wheel in order to keep the machine on a straight course. Probably he hoped the car would get him into town."

"How you t'ink he vas hurt?"

"Give it up. It looks like foul play to me."

"Ach, blitzen! Dot's schust vat I say: Der more vat ve hunt aroundt der less vat ve find oudt."

The man was well dressed, and thirty-five or forty years old.

"Anyhow," said Matt, "he must have been the owner of the car. I shouldn't wonder if some one had robbed him."

"Den der roppers didn't know deir pitzness, Matt," returned Carl. "See dot pig, goldt chain in his vest! Und look at here vonce." Carl bent over and pulled a fine gold watch from the vest pocket. "Vat vas der roppers t'inking aboudt ven dey held der feller oop und didn't take dis? Und den, again, dere iss der car. Vy didn't dey shdeal dot, hey? No, I bed you, it vasn't roppers. It vas somet'ing else vat gif dot poor feller a crack on der headt."

"Some one may have tried to rob him, Carl," said Matt. "The car is a fast one, and it's easy to guess that he got away."

"Vell, meppy. My prain vas all in kinks und I don'd know noddings aboudt it."

"The quickest way to find out what happened is to get the man to Ash Fork and into a doctor's hands. We ought to do that, anyway, and the quicker we do it the better. Let's take him and put him in the tonneau."

"Dot's der talk!"

Matt stepped to the man's head and started to lift him by the shoulders. As the limp form was slowly raised something dropped out of hip pocket.

"Py chimineddy!" exploded Carl. "Vait a leedle, Matt. See vat iss dis."

Matt waited while Carl stooped and picked up an object that glittered in the sunlight.

"A revolver!" exclaimed Matt

"Yah, so! Der feller vent heeled mit himseluf. Meppy he vas expecding drouble?"

"That may be! or, if he was touring through this part of the country, it would only have been a wise policy to carry arms. Any bullets in the gun, Carl?"

The Dutch boy examined the weapon.

"Dere iss doo empty shells und four goot vones," he announced. "He must haf fired a gouple oof dimes."

"Well, drop the gun in your pocket and let's get him to the car."

Thereupon the unconscious form was picked up and carried out of the thicket and into the road. Close to the car the burden was laid down while the tonneau door was opened.

"After the man fell from the car," said Matt, "he had to drag himself into the bushes."

"Vy vas dot? Oof he hat shtaid in der roadt somepody who vas passing vould haf seen him."

"He may have had his reasons for getting out of sight. Anyhow, the only way for us to get to the bottom of this thing is by taking the man to town and having a doctor look after him."

When Carl had opened the door and thrown the two packages of laundry from the seat into the bottom of the car, the boys picked the man up again and heaved him into the tonneau.

While he was being lifted something else dropped out of his pockets and fell on the foot-board with a muffled thump.

"Iss dot anoder gun?" puffed Carl, who was in the tonneau and fixing the man on the seat.

"Not exactly," answered Matt, taking the object from the running-board and holding it up.

It was a small green bag.

"See vat iss inside alreaty," suggested Carl. "Meppy it vill gif us a line on who der feller iss."

The bag was of heavy silk, and its mouth was closed with a silken cord. To open the bag took only a moment, and Matt thrust in his hand and drew out several small spheres about the size of so many peas. They were dark in color and cast off a lustrous gleam in the sun's rays.

Matt stared at the little objects in amazement.

"Chee grickets!" grunted Carl. "Vy he vas carrying pills in a silk pag? He must be a great feller!"

"Pills!" exclaimed Matt. "You're 'way wide of the mark, Carl. These are not pills, but pearls—black pearls, the rarest gems that come out of the sea. There—there's a fortune in this green bag!"

CHAPTER IV.

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 Phœnix, 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