Motor Matt's Air Ship; or, The Rival Inventors — Reading Notes

CHAPTER I. CAPTURING AN AIR-SHIP. CHAPTER II. A QUEER "FIND." CHAPTER III. THE BALLOON HOUSE. CHAPTER IV. THE KETTLE CONTINUES TO BOIL. CHAPTER V. 2109 HOYNE STREET. CHAPTER VI. CARL INVESTIGATES. CHAPTER VII. JERROLD, BRADY'S RIVAL. CHAPTER VIII. JERROLD'S GRATITUDE. CHAPTER IX. ABOARD THE HAWK. CHAPTER X. WILLOUGHBY'S SWAMP. CHAPTER XI. A FOE IN THE AIR. CHAPTER XII. BRADY CHANGES HIS PLANS. CHAPTER XIII. INTO THE SWAMP. CHAPTER XIV. A DESPERATE CHANCE. CHAPTER XV. A DARING ESCAPE. CHAPTER XVI. THE END OF THE MID-AIR TRAIL. THE BIG CYPRESS.

CHARACTERS THAT APPEAR IN THIS STORY.

=Matt King=, concerning whom there has always been a mystery--a lad of splendid athletic abilities, and never-failing nerve, who has won for himself, among the boys of the Western town, the popular name of "Mile-a-minute Matt."

=Carl Pretzel=, a cheerful and rollicking German lad, who is led by a fortunate accident to hook up with Motor Matt in double harness.

=Hamilton Jerrold=, an honest inventor who has devoted his life to aeronautics, and who has built a successful air-ship called the Eagle.

=Hector Brady=, a rival inventor who has stolen his ideas from Hamilton Jerrold. His air-ship is called the Hawk and is used for criminal purposes. Brady's attempt to secure Motor Matt's services as driver of the Hawk brings about the undoing of the criminal gang.

=Whipple, Needham, Grove, Harper and Pete=, members of the Brady's air-ship gang of thieves.

=Helen Brady=, Hector Brady's daughter, who helps Motor Matt.

CAPTURING AN AIR-SHIP.

"Py shiminy grickets! Vat do you t'ink oof dot! See dere vonce, Matt. A palloon, or I vas a lopsder! Und vat a funny palloon it iss."

Motor Matt and his Dutch chum, Carl Pretzel, were sitting by a quiet country roadside, in the shade of some trees. Drawn up near them was a light touring-car.

The boys were several miles out of the city of Chicago, from which place they had started about the middle of the forenoon, and they had halted in that shady spot between Hammond and Hegewisch to eat the lunch they had brought with them. Carl had just finished the last piece of fried chicken when, happening to look skyward, he saw something that brought him to his feet with a jump. As he called to his chum, he pointed with the "drum-stick," at which he had been nibbling.

Matt's surprise was nearly as great as Carl's, and he likewise sprang up and gazed at the air-ship, which was coming toward them from the north and east, making smart headway against the wind.

"Great spark-plugs!" exclaimed Matt. "That's the first air-ship I ever saw."

"Vat's der tifference bedween a palloon und a air-ship?" asked Carl.

"Well, you can navigate an air-ship with the wind or against it, while a balloon is at the mercy of every current that blows. A round gas-bag and a basket is a balloon, Carl, but when you add a gasolene-motor and a propeller you have an air-ship."

"Dot's blain enough. Der air-ship iss sky-hootin' dis vay to peat four oof a kindt. Say, it looks like a pig cigar. Vat a funny pitzness! Und you nefer seen vone pefore, Matt?"

"I never saw one that would travel successfully. This one, though, seems to be going in good shape."

"You haf seen palloons meppy?"

"More than I can count," said he. "I've been up in balloons a dozen times. When I was in the Berkshire Hills they used to have races, and start from Pittsfield. That's where I began making ascensions."

Carl dropped his wondering eyes to Matt for a moment.

"You vas der plamedest feller!" he exclaimed. "You haf tone more t'ings as any feller I ever see, und you nefer say nodding ondil it shlips oudt, like vat it toes now."

Motor Matt made no answer to this. Just then his attention was completely absorbed by the air-craft.

As near as he could judge, the cigar-shaped gas-bag was more than a hundred feet long. Beneath the bag was suspended a light framework. Midway of the framework was an open space, containing a chair in which sat the man who was handling the motor. Out behind the driver the framework tapered to a point, and at the end of this rearmost point was the whirling propeller. The glittering blades caught the sun in a continuous sparkling reflection, which made the air-ship appear to be trailed by a glow of fire.

Forward of the cockpit, or open space, was the motor. A rail ran around the cockpit.

There were two men in the car--the one in the driver's seat and another in front of him, leaning over the rail. This second man seemed to be looking at the two boys, and to be waving his hand and giving directions to the driver.