CHAPTER XIV.
COMING OF THE "COMET."
Matt hardly dared hope for success. There was a chance--perhaps onechance in a hundred--that everything would work as it should, and Pennyarrive along the Black Canyon road with the _Comet_ in time for Matt tomake such a run into Phoenix as was never heard of before. But whenMatt thought of the many things on which success hinged, his heartstood still before the very audacity of his thought of winning out.
In the first place, everything depended on the quickness with which anumber of intricate details were accomplished in Phoenix--and all thesewere left in the hands of a girl! True, Susie McReady was a girl in ahundred, quick-witted, and able to hustle in a pinch, but it was not tobe supposed that she could do as well as Chub would have done.
Then, Susie would have to take chances getting Major Woolford on thephone. In the crowd at the park it might be impossible to find themajor for an hour--and it was quite likely a loss of ten minutes wouldspell disaster. But if Susie _could_ get the major on the phone, Mattknew that the energetic president of the Phoenix Club would move heavenand earth to find Penny and start him along the Black Canyon road.
The major, too, would delay the start of the bicycle-race as long ashe could. Prescott, however, if it saw a chance to pull off the racewithout Matt, was allowed to insist, under the rules governing thecontests, that the starter bring the racers to the mark on the dot.
As the difficulties before him piled steadily up under Matt's mentalview, he halted his pace, almost discouraged by the outlook. Clippertontoiled up alongside of him.
"You shouldn't have tried to chase along with me, Clip," said Matt."You're pretty near all in, old man. Jupiter! but you've made a recordthis day!"
"You can make a better one," panted Clipperton. "I want you to makegood. But how are you going to? Put me next."
Matt explained about Chub's wireless line, about the seven-horse-powermotor-cycle which could do sixty-five miles an hour on the high speedif a rider was reckless enough and had the right kind of a road, and hefinished by giving the situation at the Phoenix end of the route.
Clipperton's eyes snapped and sparkled. He had been born to championforlorn hopes, and certainly this idea of Matt's was desperate enoughto make the biggest kind of a hit with him.
"Great!" he muttered breathlessly. "If you win it will be the biggestthing on record. Won by wireless, and a jump of twenty miles on the_Comet_. Fine! Motor Matt, Mile-a-minute Matt, King of the Wheel. Say,you're a wonder."
"Not so you can notice it, Clip, not yet. Just now, all I can do is tohope for the best."
For some time they continued on through the hills, finally reachinga high part of the road which gave them a view of a flat stretch ofdesert leading away to the Arizona Canal.
There were several canals in Salt River Valley and contiguous toPhoenix, all constructed for irrigation purposes. It was the "TownCanal" that ran past the McReady home, and between that and the ArizonaCanal there was still another of the artificial streams. The ArizonaCanal, however, formed the outpost of the waterways.
Pausing on the "rise," Matt and Clipperton peered across the glimmeringyellow sands. A fork in the road lay below them.
"The branch goes to Pedro Garcia's old _jacal_ and beyond," said Clip."Look!" he added excitedly.
Matt followed Clip's extended finger with his eyes. Off along thebranch road, trudging slowly toward the main trail, a distant formcould be seen.
"The cowboy!" muttered Matt. At that distance he could not identify thefigure, but intuition told him who it must be.
"Yes," returned Clipperton grimly. "He thinks we started for Phoenix."
"What time is it now, Clip?"
"We're four miles from the Bluebell. It's taken us an hour. So it mustbe nearly three."
"Sixteen miles from Phoenix and only a little more than an hour left!I'm expecting too much, Clip. Susie has had an hour to find the majorand get Penny started this way with the _Comet_. Somebody hasn't beenable to make good and I guess I'm let out."
"No!" shouted Clip. "What's that coming this way? See!"
Clipperton pointed along the main road where it ran in a light streakacross the desert. A cloud of dust, more like a column of smoke thananything else, was sweeping toward the hills.
Matt held his breath as he gazed. The dust cloud seemed fairly to jumpat them; then, suddenly, the wind whipped it aside, and brave Ed Penny,glorious old Penny, could be seen crouching upon the saddle of the_Comet_. He was shooting for the hills like a cannon-ball.
"Hurrah!" yelled Clipperton, jerking off his cap and throwing it intothe air. "Motor Matt is going to win!"
