Owen Clancy's Happy Trail; Or, The Motor Wizard in California

by Burt L. Standish

table, open it, and pull a packet of greenbacks from inside.He held up the packet, and laughed. Hogan joined in the laugh.

  The motor wizard had a very good look at Captain Hogan, and he did notwonder that Hiram had been deceived into thinking the fellow was hisfather. The bulging brow, the huge nose, and the retreating chin allconspired to form a countenance that would have claimed attentionanywhere. One eye had an evil squint, and it gave to the whole face acrafty expression.

  Captain Hogan, it was clear, would never be hung for his good looks,although it would be too much to say that he might not, some time, bestrung up for his evil deeds.

  Wynn dropped the money into the satchel and sat back arm the bench. Asusual, he was whiffing at a cigarette. Hogan was smoking a big blackcigar.

  Neither Clancy nor Katz was so situated that he could hear theconversation going forward between the two in the cabin. The voicessounded from below in considerable volume, but the words ran together inhollow echoes that baffled the ear.

  "Go on, Katz," whispered Clancy. "We'll try that scheme. If Hogan leavesthe cabin, I'll go down."

  "Suppose Wynn stays with the money?"

  "I guess I can take care of Wynn."

  "Well, here's hopin'. I'd like to crack out a winnin', this play. Sittight, now, and listen to the meller trill o' my bazoo."

  The motor wizard remained at his post while Katz crept back to the afterpart of the boat. Then, suddenly, Katz opened up with a yell for "Hogan!Cap'n Hogan!"

  Hogan leaped to his feet, all energy and curiosity in a moment. Astartled look crossed Wynn's face, and was clearly visible in the raysof the swinging lamp. The captain jumped for the companion stairs,closely followed by Wynn. Clancy fell to wondering which side, of thedeck house they'd travel on their way aft. If they came down his side,then the chances were good for a scrimmage instead of a dash into thecabin.

  In the excitement of the moment, the satchel had been left entirelyunprotected on the cabin table.

  As luck would have it, Hogan and Wynn ran along the alley across fromthe one in which Clancy was lying. The time had now come for Clancy toact, and, without loss of a moment, he gained the companion, and madehis way swiftly down the steep stairs.

  He could hear a sound of husky voices and a tramp of quick feet fromaft. What was going on, between the captain and Wynn, on one side, andKatz, on the other, was a mystery. Clancy did not waste time in anyguessing, but grabbed up the satchel and started with it on his returnup the companion stairs.

  But he only started. As he began going up at the bottom, some one begancoming down from the top. The fellow above was in as big a hurry asClancy, and he lost his footing on the steep stairs and came below witha rush.

  The motor wizard was caught full by the descending form, and knockedflat. His game shoulder, as he fell, struck against the corner of alocker with cruel force and a cry of pain was wrenched from his lips.Almost as soon as he was down he was up again, and he had not let go ofthe satchel.

  The other fellow was also on his feet, It was Gerald Wynn! Wynn staredat Clancy as though he could hardly credit the evidence of his senses.

  "You--here!" Wynn gulped.

  No answer was necessary. Besides, with Clancy time was pressing. Takingadvantage of Wynn's surprise, the motor wizard attempted to push by himand get to the deck. Wynn, however, had full use of his limbs and hisfaculties.

  "Give me that satchel!" he cried, and tried to snatch the grip out ofClancy's hand.

  Clancy evaded him with a deft leap sideways. Wynn swore savagely, andstruck at the motor wizard with his clenched fist.

  Clancy blocked the blow with his game arm--hurting it so that he almostfelt as though it had been struck by lightning. Then his other fist shotout, catching Wynn fairly, and driving him against the bulkhead.

  Clancy had to drop the satchel while executing his defense. He nowgrabbed it from the floor, and plunged on up the companionway. As heemerged through the companion doors, he beheld a form bulking largely inthe half gloom. It was Captain Hogan, braced in the passageway betweenthe top of the deck house and the rail, and leveling a revolver at thecrouching form of Katz.

  "Stand where you are, you bloomin' beach comber," yelled Hogan, "or I'llblow a hole through you!"

