wood and mixed timber to be got out, and the -foreman had sent the boys to look over a patch of spruce -about twelve miles from the shanty. They were returning -with their axes upon the frozen Tobago River, which formed -a convenient roadway through the tangled and snowy Canadian -forest.</p> - -<p>The boys were not professional "lumber jacks," but they -were both deeply desirous of acquiring a couple of hundred -dollars to cover the expenses of a course in mining engineering, -and that winter high wages were being offered for even -inexperienced men in the lumber camps.</p> - -<p>As they were country-bred youths, they took to the work -naturally, and Allen, although he had not yet come to his -full strength, speedily developed a surprising dexterity with -the axe. He could "lay" a tree within a few inches of where -he desired it to fall, and had been the instrument of victory -several times in lumbering matches with rival camps.</p> - -<p>It was late in February and still bitterly cold, but the deep -snow was packing and softening. In a few weeks the ice -might break up, and mountains of logs were piled upon the -river in readiness for the drive.</p> - -<p>About three miles before it reached the shanty the river -broke into rapids for about thirty rods before it fell tumultuously -over a low ridge of rocks.</p> - -<p>It was necessary to make a detour round this obstacle, and -Allen went ashore at a cautious distance from the water. -Louis, however, remained upon the ice, walking almost to -the verge, and looking over into the inky stream.</p> - -<p>"Be careful, Lou! That ice is getting rotten!" Allen -shouted from the bank.</p> - -<p>"It's as strong as rock. Look!" answered Louis, jumping -in his rackets with a heavy thud upon the snow.</p> - -<p>He proved the reverse of what he intended. There was a -dull cracking under the snow and a startled shout from the -reckless snowshoer. A great cake of ice broke off, drifting -away, with Louis standing on it. He balanced unsteadily for -a moment, staggered, and plunged off with a terrified yell, -going clean out of sight under the icy water.</p> - -<p>The cake of ice drifted over the rapids and broke up. -Allen had scarcely time to move before his brother reappeared, -struggling feebly, and evidently almost paralyzed -by the cold immersion. By good luck he managed to catch -the top of a projecting rock at the head of the fall, and there -he clung, driven against the rock by the force of the current.</p> - -<p>"Hold on a minute, Lou! I'll get you out!" screamed -Allen frantically. Louis turned a blue face toward him, -without answering.</p> - -<p>Allen tore and kicked off his snowshoes, and was on the -point of plunging into the water; but common sense returned -to him in time. Louis was in the middle of the -stream, thirty feet away. Allen could never reach him through -that swift, deep current, and if he could, he would be so -chilled as to be incapable of giving any sort of help.</p> - -<p>But the boy certainly could not hold on long in his present -position, and should he let go he would be swept over the -rapids and under the ice at the foot. His life hung on seconds.</p> - -<p>Allen could think of no plan. He shouted encouraging -words without knowing what he said, while his eyes roved -desperately up and down the snowy shores in search of some -inspiration.</p> - -<p>If he had only a rope, or anything to make a bridge—and -then his eye fell upon a tall, dead pine "stub," barkless and -almost branchless, standing a few feet back from the stream.</p> - -<p>It was long enough to reach to the imperiled youth, if it -could be felled so accurately as to lie close beside him. But -a foot or two above or below him would make it useless, and -to aim too closely would be to run a deadly risk of crushing -the boy under the falling trunk.</p> - -<p>By a queer vagary of his excited brain he remembered -William Tell and the apple. He would have to perform a -somewhat similar feat of marksmanship; but it was the only -chance that he could think of. He plunged through the -snow for his axe, wallowed back to the dead stub, and began -to chop.