CHAPTER X.
A TRICK AT THE START.
The guard who had been in charge of the a?roplane since the paradehad returned to the show grounds was relieved by Matt and McGlory. Assoon as he had left, Matt, in accordance with his usual custom, madea careful examination of the machine. He knew very well what mighthappen if he found, after being launched into the air, that some of themany parts of the a?roplane were loose, or the machinery not workingproperly.
Long ropes, stretched on each side of the road on which the flyingmachine got its start, served to keep the people back and to give Mattand his corps of assistants plenty of room.
So far as the young motorist could see--and his investigation wasalways thorough--the a?roplane was in as serviceable a condition asit had been for the morning's flight. It was a most ungainly lookingmachine when resting on the ground, but was transformed into a thing ofgrace the moment it spurned the earth and mounted skyward.
"She looks as fit as a fiddle," remarked McGlory, his face shining withpride.
"She'll do her work easy as falling off a log," said Matt. "The repairswe made on her, in Lafayette, seem to have been an improvement."
"We don't want to make any more improvements of that sort," remarkedMcGlory, thinking of the accident which had made the repairs necessary.
"Ah," cried Matt, "here comes Le Bon. And look who's with him," headded in a lower tone.
The cowboy turned his head and swept his gaze over the throng thatpressed the guard rope to the north of the road. Le Bon, in his trapezecostume, was crawling through the press, and close behind him cameDhondaram. McGlory scowled.
"What's the Hindoo coming for?" he muttered. "I'm getting so I hate thelooks of that fellow."
Le Bon came close, walking with the springy tread of the trainedathlete.
"It looks as though we were going to have as nice a time aloft as wehad this morning, Matt," he observed, coming to a halt and taking alook at the sky.
"What's the Hindoo trailing you for?" queried McGlory.
"He wanted to come along and see the flight at close quarters. He'sa pretty good fellow, McGlory, and I told him to push along with me.What's the harm?"
"No harm at all," interposed Matt hastily.
McGlory spun around on his heel and would not remain near to talk withDhondaram. The Hindoo, as he halted in front of Matt, was smiling inhis most ingratiating manner.
"I have come to look, sahib," said he, "at your most wonderfulperformance. It is read of everywhere, and in Chicago most of all. Itwill be a pleasure. It is permitted?"
"You can stay here," answered Matt, "providing you keep out of the way."
"I will see to that, Mattrao Sahib," and the Hindoo walked around thea?roplane, giving it his respectful attention.
The wonder was growing upon Matt as to the whereabouts of Ping.The Chinese boy was always on hand when the flights were made, forthe _Comet_ was the apple of his eye and he took it as a personalresponsibility to make sure that the "get-away" was always safelyaccomplished.
He did not appear to be trailing the Hindoo. If he had been, why was henot somewhere in the crowds that were pressing against the guard ropes.
"Watch the brown tinhorn, Le Bon," muttered McGlory, in the kinker'sear, "and see that he don't tinker with anything."
"Why," exclaimed Le Bon, "he wouldn't do anything like that!"
"He might," was the sharp response. "I haven't any faith in thesefellows who wear a twisted tablecloth for a hat. If anything should gowrong, up in the air, it'll spell your finish as well as my pard's. I'mgoing to have a word with Matt."
The band had come from the mess tent. Instruments in hand, the membershad climbed into the band wagon, which was hauled up near the pointfrom which the _Comet_ would start, and a rattling melody was going upfrom the horns, the drums, and the cymbals.
The a?roplane flight was Motor Matt's own particular part of the show.It was an instructive part, too, for aside from the thrill of seeinga human being piloting a big mechanical bird through the air theobservers were given the last word in a?rial navigation.
"What's on your mind, pard?" asked McGlory, halting at Matt's side."You're as thoughtful as a cold game gent who's looking into the openend of a gun."
"Have you seen anything of Ping, Joe?" said Matt.
"Chink 'signs' haven't been at all plentiful since our squinch-eyedbrother tried to run out the Hindoo's trail."
"I'd like to know where the boy is, that's all."
