CHAPTER IV.
MARKING OUT A COURSE.
"Poor old codger!" exclaimed McGlory, as he and Matt lifted the clerkand carried him to the bed in the other room. "He's had more troublethan he could dodge, pard."
"He didn't try to dodge it, Joe," answered Matt quietly, "and that'sto his credit. He's worn out. I'll bet that, while he was scrimping inorder to take up his son's I O U's, he has hardly eaten enough to keephimself alive. His constitution is broken down, and this trip in therain from Minnewaukon has topped off his endurance. It's only a faint,that's all, but it proves the old man has got to be looked after."
Matt and McGlory had revived Prebbles before Cameron came with thedoctor. The latter, after listening to as much of the matter as theboys could tell him, felt the old man's pulse and shook his headgravely.
"We'll have to keep him in bed for a day or two, I think," he said.
"Don't say that!" begged Prebbles. "I got work to do, doctor! Besides,this isn't my bed--it belongs to Motor Matt's friend, Cameron, and----"
"Motor Matt's friend," put in the lieutenant, "is only too glad to giveyou his bed, Prebbles. I can sleep on the couch in the next room, andyou can stay here until you're well enough to leave."
"But I can't stay here," cried Prebbles querulously. "Didn't you hearme say I had work to do? I've got to help Motor Matt--all of you knowwhy."
"Anyhow, Prebbles," said Matt, "nothing can be done until morning. Youstay here and keep quiet until then. Meanwhile, Cameron, McGlory, and Iwill mark out a course, and we'll tell you all about it before we beginfollowing it. If you're able, you can go with us. If you're not able,you can stay here and feel sure that I'll carry out this make-and-breakaffair of yours just as though it was my own. You can trust me toadvance the spark of friendship, can't you?"
"There ain't any one else I'd trust but you, Motor Matt," declaredPrebbles. "But I'm going with you, in the morning. I haven't anymoney----"
"You don't need any," interrupted Cameron. "You're welcome to stay hereas long as you please, at the government's expense. You have brought aclue which may lead to the capture of Murgatroyd, and the governmenthas offered a reward of one thousand dollars for him."
"If he can be captured, Prebbles," added Matt, "the money will go toyou."
"It'll come in handy, but--but it's Newt I want."
At a nod from the doctor, Matt, McGlory, and Cameron went into theother room and closed the door.
"Prebbles will never be able to leave here to-morrow morning," averredCameron.
"It's up to McGlory and me," said Matt, "to do what we can."
"Give me a share in the work," begged Cameron. "Perhaps I can dosomething. If necessary, I'll get a furlough."
Matt was thoughtful for a few moments. Stepping to the windowoverlooking the parade ground, he peered out at the weather. The raincontinued to come down in torrents, but there was a hint, overhead,that the storm would not last out the night.
"We have a good clue to Murgatroyd's whereabouts," said Matt presently,coming back and taking a chair facing his friends, "but there areseveral points to be considered. Prebbles sent on the original of hisson's letter last night. That means that some time to-day Murgatroydgot the letter in Bismarck. If it is raining as hard, over on theMissouri, as it is here, it is unlikely that Murgatroyd went up theriver to Burnt Creek to-day. With clearing weather, he'll probably goup to-morrow."
"Then," said Cameron, "it's our business to take a train for Jamestownat once, connect with a west-bound train there for Bismarck, and thentake a team and drive from Bismarck to Burnt Creek."
"The afternoon train has left Minnewaukon," answered Matt, who seemedto have considered every phase of the matter, "and there is no othertrain south until to-morrow morning. That train, I think, connectswith one on the main line for Bismarck, but we could hardly reach thetown before late to-morrow afternoon, and it would be night before wecould get to Burnt Creek. While we were losing all this time, what willMurgatroyd be doing?"
"Why not get an automobile from Devil's Lake City," suggested Cameron,"and reach Jamestown in time to connect with an earlier train?"
"How will the roads be after this rain?" inquired Matt.
"That's so!" exclaimed Cameron, with a gloomy look from one of thewindows. "These North Dakota roads are fine in dry weather, butthey're little more than bogs after a rain like this. We can't use theautomobile, that's sure, and Murgatroyd is likely to reach Burnt Creekbefore we can possibly get there. Will he and young Prebbles stay atBurnt Creek until we arrive? That's the point."
"It's so uncertain a point," said Matt, "that we can't take chanceswith it."
"We've _got_ to take chances, pard," put in McGlory, "unless we charteran engine for the run to Jamestown."
"There's another way," asserted Matt.
"What other way is there?" asked Cameron.
"Well, first off, we can send a message at once to Bismarck, to thechief of police----"
"Sufferin' blockheads!" grunted McGlory. "I never thought of that."
