CHAPTER II.
THE UNEXPECTED.
Welcome Perkins was as full of vagaries as a moving-picture showis full of trouble. Although he proudly referred to himself as"Eagle-eye," yet his sight was none too good, even when he had on hisspectacles.
Matt and Susie, standing in the background, laughed as half a dozenpuffing boys in sleeveless white shirts, running-pants and spiked shoescame abreast of the gate and straggled on toward the bridge. When thelast one had flickered out of sight, Welcome muttered under his breath,sat upon the ground and began tinkering with the broken strap of hiswooden leg.
"All-fired queer," said he, "how my mind's allers a-huntin' troublethat-away. 'Course if I'd a-had them spectacles on my nose I might haveseen that them was runners from the high school, but I only ketchedthe flash o' them red letters on their white shirts, an' I jest up an'thinks o' Injuns right off. It's the ole sperrit b'ilin' around insideme, I reckon, an' I'm afeared it'll make me do somethin' yet that I'llbe sorry for. I used to be a powerful man in a tussle."
Welcome pulled at the mended strap and got the wooden leg back inplace; then he picked up the old weapon and Matt helped him to his feet.
"It must be awful," said Matt, with a sly look at Susie, "to have thedisposition of a Royal Bengal tiger and forced to keep a muzzle on itall the time."
"Tur'ble," answered the old man with a gruesome shake of the head;"I can't begin to tell ye how tur'ble onhandy I find it oncet in awhile," and with that he started off toward the back yard.
"Welcome is as jolly as a show," laughed Matt. "It's a mighty goodthing that old pop-gun of his is harmless. If it wasn't for that hemight make a mistake some time that would be anything but pleasant.It's a cinch he's an old false-alarm, but there's always a possibilitythat he'll explode by accident and do damage. Where did you say my palChub was?"
"In his laboratory," said Susie. "He sent Welcome to town aftersomething, and I guess the old humbug has gone to the laboratory withit."
"What's Chub trying to invent now?" queried Matt, as he and Susiestarted around the house on the trail of Perkins.
"I think it's smokeless powder," replied Susie.
"Great hanky-pank!" gasped Matt. "Why, that's already been invented.Besides, Susie, Chub hadn't ought to be fooling around with stuff likethat."
The back yard of the McReady home stretched down to the cottonwoodsthat fringed the bank of the canal. Here, in an old poultry-house,Mark, otherwise "Chub" McReady, did most of his experimenting.
A dozen feet from the "laboratory" was a tall pole rising some fortyfeet from the ground and overtopping the trees. At its lofty extremitywas an arm with the tip of a lightning-rod swinging downward from itsouter end.
"How's the wireless working, Susie?" asked Matt as they moved towardthe canal.
"Mark got a spark from the Bluebell Mine last night," said Susie;"just one flash, that's all. After that something seemed to go wrong.That's generally the way with Mark's inventions, Matt. I wish he'd stopfooling away his time; but, even if his time isn't valuable, there'salways the expense. Welcome encourages him, though, and furnishes mostof the money. I wonder where Welcome gets it?"
"Welcome's a sly old possum in spite of his foolishness, andit's my opinion he's got a stake settled away somewhere. Thiswireless-telegraph experimenting is harmless enough, but I'm Dutchif I think it's the right thing for Chub to tamper with thissmokeless-powder idea. Something might happen, and----"
Just then something _did_ happen, something that was clearly not downon the program. There was a muffled roar from the laboratory, followedby a burst of smoke from the door and the open window. With a wildyell, Welcome Perkins rolled through the window, heels--or heel--overhead. He was on fire in several places.
A chunky, red-haired boy came through the door as though he had beenshot out of a cannon. This was Chub, and he was badly singed.
"Whoo!" yelled Chub, coming to a dazed halt and rubbing one hand acrosshis eyes. "That was a corker, though. I guess something went crossways.Say, Perk! Hold up there, Perk!"
Welcome Perkins had scrambled erect and was stumping along for thecanal like a human meteor. He was carrying his hat and seemed tothink his life depended on getting where he was going in the shortestpossible time.
Without waiting to explain matters to Matt and Susie, Chub darted afterWelcome.
"Goodness' sakes," screamed Susie, "the laboratory is burning up!"
"Small loss if it does burn up," answered Matt, "but we'd better dowhat we can to put out the fire and keep sparks away from the house."
