Stanley R. Matthews

“ Jurgens and Whistler seemed stupefied. They stared at each other, then at Bangs, and then at the grinning face of Dashington.
"If I could see as much as two bones in this, gents," remarked the youth, "I'd be tickled out of my kicks. This Motor Matt must be a beaut if he looks like yours truly. What's in the letter? Can't we use it some way and get a strangle hold on a basket of rocks? I've got a horrible financial stringency staring me in the face, and I'm ripe for anything." ”

“ But I thought I could trust Carl and Dick to deliver the letter safely to you."
"You can hardly blame them for making the mistake, Townsend," went on Matt, "when even you and Cassidy were fooled."
"It's the most astonishing thing I ever heard of!" muttered Townsend. "How two young fellows could look so much alike, and how your double should happen around at just the right time to play havoc with my carefully worked-out plan. But it's fate. There's something about those diamonds that brings ill luck. ”

“ The woman's name was Yamousa, and she lived in a hut near a bayou of the same name. Matt knew the place well, for he and his chums had stopped there, a few days before, had been of some service to Yamousa, and had been repaid by her in a way that had caused, and was still causing, them any amount of wonder.
The voodoo priestess apparently possessed powers of divination that were inexplicable. Her arts may have been wholly trickery, but, if so, a wonderful chain of coincidences had lent a cast of truth to her magic. ”

“ Matt's whole manner was different from that of the youth whose cigarette had set fire to the cotton bale. His talk was different, too, and there was nothing "chesty" or insolent about him.
"What's the trouble, pards?" asked Matt, appealing to Carl and Dick. "I'm all at sea over this. When I got to Stuyvesant Dock, an hour ago, the watchman there told me that you boys had gone off somewhere on a hurry-up call. I waited for you to come back, and then, when I saw the smoke of the burning cotton bale, I started for here."
"The trouble is deeper than I think any of us can fathom," muttered Dick. ”

“ Fetterman, here, came to my hotel, a few minutes ago, with the information that the ringleader of the thieving gang had been captured, and that the diamonds had been recovered. We came on here at once, I to explain my mission to Mr. Townsend, and Mr. Fetterman to vouch for my story."
Shirley, of Scotland Yard, sank back in his chair, his mild blue eyes roving whimsically about over the astounded faces of his listeners.
"Merciful powers!" gasped Townsend. "Can it be possible that I have been so terribly deceived in that fellow who called himself the Man from Cape Town? ”

“ You have experienced much trouble and worry, and this can never be made up to you. As for the diamonds——"
"Take them," cried Townsend, stretching out the bag to Fetterman; "I am delighted to get rid of them and have them off my mind. And I am doubly glad that, being stolen property, a wrong is to be righted and the stones returned to their rightful owners. I don't wish to have anything done for me, Mr. Shirley. I have sufficient of this world's goods, and you have already done me the greatest favor possible by taking the diamonds off my hands. ”

“ You won't have much time to get it out of the way."
"I don't expect to carry it off by the armful," said Matt, "but to start the car and drive through it and over it."
"Then it's a guess, and only a guess," pursued Dashington, "that both Whistler and Bangs will rush into the timber to give Jurgens a helping hand. Suppose only one of them goes? You'll be in a fine row of stumps trying to steal the machine with a man looking at you over the sights of a rifle!" ”

“ Joe Dashington listened to all this with a surprised grin.
"I suppose I ought to have heart failure over this," he remarked, "but, somehow, it don't phase me. I can't be much worse off than I am, no matter what happens. When you gents find out you've made a sucker play, perhaps you'll tell me how I can turn enough of the ready for a board bill and a place to pound my ear."
"He's trying to tell me that his name's not King," scoffed Whistler.
Jurgens, deeply interested, laid his head on one side and studied the youth at some length. ”

“ Ring the gong, Motor Matt, and we'll take our corners."
"You and Carl had better move, Dick," said Matt, nodding toward Jurgens and the pole. "Pick up your man and start. Do you feel equal to it?" he added, turning an anxious look on the sailor.
"Equal to anything, mate," answered Dick, "now that we've got the diamonds. Only don't lose the stones, that's all. Grab your end of the pole, Carl," he added.
Carl was as happy a Dutchman as one could have found in seven states. ”

“ Shirley turned an approving glance on Motor Matt.
"I hear nothing but most excellent reports of Motor Matt," said he, "and I should like to hear from him, in detail, all that has happened while he and his friends were working to recover the diamonds for the last time."
"It will be worth listening to, I can promise you that," said Cassidy. "Whenever he does a thing, he has a way o' his own of getting at it." ”

“ After two hours of sailing over the river, Dick sighted their turning point and gave the order for an easterly course. The Hawk swung around, answering the steering rudder easily. The motor worked perfectly, and the air ship swerved and shifted with the slightest touch on the guiding lever.
"And that swab who belongs to the Aëro Club wants to buy the Hawk!" scoffed Dick. "We'll never sell her, Matt. If it's money we want, we can make more with the air ship than we could in any other line of business. ”

“ But, say! Don't you think we'd better rush this business? Ef there's a man piping the house off, the quicker we finish and I duck, the better."
"Keen as ever, my boy!" exclaimed Townsend, in a tone of relief. "Reach your hand under my pillow and take out what you find there."
It was an eager hand that went under the pillow and drew out a canvas bag.
"Those are the diamonds, Matt," said Townsend. "I don't have to tell you anything about them. The address of the lady to whom they are to go is on the card pinned to the bag."
"Is she looking for me to come?" inquired Dashington. ”