"How are the police going to locate Murgatroyd?" went on Cameron. "Thescoundrel is there under an assumed name."
"Why," said Matt, "tell the police, in the message, to arrest any manwho calls at the post office and asks for mail for 'George Hobbes.'"
"Easy enough," muttered Cameron.
"No," proceeded Matt, "not so easy as you think, for it may be thatMurgatroyd has already received the letter. But shoot the messagethrough at once, Cameron, and let's do all we can, and as quick as wecan."
The message was written out and sent to the telegraph office by O'Hara.
"Now," said Cameron, "assuming that that does the trick for Murgatroyd,there is still young Prebbles to think about. He'll wait at BurntCreek, I take it, for Murgatroyd, and if Murgatroyd is captured, andisn't able to leave Bismarck, we can reach Burnt Creek in time to findour man and advance that 'spark of friendship'--which, to be perfectlycandid, I haven't much faith in."
"I believe," said Matt, "that the greatest scoundrel that ever livedhas an affection for his parents, somewhere deep down in his heart. IfI'm any judge of human nature, that cowardly blow Newt gave his fatherhas bothered the young fellow quite as much as it has that old man,in there," and Matt nodded toward the door of the bedroom. "Leavingout sentiment altogether, though, and our ability to reach Newt onPrebbles' behalf, there's something else in his letter that makes thebiggest kind of a hit with me."
"What's that?" came from both Cameron and McGlory.
"Well, young Prebbles is asking Murgatroyd for money, and hinting atsomething he knows about the accident to Harry Traquair. You rememberthat Mrs. Traquair's husband lost his life, in Jamestown, by a fallwith his a?roplane. It is possible that young Prebbles knows more aboutthat accident than Murgatroyd wants him to know."
"Speak to me about that!" muttered the wide-eyed McGlory. "Matt, youold gilt-edged wonder, you're the best guesser that ever came down thepike! Give him the barest line on any old thing, Cameron, and this pardof mine will give you, offhand, all the dips, angles, and formations."
"This is plain enough, Joe," protested Matt.
"I can see it now," said Cameron, "but I couldn't before. There are bigthings to come out of this business, friends! I feel it in my bones."
"And the biggest thing," declared Matt, with feeling, "is making NewtPrebbles' peace with his father."
"Then," said Cameron, with sudden animation, "I'm to get leave and gowith you by train, to-morrow morning, to Bismarck, on our way to BurntCreek?"
Matt shook his head.
"That depends, Cameron," he answered, dropping a friendly hand on thelieutenant's knee.
"Depends on what?"
"Why, on whether it's a clear, still day or a stormy one."
Both Cameron and McGlory were puzzled.
"I can't see where that comes in," said the lieutenant.
"If it's a fine day, Joe and I will go to Burnt Creek with the _Comet_."
McGlory jumped in his chair.
r /> "That's another time I missed the high jump!" he exclaimed. "Never oncethought of the _Comet_."
"All roads are the same," went on Matt, "when you travel through theair. Apart from that, we can cut across lots, in the _Comet_, and doour forty to sixty miles an hour between here and the Missouri andBurnt Creek."
Cameron was dashed. He was eager to take part in the work of baggingMurgatroyd, and in finding Newt Prebbles.
"Suppose an accident happens to the flying machine," said he, "andyou are dropped on the open prairie, fifty miles from anywhere? Youwouldn't be gaining much time over the trip by train."
"We won't go by air ship," replied Matt, "unless we are very sure theconditions are right. Give me the proper conditions, and I'll guaranteeno accident will happen to the _Comet_."
"But McGlory is scared of his life to fly in the machine," went onCameron. "Why not leave him here and let me go with you?"
"Not in a thousand years!" clamored McGlory. "I'm going to ride in the_Comet_. That's flat."
"Well, the machine will carry three," proceeded Cameron. "Why not leavethe Chinaman behind and take me?"
"The _Comet_ will carry three light weights," laughed Matt. "You're tooheavy, Cameron."
"That lets me out," deplored Cameron, "so far as the _Comet_ isconcerned, but I'll go by train. Maybe I'll arrive in time to be ofsome help."
"We may all have to go by train, lieutenant," returned Matt; "we won'tknow about that until to-morrow morning. For the present, though, thecourse is as I've marked it out."
"Well, let's go and eat," said Cameron, getting up as the notes of abugle came to his ears. "There goes supper call. I'll hope for thebest, but I'm for Burnt Creek, Matt, whether I go in the _Comet_ or bytrain."
Prebbles, they found, was asleep. O'Hara was brought in to sit with himwhile they were at supper, and all three left the room.