IN THE BAHAMAS***


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Motor Stories

Thrilling Adventure Motor Fiction

No. 12

May 15, 1909

Five Cents

MOTOR MATT'S PERIL

OR CASTAWAY IN THE BAHAMAS

by

STANLEY R. MATTHEWS

[Illustration: The "Hawk" was doomed!
As quickly as he could, Motor Matt
made ready to follow Carl and Dick.]







Street & Smith,
Publishers,
New York.




MOTOR STORIES THRILLING ADVENTURE MOTOR FICTION

_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._

  No. 12.      NEW YORK, May 15, 1909.      Price Five Cents.


MOTOR MATT'S PERIL

OR,

Cast Away in the Bahamas.

By the author of "MOTOR MATT."




CONTENTS


  CHAPTER I. CARL AS BUTTINSKY.
  CHAPTER II. THE MOVING-PICTURE MAN MAKES A QUEER MOVE.
  CHAPTER III. WARM WORK AT THE "INLET."
  CHAPTER IV. PRISONERS ON A SUBMARINE.
  CHAPTER V. THROUGH THE TORPEDO TUBE.
  CHAPTER VI. THE CAPE TOWN MYSTERY.
  CHAPTER VII. OFF FOR THE BAHAMAS.
  CHAPTER VIII. AN ACCIDENT.
  CHAPTER IX. MATT AND HIS CHUMS GO IT ALONE.
  CHAPTER X. THE AIR SHIP SPRINGS A LEAK.
  CHAPTER XI. WRECKED!
  CHAPTER XII. LUCK--OR ILL-LUCK?
  CHAPTER XIII. A MOVE AND A COUNTERMOVE.
  CHAPTER XIV. MOTOR MATT'S SUCCESS.
  CHAPTER XV. A FEW SURPRISES.
  CHAPTER XVI. MATT TAKES TOWNSEND'S ADVICE.
  NIGHT WATCHES FOR BIG GAME.
  SPECIALISTS IN THE WOODS.
  MISSOURI WILLOW FARM.
  ANIMALS THAT DREAD RAIN.




CHARACTERS THAT APPEAR IN THIS STORY.


  =Matt King=, concerning whom there has always been a mystery--a lad
  of splendid athletic abilities, and never-failing nerve, who has won
  for himself, among the boys of the Western town, the popular name of
  "Mile-a-minute Matt."

  =Carl Pretzel=, a cheerful and rollicking German lad, who is led by a
  fortunate accident to hook up with Motor Matt in double harness.

  =Dick Ferral=, a Canadian boy who has served his time in the King's
  navy, and bobs up in the States where he falls into plots and
  counterplots, and comes near losing his life.

  =Archibald Townsend=, otherwise "Captain Nemo, Jr.," of the submarine
  boat _Grampus_, who proves himself a firm friend of Motor Matt.

  =Lattimer Jurgens=, an unscrupulous person who, for some time, has
  been at daggers drawn with Archibald Townsend.

  =Whistler=, an able lieutenant of Lat Jurgens.

  =Cassidy, Burke and Harris=, comprising the crew of the _Grampus_.

  "=The Man from Cape Town=," who does not appear in the story but
  whose influence is nevertheless made manifest.

  =McMillan and Holcomb=, police officers.




CHAPTER I.

CARL AS BUTTINSKY.


"Py shinks, aber dot's funny! Dose fellers look like dey vas birates,
or some odder scalawags. Vat vas dey doing, anyvays, in a blace like
dis?"

It was on the beach at Atlantic City, New Jersey. Carl Pretzel was
there, in a bathing suit.

Those who know the Dutch boy will remember that he was fat, and there
is always something humorous about a fat person in a bathing suit.

Carl had been in the water. After swimming out as far as the end of the
steel pier, he had returned and climbed up on the beach. An Italian
happened to be passing with a pushcart loaded with "red-hots" and buns.
Carl had a dime pinned in the breast of his abbreviated costume. He
unpinned the dime, bought two "red-hots" and a bun, and fell down in
the sand to rest and enjoy himself. The Italian lingered near him,
staring with bulging eyes to a place on the beach a little way beyond
Carl. The Dutch boy, observing the trend of the Italian's curiosity,
looked in the same direction.

A girl was kneeling on the beach, tossing her arms despairingly. She
was a pretty girl, her clothes were torn and wet, and her long, dark
hair was streaming about her shoulders.

Certainly it was a curious sight, there in that densely populated
summer resort, to see a young woman acting in that manner. Up on the
board walk above the beach a gaping throng had gathered. A little
way from the board walk a man seemed to be doing something with a
photograph instrument.

Carl, intensely wrought up, floundered to his bare feet, a "red-hot"
in one hand and half a bun in the other. Any one in distress always
appealed to Carl--particularly a woman.

From the woman, Carl's eyes drifted toward the water. A boat was
pulling in, and was close to the shore. There were three men in
the boat, two at the oars and one standing in the bow. They were a
fierce-looking lot, those men. All were of swarthy hue, had fierce
black mustaches, gold rings in their ears, heads covered with knotted
handkerchiefs over which were drawn stocking caps, and all wore sashes
through which were thrust long, ancient-looking knives and pistols.

The man in