</p> - -<p>In the need for action his nerves grew suddenly cool. The -feat was a more delicate one than he had ever attempted, -and his brother's life hung upon his steadiness of nerve and -muscle. But he cut quietly and without haste. The great -yellow chips flew, and a wide notch grew in the trunk.</p> - -<p>In a few moments he shifted to the other side, cut another -notch, and sighted for the probable direction of the fall of -the stub. He could not tell how the roots held. He would -have to leave that important factor to chance, but he cut, -now delicately, now strongly, till the tremor through the axe -handle told that the trunk was growing unsteady.</p> - -<p>It was a critical moment. He sighted again most carefully, -and cut out a few small chips here and there. The -stub tottered. It was standing poised upon a thin edge of -uncut wood, and he stood behind it and pushed, cautiously, -and then heavily.</p> - -<p>The tall trunk wavered, and the fibres snapped loudly. It -hesitated, bowed, and Allen leaped away from the butt. -Down came the pine, roaring through the air.</p> - -<p>It crashed into the water with a mighty wave and splash -that hid boy and rock. Allen had a moment of horrified -belief that his brother had been crushed under it. A moment -later he saw that Louis was unhurt. But the tree had actually -grazed the rock. It had fallen within eight inches of -the boy's body.</p> - -<p>It made a perfect bridge as it lay, but in his nervous reaction -Allen was almost too shaky to walk the trunk and pull -his brother out. He did it, although how he got him to land -he never quite knew. Louis was almost unconscious, and -his wet clothes froze instantly into a mass of ice.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span></p> - -<p>He would certainly have lapsed into sleep and died, but -Allen piled the pine chips about the stump and had a fire -blazing in a few seconds. The dry stump burned like pitch, -producing a furnace-like heat; and Allen partly undressed -his brother and rubbed him hard with snow. Under this -heroic treatment Louis came back to painful consciousness, -and the fierce heat from the pine did the rest. But it was -several hours before he was able to resume the tramp, and it -was dark when they reached the shanty.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="How_They_Captured_the_Python" id="How_They_Captured_the_Python">How They Captured the Python.</a></h2> - - -<p>Hamburg, as many know, is the great headquarters of the -trade in wild animals for menageries and "zoos." To Hamburg -are shipped lions, elephants, and giraffes, captured in -South and East Africa, tigers from India, jaguars and tapirs -from South America, gorillas from the Congo, orang-outangs -from Borneo, and, in fact, about every kind of beast, bird, -and reptile from all quarters of the globe.</p> - -<p>The warehouses of the two principal firms engaged in this -business are interesting places to visit after the arrival of a -"beast ship," with news of unusually large specimens of -animal life.</p> - -<p>The narrator made such a visit some months ago on the -arrival of a remarkably large, brilliantly marked python, -shipped from Padang, Sumatra. This colubrine giant is -more than thirty feet in length, and was bespoken by the -Austrian government for a zoo at Budapest.</p> - -<p>But the story of its capture is even more interesting than -the huge creature itself, for this python had fallen a victim -to its fondness for the notes of a violin.</p> - -<p>There is a telegraph line extending across Sumatra, from -Padang, connecting that port, by means of submarine cables, -with Batavia, and Singapore.</p> - -<p>Along this line of land wire are a number of interior stations. -One of these, called Pali-lo-pom, has been in charge -of an operator named Carlos Gambrino, a mestizo from -Batavia, Java, educated at the industrial school there.