CHAPTER XVI.
CONCLUSION.
Matt King opened his eyes in his old room at the Briggs House. The roarof the limited was still in his ears, and the awful grinding crash thathe had last heard. Sheriff Burke was sitting beside the bed and therewere innumerable bandages about Matt's body and a strong smell of drugsin the room.
"How's everything?" Matt mumbled, trying to sit up.
Burke gently pushed him back.
"Fine and dandy, Matt," said he: "but, best of all, is the way you gotout of that smash."
"Oh, is it you, Mr. Burke?" queried Matt.
"Surest thing you know," laughed Burke. "That was a great race youmade. Racin' the limited! First time it was ever done in these parts."
"Who brought me in?" went on Matt.
"A couple of freighters who were with the wagon you ran into. Theythought you were going to turn up your toes, but 'Not for him,' says I.'That boy,' I says, 'wasn't born to be snuffed out in a little smashlike that.' But you've been unconscious for quite a while."
"How long?"
"Well, it's five o'clock now, and you had your race along aboutnine-forty, this morning."
"What's the matter with me?" demanded Matt, in consternation. "I'm notbadly hurt, am I? I don't feel as though I was."
"Not a bone broken, and that's the wonder of it. You hit that wagonlike an earthquake, they say. You've had the skin scraped off you inseveral places, but the doctor says you'll be as well as ever in aweek--providing there are no internal injuries."
"Well," said Matt, "there aren't any. I'd know it, I guess, if therewas."
"I guess you would."
"Heard anything from Phoenix?"
"Got news that will make you feel like a fighting-cock! A telegram gothere sayin' that Clipperton has been freed----"
"Glory!"
"McReady got there in time to flash the affidavit of Pima Pete'sbefore the case went to the jury; but the telegram says it wasn't theaffidavit that turned the trick so much as the grit and determinationof you and McReady in getting the document to Phoenix."
"But Clip's innocent! Everybody's got to know that."
"Everybody _will_ know it, too," averred the sheriff. "The two men whotook the money from Fresnay were captured by three of the men I sentout on your tip. They brought the rascals in, not more than an hourago, gold and all--not early enough to free Clipperton, but in plentyof time to set him straight with anybody who still had a doubt of hisinnocence. I wired the news to Phoenix an hour ago, and McKibben andsome more people will be up on to-night's freight."
There seemed to be nothing more that Motor Matt could wish for. But heroused up from a reverie to ask after the _Comet_.
"That motor-cycle," said Burke, "is a mass of junk. You've had yourlast ride on it, Matt. You did a lot of good work with that machine."
"But the best work I ever did with it," said Matt, "I did this morning.What I accomplished for Clip was worth the price. And Chub! Talk aboutpluck and grit, he showed it if ever a fellow did."
"You both showed it," said Burke. "One of the captured scoundrels,Torrel by name, has turned State's evidence. He told me all abouteverything. Says he, and the fellow with him, have been staying at thehouse of a Mexican in Phoenix, ever since the Dangerfield gang was putout of business. They knew Dangerfield had buried ten thousand dollarsin gold, not far away in the hills, and they knew Pima Pete had beenlet into the secret of the cache. They were in Phoenix watching Pete.A Mexican, belonging to the place where the two outlaws were staying,carried a note to you that had been given him by Pete. This was afterthe robbery----"
"But how did Torrel and his pal know about the pay-roll money?"interposed Matt. "If they were watching Pete in order to locateDangerfield's gold----"
"That's right," broke in Burke, "I'm getting a little ahead of my yarn.Well, they heard from some one that Fresnay had come to town afterthe ranch-money. That gave them the idea they could make a rich haulwithout bothering with Pete, so they went out in the hills and made it.They learned, next morning, that Clipperton and Pete had been captured,that Pete had got away, and that circumstances pointed to Clipperton asthe thief--Clip and Pete; see?"
"Then Torrel and his pal came back into Phoenix. That was the timethey got next to the note sent by Pete to you. The Mexican messengerhad read it. The real thieves knew at once that Pima Pete was planningto save Clip, and, naturally, Torrel and his pal didn't want it thatway. If Clip and Pete were believed guilty, then the real thievescould enjoy their loot without having the authorities bother them.So Torrel's pal tried to bluff you out by sending the Mexican with awarning. You wouldn't be bluffed. The two scoundrels laid for you inthe hills--and you showed them your heels."
"What did Torrel and his pardner want to hang around Prescott for?"queried Matt. "Why didn't they skip when they had a chance?"
"They were expecting to meet another of the old gang at the oldHopewell tunnel. They went there to meet him, and found Pima Pete. Thenthey held Pete a prisoner in the tunnel until they thought the law hadtaken care of Clip, got word that the man they were waiting for was inMaricopa, and pulled out early Sunday night, in the storm. That was thelast of them, and their move once more gave Pete a free hand, for sincethat money of Dangerfield's had been taken in charge by the State asthat stolen from Fresnay, they had no reason to hold Pete."
"What about the fellow at Maricopa?"
"I wired that town and an officer went after him. But the man will notbe caught--I'm positive of that."
"Have you captured Pete?"
A queer look crossed Burke's face.
"I reckon I could have captured him, if I'd tried to right hard," saidhe slowly, "but I didn't try."
"Why not?"
"Well, he showed himself a good deal of a man, for a half-breed, andI'm not hungry to make a thousand off of him."
Matt reached out his hand and gave the sheriff's big paw a cordial grip.
"I'm glad you feel that way," said he. "I can't explain, but what yousay does me a lot of good."
It was half-past ten that night before the Phoenix delegation arrivedin Prescott.
McKibben and Leffingwell came, and Clip, and Chub, and Welcome Perkins,and--last but not least--Susie. Susie was going to take care of Mattuntil he was well enough to dispense with a nurse.
It is useless to dwell on the meeting of these friends with Matt.Clip's dark eyes expressed his feelings, and henceforth only deathcould wipe out the close friendship born of recent exciting events.
In a week, so well was Matt looked after, that he was up andaround--not quite as full of ginger as ever, but rapidly getting backinto his old form.
He had more money in the bank, too--even after Short had corralled the$500--than he had before Clipperton had got into difficulties. Some ofDangerfield's gold came to him--Matt would only take enough to offsetShort's fee and other expenses--and there was a "rake-off" from the$2,000 Burke received for the capture of Tolliver and his partner.
Motor Matt, when he went back to Phoenix, found himself more popularthan ever. He had lost the game little _Comet_, but it was only a startfor higher things in the motor line. Just what these things were, andthe fame and fortune they brought to Motor Matt will be touched upon inthe next story.
THE END.
THE NEXT NUMBER (5) WILL CONTAIN
MOTOR MATT'S MYSTERY
OR,
FOILING A SECRET PLOT.
A Dutchman in Trouble--The Runaway Auto--The Man at the Roadside--The Mystery Deepens--Matt Gets a Job--Concerning the Letter--The Two Horsemen--On the Road--In the Hands of the Enemy--A Shift in the Situation--A Surprise--Escape--The Hut in the Hills--Back to the Car--A Race and a Ruse--In Ash Fork.