Motor Matt; or, The King of the Wheel Motor Stories Thrilling Adventure Motor Fiction No 1. — Story, Setting & Ideas

Voice as a Marker of Character

The excerpts showcase distinct speech patterns that define characters without heavy description. Dace Perry’s dialogue is laced with bravado and condescension: “Don’t be so bashful, Susie; I won’t bite, honest.” His words are quick, self-assured, and meant to dominate. Susie’s replies are measured and cutting: “If all I’ve heard of you is true, you’re more given to barking than anything else.” The contrast is sharp—Perry’s breathless, grinning chatter versus Susie’s quiet, deliberate retorts. Later, Welcome Perkins erupts with a torrent of hyperbolic, dialect-heavy speech: “Whoop! … it’s a wonder ye wouldn’t look where ye’re goin’—runnin’ inter a one-legged ole pirate like a cyclone.” His language is a performance in itself, full of exclamations and self-dramatizing references to “Lucretia Borgia” (his revolver). These voices do not merely convey information; they embody the characters’ social positions and temperaments, making the narrative feel immediate and theatrical.

Pacing Shifts from Banter to Conspiracy

The narrative’s rhythm changes markedly between the opening scene and the later chapters. The first chapter moves at a conversational clip, with rapid back-and-forth dialogue and physical action (Perry trotting, Susie stepping back). The sentences are short, and the scene feels almost stagey. By Chapter XI, however, the pace slows and tightens. Welcome’s whispered revelation about a fixed race is delivered in halting, gulping phrases: “I don’t b’leeve in gamblin’ … but that’s what Dirk Hawley is doin’—bettin’ right an’ left … that O’Day’ll win that race to-morrer!” The urgency is conveyed through fragmented syntax and Welcome’s convulsive grip on Matt’s arm. The narrator then steps back with a measured observation: “Matt was startled. He might easily have inferred that Welcome was making a mountain out of a mole-hill … but for the fact that there was evidence to support Welcome’s story.” This shift from breathless dialogue to reflective summary signals a change from social sparring to genuine plotting, giving the reader a moment to absorb the stakes.

Recurring Motifs and Structural Repetition

Several details recur across the excerpts, creating a pattern that reinforces the dime-novel style. The phrase “cut loose” appears twice in Welcome’s speech, first as a threat (“I got so heathen mad I come purty nigh fallin’ from grace … an’ damaging every one in sight”) and later as a confession (“I got in a twitter … an’ I a’most hate to tell ye how I cut loose, Matt”). This repetition ties Welcome’s volatile nature to the story’s central conflict. Similarly, the motif of “barking” versus “biting” appears in Susie’s retort to Perry and echoes in the later discussion of Hawley’s betting—where talk of “throwing the race” implies a kind of bark without bite. The narrative also uses physical props as shorthand: the revolver “Lucretia Borgia” is named twice, lending a mock-heroic weight to Welcome’s threats. These recurring elements give the text a cohesive, almost formulaic energy, typical of serial adventure fiction but executed with a specific verbal flair.

Readers approaching this dime novel should attend to the way Matthews builds tension through voice alone. The opening’s snappy repartee gives way to conspiratorial whispers, and the shift is marked not by scene breaks but by changes in sentence rhythm and diction. Welcome Perkins’s dialect is a key—his hyperbole often signals danger, while Matt’s calm responses ground the narrative. The excerpts suggest a story that moves as fast as its motorcycles, but the real engine is the characters’ talk.