Loe raamatut: «The Boy Ranchers: or, Solving the Mystery at Diamond X», lehekülg 7

CHAPTER XVIII
QUEER OPERATIONS

"Feel sleepy?" asked Nort of Dick when they had stretched out under their canvas blankets, which might keep off the dew, but which were not very comfortable.

"Not specially," answered Dick. "I'm thinking too much of all that's happened lately."

"So 'm I. But I'm not worried because we're here; are you?"

"Not a bit of it! This is only fun! We wanted to see real western life and we're seeing it," Dick went on. "This is what we came out here for. It isn't like anything else we ever did, and it only makes me all the more want to be a rancher."

"You said it. Only there are one or two things I'd like to know more about."

"Such as what, for instance?" asked the younger lad.

"Well, I'd like to know who it was that tried to snake you away with a lasso. I'd like to do the same to him. And I'd like to know more about those two strange professors, and what they're after."

"I'm with you there," spoke Dick, as he raised on one elbow to look toward where he had tethered his horse, the animal seeming to be suddenly excited about something.

"Only a coyote," remarked Nort, as he caught sight of a slinking figure under the light of the stars. The boys had become used to these creatures which acted as scavengers of the plains.

"I wonder if, after all, those professors can be hunting gold?" mused

Dick, when his horse had quieted down and resumed grazing.

"According to what Bud says there isn't any gold here and never has been," declared Nort. "But there is a mystery about them and I'd give a lot to solve it. You see we tenderfeet don't count for much out on a ranch – that is, yet. We don't know much about roping or shooting or riding herd. Of course we're learning, and Bud and the others are as nice about it as they can be, but I can see they don't think overly much about our abilities; and I don't blame them.

"But if we could solve this mystery about those professors, and maybe connect 'em up with some of the cattle rustling, why it would show Bud we easterners amounted to something after all. I sure would like to get on the track of this mystery!"

The time was to come, and soon, when Nort and Dick vividly recalled these words.

"Well, we're here – not that we know where it is – but we're here, and not in such bad shape," spoke Dick. "We're lost, but I reckon Bud will find us in the morning, or we'll come across the cattle we're looking for, or else Diamond X ranch.

"I hope so," mused Nort. "I'd like to show these cowboys that we can pull off a trick or two ourselves."

"Well, I'm with you," and Dick's voice took on a drowsy note. In spite of the fact that he had said he was thinking of many things, the riding of the day soon began to tell on both lads.

"What's that?" suddenly called Dick to Nort, when they had, perhaps, been sleeping two or three hours. A wild, weird cry had echoed out in the silent night.

"Coyote," was the answer, sleepily given.

"Howlin' in a new way," murmured Dick.

Indeed, accustomed as the boys were becoming to the voices of these animals, part fox, part dog and part wolf, there were always new elements seeming to enter into their cries.

Again the strange call was repeated, to be answered by the mate of the coyote farther off, and then came a perfect chorus of wild yells. The horses snorted, as if in contempt and the boys covered themselves with their tarpaulins and tried to slumber. But it was some little time before the echoes died away and quiet reigned.

Nort and Dick did not awaken again that night, but their eyes opened when the sun shone on them, and, rather lame and stiff, they arose to get a frugal breakfast.

Their first look was to their horses, for to be without a mount in the vast distances of the West is almost a tragedy. But Blaze and Blackie, the two favorite steeds of Nort and Dick, were safely tethered.

Cowboys, on range or ranch, usually have a "string" of ponies, or broncos. This is needful, as there is such hard riding necessary at times (particularly at the round-up) that one horse could not stand the pace. So at the beginning of work several horses are assigned to each cow-puncher. Of course he may own a horse of his own, and usually does, in fact, and this horse is his favorite. But he has several others to pick from.

When Nort and Dick declared that they were going to be regular ranchers, or cowboys as a start, they were given a string of horses to pick from. But of these Blaze, so called from a white streak down his head, was the favorite of Nort. Blackie was Dick's choice, and the selection of the name was due to the color of the horse, it being almost perfect black.

Blaze and Blackie were safe at the ends of their tether ropes – the lariats the boys carried coiled on their saddle horns during the day.

Breakfast over – and it was not a very substantial meal – the boys saddled their steeds and then looked at one another.

"What are we going to do?" asked Dick.

"Hit the trail – for somewhere," answered Nort.

"The trouble is there doesn't seem to be any trail to hit," spoke Dick, rather grimly. "It would be easy, if there was only a cow path, to ride along it until we came to some place. But here, as soon as we ride out of one swale we're in another, and we don't get a sight of Bud or the cattle we set out to haze back."

"I wonder what he thinks of us?" mused Nort.

"Oh, he must have sized up the situation, and so knows what has happened to us," declared Dick. "He's probably out now, with some of the cowboys, looking for us."

