Motor Matt's Queer Find; or, The Secret of the Iron Chest Read online

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  MOTOR STORIES

  THRILLING ADVENTURE

  MOTOR FICTION

  NO. 13 MAY 22, 1909

  FIVE CENTS

  MOTOR MATT'S QUEER FIND

  OR THE SECRET OF THE IRON CHEST

  _By THE AUTHOR OF "MOTOR MATT"_

  _Swiftly Motor Matt secured the end of the rope to one of the iron handles_]

  _STREET & SMITH PUBLISHERS New York_

  MOTOR STORIES THRILLING ADVENTURE MOTOR FICTION

  _Issued Weekly. By subscription $2.50 per year. Entered according toAct of Congress in the year 1909, in the Office of the Librarian ofCongress, Washington, D. C., by_ STREET & SMITH, _79-89 Seventh Avenue,New York, N. Y._

  No. 13. NEW YORK, May 22, 1909. Price Five Cents.

  MOTOR MATT'S QUEER FIND;

  OR,

  THE SECRET OF THE IRON CHEST.

  By the author of "MOTOR MATT."

  CONTENTS

  CHAPTER I. THE HUT BY THE BAYOU. CHAPTER II. YAMOUSA. CHAPTER III. THE ATTACK ON THE CAR. CHAPTER IV. SMOKE PICTURES. CHAPTER V. A QUEER FIND. CHAPTER VI. FOUL PLAY. CHAPTER VII. DRIED FROGS--AND LUCK. CHAPTER VIII. THE PLOTTERS. CHAPTER IX. THE HEAD OF OBBONEY. CHAPTER X. ON THE TRAIL. CHAPTER XI. A BLACK MYSTERY. CHAPTER XII. AT CLOSE QUARTERS. CHAPTER XIII. THREE IN A TRAP. CHAPTER XIV. AN ASTOUNDING SITUATION. CHAPTER XV. THE TREASURE. CHAPTER XVI. DIAMONDS GALORE. THE MASKED LIGHT.

  CHARACTERS THAT APPEAR IN THIS STORY.

  =Motor Matt=, a lad who is at home with every variety of motor, and whose never-failing nerve serves to carry him through difficulties that would daunt any ordinary young fellow. Because of his daring as a racer with bicycle, motor-cycle and automobile he is known as "Mile-a-minute Matt." Motor-boats, air ships and submarines come naturally in his line, and consequently he lives in an atmosphere of adventure in following up his "hobby."

  =Carl Pretzel=, a cheerful and rollicking German boy, stout of frame as well as of heart, who is led by a fortunate accident to link his fortunes with those of Motor Matt.

  =Dick Ferral=, a young sea dog from Canada, with all a sailor's superstitions, but in spite of all that a royal chum, ready to stand by the friend of his choice through thick and thin.

  =Townsend=, a wealthy though eccentric gentleman, who owns a remarkable submarine boat on which our friends have seen various adventures in the past.

  =Whistler=,} =Jurgens=, } a trio of rogues bent upon gaining possession of a prize. =Bangs=, }

  =Yamousa=, the hideous voodoo woman of the Louisiana swamps.

  CHAPTER I.

  THE HUT BY THE BAYOU.

  "Lisden, vonce, you fellers! I t'ink I hear someding."

  Carl Pretzel turned back from the forward rail of the _Hawk_, gave hischums, Motor Matt and Dick Ferral, a warning look, and then leaned outover the side of the air ship, his eyes on the earth below.

  The _Hawk_ was sweeping over the tongue of land between LakePontchartrain and Lake Borgne, bound for New Orleans by way of theLower Mississippi.

  Night was coming on, and the boys in the air ship had been lookinganxiously for a place in which to effect a landing. Interminablestretches of cypress and live oak covered the low ground beneath them,and there did not seem to be a gap anywhere in the dense growth.

  "You must have bells in your ears, mate," said Dick, in response toCarl's announcement that he had heard "something." "Dowse me if I heardany noise."

