"Where's Motor Matt?" cried McGlory.
"My no savvy1!"
"How did you happen to be here?"
"Stleet cal."
"What're you making a run from the show grounds for without saying a word to Matt?"
That was a point which Ping did not care to reveal. He was not above being careless with the truth in a pinch, having been raised that way. But, while he might resort to a little harmless fiction with McGlory, he would have cut his tongue out before he would have fibbed to Motor Matt.
"Makee see Wily Bill ketchee cal," Ping explained; "my ketchee same cal. Follow Wily Bill. Wily Bill jump from cal. My jump, too. Tumble all ovel load. Wily Bill lun fo' top-side bank. Motol Matt chasee. Motol Matt leavee gas hlorsee by bank. My follow, no findee."
Out of this pigeon English McGlory captured a few germs of sense.
"What the nation was he following Wily for?" demanded Burton. "How did he know we wanted Wily?"
Ping was still equal to the emergency.
"Dutchy boy havee low with Wily Bill," he explained.
"That's right," went on Burton; "you were around during the row. I'd forgotten that. That may have been enough to put you on Wily's trail, although I can't figure it out exactly. But you followed him, and then you followed Matt when he ran after Wily. They went up the bank and into the woods, you say?"
"Allee same."
"Then where did they go?" demanded McGlory.
"Makee tlacks fo' house with green blinds."
[Pg 13]
"They made tracks for a house with green blinds? Now we're getting at it. Where's this house?"
"Othel side woods. My findee, you savvy; makee sit down, do heap big think. Bymby, 'long come Wily Bill, unlock do', go in house. Plenty soon, 'long come Motol Matt, go in house, too." Ping became oppressed with the awe2 aroused by the event next to be described, and his voice sank into a husky whisper. "My makee tlacks inside, hunt evel place, no can find. House allee same empty. Motol Matt disappeal, vanish, makee go up in smoke. Woosh! My plenty 'flaid."
"What's he givin' us?" snorted Burton. "He's talking through his hat, seems like, to me."
"He's run into something that he can't cumtux," returned McGlory. "It's plain enough, though, that a house with green shutters3 is at the end of our trail. Ping can take us there, and it will be up to us to do the rest."
"Say, young feller!" cried Burton, standing4 up in the runabout and addressing the lad from the motor-car works.
The latter was pulling his motor cycle out of the bushes and making ready to forge away on the rest of his "century" run.
"Well?" returned the youth, one leg over the saddle and ready to pedal off.
"Load that machine into the runabout and drive this rig back to the show grounds for me, will you?" requested Burton. "I'm hungry to see this game through, and I can't leave the horse hitched5 in the road."
"Couldn't get the motor cycle into the buggy," was the answer. "Anyhow, I guess I've helped you about as much as you could reasonably expect."
"There's twenty coming to you," went on Burton. "Take the rig back and I'll make it thirty."
"There's nothing coming to me. I told Motor Matt he could use the machine, and welcome. Now that he's done with it, I'll go on with my run."
The motor began to pop, and presently settled into a steady hum. A minute later the motor cycle and its rider were out of sight.
Just then, when it looked as though Burton was to be permanently6 retired7 from the rest of the pursuit, a street car from the lake rattled8 to a halt, and Carl and Twomley dropped from the steps.
"Here's the Englishman," muttered McGlory, without much enthusiasm.
"And Carl!" added Burton. "He'll take the rig back for me, and the rest of us will start for the house with the green shutters."
"Vat's to pay?" clamored Carl, running toward McGlory and Ping.
Ping's confidence in Carl, like Carl's confidence in Ping, was badly "shook." The Chinese boy backed away.
"Here, Carl," cried Burton. "Jump into the runabout and take it back to the grounds for me. I've got business with McGlory."
"Meppy I don'd got some pitzness mit McGlory, same as you," demurred9 Carl. "Vere iss Modor Matt?"
"There's no time to palaver10, Carl," interposed McGlory. "Take the rig back."
When Matt was away, McGlory was the boss. Carl could not very well disobey such a pointblank order. Much against his will, he climbed into the runabout.
"My word!" cried Twomley. "You seem to have discovered a clue of some sort. Who's the Chinaman?"
"Never mind that, now," returned Barton. "Come with us, Twomley, and we'll tell you as we go along."
"Lead off, Ping," ordered McGlory.
Carl, very much out of temper, shook his fist at Burton, and then at Ping. Following this, he turned the rig the other way and rode moodily11 back toward the show grounds.
Ping, meanwhile, had climbed the bank, and was leading the party of investigators12 through the woods in the direction of the crossroad. As they went along, Burton was telling Twomley what Ping had discovered.
