THE MYSTERY DEEPENS.

The effect of Matt's announcement on Carl was startling. The Dutch boy, of course, might be supposed to evince some surprise at finding the bag of pearls, but his amazement went so deep it left him speechless. More than that, his astonishment grew rather than lessened.

"Bearls!" he whispered, as soon as he could find his voice, staring strangely at Matt over the side of the tonneau. "Iss dot vat you say, Matt—bearls?"

"Yes," answered Matt excitedly, counting the contents of the bag. "There are twenty of them, Carl, and I know that black pearls bring a big price."

"Veil, by shinks und den some!" wheezed Carl. "Vouldn't dot knock you slap-sited? Bearls! Und vat vas dot t'ing I findt me in Pringle's room. Say, Matt, I got to shpeak mit you, righdt avay!"

"We've got to take care of the man, Carl," returned Matt, closing the silk bag and stowing it carefully in his pocket. "This is a big thing we're up against, and we've got to handle it right. Make the man as comfortable as you can. I'll go back after his hat and then we'll hustle him into Ash Fork."

Carl went about his work mechanically, his face full of wonder. Matt returned to the place where the man had been found, picked up his automobile-cap and gave a hasty look around for anything else that might have been dropped. Failing to find anything, he returned quickly to the car.

"You better stay in the tonneau, Carl," suggested Matt, "and keep the man from being jarred off the seat."

"I vant to talk," said Carl; "py chimineddy, I got to shpeak mit you aboudt vat has habbened mit me. I don'd ged der time since der Chinks blayed tag mit me, und——"

Matt was cranking the machine. As he came around and crawled into the front seat, he looked back to see that everything was all right.

"You can talk while we run into town, Carl," said he, throwing in the clutch and manipulating the side lever.

"Pefore you ged to going too fast," said Carl, leaning over the back of the seat and pushing a scrap of paper under Matt's eyes, "read dot."

There were only a few words on the sheet, and Matt read them almost at a glance. What he read thrilled him on the instant.

"Pearls on the way. Break loose and meet us as per letter sent you at Albuquerque."

It was the one word, "pearls," that sent an electric shock through Matt's nerves.

"Where'd that note come from?" he asked, keeping his eyes ahead on the road.

"Dot's all vot Pringle left pehindt," answered Carl, putting the note back in his pocket. "Ven he flew der coop he took mit him der trunk mit eferyding else vat he hat. Yah, so. Ven I knocked py his room in der morning, I don'd ged no answer. I knock some more, und den I findt me der door vas oben, und I valk in mit meinseluf. No Pringle. No trunk. No nodding aber schust dot paper lying on der floor. Pringle hat vamoosed. He took vat money dere vas, und my shdreet clodings, so I hat to vear my stage make-oop."

"Where were you and Pringle at the time?"

"Py Flagstaff."

"What were you doing in Flagstaff?"

"Ve vas a knockaboudt moosickal team. Yah, so. Ve use a shlap-shtick, und make some monkey-doodle pitzness, und I blay der zillyphone, und der drompone, und der moosickal glasses, und der sleigh-pells. Pringle he blow der horn und plinkety-plunk der pancho. Ve vas vorkin' our vay agross der gontinent py San Francisco, vere ve blay a circuit in vaudeville. Aber Pringle he pull out mit himseluf, und I vas left in some lurches. I go on py Ash Fork, and t'ink meppy Pringle come up from Phoenix, so I vait py Ash Fork. Vell, he leaf me doo shirts und dree pairs oof socks, und vile I peen in Ash Fork vaiting, I dake dem py Hop Loo. Ach, I haf some pooty pad dimes vile I vait for Pringle, aber I vas jeerful. Now I t'ink meppy he don'd vas in Phoenix ad all, und dot he vas in Tenver. Dere iss somet'ing in dot note aboudt bearls. Ve findt bearls in dot leedle pag. Funny, ain't dot? For vy iss id, Matt?"

Matt couldn't answer that question. The mystery was deepening.

"Somebody sent that note to Pringle, Carl, and he cut loose from you."

"Yah, so. He cut loose from me und he dook eferyt'ing vat I haf. He vas a pad egg, you bed you. Oof I ketch him vonce, I make him t'ink he vas hit mit some cyclones!"

"The fellow who wrote that note may not have meant that these pearls in the bag were 'on the way.'"

"Meppy nod, aber it looks doo keveer for a habbenchance. It gif me a cholt, Matt, ven you saidt dose t'ings vas bearls, und I recollectioned vat vas saidt in der note about bearls. Meppy Pringle und some odder pad egg dry to holt dis feller oop und dake der pag avay from him."

"That may be. How is the man now?"

"Aboudt der same like he vas."

Matt had been driving the car at a smart clip, and they had taken the turn in the road and were reaching out for the main street of the town.

