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diff --git a/old/53602-0.txt b/old/53602-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index a81f23d..0000000 --- a/old/53602-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,5379 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Brave and Bold Weekly No 362, A Taxicab -Tangle, by Stanley R. Matthews - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Brave and Bold Weekly No 362, A Taxicab Tangle - or, The Mission of the Motor Boys - -Author: Stanley R. Matthews - -Release Date: November 26, 2016 [EBook #53602] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BRAVE AND BOLD WEEKLY NO 362 *** - - - - -Produced by David Edwards, Craig Kirkwood, and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (Images -courtesy of the Digital Library@Villanova University -(http://digital.library.villanova.edu/).) - - - - - - -Transcriber’s Notes: - -Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_), and text -enclosed by equal signs is in bold (=bold=). - -Additional Transcriber’s Notes are at the end. - - * * * * * - -[Illustration: Turning to give his attention to the young fellow who -was lying beside the taxicab, Matt received another start. Strands of -long, yellow hair had been released and were waving about Granger’s -head.] - - * * * * * - -BRAVE AND BOLD WEEKLY - -_Issued Weekly. By subscription $2.50 per year. Copyright, 1909, by_ -STREET & SMITH, _79-89 Seventh Avenue, New York, N. Y._ - -=No. 362.= NEW YORK, November 27, 1909. =Price Five Cents.= - - - - -A TAXICAB TANGLE; OR, The Mission of the Motor Boys. - - -By STANLEY R. MATTHEWS. - - - - -CHAPTER I. A LETTER--AND A SURPRISE. - - -“For its size, pard, I reckon this is about the biggest town on the -map. We’ve been here five days, and the traffic squad has been some -busy with our bubble-wagon, but if there’s any part of this burg we -haven’t seen, now’s the time to get out a search warrant, and go after -it. What’s on for to-day?” - -Joe McGlory was the speaker. He and his chum, Matt King, known far and -wide as Motor Matt, were in the lobby of the big hotel in which they -had established themselves when they first arrived in New York. In a -couple of “sleepy-hollow” chairs they were watching the endless tide of -humanity, as it ebbed and flowed through the great rotunda. - -For five days the gasoline motor had whirled the boys in every -direction, an automobile rushing them around the city, with side trips -to Coney Island, north as far as Tarrytown, and across the river as far -as Fort Lee, while a power boat had given them a view of the bay and -the sound. Out of these five days, too, they had spent one afternoon -fishing near City Island, and had given up several hours to watching -the oystermen off Sound Beach. - -Matt, having lived in the Berkshires, and having put in some time -working for a motor manufactory in Albany, had visited the metropolis -many times. He was able, therefore, to act as pilot for his cowboy pard. - -“I thought,” he remarked, “that it’s about time we coupled a little -business with this random knocking around. There’s a man in the -Flatiron Building who is interested in aviation--I heard of him through -Cameron, up at Fort Totten--and I believe we’ll call and have a little -talk. It might lead to something, you know.” - -“Aviation!” muttered the cowboy. “That’s a brand-new one. Tell me what -it’s about, pard.” - -“Aviation,” and Matt coughed impressively, “is the science of flight on -a heavier-than-air machine. When we used that Traquair aëroplane, Joe, -we were aviators.” - -“Much obliged, professor,” grinned the cowboy. “When we scooted through -the air we were aviating, eh? Well, between you and me and the brindle -maverick, I’d rather aviate than do anything else. All we lack, now, is -a bird’s-eye view of the met-ro-po-lus. Let’s get a flying machine from -this man in the Flatiron Building, and ‘do’ the town from overhead. -We can roost on top of the Statue of Liberty, see how Grant’s Tomb -looks from the clouds, scrape the top of the Singer Building, give the -Metropolitan----” - -“That’s a dream,” laughed Matt. “It will be a long time before there’s -much flying done over the city of New York. I’m going to see if we have -any mail. After that, we’ll get a car and start for downtown.” - -McGlory sat back in his chair and waited while his chum disappeared in -the crowd. When Matt got back, he showed his comrade a letter. - -“Who’s it from?” inquired McGlory. - -“Not being a mind reader, Joe,” Matt replied, “I’ll have to pass,” and -he handed the letter to the cowboy. - -“For me?” cried McGlory. - -“Your name’s on the envelope. The letter, as you see, has been -forwarded from Catskill.” - -“Speak to me about this! I haven’t had a letter since you and I left -’Frisco. Who in the wide world is writing to me, and what for?” - -McGlory opened the letter and pulled out two folded sheets. His -amazement grew as he read. Presently his surprise gave way to a look of -delight, and he chuckled jubilantly. - -“This is from the colonel,” said he. - -“Who’s the colonel?” asked Matt. - -“Why, Colonel Mark Antony Billings, of Tucson, Arizona. Everybody in -the Southwest knows the colonel. He’s in the mining business, the -colonel is, and he tells me that I’m on the ragged edge of dropping -into a fortune.” - -A man of forty, rather “loudly” dressed, was seated behind the boys, -smoking and reading a newspaper. He was not so deeply interested in -the paper as he pretended to be, for he got up suddenly, stepped to a -marble column near Matt’s chair, and leaned there, still with the cigar -between his lips, and the paper in front of his eyes. But he was not -smoking, and neither was he reading. He was listening. - -“Bully!” exclaimed the overjoyed Matt, all agog with interest. “I’d -like to see you come into a whole lot of money, Joe.” - -“Well, I haven’t got this yet, pard. There’s a string to it. The -colonel’s got one end of the string, ’way off there in Tucson, and -the other end is here in New York with a baited hook tied to it. This -long-distance fishing is mighty uncertain.” - -“What is it? A mining deal?” - -“Listen, pard. About a year ago I had a notion I’d like to get rich -out of this mining game. Riding range was my long suit, but gold mines -seemed to offer better prospects. I had five hundred saved up and to -my credit in the Tucson bank. The colonel got next to it, and he told -me about the ‘Pauper’s Dream’ claim, which needed only a fifty-foot -shaft to make it show up a bonanza. I gave the colonel my five hundred, -and he got a lot more fellows to chip in. Then the colonel went ahead, -built a ten-stamp mill, and started digging the shaft. When that -shaft got down fifty feet, ore indications had petered out complete; -and when it got down a hundred feet, there wasn’t even a limestone -stringer--nothing but country rock, with no more yellow metal than -you’d find in the sand at Far Rockaway. I bade an affectionate farewell -to my five hundred, and asked my friends to rope-down and tie me, and -snake me over to the nearest asylum for the feeble-minded if I ever -dropped so much as a two-bit piece into another hole in the ground. -After that, I forgot about the colonel and the ‘Pauper’s Dream.’ But -things have been happening since I’ve been away from Tucson. Read the -letter for yourself, pard. It will explain the whole situation to you. -After you read it, tell me what you think. You might go over it out -loud, while I sit back here, drink in your words, and try to imagine -myself the big high boy with a brownstone front on Easy Street.” - -Matt took the sheet which McGlory handed to him, and read aloud, as -follows: - - “MY DEAR YOUNG FRIEND: I knew the ‘Pauper’s Dream’ was all right, - and I said all along it was the goods, although there were some who - doubted me. Within the last three months we have picked up a vein of - free milling ore which assays one thousand dollars to the ton--and - there’s a mountain of it. Your stock, just on this three months’ - showing, is worth, at a conservative estimate, five hundred dollars - a share--and you paid only five dollars a share for it! You’re worth - fifty thousand now, but you’ll be worth ten times that if the deal I - have on with certain New York parties goes through. - - “Now, from an item I read in the papers, I find you are at Catskill, - New York, with that young motor wonder, Matt King, so I am hustling - this letter right off to you. By express, to-day, I am sending, - consigned to the Merchants’ & Miners’ National Bank, for you, two - gold bars which weigh-up five thousand dollars each. Inclosed - herewith you will find an order on the bank to deliver the bars - to you. On Wednesday evening, the twenty-fourth, there will be a - meeting of the proposed Eastern Syndicate in the offices of Random & - Griggs, No. -- Liberty Street. You can help the deal along by taking - the bullion to these capitalists, along with my affidavit--which is - with the bars--stating that the gold came out of a week’s run at the - ‘Pauper’s Dream’ with our little ten-stamp mill. That will do the - business. Random & Griggs have had an expert here looking over the - mine. After you show the bullion at the syndicate’s meeting, return - it to the bank. - - “I am not sure that this letter will reach you. If it doesn’t, I - shall have to get some one else to take the gold to the meeting. - Would come myself, but am head over heels in work here, and can’t - leave the ‘Dream’ for a minute. Wire me as soon as you get this - letter. I hope that you are in a position to attend to this matter, - my lad, because there is no one else I could trust as I could you, - with ten thousand dollars’ worth of gold bullion. - - “Catskill is only a little way from New York City, and you can run - down there and attend to this. Let me know at once if you will. - - “Sincerely yours, - - “M. A. BILLINGS.” - -“Fine!” cried Matt heartily, grabbing his chum’s hand as he returned -the letter. - -“It sounds like a yarn from the ‘Thousand and One Nights,’” returned -the cowboy, “and I’m not going to call myself Gotrox until the -‘Pauper’s Dream’ is sold, and the fortune is in the bank, subject to -Joe McGlory’s check.” - -“This is Monday,” went on Matt, “and the meeting of the syndicate is -called for Wednesday evening.” - -“Plenty of time,” said McGlory. “I’m not going to let the prospect of -wealth keep me from enjoying the sights for the next three days.” - -“Well,” returned Matt, “there’s one thing you’ve got to do, and at -least two more it would be wise for you to do, without delay.” - -“The thing I’ve got to do, Matt, is to wire the colonel that I’m on -deck and ready to look after the bullion. What are the two things it -would be wise for me to do?” - -“Why, call at the bank and see whether the bullion is there.” - -“I don’t want to load up with it before Wednesday afternoon.” - -“Of course not, but find out whether it has arrived in New York. Then -I’d call on Random & Griggs, introduce yourself, and tell them you’ll -be around Wednesday evening.” - -“Keno! You’ll go with me, won’t you?” - -“I don’t think it will be necessary, Joe. While you’re attending to -this, I’ll make my call at the Flatiron Building.” - -“I’ll have to hunt up Random & Griggs, and I haven’t the least notion -where to find the Merchants’ & Miners’ National Bank.” - -“We’ll get all that out of the directory.” - -“Then where am I to cross trails with you again?” - -“Come to the Flatiron Building in two hours; that,” and Matt flashed a -look at a clock, “will bring us together at ten. You’ll find me on the -walk, at the point of the Flatiron Building, at ten o’clock.” - -“Correct.” McGlory put the folded papers back into the envelope, and -stowed the envelope in his pocket. “I reckon I won’t get lost, strayed, -or stolen while I’m attending to this business of the colonel’s, but -from the time I take that bullion out of the bank, Wednesday afternoon, -until I get it into some safe place again, you’ve got to hang onto me.” - -“I’ll be with you, then, of course,” Matt laughed. “Now, let’s get the -street addresses of the bank and the firm of Random & Griggs, and then -our trails will divide for a couple of hours.” - -The boys got up and moved away. The man by the marble column stared -after them for a moment, a gleam of growing resolution showing in his -black eyes. Turning suddenly, he dropped his newspaper into one of the -vacant chairs and bolted for the street. - -His mind had evolved a plan, and it was aimed at the motor boys. - - - - -CHAPTER II. STARTLING NEWS. - - -Matt and McGlory decided that they would not use an automobile for -their morning’s work. The cowboy would go downtown by the subway and -Matt would use a surface car. They separated, McGlory rather dazed and -skeptical about his prospective fortune, and Matt more confident and -highly delighted over his chum’s unexpected good luck. - -It chanced that Matt had spent some time in Arizona, and he knew, from -near-at-hand observation, how suddenly the wheel of fortune changes for -better or for worse in mining affairs. - -One of Matt’s best friends, “Chub” McReady, had leaped from poverty to -wealth by such a turn of the wheel, and Matt was prepared to believe -that the same dazzling luck could come McGlory’s way. - -Within half an hour after leaving his chum, the young motorist was in -the Flatiron Building, asking the man on duty at the elevators where -he could find Mr. James Arthur Lafitte, the gentleman whom Cameron -had mentioned as being interested in the problem of aëronautics. -Lafitte, Cameron had told Matt, was a member of the Aëro Club, had -owned a balloon of his own, and had made many ascensions from the -town of Pittsfield, Massachusetts--which was near Matt’s old home in -the Berkshire Hills; but, Cameron had also said, Lafitte had given up -plain ballooning for dirigibles, and, finally, had turned his back on -dirigibles for heavier-than-air machines. He was a civil engineer of -an inventive turn, and with an adventurous nature--just the sort of -person Matt would like to meet. - -Having learned the number of Lafitte’s suite of rooms, Matt stepped -aboard the elevator and was whisked skyward. Getting out under the -roof, he made his way to the door bearing Lafitte’s name, and passed -inside. - -A young man, in his shirt sleeves, was working at a drawing table. Matt -asked for Mr. Lafitte, and was informed, much to his disappointment, -that he was at his workshop on Long Island, and would probably not be -in the city for two or three days. - -Matt introduced himself to the young man, who was a draughtsman for -Lafitte, and who immediately laid aside his compasses and pencil, and -climbed down from his high stool to grasp the caller’s hand. - -“Mr. Lafitte has heard a good deal about you,” said he, “and has -followed your work pretty closely. He’ll be sorry not to have seen you, -Motor Matt. Can’t you come in again? Better still, can’t you run out to -his workshop and see him?” - -“I don’t know,” Matt answered. “I’m in the city with a friend, and he -has a little business to attend to which will probably take up some of -our time.” - -“I think,” went on the other, “that you won’t regret taking the time to -talk with Mr. Lafitte. He’s working on something, out there at his Long -Island place, which is going to make a big stir, one of these days.” - -“Something on the aëroplane order?” - -The draughtsman looked thoughtful for a moment. - -“Suppose,” said he, “that something was discovered which had fifty -times the buoyancy of hydrogen gas, that the buoyancy could be -regulated at will by electrically heated platinum wires--would that -revolutionize this flying proposition?” - -Matt was struck at once with the far-reaching influence of the novel -proposition. - -“It would, certainly,” he declared. “Is that what----” - -“I’m not saying any more than that, Motor Matt,” broke in the young -man; “in fact, I _can’t_ say anything more, but you take the trouble to -talk with Mr. Lafitte. It may be worth something to you.” - -Matt lingered in the office for a few minutes longer, then went -away. The spell cast over him by the clerk’s words went with him. -He had often thought and dreamed along the lines of the subject the -draughtsman had mentioned. - -The drawback, in the matter of dirigible balloons, lay in the fact -that the huge bag, necessary to keep them aloft, made them the sport -of every wind that blew. If the volume of gas could be reduced, then, -naturally, the smaller the gas bag, the more practicable the dirigible -would become. With the volume of gas reduced _fifty times_, a field -opened for power-driven balloons which fairly took Matt’s breath away. -And this lifting power of Lafitte’s was under control! This seemed to -offer realization of another of Matt’s dreams--of an automobile flying -machine, a surface and air craft which could fly along the roads as -well as leap aloft and sail through the atmosphere above him. - -Carried away by his thoughts, Matt suddenly came back to his sober -senses and found himself staring blankly into a window filled with -pipes and tobacco at the V-shaped point of the Flatiron Building. He -laughed under his breath as he dismissed his wild visions. - -“I won’t take any stock in this new gas,” he muttered, “until I can -see it demonstrated. Just now I’m more interested in Joe and his good -luck than in anything else.” - -He looked at his watch. It was only half-past nine, and it would be -half an hour, at least, before he could expect his chum. Matt had -suddenly remembered, too, that it would probably be ten o’clock before -Joe could finish his business at the bank, and that would delay his -arrival at the Flatiron Building until after the appointed time. - -Crossing over into Madison Square, Matt idled away his time, roaming -around and building air castles for McGlory. The cowboy was a fine -fellow, a lad of sterling worth, and fortune could not have visited her -favors upon one more deserving. - -By ten o’clock Matt was back at the Flatiron Building. As he came -around on the Fifth Avenue side, a taxicab drew up at the curb, the -door opened, and a lad sprang out. The youth was well dressed and -carried a small tin box. - -Matt supposed the lad was some one who had business inside the -building, and merely gave him a casual glance as he strolled on. Matt -had not gone far, however, before he felt a hand on his shoulder. He -whirled around, thinking it was McGlory, and was a little surprised to -observe the youth who had got out of the taxicab. - -“Are you Motor Matt?” came a low voice. - -“That’s my name,” answered Matt. - -“And you’re waiting here for your friend, Joe McGlory?” - -“He was to meet me here at ten,” said Matt, his surprise growing. - -“Well,” went on the lad, a tinge of color coming into his face, “he--he -won’t be able to meet you.” - -“Won’t be able to meet me?” echoed Matt. “Is business keeping him?” - -“That’s it. I’m from the office of Random & Griggs, and Mr. McGlory -wants you in a hurry.” - -“What does he want me for?” - -“That’s more than I know. You see, I’m only a messenger in the brokers’ -office.” - -He was a well-dressed young fellow, for a messenger, but Matt knew that -some of the messengers, from the Wall Street section, spend a good -share of their salary on clothes, and, in fact, are required to dress -well. - -“I can’t imagine what Joe wants me for,” said the wondering Matt, “but -I’ll go with you to Liberty Street and find out.” - -“He’s not at the office, now,” went on the messenger, “but started into -the country with Mr. Random just as I left the office to come after -you.” - -“What in the world is Joe going into the country for?” - -“That’s too many for me. All he told me to tell you was that it had -something to do with the ‘Pauper’s Dream.’ He said you’d understand.” - -This was startling news for Matt, inasmuch as it seemed to indicate -that McGlory had encountered a snag of some kind in the matter of the -mine. - -“We’d better hurry,” urged the messenger, as Matt stood reflecting upon -the odd twist the “Pauper’s Dream” matter was taking. - -“All right,” said Motor Matt. - -Accompanying the young fellow to the taxicab, Matt climbed inside and -the messenger followed and closed the door. The driver, it appeared, -already had his instructions, and the machine was off the moment the -door had closed. - -“My name is Granger, Motor Matt,” observed the messenger, “Harold -Granger.” - -“You don’t look much like a granger,” laughed Matt, taking in the -messenger’s trim, up-to-date garments. - -Harold Granger joined in the laugh. - -“What’s in a name, anyhow?” he asked. - -“That’s so,” answered Matt good-naturedly. “I’d give a good deal to -know what’s gone crossways with McGlory. I suppose you haven’t any -idea?” - -“There are not many leaks to Mr. Random’s private room,” answered -Harold, “and I can’t even guess what’s going on. Mr. Random seemed -excited, though, and it takes a lot to make _him_ show his nerves.” - -“Where are we going?” - -“To Rye, a small place beyond Mamaroneck.” - -“Great spark-plugs!” exclaimed Matt, watching the figures jump up in -the dial, recording the distance they were covering in dollars and -cents. “What’s the use of using a taxicab for a trip like that? You -ought to have hired a touring car by the hour.” - -“Oh, this was the only car handy, and Mr. Random never stops at -expense.” - -“Why couldn’t he and McGlory have come by way of the Flatiron Building -and picked me up?” - -“I think Mr. McGlory said you were not expecting him until ten o’clock.” - -“That needn’t have made any difference. Joe knew where I was to be in -the Flatiron Building and he could have come for me.” - -“He and Mr. Random seemed to be in a hurry,” was the indefinite -response, “and that’s all I know.” - -When the taxicab got beyond the place where the eight-miles-an-hour -speed limit did not interfere, the driver let the machine out, and the -figures in the dial danced a jig. But Random & Griggs were furnishing -the music for the dance, and Matt composed himself. - -“You’re a stranger in New York, aren’t you?” Harold inquired. - -“I haven’t been in the city for a long time,” Matt answered. - -“This is the Pelham Road,” the messenger went on, “and that’s the -sound, over there.” - -“I was never out this way before,” said Matt, “but----” - -Just at that moment something went wrong with the taxicab. There was -a wobble, a wild lurch sidewise, a brief jump across the road, and a -terrific jolt as the machine came to a halt. The body of the car was -thrown over to a dangerous angle, Matt was flung violently against -Harold Granger, and both of them struck the door. Under the impact of -their bodies, the door yielded, and they fell out of the vehicle and -into the road. - -Malt had given vent to a sharp exclamation, and his companion had -uttered a shrill cry. The next moment they were on the ground, Matt -picking himself up quickly, a little shaken but in no wise injured. - -The taxicab, he saw at a glance, had dived from the road into a stone -wall. The driver had vanished, and Matt took a hurried glance over the -wall to see if he had landed on the other side of it. He was not there, -and the mystery as to his whereabouts deepened. - -Turning to give his attention to Granger, Matt received another start. -The young fellow was lying beside the taxicab, lifting himself weakly -on one arm. His tin box had dropped near him, and his derby hat had -fallen off. Strands of long, yellow hair, which must have been done -into a coil and hidden under a wig of some sort, had been released and -were waving about Granger’s shoulders. - -A woman! Here was a pretty tangle, and Motor Matt was astounded. - - - - -CHAPTER III. A TWISTED SKEIN. - - -As though a taxicab, minus its driver and running amuck into a stone -wall, was not enough hard luck to throw across the path of Motor Matt, -he had also to deal with a young woman masquerading in man’s attire. -But for the mishap to the taxicab, Matt would probably never have -discovered that the supposed youth was other than “he” seemed. - -There were a number of details that perplexed our young friend just -then, and among them--and not the least--was the strange disappearance -of the driver of the machine. This problem, however, would have to -wait. Matt felt that the young woman should claim his first attention. - -“Are you hurt?” he asked, feeling more concern on that point than he -would have done had his companion been of the other sex. - -“No,” answered the girl, her face reddening with mortification. - -Matt started to help her up, but she regained her feet without his aid -and picked up the tin box and the hat. - -“I suppose, Miss Granger,” said he, “that I should have known, from the -way those yellow tresses were smoothed upward at the back of your head, -that--that you were not what you were trying to appear; but, of course, -I wasn’t looking for any such deception as this.” - -Tears sprang to the girl’s eyes. - -“I--I don’t know what you will think of me,” she murmured. “You see, -a man has so much better chance for getting on in the world that I--I -have been obliged to play this--this rôle in--in self-defense.” - -“You have played the rôle for some time?” - -“For--for a year, now.” - -“You can’t expect me to believe that, Miss Granger,” said Matt calmly. - -“Why not?” she flashed. - -“Well,” he answered, “you would have cut off those long locks if you -had made a business of playing such a part for a year. That would have -been the reasonable thing to do, and I am sure you would have done it.” - -“Do you doubt my word?” she asked defiantly. - -“I don’t want to doubt your word, Miss Granger, but I have to take -matters as I find them. You’re not a messenger for Random & Griggs, -either, are you?” - -She did not reply. - -“And all this about my chum, Joe McGlory, going into the country and -wanting me to join him, isn’t true, is it?” - -“Yes, it’s true,” she declared desperately. “You’ll have to go with me -if you want to find Mr. McGlory.” - -“Did McGlory go into the country in a touring car with Mr. Random?” - -This was another question which the girl did not see fit to answer. - -“You’re not frank with me,” continued Matt, “and how can you expect me -to have any confidence in you? Have you any idea what became of the -driver of the taxicab?” - -“No,” she replied. - -“I’m going back down the road to look for him. While I’m gone, Miss -Granger, you do a little good, hard thinking. I guess you’ll make up -your mind that it’s best to be perfectly frank with me.” - -Without saying anything further, Matt turned away and started back -along the road. He was caught in a twisted skein of events, and was the -more perturbed because he could not think of any possible object the -girl might have in trying to deceive him. - -But, whatever plot was afoot, Matt was positive that the accident to -the taxicab had nothing whatever to do with it. That had been something -outside the girl’s calculations, and an investigation might lead to -results. - -The driver had not been long off the seat of the taxicab when the -machine collided with the wall. This was self-evident, for the machine -could not have proceeded any great distance without a controlling hand -on the steering wheel. - -Less than a hundred feet from the spot where the accident had happened, -Matt found the driver sitting up at the edge of some bushes by the -roadside. He was covered with dust, and was holding his hat in his -hands. There was a vacant stare in his eyes as he watched Matt approach. - -“What’s the matter with you?” queried Matt. - -The driver acted as though he did not understand. He began turning the -hat around and around in his hands and peering into the crown in the -abstracted fashion of one who is struggling with a hard mental problem. - -A little way back, Matt remembered that they had passed a road house. -If he could get the driver to the road house, perhaps the people there -could do something for him. - -“Come,” said he, catching the man by the arm and trying to lift him. -“You are sick, and I’ll help you to a place where they can look after -you.” - -Mechanically the driver put his hat on his head and got to his feet. -For a moment he stood still, staring at Matt speculatively, as though -trying to guess who he was and where he had come from; then, suddenly, -he whirled and broke from Matt’s grasp, running farther back into the -bushes. - -In half a dozen leaps Matt was upon him again, and had caught him -firmly by the collar. - -“I’m a friend of yours,” he said soothingly, “and I want to take you to -a place where you can be cared for. You’re not right in your head.” - -“Who are you?” mumbled the driver. - -“Can’t you remember me? I was in your taxicab; you picked me up at the -Flatiron Building.” - -“What taxicab?” the man asked, drawing one hand across his forehead. - -“Yours.” - -The man’s blank look slowly yielded to a glimmering of reason. - -“Oh, yes,” he muttered, “I--I remember. The young chap hired me at -Herald Square. I was to take him to the Flatiron Building, pick up -another fare, and then go along the Pelham Road as far as Rye. I guess -I’ve got that straight.” - -“Sure it was at Herald Square that the young fellow hired you?” - -“Yes, I’m positive of it.” - -The driver was getting back his wits by swift degrees. - -“What was the matter with you?” asked Matt. - -“Sort of a fit. I used to have ’em a whole lot, but this is the first -that’s come on me for purty nigh six months. No matter what I’m doin’, -I jest drop an’ don’t know a thing for a minute or two; then, after I -come out of it, I’m gen’rally a little while piecin’ things together.” - -“You shouldn’t be driving a taxicab, if you’re subject to such spells.” - -“Thought I’d got over ’em. I won’t have another, now, for two or three -weeks, anyway. Didn’t you see me when I tumbled from the seat?” - -“No.” - -“That’s blamed queer! Didn’t you hear me, either?” - -“No.” - -“How did you find out I was gone from up front?” - -“The taxi jumped into a stone wall,” answered Matt dryly, “and threw us -out. If you’ll step out of this patch of brush you can see the machine.” - -“Was it damaged much?” asked the man anxiously. - -“It doesn’t seem to be.” - -“Think I can tinker it up so as to take you and that other young chap -on to Rye?” - -“That’s where you’re to take us, is it?” - -“Yes.” - -“And the young fellow hired you at Herald Square?” - -“Say, my brain’s as clear as yours, now. I know jest what I’m sayin’. -I was hired at Herald Square to take him to the Flatiron Buildin’, and -then to pick you----” - -“All right,” cut in Matt. “Do you know who the young fellow is?” - -“Don’t know him from Adam. Never saw him before.” - -“After you get to Rye, what----” - -The drumming of a motor car, traveling swiftly, was heard at that -moment. The car was close and, through the bushes, Matt caught a -glimpse of its fleeting red body as it plunged past. - -Thinking that the car, which seemed to be big and powerful, might be -used for towing the taxicab--in case it was very seriously damaged--to -the nearest garage, Matt jumped for the road. - -By the time he had gained the road, however, the touring car was -abreast of the taxicab and forging straight onward at a tremendous -clip. Matt’s intention of hailing the machine was lost in a spasm of -astonishment the moment he had caught sight of the single passenger -in the tonneau. There was one man in front with the driver, but the -passenger in the tonneau--there could be no doubt about it--was Joe -McGlory! - -By the time Matt had recovered full possession of his senses, the -touring car was out of sight. - - - - -CHAPTER IV. MOTOR MATT’S DUTY. - - -For Matt, in this queer taxicab tangle, one mystery was piling upon -another. Joe McGlory, in a faster car than the “taxi,” had left New -York after Matt and the girl had taken their departure. Joe might be -with Mr. Random, but the girl had certainly made a misstatement when -she said that the cowboy and the broker had hurried off in advance of -the taxicab. But then, the girl had made many misstatements. - -By the narrow margin of no more than thirty seconds, Matt had failed -to reach the road in time to hail the touring car. Fate works with -trifles, drawing her thread fine from the insignificant affairs of life. - -The driver came unsteadily through the bushes and stood at Matt’s side, -gazing toward the taxicab. - -“What was you intendin’ to do?” he asked of Matt. - -“I was thinking we could hail that automobile and, if the taxicab was -too badly injured to proceed under its own power, we could have the -machine towed to the nearest garage.” - -“We won’t have any trouble findin’ a car to tow us--if we have to. If -the machine ain’t too badly smashed, I’m goin’ to take you on to Rye.” - -“Perhaps I’d better do the driving,” suggested Matt. - -“Bosh! I’m all right for two or three weeks. The spells ain’t bad, but -they’re mighty inconvenient.” - -“I should say so!” exclaimed Matt. “That other passenger and myself -might have been killed.” - -“You wasn’t either of you hurt, was you?” - -That was the first remark the driver had made that showed any -solicitude for his passengers. - -“No,” Matt answered. “Let’s get back and see if we can repair the taxi.” - -When they reached the taxicab, the girl was sitting on a stone near the -machine. Her long tresses had been replaced under the derby hat, and -she looked sufficiently boyish to keep up the deception--so far as the -driver was concerned. Matt passed her with hardly a glance, and helped -the driver make his investigation. - -No serious damage had been done to the taxicab. A lamp was smashed, and -some of the electric terminals had been jarred from their posts, but -not a tire had been punctured, and the machine seemed as capable as -ever of taking the road. - -If the girl was curious as to the sudden disappearance and reappearance -of the driver, she kept her curiosity to herself. When the driver had -backed the machine into the road and headed it eastward, Matt turned to -the girl. - -“Rye is the place we are bound for?” he said tentatively. - -She gave him a quick, troubled glance. - -“Yes,” she answered. - -Probably she was wondering whether he was intending to keep on with the -journey. - -“Then,” proceeded Matt, “let’s get inside. We’ve lost a good deal of -time.” - -He held the door open and the girl got into the vehicle. He followed -her, after telling the driver to make his best speed. - -“The driver had some sort of a fit,” Matt explained, when they were -once more under way, “and fell off the seat. You didn’t see him when he -dropped, did you?” - -“If I had,” she answered, somewhat tartly, “I should have spoken about -it.” - -“Of course,” returned Matt calmly. “So many peculiar things are -happening, though, that I wasn’t sure but the disappearance of the -driver might have had something to do with your plans.” - -“_My_ plans?” she echoed. - -“I don’t know whose plans they are, but I suppose, if some one else -laid them, you are pretty well informed or you couldn’t carry them out. -What are we to do when we get to Rye?” - -“There will be another automobile there--a fast car--waiting to take us -on along the Boston Post Road.” - -“How far?” - -“Somewhere between Loon Lake and Stoughton, on the Boston Pike.” - -Again Matt was astounded. - -“That’s pretty close to Boston, isn’t it?” he inquired. - -“It’s a good deal closer to Boston than it is to New York.” - -“When do you think we’ll get to--to where we’re going?” - -“Some time to-night,” was the careless response. - -“You don’t seem to realize,” said Matt, just the barest riffle of -temper showing itself, “that I hadn’t any intention of taking such a -long ride as this when I left the Flatiron Building.” - -“Your friend wants you,” said the girl. “If that’s not enough to keep -you on the long ride, then you can get out at Mamaroneck--we’ve already -passed New Rochelle--and take the train back to New York.” - -The girl’s indifferent manner puzzled him. She must have seen the -touring car pass the taxicab, and she must have known that Joe McGlory -was in the car. What this had to do with her present attitude, if -anything, Matt could not guess. For all that, he felt positive she did -not think he had seen the touring car dash along the road with McGlory. - -“You told me McGlory had left New York ahead of us,” said he. - -“That’s what I was told.” - -“As a matter of fact, he didn’t leave until after we did, for he passed -us while I was looking for the missing driver.” - -She shot a quick look at him. - -“You saw that, did you?” she inquired. - -“Yes.” - -“Then why didn’t you stop the car and find out what Mr. McGlory wanted?” - -“The car was going too fast. Besides, I didn’t know my friend was in -the car until it was too far away.” - -She laughed softly. - -“Then you _do_ have a little confidence in me, after all?” - -“Not a bit,” answered Matt, with a little laugh. “For reasons of your -own, I believe you’re going to take me to the place where some one else -is taking McGlory. I don’t know why, but I suppose I’ll find out if I -wait long enough. Anyway, if Joe McGlory is in any sort of trouble, my -place is at his side. And if you try to get away from me before I find -McGlory,” he threatened, “I shall turn you over to the police in one of -these small towns we’re passing through.” - -“You couldn’t do that without a legal excuse.” - -“Haven’t I a legal excuse? You got me away from New York by telling me -something that wasn’t true.” - -“You don’t know, yet, that what I told you isn’t true. I don’t think -you could have me arrested for something that hasn’t happened.” - -Some desperate purpose was urging the girl on. What it was, and why it -should be desperate, were beyond Matt’s comprehension. - -“You’re a young man with a mission,” said the girl, turning a pair of -frosty blue eyes upon the young fellow beside her, “and the mission is -to get to where we’re going, and find Mr. McGlory. You’ll be a whole -lot wiser after that.” - -Matt, in his own mind, did not doubt this statement. But that -reflection in no wise helped him just then. - -Presently the girl began peering through the window in the top of the -door, watching the roadside as they scurried along. - -“What are you looking for, Miss Granger?” asked Matt, after the girl -had been peering steadily through the glass for several minutes. - -“For the other car,” she answered, without looking around. - -“You said that was to be waiting for us at Rye.” - -“It may have come this way to meet us, and----Ah, stop!” she cried, -lifting her voice. “We’ll get out here, driver.” - -The driver was a surprised man as he brought the taxicab to a halt. -It was a lonely piece of road where they had come to a stop, shadowed -deeply, as it was, by a thick growth of trees on either side. - -“It’s a mile, yet, before we get to the town,” demurred the driver. - -“We’ll stop here,” said the girl decisively. - -“I can’t see the other car,” spoke up Matt, looking in vain for the -automobile that was to take them on. - -Although he did not see another car, yet his eye was caught and held -by something white fluttering from a bush. While the girl was settling -with the driver, Matt made his way to the roadside and examined the -fluttering object. It was a white cloth, and had evidently been tied to -the bush as a signal. - -“Wait a minute!” shouted Matt, as the driver was climbing back into his -seat. - -Both the driver and the girl whirled around and stared in his direction. - -“I may want to go back to New York in the taxicab,” continued Matt. -“I’d like to talk with you a minute, Mr. Granger,” he added, putting a -little emphasis on the “mister.” - -The girl advanced slowly toward him. - -“Go back, if you’re afraid to go on and do what your friend wants you -to do,” said she. - -“I’m not at all certain,” said Matt, “that I’m doing what my friend -wants me to do. The only reason I’m keeping on with you is because I -saw McGlory pass me in that red touring car. I’d like to ask you, Miss -Granger, if you stopped because you saw this signal,” and Matt turned -and pointed to the white cloth. - -“That’s the reason I stopped, Motor Matt,” the girl replied promptly. - -“The plans you are following seem to have been laid with a good deal of -care, and to point to something that may prove pretty serious. I think, -Miss Granger, that you and I will go on to Rye, and stop there.” - -“I’m not going to stop at Rye,” answered the girl, with spirit. - -“I think you will,” answered Matt coolly. “On second thought, I believe -it’s my duty to turn you over to the authorities until I can find out -something more about my chum. You can explain to the judge why you’re -disguised as you are.” - -“You don’t mean that!” gasped the girl, starting back. - -“I do,” declared Matt. “As I said, I believe it’s my duty, and----” - -At that precise juncture, something descended over Matt’s head, thrown -from behind. It might have been a shawl, or an automobile coat, or a -piece of cloth--there was no time to take particular note of it. The -attack came so suddenly, and so unexpectedly, that he was not able to -defend himself. - -With his face smothered in the thick folds, he was drawn roughly -backward. A foot tripped him, and he measured his length on the ground. -The next moment he was seized by strong hands and dragged through the -bushes and into the woods. He struggled blindly and fiercely against -his unseen captors, but they were too many of them. He was powerless -to free himself, and the smothering cloth that covered his head and -shoulders made it impossible for him to call for help. - - - - -CHAPTER V. HOW MCGLORY WAS FOOLED. - - -McGlory found his way to the address in Liberty Street without any -difficulty. But he was too early. The Stock Exchange had not yet -opened, and only a few clerks were at work in the brokerage offices of -Random & Griggs. - -The cowboy sat down in a room where there were a number of chairs -facing a big blackboard. There were a stepladder and a chair in front -of the blackboard, and off to one side was a machine in a glass case -with a high basket standing under it. A ribbon of paper hung from -the machine into the basket. This, of course, was the “ticker” which -received and recorded the quotations of stocks at the Exchange, but it -was not yet time for it to begin work. - -McGlory and Matt were at least an hour too early in setting about their -morning’s business. - -While the cowboy sat in his chair in front of the blackboard, wondering -how long he could wait for Random or Griggs and yet be at the Flatiron -Building as per appointment with Matt, a man sauntered in, looked at an -office boy who was just going out with an armful of ticker tape, and -then approached McGlory. - -He was the gentleman in the noisy apparel--he of the cigar, and the -newspaper, and the listening ear and scheming brain. He was playing -boldly, for the stakes were worth the risk. - -“Young man,” said he to McGlory, “are you waiting for some one?” - -“I’m waiting for one of the big high boys that boss the layout,” -answered McGlory. - -“Indeed!” The man flashed a quick look around and made sure that only -he and McGlory were in the room. “Well,” he went on, “I am Mr. Random.” - -“Fine!” exclaimed the cowboy, getting up. “I’m Joe McGlory, from the -land of sun, sand, solitude, and pay-streaks. I’ve run in here to----” - -McGlory got no further. Random grabbed his hand effusively. - -“We’ve been expecting you,” said he. “We have a meeting of the -syndicate on Wednesday evening, and a letter from the colonel gives -your name and informs us that you will be on deck with the bullion from -the test run of the mill. If the gold shows up properly, there’s no -doubt about our people coming across with the money. But we can’t talk -here--some one is liable to drop in on us at any moment. This business -is private, very private. Come with me, Mr. McGlory, and I’ll find a -place where we can have a little star-chamber session.” - -“I don’t want to tear you away from business,” protested McGlory. - -Random waved his hand deprecatingly. - -“Griggs will look after the office,” said he. “This ‘Pauper’s Dream’ -matter is a big deal to swing, and I guess it’s worth a few hours of my -time. This way.” - -Random walked out into Liberty Street, rounded a corner, entered a -door, passed through a barroom, and finally piloted the cowboy into a -small apartment, furnished with two chairs, a table, and an electric -fan. - -After he and McGlory had seated themselves, Random pushed an electric -button. A waiter appeared. - -“What are you drinking, Mr. McGlory?” inquired Random. “I can recommend -their Scotch highballs, and as for cocktails, they put up a dry Martini -here that goes down like oil, and stirs you up like a torchlight -procession.” - -“Elegant!” cackled McGlory. “I reckon, neighbor,” and he cocked up his -eye at the waiter, “that I’ll trouble you for a seltzer lemonade, mixed -with a pickled cherry and the cross-section of a ripe orange.” - -“You don’t mean to say that you’re from Arizona, and don’t irrigate!” -gasped Random. - -“We irrigate with water, and that’s always been good enough for your -Uncle Joseph. Besides, I’m training with Motor Matt, and our work calls -for a clear brain and a steady hand. Seltzer lemonade for mine.” - -“You’ll have a cigar?” - -“That’s another thing I miss in the high jump.” - -“Give me the same as usual, Jack,” said Random, to the waiter. “You’re -a lad of high principles, I see,” remarked the broker, when the waiter -had retired. - -“It’s a matter of business, rather than of principle. Whenever an -_hombre_ gets his trouble appetite worked up, the first thing he -does is to take on a cargo of red-eye. That points him straight for -fireworks and fatalities.” - -“I don’t know but you’re right,” said Random reflectively. - -The waiter returned, and Random mixed himself something while McGlory -fished around in his lemonade for the “pickled” cherry. Over their -glasses they talked at some length, the broker seeking information -about the section of Arizona where the colonel had begun operations on -the “Pauper’s Dream.” - -“What time is it, Mr. Random?” asked McGlory, in the midst of