Matt ran swiftly into the kitchen of the adobe house, picked up abucket of water and darted back toward the laboratory. There was a gooddeal of smoke, but not very much fire, and the single pail of water wasenough to quench the flames. But the interior of the laboratory wascompletely wrecked.
"There'll be no conflagration, Susie," announced Matt, coming out ofthe place and joining the girl near the door. "Chub was a lucky boy toget out of that mess as well as he did. Let's hike for the canal andsee what he and Welcome are doing."
"Mark might have killed himself," said Susie, half sobbing with thestrain her nerves had undergone, "and he might have killed Welcome,too. He's got to stop this foolish experimenting. You tell him, Matt,won't you?"
"You can bet I'll do what I can, Susie," answered Matt; "I don't wantChub to blow himself up. If Welcome furnishes the money, though, Idon't just see how we're going to keep Chub from furnishing the timefor all this fool investigating. The thing to do is to find whereWelcome keeps his grub-stake and take it away from him."
When Susie and Matt reached the canal there was a spirited disputegoing on between Chub and Welcome. The latter, from his appearance,must have jumped into the canal and extinguished the flames that hadfastened upon his clothes, for he was as wet as a drowned rat.
"Perk," Chub was shouting, "I told you to get alcohol, _alcohol_! Whatwas it you brought back?"
"No sich of a thing!" whooped Welcome, jumping up and down in hisexcitement and raining water over everybody. "Sulfuric acid, thatthere's what ye said--an' that there's what I got."
"And there was me," snorted Chub, "trying to mix sulfuric acid withgunpowder. Say, Perk!"
"Wow! Talk to yerself, talk to anybody else, but don't ye talk to me.I've had plenty, I have. Look! Everythin' I got's sp'iled."
"Perk," counseled Chub, "you jump into the canal again and stay there."
"Jump in yerself--yah! I'm goin' out inter the hills an' hold upstages an' things jest like I useter do--an' it's you what's driv' meto it. Thar's somethin' for ye to think of when ever'body's huntin'me an' thar's a price on my head an' I ain't got no place to go. Whenthat thar time comes, Chub McReady, jest remember it was you driv oleWelcome Perkins to his everlastin' doom!"
Then, with his head high in the air, the ex-pirate of the plainsstumped off through the cottonwoods, jabbing wrathfully with his woodenpin at every step. Chub watched him a moment, then leaned against atree and looked sheepishly at Susie and Matt.
"I guess I was too hard on Perk," remarked Chub, a slow grin workingits way over his freckled face, "for I was as much to blame as he was.By rights, we both ought to jump in the canal and stay there. How's thefire?"
"Matt put it out, Chub," said Susie. "I'm going to tell dad about thiswhen he gets back. You've got to stop this nonsense before you killyourself or somebody else."
"All right, sis," answered Chub humbly, "I'll stop. If I could onlyget that wireless-telegraph line to workin' between here and theBluebell I'd have somethin' to keep me busy. Say, Matt, if you've gottime I'd like to have you tell me what's the matter with that wirelessapparatus. Got a spark from the Bluebell last night, but that's allit amounted to. You're no inventor, but you're always pretty handy intelling me where I make a miscue in my machines. Go up to the house,sis," Chub added to Susie, "and keep that old fire-eater from going outinto the hills and slaughtering somebody. I don't think he'd slip outat all, and I know he wouldn't massacre a horned toad, but he
likes usto believe he's just naturally a bad man trying to reform, and it'sjust as well to keep an eye on him."
Before Susie left she cast a significant look at Matt.
"Let's go up the canal a ways, Chub," said Matt, when he and his chumwere alone, "where we can make ourselves comfortable and have a littlequiet confab."
"You've got more'n your hat on your mind, Matt," returned Chub, "I cantell that by the look of you; but if it's this business of mine that'sput you in a funk----"
"It's not that altogether, Chub," interrupted Matt. "You see, I've gotto leave Phoenix, and I want to talk with you about it."
Chub was astounded, and stood staring at Matt with jaws agape. His hairand eyebrows were singed, there was a black smudge on his face, and hisclothes were more or less demoralized. In his bewilderment he made apicture that brought a hearty laugh to Matt's lips.
"Come on, Chub, what's struck you in a heap?" said Matt, catching hisarm and pulling him off along the canal-bank. "You act as though I'dhanded you a jolt below the belt."
"That's just the size of it, Matt," returned Chub. "Say, if you leavePh[oe]nix you've got to take Reddy McReady along with you--or you don'tgo. That's flat. Are you listening to my spiel, pal?"