The _Comet_ took the "rise" like a bird on the wing. Penny, coveredwith dust and half-blinded, halted only when he heard Matt's voicecalling to him. Clip sprang to support the machine while Penny got off.
"That you, King?" queried Penny, dizzy and staggering.
"Yes!" shouted Matt, gripping the brave fellow's hand. "Bully boy,Penny! How's everything at the park?"
"Panic! Mile race lost because Clip wasn't there. All Phoenix wildbecause King is missing. Major red-headed. Jerked me out of thehigh-school bunch and snatched me into town in his automobile; threwme onto the _Comet_ and offered me twenty-five dollars if I'd get themachine to you inside of an hour, and fifty dollars if you got to thepark in time for the race. Jinks, but that machine is a dandy!"
Matt and Clip were lifting the _Comet_ around. Clip held the machinewhile Matt rose to the saddle.
"Wait!" roared Penny; "don't start yet."
"Why not?" asked Matt.
"Hawley is coming! See that dust? Pull the _Comet_ out here beside theroad and crouch down so we can't be seen when the dust blows away. Thedriver of the car may take the other road at the forks."
Here was startling news--news that might snatch success out of Matt'shands just when the prospect of victory seemed brightest.
Another dust cloud was coming. As the three boys drew aside andcrouched down the cloud dissipated slightly and through it they couldsee Dirk Hawley's motor-car, hitting nothing but high places andreaching for the hills like a streak.
"He saw the major grab me and rush me away from the park," explainedPenny, referring to Hawley. "His driver and another man were in the carbesides himself. They took after me. I led them by a quarter of a mileat the bridge over the Arizona Canal. They stopped there and the man inthe tonneau with Hawley got out. The whole bunch means trouble! What'sHawley got to do with this, anyhow?"
"He's got a lot to do with it," muttered Matt, "but I haven't time toexplain now. Ah, look at the cowboy, Clip!"
The cowboy, who was coming across fairly high ground, could be seenwaving his arms. Evidently he saw the motor-car and recognized thosewho were in it.
"That does the trick!" whispered Clipperton excitedly. "Hawley wascoming along the Bluebell trail. The cowboy is drawing them into theother road. Luck! That will clear the way so you can get past on the_Comet_. Wait until the car is close to the cowboy. Then make a rush."
"For heaven's sake," begged Penny, "beat him in, Matt! The _Comet_ cando it."
"The _Comet_ is going to do it," said Matt, between his teeth.
All three of the boys watched while the motor-car flung itself up thegentle slope toward the cowboy.
"Now!" said Clip, starting up and laying hold of the _Comet_.
They trundled the machine back into the road and Matt got into thesaddle and laid hands on the grip-control.
"Ready?" cried Penny.
"Let her go!" answered Matt.
Penny and Clip gave him a shove. _Pop_, _pop_, _pop_, snapped themotor, the explosions presently coming so fast that they sounded like adull roar. Off went the exhaust, and Motor Matt slipped down the slopelike a brown streak, kicking the dust up behind him.
"He'll win, he'll win!" cried Clipperton. "The men in the motor-car seehim. The cowboy is getting into the front seat alongside the driver.They can't head him! Hurrah for Motor Matt!"
Hawley and tho
se with him had seen the sliding streak rushing downfrom the hill and making for the canal. There was a scramble about themotor-car, a frantic cranking-up and jumping start on the high-gear.But it was plain to the two boys on the hill that Matt would pass theforks of the road before the car and its passengers could get there.
Penny danced around excitedly.
"Why did Hawley drop that man off at the bridge?" he fumed. "That'swhat I can't understand. That man at the bridge spells trouble with abig T. What's Hawley butting into this game for, anyway?"
"He's been plunging on O'Day," answered Clip. "He knows O'Day loses ifMatt gets to the park in time. Of course, he wants to stop him. Put twoand two together, Penny."
"That's right, Clip," explained Penny. "It's up to Matt, now."
"Leave it to him. The game couldn't be in better hands."
Then, with staring eyes, Clip and Penny watched the two dust flurries.The cloud kicked up by the _Comet_ passed the forks of the road a fullminute ahead of the fog raised by the motor-car.
"Three groans for Hawley!" chortled Clip.
"But that man at the bridge," groaned Penny. "He sure is worrying me."