CHAPTER XV.
MOTOR MATT'S TEN-STRIKE.
Josh hustled for the runabout. One of the coiled ropes Matt had put inthe car was hanging over a lamp, and the other had been thrown into theroad. Taking the one off the lamp, the boy hurried back to the placewhere Matt was training the revolver on Spangler.
"Fine bizness!" laughed Josh. "Wot d'yous want me t' do, Matt? Put abow-knot on his lunch-hooks?"
"Stand up, Spangler!" ordered Matt.
Spangler got lamely to his feet. He was still confused and bewildered.
"Somethin' hit us," he mumbled. "From the way I was throwed it must hevbeen a landslide. Whar's Hank? Is he killed?"
"Brisco will get along, I guess," said Matt. "Put your hands behindyou, Spangler."
Just then, for the first time, it began to dawn on Spangler that Mattwas making a prisoner out of him. The ruffian, although practicallyuninjured, had been badly shaken up. Nevertheless, he was in conditionto resist, and he leaped backward, swearing.
"If ye think ye kin rope, down an' tie me," he cried, "jest bekase thatthar machine bucked an' dumped me inter the road, ye got another----"
"Come this way!" cut in Matt.
The words, hard and keen, jumped at Spangler like so many knife-points.Motor Matt meant business, and showed it in every movement.
Spangler stepped forward.
"That's far enough," snapped Matt. "Now put those hands behind you."
With the open end of his own gun staring him in the face, there wasnothing for Spangler to do but to obey. His hands went meekly behindhim.
"Can you tie a good hard knot, Josh?" asked Matt.
"T'ink I ain't good f'r nuttin'?" protested the boy.
Passing behind Spangler, he used the free end of the rope for a fewmoments and then stepped back with the rest of the coil in his hands.
"If he gits dem mitts out o' dat he's a good 'un," announced Josh."W'ere d'yous want him, Matt?"
"In the Red Flier. Step lively, Spangler. We've got to look afterBrisco."
"Get ap!" clucked Josh, shaking the rope.
With a black scowl on his face, the baffled Spangler made his way tothe touring-car.
"Get in on the back seat," went on Matt.
Spangler obeyed the order.
"Now, Josh," pursued Matt, "cut the rope and tie a piece of it aroundhis feet."
The boy finished the work expeditiously, and when he and Matt drewaway from the Red Flier they left Spangler helpless and fuming in thetonneau.
Brisco was still lying where he had fallen, and he was stillunconscious. Matt made a more thorough examination of him. His pulsewas stronger and, so far as Matt could discover, there were no brokenbones.
"Wot keeps 'im in a trance?" asked the boy. "He's stayin' a long timein de Land o' Nod for not havin' nuttin' wrong wit' 'im."
"Pick up his revolver, Josh," returned Matt briskly, "and then sit downbeside him and wait till he gets his wits back. Don't let him get awayfrom you."
"Get away from me? Not on yer life, cull. I'd radder take dis mutt intoFairview dan pull down a t'ousan' in de long green. Dad wants _him_."
Paying no attention to the boy's rather obscure remark, Matt went tothe runabout. He was expecting to find the machine badly smashed, andwas happily disappointed.
Both front lamps were broken, and the mud-guard over the right wheelforward had been ripped away. The guard had fallen between the wheeland the rock, and undoubtedly had kept the wheel from being dished. Thetire was punctured and the jolt had disabled the motor. For all that,however, the machine, with a few temporary repairs, could travel on itsown wheels if not under its own power.
Brisco had not yet corralled his wits. Aided by Josh, Matt dragged theman off to one side, where he would be out of the way; then, cuttingabout six feet of rope from the other riata, he threw it down whereJosh could get at it.
"When Brisco wakes up, Josh," said Matt, "just hold him steady till weput that rope on him."
"Wot yous goin' t' do, Matt?" inquired the wondering Josh. "Yous isbusier dan a monkey wit' his hand in a coconut."
"We're going to haul the runabout into Fairview," said Matt. "But I'vegot to patch her up first."
Getting into the Red Flier, Matt backed her as close to the disabledcar as he could; then, hitching onto the runabout with the ropes, hepulled it down onto the level plain.
With a jack taken from the touring-car he swung the runabout's wheeloff the ground. The mud-guard, having been ripped off, was not inhis way. After locating the puncture and marking it with chalk, heunscrewed the wing-nuts, pushed out the security-bolt, and then, withlevers, dug out the inner tube.
