CHAPTER XIII.
BAITING A TRAP.
"Is that the New York man's automobile, Joe?" asked Matt, "the one thatwas stolen from Martin's garage last night?'
"It's the one, pard," jubilated the cowboy. "I've come througha-smoking with it from that place where Grattan had me pocketed withthe mandarin. It's queer I stopped here, although I'm off my bearings,haven't the least notion where I am, and this is the first farmhouseI've seen for a dozen miles; but it won't seem quite so queer when Itell you that I saw those machines leaning against the corncrib, andthat the familiar look of 'em brought me in to stir up the natives andask a few questions."
McGlory pointed toward a corncrib off at the rear of the barn. The twomotor cycles were leaning against the structure, just where the farmerhad left them.
"I see," said Matt.
"Are those motor cycles the ones that belong to Martin, that werestolen from us and that we bled a hundred and fifty apiece for?"
"They're the ones."
"Well, now!" chuckled McGlory, "what sort of a day's work would youcall this, pard? We get back the stolen automobile and both motorcycles. I'm ready to hear the whistle blow."
"There's something else to be done before we finish this piece of work,Joe."
"Tell me about it."
"Sam Wing is in the barn, there----"
"Whoop! Then you _did_ get the kibosh on him, after all!"
"And Tsan Ti," proceeded Matt, "and Bunce."
"Better and better; but I'd almost guessed that just from seeing themotor cycles. What have you been doing since we went two different waysfrom the spring?"
The king of the motor boys sketched rapidly the main points of SamWing's flight and the pursuit, following with the blockade of the roadand the capture of Bunce.
"And Tsan Ti is in the barn this minute," finished Matt, "roped handand foot to keep him from taking his own life on account of the lostruby. If possible, I'd like to go over the course of Wing's flight andlook for the Eye of Buddha."
"Might as well look for a nickel in the Pacific Ocean," scowled McGlory.
"It looks like a hopeless case, I'll admit, but I can't leave the poorold mandarin without trying to do something for him."
"You're too easy with the crafty old heathen."
"You'd be sorry for him, too, Joe, if you could see what a plight he'sin."
"He was as hard-looking a sight as I ever saw when he fellinto Grattan's clutches a few hours ago. If you're bound to gorainbow-chasing after the Eye of Buddha, why, of course I'm in on thedeal. We'll have to be about it, I reckon, while we've got daylight tohelp."
"We can use this car for a part of the work. Wing came along the roadfrom that direction."
Matt pointed as he spoke.
"Why," said McGlory, "I came from that direction myself. I don't reckonit's safe to go back that way."
"Not safe?" echoed Matt. "Why isn't it safe?"
"Mainly for the reason, pard, that Grattan and Pardo are trailing thiscar. They didn't like to lose it. That hole through the back"--andMcGlory turned to point it out--"was made by a bullet that Grattan sentafter me. I've been traveling roads that automobiles never took before,and the marks this car left would make easy trailing."
"Do you know positively that Grattan and Pardo are following the car?"
"Well, yes, if you want to pin me down. One of the electric terminalsgot loose when I was a short distance away from the pocket, and I hada time finding out what was wrong. While I was groping around, I sawGrattan and Pardo chasing toward me. They were a good ways off, but ifyou want a picture of a chap in a hurry you ought to've had a snapshotof me! I was lucky enough to find the loose wire just in time to screwit to the post, crank up, and fly. The tinhorns were within a hundredfeet of the blue car when we jumped away on the high speed. And that'show I know Grattan and Pardo are after me. Besides, now that the motorcycles are gone, those fellows need the blue car to help them make adash out of the hills. Jump in, though, if you want to take chances,and we'll go looking for that hoodoo ruby."
But Matt was not in so much of a hurry now. Leaning against the side ofthe car, he fell into a brown study.
"What's to pay?" asked McGlory. "Something else on your mind?"
"Well, yes," laughed Matt; "I'd like to use you and the blue car inbaiting a trap."
"Oh, well, I don't mind. Grattan used me for bait in trapping Tsan Ti,so I'm getting used to it. But what sort of a trap is it?"
"If Grattan and Pardo are really following you," said Matt, "whycouldn't you go back down the road, stop the car, and pretend you had abreakdown?"
"Bee-yu-ti-ful!" rapped out McGlory. "I could do all that, pard, andGrattan and Pardo could show up and gobble me, blue car and all. Fine!Say, you're most as good a hand at planning as the mandarin."
"But suppose," supplemented Matt, "that two or three fellows were hidin the tonneau of the car and that they jumped out at the right momentand made things interesting for Grattan and Pardo?"
McGlory lifted his clinched fist and brought it down emphatically onthe steering wheel.
"Speak to me about that! I might have known you had something up yoursleeve. I think it would work, pard, but who's to hide in the tonneau?You, for one, of course, but who else?"
"The farmer who lives here seems to be rather handy and to have plentyof courage, and he's got a bulldog that's a whole team and something tospare. I guess the farmer, and I, and the dog will be enough."
"Keno! Trot out the Rube and the kyoodle and we'll slide back down theroad with a chip on our shoulder."
