Motor Matt's Race; or, The Last Flight of the Comet Read online

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  MOTOR STORIES

  THRILLING ADVENTURE

  MOTOR FICTION

  NO. 4 MAR. 20, 1909

  FIVE CENTS

  MOTOR MATT'S RACE

  THE LAST FLIGHT OF THE COMET

  _By STANLEY R. MATTHEWS_

  "I've got it, pard!" shouted Chub, snatching the letterfrom Motor Matt's fingers.]

  _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. 4. NEW YORK, March 20, 1909. Price Five Cents.

  MOTOR MATT'S RACE

  OR,

  THE LAST FLIGHT OF THE _COMET_.

  By the author of "MOTOR MATT."

  CONTENTS

  CHAPTER I. TROUBLE ON THE ROAD. CHAPTER II. THE STAMPEDE. CHAPTER III. CLIP'S NOTE. CHAPTER IV. M'KIBBEN'S TIP. CHAPTER V. A VICTIM OF CIRCUMSTANCES. CHAPTER VI. THE PRIDE OF TOM CLIPPERTON. CHAPTER VII. LAYING PLANS. CHAPTER VIII. THE RIFLED CACHE. CHAPTER IX. THE BREAK IN THE ROAD. CHAPTER X. PRESCOTT. CHAPTER XI. MATT MAKES A NEW MOVE. CHAPTER XII. THE OLD HOPEWELL TUNNEL. CHAPTER XIII. QUICK WORK. CHAPTER XIV. STEAM VERSUS GASOLINE. CHAPTER XV. IN COURT. CHAPTER XVI. CONCLUSION. THE TENNIS-GROUND MYSTERY. MAKE QUEER CATCHES AT CAPE COD. COLD FIRE.

  CHARACTERS THAT APPEAR IN THIS STORY.

  =Matt King=, concerning whom there has always been a mystery--a lad of splendid athletic abilities, and never-failing nerve, who has won for himself, among the boys of the Western town, the popular name of "Mile-a-minute Matt."

  =Chub McReady=, sometimes called plain "Reddy," for short, on account of his fiery "thatch"--a chum of Matt, with a streak of genius for inventing things that often land the bold experimenter in trouble.

  =Welcome Perkins=, a one-legged wanderer who lives with Chub and his sister while their father prospects for gold--Welcome is really a man of peace, yet he delights to imagine himself a "terror," and is forever boasting about being a "reformed road-agent."

  =Tom Clipperton=, known generally as "Clip," a quarter-blood, who is very sensitive about his Indian ancestry.

  =McKibben=, the sheriff who has both nerve and intelligence.

  =Fresnay=, a cowboy who performs some mighty queer stunts.

  =Pima Pete=, an Indian to whom Clip is related.

  =Hogan=, } =Leffingwell=, } two deputy sheriffs.

  =Short=, a lawyer.

  =Burke=, sheriff of an adjoining county.

  =Jack Moody=, an engineer friend of Chub.

  CHAPTER I.

  TROUBLE ON THE ROAD.

  "Ye're afeared! Yah, that's what ye are! Motor Matt's scared, an' Inever thought ye was afeared o' nothin'. Go ahead! I dare ye!"

  An automobile--a high-powered roadster--was nosing along through thehills a dozen miles out of the city of Phoenix. The vehicle had theusual two seats in front and a rumble-seat behind--places for three,but there were four piled aboard.

  Matt King was in the driver's seat, of course, and equally, of course,he had to have the whole seat to himself. On his left were Chub McReadyand Tom Clipperton, sitting sideways and wedged into their places likesardines in a can. In the rumble behind was the gentleman with thewooden leg--Welcome Perkins, the "reformed road-agent."

  Matt was giving his friends a ride. The red roadster, in which theywere taking the spin, was an unclaimed car at present in the custodyof McKibben, the sheriff. It had been used for lawless work by itsoriginal owners, and had fallen into the hands of the sheriff, who washolding it in the hope that the criminals would come forward and claimit.[A]

  [A] See MOTOR MATT WEEKLY, No. 3, "Motor Matt's 'Century' Run; or, TheGovernor's Courier."

