Chapter XIII: 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?"