He guessed, and rightly, that it was Red Spider, the outlaw of the plains, who stood before him.
"Carajo!" the man hissed gutturally, thrusting the firearm forward until it snicked the boy's nose. "Whose baby are you? Why are you here? Answer, or over the side you go!"
Leaning forward, he seized Phil's wrist in a vise-like grip, and forced him slowly toward the edge of the car.
"Come to that, who are you?" the boy retorted pluckily. "You've got less right than I have to be here, I guess."
The half-breed's teeth grated with fury at this impertinence.
"I am left here to guard the trestle railway," he yelled, with a curse. "And my duty is to shoot brats who have no business here!"
He pushed the revolver into Phil's face, gradually forcing him nearer and nearer to the edge of the vibrating car.
"You find so many boys trying to steal rides on the trolleys, don't you?" that worthy choked, keeping his wits by a mighty effort of will. He could see that they were rushing rapidly toward the last platform, and, if he managed to cling on till then, he might manage to escape, hopeless as it seemed.
Reaching out as the Red Spider made a vicious lunge, he caught hold of one of the iron crossbars that secured the car to the rope, and held on like grim death. The outlaw, with a shriek of fury, lifted his revolver, and his finger was pressing upon the trigger when the last platform stopped their progress with appalling abruptness. Phil, clinging desperately as he was, narrowly escaped being flung off, and the Mexican, unprepared for the impact, literally hurtled through the air. Over the boy's head he flew, spread-eagled and screaming, and went down—down—down, with the swiftness of a shot bird, and disappeared into the purple mists that veiled the bottom of the cañon from sight. A crash, a single soul-appalling scream, and Red Spider had vanished forever from the sight of men.
Sick at heart, Phil Clode lay for a few minutes without tempting to move. Then he rose cautiously, and, keeping his eyes averted from the dreadful cañon, commenced the descent. Before he had reached the bottom all his natural courage had returned, and he pressed on with renewed energy, inspired by the idea that the outlaw might have left some trail which would lead to his hiding place.
It was black as within a tomb now, for the rocky walls towered up and up higher than the eye could reach.
The track was no more than a smear along the face of the cliff, and Phil began to realize the difficulties that he was to encounter as he proceeded inch by inch, clinging on with teeth and hands, with a thousand-foot drop waiting below. The path, too, grew narrower, and he was just about to relinquish his herculean task in despair when he saw a gleam of light—lantern light—searing the eternal glooms like a streak of fire, and not twenty yards ahead of him as he rounded a sharp bend.
In another minute Red Spider's secret lay revealed.
A square of rock, fitted with powerful hinges, had been opened inward, and the lantern set in the entrance as a guiding light when the outlaw returned. Beyond, the path grew so narrow that it was a human impossibility to scale it; below, until the mysterious catastrophe of its cessation, lay the river, sliding and thundering in cascades and waterfalls, and usually fifty feet or more deep. Phil realized that the passage of Black Cañon was a thing to be dreamed of, and not attempted.
Taking up the lantern, he set off at a brisk pace up the sandy tunnel at the entrance of which it was placed, keeping his eyes open for pitfalls and fissures. The passage led to the right, and perceptibly upward, and ere long he found himself walking parallel with what had once been the river.
After an hour's hard walking he came suddenly into a spacious cave, and found himself gazing once more at the oozing river bed, and at—Red Spider's dam!
Yes, there it was, a great mass of blocks of stone, walling the cañon from side to side, and cunningly diverting the foaming water into a subterranean stream that had been uncovered and channeled for the purpose. Picks and ropes, and blocks of stone, were strewn around in every direction, and just over the mouth of the underground river hung a platform of planking supported by countless ropes, and loaded with a ton or more of cut rock.
Phil was not long in doubt as to its use.
With a little bubbling cry of joy he produced his clasp knife, and went to work busily to hack the ropes in twain.
A score of them were severed, when an ear-splitting crack made him start hastily back. Next instant the whole load of rock fell with a mighty crash, completely blocking the entrance to the subterranean stream that had been draining the life from the river.
Something had to give way, and Red Spider's cunningly constructed dam was directly in the path of the river as it swelled, and rose, and bellied upward. Then, with a roar louder than any thunder, it broke the barrier away, and hurled itself into Black Cañon with irresistible fury, to race and tumble down to where the Silver Bridge Reducing Company's plant was waiting to sully its foaming waters with the red stain of the ore.
A traveler in Eastern lands tells the following little story of the Chinese and their most unique pigeon whistles.