"Don't fret about him. I'd like to have a picture of Ping in a cornerhe couldn't get out of. You take it from me, Johnny Hardluck hasn't gotsuch a corner in his whole bag of tricks."
At that moment Burton rode up to the a?roplane on his favorite saddler.
"Innocent or guilty?" he asked, leaning down from his saddle andaccompanying the words with a significant wink.
"Innocent, of course," answered the king of the motor boys.
"Can you prove it to me?"
"Not yet."
"And you never will. Better let me have the Dutchman locked up. That'llscare him so he'll tell all he knows, and maybe it isn't yet too lateto get the money back."
"Keep hands off my Dutch pard, Burton," said Matt. "We've made anagreement about that."
"Exactly." Boss Burton straightened. "I guess you'd better get a-going,Matt," he added. "The whole town seems to be outside the guard ropes,and I don't think we could get any more spectators if we waited allnight."
Burton backed his horse away from the starting line and lifted onehand. Instantly a breathless silence fell over the vast throng, whileevery individual member of it craned his or her neck to get a betterview of what was going on.
The a?roplane, as has already been stated, had to make a running starton bicycle wheels in order to develop the speed necessary for the wingsto take hold of the air and lift the machine. The wheels were low, andLe Bon had to sit on the lower plane beside Matt and hold the trapezeon his lap until the _Comet_ was high enough for him to drop from thefootboard.
The _Comet's_ motor was equipped with a magneto, but, at the beginningand while the machine was on the ground, the spark was secured with amake-and-break circuit. When the motor was properly going the magnetotook hold and an automatic switch brought it into commission.
McGlory superintended the ground work during the start. Some half adozen men, under his direction, ranged behind the planes, started themachine, and ran with it. The power in the bicycle wheels soon carriedthe a?roplane away from them.
At twenty-eight miles an hour the great wings felt the tug of theair, the wheels lifted from solid ground, and a sharp pull at a leverstarted the big propeller.
Matt had made so many ascensions that he handled every part of his workwith automatic precision, and the a?roplane, amid the wild cheers ofthe crowd, darted skyward.
McGlory, standing perhaps a distance of fifty feet back from the pointwhere the machine left the earth, saw a bag hanging to the under plane,close to an opening that led up through the plane to the motor and thedriver's seat.
What was the bag? the cowboy asked himself, and how did it chance to beswinging there?
McGlory had only a few moments to make his observations, for the_Comet_ was climbing swiftly upward and the bag was growing rapidlysmaller to the eye. He ran forward, stumbling and looking, and Burton,evidently with his eyes on the same object, galloped past him withglance upturned.
Suddenly a black object appeared over the top of the bag, grew longer,wriggled queerly, and could be seen disappearing into the space betweenthe two planes.
The cowboy halted his stumbling feet and reeled, his brain on fire andhis breath coming quick and hard.
That black, wriggling thing must have been the cobra! The cobra, whichthe Hindoo had said he had sold to some one on the show grounds!
McGlory's mind was a hopeless chaos of fears, doubts, and wildspeculations. While he stood there, Burton, a wild look on his face,came galloping back.
"That bag!" he gasped, drawing rein
with a quick, nervous hand at thecowboy's side. "Did you see it, McGlory?"
"Yes," answered the other.
"It was one of the bags that had stolen money in it!" declared Burton;"I saw the black lettering on the side! Is it the one you got from theDutchman?"
McGlory shook his head, still dazed.
"I've got that--in my grip--at the calliope tent," he managed to gasp.
"Where did that one come from?"
Then McGlory came to his senses.
"I don't care a whoop about the bag, or where it came from," heshouted. "Did you see that snake come out of it and crawl up onto thelower plane? Did you see that?"
"Yes, but----"
"Don't talk to me! Find that Hindoo--he was here before the start andhe put that bag there. Find him!" yelled McGlory.
Then, at the top of his lungs, the cowboy shouted frantically to Matt,in the hope of letting him know his danger and putting him on his guard.
But it was a fruitless effort. The tremendous cheering drownedMcGlory's voice, and it was impossible for him to make his voice heard.