  Katz swore, and continued his forward movement.

  "Last call!" went on the captain. "Another step this way and I'llshoot!"

  "You're a robber!" cried Katz. "You and Wynn, between you, have skinunedme out of seventy-five hundred dollars!"

  "Where did you get the money?" demanded Hogan ironically. "It's no crimeto skin a skinner--or to shoot one either, Here's where you get yours!"

  Before Hogan could pull the trigger, Clancy sprang upon him from behind,and forced his revolver hand downward. The weapon exploded, and a bulletplumped into the deck.

  While the captain was struggling with the motor wizard, Katz ran forwardand wrenched away the six-shooter.

  "Let go o' him, Clancy!" panted Katz. "I've got him now. The old seashark will do as I say or take the same medicine he's been threatenin'to hand me."

  Clancy flung himself from Hogan, and the latter stood at bay under themuzzle of the revolver.

  "You're a measly pirate," flamed Hogan, "to come aboard of me and carryon like you're doing!"

  "I'm no worse'n you, if I am a pirate!" snarled Katz. "Put your hands toyour back. Clancy, get another piece o' that rope and make Hogan's armsfast."

  Clancy put down the satchel and followed his companion's orders.

  "Now sit down, Hogan!" snapped Katz,

  "What's your scheme?" demanded the captain.

  "To put you out o' the runnin'. Drop on the deck. I tell you!"

  Katz flourished the revolver, as he spoke. Hogan lowered himself to theplanks on which he was standing, easing his pent-up feelings wrathfullyas he did so.

  "Now a half hitch around his legs, Clancy," said Katz, and Clancy camearound with the end of the rope and got the captain's legs in limbo.

  "You're a fine pair of grafters!" sneered the irate Hogan. "I hope Ilive to manhandle you for this night's work."

  Far off across the water could be heard a screech of oars in the locks,and a faint sound of voices. Hogan, aware that some of his men werecoming from the pier, lifted his voice in a loud roar for help.

  Katz, cursing furiously, sprang toward him and drew back his fist tostrike. Clancy caught the arm before it could deal the blow, and savedthe captain from such savage brutality. Katz turned on the motor wizard.

  "Oh, you!" he yelped. "I reckon I'm about done with this foolin'. Gi' methat satchel!"

  "I'll keep this," returned Clancy. "The money in it belongs to me."

  "Blamed if I care who it belongs to, I'm goin' to have it. Fork over!"Katz pushed the point of the revolver in Clancy's face. "Fork, I tellyou, or take the consequences."

  Clancy dropped the satchel.

  CHAPTER XII.

  MORE THAN HE BARGAINED FOR.

  Yes, Clancy dropped the satchel. It was the only thing for him to do,under the circumstances. He had discretion as well as bravery.

  Besides, Clancy was facing the companionway and Katz had his back to it.The motor wizard could see something which escaped Katz entirely, andthat was the stealthy advance of Gerald Wynn through the companiondoors.

  Wynn would soon be a factor in the situation. There was nothing he coulddo which would make the run of events worse than they already were forClancy.

  What had happened showed the folly of putting any trust in a desperado.It was through Clancy's efforts that Katz had been freed from hisdangerous predicament in Captain Hogan's bungalow. But Katz did not giveany consideration to that when the time came for him to turn the tablesand secure the satchel for himself.

  Perhaps, all Katz had helped Clancy for was the hope that just such anopportunity would come his way. Now that the opportunity had come, hewas making the most of it.

  "Katz is doing you dirt, eh?" rumbled the captain, turning his eyes uponClancy.

  "He forget
s how I saved him at your bungalow," said the motor wizard.

  "If you pulled him out of that scrape, then, keelhaul me, you deserveall he gives you!"

  Katz laughed in ugly fashion.

  "I'll get back what you and Wynn stole from me!" he remarked, stoopingover to pick up the satchel.

  As he bent down, two things happened. They happened very suddenly, too:

  Clancy and Wynn sprang toward Katz at the same time--Clancy for thesatchel and Wynn for the revolver. The work of both was excellent, foreach got what he went after.