  McKibben and Motor Matt were the best of friends, and McKibben had toldMatt to take the red roadster out for "exercise" whenever he felt likeit. Directly after dinner, that day, they had started from the McReadyhome in Phoenix. It was now about half-past one, and they were joggingat a leisurely pace through the foot-hills.

  Welcome, on account of his wooden leg and the necessity of havingplenty of room, had been given the rumble-seat. He was standing up mostof the time, however, leaning over the back of the seat in front ofhim, and telling Motor Matt how to drive the car.

  That was the third time the old man had ever been in an automobile, butto hear him talk you'd have thought there wasn't anything about themachine that was new to him. His constant clamor was for more speed,and Matt had no intention of taking chances with a borrowed car when aleisurely pace was entirely satisfactory to himself and his two chums,Clip and Chub.

  "Oh, slush!" grunted Chub, as Welcome leaned forward and dared MotorMatt to "hit er up." "You'd be scared to death, Welcome, if Matt put onfull speed and hit only a high place here and there. Sit down an' shutup, or we'll drop you into the road. I wouldn't mind having that seatof yours myself; eh, Clip?"

  "Free kentry, ain't it?" snapped Welcome. "You ain't got no call tersot down on me, Chub McReady, if I want to talk. Go on," he added toMatt; "pull the plug out o' the carburetter an' hit the magneto a lickjest fer luck."

  This was a sample of Welcome's knowledge. Chub let off a delighted yell.

  "Yes," he laughed, "an' while you're about it, Matt, strip theplanetary transmission an' short-circuit the spark-plug. Give Welcomeall he wants! Make him sit down, hang on with both hands and bite hardon his store-teeth."

  "When you're running a car that don't belong to you, fellows," saidMatt, "it's best to be on the safe side."

  "Sure," agreed Clip. "We're going fast enough. No need to rush things."

  "Ye're all afeared!" taunted Welcome. "Snakes alive, I could walk aheap faster'n what we're goin'. D'ruther walk, enough sight, if yeain't goin' any faster'n this. This here ottermobill is an ole turtle.I hadn't ort ter brag about it, but when I was young an' lawless, I wasthat swift I could hold up a stage, then ride twenty miles an' hold upanother, an' clean up the operation complete inside of an hour."

  "It wasn't much of a day for hold-ups, either," spoke up Chub gravely.

  "Anyways, that's what I done, Smarty," snorted Welcome, "but I didn'tuse no ottermobill--jest a plain hoss with four legs."

  "Must have had six legs," said Clip. "Couldn't have gone that fast on ahorse with only four."

  "Now _you_ butt in," snarled Welcome. "Goin' to put the clutch on thecylinders, Matt," he added, "an' advance the spark a couple o' feet? Ify'ain't, I'm goin' to git out an' walk home. It's only five hours tillsupper, an' we must be all o' twelve miles from town."

  "You see, Welcome," explained Matt, with a wink at Chub and Clip, "itwouldn't do to put the clutch on the cylinders, for I'd strip the gear;and if I advanced the spark more'n a foot I'd burn out the carburetter."

  "D'ye reckon I didn't know that?" demanded Welcome indignantly. "Why,I kin fergit more about these here ottermobill's in a minit than somefellers knows in a year. But, say! What's that thing off to the side o'the road? Looks like a Gila monster."

  All three of the boys turned their eyes swiftly to the roadside. Thenext instant Welcome had leaned far over, gripped the long lever atMatt's side and shoved it as far as he could.

  They had been on the low gear; that put them on the high w
ith a jump,and the red roadster flung madly ahead.

  Matt shifted his eyes from the side of the road just in time to seeWelcome sail out of the rumble, turn a half somersault and land,astonished, in a sitting posture in the road.