</p> - -<p>The station is on a hillock in the valley of the River -Kampar, and is adjacent to dense forest, jungle, and a long -morass. It is a solitary little place, consisting merely of -four or five thatched huts, elevated on posts to a height of six -feet from the ground, to be more secure from noxious insects, -reptiles, and wild beasts.</p> - -<p>As a general rule Gambrino has little enough to do, except -listen to the monotonous ticking of the instrument. For -solace and company, therefore, he frequently had recourse -to his violin.</p> - -<p>Thatched houses on posts in Sumatra are not commonly -supplied with glass windows; but Gambrino had afforded -himself the luxury of a two-pane sash, set to slide in an -aperture in the side wall of his hut, and some five or six -months ago, during the wet season, he was sitting at this -window one afternoon, as he played his violin, when he saw -the head of a large serpent rise out of the high grass, at a -distance of seventy or eighty yards.</p> - -<p>His first impulse was to get his carbine and try to shoot the -monster, for he saw that it was a very large python, and not -a desirable neighbor. But something in the attitude of the -reptile led him to surmise that it had raised itself to hear -the violin, and he passed at once to a lively air.</p> - -<p>As long as he continued playing the python remained -there, apparently motionless; but when he ceased it drew -its head down, and he saw nothing more of it that day, although -he went out with his gun to look for it.</p> - -<p>Nearly a fortnight passed, and the incident had gone from -his mind—for large snakes are not uncommon in Sumatra—when -one night, as he was playing the violin to some native -acquaintances who had come to the hut, they heard the -sounds made by a large snake sliding across the bamboo platform -or floor of the little veranda. On looking out with a -light, one of the party saw a huge mottled python gliding -away.</p> - -<p>But it was not until the reptile appeared a third time, raising -its head near his window, that the telegrapher became -certain that it was really his violin which attracted it.</p> - -<p>In the meantime the operator at Padang, with whom Gambrino -held daily conversations by wire, had told him that -the German agent of a Hamburg house at that port would -pay ten pounds, English money, for such a python as he -described.</p> - -<p>Gambrino began scheming to capture the reptile. In one -of the huts at the station there was stored a quantity of -fibre rope, such as is used in Sumatra for bridging small -rivers and ravines.</p> - -<p>Gambrino contrived three large nooses from this rope, -which he elevated horizontally, on bamboo poles, to the -height of his window, and carried the drawing ends of the -nooses inside the hut.</p> - -<p>This was done after the operator had ascertained that at -times the snake would come about the house and raise its -head as if it heard the violin.</p> - -<p>Some time later the python was beguiled by the music into -raising its head inside one of the nooses, which a native, -who was on the watch while Gambrino played, instantly -jerked tight.</p> - -<p>What followed was exciting. The reptile resented the -trick with vigor, and showed itself possessed of far more -strength than they had expected.</p> - -<p>The rope had been made fast to a beam inside, and the -snake nearly pulled the entire structure down, making it -rock and creak in a way that caused Gambrino and his -native ally to leap to the ground in haste from a back entrance. -The reptile coiled its body about the posts and pulled -desperately to break away. Altogether, it was a wild night -at this little remote telegraph station.</p> - -<p>The next morning a crowd of natives collected; and as the -python had by this time exhausted itself, they contrived to -hoist its head as high as the roof of the hut and to secure -its tail.</p> - -<p>It was then lowered into a molasses hogshead, which was -covered over and trussed up securely with ropes.