Chapter XIII: Ping on the Wrong Track

To say that Motor Matt and Joe McGlory were surprised at the odd situation confronting them would paint their feelings in too faint a color.

"How did this happen?" demanded Matt.

"Me," said Carl, "I made it habben. Venefer I go afder some fellers I ged him. Yah, so!"

"What's Ping tied up for?"

"To make sure mit meinseluf dot he vould come."

"Where did you find him?"

"In vone oof dose ganvas wagons bedween vich der money vas took. He vas ashleep. I ged me some ropes und vile he shleep, py shiminy, I ged der rope on his hants. Den I porrow der mu-el und der leedle vagon. I see der flying mashine in der air, und I hear der people yell like plazes, aber I don'd haf time for nodding but der shink. You say to pring him, und I dit. Dere he vas. Ven Modor Matt tell Carl Pretzel to do somet'ing, id vas as goot as dit."

Another wail came from Ping, but it was not accompanied by any words that could be understood.

"Take the ropes off him, Carl," ordered Matt. "You should not have tied him like that."

"Den for vy he shleep in der ganvas wagon ven you tell him to drail der Hintoo?"

"Ping will explain about that."

"My velly bad China boy," gurgled the prisoner. "Motol Matt no likee ally mo'. Givee China boy bounce."

Carl, with an air of great importance, proceeded to take the cords off Ping's hands. The moment the ropes were all removed Ping leaped at Carl over the side of the cart, grabbed him savagely, and they both went down and rolled over and over in the road. The mixture of pidgin English and Dutch dialect that accompanied the scrimmage was appalling.

Quickly as they could, Matt and McGlory separated the boys and held them apart.

"I told you somet'ing," yelled Carl, "und dot iss der shinks is der vorst peoples vat I know."

"Dutchy boy no good!" piped Ping. "No lettee China boy savee face. Woosh!"

"Here, now," spoke up Matt sternly. "Tell us all about this, Ping. Did you follow the Hindoo, as I told you?"

"Allee same," answered the Chinese boy.

"Why did you leave the trail? Did you lose it?"

"My velly bad China boy," insisted Ping, with the usual wail.

"You didn't lose the trail?"

"No losee, just makee stop."

"You quit following the Hindoo?"

"Allee same," sniffed Ping.

"What was the reason?"

"My velly----"

"Yes, yes, I know all that, but tell me why you quit following Dhondaram."

"Him makee tlacks fo' ticket wagon, makee pidgin with tlicket man, makee go to canvas wagon, makee hide. Bymby, 'long come Dutchy boy, blingee tlicket man. Tlicket man him cally two bag. Hindoo makee jump, hittee Dutchy boy, knockee down." Ping chuckled as though he considered the matter a good joke. "Tlicket man and Hindoo man takee money bags, empty allee same in hat, takee snake flom basket, puttee snake in one bag, puttee othel bag in Dutchy boy's pocket. My savvy. Hindoo man and tlicket man stealee money, makee think Dutchy boy stealee. My thinkee one piecee fine business. Stopee follow tlail. Dutchy boy findee heap tlouble. My no ketchee Motol Matt, for' Motol Matt makee China boy tellee 'bout Dutchy boy. Woosh! Ping him velly bad China boy. No likee Dutchy boy. Heap likee him get in tlouble."

Here was a lot of information tied up in a small and ragged bundle of pidgin. In order to develop all the different parts of it, Matt undertook a line of patient cross-examination.

When the talk was finished the fact that stood out prominently was this, that Ping had allowed his feeling against Carl to beguile him into a most reprehensible course of conduct. He saw the thieves at work, and guessed that they were trying to involve Carl in the robbery. Ping was glad to have Carl involved, so he stopped following the Hindoo and hid himself away in order that Matt might not find him and learn the truth. It was sad but true that the China boy had let his hostility to Carl lure him away on the wrong track.

"Ping," said Matt sternly, "you acted like a heathen. Carl is a friend of mine, and entitled to your consideration. Instead of helping him out of his trouble, you held back in the hope that he would get into deep water. You can't work for me if you act like that."

