But it was something else that had taken Delray abroad that morning. He came, puffing, just as Matt got the Comet on the ground.
"Well, by thunder!" exclaimed the watchman. "What's the matter with the machine? Where's Chub? Say, but I've had the duse of a time!"
Delray mopped his face with a handkerchief and looked excited, and curious, and a little bit chagrined.
"First off, Del," said Matt, "have you got any gasoline? Don't tell me you haven't! It's the one thing I need just now more than anything else."
"That's right," cried Delray, surprising Matt with a fresh show of excitement, "if you ever needed gasoline, you need it now. But I don't think I've got a drop. Haven't used the gasoline-stove for a month, and it seems to me the can was empty when I last tried it. But wait; we'll make sure."
Delray darted into the house. In a moment he came rushing back with a can.
"There's some here, but I don't know how much," said he.
"Bully!" exclaimed Matt. "A quart will take me to Phœnix on the high speed."
He began working while he kept up a flow of talk.
"Chub's in the hills, looking for his father, who's mysteriously missing from the claim. Jacks and a rascal named Bisbee held us up yesterday afternoon while Perry got away on Chub's wheel. Jacks and Bisbee tried to keep us bottled up in a hole in the rocks all night; but we managed to get away. Chub's going to look around for his father, and I'm going to take his father's location notice to Phœnix. Seen anything of Perry?"