CHAPTER XI.
SIWASH SHOWS HIS TEETH--AND HIS HEELS.
Black's astonishment was great when Motor Matt reappeared at the frontof the building and leaped into the car.
"Hustle for the Oberon road, Mr. Black!" Matt cried.
"What's to pay?" asked Black as McGlory flung himself into the tonneau.
"You remember that wagon we passed?" asked Matt.
"Of course, but----"
"Well, the a?roplane is aboard the wagon."
"Great C?sar!" Black was already on the ground, cranking up. "How didthat happen?" he asked, getting back into the car and turning it theother way.
When they were well started, Matt explained about the telegram receivedby the post trader.
"It's easy to understand what happened," said Matt. "Murgatroyd's planwas to send Siwash Charley here after the a?roplane. If Siwash had hadall night and part of to-morrow to work in, he and his pals would havegot away with the flying machine in spite of us. But Siwash had to makeanother move when he saw us on the road. It was a clever move, too,although it only won out by a scratch. Siwash went on to Oberon andsent that message, signing Mrs. Traquair's name to it. If we hadn't hadso many breakdowns, we'd have reached the post trader's before his mangot away with the a?roplane."
"Well," declared Black, "we can overhaul the wagon long before it getsto Oberon. If Siwash Charley had used his head a little more, he'd haveknown there wasn't one chance in ten of this move of his succeeding.
"And to think of us sailin' right past that wagon," muttered McGlory,"and even slowing up so as not to scare the horses! Funny how thingswill turn out sometimes."
The Chinese boy had been using his eyes and ears a great deal morethan his tongue. But his emotions, at every stage of that ride fromJamestown, had changed with Matt's and McGlory's. Now Ping was allchagrin, and a wild desire to "push on the reins" and overhaul Jake.
The road was fairly good until the automobile reached the forks; afterthat, it ran into hilly country where there was considerable sand.
Black forced the car all he could, but the poor speed it developedfilled the impatient boys with dismay and anxiety.
"We'll never overtake that wagon in a thousand years, at this gait,"fumed McGlory.
"You forget, Joe," answered Matt, "that if we're going slow, the wagonis going a lot slower."
"That's the talk," said Black. "We'll come up with the wagon severalmiles this side of Oberon."
As the car ground through the sand, and chugged up the hills, the boyskept a sharp watch ahead. Dawn brightened in the east, and the graystreamers crept steadily toward the zenith.
"Five o'clock," said Matt, looking at his watch. "The sun will be up inhalf an hour."
"Precious little I care for that," chuckled Black. "There's Jake!"
The car had topped a hill which gave its passengers a long view outover the level prairie. Far away in the distance the dim gray lightshowed the boys a dark blot on the plain. It was impossible to tellmuch about the blot, at that range, but there could be no doubtconcerning it. Surely it was the wagon; it could be nothing else.
"Jake must have punctured a tire," observed McGlory humorously. "Whathas he stopped for?"
"Possibly he stopped to breathe his horses," suggested Black. "We'lleat up the ground, now, for the road is on the level, and there's lesssand."
Black let the car out. As he and the boys came closer and closer, astartling scene slowly unfolded before their eyes.
The wagon was at a standstill, just as the cowboy had said, and besideit was a motor car. Four or five figures could be seen moving around inthe vicinity of the wagon. Abruptly these figures hunched together, andstood quietly.
"It's the other automobile," said Black between his teeth. "SiwashCharley and his pals came out from Oberon to meet Jake."
"They've got together and are looking this way," breathed McGlory.
"Mebbyso they makee shoot," chattered Ping.
"Shall we go on?" queried Black. "It's for you to say, Motor Matt. Idon't think Siwash will dare rough things up so close to the fort, andin broad day."
"Yes," said Matt grimly, "we've got to go on. For all we know,Murgatroyd may have told Siwash to destroy the a?roplane. In fact, thatmay be what he's doing, now. Go on, Mr. Black, and go with a rush."
The boys fell silent as the car bounded on along the road. All of themfelt the danger of their position, but neither McGlory, Black, nor Pingwould have thought of asking Matt to turn back.
In a few moments the boys were so close they could see the guns whichSiwash Charley and his friends were holding in their hands. Matt,however, had more concern for the bulky load in the wagon than for theguns. So far as he could see, the load was intact, and had not beentampered with.
The wagon was facing toward Oberon, and the car--drawn up alongsidethe wagon--was pointed toward Fort Totten. Several yards in front ofthe car stood Siwash Charley, and two other men, who looked fully asvillainous. All of these three had rifles.
