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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ec3b0df --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #53607 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/53607) diff --git a/old/53607-0.txt b/old/53607-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 65b839d..0000000 --- a/old/53607-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,5273 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Brave and Bold Weekly No. 363, A Hoodoo -Machine;, by Stanley R. Matthews - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Brave and Bold Weekly No. 363, A Hoodoo Machine; - or, The Motor Boys' Runabout No. 1313. - -Author: Stanley R. Matthews - -Release Date: November 26, 2016 [EBook #53607] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BRAVE AND BOLD WEEKLY NO 363 *** - - - - -Produced by David Edwards, Craig Kirkwood, and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (Images -courtesy of the Digital Library@Villanova University -(http://digital.library.villanova.edu/)) - - - - - - -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: A freight train was almost at the crossing, and, unless -Motor Matt could check the runabout in its wild flight, it would surely -be demolished by the onrushing locomotive.] - - * * * * * - -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. 363.= NEW YORK, December 4, 1909. =Price Five Cents.= - - - - -A HOODOO MACHINE; OR, The Motor Boys’ Runabout No. 1313. - - -By STANLEY R. MATTHEWS. - - - - -CHAPTER I. THE CAR THAT WOULDN’T BEHAVE. - - -“Sufferin’ whirligigs, Pard Matt! Look at that bubble wagon! Is it -trying to turn a handspring, or ‘skin the cat,’ or climb that telephone -pole? I reckon the longhorn up front don’t know how to run the thing. -Either that, or else he’s ‘bug’ with a big ‘B.’” - -“I should say it’s the car that’s ‘bug,’ Joe. The driver seems to be -trying to control the machine in the proper manner, but it won’t be -controlled. What’s your notion of it, Billy?” - -“Hoodoo car, Matt. Look at the number of her--thirteen thirteen. Double -hoodoo. You couldn’t expect no chug wagon with such a tag to behave -anything else than disgraceful. Lo and behold you, if she don’t turn -turtle in the ditch before she goes many more miles then my name’s -not Billy Wells. Watch ’er; keep your eye on ’er an’ I’ll bet you see -something.” - -The three boys were driving along the Jericho Pike well toward Krug’s -Corner--Matt King, Joe McGlory, and Billy Wells. Billy belonged with a -New York garage from which the boys had secured the touring car they -were using that morning. He was a living road map, this Billy, and -could go anywhere up-state, or over Long Island, or in Jersey on the -darkest night that ever fell, and he knew every minute just where he -was. - -Matt was doing the driving, and Billy sat beside him as guide, -counselor, and friend. In the back of the machine was McGlory. - -That was Thursday. Matt and his chum were heeding a summons that -carried them toward the Malvern Country Club, near Hempstead. After -transacting their business at the Country Club--they did not know what -it was, but believed it would not take them long--they were planning to -return to Krug’s Corner for their noon meal, and then back to Manhattan -by Jackson Avenue and the Williamsburg Bridge. But plans are easily -made, sometimes, and not so easily carried out. - -The day was bright, the roads were good, and the motor boys were -enjoying themselves. Well along the Jericho Pike they had come up with -a white runabout, two seats in front and a deck behind, and the actions -of this car aroused their curiosity to such an extent that Matt slowed -down the big machine in order that he and those with him could follow -and watch the performance. - -There was only one passenger in the white car, and he was having his -hands full. - -The runabout would angle from one side of the road to the other, in -apparent defiance of the way the steering wheel was held, and sometimes -it would go its eccentric course slowly and sometimes with a rush--so -far as those in the other car could see--without any change in the -speed gear. - -The driver of the runabout worked frantically to keep the machine where -it ought to be, but the task was too much for him. - -Once a telephone pole gave him a close shave, and once his -unmanageable car gave a sidewise lurch that almost hurled it into a -machine going the other way. - -“What’s the matter?” Matt hailed. - -The man in the runabout looked around with a facial expression that was -far from angelic. - -“If I knew what was the matter with this confounded car,” he cried in -exasperation, “do you think I’d be side-stepping all over the road the -way I am?” Then, muttering to himself, he humped over the steering -wheel again. - -“He’s happy--I don’t think,” chuckled McGlory. “The car’s getting on -his nerves.” - -“A car like that would get on anybody’s nerves,” commented Billy. “The -number’s enough to set mine on edge. Thirteen’s unlucky, no matter -where you find it. That’s right. And when you get two thirteens bunched -together, you’ve sure got a combination that points a car for the scrap -heap. I wouldn’t hold down the cushions in that roadster for all the -money in New York. No, sir, that I wouldn’t,” and Billy shook his head -forebodingly. - -“Oh, splash!” scoffed Matt. “When a car fools around like that, Billy, -there’s something wrong with its internal apparatus.” - -“Matt,” went on Billy solemnly, “I’ve seen cars that hadn’t a thing -wrong with ’em, but they was just naturally crazy and never’d run -right. Steer ’em straight, an’ they’d go crooked; point ’em crooked, -an’ they’d go straight; throw on the reverse, an’ they’d go for’ard; -give ’em the third speed an’ they’d crawl; give ’em the first an’ -they’d tear away like lightnin’--and all the while, mind you, the -engine was running as sweet as any engine you ever see. The Old Boy -himself takes charge of some cars the moment they’re sold and in a -customer’s hands. I’ve worked in a garage for five years, and I know.” - -Matt laughed. McGlory laughed, too, but not so mirthfully. The cowboy -had a little superstition in his make-up and Billy’s remarks had left a -fleeting impression. - -“Gammon, Billy, gammon,” said Matt. “If a car is built right, and works -right, it is going to run right. That stands to reason.” - -“A lot of things happen,” insisted Billy, “that don’t stand to reason. -Now, take that runabout. The engine’s working fine--from the sound of -it. Eh?” - -Matt admitted that, so far as the hum of the motor was concerned, the -machinery seemed to be doing its part. - -“Well, then,” cried the triumphant Billy, “why don’t the blooming car -run like it ought to?” - -“It’s the steering gear that’s wrong,” Matt answered, “not the engine, -or----” - -Bang! - -Just then the runabout blew up a forward tire. The machine tried to -turn a somersault, and its passenger went over on the hood and tried -to knock off one of the gas lamps with his head. When Matt brought the -touring car to the side of the runabout, and halted, the man was on his -feet, shaking his fist at the silent white tormentor. - -“If I had a stick of dynamite,” he declared wrathfully, “I’d blow -this infernal machine to kingdom come! I’ve been fiddling around the -Jericho Road for two mortal hours, and I could have made better time if -I’d left the car and gone on afoot. But I’ll hang to it, and make it -take me where I’m going. By George, I’ll not be beaten by a senseless -contraption of tires, mud guards, and machinery.” - -Matt had jumped out of the touring car and was sniffing at the damaged -tire. - -“What makes that smell of gasoline?” he asked. - -“I put in a tube this morning, and washed out the chalk with gasoline,” -said the man. - -“Never use gasoline for cleaning the tubes,” counseled Matt. “Get all -the chalk you can from the outer tube, and then soak it in wood naphtha -or ordinary alcohol. No wonder your tire blew up. You left gasoline in -the shoe, and when it got hot, it mixed with a little air in the tube -and something had to happen. Have you got another shoe?” - -“Yes.” - -“And a jack?” - -“Of course. When a man goes out with a car like this he ought to carry -a small garage around with him.” - -“Well, we’ll help you get on the shoe.” - -Matt and Billy worked. McGlory stood near, watching and talking with -the owner of the car. - -After the tire had been repaired, Matt looked over the runabout -critically. Much to his amazement, he could find nothing wrong. - -“It’s the double hoodoo,” whispered Billy; “that’s all that’s the -trouble.” - -“Much obliged to you,” said the man, cranking up. “Now we’ll see how -she acts.” - -He got in, went through the operations for a fresh start, but the -runabout began backing. While the man shouted, and said things, the -runabout backed in a circle around the big touring car, then dropped -rearward down a shallow embankment at the roadside--and its passenger -had another spill, out over the rear deck this time. For a second, he -stood on his head and shoulders, then turned clear over and made a -quick move sideways in getting to his feet. He was afraid, evidently, -that the runabout was coming on top of him. But the car, almost in -defiance of the laws of gravitation, hung to the side of the steep -bank, its position nearly perpendicular. - -“Speak to me about that!” gasped McGlory. - -Matt was scared. From the top of the bank he stood staring while the -man got out of the way. - -“Are you all right?” Matt asked. - -“No thanks to that fiendish machine if I am,” sputtered the man, -laboring frantically up the slope. “It has tried to kill me in a dozen -different ways since I left home with it. I’m done. Life’s too short to -bother with such an infernal car as that.” - -Fairly boiling with rage, he started along the road on foot. - -“Wait a minute!” shouted Matt. “Where you going?” - -The man turned. - -“Krug’s,” he answered. “I’ll get a decent, respectable car there to -take me on.” - -“You can telephone to a garage from Krug’s,” suggested Billy, “and they -can send some one to get the runabout home.” - -“I’m done with the runabout, I tell you. It can stay where it is until -the tires rot, for all of me.” - -“I’ll agree to get it back to the city for you,” said Matt. “My name’s -King, Matt King, and I’m staying at----” - -The man’s rage subsided a little. - -“You’re Matt King?” he inquired. - -“Yes.” - -“I understand, now, how you happen to know so much about tubes. They -say you’re pretty well up in motors, too. Well, here’s where I give you -the job of your life. Matt King, I make you a present of that runabout. -Take it--but Heaven help you if you try to run it.” - -Thereupon the man whirled around and strode off. - -“Oh, I say,” yelled Matt, “you don’t mean it. Wait, and I’ll----” - -But the man swung onward, paying no heed to what Matt was calling after -him. - -Matt King turned and peered in amazement at his cowboy chum. - -“Sufferin’ tenterhooks!” exclaimed McGlory. “You’re loaded up with a -bunch of trouble now, pard.” - -“Come on,” urged Billy, moving toward the touring car with considerable -haste. “Don’t lay a finger on that runabout--don’t have a thing to do -with it.” - -But Matt was face to face with a proposition that caught his fancy. A -refractory automobile! Never yet had he encountered a machine that had -got the best of him. And this runabout couldn’t do it--he was positive -of that. - - - - -CHAPTER II. MATT KING’S RESOLVE. - - -“That man was so mad he was locoed,” observed the cowboy. - -“Certainly he was, Joe,” agreed Matt. “If he hadn’t been, he’d never -have given away that machine. It’s a powerful car and worth twenty-five -hundred of any man’s money.” - -“Don’t tamper with it, Matt,” implored Billy. “When that fellow gets -over his mad spell he’ll want the runabout back. Let him have it--and -let him find it right where he left it.” - -“If he hadn’t been worked up like he was,” said Matt, “he wouldn’t have -given the car to me. I won’t take it, of course, but Joe and I will use -it to take us to the Malvern Country Club, and then back to Manhattan. -By to-morrow that fellow will be looking for me and wanting his car -back.” - -“You wouldn’t think of such a thing as wanting to bother with that -runabout!” gasped Billy, from his seat in the touring car. - -“Yes, I would,” answered Matt. “Why not?” - -“The number--thirteen thirteen!” - -“Bosh!” - -“It’s a hoodoo car.” - -“Never mind about that, Billy. You go on to Krug’s Corner and get a -stout rope. If you overtake the owner of the runabout you can give him -a lift. See him, anyhow, and tell him we’ll take the runabout to New -York and that he can have it whenever he wants it.” - -“Don’t do it!” begged Billy. “I’ve seen enough of these hoodoo cars to -know they’ll prove the death of somebody. Don’t let that runabout prove -the death of you!” - -“Go get the rope, Billy,” said Matt sharply, “and hustle back with it.” - -There was that in the voice of Matt King which proved that he had made -up his mind, and that there was no shaking his determination. With an -ominous movement of the head, Billy started for Krug’s Corner. - -“Pard,” remarked McGlory earnestly, “I reckon the runabout is heap bad -medicine. Do you think you ought to mix up with it?” - -“Are you going back on me, Joe?” asked Matt. - -“Not so you can notice. I’d get on a streak of greased lightning with -you, if you said the word, and help you ride it to the end of the -One-way Trail, but I think this is too big an order for us. Sufferin’ -thunderbolts! Why, pard, that car won’t mind the helm or do the thing -it ought to do even when you pull the right thing. When it began to -crawfish around the road, the reverse wasn’t on.” - -“I don’t know about that. It’s on now,” and he looked down at -the runabout. “I guess the man must have thrown on the reverse -instinctively when the tire blew up. Think of rinsing the chalk from -the outer tube with gasoline!” Matt laughed. “There was good cause for -the tire going wrong, and there may be other good and sufficient causes -for the machine’s sizzling around like it did. Anyhow, we’ll try it, -and see how it will behave for us.” - -“But how can we lay a course for the Malvern Country Club? Billy will -have to show us.” - -“Billy can tell us how to go, and we’ll get to the Country Club all -right. Hello! What’s this?” - -Matt began slipping and sliding down the slope at the side of the -runabout. Just at the point where the driver of the car had taken his -header, the young motorist picked up a long manila envelope, unsealed. - -“I reckon that dropped out of the man’s clothes while he was upside -down,” ventured McGlory. - -“That’s a cinch,” said Matt. “There’s no address on the envelope, and -no printed card in the corner, but it may be we can find the man’s name -and address on the papers inside. If he won’t come for his car, we’ll -take it to him.” - -“I’m a Piute,” mumbled McGlory, “if I feel right about this runabout -business.” - -“Billy’s talk about hoodoo cars has got you on the run,” grinned Matt. -“You’ll feel different when we’re slamming along the pike with the -runabout under perfect control. It’s my opinion that man doesn’t know a -whole lot about running a car.” - -While Matt was moving here and there about the steep bank, making a few -investigations of the “hoodoo” machine, Billy came racing back. - -“There’s your rope, Matt,” said he, tossing a coiled cable into the -road. - -Matt crept warily up the bank to the front of the runabout. - -“Did you see the man, Billy?” he asked. - -“Sure I did. Let him ride with me for half a mile.” - -“You told him what we were going to do?” - -“I did. He says that if you get that car back to the city, and try to -turn it over to him, he’ll have you arrested for assault with intent -to do great bodily damage. He says the runabout is a powder mine, and -liable to blow up at any minute. ‘Tell Matt King to keep it,’ he said, -‘providing he’s got the nerve.’ That’s the way he handed it to me. Take -my advice,” Billy clamored desperately, “and leave it alone!” - -“Joe and I are going to use it,” answered Matt. “Hand me an end of -that rope, pard,” he added to the cowboy. - -McGlory passed him the rope, and Matt made it secure to the front of -the runabout. - -“Back up, Billy,” called Matt, “and tie the other end of the rope to -the touring car. You’ve got to give us a lift into the road.” - -“What if something should happen?” demurred Billy. - -“Nonsense!” said Matt impatiently. - -“You can’t give the car back to that fellow if he won’t take it.” - -“We’ll make him take it. He’s a very foolish man, and he’s going to -feel differently when his temper cools.” - -Billy, not in a very comfortable frame of mind, backed the touring car -close to the edge of the bank. The rope was made fast, and Matt and -McGlory went to the foot of the bank to push while the big machine -pulled. - -The attempt was successful. The runabout sputtered--perhaps -defiantly--as it yielded to the tugging and rolled up the slope. Matt -looked the machine over and could not find that it had suffered any by -the slide down the slope. - -“It’ll hang together till it gets you, Motor Matt,” observed Billy -grewsomely. “That’s the way with these hoodoo cars. They never go to -pieces till they kill somebody.” - -“You’re too good a driver, Billy, to talk such foolishness,” returned -Matt. “Now, tell us how to get to the Malvern Country Club.” - -“Ain’t I going with you?” - -“Three of us couldn’t ride very comfortably in the runabout.” - -“But hadn’t I better go along in the touring car so as to be handy in -case of accidents?” - -“Oh, Joe and I will get along. We’re not going to have any accidents if -we can help it--and I feel pretty sure we can.” - -Billy laid out the course the boys were to take with considerable -detail. When he was through, Matt felt that he had the route clearly -fixed in his mind. - -“If the runabout’s too much for you,” Billy finished, “all you’ve got -to do is to phone the garage, and I’ll come a-runnin’.” - -“Where did you get the rope?” asked Matt. - -Billy told him he had borrowed it at Krug’s. - -“We’ll leave it there,” said Matt, “on our way past the Corner.” - -“You may never get to Krug’s,” answered Billy, in extreme dejection. - -“Pile in, Joe,” said Matt, “and we’ll throw in the clutch and scoot.” - -McGlory, it must be admitted, climbed into the runabout in a way that -proved his lack of confidence. Matt cranked up, listening with deep -satisfaction to the smooth singing of the engine, and then got into the -driver’s seat. - -Billy, in the touring car, watched tremulously and waited. From his -appearance, he was plainly expecting that the white car would turn a -few cartwheels and perhaps land upside down in the middle of the road -with Matt and McGlory underneath. - -But nothing of the sort happened. Car No. 1313 moved off in the -direction of Krug’s as nice as you please--moved on a hair line, with -none of the distressing wabbling which characterized its previous -performance with its owner at the wheel. - -The cowboy gathered confidence. Looking behind, he waved his hat at -Billy. - -“Don’t whistle till you’re out of the woods!” yelled Billy. - -He shouted something else, but his words faded out in the increasing -distance. - -“Speak to me concerning this!” laughed McGlory, straightening around in -his seat. “This little old chug cart is a false alarm, after all. It -seems to understand that there’s a fellow in charge who knows the ropes -up and down and across. Fine!” - -“We’ll see the owner of the machine at Krug’s,” said Matt, “and get his -address.” - -“But he can’t have the runabout till we’re done with it,” protested -McGlory. - -“I should say not! We’ve sent Billy home, and that leaves us only this -car to take us back. Ah, there’s Krug’s! We’ll stop for a few minutes.” - -Matt tried to stop, but he couldn’t. He went through all the motions -for cutting off the flow of gasoline and switching off the spark. -The clutch was out, but the engine still had the car, and the engine -wouldn’t stop. - -An automobile was just coming out of the sheds. The runabout came -within an ace of a head-on collision. Fortunately the steering gear -still worked, and Matt scraped mud guards with the other car and he and -his cowboy chum bounded on along the road. - -McGlory yelled frantically. “Jump!” he cried; “let the old contraption -run its blooming head off!” - -But Matt wouldn’t jump, and he wouldn’t let his chum go over the flying -wheels. Dazed and bewildered, he bore down on the brake. - -The speed slackened, but they were half a mile beyond Krug’s before the -car made up its mind to stop. Then McGlory tumbled out, while Matt sat -astounded, his arms folded over the steering wheel and such a look on -his face as the cowboy had never seen there before. - - - - -CHAPTER III. A DEMON IN CONTROL. - - -“Get out of that, pard! Get out!” McGlory was wild with apprehension, -and sprang up and down at the roadside and waved his arms. “The way -that car acts would make the hair stand up on a buffalo robe! What are -you staying there for?” - -“I’m trying to guess how that happened,” said Matt. - -“Then stop guessing. You can guess till you’re black in the face and -you’ll still be up in the air. Cut loose from that bubble wagon--that’s -your cue and mine.” - -“There’s a reason for the car acting as it does,” declared Matt, “and -I’m going to get down to the bottom of the mystery. We might just as -well put in a little time right here. It’s not a very long run to -the Malvern Country Club, and we can waste another half hour without -missing your appointment.” - -“If you took my advice,” muttered McGlory, “you wouldn’t touch that -machine with a ten-foot pole.” - -There was a determined look on Matt’s face as he leaped into the road -and began an exhaustive examination. He could find nothing wrong; -nevertheless, he went over the ignition system carefully, step by -step; then he took the carburetor to pieces, ran pins through the spray -nozzle and sandpapered the float guides; and, after that, he went under -the car, broke the gasoline connections and drew wires through the -tubes. - -The cowboy heaved a long breath of relief as Matt reappeared from under -the car. - -“Find anything out of whack, pard?” McGlory asked. - -“Not a thing,” answered the mystified Matt. - -“Then you’re about ready to admit there’s a demon in control of the -car?” - -“I don’t believe in demons.” - -“If a car won’t stop when it ought to stop, and if it won’t go straight -when you’re steering that way, and if it backs up when everything is -set for going ahead, I’m a Piute if I don’t think there’s something -else got a hand in running it.” - -Matt was silent. He was facing a proposition that was new to him, -but he was dealing with motor details with which he was perfectly -familiar. Here was an ordinary four-cycle engine, and an ordinary -float-feed carburetor; the transmission was of the common sliding-gear -variety; the fuel tank was under the seat, and the gasoline was fed -into the engine by gravity. Why was it that the different parts did not -coöperate as they should? - -“Come on, Joe,” said Matt, putting on the coat which he had laid off -while at work, “we’ll go back to Krug’s and see if my tinkering has -helped any.” - -“I can’t pass up the invitation, pard,” returned McGlory, “but if any -one else gave it to me, I’d say _manana_. Every minute we’re aboard -that runabout, we’re sitting on a thunderbolt that’s not more than half -tame. Here goes, anyhow.” - -The cowboy climbed to his place, and Matt “turned the engine over” and -got in beside him. Then they backed until the runabout was headed the -other way, whereupon Matt changed speeds and they slid over the pike as -easily as a girl tripping to market. No. 1313 behaved like the prince -of cars. No one, from its present performance, could ever have dreamed -that it was anything but the mildest-mannered little buzz wagon that -had ever come out of the shop. - -“I’m stumped,” declared McGlory. “She acts as though she had never -thought of such a thing as taking the bit in her teeth. I reckon, pard, -you must have done something that started her to working in the right -way.” - -“I’ll never be able to understand how she ran for half a mile without -any gas in the cylinders or any spark to cause an explosion,” said -Matt, as he came to a stop in front of Krug’s. “Return the rope, Joe,” -he added, “and see if you can find the owner of the runabout.” - -McGlory was gone for ten minutes. When he came back he reported that -the man who had cut loose from the runabout was nowhere to be found, -and that a fellow answering his description had been taken into a car -by a friend and had motored off in the direction of Hempstead. - -“Then,” said Matt, “we’ll stop thinking about the owner of the car and -continue to use it just as though it belonged to us.” - -They turned south from the Corner and moved away in the direction of -Hempstead at a good rate of speed. The runabout kept up its excellent -behavior, answering instantly Matt’s slightest touch on steering wheel -or levers. - -“You’ve got the best of her, pard,” observed McGlory. “When you -hip-locked with her, after she ran away from Krug’s, you must have -poked a wire into something that was causing all the trouble.” - -“I couldn’t have done that,” answered Matt. “Still, no matter what the -reason, the car is acting handsomely now, and we’ll let it go at that. -Read that telegram to me again, Joe.” - -McGlory fished around in his pocket until he had brought up a folded -yellow sheet. Opening it out, he read as follows: - - “‘Meeting of syndicate in the matter of ”Pauper’s Dream“ Mine - postponed from Wednesday night to Thursday night. Meet me eleven - o’clock Thursday Malvern Country Club, near Hempstead, Long Island. - Important. - - “‘JOSHUA GRIGGS.’” - -The “Pauper’s Dream” Mine was located near Tucson, in Arizona. It was -owned by a stock company, and the cowboy had a hundred shares of the -stock. A friend of his, named Colonel Mark Antony Billings, had induced -him to invest in the “Pauper’s Dream” when it was little more than an -undeveloped claim. Development seemingly proved the claim worthless, -and McGlory had been surprised, while he and Matt were in New York, to -receive a letter stating that a rich vein had been struck, and that -the colonel was planning to sell the property at a big figure to a -syndicate of New York capitalists. Random & Griggs, brokers, in Liberty -Street, were the colonel’s New York agents, and the meeting of the -syndicate was to be held in their office. - -Two bars of gold bullion from the “Pauper’s Dream” mill had been sent -by the colonel to New York, and McGlory had been requested to get the -bullion and exhibit it to the members of the syndicate at the meeting. -Matt and McGlory had had a good deal of trouble with that bullion, and -the cowboy was not intending to take it from the bank, to whose care it -had been consigned, until three o’clock in the afternoon. - -Meanwhile, this telegram from Griggs was taking the boys to the Malvern -Country Club; but just why it was necessary for McGlory to talk with -Griggs was more than either of the lads could understand. - -“Griggs, I reckon,” said McGlory, as he returned the telegram to his -pocket, “is one of the members of the firm of Random & Griggs.” - -“That’s my guess,” returned Matt; “but, if he is, why couldn’t he talk -with you at the office in Liberty Street instead of having you come all -the way out here?” - -“I’ll have to shy at that, pard. Maybe Griggs is a plutocrat, and is -accustomed to having people jump whenever he cracks the whip. Like as -not he didn’t want to go in to the office to-day and just shot that -message at us to save him the trouble of going too far for a palaver.” - -“He told you all it was necessary for you to know, in the message. The -meeting was postponed from last night to to-night. What else is there -that he could want to tell you?” - -“Pass again. Maybe he wants to ask about the colonel’s health, or----” - -The cowboy bit off his words suddenly. Without the least warning, the -runabout had made a wild lunge toward the side of the road. - -“She’s cut loose again!” yelled McGlory, hanging to the seat with both -hands. - -Matt was holding the steering wheel firmly. So far as he could see, -there was not the least excuse for the car’s making that frantic plunge -toward the roadside. - -Just ahead of the machine was a railroad track, and the noise of an -approaching train was loud in the boys’ ears. Matt was thinking that, -if the runabout repeated the performance it had given at Krug’s Corner, -he, and Joe, and the car, stood a grave chance of being hung up on the -pilot of a locomotive. - -Before he could disengage the clutch or give a kick at the switch, -one of the forward wheels struck a bowlder. The car jumped, throwing -McGlory out on one side and Matt on the other. - -As Matt fell, he caught at the two levers on the right of the driver’s -seat and clung to them desperately. Although the car was running wild, -with no hand on the steering wheel, yet it bounded away along the -centre of the road, dragging Matt along with it. - -With his elbows on the footboard, and the lower half of his body -trailing in the dust, Matt endeavored again and again to get back on -the running board and regain a grip on the steering wheel. - -A freight train was almost at the crossing. Unless Matt could check -the runabout in its wild flight, it would surely be demolished by the -locomotive or else hurl itself to destruction against the sides of the -swiftly moving box cars. - -The situation was desperate to the last degree. Unless he could get -hold of the steering wheel and regain his seat, nothing could be done -to avert the threatening catastrophe. If he let go, and abandoned the -runabout to its fate, he was in danger of being thrown under the racing -wheels. - -A demon of perversity seemed to possess the car and to be bent upon the -destruction of Matt King. - -Again and again the young motorist tried to reach the steering post -with one hand and wriggled up onto the running board. Each attempt was -unsuccessful until a lurch of the car helped in executing the manœuvre. - -Hanging to the wheel, Matt threw himself over the upright levers, -dropped into the driver’s seat, disengaged the clutch and jammed both -brakes home. - -Even then he was in doubt as to whether he would succeed in stopping -the car. If it continued mysteriously to refuse control, there was -certain destruction for both Matt and the car against the side of the -train, the box cars of which were already flashing over the crossing. - -But the car stopped--stopped within a yard of the rushing box cars! - -Matt dared not throw in the reverse, fearing the machine might move -forward instead of backward, so he dropped into the road and lay there, -panting and exhausted, while the freight rolled on. - - - - -CHAPTER IV. THE MANILA ENVELOPE. - - -“Sufferin’ doom! I’m beginning to think Billy had a bean on the right -number, pard, when he said this car would have to kill somebody before -it settled down and acted as though it was civilized.” - -Matt looked up and saw his cowboy chum. McGlory was rubbing a bruise on -the side of his face and was carrying the long manila envelope in his -hand. - -“Why didn’t you let the car go to blazes?” demanded the cowboy. “What -did you want to hang on to it for? The best place for the blamed thing -is the junk pile.” - -“I couldn’t let go without getting run over,” explained Matt, rising to -his feet. - -“Well, you’d feel a heap more comfortable under a pneumatic tire than -you would under a train of box cars!” - -McGlory’s face was white, and his voice trembled. The strain he had -been under was just beginning to tell on him. - -“The owner of the runabout,” he went on, “showed his good sense when he -cut loose from it. The car’s like a broncho, Matt, and you never can -tell when its fiendishness is going to break loose. If we had a keg of -powder, I’m a Piegan if I wouldn’t scatter that sizz wagon all over -this part of Long Island.” - -McGlory glared savagely at the white, innocent-looking machine. - -The freight train had passed, and Matt was leaning against the car and -cudgeling his brains to think of some reason for the runabout’s acting -as it did. - -“It brought us out of Krug’s Corner as nice as you please,” he mused. - -“Which is just the way it took us into Krug’s Corner,” proceeded the -cowboy. “That’s the way the pesky thing works. First it lulls you into -thinking it wouldn’t side-step, or buck-jump, or do anything else that -was crooked or underhand for the world; then, when you think you’re all -right, the runabout hauls off and hands you one. That’s the meanest -kind of treachery--reaching out the glad hand only to land on you with -a bunch of fives. There’s something human about that car, Matt.” - -“Inhuman, I should say,” muttered Matt. “Well, it’s too much for me. -Get in, Joe, and we’ll cross the track to those trees over there and -rest up a little before we go on to the Malvern Country Club.” - -“Damaged much, pard?” - -“Jolted some, that’s all.” - -“Same here. I landed in the road like a thousand of brick. This is -my first experience with a crazy automobile, and you can bet your -moccasins it will be the last. I didn’t know there was such a thing.” - -“There isn’t,” said Matt. “How can you put together a lot of machine -and have anything but a senseless piece of mechanism?” - -“I’m by, when you pin me right down, pard, but if this car isn’t -locoed, then what’s the matter with it?” - -“Something must go wrong.” - -“Goes wrong and then fixes itself,” jeered the cowboy. “If you’d -look the blamed thing over this minute, you wouldn’t be able to find -anything out of order.” - -Once more Matt started the car, and once more it acted like a sane -and sensible machine, carrying the boys to the shade of the trees and -stopping obediently to let them alight. - -Matt flung himself down on the grass at the roadside and examined his -watch to ascertain whether it had been injured. He found the timepiece -in good condition. - -“Ten-fifteen, Joe,” he observed, replacing the watch in his vest and -noticing that his chum was still carrying the manila envelope in his -hand as he sat down beside him. “What are you holding that envelope -for?” he inquired. - -“I reckon I’ve gone off the jump myself, Matt,” laughed McGlory. “It -dropped out of my pocket when I fell into the road. I picked it up, but -have been too badly rattled ever since to do anything but hold it in my -hand.” - -McGlory was about to put it in his pocket when Matt suggested that he -examine the contents and see if he could discover the name and address -of the man who owned the runabout. - -The cowboy pulled out a couple of papers. Unfolding one of them, he -read some typewritten words and gave a gasp and turned blank eyes on -his chum. - -“What’s wrong?” queried Matt. - -“Listen to this,” was the answer. “‘Private Report on the Pauper’s -Dream Mine, by Hannibal J. Levitt, Mining Engineer, of New York -City.’ Wouldn’t that rattle your spurs, Matt?” cried McGlory. “The -syndicate had an expert go out to Arizona and make an examination of -the ‘Pauper’s Dream,’--you remember the colonel told me about that, in -his letter. Here’s the report! It drops into our hands by the queerest -happen-chance you ever heard of. Mister Man takes a header from a crazy -chug cart, unloads the machine onto you, and then hustles for Krug’s, -leaving the report behind. He’s not at Krug’s when we get there, so -the report is left in our hands. This couldn’t have happened once in a -million times, pard!” - -Matt was rubbing his bruised shins and allowing the amazing event to -drift through his brain. It was queer, there was no mistake about it. -In fact, all the experiences of the boys that Thursday morning were on -the “queer” order. - -“You say,” said Matt, “that the document is headed ‘Private Report.’ -Why should it be a private report if it is for the syndicate?” - -“Private for the syndicate, I reckon.” - -“Hardly that, Joe. Unless there’s some skullduggery that report ought -to be public property--public enough so that it could go into a -prospectus. What’s the other paper?” - -McGlory opened the other document, and found it to be a letter from -Colonel Billings, dated nearly a month previous. - -“It’s a letter from the colonel, Matt,” the cowboy announced, “and -is addressed to Levitt. The colonel says he will not pay Levitt the -balance due until Levitt sends him the private report on the ‘Pauper’s -Dream’ proposition.” - -“Great spark plugs!” exclaimed Matt. - -“What’s strange about that?” demanded McGlory. “If Levitt made an -examination of the property he certainly expects pay for it.” - -“But not from the colonel, Joe! Levitt was examining the mine for the -syndicate, and he’s not entitled to any money from the colonel unless -he’s doing shady work of some kind.” - -“Speak to me about that!” muttered McGlory. “It looks as though we’d -grabbed a live wire when we got hold of this yellow envelope.” - -“I don’t like the way the business stacks up,” said Matt earnestly. -“The owner of this troublesome runabout happens to be Hannibal J. -Levitt, and he’s playing an unscrupulous double game. Glance through -that report and give me the gist of it.” - -Eagerly--and a little apprehensively--McGlory looked through the -private report. His face grew longer and longer as he read. - -“Sufferin’ poorhouses!” he cried at last. “Levitt says, in this report, -that the ‘Pauper’s Dream’ isn’t a mine, but a pocket, and that the -pocket has been worked out. In other words, pard, my hundred shares -of stock are worth just about what they’ll bring for scrap paper. -And the colonel had me worked up till I thought I was going to be a -millionaire! Riddle: Where was Moses when the light went out?” - -McGlory fell back on the grass and kicked up his heels dejectedly. - -“Can’t you see through the dodge your Tucson colonel is working, Joe?” -asked Matt. - -“Dodge?” echoed McGlory. “The ‘Pauper’s Dream’ is just a hole in the -ground. We can’t any of us dodge that.” - -“The colonel,” went on Matt quietly, “is paying Levitt to make a false -report to the syndicate. To-night the syndicate meets and decides -whether or not it will buy the ‘Pauper’s Dream.’ Levitt’s false report -has already been submitted, I suppose, and read. You show up at the -meeting with the two bars of bullion, and a sworn statement from the -colonel that they came out of the ten-stamp mill on the ‘Dream’ during -one week’s run. That clinches the proposition. The syndicate, relying -on Levitt’s honesty, and, incidentally, on the colonel’s, pay over a -big sum for a worthless hole in the ground, and----” - -The cowboy leaped erect, flushed and excited. - -“And the colonel,” he cried, “divides the proceeds among the -stockholders! That gives me a big profit on my five hundred. Oh, well, -I reckon I’ve got my dipper right side up during this rain.” - -McGlory chuckled. Matt stared at him as though he hardly believed what -he heard. - -“Pard,” said Matt quietly, “it’s a game of out-and-out robbery.” - -“That’s the syndicate’s lookout, not mine. If they want to drop half a -million into that hole in the ground, what is it to me?” - -“I don’t think you mean that, Joe,” said Matt, getting up. “We’ll go on -to the Malvern Country Club and find out what Griggs has to say to you. -We’ve got plenty of time to figure the matter over before the Syndicate -meets to-night.” - -Matt’s face was set and determined, and there was a smouldering light -in his gray eyes, which proved that he had nerved himself for some -duty which might be disagreeable. McGlory was wrapped in thought--so -concerned in his own affairs that he forgot Matt, forgot the -treacherous nature of the runabout, forgot everything but the “Pauper’s -Dream” and his chances for winning or losing a fortune. - - - - -CHAPTER V. THE UNEXPECTED. - - -The unexpected happened at least twice to the motor boys between -ten-thirty and eleven o’clock that Thursday morning. First, they -naturally expected to have trouble with the runabout, but it carried -out its work handsomely and deposited them in the Malvern Country Club -garage at precisely five minutes of eleven. - -There was not much talk between the boys during the ride. McGlory -was concerned with his “Pauper’s Dream” reflections--and Matt had -reflections of his own. Besides his thoughts, which were none too -agreeable, Matt had to recall Billy’s instructions for finding the way, -and also to be on the alert for any sudden tantrum on the part of the -runabout. But the tantrum did not develop, and the boys left the garage -and made their way across the broad lawn of the clubhouse to a porch -which extended along the front of the building. - -“I’d like to see Mr. Joshua Griggs,” said McGlory to a stout person -wearing side-whiskers and knee breeches. The servant looked the boys -over. - -“Wot nyme?” he asked. - -“Matt King and Joe McGlory--two nymes.” - -“’E’s hexpecting you. This w’y, please.” - -The boys were ushered through a great apartment with a beamed ceiling -and a fireplace that covered half of one end of the room, up a flight -of broad stairs, and along a wide hall. Here the servant paused by a -door and knocked. A mumble of voices, coming from the other side of the -door, ceased abruptly. - -“What’s wanted?” demanded some one. - -“Mr. McGlory hand friend, sir.” - -“Send ’em in.” - -The servant pushed open the door, drew to one side, and bowed the boys -out of the hall. Then the unexpected happened for the second time. - -There were two men in the room, and the atmosphere was thick with -tobacco smoke and a reek of liquor. A box of cigars was on a table; -also a decanter and two glasses, a bowl of cracked ice, and a bottle of -“fizz” water. - -A man was seated in a comfortable chair, rocking and smoking. This man -was Hannibal J. Levitt, owner of the unmanageable runabout. - -The other man was tall and gaunt. He wore a black frock coat and gray -trousers, a flowing tie, and a big diamond in the front of his pleated -white shirt. His hair was a trifle long and a trifle thin on the crown. -A mustache spread widely from his upper lip; and a wisp of pointed -beard decorated his chin. - -This latter individual exploded a hearty laugh as McGlory recoiled and -stared like a person in a trance. - -“Howdy, son?” barked the man in the long coat, sweeping down on the -cowboy and seizing his hand. “Something of a surprise, hey? Lookin’ for -Griggs, by gad, and you find me!” - -“Colonel!” gulped McGlory. “Speak to me about this! Why, I thought you -were in Tucson?” - -“Made up my mind at the last minute that I’d better trek eastward and -make sure the deal for the ‘Dream’ went through.” He slapped McGlory -on the back. “A fortune, my boy, for all of us, by gad! The ‘Dream’s’ -a bonanza--gold from the grass roots down. But present your friend; -present your friend.” - -The colonel turned beamingly toward Matt. - -“My pard, Matt King,” said McGlory. “Everybody has heard of him, I -reckon.” - -“You do me proud,” bubbled the colonel, seizing Matt’s hand and pumping -his arm up and down. “A friend of McGlory’s is a friend of mine. Allow -me”--and he turned toward Levitt, only to find Levitt leaning across -the table, his jaws agape. “Well, well, well!” mumbled the colonel. -“What’s flagged you, Levitt?” - -“We’ve met before,” grinned Levitt. - -“How’s that?” - -“These are the young fellows to whom I gave that confounded runabout.” - -“A conspiracy, by gad, to keep me from meeting McGlory! How’d you -expect him to get here in a motor wagon you couldn’t run yourself?” - -“I didn’t know who the lads were, colonel, or I’d have been more -considerate. But”--and here he turned to Matt--“how _did_ you do it?” - -“We had plenty of trouble with the machine,” said Matt, “but we made it -bring us.” - -The situation was clearing. Levitt, at the time Matt and McGlory had -met him that morning, was also on his way to the Malvern Country Club. - -“Re-markable!” cooed the colonel. “But it’s a terrible land for dust, -ain’t it?” He poured something from the decanter into the glasses. -“Irrigate!” he said. “Advance by file, my young friends, and refresh -the inner man.” - -“None for me, colonel,” answered Matt, whose opinion of the colonel was -dropping by swift degrees. - -“That’s the way I stack up, too, colonel,” grinned McGlory. - -The colonel looked horrified. - -“From Arizona, Joseph,” he murmured, “and you won’t indulge? -Ex-traordinary, I must say. Smoke?” And he indicated the box of cigars. - -“No, colonel,” declined Matt. - -A sheepish look crossed McGlory’s face as he met the colonel’s -inquiring eye. - -“I’m in line with my pard,” said he. - -“Astounding!” gasped the colonel. “Both habits are -reprehensible--exceedingly so. I honor you highly, my lads, -but--ahem!--your shining example is one by which I may not profit.” He -turned to the mining engineer. “The fire-water is before us, Levitt,” -said he; “charge!” - -Two hands gripped the glasses simultaneously, and a gurgling followed. -The colonel dried his lips elaborately with a large yellow handkerchief. - -“The day, Joseph,” he resumed, “is not far distant when you can own a -private yacht, a racing stable, an imported car, and a lordly mansion. -I have come personally to New York to drive the business through and -clinch it. To-night we show the moneyed interests what we’ve got up our -wide and flowing sleeves. Half a million in coin, my son, will rise to -the bait like a speckled trout to the alluring fly. But be seated, be -seated; let’s all be seated.” - -Matt took a chair by an open window, and McGlory dropped into another -at a little distance. - -“The telegram I received, colonel,” observed the cowboy, “was signed -‘Joshua Griggs.’” - -“Even so, my dear youth,” smiled the colonel, lowering himself into -a chair and lifting his feet to the top of the table. “Mr. Griggs -lives in Hempstead. I am enjoying his hospitality, and he has put me -up at this most delightful club. I arrived yesterday afternoon, and -I yearned to clasp your honest palm before we met in Liberty Street -to-night. Incidentally, I will relieve you of further responsibility in -the matter of the bullion. Being somewhat fatigued after my long and -arduous railroad journey, the Syndicate meeting was put off. To-night, -however, we shall be there; and to-night, my son, we put our fortunes -to the touch.” - -The colonel was altogether too loquacious to suit Matt--too fluent and -insincere. That he was entirely capable of engineering a huge swindle -Matt felt sure. And Matt regretted to note that the colonel exerted a -powerful influence over McGlory. - -“Is this deal for the ‘Pauper’s Dream’ on the level, colonel?” inquired -the cowboy. - -A lighted bomb, suddenly dropped in front of the colonel and Levitt, -would not have caused more consternation. The colonel’s feet fell from -the table with a bang, and the mining engineer once more threw himself -half-way across the table top. - -There followed a period of silence. The colonel, after an odd look at -Levitt, was first to speak. - -“McGlory,” said he, “you are my friend, and I would take a good deal -from a friend. Has my integrity ever been questioned? Have you any -reason to believe that this mining deal is not on the level?” - -“Shucks!” deprecated McGlory. “Is the syndicate anxious to buy a pocket -that’s been worked out? Have they got so much money, these Syndicate -fellows, that they want to drop some of it into a mine that’s a ‘dream’ -in more senses of the word than one?” - -This was another bomb. Levitt went white, and breathed hard. Colonel -Billings drew a deep breath, studied McGlory’s face, and then looked at -the ceiling. Then once more he was first to speak. - -“My son,” said he, “you talk like a buck ’Pache with more tizwin aboard -than is good for him. And yet you must be in your sober senses. What -are your grounds for expressing yourself in that--er--preposterous -manner? I wait to learn!” - -“Well,” answered the cowboy, “when Levitt took his header from that -runabout of his, on the Jericho Pike, a long yellow envelope dropped -from his pocket----” - -“I breathe again!” interjected the colonel. “You found it, McGlory?” - -“That’s the size of it.” - -“And you read the contents of that yellow envelope?” - -“Matt and I wanted to find out the name of the man who owned the -runabout. That’s how we happened to read the ‘private report.’ It -wasn’t good reading, colonel.” - -“It was for private perusal by the inner circle, my son,” said the -colonel. “Levitt and I were vastly worried over the loss of that -report. I will trouble you for it, my boy.” - -The colonel reached out his hand. McGlory took the envelope from his -pocket, and was about to pass it over when Matt reached forward and -caught it from his fingers. - -“I beg your pardon,” said Matt, “but I was the one who found this -envelope. I gave it to Joe when I threw off my coat, east of Krug’s -Corner, to tinker with the runabout. I am going to take care of it.” - -All four were on their feet--Matt determined, McGlory puzzled and -bewildered, the colonel wrathful, and Levitt with a dangerous gleam in -his eyes. - - - - -CHAPTER VI. A DIFFERENCE OF OPINION. - - -“Well, by gad!” exclaimed the colonel, realizing suddenly what sort of -a lad he had to deal with in Matt King. - -“What’s that for, pard?” inquired McGlory. - -“It don’t belong to you, or to McGlory, or to any one but me!” said -Levitt. “If you try to keep that document, King, you’re nothing more -nor less than a thief.” - -The red ran into Matt’s face. - -“Softly, softly,” breathed the colonel. “This talk of thieves, Levitt, -is a little premature. Matt King is a friend of McGlory’s, and he could -not be that if there was any yellow streak in his nature. No, by gad! -We are all gentlemen here. King, sir, if that manila envelope contains -papers belonging to our mutual friend, Levitt, you will return them to -him, will you not?” - -“After a while,” said Matt; “not immediately.” - -The colonel seemed thunderstruck. - -“You hear?” muttered Levitt, between his teeth. “He’s trying to play -double with us, Billings! Those papers mean a whole lot to me, and I’m -going to have them!” - -The colonel’s mood underwent a change. Attempts at conciliation having -failed, there now remained nothing but vigorous action. His first move -was to pass rapidly to the door, turn a key in the lock, and drop the -key into his pocket. Then he once more approached Matt. - -“May I inquire, young man,” he bristled, “what you mean by this most -remarkable conduct?” - -“I’m trying to protect Joe and myself,” Matt answered. - -“Protect? Protect yourself and Joe against what, in Heaven’s name?” - -“Against being drawn into a criminal act by you and Levitt, and being -compelled to take the consequences.” - -“He talks like a fool!” snapped the mining engineer. - -“He is misinformed, that’s all,” said the colonel. - -“I’m not misinformed,” went on Matt sturdily. “These New York -capitalists hired Levitt to go to Arizona and investigate the ‘Pauper’s -Dream.’ He made two reports, one private and the other for the members -of the Syndicate. One says the mine is no good, and the other, of -course, gives it a glittering recommendation.” - -“How do you know,” asked Levitt, his voice shaking with anger, “that -the Syndicate’s report is different from the other?” - -“Because Colonel Billings is paying you for making it,” replied Matt. -“Would the colonel give you good money for handing that private report -over to the Syndicate? Hardly. Colonel Billings is here to sell the -mine.” - -“How do you know Billings is paying me anything?” - -“He has already paid you a little, and you came out here this morning -to receive the rest of it. If that crazy runabout of yours hadn’t -interfered, you’d have been able to turn the private report over to the -colonel, and no one would ever have been the wiser.” - -“How do you know all this?” Levitt’s voice was husky. - -“There was a letter from the colonel in the envelope along with the -report.” - -“By gad!” Billings whirled on the mining engineer. “You don’t mean to -say, Levitt,” he asked, “that you had so little sense as to keep that -letter of mine?” - -“Why shouldn’t I keep it? It was the only thing in the way of an -agreement that I had with you.” - -“Then”--and the colonel tossed his hands--“that lets in the search -light on the two of us.” - -“And we’ve caught a tartar in this meddling young whelp,” ground out -Levitt, waving his hand toward Matt. - -“He’s an intelligent youth, Levitt,” declared the colonel, “and -amenable to reason. Let me talk with him. My dear young man,” said the -colonel to Matt, “assuming that what you say about the report is true, -in what way are you legally liable through association with Levitt and -myself?” - -“You’re trying to swindle a company of New York capitalists,” answered -Matt, “and Joe and I, not knowing the deal was crooked, have already -been dragged into it. If we allowed the plot to go on we would be -equally guilty with you and Levitt, and we could be arrested and sent -to prison.” - -A tolerant smile crossed the colonel’s face. - -“Suppose I assure you that there is not the remotest possibility of -any of us going to prison,” said he; “will you give up that report and -letter?” - -Matt hesitated, not because his determination was wavering, but because -he wanted to put his thoughts in the right words. - -“It means a fortune to McGlory,” urged the colonel; “and what kind of a -fellow are you to euchre a friend out of a fortune?” - -“It’s not an honest fortune,” declared Matt, “and Joe can’t afford to -accept it. Besides, what good would it do him if he found himself in -the penitentiary for obtaining money under false pretenses?” - -The colonel was beginning to lose patience. - -“You’ve got less sense than any cub of your years I ever met up with!” -he cried irritably. “How much money do you want for that report and -letter? That’s your play, I reckon; and I’d rather shell out a hundred -or two than have any trouble with you. How much do I bleed?” - -The colonel measured Matt with wrathful and inquiring eyes. - -“You haven’t money enough to buy me!” declared Matt. - -“Aw, cut it short!” broke in Levitt savagely. “What’s the use of -fooling with him any longer? - -“Wait!” cautioned the colonel. “McGlory,” he went on, to the cowboy, -“what do you mean by lugging such a two-faced longhorn into a private -and important council like this?” - -“You’re wide of your trail, colonel,” said McGlory, with spirit. -“There’s nothing two-faced about Matt King, and you can spread your -blankets and go to sleep on that. He’s the clear quill from spurs to -sombrero, and the best pard that ever rode sign with me. Don’t you make -any mistake in taking his sizing.” - -“Well, what is he trying to rope down and tie your bright prospects -for?” - -“He’s got more sense in a minute than I have in a year, and you can bet -your boot straps he knows what he’s doing--even if I don’t.” - -“You’re far wide of your trail, Joseph. Matt King is committing an -illegal act this minute. He has property belonging to Levitt and -refuses to give it up. He could be jailed for a thief. But we’re not -going to jail him. We’ll just take that report and letter from him.” - -“Then you’ll have to walk over me to do it, colonel!” asserted McGlory. - -“By gad!” muttered the colonel. “You’ve got as little sense as he has.” - -“Brainwork never was my long suit, but I’ve seen enough of Pard Matt to -feel safe in banking on any notion that he bats up to me.” - -“Bah!” gibed the colonel. “I’ll talk with you later, McGlory, and take -pains to show you the error of your way. As for Matt King, he’s a false -friend. He’s jealous because you’re about to come into a fortune, and -he’s doing all he can to shift the cut and leave you stranded.” - -“That’s not true!” said Matt. “Joe knows me better than that.” - -“Sure I do, pard. Come on, and let’s get out of here.” - -The actions of the two men were threatening. McGlory started toward the -door; but happened to remember that it was locked, and that the colonel -had the key in his pocket. - -“Cough up the key, colonel,” said the cowboy. “Don’t force me to yell -and have up that fellow with the knee pants and the lilocks.” - -“It will be better for you youngsters,” growled the colonel, “if you -don’t raise a commotion. The surest way to see the inside of a lockup -is by calling for help. Are you going to hand over those papers?” And -he turned to Matt. “Last call.” - -“I’ll return them,” said Matt, “but not till after that meeting -to-night.” - -He slipped the manila envelope into the breast of his coat. Having -planned what he considered was the best move, the young motorist was -never more resolute in seeking to carry it out. Even though he was -retaining Levitt’s property, yet right and justice upheld him in doing -so. - -“By Jupiter,” murmured Levitt, his eyes flaming, “he’s intending to -take that private report to the Syndicate meeting to-night! If he -does----” He gulped on his words, finishing with a significant glance -at Billings. - -Matt was wondering how he and McGlory could get out of the room -without making too much of a scene. He understood very well that the -colonel could inaugurate a pursuit, in case he and his chum succeeded -in getting away with the envelope and its contents, and that, for a -time at least, any story the colonel and Levitt chose to tell would be -accepted. Temporary advantage was all on the side of the colonel and -the mining engineer. - -“He won’t show that paper at the meeting, Levitt,” gritted the colonel, -now thoroughly aroused. “We’re done fooling with him.” - -He stepped toward Matt from one side, while Levitt advanced from the -other. The cowboy tried to push closer to his chum, but the colonel -held him back. One of the colonel’s hands went groping in the direction -of a hip pocket. Matt guessed what the hand was after. - -“The window, Joe!” he called. - -Simultaneously with the words, the king of the motor boys whirled, -pushed through the window, lowered himself swiftly from the sill, and -dropped. - -The colonel grabbed at the hands on the sill, but they pulled out from -under his gripping fingers; then, looking downward, he saw the lithe, -agile form of Matt King lift itself from a flower bed and fade from -sight around a corner of the building. - -Two young fellows with golf sticks were crossing the lawn and had -witnessed Matt’s drop from the window. Naturally they were surprised at -the peculiar proceeding and stood looking up at the colonel. - -“Catch him!” bawled the colonel; “he’s a thief!” - -That was enough. The two members of the Country Club darted away after -Matt. - -McGlory was making preparations to drop from the other window, but the -colonel grabbed him at the critical moment and forced him into a chair. - -“Off with you, Levitt!” the colonel called. “You can catch that young -cub! And when you do overhaul him get the report and the letter at any -cost.” - -As he finished the colonel flung the door key toward the engineer. -The latter let himself out of the room and bounded excitedly down the -stairs. - - - - -CHAPTER VII. AN OLD FRIEND. - - -Matt hoped that McGlory would be able to follow him; but, if the cowboy -found this to be impossible, then Matt would do his best to prevent -the report from falling into the hands of the colonel and Levitt. That -report was the one thing of vital importance. On it alone hinged the -success or failure of the colonel’s gigantic swindling operations. Matt -must escape capture at any cost, in order to retain possession of the -report. - -The course of his flight carried him toward the rear of the Country -Club grounds. He heard the colonel’s shout to the young men just -in from the golf links, and he knew there would be a pursuit. Of -course Matt could explain the situation and perhaps escape legal -complications, but if caught he would be compelled to give up the -report. - -He darted across a tennis court, leaped the net, dodged behind a clump -of lilac bushes, and ran toward the edge of a grove that bordered the -Country Club grounds on that side. Between the lilacs and the grove was -a rustic pavilion. A flower bed was near the pavilion, and an old negro -was kneeling beside the bed, his back toward Matt, and industriously -pulling weeds. Matt had not much time to give to the negro, but hoped -that he was giving his whole attention to his work. As he came around -the pavilion Matt heard sounds which indicated that more pursuers -were after him--these coming from the direction of the garage and the -stables. - -To reach the timber without being seen seemed hopeless, and Matt looked -hurriedly around for some place in which he could secrete himself. - -The floor of the pavilion was elevated some two feet or more above the -surface of the ground. The opening between the floor and the ground -was filled in with panels of close latticework. One of the panels was -broken, and Matt dropped to his knees and crawled through it. - -This was not as secure a hiding place as he would have selected, if he -could have had his choice, but his emergency was such that he had no -time to look farther. - -Lying flat on the ground, so that his form would not be visible to his -pursuers, Matt watched and waited. - -The two young men with the golf sticks broke into view around the lilac -bushes. They were closely followed by three others, employees of the -club, evidently, for they wore overclothes. Matt recognized one of them -as having been in the garage when he and McGlory left the runabout -there. - -The old negro had lifted himself to his feet and was facing the five -pursuers. Freedom or capture for Matt depended upon what the old negro -knew. Scarcely breathing, the king of the motor boys listened for what -was to come. - -“Say, uncle,” panted one of the young men from the links, “did you see -a fellow running this way?” - -“Ah did, suh,” replied the negro. “Ah was as close tuh him as whut me -an’ yo’ is, boss.” - -Levitt at that instant rushed around the bushes. He was in time to hear -the negro’s answer to the question. - -“Which way did he go?” Levitt demanded. “He’s a thief, and we’ve got -to capture him and recover some stolen property. Which way did he run? -Quick!” - -The old darky turned and deliberately pointed away from the pavilion -and to a point in the encompassing timber which led toward the road, -well to the north of the clubhouse. - -“Dat’s de way he went, boss,” said he, “an’, by golly, he went jess -a-hummin’.” - -“This way, men!” shouted Levitt, leaping off in the direction indicated -by the negro. - -The six pursuers disappeared at a run, and left Matt gasping with -astonishment. Why had the old darky put them on the wrong track? It was -preposterous to think that the negro had himself been deceived. - -While Matt was turning the matter over in his mind, and puzzling his -brain with it, the negro began to whistle softly and to limp in the -direction of the pavilion. On reaching the broken panel of latticework, -he leaned against the railing of the pavilion. - -“How yo’ lak dat, Marse Matt?” he chuckled. “Didn’t Ah done send um on -de wrong track, huh? En yo’ all thought Ah wasn’t lookin’ at yo’, en -dat Ah didn’t know who yo’ was! Har, har, har!” - -The darky laughed softly as he finished talking. - -Matt’s wonderment continued to grow. - -“Great spark plugs!” he muttered, recognizing an old acquaintance. “Is -it--can it be--Uncle Tom?” - -“Dat’s who Ah is, marse! Hit’s been a right sma’t of er while since -Ah had de pleasuah ob seein’ yo’. De las’ time we was togedder was in -Denvah. ’Membah all dem excitin’ times we had in Arizony, dat time dat -Topsy gal en me was wif dat Uncle Tom’s Cabin comp’ny? Golly, I ain’t -nevah gwineter fo’git dat! Who’s been doin’ yo’ mascottin’ lately, huh? -’Pears lak no one had, f’om de ha’d luck yo’ is in.” - -Matt recalled Uncle Tom very vividly. The aged negro had belonged to -a stranded company of players, and Matt had helped them out of their -difficulties. But that had happened in the Southwest, and here was -Uncle Tom about as far East as he could get. The world is not so large, -after all, and many strange and unexpected meetings occur. - -“I’m more surprised than I can tell, Uncle Tom,” said Matt, “to run -across you, here on Long Island, and at a time when I certainly needed -a friend. It may be that you can help me even more, but----” - -“Ah’s pinin’ tuh do all dat Ah can fo’ yo’, Marse Matt,” interposed the -darky earnestly. - -“But,” went on Matt, “this is hardly a safe place for me. If the coast -is clear I guess I’d better crawl out and get into the woods.” - -“Yo’s right erbout dat, marse. Ah’s so plumb tickled tuh see yo’ dat I -come mighty nigh fo’gittin’ yo’s bein’ hunted fo’. Wait twell Ah take -er look erroun’.” - -Uncle Tom stepped away from the pavilion and swept a keen glance over -the grounds in that vicinity. - -“De coast am cleah, Marse Matt,” he announced, returning to the side of -the pavilion. “Yo come out an’ hike fo’ de woods, en Ah’ll foller yuh. -Den we can talk a li’l, en you can tell me whut mo’ de ole man can do.” - -Matt pushed through the broken lattice and gained the timber line at a -point opposite the place where his pursuers had vanished. Here, for a -time, he was safe, and he sank down behind a mask of brush. Uncle Tom -was not long in reaching his side. - -“Golly,” he beamed, looking Matt over, “but hit’s good fo’ sore eyes -jess tuh see yo’, marse. Ah nevah expected nuffin’ lak dis. Mouty -peculiah how folks meets up wif one anotheh sometimes, dat-er-way.” - -“How did you happen to wander in this direction, Uncle Tom?” Matt asked. - -“Mascottin’,” answered the old man gravely. “Ah be’n mascottin’ fo’ -er prize fighteh. Terry, de Cricket, is whut he called himse’f, en Ah -won a fight fo’ him in Denvah, en another in Kansas City; but in New -Yawk Terry, de Cricket, done ’spected me tuh do all de wo’k, en he went -down wif er chirp, en dey counted ten on him. Ah couldn’t help dat, -but Terry he ’low Ah was losin’ mah mascottin’ ability, en he turned -me loose. Topsy done got er job in er house in Hempstead, en Ah picked -up dis place at de Country Club. But Ah doan’ like hit, marse. Ah’s er -ole man, en hit’s backachin’ wo’k. Yo’ needs er mascot bad, en now’s de -time tuh take me on.” - -Uncle Tom was a humorous old rascal, and professed to believe that he -possessed mystical powers as a luck bringer. He declared that he had -helped Matt, and Matt humored him by letting him think so, giving him a -few dollars now and then to help him keep body and soul together. - -“I’m not in shape just now, Uncle Tom,” said Matt, “to hire a private -mascot of your abilities. You see, I’m mixed up in a bit of trouble -that I’ve got to work through alone.” - -“Bymby, Marse Matt, mebby yo’ all can make er place fo’ Uncle Tom?” -pleaded the negro. “Jess remembah whut Ah’s done fo’ yo’ in de past. -Ah nevah mascotted fo’ anybody dat Ah liked so well as yo’se’f. Dat’s -right. Has yo’ got a dollah yo’ can let go of wifout material damage to -yo’ own welfare?” - -Matt extracted a five-dollar bill from his pocket and pushed it into -the negro’s yellow palm. Uncle Tom’s gratitude was so intense it was -almost morbid. - -“Yo’s de fines’ fellah dat evah was,” he declared, grabbing Matt’s hand -and hanging to it. “Dat’s de trufe. Ah’d raddah wo’k fo’ you fo’ nuffin -dan fo’ some odders fo’ er millyun dollahs er day. Dat’s right. Yo’s de -same ole Marse Matt, en yo’----” - -“I haven’t much time to talk, Uncle Tom,” interrupted Matt. “When I -left the clubhouse I had to drop from a second-story window. I made -it all right, but I left a friend behind. My friend’s name is Joe -McGlory. Do you think you could get word to him?” - -“Shuah Ah can!” replied the old negro promptly. “What kin’ ob a lookin’ -fellah is dat ’ar Joe McGlory?” - -Matt described his chum’s appearance, and the darky listened closely. - -“Find out,” Matt finished, “whether McGlory is still upstairs in the -clubhouse. If he is I don’t suppose you can communicate with him, for -you will have to do it privately. Providing you can get word to him, -tell him to meet me in the grove at the roadside, a quarter of a mile -north of the clubhouse. Got that?” - -“Yas, I done got dat, marse.” - -“If you can’t get word to McGlory inside of an hour, then you come and -tell me, will you?” - -“Yo’ knows, Marse Matt, yo’ can count on Uncle Tom. Ah’ll do whut yo’ -say, en Ah’ll wo’k mah ole haid off mascottin’ fo’ yo’ while Ah’m doin’ -it.” - -The old darky slipped away through the edge of the timber, and Matt, -none too sanguine, proceeded to lay a course for the spot where he -hoped to be joined by his cowboy chum. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. THE COLONEL TRIES PERSUASION. - - -For a few moments McGlory struggled in the grasp of Colonel Billings. -He was excited, and angry over the way Matt had been treated, and -he would not have hesitated to do the colonel an injury if he could -thereby have escaped from the room and followed his pard. - -“Quiet!” ordered the colonel sternly. “You don’t understand this thing, -McGlory, or you wouldn’t be fighting to escape from me. I’m the best -friend you ever had, if you only knew it.” - -“Nary, you ain’t!” panted the cowboy. “My best friend just risked his -neck dropping out of the window. You’re trying to get me into trouble, -and Pard Matt is trying to keep me out. Take your hands off me, -colonel!” - -“I will, Joe, just as soon as you promise to sit still and hear what I -have to say.” - -McGlory reflected that it was too late to follow Matt, who was probably -doing his best to evade Levitt and the others who were hot on his -trail. The cowboy reasoned that he could find his chum later, and that -there could be no harm in listening to what the colonel had to say. - -“Go on,” said he curtly. - -“You’ll stay right where you are until I’m done?” asked the colonel. - -“Yes.” - -Billings drew back, dropped into a chair, and laid a friendly hand on -the cowboy’s knee. His voice changed, sounding the depths of friendly -interest and personal regard. - -“Joe,” he remarked, “ever since your father took the One-way Trail -I’ve sort of felt that I was responsible for your welfare. I knew your -father mighty well--better than any one else in Tucson, I reckon--and -him and me was bosom friends.” - -McGlory had no personal knowledge on this point, but he was willing to -take the colonel’s word for it. - -“If I can do anything for Joe,” the colonel went on, “I says to myself -that I won’t leave a stone unturned to do it. When the ‘Pauper’s Dream’ -proposition came under my management I knew I had the chance I wanted -to turn your way. I sold you a hundred shares of the stock at five -dollars a share, and we went on to develop the claim.” - -“And there wasn’t any more gold in the shaft,” spoke up the cowboy -dryly, “than there was in a New England well.” - -“That’s what everybody thought,” returned the colonel, “but I knew -better.” - -He got up, went to the table, and helped himself to a drink from the -decanter. - -“Better have a nip, son, eh?” he asked, as by an afterthought, before -leaving the table. - -“Not for me,” replied McGlory stoutly. “Pard Matt don’t believe in that -sort of thing, and I get along better when I make his notions my own. -I’ve found that out more than once.” - -The colonel sighed resignedly, but did not press the point. Returning -to his chair, he continued his persuasions. - -“I knew when I sold you that stock that there was a reef of rich gold -ore under the ‘Pauper’s Dream.’ I didn’t want it found until the right -minute. Those who had bought stock in the claim got scared. Some of -them sold their stock back to me for a song. When I’d got enough of the -stock to give me a controlling interest _I found the gold vein_.” - -“That was a double play,” said McGlory bluntly. “There wasn’t anything -fair about that, colonel.” - -“It was all fair. Some of the stockholders were trying to freeze me -out. By letting them think there wasn’t any gold in the ‘Dream’ I -turned the tables and froze _them_ out. It was simply a game of diamond -cut diamond--and I was a little too sharp for my enemies. That was all -right, wasn’t it?” - -McGlory thought the colonel had a fair excuse for acting as he had done. - -“When we laid open that gold vein,” pursued the colonel, “buyers -flocked around the ‘Pauper’s Dream’ like crows around a cornfield. They -wanted to buy. I saw a chance to deal with this New York syndicate for -big money, so I had the syndicate send out an expert to examine our -property. Levitt came. I asked him to make out a true report for the -syndicate and a private, false report for--other uses.” - -McGlory opened his eyes. - -“I see I’ve got you guessing,” laughed the colonel gently. “This is -how that private report came to be made out--that private report -on which your misguided friend has built such a fabric of unjust -suspicions. The men I had frozen out of the company began to threaten -legal proceedings. The proceedings wouldn’t have amounted to that”--and -the colonel snapped his fingers--“for those fellows hadn’t a leg -to stand on; but do you know what they could have done? Why, they’d -have tied up the mine for a year or two and prevented the sale to the -syndicate. In order to get around that I hired Levitt to make out that -fake report, and leave it where those soreheads could see it. Now -my hands are free. The sale can be made to the syndicate, and we’ll -all win a fortune--providing your misguided friend doesn’t take that -cock-and-bull story of his to the meeting to-night.“ - -“Couldn’t you explain the matter to the syndicate, colonel, just as you -have to me?” asked the cowboy. - -“I could, yes; but they’d shy off. A little thing like that sometimes -knocks a big deal galley-west. It’s best not to let any intimation of -that fake report reach the ears of the syndicate until we have the -syndicate’s money safely in our clothes. Young King means well--I’ll -give him credit for that--but he’s shy a couple of chips this hand, and -if he butts in we’re going to be left out in the cold. That’s all there -is to it.” - -“Why didn’t you explain this to Matt?” - -“The explanation is for our own stockholders, and not for outsiders. -A word, a whisper might leak through and reach the fellows who could -block the deal. We mustn’t allow that. My boy, my boy”--and here the -colonel became very gentle, very fatherly--“I’m doing the best I can -for you. I’m trying to hand you a fortune, and you’ve got to help -me--in spite of Pard Matt. It’s your duty to help me. You’ll never have -such a chance to pick out a brownstone front on Easy Street, and you -mustn’t let the opportunity slip through your fingers.” - -To say that Joe McGlory was not influenced by the colonel’s words would -be to say that he was not human. The cowboy wanted money, not for its -own sake, but for the great things he felt he could do with it. Not -the least of the cowboy’s desires was to help Matt in some of his -far-reaching aims in the motor field. He accepted Billings’ story, and -he reached out and gripped his hand heartily. - -“I’m with you, chaps, taps, and latigoes!” he exclaimed. “But say, -can’t I tell Pard Matt? If he knew----” - -But the colonel was afraid of “Pard Matt.” The king of the motor boys -had a brain altogether too keen. - -“Not a word, not a syllable,” adjured Billings. “All that I have said, -Joe, you must keep under your hat--until after the meeting to-night and -until after the ‘Dream’ is sold. You must buckle in and help me and let -Matt think what he will. Afterward, when the money is divided, you can -show Pard Matt where he was wrong, and he’ll be glad to think that he -did not interfere with us in our work.” - -“But he’s going to interfere,” murmured McGlory. “Whenever Matt King -sets out to do a thing he does it. That’s his style. He’s got the fake -report, and he’ll use it at the meeting to-night--thinking he’s doing -me a good turn.” - -“I believe that Levitt will catch him,” asserted the colonel. - -“You don’t know my pard as well as I do,” returned the cowboy -dejectedly. “I wonder if I couldn’t----” McGlory paused. - -“Couldn’t what?” urged the colonel. - -“Never mind now. I’m going out and see if I can’t do something.” - -Billings stared steadily at the lad for a moment. - -“All right,” said he, “go and do what you can. Remember I have -confidence in you, and you’re not to breathe a word regarding what -we have talked about. I shall have to get to New York before three -o’clock. The bank closes then, and I’ve got to get that bullion. I’ll -have to start in a fast car by one. Come back and report to me before I -leave.” - -“I’ll do it,” replied the cowboy, hurrying out of the room. - -The colonel chuckled, threw himself back in a chair, and lighted a -cigar. - -“Easy, easy, easy!” he muttered. “I can wrap McGlory around my fingers -and not half try. Now, if King is captured, and if I can be sure he -won’t meddle with me to-night, everything will be serene.” - -The resourceful colonel accepted his worries calmly. He had too much -dignity to take part in a foot race, so he remained in a comfortable -chair by the window and waited for news. - -McGlory was back in ten minutes. His face was glowing. - -“Matt King dodged Levitt and all the rest who were trailing him,” he -reported. - -“What!” The colonel arose excitedly from his seat. - -“Don’t fret, colonel,” grinned the cowboy, “it’s not so bad as that. -An old darky who works around the club grounds helped Matt make his -getaway. Matt asked him to tell me to meet him in the woods at the -roadside, a quarter of a mile north. That’s where I’m going now. You’ll -hear from me before one o’clock, colonel.” - -“What are you going to do?” rapped out the colonel. - -“Something that will make the deal a sure go. I haven’t time to talk -much. _Adios_, for now.” - -McGlory was away again like a shot, leaving the colonel wondering--and -fretting a little. - -A few minutes later Levitt came gloomily into the room. - -“That young cub gave us the slip,” said he savagely, “and I never had -such a run in my life. The fat’s in the fire, Billings.” - -“Not so, my friend,” returned the colonel, his quick wit grasping -something that looked like an opportunity. “Can you get hold of a man -who will help you? Are you acquainted with any one about the club -grounds who can be trusted to do a little brisk work and then keep -quiet about it?” - -“Well, yes. The man in the garage is known to me, and he’s out for -anything that’s got a dollar in it. But what of it?” - -The colonel’s plan was based on the information just communicated to -him by McGlory. He went into the matter swiftly, but exhaustively, and -when he had done the gloom had vanished from Levitt’s face. - -“It will work, it will work,” murmured the mining engineer, rubbing his -hands. - -“Then go and work it,” said the colonel briskly. - - - - -CHAPTER IX. WHAT AILS M’GLORY? - - -Matt King, in a clump of bushes a quarter of a mile north of the -Malvern Country Club, watched the road and waited for his chum. He had -not much hope that McGlory would join him, for he believed that the -cowboy would be held a prisoner by the colonel. - -What Matt was doing, in this particular matter, was all for his friend. -McGlory had become entangled with a gang of confidence men, who were -playing boldly for big stakes. Whether the dishonest game won out or -failed, Joe McGlory must have nothing to do with it. If he profited -by the crime he would be called on to suffer at the hands of the law; -and, even if the law never reached him, his conscience would make -him miserable all his life for the part he had played in such a huge -swindling scheme. - -Matt, at any cost to himself, meant to keep McGlory clear of Billings -and his criminal work. What is a friend for if not to stand shoulder to -shoulder with a chum and save his good name? This touched upon one of -Matt’s principles--one of his rules of conduct long ago formulated and -steadily adhered to. And it was a code which had played a big part in -his many successes. - -Minute after minute slipped away, and then Matt’s heart bounded as he -heard a crunch of footsteps around a turn in the wooded road. It might -be Uncle Tom who was coming, however, with a report of his failure to -deliver the message to McGlory. Peering through the bushes, hoping -against hope, Matt’s fears suddenly subsided and an expression of -thankfulness escaped his lips. - -McGlory was coming! - -Matt gave a low whistle. The cowboy answered it, and was soon at his -friend’s side, gripping his hands. - -“Bully for you, old chap!” exclaimed McGlory. “I’d like to see the gang -that could lay _you_ by the heels when you make up your mind to get -away.” - -“You saw Uncle Tom, then?” - -“Sure, or I shouldn’t be here. Old Ebony-face thinks you’re about -the whole works, from the way he talks. A lot of queer things have -happened to-day, but the queerest is your meeting Uncle Tom in this -out-of-the-way corner of Long Island.” - -“Wrong, Joe. The queerest--and the best--thing that’s happened is the -way we picked up that private report of Levitt’s. We have to thank the -crazy runabout for that.” - -McGlory, although of a different opinion on that point since listening -to the colonel’s persuasions, did not allow Matt to think that he -disagreed with him. - -“How did you make it?” the cowboy asked. “Uncle Tom didn’t tell me -much about that. Principally he worked his bazoo letting me know what -a great mascot he was, and how he used to pull luck your way down in -Arizona.” - -Matt, briefly as he could, told about the pavilion in the rear of the -club grounds, and how Uncle Tom had sent his pursuers on the wrong -track. - -McGlory laughed delightedly. He was playing a part with an important -point in view, and it was necessary to pull the wool over Matt’s eyes. -A despicable part it was, for one who had benefited at Matt’s hands -as had McGlory; but the cowboy was filled with the colonel’s specious -arguments and crafty explanations, and believed that, when the dust of -the affair had settled, and Matt knew everything, he would thank his -cowboy chum for preventing him from making a big mistake. - -“The colonel is a schemer, Joe,” declared Matt. - -“You bet your spurs he is,” chuckled McGlory. “That’s the way they -raise ’em out in Tucson. The only way to keep a fellow from getting -ahead of you is to get ahead of him first.” - -Matt did not approve of these sentiments, nor of the hearty admiration -the cowboy seemed to have for them. - -“Billings is scheming the best he knows how,” went on Matt, “to get -himself into trouble, Joe, and he’s figuring to drag you into it.” - -“But you’re figuring the other way,” answered McGlory, “and I’ll back -your headwork against the colonel’s any old time. What are you planning -to do now?” - -“I’ll have to know, first, what the situation is at the clubhouse as -regards yourself. How is that you happen to be at large?” - -“Well, pard, the colonel couldn’t do anything with me, so he let me go. -You’ve got the report, you know.” - -The cowboy was weaving a tangled web. The farther he went in his -deceptions the more he was obliged to misstate the facts. - -“You can go and come around the clubhouse,” continued Matt, “without -being in any danger from the colonel and Levitt?” - -“That’s the way of it.” - -“Then our next move is to get back to Manhattan. And, of course, we’ll -have to use the runabout.” - -“Why, Matt, we may run off the other end of Long Island if we try to -use that chug cart!” - -“We’ve got to use it, just the same, and you’re the one to get it from -the garage. The quicker we start on the return trip the better.” - -“You’re going to be at that meeting to-night?” - -“We’re both going to be there. You’re to offer the private report in -evidence, and tell all about our adventures this morning. I guess that -will spike the colonel’s gun and block his little game of wholesale -robbery.” - -“Then my fortune will go glimmering,” said Joe, but not with much -concern. - -“Better to let a questionable fortune go glimmering, pard,” answered -Matt earnestly, “than to do a dishonest thing that would bother you -all your life. And perhaps,” he added solemnly, “it might get you into -jail.” - -“Wow!” shivered the cowboy, feigning trepidation. “That’s an elegant -prospect--I don’t think.” - -“What’s more,” went on Matt, driving his suspicions home, “the -colonel’s such a schemer that I doubt whether, if he should swindle the -syndicate out of a lot of money, he ever turned over a penny of it to -you or to any of the other original stockholders.” - -This caused the cowboy an inward tremor. But he allowed the fear to -pass. Colonel Billings was his father’s friend--he had said so himself; -and the colonel felt a responsibility for his welfare--which is also -what the colonel had said himself. In the light of the colonel’s -persuasions the cowboy was taking his word in everything. - -“Well,” remarked the cowboy, “the colonel is up against the real thing -now. He’s due for such a slam as he never had before. We’re the boys to -do it; eh, Matt?” - -“We’ll make a stand for the right,” said Matt, “and work shoulder to -shoulder to win out. The colonel talks about a fortune. You and I can -make plenty of money, Joe. I think we have proved that. The motors are -mighty good friends to tie to, whether they’re hitched to submarines, -automobiles, or aëroplanes. We’ll pin our faith to the explosive -engine, and one of these days it will land us honestly in Easy Street.” - -The colonel, McGlory remembered, had mentioned “Easy Street.” But -not as Matt had done it. The longer the cowboy talked with his chum -the more he hated himself for the part he was playing. If he talked -with Matt too long McGlory was sure his purpose would slip from him, -and that he would let out everything about the inner history of the -colonel’s manipulations of the “Pauper’s Dream.” - -“I’d like to look inside that manila envelope once more, pard,” said -McGlory. “There’s a part of that private report I didn’t sabe, and I’d -like to read it over again.” - -Matt King promptly drew the envelope from his pocket and passed it to -his chum. - -“It’s evidence of the rascality of two men, Joe,” remarked Matt, -“and----” - -McGlory sprang up quickly and stepped out into the road. He paused -there, flashing his eyes up and down. Apparently he was looking for -somebody or something, but really he was fighting with himself. He -had reached the point where he must play up his scheme for all it was -worth, or else turn his back on Billings and a fortune. - -The cowboy felt sure he was about to do the right thing, but to put -himself in a wrong light with his beloved pard for only a few days was -proving a harder task than he had reckoned on. Abruptly he clinched his -resolve. Slipping the manila envelope into his pocket, he turned to -look at the apprehensive face of Matt among the bushes. - -“What is it, Joe?” queried Matt. “Some one coming?” - -“Some one going,” replied the cowboy, “and it’s me. You don’t -understand this, pard. Don’t think too hard of me until you know -everything.” - -Thereupon McGlory whirled and took to his heels, racing in the -direction of the clubhouse. - -Matt was so amazed he could not move or speak. What ailed McGlory? What -did he mean? - -“Joe!” he shouted, starting up from the bushes. - -But the cowboy was already around the turn in the road and lost to -Matt’s astounded eyes. - -While Matt King stood there, his mind nearly a blank, staring down the -road and wondering, a sharp voice came from behind him. - -“Quick on it, Kelly! Now’s your chance!” - -It was Levitt’s voice. Matt turned, only to be confronted by the burly -individual from the club garage. In a flash the man grabbed him and -hurled him crashing to his back among the bushes. - -“Steady, my lad!” threatened Kelly. “I don’t want ter be any rougher -with ye than I have ter, but orders is orders--an’ they say you’re a -thief.” - - - - -CHAPTER X. IN THE GARAGE. - - -Matt was so bewildered on account of McGlory’s actions that he offered -little resistance to Kelly and Levitt. Anyhow, the manila envelope had -been taken from him, and Levitt--as Matt reasoned--had nothing to gain -by the capture. - -“Here’s the rope, Kelly,” said the mining engineer, coming close. -“Better put it on him.” - -“You don’t have to tie me,” protested Matt. “I’m not a thief, Levitt, -and you know it. I’m willing to go, and go quietly, wherever you want -to take me. I guess I can explain the affair to the authorities so that -I’ll soon have my liberty.” - -Levitt gave him an odd look. - -“We’ll see about that,” he answered. “Tie his hands, anyway, Kelly,” he -added. - -Matt lay quietly while the rope was placed around his wrists. He -was wondering why Levitt didn’t search him for the report. To all -appearances the engineer wasn’t giving a thought to the document. - -“I haven’t that manila envelope, Levitt,” said Matt. “If you’ve made -a prisoner of me just to recover that you’re having your trouble for -nothing.” - -“I knew you didn’t have the envelope,” was the surprising answer. -“McGlory got that. Kelly and I were close enough to hear him talking -with you and to see him when he ran down the road. He fooled you that -time, and no mistake.” - -There was growing bitterness in Matt’s heart as he listened. - -“You knew McGlory was to take the private report from me?” he asked. - -“Well, Billings told me the cowboy had put up a deal of some kind.” - -“So McGlory had planned the scheme with Billings, had he?” - -“Yes.” - -“And McGlory took the report to Billings?” - -“That’s where he went with it.” - -The breath hung in Matt’s throat. His chum’s treachery had been -deliberately planned and executed. McGlory was playing into the -colonel’s hands, and bringing about his own undoing. Naturally Matt -inferred that his friend thought more of his prospective fortune than -of his comradeship. Choosing the dishonest wealth, he had turned his -back on his friend. - -Sad and disheartened, Matt allowed Kelly to pilot him through the -woods. With head down, the young motorist stumbled onward, more -concerned with his sorrowful reflections than he was over the place to -which he was being taken. - -Suddenly Matt’s forward movement was stayed, and he heard Levitt -speaking: - -“I’ll look out for him, Kelly, and you go ahead and make sure that -there’s no one around.” - -Matt lifted his eyes. They were at the edge of the woods, immediately -behind the garage. - -While Levitt took charge of him, the prisoner saw Kelly cross the -open space separating the timber line from the garage, and enter the -building by a rear door. He came back presently, leaving the door ajar. - -“Not a soul there, Levitt,” said he. “Come on with him, and come -quick.” - -Matt was hurried over the intervening space and into the garage. There -were only two cars in the garage--the runabout and a large touring -car--and not another person in sight. - -Matt, pushed to the foot of a stairway leading to the second floor, was -told to climb upward. He obeyed. At the top of the flight there was a -door. Kelly pushed it open, drew Matt inside, and Levitt came after -them. - -“Are you sure you understand just what you’re to do, Kelly?” inquired -Levitt, in an anxious tone. - -“Sure I do,” answered Kelly. “There wasn’t so much of it that I can’t -remember it all.” - -“Do your work faithfully and you’ll never regret it.” - -Levitt drew back out of the room and closed the door behind him. - -“Lay down on that bunk there, my lad,” said Kelly, pointing to a cot at -one side of the small room. - -It was a room set apart for the man in charge of the garage, and was -rudely but comfortably furnished. - -Matt, still cast down by his cowboy chum’s treachery, was as yet taking -but little interest in what happened to him. He stumbled over upon the -cot, glad of an opportunity to rest with some degree of comfort while -his mind regained its normal powers and allowed him to think clearly of -McGlory’s case. - -Kelly secured his feet with an end of the rope that bound his hands. - -“I’m going to be as considerate of ye, King,” observed Kelly, “as I -can. No harm is intended to ye--if there was I wouldn’t be helpin’. -But ye’ve got to stay here for a while, an’ orders is that ye’re to -remain quiet. The garage is more or less of a public place, an’ yer -confinement is to be private. If people happened to be below ye might -yell. That wouldn’t do, now, would it? I’m going to tie this piece of -cloth over yer mouth jest to make sure ye don’t say anythin’ so loud it -can be heard downstairs.” - -“Wait a minute, Kelly,” said Matt. “Do you know anything about my chum, -Joe McGlory?” - -“Never a thing. He’s the boy who came with ye in that runabout?” - -“Yes.” - -“Well, he’s not known to me at all. You’re the lad that gave us that -chase, and Levitt says you’re a thief. Ye don’t look it, now, but -orders is to hold ye, an’ that’s what I’m doin’.” - -“You’re helping Colonel Billings and Levitt carry out a big swindling -game by this work, Kelly.” - -“So? Well, lad, I can’t look out for other people. Number One--which is -Kelly, d’ye mind--is enough fer me to take care of.” - -“If I’m a thief, why doesn’t Levitt take me to Hempstead and have me -locked up by the police?” - -“Levitt doesn’t want to disgrace ye by such a move. Bein’ locked up by -the police gives a lad a bad record. Ye’re far an’ away better off with -me here. We’re to be together three days, and----” - -“Three days!” - -“The same--no more, no less. We’re going to get along like old cronies, -if ye only behave. Now for the gag.” - -Matt submitted while the cloth was put in place. Barely had Kelly -finished when a car was heard puffing into the big room below. - -Kelly jumped to a round opening in the floor, near one end of the room. -It was a stovepipe hole, but the pipe was missing. - -“One of the members, my lad,” said Kelly, turning away from his -observation of the room underneath and speaking in a guarded voice. -“I’ll have to go and look after the car. But ye won’t get lonesome -against the time I come back. Ye’ve plenty to think of, I take it, an’ -that will use up yer time.” - -Kelly went out, slamming the door, and Matt could hear him hurrying -down the stairs. - -Three days! Matt was to be kept in the garage for three days! - -That, no doubt, was to prevent him from interfering with the colonel’s -plans in New York. - -The colonel had won McGlory over, and there would be no interference -from him. But perhaps, even without that “private report,” Matt could -do something with the syndicate. It might be that he could save the -cowboy in spite of himself. - -Matt had noticed, while he and the cowboy were in the clubhouse -talking with the colonel, that the trickster from Arizona had a -powerful influence over McGlory. The colonel had made good use of that -influence, and had succeeded in turning the cowboy against his best -friend. - -The people who had brought the car into the garage had left. A mumble -of talk had floated up through the stovepipe hole, and the prisoner was -able to keep the general run of events that took place in the garage. - -He could hear Kelly tinkering with the car that had just arrived. In -the midst of the sounds he heard footfalls, and then a voice, lifted -high: - -“Hello! Where’s the man that runs this place?” - -That was the colonel. Angry blood leaped in Matt’s veins as he listened. - -“Here, sir,” responded Kelly. - -“Is that big touring car of Griggs’ in shape for the road?” - -“Fit as a fiddle, sir, an’ full up with oil and gasoline.” - -Then followed cranking, and the sputter of an engine picking up its -cycle; and, after that, the moving off of the car. - -“The colonel’s away to New York,” thought Matt darkly. “He’s gone to -get the two bars of bullion before the bank closes. That’s step number -one in the big robbery. I wonder if Levitt and McGlory are with him?” - -For an hour or two longer Kelly was alone and busy in the garage. A tin -clock hung on one wall of the bedroom, and from where Matt lay he was -able to watch the moving hands. - -“If I accomplish anything,” Matt thought, “I shall have to reach New -York by eight o’clock. How am I to get out of here and to the nearest -railroad station?” - -That was his problem, and it looked as though he would have to work it -out unaided. - -He tried to free himself of the ropes, but Kelly had tied them too -securely. In order to work at them to better advantage, he swung his -bound feet over the side of the cot and sat up. But the ropes defied -every effort he made to release his hands. - -With the idea of watching what took place in the garage, he slipped to -his knees on the floor and then straightened out at full length. By -rolling carefully, he succeeded in reaching the stovepipe hole. - -His view was limited, but it commanded the broad doors leading into the -big room. Kelly was working somewhere in the rear, and could not be -seen. - -Matt was about to roll away, when two figures appeared in the door. One -was McGlory and the other was Levitt. - -“Kelly!” shouted Levitt. - -“Here!” answered Kelly, coming forward. - -“Got a car we can use for a trip back to the city?” - -“Only the runabout this young fellow came in.” - -“I’m a Piute,” growled McGlory, “if I want to fool with destruction by -ridin’ in that.” - -“I feel the same way, McGlory,” said Levitt, “but we’ve got to get to -New York. If there’s no other car we’ll have to chance that one.” - -“Sufferin’ trouble!” groaned McGlory. “It takes Pard Matt to get any -kind of service out of that old flugee. You can’t handle it, Levitt. I -saw the kind of work you made of it. Can’t we get a rig to take us to -the railroad station?” - -“There are no rigs here,” answered Levitt. “It’s either the -runabout--or travel afoot.” - -“I’m a cowpuncher, and a cowpuncher ain’t built right for footwork. -Well, let’s chance old Death and Destruction. We’ve got to be at that -meeting, and we’ve five hours to get there. If the runabout don’t go -backward more than it does ahead, I reckon we can make it.” - -Levitt seemed as dubious over the attempt to ride in the runabout as -was McGlory. - -“Sure,” remarked Kelly, “she looks like a nice, easy-ridin’ little car. -I’ve cleaned her, and oiled her, and pumped her full of fuel, and she -ought to travel.” - -“She ought to, that’s a fact,” said Levitt, “but I’m afraid she won’t. -However, we’ve got to take a chance. Hop in, McGlory.” - -Levitt speeded up the engine and threw in the clutch. The runabout -moved quietly out of the garage. - - - - -CHAPTER XI. UNCLE TOM AGAIN. - - -Why hadn’t McGlory and Levitt gone to the city with Colonel Billings? - -This is the mental question Matt put to himself, and he was at a loss -for a logical answer. - -If McGlory and Levitt were hand and glove with the colonel in working -out his nefarious scheme, then there was no reason in the world why -they should not be traveling together--unless the big touring car used -by the colonel had been loaded to its capacity. This did not seem -possible. - -Nor could it be that Levitt and McGlory were taking the runabout to get -it out of Matt’s way. They didn’t want to use the car, and they had -asked Kelly for another. - -Matt, with his curiosity still unsatisfied, was on the point of rolling -back to his cot, when some one else appeared in the doorway. Hope -leaped within him when he recognized Uncle Tom. - -Uncle Tom! Matt had forgotten all about the old negro. - -“Marse Kelly, sah,” piped Uncle Tom, “where is yo’?” - -“Here,” answered Kelly, coming forward. “What do you want?” - -“Marse Partington, whut jess come in on his car, wants tuh speak wif -yo’ er minit, Marse Kelly. He done sont me tuh fotch yuh.” - -“What does he want?” - -“He didn’t say, suh. He jess say, ‘Tom, yo’ lazy niggah, run tuh de -garage an’ tell Kelly Ah wants tuh see him right off.’ Dat’s whut he -say, an’ ev’rybody knows Ah’s de hardest wo’kin’ man about de place. -Lazy! Ah ain’t so spry as I uster be, but, by golly, Ah’s----” - -“Where is Mr. Partington, Tom?” interrupted Kelly. - -“Jess sta’tin’ fo’ de golf links, suh.” - -Kelly started, and Uncle Tom started with him. Matt’s heart sank. If he -could only have attracted the old negro’s attention there would have -been some one to help him in making an escape. - -While Matt lay on the floor, again furiously working at the ropes, -Uncle Tom slipped stealthily back into the garage. His old rheumatic -legs carried him with unusual rapidity out of sight toward the rear of -the room, and Matt could hear him, a moment later, clambering up the -stairs. - -Brave old Uncle Tom! He knew of Matt’s plight, and was coming to help -him. - -The door of the bedroom was unlocked, and the darky came hurriedly -into the room. He was shaking with excitement, and lost not a moment -hurrying to Matt’s side. - -“Marse Kelly would kill me daid ef he knew whut Ah was doin’,” muttered -the old negro. “We’s got tuh hurry, Marse Matt. Marse Partington didn’t -want Marse Kelly, en dar’s gwine ter be ructions when Kelly gits back.” - -With trembling fingers he plucked away the gag. - -“Don’t be scared, Uncle Tom,” said Matt reassuringly. “Just get my -hands loose and I’ll take care of Kelly if he tries to interfere with -us. I’ll look after you.” - -“Ah’s done lost mah job, Motah Matt,” quavered Uncle Tom, as he worked -at the rope around Matt’s wrists. “Ah’s done got tuh git away f’om dis -club place er dat ’ar Kelly will prove de def ob me.” - -“You can go away with me,” said Matt. - -“But dey all owes me fo’ dollahs fo’ wo’k!” - -“I’ll pay you five times that, Uncle Tom, for what you’re doing.” - -“Golly!” and the old negro’s courage seemed to return; “five times fo’ -is fifty. Whatum Ah gwine tuh do wif fifty dollahs? Ah won’t hab tuh -wo’k no mo’ fo’ six mont’s.” - -Uncle Tom’s multiplication was of a weird variety, but Matt did not -correct his mistake. - -Finally the knots were loosened so that Matt could slip his hands from -the encompassing coils, and he was but a minute more in freeing his -feet. - -“Now, then, Uncle Tom,” cried he, “this way--as fast as you can come!” - -He sprang to the door, Uncle Tom lurching after him. - -“Doan’ yo’ git too fur away, Marse Matt,” pleaded the negro. “Ef dat -Kelly meets me alone by mahse’f, Ah’s gwine ter be a daid niggah. Stay -by me.” - -Matt lessened his pace so that Uncle Tom could follow him closely out -of the room and down the stairs. They started to leave by the front of -the garage, but, as ill luck would have it, Kelly, red and wrathful, -leaped through the door directly in front of Matt. - -“Fo’ de lan’ sakes!” wailed Uncle Tom, staggering limply back against -the wall. - -“Clear out by the rear door, Uncle Tom!” shouted Matt, picking up a -heavy wrench from the floor. - -Uncle Tom scrambled for the rear of the garage at a remarkable rate of -speed. - -Kelly swore. - -“So this was that nigger’s game, was it?” he growled. “I knew something -was up when I found Partington, and he said he hadn’t sent fer me! I’ll -skin that black villain alive!” - -“You’ll deal with me first, Kelly,” said Matt. - -“Oh, you!” grunted Kelly. “Git back upstairs. It won’t take more’n a -minute to wind up your clock!” - -The garage man drew a revolver. That he happened to have the weapon -spoke volumes for the responsibility he felt as the jailer for Motor -Matt. - -“Put up that revolver!” ordered Matt sternly. - -“Here’s the way I put it up,” answered Kelly, lifting the weapon and -pointing it full at Matt. “Up them stairs with ye, an’ no more ifs nor -ands about it.” - -“Look here, Kelly,” expostulated Matt, “you’re getting yourself into -mighty deep water, and----” - -Matt was talking for a purpose--and the purpose was to give him an -opportunity to use the wrench. Suddenly he found his chance, and the -heavy instrument shot forward and struck Kelly on the wrist of his -lifted arm. A cry of pain escaped the man, and he reeled back, dropping -the revolver. - -Matt tried to spring past him, but Kelly, writhing with pain though he -was, pulled himself together and struck out viciously with his left -fist. Matt dodged quickly and evaded the blow. The next instant he had -used his right fist with terrific force, hurling Kelly out of his way -and depositing him on the floor in a heap. - -How long Kelly sat on the floor, piecing together his scattered train -of thought, he did not know; but when his faculties returned to him, -Matt was gone. - -Kelly, muttering to himself and with both hands groping about his -bruised forehead, staggered to the door and looked away in the -direction of the road. - -There was no one to be seen. Greatly shaken, Kelly stumbled back to a -chair near a workbench and deposited himself in it. - -“Felt like a batterin’-ram,” mumbled Kelly. “If I had been kicked by -a mule it wouldn’t have knocked me out more’n what it did. Who’d have -thought that lad had so much ginger in him? Whisht, now, while I think -what’s to be done.” - -Matt King’s escape, Kelly knew, ought to be communicated to Levitt, in -some way, but how was it to be done? Levitt was between the clubhouse -and New York in an automobile. - -Ah, Kelly had it! He would call up Krug’s and tell some one there to -lay for Levitt and bring him to the telephone. - -Kelly, alert and eager to undo some of the damage that had been caused -the plans of Levitt by Matt’s escape, hurried to the phone in the rear -of the garage, and was soon connected with Krug’s. - -“Any one there who knows Hannibal J. Levitt?” he asked. - -“I’ll find out,” answered a voice from the other end of the wire. - -“Well, hurry up!” implored Kelly. “I’m in a tearing rush.” - -In about a minute--an hour it seemed to the impatient Kelly--another -voice floated back along the wire. - -“I know Mr. Levitt,” said the voice. “He was here this morning, but -he’s not here now.” - -“Sure he’s not there?” responded Kelly. “This is the garage at the -Malvern Country Club--get that? Levitt left here in a runabout an hour -ago, bound for New York. He ought to pass your place in a little while. -Lay for him. If you can, get him to the phone and have him call up -Kelly--Kelly at the Malvern Country Club garage, understand--it will be -worth a fiver to Levitt. Have somebody watch for the runabout an’ flag -Levitt. Will you?” - -“Yes.” - -Kelly, highly pleased with himself, hung up the receiver. Then he -waited--waited an hour, two hours, three hours--waited until nightfall, -till 7 o’clock, 8 o’clock, 9 o’clock came, but no call arrived from -Krug’s. - -The reason was that Levitt did not pass Krug’s Corner. It was the only -route from the Malvern Country Club to New York--but, nevertheless, -Levitt did not pass. - -The white runabout passed, however, and it had two passengers. - - - - -CHAPTER XII. A STARTLING MYSTERY. - - -Matt, on leaving the garage, gave a hasty look around for Uncle Tom. -The old negro was not in sight. Matt could not spend any time looking -for him, in that particular place, and ran for the road, hoping to find -Uncle Tom waiting for him farther on. - -In this he was not disappointed. Well toward the place where Matt had -had his memorable interview with his cowboy pard, the negro pushed out -of the undergrowth. - -“Marse Matt,” he chattered, “Ah’s been er-waitin’. Ah ’low’ed ye’d come -dishyer way. Whut done happen tuh dat Kelly?” - -“I got away from him,” Matt answered. - -“By golly, Ah got away, too. Nevah run so fas’ en mah life. Five times -fo’ is fifty. Yo’ all ain’t er-fo’gittin’ dat, is yuh?” - -“No, Uncle Tom; I’m not forgetting anything.” - -Matt had nearly a hundred dollars in his pocket, and if he had not -thought he was going to need considerable extra money for his trip back -to the city he’d been given the negro nearly the whole of it. - -“There’s your fifty, Uncle Tom,” said Matt. “You go to Hempstead and -stay with Topsy until you can find another job.” - -“Ah doan’ want no job twell Ah git out ob money, marse, en den Ah’s -hopin’ ye’ll be ready tuh take me on as yo’ private mascot. Ah tells -yuh, marse, yo’s monsus short on luck, seems lak. Yo’s had a powahful -bad streak to-day. Where’d yo’ hab been ef it hadn’t been fo’ Ole Tom? -Golly, Ah’s afeared tuh guess!” - -“How did you know I was up there over the garage?” - -“Ah seed yo’ when yo’ was brought intuh de garage, marse. Marse -Whitmore, at de clubhouse, done sent me tuh ask Kelly somethin’, en -Kelly wasn’t erroun’ de place. Ah waited; den Ah seed yo’ come in froo -de back do’, yo’ han’s all tied lak dey was, en Ah jess scrooched down -behin’ a car an’ waited twell yo’ was took to Kelly’s room. Den Ah -went off tuh think whut all Ah was gwine tuh do tuh help yo’. Ah clean -fo’got ’bout Marse Whitmore. Went tuh hunt him up, but he had done lef’ -de place where he was. De idee got intuh mah ole haid dat Ah could git -Kelly away fom de garage by tellin’ him somebody else wanted tuh see -him, en Ah wo’ked hit out, yassuh. En she wo’ked, didn’t she? Yo’ knows -’bout dat. Say, marse, is five times fo’ fifty er skiventy? ’Pears lak -Ah ain’t jess right en mah ’rithmetic.” - -“It’s nearer fifty than seventy, Uncle Tom. If I could spare any more -money, though, I’d give it to you.” - -“Yo’s allers gen’rous lak dat, en dat’s de reason Ah likes tuh mascot -fo’ yo’. When does yo’ all think yo’ll need me?” - -“I can’t tell that for a while, Uncle Tom. You go to Hempstead and stay -with Topsy. That’s the place for you. You’re getting altogether too old -to work.” - -“Huccome yo’ lef’ Denvah? Whar yo’ all been, huh?” - -“I’ve been in a good many places, Uncle Tom, since I left Denver. I’m -certainly going to do something for you, Uncle Tom,” answered Matt; -“but I can’t say just when.” - -“Ah’s got fifty-five dollahs, marse, en hit’ll las’ me er long while, -yassuh, but doan’ yo’ git de notion hit’ll las’ too long. When hit -plays out Ah wants tuh wo’k fo’ yo’.” - -“I’ll have to hurry, Uncle Tom,” said Matt. “You can stroll along to -Hempstead and take your time; but I’ve got important business in New -York.” - -“Yo’s allers doin’ somethin’. Nevah seed sich a fellah fo’ bein’ -evahlastin’ly on de go. Ah’m gwine tuh root fo’ yo’, marse. ’Deed Ah -is. When good luck come yo’ way, jess yo’ ricollect hit’s Uncle Tom -mascottin’. But Ah can do a heap bettah at dat ef Ah’m ’long clos’ tuh -yo’. Dishyer long-range mascottin’ done li’ble tuh wind up on er snag. -’Membah dat, too.” - -“I’ll remember everything, Uncle Tom,” said Matt. “You stay in -Hempstead with Topsy. Good-by.” - -“Good-by, Marse Matt.” - -Matt shook the darky’s hand warmly, turned and hurried on along the -road. - -Uncle Tom was a grafter, but nevertheless Matt had a warm place in his -heart for the old fellow. His peculiarities were all on the humorous -side, and Matt could have enjoyed his talk if circumstances had been -different. - -While Matt was striding onward, his thoughts keeping pace with his -swift gait, he heard suddenly the hum of a motor in the distance. - -All motors have the same sort of music. The tempo changes with work at -the throttle, but a trained ear can follow the shifting gears; and, now -and then, there’s a man who will recognize his car by the croon of the -engine alone. - -It seemed to Matt that there was something familiar in the sound he -heard. - -The road, for a long distance at that particular point, lay in a -straight stretch. - -The car was coming toward Matt, but the trees on either side of the -road made the approaching machine indistinct. Their boughs dropped -low, and the deep shadows of the westering sun lay heavily across the -thoroughfare. - -Suddenly Matt caught a glimpse of white flashing in the gloom. - -The runabout! ran his startled thought. - -Yes, undoubtedly it was the strange hoodoo car that was approaching. - -What did it mean? - -Were Levitt and McGlory returning to the Country Club? Had they found -the car more than they could manage, and were they taking it back to -the garage? - -This did not seem a satisfactory explanation, and yet Matt could think -of nothing else. - -At a halt in the middle of the road Matt waited for the car to draw -near. If McGlory was in the machine, that was as good a time as any for -a meeting and an explanation. - -But the cowboy was not in the car, nor was Levitt, so far as Matt could -see, or anybody else. - -The car was on the reverse, and backing down the road, most marvelously -keeping a straight line, although now and then lurching sideways a -little and narrowly escaping the trunk of a tree at the roadside. - -Here was a startling mystery! - -What had happened to McGlory and Levitt? - -While Matt wondered, he was making preparations to board the car and do -his best to get it under control. - -It was coming at a slow rate of speed, and to leap aboard would not be -difficult. - -When within a dozen feet of the young motorist, the car seemed to -recognize an enemy and to attempt to turn aside. - -Matt ran forward, stopped, executed a flying leap and gained the -running board. Another moment and he was in the driver’s seat and had -brought the car to a halt. - -The reverse gear was engaged, so the runabout had ample warrant for -crawfishing along the road. - -There was nothing in the car, however, that offered any clue to the -mystery of what had become of the two who had taken the runabout from -the Country Club garage. - -Matt got down and made a hurried examination. The car was in as good -condition as ever, and rebuffed his efforts at getting clues. - -There was something uncanny about the machine. Matt admitted it to -himself. It acted in a way that defied all explanation, at times, and -that alone was enough to get on a chauffeur’s nerves. - -Perhaps Billy was right, and that the “double hoodoo,” in some -incomprehensible manner, was accountable for the car’s tantrums. - -So far as McGlory and Levitt were concerned, there was a possibility -that the car had misbehaved so outrageously that they had put on the -reverse and cast it adrift, to go where it would. - -But there were other travelers in the road to think of. Levitt and -McGlory would scarcely take chances of wrecking some other machine, or -of running down a carriage, or some pedestrian. - -Matt was deeply puzzled. - -“Well,” he thought, “I want a way to return to New York, and here -it is. It meets me on the road, and I should be foolish not to take -advantage of it. Quite likely Joe and Levitt have found other and -more satisfactory means for reaching the city. I don’t blame them for -changing to another car, if they had the opportunity, or for taking a -railroad train if they happened to be conveniently near one. There’s no -railroad very close to this place, though, and the runabout couldn’t -have come far, with no one in control.” - -There was enough gas in the cylinders so that the motor took the spark. -The runabout leaped ahead, perfectly obedient to Matt’s hand. - -As he swept along he looked and listened for some signs of McGlory and -Levitt. He came upon the two missing passengers suddenly--and what he -saw caused him to jam down hard on the brakes and leap from the car -before it was fairly at a stop. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII. IMPORTANT DISCLOSURES. - - -Joe McGlory was kneeling beside the road, tying a handkerchief bandage -around the forehead of Levitt. The latter was sprawled out limply on -the ground, his clothing torn and disarranged. - -“What’s the matter, Joe?” asked Matt. - -The cowboy’s face was pale, and the set lines of it indicated that he -was himself in pain. - -“That’s you, is it, pard?” he asked huskily. - -For a useless question McGlory threw a good deal of feeling into it. - -“Yes.” - -“I might have known you’d come pounding along if I was in trouble. -Levitt is badly hurt. He’s been unconscious ever since he dropped in -the road. I can’t bring him back to his senses--but I haven’t been able -to do much, being about half knocked out.” - -Matt went down on his knees, laid a hand over Levitt’s heart, and then -felt of his pulse. - -“He’ll do, I think, Joe. Is he hurt anywhere else except in the head?” - -“I don’t think so. He was thrown headfirst against the tree there.” - -Matt lifted the bandage and surveyed the wound. The light was none too -good, and he asked his chum to strike a match. - -“It may be a fracture of the skull,” said Matt, replacing the bandage. -“We’ve got to get him into the hands of a doctor.” - -“Hempstead’s the nearest place, I reckon. It can’t be more than a mile -from here.” - -“We’ll go there.” - -Riding on two seats, with an unconscious and wounded man to look after, -was not going to be child’s play for Matt and McGlory--particularly as -the cowboy was not in very good condition himself. Then, too, cramped -as he was going to be, Matt would have to look after the runabout. That -might be an easy matter, and it might not. It all depended on how the -runabout was going to act. - -“Can you help me get him into the car, Joe?” asked Matt. - -“I’m not good for much, Matt,” was the response; “but I’ll do what I -can.” - -“What’s the matter with you?” - -“Just shaken up, I reckon. I’ve had a good many falls, but never one -like that before.” - -Matt, when Levitt was lifted, contrived to carry most of the burden. -McGlory groaned when the limp form of Levitt was in the car, and -grabbed at the car seat to support himself. - -“Something has happened to you, old chap, besides a mere shaking up,” -averred Matt. “I guess I’ll have to leave you at Hempstead with Levitt.” - -“Nary, you don’t. I’ve got to get to that meeting.” - -Matt made no answer to this. It brought up a subject which he was not -yet ready to discuss. - -“Get into the car, Joe,” said he. “Hold Levitt’s head up between your -knees, if you can. I won’t be able to help support him--the car will -take all my attention.” - -“If this infernal contraption goes off the jump again,” scowled -McGlory, “it’s liable to do for all of us.” - -In a few moments they were loaded. The cowboy, braced in the seat, -supported the upper half of Levitt’s body between his knees. This left -Matt elbow room for running the car. - -The runabout started off cleverly enough, and Matt believed it would -act well for the short trip to Hempstead. - -“How did the accident happen, Joe?” he asked, when they were well away. - -“I wish somebody would tell me,” answered McGlory. “We were going along -at not more than twenty-five miles an hour when, without any warning, -it buck-jumped, and stopped dead. Levitt was thrown out sideways -against the tree. I missed the trees, but took the roadside on my head -and shoulders, as near as I can recollect. I was dazed for a couple -of minutes, and when I rounded up my wits I saw Levitt unconscious, a -dozen feet from where I was lying. That’s all. I was trying to tinker -him up when you came along. Where did you pick up the car?” - -“A little way back on the road. It was on the reverse, and moving -slowly.” - -“How did it get on the reverse?” - -“I don’t know.” - -“Nor I. Sufferin’ brain twisters! The same thing happened on the -Jericho Pike this morning, you remember.” - -Matt was silent. Before either he or the cowboy could speak Levitt -began to talk. - -“Play the game, Billings! If you’re going to hocus the syndicate, -you’ve got to pay me money enough to make it worth while. A quarter of -the proceeds, Billings, or I give Random & Griggs my private report. -That will cook your goose.” - -McGlory gasped. - -“He’s delirious,” said Matt. - -“He--he thinks he’s talking with Billings,” said McGlory. “Speak to me -about that!” - -“It’s just as I told you, Joe,” went on Matt quietly. “Your colonel is -out to make a big winning, and to make it dishonestly. If he----” - -Levitt began again. - -“You didn’t know I had that private report, did you?” A weird laugh -came with the words. “I’m a bit foxy myself, colonel. The ‘Pauper’s -Dream’ isn’t worth what it cost to put down the shaft. You haven’t any -vein. There was a pocket, but the pocket has been worked out. You’ve -got to come across with a pile if you make me suppress that private -report.” - -“I’m the biggest blockhead that walks the face o’ the earth!” declared -McGlory. “I----” - -Levitt interrupted him. - -“Keep your eye on Matt King, Billings! If lightning hits us, that cub -will be back of it!” - -There was something grewsome about that limp form with its bandaged -head, swaying between McGlory’s unsteady knees and mumbling villainous -revelations. - -For a while Levitt was silent, and the runabout glided through the -outskirts of Hempstead and Matt inquired the way to the nearest doctor. - -The car continued to remain on its good behavior, and carried its -passengers steadily and safely to the walk in front of the doctor’s -office. Some bystanders helped carry Levitt in, and he was laid on -a couch, very white and weak and continuing to mumble his delirious -disclosures. - -“What’s the trouble with him?” inquired the doctor. - -“Automobile accident,” answered Matt briefly. - -“They’re always happening,” commented the medical man grimly. “Who is -he?” - -“Hannibal J. Levitt. We’ll have to leave him in your care, doctor. My -friend and I have got to hurry on to New York to attend a meeting at -eight o’clock to-night.” - -The doctor, busily examining Levitt, turned up a suspicious face. - -“You’ll have to tell me a little bit more about this man before you -go,” said he. “He may have been hurt in an automobile accident, or he -may have been hit on the head with a sand bag.” - -“Sufferin’ hold-ups!” muttered McGlory. “Do you take us for strong-arm -men?” - -Just at that moment a policeman entered. - -“Heard there was an injured man brought in here, doc,” said he. - -The doctor explained--not only about the injured man, but about Matt’s -hurry to get away to New York. - -The policeman also became suspicious. Matt, however, took him apart -and went into a somewhat lengthy explanation. He told who he was, and -managed to convince the officer of his identity. The name of Matt King -was not unknown to the bluecoat, and he was prepared to take all that -Matt said in good faith. - -“It’s all right, Doc,” said the officer, as soon as Matt had finished -talking; “these young fellows didn’t have anything more to do with that -man’s condition than you or I. We’ll look after Levitt. Badly hurt?” - -“Yes.” - -“Seriously?” - -“Not dangerously, if that’s what you mean.” - -“Then we’re free to go, are we, officer?” asked Matt. - -“Sure. Skip whenever you’re ready. If I want you or your friend I’ll -phone your New York hotel.” - -Matt and McGlory, followed by the troubled eyes of the doctor, went out -to the runabout. Before starting, Matt got the lamps to going. - -“Now for Manhattan,” said he, climbing to his seat. - -“Or the ditch,” added McGlory. “The way I feel now I don’t care much -what happens to us.” - -“That’s a funny way for you to feel, Joe,” said Matt quietly. - -The car moved off in fine order--an exhibition which made Matt feel -like congratulating himself. - -“I’m entitled to my feelings, pard. For what I’ve done to-day you ought -to cut me out of your herd.” - -“You made a mistake----” - -“A big one; and there was no excuse for it.” - -“Yes, there was, Joe. There must have been.” - -McGlory mumbled to himself and fell silent. - -“You hadn’t got far along the road from the clubhouse,” said Matt, -“when the accident happened. But you must have been gone an hour. If -your pace was twenty-five miles an hour, how----” - -“The car bothered us like Sam Hill,” cut in McGlory. “If it wasn’t -one thing, it was two. Neither Levitt nor I was as good a hand at -tinkering as you, and we had to hunt quite a spell before we located -the troubles.” - -“You found something wrong?” - -“A dozen things!” - -“That’s strange! When this runabout gets to acting up, it usually seems -to be without any cause whatever.” - -“Well,” finished the cowboy, “that explains how we were going -twenty-five miles an hour, at the time the accident happened, and -didn’t get any farther from the Malvern Country Club.” - -After this there was another silence between the chums. McGlory was -getting ready to explain, and Matt patiently waited. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV. M’GLORY’S LESSON. - - -“Pard,” said McGlory finally, “I’ve connected with a lesson this -afternoon that’s made the biggest kind of an impression on me.” - -“What sort of a lesson, Joe?” asked Matt. - -“The kind that hits you plumb between the eyes like a bolt of -lightning. Did you ever think you were smart, and then wake up and find -yourself the biggest fool in seven states? No, I don’t reckon you ever -did. That’s not the way Pard Matt is built.” - -“That’s where you’re wrong, Joe. I’ve been there. We all of us take a -wrong course, now and then. We wouldn’t be human if we didn’t.” - -“Sufferin’ horn toads! Why, I thought all along I was starring myself, -and that I’d laugh at you in a few days for being the one who’d made -the bobble.” - -“The trouble with you was, Joe, Colonel Billings had too much influence -over you.” - -“He’s got an oily tongue, Matt, and a brain that’s a wonder. After -you dropped from the window, the colonel nailed me and pinned me down -in a chair. I was as mad as a hornet, and ready to give him a right -hook to the jaw, or any other kind of a right-hander that would make -him take the count. That’s how I felt for about a minute--red-hot and -boiling. But only for a minute. The colonel started his tongue, and I -fell on his neck and shed tears of joy because he had singled me out to -help feather-finger the kicks of the plutocrats. Not in those words, -however. The colonel made it look like a just and warranted proceeding. - -“The colonel allows Pard Matt is a blockhead, and that he’s taken a -few facts and used ’em as signboards for the wrong trail. The colonel -admits hiring Levitt to make a bogus report; but the bogus report, -according to the colonel, was the one we found, and not the other -gilt-edged prospectus submitted to the syndicate.” - -“Why did he hire Levitt to make a report saying that the mine was no -good?” inquired the amazed Matt. - -“He didn’t, pard; he only said he did. I find there’s some sort of -a difference between what the colonel really does and what he tells -people he does. He knew the ‘Pauper’s Dream’ was rich, long before he -sold me my stock. Then some of the stockholders who knew the same thing -tried to freeze the colonel out. But the colonel was too wise. He sank -the shaft without finding any gold--just to fool the stockholders who -wanted to get rid of him. These fellows immediately sold out to the -colonel, so that the colonel got hold of the majority of the stock. -That means, of course, that he had the entire say about everything -connected with the mine. - -“As soon as he has the ‘Pauper’s Dream’ cinched, Billings begins to -hit the simon-pure, ne-plus-ultra gold-bearing vein. Buyers flock to -the scene. The colonel picks out this syndicate of Random & Griggs’ -as the boys to get the mine. Levitt comes out to examine the mine for -the syndicate. The stockholders who have been frozen out begin to grow -restive, and to threaten legal complications. Then Billings shows his -fine Italian hand by hiring Levitt to make out that report, saying -the ‘Dream’ is a pocket, and that the pocket is empty. That’s for the -soreheaded stockholders to see, and they see it. So, in that way, legal -complications are sidetracked while the colonel is selling the mine to -the syndicate.” - -McGlory relapsed into silence for a mile, while the runabout behaved -beautifully and drove long shafts of light from the search lamps into -the growing dark. - -“That,” continued the cowboy, stirring, “is the yarn the colonel put -up to me. I swallowed it. But, pard, I wanted to tell you. The colonel -said you mustn’t know a thing until after the deal was closed and the -proceeds divided. As I figure it now, I reckon the colonel was afraid -you’d jab a little horse sense into his yarn and puncture it. Anyhow, -the truth remains that he made me believe I’d lose a fortune by telling -you the truth about that private report. ‘Tell your friend about it -later,’ says the colonel, ‘and then have a good laugh with him over the -way he was fooled.’ So I smoothed down my rising feathers, laid low, -and planned to sneak the private report on you all by myself. - -“You know how I did that. You trusted me, and asked the old darky -to tell me where you were. As soon as Uncle Tom had delivered your -message, I rushed right off to the colonel and repeated it to him. -Then I met you, executed my brilliant play, got the report, and -delivered it to my good friend the colonel. He now has it in his -pocket, or else he has burned it. Anyhow, you can bet a million against -the hole in a doughnut that he don’t show that report to the syndicate. -The question is, pard, will those syndicate people believe you and me?” - -“It won’t matter much,” answered Matt, “whether they do or don’t. By -jumping in there and telling them the truth, we’ll be placing ourselves -on record.” - -“I see. Then, if they’re skinned, we can read our titles clear and -they’ll have only themselves to blame. But, pard, what have you been up -to since I worked through that brilliant trick and left you staring at -me from the bushes?” - -“I’ve been a prisoner in the loft over the garage,” answered Matt. - -“A prisoner?” echoed McGlory. “How was that?” - -Matt told him the details. - -“Oh, speak to me about that!” growled the cowboy. “Hannibal J. Levitt -never mentioned the fact of your capture to me. If I’d known what had -happened to you, pard, I’d have torn loose from the whole combination, -fortune or no fortune. Why,” sputtered McGlory, as reflection brought -the hidden details more and more before him, “Levitt never could have -made that play if I hadn’t told Billings where I was to meet you! They -got their heads together and worked it out.” - -“Why didn’t you and Levitt ride into town with the colonel, Joe?” - -“He thought it would be better for us to come by ourselves. He was ’way -ahead of time, you know, and had to go to the bank before closing hours -for the bullion. It wasn’t necessary for Levitt and me to be around -until time for the meeting. Oh, I’ve had a fine run for my auburn chip, -and no mistake. I’ll resign, here and now, from our partnership. The -place for me is the range. Cattle punching is about the scope of my -ability, and it ought to be the height of my ambition. Consider my -resignation handed in, pard.” - -“Then,” said Matt, “consider it declined. I won’t accept it.” - -“Don’t make any misplay now, old chap,” begged McGlory. “I’m about as -dependable as this crazy runabout. Sometimes I answer the control, but -you’ve just seen how I can take the bit in my teeth and play hob with -everything. I don’t think you can trust me, pard.” - -“I don’t know any one I can trust better, Joe,” answered Matt. - -“If you mean that, shake.” - -Their hands clasped for an instant, and McGlory stifled a groan and -clutched at his side. - -“Say,” demanded Matt, “what’s wrong with you?” - -“All jarred to pieces. That fall did it. When you shook my right hand I -thought I was coming apart.” - -“I wish,” said Matt, “that I’d had the Hempstead doctor look at you.” - -“Look at me? Well, I reckon he did. He looked at me as though he -thought I was a sandbagger. And he came pretty near having it right, at -that.” - -“You know what I mean, Joe.” - -“Sure, I do. But we didn’t have time. We may be late for the meeting as -it is. The colonel has showed his bullion, and flashed that affidavit -about its coming from the ‘Pauper’s Dream’ as the result of a week’s -run, and perhaps the syndicate has been stampeded. We may be too late.” - -“We’ll not be too late to go on record,” declared Matt. - -“Tell me this, pard,” said the cowboy: “Why were you piking for New -York at the time you met the runabout backing down the road with no one -aboard?” - -“I had started for the meeting in Random & Griggs’ office,” said Matt. - -“You were going there just the same, eh?” - -“Of course.” - -“While I was doing everything I could to help the colonel get me into -trouble, you were still hustling to keep me out of it?” - -“I knew Billings had influenced you in some way, Joe.” - -“That’s the sort of a fellow for a pard! Of course you’re the lad to -tie to. The wonder is that you’re still willing to hang onto me.” - -“Random & Griggs must be as badly deceived in the colonel as any one -else,” observed Matt. - -“He can pull the wool over any one’s eyes, that fellow!” - -“He was stopping at Griggs’ house, and the broker had put him up at the -Country Club.” - -“That’s right! And how the colonel has used that Country Club! The -members of the club will be tickled to death if they ever find it out. -You can do something to that tinhorn, Kelly, if you want to.” - -“I don’t want to. He was working for Levitt----” - -“Just as I was working for the colonel, eh? Maybe he was as badly -fooled, too.” - -For some time McGlory leaned back in his seat and kept quiet. Matt was -worried about him. - -“How do you feel now, Joe?” he asked. - -“I was just thinking,” answered McGlory, “that this hoodoo car is -trying to make up for the tough times it has given us. It’s about the -worst combination of cylinders, rubber tires, and spark plugs that -was ever put together, but, for all that, if it hadn’t cut up a few -tantrums on the Jericho Pike this morning we’d never have found out a -thing about the colonel’s crooked work.” - -“That’s so. It’s an ill wind that blows nobody good, pard.” - -“While the car’s running good, Matt, crowd the speed limit. Let’s get -to Liberty Street as soon as we can.” - -Matt proceeded to follow out his chum’s suggestion. - - - - -CHAPTER XV. HURLING A BOMB. - - -Half a dozen men were gathered in the private conference room of Random -& Griggs’ palatial brokerage offices in Liberty Street. One of these -half dozen was the colonel. Another was Joshua Griggs. The remaining -four were capitalists. - -Colonel Mark Antony Billings was in his element. He had never looked -more impressive than he did then. Levitt and McGlory had failed to -arrive in time for the meeting, but they might come later. In any -event, their presence was not of supreme importance. - -In front of the colonel, on the mahogany table, sparkled the two bars -of yellow bullion. They caught the gleams from the incandescent lights -and reflected luring rays into the eyes of the capitalists. - -The capitalists seemed greatly impressed. Griggs--the brokerage firm -was to receive a very large commission if the mine was sold--wore a -broad and amiable smile. The colonel was plausible and full of tact, -answering questions promptly. - -In the midst of the deliberations the quiet of Liberty Street was -disturbed by the sputter of an automobile. For the most part, Liberty -Street, in the vicinity of the brokers’ offices, was a deserted cañon -at that hour. - -But if the automobile disturbed the quiet of the street, it did not -disturb the deliberations of those in Random & Griggs’ offices. It took -a rap on the outer door to do that. Mr. Griggs himself answered the -summons. - -“McGlory and Levitt, colonel,” he called. - -Mr. Griggs had made a slight mistake. Hearing the name McGlory, and -understanding that Levitt was expected with him, the broker had jumped -at conclusions. - -“The expert, gentlemen,” smiled the colonel, addressing the -capitalists, “whom you sent to investigate my little property. A very -painstaking person, and reliable to the last degree. McGlory is one of -our original stockholders; a young man--a mere lad, in fact--but sharp -as a steel trap.” The colonel lifted his voice. “Have them come right -in, Mr. Griggs,” he called. - -Matt King and McGlory did not stand on the order. Supporting his chum -by the arm, King and the cowboy passed into the conference room and -stood under the astounded eyes of the colonel. - -“Why,” said Mr. Isidore Sleipnitz, one of the moneyed men, “dot ain’t -der expert, Levitt. Neider of ’em is Levitt.” - -“But I’m McGlory,” said the cowboy, steadying himself by leaning -against a table. Although his face was white, his eyes glowed with -resolution and steadfast purpose. “Mr. Levitt was thrown from the -automobile and injured. He’s now in a doctor’s office in Hempstead. -This is my chum, Matt King. If he hadn’t picked me up I’d never have -got here.” - -The colonel, to put it colloquially, “smelled a rat.” Something was -wrong, and he knew it. - -“This meeting, gentlemen,” said he, “is not for outsiders. Mr. King -is not a stockholder in the ‘Pauper’s Dream,’ nor, so far as I am -informed, is he one of your syndicate. I think he had better withdraw.” - -“I’m not going to withdraw,” said Matt, “until I tell these gentlemen -of your crooked transactions in the matter of the mine you are trying -to sell them. McGlory and I have come here for that purpose, and----” - -“Silence!” roared the colonel, starting menacingly toward Matt. “Do you -think, for a minute, you can blow in here and blacken my character in -the eyes of these gentlemen?” Billings struck a pose, and shoved one -hand into the breast of his long coat. “I am too well known,” he went -on, “to suffer from the maunderings of a cub like you!” - -“I’d like to put in a few maunderings of my own, colonel,” said -McGlory. “I’ll have to hurry, too, for I got badly shaken up in that -accident that knocked out Levitt. There were two reports----” - -“Silence!” thundered the colonel. “Get out of here, McGlory! Clear out, -I say, and take that other young scoundrel with you. If you don’t, I’ll -call the police!” - -Hiram McCormick, another of the capitalists, got up from his chair and -raised his hand. - -“This isn’t one of your Southwestern ‘rough-houses,’ colonel,” said he, -“so please remember that. Roar less and listen more, will you? I am -interested in hearing what these young men have to say.” - -“If that’s the way you stack up,” clamored the colonel, grabbing his -slouch hat and his gold bullion from the table, “I’ll make myself -absent. I didn’t come here to be insulted.” - -He started for the door. Before he could reach it the door of a -telephone booth opened and a blue-coated man, with a star flashing on -his breast, stepped in front of him. - -The appearance of the policeman was a surprise to the colonel, Griggs, -Matt, and McGlory. The four capitalists did not seem to think it -anything out of the ordinary. - -“Where--where did that man come from?” inquired Griggs. - -Inasmuch as he was a member of the firm that occupied the offices, it -might be supposed that he would have had knowledge of any policeman -secreted about the premises. But it was plain he had not been informed -of the presence of this particular officer. - -Hiram McCormick was still on his feet. While the colonel was glaring -at the policeman, Mr. McCormick observed calmly: - -“Mr. Griggs, we shall have to ask your pardon for the presence of the -officer. He slipped in, by my request, before the colonel came, and -while you were in the board room.” - -“What’s he here for?” inquired Griggs. - -“That will appear later. Just now he is going to keep the colonel with -us while these young men relieve their minds.” - -Colonel Billings understood that he was face to face with disaster--a -disaster so comprehensive that he could not readily grasp it. Heeding a -motion of the officer’s hand, he dropped defiantly into a chair. - -“Now, my lad,” said McCormick to the cowboy. - -McGlory jumped at once into his recital. Beginning away back in his New -York experience, he told of the trouble he and Matt had had on account -of the bullion; then, after showing the telegram which had been sent -to him over the signature of “Joshua Griggs,” he began narrating the -adventures which had fallen to him and Matt on that eventful day. The -colonel’s double-dealing was shown up in all its ugly brazenness, and -the cowboy finished by regretting that he had not the private report of -Hannibal J. Levitt to offer in evidence. - -“Perhaps,” suggested Matt, “the colonel can show it to you, if it has -not already been destroyed.” - -“The colonel,” spoke up that gentleman witheringly, “is not here to be -bossed by a fellow of your stripe. Your wild and woolly stories seem to -have made a hit with the representatives of capital, but they’re fakes, -and everybody here will know they’re fakes, before many days.” - -“Gentlemen,” put in Mr. Griggs, whose faith in the colonel was dying -hard, “is it right to take the word of these boys against a man so well -known throughout the Southwest as Colonel Billings?” - -Colonel Billings waved his hand gently but firmly toward Mr. Griggs. - -“Never mind me, sir,” said he. “The kid element seems to predominate -in the meeting, and men of experience and reason are relegated to the -background. Don’t disturb yourself on my account, I beg. There are -other bidders for the ‘Pauper’s Dream.’ The mine will be snapped up -before the week is over.” - -“Mr. Griggs,” went on Hiram McCormick, “these young men have come -here--one of them with everything to lose and nothing to gain by -blocking the sale of the mine--and told us a most remarkable story -of guile and duplicity. I may say, however, that neither I nor my -associates are surprised. We have already had cause to suspect the -colonel of double-dealing. Two experts were sent by us to examine the -‘Pauper’s Dream.’ In matters of this sort, it is best not to place all -your faith in one man. Levitt went to the mine, made himself known to -the colonel, and examined the prospect under his supervision. Perhaps -it is not to be wondered at that the colonel bought him. But the second -expert reached the mine in laborer’s clothes, and was hired by the -colonel to ‘salt’ the breast of the ‘Pauper’s Dream’ tunnel. I have -that man’s report here in my pocket. It only arrived to-day, but my -friends of this projected syndicate have all read it. For this reason -we feared we might have trouble with the colonel, and so we smuggled -the policeman into the telephone booth. - -“Colonel Billings,” and McCormick turned and leveled a hard look at -the Arizona man, “your rascally game would not have succeeded, even -had these lads not come here and told us of your knavery. We had you -spotted. From now on you will be blacklisted in this town, and you -will try in vain to float any other mining proposition on New York -capital. Mr. Griggs was deceived in you, and he and his partner have -our sympathy, and have not lost a particle of our good will; but as for -you, if you are not out of the city within twenty-four hours we shall -try and see just how much responsibility the law can put upon you for -this day’s events. There is the door; close it from the outside.” - -The colonel got up. Calmly he drew a canvas bag from his pocket, and -deliberately placed his gold bars within it; then, holding the bag in -one hand, he allowed the other to dart toward his hip--a move young -King had seen before. - -“Look out for him!” warned Matt. - -The officer grabbed a revolver out of the colonel’s hand in just the -nick of time. There was a brief struggle, but the colonel got the worst -of it. - -“I’ll play even with that cub of a Matt King,” the colonel was heard to -breathe, “if it’s the last thing I ever do.” - -“Take him out, officer,” said Hiram McCormick, in undisguised contempt, -“and, of course, you’ll confiscate the weapon. This is not Arizona.” - -None too gently the policeman hustled Colonel Billings out of the door. -Hardly had they left when McGlory staggered, tossed his hands, and fell -heavily into Matt’s arms. - -Instantly there was a flurry of excitement in the office, Griggs, -McCormick, and the others all hurrying forward to be of what assistance -they could. - - - - -CHAPTER XVI. LOST--A FORTUNE. - - -Joe McGlory drifted back to conscience amid surroundings that were -entirely new to him. He was in a white iron bed. On one side of the bed -stood a woman in a white cap and apron, and on the other side was a -man in black. Over the foot of the bed leaned Matt, his anxious face -clearing a little as McGlory opened his eyes. - -“Ah!” murmured the doctor. - -“Where am I?” inquired the cowboy. - -“In the emergency ward of the City Hospital,” answered the doctor. - -“I’ve got about as much right here as a maverick steer in a watermelon -patch. Sufferin’ sister, what a jolt!” - -A smile sneaked over the doctor’s face. The nurse turned her head. Matt -laughed, highly delighted. - -“He’ll be all right, don’t you think so, doctor?” Matt asked. - -“A lad who can come out from under the influence of a narcotic with -such a flow of spirits,” averred the doctor, “is bound to be all right.” - -“What’s the matter with me?” the cowboy asked. - -“A couple of broken ribs.” - -“I thought I’d busted something! Say, Matt!” - -“What is it, Joe?” - -“The last I remember I was in the office of Random & Griggs. When was -that?” - -“Last night.” - -The cowboy turned his head so he could see the sunlight coming through -the window. - -“And now it’s this morning?” - -“Yes.” - -“When will I get out of here, doc? This afternoon?” - -“If you get out of here in less than two weeks you’ll do well,” said -the doctor. - -“Speak to me about that!” muttered McGlory. - -“It’s all right, Joe,” said Matt. “I’ll be here every day to see you.” - -“Sure you will. I couldn’t stand it if you stayed away. The old -runabout got me, after all!” - -“You were lucky to escape as well as you did,” spoke up the doctor. -“You took a long automobile ride, after you were hurt,” he added -severely, “and did a number of other things that were entirely -unnecessary, and which aggravated your condition.” - -“Correct, doc,” grinned McGlory; “I was aggravated a whole lot, and no -mistake. Where’s the hoodoo car now, Matt?” - -“Billy’s got it in the garage.” - -“I wonder that Billy would have it there, considering how he feels -about it.” - -“Billy’s not the boss of the garage, Joe,” laughed Matt. “If he was, -probably he’d refuse to give the car storage.” - -“Hear anything from Hempstead?” - -“Well, yes. Levitt is coming along as well as can be expected.” - -“I don’t think you had better talk any more, my lad,” interposed the -doctor. - -“I’ll die if I don’t, doc,” declared McGlory. “Give me a little more -rope, can’t you?” - -“A little.” - -“Where’s the colonel, Matt?” went on McGlory. - -“No one knows, Joe. He was ordered out of town, and I guess he’s gone, -or going.” - -“He played hob with me, all right. How’s the syndicate?” - -“You’d feel highly complimented if you could hear what they said about -you.” - -“What did they say about _you_?” - -“I don’t remember.” - -“Sure you don’t. You never remember what’s said about you, but whenever -any one tips you off concernin’ a pard you keep it right on tap. What -are you going to do for the two weeks I’m laid up?” - -“Just hang around and wait for you to get well, I guess,” Matt laughed. - -“Don’t hike out of town, will you?” - -“No; I’m going to stay right here.” - -McGlory looked at the doctor. - -“He’s my pard, doc,” said he. “Matt’s his label, and he’s the clear -quill any way you take him.” - -“You both seem to stand pretty high in each other’s estimation,” smiled -the doctor. - -“I’m standing higher in his than I deserve.” - -“Cut that out, Joe,” said Matt. - -“I’ll cut it out and paste it in my hat so I won’t forget it. It’s the -best lesson I ever had, and I’m going to profit by it. Lost--a fortune! -That’s me. I was promised a place on Easy Street, and here I am in the -hospital.” - -McGlory chuckled. - -“You may have lost a fortune, Joe,” said Matt, “but you’ve won -something a whole lot better.” - -“I have--two busted ribs and a couple of weeks’ lay-off. Oh, I’m a -lucky dog!” - -“Don’t fret about the ribs or the lay-off, Joe,” counseled Matt. “If -you get to worrying, you may have to stay here longer than two weeks.” - -“Funny how I shut my eyes in Random & Griggs’ office,” remarked -McGlory, leaping from one subject to another with the abruptness of a -person whose brain is still a little befogged, “and open ’em here. That -was sure a hard ride from Hempstead in. I don’t know how I managed to -hang on. I reckon it was my wish to play even with the colonel that -held me up.” - -“The colonel got his deserts, Joe,” said Matt. - -“The syndicate was next to him all the time. Our chasing in to tell -what we knew didn’t make such a terrible lot of difference.” - -“It put us on record, that’s all. It’s mighty important, sometimes, to -let people know where you stand.” - -“Correct, again. But listen. Didn’t Colonel Billings pull a gun on -you, Matt, before he left the office? Seems to me I remember that.” - -“He pulled a gun, Joe; but I don’t know what he intended to do with it.” - -“Then I’ll put you next, pard. He intended to play even with you.” - -“Or you,” answered Matt. - -“Not me,” insisted Joe. “The colonel knows I haven’t got sense enough -to make him much trouble. But he’s afraid of Matt King. Look out for -him, pard.” - -“The colonel has his orders to leave town, and----” - -“That doesn’t mean that he’ll go. During the two weeks I’m holding down -this nice little bed here, you keep both eyes skinned for Colonel Mark -Antony Billings. He’s liable to show his hand when you’re not thinking -he’s within a thousand miles of you. Pretty sudden, the colonel is. He -sprang a surprise on us when we got to the Country Club and found him -there to meet us instead of Joshua Griggs. That’s a sample of the way -he does things, Matt. You look out for him.” - -“That will do now,” said the doctor authoritatively. “You’ve talked -more than you ought to.” - -“When’ll you blow in here again, pard?” added McGlory, reaching out his -hand. - -“This afternoon.” - -“That’s you. I’ve lost a fortune, pard, but I didn’t let you get away -from me. We’re pards, same as per usual, and in spite of what happened -at the Country Club?” - -“Sure we are. That couldn’t make any difference, Joe.” - -“It would have made a big difference with some fellows, but Matt King’s -of a different calibre.” - -“That’s what pards are for, Joe,” whispered Matt as he let go his -chum’s hand, “to stand by each other.” - -“Like you hung to me,” returned the cowboy, “and not the way I stood by -you. Well, I’ve had my lesson, and we’ll let it go at that. _Adios!