"I hope they bring something to eat," spoke Nort. "We'll be on mighty short rations at noon, unless we can eat grass, the way the ponies do."

"Or knock over a jack," added Dick. "They seem to be plentiful."

As he spoke, one of the long-legged and longer-eared rabbits shot past, having paused to look at the strangers, who, doubtless in his mind, were usurping his land.

"Tell you what we ought to do," suggested Nort as they mounted, having made fast their packs and trampled out the fire.

"What?" asked Dick.

"We ought to ride to the top of the highest hill, and take a look. That ought to show something besides a mirage. I s'pose, if we had our wits about us, we'd know whether we ought to ride north, south, east or west," Nort went on. "But, as it is, I don't know which way Diamond X lies."

They urged Blaze and Blackie up the slope of what they judged to be the highest hill in their vicinity. And as they gained the summit, and looked down into a valley on the other side, they saw something that caused them to both exclaim in surprise.

"Look!" cried Nort. "There's some of our bunch!" He pointed to men and horses in a camp, of which white tents formed a part.

"That isn't our crowd!" exclaimed Dick. "That's the outfit of the two professors, and they're up to some mighty queer doings!"

"Digging for gold!" declared Nort.

But, as he spoke, there was a loud report down near the valley camp. Men were seen running, as if from danger, and as the boys looked they saw a cloud of smoke roll up, and part of a side hill slide down.

CHAPTER XIX
PRISONERS

"Would you look at that!" shouted Nort, pointing down into the valley.

"They must be under bombardment! It's a battle, Dick!"

"Nonsense!" cried the younger lad, not as impulsive as his brother. "They're blasting; that's what they're doing! Trying to locate a pocket of gold, I reckon. But now we're all right, Nort. They'll tell us how to get back to Diamond X, even if they can't put us on the trail of the cattle we so stupidly missed."

"Well, maybe they can, and then again, maybe they can't," said Nort slowly.

"What do you mean?" asked Dick.

"Well, they may be able to tell us the way to Diamond X, but maybe they won't want to tell us where the missing cattle are."

"You mean they may have taken 'em themselves?" asked Dick, and there was surprise in his voice.

"It's possible," declared Nort. "But we can't find out much by staying up here. Let's ride down and see what's going on. I reckon it's as you say – they have been blasting."

At first no one paid any attention to the approach of Dick and Nort. The men who had run away as the blast let loose, now hurried back to peer into the excavation made by the explosion. And among those who thus eagerly sought to see the inner secrets of the earth, our heroes recognized Professors Blair and Wright. These two scientists were foremost among the men standing on the edge of the hole that had been torn in the earth.

"No success!" Dick and Nort heard Professor Wright say as he turned aside from the hole. "We must try lower down."

"Higher up, I should say," spoke Professor Blair.

"Oh, no. You must remember that the deposits are weighty, and would be brought lower and lower each year by gravity, as well as by the sliding action of the hill under the influence of erosion."

"Yes, you are correct, Professor," admitted Mr. Blair, and then the two turned and beheld Dick and Nort at hand.

Surprise, and no very pleased surprise at that, was manifest on the faces of the two scientists as they viewed the boys. Grouped around the professors were several Mexicans, or Greasers, a Chinese, evidently the cook of the "outfit," and a number of workmen, unmistakably American. These last looked at the boys with scowling faces, though the two professors tried to force smiles to their lips.

"Oh, you are from Circle T ranch, are you not?" asked Professor Blair of Dick and Nort. "You are the boys who were so kind as to bring the antiseptics for the wounded men, who, thanks to that treatment, are now doing well."

"Glad to hear it," said Nort. "Only we're not from Circle T. We hail from Diamond X."

"Strange names," murmured Professor Wright. "I don't see how you remember them, though I do recall, now, that Diamond X is the proper term. We – er – I hardly expected to see you again," he said, haltingly.

"Nor we you," spoke Nort, who seemed to be doing the talking for his brother and himself. "We started after some cattle, but they got away from us and we lost ourselves. You haven't seen them; have you? A bunch of steers with the Square M brand on."

"And if you've seen anything of Diamond X ranch itself, up among these hills, I wish you'd tell us how to get to it," added Dick, with a whimsical smile.

"Cattle! Of why should we know of your cattle!" exclaimed a harsh voice behind the boys, and Dick and Nort, turning in their saddles, saw fairly glaring at them Del Pinzo, the unprepossessing Mexican half breed.

"Do you think we have your steers – that we are rustlers?" demanded

Del Pinzo fiercely.

"No," said Nort, seeing into what error he might be drawn. "I was only asking."

"Well, we haven't seen any of your cattle!" declared the Mexican, or half breed, to give his correct title. "And we don't want you around here when we're – "

"Just a moment, Del Pinzo," interposed Professor Wright, and Dick noticed a peculiar look pass between the two scientists. "You must excuse the zeal of one of our helpers," went on Mr. Wright. "He is doubtless afraid that you might get hurt in a blast."

