The Motor Pirate   By: G. Sidney Paternoster (1866-)

THE

MOTOR PIRATE

By

G. Sidney Paternoster

With a Frontispiece by Charles R. Sykes

New York A. Wessels Company MCMVI

Copyright, 1904 BY L. C. PAGE & COMPANY (INCORPORATED)

All rights reserved

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE I. MAINLY ABOUT MYSELF 1 II. THE COMPTON CHAMBERLAIN OUTRAGE 9 III. WHEREIN I MEET THE PIRATE 21 IV. CONCERNING MY RIVAL 36 V. THE COLONEL DREAMS AND I AWAKEN 48 VI. I AM ARRESTED 59 VII. I MAKE FRIENDS WITH INSPECTOR FORREST, C.I.D 71 VIII. MURDER 81 IX. EXPLAINS A MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE 92 X. DESCRIBING A RIDE WITH THE PIRATE 104 XI. IN WHICH THE PIRATE HOLDS UP THE BRIGHTON MAIL 113 XII. HOW WE EXCHANGE SHOTS WITH THE PIRATE 123 XIII. OF THE ADVANTAGES OF BEING WOUNDED 135 XIV. A CLOUD APPEARS ON LOVE'S HORIZON 145 XV. A CLUE AT LAST 155 XVI. I COMMIT A BURGLARY 165 XVII. STORM 176 XVIII. IN WHICH THE PIRATE APPEARS IN A FROLICSOME HUMOUR 187 XIX. A HOT SCENT 196 XX. RELATES HOW THE PIRATE HOLDS UP AN AUGUST PERSONAGE 207 XXI. WE PLAN AN AMBUSH 218 XXII. GONE AWAY 228 XXIII. SAVED 240 XXIV. REVELATIONS 249

THE MOTOR PIRATE

CHAPTER I

MAINLY ABOUT MYSELF

OF course every one has heard of the Motor Pirate. No one indeed could help doing so unless he or she, as the case may be, happened to be in some part of the world where newspapers never penetrate; since for months his doings were the theme of every gossip in the country, and his exploits have filled columns of every newspaper from the moment of his first appearance until the day when the reign of terror he had inaugurated upon the roads ended as suddenly and as sensationally as it had begun. Who the owner of the pirate car was? Whence he came? Whither he went? These are questions which have exercised minds innumerable; but though there have been nearly as many theories propounded as there were brains at work propounding them, so far no informed account of the man or his methods has been made public.

Nearly twelve months have now elapsed since he was last heard of, and already a number of myths have grown up about his mysterious personality. For instance, it is not true, as I saw asserted in a sensational evening paper the other day, that the Motor Pirate was in the habit of abducting every young and attractive woman who happened to be travelling in any of the cars he held up. On only one occasion did he abduct a lady, and in that case there were special circumstances with which the public have never been made acquainted. His deeds were quite black enough without further blackening with printer's ink, and it would be a pity if the real Motor Pirate were lost sight of in mythical haze such as has gathered about the name of his great prototype, Dick Turpin.