CHAPTER XVI.
THE RAJAH'S NIECE.
The events of that wonderful day all seemed like a dream to Motor Mattwhen he came to look back on them. The coming of Carl, loaded with ajoke sprung upon him by the detectives in Chicago--a joke, by the way,that proved a boomerang--and the dangers and perils that trailed afterthe Dutch boy and finally ended in most marvelous success--all theseseemed but the figments of disordered fancy.
But the damaged a?roplane remained to tell of the dangers, and Carl wasthere in the flesh, and Margaret Manners was present, freed of the evilshadow that had blighted her young life.
The afternoon performance had been over for some time when Matt,Joe, Carl, and Margaret--for now she must be Margaret and notHaidee--returned to the show grounds.
The owner of the motor car was walking up and down in fretful mood,thinking, perhaps, that he had done a most unwise thing in letting hismachine get out of his hands.
Burton was with him and seeking to pacify his fears. But the sight ofthe motor car alone did that.
"Well," exclaimed Burton, "you've got one of 'em, Matt. She is the mostvaluable of the lot, to me. Where are the other two?"
"They escaped," answered Matt shortly. "And Haidee, Mr. Burton, is nolonger an employee of the Big Consolidated."
"What!" cried Burton. "Do you mean to say she isn't going up on thea?roplane any more, and that she'll not touch off Roman candles or----"
"I told you she'd never do that, some time ago," said Matt keenly.
Burton seemed to have a way of forgetting the things he did not want tohear.
"Well, anyhow," went on the showman, as soon as they had all alighted,and the owner of the car had got into it and tooted joyfully away,"come to the mess tent and tell me what happened."
"Haven't time, Burton," said Matt. "Miss Manners is going to the besthotel in town, and I've got some telegrams to send."
"Telegrams?" Burton pricked up his ears and showed signs of excitement."There isn't another show trying to hire you away from me, is there?Don't forget your written contract, Matt!"
"I'm not forgetting that," returned Matt, inclined to laugh. "Thetelegram I am going to send is to the British ambassador at Washington,and the cablegram I am going to get on the wires is to an attorney inLondon, England."
"Jupiter!" exclaimed Burton. "It looks to me as though you wouldn't getthrough in time to go on with section two of the show train."
"We won't," continued Matt, "and that's what I'm going to tell youabout. We'll be a couple of days making repairs on the a?roplane,and we'll make them here. After the work is done, we'll join the BigConsolidated at the town where it happens to be at that time."
"Your contract, sir!" fumed Burton. "You are----"
"No repairs on the a?roplane would have been necessary," interruptedMotor Matt, "if you had not played that trick on me and substitutedHaidee for Le Bon. Just remember that. I shall expect you to pay thebills for the repairs, too."
Burton received these remarks in silence.
"When I and my friends are ready to join you," went on the king ofthe motor boys, "we'll go by air line in the _Comet_, and if you haveany good paper, we'll scatter it all along the route. It will be thebiggest kind of an advertisement for you, Burton."
This was a master stroke, if Burton yearned for one thing more thananother, it was to make his name a household word.
"Great!" he cried. "But you won't be more than two days here, will you,Matt?"
"We'll try not to be."
"And you'll scatter the paper?"
"Certainly."
"Fine! I'll have it for you. Where'll I send it?"
"To the Bramble House."
"It will be there. Make the bill for repairs as light as possible, anddraw on me for the amount. That's fair, ain't it?"
"Just about."
"Ask anybody and they'll tell you Boss Burton is the soul of honesty,and that every promise he makes in his paper is carried out to theletter. What will you do with the a?roplane?"
"McGlory and Ping will look after it to-night. Tomorrow they will haveit removed to some place where we can work on it comfortably."
"All right--have it your way. I'm the easiest fellow to get along withthat you ever saw, when I see a chap is going to treat me square. Goodluck to you--to all of you."
The party separated. McGlory went over into the show grounds to joinPing at the a?roplane, and Matt and Carl escorted Miss Manners to theBramble House. Carl went to the show, when the tents were being pulleddown that night, and got Miss Manners' trunk and his own clothes fromthe calliope tent. Carl, it will be recalled, was wearing McGlory'swork clothes, and McGlory was going to need them.
Most of the luggage belonging to Matt and his friend went on by trainwith the show impedimenta, to be reclaimed at some town farther alongthe route.
Matt sent his telegram and his cablegram, and in neither did he concealthe fact that all the glory of the achievement belonged to Carl Pretzel.
The Dutch boy was terribly set up over his success. Until far into thenight he kept Matt up, trying to find out what he should do with hisfive thousand dollars. Carl was about evenly divided, in his opinions,as to whether he should buy an a?roplane of his own, or a circus. Mattdiscouraged him on both points.
Next morning the _Comet_, under its own power, dragged its batteredpinions to a big blacksmith shop, and there the motor boys got activelyto work on the repairs.
The damage was confined almost entirely to the canvas covering the leftwing. None of the supports were injured.
In two days' time the a?roplane was as good as new. At the close of thesecond day, when Matt and McGlory reached the hotel with their workfinished, so far as the _Comet_ was concerned, they found an Englishgentleman who represented the British embassy.
This gentleman had come, personally, to assume charge of Miss Manners;and, by this very act, the boys understood that the young woman wassomething of a personage.
The Englishman said nothing about the reward, and Carl began to worry.Finally he broached the subject himself, only to learn that the fivethousand dollars must come from India, and that it would be a month,possibly two months, before it could be turned over.
Carl was disgusted. He had expected to have the money all spent beforetwo months had passed.
"Dot's der vay mit der tedectif pitzness," he remarked gloomily. "Evenven you vin you don't get nodding."
"But you're bound to get it, Carl," laughed McGlory, "sooner or later."
"Meppy so mooch lader dot I vill be olt und gray-heated und not knownodding aboudt how to shpend him. How vas I going to lif in dermeandime, huh? Tell me dose."
"Come along with us," said Matt, "and stay with the Big Consolidateduntil your money comes."
"I don'd like dot Purton feller," growled Carl. "He iss der vorst caseoof stingy vat I efer see. Shdill, id iss vort' someding to be mitModor Matt. Yah, so helup me, I vill go."
Ping was not in love with this arrangement, but had to bow to it.
The gentleman from Washington took the next train back to the capital,arranging to have Miss Manners left in the care of an estimable lady inLafayette until word should come from India.
THE END.