"Siwash Charley showed his teeth," laughed Black, immensely relieved, "and now he's showing his heels. Motor Matt," he added soberly, "I wouldn't have been in your shoes, a moment ago, for all the money in the United States Treasury!"
The king of the motor boys did not hear the last remark. He had leaped down from the car, and had run forward to the wagon, where he was reaching up and shaking hands with Jake.
[CHAPTER XII.]
"UNCLE SAM" TAKES HOLD.
"Them fellers stopped me," said Jake, "an' was allowin' to unload the flyin' machine. What could I do agin' the lot of 'em, and armed like they was? But the fust I knowed they intended ter smash the thing was when Siwash begun talkin' with you. He'd have shot ye, too. I know him, an' I know he's desprit, so I took a chanst with the blacksnake. Gosh-all-hemlocks, but I shore made a good throw of it."
"You certainly did," said Matt, "and I'm much obliged to you."
Matt turned away from the wagon to talk with the officer in charge of the troopers. The soldiers had come to a halt, and one of them, in the uniform of a lieutenant, had spurred forward.
"What's the ruction here?" he demanded. "Benner rushed up to the fort and said some one had stolen the Traquair aëroplane. He showed us a telegram he had received, told us he had started Jake for Oberon with the machine, and that a couple of young fellows had happened along, pronounced the telegram a forgery, and had started in pursuit of Jake in an automobile. Are you one of the lot that chased up Jake?"
"Yes," said Matt. "Harry Traquair was killed in Jamestown——"