Jake was standing up in the front part of the wagon, hanging to thereins with one hand and looking back. The driver of the automobile wasleaning against the front of the car, watching passively for what wasto come. An atmosphere of ugly foreboding hovered over the scene asBlack stopped his car within a dozen yards of Siwash Charley and histwo pals.
"That's erbout as fur as we reckoned we'd let ye come," shouted SiwashCharley. "If ye'd got hyer ten minutes later, ye'd hev found the flyin'machine scattered all over the perary."
"Do you mean to say," cried Matt, standing up in the car, "that youwere going to wreck the a?roplane?"
"That's what," answered Siwash Charley, "an' we're goin' ter do it,yet. Ye needn't think that yer comin' will make any diff'rence. I toldyou cubs I'd git even with ye fer what ye done, but when I showed myteeth ye didn't allow I'd bite. I'm showin' my fangs ag'in, an' thistime thar's goin' ter be somethin' doin'."
"Siwash Charley," said Matt, "you don't mean to say that a triflingdisagreement, like the one we had in Jamestown, is enough to make youdestroy that a?roplane?"
"I reckon ye don't know me, Motor Matt," blustered Siwash. "I allersmake it a p'int ter saw off even, an' I reckon I kin squar' my accountwith you a heap better by bustin' up the flyin' machine than in anyother way. I'll give ye two minutes ter turn that thar machine o' yournand take the back track."
Simultaneously with the words, Siwash lifted his rifle to his shoulder,and pointed it directly at Matt.
The king of the motor boys did not stir, but his gray eyes snappeddangerously as they looked into the eyes gleaming along the barrel ofthe gun.
"You're not going to do any more shooting, Siwash Charley," said Matt,his voice steady. "You took two shots at us last night, and if eitherone of them had struck me, or any of my friends, you and Murgatroydwould have paid dearly for it."
The mention of Murgatroyd caused Siwash to drop his gun suddenly.
"Murgatroyd hasn't got a thing ter do with this," he roared. "It's myown affair I'm settlin'."
"Murgatroyd has got everything to do with this!" retorted Matt. "He gotthat car for you, and sent you out of Jamestown last night. You hopedto reach the fort ahead of us--and you'd certainly have done so if we'dwaited until this morning and taken the train. If you make any troublefor me here, Murgatroyd will be arrested in Jamestown just as quickas a message can be wired to the police. And you'll make trouble foryourself, too, for you played a trick in getting that a?roplane off thegovernment reservation. You can show your teeth as much as you please,but if you try to bite you'll regret it."
"I'm done chinnin' with you!" whopped Siwash Charley, once morebringing his gun to his shoulder. "Turn that ottermobill t'other way,an' hike out o' this. Ye got a minute left."
Black got out of the machine, and walked around to the crank.
"Leave the crank alone, Black," ordered Matt. "That scoundrel's acoward, and he doesn't dare to shoot."
Black hesitated.
"Better do as he says, pard," observed McGlor
y, climbing over the backof the seat and ranging himself shoulder to shoulder with Matt.
The cowboy's words were addressed to Black. The latter retreatedfrom the front of the machine, and stood at the roadside, watchingdevelopments anxiously.
It was a situation of the gravest peril, but Matt could not go away andleave the a?roplane to be wrecked.
"Are ye goin'?" yelled Siwash furiously. "If ye think I dasn't shoot,I'll show ye I ain't afeared o' nothin'."
"Put down that gun!" ordered Matt.
The scoundrel's finger flexed on the trigger. In another instant thetrigger would have been pressed. But something happened. Jake, standingin the front of the wagon, whirled a long blacksnake whip about hishead by the lash. Suddenly he let it go, and the weighted handle shotthrough the air, and struck Siwash Charley's fated right arm. The endof the whip handle landed at about the place where McGlory's missilehad struck, the day before.
With a swirling bellow of pain, Siwash dropped the rifle and staggeredback, clasping his right forearm with his left hand.
He swore terribly, but the torrent of profanity was cut short by one ofhis pals.
"Sojers!" cried the man, sweeping Siwash Charley's gun off the ground."Hustle out o' this, or we're done fer!"
"Swatties!" jubilated McGlory, waving his hat. "Speak to me about this!"
Matt faced the other way. There, sure enough, were half a dozen mountedtroopers galloping toward the scene.
The pop of the other car's motor could be heard, and when Matt lookedaround, once more, Siwash Charley and his comrades were kicking up thedust in the direction of Oberon.
"Siwash Charley showed his teeth," laughed Black, immensely relieved,"and now he's showing his heels. Motor Matt," he added soberly, "Iwouldn't have been in your shoes, a moment ago, for all the money inthe United States Treasury!"
The king of the motor boys did not hear the last remark. He had leapeddown from the car, and had run forward to the wagon, where he wasreaching up and shaking hands with Jake.