CHAPTER XI.
A HARD JOURNEY.
There were few better athletes than Matt King, and he was in the pinkof condition. It was a matter of pride with him to keep himself at alltimes fit and ready for whatever fate threw his way.
But scaling that steep wall, under the double necessity of doing iteffectively and making little noise, was one of the hardest things heever attempted. He had kept vividly in his mind the path he had mappedout, and the upward climb was merely the working out of a problem thathe had already solved in theory; but he had to work out the problem inthe dark, and to grope with his feet for the projecting stones and withhis hands for the bushes.
At last, with every muscle tingling and his breath coming hard throughhis tense lips, he drew himself over the crest of the wall. Here hepaused for a moment's rest, and to put on his shoes. There was cactuson the hill-slope, and he didn't want to hamper himself by picking up abunch of fish-hooks in his unprotected feet.
When near the top of the wall he had heard Bisbee's demand to know whatwas going on, and he had chuckled at Chub's response. Chub's ready wit,it might be, had made the escape successful.
Once in his shoes, Matt stole down the slope and made his way to thecenter monument on the claim. The _Comet_ was lying just where Perryhad let it drop. How Matt was to fix the machine in the dark he did notknow, but he had had an idea that the motor-cycle had "bucked" becausePerry did not understand just how to operate it.
His first disappointment came as he knelt down by the machine anddetected a heavy odor of gasoline. After a minute or two of gropingabout, he made the startling discovery that the gasoline-tank wasempty. The cap that closed the opening into the reservoir had becomeloosened in the fall, and all the gasoline had trickled out.
Here was a difficulty, and no mistake. Matt remembered having seen agasoline-stove at the Bluebell, but he was under the impression thatDelray didn't use the stove very much. If there was no gasoline tobe had at the mine, then Matt would have to keep on to the Arizonacanal, and try to get some at the first ranch he came to. There was nouse now in looking for the trouble that had cut short Perry's flighton the _Comet_--that could be attended to later. What Matt had to dowas to figure on getting a hundred-and-fifty pounds of mechanism tothe Bluebell mine. To pedal the machine that distance, over the roughpack-trail with its sharp rocks and cactus, and at night, was a task hedid not care to think about.
It was then that the idea of taking the horse appealed to him. Thehorse could carry both him and the machine, providing he used judgmentin stowing the _Comet_ on the animal's back.
Having made up his mind to get over the difficulty in this way,Matt raised the machine and trundled it toward the spring. To hissatisfaction, he gathered that everything was serene in the vicinity ofthe notch. Not a sound reached him from there. If he had been nearer,perhaps he might have heard the resonant snores of the sleeping Jacks.
When he had come close to the horse, Matt laid the motor-cycle downand went up to the animal, whispering and stroking his neck to preventa startled snort or jump. With his knife he cut the picket-rope offclose to the pin, and after twisting the rope about the horse's lowerjaw, in lieu of a bridle, he cut the rope again. This gave him notonly enough for a bridle, but also some twenty feet of lashing for the_Comet_.
To hang the machine from the horse's back so that it would ride withoutinjury to its mechanism was the next problem Matt had to solve. Thiswas accomplished by first passing a loop of rope through the forks, andthen drawing the machine up by the front with the rope over the horse'sback.
Naturally, the horse objected to this unusual procedure, and a goodpart of the half-hour required by Matt in effecting his escape wasconsumed in getting the horse accustomed to his strange burden.
After the front of the _Comet_ had been swung into place and fastened,Matt repeated the operation with the back of the machine and drew therear wheel off the ground. The right pedal and toe-clip dug into thehorse's ribs and caused a good deal of shying and side-stepping. Butthe interfering pedal had an advantage as well as a disadvantage,inasmuch as it braced the machine away from the horse's side and gaveMatt room on the animal's back. His position, once he was astride thehorse, was far from comfortable, but he thought he could make shift, atleast, to ride until he had left the camp well behind.
Heading the horse toward the trail, he shouted his good-by to Jacksat the top of his lungs, and then urged the horse into a gallop withhis heels and the end of the rope hackamore. The _Comet_ slipped, andplunged, and rattled, but Matt supported it with one hand and let thefrightened horse take his own gait.
He heard Jacks and Bisbee chasing after him, but was soon so far awaythat these sounds of pursuit were lost in the distance. A little laterhe turned into the pack-trail, and the most difficult part of his nightjourney lay ahead of him.
Matt could have hidden his machine away among the rocks and left itthere while he galloped on to Phoenix. There would have been nothingto gain by this move, however, except an easier ride to the Bluebell.The office of the recorder would not be open for business before eighto'clock the next morning, and Matt had plenty of time to reach hisdestination. If he could get a supply of gasoline at the mine, andfound that the _Comet_ could be easily repaired, he would leave thehorse with Delray and get back to town on the motor-cycle.
