HELEN BRADY'S CLUE.
Matt remembered the awful moment when he felt his senses leaving him,
when the interior of the bare little room swam on his sight and was
blotted out in a black mist. After that he could remember nothing until
he opened his eyes in the bright sunlight, and saw the strangely
familiar face of a girl bending over him.
For a brief space his clearing senses grappled with the situation
helplessly; then, as the clear outer air drove from his lungs the
poison he had been breathing, his faculties regained their normal
condition.
"Helen Brady!" he mumbled, sitting up.
"Yah, you bed you!" whooped Carl, from a little distance away. "Dot vas
Helen Prady, Matt, und oof it hatn't peen for her, you und Tick vould
haf peen goners. Helen Prady is a pooty fine girl, you bed you. I dake
off my hat to her any tay as you can findt in der veek. Miss Prady,"
and Carl directed his admiring gaze at the girl, "allow me to make some
remarks dot you vas a brick--und not a goldt brick, neider. She valked
all der vay from Lake Station, Matt, to safe you und Tick!"
Carl was near Ferral, who was likewise sitting up in front of the
balloon house, only a little way off.
"Sink me, mate," cried Ferral, "but we had a close call of it. We shook
hands with Davy Jones--just about--and then Miss Brady and Carl pulled
us away from him."
"I'm all twisted up about this," said Matt, rubbing a hand across his
eyes in a dazed way.
"I'm all ahoo over it myself," put in Ferral. "I'm glad I'm alive, but
I can't understand how Miss Brady got here and helped us out of that
scrape."
"Tell dem aboudt it, Miss Prady," urged Carl. "You haf tone a mighdy
fine t'ing, und Matt und Tick ought to know all aboudt it."
"Ever since you got away from Willoughby's swamp with the Hawk, Matt,"
said Helen, "I have been staying in Lake Station. My father, and Pete,
and Whipple got out of the swamp by a secret way they knew about, very
soon after you left. Dad gave me some money and told me to find a place
to stay in Lake Station. He was terribly ugly to me, and I was glad
that I was going to be free from him for a while. There was a woman in
the village who had some furnished rooms to rent, and I rented them and
stayed there. I didn't see anything of dad until last night. I was in
the other part of the house, visiting the woman who owned it, and when
I went back to my rooms I saw a light shining through a window between
the edge of the curtain and the sill. I listened and heard voices--then
I knew that dad had found the place where I was staying, and had come
there.
"There was a way to get into the cellar, and I got into it and crept up
a stairway without being heard. By sitting at the top of the stairs I
could listen and hear all that was said.
"Whipple was in the room with dad, and they were talking over a scheme
for getting hold of the Hawk. Officers of the law were hunting them,
and, if they did not have the air ship, they felt that they would not
be able to avoid arrest for very long.
"Whipple told dad how Grove had managed to escape from the South
Chicago police, and dad told Whipple how he had been out in a sailboat
with my brother, and how they had tried to get some money from a young
fellow my brother had met on the train, and how Motor Matt, with the
Hawk, had come along just in time to prevent the robbery. After that,
my father said he and my brother had the sailboat set them ashore.
My father had come to Lake Station, and had sent my brother to tell
Whipple to come to the same place. And that was how the two happened to
meet in my rooms.
"Whipple, Pete, and Harper had been in hiding in Willoughby's swamp,
and that was the place to which Grove came when he made his escape.
"My father knew that the Hawk was being kept by the police in the old
balloon house, and that two officers were constantly on guard to see
that no harm came to the machine. It was also known that Motor Matt was
spending a good deal of time at the balloon house and running the air
ship for the officers.
"Dad's plot centred about the balloon house. It was a risky plot, but
dad told Whipple they would all have to take desperate chances if they
hoped to succeed in stealing the Hawk and getting away in her. Whipple
agreed with dad, and they arranged between them that Whipple, Grove,
Harper, and Pete were to get close to the balloon house in the early
morning, steal the Hawk, and sail away. If they were successful, they
were to stop at the marsh for dad; and if they captured Motor Matt,
Whipple was to put him, securely bound, in the back room, behind the
shed, and turn on the gas there."
The girl shivered, and an expression of horror crossed her face.
"I can't begin to tell you," she half sobbed, "how terribly I felt.
Motor Matt had helped me, and I could not bear to think that my own
father was--was----"
Helen paused, and it was a moment before she could recover herself and
go on.
"At first," she continued, "I thought of running into the room where
dad was and begging him not to let Whipple harm Motor Matt. But a
little thought showed me that such a course would be foolish. Not only
would dad not listen to me, but he would probably make me a prisoner,
so as to keep me from interfering with his plot. I had no money left,
and the only thing I could do was to walk to South Chicago, and try to
get there before the plot was carried out. I got my hat--it was in a
bedroom easily reached from the cellarway--and I started.
