CHAPTER XIII.
PING ON THE WRONG TRACK.
To say that Motor Matt and Joe McGlory were surprised at the oddsituation confronting them would paint their feelings in too faint acolor.
"How did this happen?" demanded Matt.
"Me," said Carl, "I made it habben. Venefer I go afder some fellers Iged him. Yah, so!"
"What's Ping tied up for?"
"To make sure mit meinseluf dot he vould come."
"Where did you find him?"
"In vone oof dose ganvas wagons bedween vich der money vas took. He vasashleep. I ged me some ropes und vile he shleep, py shiminy, I ged derrope on his hants. Den I porrow der mu-el und der leedle vagon. I seeder flying mashine in der air, und I hear der people yell like plazes,aber I don'd haf time for nodding but der shink. You say to pringhim, und I dit. Dere he vas. Ven Modor Matt tell Carl Pretzel to dosomet'ing, id vas as goot as dit."
Another wail came from Ping, but it was not accompanied by any wordsthat could be understood.
"Take the ropes off him, Carl," ordered Matt. "You should not have tiedhim like that."
"Den for vy he shleep in der ganvas wagon ven you tell him to drail derHintoo?"
"Ping will explain about that."
"My velly bad China boy," gurgled the prisoner. "Motol Matt no likeeally mo'. Givee China boy bounce."
Carl, with an air of great importance, proceeded to take the cords offPing's hands. The moment the ropes were all removed Ping leaped atCarl over the side of the cart, grabbed him savagely, and they bothwent down and rolled over and over in the road. The mixture of pidginEnglish and Dutch dialect that accompanied the scrimmage was appalling.
Quickly as they could, Matt and McGlory separated the boys and heldthem apart.
"I told you somet'ing," yelled Carl, "und dot iss der shinks is dervorst peoples vat I know."
"Dutchy boy no good!" piped Ping. "No lettee China boy savee face.Woosh!"
"Here, now," spoke up Matt sternly. "Tell us all about this, Ping. Didyou follow the Hindoo, as I told you?"
"Allee same," answered the Chinese boy.
"Why did you leave the trail? Did you lose it?"
"My velly bad China boy," insisted Ping, with the usual wail.
"You didn't lose the trail?"
"No losee, just makee stop."
"You quit following the Hindoo?"
"Allee same," sniffed Ping.
"What was the reason?"
"My velly----"
"Yes, yes, I know all that, but tell me why you quit followingDhondaram."
"Him makee tlacks fo' ticket wagon, makee pidgin with tlicket man,makee go to canvas wagon, makee hide. Bymby, 'long come Dutchy boy,blingee tlicket man. Tlicket man him cally two bag. Hindoo makee jump,hittee Dutchy boy, knockee down." Ping chuckled as though he consideredthe matter a good joke. "Tlicket man and Hindoo man takee money bags,empty allee same in hat, takee snake flom basket, puttee snake in onebag, puttee othel bag in Dutchy boy's pocket. My savvy. Hindoo man andtlicket man stealee money, makee think Dutchy boy stealee. My thinkeeone piecee fine business. Stopee follow tlail. Dutchy boy findee heaptlouble. My no ketchee Motol Matt, for' Motol Matt makee China boytellee 'bout Dutchy boy. Woosh! Ping him velly bad China boy. No likeeDutchy boy. Heap likee him get in tlouble."
Here was a lot of information tied up in a small and ragged bundleof pidgin. In order to develop all the different parts of it, Mattundertook a line of patient cross-examination.
When the talk was finished the fact that stood out prominently wasthis, that Ping had allowed his feeling against Carl to beguile himinto a most reprehensible course of conduct. He saw the thieves atwork, and guessed that they were trying to involve Carl in the robbery.Ping was glad to have Carl involved, so he stopped following theHindoo and hid himself away in order that Matt might not find him andlearn the truth. It was sad but true that the China boy had let hishostility to Carl lure him away on the wrong track.
"Ping," said Matt sternly, "you acted like a heathen. Carl is a friendof mine, and entitled to your consideration. Instead of helping him outof his trouble, you held back in the hope that he would get into deepwater. You can't work for me if you act like that."
