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  MOTOR STORIES

  THRILLING
  ADVENTURE

  MOTOR
  FICTION

  No. 29
  SEPT. 11, 1909

  FIVE
  CENTS

  MOTOR MATT'S
  MAKE UP

  OR PLAYING
  A NEW ROLE

  _BY
  THE AUTHOR
  OF
  "MOTOR MATT"_

  _Street & Smith
  Publishers
  New York_

[Illustration: _"Maskee!" cried the astounded Hindoo as Motor Matt
leaped at him_]




MOTOR STORIES

THRILLING ADVENTURE MOTOR FICTION

_Issued Weekly. By subscription $2.50 per year. Copyright, 1909, by_
STREET & SMITH, _79-89 Seventh Avenue, New York, N. Y._

  =No. 29.=      NEW YORK, September 11, 1909.       =Price Five Cents.=




MOTOR MATT'S MAKE-UP;

OR,

PLAYING A NEW RÔLE.

By the author of "MOTOR MATT."




CONTENTS


  CHAPTER I. HIGH JINKS IN THE SIDE SHOW.
  CHAPTER II. THE "BARKER" SHOWS HIS TEETH.
  CHAPTER III. THE MAN FROM WASHINGTON.
  CHAPTER IV. A CLUE IN HINDOOSTANEE.
  CHAPTER V. SOMETHING WRONG.
  CHAPTER VI. A BLUNDER IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION.
  CHAPTER VII. THE HOUSE WITH THE GREEN SHUTTERS.
  CHAPTER VIII. THE PILE OF SOOT.
  CHAPTER IX. MATT MEETS AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE.
  CHAPTER X. RESCUE!
  CHAPTER XI. BILL WILY REPENTS.
  CHAPTER XII. MATT LAYS HIS PLANS.
  CHAPTER XIII. MOTOR CAR AND AEROPLANE.
  CHAPTER XIV. THE OAK OPENING.
  CHAPTER XV. AEROPLANE WINS!
  CHAPTER XVI. CONCLUSION.
  A BRAVE DEED.
  A LOCOMOTIVE HERO.
  GEESE DROWN A SQUIRREL.




CHARACTERS THAT APPEAR IN THIS STORY.


  =Matt King=, otherwise Motor Matt.

  =Joe McGlory=, a young cowboy who proves himself a lad of worth and
  character, and whose eccentricities are all on the humorous side. A
  good chum to tie to--a point Motor Matt is quick to perceive.

  =Carl Pretzel=, an old chum who flags Motor Matt and more trouble
  than he can manage, at about the same time. In the rôle of detective,
  he makes many blunders, wise and otherwise, finding success only to
  wonder how he did it.

  =Ping=, the Chinese boy.

  =Ben Ali=, the Hindoo hypnotist and elephant trainer, who executes a
  master-stroke in the matter of his niece, Margaret Manners, and finds
  that a letter in Hindoostanee can sometimes prove a boomerang.

  =Dhondaram and Aurung Zeeb=, two Hindoos who have appeared before as
  confederates of the crafty Ben Ali, and who now show themselves for
  the last time in their villainous part, and vanish--one into prison
  and the other into parts unknown.

  =Margaret Manners=, the niece of the rascally Ben Ali and a ward of
  the British nation temporarily. In her particular case, justice is
  slow in righting a grievous wrong--and would have been slower but for
  Motor Matt and his aëroplane.

  =Reginald Pierce Twomley=, who represents the British ambassador,
  wears a monocle, and who, in a passage at arms with Dhondaram, proves
  himself a man in McGlory's eyes and a near-pard.

  =Boss Burton=, manager and proprietor of the "Big Consolidated," who,
  in his usual manner, forms hasty conclusions, discovers his errors,
  and shows no sign of repentance.

  =The Bearded Lady, the Armless Wonder, the Elastic Skin Man, the Zulu
  chief and the Ossified Man=, all freaks in the side-show tent, who
  appear briefly but brilliantly in the light of a Roman candle.




CHAPTER I.

HIGH JINKS IN THE SIDE SHOW.


"Hello, dere, Viskers!" grinned Carl Pretzel, reaching up to grab the
hairy paw of the Zulu chief.

"Howdy, Dutch!" answered the chief, with a nasal twang that suggested
New England. "By Jocks, I ain't seen yeou in quite a spell. How's
tricks, huh?"

"Dricks iss fine, I bed you. Say, sheef, dis iss mein leedle shink
bard, Ping Pong. He iss der pest efer--oxcept me. Shake hants, Ping,
mit a Zulu sheef vat vas porn near Pangor, Maine."

"Tickled tew death," said the chief effusively, taking the yellow palm
of a small Chinaman who pushed himself closer to the platform.

The scene was the side-show tent of the "Big Consolidated," Boss
Burton's "Tented Aggregation of the World's Marvels." The show had
raised its "tops" at Reid's Lake, near the city of Grand Rapids. A high
wind had prevented Motor Matt from giving his outdoor exhibition of
aëroplane flying, and the disappointed crowds were besieging the side
show, eager to beguile the time until the doors for the big show were
open.

With the exception of Carl and Ping, no outsiders had yet entered the
side-show tent. Carl, having once played the banjo for the Zulu chief
while he was dancing on broken glass in his bare feet, was a privileged
character. He had walked into the tent without so much as a "by your
leave," and he had escorted Ping without any adverse comment by the man
on the door.

The freaks and wonders of the side show were all on their platforms and
ready to be viewed. The Ossified Man had been dusted off for the last
time, the Bearded Lady had just arranged her beard most becomingly, the
Elastic Skin Man was giving a few warming-up snaps to his rubberoid
epidermis, the Educated Pig was being put through a preliminary stunt
by the gentlemanly exhibitor, and the Armless Wonder was sticking a
copy of the Stars and Stripes in the base of a wooden pyramid--using
his toes.

The Armless Wonder occupied the same platform as the Zulu chief. His
specialty was to stand on his head on the wooden pyramid, hold a Roman
candle with one foot, light it with the other, and shoot vari-
balls through a hole in the tent roof. In front of the Wonder,
neatly piled on the little stage, were half a dozen long paper tubes
containing the fire balls.

"How you was, Dutch?" inquired the Wonder, doubling up in his chair and
drawing a bandanna handkerchief over his perspiring face with his foot.

"_Ganz goot_," laughed Carl, carelessly picking up one of the Roman
candles. "I vill make you acguainted, oof you blease, mit mein leedle
shink bard."

"Shake!" cried the Wonder heartily, offering his right foot. "It does
me proud to meet up with a friend of Pretzel's."

"Allee same happy days," remarked Ping, releasing the foot and backing
away.

"Yeou tew kids aire chums, huh?" put in the Zulu chief, leaning