_” - -Matt turned and left the ward, and the hospital. There were a lot of -people in New York, but it seemed like a mighty lonesome place now that -McGlory was laid up for repairs. - -The colonel, being a wise man, considered it good policy to get away -from New York, and head for his favorite stamping grounds in the -Southwest, for neither Matt nor Joe ever saw him again. - -When Joe got well Matt had found something in his favorite line of -motors to engage their attention, and with such a team of hustlers to -drive things, the business could not be anything but a success. - -THE END. - -The next number (364) will contain “Pluck Beats Luck; or, Tom Talbot’s -Trials and Triumphs.” By John L. Douglas. - - * * * * * - -BRAVE AND BOLD WEEKLY - -NEW YORK, December 4, 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.= - - - - -THE MISSING BOATS. - - -Reflecting the hues of the sunset sky lay Lake Menatee like a huge -mirror. - -Not a ripple stirred its placid surface. - -The fading sunlight lent to its crystal depths the silver of its dying -glory. - -While along its shores the forest like an over-reaching shield -outstretched its giant arms to cast weird, fantastic figures first on -the white beach, and then out, out over the transparent bosom of the -waters, going farther, faster and faster, deeper and darker, until the -veil of twilight concealed the beautiful scene. - -In the background the rugged Adirondacks kept watch and ward over the -treasures below, and on their seamed and time-scarred forehead lingered -the touch of sunlight long after the shadows of gloom had robbed Lake -Menatee of its beauty. - -Not a living creature was to be seen to give life to the solitude of -nature. - -Three boats drawn up on the white sand lay side by side, or at least -within a few feet of each other. - -They were merely common, flat-bottom rowboats. - -There was nothing remarkable about them. - -The water may have reached to the stern of one, but to not more than -barely touch it. - -Still a close observer might have seen it move, slightly it is true, -but yet a movement perceptible. - -Gradually it neared the water’s edge, moved by an unseen power. - -So slowly did it move that fully an hour must have passed before it had -gained a foot. - -Then the wind, which had died down at sunset, began to sweep across the -lake. - -Gently, at first, it stirred the water’s tranquil surface, as if -fearful of disturbing its repose. - -Anon it grew stronger. - -From the mountains it mustered its powers. - -The sleeping waters were awakened. - -In angry waves they beat the shores. - -The rising tide lent its aid to the mysterious force urging the boat -into its embrace. - -Thus the boat was carried more rapidly away, and yet in the next two -hours’ time scarcely three feet was added to the space gone over. - -It must have been past midnight, when, with a last quivering shock--a -dying struggle, it seemed--and the boat swung clear from the sand. - -A minute later it floated slowly away. - -At this moment a crash in the thick bushes, growing a few rods from the -shore, broke the calm and peaceful stillness of the night. - -An instant later and the form of a man uprose from the gloom of his -covert. - -The moon was just peeping above the Adirondacks’ dark crest, and it was -light enough in the forest for one to have seen that the man was past -the prime of life, though his stalwart form had borne the burden of -years without losing its erectness. - -He was somewhat roughly clad, and his long hair and flowing beard were -unkempt. His eyes flashed brightly, but a puzzled look rested on his -sun-bronzed face. His words, that fell involuntarily from his lips, -furnished the key to his thoughts. - -“Waal, I hev got to believe it now. But if that don’t beat all nater, -then my name an’t Jarius Bede. See the thing swim along, and there an’t -been a living creetur near it since long afore sundown! I can swear to -that, for I an’t let my eye off on’t in all that time. It is queer.” - -As he finished his soliloquy the speaker went down to the shore, but he -did not step upon the sandy beach. - -“I won’t do that,” he muttered, “for like as not I should find myself -in the midst of that pond afore I could say Bob Bungles.” - -There was nothing to explain the mystery he had witnessed. The other -boats had not moved. - -“Waal, waal. I’ll trundle off hum,” concluded the mystified Jarius -Bede; “but as long as I stand up I know I shall never see the beat of -that!” - -Throwing his gun over his shoulder, for he was armed with a long, -single-barreled old queen’s arm that had evidently seen its share of -service, he left the place with long, loping strides, in the direction -of home. - -Ever and anon he glanced uneasily back, as if expecting that he was to -be followed by some mysterious foe. - -“Makes a feller feel queer. Hello! the boys are looking for me, I bet. -I’m glad to see that light ennyway.” - -A light was indeed visible in one of the valleys, and after ten -minutes’ walk he came to a rude house, or cabin, around which could be -seen a few acres of cultivated ground. - -It was the house of one of the few settlers who had located in that -wild, out-of-the-way region. - -Entering without knocking, half a dozen persons sprang to their feet to -greet him. - -This family consisted of Jabez Bede, brother to Jarius, his wife, three -strapping sons, and a buxom daughter of eighteen. - -“Why, it’s only ’Rius!” exclaimed Dame Bede, with a look of relief, as -if she had feared some danger. - -“But where have you been all night, Jarius?” cried Jabez. “We were -gettin’ a-worrited ’bout yer.” - -“Jabez, I hev made a diskivery!” - -“What?” chorused the listeners in a breath. - -“I told yer I shouldn’t kem back till I had l’arnt sumthin’, and I -an’t, that, sure.” - -“It is about Ralph, I know it is!” exclaimed Mary Bede, springing to -his side with a glad look on her fair countenance. “What have you -learned, uncle? Tell me, quick.” - -“I can prove that he didn’t steal the boat,” was the triumphant reply. - -“I knew that he didn’t. But tell us what you have learned.” - -“Waal, waal, it’s cur’us, but it’s true. You know that the three boats -were left down on the shore as usual. Waal, I hev been watchin’ them -ever since an hour afore sundrop.” - -“Why, Jarius Bede, and we here a-waitin’ and a-worritin’ ’bout yer.” - -“Waal, it’s worth the time, I can tell yer.” - -While Jarius Bede is telling what he has witnessed we would say that -considerable excitement had been occasioned among the few settlers in -that vicinity by the frequent disappearance of boats from the shores -of the lake. No one could tell where they had gone, but they were as -effectually lost as if the water had swallowed them up. - -Finally, Mary Bede’s lover, Ralph Horn, was accused of stealing, or -destroying them, which amounted to the same thing, so long as they were -irretrievably lost. - -We can understand now something of the eagerness with which she -listened to Jarius’ story. When he had finished all were agape with -wonder. - -“Waal, I never!” exclaimed Jabez. “Who’d a-thought it?” - -“And they will believe Ralph now?” asked Mary anxiously. - -“They can’t help it, only we have got to prove it to them.” - -“Yes, yes,” said her father. “How’ll we do that, ’Rius? It’s an orful -story to believe.” - -“Let them see fer theirselves. Guess if they hed been with me they’d -a-thought somethin’ ’sides Ralph Horn was ’round movin’ that boat. But -I must catch a wink of sleep now. In the mornin’ we’ll all go down and -clear up the mystery.” - -A few minutes later the light was extinguished, and the Bede family -were in slumberland, though there may be a doubt in regard to one -member. But we won’t call any names. - -They were all astir early the next morning, and immediately after -breakfast Jarius spread the news of his discovery. - -It required no urging to get half a dozen to accompany him to the lake, -besides the three Bede boys. - -To the surprise even of Jarius, the boat he had seen leave the shore so -mysteriously the night before was nowhere to be seen either upon the -lake or on the shores. - -The other two were just as they had been left. - -“Let’s put one of them jest where the runaway was and then watch it.” - -The idea was acted upon, and the entire party withdrew into the cover -of the growth to await the result. - -A long, tedious watch followed, but to the disappointment of all, as -well as the chagrin of Jarius, the boat remained as motionless as a -rock. Not a first move was noticed. - -“Wait a leetle longer,” whispered the puzzled Jarius; “I thought I seed -it wink jest a bit then.” - -Half an hour passed, and still the object of their vain watch had not -been seen to stir. - -“It’s cur’us,” muttered the leader; “but that other took an orful long -time to start. Why I was here nigh ’bout six hours all told.” - -“Mebbe it has to be night for it to move,” suggested one. - -Be that the case or not, they watched until noon, when they abandoned -the fruitless task, and the mystery of the missing boats was more -unfathomable than ever. - -Some vented their disappointment upon Jarius Bede, and others were -silent, not knowing what to say. - -Jarius was completely dumfounded, and well he might be. - -“Tan’t any use to watch longer,” growled one. “We’ve been a set of -fools. The idea of a boat’s moving! Jarius is mad, and we are fools. -Come, we shall be the laughing-stock of all who hear of it. I’ll bet my -gun Jarius got us down here on purpose for some game. If I thought he -had----” and a latent look shone in his flashing eyes. - -Jarius did not reply. He had enough to think of besides. Dropping upon -his knees, he looked the boat over and over, and around it. He moved -it, but it lay a dead weight upon the earth. - -“It’s queer,” he muttered. “I can swear to what I saw with my own eyes, -but I don’t understand it.” - -He had regained his feet, and was about to leave the place, when -suddenly something seemed to catch his attention and hold it. - -Pointing to the edge of the water a moment later, he exclaimed: - -“Look there, boys! See that sand move! There’s something under it! I--I -have diskivered the mystery!” - -Seizing one of the boat’s paddles, Jarius quickly cleared away the sand -where he had seen it move, when a large turtle was disclosed to their -gaze. - -Upon further search another was found buried deeper than its mate. - -“Waal, waal, it’s plain as daylight now. They were under that boat and -moved it! T’others were moved in the same way. But we didn’t get this -one over the critters.” - -“Who’d a-thought!” ejaculated his brother, while the others were -speechless with amazement. - -“But where do they go to?” asked one, at last. - -“I’ll tell yer!” cried Jarius, as a new idea suddenly entered his head; -“they drift down to the outlet and into Mad River. You know an empty -boat would fare hard there; and we an’t never looked there for them.” - -Mad River found its way through a narrow, rocky defile where few had -ever penetrated, but an exploration into the wild region was rewarded -by discovering the wrecks of two boats. Though the others were never -found their disappearance was no longer a mystery. - -Of course, Ralph Horn was cleared of all suspicion in the affair, and -that fall there was a happy wedding at the Bede farm. We need not tell -who the bride was, and we can’t tell of “the years of happiness that -followed,” as story-tellers are wont to say, for it was only last week -the marriage vows were spoken. - - - - -ESKIMOS TAKE TO REINDEERS. - - -A letter from Alaska in the New York _Sun_ recently has the following -interesting facts: - -Of the twenty thousand reindeer under government supervision in Alaska -about two thousand are above the Arctic Circle where the climate is -much more severe than in their old feeding grounds in Siberia, from -which they were carried by the United States revenue cutters some years -ago. The reports of the local superintendents of reindeer herds will be -forwarded in this, the second mail to leave the Arctic this year. These -reports will show a very small increase in the herds. - -The mortality among the fawns this last year was very great, owing to -the blizzards which swept over the tundras in April and May when the -fawning season was on. Newly born fawns, unable to stand up in the -blinding storms and help themselves to nourishment, froze to death by -hundreds within ten minutes after birth. Wolves and half-wolf dogs also -killed many in some of the herds. - -At present the herds are kept out on the open tundra near the sea, -where there is no protection from the cutting blasts. District -Superintendent A. N. Evans has arranged to have the deer taken inland -next spring at least as far as the foothills, where the peculiar white -moss on which the creatures feed is abundant, and where there is ample -protection from the winds. It is hoped that this will save the fawns -and prevent the heavy loss of the present year being repeated. - -An encouraging feature of the work here, far from markets and utterly -shut out from any considerable contact with white men, is the fact -that the native is slowly but certainly coming to recognize the great -possibilities of the reindeer industry. While every effort has been -made to give as many natives as possible an interest in the herds by -direct ownership of some of the deer, the owners of deer are still a -very small minority. - -So valuable has a government apprenticeship come to be considered that -it has often been the deciding factor in determining the outcome of the -dusky love affairs. “When you get some reindeer I will be your wife,” -says the Innuit maiden with the tattooed chin. These wise young ladies -know that the ownership of deer carries with it as a usual thing three -or four years of first-class government rations and piles of cloth and -clothing which Uncle Sam throws about in the Arctic with a generous -hand. So among the natives there is developing a sort of reindeer -aristocracy quite at variance with the old democratic, communistic -ideas of the others who hold no property worth while, and who have not -been favored by the government. - -As only a limited number can be appointed apprentices every year, -and thus draw government rations, many are now trying to get deer -from other natives without waiting for government favors. In this few -have succeeded, for the owners, recognizing their great value, are -running the price of female reindeer skyward. With the destruction of -the country’s game and the rising standard of life among the natives -the population will come more and more to depend upon the reindeer -industry, which will doubtless develop rapidly. - -Living in a savage state of society with no other domestic animal than -the half-tamed malamoot dog, the process of teaching the Eskimo how -to take care of deer has been slow. Severe measures have had to be -resorted to in many cases to compel the natives to keep their dogs from -the deer camp. - -Also it has been found difficult to prevent those who have no deer from -shooting the unfortunate animals that stray away from the herd. These -are considered legitimate prey and until recently were hunted the same -as caribou. This year, however, a great many of these stray deer have -been picked up and put back into the herds which they had deserted. - -It has thus been found necessary to put the native herder through -a course of training. Those who get their deer directly from the -government serve an apprenticeship of four years. They are bound by a -written contract, the strict terms of which they cannot violate without -peril of losing their annual allotment of reindeer and suffering -discharge from the service. - -During the first three years of their apprenticeship they receive in -addition to the reindeer a generous supply of food free of charge. -Cloth, clothing, traps, guns, and ammunition are also given to the -fortunate apprentice, who soon becomes a person of consequence in the -community. For these governmental favors the apprentice is supposed to -take care of his own deer and to assist in caring for the government -deer. - -The work of the herder in a reindeer camp is not arduous, and seems to -be especially attractive to the carefree native. Ordinarily the deer -have a way of taking care of themselves that suits the native. Every -day an apprentice drives the herd to some feeding ground, where they -feed while the herder saunters about or hunts ptarmigan or other game -near at hand. - -If the moss is poor the deer may feed for six hours, at the end of -which time they are driven back to the vicinity of the camp and allowed -to remain there until the next feeding time, while the ease-loving -servants of the government sleep or whittle fine old ivory into -curios to be traded off on the ships for the tobacco which Uncle Sam -overlooked in ordering the shiploads of supplies which annually find -their way to the reindeer camps of Alaska. - -True, there is other work to be done. Every spring along comes fawning -season, and the deer herders have to stand watch day and night by -turns. Now and then the long, wild note of the Arctic wolf is heard -through the midwinter gloom and a constant watch must be kept by -well-armed men. The repeating rifle made wolves so scarce, however, -that dogs are by far the greatest source of danger. - -It seems utterly impossible to train the malamoot dog to herd deer. At -sight of a deer the tamest malamoot becomes as uncontrollable as though -he had never known human restraint and were once more a plain wolf. - -Besides guarding the herd occasionally from these dangers, there are -sled deer to be trained, and every June there is a kind of round-up, -when the young fawns are marked, along with all deer that have changed -owners during the year. In the ear of each government deer a little -aluminum button is riveted securely, but all private owners and herders -have a mark which must be registered with the local superintendent and -also at Washington. This mark is made by cutting the ear. - -So far the native in the Far North has made almost no use of the -wonderfully rich milk of the reindeer. This milk, which is as white -as the Arctic snows, is at least ninety per cent. cream. In fact, it -is practically all a rich, snow-white, sugary cream. It is the most -nourishing milk in the world, but the government has so far supplied -the camps with condensed milk, and the herders have preferred opening -cans to milking deer. - -Unlike the Laplander, the Eskimo does not make a pet of his favorite -deer. When he wants to milk her she is lassoed and thrown down. When -her legs are carefully tied with walrus skin strings and her horns are -safely held by some stout friend, the process of milking begins. When -the last drop is extracted the highly indignant animal is unlashed and -allowed to get up and go about her business. - -Sometimes a horn is knocked off or a leg broken before the struggling -reindeer understands that she is to be milked and not branded or -butchered. Under the circumstances the dairying feature of Arctic life -is not very prominent, and the milkmaid’s song is not welcomed by the -wise little animals that have undergone the torture of one milking. - - * * * * * - -☛LATEST ISSUES☚ - -NICK CARTER WEEKLY - -The best detective stories on earth. Nick Carter’s exploits are read -the world over. =High art colored covers. Thirty-two big pages. 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Diamond Dick is a splendid Western character. -=High art colored covers. Thirty-two big pages. Price, 5 cents.= - -676--Diamond Dick’s Great Round-up; or, The End of the Reign of Terror. - -677--Diamond Dick’s Buccaneer Boy; or, The Ship of the Burning Sands. - -678--Diamond Dick’s Encouragement; or, A Runaway Boy at the Haunted -Ranch. - -679--Diamond Dick’s Shadow Dance; or, The Hunting of Grisly White. - -680--Diamond Dick in Arizona; or, The Mystery of the Missing President. - -681--Diamond Dick’s Power; or, The Affair on the Road from Flagstaff. - -682--Diamond Dick Solves a Mystery; or, On the Trail of Job. - -683--Diamond Dick in the Colorado Cañon; or, Frank’s Sight of Another -World. - -684--Diamond Dick on the Farm; or, The Mission of the Strangers. - -685--Diamond Dick and the Dummy Deacon; or, On a Silent Trail. - -686--Diamond Dick’s Chase; or, On the Track of Charlie. - - * * * * * - -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.” - -_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. - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Brave and Bold Weekly No. 363, A -Hoodoo Machine;, by Stanley R. 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Matthews - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Brave and Bold Weekly No. 363, A Hoodoo Machine; - or, The Motor Boys' Runabout No. 1313. - -Author: Stanley R. Matthews - -Release Date: November 26, 2016 [EBook #53607] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BRAVE AND BOLD WEEKLY NO 363 *** - - - - -Produced by David Edwards, Craig Kirkwood, and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (Images -courtesy of the Digital Library@Villanova University -(http://digital.library.villanova.edu/)) - - - - - - -</pre> - - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 598px;"> -<img id="coverpage" src="images/cover.jpg" width="598" height="850" alt="Cover." /> -</div> - -<div style="padding-top:4em"> - -<div class="transnote"> -<h2 style="margin-top: 0em">Transcriber’s Notes:</h2> - -<p>The Table of Contents was created by the transcriber and placed in -the public domain.</p> - -<p><a href="#TN_end">Additional Transcriber’s Notes</a> are at the -end.</p> -</div></div> - - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<div class="boxit"> -<p class="center xlargefont boldfont">TABLE OF CONTENTS</p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#CHAPTER_I_THE_CAR_THAT_WOULDNT_BEHAVE">CHAPTER I. THE CAR THAT WOULDN’T BEHAVE.</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#CHAPTER_II_MATT_KINGS_RESOLVE">CHAPTER II. MATT KING’S RESOLVE.</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#CHAPTER_III_A_DEMON_IN_CONTROL">CHAPTER III. A DEMON IN CONTROL.</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV_THE_MANILA_ENVELOPE">CHAPTER IV. THE MANILA ENVELOPE.</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#CHAPTER_V_THE_UNEXPECTED">CHAPTER V. THE UNEXPECTED.</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI_A_DIFFERENCE_OF_OPINION">CHAPTER VI. A DIFFERENCE OF OPINION.</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII_AN_OLD_FRIEND">CHAPTER VII. AN OLD FRIEND.</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII_THE_COLONEL_TRIES_PERSUASION">CHAPTER VIII. THE COLONEL TRIES PERSUASION.</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX_WHAT_AILS_MGLORY">CHAPTER IX. WHAT AILS M’GLORY?</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#CHAPTER_X_IN_THE_GARAGE">CHAPTER X. IN THE GARAGE.</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI_UNCLE_TOM_AGAIN">CHAPTER XI. UNCLE TOM AGAIN.</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII_A_STARTLING_MYSTERY">CHAPTER XII. A STARTLING MYSTERY.</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII_IMPORTANT_DISCLOSURES">CHAPTER XIII. IMPORTANT DISCLOSURES.</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV_MGLORYS_LESSON">CHAPTER XIV. M’GLORY’S LESSON.</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV_HURLING_A_BOMB">CHAPTER XV. HURLING A BOMB.</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI_LOST_A_FORTUNE">CHAPTER XVI. LOST—A FORTUNE.</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#THE_MISSING_BOATS">THE MISSING BOATS.</a></p> -<p class="hangindent"><a href="#ESKIMOS_TAKE_TO_REINDEERS">ESKIMOS TAKE TO REINDEERS.</a></p> -</div> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 650px;"> -<img src="images/frontispiece.jpg" width="650" height="661" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"><p>A freight train was almost at the crossing, and, unless -Motor Matt could check the runabout in its wild flight, it would surely -be demolished by the onrushing locomotive.</p></div> -</div> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p> - -<div class="boxit2"> -<p class="center" style="font-size:200%">BRAVE <span style="font-size:60%">AND</span> BOLD<br /> -<span style="font-size:70%">WEEKLY</span></p> -</div> - -<div class="boxit3"> -<p class="center smallfont"><em>Issued Weekly. By subscription $2.50 per year. Copyright, 1909, by</em> <span class="smcap">Street & Smith</span>, <em>79-89 Seventh Avenue, New York, N. Y.</em></p> -</div> - -<div class="boxit1"> -<p class="center"><b>No. 363.</b> <span style="padding-left:4em; padding-right:4em">NEW YORK, December 4, 1909.</span> <b>Price Five Cents.</b></p> -</div> - -<h1><span style="font-size:125%">A HOODOO MACHINE;</span><br /> -<span class="largefont">OR,</span><br /> -<span class="xxlargefont">The Motor Boys’ Runabout No. 1313.</span></h1> - -<hr class="short" /> - -<p class="xlargefont center">By STANLEY R. MATTHEWS.</p> - -<hr class="short" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I_THE_CAR_THAT_WOULDNT_BEHAVE" id="CHAPTER_I_THE_CAR_THAT_WOULDNT_BEHAVE">CHAPTER I.<br /> -<span class="titlefont">THE CAR THAT WOULDN’T BEHAVE.</span></a></h2> - - -<p>“Sufferin’ whirligigs, Pard Matt! Look at that bubble -wagon! Is it trying to turn a handspring, or ‘skin -the cat,’ or climb that telephone pole? I reckon the -longhorn up front don’t know how to run the thing. -Either that, or else he’s ‘bug’ with a big ‘B.’”</p> - -<p>“I should say it’s the car that’s ‘bug,’ Joe. The driver -seems to be trying to control the machine in the proper -manner, but it won’t be controlled. What’s your notion -of it, Billy?”</p> - -<p>“Hoodoo car, Matt. Look at the number of her—thirteen -thirteen. Double hoodoo. You couldn’t expect -no chug wagon with such a tag to behave anything else -than disgraceful. Lo and behold you, if she don’t turn -turtle in the ditch before she goes many more miles -then my name’s not Billy Wells. Watch ’er; keep your -eye on ’er an’ I’ll bet you see something.”</p> - -<p>The three boys were driving along the Jericho Pike -well toward Krug’s Corner—Matt King, Joe McGlory, -and Billy Wells. Billy belonged with a New York -garage from which the boys had secured the touring -car they were using that morning. He was a living -road map, this Billy, and could go anywhere up-state, -or over Long Island, or in Jersey on the darkest -night that ever fell, and he knew every minute just -where he was.</p> - -<p>Matt was doing the driving, and Billy sat beside him -as guide, counselor, and friend. In the back of the -machine was McGlory.</p> - -<p>That was Thursday. Matt and his chum were heeding -a summons that carried them toward the Malvern -Country Club, near Hempstead. After transacting their -business at the Country Club—they did not know what -it was, but believed it would not take them long—they -were planning to return to Krug’s Corner for their -noon meal, and then back to Manhattan by Jackson -Avenue and the Williamsburg Bridge. But plans are -easily made, sometimes, and not so easily carried out.</p> - -<p>The day was bright, the roads were good, and the -motor boys were enjoying themselves. Well along the -Jericho Pike they had come up with a white runabout, -two seats in front and a deck behind, and the actions -of this car aroused their curiosity to such an extent -that Matt slowed down the big machine in order that -he and those with him could follow and watch the performance.</p> - -<p>There was only one passenger in the white car, and he -was having his hands full.</p> - -<p>The runabout would angle from one side of the road -to the other, in apparent defiance of the way the steering -wheel was held, and sometimes it would go its eccentric -course slowly and sometimes with a rush—so -far as those in the other car could see—without any -change in the speed gear.</p> - -<p>The driver of the runabout worked frantically to keep -the machine where it ought to be, but the task was too -much for him.</p> - -<p>Once a telephone pole gave him a close shave, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span> -once his unmanageable car gave a sidewise lurch that -almost hurled it into a machine going the other way.</p> - -<p>“What’s the matter?” Matt hailed.</p> - -<p>The man in the runabout looked around with a facial -expression that was far from angelic.</p> - -<p>“If I knew what was the matter with this confounded -car,” he cried in exasperation, “do you think I’d be side-stepping -all over the road the way I am?” Then, muttering -to himself, he humped over the steering wheel -again.</p> - -<p>“He’s happy—I don’t think,” chuckled McGlory. -“The car’s getting on his nerves.”</p> - -<p>“A car like that would get on anybody’s nerves,” -commented Billy. “The number’s enough to set mine -on edge. Thirteen’s unlucky, no matter where you find -it. That’s right. And when you get two thirteens -bunched together, you’ve sure got a combination that -points a car for the scrap heap. I wouldn’t hold down -the cushions in that roadster for all the money in New -York. No, sir, that I wouldn’t,” and Billy shook his -head forebodingly.</p> - -<p>“Oh, splash!” scoffed Matt. “When a car fools -around like that, Billy, there’s something wrong with -its internal apparatus.”</p> - -<p>“Matt,” went on Billy solemnly, “I’ve seen cars that -hadn’t a thing wrong with ’em, but they was just naturally -crazy and never’d run right. Steer ’em straight, -an’ they’d go crooked; point ’em crooked, an’ they’d go -straight; throw on the reverse, an’ they’d go for’ard; -give ’em the third speed an’ they’d crawl; give ’em the -first an’ they’d tear away like lightnin’—and all the -while, mind you, the engine was running as sweet as any -engine you ever see. The Old Boy himself takes charge -of some cars the moment they’re sold and in a customer’s -hands. I’ve worked in a garage for five years, -and I know.”</p> - -<p>Matt laughed. McGlory laughed, too, but not so -mirthfully. The cowboy had a little superstition in his -make-up and Billy’s remarks had left a fleeting impression.</p> - -<p>“Gammon, Billy, gammon,” said Matt. “If a car is -built right, and works right, it is going to run right. -That stands to reason.”</p> - -<p>“A lot of things happen,” insisted Billy, “that don’t -stand to reason. Now, take that runabout. The engine’s -working fine—from the sound of it. Eh?”</p> - -<p>Matt admitted that, so far as the hum of the motor -was concerned, the machinery seemed to be doing its -part.</p> - -<p>“Well, then,” cried the triumphant Billy, “why don’t -the blooming car run like it ought to?”</p> - -<p>“It’s the steering gear that’s wrong,” Matt answered, -“not the engine, or——”</p> - -<p>Bang!</p> - -<p>Just then the runabout blew up a forward tire. The -machine tried to turn a somersault, and its passenger -went over on the hood and tried to knock off one of -the gas lamps with his head. When Matt brought the -touring car to the side of the runabout, and halted, -the man was on his feet, shaking his fist at the silent -white tormentor.</p> - -<p>“If I had a stick of dynamite,” he declared wrathfully, -“I’d blow this infernal machine to kingdom come! -I’ve been fiddling around the Jericho Road for two mortal -hours, and I could have made better time if I’d -left the car and gone on afoot. But I’ll hang to it, and -make it take me where I’m going. By George, I’ll not -be beaten by a senseless contraption of tires, mud -guards, and machinery.”</p> - -<p>Matt had jumped out of the touring car and was -sniffing at the damaged tire.</p> - -<p>“What makes that smell of gasoline?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“I put in a tube this morning, and washed out the -chalk with gasoline,” said the man.</p> - -<p>“Never use gasoline for cleaning the tubes,” counseled -Matt. “Get all the chalk you can from the outer -tube, and then soak it in wood naphtha or ordinary alcohol. -No wonder your tire blew up. You left gasoline -in the shoe, and when it got hot, it mixed with a -little air in the tube and something had to happen. Have -you got another shoe?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“And a jack?”</p> - -<p>“Of course. When a man goes out with a car like -this he ought to carry a small garage around with -him.”</p> - -<p>“Well, we’ll help you get on the shoe.”</p> - -<p>Matt and Billy worked. McGlory stood near, watching -and talking with the owner of the car.</p> - -<p>After the tire had been repaired, Matt looked over -the runabout critically. Much to his amazement, he -could find nothing wrong.</p> - -<p>“It’s the double hoodoo,” whispered Billy; “that’s all -that’s the trouble.”</p> - -<p>“Much obliged to you,” said the man, cranking up. -“Now we’ll see how she acts.”</p> - -<p>He got in, went through the operations for a fresh -start, but the runabout began backing. While the man -shouted, and said things, the runabout backed in a circle -around the big touring car, then dropped rearward -down a shallow embankment at the roadside—and its -passenger had another spill, out over the rear deck this -time. For a second, he stood on his head and shoulders, -then turned clear over and made a quick move sideways -in getting to his feet. He was afraid, evidently, that -the runabout was coming on top of him. But the car, -almost in defiance of the laws of gravitation, hung -to the side of the steep bank, its position nearly perpendicular.</p> - -<p>“Speak to me about that!” gasped McGlory.</p> - -<p>Matt was scared. From the top of the bank he stood -staring while the man got out of the way.</p> - -<p>“Are you all right?” Matt asked.</p> - -<p>“No thanks to that fiendish machine if I am,” sputtered -the man, laboring frantically up the slope. “It -has tried to kill me in a dozen different ways since I -left home with it. I’m done. Life’s too short to bother -with such an infernal car as that.”</p> - -<p>Fairly boiling with rage, he started along the road on -foot.</p> - -<p>“Wait a minute!” shouted Matt. “Where you going?”</p> - -<p>The man turned.</p> - -<p>“Krug’s,” he answered. “I’ll get a decent, respectable -car there to take me on.”</p> - -<p>“You can telephone to a garage from Krug’s,” suggested -Billy, “and they can send some one to get the -runabout home.”</p> - -<p>“I’m done with the runabout, I tell you. It can stay -where it is until the tires rot, for all of me.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll agree to get it back to the city for you,” said -Matt. “My name’s King, Matt King, and I’m staying -at——”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span></p> - -<p>The man’s rage subsided a little.</p> - -<p>“You’re Matt King?” he inquired.</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“I understand, now, how you happen to know so -much about tubes. They say you’re pretty well up in -motors, too. Well, here’s where I give you the job of -your life. Matt King, I make you a present of that -runabout. Take it—but Heaven help you if you try -to run it.”</p> - -<p>Thereupon the man whirled around and strode off.</p> - -<p>“Oh, I say,” yelled Matt, “you don’t mean it. Wait, -and I’ll——”</p> - -<p>But the man swung onward, paying no heed to what -Matt was calling after him.</p> - -<p>Matt King turned and peered in amazement at his -cowboy chum.</p> - -<p>“Sufferin’ tenterhooks!” exclaimed McGlory. “You’re -loaded up with a bunch of trouble now, pard.”</p> - -<p>“Come on,” urged Billy, moving toward the touring -car with considerable haste. “Don’t lay a finger on -that runabout—don’t have a thing to do with it.”</p> - -<p>But Matt was face to face with a proposition that -caught his fancy. A refractory automobile! Never yet -had he encountered a machine that had got the best -of him. And this runabout couldn’t do it—he was positive -of that.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II_MATT_KINGS_RESOLVE" id="CHAPTER_II_MATT_KINGS_RESOLVE">CHAPTER II.<br /> -<span class="titlefont ">MATT KING’S RESOLVE.</span></a></h2> - - -<p>“That man was so mad he was locoed,” observed the -cowboy.</p> - -<p>“Certainly he was, Joe,” agreed Matt. “If he hadn’t -been, he’d never have given away that machine. It’s -a powerful car and worth twenty-five hundred of any -man’s money.”</p> - -<p>“Don’t tamper with it, Matt,” implored Billy. “When -that fellow gets over his mad spell he’ll want the runabout -back. Let him have it—and let him find it right -where he left it.”</p> - -<p>“If he hadn’t been worked up like he was,” said Matt, -“he wouldn’t have given the car to me. I won’t take -it, of course, but Joe and I will use it to take us to the -Malvern Country Club, and then back to Manhattan. -By to-morrow that fellow will be looking for me and -wanting his car back.”</p> - -<p>“You wouldn’t think of such a thing as wanting to -bother with that runabout!” gasped Billy, from his seat -in the touring car.</p> - -<p>“Yes, I would,” answered Matt. “Why not?”</p> - -<p>“The number—thirteen thirteen!”</p> - -<p>“Bosh!”</p> - -<p>“It’s a hoodoo car.”</p> - -<p>“Never mind about that, Billy. You go on to Krug’s -Corner and get a stout rope. If you overtake the owner -of the runabout you can give him a lift. See him, anyhow, -and tell him we’ll take the runabout to New -York and that he can have it whenever he wants it.”</p> - -<p>“Don’t do it!” begged Billy. “I’ve seen enough of -these hoodoo cars to know they’ll prove the death of -somebody. Don’t let that runabout prove the death of -you!”</p> - -<p>“Go get the rope, Billy,” said Matt sharply, “and -hustle back with it.”</p> - -<p>There was that in the voice of Matt King which proved -that he had made up his mind, and that there was no -shaking his determination. With an ominous movement -of the head, Billy started for Krug’s Corner.</p> - -<p>“Pard,” remarked McGlory earnestly, “I reckon the -runabout is heap bad medicine. Do you think you ought -to mix up with it?”</p> - -<p>“Are you going back on me, Joe?” asked Matt.</p> - -<p>“Not so you can notice. I’d get on a streak of -greased lightning with you, if you said the word, and -help you ride it to the end of the One-way Trail, but -I think this is too big an order for us. Sufferin’ thunderbolts! -Why, pard, that car won’t mind the helm or -do the thing it ought to do even when you pull the -right thing. When it began to crawfish around the road, -the reverse wasn’t on.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know about that. It’s on now,” and he looked -down at the runabout. “I guess the man must have -thrown on the reverse instinctively when the tire blew -up. Think of rinsing the chalk from the outer tube -with gasoline!” Matt laughed. “There was good cause -for the tire going wrong, and there may be other good -and sufficient causes for the machine’s sizzling around -like it did. Anyhow, we’ll try it, and see how it will -behave for us.”</p> - -<p>“But how can we lay a course for the Malvern Country -Club? Billy will have to show us.”</p> - -<p>“Billy can tell us how to go, and we’ll get to the -Country Club all right. Hello! What’s this?”</p> - -<p>Matt began slipping and sliding down the slope at -the side of the runabout. Just at the point where the -driver of the car had taken his header, the young motorist -picked up a long manila envelope, unsealed.</p> - -<p>“I reckon that dropped out of the man’s clothes while -he was upside down,” ventured McGlory.</p> - -<p>“That’s a cinch,” said Matt. “There’s no address on -the envelope, and no printed card in the corner, but it -may be we can find the man’s name and address on the -papers inside. If he won’t come for his car, we’ll take -it to him.”</p> - -<p>“I’m a Piute,” mumbled McGlory, “if I feel right -about this runabout business.”</p> - -<p>“Billy’s talk about hoodoo cars has got you on the -run,” grinned Matt. “You’ll feel different when we’re -slamming along the pike with the runabout under perfect -control. It’s my opinion that man doesn’t know -a whole lot about running a car.”</p> - -<p>While Matt was moving here and there about the -steep bank, making a few investigations of the “hoodoo” -machine, Billy came racing back.</p> - -<p>“There’s your rope, Matt,” said he, tossing a coiled -cable into the road.</p> - -<p>Matt crept warily up the bank to the front of the -runabout.</p> - -<p>“Did you see the man, Billy?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“Sure I did. Let him ride with me for half a mile.”</p> - -<p>“You told him what we were going to do?”</p> - -<p>“I did. He says that if you get that car back to the -city, and try to turn it over to him, he’ll have you arrested -for assault with intent to do great bodily damage. -He says the runabout is a powder mine, and liable -to blow up at any minute. ‘Tell Matt King to keep it,’ -he said, ‘providing he’s got the nerve.’ That’s the way -he handed it to me. Take my advice,” Billy clamored -desperately, “and leave it alone!”</p> - -<p>“Joe and I are going to use it,” answered Matt.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span> -“Hand me an end of that rope, pard,” he added to the -cowboy.</p> - -<p>McGlory passed him the rope, and Matt made it secure -to the front of the runabout.</p> - -<p>“Back up, Billy,” called Matt, “and tie the other end -of the rope to the touring car. You’ve got to give us -a lift into the road.”</p> - -<p>“What if something should happen?” demurred Billy.</p> - -<p>“Nonsense!” said Matt impatiently.</p> - -<p>“You can’t give the car back to that fellow if he -won’t take it.”</p> - -<p>“We’ll make him take it. He’s a very foolish man, -and he’s going to feel differently when his temper -cools.”</p> - -<p>Billy, not in a very comfortable frame of mind, backed -the touring car close to the edge of the bank. The -rope was made fast, and Matt and McGlory went to the -foot of the bank to push while the big machine pulled.</p> - -<p>The attempt was successful. The runabout sputtered—perhaps -defiantly—as it yielded to the tugging and -rolled up the slope. Matt looked the machine over -and could not find that it had suffered any by the slide -down the slope.</p> - -<p>“It’ll hang together till it gets you, Motor Matt,” observed -Billy grewsomely. “That’s the way with these -hoodoo cars. They never go to pieces till they kill somebody.”</p> - -<p>“You’re too good a driver, Billy, to talk such foolishness,” -returned Matt. “Now, tell us how to get to the -Malvern Country Club.”</p> - -<p>“Ain’t I going with you?”</p> - -<p>“Three of us couldn’t ride very comfortably in the -runabout.”</p> - -<p>“But hadn’t I better go along in the touring car so -as to be handy in case of accidents?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, Joe and I will get along. We’re not going to -have any accidents if we can help it—and I feel pretty -sure we can.”</p> - -<p>Billy laid out the course the boys were to take with -considerable detail. When he was through, Matt felt -that he had the route clearly fixed in his mind.</p> - -<p>“If the runabout’s too much for you,” Billy finished, -“all you’ve got to do is to phone the garage, and I’ll -come a-runnin’.”</p> - -<p>“Where did you get the rope?” asked Matt.</p> - -<p>Billy told him he had borrowed it at Krug’s.</p> - -<p>“We’ll leave it there,” said Matt, “on our way past -the Corner.”</p> - -<p>“You may never get to Krug’s,” answered Billy, in -extreme dejection.</p> - -<p>“Pile in, Joe,” said Matt, “and we’ll throw in the -clutch and scoot.”</p> - -<p>McGlory, it must be admitted, climbed into the runabout -in a way that proved his lack of confidence. Matt -cranked up, listening with deep satisfaction to the smooth -singing of the engine, and then got into the driver’s -seat.</p> - -<p>Billy, in the touring car, watched tremulously and -waited. From his appearance, he was plainly expecting -that the white car would turn a few cartwheels and -perhaps land upside down in the middle of the road -with Matt and McGlory underneath.</p> - -<p>But nothing of the sort happened. Car No. 1313 -moved off in the direction of Krug’s as nice as you -please—moved on a hair line, with none of the distressing -wabbling which characterized its previous performance -with its owner at the wheel.</p> - -<p>The cowboy gathered confidence. Looking behind, he -waved his hat at Billy.</p> - -<p>“Don’t whistle till you’re out of the woods!” yelled -Billy.</p> - -<p>He shouted something else, but his words faded out in -the increasing distance.</p> - -<p>“Speak to me concerning this!” laughed McGlory, -straightening around in his seat. “This little old chug -cart is a false alarm, after all. It seems to understand -that there’s a fellow in charge who knows the ropes -up and down and across. Fine!”