There was a doctor's office across the street from the hotel, and Matt drew up in front of it. Some loungers on the sidewalk, observing the unconscious form in the tonneau, began crowding around the car and asking questions.

"I don't know what's the matter," said Matt. "We found this car running away and picked up the man from the roadside. Is the doctor in?"

The doctor himself looked from a second-story window and answered the question. Some of the bystanders helped remove the man from the tonneau and carry him up the stairs to the doctor's office. Matt and Carl followed.

"Keep quiet, Carl," whispered Matt to the Dutch boy; "don't tell any of these people what we've found. That information will have to go to the officers."

"Sure t'ing," returned Carl, with a wink. "I know more as you t'ink, Matt. Ve ought to ged a rake-off on dot pag. Id vould be easy to be jeerful mit a rake-off."

The unconscious man was laid down on a couch in the doctor's office, and the room was cleared of all the morbidly curious people. Only Matt and Carl were left with the doctor.

The latter, busily stripping away the blood-stained bandage, kept up a running fire of talk as he worked.

He wanted to know all about the runaway car, how it had been stopped, just where the man had been found, whether he had been unconscious ever since he was picked up, and so on.

Carl let Matt answer the questions, and Matt was glad that none of the doctor's remarks brought up anything about the pearls.

"His injury is not serious," said the doctor. "His forehead has been grazed by a bullet. A tight squeak, but in a case like this a miss is always as good as a mile."

"Why is he unconscious?" queried Matt.

"Just weak from loss of blood. We'll bring him around in a jiffy, and then he can tell all about what happened to him."

The doctor proceeded to cleanse the man's wound, and to put on a fresh bandage. Then, holding up his head, he forced a stimulant between his lips.

"He must be a wealthy man," remarked the doctor, his eyes on the watch-chain and the good clothes. "But what does a wealthy man want to be pounding around the country for—especially a country like this—all by himself?"

Before either Matt or Carl could hazard a guess, the man gave a slight start and opened his eyes. For an instant he stared blankly into the faces of the doctor and the boys, muttered something, and tried to get up.

"I wouldn't do that," said the doctor. "You're weak, yet. Wait till you get a little strength. Here, drink some more of this."

The man took another swallow of the stimulant, and seemed to get better control of himself.

"How did I come here?" he asked.

Matt, obeying a gesture from the doctor, told how the car had been stopped, and how he and Carl had gone back along the road and found the man unconscious among the bushes.

For a minute or two after hearing Matt's explanations the man lay silent and thoughtful.

"If you did all that," said he to Matt finally, "you must know how to run a car."

Matt nodded.

"I used to work for a motor company in Albany," he answered, "and they had me give demonstrations. I had to know all about cars and take out a license."

A queer gleam arose in the man's eyes.

"I am James Q. Tomlinson, of Denver," said he, "and have been touring Southern California and Arizona for my health. With my chauffeur, I came up from Yuma in the 'Red Flier,' and the chauffeur was taken sick at the Needles. Am expecting to pick up a friend in Flagstaff. The friend is waiting there for me, and I thought I would drive the car through to Flagstaff from the Needles myself. I found I didn't know as much about it as I thought I did. However, I managed to peg along.

"Early this morning, about twenty miles out of Ash Fork, I was set upon by three masked men. They ordered me to stop, but I opened up the machine and made a run past them. The scoundrels fired at me, and one of their bullets grazed my head. I was stunned for a moment, but managed to keep my senses and hold the automobile in the road. Had an idea that I could get to Ash Fork, but somehow I kept growing weaker and weaker. It became hard for me to manage the steering-wheel, so I tied it with a rope; then, all at once, the car tilted, and I was thrown out.

"I can remember falling into the road, and crawling to some bushes where I could be out of the hot sun. After that my wits left me, and I remember nothing more until now."

A knock fell on the door of the outer office. The doctor excused himself for a moment and went out, closing the door of the private office behind him.

As soon as he was gone, Mr. Tomlinson's manner changed quickly. Thrusting a hand into his pocket, he withdrew it with a cry of alarm. Then he fixed upon Matt and Carl a suspicious look.

"Did you boys see anything of a bag, a little green silk bag?" he demanded.

Matt took the bag from his pocket and handed it to him.

"It dropped out of your coat as we were lifting you into the car," said he.

A gasp of relief went up from the man.

"Do you know what it contains?" he queried, opening the bag with trembling fingers.

"Pearls," said Matt, "twenty black pearls."

Assuring himself that the pearls were all in the bag, Tomlinson closed it and pushed it into his pocket.

"These pearls are worth thirty thousand dollars," said he, in a guarded tone. "You boys are honest, and will be rewarded, but say nothing to anybody about the bag. Understand?"

Matt nodded, and just then the doctor came in with a roughly dressed individual whom he introduced as a deputy sheriff.