CHAPTER II.
THE RUNAWAY AUTO.
"Vat's der madder?" gasped Carl, as he came to a staggering halt.
"Look!" cried Matt, pointing.
An automobile--a big, red touring-car--rolled past the boys. If theyhad not jumped just when they did it would have run them down. Ithad come without warning, other than the muffled noise caused by itsmachinery, and Matt had been so taken up with the talk of his newacquaintance that he had not heard the car's approach until the lastmoment.
"Vy didn't he honk?" sputtered Carl.
"_He_?" flung back Matt, staring, and hardly able to believe his eyes."Why, there wasn't any one to honk!"
This amazing statement was literally true. As the car passed them, theboys could see that there was no one in either of the front seats, orin the tonneau. The car had no passengers, _and was running itself_!
"Vell, py chimineddy!" murmured Carl, aghast.
The car was not going at a high rate of speed--perhaps fifteen miles anhour--but, even at that gait, it was rapidly leaving a wide gap betweenit and the boys.
Matt was nonplused, but he side-tracked his bewilderment in a hurryand tried to think of some means for overtaking the runaway auto andbringing it to a halt. This must be done before the car reached town,or there would surely be an accident.
Matt flashed his eyes about him. Houses were few and far between inthat part of the settlement, but, as luck would have it, a horse wasstanding in front of a dwelling on the right of the road.
Without losing a moment, Matt rushed to the horse, jerked thebridle-reins over the top of a post, clambered into the saddle and dugout after the red car.
Carl was yelling and talking excitedly, but Matt had no attention topay to him, and the Dutch boy's words soon died out in the distance.
For several miles that road into Ash Fork was perfectly straight.The runaway car, however, was heading for a bend where trees andtelephone-poles would surely wreck it unless it was halted or turned.
As Matt, with the horse on the keen jump, came closer to the car, hesaw that the steering-wheel had been lashed by a rope. Attached toone of the top-irons on the right side of the front seat, the lashingengaged the spokes of the steering-wheel and crossed to the top-iron onthe left. This fastening held the wheel rigid, and kept the car on astraight course.
How to drop from the saddle of the running horse and into the car wasa point that Matt turned over in his mind as he raced. He had not manyseconds in which to mark out a line of action--and he did not need many.
Pushing the horse to top speed, Matt passed the car; then, with a quickjerk on the reins, he brought the horse to a slower pace, tumbled outof the saddle, caught his footing in the road and flung himself at therunning-board as the car came abreast of him.
He was jolted considerably, although no particular damage was done,and got into the tonneau with a wild scramble. By then the car wasdangerously close to the bend, and Matt threw himself across the backof the front seat and into the driver's position. With lightningquickness he cut off the power and threw on the emergency brake. Themachine halted, but with a telephone-pole almost between the frontwheels!
With a deep breath of relief, Matt stood up to see what Carl was doing.The fat Dutchman was trying to head off and stop the horse. The animal,as soon as Matt had dropped from the saddle, had whirled back along theroad. Not a little frightened, the horse seemed now about to turn inMatt's direction in order to escape Carl.
Hastily cutting away the wheel-lashing with his knife, Matt sprangfrom the car and ran back, so he and Carl could keep the horse betweenthem. This move was successful, and the Dutch boy, by an exercise ofmarvelous agility for one of his build, managed to grab the horse bythe bits.
"Vat shall I do mit him, Matt?" cried Carl.
"Take him back to the place where I got him, Carl," called Matt, "thenbring that laundry of ours and come to the car. There's a mystery herethat we've got to look into."
Matt's wild ride on horseback, and his capture of the car, hadnot brought a single person out of the squat little adobe housessprinkled along the road. For the most part, the houses were inhabitedby Chinamen, and they had little curiosity for the Melican man'sdevil-wagon; not enough, at least, to let the stopping of the car drawthem from their own affairs.
Matt looked the machine over with an admiring eye. It was a finelate model, with six cylinders under the long hood. From the amountof dust with which the machine was covered it seemed to have come along distance. The tires, however, were in excellent condition, thegasoline-tank was half full, and there was still a good supply of oil.