Before Matt had gone far along the pack-trail the difficulties of hisposition on the horse's back became so great that he was forced todismount and walk. Even though he could have ridden comfortably, hewould soon have been obliged to fall back on his own feet anyway. Thetrail was rough and hard to follow when it could be plainly seen, andnow, when it twisted and turned through black arroyos and clung to theedge of half-hidden chasms, progress could only be safely made by goingslowly and carefully.
Leading the horse by the rope, Matt picked out the course with theutmost care. Once he lost the trail and was all of two hours finding itagain; then the lashings of the _Comet_ gave way suddenly, and the rearwheel dropped, causing the horse to give a frightened jump that nearlytook him over the edge of a steep descent. At the most difficult partof the trail, where it ran along a shelf gouged out of the cliffs, Matthad to unship the wheel and swing it from the other side, in order tokeep it from colliding with the rocks and being broken.
Before the _barranca_ and the Black Canyon were reached, a quiveringline of gray had run along the tops of the eastern hills. Morning wasat hand, and Matt, who had been working like a Turk through the darkhours, was not yet at the Bluebell!
"The _Comet_ has made me a heap of trouble," he muttered, "but I'lltake the kinks out of the old girl when we get to the Bluebell, andthen there'll be clear sailing all the way to town. It's about time Istruck a streak of luck, seems to me. If Delray has any gasoline----"
Matt broke off the remark suddenly, wincing as he thought of an addedjaunt of five miles to the canal, leading the horse or pedaling a heavymotor-cycle. If luck ever did anything for him, he hoped it would showitself at the Bluebell.
The sky was bright with coming day when Matt turned into the_barranca_, and the sun was up when he came in sight of the house andderrick at the Bluebell. There was some one on foot in the road, faraway toward the canal. When Matt drew up by the house he saw that theapproaching man was Delray.
"I wonder if Del is still gadding about looking for the fellow whosmashed the wireless instrument?" thought Matt, setting to workunloading the _Comet_.
But it was something else that had taken Delray abroad that morning. Hecame, puffing, just as Matt got the _Comet_ on the ground.
"Well, by thunder!" exclaimed the watchman. "What's the matter with themachine? Where's Chub? Say, but I've had the duse of a time!"
Delray mopped his face with a handkerchief and looked excited, andcurious, and a little bit chagrined.
"First off, Del," said Matt, "have you got any gasoline? Don't tellme you haven't! It's the one thing I need just now more than anythingelse."
"That's right," cried Delray, surprising Ma
tt with a fresh show ofexcitement, "if you ever needed gasoline, you need it now. But I don'tthink I've got a drop. Haven't used the gasoline-stove for a month, andit seems to me the can was empty when I last tried it. But wait; we'llmake sure."
Delray darted into the house. In a moment he came rushing back with acan.
"There's some here, but I don't know how much," said he.
"Bully!" exclaimed Matt. "A quart will take me to Phoenix on the highspeed."
He began working while he kept up a flow of talk.
"Chub's in the hills, looking for his father, who's mysteriouslymissing from the claim. Jacks and a rascal named Bisbee held us upyesterday afternoon while Perry got away on Chub's wheel. Jacks andBisbee tried to keep us bottled up in a hole in the rocks all night;but we managed to get away. Chub's going to look around for hisfather, and I'm going to take his father's location notice to Phoenix.Seen anything of Perry?"
"_Seen_ anything of him?" muttered Delray; "well, I should say I had!He came puffing along here yesterday afternoon, on Chub's motor-cycle,and I jumped for the road and headed him off. He tried to run me down,but I grabbed him. Why, he was all night in the house with me. Hebegged me to let him go, and tried to bribe me, but I was thinking ofChub and held onto him. About half an hour ago Tom Clipperton rodeup on horseback. He was looking for you and Chub. I stepped out totalk with him, and while I was explaining the situation, we heard thepopping of that motor-cycle, and saw Perry darting along the road. Ihad a rope on Perry's hands, and how he ever got rid of it is more'n Iknow. Clipperton took after him just a-smoking, but he might as wellhave tried to chase a lightning express-train on a hand-car. I ran downthe road a ways, and was just coming back when I saw you."
All this set Matt's nerves to tingling. Here was an unexpected strokeof luck. Perry had been held up all night at the Bluebell! Even thoughhe had got away, there was a chance to overtake him. Matt flung downthe can, adjusted the needle-valve of the gasoline shut-off which hehad found out of order, and tried the motor. She took the spark finely,and was apparently in as good shape as before she had "bucked" withPerry.
"Bully for you, Del!" cried Matt. "Perry leads me by half an hour?"
"Yes; but that's a whole lot, and----"
Matt did not hear the rest. He was off down the road, with thecylinders sweetly purring and the rubber tires kicking up a cloud ofdust.
The fatigue of his night work dropped from him, and he felt as freshand fit as though he had had his usual amount of rest and sleep.
Once more his face was set toward Phoenix, and he felt equal toanything.