their -talk. - -“Just ten,” replied Random, with a look at his watch. - -“Sufferin’ schedules!” cried the cowboy, starting up. “I’m to meet Pard -Matt at ten, at the Flatiron Building. On my way there, I’ve got to -drop in at the bank.” - -“Why are you to call at the bank?” asked Random. - -“To find out whether the bullion has got here, and to show them my -order for it from the colonel.” - -“You have the order with you?” - -“Sure thing. Just got it this morning.” - -“It won’t be necessary for you to go to the bank, Mr. McGlory,” said -Random. “I’ve been there, myself, and I know the bullion has arrived. -As for showing the order, you won’t have to do that until you take out -the gold, on Wednesday.” - -“Wouldn’t it be a good scheme to get acquainted with the bank men?” - -“Not at all! If they doubt your authority to receive the bullion, in -spite of the colonel’s order, a word from me will make everything all -right. I believe I will go with you to the Flatiron Building. I’ve -heard of this Motor Matt, and should like to meet him.” - -McGlory wondered a little at the cheerful way in which Random left -Griggs to look after the brokerage business; at the same time, the -cowboy felt not a little flattered to have Random neglect his personal -affairs for the purpose of meeting Matt. - -A cab carried them to the Flatiron Building, and Random waited on the -walk while McGlory went bushwhacking for Matt. But Matt wasn’t in -evidence. - -“Perhaps he got tired waiting for you,” suggested Random, “and went -away?” - -“Nary, he wouldn’t,” returned the puzzled McGlory, “I reckon he’s -talking with an aviator, upstairs, and has lost track of the time. I’ll -go find Lafitte, and, ten to one, my pard will be with him. Wait here -for a brace of shakes, Mr. Random, and----” - -Just then a man pushed forward from the entrance to the cigar store. -The man wore a cap and gloves, and looked like a chauffeur. - -“I beg your pardon,” said he, addressing McGlory, “but are you Motor -Matt’s chum?” - -“That’s me,” answered the cowboy. - -“McGlory’s your name, isn’t it?” - -“Joe McGlory, that’s the label.” - -“Well, Motor Matt had a hurry-up call into the country. It’s a long -ride, and he went by automobile. He wants you to follow him, and he -hired me to wait for you and then take you after him. That’s my chug -cart,” and the man pointed to a red touring car at the curb. - -“Speak to me about this!” cried McGlory. “What’s to pay? Do you know?” - -“Motor Matt didn’t say. All he wanted was for me to follow him with you -in my car.” - -“I’ll bet a bushel of Mexican dollars it has something to do with -Lafitte,” hazarded the cowboy. “Of course, I’ll go. Mr. Random,” and he -turned to the broker, “I’m sorry you couldn’t meet up with my pard, but -I’ll bring him around to your office Wednesday.” - -“Just a minute, Mr. McGlory,” and the broker took the cowboy’s hand and -drew him to one side. “I don’t like the looks of this thing,” he went -on, in a low tone. - -“How’s that?” asked McGlory, surprised. - -“I don’t know, but I’ve got a presentiment that something’s wrong.” - -“There’s something unexpected happened to Pard Matt,” said McGlory, “or -he wouldn’t have piked off like this. But his orders are clear enough. -I’m to follow him, so it’s me for the country.” - -“Perhaps,” and Random wrinkled his brows, “this has something to do -with the ‘Pauper’s Dream.’” - -McGlory laughed incredulously. - -“I can’t see how,” he answered. - -“Neither can I, but it’s possible, all the same. We’re to get a good -fat commission for placing that property, and I don’t intend to let the -commission slip through my fingers.” - -“It’s a cinch, Mr. Random, that you’re barking up the wrong tree. This -business of Matt’s has more to do with flying machines than with mines, -and I’ll bet my moccasins on it.” - -“If you haven’t any objections, Mr. McGlory, I’d like to ride with you -and make sure.” - -“The shuffer says it’s a long trip.” - -“I don’t care how long it is, just so I can assure myself that nothing -is going crossways with the ‘Pauper’s Dream.’” - -“All right, neighbor. If that’s how you feel about it, you’re welcome -to one corner of the bubble-wagon.” - -The three of them climbed into the touring car, Random in front with -the driver, and McGlory in the tonneau. As soon as they were seated, -the car began working its way through the crowded streets toward a -section less congested with traffic. As the way cleared, the speed -increased. Once on the Pelham Road, the chauffeur “hit ’er up,” and the -red car devoured the miles in a way that brought joy to McGlory’s soul. - -When they passed a taxicab, with its nose rammed into a stone fence, -the chauffeur remarked that the taxi was a good ways from home. Mr. -Random looked thoughtful, but he made no request that the red car -slacken its speed. McGlory saw a young fellow sitting on a bowlder, -but the spectacle afforded by the taxicab and the supposed youth meant -nothing to him. His mind was circling about Motor Matt. - - - - -CHAPTER VI. ON THE BOSTON PIKE. - - -Motor Matt, helpless and half stifled among the bushes, felt lashings -being put on his arms and legs; then, while some one laid a hand on -the cloth and pressed it tightly over his lips, a bit of conversation -was wafted to him from the road. Because of the smothering cloth, the -voices seemed to come from a great distance, although the spoken words -were distinct enough. - -“What’re you tryin’ to do with that chap?” - -This was the driver of the taxicab. His curiosity, as was quite -natural, had been aroused by the treacherous attack on Matt. - -“That’s all right, my friend,” replied a voice--a voice Matt had not -heard before. - -“Maybe it’s all right, but it looks mighty crooked to me. Two of you -threw a cloth over that chap’s head, downed him, an’ dragged him -into the brush. I got a warm notion of goin’ on to Rye and gettin’ a -constable.” - -The other man laughed. - -“You’d be making a fool of yourself, if you did. I’m from Matteawan, -and the young fellow is an escaped lunatic. He’s a desperate chap to -deal with, and we had to take him by surprise in order to capture him.” - -A long whistle followed those words. - -“Great Scott! Say, he didn’t look like he was dippy.” - -“Some of ’em never look the part--until they find you’re after ’em.” - -“Why didn’t you nab him in New York, instead o’ bringin’ him ’way out -here?” - -“He’s armed, and he’d have put up a fight. In a crowded street, some -one would have been hurt. It was better to lure him off here, into the -country.” - -“I guess you know your business. Who’s the other young chap?” - -“He’s the lunatic’s brother.” - -“I see.” - -“You needn’t say anything about this, driver. The family wouldn’t like -to have it known. You’ve been put to a little extra trouble, and here’s -a ten to make up for it.” - -“That’s han’some, an’ I’m obliged to you.” - -It can be imagined, perhaps, what Matt’s feelings were as he listened -to this. He tried frantically to burst the cords that secured his arms, -but the tying had been too securely done. He made an attempt, too, to -call out and inform the driver of the taxicab that the tale he was -listening to was false, but the hand over his face pressed the cloth -more firmly down upon his lips. - -Resigning himself to the situation, Matt listened while the purr of a -motor came to his ears and died away in the direction of New York. A -friend who might have saved him was gone, and Matt was completely at -the mercy of his captors. - -Some one came through the bushes; there were two of them, it seemed, -and they talked as they approached. - -“I was up in the air when I heard Motor Matt say he was to stop at -Rye,” said the voice that had talked with the taxi driver. “What was -the matter, Pearl?” - -It was the girl who answered, and she told briefly how the driver -had fallen from the seat of the taxicab, how Matt had discovered her -disguise, and how his suspicions had been aroused. - -“I was up in the air myself, dad,” finished the girl, drawing a deep -breath of relief. “But we’re all right, now. The way you pulled the -wool over the eyes of that taxicab man was splendid.” - -“Doing the right thing at the right time, Pearl, is your father’s long -suit. Where were you when Tibbits went past in the red car?” - -“Sitting on a stone at the roadside.” - -“Where was Motor Matt?” - -“Back along the road in the brush, looking for the driver.” - -“And those in the red car never saw him!” - -“No, but he saw them and recognized McGlory.” - -“Oh, well, this is our day for luck, and no mistake. Watch the road, -Pearl, while we’re getting out our own car. We don’t want to be seen -lifting a bound man into it.” - -“I’ll watch,” the girl answered. - -Matt was still further impressed with the comprehensive nature of the -plans launched against him and McGlory. Three motor cars had been used -in the game, and there must be at least four men in the plot besides -the girl. But what was the purpose of the plotters? What end were they -seeking to gain by all this high-handed, criminal work? - -From off to the left Matt could hear the pounding of a motor as it -took up its cycle. After the engine had settled into a steady hum, the -crunching of the bushes indicated that a heavy car was being forced -through them into the road. - -“All right, Dimmock!” called a voice. - -“Is the road clear, Sanders?” answered Dimmock. - -“There’s not a soul in sight.” - -“Then come here and help me. We’ll take this coat from Motor Matt’s -head and replace it with a gag--a twisted handkerchief will do. The -quicker we can get him into the car, now, the better.” - -The next moment the smothering cloth was jerked from Matt’s head and -shoulders. He had just time to gulp down a deep breath of air when the -twisted handkerchief was forced between his teeth and knotted in place. - -He saw a slender, wiry man, soberly but richly dressed, and another, -short, thick-set, and wearing a long dust coat and cap. - -“Take him by the feet, Sanders,” said the slender man, who, from this, -Matt knew to be Dimmock. - -Between them Matt was lifted, carried out to the road, and shoved into -the tonneau of a touring car, while the girl held the door open. There -was a top to the car, and Matt was made to sit on the floor and lean -back against the seat. - -By every means in his power Matt tried to let his captors know that he -wanted to talk with them, but they either could not understand him, or -else had no intention of letting him relieve his mind. The girl and -Dimmock seated themselves on either side of Matt, and the same coat -that had been used in effecting Matt’s capture was dropped over him. - -In this manner the strange party started away along the road, the -prisoner unable to see anything of the route they were taking. - -Matt was sensible of the swiftness of their flight, and of the driver’s -perfect mastery of the machine. The explosion in the cylinders was -unfailing, the mixture of air and gasoline was perfect, and the coils -hummed their beautiful rhythm to the well-timed spark. - -Gradually there was forming, in Matt’s mind, an idea that these -desperate plotters had made some huge mistake. He could not account, in -any other way, for the execution of such a plan as they were carrying -out. - -He and McGlory were not being kidnapped to be held for ransom. Such an -idea was preposterous. Matt had no relatives, so far as he knew, rich -or poor; and neither had McGlory. - -Yes, Matt was sure that Dimmock, and his daughter, and Tibbits, the -man who had dashed past with McGlory in the red car, were blundering -in some way. At the end of the journey, wherever that might be, the -mistake must be discovered, and the motor boys would be released. - -The point that troubled Matt a little was the fact that his cowboy pard -was not a prisoner. He appeared to be traveling in the red car of his -own free will. Was that because he had been lured away, and had not yet -had his suspicions aroused? - -There was little talk between Dimmock and his daughter, and Sanders -was attending strictly to his driving. Now and then, however, a word -was dropped as the car slowed down which gave Matt an inkling as to the -course they were taking. - -“Stamford,” and “Bridgeport” were on the line of their flight, and -this proved conclusively that they were proceeding in the direction of -Boston. - -The day was warm, and Matt, crouched uncomfortably under the coat, was -having anything but an enjoyable ride. By twisting about, however, he -managed to give some relief to his cramped limbs. - -Hour after hour the car swept on. Once they halted at a filling station -to replenish their supply of gasoline, but the man in charge of the -supply tank was kept adroitly in ignorance of the fact that there was a -prisoner in the tonneau. - -By degrees a numbness crept along Matt’s limbs, and a drowsiness -enwrapped his brain. He slept, in spite of his many discomforts, and -was awakened, finally, by a rattle from somewhere forward of the -tonneau. - -The car was at a stop. - -“What was the trouble, Sanders?” called the voice of Dimmock. - -“Nothing much,” answered Sanders. “It’s fixed now.” - -“Why not let Motor Matt sit up here on the seat between us?” suggested -the girl. “It’s so dark no one could see him--even if we happened to be -passed by another car.” - -“We might as well give him a little comfort, I suppose,” answered -Dimmock. - -Thereupon the coat was pulled away, and Matt found that it was night. -Dimmock reached down and helped him up on the seat. - -“We’re doing this for your comfort, Motor Matt,” said Dimmock. “I hope -you’ll appreciate it, and not try to make any trouble for us.” - -Matt moved his cramped joints and stretched his legs the full width of -the tonneau. There were shadowy bluffs on each side of the road, and a -tracery of boughs lay against the lighter background of sky. From the -fragrant odor, Matt gathered that they were in the depths of a pine -forest. He gurgled ineffectively behind the gag. - -“He wants to talk, dad,” said the girl. “Why not let him? If any one -comes you can prevent him from calling out.” - -“You’ve got too much heart, girl, for this kind of work,” returned -Dimmock. Nevertheless, he fumbled with the knots at the back of Matt’s -head, and removed the handkerchief. - - - - -CHAPTER VII. THE JOURNEY’S END. - - -Matt inhaled deep breaths of the pine-scented air. The ozone held tonic -properties and freshened him wonderfully. - -“It’s been a long time since I had breakfast, Mr. Dimmock,” were his -first words. - -“You’ve skipped dinner,” returned Dimmock, evidently pleased to note -that the prisoner was taking recent events in such a matter-of-fact -way, “but you’ll have a fine supper to make up for it. In less than an -hour from now we’ll be where we’re going.” - -Sanders cranked up, climbed into his seat, and the car moved on through -the forest aisle, the searchlights boring bright holes in the dark. - -“Where is the journey’s end to be?” inquired Matt. - -“Somewhere between Loon Lake and Stoughton. That’s all you’re to know.” - -“This is the Boston Pike?” - -“We’ve been traveling the Boston Pike for a long time--but I guess that -knowledge won’t help you much if you ever wanted to find the house -again.” - -“We’re about due at Matteawan, aren’t we?” - -Dimmock laughed at that, and the laugh was echoed by the girl. - -“I had to tell the taxicab driver something,” said Dimmock. - -“This is quite a plot you’re working out,” pursued Matt. - -“It was rather hastily evolved by Tibbits, but it seems to be doing the -work.” - -“Tibbits, if I’ve got it right, is the man with McGlory?” - -“You’ve got it right.” - -“Did you bring my chum from Liberty Street?” - -“Of course, Motor Matt, I hadn’t anything to do with that part of it. -Pearl and Sanders and I were to look after you.” - -“How did you happen to be hidden away on the Boston Post Road?” - -“We thought that was safer than to meet you at Rye.” - -Dimmock had a complaisant air--entirely the air of a man whose plans -are succeeding, and with ultimate victory assured. - -“What was the use of all this juggling with taxicabs and touring cars?” -continued Matt. - -He was groping for information, in order to lead up to the announcement -that Tibbits, Dimmock, and the rest were having their trouble for their -pains. - -“You see,” explained Dimmock, “it was easier for Pearl to work alone, -and pretend to be a messenger for the brokers. If Sanders and I had -been along, you’d have suspected something.” - -“I suspected something, anyhow, and if you hadn’t resorted to violence, -back there on the road, your daughter would have been held in the Rye -police station until I could have learned more about what was going on.” - -“Which shows our wisdom in waiting for you on the other side of Rye,” -commented Dimmock. - -“What’s back of all this, Dimmock?” demanded Matt. - -“You’ll find that out later,” was the reply. “Tibbits is at the head of -this little conspiracy, and most of the talking must be left for him.” - -“How did you know I was to meet my chum at the Flatiron Building at ten -o’clock?” - -“That’s something else you’ll have to learn from Tibbits.” - -“Do you know how Tibbits got McGlory to take his ride into the country?” - -“Just as we got you, if the business worked out according to plan. You -were told that your chum wanted you, and McGlory was told that you -wanted him. That seemed to be enough,” and Dimmock laughed under his -breath. - -“There’s been a mistake, Dimmock,” said Matt earnestly. - -“Not on our side,” answered Dimmock. - -“Ever since ten o’clock this morning you and your pals have played fast -and loose with the law, and you’re under a delusion of some sort.” - -“You’re the one who is under a delusion.” - -“I believe you’ll find out differently. I feel so sure of that, that -I’m perfectly willing to go with you to the end of the journey. The -facts will come out, at that time.” - -“They will,” said Dimmock, with emphasis. - -“My mission is to find my chum----” - -“You’ll have fulfilled your mission when we get to where we’re going.” - -“McGlory will be there?” - -“Yes.” - -“That’s all I can ask. Take these ropes off me, can’t you? I’m too -anxious to find McGlory to try to get away.” - -“The ropes won’t be removed until we reach the house.” - -“What’s to be done at the house?” - -“Nothing to your physical harm. You and McGlory will be entertained -there for a few days. You’ll be able to eat, drink, and enjoy -yourselves--within certain prescribed limits.” - -“But we can’t do that!” cried Matt, suddenly remembering that his chum -had to be back in New York by Wednesday afternoon. - -“You’ll have to stay at the house,” was the decided answer. - -“Why? What’s the reason?” - -“I have talked all I’m going to about the whys and wherefores. -Whatever else you learn you’ll have to get from Tibbits.” - -Matt relapsed into silence, while the car continued to speed along the -gloomy, tree-bordered road, following the long shafts of light like a -phantom locomotive on gleaming rails. - -Suddenly there was a lessening of the speed, a swerve to the right, -a quick stop, and the touring car was nosing a big iron gate, hung -between square brick pillars. - -“Here we are,” said Sanders. - -“See if the gates are locked, Sanders,” ordered Dimmock. “They -shouldn’t be. Tibbits said he would leave them unfastened.” - -Matt leaned forward to watch the glow from the searchlights as it -played over the massive iron work, penetrated the heavy bars, and lost -itself in a dense mass of trees and shrubbery beyond. - -The gates were not fastened, and Sanders pushed them wide. After -running the car into the yard, the driver left it standing on a -graveled drive while he returned to close the gates, and lock them. - -“What sort of a place is this, Dimmock?” asked Matt, peering around, -but seeing little, except the heavy shadows cast by trees and bushes. - -“It’s a fine old place,” replied Dimmock, “and you and your chum should -feel highly flattered at being entertained here. The family, as it -fortunately happens for Tibbits and the rest of us, are in Europe this -summer.” - -“Then you haven’t any right here?” - -“We have borrowed the use of the house. Tibbits has the run of the -place, and we’re here by his invitation.” - -Sanders got back and started the car slowly. The gravel road wound -through the trees, and finally the searchlights flashed out upon the -front of a large mansion. The great house was silhouetted against the -sky, and the car lights swept the front door as the machine turned and -halted at the broad front steps. - -A glow appeared suddenly in the fanlight over the door. Sanders gave -three quick, sharp blasts of the horn. This seemed to be a signal, for -the door opened as if by magic, and a man showed darkly in the entrance. - -“That you, Dimmock?” called the man. - -“Who else could it be, Tibbits?” answered Dimmock. “Did you get here -safely with McGlory?” - -“Yes. And you? Have you got Motor Matt?” - -“We have.” - -An exclamation of satisfaction fell from Tibbits’ lips. - -“I was afraid Pearl had had trouble,” said he. “We passed her on the -road, sitting beside a taxicab that had run head-on into a stone wall. -Motor Matt was nowhere in sight, and I thought he had suspected that -something was wrong, and had escaped. I didn’t dare stop and ask any -questions, you see, because McGlory was with us.” - -“We came near having a streak of hard luck there, Tibbits, but we -pulled through all right. What shall we do with Motor Matt?” - -“Bring him in, of course. His chum’s anxious to see him, and I suppose -he’s equally anxious to see McGlory.” - -“He’s tied,” said Dimmock. - -“Then untie him. He won’t get away.” - -Tibbits pulled something from his pocket that flashed in the lamplight. - -“I’ll keep him under the point of this,” Tibbits went on, “until he -gets where I want him to go.” - -Sanders, standing on the footboard of the car, leaned into the tonneau -and helped Dimmock remove the cords that bound Matt’s arms and legs. -When the cords were removed, Matt tried to stand, but tottered back -upon the seat. - -“Pretty rough treatment you’ve had, eh?” laughed Dimmock. “Well, you’ll -be entertained so royally here, Motor Matt, that you’ll forget all the -unpleasant things that have happened to you.” - -In a few moments, Matt was able to climb out of the tonneau. Tibbits’ -revolver was leveled at him the instant he dropped down from the -footboards. - -“Walk straight up the steps, Motor Matt,” ordered Tibbits, “and on into -the house. I’ll follow and tell you which way to go. Be nice about it, -and nothing will happen.” - -Matt mounted the steps. Tibbits backed to one side, to let him pass, -and the hall light shone over his face. Matt looked at him sharply. The -man was a stranger, and he was positive he had never seen him before. -This was another fact to clinch Matt’s theory that Tibbits and his pals -were making a mistake. - -Up the steps, through the great doors, and into a richly furnished hall -Matt passed, Tibbits, still with the revolver aimed, following him -closely. - -“Keep straight on along the hall,” ordered