"My makee mistake, velly bad mistake," moaned Ping. "No makee ally mo'."

"You have been telling yarns about Carl, too," went on Matt. "You told Boss Burton that you had found Carl going through your clothes and taking----"

"Py shiminy Grismus!" whooped Carl. "Take your handts avay, McGlory, und led me ged at dot yellow feller. Schust vonce, only vonce! He has peen telling aroundt dot I vas a ropper! _Ach, du lieber!_ I vas so madt I feel like I bust oop."

"Hold your bronks, Carl," growled McGlory. "You're not going to get away."

"Allee same, Motol Matt, my speakee like that," acknowledged Ping. "Dutchy boy say China boy no good. My no likee."

"You told things that were not true," proceeded Matt, "and they helped to get Carl into trouble."

"My savvy."

"Are you sorry you did it?"

"Heap solly, you bettee."

"Py shinks," fussed Carl, "I'll make him sorrier as dot, vone oof dose days."

"I guess, Joe," remarked Matt, "that we'll have to cut loose from both Carl and Ping. What's the use of trying to do anything with them? They act like young hoodlums, and I'm ashamed to own them for pards."

"Pull the pin on the pair of them, Matt," counseled McGlory. "They make us more trouble than they're worth."

A howl of protest went up from Carl.

"For vy you cut loose from me, hey?" he demanded. "I dit vat you say. I pring in der shink."

"You don't do what I say, Carl," answered Matt. "I have tried to get you two boys to bury the hatchet, but you won't. This bickering of yours has resulted in a lot of trouble for all hands, and pretty serious trouble, at that. We can't work together unless we're all on friendly terms."

"My makee fliendly terms," said Ping eagerly. "Givee China boy anothel chance, Motol Matt. Plenty soon my go top-side, you no givee chance."

"Schust gif me some more shances, too, bard," begged Carl. "I don'd vant to haf you cut me adrift like vat you say."

"Well," returned Matt thoughtfully, "I'll give you just one more opportunity. Take the mule and wagon, both of you, and return them to the place where Carl found them. Remember this, though, that you can't travel with McGlory and me unless you show a little more friendship toward each other."

Carl and Ping stepped forward in the gloom. There was a moment's hesitation, and then Carl took the mule by the halter and moved off. Ping trailed along behind.

"Don't say a word to any one about what Ping discovered," Matt called after the boys, and both shouted back their assurances that they would not.

"Well, tell me about that!" gasped McGlory, his voice between a growl and a chuckle. "Ping saw the robbery, and was keeping quiet about it just to let Carl get into a hard row of stumps. He's a heathen, and no mistake."

"But the point that interests me a lot," said Matt, "is the fact that Carter himself is mixed up in the robbery! He planned it with this rascally Hindoo, who joined the show this morning and has been doing his villainous work all day. Carter was trying to get the benefit of the robbery and, at the same time, shirk the responsibility and stay with the show."

"How's that for a double deal?" muttered McGlory, amazed at the audacity of the ticket seller as Matt put the case in cold words. "But then," he added, "Ping may not be telling the truth."

"I've lost a good deal of confidence in Ping," returned Matt, "but I believe he's giving the matter to us straight. One of the money bags, as Ping says, was put in Carl's pocket while he was lying dazed and unconscious from the blow dealt him by Dhondaram; and Ping also says that the snake was put in the other bag. That has all been proved to be the case."

"And Carter must have slashed himself on the cheek just to make it look to Burton as though he'd had a rough time during the robbery!"

"Exactly."

"All this fails to explain, though, why Dhondaram tried to destroy the aëroplane, and then fastened the bag with the snake to the lower wing of the machine."

"We're on the right track to discover all that. Let's hunt up Burton, and then we can all three of us have a talk with Andy Carter."

"That's the talk!" agreed McGlory. "You stay here, pard, and I'll hunt up some one to watch the _Comet_ while we're gone. After what's happened to-day, I hate to leave the machine alone for a minute."

McGlory was not long in coming with a man to look after the aëroplane, and he and Matt left immediately to find Boss Burton.