</p> - -<p>In this condition the python was drawn to Padang on a -bullock cart. It is said to weigh more than four hundred -pounds.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2><a name="ON_THE_ROAD_TO_MANDALAY" id="ON_THE_ROAD_TO_MANDALAY">ON THE ROAD TO MANDALAY.</a></h2> - - -<p>All of us who were singing "On the Road to Mandalay" a -few years ago—and there were mighty few of us who let it -alone vocally—will be a bit surprised to be informed that -Rangoon, where the dawn comes up like thunder and other -interesting things happen, looks to the approaching tourist -like an up-to-date American business centre.</p> - -<p>In fact, according to a writer, the capital of Burma has -many American towns beat a mile in the civic improvement -line. "Its electric-lighted highways, all broad, neatly paved -and well drained; its brilliantly illuminated boulevards, with -rows of graceful, well-trimmed trees bordering both sides; -its blocks of buildings, all laid out after a carefully considered -plan, showing little of architectural beauty but much of -austere regularity, astonish the stranger.</p> - -<p>"When you take into consideration the fact that Rangoon -has a system of parks and parkways with beautiful shade -trees, choice flowers, and crystal lakes, artificial and natural, -dotted about them, and that it provides breathing spaces for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> -people living in congested districts, you cannot but form a -good idea of the aliveness of the municipal corporation. A -good horse-carriage service, now being rapidly superseded -by the trolley, makes transportation easy and cheap. The -city has provided splendid schools and playgrounds. Yet -sixty years ago Rangoon was a mere fishing village."</p> - -<p>One item from Mr. Kipling's picture of Rangoon referred -to the elephants hauling teakwood in "the slushy, squdgy -creek." Well, they are still at it, working with wonderful -precision and an apparent sense of responsibility. They don't -try to soldier, never get in one another's way or mixed up -with the machinery, no matter how cramped they may be for -room.</p> - -<p>Some of them take the teak logs which have been floated -down the river and tow them ashore. Then they drag them -to the sawmills, either rolling them with one foot while they -walk on three, pushing them with their tusks, or pulling them -with a chain attached to a breast strap.</p> - -<p>Inside the mill an elephant selects a log, picks it out with -his tusks, kicks it up to the saw with his toes, then tying -his trunk in a kind of knot around the log, holds it against -the teeth of the saw while it is made into boards, pushing -aside the outside slabs as they are cut off and adjusting the -log to make boards of the proper thickness.</p> - -<p>Then he piles the boards up neatly, standing off to examine -the effect, and if he finds a board out of line carefully -adjusting it. Sometimes a pair of elephants working together -exchange peculiar grunts, as if they were giving and -receiving directions.</p> - -<p>They are used in Burma for various purposes. The young -calves are ridden like horses, with a soft pad and stirrups. -They are found especially valuable in bad country, and may -be ridden fifty or sixty miles a day. A tap on the side of -the head, a slight pressure of the knee, or a word whispered -in the ear is all that is required to guide them.</p> - -<p>It is not at all a difficult matter for an elephant in prime -condition to outrun a fast horse, but they cannot jump. A -deep ditch only six or seven feet wide is impassable to them.</p> - -<p>Working elephants are in their prime when they are -twenty-five years old. They are expensive to feed, it being -declared in Rangoon that an elephant eats a quarter of his -weight in feed every day. An average day's food for one is -certainly eight hundred pounds.</p> - -<p>Socially Burma is unlike other Oriental countries. Men -and women—even young men and women—walk together in -the streets and mingle in social gatherings. Courtship always -precedes the marriage.