CHAPTER XII.
"UNCLE SAM" TAKES HOLD.
"Them fellers stopped me," said Jake, "an' was allowin' to unload theflyin' machine. What could I do agin' the lot of 'em, and armed likethey was? But the fust I knowed they intended ter smash the thing waswhen Siwash begun talkin' with you. He'd have shot ye, too. I knowhim, an' I know he's desprit, so I took a chanst with the blacksnake.Gosh-all-hemlocks, but I shore made a good throw of it."
"You certainly did," said Matt, "and I'm much obliged to you."
Matt turned away from the wagon to talk with the officer in charge ofthe troopers. The soldiers had come to a halt, and one of them, in theuniform of a lieutenant, had spurred forward.
"What's the ruction here?" he demanded. "Benner rushed up to the fortand said some one had stolen the Traquair a?roplane. He showed us atelegram he had received, told us he had started Jake for Oberon withthe machine, and that a couple of young fellows had happened along,pronounced the telegram a forgery, and had started in pursuit of Jakein an automobile. Are you one of the lot that chased up Jake?"
"Yes," said Matt. "Harry Traquair was killed in Jamestown----"
"That's stale news," interrupted the lieutenant, sitting back in hissaddle and taking Matt's sizing at his leisure.
"Well," went on the king of the motor boys, "I've come to Totten to tryout the a?roplane for the government."
"You?" The lieutenant laughed. "Why, my lad, the machine will do foryou just as it did for Traquair. Who are you?"
"Matt King."
The lieutenant almost fell out of his saddle.
"Not Motor Matt?" he asked.
"That's what I'm called more often than anything else."
"Well, this certainly takes the cake!" muttered the lieutenant, pullingat his mustache. "My name's Cameron, and I'm a lieutenant in the signalcorps. By a coincidence, I'm here to watch the trials of the a?roplanefor the government."
"Where does the coincidence come in, lieutenant?" asked Matt.
"Do you remember a young fellow called Ensign Glennie?"
"Remember Glennie?" cried Matt. "Well, I guess I do. Why, he wentaround South America with me in a submarine."
"Representing the government, wasn't he?"
"Yes."
"Well, Glennie's my cousin, and he wrote me all about you and that tripin the submarine. So that's where the coincidence comes in. He watchedyour work with the submarine for the government, just as I'm to watchyour work with the a?roplane. Give us your hand, Motor Matt! I feel asthough we were old friends."
Matt was delighted. It was one of those meetings which sometimeshappen, and which make a fellow overjoyed with the occasional workingsof fate. McGlory, Black, and Ping were introduced, and then Matt tookthe lieutenant off by himself and narrated the events that had takenplace, and which had led up to the villainous work of Siwash Charley.
Lieutenant Cameron was properly indignant.
"Siwash Charley's a whelp," he averred, "and this Murgatroyd is athoroughbred scoundrel. But the a?roplane seems to be safe, and you'llhave no further trouble with those villains. From this on, MotorMatt, you and your friends and the Traquair a?roplane are under theprotecting wing of Uncle Sam. We'll have the flying machine guarded,and you and your friends will stay at the fort with us. There's onlya handful of boys at Totten, now, but we're more than enough to lookafter Siwash Charley."
The lieutenant rode over to the wagon.
"Jake," said he, "you'd better drive back with that machine."
"That's what I was calculatin'," grinned Jake. "Somebody hand up mywhip."
McGlory gathered in the blacksnake, and tossed it to the teamster.
"Sergeant," called the lieutenant to one of the troopers, "you and therest will convoy the a?roplane back to Totten. If Siwash Charley or anyof his gang show up, shoot them on sight."
"All roight, sor," answered the sergeant, touching his cap.
"Ride back with us in the car, lieutenant," suggested Matt. "One of thetroopers can bring in your horse."
"I'll go with you," said Cameron promptly.