</p> - -<p>“We’ll see the owner of the machine at Krug’s,” said -Matt, “and get his address.”</p> - -<p>“But he can’t have the runabout till we’re done with -it,” protested McGlory.</p> - -<p>“I should say not! We’ve sent Billy home, and that -leaves us only this car to take us back. Ah, there’s -Krug’s! We’ll stop for a few minutes.”</p> - -<p>Matt tried to stop, but he couldn’t. He went through -all the motions for cutting off the flow of gasoline and -switching off the spark. The clutch was out, but the -engine still had the car, and the engine wouldn’t stop.</p> - -<p>An automobile was just coming out of the sheds. The -runabout came within an ace of a head-on collision. -Fortunately the steering gear still worked, and Matt -scraped mud guards with the other car and he and his -cowboy chum bounded on along the road.</p> - -<p>McGlory yelled frantically. “Jump!” he cried; “let -the old contraption run its blooming head off!”</p> - -<p>But Matt wouldn’t jump, and he wouldn’t let his chum -go over the flying wheels. Dazed and bewildered, he -bore down on the brake.</p> - -<p>The speed slackened, but they were half a mile beyond -Krug’s before the car made up its mind to stop. -Then McGlory tumbled out, while Matt sat astounded, -his arms folded over the steering wheel and such a -look on his face as the cowboy had never seen there -before.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III_A_DEMON_IN_CONTROL" id="CHAPTER_III_A_DEMON_IN_CONTROL">CHAPTER III.<br /> -<span class="titlefont ">A DEMON IN CONTROL.</span></a></h2> - - -<p>“Get out of that, pard! Get out!” McGlory was -wild with apprehension, and sprang up and down at -the roadside and waved his arms. “The way that car -acts would make the hair stand up on a buffalo robe! -What are you staying there for?”</p> - -<p>“I’m trying to guess how that happened,” said Matt.</p> - -<p>“Then stop guessing. You can guess till you’re black -in the face and you’ll still be up in the air. Cut loose -from that bubble wagon—that’s your cue and mine.”</p> - -<p>“There’s a reason for the car acting as it does,” declared -Matt, “and I’m going to get down to the bottom -of the mystery. We might just as well put in a little -time right here. It’s not a very long run to the Malvern -Country Club, and we can waste another half hour without -missing your appointment.”</p> - -<p>“If you took my advice,” muttered McGlory, “you -wouldn’t touch that machine with a ten-foot pole.”</p> - -<p>There was a determined look on Matt’s face as he -leaped into the road and began an exhaustive examination. -He could find nothing wrong; nevertheless, he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span> -went over the ignition system carefully, step by step; -then he took the carburetor to pieces, ran pins through -the spray nozzle and sandpapered the float guides; and, -after that, he went under the car, broke the gasoline -connections and drew wires through the tubes.</p> - -<p>The cowboy heaved a long breath of relief as Matt -reappeared from under the car.</p> - -<p>“Find anything out of whack, pard?” McGlory asked.</p> - -<p>“Not a thing,” answered the mystified Matt.</p> - -<p>“Then you’re about ready to admit there’s a demon -in control of the car?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t believe in demons.”</p> - -<p>“If a car won’t stop when it ought to stop, and if it -won’t go straight when you’re steering that way, and if -it backs up when everything is set for going ahead, I’m -a Piute if I don’t think there’s something else got a hand -in running it.”</p> - -<p>Matt was silent. He was facing a proposition that -was new to him, but he was dealing with motor details -with which he was perfectly familiar. Here was an ordinary -four-cycle engine, and an ordinary float-feed -carburetor; the transmission was of the common sliding-gear -variety; the fuel tank was under the seat, and -the gasoline was fed into the engine by gravity. Why -was it that the different parts did not coöperate as -they should?</p> - -<p>“Come on, Joe,” said Matt, putting on the coat which -he had laid off while at work, “we’ll go back to Krug’s -and see if my tinkering has helped any.”</p> - -<p>“I can’t pass up the invitation, pard,” returned McGlory, -“but if any one else gave it to me, I’d say <i lang="es" xml:lang="es">manana</i>. -Every minute we’re aboard that runabout, we’re -sitting on a thunderbolt that’s not more than half tame. -Here goes, anyhow.”</p> - -<p>The cowboy climbed to his place, and Matt “turned -the engine over” and got in beside him. Then they -backed until the runabout was headed the other way, -whereupon Matt changed speeds and they slid over the -pike as easily as a girl tripping to market. No. 1313 -behaved like the prince of cars. No one, from its present -performance, could ever have dreamed that it was -anything but the mildest-mannered little buzz wagon -that had ever come out of the shop.</p> - -<p>“I’m stumped,” declared McGlory. “She acts as -though she had never thought of such a thing as taking -the bit in her teeth. I reckon, pard, you must have -done something that started her to working in the right -way.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll never be able to understand how she ran for half -a mile without any gas in the cylinders or any spark -to cause an explosion,” said Matt, as he came to a stop -in front of Krug’s. “Return the rope, Joe,” he added, -“and see if you can find the owner of the runabout.”</p> - -<p>McGlory was gone for ten minutes. When he came -back he reported that the man who had cut loose from -the runabout was nowhere to be found, and that a fellow -answering his description had been taken into a -car by a friend and had motored off in the direction of -Hempstead.</p> - -<p>“Then,” said Matt, “we’ll stop thinking about the -owner of the car and continue to use it just as though -it belonged to us.”</p> - -<p>They turned south from the Corner and moved away -in the direction of Hempstead at a good rate of speed. -The runabout kept up its excellent behavior, answering -instantly Matt’s slightest touch on steering wheel or levers.</p> - -<p>“You’ve got the best of her, pard,” observed McGlory. -“When you hip-locked with her, after she ran away -from Krug’s, you must have poked a wire into something -that was causing all the trouble.”</p> - -<p>“I couldn’t have done that,” answered Matt. “Still, -no matter what the reason, the car is acting handsomely -now, and we’ll let it go at that. Read that telegram to -me again, Joe.”</p> - -<p>McGlory fished around in his pocket until he had -brought up a folded yellow sheet. Opening it out, he -read as follows:</p> - -<blockquote> - -<p>“‘Meeting of syndicate in the matter of ”Pauper’s -Dream“ Mine postponed from Wednesday night to -Thursday night. Meet me eleven o’clock Thursday Malvern -Country Club, near Hempstead, Long Island. Important.</p> - -<p class="marginrightindent">“‘<span class="smcap">Joshua Griggs.</span>’”</p> -</blockquote> - -<p>The “Pauper’s Dream” Mine was located near Tucson, -in Arizona. It was owned by a stock company, -and the cowboy had a hundred shares of the stock. A -friend of his, named Colonel Mark Antony Billings, had -induced him to invest in the “Pauper’s Dream” when -it was little more than an undeveloped claim. Development -seemingly proved the claim worthless, and McGlory -had been surprised, while he and Matt were in -New York, to receive a letter stating that a rich vein -had been struck, and that the colonel was planning to -sell the property at a big figure to a syndicate of New -York capitalists. Random & Griggs, brokers, in Liberty -Street, were the colonel’s New York agents, and the -meeting of the syndicate was to be held in their office.</p> - -<p>Two bars of gold bullion from the “Pauper’s Dream” -mill had been sent by the colonel to New York, and -McGlory had been requested to get the bullion and exhibit -it to the members of the syndicate at the meeting. -Matt and McGlory had had a good deal of trouble with -that bullion, and the cowboy was not intending to take -it from the bank, to whose care it had been consigned, -until three o’clock in the afternoon.</p> - -<p>Meanwhile, this telegram from Griggs was taking the -boys to the Malvern Country Club; but just why it was -necessary for McGlory to talk with Griggs was more -than either of the lads could understand.</p> - -<p>“Griggs, I reckon,” said McGlory, as he returned the -telegram to his pocket, “is one of the members of the -firm of Random & Griggs.”</p> - -<p>“That’s my guess,” returned Matt; “but, if he is, why -couldn’t he talk with you at the office in Liberty Street -instead of having you come all the way out here?”</p> - -<p>“I’ll have to shy at that, pard. Maybe Griggs is a -plutocrat, and is accustomed to having people jump -whenever he cracks the whip. Like as not he didn’t -want to go in to the office to-day and just shot that -message at us to save him the trouble of going too far -for a palaver.”</p> - -<p>“He told you all it was necessary for you to know, -in the message. The meeting was postponed from last -night to to-night. What else is there that he could -want to tell you?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Pass again. Maybe he wants to ask about the -colonel’s health, or——”</p> - -<p>The cowboy bit off his words suddenly. Without the -least warning, the runabout had made a wild lunge toward -the side of the road.</p> - -<p>“She’s cut loose again!” yelled McGlory, hanging to -the seat with both hands.</p> - -<p>Matt was holding the steering wheel firmly. So far -as he could see, there was not the least excuse for -the car’s making that frantic plunge toward the roadside.</p> - -<p>Just ahead of the machine was a railroad track, and -the noise of an approaching train was loud in the boys’ -ears. Matt was thinking that, if the runabout repeated -the performance it had given at Krug’s Corner, he, and -Joe, and the car, stood a grave chance of being hung -up on the pilot of a locomotive.</p> - -<p>Before he could disengage the clutch or give a kick at -the switch, one of the forward wheels struck a bowlder. -The car jumped, throwing McGlory out on one side and -Matt on the other.</p> - -<p>As Matt fell, he caught at the two levers on the -right of the driver’s seat and clung to them desperately. -Although the car was running wild, with no -hand on the steering wheel, yet it bounded away along -the centre of the road, dragging Matt along with it.</p> - -<p>With his elbows on the footboard, and the lower half -of his body trailing in the dust, Matt endeavored again -and again to get back on the running board and regain -a grip on the steering wheel.</p> - -<p>A freight train was almost at the crossing. Unless -Matt could check the runabout in its wild flight, it would -surely be demolished by the locomotive or else hurl -itself to destruction against the sides of the swiftly -moving box cars.</p> - -<p>The situation was desperate to the last degree. Unless -he could get hold of the steering wheel and regain his -seat, nothing could be done to avert the threatening catastrophe. -If he let go, and abandoned the runabout to -its fate, he was in danger of being thrown under the -racing wheels.</p> - -<p>A demon of perversity seemed to possess the car and -to be bent upon the destruction of Matt King.</p> - -<p>Again and again the young motorist tried to reach -the steering post with one hand and wriggled up onto -the running board. Each attempt was unsuccessful -until a lurch of the car helped in executing the manœuvre.</p> - -<p>Hanging to the wheel, Matt threw himself over the -upright levers, dropped into the driver’s seat, disengaged -the clutch and jammed both brakes home.</p> - -<p>Even then he was in doubt as to whether he would -succeed in stopping the car. If it continued mysteriously -to refuse control, there was certain destruction for -both Matt and the car against the side of the train, -the box cars of which were already flashing over the -crossing.</p> - -<p>But the car stopped—stopped within a yard of the -rushing box cars!</p> - -<p>Matt dared not throw in the reverse, fearing the -machine might move forward instead of backward, so -he dropped into the road and lay there, panting and -exhausted, while the freight rolled on.</p> - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV_THE_MANILA_ENVELOPE" id="CHAPTER_IV_THE_MANILA_ENVELOPE">CHAPTER IV.<br /> -<span class="titlefont ">THE MANILA ENVELOPE.</span></a></h2> - - -<p>“Sufferin’ doom! I’m beginning to think Billy had -a bean on the right number, pard, when he said this -car would have to kill somebody before it settled down -and acted as though it was civilized.”</p> - -<p>Matt looked up and saw his cowboy chum. McGlory -was rubbing a bruise on the side of his face and was -carrying the long manila envelope in his hand.</p> - -<p>“Why didn’t you let the car go to blazes?” demanded -the cowboy. “What did you want to hang on to it for? -The best place for the blamed thing is the junk pile.”</p> - -<p>“I couldn’t let go without getting run over,” explained -Matt, rising to his feet.</p> - -<p>“Well, you’d feel a heap more comfortable under a -pneumatic tire than you would under a train of box -cars!”</p> - -<p>McGlory’s face was white, and his voice trembled. -The strain he had been under was just beginning to -tell on him.</p> - -<p>“The owner of the runabout,” he went on, “showed -his good sense when he cut loose from it. The car’s -like a broncho, Matt, and you never can tell when its -fiendishness is going to break loose. If we had a keg -of powder, I’m a Piegan if I wouldn’t scatter that -sizz wagon all over this part of Long Island.”</p> - -<p>McGlory glared savagely at the white, innocent-looking -machine.</p> - -<p>The freight train had passed, and Matt was leaning -against the car and cudgeling his brains to think -of some reason for the runabout’s acting as it did.</p> - -<p>“It brought us out of Krug’s Corner as nice as you -please,” he mused.</p> - -<p>“Which is just the way it took us into Krug’s Corner,” -proceeded the cowboy. “That’s the way the pesky -thing works. First it lulls you into thinking it wouldn’t -side-step, or buck-jump, or do anything else that was -crooked or underhand for the world; then, when you -think you’re all right, the runabout hauls off and hands -you one. That’s the meanest kind of treachery—reaching -out the glad hand only to land on you with a -bunch of fives. There’s something human about that -car, Matt.”</p> - -<p>“Inhuman, I should say,” muttered Matt. “Well, it’s -too much for me. Get in, Joe, and we’ll cross the track -to those trees over there and rest up a little before we -go on to the Malvern Country Club.”</p> - -<p>“Damaged much, pard?”</p> - -<p>“Jolted some, that’s all.”</p> - -<p>“Same here. I landed in the road like a thousand -of brick. This is my first experience with a crazy automobile, -and you can bet your moccasins it will be -the last. I didn’t know there was such a thing.”</p> - -<p>“There isn’t,” said Matt. “How can you put together -a lot of machine and have anything but a senseless piece -of mechanism?”</p> - -<p>“I’m by, when you pin me right down, pard, but if -this car isn’t locoed, then what’s the matter with it?”</p> - -<p>“Something must go wrong.”</p> - -<p>“Goes wrong and then fixes itself,” jeered the cowboy. -“If you’d look the blamed thing over this minute, -you wouldn’t be able to find anything out of order.”</p> - -<p>Once more Matt started the car, and once more it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span> -acted like a sane and sensible machine, carrying the -boys to the shade of the trees and stopping obediently -to let them alight.</p> - -<p>Matt flung himself down on the grass at the roadside -and examined his watch to ascertain whether it -had been injured. He found the timepiece in good condition.</p> - -<p>“Ten-fifteen, Joe,” he observed, replacing the watch -in his vest and noticing that his chum was still carrying -the manila envelope in his hand as he sat down -beside him. “What are you holding that envelope for?” -he inquired.</p> - -<p>“I reckon I’ve gone off the jump myself, Matt,” -laughed McGlory. “It dropped out of my pocket when -I fell into the road. I picked it up, but have been too -badly rattled ever since to do anything but hold it in -my hand.”</p> - -<p>McGlory was about to put it in his pocket when Matt -suggested that he examine the contents and see if he -could discover the name and address of the man who -owned the runabout.</p> - -<p>The cowboy pulled out a couple of papers. Unfolding -one of them, he read some typewritten words and -gave a gasp and turned blank eyes on his chum.</p> - -<p>“What’s wrong?” queried Matt.</p> - -<p>“Listen to this,” was the answer. “‘Private Report -on the Pauper’s Dream Mine, by Hannibal J. Levitt, -Mining Engineer, of New York City.’ Wouldn’t that -rattle your spurs, Matt?” cried McGlory. “The syndicate -had an expert go out to Arizona and make an examination -of the ‘Pauper’s Dream,’—you remember the -colonel told me about that, in his letter. Here’s the report! -It drops into our hands by the queerest happen-chance -you ever heard of. Mister Man takes a header -from a crazy chug cart, unloads the machine onto you, -and then hustles for Krug’s, leaving the report behind. -He’s not at Krug’s when we get there, so the report -is left in our hands. This couldn’t have happened once -in a million times, pard!”</p> - -<p>Matt was rubbing his bruised shins and allowing the -amazing event to drift through his brain. It was queer, -there was no mistake about it. In fact, all the experiences -of the boys that Thursday morning were on the -“queer” order.</p> - -<p>“You say,” said Matt, “that the document is headed -‘Private Report.’ Why should it be a private report if -it is for the syndicate?”</p> - -<p>“Private for the syndicate, I reckon.”</p> - -<p>“Hardly that, Joe. Unless there’s some skullduggery -that report ought to be public property—public enough -so that it could go into a prospectus. What’s the other -paper?”</p> - -<p>McGlory opened the other document, and found it to -be a letter from Colonel Billings, dated nearly a month -previous.</p> - -<p>“It’s a letter from the colonel, Matt,” the cowboy -announced, “and is addressed to Levitt. The colonel -says he will not pay Levitt the balance due until Levitt -sends him the private report on the ‘Pauper’s Dream’ -proposition.”</p> - -<p>“Great spark plugs!” exclaimed Matt.</p> - -<p>“What’s strange about that?” demanded McGlory. “If -Levitt made an examination of the property he certainly -expects pay for it.”</p> - -<p>“But not from the colonel, Joe! Levitt was examining -the mine for the syndicate, and he’s not entitled -to any money from the colonel unless he’s doing shady -work of some kind.”</p> - -<p>“Speak to me about that!” muttered McGlory. “It -looks as though we’d grabbed a live wire when we got -hold of this yellow envelope.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t like the way the business stacks up,” said -Matt earnestly. “The owner of this troublesome runabout -happens to be Hannibal J. Levitt, and he’s playing -an unscrupulous double game. Glance through that -report and give me the gist of it.”</p> - -<p>Eagerly—and a little apprehensively—McGlory looked -through the private report. His face grew longer and -longer as he read.</p> - -<p>“Sufferin’ poorhouses!” he cried at last. “Levitt says, -in this report, that the ‘Pauper’s Dream’ isn’t a mine, -but a pocket, and that the pocket has been worked out. -In other words, pard, my hundred shares of stock are -worth just about what they’ll bring for scrap paper. -And the colonel had me worked up till I thought I was -going to be a millionaire! Riddle: Where was Moses -when the light went out?”</p> - -<p>McGlory fell back on the grass and kicked up his -heels dejectedly.</p> - -<p>“Can’t you see through the dodge your Tucson colonel -is working, Joe?” asked Matt.</p> - -<p>“Dodge?” echoed McGlory. “The ‘Pauper’s Dream’ -is just a hole in the ground. We can’t any of us dodge -that.”</p> - -<p>“The colonel,” went on Matt quietly, “is paying Levitt -to make a false report to the syndicate. To-night the -syndicate meets and decides whether or not it will buy -the ‘Pauper’s Dream.’ Levitt’s false report has already -been submitted, I suppose, and read. You show up at -the meeting with the two bars of bullion, and a sworn -statement from the colonel that they came out of the -ten-stamp mill on the ‘Dream’ during one week’s run. -That clinches the proposition. The syndicate, relying -on Levitt’s honesty, and, incidentally, on the colonel’s, -pay over a big sum for a worthless hole in the ground, -and——”</p> - -<p>The cowboy leaped erect, flushed and excited.</p> - -<p>“And the colonel,” he cried, “divides the proceeds -among the stockholders! That gives me a big profit on -my five hundred. Oh, well, I reckon I’ve got my dipper -right side up during this rain.”</p> - -<p>McGlory chuckled. Matt stared at him as though he -hardly believed what he heard.</p> - -<p>“Pard,” said Matt quietly, “it’s a game of out-and-out -robbery.”</p> - -<p>“That’s the syndicate’s lookout, not mine. If they -want to drop half a million into that hole in the ground, -what is it to me?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t think you mean that, Joe,” said Matt, getting -up. “We’ll go on to the Malvern Country Club and -find out what Griggs has to say to you. We’ve got -plenty of time to figure the matter over before the Syndicate -meets to-night.”</p> - -<p>Matt’s face was set and determined, and there was a -smouldering light in his gray eyes, which proved that -he had nerved himself for some duty which might be -disagreeable. McGlory was wrapped in thought—so -concerned in his own affairs that he forgot Matt, forgot -the treacherous nature of the runabout, forgot everything -but the “Pauper’s Dream” and his chances for -winning or losing a fortune.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V_THE_UNEXPECTED" id="CHAPTER_V_THE_UNEXPECTED">CHAPTER V.<br /> -<span class="titlefont ">THE UNEXPECTED.</span></a></h2> - - -<p>The unexpected happened at least twice to the motor -boys between ten-thirty and eleven o’clock that Thursday -morning. First, they naturally expected to have -trouble with the runabout, but it carried out its work -handsomely and deposited them in the Malvern Country -Club garage at precisely five minutes of eleven.</p> - -<p>There was not much talk between the boys during the -ride. McGlory was concerned with his “Pauper’s -Dream” reflections—and Matt had reflections of his own. -Besides his thoughts, which were none too agreeable, -Matt had to recall Billy’s instructions for finding the -way, and also to be on the alert for any sudden tantrum -on the part of the runabout. But the tantrum did not -develop, and the boys left the garage and made their -way across the broad lawn of the clubhouse to a porch -which extended along the front of the building.</p> - -<p>“I’d like to see Mr. Joshua Griggs,” said McGlory to -a stout person wearing side-whiskers and knee breeches. -The servant looked the boys over.</p> - -<p>“Wot nyme?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“Matt King and Joe McGlory—two nymes.”</p> - -<p>“’E’s hexpecting you. This w’y, please.”</p> - -<p>The boys were ushered through a great apartment -with a beamed ceiling and a fireplace that covered half -of one end of the room, up a flight of broad stairs, and -along a wide hall. Here the servant paused by a door -and knocked. A mumble of voices, coming from the -other side of the door, ceased abruptly.</p> - -<p>“What’s wanted?” demanded some one.</p> - -<p>“Mr. McGlory hand friend, sir.”</p> - -<p>“Send ’em in.”</p> - -<p>The servant pushed open the door, drew to one side, -and bowed the boys out of the hall. Then the unexpected -happened for the second time.</p> - -<p>There were two men in the room, and the atmosphere -was thick with tobacco smoke and a reek of liquor. A -box of cigars was on a table; also a decanter and two -glasses, a bowl of cracked ice, and a bottle of “fizz” -water.</p> - -<p>A man was seated in a comfortable chair, rocking and -smoking. This man was Hannibal J. Levitt, owner of -the unmanageable runabout.</p> - -<p>The other man was tall and gaunt. He wore a black -frock coat and gray trousers, a flowing tie, and a big -diamond in the front of his pleated white shirt. His -hair was a trifle long and a trifle thin on the crown. A -mustache spread widely from his upper lip; and a wisp -of pointed beard decorated his chin.</p> - -<p>This latter individual exploded a hearty laugh as -McGlory recoiled and stared like a person in a trance.</p> - -<p>“Howdy, son?” barked the man in the long coat, -sweeping down on the cowboy and seizing his hand. -“Something of a surprise, hey? Lookin’ for Griggs, by -gad, and you find me!”</p> - -<p>“Colonel!” gulped McGlory. “Speak to me about this! -Why, I thought you were in Tucson?”</p> - -<p>“Made up my mind at the last minute that I’d better -trek eastward and make sure the deal for the ‘Dream’ -went through.” He slapped McGlory on the back. “A -fortune, my boy, for all of us, by gad! The ‘Dream’s’ -a bonanza—gold from the grass roots down. But present -your friend; present your friend.”</p> - -<p>The colonel turned beamingly toward Matt.</p> - -<p>“My pard, Matt King,” said McGlory. “Everybody -has heard of him, I reckon.”</p> - -<p>“You do me proud,” bubbled the colonel, seizing -Matt’s hand and pumping his arm up and down. “A -friend of McGlory’s is a friend of mine. Allow me”—and -he turned toward Levitt, only to find Levitt leaning -across the table, his jaws agape. “Well, well, well!” -mumbled the colonel. “What’s flagged you, Levitt?”</p> - -<p>“We’ve met before,” grinned Levitt.</p> - -<p>“How’s that?”</p> - -<p>“These are the young fellows to whom I gave that -confounded runabout.”</p> - -<p>“A conspiracy, by gad, to keep me from meeting McGlory! -How’d you expect him to get here in a motor -wagon you couldn’t run yourself?”</p> - -<p>“I didn’t know who the lads were, colonel, or I’d have -been more considerate. But”—and here he turned to -Matt—“how <em>did</em> you do it?”</p> - -<p>“We had plenty of trouble with the machine,” said -Matt, “but we made it bring us.”</p> - -<p>The situation was clearing. Levitt, at the time Matt -and McGlory had met him that morning, was also on -his way to the Malvern Country Club.</p> - -<p>“Re-markable!” cooed the colonel. “But it’s a terrible -land for dust, ain’t it?” He poured something from the -decanter into the glasses. “Irrigate!” he said. “Advance -by file, my young friends, and refresh the inner -man.”</p> - -<p>“None for me, colonel,” answered Matt, whose opinion -of the colonel was dropping by swift degrees.</p> - -<p>“That’s the way I stack up, too, colonel,” grinned McGlory.</p> - -<p>The colonel looked horrified.</p> - -<p>“From Arizona, Joseph,” he murmured, “and you -won’t indulge? Ex-traordinary, I must say. Smoke?” -And he indicated the box of cigars.</p> - -<p>“No, colonel,” declined Matt.</p> - -<p>A sheepish look crossed McGlory’s face as he met the -colonel’s inquiring eye.</p> - -<p>“I’m in line with my pard,” said he.</p> - -<p>“Astounding!” gasped the colonel. “Both habits are -reprehensible—exceedingly so. I honor you highly, my -lads, but—ahem!—your shining example is one by which -I may not profit.” He turned to the mining engineer. -“The fire-water is before us, Levitt,” said he; “charge!”</p> - -<p>Two hands gripped the glasses simultaneously, and a -gurgling followed. The colonel dried his lips elaborately -with a large yellow handkerchief.</p> - -<p>“The day, Joseph,” he resumed, “is not far distant -when you can own a private yacht, a racing stable, an -imported car, and a lordly mansion. I have come personally -to New York to drive the business through and -clinch it. To-night we show the moneyed interests what -we’ve got up our wide and flowing sleeves. Half a million -in coin, my son, will rise to the bait like a speckled -trout to the alluring fly. But be seated, be seated; let’s -all be seated.”</p> - -<p>Matt took a chair by an open window, and McGlory -dropped into another at a little distance.</p> - -<p>“The telegram I received, colonel,” observed the cowboy, -“was signed ‘Joshua Griggs.’”</p> - -<p>“Even so, my dear youth,” smiled the colonel, lowering -himself into a chair and lifting his feet to the top of -the table. “Mr. Griggs lives in Hempstead. I am enjoying -his hospitality, and he has put me up at this most<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span> -delightful club. I arrived yesterday afternoon, and I -yearned to clasp your honest palm before we met in -Liberty Street to-night. Incidentally, I will relieve you -of further responsibility in the matter of the bullion. Being -somewhat fatigued after my long and arduous railroad -journey, the Syndicate meeting was put off. To-night, -however, we shall be there; and to-night, my son, -we put our fortunes to the touch.”</p> - -<p>The colonel was altogether too loquacious to suit Matt—too -fluent and insincere. That he was entirely capable -of engineering a huge swindle Matt felt sure. And Matt -regretted to note that the colonel exerted a powerful -influence over McGlory.</p> - -<p>“Is this deal for the ‘Pauper’s Dream’ on the level, -colonel?” inquired the cowboy.</p> - -<p>A lighted bomb, suddenly dropped in front of the colonel -and Levitt, would not have caused more consternation. -The colonel’s feet fell from the table with a bang, -and the mining engineer once more threw himself half-way -across the table top.</p> - -<p>There followed a period of silence. The colonel, after -an odd look at Levitt, was first to speak.</p> - -<p>“McGlory,” said he, “you are my friend, and I would -take a good deal from a friend. Has my integrity ever -been questioned? Have you any reason to believe that -this mining deal is not on the level?”</p> - -<p>“Shucks!” deprecated McGlory. “Is the syndicate -anxious to buy a pocket that’s been worked out? Have -they got so much money, these Syndicate fellows, that -they want to drop some of it into a mine that’s a ‘dream’ -in more senses of the word than one?”</p> - -<p>This was another bomb. Levitt went white, and -breathed hard. Colonel Billings drew a deep breath, -studied McGlory’s face, and then looked at the ceiling. -Then once more he was first to speak.</p> - -<p>“My son,” said he, “you talk like a buck ’Pache with -more tizwin aboard than is good for him. And yet you -must be in your sober senses. What are your grounds -for expressing yourself in that—er—preposterous manner? -I wait to learn!”</p> - -<p>“Well,” answered the cowboy, “when Levitt took his -header from that runabout of his, on the Jericho Pike, a -long yellow envelope dropped from his pocket——”</p> - -<p>“I breathe again!” interjected the colonel. “You -found it, McGlory?”</p> - -<p>“That’s the size of it.”</p> - -<p>“And you read the contents of that yellow envelope?”</p> - -<p>“Matt and I wanted to find out the name of the man -who owned the runabout. That’s how we happened to -read the ‘private report.’ It wasn’t good reading, -colonel.”</p> - -<p>“It was for private perusal by the inner circle, my -son,” said the colonel. “Levitt and I were vastly worried -over the loss of that report. I will trouble you for -it, my boy.”</p> - -<p>The colonel reached out his hand. McGlory took the -envelope from his pocket, and was about to pass it over -when Matt reached forward and caught it from his -fingers.</p> - -<p>“I beg your pardon,” said Matt, “but I was the one -who found this envelope. I gave it to Joe when I threw -off my coat, east of Krug’s Corner, to tinker with the -runabout. I am going to take care of it.”</p> - -<p>All four were on their feet—Matt determined, McGlory -puzzled and bewildered, the colonel wrathful, and -Levitt with a dangerous gleam in his eyes.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI_A_DIFFERENCE_OF_OPINION" id="CHAPTER_VI_A_DIFFERENCE_OF_OPINION">CHAPTER VI.<br /> -<span class="titlefont ">A DIFFERENCE OF OPINION.</span></a></h2> - - -<p>“Well, by gad!” exclaimed the colonel, realizing suddenly -what sort of a lad he had to deal with in Matt -King.</p> - -<p>“What’s that for, pard?” inquired McGlory.</p> - -<p>“It don’t belong to you, or to McGlory, or to any one -but me!” said Levitt. “If you try to keep that document, -King, you’re nothing more nor less than a thief.”</p> - -<p>The red ran into Matt’s face.</p> - -<p>“Softly, softly,” breathed the colonel. “This talk of -thieves, Levitt, is a little premature. Matt King is a -friend of McGlory’s, and he could not be that if there -was any yellow streak in his nature. No, by gad! We -are all gentlemen here. King, sir, if that manila envelope -contains papers belonging to our mutual friend, -Levitt, you will return them to him, will you not?”</p> - -<p>“After a while,” said Matt; “not immediately.”</p> - -<p>The colonel seemed thunderstruck.</p> - -<p>“You hear?” muttered Levitt, between his teeth. -“He’s trying to play double with us, Billings! Those -papers mean a whole lot to me, and I’m going to have -them!”</p> - -<p>The colonel’s mood underwent a change. Attempts at -conciliation having failed, there now remained nothing -but vigorous action. His first move was to pass rapidly -to the door, turn a key in the lock, and drop the key -into his pocket. Then he once more approached Matt.</p> - -<p>“May I inquire, young man,” he bristled, “what you -mean by this most remarkable conduct?”</p> - -<p>“I’m trying to protect Joe and myself,” Matt answered.</p> - -<p>“Protect? Protect yourself and Joe against what, in -Heaven’s name?”</p> - -<p>“Against being drawn into a criminal act by you and -Levitt, and being compelled to take the consequences.”</p> - -<p>“He talks like a fool!” snapped the mining engineer.</p> - -<p>“He is misinformed, that’s all,” said the colonel.</p> - -<p>“I’m not misinformed,” went on Matt sturdily. “These -New York capitalists hired Levitt to go to Arizona and -investigate the ‘Pauper’s Dream.’ He made two reports, -one private and the other for the members of the Syndicate. -One says the mine is no good, and the other, -of course, gives it a glittering recommendation.”</p> - -<p>“How do you know,” asked Levitt, his voice shaking -with anger, “that the Syndicate’s report is different from -the other?”</p> - -<p>“Because Colonel Billings is paying you for making -it,” replied Matt. “Would the colonel give you good -money for handing that private report over to the Syndicate? -Hardly. Colonel Billings is here to sell the -mine.”</p> - -<p>“How do you know Billings is paying me anything?”</p> - -<p>“He has already paid you a little, and you came out -here this morning to receive the rest of it. If that crazy -runabout of yours hadn’t interfered, you’d have been -able to turn the private report over to the colonel, and no -one would ever have been the wiser.”</p> - -<p>“How do you know all this?” Levitt’s voice was -husky.</p> - -<p>“There was a letter from the colonel in the envelope -along with the report.”</p> - -<p>“By gad!” Billings whirled on the mining engineer.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span> -“You don’t mean to say, Levitt,” he asked, “that you had -so little sense as to keep that letter of mine?”</p> - -<p>“Why shouldn’t I keep it? It was the only thing in -the way of an agreement that I had with you.”</p> - -<p>“Then”—and the colonel tossed his hands—“that lets -in the search light on the two of us.”</p> - -<p>“And we’ve caught a tartar in this meddling young -whelp,” ground out Levitt, waving his hand toward -Matt.</p> - -<p>“He’s an intelligent youth, Levitt,” declared the colonel, -“and amenable to reason. Let me talk with him. -My dear young man,” said the colonel to Matt, “assuming -that what you say about the report is true, in what -way are you legally liable through association with -Levitt and myself?”</p> - -<p>“You’re trying to swindle a company of New York -capitalists,” answered Matt, “and Joe and I, not knowing -the deal was crooked, have already been dragged -into it. If we allowed the plot to go on we would be -equally guilty with you and Levitt, and we could be -arrested and sent to prison.”</p> - -<p>A tolerant smile crossed the colonel’s face.</p> - -<p>“Suppose I assure you that there is not the remotest -possibility of any of us going to prison,” said he; “will -you give up that report and letter?”</p> - -<p>Matt hesitated, not because his determination was -wavering, but because he wanted to put his thoughts in -the right words.</p> - -<p>“It means a fortune to McGlory,” urged the colonel; -“and what kind of a fellow are you to euchre a friend -out of a fortune?”</p> - -<p>“It’s not an honest fortune,” declared Matt, “and Joe -can’t afford to accept it. Besides, what good would it -do him if he found himself in the penitentiary for obtaining -money under false pretenses?”</p> - -<p>The colonel was beginning to lose patience.</p> - -<p>“You’ve got less sense than any cub of your years -I ever met up with!” he cried irritably. “How much -money do you want for that report and letter? That’s -your play, I reckon; and I’d rather shell out a hundred -or two than have any trouble with you. How much do -I bleed?”</p> - -<p>The colonel measured Matt with wrathful and inquiring -eyes.</p> - -<p>“You haven’t money enough to buy me!” declared -Matt.</p> - -<p>“Aw, cut it short!” broke in Levitt savagely. “What’s -the use of fooling with him any longer?</p> - -<p>“Wait!” cautioned the colonel. “McGlory,” he went -on, to the cowboy, “what do you mean by lugging such -a two-faced longhorn into a private and important council -like this?”</p> - -<p>“You’re wide of your trail, colonel,” said McGlory, -with spirit. “There’s nothing two-faced about Matt -King, and you can spread your blankets and go to sleep -on that. He’s the clear quill from spurs to sombrero, -and the best pard that ever rode sign with me. Don’t -you make any mistake in taking his sizing.”</p> - -<p>“Well, what is he trying to rope down and tie your -bright prospects for?”</p> - -<p>“He’s got more sense in a minute than I have in a -year, and you can bet your boot straps he knows what -he’s doing—even if I don’t.”</p> - -<p>“You’re far wide of your trail, Joseph. Matt King is -committing an illegal act this minute. He has property -belonging to Levitt and refuses to give it up. He could -be jailed for a thief. But we’re not going to jail him. -We’ll just take that report and letter from him.”</p> - -<p>“Then you’ll have to walk over me to do it, colonel!” -asserted McGlory.</p> - -<p>“By gad!” muttered the colonel. “You’ve got as little -sense as he has.”</p> - -<p>“Brainwork never was my long suit, but I’ve seen -enough of Pard Matt to feel safe in banking on any -notion that he bats up to me.”</p> - -<p>“Bah!” gibed the colonel. “I’ll talk with you later, -McGlory, and take pains to show you the error of your -way. As for Matt King, he’s a false friend. He’s jealous -because you’re about to come into a fortune, and -he’s doing all he can to shift the cut and leave you -stranded.”</p> - -<p>“That’s not true!” said Matt. “Joe knows me better -than that.”</p> - -<p>“Sure I do, pard. Come on, and let’s get out of here.”</p> - -<p>The actions of the two men were threatening. McGlory -started toward the door; but happened to remember -that it was locked, and that the colonel had the key -in his pocket.</p> - -<p>“Cough up the key, colonel,” said the cowboy. “Don’t -force me to yell and have up that fellow with the knee -pants and the lilocks.”</p> - -<p>“It will be better for you youngsters,” growled the -colonel, “if you don’t raise a commotion. The surest -way to see the inside of a lockup is by calling for help. -Are you going to hand over those papers?” And he -turned to Matt. “Last call.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll return them,” said Matt, “but not till after that -meeting to-night.”</p> - -<p>He slipped the manila envelope into the breast of his -coat. Having planned what he considered was the best -move, the young motorist was never more resolute in -seeking to carry it out. Even though he was retaining -Levitt’s property, yet right and justice upheld him in -doing so.</p> - -<p>“By Jupiter,” murmured Levitt, his eyes flaming, -“he’s intending to take that private report to the Syndicate -meeting to-night! If he does——” He gulped -on his words, finishing with a significant glance at Billings.</p> - -<p>Matt was wondering how he and McGlory could get -out of the room without making too much of a scene. -He understood very well that the colonel could inaugurate -a pursuit, in case he and his chum succeeded in -getting away with the envelope and its contents, and -that, for a time at least, any story the colonel and -Levitt chose to tell would be accepted. Temporary advantage -was all on the side of the colonel and the mining -engineer.</p> - -<p>“He won’t show that paper at the meeting, Levitt,” -gritted the colonel, now thoroughly aroused. “We’re -done fooling with him.”</p> - -<p>He stepped toward Matt from one side, while Levitt -advanced from the other. The cowboy tried to push -closer to his chum, but the colonel held him back. One -of the colonel’s hands went groping in the direction -of a hip pocket. Matt guessed what the hand was after.</p> - -<p>“The window, Joe!” he called.</p> - -<p>Simultaneously with the words, the king of the motor -boys whirled, pushed through the window, lowered himself -swiftly from the sill, and dropped.</p> - -<p>The colonel grabbed at the hands on the sill, but they -pulled out from under his gripping fingers; then, looking<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span> -downward, he saw the lithe, agile form of Matt -King lift itself from a flower bed and fade from sight -around a corner of the building.</p> - -<p>Two young fellows with golf sticks were crossing the -lawn and had witnessed Matt’s drop from the window. -Naturally they were surprised at the peculiar proceeding -and stood looking up at the colonel.</p> - -<p>“Catch him!” bawled the colonel; “he’s a thief!”</p> - -<p>That was enough. The two members of the Country -Club darted away after Matt.</p> - -<p>McGlory was making preparations to drop from the -other window, but the colonel grabbed him at the critical -moment and forced him into a chair.</p> - -<p>“Off with you, Levitt!” the colonel called. “You can -catch that young cub! And when you do overhaul him -get the report and the letter at any cost.”</p> - -<p>As he finished the colonel flung the door key toward -the engineer. The latter let himself out of the room -and bounded excitedly down the stairs.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII_AN_OLD_FRIEND" id="CHAPTER_VII_AN_OLD_FRIEND">CHAPTER VII.<br /> -<span class="titlefont ">AN OLD FRIEND.</span></a></h2> - - -<p>Matt hoped that McGlory would be able to follow -him; but, if the cowboy found this to be impossible, -then Matt would do his best to prevent the report from -falling into the hands of the colonel and Levitt. That -report was the one thing of vital importance. On it -alone hinged the success or failure of the colonel’s gigantic -swindling operations. Matt must escape capture -at any cost, in order to retain possession of the report.</p> - -<p>The course of his flight carried him toward the rear -of the Country Club grounds. He heard the colonel’s -shout to the young men just in from the golf links, and -he knew there would be a pursuit. Of course Matt could -explain the situation and perhaps escape legal complications, -but if caught he would be compelled to give up -the report.</p> - -<p>He darted across a tennis court, leaped the net, dodged -behind a clump of lilac bushes, and ran toward the edge -of a grove that bordered the Country Club grounds on -that side. Between the lilacs and the grove was a rustic -pavilion. A flower bed was near the pavilion, and an -old negro was kneeling beside the bed, his back toward -Matt, and industriously pulling weeds. Matt had not -much time to give to the negro, but hoped that he was -giving his whole attention to his work. As he came -around the pavilion Matt heard sounds which indicated -that more pursuers were after him—these coming from -the direction of the garage and the stables.</p> - -<p>To reach the timber without being seen seemed hopeless, -and Matt looked hurriedly around for some place -in which he could secrete himself.</p> - -<p>The floor of the pavilion was elevated some two feet -or more above the surface of the ground. The opening -between the floor and the ground was filled in with -panels of close latticework. One of the panels was -broken, and Matt dropped to his knees and crawled -through it.</p> - -<p>This was not as secure a hiding place as he would -have selected, if he could have had his choice, but his -emergency was such that he had no time to look farther.</p> - -<p>Lying flat on the ground, so that his form would not -be visible to his pursuers, Matt watched and waited.</p> - -<p>The two young men with the golf sticks broke into -view around the lilac bushes. They were closely followed -by three others, employees of the club, evidently, -for they wore overclothes. Matt recognized one of -them as having been in the garage when he and McGlory -left the runabout there.</p> - -<p>The old negro had lifted himself to his feet and was -facing the five pursuers. Freedom or capture for Matt -depended upon what the old negro knew. Scarcely -breathing, the king of the motor boys listened for what -was to come.</p> - -<p>“Say, uncle,” panted one of the young men from the -links, “did you see a fellow running this way?”</p> - -<p>“Ah did, suh,” replied the negro. “Ah was as close -tuh him as whut me an’ yo’ is, boss.”</p> - -<p>Levitt at that instant rushed around the bushes. He -was in time to hear the negro’s answer to the question.</p> - -<p>“Which way did he go?” Levitt demanded. “He’s a -thief, and we’ve got to capture him and recover some -stolen property. Which way did he run? Quick!”</p> - -<p>The old darky turned and deliberately pointed away -from the pavilion and to a point in the encompassing -timber which led toward the road, well to the north of -the clubhouse.</p> - -<p>“Dat’s de way he went, boss,” said he, “an’, by golly, -he went jess a-hummin’.”</p> - -<p>“This way, men!” shouted Levitt, leaping off in the -direction indicated by the negro.</p> - -<p>The six pursuers disappeared at a run, and left Matt -gasping with astonishment. Why had the old darky -put them on the wrong track? It was preposterous to -think that the negro had himself been deceived.</p> - -<p>While Matt was turning the matter over in his mind, -and puzzling his brain with it, the negro began to -whistle softly and to limp in the direction of the pavilion. -On reaching the broken panel of latticework, -he leaned against the railing of the pavilion.</p> - -<p>“How yo’ lak dat, Marse Matt?” he chuckled. -“Didn’t Ah done send um on de wrong track, huh? En -yo’ all thought Ah wasn’t lookin’ at yo’, en dat Ah -didn’t know who yo’ was! Har, har, har!”</p> - -<p>The darky laughed softly as he finished talking.</p> - -<p>Matt’s wonderment continued to grow.</p> - -<p>“Great spark plugs!” he muttered, recognizing an old -acquaintance. “Is it—can it be—Uncle Tom?”</p> - -<p>“Dat’s who Ah is, marse! Hit’s been a right sma’t -of er while since Ah had de pleasuah ob seein’ yo’. De -las’ time we was togedder was in Denvah. ’Membah -all dem excitin’ times we had in Arizony, dat time dat -Topsy gal en me was wif dat Uncle Tom’s Cabin -comp’ny? Golly, I ain’t nevah gwineter fo’git dat! -Who’s been doin’ yo’ mascottin’ lately, huh? ’Pears lak -no one had, f’om de ha’d luck yo’ is in.”</p> - -<p>Matt recalled Uncle Tom very vividly. The aged -negro had belonged to a stranded company of players, -and Matt had helped them out of their difficulties. But -that had happened in the Southwest, and here was Uncle -Tom about as far East as he could get. The world -is not so large, after all, and many strange and unexpected -meetings occur.</p> - -<p>“I’m more surprised than I can tell, Uncle Tom,” said -Matt, “to run across you, here on Long Island, and at -a time when I certainly needed a friend. It may be -that you can help me even more, but——”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Ah’s pinin’ tuh do all dat Ah can fo’ yo’, Marse -Matt,” interposed the darky earnestly.</p> - -<p>“But,” went on Matt, “this is hardly a safe place for -me. If the coast is clear I guess I’d better crawl out -and get into the woods.”</p> - -<p>“Yo’s right erbout dat, marse. Ah’s so plumb tickled -tuh see yo’ dat I come mighty nigh fo’gittin’ yo’s bein’ -hunted fo’. Wait twell Ah take er look erroun’.”