CHAPTER IX.
HELD AT BAY.
"Don't worry about your father, Chub," said Matt. "Hawley will stealthis claim if he can, but it's a cinch he'll do it in such a way thelaw can't get a hold on him. Your father has been trapped in someway, in order to get him off the claim so Jacks could put up his ownlocation notice. You can be sure, though, that Jacks hasn't doneanything very desperate. Brace up, old chap!"
"I can't," groaned Chub. "It's back to the woods for me. The gimp hasall been taken out of me. Everybody in Phoenix always has a joke tocrack at the McReadys. They call dad a 'rainbow-chaser,' and say henever can find any pay-rock the way he potters around. And now he'slost this chance! Maybe we'll never get another."
"Look here, Chub," said Matt, walking over to his chum and pulling himto his feet, "you're not a quitter and never have been. Don't try to beone now. Pull yourself together and face the music. _There's a chanceyet!_ But you're not going to help that chance any by acting like this."
"Chance?" repeated Chub dully, lifting his hopeless, freckled face toMatt's.
"Yes. You've got two location notices. Fill 'em out. Tack one on thatboard in place of the one you just pulled down, and we'll hustle theother one to the recorder's office in Phoenix."
"It's too late, I tell you!" insisted Chub. "Don't you understandwhat's been done? Jacks tacked his own notice up, and Perry is alreadyon the way to Phoenix with a duplicate."
"Perry hadn't started, up to the time we got here," pursued Mattquickly. "If he had started, he'd have had to pass us. But suppose hedid; suppose he has two hours the start of us--why, he's riding a horsethat has already done twenty-five miles to-day, and a _motor-cycle canbeat him out_!"
Matt's hopefulness and splendid confidence electrified Chub.
"You're a chum worth having if any one asks you," he burst out. "You'reright, Matt; there is a chance yet, and this is no time to pull offany baby-act. I was rattled, that's all. The idea that a fortune hadside-stepped the McReadys had got onto my nerves. Give me a pencil.Hanged if I don't jump dad's claim myself, just to save it from Jacksand Hawley."
Chub was now all energy and determination. Sitting down on the rocksonce more, he took two folded blanks from his pocket and laid them overa smooth, flat stone in front of him.
"We'll call this claim the 'Make or Break,'" he went on, taking thepencil from Matt and beginning to fill in the blank spaces; "it's inthe Winnifred Mining District, and it's located by Mark McReady."
"Hold up, Chub," interposed Matt, "before you write your name down asthe locator. You're several years this side of twenty-one. Would thatmake any difference?"
"It might," said Chub thoughtfully. "It'll be safer to put in dad'sname, and then we'll be sure not to get stung. I'll fill out the two ofthem; then, while I'm tacking one to the board, you can take the otherand make a getaway for Phoenix."
"What are you going to do?"
"I'm goin' to hang around here an' look for dad. You'll make a quickerrun to town than you would if I was along with that one-cylindermachine, anyhow."
Matt, whose mind was busy with the conversation he and Chub hadoverheard between Jacks and Bisbee, evolved a sudden idea.
"Is there a mine around here called the Santa Maria?" he asked.
"Seems to me I've heard of an old, played-out proposition by thatname," answered Chub. "Why?"
"Do you remember what Bisbee said to Jacks while they were coming alongthe pack-trail? '_I can tell what we done at the old Santa Maria._'Those were his words, Chub, and I've got a hunch that that's the placeto go and look for your father."
"Bully!" said Chub. "You've got more horse-sense in a minute, MattKing, than Reddy McReady has in a year. Get ready to hike, old chap.I'll have this for you in about a minute."
"I'll go over to the spring and get a drink," answered Matt, "and thenI'll turn the _Comet_ loose."
The spring was some little distance away from the center monument whereChub was doing his writing. Matt hurried toward it, gave old Baldy afriendly slap as he passed him, and then went down on his knees at theedge of the rocky pool.
Matt was feeling tolerably easy in his mind. He knew what the _Comet_could do, and in order to help his friends, the McReadys, he would makethe miles spin out from under the pneumatic tires as they had neverdone before.
It is usually at just such a time as that, when one feels as thoughhe is about to accomplish something really worth while, that theunexpected bobs up to play hob with all his well-laid plans.
While Matt was on his knees, refreshing himself with the coolspring-water, a wild yell came from Chub. Matt was on his feet in ajiffy, and whirled just in time to see Chub take a header from the rockpile.