Tibbits. - -Matt kept on. The musty, close odor of a house, long shut up, assailed -his nostrils, and offered proof that Dimmock had told the truth when he -asserted that the family were in Europe. - -“That door on the right,” said Tibbits. “Go in there.” - -Matt opened the door. As he closed it behind him he heard the rasp of a -key in the lock, and the “click” of a thrown bolt. - -“Pard!” came an overjoyed yell. - -The next moment Matt was caught and given a bear’s hug. - -“Joe!” exclaimed the delighted Matt. - -“Sure, it’s Joe,” whooped the cowboy. “What’s going on here, anyhow? -What do you want me for?” - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. CHUMS IN COUNCIL. - - -McGlory was under the impression that Matt had sent for him. In spite -of the strange proceedings through which the cowboy had passed, he -still believed that Tibbits had brought him on that long ride according -to the wishes of his friend. Even the locking of the door, after Matt -had entered the room, did not appear to have aroused any suspicions in -McGlory’s mind. - -Matt looked around. He was in a large room, lined with bookcases. At -one end of the apartment was a magnificent fireplace. A thick carpet, -that gave one the impression of walking on down, covered the floor. -White busts looked out from niches in the wall, and comfortable chairs -were scattered around. A light, suspended from the ceiling, cast a warm -glow over the room, and over a table, heaped with food, and set with -places for two. - -“I’ve been waiting here for an hour,” grumbled McGlory. “Where have you -been, pard, and what sort of a layout is this that you’ve brought me -into?” - -Matt removed his hat and threw it upon a couch; then, seating himself -in a chair, he began rubbing his hands and arms and staring at his chum. - -“What’s the trouble with you, pard?” asked McGlory. “You act as though -you were in a trance.” - -“I am,” returned Matt. “I’m hardly able to credit my senses. In the -first place, Joe, I never sent for you and asked you to come here.” - -The cowboy gave a jump. - -“Why, the driver of that red car told me----” - -“I guess he told you what some one else told me. I was informed that -you had come into the country with Mr. Random, of Random & Griggs, and -that you wanted me to follow you. That’s why I’m here.” - -McGlory slumped into a chair, and brushed a hand across his forehead. - -“Sufferin’ brain twisters!” he muttered. “I came out here to find you, -and you came out here to find me!” - -“And here we are,” laughed Matt. - -“And what are we here for?” gasped McGlory. - -“Give it up. But I think somebody has made a big mistake, and that -they’re going to find it out before they’re many hours older. If that’s -our supper on the table, suppose we get busy with it. I haven’t had -anything to eat since morning.” - -“I had dinner in Bridgeport,” said McGlory. “I was mighty well treated, -I’ll say that--and that only makes it harder for me to understand -what’s in the wind. I don’t think any one would run away with us just -for the fun of the thing.” - -“It would be more of a joke on the other fellows than it would on us,” -averred Matt, moving to the table and taking a seat. “How long has this -supper been here, Joe?” - -“About half an hour,” returned the cowboy, taking a chair opposite his -chum. “Random is here,” he said suddenly. - -“Random, of Random & Griggs?” inquired Matt, showing some surprise. - -“What other Random could it be?” - -Matt helped himself to a cold roast beef sandwich and a glass of -lemonade. - -“Tell me what happened to you, Joe,” said he. “I can eat and listen -at the same time. Besides, I guess I’m hungrier than you are. You had -dinner, and I didn’t.” - -McGlory told of his call at the Liberty Street office, of meeting -Random, of his talk with Random in the restaurant, of Random’s going -with him to the Flatiron Building, of the failure to find Matt, and of -the yarn told by the driver of the red car. - -“We came through the country lickety-whoop,” the cowboy finished, “but -it was the longest kind of a ride, and I wondered what in Sam Hill you -were doing ’way over in Massachusetts. It was after sundown when we got -to this place. Some one met the driver of the red car at the door, and -said that Motor Matt hadn’t come yet, and that we were to wait for him. -Random and I came into this room. By and by, a servant began to spread -the table for chuck-pile, but layin’ covers for only two. I guessed a -little about that, and asked the servant who he was intending to leave -out, Random or Motor Matt. It was orders, he said, and that was all he -knew about it. - -“After a while, Random got up, told me to wait, and said he would try -and find some one who could tell him something. Next thing I know, -_you_ walk in on me, and the door is locked behind you. Speak to me -about this! Where’s Random?” - -“The man’s name isn’t Random, Joe,” said Matt, “but Tibbits.” - -“Tibbits?” echoed McGlory blankly. “But he met me at Random’s office.” - -“That may be, but he’s Tibbits, just the same.” - -“If he’s Tibbits, why did he tell me his label was Random?” - -“Because that was part of the plot. By posing as Random, Tibbits knew -he would have a lot more influence over you. He kept you from going to -the bank, he accompanied you to the Flatiron Building, and he came out -here with you. He might not have been able to do all that if you had -known he wasn’t Random, and that he wasn’t interested in the ‘Pauper’s -Dream.’” - -The cowboy scowled, and drummed his fingers on the table. Matt helped -himself to a piece of pie, and another glass of lemonade. - -“Can’t you choke off, pard,” begged the cowboy, “and tell me how they -played tag with you? Sufferin’ tenterhooks, but this business has got -me all at sea.” - -“I’m at sea, too,” said Matt, “but we’re pretty comfortable, so far, -and I guess we can wait a little for the thing to work itself out. -That’s the way with most mysteries. If you leave them alone they’ll -solve themselves.” - -“What happened to you? Bat it up to me!” - -Matt recounted the manner in which he had been beguiled into the open -country by the supposed messenger; and he told about the accident to -the taxicab, the revelation that the supposed youth was a girl, the -finding of the driver, the passing of the red touring car with McGlory -in the tonneau, the work of Dimmock and Sanders, a mile west of Rye, -and the journey through Connecticut and into Massachusetts, finishing -with his meeting with McGlory. - -The cowboy listened, spellbound. - -“You’ve had the hot end of this, so far, pard,” said he, “and no -mistake. But wouldn’t the whole game just naturally rattle your spurs? -What’s the good of it? How are Tibbits, Dimmock, and the rest going to -make anything by their work?” - -“That’s where I’m muddled, too,” acknowledged Matt, drawing away from -the table and resuming his easy-chair. “I think, Joe, that Tibbits, who -seems to have been the one that planned this thing, has made an error.” - -“That he’s bobbled, and thinks we’re some other fellows?” - -“Not that, exactly, for they appear to know a whole lot about us, and -our business. Where they’ve made their mistake, it strikes me, is in -thinking that we’re mixed up in some affair we don’t know anything -about. If that’s the case, then the fact will come out, before very -long. All we’ve got to do is to wait until Tibbits comes for a talk -with us.” - -“I’m hanged if I want to wait!” fumed McGlory. “They’ve fooled us, -they’ve got us here, and I’m a Piute if I’m going to stay!” - -Jumping up, he ran to one of the two windows of the room. Pushing back -the heavy hangings, he raised the lower sash. As he did so, a voice -called up from the darkness outside: - -“Git back in there, an’ close the winder! If ye don’t, I’ll shoot.” - -The cowboy appeared dashed. - -“You might have expected that, Joe,” laughed Matt. “You didn’t think, -did you, that Tibbits would go to all this trouble and then leave us -free to leave the house if we wanted to?” - -McGlory closed the window and returned dazedly to his chair. - -“Sufferin’ poorhouses!” he mumbled. “I reckon they think we’re -millionaires in disguise, and that our folks will hand over a lot of -money to ransom us. The laugh’s on them, and no mistake.” - -“Let’s take things easy,” advised Matt, “until we can learn more about -the game the gang are playing.” - -As Matt finished, the key rattled in the lock, the door was pushed -open, and Tibbits entered. He had some wearing apparel thrown over his -arm, and dropped it the moment he was inside the room. The door was -closed behind him, by unseen hands, and again locked. - -With an angry exclamation, McGlory sprang to his feet and started -toward Tibbits. The latter, with a quick movement, brought out the -weapon which Matt had already become acquainted with. - -“Steady,” warned Tibbits, smiling, but none the less determined. “Let’s -all be nice and comfortable,” he begged, “and no harm will be done. -You lads are my guests. Consider yourselves so, and we’ll get along -swimmingly. It was a cold supper I provided, but it was the best I -could do, under the circumstances. If you----” - -“See here, you!” shouted McGlory. “Tell me whether your name is Tibbits -or Random.” - -“Tibbits,” was the reply. - -“And you haven’t anything to do with that brokerage firm in Liberty -Street?” - -“Not a thing. The first time I was ever there was this morning.” - -“What did you----” - -“If you’ll give me a chance, McGlory,” interposed Tibbits, “I’ll -explain everything to the complete satisfaction of Motor Matt and -yourself.” - -“‘Complete satisfaction!’” muttered McGlory. “That means you’re to fill -a pretty big order. But go ahead, Tibbits, and let’s find out where we -stand.” - - - - -CHAPTER IX. A DARING PLOT. - - -“Let me assure you, in the first place,” said Tibbits, still keeping -his revolver prominently displayed, “that no harm is intended either of -you lads. You are to remain here in these comfortable surroundings for -a week. At the end of that time you will be released, and can make your -way back to New York.” - -“Guess again about that,” spoke up the cowboy. “There are important -doings for me in New York Wednesday, and we’ll have to tear ourselves -away from you by to-morrow afternoon, at the latest.” - -“You’ve got to stay here a week,” insisted Tibbits. - -“You don’t understand,” went on McGlory. “There’s a meeting at the -office of Random & Griggs Wednesday evening, and I’ve just got to be -there. That’s all there is to it.” - -Tibbits fixed his glittering eyes on McGlory for a moment. - -“That excuse won’t do,” said he. “You can’t make up a yarn like that -out of whole cloth, and expect me to swallow it.” - -“Sufferin’ blockheads!” grunted McGlory. “There, read that.” - -Jerking the colonel’s letter from his pocket, McGlory tossed it to -Tibbits. - -The latter removed the two folded sheets from the envelope. After -glancing at one, he stooped down and pushed it under the door. The -paper was caught and drawn from sight by some one in the hall. - -“The order for the bullion!” called Tibbits. “Got it, Dimmock?” - -“Yes,” answered Dimmock, from the other side of the door. - -Tibbits placed the other sheet in the envelope and flipped it back to -McGlory. - -“Much obliged,” said Tibbits. “It’s hardly necessary to read the letter -from the colonel. I heard Motor Matt read it aloud to you in the hotel, -this morning.” - -Both boys were dazed by the light that suddenly dawned upon them. - -“You blamed tinhorn,” cried McGlory, “are you making a play to get hold -of those two bars of bullion?” - -“And you never thought of it!” laughed Tibbits. “What else did you -suppose we were going to all this trouble for? You wanted to call at -the bank, and I didn’t want you to. If you had gone there, the bank -officials would have seen you. That would have made it difficult for -me to palm off another Joe McGlory in your place. I am obliged to you -for giving up the order for the bullion with so little persuasion on my -part.” - -The cowboy’s wrath was so great that he fairly hopped up and down. - -“You think you’re going to get away with this,” he shouted, “but you’ll -be fooled. You’re nothing more than just a common thief, eh? And you -live in a place like this!” The cowboy looked around the room. - -“I don’t live here--not regularly,” said Tibbits. “My uncle lives -here, and I’m taking care of the place while he and his family are in -Germany.” A sly leer accompanied the words. “It was only by chance that -I happened to be in the hotel, this morning, and also by chance that I -overheard Motor Matt reading that letter from Arizona. It looked like a -fine opportunity to get hold of some easy money. I’m a black sheep. My -uncle, who owns this place, thinks I’ve reformed, but he’s mistaken. -When opportunity knocks at my door, she finds me hospitable. How long -did it take me to find Dimmock after I learned the contents of that -letter, discovered what Joe McGlory was going to do, and where he was -to meet Motor Matt after he had done it? Just fifteen minutes, by the -watch. Dimmock--his real name is not that--is a gentleman of fallen -fortunes. Wall Street ruined him. He was as anxious as I to pick up a -little ready money, and he and Pearl entered heartily into the spirit -of the adventure. Dimmock knew Sanders. In happier days, Sanders used -to be Dimmock’s chauffeur. I left Dimmock, Pearl, and Sanders to take -care of Motor Matt, while I gave my attention to McGlory. I had to have -a car and a chauffeur, but I knew where to find them. Pearl is to play -the rôle of Joe McGlory, and I’ve a lad for the part of Motor Matt. -They will dress themselves in your clothes, call at the Merchants’ -& Miners’ with the order, and get the bullion. They’ll not have any -trouble. The colonel has written the bank telling the cashier to hand -over the gold when McGlory comes for it with his written order. It will -be easy. Dimmock and I will clean up nine thousand dollars, net, divide -it equally, then leave for parts unknown. You boys will be kept here -for a week, and then released. Dimmock, Pearl, and I will be out of the -way, long before that time. Rather clever, I call all that. Don’t you?” - -Certainly there was a fiendish cunning in it all, but it was not the -sort of “cleverness” that appealed to the motor boys. They were awed -by the very audacity of the scheme, and by the facility with which -the rest of the plot could be carried out. Simply by keeping Matt and -McGlory cooped up in that house, Tibbits could have Dimmock’s daughter -and some one else play the parts of the motor boys and secure the gold. - -“You’re one of these tinhorns, Tibbits,” observed the cowboy, “who’d -stand up a stage or snake a game of faro.” - -“I’m not taking any money out of _your_ pocket,” said Tibbits. - -“You’re robbing me of a fortune! If that gold isn’t produced at the -meeting in Random & Griggs’ office, the deal for the ‘Pauper’s Dream’ -mine may fall through. I’ve got a hundred shares of stock in the -‘Pauper’s Dream.’” - -“The deal won’t fall through just because the two bars of bullion have -been taken,” asserted Tibbits, “that is, not if Random & Griggs’ men -really mean business.” - -“You don’t know anything about that, Tibbits,” put in Matt. “But, no -matter whether the deal falls through or not, you needn’t think that -McGlory is going to agree to let you do what you have planned with that -bullion.” - -“What will McGlory do?” chuckled Tibbits; “what _can_ he do? You boys -are safely bottled up here. Dimmock and I and Pearl and the other young -fellow go back to New York to-night. Some time to-morrow, before the -bank closes, we will have secured the bullion. You boys will be here, -and the rest of us will be--where you can never find us.” - -“It’s a pretty small stake to run such a risk for,” said Matt. - -“Beggars can’t be choosers,” said Tibbits coolly. “But time presses. -There”--and Tibbits pointed to the clothes he had brought into the -library--“is something for you lads to put on. I’ll take the garments -you’re wearing now, if you please.” - -“You’ll _take_ ’em, all right,” answered McGlory defiantly, “if you get -’em at all.” - -“Come, come,” continued Tibbits impatiently. “I have men enough to take -the clothes by force, but I don’t want to get them that way. Strip!” - -Neither Matt nor McGlory made any move to obey the command. - -“Oh, well,” observed Tibbits, “if you’re going to force a rough and -tumble, that’s your lookout. Dimmock!” he called. - -“What is it, Tibbits?” came Dimmock’s voice from the hall. - -“Come in, and bring Sanders and Riley.” - -“Wait a minute,” called Matt. With four armed men against him and -McGlory, Matt saw the futility of resistance. “We’ll give you our -clothes, Tibbits, but under protest.” - -“I’ll put the protest on file,” grinned Tibbits. “Never mind bringing -Sanders and Riley, Dimmock,” he shouted. - -“I’m going to fight this out,” flared McGlory. “If they get my clothes, -they’ll get ’em in rags. What’s the good of taking ’em, anyhow? The -bank folks have never seen either of us, Matt--Tibbits took precious -good care they shouldn’t see me.” - -“As for that,” said Tibbits, “we want all the corroborative detail we -can give the rôles Pearl and the young fellow are to play.” - -Matt stepped over to McGlory. - -“It won’t do any good to hang out, Joe,” he counseled, in a low voice. -“They’re too many for us. Let them go ahead with their plan--we can’t -stop that part of it--but there may be something else we can do.” - -“They’ve treated us like a couple of wooden Indians,” sputtered the -cowboy, “and----” - -“And we’ve acted like a couple,” finished Matt. “Why, we never guessed -what their scheme was until Tibbits told us. Take everything out of -your pockets, and let them have your clothes. I’m going to do the same.” - -With that, he began stripping his pockets of personal property and -laying it on the table. McGlory followed suit. Then coats, trousers, -and hats were thrown in a heap, and the boys got into the garments -Tibbits had brought. - -In point of quality, the clothes the boys now put on were far and away -better than the ones they had taken off. And the fit of them, too, was -passably good; but it chanced that McGlory’s outfit was a full dress -suit, and Matt’s was a Norfolk jacket outfit--a get-up he cordially -detested. - -Tibbits remained until the boys were decked out in their borrowed gear. - -“I didn’t use much discrimination, in McGlory’s case, and that’s a -fact,” said Tibbits, with a laugh, “but I brought what I could find -in uncle’s wardrobe that looked as though it would fit. I trust,” he -added, with a regret that was undoubtedly feigned, “that you lads won’t -cherish any hard feelings?” - -“We’ll do all we can to block you,” answered McGlory, “and will be -tickled to death to see you behind the bars. That’s the way we stack -up.” - -“You can’t get out of here, remember that,” proceeded Tibbits, the -clothes over one arm. “Try the windows, and you’ll stop a bullet; break -down the door, and you’ll run into the same sort of trouble.” - -He knocked on the door. - -“I’m through in here, Dimmock,” he called. “Let me out.” - -The door opened. - -“Good-by,” said Tibbits mockingly, and faded into the hall. - -McGlory roared wrathfully, and shook his fist at the locked door. Motor -Matt lowered himself into a chair and grew thoughtful. - - - - -CHAPTER X. PRISONERS. - - -“And this,” grunted McGlory, “is what he calls explaining matters to -our ‘complete satisfaction.’ Satisfaction! Sufferin’ Hottentots! Do I -look satisfied?” - -The cowboy, in his dress suit and boiling with rage, looked far from -satisfied. In fact, he presented such a humorous spectacle that Matt -laughed. - -“Oh,” he grunted disgustedly, “you’d laugh, Matt, if you were going to -be hung. But think what this means to me! I want to dig up the hatchet -and go on the war-path.” - -“There’s nothing we can do just now, Joe,” said Matt, straightening his -face. - -“What sort of a girl is that daughter of Dimmock’s, to go helping her -father in lawless work like this?” - -“I can’t understand her,” returned Matt. “But I can tell you one thing.” - -“Then tell it.” - -“If Pearl Dimmock gets into your clothes and tries to palm herself off -as Joe McGlory, the bank people are going to get suspicious.” - -“She played the game on you, pard, and you didn’t get suspicious until -you got dumped out of the taxicab.” - -“I was thinking more about you, then, than I was about the supposed -messenger. In the matter of the bank, the case is different. Miss -Dimmock goes in there, asks for the bullion, and turns over the -colonel’s order for it. The order is all straight enough, but the bank -won’t let go of that gold until they’re sure the one who brings the -order is Joe McGlory. I’m thinking the hardest part of Tibbits’ work is -yet to come, and that the chances are about even whether he’ll win or -lose.” - -“We can’t leave it like that, pard. We’ve got to get out of here and -make a rush for New York. That’s all there is to it. Tibbits, Dimmock, -the girl, and the fellow who’s to understudy you, will get away from -here to-night. That will leave fewer people to watch us, and I don’t -see why we can’t make a break, somehow, and carry it through with -ground to spare.” - -“We’ll have to consider it.” - -“There’s not much time to think it over. New York’s a long ways off, -and we’ve got to get there by the time the bank opens, to-morrow.” - -“Not necessarily.” - -McGlory’s face went blank. - -“What do you mean by that, pard?” he queried. - -Matt hitched his chair closer. - -“Suppose we don’t get away from here until to-morrow morning, Joe,” -said he, “why couldn’t we send a telegram to the bank? Wouldn’t that do -just as well as though we dropped in there personally?” - -“I’m the prize blockhead, all right,” muttered McGlory. “Of course, a -telegram will do, in case we can’t get out of here in time to reach New -York before the bank opens. But let’s try to break out.” - -The cowboy got up and looked around reflectively. - -“Where’ll we try first?” asked Matt. - -“Watch me!” answered his chum, his face lighting up. He made a dash for -the fireplace. - -“Here’s where this clawhammer suit catches it,” said he, crawling into -the opening. - -The fireplace was large, and Matt waited eagerly, expecting results. In -a few moments, McGlory reappeared with soot on his hands. - -“Not any,” he muttered disappointedly. “There’s a sharp turn in the -flue, and the opening isn’t any more’n six inches wide. No getting out -by the chimney, pard. I’ll try the window again, and see how careful I -can be when I lift it.” - -McGlory pushed up the windows with very little noise, but the vigilant -guard outside heard him, nevertheless. - -“Back in there,” was the gruff order, boomed from the darkness, “or -I’ll shake a bullet at ye.” - -The cowboy closed the window. - -“The galoot out there is right on the job,” said he, and moved to the -door. - -Bending out a key ring, which he happened to have in his pocket, he -contrived a picklock; but no sooner did he begin operations than a -voice from the hall ordered