BAITING A TRAP.
"Is that the New York man's automobile, Joe?" asked Matt, "the one that
was stolen from Martin's garage last night?'
"It's the one, pard," jubilated the cowboy. "I've come through
a-smoking with it from that place where Grattan had me pocketed with
the 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 farmhouse
I've seen for a dozen miles; but it won't seem quite so queer when I
tell you that I saw those machines leaning against the corncrib, and
that the familiar look of 'em brought me in to stir up the natives and
ask a few questions."
McGlory pointed toward a corncrib off at the rear of the barn. The two
motor cycles were leaning against the structure, just where the farmer
had left them.
"I see," said Matt.
"Are those motor cycles the ones that belong to Martin, that were
stolen 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 you
call this, pard? We get back the stolen automobile and both motor
cycles. 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 the
motor cycles. What have you been doing since we went two different ways
from the spring?"
The king of the motor boys sketched rapidly the main points of Sam
Wing's flight and the pursuit, following with the blockade of the road
and the capture of Bunce.
"And Tsan Ti is in the barn this minute," finished Matt, "roped hand
and foot to keep him from taking his own life on account of the lost
ruby. If possible, I'd like to go over the course of Wing's flight and
look 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 poor
old 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's
in."
"He was as hard-looking a sight as I ever saw when he fell
into Grattan's clutches a few hours ago. If you're bound to go
rainbow-chasing after the Eye of Buddha, why, of course I'm in on the
deal. We'll have to be about it, I reckon, while we've got daylight to
help."
"We can use this car for a part of the work. Wing came along the road
from that direction."
Matt pointed as he spoke.
"Why," said McGlory, "I came from that direction myself. I don't reckon
it'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 this
car. They didn't like to lose it. That hole through the back"--and
McGlory turned to point it out--"was made by a bullet that Grattan sent
after 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 terminals
got loose when I was a short distance away from the pocket, and I had
a time finding out what was wrong. While I was groping around, I saw
Grattan and Pardo chasing toward me. They were a good ways off, but if
you want a picture of a chap in a hurry you ought to've had a snapshot
of me! I was lucky enough to find the loose wire just in time to screw
it to the post, crank up, and fly. The tinhorns were within a hundred
feet of the blue car when we jumped away on the high speed. And that's
how I know Grattan and Pardo are after me. Besides, now that the motor
cycles are gone, those fellows need the blue car to help them make a
dash 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 of
the 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 in
baiting 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, "why
couldn't you go back down the road, stop the car, and pretend you had a
breakdown?"
"Bee-yu-ti-ful!" rapped out McGlory. "I could do all that, pard, and
Grattan 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 hid
in the tonneau of the car and that they jumped out at the right moment
and made things interesting for Grattan and Pardo?"
McGlory lifted his clinched fist and brought it down emphatically on
the steering wheel.
"Speak to me about that! I might have known you had something up your
sleeve. 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 plenty
of courage, and he's got a bulldog that's a whole team and something to
spare. 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 the
road with a chip on our shoulder."
Matt went into the barn for a talk with the farmer. He listened
attentively while Matt gave him a résumé of events and a synopsis of
the plan he had evolved.
"I'm with yew," cried the farmer, slapping his hands, "but yew'll have
to wait till I tell Josi' where I'm goin'. If we take the dorg away
from 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 it
was finished, he hurried away to find "Josi'" and to tell him what
he was to do. In ten minutes he was back, bringing a long, spare
individual clad in a "wamus" and overalls.
"Here's the fellers yew're to watch, Josi'," said the farmer, waving a
hand 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 of
his wamus, "they'll have to walk over me to do it. You be kerful, Zeke
Boggs. 'Pears mighty like you had the hot end o' this job."
"Don't yew fret none about me," answered Boggs. "I wasn't born
yestiddy."
He called the dog, and he, and Matt, and Tige left the barn and crawled
into the tonneau of the blue car.
"How far down the road am I to go, pard?" queried McGlory, getting out
to turn over the engine.
"Oh, a mile or two," answered Matt.
"Maybe there'll not be anything doing," said Joe, as he climbed back to
his seat. "Grattan and Pardo may have become discouraged, and given up
the trail. Even if they hung to it, we'll have to wait some time for
them."
"They'll come," said Matt. "I never had a day pan out so much
excitement as this one has given us. Events have been crowding our way
so thick and fast that they're not going to stop until we have a chance
at Grattan and Pardo."
"I'm agreeable," expanded McGlory. "Anything from a fight to a foot
race goes with _me_. After the way I starred myself by getting lost
in this little bunch of toy mountains, I'm hungry to square myself by
doing 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. The
chance jumped up when I wasn't expecting it, and hit me square between
the 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 the
red jewel.
"I know what you're looking for, pard," remarked the cowboy, "and
you're not going to find it. A good many peculiar things have happened
to-day, and no mistake; but picking that red stone out of a couple of
square miles of country would be too uncommon. Good luck won't strain
itself to that extent. Think we're far enough?"
"This will do," answered Matt, and McGlory halted the blue car in about
the loneliest spot in the Catskills.
There was a marsh on one side of the road, bordered with stunted trees
and 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 this
road, and it's possible Grattan and Pardo borrowed one from somebody
who 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 to
pretend--listen while I tinker."
"If we have a fight," said Boggs, as he and Matt crouched down in the
tonneau, "by gum, I want yew to let me do my share."
"We'll all have plenty to do, Mr. Boggs," answered Matt, well pleased
with the farmer's spirit, "if those fellows who are coming are the ones
we're after. Don't make a move, though, and don't let Tige loose until
I give the word."
Silence fell over those in the tonneau. McGlory could be heard
pottering around with a wrench, and presently the hum of the
approaching car could be heard.
"I don't like the looks of things," called the cowboy, in a guarded
tone, 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 which
proved that it was almost at hand. McGlory said something, but it was
impossible for Matt or Boggs to hear what it was.
The other car stopped so close to the blue automobile that the mud
guards almost scraped. Matt, from the depths of the tonneau, caught
sight of a high-powered roadster with two business-like appearing men
on 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 the
touring car.
"We've won out, Banks!" he called. "The number's
eighty-one-two-sixty-three."
"What's the matter?" inquired Matt, rising in the tonneau and looking
out from under the top.
"Matter?" grinned Banks. "Nothin' much, only I'm the sheriff and all
you fellows are arrested. You stole this car from Martin's garage in
Catskill last night. Jest be peaceable, and everythin' 'll be fine: but
try to make trouble and there'll be warm doings."
"Sufferin' Jonah!" laughed McGlory. "Wouldn't this rattle your spurs,
Matt?"