The information given by the Chinaman was lacking in many important points, but its very incompleteness added to the tensity of the situation.
When they came to the end of the crossroad, Ping halted and indicated the house with the green shutters.
"You say," remarked McGlory, giving the house a swift sizing, "that Wily Bill ran into the house?"
"All same," answered Ping.
"And that Pard Matt trailed after him?"
"All same."
"Then you went in, looked around, and couldn't see anything of either of them?"
"My no findee." Ping shivered. "When my makee come out, my lockee do'."
He dug up the key and handed it to McGlory.
"Well," declared McGlory, "if Motor Matt and Wily Bill went in there, and didn't come out again, we'll find them."
"If the Chinaman didn't find them," struck in Twomley, "they must have come out."
"We'll soon know what's what," and the cowboy made his way to the door, thrust the key into the lock, and pushed the door ajar.
The same dark, funereal13 silence that had greeted Ping stared McGlory, Burton, and Twomley in the face.
"My no findee," chattered14 Ping, drawing back; "you no findee."
McGlory pressed into the hall.
"I'll take the rooms on the left," said he, "and the rest of you take the ones on the right. Do your bushwhacking, and then, if you don't find anything, meet me at the foot of the stairs for a look overhead."
Nothing was found. The back door was securely bolted on the inside, and all the windows and blinds of the various lower windows firmly fastened.
The situation upstairs was exactly the same. Puzzled and bewildered, the party returned to the lower hall.
"If Ping's giving it to us straight," said McGlory, "neither Matt nor Wily got out of here. They couldn't have gone through the rear door or any of the windows, without leaving them open. And they couldn't have left by the front door because it was locked, and Ping had the key."
"They might have slipped out while Ping was nosing around upstairs," suggested Burton.
"They'd have made some noise," objected the cowboy. "Matt didn't have any call to keep quiet, and Ping would surely have heard him. Let's go back to the rear rooms again."
Burton and Twomley had examined the kitchen. McGlory now looked that room over for himself.
He was no more than two minutes in picking up a clue. The lighted match which he held close to the floor showed footprints outlined in black. He traced them to the pile of soot15 under the chimney.
[Pg 14]
"Here's where we find something!" he cried. "Open those shutters, you fellows! We want light while we run out this trail of soot."
Twomley and Burton unfastened the windows and pushed back the blinds on their screeching16 hinges. The sunlight, drifting into the room, brought out the trail with weird17 distinctness.
"Maybe the Chinaman blundered into the soot and left the trail," hazarded Burton.
"My no makee tlail," declared Ping. "No touchee soot."
"There's only one of the chink, anyhow, pards," said McGlory, "and at least two pairs of feet walked through that pile of black stuff. One man wore shoes, and the other wore slippers18. The slippers left marks a good deal like Ping's sandals, but the marks are too big for Ping. We'll find out a few things now, I reckon."
With eyes bent19 sharply on the floor, the cowboy crossed the kitchen into the hall, and then moved along the hall to a spot under the stairs.
The stairs were not enclosed, but sprang directly from the hall floor. In the angle formed by the flight and the floor the sooty trail vanished.
"Now what?" queried20 Burton. "It looks like we were up in the air as much as ever."
Without replying, McGlory drew his knife from his pocket, opened it, and went down on his knees.
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收听单词发音
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1
savvy
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| v.知道，了解；n.理解能力，机智，悟性；adj.有见识的，懂实际知识的，通情达理的 | |
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2
awe
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| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
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3
shutters
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| 百叶窗( shutter的名词复数 )； （照相机的）快门 | |
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4
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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5
hitched
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| （免费）搭乘他人之车( hitch的过去式和过去分词 )； 搭便车； 攀上； 跃上 | |
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6
permanently
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| adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地 | |
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7
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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8
rattled
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| 慌乱的，恼火的 | |
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9
demurred
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| v.表示异议，反对( demur的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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10
palaver
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| adj.壮丽堂皇的；n.废话，空话 | |
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11
moodily
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| adv.喜怒无常地；情绪多变地；心情不稳地；易生气地 | |
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12
investigators
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| n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 ) | |
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13
funereal
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| adj.悲哀的；送葬的 | |
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14
chattered
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| （人）喋喋不休( chatter的过去式 )； 唠叨； （牙齿）打战； （机器）震颤 | |
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15
soot
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| n.煤烟，烟尘；vt.熏以煤烟 | |
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16
screeching
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| v.发出尖叫声( screech的现在分词 )；发出粗而刺耳的声音；高叫 | |
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17
weird
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| adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的 | |
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18
slippers
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| n. 拖鞋 | |
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19
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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20
queried
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| v.质疑，对…表示疑问( query的过去式和过去分词 )；询问 | |
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