"My makee mistake, velly bad mistake," moaned Ping. "No makee ally mo'."
"You have been telling yarns about Carl, too," went on Matt. "You toldBoss Burton that you had found Carl going through your clothes andtaking----"
"Py shiminy Grismus!" whooped Carl. "Take your handts avay, McGlory,und led me ged at dot yellow feller. Schust vonce, only vonce! He haspeen telling aroundt dot I vas a ropper! _Ach, du lieber!_ I vas somadt I feel like I bust oop."
"Hold your bronks, Carl," growled McGlory. "You're not going to getaway."
"Allee same, Motol Matt, my speakee like that," acknowledged Ping."Dutchy boy say China boy no good. My no likee."
"You told things that were not true," proceeded Matt, "and they helpedto get Carl into trouble."
"My savvy."
"Are you sorry you did it?"
"Heap solly, you bettee."
"Py shinks," fussed Carl, "I'll make him sorrier as dot, vone oof dosedays."
"I guess, Joe," remarked Matt, "that we'll have to cut loose from bothCarl and Ping. What's the use of trying to do anything with them? Theyact like young hoodlums, and I'm ashamed to own them for pards."
"Pull the pin on the pair of them, Matt," counseled McGlory. "They makeus more trouble than they're worth."
A howl of protest went up from Carl.
"For vy you cut loose from me, hey?" he demanded. "I dit vat you say. Ipring in der shink."
"You don't do what I say, Carl," answered Matt. "I have tried toget you two boys to bury the hatchet, but you won't. This bickeringof yours has resulted in a lot of trouble for all hands, and prettyserious trouble, at that. We can't work together unless we're all onfriendly terms."
"My makee fliendly terms," said Ping eagerly. "Givee China boy anothelchance, Motol Matt. Plenty soon my go top-side, you no givee chance."
"Schust gif me some more shances, too, bard," begged Carl. "I don'dvant to haf you cut me adrift like vat you say."
"Well," returned Matt thoughtfully, "I'll give you just one moreopportunity. Take the mule and wagon, both of you, and return them tothe place where Carl found them. Remember this, though, that you can'ttravel with McGlory and me unless you show a little more friendshiptoward each other."
Carl and Ping stepped forward in the gloom. There was a moment'shesitation, and then Carl took the mule by the halter and moved off.Ping trailed along behind.
"Don't say a word to any one about what Ping discovered," Matt calledafter the boys, and both shouted back their assurances that they wouldnot.
"Well, tell me about that!" gasped McGlory, his voice between a growland a chuckle. "Ping saw the robbery, and was keeping quiet about itjust to let Carl get into a hard row of stumps. He's a heathen, and nomistake."
"But the point that interests me a lot," said Matt, "is the fact thatCarter himself is mixed up in the robbery! He planned it with thisrascally Hindoo, who joined the show this morning and has been doinghis villainous work all day. Carter was trying to get the benefit ofthe robbery and, at the same time, shirk the responsibility and staywith the show."
"How's that for a double deal?" muttered McGlory, amazed at theaudacity of the ticket seller as Matt put the case in cold words. "Butthen," he added, "Ping may not be telling the truth."
"I've lost a good deal of confidence in Ping," returned Matt, "but Ibelieve he's giving the matter to us straight. One of the money bags,as Ping says, was put in Carl's pocket while he was lying dazed andunconscious from the blow dealt him by Dhondaram; and Ping also saysthat the snake was put in the other bag. That has all been proved to bethe case."
"And Carter must have slashed himself on the cheek just to make it lookto Burton as though he'd had a rough time during the robbery!"
"Exactly."
"All this fails to explain, though, why Dhondaram t
ried to destroy thea?roplane, and then fastened the bag with the snake to the lower wingof the machine."
"We're on the right track to discover all that. Let's hunt up Burton,and then we can all three of us have a talk with Andy Carter."
"That's the talk!" agreed McGlory. "You stay here, pard, and I'llhunt up some one to watch the _Comet_ while we're gone. After what'shappened to-day, I hate to leave the machine alone for a minute."
McGlory was not long in coming with a man to look after the a?roplane,and he and Matt left immediately to find Boss Burton.