Matt went into the barn for a talk with the farmer. He listenedattentively while Matt gave him a r?sum? of events and a synopsis ofthe plan he had evolved.
"I'm with yew," cried the farmer, slapping his hands, "but yew'll haveto wait till I tell Josi' where I'm goin'. If we take the dorg awayfrom the barn, Josi' ought to watch these fellers till we git back."
"We'll put ropes on the sailor and that other Chinaman," said Matt,"but it will be a good idea to have them watched, just the same."
The farmer got some spare halters and helped with the tying. When itwas finished, he hurried away to find "Josi'" and to tell him whathe was to do. In ten minutes he was back, bringing a long, spareindividual clad in a "wamus" and overalls.
"Here's the fellers yew're to watch, Josi'," said the farmer, waving ahand toward Tsan Ti, Bunce, and Sam Wing. "Don't yew let 'em git away,nuther."
"If they git away, by jing," answered Josi', pushing up the sleeves ofhis wamus, "they'll have to walk over me to do it. You be kerful, ZekeBoggs. 'Pears mighty like you had the hot end o' this job."
"Don't yew fret none about me," answered Boggs. "I wasn't bornyestiddy."
He called the dog, and he, and Matt, and Tige left the barn and crawledinto the tonneau of the blue car.
"How far down the road am I to go, pard?" queried McGlory, getting outto turn over the engine.
"Oh, a mile or two," answered Matt.
"Maybe there'll not be anything doing," said Joe, as he climbed back tohis seat. "Grattan and Pardo may have become discouraged, and given upthe trail. Even if they hung to it, we'll have to wait some time forthem."
"They'll come," said Matt. "I never had a day pan out so muchexcitement as this one has given us. Events have been crowding our wayso thick and fast that they're not going to stop until we have a chanceat Grattan and Pardo."
"I'm agreeable," expanded McGlory. "Anything from a fight to a footrace goes with _me_. After the way I starred myself by getting lostin this little bunch of toy mountains, I'm hungry to square myself bydoing something worth while."
"You've squared yourself already by getting back the blue car,"returned Matt.
"Not so you could notice. Tsan Ti helped me along with that move. Thechance jumped up when I wasn't expecting it, and hit me square betweenthe eyes. Anyone could have turned that trick."
McGlory was pushing the blue car back along the road at a lively clip.Matt stood up to look ahead, in the vain
hope of getting track of thered jewel.
"I know what you're looking for, pard," remarked the cowboy, "andyou're not going to find it. A good many peculiar things have happenedto-day, and no mistake; but picking that red stone out of a couple ofsquare miles of country would be too uncommon. Good luck won't strainitself to that extent. Think we're far enough?"
"This will do," answered Matt, and McGlory halted the blue car in aboutthe loneliest spot in the Catskills.
There was a marsh on one side of the road, bordered with stunted treesand matted bushes. On the other side was the timber.
"Maybe," suggested McGlory, "I'd better head the car t'other way?That's how I was going when Grattan and Pardo saw me last, and----"
He cut short his remarks abruptly and peered off along the road.
"What's the matter, Joe?" asked Matt.
"Car coming," was the reply. "I don't reckon many cars take thisroad, and it's possible Grattan and Pardo borrowed one from somebodywho wasn't looking and are using it to hunt for the blue automobile.Lie low, Matt, you, and Boggs, and the dog. Here's where I begin topretend--listen while I tinker."
"If we have a fight," said Boggs, as he and Matt crouched down in thetonneau, "by gum, I want yew to let me do my share."
"We'll all have plenty to do, Mr. Boggs," answered Matt, well pleasedwith the farmer's spirit, "if those fellows who are coming are the oneswe're after. Don't make a move, though, and don't let Tige loose untilI give the word."
Silence fell over those in the tonneau. McGlory could be heardpottering around with a wrench, and presently the hum of theapproaching car could be heard.
"I don't like the looks of things," called the cowboy, in a guardedtone, from the front of the blue car.
"Why not?" asked Matt.
"Can't tell yet. You fellows stay where you are and keep mum."
The noise of the other automobile had grown to proportions whichproved that it was almost at hand. McGlory said something, but it wasimpossible for Matt or Boggs to hear what it was.
The other car stopped so close to the blue automobile that the mudguards almost scraped. Matt, from the depths of the tonneau, caughtsight of a high-powered roadster with two business-like appearing menon the seats. But they were not Grattan and Pardo.
"That's the car, sure as shooting!" declared one.
"Get out, Gridly," said the second man, "and look at the number."
Gridly jumped down from the roadster and hurried to the rear of thetouring car.
"We've won out, Banks!" he called. "The number'seighty-one-two-sixty-three."
"What's the matter?" inquired Matt, rising in the tonneau and lookingout from under the top.
"Matter?" grinned Banks. "Nothin' much, only I'm the sheriff and allyou fellows are arrested. You stole this car from Martin's garage inCatskill last night. Jest be peaceable, and everythin' 'll be fine: buttry to make trouble and there'll be warm doings."
"Sufferin' Jonah!" laughed McGlory. "Wouldn't this rattle your spurs,Matt?"
Motor Matt's Double Trouble; or, The Last of the Hoodoo Page 13