  The approaching boat, by that time, was close alongside. In anothermoment, Hogan and Wynn would be supplied with reenforcements.

  "Give me that!" yelled Katz, jumping toward Clancy.

  Here the captain took a part in the combat. Bound though he was, heswung his feet upward suddenly and powerfully. Katz was struck in theside and toppled to the deck.

  Four men came bounding over the bulwarks. "Captain!" they called; "whereare you, captain?"

  "Here!" yelled the captain. "Make prisoners of these two fellows, Katzand Clancy. Katz is on the deck, there, and Clancy---"

  Clancy was just going over the side and into the water, so it wasimpossible to make a prisoner of him. He took the valuable satchelalong.

  "Get back into that boat, two of you," bellowed Hogan, "and snake thatred-headed streak of lightning out of the water and back aboard the_Sylvia!_ Look alive, now! A hundred-dollar bonus to the man whocaptures Clancy and recovers the satchel he's got with him!"

  Two of the men flung themselves into the boat and put off. The other twogave their first attention to Bob Katz, and bound him with the ropewhich was taken from the captain. So Katz, as it will be seen, was leftin the hands of his enemies, thereby getting vastly more than he hadbargained for.

  Meanwhile, the motor wizard was swimming. He was perfectly at home inthe water, and, even though he was handicapped with a game shoulder, hefound no difficulty in keeping afloat with the satchel, and in spite ofthe weight of his wet clothes.

  "Clancy!" called a voice across the water. "Where are you, Clancy?"

  Two boats, at that moment, were searching for the motor wizard. One, ofcourse, held enemies and was coming from the _Sylvia,_ the other,carrying Hill and Burton, was approaching from the pier.

  It was Hiram Hill who had hailed. Clancy knew, for he had recognized thevoice.

  "This way, Hiram!" the motor wizard cried.

  Two boats were aimed in Clancy's direction, and two pairs of oars struckthe water.

  "Crack your back, Burton!" yelled Hill, "If you want to get even withWynn, now's your chance! Do your prettiest! The two men from the_Sylvia_ are trying to beat us to Clancy--and it's a close race."

  Hill could see the dark form in the water, and the black shadow of theother boat rushing toward it. An idea flashed through his mind--an ideaas dangerous as it might possibly be successful.

  "Starboard oar, Burton!" he whooped. "Hard on the starboard oar!"

  Burton's back was to the exciting little scene. He could only obeyorders as he heard them. All his strength went suddenly into thestarboard oar. The boat began to whirl; and then:

  Crash! The bow of the craft swung against the side of the boat from the_Sylvia._ The _Sylvia's_ men were dumped into the water, but Hill flunghimself on the port gunwale of his own boat and kept it from turningturtle.

  Burton, hurled from his seat by the force of the collision, pickedhimself up and took note of the situation Hill had caused. Two lifepreservers came whizzing from the deck of the _Sylvia,_ and the two menin the water each grabbed one.

  "Bully!" yelled Burton, as Hill helped Clancy aboard. "There's thesatchel! Clancy brought away the grip with the money! Oh, this is betterthan I hoped for!"

  The motor wizard dropped with a splash into the bottom of the boat.While Hill held up his head and wrung the water out of his red hair,Burton got back on the midship thwart and grabbed the oars.

  "Where's Katz, Clancy?" Hill asked.

  "He must be on the _Sylvia,_" Clancy answered.

  "No use trying to go back after him, is there?"

  "Great Scott, no! Hogan and Wynn would get the satchel away from me, ifwe went back. Anyhow, we're not indebted to Bob Katz for anything. If hehadn't turned on me, at the last moment, and taken the satchel away atthe point of a gun, he and I would both have got clear of the _Sylvia_in the dinghy. Katz is to blame for what happened."

  "That's like him!" growled Burton. "He's getting it all around. See whathe did to me!"

  "He's a pesky varmint!" grunted Hill. "He might 'a' died, there inHogan's bungalow, if it hadn't been for Clancy. It was almost the sameas turnin' on the fellow that saved his life. I ain't got no use forsuch coyotes."

  Clancy sat up on the boat's bottom and looked in the direction of the_Sylvia._ The yacht's dinghy could be dimly discerned, putting off tothe rescue of the two men in the water.

