CHAPTER III.
SHOCK NUMBER ONE.
When Motor Matt and Joe McGlory dropped off that "local" passengertrain at the Catskill station they had just finished a series ofstrenuous experiences. These had to do with the great ruby known asthe Eye of Buddha. A cunning _facsimile_ of the gem had been sent byTsan Ti to Matt, by express, with a letter desiring him to take care ofthe ruby until the mandarin should call for it. This responsibility,entirely unsought by the king of the motor boys, plunged him and hiscowboy pard into a whirl of adventures, and ended in their beingdecoyed aboard the _Iris_. Here the ruby was taken from Matt byforce--Grattan, who secured it, not learning until some time later thatthe object Matt had been caring for was merely a base counterfeit ofthe original gem. And Matt and McGlory did not find this out until theycaught the train at Fairview, when they discovered that Tsan Ti and SamWing were aboard.
The twenty-mile ride from Fairview to Catskill with the mandarin provedquite an eye opener for the motor boys. They learned how Tsan Ti haddeliberately set Grattan on their track to recover the bogus ruby,while he--Tsan Ti--made his escape with the real gem.
This part of the mandarin's talk failed to make much of a "hit" withMatt and McGlory. The mandarin had used them for his purposes in aparticularly high-handed manner, keeping them entirely in the darkregarding the fact that the stone intrusted to Matt was a counterfeit.
Although the boys parted in a friendly way with the mandarin on leavingthe train at Catskill, yet they nevertheless remembered their grievanceand were heartily glad to think that they were done for all time withTsan Ti and his ruby.
Very often it happens that when we think we are done with a thing wehave reckoned without taking account of a perverse fate. This was thecase with the motor boys with reference to Tsan Ti and the Eye ofBuddha.
While they were climbing the slope from the railroad station to theirhotel, glad of the prospect of securing a little much-needed rest, onlya few chance remarks by McGlory prevented them from having an encounterwith Grattan, Pardo, and Bunce, who were lurking beside the walk. Andat that same moment the faithless Sam Wing was engineering his stealthytheft in the darkened passenger coach.
So stirring events were forming, all unheeded by the boys.
Upon reaching the hotel they proceeded immediately to the room whichthey occupied, hastily disrobed, and crept into their respective beds.In less than five minutes the room was resounding with McGlory'ssnores. Matt remained awake long enough to review the events of the dayand to congratulate himself that he and his cowboy pard were finallyrid of the "hoodoo" gem and the "hoodoo" Chinaman who had been lookingfor it. Then the king of the motor boys himself fell asleep.
It was McGlory's voice that aroused Matt.
"Sufferin' thunderbolts!" Matt awoke with a start and turned his eyestoward the other side of the room. The cowboy was sitting up in bed."Talk about your shocking times, pard," he went on, "why, I've beenjumping from one shock into another ever since I hit this mattress.Thought I was chased by a blind idol, twenty feet high, and sometimesthat idol looked like Grattan, sometimes it was a dead ringer for TsanTi, and sometimes it was its own wabble-jawed, horrible self. Woosh!And listen"--McGlory's eyes grew wide and he became very serious--"theidol that chased me had _red hair_!"
"What difference does that make, Joe?" inquired Matt, observing thatthe sun was high and forthwith tumbling out of bed.
"What difference does it make!" gasped McGlory. "Speak to me aboutthat! Don't you know Matt, that whenever you dream about a person withred hair, trouble's on the pike and you've got up your little red flag?"
"Oh, gammon!" grunted Matt. "Pile out and get into your clothes, Joe.We're taking the eleven a. m. boat for the big town, and we haven'tany too much time to make our 'twilight,' help ourselves to a latebreakfast, and amble down to the landing."
"Hooray!" cried McGlory, forgetting his dream in the prospect called upby his chum's words. "We're going to have the time of our lives in NewYork, pard! All I hope is that nothing gets between us and that elevena. m. boat. Seems like we never make a start for down the river butJohnny Hardluck comes along, jolts us with an uppercut, and faces usthe wrong way. Look here, once."
"Well?"
"If you get a letter from Tsan Ti, promise me to say 'manana' and giveit the cut direct."
"What chance is there of our receiving a letter from the mandarin? He'son his way West with the Eye of Buddha, and Grattan is on his way noone knows where with a glass imitation. Both of them are satisfied, andI guess you and I, Joe, haven't any cause for complaint. The mandarinis too busy traveling to write any letters."