</p> - -<p>Uncle Tom stepped away from the pavilion and swept -a keen glance over the grounds in that vicinity.</p> - -<p>“De coast am cleah, Marse Matt,” he announced, returning -to the side of the pavilion. “Yo come out an’ -hike fo’ de woods, en Ah’ll foller yuh. Den we can -talk a li’l, en you can tell me whut mo’ de ole man can -do.”</p> - -<p>Matt pushed through the broken lattice and gained -the timber line at a point opposite the place where his -pursuers had vanished. Here, for a time, he was safe, -and he sank down behind a mask of brush. Uncle Tom -was not long in reaching his side.</p> - -<p>“Golly,” he beamed, looking Matt over, “but hit’s good -fo’ sore eyes jess tuh see yo’, marse. Ah nevah expected -nuffin’ lak dis. Mouty peculiah how folks meets -up wif one anotheh sometimes, dat-er-way.”</p> - -<p>“How did you happen to wander in this direction, -Uncle Tom?” Matt asked.</p> - -<p>“Mascottin’,” answered the old man gravely. “Ah -be’n mascottin’ fo’ er prize fighteh. Terry, de Cricket, is -whut he called himse’f, en Ah won a fight fo’ him in -Denvah, en another in Kansas City; but in New Yawk -Terry, de Cricket, done ’spected me tuh do all de wo’k, -en he went down wif er chirp, en dey counted ten on -him. Ah couldn’t help dat, but Terry he ’low Ah was -losin’ mah mascottin’ ability, en he turned me loose. -Topsy done got er job in er house in Hempstead, en -Ah picked up dis place at de Country Club. But Ah -doan’ like hit, marse. Ah’s er ole man, en hit’s backachin’ -wo’k. Yo’ needs er mascot bad, en now’s de time -tuh take me on.”</p> - -<p>Uncle Tom was a humorous old rascal, and professed -to believe that he possessed mystical powers as a luck -bringer. He declared that he had helped Matt, and -Matt humored him by letting him think so, giving him -a few dollars now and then to help him keep body and -soul together.</p> - -<p>“I’m not in shape just now, Uncle Tom,” said Matt, -“to hire a private mascot of your abilities. You see, I’m -mixed up in a bit of trouble that I’ve got to work -through alone.”</p> - -<p>“Bymby, Marse Matt, mebby yo’ all can make er place -fo’ Uncle Tom?” pleaded the negro. “Jess remembah -whut Ah’s done fo’ yo’ in de past. Ah nevah mascotted -fo’ anybody dat Ah liked so well as yo’se’f. Dat’s right. -Has yo’ got a dollah yo’ can let go of wifout material -damage to yo’ own welfare?”</p> - -<p>Matt extracted a five-dollar bill from his pocket and -pushed it into the negro’s yellow palm. Uncle Tom’s -gratitude was so intense it was almost morbid.</p> - -<p>“Yo’s de fines’ fellah dat evah was,” he declared, -grabbing Matt’s hand and hanging to it. “Dat’s de -trufe. Ah’d raddah wo’k fo’ you fo’ nuffin dan fo’ some -odders fo’ er millyun dollahs er day. Dat’s right. Yo’s -de same ole Marse Matt, en yo’——”</p> - -<p>“I haven’t much time to talk, Uncle Tom,” interrupted -Matt. “When I left the clubhouse I had to drop from -a second-story window. I made it all right, but I left a -friend behind. My friend’s name is Joe McGlory. Do -you think you could get word to him?”</p> - -<p>“Shuah Ah can!” replied the old negro promptly. -“What kin’ ob a lookin’ fellah is dat ’ar Joe McGlory?”</p> - -<p>Matt described his chum’s appearance, and the darky -listened closely.</p> - -<p>“Find out,” Matt finished, “whether McGlory is still -upstairs in the clubhouse. If he is I don’t suppose you -can communicate with him, for you will have to do it -privately. Providing you can get word to him, tell him -to meet me in the grove at the roadside, a quarter of a -mile north of the clubhouse. Got that?”</p> - -<p>“Yas, I done got dat, marse.”</p> - -<p>“If you can’t get word to McGlory inside of an hour, -then you come and tell me, will you?”</p> - -<p>“Yo’ knows, Marse Matt, yo’ can count on Uncle -Tom. Ah’ll do whut yo’ say, en Ah’ll wo’k mah ole haid -off mascottin’ fo’ yo’ while Ah’m doin’ it.”</p> - -<p>The old darky slipped away through the edge of the -timber, and Matt, none too sanguine, proceeded to lay -a course for the spot where he hoped to be joined by -his cowboy chum.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII_THE_COLONEL_TRIES_PERSUASION" id="CHAPTER_VIII_THE_COLONEL_TRIES_PERSUASION">CHAPTER VIII.<br /> -<span class="titlefont ">THE COLONEL TRIES PERSUASION.</span></a></h2> - - -<p>For a few moments McGlory struggled in the grasp -of Colonel Billings. He was excited, and angry over -the way Matt had been treated, and he would not have -hesitated to do the colonel an injury if he could thereby -have escaped from the room and followed his pard.</p> - -<p>“Quiet!” ordered the colonel sternly. “You don’t understand -this thing, McGlory, or you wouldn’t be fighting -to escape from me. I’m the best friend you ever -had, if you only knew it.”</p> - -<p>“Nary, you ain’t!” panted the cowboy. “My best -friend just risked his neck dropping out of the window. -You’re trying to get me into trouble, and Pard Matt is -trying to keep me out. Take your hands off me, colonel!”</p> - -<p>“I will, Joe, just as soon as you promise to sit still -and hear what I have to say.”</p> - -<p>McGlory reflected that it was too late to follow Matt, -who was probably doing his best to evade Levitt and -the others who were hot on his trail. The cowboy reasoned -that he could find his chum later, and that there -could be no harm in listening to what the colonel had -to say.</p> - -<p>“Go on,” said he curtly.</p> - -<p>“You’ll stay right where you are until I’m done?” -asked the colonel.</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>Billings drew back, dropped into a chair, and laid a -friendly hand on the cowboy’s knee. His voice changed, -sounding the depths of friendly interest and personal -regard.</p> - -<p>“Joe,” he remarked, “ever since your father took the -One-way Trail I’ve sort of felt that I was responsible -for your welfare. I knew your father mighty well—better -than any one else in Tucson, I reckon—and him -and me was bosom friends.”</p> - -<p>McGlory had no personal knowledge on this point, but -he was willing to take the colonel’s word for it.</p> - -<p>“If I can do anything for Joe,” the colonel went on,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span> -“I says to myself that I won’t leave a stone unturned to -do it. When the ‘Pauper’s Dream’ proposition came under -my management I knew I had the chance I wanted -to turn your way. I sold you a hundred shares of the -stock at five dollars a share, and we went on to develop -the claim.”</p> - -<p>“And there wasn’t any more gold in the shaft,” spoke -up the cowboy dryly, “than there was in a New England -well.”</p> - -<p>“That’s what everybody thought,” returned the colonel, -“but I knew better.”</p> - -<p>He got up, went to the table, and helped himself to -a drink from the decanter.</p> - -<p>“Better have a nip, son, eh?” he asked, as by an -afterthought, before leaving the table.</p> - -<p>“Not for me,” replied McGlory stoutly. “Pard Matt -don’t believe in that sort of thing, and I get along -better when I make his notions my own. I’ve found -that out more than once.”</p> - -<p>The colonel sighed resignedly, but did not press the -point. Returning to his chair, he continued his persuasions.</p> - -<p>“I knew when I sold you that stock that there was a -reef of rich gold ore under the ‘Pauper’s Dream.’ I -didn’t want it found until the right minute. Those who -had bought stock in the claim got scared. Some of -them sold their stock back to me for a song. When I’d -got enough of the stock to give me a controlling interest -<em>I found the gold vein</em>.”</p> - -<p>“That was a double play,” said McGlory bluntly. -“There wasn’t anything fair about that, colonel.”</p> - -<p>“It was all fair. Some of the stockholders were trying -to freeze me out. By letting them think there wasn’t -any gold in the ‘Dream’ I turned the tables and froze -<em>them</em> out. It was simply a game of diamond cut diamond—and -I was a little too sharp for my enemies. -That was all right, wasn’t it?”</p> - -<p>McGlory thought the colonel had a fair excuse for -acting as he had done.</p> - -<p>“When we laid open that gold vein,” pursued the -colonel, “buyers flocked around the ‘Pauper’s Dream’ -like crows around a cornfield. They wanted to buy. -I saw a chance to deal with this New York syndicate -for big money, so I had the syndicate send out an expert -to examine our property. Levitt came. I asked -him to make out a true report for the syndicate and a -private, false report for—other uses.”</p> - -<p>McGlory opened his eyes.</p> - -<p>“I see I’ve got you guessing,” laughed the colonel -gently. “This is how that private report came to be -made out—that private report on which your misguided -friend has built such a fabric of unjust suspicions. The -men I had frozen out of the company began to threaten -legal proceedings. The proceedings wouldn’t have -amounted to that”—and the colonel snapped his fingers—“for -those fellows hadn’t a leg to stand on; but do -you know what they could have done? Why, they’d -have tied up the mine for a year or two and prevented -the sale to the syndicate. In order to get around that -I hired Levitt to make out that fake report, and leave -it where those soreheads could see it. Now my hands -are free. The sale can be made to the syndicate, and -we’ll all win a fortune—providing your misguided friend -doesn’t take that cock-and-bull story of his to the meeting -to-night.“</p> - -<p>“Couldn’t you explain the matter to the syndicate, -colonel, just as you have to me?” asked the cowboy.</p> - -<p>“I could, yes; but they’d shy off. A little thing like -that sometimes knocks a big deal galley-west. It’s best -not to let any intimation of that fake report reach the -ears of the syndicate until we have the syndicate’s money -safely in our clothes. Young King means well—I’ll -give him credit for that—but he’s shy a couple of chips -this hand, and if he butts in we’re going to be left out -in the cold. That’s all there is to it.”</p> - -<p>“Why didn’t you explain this to Matt?”</p> - -<p>“The explanation is for our own stockholders, and not -for outsiders. A word, a whisper might leak through -and reach the fellows who could block the deal. We -mustn’t allow that. My boy, my boy”—and here the -colonel became very gentle, very fatherly—“I’m doing -the best I can for you. I’m trying to hand you a fortune, -and you’ve got to help me—in spite of Pard Matt. -It’s your duty to help me. You’ll never have such a -chance to pick out a brownstone front on Easy Street, -and you mustn’t let the opportunity slip through your -fingers.”</p> - -<p>To say that Joe McGlory was not influenced by the -colonel’s words would be to say that he was not human. -The cowboy wanted money, not for its own sake, but for -the great things he felt he could do with it. Not the -least of the cowboy’s desires was to help Matt in some -of his far-reaching aims in the motor field. He accepted -Billings’ story, and he reached out and gripped -his hand heartily.</p> - -<p>“I’m with you, chaps, taps, and latigoes!” he exclaimed. -“But say, can’t I tell Pard Matt? If he -knew——”</p> - -<p>But the colonel was afraid of “Pard Matt.” The -king of the motor boys had a brain altogether too keen.</p> - -<p>“Not a word, not a syllable,” adjured Billings. “All -that I have said, Joe, you must keep under your hat—until -after the meeting to-night and until after the -‘Dream’ is sold. You must buckle in and help me and -let Matt think what he will. Afterward, when the -money is divided, you can show Pard Matt where he -was wrong, and he’ll be glad to think that he did not -interfere with us in our work.”</p> - -<p>“But he’s going to interfere,” murmured McGlory. -“Whenever Matt King sets out to do a thing he does<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> -it. That’s his style. He’s got the fake report, and he’ll -use it at the meeting to-night—thinking he’s doing me -a good turn.”</p> - -<p>“I believe that Levitt will catch him,” asserted the -colonel.</p> - -<p>“You don’t know my pard as well as I do,” returned -the cowboy dejectedly. “I wonder if I couldn’t——” -McGlory paused.</p> - -<p>“Couldn’t what?” urged the colonel.</p> - -<p>“Never mind now. I’m going out and see if I can’t -do something.”</p> - -<p>Billings stared steadily at the lad for a moment.</p> - -<p>“All right,” said he, “go and do what you can. Remember -I have confidence in you, and you’re not to -breathe a word regarding what we have talked about. -I shall have to get to New York before three o’clock. -The bank closes then, and I’ve got to get that bullion. -I’ll have to start in a fast car by one. Come back and -report to me before I leave.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll do it,” replied the cowboy, hurrying out of the -room.</p> - -<p>The colonel chuckled, threw himself back in a chair, -and lighted a cigar.</p> - -<p>“Easy, easy, easy!” he muttered. “I can wrap McGlory -around my fingers and not half try. Now, if -King is captured, and if I can be sure he won’t meddle -with me to-night, everything will be serene.”</p> - -<p>The resourceful colonel accepted his worries calmly. -He had too much dignity to take part in a foot race, -so he remained in a comfortable chair by the window -and waited for news.</p> - -<p>McGlory was back in ten minutes. His face was -glowing.</p> - -<p>“Matt King dodged Levitt and all the rest who were -trailing him,” he reported.</p> - -<p>“What!” The colonel arose excitedly from his seat.</p> - -<p>“Don’t fret, colonel,” grinned the cowboy, “it’s not so -bad as that. An old darky who works around the club -grounds helped Matt make his getaway. Matt asked -him to tell me to meet him in the woods at the roadside, -a quarter of a mile north. That’s where I’m going -now. You’ll hear from me before one o’clock, colonel.”</p> - -<p>“What are you going to do?” rapped out the colonel.</p> - -<p>“Something that will make the deal a sure go. I -haven’t time to talk much. <i lang="es" xml:lang="es">Adios</i>, for now.”</p> - -<p>McGlory was away again like a shot, leaving the -colonel wondering—and fretting a little.</p> - -<p>A few minutes later Levitt came gloomily into the -room.</p> - -<p>“That young cub gave us the slip,” said he savagely, -“and I never had such a run in my life. The fat’s in -the fire, Billings.”</p> - -<p>“Not so, my friend,” returned the colonel, his quick -wit grasping something that looked like an opportunity. -“Can you get hold of a man who will help you? Are -you acquainted with any one about the club grounds -who can be trusted to do a little brisk work and then -keep quiet about it?”</p> - -<p>“Well, yes. The man in the garage is known to me, -and he’s out for anything that’s got a dollar in it. But -what of it?”</p> - -<p>The colonel’s plan was based on the information just -communicated to him by McGlory. He went into the -matter swiftly, but exhaustively, and when he had done -the gloom had vanished from Levitt’s face.</p> - -<p>“It will work, it will work,” murmured the mining -engineer, rubbing his hands.</p> - -<p>“Then go and work it,” said the colonel briskly.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX_WHAT_AILS_MGLORY" id="CHAPTER_IX_WHAT_AILS_MGLORY">CHAPTER IX.<br /> -<span class="titlefont ">WHAT AILS M’GLORY?</span></a></h2> - - -<p>Matt King, in a clump of bushes a quarter of a mile -north of the Malvern Country Club, watched the road -and waited for his chum. He had not much hope that -McGlory would join him, for he believed that the cowboy -would be held a prisoner by the colonel.</p> - -<p>What Matt was doing, in this particular matter, was -all for his friend. McGlory had become entangled with -a gang of confidence men, who were playing boldly for -big stakes. Whether the dishonest game won out or -failed, Joe McGlory must have nothing to do with it. -If he profited by the crime he would be called on to -suffer at the hands of the law; and, even if the law -never reached him, his conscience would make him miserable -all his life for the part he had played in such -a huge swindling scheme.</p> - -<p>Matt, at any cost to himself, meant to keep McGlory -clear of Billings and his criminal work. What is a -friend for if not to stand shoulder to shoulder with a -chum and save his good name? This touched upon one -of Matt’s principles—one of his rules of conduct long -ago formulated and steadily adhered to. And it was -a code which had played a big part in his many successes.</p> - -<p>Minute after minute slipped away, and then Matt’s -heart bounded as he heard a crunch of footsteps around -a turn in the wooded road. It might be Uncle Tom -who was coming, however, with a report of his failure -to deliver the message to McGlory. Peering through -the bushes, hoping against hope, Matt’s fears suddenly -subsided and an expression of thankfulness escaped his -lips.</p> - -<p>McGlory was coming!</p> - -<p>Matt gave a low whistle. The cowboy answered it, -and was soon at his friend’s side, gripping his hands.</p> - -<p>“Bully for you, old chap!” exclaimed McGlory. “I’d -like to see the gang that could lay <em>you</em> by the heels when -you make up your mind to get away.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span></p> - -<p>“You saw Uncle Tom, then?”</p> - -<p>“Sure, or I shouldn’t be here. Old Ebony-face thinks -you’re about the whole works, from the way he talks. -A lot of queer things have happened to-day, but the -queerest is your meeting Uncle Tom in this out-of-the-way -corner of Long Island.”</p> - -<p>“Wrong, Joe. The queerest—and the best—thing -that’s happened is the way we picked up that private -report of Levitt’s. We have to thank the crazy runabout -for that.”</p> - -<p>McGlory, although of a different opinion on that -point since listening to the colonel’s persuasions, did not -allow Matt to think that he disagreed with him.</p> - -<p>“How did you make it?” the cowboy asked. “Uncle -Tom didn’t tell me much about that. Principally he -worked his bazoo letting me know what a great mascot -he was, and how he used to pull luck your way down in -Arizona.”</p> - -<p>Matt, briefly as he could, told about the pavilion in -the rear of the club grounds, and how Uncle Tom had -sent his pursuers on the wrong track.</p> - -<p>McGlory laughed delightedly. He was playing a -part with an important point in view, and it was necessary -to pull the wool over Matt’s eyes. A despicable -part it was, for one who had benefited at Matt’s hands -as had McGlory; but the cowboy was filled with the -colonel’s specious arguments and crafty explanations, -and believed that, when the dust of the affair had settled, -and Matt knew everything, he would thank his cowboy -chum for preventing him from making a big mistake.</p> - -<p>“The colonel is a schemer, Joe,” declared Matt.</p> - -<p>“You bet your spurs he is,” chuckled McGlory. -“That’s the way they raise ’em out in Tucson. The -only way to keep a fellow from getting ahead of you is -to get ahead of him first.”</p> - -<p>Matt did not approve of these sentiments, nor of the -hearty admiration the cowboy seemed to have for them.</p> - -<p>“Billings is scheming the best he knows how,” went -on Matt, “to get himself into trouble, Joe, and he’s -figuring to drag you into it.”</p> - -<p>“But you’re figuring the other way,” answered McGlory, -“and I’ll back your headwork against the colonel’s -any old time. What are you planning to do now?”</p> - -<p>“I’ll have to know, first, what the situation is at the -clubhouse as regards yourself. How is that you happen -to be at large?”</p> - -<p>“Well, pard, the colonel couldn’t do anything with me, -so he let me go. You’ve got the report, you know.”</p> - -<p>The cowboy was weaving a tangled web. The farther -he went in his deceptions the more he was obliged -to misstate the facts.</p> - -<p>“You can go and come around the clubhouse,” continued -Matt, “without being in any danger from the -colonel and Levitt?”</p> - -<p>“That’s the way of it.”</p> - -<p>“Then our next move is to get back to Manhattan. -And, of course, we’ll have to use the runabout.”</p> - -<p>“Why, Matt, we may run off the other end of Long -Island if we try to use that chug cart!”</p> - -<p>“We’ve got to use it, just the same, and you’re the -one to get it from the garage. The quicker we start -on the return trip the better.”</p> - -<p>“You’re going to be at that meeting to-night?”</p> - -<p>“We’re both going to be there. You’re to offer the -private report in evidence, and tell all about our adventures -this morning. I guess that will spike the colonel’s -gun and block his little game of wholesale robbery.”</p> - -<p>“Then my fortune will go glimmering,” said Joe, but -not with much concern.</p> - -<p>“Better to let a questionable fortune go glimmering, -pard,” answered Matt earnestly, “than to do a dishonest -thing that would bother you all your life. And perhaps,” -he added solemnly, “it might get you into jail.”</p> - -<p>“Wow!” shivered the cowboy, feigning trepidation. -“That’s an elegant prospect—I don’t think.”</p> - -<p>“What’s more,” went on Matt, driving his suspicions -home, “the colonel’s such a schemer that I doubt -whether, if he should swindle the syndicate out of a lot -of money, he ever turned over a penny of it to you or -to any of the other original stockholders.”</p> - -<p>This caused the cowboy an inward tremor. But he -allowed the fear to pass. Colonel Billings was his father’s -friend—he had said so himself; and the colonel -felt a responsibility for his welfare—which is also what -the colonel had said himself. In the light of the colonel’s -persuasions the cowboy was taking his word in -everything.</p> - -<p>“Well,” remarked the cowboy, “the colonel is up -against the real thing now. He’s due for such a slam as -he never had before. We’re the boys to do it; eh, -Matt?”</p> - -<p>“We’ll make a stand for the right,” said Matt, “and -work shoulder to shoulder to win out. The colonel talks -about a fortune. You and I can make plenty of money, -Joe. I think we have proved that. The motors are -mighty good friends to tie to, whether they’re hitched -to submarines, automobiles, or aëroplanes. We’ll pin -our faith to the explosive engine, and one of these days -it will land us honestly in Easy Street.”</p> - -<p>The colonel, McGlory remembered, had mentioned -“Easy Street.” But not as Matt had done it. The -longer the cowboy talked with his chum the more he -hated himself for the part he was playing. If he talked -with Matt too long McGlory was sure his purpose -would slip from him, and that he would let out everything -about the inner history of the colonel’s manipulations -of the “Pauper’s Dream.”</p> - -<p>“I’d like to look inside that manila envelope once -more, pard,” said McGlory. “There’s a part of that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span> -private report I didn’t sabe, and I’d like to read it over -again.”</p> - -<p>Matt King promptly drew the envelope from his -pocket and passed it to his chum.</p> - -<p>“It’s evidence of the rascality of two men, Joe,” remarked -Matt, “and——”</p> - -<p>McGlory sprang up quickly and stepped out into the -road. He paused there, flashing his eyes up and down. -Apparently he was looking for somebody or something, -but really he was fighting with himself. He had reached -the point where he must play up his scheme for all it -was worth, or else turn his back on Billings and a fortune.</p> - -<p>The cowboy felt sure he was about to do the right -thing, but to put himself in a wrong light with his beloved -pard for only a few days was proving a harder -task than he had reckoned on. Abruptly he clinched his -resolve. Slipping the manila envelope into his pocket, -he turned to look at the apprehensive face of Matt -among the bushes.</p> - -<p>“What is it, Joe?” queried Matt. “Some one coming?”</p> - -<p>“Some one going,” replied the cowboy, “and it’s me. -You don’t understand this, pard. Don’t think too hard -of me until you know everything.”</p> - -<p>Thereupon McGlory whirled and took to his heels, -racing in the direction of the clubhouse.</p> - -<p>Matt was so amazed he could not move or speak. -What ailed McGlory? What did he mean?</p> - -<p>“Joe!” he shouted, starting up from the bushes.</p> - -<p>But the cowboy was already around the turn in the -road and lost to Matt’s astounded eyes.</p> - -<p>While Matt King stood there, his mind nearly a blank, -staring down the road and wondering, a sharp voice came -from behind him.</p> - -<p>“Quick on it, Kelly! Now’s your chance!”</p> - -<p>It was Levitt’s voice. Matt turned, only to be confronted -by the burly individual from the club garage. -In a flash the man grabbed him and hurled him crashing -to his back among the bushes.</p> - -<p>“Steady, my lad!” threatened Kelly. “I don’t want -ter be any rougher with ye than I have ter, but orders -is orders—an’ they say you’re a thief.”</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X_IN_THE_GARAGE" id="CHAPTER_X_IN_THE_GARAGE">CHAPTER X.<br /> -<span class="titlefont ">IN THE GARAGE.</span></a></h2> - - -<p>Matt was so bewildered on account of McGlory’s actions -that he offered little resistance to Kelly and Levitt. -Anyhow, the manila envelope had been taken from him, -and Levitt—as Matt reasoned—had nothing to gain by -the capture.</p> - -<p>“Here’s the rope, Kelly,” said the mining engineer, -coming close. “Better put it on him.”</p> - -<p>“You don’t have to tie me,” protested Matt. “I’m not -a thief, Levitt, and you know it. I’m willing to go, -and go quietly, wherever you want to take me. I guess -I can explain the affair to the authorities so that I’ll -soon have my liberty.”</p> - -<p>Levitt gave him an odd look.</p> - -<p>“We’ll see about that,” he answered. “Tie his hands, -anyway, Kelly,” he added.</p> - -<p>Matt lay quietly while the rope was placed around -his wrists. He was wondering why Levitt didn’t search -him for the report. To all appearances the engineer -wasn’t giving a thought to the document.</p> - -<p>“I haven’t that manila envelope, Levitt,” said Matt. -“If you’ve made a prisoner of me just to recover that -you’re having your trouble for nothing.”</p> - -<p>“I knew you didn’t have the envelope,” was the surprising -answer. “McGlory got that. Kelly and I were -close enough to hear him talking with you and to see -him when he ran down the road. He fooled you that -time, and no mistake.”</p> - -<p>There was growing bitterness in Matt’s heart as he -listened.</p> - -<p>“You knew McGlory was to take the private report -from me?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“Well, Billings told me the cowboy had put up a deal -of some kind.”</p> - -<p>“So McGlory had planned the scheme with Billings, -had he?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“And McGlory took the report to Billings?”</p> - -<p>“That’s where he went with it.”</p> - -<p>The breath hung in Matt’s throat. His chum’s treachery -had been deliberately planned and executed. McGlory -was playing into the colonel’s hands, and bringing -about his own undoing. Naturally Matt inferred that -his friend thought more of his prospective fortune than -of his comradeship. Choosing the dishonest wealth, he -had turned his back on his friend.</p> - -<p>Sad and disheartened, Matt allowed Kelly to pilot -him through the woods. With head down, the young -motorist stumbled onward, more concerned with his sorrowful -reflections than he was over the place to which -he was being taken.</p> - -<p>Suddenly Matt’s forward movement was stayed, and -he heard Levitt speaking:</p> - -<p>“I’ll look out for him, Kelly, and you go ahead and -make sure that there’s no one around.”</p> - -<p>Matt lifted his eyes. They were at the edge of the -woods, immediately behind the garage.</p> - -<p>While Levitt took charge of him, the prisoner saw -Kelly cross the open space separating the timber line -from the garage, and enter the building by a rear door. -He came back presently, leaving the door ajar.</p> - -<p>“Not a soul there, Levitt,” said he. “Come on with -him, and come quick.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span></p> - -<p>Matt was hurried over the intervening space and into -the garage. There were only two cars in the garage—the -runabout and a large touring car—and not another -person in sight.</p> - -<p>Matt, pushed to the foot of a stairway leading to the -second floor, was told to climb upward. He obeyed. -At the top of the flight there was a door. Kelly pushed -it open, drew Matt inside, and Levitt came after them.</p> - -<p>“Are you sure you understand just what you’re to do, -Kelly?” inquired Levitt, in an anxious tone.</p> - -<p>“Sure I do,” answered Kelly. “There wasn’t so much -of it that I can’t remember it all.”</p> - -<p>“Do your work faithfully and you’ll never regret it.”</p> - -<p>Levitt drew back out of the room and closed the door -behind him.</p> - -<p>“Lay down on that bunk there, my lad,” said Kelly, -pointing to a cot at one side of the small room.</p> - -<p>It was a room set apart for the man in charge of the -garage, and was rudely but comfortably furnished.</p> - -<p>Matt, still cast down by his cowboy chum’s treachery, -was as yet taking but little interest in what happened to -him. He stumbled over upon the cot, glad of an opportunity -to rest with some degree of comfort while his -mind regained its normal powers and allowed him to -think clearly of McGlory’s case.</p> - -<p>Kelly secured his feet with an end of the rope that -bound his hands.</p> - -<p>“I’m going to be as considerate of ye, King,” observed -Kelly, “as I can. No harm is intended to ye—if there -was I wouldn’t be helpin’. But ye’ve got to stay here -for a while, an’ orders is that ye’re to remain quiet. The -garage is more or less of a public place, an’ yer confinement -is to be private. If people happened to be below -ye might yell. That wouldn’t do, now, would it? I’m -going to tie this piece of cloth over yer mouth jest to -make sure ye don’t say anythin’ so loud it can be heard -downstairs.”</p> - -<p>“Wait a minute, Kelly,” said Matt. “Do you know -anything about my chum, Joe McGlory?”</p> - -<p>“Never a thing. He’s the boy who came with ye in -that runabout?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“Well, he’s not known to me at all. You’re the lad -that gave us that chase, and Levitt says you’re a thief. -Ye don’t look it, now, but orders is to hold ye, an’ that’s -what I’m doin’.”</p> - -<p>“You’re helping Colonel Billings and Levitt carry -out a big swindling game by this work, Kelly.”</p> - -<p>“So? Well, lad, I can’t look out for other people. -Number One—which is Kelly, d’ye mind—is enough fer -me to take care of.”</p> - -<p>“If I’m a thief, why doesn’t Levitt take me to Hempstead -and have me locked up by the police?”</p> - -<p>“Levitt doesn’t want to disgrace ye by such a move. -Bein’ locked up by the police gives a lad a bad record. -Ye’re far an’ away better off with me here. We’re to -be together three days, and——”</p> - -<p>“Three days!”</p> - -<p>“The same—no more, no less. We’re going to get -along like old cronies, if ye only behave. Now for the -gag.”</p> - -<p>Matt submitted while the cloth was put in place. -Barely had Kelly finished when a car was heard puffing -into the big room below.</p> - -<p>Kelly jumped to a round opening in the floor, near -one end of the room. It was a stovepipe hole, but the -pipe was missing.</p> - -<p>“One of the members, my lad,” said Kelly, turning -away from his observation of the room underneath and -speaking in a guarded voice. “I’ll have to go and look -after the car. But ye won’t get lonesome against the -time I come back. Ye’ve plenty to think of, I take it, -an’ that will use up yer time.”</p> - -<p>Kelly went out, slamming the door, and Matt could -hear him hurrying down the stairs.</p> - -<p>Three days! Matt was to be kept in the garage for -three days!</p> - -<p>That, no doubt, was to prevent him from interfering -with the colonel’s plans in New York.</p> - -<p>The colonel had won McGlory over, and there would -be no interference from him. But perhaps, even without -that “private report,” Matt could do something with -the syndicate. It might be that he could save the cowboy -in spite of himself.</p> - -<p>Matt had noticed, while he and the cowboy were in -the clubhouse talking with the colonel, that the trickster -from Arizona had a powerful influence over McGlory. -The colonel had made good use of that influence, and -had succeeded in turning the cowboy against his best -friend.</p> - -<p>The people who had brought the car into the garage -had left. A mumble of talk had floated up through the -stovepipe hole, and the prisoner was able to keep the -general run of events that took place in the garage.</p> - -<p>He could hear Kelly tinkering with the car that had -just arrived. In the midst of the sounds he heard footfalls, -and then a voice, lifted high:</p> - -<p>“Hello! Where’s the man that runs this place?”</p> - -<p>That was the colonel. Angry blood leaped in Matt’s -veins as he listened.</p> - -<p>“Here, sir,” responded Kelly.</p> - -<p>“Is that big touring car of Griggs’ in shape for the -road?”</p> - -<p>“Fit as a fiddle, sir, an’ full up with oil and gasoline.”</p> - -<p>Then followed cranking, and the sputter of an engine -picking up its cycle; and, after that, the moving off of -the car.</p> - -<p>“The colonel’s away to New York,” thought Matt<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> -darkly. “He’s gone to get the two bars of bullion before -the bank closes. That’s step number one in the -big robbery. I wonder if Levitt and McGlory are with -him?”</p> - -<p>For an hour or two longer Kelly was alone and busy -in the garage. A tin clock hung on one wall of the -bedroom, and from where Matt lay he was able to watch -the moving hands.</p> - -<p>“If I accomplish anything,” Matt thought, “I shall -have to reach New York by eight o’clock. How am I -to get out of here and to the nearest railroad station?”</p> - -<p>That was his problem, and it looked as though he -would have to work it out unaided.</p> - -<p>He tried to free himself of the ropes, but Kelly had -tied them too securely. In order to work at them to -better advantage, he swung his bound feet over the -side of the cot and sat up. But the ropes defied every -effort he made to release his hands.</p> - -<p>With the idea of watching what took place in the -garage, he slipped to his knees on the floor and then -straightened out at full length. By rolling carefully, he -succeeded in reaching the stovepipe hole.</p> - -<p>His view was limited, but it commanded the broad -doors leading into the big room. Kelly was working -somewhere in the rear, and could not be seen.</p> - -<p>Matt was about to roll away, when two figures appeared -in the door. One was McGlory and the other -was Levitt.</p> - -<p>“Kelly!” shouted Levitt.</p> - -<p>“Here!” answered Kelly, coming forward.</p> - -<p>“Got a car we can use for a trip back to the city?”</p> - -<p>“Only the runabout this young fellow came in.”</p> - -<p>“I’m a Piute,” growled McGlory, “if I want to fool -with destruction by ridin’ in that.”</p> - -<p>“I feel the same way, McGlory,” said Levitt, “but -we’ve got to get to New York. If there’s no other car -we’ll have to chance that one.”</p> - -<p>“Sufferin’ trouble!” groaned McGlory. “It takes -Pard Matt to get any kind of service out of that old -flugee. You can’t handle it, Levitt. I saw the kind of -work you made of it. Can’t we get a rig to take us to -the railroad station?”</p> - -<p>“There are no rigs here,” answered Levitt. “It’s -either the runabout—or travel afoot.”</p> - -<p>“I’m a cowpuncher, and a cowpuncher ain’t built right -for footwork. Well, let’s chance old Death and Destruction. -We’ve got to be at that meeting, and we’ve -five hours to get there. If the runabout don’t go backward -more than it does ahead, I reckon we can make it.”</p> - -<p>Levitt seemed as dubious over the attempt to ride in -the runabout as was McGlory.</p> - -<p>“Sure,” remarked Kelly, “she looks like a nice, easy-ridin’ -little car. I’ve cleaned her, and oiled her, and -pumped her full of fuel, and she ought to travel.”</p> - -<p>“She ought to, that’s a fact,” said Levitt, “but I’m -afraid she won’t. However, we’ve got to take a chance. -Hop in, McGlory.”</p> - -<p>Levitt speeded up the engine and threw in the clutch. -The runabout moved quietly out of the garage.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI_UNCLE_TOM_AGAIN" id="CHAPTER_XI_UNCLE_TOM_AGAIN">CHAPTER XI.<br /> -<span class="titlefont ">UNCLE TOM AGAIN.</span></a></h2> - - -<p>Why hadn’t McGlory and Levitt gone to the city with -Colonel Billings?</p> - -<p>This is the mental question Matt put to himself, and -he was at a loss for a logical answer.</p> - -<p>If McGlory and Levitt were hand and glove with the -colonel in working out his nefarious scheme, then there -was no reason in the world why they should not be traveling -together—unless the big touring car used by the -colonel had been loaded to its capacity. This did not -seem possible.</p> - -<p>Nor could it be that Levitt and McGlory were taking -the runabout to get it out of Matt’s way. They didn’t -want to use the car, and they had asked Kelly for another.</p> - -<p>Matt, with his curiosity still unsatisfied, was on the -point of rolling back to his cot, when some one else appeared -in the doorway. Hope leaped within him when -he recognized Uncle Tom.</p> - -<p>Uncle Tom! Matt had forgotten all about the old -negro.</p> - -<p>“Marse Kelly, sah,” piped Uncle Tom, “where is yo’?”</p> - -<p>“Here,” answered Kelly, coming forward. “What do -you want?”</p> - -<p>“Marse Partington, whut jess come in on his car, -wants tuh speak wif yo’ er minit, Marse Kelly. He done -sont me tuh fotch yuh.”</p> - -<p>“What does he want?”</p> - -<p>“He didn’t say, suh. He jess say, ‘Tom, yo’ lazy niggah, -run tuh de garage an’ tell Kelly Ah wants tuh see -him right off.’ Dat’s whut he say, an’ ev’rybody knows -Ah’s de hardest wo’kin’ man about de place. Lazy! Ah -ain’t so spry as I uster be, but, by golly, Ah’s——”</p> - -<p>“Where is Mr. Partington, Tom?” interrupted Kelly.</p> - -<p>“Jess sta’tin’ fo’ de golf links, suh.”</p> - -<p>Kelly started, and Uncle Tom started with him. -Matt’s heart sank. If he could only have attracted the -old negro’s attention there would have been some one -to help him in making an escape.</p> - -<p>While Matt lay on the floor, again furiously working -at the ropes, Uncle Tom slipped stealthily back into the -garage. His old rheumatic legs carried him with unusual -rapidity out of sight toward the rear of the room, -and Matt could hear him, a moment later, clambering -up the stairs.</p> - -<p>Brave old Uncle Tom! He knew of Matt’s plight, -and was coming to help him.</p> - -<p>The door of the bedroom was unlocked, and the darky<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span> -came hurriedly into the room. He was shaking with -excitement, and lost not a moment hurrying to Matt’s -side.</p> - -<p>“Marse Kelly would kill me daid ef he knew whut -Ah was doin’,” muttered the old negro. “We’s got tuh -hurry, Marse Matt. Marse Partington didn’t want -Marse Kelly, en dar’s gwine ter be ructions when Kelly -gits back.”</p> - -<p>With trembling fingers he plucked away the gag.</p> - -<p>“Don’t be scared, Uncle Tom,” said Matt reassuringly. -“Just get my hands loose and I’ll take care of -Kelly if he tries to interfere with us. I’ll look after -you.”</p> - -<p>“Ah’s done lost mah job, Motah Matt,” quavered -Uncle Tom, as he worked at the rope around Matt’s -wrists. “Ah’s done got tuh git away f’om dis club -place er dat ’ar Kelly will prove de def ob me.”</p> - -<p>“You can go away with me,” said Matt.</p> - -<p>“But dey all owes me fo’ dollahs fo’ wo’k!”</p> - -<p>“I’ll pay you five times that, Uncle Tom, for what -you’re doing.”</p> - -<p>“Golly!” and the old negro’s courage seemed to return; -“five times fo’ is fifty. Whatum Ah gwine tuh -do wif fifty dollahs? Ah won’t hab tuh wo’k no mo’ -fo’ six mont’s.”</p> - -<p>Uncle Tom’s multiplication was of a weird variety, -but Matt did not correct his mistake.</p> - -<p>Finally the knots were loosened so that Matt could -slip his hands from the encompassing coils, and he was -but a minute more in freeing his feet.</p> - -<p>“Now, then, Uncle Tom,” cried he, “this way—as fast -as you can come!”</p> - -<p>He sprang to the door, Uncle Tom lurching after him.</p> - -<p>“Doan’ yo’ git too fur away, Marse Matt,” pleaded -the negro. “Ef dat Kelly meets me alone by mahse’f, -Ah’s gwine ter be a daid niggah. Stay by me.”</p> - -<p>Matt lessened his pace so that Uncle Tom could follow -him closely out of the room and down the stairs. -They started to leave by the front of the garage, but, as -ill luck would have it, Kelly, red and wrathful, leaped -through the door directly in front of Matt.</p> - -<p>“Fo’ de lan’ sakes!” wailed Uncle Tom, staggering -limply back against the wall.</p> - -<p>“Clear out by the rear door, Uncle Tom!” shouted -Matt, picking up a heavy wrench from the floor.</p> - -<p>Uncle Tom scrambled for the rear of the garage at -a remarkable rate of speed.</p> - -<p>Kelly swore.</p> - -<p>“So this was that nigger’s game, was it?” he growled. -“I knew something was up when I found Partington, and -he said he hadn’t sent fer me! I’ll skin that black villain -alive!”</p> - -<p>“You’ll deal with me first, Kelly,” said Matt.</p> - -<p>“Oh, you!” grunted Kelly. “Git back upstairs. It -won’t take more’n a minute to wind up your clock!”</p> - -<p>The garage man drew a revolver. That he happened -to have the weapon spoke volumes for the responsibility -he felt as the jailer for Motor Matt.</p> - -<p>“Put up that revolver!” ordered Matt sternly.</p> - -<p>“Here’s the way I put it up,” answered Kelly, lifting -the weapon and pointing it full at Matt. “Up them -stairs with ye, an’ no more ifs nor ands about it.”</p> - -<p>“Look here, Kelly,” expostulated Matt, “you’re getting -yourself into mighty deep water, and——”</p> - -<p>Matt was talking for a purpose—and the purpose was -to give him an opportunity to use the wrench. Suddenly -he found his chance, and the heavy instrument -shot forward and struck Kelly on the wrist of his -lifted arm. A cry of pain escaped the man, and he -reeled back, dropping the revolver.</p> - -<p>Matt tried to spring past him, but Kelly, writhing with -pain though he was, pulled himself together and struck -out viciously with his left fist. Matt dodged quickly -and evaded the blow. The next instant he had used his -right fist with terrific force, hurling Kelly out of his -way and depositing him on the floor in a heap.</p> - -<p>How long Kelly sat on the floor, piecing together his -scattered train of thought, he did not know; but when -his faculties returned to him, Matt was gone.</p> - -<p>Kelly, muttering to himself and with both hands groping -about his bruised forehead, staggered to the door and -looked away in the direction of the road.</p> - -<p>There was no one to be seen. Greatly shaken, Kelly -stumbled back to a chair near a workbench and deposited -himself in it.</p> - -<p>“Felt like a batterin’-ram,” mumbled Kelly. “If I had -been kicked by a mule it wouldn’t have knocked me out -more’n what it did. Who’d have thought that lad had -so much ginger in him? Whisht, now, while I think -what’s to be done.”</p> - -<p>Matt King’s escape, Kelly knew, ought to be communicated -to Levitt, in some way, but how was it to be -done? Levitt was between the clubhouse and New -York in an automobile.</p> - -<p>Ah, Kelly had it! He would call up Krug’s and -tell some one there to lay for Levitt and bring him to -the telephone.</p> - -<p>Kelly, alert and eager to undo some of the damage -that had been caused the plans of Levitt by Matt’s escape, -hurried to the phone in the rear of the garage, -and was soon connected with Krug’s.</p> - -<p>“Any one there who knows Hannibal J. Levitt?” he -asked.</p> - -<p>“I’ll find out,” answered a voice from the other end -of the wire.</p> - -<p>“Well, hurry up!” implored Kelly. “I’m in a tearing -rush.”</p> - -<p>In about a minute—an hour it seemed to the impatient -Kelly—another voice floated back along the wire.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span></p> - -<p>“I know Mr. Levitt,” said the voice. “He was here -this morning, but he’s not here now.”</p> - -<p>“Sure he’s not there?” responded Kelly. “This is the -garage at the Malvern Country Club—get that? Levitt -left here in a runabout an hour ago, bound for New -York. He ought to pass your place in a little while. -Lay for him. If you can, get him to the phone and -have him call up Kelly—Kelly at the Malvern Country -Club garage, understand—it will be worth a fiver to -Levitt. Have somebody watch for the runabout an’ -flag Levitt. Will you?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>Kelly, highly pleased with himself, hung up the receiver. -Then he waited—waited an hour, two hours, -three hours—waited until nightfall, till 7 o’clock, 8 -o’clock, 9 o’clock came, but no call arrived from Krug’s.</p> - -<p>The reason was that Levitt did not pass Krug’s Corner. -It was the only route from the Malvern Country -Club to New York—but, nevertheless, Levitt did not -pass.</p> - -<p>The white runabout passed, however, and it had two -passengers.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII_A_STARTLING_MYSTERY" id="CHAPTER_XII_A_STARTLING_MYSTERY">CHAPTER XII.<br /> -<span class="titlefont ">A STARTLING MYSTERY.</span></a></h2> - - -<p>Matt, on leaving the garage, gave a hasty look around -for Uncle Tom. The old negro was not in sight. Matt -could not spend any time looking for him, in that particular -place, and ran for the road, hoping to find Uncle -Tom waiting for him farther on.</p> - -<p>In this he was not disappointed. Well toward the place -where Matt had had his memorable interview with his -cowboy pard, the negro pushed out of the undergrowth.</p> - -<p>“Marse Matt,” he chattered, “Ah’s been er-waitin’. -Ah ’low’ed ye’d come dishyer way. Whut done happen -tuh dat Kelly?”</p> - -<p>“I got away from him,” Matt answered.</p> - -<p>“By golly, Ah got away, too. Nevah run so fas’ en -mah life. Five times fo’ is fifty. Yo’ all ain’t er-fo’gittin’ -dat, is yuh?”</p> - -<p>“No, Uncle Tom; I’m not forgetting anything.”</p> - -<p>Matt had nearly a hundred dollars in his pocket, and -if he had not thought he was going to need considerable -extra money for his trip back to the city he’d been given -the negro nearly the whole of it.</p> - -<p>“There’s your fifty, Uncle Tom,” said Matt. “You -go to Hempstead and stay with Topsy until you can -find another job.”</p> - -<p>“Ah doan’ want no job twell Ah git out ob money, -marse, en den Ah’s hopin’ ye’ll be ready tuh take me -on as yo’ private mascot. Ah tells yuh, marse, yo’s -monsus short on luck, seems lak. Yo’s had a powahful -bad streak to-day. Where’d yo’ hab been ef it hadn’t -been fo’ Ole Tom? Golly, Ah’s afeared tuh guess!”</p> - -<p>“How did you know I was up there over the garage?”</p> - -<p>“Ah seed yo’ when yo’ was brought intuh de garage, -marse. Marse Whitmore, at de clubhouse, done sent me -tuh ask Kelly somethin’, en Kelly wasn’t erroun’ de -place. Ah waited; den Ah seed yo’ come in froo de -back do’, yo’ han’s all tied lak dey was, en Ah jess -scrooched down behin’ a car an’ waited twell yo’ was -took to Kelly’s room. Den Ah went off tuh think whut -all Ah was gwine tuh do tuh help yo’. Ah clean fo’got -’bout Marse Whitmore. Went tuh hunt him up, but he -had done lef’ de place where he was. De idee got intuh -mah ole haid dat Ah could git Kelly away fom de -garage by tellin’ him somebody else wanted tuh see him, -en Ah wo’ked hit out, yassuh. En she wo’ked, didn’t -she? Yo’ knows ’bout dat. Say, marse, is five times -fo’ fifty er skiventy? ’Pears lak Ah ain’t jess right en -mah ’rithmetic.”</p> - -<p>“It’s nearer fifty than seventy, Uncle Tom. If I -could spare any more money, though, I’d give it to you.”</p> - -<p>“Yo’s allers gen’rous lak dat, en dat’s de reason Ah -likes tuh mascot fo’ yo’. When does yo’ all think yo’ll -need me?”</p> - -<p>“I can’t tell that for a while, Uncle Tom. You go to -Hempstead and stay with Topsy. That’s the place -for you. You’re getting altogether too old to work.”</p> - -<p>“Huccome yo’ lef’ Denvah? Whar yo’ all been, huh?”</p> - -<p>“I’ve been in a good many places, Uncle Tom, since I -left Denver. I’m certainly going to do something for -you, Uncle Tom,” answered Matt; “but I can’t say just -when.”</p> - -<p>“Ah’s got fifty-five dollahs, marse, en hit’ll las’ me er -long while, yassuh, but doan’ yo’ git de notion hit’ll las’ -too long. When hit plays out Ah wants tuh wo’k fo’ -yo’.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll have to hurry, Uncle Tom,” said Matt. “You -can stroll along to Hempstead and take your time; but -I’ve got important business in New York.”