</p> - -<p>The Burmans are ardent lovers, and when a young man -and woman find that their parents do not approve of the -match they usually repair to the woods and return after a -day or two as man and wife, sure of parental forgiveness. -Marriage among Burmans is an extremely simple affair. -The only ceremony performed is the eating together out of -the same bowl of rice. Usually a feast is given to the relatives -and friends of the families concerned. No sacrifices -are offered, no services are performed.</p> - -<p>The Burman wears a smile on his countenance, laughs and -looks upon life through rose-colored spectacles. Both the -women and the men wear rich-hued silken clothes. But -while there is gayety there is no indecorum or impropriety.</p> - -<p>For women Burma is a little heaven on earth, if we are -to believe enthusiastic writers. Mrs. Burman is ubiquitous. -Jewelry stores containing untold wealth in pearls, rubies, -and other gems are in charge of women. Markets and fruit -stalls are run by women.</p> - -<p>At the railroad station a woman sells you the tickets and -another one is ready to take dictation and to do your type-writing. -Not long ago a woman stockbroker died leaving -a fortune which she had made herself. But the Burmese -woman does not let business interfere with motherhood. -She runs the shop with one hand and the children with the -other.</p> - -<p>When she marries the woman retains her own name, and -any property she may have inherited or acquired. When divorced -she is expected to support her children, but this is -no hardship for her, since she cared for them when she lived -with her husband. The Burmese child rarely sees the father, -but is brought up to look to its mother for guidance and -support.</p> - -<p>The Burmese woman takes a great interest in public affairs, -and the portals of the University of Rangoon have been -open to her for a number of years. Her intelligence, her -beauty, her freedom from racial caste prejudice, all make -her an acceptable bride in the eyes of foreigners who go to -Burma.</p> - -<p>Marriage with a foreigner means as a rule that she can -live in plenty and comfort without working. Naturally she -looks upon such a marriage with favor. The Burmans are -of Mongolian origin, and consequently the Chinese and Burmese -marriage produces a virile race. With this exception -the intermixture of races in Burma has not proved desirable.</p> - -<p>This is especially so in case of marriages between Europeans -and Burmans. The offspring of such marriages are -termed Eurasians, who unfortunately seem to be looked -down upon both by full-blooded Europeans and Burmans.</p> - -<p>Almost as difficult a problem as that of the Eurasian is -the tobacco problem in Burma. Men, women, and children -smoke. The cheroot at which they almost incessantly puff -is eighteen inches long and about a quarter of an inch in -diameter. It is wrapped in a banana leaf, and its mouthpiece -consists of bamboo. The Burman tobacco is so strong -that only one-fourth of the filling of the cheroot consists of -tobacco. The balance is a mixture of innocuous herbs.</p> - -<p>If possible the Burman exceeds other Asiatics in hospitality. -He is par excellence the host of Asia. Any stranger -may stroll into a Burman dwelling and demand hospitality -for at least three days. No remuneration is expected. Opposite -a Burmese house one usually finds earthen pots of -water placed for the use of the traveler, under a roof especially -made to shelter the water from the hot rays of the -tropical sun. These pots are tightly covered with earthen -lids, which protect the water from dirt and dust.</p> - -<p>The social life of the Burmans is interesting in the extreme. -They indulge in boxing matches, pony, bullock, and -boat races, cock fighting, splitting cocoanuts, snake charming, -and juggling. Chess and dominoes are the favorite games. -Theatres are in great vogue. The plot of the play is usually -somewhat monotonous, for almost invariably the hero is a -prince of the blood royal, the heroine is a princess, and the -rustics from the villages figure as clowns and jesters.