MOTOR STORIES
THRILLING
ADVENTURE
MOTOR
FICTION
NO. 15
JUNE 5, 1909
FIVE
CENTS
MOTOR MATT'S
SUBMARINE
_OR_ THE STRANGE
CRUISE OF THE GRAMPUS
_By
THE AUTHOR OF "MOTOR MATT"_
[Illustration: _MOTOR MATT GRABBED AT THE ROPE
AS IT WAS THROWN TO HIM BY THE
MAN IN THE SUBMARINE._]
_STREET & SMITH,
PUBLISHERS,
NEW YORK._
MOTOR STORIES
THRILLING ADVENTURE MOTOR FICTION
_Issued Weekly. By subscription $2.50 per year. Entered according to
Act of Congress in the year 1909, in the Office of the Librarian of
Congress, Washington, D. C., by_ STREET & SMITH, _79-89 Seventh Avenue,
New York, N. Y._
No. 15. NEW YORK, June 5, 1909. Price Five Cents.
MOTOR MATT'S SUBMARINE;
OR,
THE STRANGE CRUISE OF THE _GRAMPUS_.
By the author of "MOTOR MATT."
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I. A STARTLING REPORT.
CHAPTER II. MIXED MESSAGES.
CHAPTER III. HURRY-UP ORDERS.
CHAPTER IV. ACCIDENT OR DESIGN?
CHAPTER V. SIXTY SHOWS HIS HAND.
CHAPTER VI. AN UNEXPECTED RESCUE.
CHAPTER VII. A FRUITLESS SEARCH.
CHAPTER VIII. THE OVERTURNED BOAT.
CHAPTER IX. ADRIFT IN THE STORM.
CHAPTER X. THE DERELICT.
CHAPTER XI. THE SCHOONER.
CHAPTER XII. A STUNNING SURPRISE.
CHAPTER XIII. CLOSING IN.
CHAPTER XIV. THE "GRAMPUS" GETS A CLUE.
CHAPTER XV. AN ULTIMATUM.
CHAPTER XVI. "OFF WITH THE OLD, AND ON WITH THE NEW."
The Chicken-hearted Tenderfoot.
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."
=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.
=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.
=Captain Nemo, Jr., otherwise Archibald Townsend=, a fast friend of
the Motor Boys and skipper of the submarine, _Grampus_.
=Cassidy=, mate of the _Grampus_.
=Gaines, Clackett and Speake=, crew of the _Grampus_.
=Captain Jim Sixty=, a seaman of long experience who resorts to
filibustering in order to gain big prizes in the lottery of Fortune.
Master of the wrecked brig, _Dolphin_.
=Ysabel Sixty=, Captain Sixty's daughter, who plays an ignoble part,
although against her better nature.
CHAPTER I.
A STARTLING REPORT.
There is a speed limit for automobiles in the City of New Orleans, but
a certain red touring car on this Wednesday morning gave little heed
to the regulation. With two wheels in the air the car made a sharp
turn into Prytania Street, slowed a little as it came within one of
colliding with a two-wheeled milk wagon, swerved to one side and then
leaped onward.
Besides the driver, the car contained only one man. This passenger sat
in front, leaning eagerly forward and urging the driver constantly to a
faster gait.
"That's the house," said the passenger finally, indicating a building
with his stubby forefinger.
The car pulled up with a jerk and the passenger was out before the
machine was fairly at a stop.
"Wait for me," he called as he rushed across the sidewalk, yanked the
gate bell and then darted through and up the steps to the porch.
With savage impatience he jabbed at the push button beside the door and
tramped fretfully until a colored servant answered his summons.
"Is Cap'n Nemo, Jr., in?" he flung at the darky.
"Dat's a new one on me, boss," was the puzzled answer. "Ah dunno no
sich pusson. You-all must hab got de wrong----"
"Townsend, then?" broke in the caller. "Is _he_ here?"
