Motor Matt's Clue; or, The Phantom Auto

by Stanley R. Matthews

  CHAPTER XII.

  DESPERATE VILLAINY.

  Although Matt and his friends did not know it, yet the course taken bythe Red Flier on leaving La Vita Place was watched.

  Joe Mings, climbing a tree, kept the car under his eyes. In thedistance he saw it leave the road, then he could make out two figuresreturning on foot to the road and proceeding toward the cliffs. Hecalled down the result of his observations.

  "What do you suppose they're up to?" asked Sercomb, with a worriedlook, as Mings slid back to the ground.

  "I pass," replied Harry Packard, one of the most lawless of thequartet; "but it's a fair gamble, Ralph, that they're not up to anygood."

  "I should say not," said Balt Finn, the driver of the touring-car."That Ferral is after Mings' hide."

  "Well," said Mings sullenly, "I wouldn't have gone through Ferral inLamy if you hadn't said so, Ralph."

  "I'd like to know what their game is," mused Sercomb. "Mings, you andPackard go to the place where they left the car. If you can smash thecar some way, they won't be able to go to Lamy until we're ready toleave here."

  "A nice jaunt before breakfast!" muttered Packard.

  "We can stand it, I reckon," scowled Mings. "Let's take a drink allaround and try it, anyhow."

  Packard pulled a flask from his pocket and took a swallow of its fierycontents; then he passed the flask to Mings.

  "You fellows have got some in the house," said Packard, corking theflask and returning it to his pocket. "Joe and I will take this withus. Maybe we'll need it," and he winked at Mings.

  "Be careful what you do to the fellow that stayed with the car,"cautioned Sercomb.

  "Suppose it's Ferral?"

  "Then," returned Sercomb, with a significant look, "be careful _how_you do what you're going to. You fellows fell down last night."

  "I'll not forget in a hurry the thumping that Ferral and the Dutchmangave us," growled Packard.

  "And don't you forget, Mings," said Sercomb, "what Ferral will do toyou if he gets to Lamy. Smash the car."

  Mings and Packard started off briskly toward the place where the RedFlier had been left. The spot was not more than half a mile from LaVita Place.

  Ferral, all unconscious of the fact that two of his enemies wereapproaching, sprawled out in the front seat of the Red Flier andpuzzled his brain over the queer situation in which he found himself.

  He could make nothing of it, and as time slipped away his brain grewmore and more befuddled. He was hoping Matt and Carl might discoversomething of importance, or, if they did not, that when the Red Flierreturned from Lamy with an officer, the law might do something to clearup the mystery in which Uncle Jack had plunged everything at La VitaPlace.

  A deep quiet reigned in the little grove. A droning of flies was theonly sound that disturbed the stillness. The warm air and the silencemade Ferral drowsy.

  Once he roused up, thinking he heard a sound somewhere around him;then, assuring himself that he was mistaken, he sank back on the frontseat and his nodding head bowed forward.

  Suddenly, before he could do a thing to protect himself, a quick armwent round his throat from behind, and he felt some one catch his feetfrom the side of the car. He gave a shout of consternation as his headbent backward and his eyes took in the face that leered above him.

  It was the face of Mings!

  "Caught!" laughed Mings hoarsely. "Thought you'd shaken us, eh? Well,you were shy a few!"

  "Just a few!" tittered the voice of the man on the ground.

  "Here's a rope," went on Mings, kicking the coiled riata, which Mattcarried in the car, out through the swinging door. "Take it and tie hislegs, Harry. I'll hold him. Got a strangle-grip and he can't budge."

  As soon as Packard let go his hold, Ferral began to kick and struggle;but Mings was in such a position that he could keep him very easilyfrom getting away.

  Packard, although tipsy from the effects of the liquor he and Mings hadimbibed on the way from La Vita Place, tied one end of the rope quicklyabout Ferral's ankles. The free end of the rope was then wound aroundthe seat and Ferral's hands were made fast behind him. In a few minuteshe was bound to the seat and absolutely helpless. Mings and Packard,gloating over his predicament, got around in front of the car.

  "How do you like that?" asked Packard.

  "He likes it," hiccoughed Mings; "you can tell that by the looks ofhim."

  "You're a fine lot of swabs!" exclaimed Ferral contemptuously. "Sercombordered me off the place, and I slanted away; now you follow me withyour beach-comber tricks. Oh, yes, you're a nice lot! What are youtrying to do?"

  "Going to smash the car," answered Mings.