</p> - -<p>“Yo’s allers doin’ somethin’. Nevah seed sich a fellah -fo’ bein’ evahlastin’ly on de go. Ah’m gwine tuh root -fo’ yo’, marse. ’Deed Ah is. When good luck come yo’ -way, jess yo’ ricollect hit’s Uncle Tom mascottin’. But -Ah can do a heap bettah at dat ef Ah’m ’long clos’ tuh -yo’. Dishyer long-range mascottin’ done li’ble tuh wind -up on er snag. ’Membah dat, too.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll remember everything, Uncle Tom,” said Matt. -“You stay in Hempstead with Topsy. Good-by.”</p> - -<p>“Good-by, Marse Matt.”</p> - -<p>Matt shook the darky’s hand warmly, turned and hurried -on along the road.</p> - -<p>Uncle Tom was a grafter, but nevertheless Matt had -a warm place in his heart for the old fellow. His peculiarities -were all on the humorous side, and Matt could -have enjoyed his talk if circumstances had been different.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span></p> - -<p>While Matt was striding onward, his thoughts keeping -pace with his swift gait, he heard suddenly the hum -of a motor in the distance.</p> - -<p>All motors have the same sort of music. The tempo -changes with work at the throttle, but a trained ear can -follow the shifting gears; and, now and then, there’s -a man who will recognize his car by the croon of the -engine alone.</p> - -<p>It seemed to Matt that there was something familiar -in the sound he heard.</p> - -<p>The road, for a long distance at that particular point, -lay in a straight stretch.</p> - -<p>The car was coming toward Matt, but the trees on -either side of the road made the approaching machine -indistinct. Their boughs dropped low, and the deep -shadows of the westering sun lay heavily across the -thoroughfare.</p> - -<p>Suddenly Matt caught a glimpse of white flashing in -the gloom.</p> - -<p>The runabout! ran his startled thought.</p> - -<p>Yes, undoubtedly it was the strange hoodoo car that -was approaching.</p> - -<p>What did it mean?</p> - -<p>Were Levitt and McGlory returning to the Country -Club? Had they found the car more than they could -manage, and were they taking it back to the garage?</p> - -<p>This did not seem a satisfactory explanation, and yet -Matt could think of nothing else.</p> - -<p>At a halt in the middle of the road Matt waited for -the car to draw near. If McGlory was in the machine, -that was as good a time as any for a meeting and an explanation.</p> - -<p>But the cowboy was not in the car, nor was Levitt, -so far as Matt could see, or anybody else.</p> - -<p>The car was on the reverse, and backing down the -road, most marvelously keeping a straight line, although -now and then lurching sideways a little and narrowly -escaping the trunk of a tree at the roadside.</p> - -<p>Here was a startling mystery!</p> - -<p>What had happened to McGlory and Levitt?</p> - -<p>While Matt wondered, he was making preparations -to board the car and do his best to get it under control.</p> - -<p>It was coming at a slow rate of speed, and to leap -aboard would not be difficult.</p> - -<p>When within a dozen feet of the young motorist, the -car seemed to recognize an enemy and to attempt to -turn aside.</p> - -<p>Matt ran forward, stopped, executed a flying leap and -gained the running board. Another moment and he -was in the driver’s seat and had brought the car to a -halt.</p> - -<p>The reverse gear was engaged, so the runabout had -ample warrant for crawfishing along the road.</p> - -<p>There was nothing in the car, however, that offered -any clue to the mystery of what had become of the -two who had taken the runabout from the Country Club -garage.</p> - -<p>Matt got down and made a hurried examination. The -car was in as good condition as ever, and rebuffed his -efforts at getting clues.</p> - -<p>There was something uncanny about the machine. -Matt admitted it to himself. It acted in a way that defied -all explanation, at times, and that alone was enough -to get on a chauffeur’s nerves.</p> - -<p>Perhaps Billy was right, and that the “double hoodoo,” -in some incomprehensible manner, was accountable for -the car’s tantrums.</p> - -<p>So far as McGlory and Levitt were concerned, there -was a possibility that the car had misbehaved so outrageously -that they had put on the reverse and cast it -adrift, to go where it would.</p> - -<p>But there were other travelers in the road to think of. -Levitt and McGlory would scarcely take chances of -wrecking some other machine, or of running down a carriage, -or some pedestrian.</p> - -<p>Matt was deeply puzzled.</p> - -<p>“Well,” he thought, “I want a way to return to New -York, and here it is. It meets me on the road, and I -should be foolish not to take advantage of it. Quite -likely Joe and Levitt have found other and more satisfactory -means for reaching the city. I don’t blame them -for changing to another car, if they had the opportunity, -or for taking a railroad train if they happened to be -conveniently near one. There’s no railroad very close -to this place, though, and the runabout couldn’t have -come far, with no one in control.”</p> - -<p>There was enough gas in the cylinders so that the -motor took the spark. The runabout leaped ahead, perfectly -obedient to Matt’s hand.</p> - -<p>As he swept along he looked and listened for some -signs of McGlory and Levitt. He came upon the two -missing passengers suddenly—and what he saw caused -him to jam down hard on the brakes and leap from the -car before it was fairly at a stop.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII_IMPORTANT_DISCLOSURES" id="CHAPTER_XIII_IMPORTANT_DISCLOSURES">CHAPTER XIII.<br /> -<span class="titlefont ">IMPORTANT DISCLOSURES.</span></a></h2> - - -<p>Joe McGlory was kneeling beside the road, tying a -handkerchief bandage around the forehead of Levitt. -The latter was sprawled out limply on the ground, his -clothing torn and disarranged.</p> - -<p>“What’s the matter, Joe?” asked Matt.</p> - -<p>The cowboy’s face was pale, and the set lines of it -indicated that he was himself in pain.</p> - -<p>“That’s you, is it, pard?” he asked huskily.</p> - -<p>For a useless question McGlory threw a good deal of -feeling into it.</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span></p> - -<p>“I might have known you’d come pounding along if I -was in trouble. Levitt is badly hurt. He’s been unconscious -ever since he dropped in the road. I can’t -bring him back to his senses—but I haven’t been able to -do much, being about half knocked out.”</p> - -<p>Matt went down on his knees, laid a hand over Levitt’s -heart, and then felt of his pulse.</p> - -<p>“He’ll do, I think, Joe. Is he hurt anywhere else except -in the head?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t think so. He was thrown headfirst against -the tree there.”</p> - -<p>Matt lifted the bandage and surveyed the wound. -The light was none too good, and he asked his chum -to strike a match.</p> - -<p>“It may be a fracture of the skull,” said Matt, replacing -the bandage. “We’ve got to get him into the -hands of a doctor.”</p> - -<p>“Hempstead’s the nearest place, I reckon. It can’t -be more than a mile from here.”</p> - -<p>“We’ll go there.”</p> - -<p>Riding on two seats, with an unconscious and wounded -man to look after, was not going to be child’s play for -Matt and McGlory—particularly as the cowboy was not -in very good condition himself. Then, too, cramped as -he was going to be, Matt would have to look after the -runabout. That might be an easy matter, and it might -not. It all depended on how the runabout was going to -act.</p> - -<p>“Can you help me get him into the car, Joe?” asked -Matt.</p> - -<p>“I’m not good for much, Matt,” was the response; -“but I’ll do what I can.”</p> - -<p>“What’s the matter with you?”</p> - -<p>“Just shaken up, I reckon. I’ve had a good many -falls, but never one like that before.”</p> - -<p>Matt, when Levitt was lifted, contrived to carry most -of the burden. McGlory groaned when the limp form -of Levitt was in the car, and grabbed at the car seat to -support himself.</p> - -<p>“Something has happened to you, old chap, besides -a mere shaking up,” averred Matt. “I guess I’ll have -to leave you at Hempstead with Levitt.”</p> - -<p>“Nary, you don’t. I’ve got to get to that meeting.”</p> - -<p>Matt made no answer to this. It brought up a subject -which he was not yet ready to discuss.</p> - -<p>“Get into the car, Joe,” said he. “Hold Levitt’s head -up between your knees, if you can. I won’t be able to -help support him—the car will take all my attention.”</p> - -<p>“If this infernal contraption goes off the jump again,” -scowled McGlory, “it’s liable to do for all of us.”</p> - -<p>In a few moments they were loaded. The cowboy, -braced in the seat, supported the upper half of Levitt’s -body between his knees. This left Matt elbow room for -running the car.</p> - -<p>The runabout started off cleverly enough, and Matt -believed it would act well for the short trip to Hempstead.</p> - -<p>“How did the accident happen, Joe?” he asked, when -they were well away.</p> - -<p>“I wish somebody would tell me,” answered McGlory. -“We were going along at not more than twenty-five -miles an hour when, without any warning, it buck-jumped, -and stopped dead. Levitt was thrown out -sideways against the tree. I missed the trees, but took -the roadside on my head and shoulders, as near as I can -recollect. I was dazed for a couple of minutes, and -when I rounded up my wits I saw Levitt unconscious, a -dozen feet from where I was lying. That’s all. I was -trying to tinker him up when you came along. Where -did you pick up the car?”</p> - -<p>“A little way back on the road. It was on the reverse, -and moving slowly.”</p> - -<p>“How did it get on the reverse?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know.”</p> - -<p>“Nor I. Sufferin’ brain twisters! The same thing -happened on the Jericho Pike this morning, you remember.”</p> - -<p>Matt was silent. Before either he or the cowboy -could speak Levitt began to talk.</p> - -<p>“Play the game, Billings! If you’re going to hocus -the syndicate, you’ve got to pay me money enough to -make it worth while. A quarter of the proceeds, Billings, -or I give Random & Griggs my private report. -That will cook your goose.”</p> - -<p>McGlory gasped.</p> - -<p>“He’s delirious,” said Matt.</p> - -<p>“He—he thinks he’s talking with Billings,” said McGlory. -“Speak to me about that!”</p> - -<p>“It’s just as I told you, Joe,” went on Matt quietly. -“Your colonel is out to make a big winning, and to -make it dishonestly. If he——”</p> - -<p>Levitt began again.</p> - -<p>“You didn’t know I had that private report, did you?” -A weird laugh came with the words. “I’m a bit foxy -myself, colonel. The ‘Pauper’s Dream’ isn’t worth what -it cost to put down the shaft. You haven’t any vein. -There was a pocket, but the pocket has been worked out. -You’ve got to come across with a pile if you make me -suppress that private report.”</p> - -<p>“I’m the biggest blockhead that walks the face o’ the -earth!” declared McGlory. “I——”</p> - -<p>Levitt interrupted him.</p> - -<p>“Keep your eye on Matt King, Billings! If lightning -hits us, that cub will be back of it!”</p> - -<p>There was something grewsome about that limp form -with its bandaged head, swaying between McGlory’s -unsteady knees and mumbling villainous revelations.</p> - -<p>For a while Levitt was silent, and the runabout glided -through the outskirts of Hempstead and Matt inquired -the way to the nearest doctor.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span></p> - -<p>The car continued to remain on its good behavior, -and carried its passengers steadily and safely to the -walk in front of the doctor’s office. Some bystanders -helped carry Levitt in, and he was laid on a couch, very -white and weak and continuing to mumble his delirious -disclosures.</p> - -<p>“What’s the trouble with him?” inquired the doctor.</p> - -<p>“Automobile accident,” answered Matt briefly.</p> - -<p>“They’re always happening,” commented the medical -man grimly. “Who is he?”</p> - -<p>“Hannibal J. Levitt. We’ll have to leave him in your -care, doctor. My friend and I have got to hurry on to -New York to attend a meeting at eight o’clock to-night.”</p> - -<p>The doctor, busily examining Levitt, turned up a suspicious -face.</p> - -<p>“You’ll have to tell me a little bit more about this -man before you go,” said he. “He may have been hurt -in an automobile accident, or he may have been hit on -the head with a sand bag.”</p> - -<p>“Sufferin’ hold-ups!” muttered McGlory. “Do you -take us for strong-arm men?”</p> - -<p>Just at that moment a policeman entered.</p> - -<p>“Heard there was an injured man brought in here, -doc,” said he.</p> - -<p>The doctor explained—not only about the injured man, -but about Matt’s hurry to get away to New York.</p> - -<p>The policeman also became suspicious. Matt, however, -took him apart and went into a somewhat lengthy -explanation. He told who he was, and managed to -convince the officer of his identity. The name of Matt -King was not unknown to the bluecoat, and he was prepared -to take all that Matt said in good faith.</p> - -<p>“It’s all right, Doc,” said the officer, as soon as Matt -had finished talking; “these young fellows didn’t have -anything more to do with that man’s condition than you -or I. We’ll look after Levitt. Badly hurt?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“Seriously?”</p> - -<p>“Not dangerously, if that’s what you mean.”</p> - -<p>“Then we’re free to go, are we, officer?” asked Matt.</p> - -<p>“Sure. Skip whenever you’re ready. If I want you -or your friend I’ll phone your New York hotel.”</p> - -<p>Matt and McGlory, followed by the troubled eyes of -the doctor, went out to the runabout. Before starting, -Matt got the lamps to going.</p> - -<p>“Now for Manhattan,” said he, climbing to his seat.</p> - -<p>“Or the ditch,” added McGlory. “The way I feel now -I don’t care much what happens to us.”</p> - -<p>“That’s a funny way for you to feel, Joe,” said Matt -quietly.</p> - -<p>The car moved off in fine order—an exhibition which -made Matt feel like congratulating himself.</p> - -<p>“I’m entitled to my feelings, pard. For what I’ve done -to-day you ought to cut me out of your herd.”</p> - -<p>“You made a mistake——”</p> - -<p>“A big one; and there was no excuse for it.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, there was, Joe. There must have been.”</p> - -<p>McGlory mumbled to himself and fell silent.</p> - -<p>“You hadn’t got far along the road from the clubhouse,” -said Matt, “when the accident happened. But -you must have been gone an hour. If your pace was -twenty-five miles an hour, how——”</p> - -<p>“The car bothered us like Sam Hill,” cut in McGlory. -“If it wasn’t one thing, it was two. Neither Levitt nor -I was as good a hand at tinkering as you, and we had -to hunt quite a spell before we located the troubles.”</p> - -<p>“You found something wrong?”</p> - -<p>“A dozen things!”</p> - -<p>“That’s strange! When this runabout gets to acting -up, it usually seems to be without any cause whatever.”</p> - -<p>“Well,” finished the cowboy, “that explains how we -were going twenty-five miles an hour, at the time the -accident happened, and didn’t get any farther from the -Malvern Country Club.”</p> - -<p>After this there was another silence between the -chums. McGlory was getting ready to explain, and -Matt patiently waited.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV_MGLORYS_LESSON" id="CHAPTER_XIV_MGLORYS_LESSON">CHAPTER XIV.<br /> -<span class="titlefont ">M’GLORY’S LESSON.</span></a></h2> - - -<p>“Pard,” said McGlory finally, “I’ve connected with a -lesson this afternoon that’s made the biggest kind of an -impression on me.”</p> - -<p>“What sort of a lesson, Joe?” asked Matt.</p> - -<p>“The kind that hits you plumb between the eyes like -a bolt of lightning. Did you ever think you were smart, -and then wake up and find yourself the biggest fool in -seven states? No, I don’t reckon you ever did. That’s -not the way Pard Matt is built.”</p> - -<p>“That’s where you’re wrong, Joe. I’ve been there. -We all of us take a wrong course, now and then. We -wouldn’t be human if we didn’t.”</p> - -<p>“Sufferin’ horn toads! Why, I thought all along I was -starring myself, and that I’d laugh at you in a few days -for being the one who’d made the bobble.”</p> - -<p>“The trouble with you was, Joe, Colonel Billings had -too much influence over you.”</p> - -<p>“He’s got an oily tongue, Matt, and a brain that’s a -wonder. After you dropped from the window, the -colonel nailed me and pinned me down in a chair. I -was as mad as a hornet, and ready to give him a right -hook to the jaw, or any other kind of a right-hander -that would make him take the count. That’s how I felt -for about a minute—red-hot and boiling. But only for a -minute. The colonel started his tongue, and I fell on his -neck and shed tears of joy because he had singled me -out to help feather-finger the kicks of the plutocrats.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> -Not in those words, however. The colonel made it look -like a just and warranted proceeding.</p> - -<p>“The colonel allows Pard Matt is a blockhead, and -that he’s taken a few facts and used ’em as signboards -for the wrong trail. The colonel admits hiring Levitt -to make a bogus report; but the bogus report, according -to the colonel, was the one we found, and not the other -gilt-edged prospectus submitted to the syndicate.”</p> - -<p>“Why did he hire Levitt to make a report saying that -the mine was no good?” inquired the amazed Matt.</p> - -<p>“He didn’t, pard; he only said he did. I find there’s -some sort of a difference between what the colonel really -does and what he tells people he does. He knew the -‘Pauper’s Dream’ was rich, long before he sold me my -stock. Then some of the stockholders who knew the -same thing tried to freeze the colonel out. But the -colonel was too wise. He sank the shaft without finding -any gold—just to fool the stockholders who wanted -to get rid of him. These fellows immediately sold out -to the colonel, so that the colonel got hold of the majority -of the stock. That means, of course, that he had -the entire say about everything connected with the mine.</p> - -<p>“As soon as he has the ‘Pauper’s Dream’ cinched, -Billings begins to hit the simon-pure, ne-plus-ultra gold-bearing -vein. Buyers flock to the scene. The colonel -picks out this syndicate of Random & Griggs’ as the -boys to get the mine. Levitt comes out to examine the -mine for the syndicate. The stockholders who have been -frozen out begin to grow restive, and to threaten legal -complications. Then Billings shows his fine Italian hand -by hiring Levitt to make out that report, saying the -‘Dream’ is a pocket, and that the pocket is empty. That’s -for the soreheaded stockholders to see, and they see it. -So, in that way, legal complications are sidetracked -while the colonel is selling the mine to the syndicate.”</p> - -<p>McGlory relapsed into silence for a mile, while the -runabout behaved beautifully and drove long shafts of -light from the search lamps into the growing dark.</p> - -<p>“That,” continued the cowboy, stirring, “is the yarn -the colonel put up to me. I swallowed it. But, pard, I -wanted to tell you. The colonel said you mustn’t know -a thing until after the deal was closed and the proceeds -divided. As I figure it now, I reckon the colonel was -afraid you’d jab a little horse sense into his yarn and -puncture it. Anyhow, the truth remains that he made -me believe I’d lose a fortune by telling you the truth -about that private report. ‘Tell your friend about it -later,’ says the colonel, ‘and then have a good laugh with -him over the way he was fooled.’ So I smoothed down -my rising feathers, laid low, and planned to sneak the -private report on you all by myself.</p> - -<p>“You know how I did that. You trusted me, and -asked the old darky to tell me where you were. As soon -as Uncle Tom had delivered your message, I rushed -right off to the colonel and repeated it to him. Then -I met you, executed my brilliant play, got the report, and -delivered it to my good friend the colonel. He now has -it in his pocket, or else he has burned it. Anyhow, you -can bet a million against the hole in a doughnut that he -don’t show that report to the syndicate. The question -is, pard, will those syndicate people believe you and -me?”</p> - -<p>“It won’t matter much,” answered Matt, “whether -they do or don’t. By jumping in there and telling them -the truth, we’ll be placing ourselves on record.”</p> - -<p>“I see. Then, if they’re skinned, we can read our -titles clear and they’ll have only themselves to blame. -But, pard, what have you been up to since I worked -through that brilliant trick and left you staring at me -from the bushes?”</p> - -<p>“I’ve been a prisoner in the loft over the garage,” answered -Matt.</p> - -<p>“A prisoner?” echoed McGlory. “How was that?”</p> - -<p>Matt told him the details.</p> - -<p>“Oh, speak to me about that!” growled the cowboy. -“Hannibal J. Levitt never mentioned the fact of your -capture to me. If I’d known what had happened to you, -pard, I’d have torn loose from the whole combination, -fortune or no fortune. Why,” sputtered McGlory, as -reflection brought the hidden details more and more before -him, “Levitt never could have made that play if I -hadn’t told Billings where I was to meet you! They -got their heads together and worked it out.”</p> - -<p>“Why didn’t you and Levitt ride into town with the -colonel, Joe?”</p> - -<p>“He thought it would be better for us to come by -ourselves. He was ’way ahead of time, you know, and -had to go to the bank before closing hours for the -bullion. It wasn’t necessary for Levitt and me to be -around until time for the meeting. Oh, I’ve had a fine -run for my auburn chip, and no mistake. I’ll resign, -here and now, from our partnership. The place for me -is the range. Cattle punching is about the scope of my -ability, and it ought to be the height of my ambition. -Consider my resignation handed in, pard.”</p> - -<p>“Then,” said Matt, “consider it declined. I won’t accept -it.”</p> - -<p>“Don’t make any misplay now, old chap,” begged McGlory. -“I’m about as dependable as this crazy runabout. -Sometimes I answer the control, but you’ve just -seen how I can take the bit in my teeth and play hob -with everything. I don’t think you can trust me, pard.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know any one I can trust better, Joe,” answered -Matt.</p> - -<p>“If you mean that, shake.”</p> - -<p>Their hands clasped for an instant, and McGlory -stifled a groan and clutched at his side.</p> - -<p>“Say,” demanded Matt, “what’s wrong with you?”</p> - -<p>“All jarred to pieces. That fall did it. When you -shook my right hand I thought I was coming apart.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span></p> - -<p>“I wish,” said Matt, “that I’d had the Hempstead -doctor look at you.”</p> - -<p>“Look at me? Well, I reckon he did. He looked at -me as though he thought I was a sandbagger. And -he came pretty near having it right, at that.”</p> - -<p>“You know what I mean, Joe.”</p> - -<p>“Sure, I do. But we didn’t have time. We may be -late for the meeting as it is. The colonel has showed his -bullion, and flashed that affidavit about its coming from -the ‘Pauper’s Dream’ as the result of a week’s run, and -perhaps the syndicate has been stampeded. We may be -too late.”</p> - -<p>“We’ll not be too late to go on record,” declared -Matt.</p> - -<p>“Tell me this, pard,” said the cowboy: “Why were -you piking for New York at the time you met the -runabout backing down the road with no one aboard?”</p> - -<p>“I had started for the meeting in Random & Griggs’ -office,” said Matt.</p> - -<p>“You were going there just the same, eh?”</p> - -<p>“Of course.”</p> - -<p>“While I was doing everything I could to help the -colonel get me into trouble, you were still hustling to -keep me out of it?”</p> - -<p>“I knew Billings had influenced you in some way, -Joe.”</p> - -<p>“That’s the sort of a fellow for a pard! Of course -you’re the lad to tie to. The wonder is that you’re still -willing to hang onto me.”</p> - -<p>“Random & Griggs must be as badly deceived in the -colonel as any one else,” observed Matt.</p> - -<p>“He can pull the wool over any one’s eyes, that fellow!”</p> - -<p>“He was stopping at Griggs’ house, and the broker -had put him up at the Country Club.”</p> - -<p>“That’s right! And how the colonel has used that -Country Club! The members of the club will be tickled -to death if they ever find it out. You can do something -to that tinhorn, Kelly, if you want to.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t want to. He was working for Levitt——”</p> - -<p>“Just as I was working for the colonel, eh? Maybe -he was as badly fooled, too.”</p> - -<p>For some time McGlory leaned back in his seat and -kept quiet. Matt was worried about him.</p> - -<p>“How do you feel now, Joe?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“I was just thinking,” answered McGlory, “that this -hoodoo car is trying to make up for the tough times it -has given us. It’s about the worst combination of cylinders, -rubber tires, and spark plugs that was ever put together, -but, for all that, if it hadn’t cut up a few tantrums -on the Jericho Pike this morning we’d never have found -out a thing about the colonel’s crooked work.”</p> - -<p>“That’s so. It’s an ill wind that blows nobody good, -pard.”</p> - -<p>“While the car’s running good, Matt, crowd the speed -limit. Let’s get to Liberty Street as soon as we can.”</p> - -<p>Matt proceeded to follow out his chum’s suggestion.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV_HURLING_A_BOMB" id="CHAPTER_XV_HURLING_A_BOMB">CHAPTER XV.<br /> -<span class="titlefont ">HURLING A BOMB.</span></a></h2> - - -<p>Half a dozen men were gathered in the private conference -room of Random & Griggs’ palatial brokerage -offices in Liberty Street. One of these half dozen was -the colonel. Another was Joshua Griggs. The remaining -four were capitalists.</p> - -<p>Colonel Mark Antony Billings was in his element. -He had never looked more impressive than he did then. -Levitt and McGlory had failed to arrive in time for the -meeting, but they might come later. In any event, -their presence was not of supreme importance.</p> - -<p>In front of the colonel, on the mahogany table, -sparkled the two bars of yellow bullion. They caught -the gleams from the incandescent lights and reflected -luring rays into the eyes of the capitalists.</p> - -<p>The capitalists seemed greatly impressed. Griggs—the -brokerage firm was to receive a very large commission -if the mine was sold—wore a broad and amiable -smile. The colonel was plausible and full of tact, answering -questions promptly.</p> - -<p>In the midst of the deliberations the quiet of Liberty -Street was disturbed by the sputter of an automobile. -For the most part, Liberty Street, in the vicinity of the -brokers’ offices, was a deserted cañon at that hour.</p> - -<p>But if the automobile disturbed the quiet of the street, -it did not disturb the deliberations of those in Random -& Griggs’ offices. It took a rap on the outer door to -do that. Mr. Griggs himself answered the summons.</p> - -<p>“McGlory and Levitt, colonel,” he called.</p> - -<p>Mr. Griggs had made a slight mistake. Hearing the -name McGlory, and understanding that Levitt was expected -with him, the broker had jumped at conclusions.</p> - -<p>“The expert, gentlemen,” smiled the colonel, addressing -the capitalists, “whom you sent to investigate my -little property. A very painstaking person, and reliable -to the last degree. McGlory is one of our original stockholders; -a young man—a mere lad, in fact—but sharp as -a steel trap.” The colonel lifted his voice. “Have them -come right in, Mr. Griggs,” he called.</p> - -<p>Matt King and McGlory did not stand on the order. -Supporting his chum by the arm, King and the cowboy -passed into the conference room and stood under the -astounded eyes of the colonel.</p> - -<p>“Why,” said Mr. Isidore Sleipnitz, one of the moneyed -men, “dot ain’t der expert, Levitt. Neider of ’em is -Levitt.”</p> - -<p>“But I’m McGlory,” said the cowboy, steadying himself -by leaning against a table. Although his face was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span> -white, his eyes glowed with resolution and steadfast purpose. -“Mr. Levitt was thrown from the automobile and -injured. He’s now in a doctor’s office in Hempstead. -This is my chum, Matt King. If he hadn’t picked me -up I’d never have got here.”</p> - -<p>The colonel, to put it colloquially, “smelled a rat.” -Something was wrong, and he knew it.</p> - -<p>“This meeting, gentlemen,” said he, “is not for outsiders. -Mr. King is not a stockholder in the ‘Pauper’s -Dream,’ nor, so far as I am informed, is he one of your -syndicate. I think he had better withdraw.”</p> - -<p>“I’m not going to withdraw,” said Matt, “until I tell -these gentlemen of your crooked transactions in the -matter of the mine you are trying to sell them. McGlory -and I have come here for that purpose, and——”</p> - -<p>“Silence!” roared the colonel, starting menacingly toward -Matt. “Do you think, for a minute, you can blow -in here and blacken my character in the eyes of these -gentlemen?” Billings struck a pose, and shoved one -hand into the breast of his long coat. “I am too well -known,” he went on, “to suffer from the maunderings of -a cub like you!”</p> - -<p>“I’d like to put in a few maunderings of my own, -colonel,” said McGlory. “I’ll have to hurry, too, for I -got badly shaken up in that accident that knocked out -Levitt. There were two reports——”</p> - -<p>“Silence!” thundered the colonel. “Get out of here, -McGlory! Clear out, I say, and take that other young -scoundrel with you. If you don’t, I’ll call the police!”</p> - -<p>Hiram McCormick, another of the capitalists, got up -from his chair and raised his hand.</p> - -<p>“This isn’t one of your Southwestern ‘rough-houses,’ -colonel,” said he, “so please remember that. Roar less -and listen more, will you? I am interested in hearing -what these young men have to say.”</p> - -<p>“If that’s the way you stack up,” clamored the colonel, -grabbing his slouch hat and his gold bullion from the -table, “I’ll make myself absent. I didn’t come here to -be insulted.”</p> - -<p>He started for the door. Before he could reach it the -door of a telephone booth opened and a blue-coated -man, with a star flashing on his breast, stepped in front -of him.</p> - -<p>The appearance of the policeman was a surprise to -the colonel, Griggs, Matt, and McGlory. The four capitalists -did not seem to think it anything out of the ordinary.</p> - -<p>“Where—where did that man come from?” inquired -Griggs.</p> - -<p>Inasmuch as he was a member of the firm that occupied -the offices, it might be supposed that he would have -had knowledge of any policeman secreted about the -premises. But it was plain he had not been informed of -the presence of this particular officer.</p> - -<p>Hiram McCormick was still on his feet. While the -colonel was glaring at the policeman, Mr. McCormick -observed calmly:</p> - -<p>“Mr. Griggs, we shall have to ask your pardon for -the presence of the officer. He slipped in, by my request, -before the colonel came, and while you were in the board -room.”</p> - -<p>“What’s he here for?” inquired Griggs.</p> - -<p>“That will appear later. Just now he is going to -keep the colonel with us while these young men relieve -their minds.”</p> - -<p>Colonel Billings understood that he was face to face -with disaster—a disaster so comprehensive that he could -not readily grasp it. Heeding a motion of the officer’s -hand, he dropped defiantly into a chair.</p> - -<p>“Now, my lad,” said McCormick to the cowboy.</p> - -<p>McGlory jumped at once into his recital. Beginning -away back in his New York experience, he told of the -trouble he and Matt had had on account of the bullion; -then, after showing the telegram which had been sent -to him over the signature of “Joshua Griggs,” he began -narrating the adventures which had fallen to him and -Matt on that eventful day. The colonel’s double-dealing -was shown up in all its ugly brazenness, and the -cowboy finished by regretting that he had not the private -report of Hannibal J. Levitt to offer in evidence.</p> - -<p>“Perhaps,” suggested Matt, “the colonel can show it -to you, if it has not already been destroyed.”</p> - -<p>“The colonel,” spoke up that gentleman witheringly, -“is not here to be bossed by a fellow of your stripe. -Your wild and woolly stories seem to have made a hit -with the representatives of capital, but they’re fakes, -and everybody here will know they’re fakes, before many -days.”</p> - -<p>“Gentlemen,” put in Mr. Griggs, whose faith in the -colonel was dying hard, “is it right to take the word of -these boys against a man so well known throughout the -Southwest as Colonel Billings?”</p> - -<p>Colonel Billings waved his hand gently but firmly -toward Mr. Griggs.</p> - -<p>“Never mind me, sir,” said he. “The kid element -seems to predominate in the meeting, and men of experience -and reason are relegated to the background. Don’t -disturb yourself on my account, I beg. There are other -bidders for the ‘Pauper’s Dream.’ The mine will be -snapped up before the week is over.”</p> - -<p>“Mr. Griggs,” went on Hiram McCormick, “these -young men have come here—one of them with everything -to lose and nothing to gain by blocking the sale -of the mine—and told us a most remarkable story of -guile and duplicity. I may say, however, that neither I -nor my associates are surprised. We have already had -cause to suspect the colonel of double-dealing. Two -experts were sent by us to examine the ‘Pauper’s -Dream.’ In matters of this sort, it is best not to place -all your faith in one man. Levitt went to the mine, made<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span> -himself known to the colonel, and examined the prospect -under his supervision. Perhaps it is not to be wondered -at that the colonel bought him. But the second -expert reached the mine in laborer’s clothes, and was -hired by the colonel to ‘salt’ the breast of the ‘Pauper’s -Dream’ tunnel. I have that man’s report here in my -pocket. It only arrived to-day, but my friends of this -projected syndicate have all read it. For this reason we -feared we might have trouble with the colonel, and so -we smuggled the policeman into the telephone booth.</p> - -<p>“Colonel Billings,” and McCormick turned and leveled -a hard look at the Arizona man, “your rascally game -would not have succeeded, even had these lads not come -here and told us of your knavery. We had you spotted. -From now on you will be blacklisted in this town, and -you will try in vain to float any other mining proposition -on New York capital. Mr. Griggs was deceived -in you, and he and his partner have our sympathy, and -have not lost a particle of our good will; but as for -you, if you are not out of the city within twenty-four -hours we shall try and see just how much responsibility -the law can put upon you for this day’s events. There -is the door; close it from the outside.”</p> - -<p>The colonel got up. Calmly he drew a canvas bag -from his pocket, and deliberately placed his gold bars -within it; then, holding the bag in one hand, he allowed -the other to dart toward his hip—a move young King -had seen before.</p> - -<p>“Look out for him!” warned Matt.</p> - -<p>The officer grabbed a revolver out of the colonel’s -hand in just the nick of time. There was a brief struggle, -but the colonel got the worst of it.</p> - -<p>“I’ll play even with that cub of a Matt King,” the -colonel was heard to breathe, “if it’s the last thing I -ever do.”</p> - -<p>“Take him out, officer,” said Hiram McCormick, in -undisguised contempt, “and, of course, you’ll confiscate -the weapon. This is not Arizona.”</p> - -<p>None too gently the policeman hustled Colonel Billings -out of the door. Hardly had they left when McGlory -staggered, tossed his hands, and fell heavily into -Matt’s arms.</p> - -<p>Instantly there was a flurry of excitement in the office, -Griggs, McCormick, and the others all hurrying -forward to be of what assistance they could.</p> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI_LOST_A_FORTUNE" id="CHAPTER_XVI_LOST_A_FORTUNE">CHAPTER XVI.<br /> -<span class="titlefont ">LOST—A FORTUNE.</span></a></h2> - - -<p>Joe McGlory drifted back to conscience amid surroundings -that were entirely new to him. He was in a -white iron bed. On one side of the bed stood a woman -in a white cap and apron, and on the other side was a -man in black. Over the foot of the bed leaned Matt, -his anxious face clearing a little as McGlory opened his -eyes.</p> - -<p>“Ah!” murmured the doctor.</p> - -<p>“Where am I?” inquired the cowboy.</p> - -<p>“In the emergency ward of the City Hospital,” answered -the doctor.</p> - -<p>“I’ve got about as much right here as a maverick -steer in a watermelon patch. Sufferin’ sister, what a -jolt!”</p> - -<p>A smile sneaked over the doctor’s face. The nurse -turned her head. Matt laughed, highly delighted.</p> - -<p>“He’ll be all right, don’t you think so, doctor?” Matt -asked.</p> - -<p>“A lad who can come out from under the influence -of a narcotic with such a flow of spirits,” averred the -doctor, “is bound to be all right.”</p> - -<p>“What’s the matter with me?” the cowboy asked.</p> - -<p>“A couple of broken ribs.”</p> - -<p>“I thought I’d busted something! Say, Matt!”</p> - -<p>“What is it, Joe?”</p> - -<p>“The last I remember I was in the office of Random & -Griggs. When was that?”</p> - -<p>“Last night.”</p> - -<p>The cowboy turned his head so he could see the sunlight -coming through the window.</p> - -<p>“And now it’s this morning?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“When will I get out of here, doc? This afternoon?”</p> - -<p>“If you get out of here in less than two weeks you’ll -do well,” said the doctor.</p> - -<p>“Speak to me about that!” muttered McGlory.</p> - -<p>“It’s all right, Joe,” said Matt. “I’ll be here every -day to see you.”</p> - -<p>“Sure you will. I couldn’t stand it if you stayed -away. The old runabout got me, after all!”</p> - -<p>“You were lucky to escape as well as you did,” spoke -up the doctor. “You took a long automobile ride, after -you were hurt,” he added severely, “and did a number -of other things that were entirely unnecessary, and -which aggravated your condition.”</p> - -<p>“Correct, doc,” grinned McGlory; “I was aggravated -a whole lot, and no mistake. Where’s the hoodoo car -now, Matt?”</p> - -<p>“Billy’s got it in the garage.”</p> - -<p>“I wonder that Billy would have it there, considering -how he feels about it.”</p> - -<p>“Billy’s not the boss of the garage, Joe,” laughed -Matt. “If he was, probably he’d refuse to give the car -storage.”</p> - -<p>“Hear anything from Hempstead?”</p> - -<p>“Well, yes. Levitt is coming along as well as can be -expected.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t think you had better talk any more, my lad,” -interposed the doctor.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span></p> - -<p>“I’ll die if I don’t, doc,” declared McGlory. “Give -me a little more rope, can’t you?”</p> - -<p>“A little.”</p> - -<p>“Where’s the colonel, Matt?” went on McGlory.</p> - -<p>“No one knows, Joe. He was ordered out of town, -and I guess he’s gone, or going.”</p> - -<p>“He played hob with me, all right. How’s the syndicate?”</p> - -<p>“You’d feel highly complimented if you could hear -what they said about you.”</p> - -<p>“What did they say about <em>you</em>?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t remember.”</p> - -<p>“Sure you don’t. You never remember what’s said -about you, but whenever any one tips you off concernin’ -a pard you keep it right on tap. What are you going -to do for the two weeks I’m laid up?”</p> - -<p>“Just hang around and wait for you to get well, I -guess,” Matt laughed.</p> - -<p>“Don’t hike out of town, will you?”</p> - -<p>“No; I’m going to stay right here.”</p> - -<p>McGlory looked at the doctor.</p> - -<p>“He’s my pard, doc,” said he. “Matt’s his label, and -he’s the clear quill any way you take him.”</p> - -<p>“You both seem to stand pretty high in each other’s -estimation,” smiled the doctor.</p> - -<p>“I’m standing higher in his than I deserve.”</p> - -<p>“Cut that out, Joe,” said Matt.</p> - -<p>“I’ll cut it out and paste it in my hat so I won’t forget -it. It’s the best lesson I ever had, and I’m going to -profit by it. Lost—a fortune! That’s me. I was promised -a place on Easy Street, and here I am in the hospital.”</p> - -<p>McGlory chuckled.</p> - -<p>“You may have lost a fortune, Joe,” said Matt, “but -you’ve won something a whole lot better.”</p> - -<p>“I have—two busted ribs and a couple of weeks’ lay-off. -Oh, I’m a lucky dog!”</p> - -<p>“Don’t fret about the ribs or the lay-off, Joe,” counseled -Matt. “If you get to worrying, you may have to -stay here longer than two weeks.”</p> - -<p>“Funny how I shut my eyes in Random & Griggs’ -office,” remarked McGlory, leaping from one subject to -another with the abruptness of a person whose brain -is still a little befogged, “and open ’em here. That was -sure a hard ride from Hempstead in. I don’t know how -I managed to hang on. I reckon it was my wish to -play even with the colonel that held me up.”</p> - -<p>“The colonel got his deserts, Joe,” said Matt.</p> - -<p>“The syndicate was next to him all the time. Our -chasing in to tell what we knew didn’t make such a -terrible lot of difference.”</p> - -<p>“It put us on record, that’s all. It’s mighty important, -sometimes, to let people know where you stand.”</p> - -<p>“Correct, again. But listen. Didn’t Colonel Billings -pull a gun on you, Matt, before he left the office? Seems -to me I remember that.”</p> - -<p>“He pulled a gun, Joe; but I don’t know what he intended -to do with it.”</p> - -<p>“Then I’ll put you next, pard. He intended to play -even with you.”</p> - -<p>“Or you,” answered Matt.</p> - -<p>“Not me,” insisted Joe. “The colonel knows I haven’t -got sense enough to make him much trouble. But he’s -afraid of Matt King. Look out for him, pard.”</p> - -<p>“The colonel has his orders to leave town, and——”</p> - -<p>“That doesn’t mean that he’ll go. During the two -weeks I’m holding down this nice little bed here, you -keep both eyes skinned for Colonel Mark Antony Billings. -He’s liable to show his hand when you’re not -thinking he’s within a thousand miles of you. Pretty -sudden, the colonel is. He sprang a surprise on us when -we got to the Country Club and found him there to meet -us instead of Joshua Griggs. That’s a sample of the -way he does things, Matt. You look out for him.”</p> - -<p>“That will do now,” said the doctor authoritatively. -“You’ve talked more than you ought to.”</p> - -<p>“When’ll you blow in here again, pard?” added McGlory, -reaching out his hand.</p> - -<p>“This afternoon.”</p> - -<p>“That’s you. I’ve lost a fortune, pard, but I didn’t -let you get away from me. We’re pards, same as per -usual, and in spite of what happened at the Country -Club?”</p> - -<p>“Sure we are. That couldn’t make any difference, -Joe.”</p> - -<p>“It would have made a big difference with some fellows, -but Matt King’s of a different calibre.”</p> - -<p>“That’s what pards are for, Joe,” whispered Matt -as he let go his chum’s hand, “to stand by each other.”</p> - -<p>“Like you hung to me,” returned the cowboy, “and -not the way I stood by you. Well, I’ve had my lesson, -and we’ll let it go at that. <i lang="es" xml:lang="es">Adios!</i>”</p> - -<p>Matt turned and left the ward, and the hospital. -There were a lot of people in New York, but it seemed -like a mighty lonesome place now that McGlory was laid -up for repairs.</p> - -<p>The colonel, being a wise man, considered it good -policy to get away from New York, and head for his -favorite stamping grounds in the Southwest, for neither -Matt nor Joe ever saw him again.</p> - -<p>When Joe got well Matt had found something in his -favorite line of motors to engage their attention, and -with such a team of hustlers to drive things, the business -could not be anything but a success.</p> - -<p class="center" style="margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em">THE END.</p> - -<p>The next number (364) will contain “Pluck Beats Luck; -or, Tom Talbot’s Trials and Triumphs.” By John L. -Douglas.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span></p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<div class="boxit2"> -<p class="center" style="font-size:200%">BRAVE <span style="font-size:60%">AND</span> BOLD<br /> -<span style="font-size:70%">WEEKLY</span></p> -</div> - -<div class="doublerule" style="margin-top:0.5em"></div> - -<p class="center">NEW YORK, December 4, 1909.</p> - -<div class="doublerule"></div> - -<div class="boxit3"> -<p class="center boldfont">TERMS TO BRAVE AND BOLD WEEKLY MAIL SUBSCRIBERS.</p> - -<p class="center">(<em>Postage Free.</em>)</p> - -<p class="center boldfont">Single Copies or Back Numbers, 5c. Each.</p> - - -<div class="center"> -<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" summary="subscription terms"> -<tr><td>3 months</td><td style="text-align:right">65c.</td></tr> -<tr><td>4 months</td><td style="text-align:right">85c.</td></tr> -<tr><td>6 months</td><td style="text-align:right">$1.25</td></tr> -<tr><td>One year</td><td style="text-align:right">2.50</td></tr> -<tr><td>2 copies one year</td><td style="text-align:right">4.00</td></tr> -<tr><td>1 copy two years</td><td style="text-align:right">4.00</td></tr> -</table></div> - -<p><b>How to Send Money</b>—By post-office or express money order, -registered letter, bank check or draft, at our risk. At your own risk if sent -by currency, coin, or postage stamps in ordinary letter.</p> - -<p><b>Receipts</b>—Receipt of your remittance is acknowledged by proper -change of number on your label. If not correct you have not been properly -credited, and should let us know at once.</p> -</div> - -<div class="center" style="margin-top:-1.5em"> -<p class="displayinline"><span class="smcap">Ormond G. Smith</span>,<br /> -<span class="smcap">George C. Smith</span>,</p> -<p class="displayinline" style="font-size:250%; vertical-align:10%">}</p> -<p class="displayinline" style="vertical-align:50%"><em>Proprietors.</em></p> -<p class="displayinline" style="padding-left:1em"><b>STREET & SMITH, Publishers,<br /> -79-89 Seventh Avenue, New York City.</b></p> -</div> - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> -<h2><a name="THE_MISSING_BOATS" id="THE_MISSING_BOATS">THE MISSING BOATS.</a></h2> - - -<p>Reflecting the hues of the sunset sky lay Lake Menatee -like a huge mirror.</p> - -<p>Not a ripple stirred its placid surface.</p> - -<p>The fading sunlight lent to its crystal depths the silver of -its dying glory.</p> - -<p>While along its shores the forest like an over-reaching -shield outstretched its giant arms to cast weird, fantastic -figures first on the white beach, and then out, out over the -transparent bosom of the waters, going farther, faster and -faster, deeper and darker, until the veil of twilight concealed -the beautiful scene.</p> - -<p>In the background the rugged Adirondacks kept watch -and ward over the treasures below, and on their seamed and -time-scarred forehead lingered the touch of sunlight long -after the shadows of gloom had robbed Lake Menatee of its -beauty.</p> - -<p>Not a living creature was to be seen to give life to the -solitude of nature.</p> - -<p>Three boats drawn up on the white sand lay side by side, -or at least within a few feet of each other.</p> - -<p>They were merely common, flat-bottom rowboats.</p> - -<p>There was nothing remarkable about them.</p> - -<p>The water may have reached to the stern of one, but to -not more than barely touch it.</p> - -<p>Still a close observer might have seen it move, slightly it -is true, but yet a movement perceptible.</p> - -<p>Gradually it neared the water’s edge, moved by an unseen -power.</p> - -<p>So slowly did it move that fully an hour must have passed -before it had gained a foot.</p> - -<p>Then the wind, which had died down at sunset, began -to sweep across the lake.</p> - -<p>Gently, at first, it stirred the water’s tranquil surface, as -if fearful of disturbing its repose.</p> - -<p>Anon it grew stronger.</p> - -<p>From the mountains it mustered its powers.</p> - -<p>The sleeping waters were awakened.</p> - -<p>In angry waves they beat the shores.</p> - -<p>The rising tide lent its aid to the mysterious force urging -the boat into its embrace.