him to stop. - -“You see how it is, Joe,” whispered Matt. “The best thing for us to do -is to lie low for a while. Wait until after Tibbits, Dimmock, and the -others are away.” - -“They must be away now.” - -“I don’t think so. I haven’t heard any motor cars leaving the place; -and, besides that, it will take some time for Miss Dimmock and the -fellow who’s to play Motor Matt to get ready. Let’s try and get a -little sleep, Joe. If we have some rest, we’ll be better able to cope -with the situation later.” - -“Sleep! Why, pard, I couldn’t sleep any more’n I could fly--or aviate, -without anything to aviate with.” - -“Well, I’m off for a nap by myself, then. Wake me, Joe, if anything -happens.” - -Matt threw himself down on the couch, and was asleep almost as soon -as he had straightened out. It seemed to him that he had no more than -closed his eyes before he felt a tug at his arm. He sat up quickly. - -“What is it?” he whispered. - -“Listen,” returned McGlory. - -What Matt heard was the distinct throbbing of an automobile, dying -swiftly into silence. - -“They’re off,” said the cowboy. - -“Did that machine leave the house?” Matt asked. - -“Yes. Now, what are we going to do?” - -“Try the window and the door again, Joe.” - -The cowboy repeated his earlier attempts, only to be gruffly warned by -the vigilant guards, outside the house and in the hall. - -“How many men do you reckon Tibbits left here?” growled McGlory. - -“I wish I knew. He seems to have had quite a gang.” - -“And they’re all after a little of that ten thousand dollars!” muttered -McGlory. “Pretty small pickings for fellows like Dimmock and Tibbits. I -can size them up for that sort of grafters.” - -“I think we’d better wait till morning before we make any more attempts -to get away,” said Matt. - -“I reckon we’ll have to,” answered McGlory, in a discouraged tone. - -“What sort of fellow was that who came in here, last night, and put our -supper on the table?” - -“A runt of a chap in an apron and a square white cap. Why?” - -“Nothing--now.” - -Without any further remarks, Matt shifted his position on the couch, -and again went to sleep. - -He awoke without being roused, and sat up on the edge of the couch. -Daylight was just glimmering through the trees. McGlory, sprawled out -on the carpet, with the clawhammer coat rolled into a pillow, was -slumbering soundly. - -Quietly Matt got up and went to the window, where the cowboy had made -his several attempts the night before. - -The window looked off toward the stables. To the right of the house was -a vine-covered pergola, and between the stables and the pergola ran -the graveled drive, leading around the house from the front gate. What -interested Matt particularly, however, was a red touring car in the -drive, close to the pergola. - -Undoubtedly it was the same car that had brought McGlory and Tibbits -from New York. Tibbits and Dimmock, on their return to the city, had -used the other car--the one driven by Sanders. - -The presence of that car spelled possibilities for the motor boys, -if---- - -Matt’s gaze dropped to the side of the house. A man was sitting under -the two library windows, smoking a pipe. Across his knees rested a -revolver. - -Before the motor boys could avail themselves of the red touring car -they would have to eliminate the guard. How could that be accomplished? - -Matt turned from the window, revolving the problem in his mind. He -could think of no method of escape short of boldly leaping from the -window and trusting to luck--and the revolver made such an attempt -too risky. A plan, which he had thought of vaguely during the night, -recurred to him. This idea had the servant for its nucleus, and -promised little better than a sortie by the window. - -McGlory, hearing his chum moving around the room, stirred and sat up on -the floor. - -“What are you prowling around for, Matt?” he asked, yawning sleepily. - -“Averaging up the chances,” Matt answered. “Come here, Joe.” - -McGlory got up and went to his chum’s side. Matt pointed to the red -touring car. - -“If we could get out of here and get hold of _that_,” he murmured, “we -might do something.” - -“The boy with the gun looks sort of fierce,” reflected the cowboy; -“still, you never can tell just what a fellow’s going to do with a -revolver. If----” - -The key rattled in the lock. Matt dropped quickly down on the couch and -pretended to be asleep. McGlory, taking his cue from Matt, resumed his -place on the floor. - -A man, in white cap and apron, entered the room with a tray of steaming -food. The door was closed and fastened behind him. Without trying -to waken the boys--whom he must have supposed to be asleep--the man -picked his way around McGlory, placed the tray on the table, and began -collecting the scattered remnants of the supper. His back was toward -Matt. - -Noiselessly as a gliding serpent, Matt arose and slipped across the -space separating him from the man; then, leaning forward, he caught -him about the middle with his left arm, at the same time covering his -lips with his right hand. - -The man began to squirm, kicking out with his feet and fighting -fiercely to get away. - -McGlory, who had been watching the progress of events, and wondering -what Matt was trying to do, went to his chum’s aid. The man was forced -to his knees, and then to the floor. Lying on his back, Matt’s hand -still over his mouth, he stared upward with frightened eyes. - - - - -CHAPTER XI. BOLD WORK. - - -“Softly, Joe, softly!” whispered Matt, stifling his own heavy -breathing. “Twist a couple of napkins into ropes. Be quick!” - -McGlory had not the least notion what Matt was trying to accomplish, -but he knew it was something which might help their escape. - -“Be quiet,” hissed Matt, in the man’s ear, “and you’ll not be hurt, but -if you move, or try to call out”--his voice grew menacing--“you’ll wish -you hadn’t!” - -McGlory dropped to his knees with the two napkins and began tying one -of them about the prisoner’s ankles. He followed this by knotting the -other around the servant’s wrists. - -“What next?” he asked breathlessly. - -“Put on the white cap and apron,” instructed Matt, “then pick up the -tray and rap on the door. When the door’s opened, throw the tray in the -face of the fellow in the hall. There’ll be a commotion, and perhaps -the guard outside will leave the windows. If he does, I’ll get out and -make for the red car. Meet me somewhere along the drive, this side the -gate. It’s a desperate chance, Joe, but it’s all we have.” - -The cowboy chuckled delightedly as he removed the apron from the -prostrate prisoner and tied it about his waist; then, picking up the -cap, he set it on his head, and grabbed the tray. - -“I’m ready,” he whispered, stepping toward the door. “Bravo, pard! It’s -the reckless things that win!” - -“Sometimes,” qualified Matt; “if you can’t----” - -The guard in the hall shook the doorknob. - -“Why are you so long, Paul?” he called. - -It was not Dimmock’s voice--proof that Dimmock had really gone, and -that another guard had taken his place. The question put McGlory in -a quandary. He and Matt both recognized the dilemma, in a flash. The -cowboy was about to speak, presumably in an attempt to imitate the -servant’s voice, but Matt restrained him with a gesture. - -“Tell the man outside you’re coming--tell him to open the door!” - -Matt King hissed the words in the prisoner’s ear, and lifted the hand -he was using for a gag. - -One word from the servant would ruin every chance. Was the fellow -frightened enough to do Matt’s bidding? McGlory looked over his -shoulder and glared savagely at the man on the floor. - -“Paul!” cried the guard, once more rattling the door. - -“I’m coming,” said the man, but with a shiver of dread in his voice. -“Open the door, Miles!” - -“What’s the matter with you, anyhow?” grumbled Miles. “You’ve been in -there more’n five minutes.” - -As the door opened, McGlory temporarily deceiving Miles with the tray -and the white cap and apron, stepped out. - -“Are they asleep,” began Miles, “or----Thunder!” the guard broke off; -“you’re not----” - -The cry was interrupted by a smash of dishes. There came a yell from -Miles, a snarling shout from McGlory, and then the impact of a heavy -blow. After that, running feet could be heard, and the opening of a -door. - -“Help!” roared Miles; “this way, Barney! The prisoners are on the hike!” - -Matt, paying no more attention to the servant, jumped for the door. -He saw a mess of food and broken crockery in the hall, and daylight -entering through the open door. Miles was just vanishing in pursuit of -McGlory. - -It was now Matt’s turn to see what he could do. Was “Barney” the man on -guard below the windows? If he was, and if he had answered Miles’ call, -then the way was clear in that direction. But there was not a second to -be lost. If McGlory got away, he would need the red car. And so would -Matt, for that matter. If the automobile was left behind, the baffled -guards would use it in giving pursuit. - -In two leaps Matt was at the window and looking out. Barney’s chair was -empty! - -To throw up the window and leap to the ground took only a moment, and -Matt immediately laid a straight line for the automobile. - -He was not long in covering the distance that separated him from the -car, but many doubts flashed through his mind while he was on the way. - -If the switch plug had been removed, if the gasoline or oil was low, -if---- - -But he was hoping for the best, and the best came his way, then, when -the smiles of fortune were so grievously needed. - -Whether there was any one in his vicinity, or not, he did not take time -to discover. Reaching the front of the car--which, by good luck, was -pointing in the direction of the pike--he grabbed frantically at the -crank, and gave it a heave. - -_Chuff, chuff, chuff-chuff!_ The sputter died impotently. Manipulating -the switch, and the lever controlling the fuel supply, he tried again. -This time the engine was successfully “turned over,” and took up its -cycle. - -“Hi, there!” called a voice from the direction of the stables. “Stop, I -tell ye!” - -Matt had no time for the approaching man, but leaped into the car, and -was off. A detonation sounded above the noise of the laboring motor, -and something whistled viciously past Matt’s ear. - -But, by then, the lad’s blood was hot for success, and he would have -dared anything. - -Like a thing of life the red car leaped around the corner of the house, -taking a sharp curve with two wheels in the air. Only a short distance -separated the fleeing car from the gate, but between the gate and the -car was one of the guards. Matt knew at a glance it was not Barney. The -chances were that it was Miles. - -“Halt!” yelled the man. - -“Get out of the way,” shouted Matt, “or I’ll run over you!” - -The man got out of the way, hurling himself from the road barely in -the nick of time. He did not appear to be armed; at any rate, no lead -followed Matt. - -But where was McGlory? Matt had no sooner begun to worry about his chum -than the cowboy, breathless from running, staggered from behind a clump -of lilac bushes and flung up his hands. - -With a hasty look behind, Matt slowed the machine. - -“It’s all up with us,” puffed McGlory, hanging over the edge of the -car. “We’ll have to leave the machine and take to our heels.” - -“Why?” flashed Matt. - -“The gates are locked.” - -For an instant Matt was stunned. The gates--locked! Of course, they -would be locked! Why had he not thought of that when he was planning to -use the red car for their escape? - -“We’ll never get away if we trust to our heels, Joe,” said Matt grimly. -“Get in--be quick!” - -By that time, Miles had been joined by Barney, and by the man who had -called to Matt from the stables. The three, feeling sure that they had -the car in a trap, were advancing cautiously, watching to see what the -boys would do next. - -McGlory did not know what plan Matt had formed; but, nevertheless, he -scrambled into the tonneau. - -“How’ll you get past the gates?” cried the cowboy, standing erect in -the tonneau, and clinging to the coat rail. - -“Get down in the bottom of the tonneau!” ordered Matt, without looking -around. - -Little by little he let the car out, and the iron barriers came -threateningly into view. When a hundred feet away from them the car was -going so fast that the gates seemed to be jumping toward it. - -But the purpose of his daring comrade was clear to McGlory, and the -idea left him gasping. - -Matt was going to storm the gates! He was hurling the red car toward -them like a cannon ball. - -The cowboy fell limply down behind the front seats, wondering vaguely -where he and Matt would be after the smash. - -Even as the thought formed in his mind, there came a crash, a jar that -shook the automobile in every part, and made it reel drunkenly, and a -clash of broken glass. After a wild stagger, the car seemed to gather -itself for a spring; then it flung itself onward into the road, turned, -and glided off on the straightaway. - -Dazed and bewildered, McGlory lifted himself in the rocking tonneau and -looked at Matt, who was still in the driver’s seat, still bending over -the wheel, and still coaxing the demoralized red flyer to its best gait. - -Certainly the car was demoralized--not internally, for the motor was -doing its work nobly--but the bonnet was bent and broken, the lamps -were smashed, and the woodwork splintered and scarred. - -“Sufferin’ earthquakes!” gasped McGlory, looking back at the gates. - -The gates had been torn ajar, and one of them had been plucked bodily -off the brick pier from which it had swung. - -“Are you hurt, pard?” cried McGlory. - -“No,” answered Matt, “but it was rather a close call for the tires.” - -“Tires? Hang the tires! It was a close call for _you_.” - -“Not so close as you’d think. I knew if we could force the gates we’d -get through safely. Each gate would give way in a solid piece, and -there’d be no splinters. We made it, Joe, we made it!” - -“But the car has been damaged----” - -“We couldn’t help that, Joe! If we keep Tibbits and Dimmock from -carrying out that robbery, we have to get to a telegraph office in -short order.” - -At that moment the motor showed signs of distress. First it missed -fire, and then went dead altogether. - -“Watch behind, Joe,” called Matt, as he sprang into the road and began -an investigation to discover what was wrong. - - - - -CHAPTER XII. PURSUIT. - - -“Sufferin’ cyclones!” exclaimed McGlory, keeping close watch of the -road behind; “after that jolt it would be a wonder, pard, if something -didn’t go wrong with the motor. By rights, considering what this car -has gone through, it ought to be a scrap heap.” - -Matt adjusted one of the battery wires, then crawled under the car -with a wrench. The cowboy could hear him at work; but he could hear -something else, too, and that was a patter of hoofs and a grind of -wheels. - -“Horse and buggy coming, Matt!” he called. “Miles and Barney are hot -after us. I took Miles’ gun away from him, and I can use it, if you say -so.” - -“Not on your life, Joe!” Matt answered, crawling from under the car and -looking back over the road. “That would complicate the affair. We’re -not to do any fighting, but just show our heels. We’re on the defensive -entirely--remember that.” - -The horse, driven by Miles, was coming at a gallop. - -“I don’t see what they want horses and buggies at that big house for,” -growled McGlory. “Automobiles go with a place like that--and when the -family’s in Europe, the bubble-wagons ought to all be in a Boston -garage. Will the motor work now, Matt, or have we got to use our heels?” - -The car started. The motor was still somewhat out of order, but gave -the car a speed that easily carried it away from the horse and buggy. - -“I reckon we’ll get clear, pard,” observed McGlory, albeit with an -anxious, questioning note in his voice. - -“We’ll kill the engine again,” answered Matt, “if we keep running it -while it’s out of order.” - -“Then, kill it, but get as far away from Miles and Barney, and as near -a telegraph office, as you can, before we have to take to the woods.” - -“I don’t know anything about this country,” said Matt. “What is the -nearest town in this direction, Joe?” - -“I’ve been trying to think of that ever since we got through the gates, -and headed this way, but I can’t seem to remember, pard.” - -“It’s poor policy, Joe, to run the engine to a standstill. Everything -may depend on the car before we get out of these woods.” - -The motor was rapidly going from bad to worse. Matt stopped suddenly, -threw on the reverse, and backed the car into the bushes. - -“What’s that for?” asked the cowboy. - -“I’m hoping Miles and Barney will pass us, and give us a little time to -do some more tinkering,” replied Matt. - -“Even if that rig does pass us, we can’t follow it.” - -“We can go the other way, Joe. I think the nearest town is in that -direction, anyhow.” - -“Do you mean to pass that house again?” - -“Why not? I don’t think there are enough men left at the place to -interfere with us.” - -Matt got down and began pulling up the bent bushes in front of the car. -While he was at work, the galloping horse could be heard, and he drew -back hastily, and knelt down to see what happened. - -There was no occasion for alarm. Miles and Barney dashed past without -giving so much as a glance in the direction of the motor boys. - -“Good enough!” exclaimed McGlory. “There’s the chance you wanted, Matt. -Can I do anything to help you fix the car?” - -“Two of us can shorten the work a whole lot,” said Matt. - -He showed McGlory what to do, and for ten minutes both boys were -busy. At the end of that time, Matt announced that he was fairly well -satisfied with the repairs. - -“There’s enough gasoline and oil to take us fifty miles,” he added. - -“In other words,” said the cowboy, “we can go clear to Boston, if we -have to. What time is it, pard?” - -“Nine o’clock.” - -McGlory was startled. - -“Nine o’clock!” he repeated. “We’ve got to have a telegram on the wires -by ten. Let’s pull out and hit the high places.” - -There was no indication, so far as the boys could see, that Miles and -Barney had discovered the trick which the boys had played on them. If -the two men were coming back, they were still a good way off. - -The steady hum of the motor, when Matt started it, filled the boys -with delight. There did not seem any doubt but that the machine would -perform every duty demanded of it. Matt put on the high speed, and they -darted back over the course which they had recently covered. - -As they drew near they watched anxiously for some sign of those who -still remained at the house. No man showed himself, however, and the -car flung past the wrecked gates and bore away northward. - -“Miles and Barney are welcome to catch us--if they can,” exulted -McGlory, who was riding in front with Matt. - -The wind of the motor boys’ flight whistled and sang in their ears, and -the engine continued to hum merrily and steadily. There was a good deal -of rattling, for the mudguards and footboards were loose, but the motor -itself was working as well as the day it had come from the factory. - -“Sanders must have gone with Tibbits and Dimmock,” remarked Matt. - -“There was quite a party of pirates in that other car,” said McGlory. - -“Did you ever see Miles or Barney before we broke out of the house, -Joe?” - -“I never saw Barney, Matt, but Miles was the fellow who brought Tibbits -and me from New York.” - -“You must have had quite a set-to with Miles in the hall.” - -“Speak to me about that!” laughed McGlory. “Miles was one surprised -man, and don’t you forget it, pard. The skirmish was short, and I -reckon it was the tray of chuck that did the work for the shuffer. He -got the hot coffee full in his face, and when he fell back he dropped -his revolver. I hit him once, just to give me time to pick up the gun, -and then I made for the front door. If that had been locked----” - -McGlory winced. - -“But it wasn’t,” said Matt. “I heard you rush out of the house, and I -got to the hall door just in time to see Miles going after you. He gave -you quite a run, didn’t he?” - -“I ran till I was black in the face, Matt, doubling back, dodging -around flower beds, and getting mixed up with all kinds of -horticultural arrangements. Gee, man, but that’s a fine old place to be -used by such a gang!” - -“It will cost a hundred or two to repair those gates.” - -“And two or three hundred, I reckon, to get this car back in its usual -shape.” - -“More than that, Joe. I don’t think five hundred will repair the car as -it was before we used it for a battering-ram.” - -“That ten thousand in bullion is costing the tinhorns pretty dear,” -commented the cowboy. - -“They’ll not be paying anything for damages. If Miles owns this car, -he’s the one that foots this part of the bill.” - -The cowboy laughed. - -“I’ll bet Miles pretty near had an attack of heart failure when he saw -you aiming the car at those iron gates, and giving it full speed ahead!” - -“We can understand why Miles is so eager to catch us, I think,” -answered Matt. - -McGlory’s thoughts went off on another tack. - -“About what time was it, do you think,” he asked, “when Tibbits and his -gang left the house, last night?” - -“I didn’t look at my watch,” said Matt. “How long had I been asleep -when you awoke me?” - -“About two hours.” - -“Then it was nearly midnight when the car pulled out.” - -“How long would it take that outfit to reach New York?” - -This was rather an important point. Up to that moment, Matt had not -given it much thought. - -“I should think,” said he, after a little reflection, “that the trip -would take eight or ten hours. The car would have to hit a smart clip, -at that, and keep it up.” - -“Then Tibbits and his gang couldn’t reach the city before nine or ten -o’clock?” queried McGlory. - -“I don’t think they could.” - -“I reckon there’s plenty of hope, yet,” and the cowboy heaved a long -breath. “There’s a house, Matt,” he added abruptly. “We’re getting out -of the woods.” - -“We’ll probably see a town pretty soon. Wonder what the speed limit is -through the villages in this part of the country?” - -“Never mind the speed limit, pard. Keep her wide open.” - -Five minutes more of rapid traveling saw the houses thicken along the -road. People began to be seen, and two or three machines were passed. - -“Better slow down,” a passenger in one of the cars called to the boys -as they scurried past. “They’ll nab you in Leeville if you don’t.” - -Matt thought the advice good, and heeded it. - -The disreputable appearance of the red car excited a good deal of -curiosity. McGlory, too, came in for a fair share of guying. He had on -the dress suit, of course, and, although he had lost the white cap, he -still wore the apron. - -“I’ve been too excited to think about the apron,” he laughed, removing -the object, and casting it into the road. “I’m wearing this dress suit, -I reckon, at the wrong end of the day, but I can’t get rid of that for -a while yet.” - -Neither of the boys had a hat, but that fact was of minor