  "Listen, pards, both of you," called Matt from his seat among thelevers. "If you can hear a voice, down there, it will be a pretty suresign that we're close to a clearing. We've done enough flying forto-day, and these Louisiana air currents are so changeable I don't wantto do any night traveling. If you----"

  "Dere it vas some more!" cried Carl excitedly. "You hear him dot time,Tick?"

  "Aye, matey," answered Dick, "I heard a voice, fair enough. It was asort of screech, as though a woman might have piped up--or a panther."

  "Where away was it?" asked Matt.

  "Two points off the starboard bow, Matt."

  Matt shifted the rudder, thus altering the course of the _Hawk_; healso depressed the horizontal plane and threw the air ship closer tothe tree tops.

  "It's getting so blooming dark, down there among the trees," observedDick, "that it's hard to see anything, but I believe I can make out abit of a river, and an arm of it like a bayou."

  "Yah, so helup me," put in Carl, "I can see dot meinseluf, I bed you.Und dere iss a light like a fire, vich geds prighter und prighter as vego aheadt. Vat you t'ink is dot anyvay, Tick?"

  Before Dick could answer, the cry that had already claimed theirattention was wafted up from below, this time so clear and distinctthat there was no mistaking it.

  "_A moi! a moi!_"

  It was a screech, as Dick had said, and resembled greatly the yell ofsome wild animal; nevertheless, the call was plainly human, for it wasbroken into words.

  "French lingo, or I'm a Fiji!" averred Dick. "It's the same as someone calling for help. And a woman, too. No man could make a sound likethat."

  As if to prove Dick's words, the cry was repeated, but the words wereEnglish, now, and not French.

  "Help! Help!"

  "Py chiminy grickets!" gasped Carl. "Dere iss someding going on vatmeans drouple for der laty."

  "We've got to land," declared Matt, "and see what's the matter. Can youfind a place?"

  Both Dick and Carl were leaning over the forward rail and staring aheadand downward.

  Suddenly the tree tops broke away and a heap of blazing wood could beseen. The fire had been kindled on a cleared stretch of bayou bank, andnot far from it was a log hovel. But there was no one in sight, eithernear the fire or around the hut.

  The two boys on the lookout announced their discoveries to Motor Matt.

  "We'll come down on the bayou bank," said Matt. "Give me directions,Dick."

  The young Canadian, watching sharply below, called their bearingsto Matt, and the _Hawk_ was safely manoeuvred to the surface of theground. The calls for aid had ceased, an ominous silence reigning inthe vicinity of the fire and the hut while the boys got out theirmooring ropes and secured the _Hawk_ to nearby trees.

  "Where's the woman in distress?" queried Dick, coming around the frontend of the car and joining Matt and Carl. "She was making plenty ofnoise, a while ago, but she's quiet enough now."

  "She may be in the hut," said Matt. "You stay here and watch the airship, Dick, while Carl and I take a look through the shanty."

  Matt pulled a blazing pine knot from the fire, and, with this to lightthe way, started toward the hut. Carl dropped in at his side and theyproceeded onward together. Suddenly Carl drew to a halt and laid a handon Matt's arm.

  "I tell you someding, Matt," said the Dutch boy, "und dot iss, I don'dlike dis pitzness. Br-r-r! I haf some greepy feelings all droo me."

  Carl could be as brave as a lion when brought company front with anydanger he could understand, but he was so full of superstition that ifa black cat crossed the road in front of him he was at once thrown intoa panic.

  "Nonsense!" exclaimed Matt. "We're here to help some one who is introuble, and we don't want to get scared at our own shadows."

  "Der blace itseluf iss enough to make my shkin ged oop und valk allofer me mit coldt feet; and den, for vy don'd we hear dat foice somemore?"

  There _was_ a sort of weirdness
about the place, and no mistake. Thegreat live oaks, uncannily festooned with Spanish moss, completelyinclosed the little clearing, bending about it in a half circle andcoming down to the very edge of the bayou. The fact that there was afire, of course, proved that human beings had been in the clearing,even if they were not there now. But there was something ghostly aboutthe fire, and while it threw flickering shadows across the clearing itseemed only to make the darkness deeper in the depths of the wood.