"I walked miles and miles through the darkness, and at last I was so
tired I had to sit down and rest. Then I got up and started on again.
Every little while I would sit down for a few minutes. But I did not
dare to stop very long, for fear I would not get to South Chicago in
time.
"Morning came, and I guided myself by the smoke from the rolling mills.
Just as I was about to give out entirely, I met Carl."
The girl turned her eyes toward the Dutch boy.
"Und it vas a pooty goot t'ing dot Miss Prady met me schust ven she
dit. I vas feeling pooty plue mit meinseluf, you bed you. You see,
Matt, it vas like dis: Afder fooling aroundt und losing more dime as
I vanted to, I got dose bapers from der chief. Den I come pack py der
hodel, get my sadchel, und hurry kevick along der roadt to der palloon
house. Ven I see der blace, oop goes der Hawk in der air, und I t'ink,
py shiminy, dot Matt hat got tired oof vaiting und hat gone off py New
York mitoudt his Dutch bard. Vell, meppy it vas some foolishness, aber
I shaced afder dot air ship so fast as I couldt. Sure I couldn't ketch
der Hawk, aber I vas oft my headt und ditn't shdop to t'ink. I schust
run, und yelled, und got vay past der palloon house ven I med Miss
Prady. As soon as she say a few t'ings, den I know dot it vasn't Matt
vat vent avay mit der Hawk, but dot Prady gang; und as soon as she say
a few t'ings more, den I ged some vorries aboudt Matt und Tick. Ve come
pack py der palloon house togedder, Miss Prady und me, und ve go to dot
leedle room pehindt der blace, und, whoosh! sooch a odor vat shtruck
us in der faces ven ve obened der door.
"Vell, dere vas my bard, Modor Matt, lying shdill on der cot on vone
site, und my odder bard, Tick Verral, lying shdill on der cot on der
odder site. Ve hat some vildness mit us ven ve t'ink you vas gone oop
der shpout, aber ve turned off der gas, got you oudt oof der room und
indo der glear air, und pooty kevick, pympy, you refifed. Ach, it vas
some habbiness for bot' oof us ven ve see dot!"
Matt and Dick had listened to all this with deep interest. What most
impressed them was the courage and determination shown by Helen Brady.
Matt reached out and clasped her hand.
"You saved my life and Dick's," said he, with feeling, "and that is
something we'll never forget."
"Not if we live to be a thousand years old!" declared Ferral. "You're a
brave lass, Miss Brady, and I've an uncle who won't forget what you've
done, either."
"I only did what I thought I ought to do," said Helen. "It was merely
undoing a wrong of my father's, and it was no more than right that I
should do what I could."
"Ach, Matt," piped up Carl, "aber you vas blaying in some hardt luck!
Und shdill, mit all dot, vasn't it pooty fine dot you got oudt oof dot
tight blace mit your life, you und Tick?"
"Right-o, matey!" agreed Ferral heartily. "Matt and I, between us, have
lost the Hawk, which means thirty-five hundred, in cold cash, but, all
the same, we ought to shake hands over it and call ourselves well off."
Matt grabbed Dick's hand.
"Shake!" said he. "A fellow never has such a run of hard luck but he
can think a little and see where it might have been a whole lot worse."
A puzzled look had come into Helen's face.
"How was it, Matt," she queried, "that you and your friend lost so much
money?"
Matt explained about the purchase of the air ship. As Helen listened,
her look of wonder changed to one of distress.
"I am sorry!" she said, with a pang of deepest regret. "I know where
dad and the rest have gone, though, and if you wanted to follow them,
you might be able to get the air ship back."
The information startled all three of the boys.
"You know that?" cried Matt, his face brightening.
"Yes. They are going to cross the lake to Grand Haven. There's a man in
Grand Haven that dad knows. His name is Ochiltree, Dave Ochiltree. Dad
is going to see him. I don't know where the rest will be with the Hawk,
but no doubt you could find out from Ochiltree."
"It's a clue, and a good one!" said Matt. "We will follow it, Helen."
"Aye, that we will!" exclaimed Ferral.
"You bed you!" averred Carl. "Sooch a goot luck as dot iss vat ve vas
looking for. Meppy ve follow der clue und get der air ship pack, den
make anoder shtart for New York, hey?"
An idea came suddenly to Matt. Leaping to Carl, he grabbed him by the
arm.
"The Eagle," said he, speaking rapidly, "has chased the Hawk before.
Why not call on Hamilton Jerrold?"
Carl gave an exultant yell and tossed his cap.
"Dot's der fery t'ing, Matt!" he declared. "Oof dere iss enyvone in der
whole vorldt as vouldt like to do Modor Matt a goot durn, it iss dot
feller Jerrold! Led us go to him righdt avay, ad vonce, mitoudt losing
some more dime!"