CHAPTER III.
THE GLASS BALLS.
Turning the trick for Tsan Ti--as McGlory had termed it--was destinedto entangle the motor boys in a whirl of the most astounding events;and these events, as novel as they were mysterious, followed each otherlike the reports of a Gatling gun.
The journey to Albany, and down the river to Catskill Landing, andthence by motor cycle part way up the mountain, had been monotonous;but from the moment the mandarin and the bicycle went sprawling intothe air over the tree root, and the lads had made the Chinaman'sacquaintance, Fate began whirling the wheel of amazing events.
Matt and McGlory had had no time to discuss the weird tale recountedfor their benefit by the mandarin. There was no opportunity to viewthe theft of the Eye of Buddha from any angle save that offered by thephilosophical Tsan Ti. No sooner had the ostensible facts connectedwith the stolen ruby been retailed, than one of the thieves flasheddown the mountain road, leaving the boys no choice but to fling awayafter him.
The two motor cycles had absolutely no chance to go wrong on thatdownhill trail. Had either motor "bucked," the weight of the heavymachine would have hurled its rider onward in a breakneck coast towardthe foot of the hill.
"Sufferin' streaks!" cried the cowboy. "If we were to meet anybodycoming up, there'd be nothing left but the pieces!"
"I'm keeping a lookout ahead, Joe!" Matt called back, over his shoulder.
He was in the lead, and his rear wheel was firing a stream of dust andsand into McGlory's eyes. But the cowboy was too excited to pay muchattention to that.
"We're goin' off half-cocked, seems to me!" he yelled. "We've knownthat fat chink for about ten minutes, and here we are, lamming into hisgame like a couple of wolves. What's the use of brains, pard, if youdon't use 'em?"
"While we were thinking matters over," Matt answered, ripping around asharp turn, "the one-eyed man would be getting away."
"What're we going to do when we overhaul him? Make an offhand demandfor the Eye of Buddha? It sounds flat enough, and if the webfoot tellsus we're crazy, and gives us the laugh, what're we going to do?"
"Brakes! brakes!" cried Matt, and his motor cycle began to stagger andbuck-jump as he angled for a halt.
McGlory was startled by the command, but instantly he obeyed it. Inorder to avoid running his chum down, he not only bore down with thebrakes but also swerved toward the roadside. He came to a sudden stopin a thicket of bushes, and extricated himself with some difficulty.
Matt was in the road, his motor cycle leaning against a tree. A yard infront of him lay a flat cap. He pointed to it.
"What's that to do with a breakneck stop like we just made?" snortedthe cowboy. "It's not the headgear we want, pard, but the man that ownsit."
"Sure," returned Matt. "Look farther down the road, Joe, and thenyou'll understand."
A straight drop in the road stretched ahead of the boys for a quarterof a mile. Halfway along the stretch was the automobile. The machinewas at a stop, and the driver and the one-eyed man were leaning overthe motor. The hood had been opened, and the driver was tinkering.
"Something has gone wrong," said Matt, "and it happened soon after thesailor had lost his cap. Our one-eyed friend, I think, will come backafter his property. If he does, we'll talk with him. We can't go toofar in this business, you know. I have considerable confidence in TsanTi, but still we're not absolutely sure of our ground."
"The poor old duck is bound to snuff himself out with the yellow cordif he don't recover the ruby," returned the cowboy. "That's what hitsme close to home. We're going it blind"--and here McGlory dug some ofthe sand out of his eyes--"and we jumped into this with a touch-and-gothat don't seem reasonable; still, I've got a sneaking notion we're onthe right track. What's that on the hat ribbon?"
Matt had picked up the hat, and was turning it over in his hand.
"It's the name of a boat, I suppose," answered Matt, taking a look atthe gilt letters. "'_Hottentot_,'" he added, reading the name.
"Oh, tell me!" exclaimed McGlory. "_Hottentot!_ That's a warm label fora boat. But, say! Suppose One-Eye don't think enough of his cap to comeback for it?"
"But he will," answered Matt. "This will bring him, I'll bet somethinghandsome."