"Well," insisted McGlory, "give me your solemn promise you won't payany attention to a letter from the mandarin if you receive one. Ifyou're so plumb certain he won't write, why not promise?"
"It's a go," laughed Matt, "if that will make you feel any easier inyour mind."
"It does, a heap. I'd rather have measles than another attack ofmandarinicutis, complicated with rubyitis, and----"
"Oh, splash!" interrupted Matt. "We've been well paid for all the timewe were ailing with those two troubles. Give your hair a lick and apromise, and let's go down to breakfast. They'll be ringing the lastbell on us if we wait much longer."
"Lead on, Macduff!" answered McGlory, throwing himself around in theair and then striking a pose, with one arm up, like Ajax defying thelightning. "Remember Monte Cristo like that, pard?" he asked. "'Theworld is mine!' That's how I feel. Us for New York, with fifteenhundred of the mandarin's _dinero_ in our clothes! Oh, say, I'm a brassband and I've just got to toot!"
The cowboy "tooted" all the way downstairs and into the office; then,as they passed the desk on their way to the dining room, the rejoicingdied on the cowboy's lips.
"Just a minute, Motor Matt!" called the clerk, leaning over the deskand motioning.
"Lightning's going to strike," muttered McGlory; "I can see it coming."
He followed Matt to the desk. As they lined up there, the clerk fisheda small box out of the office safe.
"This was left here for you last night, Matt," went on the clerk. "Iwas told to hand it to you this morning by the night clerk when he wentoff duty."
The little box was placed on the counter. Matt and McGlory stared at it.
That was not the first time they had seen that small receptacle. Withthe counterfeit ruby inside, it had first come into Matt's hands byexpress, direct from Tsan Ti; then, by a somewhat devious course ofevents, it had gone into the possession of Philo Grattan.
Why should Grattan have returned the box to Matt? How _could_ he havereturned it when, as Matt and McGlory believed, he was at that verymoment hurrying to get out of the country and escape the law?
"Shock number one," shuddered McGlory.
"Not much of a shock about this--so far," returned Matt, picking up thebox.
"Wait till you see what's inside."
"We'll open it in the dining room," and Matt turned away.
"I'll bet a bowl of birds'-nest soup against a plate of sharks' finsit's going to spoil your breakfast."
They went in and took their usual places at one of the tables. All theother guests had breakfasted, and the motor boys had the big diningroom--with the exception of two or three waiters--wholly to themselves.
"Open it quick," urged McGlory.
Matt sawed through the string with his knife, pulled out the lid of thebox, and dropped a gleaming red object on the tablecloth.
"Sufferin' snakes!" exclaimed McGlory. "The Eye of Buddha, or I'm aPiute! How in blazes did old Tsan Ti get the thing back to us? When Isaw that last it was in a silk bag around the mandarin's neck."
"It can't be the Eye of Buddha, Joe," said Matt. "It looks to me morelike the bogus gem than the real one."
"How can you tell the difference?"
"From the fact that the real stone could not by any possibility getinto our hands again."
"Neither could the bogus gem--if it's where we think it is."
"I guess here'
s something that will explain," and Matt drew a piece ofpaper from the box.
"Who's it from?" queried McGlory, in a flutter.
"From Grattan," answered Matt grimly. "Listen," and he read:
"'MOTOR MATT: You don't know what a tight squeak you and McGlory had to-night--not aboard the _Iris_, but after you were put ashore. Pray accept the inclosed piece of glass with my compliments. I don't think you knew, any more than I did, that it was counterfeit. If Tsan Ti gets into any more difficulties, you take my advice and let him weather them alone. GRATTAN.'"
"Shocked?" muttered McGlory. "Why, I feel as though somebody had hitme with a live wire. So Grattan found out the ruby was an imitation!And he found out in time to send that back to you last night! Say, thatfellow's the king bee of all the crooks that ever lived. Present thejewel to one of these darky waiters, and let's you and I get busy withthe ham and eggs. I'm glad we're for New York by the eleven-o'clockboat, and that the mandarin isn't worrying us any more."
The cowboy threw the box under the table, and would have reached forthe gleaming bit of glass had not Matt grabbed it first and dropped itinto his pocket.