importance. - -A turn in the road brought them into the outskirts of a village. The -road itself formed the main street of the place, and while the boys -were jogging at a very leisurely gait toward the huddle of store -buildings, a man in a flannel shirt and with his trousers tucked in his -boot tops, jumped across the road, dragging a rattling chain behind him. - -One end of the chain was fastened to a tree, and before the battered -car reached the man, the other end had been similarly secured. - -“Sufferin’ blockades!” cried McGlory, as Matt shut off the power and -put on the brake. “What’s the matter with that Rube?” - -The man who had manipulated the chain advanced upon the boys from his -side of the road, a badge of authority in the form of a tin star. At -the same moment, another man descended upon the car from the opposite -side of the pike. - -“This looks as though it might prove interesting,” muttered Matt. “What -do you want?” he called to the man with the star. - -“My name’s Hawkins,” snapped the officer, “and I’m town constable. You -two fellers are pinched.” - -“Pinched?” echoed McGlory. “Why, neighbor, we weren’t going eight miles -an hour.” - -“I don’t keer a blame how fast ye was goin’,” proceeded the constable -aggressively. “That ain’t why ye’re arrested. Got a telephone message -from the old Higbee place, sayin’ as how two fellers, answerin’ your -description, had stole a motor car. Hiram an’ me’ll jest git in an’ -ride with ye to the lockup.” - -Telephone! The motor boys had entirely forgotten that modern, everyday -convenience. - -They had been trapped in Leeville--and a telephone message had turned -the trick! - - - - -CHAPTER XIII. IN AND OUT OF LEEVILLE. - - -“Mr. Hawkins,” said Matt, attempting to argue the matter, and show -the constable the error of his way, “you’re a little mistaken in this -matter.” - -“’Way wide of the trail,” chipped in McGlory. - -“You can’t teach me no law,” scowled the constable. “I know my -business.” - -“Of course you do,” went on Matt, signing to McGlory to let him do the -talking. “I’m not saying that you don’t know all about the law, or are -not trying to do your duty. It’s the fellow at the other end of the -line who has started you wrong.” - -“D’you own this car?” demanded Hawkins, slapping the broken hood. - -“No, but----” - -“Didn’t you run away with it?” - -“Yes, but if you’ll let----” - -“I calculate that’s a-plenty,” cut in Hawkins, with a triumphant look -at Hiram. “We’ll hop in an’ show ye the way to the jail.” - -“I want to explain this,” cried Matt. - -“Oh, ye do!” gibed the constable. “I can tell, just by the look of you, -you’re a pair of scalawags. You can’t do any explainin’ that’ll help -your case any.” - -“Take us before a justice,” pleaded Matt. - -“The jedge is away, fishin’, an’ he won’t hold court till this -arternoon. I’ll haul ye up in front o’ him, soon enough, an’ if he -don’t hold ye to a higher court to answer for the larceny of one -benzine buggy, I’ll miss _my_ guess. Hiram,” and the constable turned -to his comrade, “I’ll git in with ’em, so’st to make sure they don’t -run, then you take down the chain, an’ git in, too.” - -“You bet I will,” assented Hiram, with great alacrity. - -“Is there a telegraph office in town?” asked Matt, while Hiram was -removing the chain. - -“’Course there is,” replied Hawkins. “We got a railroad, too, and an -op’ry house, and everythin’ else that makes a town worth livin’ in.” - -“We want to stop at the telegraph office and send a message,” said Matt. - -“No, ye don’t! You fellers can’t play any shenanigin tricks on Bill -Hawkins. I’m too old a hand to be come over by two younkers like you.” - -“Sufferin’ jaybirds!” growled McGlory. “Say, constable, this message -we want to send is mighty important. If we can get it through, it will -prevent a ten-thousand-dollar robbery in New York.” - -Bill Hawkins laughed. - -“You’re funnier’n a Joe Miller joke book,” said he. “Jest as though ye -could make me swaller a yarn like that. Git in, Hiram,” he added. “You -drive this automobile right down Main Street till I tell ye to stop,” -he finished, addressing Matt. - -“Will you let me send that telegram?” pleaded McGlory. “It will only -take a minute.” - -“Well, I guess not,” said the constable, snapping his lean jaws -decisively. “Start the car,” he ordered sternly. - -Matt took two five-dollar bills from his pocket, offering one to each -of the men. - -“You can read the telegram, Mr. Hawkins,” said Matt. “It’s important.” - -Hawkins went up on his toes and fairly bristled. - -“Say,” he snorted, “you ain’t got money enough to bribe me from doin’ -my duty. Now I _know_ ye’re crooked. Tryin’ to bribe Bill Hawkins! -Well, by jing! What d’ye think o’ that, Hiram?” - -“Scand’lous!” gurgled Hiram, horror-stricken. - -McGlory leaned toward Matt. - -“Put on full speed, pard,” he whispered excitedly, “and let’s snake ’em -out into the country.” - -But Matt shook his head and started the car slowly into the village. - -All the inhabitants of the place, Matt judged, had been drawn to the -scene of the “arrest.” Men, women, children, and dogs clustered around -the car, and proceeded with it as it took its melancholy way along the -street. - -“There’s the place,” said Hawkins, pointing, “that two-story red -buildin’ on the right. Hardware store on the first floor and the jail’s -upstairs.” - -Matt steered for the curb, and halted the car at the edge of the walk, -then Hawkins took him in charge, Hiram looked after McGlory, and the -motor boys were led toward an outside stairway by which they were to -climb to the “jail.” - -The cowboy, halting at the foot of the stairs, renewed his desperate -attempt to get permission to send his telegram. Hiram spoke harshly, -Hawkins put in a few warm words, and the crowd jeered. Then McGlory -gave up, and followed Hawkins and Matt as they climbed the stairs. - -The second floor of the building was partitioned into two rooms. A -sign proclaimed that the front room was occupied by a “Justice of the -Peace,” while another sign, bearing the one word, “Jail,” set forth the -uses to which the rear room was put. - -Matt and McGlory, it appeared, were the only occupants of the jail. The -room was meagrely furnished, with a table, a cot, and two chairs, and -there were two grated windows overlooking the rear of the premises. - -Here the motor boys were left, McGlory sinking disconsolately into one -of the chairs, while Matt roamed around, making himself as familiar as -possible with the situation. - -From the grated windows he could look off for half a block to the -railroad station. The station building was about as large as a -good-sized packing case, and there was one spur track, running between -the main track and the rear of the hardware store, with a lonely flat -car on the rails. - -“Here’s a go!” wailed McGlory. “Jugged! Jugged by a country constable, -just when a telegram might save the day for us in New York! Sufferin’ -cats! Can’t we do something, pard? We’re not going to let a couple of -hayseeds knock us out like this, are we?” - -Matt was trying the bars at the windows. The ends of the bars were set -into the wood of the casing, and the casing was old, and partly decayed. - -“We can break out,” said Matt, “but what good will that do us, Joe? -We’d be apprehended by the villagers before you could get to the -telegraph office. It won’t be possible to send a message from here.” - -“How can we send it from anywhere,” cried the cowboy, “if we don’t get -away from this place?” - -“Jail-breakers are apt to have quite a hard time of it.” - -“I’ll take my chances on the hard time if we can make a getaway.” - -“The only thing for us to do, so far as I can see, is to wait till the -judge gets back from his fishing trip. We can talk to _him_, and he’ll -have to listen to us.” - -Matt sat down, and McGlory, grumbling his disgust, started up and -went to one of the windows. Laying hold of a bar he gave it a wrench, -breaking the end completely out of the wood. A gap was left, through -which the boys might squeeze their way to liberty--if it seemed -advisable. - -“There’s a shed under the window,” reported McGlory. “We could get out -on the shed and reach the ground too easy for any use.” - -“That part of it is all right,” returned Matt, “but how could we get -out of town without being seen? There’s the rub, Joe. Be guided by me, -and let’s wait for the justice.” - -“There’s no telling when he’ll get here. Why, right now, this minute, -Tibbits may have his pals at the bank!” - -Urged on by his frantic thoughts, the cowboy began hoisting the window. -In a few moments, a path to freedom, through the bars and over the shed -roof, lay open to the motor boys. - -“Let’s make a try of it, pard,” pleaded McGlory. “We can reach the -spur track, crawl along it through the bushes, and maybe get out of -the town. Then we can hoof it to the next town, drop in at a telegraph -office----” - -“And find a telegram from Leeville asking the authorities to capture -and hold us as jail-breakers,” said Matt. - -“We haven’t done anything we ought to be jugged for, have we?” demanded -McGlory. - -“Of course not.” - -“Then it’s right for us to get away if we can, isn’t it?” - -“Certainly, Joe, but I don’t see how we can manage it.” - -Just at that moment a distant whistle was heard. - -“A train!” exclaimed McGlory. “If it stops here, Matt, why can’t -we----” - -Matt caught the inspiration of his chum’s words. Again fortune was -favoring him and McGlory. There was a chance to escape, but they would -have to be quick if they took advantage of it. - -“Crawl through the window, Joe!” whispered Matt. “Be wary! The jig’s up -if we’re seen.” - -The cowboy began at once crowding himself through the bars. He -succeeded, and alighted on the roof of the shed on hands and knees. -Matt followed, made his way carefully over the top of the shed, dropped -from the edge of the roof, and found himself beside his chum at the -rear of the hardware store. - -The train was just pulling into the station. Without losing a moment, -the boys scrambled over a fence, skirmished onward under the screen -of the flat car, dodged beneath it, raced across the narrow stretch -separating the spur from the main track, and climbed aboard the forward -coach of the train. - -The station was on the other side of the cars, and, so far as the boys -could discover, not an inhabitant of the village had seen them. - -Where the train was going they did not know; but they did know that it -would halt at a more friendly town than Leeville, that there would be a -telegraph office in the town, and that they could forward their message -to New York. - -“In and out of Leeville,” murmured the cowboy, as he and Matt sank -breathlessly into a seat. “I reckon old Bill Hawkins will have another -guess coming, eh?” - - - - -CHAPTER XIV. SENDING THE TELEGRAM. - - -The conductor, when he came through the train collecting tickets, was -somewhat taken aback at the sight of Matt and McGlory. - -“Where’d you get on?” he inquired, looking the boys over and grinning a -little at McGlory’s bare head and dress suit. - -“At Leeville,” said Matt. - -“There was only one man got on at Leeville. I didn’t see you.” - -“We climbed aboard the train on the side that was away from the -station,” explained McGlory. “We were in a rush, and got aboard the -handiest way we could.” - -“You were in so big a rush that you forgot your hats,” commented the -conductor suspiciously. “Where are you going?” - -“Where does this train go, conductor?” put in Matt. - -“Fall River.” - -“Then we’ll pay our fares to Fall River,” and Matt handed the conductor -a bill. - -“You’re a queer pair, and no mistake,” said the railroad man, while -making change. - -“What’s the next stop?” continued Matt. - -“Stoughton.” - -“Do you stop long enough at Stoughton so we could get off and send a -telegram?” - -“You have the message all written out and I guess you’ll have time.” - -With a puzzled look at the boys, the conductor left the car. - -Matt, on the back of the colonel’s letter to McGlory, began writing out -the message. - -“Mark it ‘rush’” said McGlory, “and address it to the cashier of the -Merchants’ & Miners’ National.” - -“I’ve got that,” answered Matt. - -Then, as plainly as he could, he wrote the following: - - “Order for two bars bullion, given to Joe McGlory by Colonel M. A. - Billings, of Tucson, Arizona, stolen. If presented, hold bullion - until you hear from me. - - “JOE MCGLORY.” - -Matt handed the message to his chum to read. - -“That’ll do the trick,” said McGlory, “providing the gold hasn’t -already been delivered. I hope that car of Tibbits’ broke down -somewhere, and that he was hung up for a few hours on the road to New -York. That’s our only hope, Matt.” - -Before Matt could answer, the conductor came along the aisle, ushering -a gray-whiskered man who was carrying a carpetbag. - -“Here they are,” said the conductor to his companion, halting opposite -the boys. “Do you know them?” - -“Well, by hokey!” ejaculated the other, staring at the motor boys as -though they were a couple of ghosts. - -“Know them?” repeated the conductor. - -“I’ve seen ’em, conductor,” was the reply. “Bill Hawkins, our town -constable, arrested them two fellers for stealin’ an automobile, an’ -they was put in the lockup not more’n an hour ago. How the nation did -you fellers git out?” - -That was not a time to dodge responsibility. The truth, and the whole -truth, must be told. - -“I had an idea something was wrong with you two chaps,” frowned the -conductor. “This man”--he nodded to the gray-bearded stranger--“got on -at Leeville, so I thought I’d bring him forward to have a look at you. -Surprising information he’s giving me. What have you got to say for -yourselves?” - -Sternness had crept into the conductor’s voice. - -“The gentleman from Leeville is telling the truth,” replied Matt. “I -and my chum _were_ arrested by the constable and put in the Leeville -town jail, but we twisted a bar from the window, crawled over the roof -of a shed, and caught this train.” - -“Well, well!” gasped the man from Leeville. - -“You’ll get off at Stoughton, all right,” said the conductor, “but -it’ll be for something beside sending a telegram.” - -“Wait a minute, conductor,” begged Matt. “If you and the other -gentleman have time to listen, I want to tell you just what happened. -We’ll be as quick as we can.” - -The conductor hesitated. - -“There are two sides to a story, you know,” went on Matt earnestly. -“You’ve got one side, and now, in justice to us, you ought to have -ours.” - -There was something in Matt’s steady gray eyes that lent a powerful -appeal to his words. The conductor, turning back the forward seat, -motioned to the man from Leeville to sit by the window. - -“Now,” said the conductor, sitting down, “I haven’t got much time. -We’ll be at Stoughton in fifteen minutes. Fire away.” - -A good deal of detail was necessary, if Matt wanted to make out a -strong case for himself and McGlory, so he began with the receipt of -the colonel’s letter by his chum, and offered the letter in evidence. -It was read by both the conductor and the Leeville man. - -Then, taking events in sequence, Matt went over his and McGlory’s -experiences during the preceding day, while they were prisoners in the -old Higbee house and while they were fighting for their freedom. - -It was an exciting story, and was listened to with deepest interest, -not only by the conductor and the Leeville man, but also by two or -three other passengers, as well. - -“By hokey,” murmured the Leeville man, when the recital was finished, -“if that’s the truth, young feller, you an’ your friend ought to have a -medal. I never heard anythin’ like it before.” - -“You said you wanted to send a telegram from Stoughton,” observed the -conductor. “Who was the telegram going to?” - -“To the New York bank,” replied Matt, “in order to keep the bullion -from being delivered to Tibbits and his gang.” - -“Have you written out the message?” - -“Here it is,” and Matt turned over the colonel’s letter and showed the -message to the trainman. - -The conductor read it through carefully, and then read it aloud to the -man from Leeville. - -“To my mind,” said the conductor, “this is evidence that these lads are -telling the truth. They wrote that message before I brought you here to -identify them, so they couldn’t have framed it up to get out of a tight -place.” - -“I’m pretty sure they’re tellin’ the truth,” returned the man from -Leeville, “because their story holds together. Mr. Higbee, I happen to -know, has a nephew who’s a good deal of a black sheep. His name ain’t -Tibbits, but it ain’t likely he’d have given his real name while doin’ -underhand work like what he was up to. Mr. Higbee, too, left this -nephew at the country place to look after it while he an’ his family -are abroad.” - -“I’ll bank on Motor Matt and Joe McGlory!” declared the conductor, -reaching over to slap each of the boys on the shoulder. “If that -Leeville constable had known as much as the law allows, he’d have given -the lads a chance to tell their side of the story; and for him to -refuse to let them send such an important telegram was an outrage. I -hope,” the conductor added to Matt, “that the message will be received -in time to save the bullion. In order to make sure that it is rushed -through, you’d better let me attend to the sending of it myself.” - -“That’s mighty kind of you,” said Matt gratefully. - -“Don’t mention it, my lad,” the trainman answered. “I’m glad to be able -to do something for you.” - -“I’m goin’ to Fall River to visit my married daughter,” put in the -Leeville man, “an’ when I git back home, I’ll let Hawkins know what I -think of his fool way of doing bizness. It’ll cost him his job, next -’lection, you can lay to that.” - -“I wouldn’t bear down too hard on him,” counseled Matt. “Hawkins -thought he was doing his duty.” - -“He’s a false alarm,” growled McGlory, “and he ought to have the pin -pulled on him. Maybe I’ve lost a fortune through his foolishness--I -don’t know.” - -At that juncture the train began to slow down. - -“Stoughton!” called the conductor, getting up and making for the rear -door of the car. - -Matt and McGlory watched the conductor as he crossed the station -platform and disappeared inside the telegraph office. He was gone for a -couple of minutes, and when he reappeared he signaled for the train to -pull out. - -“That’s done, my lads,” he announced, when he again came into the car. -“In less than half an hour the telegram should be in the hands of the -cashier.” - -“I hope to gracious it’ll git there in time,” said the Leeville man. -“I’d hate to have it said that ten thousand dollars was lost jest -because a constable in our town hadn’t sense enough to do the right -thing.” - -“Something ought to be done to the rest of that rascally gang at the -old Higbee house,” suggested the conductor. - -“It’s too late for that,” said Matt. “As soon as Joe and I got clear -away from them, the scoundrels probably proceeded to make themselves -scarce.” - -“I’ll bet they’re absent a whole lot,” chimed in the cowboy. “It was a -good deal of scheming they did just for a measly ten thousand dollars.” - -“That sum is plenty large enough to make a whole lot of men go wrong,” -asserted the conductor. “But, say, I’d like to have a picture of you -two boys breaking through those iron gates in that automobile! It’s a -wonder you didn’t get killed.” - -“I should say so!” breathed the man from Leeville. “You ought to’ve -seen them gates, conductor. I’ve seen ’em, dozens o’ times. They’re -big, an’ high, an’ hinged to heavy brick columns. It’s a miracle that -car wasn’t smashed to kindlin’ wood, an’ the youngsters along with it.” - -“I was pretty sure we’d get through,” said Matt, “or we wouldn’t have -tried it.” - -“He’s the lad to figure things out,” expanded McGlory proudly. “His -mind works like a rapid-fire gun, an’ it ain’t often he misses the -bull’s-eye, either.” - -“I guess you hit it off about right,” laughed the conductor. “I’m glad -you had the nerve to tell me the whole story, Motor Matt, and that you -didn’t try to dodge when I confronted you with this gentleman from -Leeville. What you’ve said has made me your friend, and I’ll bet the -Leeville man feels the same way.” - -“You bet he does,” avowed that gentleman, with emphasis. - - - - -CHAPTER XV. AT THE BANK. - - -It was about two o’clock in the afternoon when a touring car drew up in -front of the Merchants’ & Miners’ Bank. There were five passengers in -the automobile--four besides the driver. - -The driver was Sanders, and beside Sanders sat Tibbits. In the tonneau -were Dimmock, his daughter, and a young fellow who wore clothes that -were a very poor fit and who seemed exceedingly nervous. - -“Buck up!” admonished Dimmock to the young man. “Show what you’re made -of now, Charley.” - -“I’ll--I’ll do the best I can,” answered Charley. - -“Let _me_ do the talking,” said Miss Dimmock. - -The girl’s attire was scarcely better, in the matter of fit, than was -Charley’s, but she wore her costume with an easy grace that made up for -any of the other shortcomings. - -“We’ll wait for you around the corner,” said Tibbits, as the girl and -the young fellow got out. - -There was a worried look on Dimmock’s face as the touring car left the -front of the bank and moved slowly along the street. - -“It’s a lot of trouble and risk we’re taking for ten thousand dollars,” -he muttered. - -“You’ve taken more trouble and risk for less, Dimmock,” said Tibbits. - -“I have, yes,” admitted the other, his face gray with anxiety, “but -never before have I asked Pearl to help me in such a matter. It will be -the last time.” - -“Bah!” sneered Tibbits. - -Meantime, the girl and Charley had entered the bank. Charley’s -nervousness had increased to a painful degree. The frosty blue eyes -of the girl, observing his abstracted manner, led her to infer that -Charley, so far from being a help, would prove a source of danger. - -“You stay back here, Motor Matt,” she whispered, “and I’ll talk with -the cashier alone.” - -Charley was only too glad to receive a command of that kind. Leaning -against a writing desk at the wall, he watched his companion as she -boldly made her way to the railing behind which the cashier transacted -his business. Something like admiration awoke in Charley’s soul--that -is, if there can be anything admirable in such an attempt as the girl -was about to make. - -The long, yellow tresses had been cut from the girl’s head--a sacrifice -demanded by the exigencies of the case. - -The cashier, as it chanced, was busy with some one else. Calmly and -patiently the girl waited. Finally the other customer went away, and -the girl pushed respectfully up to the railing and stood under the -sharp eyes of the bank official. - -“What can I do for you?” asked the cashier briskly. - -“This will explain, I think,” said the girl, presenting the colonel’s -order for the bullion. - -The cashier glanced at the order, then gave the girl a keen scrutiny. - -“You are Joe McGlory, are you?” he queried. - -“Yes.” - -“Are you personally acquainted with the