He dismounted at once, and turned his horse over to the Irish sergeant.He and Matt rode in the tonneau, with Ping, where they could talk tobetter advantage, and McGlory mounted to the front seat alongside ofBlack.
"My orders instructed me to be of all the assistance I could toTraquair," remarked Cameron, when they were sliding off toward thehills on the return trip; "so, of course, now that you represent theTraquair interests, I consider it my duty to help you."
"Glad of that, lieutenant," responded Matt. "After I get the a?roplanetogether I'll not need much help. You see, I've got to learn to run themachine. There's a knack I've got to get hold of."
"You'll get hold of it, never fear. A fellow like you can learnwhatever he sets out to."
"But I've only got two weeks," laughed Matt, "and there's a fairchance, according to a good many people, of breaking my neck."
"That's what I was thinking, when I heard Traquair had been killed, andthat there was an advertisement in the newspapers for a man of nerve.But, somehow, I feel pretty confident of the outcome, now that I knowyou are to boss the air flights. Let's see. I think Glennie wrote meyou had had some experience with a dirigible balloon?"
"Yes, I served my apprenticeship at that sort of flying before I tiedup with the submarine."
"Then you can't be called a new hand at the game."
"Sailing a dirigible balloon is a whole lot different from driving ana?roplane."
"Learn it well, Motor Matt, whatever you do. According to conditionsgoverning the a?roplane trial, you've got to stay in the air two hours,make not less than thirty miles an hour, and carry a passenger. I'm tobe the passenger."
So long as Matt had only his neck to think about, the situation wastolerably clear; but, now that he knew he had to carry the lieutenantalong, he began to worry a little.
"I didn't know that part of it before," said Matt gravely.
"Don't fret, pard," put in McGlory, turning around in his seat. "If thelieutenant hasn't got the nerve, why, I'll go with you. And I reckonyou know about how much I enjoy the prospect of flyin'."
"You can't cut me out of that, McGlory," declared Cameron. "Why, ifMrs. Traquair hadn't found some one to navigate the a?roplane, I wasthinking seriously of offering to do it myself. I was attached to theballoon corps, for a while, but I'm handicapped by a very imperfectknowledge of gas engines. You're the fellow for the job, all right,Matt, and you can bet something that I'll not pass up the chance offlying with you. Know anything about the Traquair a?roplane?"
"Only what I've found out from a study of the model. Apart from that,I've been looking into the subject of a?roplanes for some time. It wasthe hope of adding to my knowledge of the subject that brought me toNorth Dakota."
"And you dropped into a villainous conspiracy right at the start off!"exclaimed Cameron. "I'll send a message to Oberon, just as soon as wereach the post, and see if Siwash Charley and his mates can be headedoff."
"It won't do any good to send a message, lieutenant," said Matt."Siwash knows enough to make himself scarce. Better let the matterdrop--for the present, anyhow."
"But there's Murgatroyd. He's got himself into a pretty kettle of fish.You can go after _him_."
"I don't want to bother with him, nor with any one nor anything elsebut the a?roplane for the next two weeks."
"I guess your head's level on that point," mused Cameron. "However, ifSiwash Charley shows up on the reservation while you're at work, we'lllay him by the heels and throw him into the guardhouse. When are yougoing to put the a?roplane together?"
"This afternoon," replied Matt. "There's no time to lose."
An hour later they were at the post. Black had made up his mind toremain over until the following day, and Matt paid him his fiftydollars, and thanked him for his work with the motor car.
Following a late breakfast at the post, Matt went down to meet Jakeand superintend the unloading of the a?roplane. Selecting a favorables
ite for the experiments with the a?roplane required time, and dinnerwas ready at the post before Matt and Cameron had picked out a spotwhich they considered most favorable for the initial trials.
Following dinner, Matt and McGlory, in their working togs, andaccompanied by the lieutenant, hustled down the hill to begin work withthe a?roplane.
Motor Matt on the Wing; or, Flying for Fame and Fortune Page 12