Perhaps he was an hour getting the hole patched up, tire back in placeand reinflated. When he was through, the runabout was ready to bedragged to Fairview.
"How's Brisco?" asked Matt, putting on his leather coat, which he hadthrown off while working with the runabout.
"Same as wot he was, cull," replied Josh. "He ain't twitched aneye-winker."
"He may be shamming," said Matt, "in the hope of making a bolt for hisliberty. We'll put him in the tonneau. You can ride with him and watchhim every minute. I'll take Spangler in front with me."
"We're goin' t' take de hull outfit into Fairview?" grinned Josh.
"That's the idea."
"A whale of an idee it is, too, an' no stringin'. Reg'lar line-up o'crooks an' stolen automobiles, wit' Motor Matt in charge o' de bunch.Wow! It's de biggest come-easy dat I ever mixed up wit'. Mebby derewon't be rejoicin' w'en we goes pokin' into town wit' all dis load.Well, I guess yes."
Between them, Matt and Josh succeeded in carrying Brisco to thetouring-car and getting him into the tonneau.
Spangler, having been transferred to one of the front seats, had beenchewing the cud of reflection.
"Looky here, Motor Matt," said he, "ye ain't got no call ter kerry meter Fairview. Think o' Klegg, down an' out an' mebby dyin' back thar inthat notch. If anythin' happens ter him ye'll be responsible. Betterturn me loose an' let me go back an' take keer o' him."
"Don't do so much worrying over Klegg," answered Matt. "I intend tohave him looked after. Just as soon as we get to Fairview I'll have thesheriff, or some other officer, go to the notch and see that Klegg getsall the attention he deserves."
"Waal, even at that, ye ain't got no call ter lug me inter town. Iain't done a thing. Brisco was the feller that had it in fer you. It'shim ye want ter git even with, an' not me."
"You didn't have a hand in robbing Mr. Tomlinson, did you?" said Mattsarcastically. "There are a lot of other things you've done, too,and I'm going to turn you over to Lem Nugent, the man who owns therunabout, as soon as we reach Fairview. It won't take long to getNugent up from Ash Forks."
"Yous is a game loser, I don't t'ink," scoffed the boy. "W'ere's yernerve, Spangler?"
"Say," said Spangler, giving his attention to Josh, "where did you buttinter this game?"
"I rode out o' Fairview wit' Brisco," grinned Josh. "He give me a ride."
"Give ye a ride?" echoed Spangler.
"Sure, on'y he didn't know it. I was under de coat in de back o' derunabout; an' I was still dere w'en yous mutts went t' dat hole in dewall. 'Course yous didn't see me. Yous was too mad at Motor Matt t' seeanyt'ing."
The whole situation rushed over Spangler with demoralizing clearness.He was able to understand how Josh and Matt, by the exercise of pluckand brains, had succeeded in balking the plans of Brisco.
Spangler swore heartily. It seemed to be his only method for easing hisfeelings.
"The worst move we ever made," he muttered savagely, "was takin' MotorMatt out o' town last night. I didn't want ter do it, but Brisco hadmade up his mind, an' that settled it. We ain't got no one ter blamebut ourselves fer what's happened. Go on. The quicker we git terFairview an' hev this thing over with, the better I'll be suited."
Spangler, resigning himself to the situation, sank back in his seat.
Matt went around to the rear of the car to make the ro
pes attaching itto the runabout more secure. As near as he had been able to discoverthere was a level road all the way to Fairview. They were coming intothe town from the north and east, and not along the Ash Fork road,where there was a hill to be descended in order to reach the valley.
Having reassured himself about the ropes, Matt returned to the side ofthe Red Flier and mounted the running-board. Looking over the side ofthe tonneau, he swept his gaze over Brisco's unconscious face.
"I can't understand what keeps him that way, Josh," said Matt.
"Mebby he's badly shook up inside," answered the boy. "Wot he needs isa doctor."
"Well, he'll have one before long. Stay right beside him and watch himevery minute. If he's playing possum with us, we want to make sure hedon't gain anything by it."
"I'm right on de job," said Josh.
Matt climbed into his seat and started on the low gear. There was acreaking of the ropes as they took the pull, and the runabout started.
Everything worked smoothly, and Matt, with a load worth fifteen hundreddollars, set his face toward Fairview.