</p> - -<p>The dancing, though different from what it is in the Occident, -is not without interest to a Westerner. The motions -of the dancers are graceful and spry. Burman amusements -last days and nights. The best known secular festival is the -pwe.</p> - -<p>The entertainment is melodramatic. Comedy and tragedy -are introduced, music and dancing are included. The plot of -the play is flimsy. The performance includes tricks of -clowns who are masters of their art and intensely amusing. -The musical instruments in the orchestra consist of a circle -of drums, gongs, trumpets, and wooden clappers, and the -music out-Wagners Wagner in its deafening noise.</p> - -<p>Many religious festivals are celebrated. Probably the occasion -when presents are distributed to the priests is the -most interesting. The people bring their presents and pile -them up outside an alley made of bamboo latticework. One -brings candles, another matches, another brass vessels, etc., -as though some previous arrangement had been made as to -just what each one shall give.</p> - -<p>For the most part the donors are women, and all of them -are dressed in their best. The monks, attended by a boy carrying -a large basket, pass down the bamboo alley in single -file, and each basket is filled with presents. A trio of masqueraders -with faces blackened, dancing to comic music, follows -the procession. Anything that has not been distributed -to the priests is gathered up by them.</p> - - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2 class="huge bb"> -<a href="images/i1large.jpg"><img src="images/i1.jpg" width="48" height="23" alt="hand" /></a> -<a name="LATEST_ISSUES" id="LATEST_ISSUES">LATEST ISSUES</a> -<a href="images/i2large.jpg"><img src="images/i2.jpg" width="48" height="23" alt="hand" /></a> -</h2> - - -<h3>BUFFALO BILL STORIES</h3> - -<p>The most original stories of Western adventure. The only weekly containing the adventures of the famous -Buffalo Bill. <b>High art colored covers.</b> <b>Thirty-two big pages.</b> <b>Price, 5 cents.</b></p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>425—Buffalo Bill's Balloon Escape; or, Out of the Grip of the -Great Swamp.</p> - -<p>426—Buffalo Bill and the Guerrillas; or, The Flower Girl of San -Felipe.</p> - -<p>427—Buffalo Bill's Border War; or, The Mexican Vendetta.</p> - -<p>428—Buffalo Bill's Mexican Mix-up; or, The Bullfighter's Defiance.</p> - -<p>429—Buffalo Bill and the Gamecock; or, The Red Trail on the -Canadian.</p> - -<p>430—Buffalo Bill and the Cheyenne Raiders; or, The Spurs of -the Gamecock.</p> - -<p>431—Buffalo Bill's Whirlwind Finish; or, The Gamecock Wins.</p> - -<p>432—Buffalo Bill's Santa Fe Secret; or, The Brave of Taos.</p> - -<p>433—Buffalo Bill and the Taos Terror; or, The Rites of the Red -Estufa.</p> - -<p>434—Buffalo Bill's Bracelet of Gold; or, The Hidden Death.</p> - -<p>435—Buffalo Bill and the Border Baron; or, The Cattle King of -No Man's Land.</p></blockquote> - -<hr class="r5" /> - -<h3>BRAVE AND BOLD WEEKLY</h3> - -<p>All kinds of stories that boys like. The biggest and best nickel's worth ever offered. <b>High art colored -covers.</b> <b>Thirty-two big pages.</b> <b>Price, 5 cents.</b></p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>338—Working His Way Upward; or, From Footlights to Riches. -By Fred Thorpe.</p> - -<p>339—The Fourteenth Boy; or, How Vin Lovell Won Out. By -Weldon J. Cobb.</p> - -<p>340—Among the Nomads; or, Life in the Open. By the author -of "Through Air to Fame."</p> - -<p>341—Bob, the Acrobat; or, Hustle and Win Out. By Harrie -Irving Hancock.</p> - -<p>342—Through the Earth; or, Jack Nelson's Invention. By Fred -Thorpe.</p> - -<p>343—The Boy Chief; or, Comrades of Camp and Trail. By John -De Morgan.</p> - -<p>344—Smart Alec; or, Bound to Get There. By Weldon J. Cobb.