"One of the most curious expressions of emotional life in China is the application of whistles to a flock of pigeons. These whistles, very light, weighing hardly a few grammes, are attached to the tails of young pigeons soon after their birth, by means of a fine copper wire, so that when the birds fly the wind will blow through the whistles and set them vibrating, thus producing an open-air concert, for the instruments in one and the same flock are all tuned differently. On a serene day in Peking, where these instruments are manufactured with great cleverness and ingenuity, it is possible to enjoy this aerial music while sitting in one's room.
"There are two distinct types of whistles—those consisting of bamboo tubes placed side by side, and a type placed on the principle of tubes attached to a gourd body or wind chest. They are lacquered in yellow, brown, red, and black to protect the material from destructive influences of the atmosphere. The tube whistles have either two, three, or five tubes. In some specimens the five tubes are made of ox-horn instead of bamboo. The gourd whistles are furnished with a mouthpiece, and small apertures to the number of two, three, six, ten, and even thirteen. Certain among them have besides, a number of bamboo tubes, some on the principal mouthpiece, some arranged around it. These varieties are distinguished by different names. Thus a whistle with one mouthpiece and ten tubes is called 'the eleven-eyed one.'"
All kinds of stories that boys like. The biggest and best nickel's worth ever offered.High art colored covers. Thirty-two big pages. Price, 5 cents.
321—Madcap Max, The Boy Adventurer; or, Lost in the Land of the Mahdi. By Frank Sheridan.322—Always to the Front; or, For Fun and Fortune. By Cornelius Shea.323—Caught in a Trap; or, The Great Diamond Case. By Harrie Irving Hancock.324—For Big Money; or, Beating His Way to the Pacific. By Fred Thorpe.325—Muscles of Steel; or, The Boy Wonder. By Weldon J. Cobb.326—Gordon Keith in Zululand; or, How "Checkers" Held the Fort. By Lawrence White, Jr.327—The Boys' Revolt; or, Right Against Might. By Harrie Irving Hancock.328—The Mystic Isle; or, In Peril of His Life. By Fred Thorpe.329—A Million a Minute; or, A Brace of Meteors. By Weldon J. Cobb.330—Gordon Keith Under African Skies; or, Four Comrades in the Danger Zone. By Lawrence White, Jr.331—Two Chums Afloat; or, The Cruise of the "Arrow." By Cornelius Shea.332—In the Path of Duty; or, The Fortunes of Officer Dan Deering. By Harrie Irving Hancock.333—A Bid for Fortune; or, True as Steel. By Fred Thorpe.334—A Battle with Fate; or, The Baseball Mascot. By Weldon J. Cobb.335—Three Brave Boys; or, Adventures in the Balloon World. By Frank Sheridan.
The latest and best five-cent weekly. We won't say how interesting it is. See for yourself.High art colored covers. Thirty-two big pages. Price, 5 cents.
1—Motor Matt; or, The King of the Wheel.2—Motor Matt's Daring; or, True To His Friends.3—Motor Matt's Century Run; or, The Governor's Courier.4—Motor Matt's Race; or, The Last Flight of the "Comet."5—Motor Matt's Mystery; or, Foiling a Secret Plot.6—Motor Matt's Red Flier; or, On The High Gear.7—Motor Matt's Clue; or, The Phantom Auto.8—Motor Matt's Triumph; or, Three Speeds Forward.9—Motor Matt's Air-Ship; or, The Rival Inventors.10—Motor Matt's Hard Luck; or, The Balloon House Plot.11—Motor Matt's Daring Rescue; or, The Strange Case of Helen Brady.12—Motor Matt's Peril; or, Castaway in the Bahamas.
The most popular publication for boys. The adventures of Frank and Dick Merriwell can be had only in this weekly.High art colored covers. Thirty-two pages. Price, 5 cents.
671—Dick Merriwell's "Dip;" or, The Mysterious Movements of a Hat.672—Dick Merriwell's Rally; or, Making a Fighting Finish.673—Dick Merriwell's Flier; or, The Champions of the Ice.674—Frank Merriwell's Bullets; or, A Steady Nerve and a Sure Hand.675—Frank Merriwell Cut Off; or, The Result of the Great Spring Rise.676—Frank Merriwell's Ranch Boss; or, Big Bruce and the Blossoms.677—Dick Merriwell's Equal; or, The Fellow with the Flying Feet.678—Dick Merriwell's Development; or, The All-around Wonder.679—Dick Merriwell's Eye; or, The Secret of Good Batting.680—Prank Merriwell's Zest; or, The Spirit of the School.681—Frank Merriwell's Patience; or, The Making of a Pitcher.682—Frank Merriwell's Pupil; or, The Boy with the Wizard Wing.683—Frank Merriwell's Fighters; or, The Decisive Battle with Blackstone.684—Dick Merriwell at the "Meet"; or, Honors Worth Winning.