gentleman who sent you this -order?” - -“I am.” - -It was a pity, indeed, that Dimmock should have forced his daughter -into such a tangle of deception; and doubly a pity that one so young -and fair could have played the despicable part so boldly, and given her -false answers without a tremor, or a pang of conscience. - -“Have you any other means of identifying yourself?” went on the cashier. - -Here was the place where the supposed Motor Matt was to be used, but -Charley had not proved equal to the part. - -“I’m a stranger in town,” said the girl, “and I had supposed that order -of the colonel’s was enough.” - -“Our orders are to deliver the bullion upon the presentation of this -demand. You understand, Mr. McGlory, that we are simply acting as -trustees for Colonel Billings.” - -The cashier looked at the paper reflectively. He had many important -matters on his mind, matters in which hundreds of thousands were -concerned, and two gold bars were a mere bagatelle. - -Again he studied the girl. She met his eyes frankly. - -“After all,” said the cashier, “this order lets us out. I will give you -a receipt to sign, and while you are putting your name to it, I will -have the bullion brought from the safe.” - -He scribbled a few words on a pad of printed receipt blanks, tore off -the top slip and handed it to the girl, nodding his head toward a -writing desk. Pearl stepped to the desk, and the cashier pressed an -electric call for one of the bank attachés. - -The employee who answered the call brought with him a telegram. - -“That message just came, sir,” said he, “and is marked ‘rush.’” - -The cashier took the message. - -“Get me that bag of bullion from the vault, Jenkins,” said he, tearing -the end off the yellow envelope, “the two bars of gold from Colonel -Billings, of Tucson, Arizona.” - -“Very well, sir.” - -Jenkins started. The cashier read the telegram at a glance. Not a line -in his face quivered. - -“Oh, Jenkins!” he called. - -The clerk came back. - -“Instead of getting the bullion,” said the cashier, in a low voice, -“bring the bank policeman.” - -Jenkins nodded and started of again, this time in a different direction. - -“Here is the receipt, sir,” said the girl. - -“Ah,” smiled the cashier, getting up and opening a wicket. “It will -take some little time to get the bullion, Mr. McGlory, and you had -better step into my private room and wait. Keep the receipt until you -receive the gold. That is only business, you know.” - -He led the girl across the open space in front of his desk, pushed ajar -a door, and waved the girl into the private room; then, returning to -his chair, he waited. - -Meantime, Jenkins had found the bank policeman. - -“Mr. Hamilton wants you at once, George,” said Jenkins. - -Charley overheard the words, and he had already seen the cashier -talking with Jenkins and ushering the girl into the private room. That -was quite enough for Charley, and he left the bank in a hurry. - -“What is it, Mr. Hamilton?” asked the policeman, leaning over the -cashier’s railing. - -The cashier handed up the message for the policeman to read. - -“That sounds business-like, Mr. Hamilton,” said the policeman, dropping -the message on the cashier’s desk. - -“Very much so, George.” - -“It’s from Stoughton, Massachusetts.” - -“Yes.” - -“If the order comes in here, we can arrest the man that brings it.” - -“It has already been handed in, George. Here it is.” - -A startled look crossed the policeman’s face. - -“Was the bullion delivered?” he asked. - -“Not yet. A young man who says he is Joe McGlory is in my private room. -You know what to do. Take him out the side entrance so there won’t be a -scene out front.” - -The policeman passed through the wicket and entered the private room. -The cashier turned, serene as ever, to give a greeting to one of the -bank’s customers. - -A call from the door of his private room caused the cashier to turn. - -“Just a moment, Mr. Hamilton,” said the policeman. - -The cashier stepped to the door, and the policeman took his arm and -drew him inside. - -The room was empty! - -Then, for the first time, the cashier showed annoyance and concern. - -“How do you suppose that happened, George?” he demanded. - -The policeman pointed to an open window. - -“I have always said, Mr. Hamilton,” he remarked, clinching a point that -he had been hammering at for a long time, “that you ought to have bars -across that window. All the other windows are protected, and that one -should be. The fellow got out, dropped ten feet to the alley, and has -escaped.” - -“But why did he leave?” queried the cashier. “I am sure he didn’t learn -anything from me.” - -“Chaps of that sort are naturally suspicious. The mere fact that you -asked him into the private room was enough.” - -“See if there is any trace of him outside. He’s a youngish chap, -seventeen or eighteen, I should say, rather effeminate in appearance, -and wears----” - -“I saw him when he came in, sir,” broke in the policeman. “It will be -useless to hunt for him, but I’ll see what I can do.” - -“Anyhow,” and the cashier laughed as the policeman hurried away, “we’ve -got the bullion.” - -What was it that had aroused Pearl Dimmock’s suspicions? Only the -secret workings of her own mind could reveal that point. Perhaps, at -the last moment, her courage failed her, and she could not carry out -the plan. This would be the charitable supposition. - -Yet, be that as it may, the girl vanished, and even her sex remained -a mystery to the cashier and the policeman. The telegram, sent from -Stoughton by the motor boys, had fulfilled its mission. That the girl -had escaped was, to them, an unimportant detail. The main thing was to -foil Tibbits and keep the bullion. - - - - -CHAPTER XVI. A CLOSE SHAVE. - - -Motor Matt and Joe McGlory reached Fall River in the afternoon. They -had planned to catch one of the night boats for New York, and there -was an hour or two at their disposal. They put in the time to good -advantage buying clothes. Mr. Jacobs, the man from Leeville, was -familiar with the town and, before going to his daughter’s, was glad to -show the boys around and give them all the aid he could. - -When he left Matt and McGlory, the lads were completely equipped in new -“hand-me-downs,” and feeling more like themselves. - -There was a little fear, on their part, that Bill Hawkins might have -used the telegraph lines and that they would have trouble in Fall -River. But the trouble did not materialize. - -“We’re jail-breakers, all right,” laughed McGlory, when they were -safely in their stateroom aboard the sound steamer, “but Constable -Bill, I reckon, has found out something about Miles and Barney that -keeps him from running out our trail.” - -“Hawkins and his friend Hiram,” said Matt, “have discovered that -they’ve made a mistake. I don’t see how they could have learned this -from Miles or Barney, though, and I’m rather inclined to think that -the justice of the peace got back from his fishing trip and said a few -words in our behalf.” - -“What’s the difference, pard, so long as we’re at large? We’ve lost two -suits of clothes and collided with a lot of hard knocks, but we got -that telegram off.” - -“Also,” laughed Matt, “we’ve spoiled a pair of nice iron gates, -destroyed some Higbee china, and played hob with one of the finest -motor cars I ever handled. I guess the damage isn’t all on one side.” - -“I’ll be ‘completely satisfied,’ as Tibbits remarked, when I learn that -the bullion has been saved.” - -“We’ll discover that to-morrow.” - -The motor boys slept their way down the sound, and reached New York -early enough to go to their hotel and have breakfast before the bank -opened. Immediately after breakfast they took an elevated train for -downtown. - -“I’ve connected with a good lesson, pard, during this taxicab tangle,” -remarked McGlory. - -The cowboy was constantly thinking of various matters connected with -recent experiences, and entering them on the profit side of his -personal account. - -“What’s this one, Joe?” asked Matt. - -“Never to read an important letter aloud in a public place. That’s the -thing that got us into this mix with Tibbits. He happened to be in this -hotel, and he happened to hear the letter. After that--well, I reckon -the memory of what happened is still pretty green.” - -It was with some trepidation that the boys entered the Merchants’ & -Miners’ Bank and made their way to the cashier’s desk. - -“What can I do for you?” - -It was the same brusque query which the cashier put so many times a day -that its use had become a habit. - -“You can do a whole lot for me, _amigo_,” said McGlory. “Principally, -though, I’m pining to learn whether two gold bars from Tucson, Arizona, -are still in your strong box.” - -The cashier was interested at once. - -“Why do you ask?” he inquired, leaning back in his chair and studying -the faces of the boys. - -He was a proficient reader of character; as a matter of fact, he had to -be. The ability to take a man’s sizing at a glance had saved him from -many a pitfall. - -“Now you’re hitting me right at home,” said the cowboy. “If that -gold is here, I’m the happiest maverick that ever strayed from the -Southwest; if it’s not here, I’m due to get unpleasant tidings from the -colonel. You see, _amigo_, I’m the easy mark they call Joe McGlory.” - -A slow smile was working its way over the cashier’s face. There was -something open and free about Joe McGlory--too free, at times, those -who did not know him might have been tempted to think. - -“You don’t look much like the Joe McGlory who came here yesterday,” -remarked the cashier casually. - -The cowboy lopped down on the railing. - -“I’m going to ask for a hot flat and a cup of ginger tea in a minute,” -he murmured dejectedly. “Friend, was there a yellow-haired stranger -here yesterday, in my clothes?” - -“Such a person called. Whether he wore your clothes, or not, of course -I can’t say.” - -“Woosh! Johnny Hardluck is getting ready to hand me one. Stand close, -Matt. I’m going to need you, I reckon. Yes, _amigo_, they were my -clothes. Did she give you an order from the colonel for the bullion?” - -“She?” echoed the cashier, lifting his brows. - -“Of course you couldn’t know that,” said McGlory, “but the fellow who -claimed to be me was a _moharrie_. She gave you the colonel’s order and -you handed her the gold?” - -“No. I had her sign a receipt and was just about to send for the gold -when a telegram arrived. I had----” - -“Then--then----” - -“Just a minute, please. I had the young woman step into my private -room, and instead of sending for the gold I sent for the bank -policeman. When he went into the room to arrest the girl, she had -vanished. Something, I suppose, had aroused her suspicions. At any -rate, she slipped from a window and made good her escape. I’m very -sorry it happened. It is a blow at law and order for such a would-be -criminal to get away.” - -The cowboy stared; then a glow overspread his face, and he grabbed for -the cashier’s hand. - -“Sorry!” he exclaimed. “Why, pard, this isn’t a time to be sorry about -anything! You’ve still got the colonel’s gold in your safe, and I’m the -happiest stray in all New York! You hear that, Matt?” and he whirled -and caught his chum by both hands. “It was a close shave, but that -message of ours did the trick! The gold’s here, and Tibbits has been -done--done to a turn! If there weren’t so many people around, I’d yell.” - -“You say you’re Joe McGlory?” said the cashier casually, “but I’m from -Missouri--after what happened yesterday. You haven’t the colonel’s -order, and even that isn’t a safe means of identification. How are you -going to prove you’re Joe McGlory?” - -“My pard, Motor Matt, will go on record. Matt, am I McGlory, Joseph -Easy-mark McGlory?” - -“You’re Joe McGlory, all right,” laughed Matt. - -“That’s good, as far as it goes,” said the cashier, “but who’s to vouch -for Motor Matt?” - -“That’s me, pard,” bubbled McGlory. “We vouch for each other.” - -The cashier joined in the merriment of the motor boys. - -“You’re a team,” said the cashier. - -“A whole team and something to spare,” chuckled the cowboy. “Honest, -I’m feeling so good over that bullion that I’m nearly locoed.” - -“This will help to identify us,” said Matt. - -He took from his pocket the letter McGlory had received from the -colonel. The conductor, when sending the telegram from Stoughton, had -had the message copied on a telegraph blank and had returned the letter -to Matt. - -The cashier read the letter carefully. - -“This also is good--as far as it goes,” he remarked. “The order for the -bullion came with this?” - -“Yes.” - -“And you lads sent me a telegram yesterday?” - -“You can bet your roll-top desk against a copper cent we did. If you -knew how we had to work to get that telegram off to you, you’d rather -think we sent it.” - -This, of course, was from the cowboy. - -“Where was the message sent from?” - -“From Stoughton, Massachusetts. Turn that letter over, neighbor, and -you’ll find a copy of the message on the back of it.” - -The cashier read the copy. - -“That’s good circumstantial evidence, Mr. McGlory,” said he, handing -the letter to the cowboy, “and you can have the colonel’s gold whenever -you come after it. Will you take it now?” - -“The meeting of the syndicate is called for to-night, at the office of -Random & Griggs,” said McGlory, “and I don’t want those two bars until -the last thing before the bank closes at three o’clock. That bullion -has caused trouble enough, and I’m putting up my fences against any -more.” - -“Very well; come at three and you’ll get the gold.” - -The boys turned and slowly left the bank. - -“Somehow,” said the cowboy, “I’m glad that girl got away.” - -“So am I,” answered Motor Matt. - -THE END. - -The next number (363) will contain “A Hoodoo Machine; or The Motor -Boys’ Runabout No. 1313,” by Stanley R. Matthews. - - * * * * * - -BRAVE AND BOLD WEEKLY - -NEW YORK, November 27, 1909. - -TERMS TO BRAVE AND BOLD WEEKLY 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.= - - - - -FACE TO FACE WITH A MAD DOG. - - -“I can’t say that I object very much to the muzzling order,” remarked -Captain Peyton. “I have had too many experiences with mad dogs, and my -voyage with one of them I am never likely to forget.” - -“How was that?” we inquired eagerly; and after a little pressing the -captain spun us the following yarn: - -The thing happened, he began, on board the ship _Globe_, when I was a -young man before the mast, coming home in her from Denmark. - -Our captain had procured the animal for a friend of his, who lived -somewhere in the country, and wanted such a dog to keep off tramps and -other trespassers. - -I have seldom seen a larger or more vicious-looking dog. He was of the -breed called the Great Dane, a kind noted for size and fierceness; and -though only a year old, he did honor to both these characteristics. - -He would make friends with no one forward, and sometimes would even -show his large white teeth upon a too familiar caress from the captain, -his master pro tem. - -You may be sure that not a single one of us ever kicked that dog out of -the way or took any other liberty with him. - -“That animal will be a treasure to Captain Gale’s friend,” the second -mate remarked one day. “Why, if I had him I should expect to come home -some afternoon to find my wife in half a dozen pieces, and my children -lying about in little strips. What can a man be thinking of to want -such a creature as that about the place?” - -We used to think that he had more teeth than other dogs--at least, his -mouth appeared absolutely full of them--two great, white shining rows -that it made one shudder to see. - -Once he snapped at little Roy Drew, the ship’s “boy,” and took a piece -out of his duck trousers, but without tearing his flesh. - -Fortunately Captain Gale was at hand, and a loud, quick shout from him -prevented any further demonstration. He accused Roy of carelessness, -and said the dog would not have attempted to hurt him if he had been -minding his business. - -Roy was dreadfully frightened, though, for it was a narrow escape. - -“That dog ought to be chained up,” said the first mate. - -“Nonsense!” retorted Captain Gale obstinately, “the animal will not -hurt any one if left alone, and the men must not meddle with him if -they do not wish to be bitten.” - -After a time the brute began to lose his appetite. He slept more than -usual, and at last refused his food altogether. There was evidently -something the matter with him. - -“It would be an awkward matter for us if he had hydrophobia,” said the -first mate. - -“He might easily do so,” replied the second mate. “They say dogs -generally behave like that before going mad.” - -We sailors also felt rather uneasy; but the captain, as usual, treated -the matter very lightly. - -“He may die, of course,” he said, as the mate suggested some -precaution, “but I won’t have him killed; and as to tying him up just -because he won’t eat, I shan’t do that either. He may be all right -again in a day or two.” - -Although the animal slept much, he would often get up and turn around -as if he were not easy in any position. His eyes, too, had a very -strange, glassy stare. - -He remained in this state for a week, sometimes moving a few feet, but -generally asleep. - -He growled at every one who came near him, and I believe that even the -captain, although too obstinate to acknowledge it, would at last have -been glad to see him knocked on the head. - -When the crisis finally came, it came suddenly. Most of the foremast -hands were aloft in the rigging, I myself being in the maintop. The -mate was busy somewhere about the deck, and the captain was leaning -over the quarter rail, watching his opportunity to strike a porpoise -which had come under the ship’s counter. - -Presently we heard him shout to the mate: - -“I’ve got him, Mr. Gibson! Come and lend a hand.” - -The officer hurried to assist him; but at that moment another cry came -from the man at the wheel: - -“Look out, Captain Gale! Look out, Mr. Gibson! The dog is raving mad!” - -As he spoke he let go of the wheel and sprang for the mizzen rigging. -The captain and mate, looking hastily round, saw the mad brute close -behind them, leaping up aimlessly and snapping at the air. I need not -tell you that they went into the shrouds probably more quickly than -they had ever done before. - -Every one not already aloft got there without loss of time, so that the -deck was soon entirely deserted. - -Meanwhile the dog was traversing the deck at a brisk trot, snapping at -everything in his way. - -Sometimes he would come to a full stop and spring straight up; at -others he would tear away at some large rope, as if trying to devour -it. Occasionally he uttered a wild, dismal howl. - -What was to be done? Had he been a small dog we might have attacked and -killed him with handspikes; but with so large and powerful a creature -the case was different. - -The captain had a revolver in the cabin, but while we were becalmed off -the Orkney Islands he had shot away all his cartridges at sea birds -that came near the ship, so that now the firearm was useless. - -All this while the ship was left to herself, the topsails backing and -filling, and the spanker moving from side to side. - -“Why not try to lasso the brute?” called out the mate at last. - -The captain thought the suggestion worth acting upon, and a number of -us going down to the foot of the shrouds, attempted to take off some -coils of the running rigging from the pins. - -But the dog was there before us, and, leaping up, he fixed his teeth in -the shrouds in a way that showed what would be our fate if we did not -keep out of his reach. - -However, as some of us were on one side of the ship and some on the -other, we finally succeeded in getting at the slack of some of the -ropes, and then, standing well up in the shrouds, we did our best at -lasso-throwing. But we were no cowboys, and all our efforts resulted in -failure. - -Our attempts served only to irritate the rabid animal, so that he -was now perfectly frantic, leaping, howling, and rushing about in a -terrible manner. - -Just as we had begun to despair of effecting anything in this way we -heard a shout from forward. It was little Roy Drew. - -“Hello, there!” he said; “I’m on the bowsprit. I’ve just come down the -forestay. I see how he can be got overboard.” - -As we stood in the shrouds, the ship’s fore and main courses, which -were set, prevented us from seeing the boy, but we could easily judge -of his position and intention also. - -“Look out for yourself, Roy!” was the cry from more than one voice, as -all realized the fearful risk that he ran. - -But the little fellow had his plan. He made a great stamping and -shouting, and the dog, which happened just then to be forward, leaped -upon the forecastle. - -We, who were in the rigging, hurried down to the deck, no longer -thinking of any danger to ourselves, and then the whole scene was -before us. - -Roy had run out along the bowsprit and jib-boom, and the dog was trying -to follow him. - -The upper side of the bowsprit being flat, the mad animal could easily -traverse it, but we did not believe that he would be able to walk on -the jib-boom. To our great alarm, however, we saw him dash out upon it -without falling. - -“Roy! Roy!” we called, “take care of yourself--quick! quick! Don’t let -him get hold of you!” - -But the lad was prepared even for this. Away out on the end of the boom -he stood, with his hand on the flying jibstay, and when the dog was -within a few feet of him, he grasped the hoops of the sail which were -around it and went up the log rope like a squirrel. - -The mad dog made a sort of half leap, as if to reach him, staggered, -lost his balance, and fell with a splash under the ship’s bows. - -Probably the sudden immersion threw him into one of those convulsive -fits so common in the rabies, for, after a few minutes of violent -tumbling, he sank outright, and we saw no more of him. - -“Now,” said Captain Gale, after all was over and the ship had been put -upon her course, “I’ll finish catching my porpoise.” - -And, sure enough, upon going to his line, he found the iron still fast -to it. - -During the remainder of the voyage, concluded Captain Peyton, little -Roy Drew was the hero of the ship. He had performed what all the rest -of us combined had been unable to accomplish, and even the captain gave -him full credit for his gallant act. - - - - -THE BOOMERANG. - - -Since the memorable time when Captain Cook sailed into Botany Bay in -1769 and saw the naked native Australian poising erect to hurl his -peculiar weapon, the boomerang has continued to excite the curiosity -and amazement of the civilized world; and truly the finding of such -a scientific weapon in the hands of this so-called lowest order of -mankind is an astonishing fact, to be simply accepted as another oddity -of this odd, topsy-turvy corner of the world. - -This novel weapon became an intensely interesting object to me very -soon after arriving in Australia; and for the purpose of studying -it, I went persistently among the