</p> - -<p>345—Climbing Up; or, The Meanest Boy Alive. By Harrie -Irving Hancock.</p> - -<p>346—Comrades Three; or, With Gordon Keith in the South -Seas. By Lawrence White, Jr.</p> - -<p>347—A Young Snake-charmer; or, The Fortunes of Dick Erway. -By Fred Thorpe.</p> - -<p>348—Checked Through to Mars; or, Adventures in Other Worlds. -By Weldon J. Cobb.</p> - -<p>349—Fighting the Cowards; or, Among the Georgia Moonshiners. -By Harrie Irving Hancock.</p> - -<p>350—The Mud River Boys; or, The Fight for Penlow's Mill. By -John L. Douglas.</p> - -<p>351—Grit and Wit; or, Two of a Kind. By Fred Thorpe.</p></blockquote> - -<hr class="r5" /> - -<h3>MOTOR STORIES</h3> - -<p>The latest and best five-cent weekly. We won't say how interesting it is. See for yourself. <b>High art -colored covers.</b> <b>Thirty-two big pages.</b> <b>Price, 5 cents.</b></p> - -<blockquote> -<p> -16—Motor Matt's Quest; or, Three Chums in Strange Waters.</p><p> -17—Motor Matt's Close Call; or, The Snare of Don Carlos.</p><p> -18—Motor Matt in Brazil; or, Under the Amazon.</p><p> -19—Motor Matt's Defiance; or, Around the Horn.</p><p> -20—Motor Matt Makes Good; or, Another Victory for the Motor Boys.</p><p> -21—Motor Matt's Launch; or, A Friend in Need.</p><p> -22—Motor Matt's Enemies; or, A Struggle for the Right.</p><p> -23—Motor Matt's Prize; or, The Pluck That Wins.</p><p> -24—Motor Matt on the Wing; or, Flying for Fame and Fortune.</p><p> -25—Motor Matt's Reverse; or, Caught in a Losing Game.</p><p> -26—Motor Matt's "Make or Break"; or, Advancing the Spark of Friendship.</p><p> -27—Motor Matt's Engagement; or, On the Road With a Show.</p><p> -28—Motor Matt's "Short Circuit"; or, The Mahout's Vow.</p><p> -29—Motor Matt's Make-up; or, Playing a New Rôle.</p> -</blockquote> - - -<p><i>For sale by all newsdealers, or will be sent to any address on receipt of price, -5 cents per copy, in money or postage stamps, by</i></p> - -<p class="center large">STREET & SMITH, Publishers, 79-89 Seventh Avenue, New York</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p><b class="medium">IF YOU WANT ANY BACK NUMBERS</b> of our Weeklies and cannot procure them from your newsdealer, they can be -obtained from this office direct. Fill out the following Order Blank and send it to -us with the price of the Weeklies you want and we will send them to you by return mail. <b>POSTAGE STAMPS TAKEN THE SAME AS MONEY.</b></p></blockquote> - -<hr class="r5" /> - -<table summary="form" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5"> - -<tr><td colspan="6" class="tdr sig">________________________ <i>190</i></td></tr> -<tr><td colspan="6"><i>STREET & SMITH, 79-89 Seventh Avenue, New York City.</i><br /> -<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>Dear Sirs: Enclosed please find</i> ___________________________ <i>cents for which send me</i>:</span> -</td></tr> -<tr><td> </td></tr> -<tr><td><b>TIP TOP WEEKLY,</b></td><td class="tdc"><b>Nos.</b></td><td class="br">______________________</td> -<td><b>BUFFALO BILL STORIES,</b></td><td class="tdc"><b>Nos.</b></td><td>______________________</td></tr> - -<tr><td><b>NICK CARTER WEEKLY,</b></td><td class="tdc"><b>"</b></td><td class="br">______________________</td> -<td><b>BRAVE AND BOLD WEEKLY,</b></td><td class="tdc"><b>"</b></td><td>______________________</td></tr> - -<tr><td><b>DIAMOND DICK WEEKLY,</b></td><td class="tdc"><b>"</b></td><td class="br">______________________</td> -<td><b>MOTOR STORIES,</b></td><td class="tdc"><b>"</b></td><td>______________________</td></tr> - -<tr><td> </td></tr> -<tr><td colspan="6" class="tdc"> -<i>Name</i> ________________ <i>Street</i> ________________ <i>City</i> ________________ <i>State</i> ________________<br /> -</td></tr></table> -<hr class="chap" /> - - - - -<h2><a name="A_GREAT_SUCCESS" id="A_GREAT_SUCCESS">A GREAT SUCCESS!!</a></h2> -<hr class="full" /> -<p class="center huge u">MOTOR STORIES</p> - - -<p>Every boy who reads one of the splendid adventures of Motor Matt, which are making -their appearance in this weekly, is at once surprised and delighted. Surprised at the generous -quantity of reading matter that we are giving for five cents; delighted with the fascinating -interest of the stories, second only to those published in the Tip Top Weekly.