"Yassuh, Mistah Townsend is in his room, sah, but dat odder man----"
Without pausing further, the man pushed roughly past the darky, to that
person's intense astonishment, and went up the hall stairs three steps
at a time. A moment later he had flung open a door unceremoniously.
There were two men in the room, and they started up quickly as the
newcomer hurled himself in on them.
"Clackett!" exclaimed one of the men who had been in the room, facing
the other with a good deal of surprise. "What's all this hurry for?"
"Sixty has sailed, cap'n!" exclaimed Clackett, dropped into a chair.
"Great guns!" gasped the third man. "Must have been kind o' sudden."
"When did he sail, Clackett?"
"Ten o'clock this morning, steamer _Santa Maria_, a fruiter bound for
British Honduras."
"He ain't goin' to British Honduras," burst from the third man, "and
don't you think it."
"I don't think so either, Cassidy," replied the captain, "but he's the
fellow we were to watch, and if he's gone we've got to put out after
him."
The captain looked at his watch.
"Ten-twenty," he mused, slipping the watch back into his pocket. "How
did you get here, Clackett?"
"In one of them automobiles, cap'n. Street cars was too bloomin' slow."
"You're positive there's no mistake?"
"I know Jim Sixty as well as I know you, cap'n, an' I'll take my solemn
Alfred it was him standin' on the _Santa Maria's_ deck when she steamed
away from the dock."
"A mistake, you know," pursued the captain, "would put us on the wrong
track and cause no end of trouble."
"There ain't no mistake--take it from me."
At this the captain became intensely alive. He whirled on Cassidy.
"You ride with Clackett in the automobile to Carrolton, Cassidy," said
he briskly, "take the ferry to Westwego and bring the _Grampus_ on the
run to Stuyvesant Dock. Clackett and I will be there waiting for you."
"Tough luck," growled Cassidy, "we didn't know something about this
move o' Sixty's, 'cause then we could have had the submarine handier
by."
"We'll not lose much time," returned the captain. "The _Grampus_ is all
ready for a long cruise? That's the main thing."
"The boys was gettin' on the last of the stores over at Westwego,"
replied Cassidy.
The captain whirled on Clackett.
"The ferry from Carrolton runs on the half hour," said he, "and if you
hit up that buzz-wagon you ought to get Cassidy on the ten-thirty boat.
After that, rush back into town. The Snug Harbor Hotel is not far from
Stuyvesant Dock. Go there, ask for Motor Matt, and bring him and his
friends to the dock, prepared to make the run down the river and into
the gulf with us. That will be all. Off with you, on the jump. I'll
look after your luggage and mine, Cassidy."
If Cassidy was to catch the first boat from Carrolton landing there was
no time for talk. With a hearty, "Ay, ay," the two men whirled from the
room and rushed down the stairs. A moment later the captain, looking
from a front window, saw them leap into the automobile and vanish up
the street.
So far as the captain was concerned, he had plenty of time to make
his preparations. It would be close to eleven o'clock before the
_Grampus_ could possibly get clear of Westwego, and possibly it would
be eleven-fifteen before she would come alongside the Stuyvesant Dock.
For some time the captain had been lying ill in the Prytania Street
house, but he was now rapidly recovering, and his restless, active
nature welcomed this call to action. He felt that it was the one tonic
he needed to bring him back to his usual form.
Cassidy was mate of the _Grampus_. Ever since the captain had been
stricken down the mate had been with him as watcher and nurse.
Not much time was required to get Cassidy's property into his
ditty-bag, and not much more time for the captain to pack his own
satchel. The colored servant had telephoned for a carriage, and the
vehicle came just as the captain had finished packing.
All that remained was to settle with Mrs. Thomas, the landlady, to
thank her for her kindness, and to leave for downtown.
Twenty minutes after the departure of Cassidy and Clackett the captain
was speeding away in the direction of Canal Street. He halted at a
bank, at the corner of Camp and Common, and drew five thousand dollars
in gold. This money was given to him in a canvas bag, and, with that
and his luggage, he was hurried on to Stuyvesant Dock.