</p> - -<p>Thus the boat was carried more rapidly away, and yet in -the next two hours’ time scarcely three feet was added to -the space gone over.</p> - -<p>It must have been past midnight, when, with a last quivering -shock—a dying struggle, it seemed—and the boat swung -clear from the sand.</p> - -<p>A minute later it floated slowly away.</p> - -<p>At this moment a crash in the thick bushes, growing a -few rods from the shore, broke the calm and peaceful stillness -of the night.</p> - -<p>An instant later and the form of a man uprose from the -gloom of his covert.</p> - -<p>The moon was just peeping above the Adirondacks’ dark -crest, and it was light enough in the forest for one to have -seen that the man was past the prime of life, though his stalwart -form had borne the burden of years without losing its -erectness.</p> - -<p>He was somewhat roughly clad, and his long hair and -flowing beard were unkempt. His eyes flashed brightly, but -a puzzled look rested on his sun-bronzed face. His words, -that fell involuntarily from his lips, furnished the key to -his thoughts.</p> - -<p>“Waal, I hev got to believe it now. But if that don’t beat -all nater, then my name an’t Jarius Bede. See the thing -swim along, and there an’t been a living creetur near it -since long afore sundown! I can swear to that, for I an’t -let my eye off on’t in all that time. It is queer.”</p> - -<p>As he finished his soliloquy the speaker went down to the -shore, but he did not step upon the sandy beach.</p> - -<p>“I won’t do that,” he muttered, “for like as not I should -find myself in the midst of that pond afore I could say Bob -Bungles.”</p> - -<p>There was nothing to explain the mystery he had witnessed. -The other boats had not moved.</p> - -<p>“Waal, waal. I’ll trundle off hum,” concluded the mystified -Jarius Bede; “but as long as I stand up I know I shall -never see the beat of that!”</p> - -<p>Throwing his gun over his shoulder, for he was armed -with a long, single-barreled old queen’s arm that had evidently -seen its share of service, he left the place with long, -loping strides, in the direction of home.</p> - -<p>Ever and anon he glanced uneasily back, as if expecting -that he was to be followed by some mysterious foe.</p> - -<p>“Makes a feller feel queer. Hello! the boys are looking -for me, I bet. I’m glad to see that light ennyway.”</p> - -<p>A light was indeed visible in one of the valleys, and after -ten minutes’ walk he came to a rude house, or cabin, around -which could be seen a few acres of cultivated ground.</p> - -<p>It was the house of one of the few settlers who had located -in that wild, out-of-the-way region.</p> - -<p>Entering without knocking, half a dozen persons sprang -to their feet to greet him.</p> - -<p>This family consisted of Jabez Bede, brother to Jarius, -his wife, three strapping sons, and a buxom daughter of -eighteen.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Why, it’s only ’Rius!” exclaimed Dame Bede, with a look -of relief, as if she had feared some danger.</p> - -<p>“But where have you been all night, Jarius?” cried Jabez. -“We were gettin’ a-worrited ’bout yer.”</p> - -<p>“Jabez, I hev made a diskivery!”</p> - -<p>“What?” chorused the listeners in a breath.</p> - -<p>“I told yer I shouldn’t kem back till I had l’arnt sumthin’, -and I an’t, that, sure.”</p> - -<p>“It is about Ralph, I know it is!” exclaimed Mary Bede, -springing to his side with a glad look on her fair countenance. -“What have you learned, uncle? Tell me, quick.”</p> - -<p>“I can prove that he didn’t steal the boat,” was the triumphant -reply.</p> - -<p>“I knew that he didn’t. But tell us what you have -learned.”</p> - -<p>“Waal, waal, it’s cur’us, but it’s true. You know that the -three boats were left down on the shore as usual. Waal, I -hev been watchin’ them ever since an hour afore sundrop.”</p> - -<p>“Why, Jarius Bede, and we here a-waitin’ and a-worritin’ -’bout yer.”</p> - -<p>“Waal, it’s worth the time, I can tell yer.”</p> - -<p>While Jarius Bede is telling what he has witnessed we -would say that considerable excitement had been occasioned -among the few settlers in that vicinity by the frequent disappearance -of boats from the shores of the lake. No one -could tell where they had gone, but they were as effectually -lost as if the water had swallowed them up.</p> - -<p>Finally, Mary Bede’s lover, Ralph Horn, was accused of -stealing, or destroying them, which amounted to the same -thing, so long as they were irretrievably lost.</p> - -<p>We can understand now something of the eagerness with -which she listened to Jarius’ story. When he had finished all -were agape with wonder.</p> - -<p>“Waal, I never!” exclaimed Jabez. “Who’d a-thought it?”</p> - -<p>“And they will believe Ralph now?” asked Mary anxiously.</p> - -<p>“They can’t help it, only we have got to prove it to -them.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, yes,” said her father. “How’ll we do that, ’Rius? -It’s an orful story to believe.”</p> - -<p>“Let them see fer theirselves. Guess if they hed been with -me they’d a-thought somethin’ ’sides Ralph Horn was ’round -movin’ that boat. But I must catch a wink of sleep now. -In the mornin’ we’ll all go down and clear up the mystery.”</p> - -<p>A few minutes later the light was extinguished, and the -Bede family were in slumberland, though there may be a -doubt in regard to one member. But we won’t call any -names.</p> - -<p>They were all astir early the next morning, and immediately -after breakfast Jarius spread the news of his -discovery.</p> - -<p>It required no urging to get half a dozen to accompany -him to the lake, besides the three Bede boys.</p> - -<p>To the surprise even of Jarius, the boat he had seen leave -the shore so mysteriously the night before was nowhere to -be seen either upon the lake or on the shores.</p> - -<p>The other two were just as they had been left.</p> - -<p>“Let’s put one of them jest where the runaway was and -then watch it.”</p> - -<p>The idea was acted upon, and the entire party withdrew -into the cover of the growth to await the result.</p> - -<p>A long, tedious watch followed, but to the disappointment -of all, as well as the chagrin of Jarius, the boat remained as -motionless as a rock. Not a first move was noticed.</p> - -<p>“Wait a leetle longer,” whispered the puzzled Jarius; “I -thought I seed it wink jest a bit then.”</p> - -<p>Half an hour passed, and still the object of their vain -watch had not been seen to stir.</p> - -<p>“It’s cur’us,” muttered the leader; “but that other took -an orful long time to start. Why I was here nigh ’bout six -hours all told.”</p> - -<p>“Mebbe it has to be night for it to move,” suggested one.</p> - -<p>Be that the case or not, they watched until noon, when -they abandoned the fruitless task, and the mystery of the -missing boats was more unfathomable than ever.</p> - -<p>Some vented their disappointment upon Jarius Bede, and -others were silent, not knowing what to say.</p> - -<p>Jarius was completely dumfounded, and well he might be.</p> - -<p>“Tan’t any use to watch longer,” growled one. “We’ve -been a set of fools. The idea of a boat’s moving! Jarius -is mad, and we are fools. Come, we shall be the laughing-stock -of all who hear of it. I’ll bet my gun Jarius got us -down here on purpose for some game. If I thought he had——” -and a latent look shone in his flashing eyes.</p> - -<p>Jarius did not reply. He had enough to think of besides. -Dropping upon his knees, he looked the boat over and over, -and around it. He moved it, but it lay a dead weight upon -the earth.</p> - -<p>“It’s queer,” he muttered. “I can swear to what I saw -with my own eyes, but I don’t understand it.”</p> - -<p>He had regained his feet, and was about to leave the -place, when suddenly something seemed to catch his attention -and hold it.</p> - -<p>Pointing to the edge of the water a moment later, he -exclaimed:</p> - -<p>“Look there, boys! See that sand move! There’s something -under it! I—I have diskivered the mystery!”</p> - -<p>Seizing one of the boat’s paddles, Jarius quickly cleared -away the sand where he had seen it move, when a large -turtle was disclosed to their gaze.</p> - -<p>Upon further search another was found buried deeper -than its mate.</p> - -<p>“Waal, waal, it’s plain as daylight now. They were under -that boat and moved it! T’others were moved in the same -way. But we didn’t get this one over the critters.”</p> - -<p>“Who’d a-thought!” ejaculated his brother, while the -others were speechless with amazement.</p> - -<p>“But where do they go to?” asked one, at last.</p> - -<p>“I’ll tell yer!” cried Jarius, as a new idea suddenly entered -his head; “they drift down to the outlet and into Mad -River. You know an empty boat would fare hard there; -and we an’t never looked there for them.”</p> - -<p>Mad River found its way through a narrow, rocky defile -where few had ever penetrated, but an exploration into the -wild region was rewarded by discovering the wrecks of two -boats. Though the others were never found their disappearance -was no longer a mystery.</p> - -<p>Of course, Ralph Horn was cleared of all suspicion in the -affair, and that fall there was a happy wedding at the Bede -farm. We need not tell who the bride was, and we can’t tell -of “the years of happiness that followed,” as story-tellers -are wont to say, for it was only last week the marriage vows -were spoken.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span></p> - - - - -<h2><a name="ESKIMOS_TAKE_TO_REINDEERS" id="ESKIMOS_TAKE_TO_REINDEERS">ESKIMOS TAKE TO REINDEERS.</a></h2> - - -<p>A letter from Alaska in the New York <cite>Sun</cite> recently has -the following interesting facts:</p> - -<p>Of the twenty thousand reindeer under government supervision -in Alaska about two thousand are above the Arctic -Circle where the climate is much more severe than in their -old feeding grounds in Siberia, from which they were carried -by the United States revenue cutters some years ago. -The reports of the local superintendents of reindeer herds -will be forwarded in this, the second mail to leave the Arctic -this year. These reports will show a very small increase in -the herds.</p> - -<p>The mortality among the fawns this last year was very -great, owing to the blizzards which swept over the tundras in -April and May when the fawning season was on. Newly born -fawns, unable to stand up in the blinding storms and help -themselves to nourishment, froze to death by hundreds within -ten minutes after birth. Wolves and half-wolf dogs also -killed many in some of the herds.</p> - -<p>At present the herds are kept out on the open tundra near -the sea, where there is no protection from the cutting blasts. -District Superintendent A. N. Evans has arranged to have -the deer taken inland next spring at least as far as the foothills, -where the peculiar white moss on which the creatures -feed is abundant, and where there is ample protection from -the winds. It is hoped that this will save the fawns and -prevent the heavy loss of the present year being repeated.</p> - -<p>An encouraging feature of the work here, far from markets -and utterly shut out from any considerable contact with -white men, is the fact that the native is slowly but certainly -coming to recognize the great possibilities of the reindeer -industry. While every effort has been made to give as many -natives as possible an interest in the herds by direct ownership -of some of the deer, the owners of deer are still a very -small minority.</p> - -<p>So valuable has a government apprenticeship come to be -considered that it has often been the deciding factor in determining -the outcome of the dusky love affairs. “When -you get some reindeer I will be your wife,” says the Innuit -maiden with the tattooed chin. These wise young ladies -know that the ownership of deer carries with it as a usual -thing three or four years of first-class government rations -and piles of cloth and clothing which Uncle Sam throws -about in the Arctic with a generous hand. So among the -natives there is developing a sort of reindeer aristocracy -quite at variance with the old democratic, communistic ideas -of the others who hold no property worth while, and who -have not been favored by the government.</p> - -<p>As only a limited number can be appointed apprentices -every year, and thus draw government rations, many are -now trying to get deer from other natives without waiting -for government favors. In this few have succeeded, for the -owners, recognizing their great value, are running the price -of female reindeer skyward. With the destruction of the -country’s game and the rising standard of life among the -natives the population will come more and more to depend -upon the reindeer industry, which will doubtless develop -rapidly.</p> - -<p>Living in a savage state of society with no other domestic -animal than the half-tamed malamoot dog, the process of -teaching the Eskimo how to take care of deer has been slow. -Severe measures have had to be resorted to in many cases to -compel the natives to keep their dogs from the deer camp.</p> - -<p>Also it has been found difficult to prevent those who have -no deer from shooting the unfortunate animals that stray -away from the herd. These are considered legitimate prey -and until recently were hunted the same as caribou. This -year, however, a great many of these stray deer have been -picked up and put back into the herds which they had deserted.</p> - -<p>It has thus been found necessary to put the native herder -through a course of training. Those who get their deer -directly from the government serve an apprenticeship of four -years. They are bound by a written contract, the strict -terms of which they cannot violate without peril of losing -their annual allotment of reindeer and suffering discharge -from the service.</p> - -<p>During the first three years of their apprenticeship they -receive in addition to the reindeer a generous supply of food -free of charge. Cloth, clothing, traps, guns, and ammunition -are also given to the fortunate apprentice, who soon becomes -a person of consequence in the community. For these governmental -favors the apprentice is supposed to take care of -his own deer and to assist in caring for the government deer.</p> - -<p>The work of the herder in a reindeer camp is not arduous, -and seems to be especially attractive to the carefree native. -Ordinarily the deer have a way of taking care of themselves -that suits the native. Every day an apprentice drives the -herd to some feeding ground, where they feed while the -herder saunters about or hunts ptarmigan or other game near -at hand.</p> - -<p>If the moss is poor the deer may feed for six hours, at the -end of which time they are driven back to the vicinity of the -camp and allowed to remain there until the next feeding -time, while the ease-loving servants of the government sleep -or whittle fine old ivory into curios to be traded off on the -ships for the tobacco which Uncle Sam overlooked in ordering -the shiploads of supplies which annually find their way to -the reindeer camps of Alaska.</p> - -<p>True, there is other work to be done. Every spring along -comes fawning season, and the deer herders have to stand -watch day and night by turns. Now and then the long, wild -note of the Arctic wolf is heard through the midwinter gloom -and a constant watch must be kept by well-armed men. The -repeating rifle made wolves so scarce, however, that dogs -are by far the greatest source of danger.</p> - -<p>It seems utterly impossible to train the malamoot dog to -herd deer. At sight of a deer the tamest malamoot becomes -as uncontrollable as though he had never known human -restraint and were once more a plain wolf.</p> - -<p>Besides guarding the herd occasionally from these dangers, -there are sled deer to be trained, and every June there is a -kind of round-up, when the young fawns are marked, along -with all deer that have changed owners during the year. In -the ear of each government deer a little aluminum button is -riveted securely, but all private owners and herders have a -mark which must be registered with the local superintendent -and also at Washington. This mark is made by cutting the -ear.</p> - -<p>So far the native in the Far North has made almost no use -of the wonderfully rich milk of the reindeer. This milk, -which is as white as the Arctic snows, is at least ninety -per cent. cream. In fact, it is practically all a rich, snow-white, -sugary cream. It is the most nourishing milk in the -world, but the government has so far supplied the camps -with condensed milk, and the herders have preferred opening -cans to milking deer.</p> - -<p>Unlike the Laplander, the Eskimo does not make a pet of -his favorite deer. When he wants to milk her she is lassoed -and thrown down. When her legs are carefully tied with -walrus skin strings and her horns are safely held by some -stout friend, the process of milking begins. When the last -drop is extracted the highly indignant animal is unlashed -and allowed to get up and go about her business.</p> - -<p>Sometimes a horn is knocked off or a leg broken before -the struggling reindeer understands that she is to be milked -and not branded or butchered. Under the circumstances the -dairying feature of Arctic life is not very prominent, and the -milkmaid’s song is not welcomed by the wise little animals -that have undergone the torture of one milking.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<div class="boxad"> -<p class="center sansseriffont boldfont xxlargefont">☛LATEST ISSUES☚</p> - -<p class="center boldfont xlargefont">NICK CARTER WEEKLY</p> - -<p>The best detective stories on earth. Nick Carter’s exploits are read the world over. <b>High art colored -covers. Thirty-two big pages. Price, 5 cents.</b></p> - -<p class="numberitem3">662—A Tragedy of the Bowery; or, Nick Carter and Ida at Coney -Island.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">663—Four Scraps of Paper; or, Nick Carter’s Coney Island -Search.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">664—The Secret of the Mine; or, Nick Carter’s Coney Island -Mystery.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">665—The Dead Man in the Car; or, Nick Carter’s Hair Line Clue.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">666—Nick Carter’s Master Struggle; or, The Battle With the -Man-monkey.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">667—The Airshaft Spectre; or, Nick Carter’s Shrewd Surmise.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">668—The Broken Latch; or, Nick Carter’s Single Clue.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">669—Nick Carter’s Sudden Peril; or, The Riddle of the Rutgers -Street House.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">670—The Man With the Missing Thumb; or, Nick Carter’s -Chance Discovery.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">671—Feltman, the “Fence”; or, Nick Carter and the Hester -Street Feud.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">672—A Night with Nick Carter; or, The Kid-gloved Case.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">673—In the Nick of Time; or, Carter Finishes the Feltman Affair.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">674—The Dictator’s Treasure; or, Nick Carter Nips the Honduran -Plotters.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">675—Pieces of Eight; or, Nick Carter Solves a Strange Enigma.</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="boxad"> -<p class="center boldfont xlargefont">DIAMOND DICK WEEKLY</p> - -<p>The heroes of the stories published in this weekly are dear to the hearts of 60,000 boys. Diamond Dick is a -splendid Western character. <b>High art colored covers. Thirty-two big pages. Price, 5 cents.</b></p> - -<p class="numberitem3">676—Diamond Dick’s Great Round-up; or, The End of the -Reign of Terror.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">677—Diamond Dick’s Buccaneer Boy; or, The Ship of the Burning -Sands.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">678—Diamond Dick’s Encouragement; or, A Runaway Boy at -the Haunted Ranch.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">679—Diamond Dick’s Shadow Dance; or, The Hunting of Grisly -White.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">680—Diamond Dick in Arizona; or, The Mystery of the Missing -President.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">681—Diamond Dick’s Power; or, The Affair on the Road from -Flagstaff.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">682—Diamond Dick Solves a Mystery; or, On the Trail of Job.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">683—Diamond Dick in the Colorado Cañon; or, Frank’s Sight of -Another World.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">684—Diamond Dick on the Farm; or, The Mission of the -Strangers.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">685—Diamond Dick and the Dummy Deacon; or, On a Silent -Trail.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">686—Diamond Dick’s Chase; or, On the Track of Charlie.</p> -</div> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="boxad"> -<p class="center boldfont xlargefont">BRAVE AND BOLD WEEKLY</p> - -<p>All kinds of stories that boys like. The biggest and best nickel’s worth ever offered. <b>High art colored -covers. Thirty-two big pages. Price, 5 cents.</b></p> - -<p class="numberitem3">352—Right on Top; or, Yankee to the Backbone. By Cornelius -Shea.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">353—A Clue from Nowhere; or, On a Phantom Trail. By Harrie -Irving Hancock.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">354—Never Give Up; or, Harry Holton’s Resolve. By John L. -Douglas.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">355—Comrades Under Castro; or, Young Engineers in Venezuela. -By Victor St. Clair.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">356—The Silent City; or, Strange Adventures in an Unknown -Country. By Fred Thorpe.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">357—Gypsy Joe; or, The Young Nomad’s Triumph. By John De -Morgan.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">358—From Rocks to Riches; or, The Copper Coterie. By John -L. Douglas.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">359—Diplomat Dave; or, A Young Reporter on the Firing Line. -By Harrie Irving Hancock.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">360—Yankee Grit; or, With Stanley in “Darkest Africa.” By -Harrie Irving Hancock.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">361—The Tiger’s Claws; or, Out with the Mad Mullah. By -Weldon J. Cobb.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">362—A Taxicab Tangle; or, The Mission of the Motor Boys. -By Stanley R. Matthews.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">363—A Hoodoo Machine; or, The Motor Boys’ Runabout No. -1313. By the author of “A Taxicab Tangle.”</p> - -<p class="center"><em>For sale by all newsdealers, or will be sent to any address on receipt of price, -5 cents per copy, in money or postage stamps, by</em></p> - -<p class="center boldfont largefont">STREET & SMITH, Publishers, 79-89 Seventh Avenue, New York</p> -</div> - - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="boxad"> - -<p><span class="largefont"><b>IF YOU WANT ANY BACK NUMBERS</b></span> of our Weeklies and cannot procure them from your newsdealer, they can be -obtained from this office direct. Fill out the following Order Blank and send it to -us with the price of the Weeklies you want and we will send them to you by return mail. <b>POSTAGE STAMPS TAKEN THE SAME AS MONEY.</b></p> - -<p style="padding-left:17em">....................<em>190</em></p> - -<p><em>STREET & SMITH, 79-89 Seventh Avenue, New York City.</em></p> - -<p style="padding-left:3em"><em>Dear Sirs: Enclosed please find</em>..........................<em>cents for which send me</em>:</p> - - -<p><span style="padding-right:5em">TIP TOP WEEKLY,</span> Nos ..............................</p> - -<p><span style="padding-right:2em">NICK CARTER WEEKLY,</span> <span class="spacedquote">“</span> ..............................</p> - -<p><span style="padding-right:1.1em">DIAMOND DICK WEEKLY,</span> <span class="spacedquote">“</span> ..............................</p> - -<p><span style="padding-right:1.65em">BUFFALO BILL STORIES,</span> <span class="spacedquote">“</span> ..............................</p> - -<p>BRAVE AND BOLD WEEKLY, <span class="spacedquote">“</span> ..............................</p> - -<p><em>Name</em>............................<em>Street</em>..........................<em>City</em>.......................<em>State</em>..............</p> -</div> - - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<div class="boxad"> -<p class="center boldfont xxlargefont">BRAVE AND BOLD WEEKLY</p> - -<p class="center sansseriffont boldfont"><span style="padding-right:2em">ISSUED EVERY WEDNESDAY</span> <span style="padding-left:2em">BEAUTIFUL COLORED COVERS</span></p> - -<p>If the boys of ten or fifteen years ago could have secured such thoroughly good adventure stories, of such -great length, at five cents per copy, the <b>Brave and Bold Weekly</b>, had it been published then, would have -had ten times its present large circulation. You see, in those days, stories of the quality of those now published -in the <b>Brave and Bold Weekly</b> were bound in cloth covers or else published little by little in boys’ -serial papers, under which circumstances each story was paid for at the rate of one dollar or more.</p> - -<p>Now we give the boys of America the opportunity of getting the same stories and better ones for five cents. -Do you not think it is a rare bargain? Just buy any one of the titles listed below and read it; you will not be -without <b>Brave and Bold</b> afterward. Each story is complete in itself and has no connection whatever with -any story that was published either before or after it.</p> - -<p>We give herewith a list of all of the back numbers in print. You can have your newsdealer order them or -they will be sent direct by the publishers to any address upon receipt of the price in money or postage stamps.</p> - -<p class="numberitem2">50—Labor’s Young Champion.</p> - -<p class="numberitem2">53—The Crimson Cross.</p> - -<p class="numberitem2">56—The Boat Club.</p> - -<p class="numberitem2">62—All Aboard.</p> - -<p class="numberitem2">65—Slow and Sure.</p> - -<p class="numberitem2">66—Little by Little.</p> - -<p class="numberitem2">67—Beyond the Frozen Seas.</p> - -<p class="numberitem2">69—Saved from the Gallows.</p> - -<p class="numberitem2">70—Checkmated by a Cadet.</p> - -<p class="numberitem2">73—Seared With Iron.</p> - -<p class="numberitem2">74—The Deuce and the King of -Diamonds.</p> - -<p class="numberitem2">75—Now or Never.</p> - -<p class="numberitem2">76—Blue-Blooded Ben.</p> - -<p class="numberitem2">77—Checkered Trails.</p> - -<p class="numberitem2">78—Figures and Faith.</p> - -<p class="numberitem2">79—The Trevalyn Bank Puzzle.</p> - -<p class="numberitem2">80—The Athlete of Rossville.</p> - -<p class="numberitem2">81—Try Again.</p> - -<p class="numberitem2">82—The Mysteries of Asia.</p> - -<p class="numberitem2">83—The Frozen Head.</p> - -<p class="numberitem2">84—Dick Danforth’s Death Charm.</p> - -<p class="numberitem2">85—Burt Allen’s Trial.</p> - -<p class="numberitem2">89—The Key to the Cipher.</p> - -<p class="numberitem2">90—Through Thick and Thin.</p> - -<p class="numberitem2">91—In Russia’s Power.</p> - -<p class="numberitem2">92—Jonah Mudd, the Mascot of -Hoodooville.</p> - -<p class="numberitem2">96—The Fortunes of a Foundling.</p> - -<p class="numberitem2">97—The Hunt for the Talisman.</p> - -<p class="numberitem2">98—Mystic Island.</p> - -<p class="numberitem2">99—Capt. Startle.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">100—Julius, the Street Boy.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">101—Shanghaied.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">102—Luke Jepson’s Treachery.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">103—Tangled Trails.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">106—Fred Desmond’s Mission.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">107—Tom Pinkney’s Fortune.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">108—Detective Clinket’s Investigations.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">109—In the Depths of the Dark -Continent.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">110—Barr, the Detective.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">111—A Bandit of Costa Rica.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">112—Dacy Dearborn’s Difficulties.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">113—Ben Folsom’s Courage.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">114—Daring Dick Goodloe’s Apprenticeship.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">115—Bowery Bill, the Wharf Rat.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">117—Col. Mysteria.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">118—Electric Bob’s Sea Cat.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">119—The Great Water Mystery.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">120—The Electric Train in the -Enchanted Valley.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">122—Lester Orton’s Legacy.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">123—The Luck of a Four-Leaf -Clover.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">124—Dandy Rex.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">125—The Mad Hermit of the Swamps.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">126—Fred Morden’s Rich Reward.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">127—In the Wonderful Land of Hez.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">128—Stonia Stedman’s Triumph.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">129—The Gypsy’s Legacy.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">130—The Rival Nines of Bayport.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">131—The Sword Hunters.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">132—Nimble Dick, the Circus Prince.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">134—Dick Darrel’s Vow.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">135—The Rival Reporters.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">136—Nick o’ the Night.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">137—The Tiger Tamer.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">138—Jack Kenneth at Oxford.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">139—The Young Fire Laddie.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">140—Dick Oakley’s Adventures.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">141—The Boy Athlete.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">142—Lance and Lasso.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">143—New England Nick.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">144—Air-Line Luke.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">145—Marmaduke, the Mustanger.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">146—The Young Desert Rovers.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">147—At Trigger Bar.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">148—Teddy, from Taos.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">149—Jigger and Ralph.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">150—Milo, the Animal King.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">151—Over Many Seas.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">152—Messenger Max, Detective.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">153—Limerick Larry.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">154—Happy Hans.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">155—Colorado, the Half-Breed.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">156—The Black Rider.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">157—Two Chums.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">158—Bantam Bob.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">159—“That Boy, Checkers.”</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">160—Bound Boy Frank.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">161—The Brazos Boy.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">162—Battery Bob.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">163—Business Bob.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">164—An Army Post Mystery.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">165—The Lost Captain.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">166—Never Say Die.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">167—Nature’s Gentleman.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">168—The African Trail.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">169—The Border Scouts.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">170—Secret Service Sam.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">171—Double-bar Ranch.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">172—Under Many Suns.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">173—Moonlight Morgan.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">174—The Girl Rancher.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">175—The Panther Tamer.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">176—On Terror Island.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">177—At the Double X Ranch.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">179—Warbling William.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">180—Engine No. 13.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">181—The Lost Chief.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">182—South-paw Steve.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">183—The Man of Fire.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">184—On Sampan and Junk.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">185—Dick Hardy’s School Scrapes.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">186—Cowboy Steve.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">187—Chip Conway’s White Clue.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">188—Tracked Across Europe.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">189—Cool Colorado.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">190—Captain Mystery.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">191—Silver Sallie.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">192—The Ranch Raiders.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">193—A Baptism of Fire.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">194—The Border Nomad.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">195—Mark Mallory’s Struggle.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">196—A Strange Clue.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">197—Ranch Rob.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">198—The Electric Wizard.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">199—Bob, the Shadow.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">200—Young Giants of the Gridiron.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">201—Dick Ellis, the Nighthawk Reporter.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">202—Pete, the Breaker Boy.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">203—Young Maverick, the Boy from -Nowhere.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">204—Tom, the Mystery Boy.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">205—Footlight Phil.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">206—The Sky Smugglers.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">207—Bart Benner’s Mine.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">208—The Young Ranchman.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">209—Bart Benner’s Cowboy Days.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">210—Gordon Keith in Java.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">211—Ned Hawley’s Fortune.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">212—Under False Colors.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">213—Bags, the Boy Detective.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">214—On the Pampas.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">215—The Crimson Clue.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">216—At the Red Horse.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">217—Rifle and Rod.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">218—Pards.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">219—Afloat with a Circus.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">220—Wide Awake.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">221—The Boy Caribou Hunters.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">222—Westward Ho.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">223—Mark Graham.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">225—“O. K.”</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">226—Marooned in the Ice.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">227—The Young Filibuster.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">228—Jack Leonard, Catcher.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">229—Cadet Clyde Connor.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">230—The Mark of a Thumb.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">231—Set Adrift.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">232—In the Land of the Slave -Hunters.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">233—The Boy in Black.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">234—A Wonder Worker.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">235—The Boys of the Mountain Inn.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">236—To Unknown Lands.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">237—Jocko, the Talking Monkey.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">238—The Rival Nines.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">239—Engineer Bob.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">240—Among the Witch-doctors.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">241—Dashing Tom Bexar.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">242—Lion-hearted Jack.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">243—In Montana’s Wilds.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">244—Rivals of the Pines.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">245—Roving Dick, the Chauffeur.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">246—Cast Away in the Jungle.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">247—The Sky Pilots.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">248—A Toss-up for Luck.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">249—A Madman’s Secret.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">250—Lionel’s Pluck.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">251—The Red Wafer.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">252—The Rivals of Riverwood.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">253—Jolly Jack Jolly.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">254—A Jay from Maine.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">255—Hank, the Hustler.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">256—At War with Mars.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">257—Railroad Ralph.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">258—Gordon Keith, Magician.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">259—Lucky-stone Dick.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">260—“Git Up and Git.”</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">261—Up-to-date.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">262—Gordon Keith’s Double.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">263—The Golden Harpoon.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">264—Barred Out.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">265—Bob Porter’s Schooldays.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">266—Gordon Keith, Whaler.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">267—Chums at Grandcourt.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">268—Partners Three.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">269—Dick Derby’s Double.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">270—Gordon Keith, Lumber-jack.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">271—Money to Spend.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">272—Always on Duty.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">273—Walt, the Wonder-Worker.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">274—Far Below the Equator.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">275—Pranks and Perils.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">276—Lost in the Ice.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">277—Simple Simon.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">278—Among the Arab Slave Raiders.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">279—The Phantom Boy.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">280—Round-the-World Boys.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">281—Nimble Jerry, the Young Athlete.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">282—Gordon Keith, Diver Detective.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">283—In the Woods.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">284—Track and Trestle.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">285—The Prince of Grit.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">286—The Road to Fez.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">287—Engineer Tom.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">288—Winning His Way.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">289—Life-line Larry.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">290—Dick Warren’s Rise.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">292—Two Tattered Heroes.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">293—A Slave for a Year.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">294—The Gilded Boy.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">295—Bicycle and Gun.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">296—Ahead of the Show.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">297—On the Wing.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">298—The Thumb-print Clue.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">299—Bootblack Bob.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">300—A Mascot of Hoodooville.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">301—Slam, Bang & Co.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">302—Frank Bolton’s Chase.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">303—In Unknown Worlds.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">304—Held for Ransom.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">305—Wilde & Woolley.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">306—The Young Horseman.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">307—Through the Air to Fame.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">308—The Double-faced Mystery.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">309—A Young West Pointer.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">310—Merle Merton’s Schooldays.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">311—Double-quick Dan.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">312—Louis Stanhope’s Success.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">313—Down-East Dave.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">314—The Young Marooners.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">315—Runaway and Rover.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">316—The House of Fear.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">317—Bert Chipley On Deck.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">318—Compound Interest.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">319—On His Mettle.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">320—The Tattooed Boy.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">321—Madcap Max, the Boy Adventurer.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">322—Always to the Front.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">323—Caught in a Trap.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">324—For Big Money.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">325—Muscles of Steel.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">326—Gordon Keith in Zululand.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">327—The Boys’ Revolt.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">328—The Mystic Isle.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">329—A Million a Minute.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">330—Gordon Keith Under African -Skies.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">331—Two Chums Afloat.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">332—In the Path of Duty.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">333—A Bid for Fortune.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">334—A Battle with Fate.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">335—Three Brave Boys.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">336—Archie Atwood, Champion.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">337—Dick Stanhope Afloat.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">338—Working His Way Upward.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">339—The Fourteenth Boy.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">340—Among the Nomads.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">341—Bob, the Acrobat.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">342—Through the Earth.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">343—The Boy Chief.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">344—Smart Alec.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">345—Climbing Up.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">346—Comrades Three.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">347—A Young Snake-Charmer.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">348—Checked Through to Mars.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">349—Fighting the Cowards.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">350—The Mud-River Boys.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">351—Grit and Wit.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">352—Right on Top.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">353—A Clue from Nowhere.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">354—Never Give Up.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">355—Comrades Under Castro.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">356—The Silent City.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">357—Gypsy Joe.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">358—From Rocks to Riches.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">359—Diplomat Dave.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">360—Yankee Grit.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">361—The Tiger’s Claws.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">362—A Taxicab Tangle.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">363—A Hoodoo Machine.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">364—Pluck Beats Luck.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">365—Two Young Adventurers.</p> - -<p class="numberitem3">366—The Roustabout Boys.</p> - -<p><b>Price, Five Cents per Copy.</b> If you want any back numbers of our weeklies and cannot procure -them from your newsdealer, they can be obtained direct from this office. Postage stamps taken the same as money.</p> - -<p class="boldfont center">STREET & SMITH, PUBLISHERS, 79-89 SEVENTH AVE., NEW YORK CITY</p> -</div> - - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div><!--Page break for ePub--> - -<div class="transnote"> -<h2 id="TN_end" style="margin-top: 0em">Transcriber’s Notes:</h2> - -<p>Punctuation has been made consistent.</p> - -<p>Variations in spelling and hyphenation were retained as they appear in -the original publication, except that obvious typographical errors -have been corrected.</p> -</div> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Brave and Bold Weekly No. 363, A -Hoodoo Machine;, by Stanley R. 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