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ing ‘over that wiseless proposition of yours, and I’ve gota
“hunch that your: ground-wire isn’t anchored right.
~ There’s an old wire meat-broiler out back of your wood-
shed—I saw it there the other day when you were po-
© king around looking for scrap-iron. Hitch your ground-
‘wire to the: handle and bury the broiler about six feet
‘down; then, if everything-is in shape at the Bluebell, [’ll
bet something handsome you get all kinds of sparks.”
Chub stared at his chum in open-mouthed admiration. ’
“You're the wise’ boy!” he chirped; “if I had your
head along with my knack of corralling stuff and getting
' it together I’d’have Edison, Marconi and.all that. bunch
lashed to’ the mast, King & McReady, Inventions to
Order and While You Wait. Oh, gee!
Carried away by his fancies, Chub lay back on the
‘ground and stared upward into the cottonwood branches
~ above him, dreaming things, Munchausen would never
have dared to mention.
'. “Come back,” said Matt dryly, ‘
Chub. This is a practical old world, and I’m right up
-against it, That’s why I’m thinking, of Denver.”
Chub sat up in a hurry at that, “Now what are you
trying to string me-about Denver for?” he demanded.
“What's the matter with Phcenix as a place to stay? ‘It
ain’t so wild and woolly as a whole lot of other places
_in the. West and Southwest; but since you arrived here
you’ve been mighty spry about catching on.
“Pheenix is all right,” said Matt. “Wherever I hang
up my hat”—and just a shade of wistfulness drifted into
_ the matter is, Chub, I’ve got to knock olf schooling and
get to work—and I’ve got to do it now.”
“You're crazy!” gasped Chub. “‘Why, you'll graduate
in June, and you can’t think of leaving school before
that,”
. “[’vé got to,” returned Matt firmly. ““T’ve been rub-
bing the lamp too long for my own good.”
“What do you mean by ‘rubbing the lamp’ ?”
“T’ve got to bat that up to yon, Chub, and when rm
done you'll be the first person I'ever told about it. In
the first place, ’m a stray—what they calla ‘maverick’
out here on the cattle-ranges. Everybody calls me King,
and I came by the name fairly enough, but for all I
know ,Brown, Jones or Robinson would hit me just as
- close.”
“You're King, all right, ” declared Chub, with a touch
of admiration and fecling, ‘ ‘king. of the’ diamond, the
gridiron, the cinder path, the wheel and”—Chub paused
“the king of- good fellows, with more friends in a minute
than I’ve got ina year,’ ”
“And more enemies,’ ’ added Matt, gtioping hard the
eager hand Chub reached out to him,»
‘come back to earth, -
MOTOR STORIES.
nn Sn
ns
-He sent me to. school—to a technical school part of the
time—but never breathed a word as to who I was or
where I had come from. When he died”—Matt paused
and looked toward the canal for a moment—‘“when he
‘died he went suddenly, leaving me by will a fortune of a
hundred thousand dollars:
”
“Bully for Uncle Jonas!” ejaculated Chub joyously.
“Not so fast, Chub,”
Jonas King’s stepped in and broke the will, and I was
kicked out. without a cent in my pockets.
a motor factory in Albany, but I hadn’t held it down
more than a month before I received a letter enclosing
a draft for three hundred
come to Pheenix, Arizona, go to school, and. wait for fur-
ther word from the writer; which I should receive inside
of, six months.” -
went on Matt. “A brother of
I got a job in
dollars. The letter told me.to
Chub’s eyes were wide with interest and curiosity. -
“That sounds like you’d copped it out of the Arabian
Nights,” Matt,”
Some uncle in India?”
said he. “Who sent-you that: letter?
“It wasn’t signed, and the letter was postmarked in
San Francisco.
heard anything more; and naw it’s nearly a year since
I reached Phoenix and I’m”’—Matt laughed— ‘well, I’m
about dead broke, and I’ve got to get to work.”
The six. months went by and I never
“Three hundred dollars can't last a fellow forever,”
commented Chub sagely.
mystery about you, but I didn’t think it was anything
like ‘that.
now, though,
us,
What do you say?”
Chub was enthusiastic.
breathlessly tpon Matt’s answer.
“You know I’ couldn’t do that,” said Matt.
rubbed the lamp for the last time, and what I get from
now on I’m going to carn.”
hand on his chum’s arm.
“IT always knew there was a
You don’t have to knock off your schooling
Just come out to our joint and stay with
It’s worth the price just to trail around with Perk.
His eyes glowed as he hung
“T’ve
He leaned over and laid a ‘\~
“Tt isn’t that I don’t appre-
‘ ciate your offer, Chub, but a principle is mixed up in this
“A chap that don’t make enemies is a dub,” said Chub. -
“We've got to be hated a little by somebody in order to ,
keep us gingered up. But go on, Matt. I'll, turn down
the lights and pull out the tremolo- -stop while you tell:
me the history of your past life.”
“I’m. going to cut it mighty short, 'Chub,” returned
Matt, “and just give you enough of it so you'll under-
stand how I’m fixed. As long as I can remember, and
up to a year ago, I was living with a good old man
named Jonas King, in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.
I called him Uncle Jonas, although he told me he wasn’t
a relative of mine in any way; that so far as he knew
J didn’t have any relatives, and that he’d given me his
name of King as'the shortest cut out of a big difficulty.
{ sy
Chub was silent. for a space.
that tone of voice he knew there was no arguing with
him,
thing and I can’t afford to turn my back on it.”
When Matt King used
oy ou can’t break away from Phoenix right. away, any-
how,”
cott athletic meet, and Major Woolford wants you to
champion his club in the bike-race.
“Tl not ride in the try-out,”
I can’t afford to hang on here until the meet.
my wheel, and riding out here to see you is the Jast time
Til use it,
have in my clothes, I can reach Denver and find some-
thing to do among’the motors,
afternoon, hut I'm going there to tell the major he’ll have
to count’ mé out.”
‘said Chub gloomily, “There’s the Phoenix-Pres-
You'll not turn that.
down, Why, it means as much as two hundred and fifty
dollars if you win the race—and the try-out’s this after-
noon,’
answered Matt, “because -
I’ve sold
With the money I get for that, and a little I
T'll be at the try-out this
Chub picked up a pebble and flipped it disconsolately
inta the canal,
blamed bad!
“Oh, gee!” he muttered, “this is too
_Ain’t there any way you can get around
- it, Matt, Ww ithout tramping rough-shod on that principle ,
of yours?”
Before Matt could answer a muffled sound caused him
and Chub to look up. Both were startled and jumped to,
their fect.
Dace Perry and his cross-country squad were
i