He must have finished filling out the notices and climbed to the topof the center monument to tack one of them to the board, when theunexpected arrived.
Matt saw Jacks on top of the stone heap, and it was he who had givenChub the shove that landed him on his hands and knees at the bottom ofthe pile. Chub got up angrily, and gathered in a scrap of paper thathad dropped beside him; then he turned and faced the prospector, whowas roaring and shaking his fist.
"What d'ye mean, ye red-headed whelp, by tamperin' with my locationnotice? Tryin' ter jump this here claim, hey? Waal, you scatter, an' doit quick! If ye don't, I'll kick ye clean off'n the map!"
Jacks was not the only enemy that had come to work havoc with the plansof Matt and Chub. Bisbee was there, also, and so--to Matt's intenseamazement--was Dace Perry.
Perry was standing beside a saddle-horse. The animal had been riddenhard and was plainly far gone with fatigue.
Jacks and Bisbee, it now seemed to Matt, had gone off somewhere amongthe rocks to meet Perry. Jacks probably had pitched a camp near-by,where he had stayed while watching Chub's father; and, naturally, itwould be to this camp that Perry would go to meet the ruffian. Havingjoined forces, all three of the plotters had advanced covertly uponMatt and Chub.
Matt ran forward, to place himself shoulder to shoulder with Chub.Perry saw him coming, and called Bisbee's attention to him.
"You stay whar ye aire!" yelled Bisbee.
As he gave the warning he lifted his hand, and Matt saw the sun glimmeron a piece of blued steel.
"Git over thar ter whar yer friend is," ordered Jacks, from the top ofthe stone pile. "We mean bizness right from the drop o' the hat, youngfeller, an' if that red skelp o' your'n is of any valley to ye, ye'lljump mighty prompt whenever I tune up!"
Chub held his ground, however, and Matt continued to come on.
"You're a pack of thieves," clamored Chub, "that's what you are! You'retrying to steal this claim away from my father, but we're going to foolyou."
"Ye're McReady's son, aire ye?" yelped Jacks. "Waal, now, McReady triedter steal this claim away from me, an' when I git back, along comes youan' makes a similar kind o' break. Git away from here! My mad's up, an'I'm li'ble ter do ye damage. What's that ye got in yer hand? Grab itaway from him, Bisbee, then kick him off'n the claim."
Bisbee executed a rush in Chub's direction, but Matt was close enoughby then to push out a foot and throw the ruffian heavily.
Bisbee, swearing furiously, arose to his knees and leveled the weaponhe still clutched in his fingers. Before he could use it, Jacks hadscrambled down from the rock pile and caught his wrist.
"None o' that, Bisbee!" said Jacks. "So long as the young whelps don'ttry ter interfere with us."
Matt and Chub ran back a few steps.
"It's the location notice, Matt," Chub whispered, "that I wanted you totake to town."
"Give it here, Chub," returned Matt, and took the paper and thrust itinto the breast of his leather coat.
"It's a location notice!" sang out Perry. "I heard McReady tell King itwas. Better take it away from him."
"I know a trick wuth two o' that," laughed Jacks hoarsely. "Kin youride one o' them new-fangled bicycles, Perry?"
"Yes," replied Perry.
"Then pick out the best 'un an' ride fer Phoenix with t
hat notice o'mine."
Perry gave an exultant laugh and jumped for the _Comet_. Matt startedforward.
"Keep away from that machine, Perry!" he cried.
"Draw a bead on him, Bisbee," said Jacks. "If he tries ter keep Perryfrom gittin' away, you know what ter do."
The gleaming weapon arose to a level with Bisbee's wicked little eyes,and Matt halted uncertainly. The pounding of the _Comet's_ motor wasalready in his ears, and Perry was starting for the pack-trail.
While Matt stood there, wondering what he could possibly do, the_Comet_ did something it had never done before. With a wheezy sputter,it stopped dead, refusing to answer the frantic twists Perry gave thehandle-bars.
"Thought ye said ye could run it?" scoffed Jacks.
"Something's loose or broken," replied Perry, leaping from the saddleand letting the machine drop. "The other belongs to Ed Penny and I knowit better. I'll take that."
A few moments later he was on the other motor-cycle and scurryingtoward the trail. Jacks turned on Matt and Chub with a taunting laugh.
"I reckon you won't file no location notice ahead o' Jacks an' Hawley_this_ trip!" he yelled.