Where Ping Pong had come from no one seemed to know. Not much attention had been paid to him after Matt boarded the _Sprite_ and started for the stake boat. Yet there the little Chinaman was, kneeling at the bulkhead of the boat, fondling the steering wheel, patting the levers, laying his yellow cheek against the gunwale, and all the while crooning a lot of heathen gibberish.
"What's the blooming idiot trying to do?" McGlory shouted.
It seemed impossible for the cowboy to do anything but yell. His exultation suggested noise, and he talked at the top of his lungs.
"Don't you understand, Joe?" said Lorry. "He's trying to thank the _Sprite_ for winning the race."
"Sufferin' Hottentots! Why don't he thank the king of the motor boys?"
The next moment Ping was alongside of Matt, sitting in the bottom of the boat and looking up at him with soulful admiration.
"Him allee same my boss," pattered Ping, catching his breath. "He one-piecee scoot."
"Oh, tell me about that!" guffawed McGlory. "One-piecee scoot! Say, Ping's not so far wide of his trail, after all."
The next thing Matt remembered was standing in the clubhouse, in the locker room, receiving the vociferous congratulations of the Yaharas. Before he realized what was going on, he and Lorry had been picked up on the members' shoulders.
"Three times three and a tiger for Motor Matt and Lorry!" went up a shout.
Well, the Yaharas didn't exactly raise the roof, but they came pretty near it. Matt was voted an honorary member of the club on the spot, and given free and perpetual use of all the clubhouse privileges.
"There isn't any one going around handing me ninety-nine-year leases on a bunch of boats and a lot of bathing suits," caroled McGlory. "But then, I don't count. I'm only carrying the banner in this procession. Matt's the big high boy; but he's my pard, don't forget that."
McGlory's wail caused the Yaharas to vote him an honorary membership; and then, in order not to slight anybody, or make a misdeal while felicitations were being handed around, Ping was likewise voted in.
After that there was a ride to Yankee Hill in the Lorry motor car, with Gus at the steering wheel; then a spread, the like of which Motor Matt had never sat down to before. A good deal was eaten, and a great many things were said, but Matt was still in a daze.