  "You keep your hands off this car!" cried Ferral, realizing suddenlythat he had been caught napping, and that Motor Matt might get into alot of trouble on account of it.

  "Well," grinned Packard, "you just watch us."

  "Are you going to Lamy?" demanded Mings.

  "That's where I'm going!" declared Ferral resolutely.

  "Not to-day you won't; and not in this car. We're going to fix MotorMatt for butting into our plans, and we're going to fix you so youwon't get to Lamy and back before we're on the road to Denver. You'recute, but you're not so cute as we are. Oh, no! Is he, Packard?"

  "We're the boys!" observed Packard.

  They were both partly intoxicated. Naturally lawless, the liquor theyhad taken had made them more so.

  "See here," said Ferral, desperately anxious to save the car, "you'vegot some of my money, Mings, and I could have you jugged for takingit, but if I'll promise not to get an officer and to let you keep themoney, will you leave this car alone? It doesn't belong to Motor Matt,and he's responsible for it. I was left here to watch it----"

  "Nice watchman!" sputtered Packard; "fine watchman! Eh, Mings?"

  "Dandy watchman!" and Mings laughed loudly. "He didn't hear a soundwhen I sneaked into the tonneau. I tell you what, Packard!" heexclaimed, as a thought ran suddenly through his befogged brain.

  "Well, tell it!" urged Packard.

  "Let's send him to Lamy."

  "Send him to Lamy?"

  "Sure! Let's put him in the road and open the car up! Mebby he'll getto Lamy."

  "He'll smash into the rocks, that's what he'll do."

  "Well, that'll fix the car. By the time Motor Matt pulls Ferral out ofthe wreck, I guess he won't feel like getting an officer."

  Ferral could hardly believe his ears.

  "You scoundrels wouldn't dare do a thing like that!" he cried.

  "He says we wouldn't dare, Packard," mumbled Mings.

  "He don't know us, eh, Mings?"

  "Not--not even acquainted. Let's throw the old benzine-buggy againstthe rocks, and give Motor Matt a surprise."

  "He'll be surprised, all right. Serve him right, too, for meddling withSercomb's business."

  "He's a meddler, that's sure. Dace Perry told me all about him."

  "Dace Perry's a blamed good fellow. He's one of our set."

  "Can you navigate the car to the road?" asked Packard.

  "Navigate a dozen cars! Anything more in the flask?"

  "All gone," answered Packard gloomily.

  "Well, there's more back at the house."

  Mings got into the car and Packard did the cranking. When the carstarted it nearly ran over Packard.

  "Trying to kill me?" shouted Packard, rolling out of the way.

  "You're too slow," laughed Mings.

  Fumbling awkwardly with the levers and the steering-wheel, Mingsmanaged to get the car into the road and headed for the cliffs.

  "Cut off a piece of that rope, Packard," called Mings. "I'll tie thewheel so as to be sure the car goes to Lamy."

  "That's right," answered Packard, "you want to be sure."

  He took out his knife, slashed a piece from the free end of the rope,and handed it up to Mings. The latter began lashing the wheel.

  "Sercomb ought to give us a chromo for this," said Packard, watchingMings as he worked.

  "You
tell him we ought to have a chromo," returned Mings, with afoolish grin. "Sercomb's a blamed good chap; nicest chap I know."

  Meanwhile, Ferral's face had gone white. He was fighting desperatelywith the ropes, but they held him firmly and he could not free hishands. A sickening sensation ran through him.

  Neither Mings nor Packard had a very lucid idea of what they wereattempting. They were fair examples of what liquor can do for a personin certain situations.

  "Belay!" cried Ferral desperately. "You don't understand what you'redoing, you fellows! You've headed me for the cliffs, and----"

  "They're big and hard, those cliffs," said Mings, "and you'll hit 'emwith quite a jolt. But it'll only smash the car, Ferral, and we hadorders to smash the car."

  Having finished with the wheel, Mings got on the running-board. Packardcranked up again. Mings threw in the clutch with his hand, pushed onthe high gear, and was thrown off as the car jumped ahead.

  He collided with Packard, and both tumbled on the ground and rolledover and over. When they had struggled to their feet, the twoscoundrels saw something that almost sobered them.

  _It was the white runabout racing across the level ground in thedirection of the road and the flying red car!_

  But, what was even more strange, Motor Matt was in the driver's seatof the runabout, and beside him was a strange, turbaned figure whichneither Packard nor Mings had ever seen before.

  On the ground, a long way in the rear of the racing runabout, stood afigure which Packard and Mings recognized as being that of Motor Matt'sDutch chum.