  "It may be, Carl," said Matt, "that the woman who was calling for helphas become unconscious. That makes it all the more necessary for us tofind her as quick as we can. Come on!"

  Waving his torch, Matt hurried along toward the hut. The door was open,and the torch glare struck whitely against some object suspended overit.

  "Vatt iss dot ofer der door, eh?" asked Carl excitedly. "Py shinks, itiss some pones! It iss a skeleton oof someding! Whoosh! Dis iss geddingon my nerfs like anyding."

  The young motorist whirled on his Dutch chum.

  "You go back to the air ship, Carl," said he, "and send Dick here. Yournerves are troubling you so much that you're not of much help."

  Carl was only too ready to go back to the _Hawk_. With a mumbledapology for himself, he turned and hurried away. When Dick came up, amoment later, Matt was looking at the object over the door of the hovel.

  "What is it, matey?" queried Dick.

  "It looks like the skull of a cat, or a dog," answered Matt.

  "Then I suppose it was put up there to bring luck. People around heremust be a jolly lot."

  "We'll see what's inside," and Matt, holding his torch high, passedthrough the door.

  The hut contained but one room. There was a fireplace in one end, andover a bed of coals a kettle was hanging. A "shake-down" on the floor,in one corner, was covered with ragged blankets. But the strangestfeature of the place was this: The whole under part of the thatchedroof, and every crevice of the walls, was hung with rags, feathers,bones of cats, alligator teeth, and a thousand other objects, equallycurious.

  "Well, strike me lucky!" mumbled Dick. "This is a rummy old place we'vegot into. Between you and me and the mainmast, old ship, I'd just aboutas soon give it a good offing. But where's the woman that wanted help?"

  The question was hardly out of Dick's mouth before it was answered byanother screeching, "_A moi! a moi!_"

  The call did not come from anywhere about the hut, but from outside andsomewhere in the timber.

  "This way, Dick!" shouted Matt, and rushed out of the hut.

  "_A moi! a moi!_"

  The call was again repeated, and the two boys, guiding themselves bythe call, flung up the slight slope and darted in among the trees.

  "Careful, matey!" panted Dick, from close behind his comrade. "There'sno telling what sort of a jolly mess we're running into. Better dowsethat light--it'll be safer; besides, I can see the gleam of a lanternahead, there, through the trees."

  "I just caught a sight of that myself, Dick," answered Matt, in a lowvoice. "Your suggestion about the torch is good," and Matt dropped theblazing fagot and crushed out the fire with his foot. "Now, then," hefinished, "we'll go on, and go quietly."

  A dozen yards, perhaps, brought the boys to a spot from which theycould behold a scene that caused their pulses to leap.

  An old crone was bound to a cypress stump, and beside her stood a manwith a lithe switch.

  The hag was swarthy, and her kinky hair was white. Evidently she was amulatto. The man at her side was white. The moment Matt's eyes restedon him, the young motorist gripped Dick's arm with tense fingers.

  "That man!" whispered Matt excitedly; "do you recognize him, Dick?"

  "Whistler, or I'm a Hottentot!" gasped Dick.

  For a moment, blank amazement held the two boys spellbound. Then,as Whistler lifted the switch and brought it viciously down on theold woman's shoulders, the spell was broken and the two boys startedforward.

  "Will you tell?" demanded Whistler, pausing after the blow.

  "_A moi! a moi!_" screeched the woman.

  "You can call till you're blue in the face," went on Whistler savagely,"and you'll not bring anybody. I'll find out from you what I want toknow, Yamousa, or I'll flay you alive. Will you tell?"

  At that moment, Matt and Dick broke into the lantern light. The lanternwas suspended from the broken limb of a tree, and the glow was so faintthat the boys had not been seen until they were close upon the man andthe woman.

  Whistler, with an oath of consternation, jumped backward. The nextmoment, he had whirled his gad and brought it down on the lantern. Acrash followed, and Stygian blackness shrouded the spot. A sound ofrunning feet, fading away in the timber, came to the boys' ears.

  "Never mind Whistler, Dick," said Matt; "let's look after the woman."