CHAPTER VII.
BRISK WORK AT DODGE CITY.
Matt and Carl had to change cars at a place called La Junta, and therewas a tedious wait. In due course, however, they resumed their journey,slept out the night in a sleeping-car and got out at Dodge City forbreakfast. The train halted for twenty minutes to give the passengersa chance to eat. This stop was to prove an exciting twenty minutes forMatt and Carl.
Just as they were moving with a crowd of other hungry passengers towardthe door of the eating-house a shabby and seedy personage strolled out,chewing a toothpick.
Carl let off a whoop. "Slocum, py shinks!" he called.
Slocum gave a jump and started to run. Matt and Carl at once trailedafter him.
The passengers on the station platform got out of the way and stoodand gaped at the flight and pursuit. They could not understand whatit all meant, of course, and, while it was sufficiently exciting toclaim their attention, there was only twenty minutes allowed them forbreakfast, and they could not waste much time.
When the shabby man, with the two boys hot after him, had vanishedaround the corner of the station-building, the passengers began filinginto the eating-room.
To say that Matt was startled to catch a glimpse of Slocum woulddescribe his feelings too mildly. If Slocum had taken an early trainwith the rest of the drivers, what was he doing there in Dodge City? Heshould have been several hours further along the road.
Matt was not looking for more trickery. The fact that Higgins hadwatched him and Carl in Denver, and had sent a message to Sercomb, was,of course, unknown to the young motorist. Had that point been broughtto Matt's attention he might have suspected something underhand in thisstrange appearance of Slocum.
Slocum's legs were long and he was making good use of them. Afterwhirling around the corner of the station, he set off across the trackstoward some trees and bushes that lined the edge of the switch-yard.
Matt and Carl were overhauling the rascal steadily, and were not morethan a dozen feet behind him when he vanished into the bushes. Mattled Carl by a yard, and when Matt had crashed through the brush andinto a little cleared space, Slocum was still out of sight.
Directly in front of Matt was a small tool-house such as a section-ganguses for storing tools and hand-cars. The door of the tool-house wasswinging wide, and an open padlock hung in a staple at the edge of theopening.
As Matt stood for a second looking at the tool-house, he fancied heheard a stir inside the small building and a sound of whispering voices.
He felt sure that Slocum had gone into the tool-house, and that therewas some one else there. The secrecy with which the quick whisperinghad been carried on aroused Matt's suspicions.
Had Slocum been informed in some manner that Matt and Carl were ontheir way East? And had he stopped off the other train to carry outsome other treacherous scheme of Sercomb's?
It looked very much to Matt that this was the case, and as thoughSlocum had secured some one to help him. Slocum had made a bee-line forthe tool-house, and it might be that he had had a confederate waitingfor him there, and was intending to run the boys into some sort of atrap.
All this flashed through Motor Matt's brain in the space of a breath.By the time Carl came crashing to his side Matt had canvassed hissuspicions and laid a counter-plan.
"Vere iss dot feller, Matt?" panted Carl.
"I think he's gone off through the brush," replied Matt.
"Nix, bard; I bed you dot he has gone indo der leedle house."
"We'll look in the brush first," returned Matt, giving Carl asignificant glance and pushing him away toward the rear of thetool-shed.
Matt's talk was all for the benefit of those who might be listening.Carl could not understand his chum's tactics, but he understood verywell that he had something important at the back of his head.
As Carl moved off around the rear of the tool-house, Matt proceededquickly and softly toward the front. Close to the open door he paused.
"They'll get away from us, Ralph!" came to him in an excited whisper.
"No, they won't, Joe!" answered an equally guarded voice. "They'll lookaround toward the rear of the shed and then they'll come in here. Beready to down 'em the minute they show up in the doorway. We'll fasten'em in here and they won't be able to get out until night."
"But if we lose that train----" put in another voice, only to beinterrupted by Sercomb's.
"Lose nothing, Balt! The train stops twenty minutes, and we'll get backto the station in good time."
"Gad," muttered the voice of Slocum, "Higgins gave us a hot tip. Youought to've seen those chaps when they set eyes on me. That Dutchmanwould have eaten me up if I'd let him get close enough."
"I knew they'd chase you," went on Sercomb.
"I don't think we're gaining anything, even at that," struck in thevoice of Packard. "We jump off the other train and delay ourselves justto set King back a train."