  "I'm in luck to be safe out of that mess!" muttered Clancy. "Where wereyou when those four fellows from the _Sylvia_ came down to the pier?"

  "We saw that Hogan and Wynn weren't among them," Hill answered, "and sowe didn't interfere. There was a big howl when they couldn't find theirdinghy. They managed to get another boat, though, and put off from thepier. A little later we heard the commotion on the _Sylvia_ and thoughtwe'd better get a boat of our own and investigate."

  "It's lucky you did," said Clancy. "If you hadn't been close enough topick me up, I'd now be in the hands of Hogan and Wynn, along withKatz--and Hogan and Wynn would have the money. I guess, taking it by andlarge, we haven't anything to complain of."

  They reached the pier, and made the boat fast to the float from whichHill and Burton had taken it. The excitement in the bay had not beenheard, and there was no one besides themselves moving about the pier.

  Clancy, carrying the water-soaked satchel, slopped and splashed his wayto the street, followed by his two companions. On the sidewalk the motorwizard paused for a final word with Burton.

  "What are you going to do, now that your two pals have passed you up?"Clancy asked.

  "I'll work this diving stunt with Mynie Boltwood," Burton answered, "andsee if I can't get together a bit of a stake."

  "Come around to the Bolingbroke in the morning, Burton, and ask for me."

  "Changed your mind? Think you'll turn me over to the police, after all?"

  "Haven't any such idea. I think you could be decent, if you'd give yourmind to it. What's the matter with turning over a new leaf and trying tobe honest from now on?"

  "When I want to hear a sermon," sneered Burton, turning on his heel, "Iknow where to go."

  Without pausing to hear or to say anything further, he passed rapidlydown the street, and vanished in the night.

  "What do you want to see him in the mornin' for?" queried Hillcuriously.

  "I'd like to grubstake him," answered Clancy.

  "You'd--what?"

  The motor wizard repeated his words.

  "Well, I'm blessed!" murmured Hill, "Why, Hank Burton is one of the threewho helped Lafe Wynn nearly ruin you! And now you talk o' grubstakin'him. That red hair of yours certainly covers a lot of foolish idees."

  "Burton is the best of Gerald's old gang, Hiram," said Clancy, as thetwo walked in the direction of the Bolingbroke House.

  "That ain't a-sayin' a heap in his favor."

  "He's a whole lot better than Bob Katz."

  "Not much in that, nuther. But you won't have no chance to grubstakeBurton, Clancy. He won't show up in the mornin'."

  They reached the hotel, secured a room, and Clancy at once got out ofhis wet clothes. He was so tired and sleepy that he dozed off withoutthinking anything about the water-soaked satchel.

  Hill, however, had the satchel on his mind, and took good care of it.When Clancy awoke in the morning, the bright sun was streaming in at thetwo windows of the room. On the floor in front of the windows Hill hadspread two newspapers; and on these newspapers, where the warm sun wouldstrike them, he had spread ou
t the bank notes that had gone into theocean with Clancy the night before.

  It was pleasant work for Hiram, drying all that money. He whistledjoyously as he changed the wet bills around, shifting the dryest to theshade and the wettest to the place where they would receive the hottestpart of the sun's rays.

  "How much is there, all together, Hiram?" Clancy asked.

  "You're shy just half of the fifteen thousand, Clancy," was the reply;"there's only seventy-five hundred here--hardly enough to bother with."

  CHAPTER XIII.

  A "WIRELESS" FOR LAFE.

  Clancy was startled. He had only been half as successful as he thoughthe had.

  "Well, thunder!" he exclaimed, sitting up in bed. "Last night, Hiram, Iwas sure I had all the money that had been taken from Phoenix by Lafe."

  "This Was Bob Katz's satchel, wasn't it?" Hill asked, nodding toward thegrip.

  "Yes."

  "Well, Katz said he had only severity-five hundred in it, when it wastaken from him by Hogan and Wynn."

  "That's so," mused Clancy. "I didn't have much time last night, toreason matters out to a fine point. Half a loaf is