CHAPTER I.
THE RUNAWAY MOTOR-CYCLE.
"Shade o' Gallopin' Dick! Say, allow me to rise an' explain that I kinride anythin' from a hoss to a streak o' greased lightnin'. I don'ttake no back seat fer anythin' on hoofs, 'r wheels, 'r wings. If yethink ye kin make Eagle-eye Perkins, ex-Pirate o' the Plains, taketo the cliffs an' the cactus jest by flashin' a little ole benzinepush-cart onto him an' darin' him to git straddle, ye're goin' to befooled a-plenty. Shucks! Here, hold my hat."
"You don't have to shed your hat, Perk."
"Got to cl'ar decks fer action. When a man with a wooden leg goesgallivantin' around on a two-wheeled buzz-wagon, the less plunder hekeeps aboard the better. Hold the hat an' hesh up about it. Which crankd'ye turn to make 'er start?"
Ed Penny, on his one-cylinder motor-cycle, had come _chug-chugging_across the bridge over the town canal and stopped in front of theMcReady home. While he was out in front, talking with Chub McReady,Welcome Perkins, the self-called reformed road-agent, had stumped outof the house and walked around the hitching-post against which Pennyhad leaned the machine. Welcome had snorted contemptuously. Penny hadthen whirled on the old man and had asked him if he thought he couldride the motor-cycle. This led to Welcome's outburst and the jerkingoff of his sombrero, which he handed to Chub.
Both boys were enchanted with the prospect ahead of them. There wasnever anything Welcome hadn't done or couldn't do--to hear him tellabout it--and this looked like a good chance to take some of theconceit out of him.
"Ever ride a bike, Welcome?" asked Penny, his enthusiasm palling alittle as he thought of what might happen to his machine.
"Ride a bike!" exploded Welcome; "_me_! Why, I was raised on 'em. Neverwas scart of a reg'lar bike yet, so I reckon two wheels an' a coupleo' quarts o' gasoline ain't goin' to make me side-step none. How d'yestart 'er, I ask ye? What knob d'ye pull?"
Penny showed him how to start the gasoline and to switch on the spark.Welcome puffed himself up and patted his chest.
"Nothin' to it," he rumbled. "Watch my smoke, will ye, an' see how easyridin' a contraption like that comes to a feller that's knowed how todo things his hull life."
He pulled off his coat and gave it to Chub to hold, along with his hat.Then he rolled up his shirt-sleeves.
"Snakes alive!" he muttered, with a sudden thought. "How am I goin' tokeep that wooden pin on the pedal?"
"We'll tie it there, Perk," answered Chub promptly. "Wait a minute."
He hung the coat and hat on the hitching-post and started off intothe yard. While he was gone, Welcome began pulling up the strap thatsecured the pin to his stump of a leg. By way of showing how calm andself-possessed he was, he sang as he worked.
"I oncet knowed a gal in the year o' '83, A han'some young thing by the name o' Em-eye-lee; I never could persuade her for to leave me be, An' she went an' she took an' she married me."
When Chub got back with a piece of rope, Welcome was astride thesaddle, his foot on the ground, with Penny, who was shaking withsuppressed joy, helping to hold up the machine.
"Tie 'er tight, son," said Welcome.
"Don't you fret any about that, Perk," answered Chub, with a wink atPenny as he lifted himself erect. "Remember how to start?"
"Think I'm an ijut?" demanded Welcome indignantly. "I got a head fermachinery, anyways, an' I could hev studied it out all by myself ifye'd given me time. Are we all ready?"
Chub helped Penny pull the machine upright.
"All ready!" they answered, in one voice, with sly grins at each otherbehind the old man's back.
"Then see me tear loose."
Welcome worked the requisite levers, the machine began to sputter,and the boys gave it a shove. There was a good deal of wabbling, atfirst, but as the machine gathered headway it got steadier, and Welcomedwindled away down the road.
"Not so much of a joke, after all, Penny," observed Chub, in gloomydisappointment. "The old freak seems to know how to stay on and keepright side up. I thought he'd scatter himself all over the road rightat the start."
"One on us, Chub," returned Penny. "Ah," he added, his eyes on Welcome,"he's turning 'round in that big open space near the canal bridge.Gee-whiz! but that was a short turn. Watch him, will you! He's comin'this way like the cannon-ball limited."
"What's he yellin' about?" queried Chub excitedly. "Something must havegone wrong."
Both boys watched the approaching Welcome with growing wonder. He wascoming like a house afire, his long hair blowing out behind him, and hewas howling like a Comanche. There was a look of helpless consternationon his face.
"Gosh-all-Friday! How d'ye stop 'er? Ye didn't tell me how ter stop'er!"
