Motor Matt's Short Circuit; or, The Mahout's Vow

Issued Weekly. By subscription $2.50 per year. Copyright, 1909, by Street & Smith, 79-89 Seventh Avenue, New York, N. Y.
Motor Matt's Short=circuit
OR,
THE MAHOUT'S VOW.
By the author of MOTOR MATT.
Matt King , otherwise Motor Matt. Joe McGlory , a young cowboy who proves himself a lad of worth and character, and whose eccentricities are all on the humorous side. A good chum to tie to—a point Motor Matt is quick to perceive. Ping , a Chinese boy who insists on working for Motor Matt, and who contrives to make himself valuable, perhaps invaluable. Carl Pretzel , an old chum who flags Motor Matt and more trouble than he can manage, at about the same time. In the rôle of detective, he makes many blunders, wise and otherwise, finding success only to wonder how he did it. Dhondaram , a Hindoo snake charmer and elephant trainer, who is under an obligation to Ben Ali and gets into trouble while trying to discharge it. Andy Carter , ticket-man for Burton's Big Consolidated Shows; a traitor to his employer, and who emerges from his evil plots with less punishment than he deserves. Boss Burton , manager and proprietor of the Big Consolidated, who, in his usual manner, forms hasty conclusions, discovers his errors, and shows no sign of repentance. Archie Le Bon , a trapeze performer who swings on a flying bar under Motor Matt's aëroplane—and has a bad attack of nerves. Ben Ali , an old Hindoo acquaintance who figures but briefly in the story. His vow, and the manner in which he sought its fulfillment, brings danger to the king of the motor boys.
THE SERPENT CHARMER.
A brown man in a white turban sat by the river. It was night, and a little fire of sticks sent strange gleams sparkling across the water, and touched the form of the brown man with splashes of golden light.
The man was playing on a gourd flute. The music—if such it could be called—was in a high key, but stifled and subdued. Under the man, to keep his crouching body from the earth, had been spread a piece of scarlet cloth. In front of him was a round wicker basket, perhaps a foot in diameter by six inches high.