As he spoke. Matt pulled a square of folded paper out of the crown ofthe cap.
"Cowboy trick!" grinned McGlory. "Carryin' letters under the sweatbandof a Stetson reminds me of home."
Matt had stepped to the roadside, the folded paper to one hand and thecap in the other.
"Had we better?" he pondered, voicing his thoughts.
"Better what?" queried McGlory.
"Why, keep this paper. It may prove important."
"Sure, keep it! What're you side-stepping for about a little thing likethat? We're after the Eye of Buddha, and if that paper has anything todo with it, the thing's ours by rights."
"But suppose Tsan Ti is working some game of his own? That was afearsome yarn he gave us, Joe."
"Sufferin' tenderfeet! Say, didn't we come all the way from Michiganto help him? Think of that yellow cord, and what it means to---- Oh,Moses!" the cowboy broke off. "Here comes the webfoot, now."
Matt, taking a chance that the sailor was a thief, that he had guiltyknowledge of the whereabouts of the Eye of Buddha, and that the papermight furnish valuable information, thrust the note into his pocket,and hastily replaced it with a bit of paper quickly drawn from hiscoat. Then, tossing the hat into the road, he stepped out and waited.
The sailor was scrambling up the steep ascent with the agility of an A.B. making for the maintop. At sight of Matt, appearing suddenly abovehim, he hesitated, only to come on again at redoubled speed.
"Ahoy, shipmates!" bellowed the old salt, as soon as he had come closeenough for a hail. "Seen anythin' of a bit of headgear hereabouts?"
"There it is," Matt answered, pointing.
"Blow me tight if there it ain't!" He jumped for the hat, and gatheredit in with a sweep of one hand. "Obliged to ye," he added, lookinginto the crown, and then placing the hat on his head with visiblesatisfaction.
He would have turned and made off down the road, had not Matt steppedtoward him and lifted his hand.
"Just a minute, my friend," said Matt.
The sailor flashed a look toward the automobile. The driver had closedthe hood, and was waving his arms.
"Nary a minute have I got to spare, shipmate," the sailor answered."The skipper of that craft has plugged the hole in her bow, and we'reready to trip anchor and bear away."
"Wait!" and a sternness crept into Matt's voice. "We must have a talkwith you. Perhaps you'll save yourself trouble if you give us a fewminutes of your time."
At the word "trouble," the sailor squared around.
"Now, shiver me," he cried, "I'm just beginning to take the cut of yourjib. Trouble, says you. Are ye sailin' in company with that chink wepassed a ways back on our course?"
"What do you know about the Eye of Buddha?" demanded Matt.
"Oh, ho," roared the other, "so that's yer lay, my hearty? Well, youtake my advice, and keep your finger out o' that pie. I'm not sayin' aword about the Eye o' Buddha. Mayhap I know somethin' consarnin' thesame, an' mayhap I don't. But I wouldn't give the fag end o' nothin'mixed in a kittle o' hot water for your chances if you stick an oar inthat little matter."
There was that about the sailor which convinced Matt that he knew moreconcerning the ruby than he cared to tell.
"Stop!" cried the king of the motor boys.
"Not me," was the gruff answer, and both of the sailor's hands droppedinto his pockets.
"If he won't stop," cried McGlory, "then here's where we make him!"
He and Matt started on a run toward the sailor. The latter whirledaround, his arms drew back, and his hands shot forward. Two round,glimmering objects left his palms and tinkled into fragments atthe feet of the two boys. An overpowering odor arose in the stillair--wafted upward in a cloud of strangling fumes that caught at thethroats of Matt and McGlory, blind
ed their eyes, and sapped at theirstrength.
McGlory fell to his knees.
"The--glass--balls----" he gasped, and flattened out helplessly, thelast word fading into a gurgle.
"Leave the Eye o' Buddha alone!" were the hoarse words that echoed inMatt's ears.
And they were the last sounds of which he was cognizant for some time.He crumpled down at the side of his chum, made one last desperatestruggle to recover his strength, and then the darkness closed him in.