Welcome shot past them like a bullet out of a gun, his voice trailingout behind him and becoming all jumbled up in the distance.
"He can stay on, all right," whooped Chub, "but he can't stop! Whydidn't you tell him how to stop, Penny?"
"He never asked me!" answered Penny.
"The thing is runnin' away with him!"
Welcome described another hair-raising turn at another place thatallowed him to circle, and came whooping back.
"What'm I goin' to do?" he howled; "how long've I got to keep thisthing up?"
"Jump off!" suggested Chub.
"Can't! Ye tied me on! Wow!"
By that time Welcome was out of talking distance again. When he circledback on the next frantic round, it was plain that his gorge wasbeginning to rise.
"I'll skelp somebody fer this!" he roared. "Ye framed it up between ye,that's what ye done! Dad-bing the pizen ole thing-um-bob!"
Welcome was now tearing toward the bridge over the canal. A man wascoming across the bridge on foot.
"Great Caesar!" exclaimed Chub, staring toward the bridge, "that's DirkHawley, the gambler, comin' this way?"
"Welcome ain't makin' any move to turn around," answered Penny. "Looksto me as though he was going to knock Hawley into the canal."
By a common impulse the boys started on a run toward the scene ofthreatened disaster. Hawley had come to a standstill in the middle ofthe bridge.
"Slow down, you old catamaran!" he cried. "What d'ye mean by scorchin'like that?"
"Head me off!" begged Welcome. "Can't stop--don't know how to stop!Trip me up 'r somethin'!"
By the time Hawley had got this through his head Welcome was upon him.With a shout of anger, Hawley hurled himself to one side. He escapedbeing struck, and missed going into the water of the canal by a scantmargin; but he had been obliged to throw himself flat down on thebridge, and in doing so he had jarred his body a little and jolted histemper a good deal.
As he picked himself up he said a good many unkind things aboutWelcome, but the old fellow was plunging on beyond the bridge and hadother troubles that took up his attention.
Just as he had about made up his mind to run into the side of abuilding, or a fence, and bring himself to a halt at any cost, hisfrenzied eyes caught sight of another motor-cycle, sailing toward him.A thrill of hope darted through his breast.
"Matt!" he yelped. "Stop me! The blamed thing's got the bit in itsteeth an' I can't do nothin' with it!"
Matt King slowed down, stared a moment at the frantic old man, laugheda little, then described a half-circle, put on more power, and racedalong beside the runaway machine. It took him but a moment to lean overand shut off the engine.
"How did you happen to get in a fix like this, Welcome?" he asked, whenboth machines were at a halt and the old man was standing on one footand trying to jerk his wooden leg loose from the pedal.
"Can't ye guess what onnery limb put this up on me?" glared Welcome."Not sence I reformed hev I ever felt like p'intin' fer All Outdoorsan' becomin' a hootin', tootin' border ruffian, as I do this hereminit! Wow! The ole sperrit is a-bubblin' an' a-stirrin' around in melike all-possessed, an' I don't reckon I kin hang out agin' it."
"Buck up, Welcome," said Matt, who knew the old fellow's eccentricitiesas well as any one, and understood just how much of a
false alarmhe was. "It won't do for you to backslide now, after you've lived arespectable life for so long. Here, I'll get the lashing off thatwooden leg of yours."
Leaning his motor-cycle against a tree by the roadside, Matt bent downand got busy with the rope. As soon as Welcome could jerk the pinloose, he whirled and stumped furiously back in the direction of Chuband Penny. Matt grinned a little as he looked after him.
"I never saw the old chap stirred up as bad as he is now," he muttered."I wonder what Dirk Hawley is doing over in this direction? Welcomecame within one of knocking him into the canal. If _that_ had happenedthere'd sure have been fireworks."
After leaning Penny's machine against the tree, Matt mounted his ownand started for the bridge. As he crossed the bridge he saw somethingwhite lying on the planks, and halted to pick the object up. It provedto be an old envelope with an enclosure of some sort, and was addressedto James McReady, Phoenix, A. T. This address was in ink, but the"James McReady" had been scratched out and the name of "Mark McReady"penciled above it.
James McReady was a prospector, and was in the hills looking for goldmost of the time. He was Mark's father, and Mark's nickname was "Chub."Evidently this letter was intended for Chub, and had fallen from DirkHawley's pocket when he threw himself out of the way of Welcome and thecharging motor-cycle. But how was it that such a letter happened to bein the possession of Hawley, the gambler? While Matt was puzzling overthat phase of the question, a heavy step sounded on the bridge, and agruff, commanding voice called out:
"What are you doin' with that letter? Hand it over here; it belongs tome!"
Motor Matt's Daring; or, True to His Friends Page 2