As he had surmised would be the case, he was ahead of the _Grampus_.
Gathering his goods about him, he sat down on a box near the edge of
the dock and watched up stream for the first glimpse of the rounded
deck, the conning tower, and the mast with the red periscope ball of
the submarine.
Barely had he sighted her, cutting through the waves of the Lower
Mississippi, when a quick step behind him caused him to look around.
Clackett, red-faced and perspiring, was hurrying toward him. There was
a troubled, ominous look on Clackett's face.
"Where are Motor Matt and his two friends, Dick Ferral and Carl
Pretzel?" cried the captain. "I need them on this cruise, and they
understand the importance of their being here. Will they be along
later, Clackett?"
"They'll not be along later, cap'n," answered Clackett. "You can wait
for 'em as long as you please, an' the boys won't be showing up. Every
minute you lose, too, the _Santa Maria_ and Jim Sixty are gettin'
farther and farther away from us."
A frown of heavy disappointment wrinkled the captain's brows.
"What's the matter?" he demanded. "Motor Matt's word is as good as his
bond, and he told me he'd stay in New Orleans a week and wait for me to
send word to him. Where is the boy?"
"He sailed on the _Santa Maria_ this mornin'," was the startling
announcement.
The captain jumped to his feet.
"Great Scott!" he exclaimed, staring at Clackett in blank amazement.
"It's a fact, cap'n," asserted Clackett. "I got it straight from the
hotel feller that seen Matt and his friends aboard the boat. There's
been queer doin's, somehow."
"What do you mean by queer doings?" asked the captain sharply.
"Well, cap'n, this is the way that hotel feller handed it out to me:
Ysabel Sixty, the ole filibuster's gal, called at the Snug Harbor about
nine-thirty, this mornin', and had a short talk with Motor Matt. When
the girl went away, Motor Matt settled his hotel bill, rounded up his
friends and they all stampeded upstairs to git their baggage together.
Then they flocked down and hustled for the _Santa Maria_. The hotel
feller went with 'em, helpin' tote their traps."
The captain stared in bewilderment, his amazement growing as he
listened.
"There's underhand work of some kind here," he muttered. "Motor Matt
would never have gone off like that without telling me something about
it."
"He tried to git you over the telephone, but the line was busy and he
didn't have no time to wait."
"You saw Sixty on the _Santa Maria_ as she drew away from the Fruit
Company's dock?"
"Ay, ay, sir, as plain as I see you, this blessed minute. The girl was
with him, too."
"Did you see Motor Matt and his friends?"
"I wasn't lookin' for them, particular. They might have been on the
deck, cap'n, but I wouldn't swear to it. I was so jolted up by seein'
Sixty pull out when we wasn't expectin' it of him, yet a while, that
mebby I was excited."
The captain, greatly perturbed, tramped back and forth across the dock.
He was aroused from his unpleasant reflections by the voice of Cassidy.
"All aboard, cap'n! I reckon we pulled this off in short order, hey?"
The captain whirled around. Cassidy, standing in the top of the conning
tower of the _Grampus_, was barely head and shoulders above the level
of the dock. One of the hands, on the forward part of the rounded deck,
had passed a rope through a ring and was holding the submarine steady.
"Pick up the luggage, Clackett," ordered the captain, himself taking
charge of the bag of gold, "and we'll get aboard."
"What you goin' to do about Motor Matt?" queried Clackett as he picked
up the luggage.
"He's aboard the _Santa Maria_, and I am convinced that, for some
cause or other, he's there through some underhand work of Sixty's. Our
orders call on us to follow the _Santa Maria_ and keep watch of Sixty.
By doing that, we shall also be trailing Motor Matt and his friends.
Something is bound to happen that will give us a little light on this."
Fifteen minutes later the _Grampus_ was hustling down the river, her
screw racing under the terrific impulse of the gasolene motor, and a
white line of foam surging across her low deck and breaking against the
base of the conning tower.