CHAPTER XVI.
CONCLUSION.
Motor Matt's regret was keen over the failure to catch Ben Ali, AurungZeeb, and the unknown Hindoo. It was one of those cases, however, whereit was best to be satisfied with the work accomplished, and to forgetthe failure whereby three miscreants escaped the consequence of theirevil deeds.
And it was possible that Ben Ali was not long to enjoy his freedom,for Twomley asserted that all the powers of the United States SecretService would be bent toward accomplishing his ultimate capture.
When it came to dealing legally with Dhondaram, a serious questionarose. If the Hindoo was to be punished severely, it would be necessaryto take him to Jackson, where the worst of his crimes had beencommitted. This would require the presence of complaining witnesses,of which Burton was one. For a man traveling from place to placeconstantly, as was Burton, such a move could not be made without greatsacrifices.
It was deemed better, therefore, to have Dhondaram brought to book forthe lesser crime committed in the house of the green shutters. "Assaultwith murderous intent" was the charge, and a light sentence followed.
Bill Wily, agreeably to promises given him, was released. Whetherhe profited by his experience or not, Motor Matt never afterwarddiscovered. Such a lesson as he had had, however, should have beenenough for any man. For a little matter of ten dollars, he had enteredblindly into the schemes of Ben Ali--and Ben Ali's schemes left theirmark on every person who had anything to do with them.
Twomley was a delighted Englishman, if there ever was one. He hadfulfilled the mission with which he had been intrusted by Sir Roger,and he had done so after discovering that his errand to Lafayette, sofar as securing Miss Manners was concerned, was useless.
A Roman candle in the side-show tent had lent itself to theperpetration of a practical joke; and out of that joke had come theclue which had made possible the second rescue of Margaret Manners.
Carl was very much pleased to learn that so much good had developedfrom a row in the freak tent, but whether or not he forgave Ping forsetting off the Roman candle is open to question.
Carl had declared that he would "play even" with Ping for the candleepisode, and those who knew Carl best believed that he would prove asgood as his word.
Monday morning Twomley and Miss Manners took a train for New York, butnot until both the attach? and the girl had expressed to Matt and themotor boys their appreciation of all that they had done.
It was somewhat indelicate of Carl, perhaps, to mention the matter ofhis five thousand dollars before Miss Manners, but he was beginningto worry about the money. As he expressed it, "Der longer vat der timeiss, der more vat I don'd seem to ged dot rewart. I peen sefendeenyears olt, und meppy I don'd lif more as sixdy years from now."
Twomley assured Carl that he would do whatever he possibly could tohurry the money along. And with this promise Carl had to be satisfied.
With the turning over of Dhondaram to the police, the liberating ofBill Wily, and the departure of Twomley and Miss Manners, a series ofthrilling incidents connected with Motor Matt's show career came to aclose.
And Motor Matt's show experiences were likewise drawing near an end.Just how close this end was he did not dream that Monday morning whenhe and McGlory accompanied the attach? and his charge to the train.
When the two boys got back to the show grounds, however, Boss Burtonhad a telegram for Matt.
Burton was frankly worried about that telegram. Some other showman,he felt sure, was offering Matt a bigger salary for his a?roplaneperformances.
"Don't you forget for a minute," said Burton, watching keenly as Mattopened the telegram, "that you're hooked up with me on a contract forthe season. You can't break that contract, you know."
"There were conditions, Burton," said Matt.
"The only condition I remember was something about the governmentbuying the a?roplane--which is all a dream. The government has boughtone of the machines, and that's enough. It takes a Motor Matt to runone of those cranky Traquair air ships. It'll be a long while beforeUncle Sam buys another."
Matt read the message through, gave a whoop of delight, and passed theyellow slip on to McGlory.
Then McGlory jubilated.
"What's to pay?" demanded Burton.
"Uncle Sam has done the trick!" crowed the cowboy. "He takes the_Comet_ at the same price he paid for the _June Bug_--fifteen thousandspot--machine to be crated and shipped immediately, if not sooner.Whoop-ya! That settles the a?roplane business for King & McGlory. Thenext game we get into will be something, I reckon, that I can take ahand in, and not leave Pard Matt to do all the work."
Burton's face grew gloomy.
"Let me look at that message," he requested.
Matt handed it to him, and he read it over two or three times, thendropped it savagely, and ground it under his heel.
"You don't _have_ to sell," said he angrily. "You can turn that offerdown if you want to."
"No, I can't," Matt answered. "The sale was virtually made up in NorthDakota weeks ago. Besides, I'm not the only one interested in thedeal."
"Who else besides McGlory?"
"Why, Mrs. Traquair, the widow of Harry Traquair, who invented theextension wings and a few other things that have made the a?roplanea success. Half of the fifteen thousand the government pays for themachine goes to Mrs. Traquair."
"Oh, blazes!" growled Burton. "Don't tell the woman anything about it.Send word back to the war department you don't want to sell; then I'llmake a new contract with you for a thousand a week. In seven or eightweeks you boys will receive all your share of what the government paysfor the _Comet_."
Matt listened to the showman gravely.
"You don't mean what you say, Burton," said he. "If you think fora minute that I'd play crooked with Mrs. Traquair, or with thegovernment, then you've got pretty far off your track. It's in ourcontract that, if the government wants the machine, the contractterminates. Here's where the motor boys' engagement with the BigConsolidated comes to a close."
"You'll make a couple of flights to-day, won't you?" asked Burton,swallowing his disappointment.
"Yes, I'll do that much for you," Matt answered, "and then, bright andearly to-morrow morning, we begin crating the machine for shipment."
"Blamed if I don't sort of hate to see the machine go," murmuredMcGlory. "Many a hair-raising old trip you've had in the _Comet_, pard,with me below lookin' up at you and almost kicking the bucket withheart failure! Mainy a thriller the machine has given us, and--well, Ireckon it's done some good, too."
"That's the best part of it, Joe," said the king of the motor boys.
THE END.
THE NEXT NUMBER (30) WILL CONTAIN
Motor Matt's Mandarin
OR,
Turning a Trick for Tsan Ti.
On the Mountainside--The Yellow Cord--The Glass Balls--The Paper Clue--Putting Two-and-two Together--A Smash--Nip and Tuck--Tsan Ti Vanishes Again--Tricked Once More--The Diamond Merchant--The Old Sugar Camp--A Tight Corner--The Glass Spheres--A Master Rogue--The Eye of Buddha--The Broken Hoodoo.