MOTOR STORIES

Issued Weekly. By subscription $2.50 per year. Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1909, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, Washington, D. C., by Street & Smith, 79-89 Seventh Avenue, New York, N. Y.

MOTOR MATT;

OR,

The King of the Wheel.

By STANLEY R. MATTHEWS.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I. BAD BLOOD.
CHAPTER II. THE UNEXPECTED.
CHAPTER III. DACE SHOWS HIS HAND.
CHAPTER IV. WELCOME SHOWS HIS HAND—WITH SOMETHING IN IT.
CHAPTER V. DACE PERRY'S CRAFTINESS.
CHAPTER VI. THE TRY-OUT.
CHAPTER VII. THE MAJOR'S SURPRISE.
CHAPTER VIII. THE RABBITT'S FOOT.
CHAPTER IX. MATT SHOWS HIS COLORS.
CHAPTER X. A CHALLENGE.
CHAPTER XI. FOUL PLAY.
CHAPTER XII. COOL VILLAINY.
CHAPTER XIII. THE BLUEBELL.
CHAPTER XIV. COMING OF THE "COMET."
CHAPTER XV. THE FLIGHT OF THE "COMET."
CHAPTER XVI. MOTOR MATT, KING OF THE WHEEL!
THE MAN-HUNTER.
THE RAT CRUSADE.

CHAPTER I.

BAD BLOOD.

"Hello, peaches!"

The girl in the calico dress turned quickly. There was a startled look in her brown eyes, and she drew back a little from the gate.

The laughing words had been flung at her breathlessly by a boy who was trotting along the road—a boy in running-togs with "P. H. S." in red letters across the breast of his white shirt. He came from the north, and the girl had been leaning upon the gate and looking south, across the bridge that spanned the canal and led into the town of Phœnix.

"I—I don't think I know you," murmured the girl, a look of repugnance crossing her brown, pretty face.

"Yes, you do," panted the boy, swinging in toward the gate and coming to a halt. "Sure you know me." Catching hold of the gate-palings he steadied himself and grinned in a manner which he must have thought engaging. "Why, you've seen me a dozen times, anyhow. Take another look."

After stealing a furtive glance at him the girl took a step backward.

"I've seen you, yes," she said quietly, "but I don't know you—and I don't think I care to know you."

"Don't jump at conclusions like that," the boy went on with a cool laugh. "You're old McReady's girl, Susie, and I'm—well, right here's where I introduce myself. I'm Dace Perry, captain of the High School cross-country team. Had the boys out for a practise run this morning, and as I'm 'way in the lead of all of them except Clipperton, I reckon I'll linger in this fair spot until they come up. Don't be so bashful, Susie; I won't bite, honest."

"I'm not afraid of your biting, Dace Perry," answered Susie with a flirt of the head. "If all I've heard of you is true, you're more given to barking than anything else."

Temper flashed an instant in the boy's sloe-black eyes, giving an ugly hint of the darker side of his character. When the anger faded an unpleasant crafty look was left on his face.

"You can't believe all you hear, and not more than half you see," he remarked. "Where's Nutmegs? I know him."

"There's no such person as 'Nutmegs,'" answered the girl tartly. "If you mean my brother, Mark, he's in his laboratory down by the canal."

Perry stared a moment, then gave vent to an amused whistle.

"Laboratory, eh? Well, that's a good one, Susie. Where's the reformed road-agent? Is he in the laboratory joint, too?"

"No, Welcome has gone into town, but I can call Mark if you——"

"No, don't call him, Susie," interrupted Perry. "I've got something to tell you about Matt King. Say, I thought that would make you open your eyes. I reckon you don't think much of Matt King, eh?"

Vivid color mantled the girl's cheeks.

"Matt is a chum of Mark's, and a good friend of mine," she answered, "and everybody says he's the best all-around athlete in the high school. Major Woolford has picked him to represent the athletic club in the bicycle races with Prescott and——"

"King has got to make good at the try-out first," scowled Perry.

"He'll do that, all