Familiar as Matt was with motor vehicles, he knew the car must havecost five or six thousand dollars. Why was such a valuable machineloose in the road? Who was the owner? And _where_ was the owner?
Getting into the tonneau, Matt searched for something that would offera clue to the mystery. He could find nothing. He was just straighteningup after his unsuccessful examination when Carl came along.
"Py chiminy," puffed Carl, "I nefer heardt oof anyt'ing like dot! Matt,you vas a great feller. Dot's righdt. Oof you hatn't done vat you dit,I bed you somet'ing der modor-car vould haf peen a lot oof junk. Yah,so. Vere you learn how to run audomopiles, hey?"
"Used to work in a motor factory," answered Matt. "What do you think ofthis lay out, Carl?" he asked. "Here's a fine big touring-car runningitself along the road, no clue to the owner, and the steering-wheellashed to keep it on a straight line!"
Apparently the question was too difficult for Carl. Thoughtfully hetossed the two bundles of laundry into the tonneau, walked around infront and opened the bonnet. The beautiful mechanism disclosed broughtan admiring cry from the Dutch boy's lips.
"Py shinks," he murmured, "you don'd find cylinters like dot in cheapcars, Matt!"
"What do you know about cylinders?" demanded Matt, opening his eyes atthis new side of the Teuton's character.
"Vell," and Carl ran his fingers through the mop of hair, "meppy Idon'd know how to dake a car apart und put him togedder again, aber It'ink yah. I vorked vonce in some factories meinseluf--pefore I gotfoolish und vent on der stage mit Pringle. You bed you I know dercarpuretter from der spark-plug, but I don'd got der nerf to make adrifer."
Carl had been through experiences about which Matt was anxious tolearn, but, for the present, the mystery of the red car claimed hisentire attention.
"Why should any one want to cut a car like this adrift?" queried Matt.
"Dat's more as I know," answered Carl, closing the bonnet, "aber led'sbe jeerful, Matt. Oof fife t'ousant tollars comes rolling indo ourhants, all py itseluf, for vy shouldn't ve be jeerful?"
"This car don't belong to us, Carl, just because we happened to stopit."
"Vell, oof you hatn't shtopped it it vouldn't haf peen vort' nodding!Und der feller vat hat it didn't vant it, or he vouldn't haf let it go.So helup me, I t'ink it pelongs py us. I vant to go py Tenver. Vere doyou vant to go?"
"I came from Phoenix to Ash Fork, two weeks ago, with a letter ofrecommendation to a wealthy cattleman who has just bought a bigautomobile and wants a driver. I had my eye on the job, Carl, but thecattleman hasn't shown up. He lives here, though, and I'm waiting forhim. If it wasn't for that, I'd just as soon pull out for Denver,myself."
"I don'd got some money," said Carl, "und along comes der audomopileund say, 'Chump in, boys, und led me dake you py Tenver!' Und I, inder jeerful vay vat I haf, make some remarks aboudt 'Vy nod?'"
Matt went around to the front and began cranking.
"Well, jump in," said he, coming back and getting into the driver'sseat; "we're going to start."
"For Tenver?" cried Carl.
"Hardly," laughed Matt, backing away and turning the car in the road;"we're off along the back trail to look for the touring-car's owner."
"Vell, meppy he don'd vant it?"
"Then, if we find him, we'll give him a chance to say so."
"How you t'ink ve vas goin' to find him?"
"Thi
s car hasn't been abandoned very long, nor very many miles backon the road. You see, the road is straight for only a few miles, andthe car, with the wheel lashed as it was, could only travel along thestraight track. If it had been abandoned _before_ it was put on thestraight track, it would have been in the ditch."
"You know more in a minit as I in a year know, Matt," said Carl,heaving a long breath, "und dot's all aboudt it. Ve vill look for derowner, und I vill shdill be jeerful efen oof he dakes der car und makesme valk by Tenver, yah, so. It vas some pig mysderies, anyvay; pychimineddy, it vas der piggest vale oof a mysdery vat efer come my vay."
Motor Matt agreed with Carl. Somewhere along the straight stretch ofroad ahead of them he felt sure the key to the mystery would be found.
And what would it reveal?