  Both Chub and Clip had had a scare, the sudden plunge of the machinehaving made them grab each other, and they only missed going over theside by a hair's breadth.

  As quickly as he could, Matt brought the lever to an upright positionand pressed the primary foot-brake.

  "The old freak!" shouted Chub, as the car came to a halt. "He camewithin one of putting the lot of us overboard. If he had two good legs,I'm a farmer if we wouldn't make him walk back to town for that!"

  "If he don't agree to sit quiet in the rumble and enjoy the scenery,"said Matt, "we'll make him walk, anyway. I won't allow any one to mixup with the machinery as long as I'm doing the driving."

  Welcome must have received quite a jolt. For a second or two he actedas though he were dazed; then he slowly gathered in his hat, gotupright and shook his fist at those in the car.

  "Dad-bing!" he yelled. "Ye done it a-purpose, ye know ye did."

  "Well, what do you think of that!" muttered Chub.

  "Ye jest coaxed me out in that ole buzz-wagon ter hev fun with me,"ranted Welcome. "Wonder ye didn't break my neck, 'r somethin'. Ihit the trail harder'n a brick house, an' if I wasn't as springy asinjy-rubber I'd hev been scattered all around here like a Chinesepuzzle."

  "Come on, Welcome!" called Matt. "But you've got to keep still and keepaway from the machinery if you want to ride with us."

  "Wouldn't ride in that ole cross between a kitchen stove an' a hay-rackfer a hunderd dollars a minit!" fumed Welcome. "I've stood all I'ma-goin' to. Ye've stirred up my lawlessness a-plenty, an' I'm goin' tohide out beside the road an' hold up the Montezuma stage when it comesthrough. Ye'll hear about it to-night, in town, an' then ye'll be sorryye treated me like ye done. If ye got bizness any place else, hit yerole gasoline-tank a welt an' don't let me detain ye a minit."

  Rubbing the small of his back and muttering to himself, the old manstarted along the road in the direction of town.

  "Let him walk a spell," said Chub in a low tone. "He wants us to coaxhim to get back in; let's make him think we're taking him at his word."

  "All right," laughed Matt, who knew the eccentric old man as well asanybody, "we'll lag along into the hills for a mile or two, and thencome back. I guess Welcome will be glad enough to get in by that time."

  Chub got out and scrambled into the rumble. The machine took the sparkwithout cranking and the red roadster started off.

  "So-long, Perk!" shouted Chub hilariously, standing up in the rumbleand waving his hand. "Tell Susie, when you get home, that we'llstraggle in by supper-time."

  The old man never looked around, but the way he stabbed the ground withhis wooden pin showed how he felt.

  Perhaps half a mile from the place where Welcome had left the car theboys met a horseman riding at speed in the direction of town. The mandrew rein for an instant.

  "Turn around!" he yelled; "p'int the other way! Can't ye hear 'em.Thar's a stampede on, an' a thousand head o' cattle aire tearin' thisway like an express-train! Listen! If ye don't hike, they'll run rightover ye!"

  Startled exclamations escaped the boys. The cowboy's manner, quite asmuch as his words, aroused their alarm.

  The trail, for several miles in that particular part of the hills, waswalled in on both sides by high, steep ground. This made a sort ofchute of the road, so that those in charge of the cattle would not beable to get ahead of them and turn them.

  Having given his warning and done what he could, the cowboy used hisspurs and dashed on. At that moment a rumble of falling hoofs reachedthe ears of the boys, accompanied by the _click, click_ of knockinghorns and a frenzied bellowing.

  "Turn 'er, quick!" whooped Chub.

  But the command was unnecessary. Motor Matt with a firm hand and asteady brain, was already manipulating the red roadster, backing andforging ahead in order to get faced the other way in the cramped space.

  Meanwhile the ominous sounds, which came from around the base of a hillwhere the road described a sharp bend, had been growing in volume.

  Just as the roadster jumped away on the back stretch the cattle beganpouring around the foot of the hill.