“ He had been standing by the open door, and he suddenly drew back and hurried up to the other boys.
"Jurgens just showed up on the bank of the bayou," announced Dick, "and he looks as though he might be laying a course for the hut."
"We're double-crossed!" muttered Dashington. "The head knocker of the push will be next to us in half a minute, and that means a run to safety in the chug wagon with all hands and the sparks."
"No," said Matt, a thought darting through his mind. "There are enough of us here to capture Jurgens. ”

“ Another and another explosion followed, and, at the sound, the rifle fire dropped. A shout of triumph rang in the rocks and about us.
We dropped the gun and peered over our rock, and saw a white flag limply hanging from the lighthouse. The man on the wire was crawling painfully back to the other side. I could not help but start up and give him a cheer with the whole of my breath.
Chloe looked in my face, her black eyes big with wonder, a child again.
"That's because he is as brave a man as ever carried a gun," said I.
"Do the Americans always cheer an enemy?" asked she. ”

“ When the explanations were done a silence fell over the chums. Dick was first to speak.
"Keelhaul me," he observed, in deep contrition, "neither Carl nor I seem able to do a thing right when you're not around."
"I'm not finding any fault with you, pards," returned Matt. "Even the officer was fooled, so it is quite natural that you should have made the mistake. Give me that number on Prytania Street. I'd better hike right out there and have Townsend tell me what was in the letter."
"It would be a wrong move, mate." ”

“ Whistler struck again with all his savage strength. This time Dashington dropped silently to his knees and fell on his back, with his head over the curb.
"I reckon that will do him," laughed Jurgens. "Jump in, Whistler. We'll be out of town before he gets back his wits, and it's dollars to dimes he won't say a word to the police."
Whistler laughed grimly as he pulled the crank and then sprang into the automobile. In another moment the machine had chugged away. ”

“ A worried expression came over Dashington's face.
"Who else but some of that sure-thing crowd?" he returned. "This boggles the situation. They know you're here, and when they find you weren't finished up out of hand they'll come looking for you. This sort of puts a crimp in our prospects, Motor Matt. Getting the sparks isn't going to be so easy. Jurgens and his crowd are over by the wagon road with an automobile, and if they think we're wise to them they may take the machine and hike."
"We've got to get back those diamonds," declared Matt. ”

“ But here's where you get it handed to you. You had it easy, last night, but here's where I give you the merry ha-ha."
Jurgens tried to talk, but succeeded only in emitting an incoherent gurgle behind the twisted handkerchief; then he strained desperately at his bonds, but Dick's knots were never known to slip.
"Oh, cut it out!" said Dashington. "The ball and chain are as good as on you so far as your chances for getting away are concerned. What do you think of yourself, anyway? ”

“ Matt gave him the number of the house in Prytania Street where Townsend had taken up his quarters.
"Ah," said Fetterman, with a peculiar glance, "that's the place where the diamonds were stolen. A new man is taking a hand in the game. I'll get him at once and bring him to the place in Prytania Street, but I'd like to have you and your friends stay there until we arrive. What this man has to say will be of interest to all of you." ”

“ If the old hunks has fooled us with a bag of pebbles——"
"He hasn't," cut in Matt. "Look here!"
He pulled one hand from the bag and held up a diamond in the sun. There could be no doubt, after that.
"But are they all there?" demanded Dashington. "The bag hasn't shrunk any since I first set my gig lamps onto it, still a few of the stones might have been taken out. What do you think?"
Matt, Carl and Dick had all seen the diamonds just as they had come from the idol's head, and they were all firmly of the belief that the stones in the bag bulked as large as ever. ”

“ Matt tilted the rudder and the Hawk swooped downward. Before Matt brought the air ship to a level, they were less than twenty feet above the tops of the tallest trees.
"Two points to port, mate," shouted Dick. "There," he added, "hold her so. Very well done. We're coming to the bayou, cap'n and——"
Dick's words were bitten short by a sharp, incisive note from below. This was followed instantly by a smashing sound, a spiteful slap, and a wild hissing. ”

“ I'll take the first fellow in, then we'll slam the machine through and pick up the other two of you and Jurgens. After that we ought to have clear sailing right into New Orleans. And, furthermore, at the first town west we can have officers come back and hunt for the two thieves we leave behind. By making a move like that, we'll not only give ourselves a lift into the city, but, better still, we'll take from Whistler and Bangs their only means of escape out of the country."
"That's the dope!" chuckled Dashington. "Anything that puts Whistler and Bangs on the slide makes a hit with me. ”

“ He has been the ringleader in every plot that was directed against Townsend and the iron chest. It's right that he should pay the penalty of his misdeeds, even if Whistler and Bangs should never be caught. We let him go once, you remember, Dick, when he was in our hands, and now, just because of it, we lost the Hawk, and came within one of losing the diamonds."
"That's a good spiel Motor Matt is giving us," declared Dashington. "I'll go and look for a long pole, and while I'm about it, you fellows tie Jurgens' hands in front of him." ”

“ After laying her nest of eggs the birds begin setting, the hen in the daytime and the male ostrich covering the eggs at nighttime. They remain on the nests constantly from forty-two to forty-five days, never leaving it, except for food twice a day. Even then the male bird covers the nest frequently while his mate seeks her food.
The chick when ready to hatch will usually break or pip the shell itself; but at times the hen ostrich will assist by breaking it with her breast bone, by pressing upon it, helping the chick out by lifting it out with her beak, and shaking the shell from its body. ”