black fellows, whose friendship I -cultivated in different ways, and so succeeded eventually in learning -how to make and throw the boomerang. So far, well and good; but of -its history I could learn nothing. Of the origin of the crooked stick -there is no knowledge; one can only conjecture. It is possible it may -have been born with the race itself from the accidental throwing of a -flat stick; for from childhood the black fellow shows a natural bent -for throwing things, as you can see by watching him use his only other -weapons, the spear and club. The bow and arrow, so common in other -lands, is not used, except in the extreme northern portion of the great -island continent, where there is a mixture of the race with the Papuan -of New Guinea. - -There are the war boomerang, hunting boomerang, and amusement -boomerang. This last is used for light hunting, such as killing ducks, -cockatoos, and parrots, and is the one that is referred to when -speaking of the boomerang. These sticks measure from a foot and a half -to three feet and a half in length, the fighting and hunting ones being -the largest and heaviest. The hardest and toughest wood is selected, -and the form of the weapon follows the grain of the wood; thus, if the -crook of the root or limb is little or much, so is the form of the -boomerang. You will find that nearly every one is of a different shape. -In my collection I have them varying from almost straight to a shape -like that of the letter V, nearly straight, curved, plain, ornamented, -some with strange carvings, and all varying according to different -sections of the country and individual tribes, each having its own make -or style, showing respectively rough crudeness or considerable finish, -and being especially characteristic in the ends or points--all of which -a boomerang connoisseur will distinguish at once, and locate as to -tribe and section. - -In the black fellow’s humpy, where he keeps his collection thrown down -in a corner with a pile of spears, clubs, rags, bark, and skins of -kangaroo and wallaby, I have seen very rare and curious specimens. - -The nomad black fellow makes his primitive humpy, or hut, in a location -chosen temporarily, according to his necessities for hunting, fishing, -and the like, by cutting a young sapling half through about four feet -from the ground, and bending it over to a horizontal position, thus -forming a ridge pole, against which boughs and strips of bark are laid. -The covered side is always against the wind, and before the open front -a fire is always burning or smouldering. He does not like the wind, and -if it changes, presto! the humpy, too, is changed in a twinkling. - -Down in this humpy corner, underneath the pile of bark and skins, he -will burrow like a rabbit when he goes to sleep, and from the same -place he will provide himself with a weapon when starting off for a -hunt. - -I have been with him at various times and in sundry places, but -remember particularly one tramp with a tall, bushy-headed fellow, whom -somebody had appropriately named Long Green. - -Starting from the humpy, we crossed a little stretch of scrubby -country, and struck into the sun-fretted gum-tree forest, locally known -as “the bush.” The black fellow is always on the alert for crooked -boughs or roots, and as we trudged on Long Green in his quiet way kept -his keen eyes on duty. Nothing escaped the observation of this child -of the bush--bird or animal, crooked stick, stripping bark, or foot -track, all were so many letters on the familiar page of his only book, -the book of Nature. However, finding nothing near, he led the way in -and out to a spot where he was sure of getting crooked roots. When a -suitable one was found and cut away by Long Green’s hatchet, we turned -our faces humpyward. - -Arrived at the camp, fresh fuel was put on the smouldering fire, the -embers were blown into a lively flame, and then the black fellow began -operations by splitting the crook into slabs, cutting them thinner and -thinner until of the required thickness. This was the first step in the -making of a boomerang. The next was to put the slabs on the fire, where -we watched them roasting and sizzling, for they were green and full -of sap. In this state the wood is very pliable, and from time to time -he took a crook off, held it between his toes, knees, and teeth, and -twisted out all its inequalities. I have noticed that these people use -their teeth with great dexterity. - -More chipping, then more roasting, and the growing boomerang was now -and again tossed carelessly on the ground just to see how it would -act, while he glanced at it sideways, gave it a poke with his foot, -and reminded me of a sedate old tom cat playing with a mouse. At last -he gave it a gentle shy along the ground; then a stronger motion. It -was buoyant, satisfactory. For the finishing off, it was scraped with -a piece of broken bottle, the edges sharpened all around, and it was -done--the boomerang was made! “White fellow, boss, chuck!” he said, -handing it to me. It weighed about half a pound; the under side was -rather flat, yet not entirely so, and the upper side slightly rounded, -with the ends a little thinner than the centre. It was about half an -inch thick and two and a half inches broad. After having amused myself -while he was making another, I handed it back to him and told him to -“chuck.” It proved to be a very good one, and he entertained me with -it for a long time. It is held with the flat side down and the concave -edge forward, and is thrown from over the shoulder. At the moment when -it leaves the hand it must be in an upright or perpendicular position. - -The black fellow, with a short run and a grunt, sent the thing with a -sudden jerk at an angle of some twenty-five degrees. After whirling -through the air for nearly two hundred feet it began to rise, and its -flight curved toward the left, taking in a circle of a hundred yards -or more in diameter, and fell close to our feet, while throughout its -whole course of nearly a thousand feet it kept up a harsh, whirring -sound, like the wings of a partridge in full flight, the rotary motion -giving it the appearance of a ring or wheel moving through space. He -caused it to form in its course the figure eight a hundred yards in -length, then again he sent it off in a horizontal direction for a -hundred feet or more, when it quite suddenly turned and flew upward to -a great height. It would wheel along the ground in a straight course -and also in a circle, apparently possessed of some power in itself, and -the black fellow would jump up and down, talking and ejaculating to it -as though it understood him. He was an excellent thrower, and made it -perform two and even three circles before falling to the ground. At -his will it went from right to left, and from left to right. Most all -boomerangs go but one way, being made for that purpose only. - -Now, all this seems contrary to the laws of nature and mathematics; but -it is all right, and all the eccentric movements of the boomerang can -be accounted for on scientific principles. Projectile force, rotary -motion, and gravitation do it all, and though these are big words they -mean something. You must not expect to throw it successfully without -long practice. It is dangerous, too, in the hands of a beginner, for it -is then that it “shows off,” and is liable to run wild and chase some -bystander in a most vigorous manner. It is all very amusing to see a -man running to escape, but he invariably runs the wrong way; and, if -hit, it might be a serious matter for him. - -There were several other humpies near by in the bush, and whenever -my black fellow threw the boomerang the other fellows would shout -“kout kout!” meaning “look out!” and the women would seize the little -naked blacks, and cuff them, and tumble them into the humpies in a -most unceremonious manner; notwithstanding, their little black heads -were soon peeping out again. The larger boys, of some six or eight -years, were not interfered with, and they would run about and bring -the boomerangs which fell at a distance, for before we got through -there were several black fellows with their boomerangs in the game. -It was great fun. They stood in a row, I among them, and we sent the -boomerangs chasing through the air. Some were thrown in one direction, -some the opposite, passing each other in their flight; and as they -began to return I had to hop about in a lively way. The black fellows -ditto. - -The boomerang has a favorite trick of hiding itself in the grass -or bushes, and I have looked for one in vain in an open field, and -given it up as lost, when, on returning the next day, it was found -at once. But they cannot hide from these little black fellows. They -have most wonderful eyes, deep set in their heads, and their sight is -perhaps keener than that of any other member of the human race. When a -boomerang fell at a distance they would run as fast as they could until -near the place, then stand perfectly still for a moment, like a hunting -dog, make a dive into the bushes, and reappear with the boomerang -in the hand. One little fellow was hit in the calf of his leg while -standing thus. It was a bad cut and bled freely. He disappeared among -the humpies without a whimper, soon coming out again with a bandage of -rags around the wounded leg. - -It was now late afternoon. I knew the blacks liked to get in under -cover before dark, so, with a half-crown to Long Green, some cakes for -the little bushy heads, and good-bys, I walked off like a veritable -savage, grasping firmly my newly made aboriginal boomerang. - - * * * * * - -☛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.= - -437--Buffalo Bill’s Panhandle Man-hunt; or, The Comanche Tigers. - -438--Buffalo Bill at Blossom Range; or, Juniper Joe’s Jubilee. - -439--Buffalo Bill and Juniper Joe; or, The Fool of Folly Mountain. - -440--Buffalo Bill’s Final Scoop; or, Tim Benson, the Tiger of the Hills. - -441--Buffalo Bill at Clearwater; or, Scouting with Old Nick Wharton. - -442--Buffalo Bill’s Winning Hand; or, The Mystery of Lost Lake. - -443--Buffalo Bill’s Cinch Claim; or, Bursting the Bubble. - -444--Buffalo Bill’s Comrades; or, Breaking the “Ring” that Robbed the -Indians. - -445--Buffalo Bill in the Bad Lands; or, A Brave Attempt to Prevent a -War. - -446--Buffalo Bill and the Boy Bugler; or, The Mysterious Girl of Sacred -Mountain. - -447--Buffalo Bill and the Heathen Chinee; or, The Missing Witness. - - * * * * * - -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.= - -352--Right on Top; or, Yankee to the Backbone. By Cornelius Shea. - -353--A Clue from Nowhere; or, On a Phantom Trail. By Harrie Irving -Hancock. - -354--Never Give Up; or, Harry Holton’s Resolve. By John L. Douglas. - -355--Comrades Under Castro; or, Young Engineers in Venezuela. By Victor -St. Clair. - -356--The Silent City; or, Strange Adventures in an Unknown Country. By -Fred Thorpe. - -357--Gypsy Joe; or, The Young Nomad’s Triumph. By John De Morgan. - -358--From Rocks to Riches; or, The Copper Coterie. By John L. Douglas. - -359--Diplomat Dave; or, A Young Reporter on the Firing Line. By Harrie -Irving Hancock. - -360--Yankee Grit; or, With Stanley in “Darkest Africa.” By Harrie -Irving Hancock. - -361--The Tiger’s Claws; or, Out with the Mad Mullah. By Weldon J. Cobb. - -362--A Taxicab Tangle; or, The Mission of the Motor Boys. By Stanley R. -Matthews. - -363--A Hoodoo Machine; or, The Motor Boys’ Runabout No. 1313. By the -author of “A Taxicab Tangle.” - - * * * * * - -TIP TOP WEEKLY - -The most popular publication for boys. The adventures of Frank and Dick -Merriwell can be had only in this weekly. =High art colored covers. -Thirty-two pages. Price, 5 cents.= - -697--Dick Merriwell’s Ranch Friends; or, Sport on the Range. - -698--Frank Merriwell at Phantom Lake; or, The Mystery of the Mad Doctor. - -699--Frank Merriwell’s Hold-back; or, The Boys of Bristol. - -700--Frank Merriwell’s Lively Lads; or, The Rival Campers. - -701--Frank Merriwell as Instructor; or, The Skill of the Wizard. - -702--Dick Merriwell’s Cayuse; or, The Star of the Big Range. - -703--Dick Merriwell’s Quirt; or, The Sting of the Lash. - -704--Dick Merriwell’s Freshman Friend; or, A Question of Manhood. - -705--Dick Merriwell’s Best Form; or, Master of Himself. - -706--Dick Merriwell’s Prank; or, The Exposure of Artie Ettinger. - -707--Dick Merriwell’s Gambol; or, Sport at the County Fair. - -708--Dick Merriwell’s Gun; or, The Mystery of the Covers. - -709--Dick Merriwell at His Best; or, Rounding the Team Into Form. - -710--Dick Merriwell’s Master Mind; or, The Mysterious Mr. Snare. - -711--Dick Merriwell’s Dander; or, The Day of Reckoning. - -712--Dick Merriwell’s Hope; or, The Reliance of the Blue. - -_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, “ .............................. - - _Name_............................ - - _Street_.......................... - - _City_......................._State_.............. - - * * * * * - -BRAVE AND BOLD WEEKLY - -ISSUED EVERY WEDNESDAY BEAUTIFUL COLORED COVERS - -If the boys of ten or fifteen years ago could have secured such -thoroughly good adventure stories, of such great length, at five cents -per copy, the =Brave and Bold Weekly=, had it been published then, -would have had ten times its present large circulation. You see, in -those days, stories of the quality of those now published in the =Brave -and Bold Weekly= were bound in cloth covers or else published little by -little in boys’ serial papers, under which circumstances each story was -paid for at the rate of one dollar or more. - -Now we give the boys of America the opportunity of getting the same -stories and better ones for five cents. Do you not think it is a rare -bargain? Just buy any one of the titles listed below and read it; you -will not be without =Brave and Bold= afterward. Each story is complete -in itself and has no connection whatever with any story that was -published either before or after it. - -We give herewith a list of all of the back numbers in print. You can -have your newsdealer order them or they will be sent direct by the -publishers to any address upon receipt of the price in money or postage -stamps. - -50--Labor’s Young Champion. - -53--The Crimson Cross. - -56--The Boat Club. - -62--All Aboard. - -65--Slow and Sure. - -66--Little by Little. - -67--Beyond the Frozen Seas. - -69--Saved from the Gallows. - -70--Checkmated by a Cadet. - -73--Seared With Iron. - -74--The Deuce and the King of Diamonds. - -75--Now or Never. - -76--Blue-Blooded Ben. - -77--Checkered Trails. - -78--Figures and Faith. - -79--The Trevalyn Bank Puzzle. - -80--The Athlete of Rossville. - -81--Try Again. - -82--The Mysteries of Asia. - -83--The Frozen Head. - -84--Dick Danforth’s Death Charm. - -85--Burt Allen’s Trial. - -89--The Key to the Cipher. - -90--Through Thick and Thin. - -91--In Russia’s Power. - -92--Jonah Mudd, the Mascot of Hoodooville. - -96--The Fortunes of a Foundling. - -97--The Hunt for the Talisman. - -98--Mystic Island. - -99--Capt. Startle. - -100--Julius, the Street Boy. - -101--Shanghaied. - -102--Luke Jepson’s Treachery. - -103--Tangled Trails. - -106--Fred Desmond’s Mission. - -107--Tom Pinkney’s Fortune. - -108--Detective Clinket’s Investigations. - -109--In the Depths of the Dark Continent. - -110--Barr, the Detective. - -111--A Bandit of Costa Rica. - -112--Dacy Dearborn’s Difficulties. - -113--Ben Folsom’s Courage. - -114--Daring Dick Goodloe’s Apprenticeship. - -115--Bowery Bill, the Wharf Rat. - -117--Col. Mysteria. - -118--Electric Bob’s Sea Cat. - -119--The Great Water Mystery. - -120--The Electric Train in the Enchanted Valley. - -122--Lester Orton’s Legacy. - -123--The Luck of a Four-Leaf Clover. - -124--Dandy Rex. - -125--The Mad Hermit of the Swamps. - -126--Fred Morden’s Rich Reward. - -127--In the Wonderful Land of Hez. - -128--Stonia Stedman’s Triumph. - -129--The Gypsy’s Legacy. - -130--The Rival Nines of Bayport. - -131--The Sword Hunters. - -132--Nimble Dick, the Circus Prince. - -134--Dick Darrel’s Vow. - -135--The Rival Reporters. - -136--Nick o’ the Night. - -137--The Tiger Tamer. - -138--Jack Kenneth at Oxford. - -139--The Young Fire Laddie. - -140--Dick Oakley’s Adventures. - -141--The Boy Athlete. - -142--Lance and Lasso. - -143--New England Nick. - -144--Air-Line Luke. - -145--Marmaduke, the Mustanger. - -146--The Young Desert Rovers. - -147--At Trigger Bar. - -148--Teddy, from Taos. - -149--Jigger and Ralph. - -150--Milo, the Animal King. - -151--Over Many Seas. - -152--Messenger Max, Detective. - -153--Limerick Larry. - -154--Happy Hans. - -155--Colorado, the Half-Breed. - -156--The Black Rider. - -157--Two Chums. - -158--Bantam Bob. - -159--“That Boy, Checkers.” - -160--Bound Boy Frank. - -161--The Brazos Boy. - -162--Battery Bob. - -163--Business Bob. - -164--An Army Post Mystery. - -165--The Lost Captain. - -166--Never Say Die. - -167--Nature’s Gentleman. - -168--The African Trail. - -169--The Border Scouts. - -170--Secret Service Sam. - -171--Double-bar Ranch. - -172--Under Many Suns. - -173--Moonlight Morgan. - -174--The Girl Rancher. - -175--The Panther Tamer. - -176--On Terror Island. - -177--At the Double X Ranch. - -179--Warbling William. - -180--Engine No. 13. - -181--The Lost Chief. - -182--South-paw Steve. - -183--The Man of Fire. - -184--On Sampan and Junk. - -185--Dick Hardy’s School Scrapes. - -186--Cowboy Steve. - -187--Chip Conway’s White Clue. - -188--Tracked Across Europe. - -189--Cool Colorado. - -190--Captain Mystery. - -191--Silver Sallie. - -192--The Ranch Raiders. - -193--A Baptism of Fire. - -194--The Border Nomad. - -195--Mark Mallory’s Struggle. - -196--A Strange Clue. - -197--Ranch Rob. - -198--The Electric Wizard. - -199--Bob, the Shadow. - -200--Young Giants of the Gridiron. - -201--Dick Ellis, the Nighthawk Reporter. - -202--Pete, the Breaker Boy. - -203--Young Maverick, the Boy from Nowhere. - -204--Tom, the Mystery Boy. - -205--Footlight Phil. - -206--The Sky Smugglers. - -207--Bart Benner’s Mine. - -208--The Young Ranchman. - -209--Bart Benner’s Cowboy Days. - -210--Gordon Keith in Java. - -211--Ned Hawley’s Fortune. - -212--Under False Colors. - -213--Bags, the Boy Detective. - -214--On the Pampas. - -215--The Crimson Clue. - -216--At the Red Horse. - -217--Rifle and Rod. - -218--Pards. - -219--Afloat with a Circus. - -220--Wide Awake. - -221--The Boy Caribou Hunters. - -222--Westward Ho. - -223--Mark Graham. - -225--“O. K.” - -226--Marooned in the Ice. - -227--The Young Filibuster. - -228--Jack Leonard, Catcher. - -229--Cadet Clyde Connor. - -230--The Mark of a Thumb. - -231--Set Adrift. - -232--In the Land of the Slave Hunters. - -233--The Boy in Black. - -234--A Wonder Worker. - -235--The Boys of the Mountain Inn. - -236--To Unknown Lands. - -237--Jocko, the Talking Monkey. - -238--The Rival Nines. - -239--Engineer Bob. - -240--Among the Witch-doctors. - -241--Dashing Tom Bexar. - -242--Lion-hearted Jack. - -243--In Montana’s Wilds. - -244--Rivals of the Pines. - -245--Roving Dick, the Chauffeur. - -246--Cast Away in the Jungle. - -247--The Sky Pilots. - -248--A Toss-up for Luck. - -249--A Madman’s Secret. - -250--Lionel’s Pluck. - -251--The Red Wafer. - -252--The Rivals of Riverwood. - -253--Jolly Jack Jolly. - -254--A Jay from Maine. - -255--Hank, the Hustler. - -256--At War with Mars. - -257--Railroad Ralph. - -258--Gordon Keith, Magician. - -259--Lucky-stone Dick. - -260--“Git Up and Git.” - -261--Up-to-date. - -262--Gordon Keith’s Double. - -263--The Golden Harpoon. - -264--Barred Out. - -265--Bob Porter’s Schooldays. - -266--Gordon Keith, Whaler. - -267--Chums at Grandcourt. - -268--Partners Three. - -269--Dick Derby’s Double. - -270--Gordon Keith, Lumber-jack. - -271--Money to Spend. - -272--Always on Duty. - -273--Walt, the Wonder-Worker. - -274--Far Below the Equator. - -275--Pranks and Perils. - -276--Lost in the Ice. - -277--Simple Simon. - -278--Among the Arab Slave Raiders. - -279--The Phantom Boy. - -280--Round-the-World Boys. - -281--Nimble Jerry, the Young Athlete. - -282--Gordon Keith, Diver Detective. - -283--In the Woods. - -284--Track and Trestle. - -285--The Prince of Grit. - -286--The Road to Fez. - -287--Engineer Tom. - -288--Winning His Way. - -289--Life-line Larry. - -290--Dick Warren’s Rise. - -292--Two Tattered Heroes. - -293--A Slave for a Year. - -294--The Gilded Boy. - -295--Bicycle and Gun. - -296--Ahead of the Show. - -297--On the Wing. - -298--The Thumb-print Clue. - -299--Bootblack Bob. - -300--A Mascot of Hoodooville. - -301--Slam, Bang & Co. - -302--Frank Bolton’s Chase. - -303--In Unknown Worlds. - -304--Held for Ransom. - -305--Wilde & Woolley. - -306--The Young Horseman. - -307--Through the Air to Fame. - -308--The Double-faced Mystery. - -309--A Young West Pointer. - -310--Merle Merton’s Schooldays. - -311--Double-quick Dan. - -312--Louis Stanhope’s Success. - -313--Down-East Dave. - -314--The Young Marooners. - -315--Runaway and Rover. - -316--The House of Fear. - -317--Bert Chipley On Deck. - -318--Compound Interest. - -319--On His Mettle. - -320--The Tattooed Boy. - -321--Madcap Max, the Boy Adventurer. - -322--Always to the Front. - -323--Caught in a Trap. - -324--For Big Money. - -325--Muscles of Steel. - -326--Gordon Keith in Zululand. - -327--The Boys’ Revolt. - -328--The Mystic Isle. - -329--A Million a Minute. - -330--Gordon Keith Under African Skies. - -331--Two Chums Afloat. - -332--In the Path of Duty. - -333--A Bid for Fortune. - -334--A Battle with Fate. - -335--Three Brave Boys. - -336--Archie Atwood, Champion. - -337--Dick Stanhope Afloat. - -338--Working His Way Upward. - -339--The Fourteenth Boy. - -340--Among the Nomads. - -341--Bob, the Acrobat. - -342--Through the Earth. - -343--The Boy Chief. - -344--Smart Alec. - -345--Climbing Up. - -346--Comrades Three. - -347--A Young Snake-Charmer. - -348--Checked Through to Mars. - -349--Fighting the Cowards. - -350--The Mud-River Boys. - -351--Grit and Wit. - -352--Right on Top. - -353--A Clue from Nowhere. - -354--Never Give Up. - -355--Comrades Under Castro. - -356--The Silent City. - -357--Gypsy Joe. - -358--From Rocks to Riches. - -359--Diplomat Dave. - -360--Yankee Grit. - -361--The Tiger’s Claws. - -362--A Taxicab Tangle. - -363--A Hoodoo Machine. - -364--Pluck Beats Luck. - -365--Two Young Adventurers. - -366--The Roustabout Boys. - -=Price, Five Cents per Copy.= If you want any back numbers of our -weeklies and cannot procure them from your newsdealer, they can be -obtained direct from this office. Postage stamps taken the same as -money. - -STREET & SMITH, PUBLISHERS, 79-89 SEVENTH AVE., NEW YORK CITY - - * * * * * - -Transcriber’s Notes: - -Punctuation has been made consistent. - -Variations in spelling and hyphenation were retained as they appear in -the original publication, except that obvious typographical errors have -been corrected. - -The following change was made: - -p. 5: want to added (if you want to find) - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Brave and Bold Weekly No 362, A -Taxicab Tangle, by Stanley R. 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