"Trueman, of the Jarrot Automobile Company, has a car in the race andhe's not satisfied with his driver. I don't want King to work in there,and I intend to see Trueman and put one of our boys in his car. Ifwe'd stayed on that other train we'd have reached Ottawa in the night.On this train we'll reach our destination in the morning, and I'll havea chance at Trueman before King shows up. If----"
Matt overheard that much, and his astonishment can perhaps be imaginedbetter than described. Sercomb was plotting, as usual, and not only washe in the tool-shed with Slocum, but Joe Mings and Harry Packard andBalt Finn were there as well.
The talk between the drivers came to a sudden close as Carl, impatientto find out what Matt was doing, ran around the other side of the shed.
Matt started to close the door. It was held open by a stone andresisted his efforts. While he was kicking away the stone those insidethe shed scented trouble and made a break for the doorway.
"Don't let them get out, Carl!" shouted Matt. "Keep them in. They laida trap for us, and we'll spring it on them!"
"Hoop-a-la!" cried Carl, striking out with his fists.
If there was one thing Carl Pretzel loved more than another it was afight; and now there was not only a chance to have a brisk skirmishwith the enemy, but also to turn the tables on them. The Dutch boy'sheart was in his work, and he planted one effective blow after another,as fast as he could move his arms.
Matt jumped to his aid. Fists shot out of the doorway only to becountered and beaten back. The opening was wide enough for the passageof a hand-car, but not wide enough for all those in the shed to breakthrough side by side.
Slocum, by the shift of circumstances, was juggled to the front ofthe struggling drivers. Matt grabbed him and hurled him against thosebehind. Sercomb and Packard tumbled to the floor with Slocum on top.This left Finn and Mings battling fiercely in the entrance.
Matt launched a blow, straight from the shoulder, that drove Mings backagainst the inner wall; then, as Carl sparred with Finn, Matt pulledthe door toward him.
"Out of the way, Carl!" Matt shouted.
The Dutch boy slipped aside and Matt slammed the door shut in Finn'sface. Finn began to push, calling on the rest of his comrades to bear ahand. Carl, while Matt was tinkering with the heavy hasp and padlock,threw his weight against the door on the outside. Another moment andthe padlock was snapped into place, leaving those inside practicallyhelpless.
"Cock-a-tootle-too!" crowed Carl. "How you like dot, you fellers? Dot'svonce, by chincher, you got more as you pargained for, hey? Meppy youvill findt oudt, vone oof tose tays, how Modor Matt does t'ings, yah, Ibed you!"
"Let us out of here!" bellowed Sercomb, as frantic fists pounded on thedoor. "We want to go East on that train."
"So do we," answered Matt, "and you'd have kept us from it if youcould. Turn about is fair play, Sercomb. I'll reach Ottawa in time tosee this man Trueman, whom you were talking about. Much obliged for thetip. You fellows can follow on the train Carl and I would have had totake in case you had been successful and locked us in there."
"Let us out,
King," bawled Mings, "or you'll be sorry you didn't! Takethat from me!"
"I've taken a whole lot from you fellows already, Mings," answeredMatt, "and I'm getting tired of it. If I can ever catch Slocum he'lltell all about that trickery of his in the Clifton Hotel, or he'll wishhe had."
"Dot's righdt!" put in Carl. "You vas a lot oof schmard Alecs, undpooty kevick you vas going to findt oudt dot it don'd pay to act likevot you dit. Dere iss so many oof you dot you von't be lonesome indere, und ven you come py Oddawa, Modor Matt und I vill meed you mitder pand. Ach, you vas a fine punch oof grafders!"
The door shook and shivered as those inside the shed hurled themselvesagainst it; but it was strongly put together and the baffled driverscould not break it down or force it open.
Carl, shaking with enjoyment, stood off and watched the door bulgeoutward and rattle back into place.
Presently the attack ceased.
"Look here, King," called the breathless voice of Sercomb, "if you'lllet us out of here we'll agree to quit bothering you. Ain't that fairenough?"
"I'm not making any terms with you, Sercomb," replied Matt. "You're tootricky to be trusted."
Just then the engine bell set up its clangor and, from the distance,came the warning "All aboard!" of the conductor.
"Dot means us, Matt!" cried Carl.
Turning away from the shed the boys dashed through the fringe of bushesand off across the tracks. As they bounded to the station platform thelast car of the train was flickering past.
Carl gained the steps of the last car at a flying leap, and Matt wasclose behind him.
The train rolled eastward, and the boys, leaning across the hand-railand breathing themselves, watched the little patch of brush and timberencircling the tool-shed fade from sight.
"Be jeerful, eferypody!" jubilated Carl. "Ve missed our preakfast, aberit vas vort' der brice. Hey, Matt?"