For sale by all newsdealers, or will be sent to any address on receipt of price, 5 cents per copy, in money or postage stamps, by
STREET & SMITH, Publishers, 79-89 Seventh Avenue, New York
IF YOU WANT ANY BACK NUMBERSof our Weeklies and cannot procure them from your newsdealer, they can be obtained from this office direct. Fill out the following Order Blank and send it to us with the price of the Weeklies you want and we will send them to you by return mail.POSTAGE STAMPS TAKEN THE SAME AS MONEY.
IF YOU WANT ANY BACK NUMBERSof our Weeklies and cannot procure them from your newsdealer, they can be obtained from this office direct. Fill out the following Order Blank and send it to us with the price of the Weeklies you want and we will send them to you by return mail.POSTAGE STAMPS TAKEN THE SAME AS MONEY.
MOTOR STORIES
Most five-cent weeklies are founded upon the adventures of boy wonders who perform all sorts of impossible feats and who never act or talk as a boy really does. This is displeasing to the intelligent boy of the present day, who is better educated, and who, consequently, demands more logical reading than the old-time boy did.
The boys who want to learn something from what they read, as well as to be interested by it, will never find another publication that will satisfy them so well as MOTOR STORIES. "Motor Matt" is not an impossible boy character. He is simply a youth who has had considerable training in a machine shop where motors of all kinds were repaired, and who is possessed of a genius for mechanics. His sense of right and wrong is strongly developed, and his endeavors to insure certain people a square deal lead him into a series of the most astonishing, but at the same time the most natural, adventures that ever befell a boy.
Buy the current number from your newsdealer. We feel sure that you will be just as enthusiastic about it as the fifty thousand other boys throughout the United States have become.
HERE ARE THE TITLES NOW READY:
No. 1.—Motor Matt; or, The King of the Wheel.No. 2.—Motor Matt's Daring; or, True to His Friends.No. 3.—Motor Matt's Century Run; or, The Governor's Courier.No. 4.—Motor Matt's Race; or, The Last Flight of the "Comet."No. 5.—Motor Matt's Mystery; or, Foiling a Secret Plot.No. 6.—Motor Matt's Red Flier; or, On the High Gear.No. 7.—Motor Matt's Clue; or, The Phantom Auto.
No. 1.—Motor Matt; or, The King of the Wheel.No. 2.—Motor Matt's Daring; or, True to His Friends.No. 3.—Motor Matt's Century Run; or, The Governor's Courier.No. 4.—Motor Matt's Race; or, The Last Flight of the "Comet."No. 5.—Motor Matt's Mystery; or, Foiling a Secret Plot.No. 6.—Motor Matt's Red Flier; or, On the High Gear.No. 7.—Motor Matt's Clue; or, The Phantom Auto.
TO BE PUBLISHED ON APRIL 12th
No. 8.—Motor Matt's Triumph; or, Three Speeds Forward.
No. 8.—Motor Matt's Triumph; or, Three Speeds Forward.
TO BE PUBLISHED ON APRIL 19th
No. 9.—Motor Matt's Air-ship; or, The Rival Inventors.
No. 9.—Motor Matt's Air-ship; or, The Rival Inventors.
TO BE PUBLISHED ON APRIL 26th
No. 10.—Motor Matt's Hard Luck; or, The Balloon House Plot.
No. 10.—Motor Matt's Hard Luck; or, The Balloon House Plot.
TO BE PUBLISHED ON MAY 3d
No. 11.—Motor Matt's Daring Rescue; or, The Strange Case of Helen Brady.
No. 11.—Motor Matt's Daring Rescue; or, The Strange Case of Helen Brady.
TO BE PUBLISHED ON MAY 10th
No. 12.—Motor Matt's Peril; or, Cast Away in the Bahamas.
No. 12.—Motor Matt's Peril; or, Cast Away in the Bahamas.
Price, Five CentsAt all newsdealers, or sent, postpaid, by the publishers upon receipt of the price.
STREET & SMITH, Publishers, NEW YORK
Images may be clicked to view larger versions.
Added table of contents.
Page 1, changed "who" to "whose" ("whose past record") and changed "Motor Mart" to "Motor Matt" ("who aids Motor Matt").
Page 4, added missing italics to "helped the skipper sail theChristina."
Page 8, changed "gratfying" to "gratifying."
Page 15, changed "dutsy" to "dusty" ("clothes were dusty").
Page 17, changed "intrrupted" to "interrupted" after "now I rise to you."
Page 29, changed "wtih" to "with" ("with the regularity of tirelessness").