</p> - -<p>Matt has positive mechanical genius, and while his adventures are unusual, they are, -however, drawn so true to life that the reader can clearly see how it is possible for the ordinary -boy to experience them.</p> - - -<p class="center"><b><i>HERE ARE THE TITLES NOW READY AND THOSE TO BE PUBLISHED:</i></b></p> -<blockquote> -<p>1—Motor Matt; or, The King of the Wheel.</p> - -<p>2—Motor Matt's Daring; or, True to His Friends.</p> - -<p>3—Motor Matt's Century Run; or, The Governor's -Courier.</p> - -<p>4—Motor Matt's Race; or, The Last Flight of the -"Comet."</p> - -<p>5—Motor Matt's Mystery; or, Foiling a Secret -Plot.</p> - -<p>6—Motor Matt's Red Flier; or, On the High -Gear.</p> - -<p>7—Motor Matt's Clue; or, The Phantom Auto.</p> - -<p>8—Motor Matt's Triumph; or, Three Speeds -Forward.</p> - -<p>9—Motor Matt's Air Ship; or, The Rival Inventors.</p> - -<p>10—Motor Matt's Hard Luck; or, The Balloon -House Plot.</p> - -<p>11—Motor Matt's Daring Rescue; or, The Strange -Case of Helen Brady.</p> - -<p>12—Motor Matt's Peril; or, Cast Away in the -Bahamas.</p> - -<p>13—Motor Matt's Queer Find; or, The Secret of the -Iron Chest.</p> - -<p>14—Motor Matt's Promise; or, The Wreck of the -"Hawk."</p> - -<p>15—Motor Matt's Submarine; or, The Strange Cruise -of the "Grampus."</p> - -<p>16—Motor Matt's Quest; or, Three Chums in -Strange Waters.</p> - -<p>17—Motor Matt's Close Call; or, The Snare of Don -Carlos.</p> - -<p>18—Motor Matt in Brazil; or, Under the Amazon.</p> - -<p>19—Motor Matt's Defiance; or, Around the Horn.</p> - -<p>20—Motor Matt Makes Good; or, Another Victory -for the Motor Boys.</p> - -<p>21—Motor Matt's Launch; or, A Friend in Need.</p> - -<p>22—Motor Matt's Enemies; or, A Struggle for the -Right.</p> - -<p>23—Motor Matt's Prize; or, The Pluck that Wins.</p> - -<p>24—Motor Matt on the Wing; or, Flying for Fame -and Fortune.</p></blockquote> - -<p class="center small">To be Published on August 9th.</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>25—Motor Matt's Reverse; or, Caught in a Losing -Game.</p></blockquote> - -<p class="center small">To be Published on August 16th.</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>26—Motor Matt's "Make or Break"; or, Advancing -the Spark of Friendship.</p></blockquote> - -<p class="center small">To be Published on August 23d.</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>27—Motor Matt's Engagement; or, On the Road -With a Show.</p></blockquote> - -<p class="center small">To be Published on August 30th.</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>28—Motor Matt's "Short Circuit"; or, The Mahout's -Vow.</p></blockquote> - - -<p class="large center">PRICE, FIVE CENTS</p> - -<p class="center">At all newsdealers, or sent, postpaid, by the publishers upon receipt of the price.</p> - -<hr class="full" /> - -<table summary="scaffold" style="width: 50%;"> -<tr class="medium"><td style="width: 33%">STREET & SMITH,</td><td class="tdc"><i>Publishers</i>,</td><td class="tdr" style="width: 33%">NEW YORK</td></tr> -</table> -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="transnote"> -<h2><a name="Transcribers_Notes" id="Transcribers_Notes">Transcriber's Notes:</a></h2> - - -<p>Added table of contents.</p> - -<p>Images may be clicked to view larger versions.</p> - -<p>Page 3, changed "an an" to "as an" in "white as an American."</p> - -<p>Page 10, changed "me" to "we" in "we were going after Archie"</p> - -<p>Page 18, corrected typo "MsGlory" in "McGlory was out of the car."</p> - -<p>Page 22, changed "of" to "off" in "as he started off."</p> - -<p>Page 27, corrected typo "metoowah" in "Awake, <i>meetoowah</i>!"</p> - -</div> - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's Motor Matt's Engagement, by Stanley R. 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