"Yes! Yes! Blasts are dangerous!" said the half breed quickly, and it seemed as if he spoke in answer to a signal given by one of the scientists. "We are going to set off another."

"It is just some research work we are undertaking," said Professor Blair, as he saw Nort and Dick looking around. "We have absented ourselves from our college to do some investigating, and it is necessary to blast, in some cases, to get at the lower deposits."

Both Dick and Nort said to each other, afterwards, that they did not believe these statements.

"Perhaps you boys had better come down to the tents," suggested Professor Wright. "As Del Pinzo says, blasts are dangerous, and the men are going to set off another. Come to the tents," and with a wave of his hand he indicated the camp site, a level place amid the little and big hills all about.

"Thanks," murmured Nort. "But are you going to be able to direct us how to find Diamond X ranch?"

"Doubtless some of our men can tell you," said Mr. Wright. "Have you eaten?" he asked.

"We had a little," Dick replied. "But – "

"You can eat more, I have no doubt!" laughed Professor Blair, but his merriment seemed to be forced. "Well, fortunately our larder is well stocked. Come down and have something. How are all your friends?"

"Well, as far as we know, not having seen them since yesterday," answered Dick. "You see we're not regular ranchers or cowboys yet, we're just learning."

"One need not be told that!" sneered Del Pinzo, who had followed our heroes and the two professors down the slope.

Professor Blair turned and looked sharply at the half breed. Then the scientist, speaking, said:

"Del Pinzo, perhaps you had better return and watch that the next blast harms no one. We would not want an accident."

The half breed hesitated for a moment, and then murmured:

"Si, senor!" ("Yes, sir!")

He turned back up the hill, Dick and Nort continued down it toward the tents.

"Picket your horses and come in," invited Professor Wright, as he held open the flap of what was, evidently, the private dining tent of himself and his college companion. "I'll have Sing Wah fix you up a little feed."

"This is mighty kind of you," murmured Dick, as he and his brother sat at the folding camp table and ate hungrily.

"And now all we want is to be put on the trail to Diamond X," said

Nort, as they finished. "We'll let the cattle go, for the time being."

He rose to leave the tent, followed by his brother, but, as the boys neared the flap a man, who, they remembered, had been called Silas Thorp, interposed his ugly bulk in front of them.

"Don't be in a hurry to leave, boys," he sneered.

"Why not?" hotly demanded Nort.

"Because we'd like to keep you here a while," Thorp went on. "I guess the professors would like to have you accept their hospitality a little longer."

"Is this true?" cried Nort. "Are we prisoners?"

"Well, that is rather a harsh word to use," said Professor Wright.

"But we feel we must detain you – at least for a while!"

CHAPTER XX
THE DIAMOND X BRAND

Nort and Dick admitted to one another, afterward, that at first they believed the two professors to be joking. They imagined that the cultured scientists were merely indulging in a bit of fun, from much of which they were necessarily barred while in the class room. But a sharp look at the faces of the men who were at the head of an expedition, conducting a mysterious search, showed the boys that earnestness was the keynote.

"You – you're going to keep us here?" questioned Dick.

"For a while, yes," said Professor Wright, and there was more snap and decision in his voice than before.

"It is much your own fault," added Professor Blair.

"Our fault!" spluttered Nort, his temper rapidly rising. "Why, what have we done except to help you when you needed it? And now all we ask is that you put us in the way of getting back to Diamond X."

"That is just it," said Professor Wright. "We don't want you to go back to Diamond X at once."

"Why not?" hotly demanded Nort. "What right have you got to hold us here? You can't! We'll get away in spite of you!" and his hand, half unconsciously, perhaps, moved toward his holster. But he was surprised to find his wrist seized in a firm grip, while he was violently swung around, his weapon being removed by some one who had come silently up behind him. And this some one was Del Pinzo, into whose sneering, crafty, swarthy face Nort angrily gazed.

Before he could say anything, Nort saw Silas Thorp slip up to Dick, and take that lad's weapon out of the holster. Dick had no time to draw it, even if such had been his intention, which, the lad said later, it was not.

"What do you mean? What's this game anyhow? What right have you to keep us prisoners here and take our guns?" shouted Nort. He took a step toward Del Pinzo, but there was something so sinister in the attitude of the half breed, albeit he did not menace the boy with the weapon, that Nort shrank back.

"I think you had better submit quietly," said Professor Blair. "We intend absolutely no violence, or ill-treatment of you, unless you make that necessary. We admit that perhaps we are acting illegally, and in an unusual manner, but, in a way, you brought this on yourselves, boys. You will not be detained long. In fact, if our plans work out right, you may depart for your ranch this evening."

"Acting illegally!" spluttered Nort. "I should say you were! We'll have you arrested for this, you – you – big – "

Then Nort stopped, for he realized that, though he might apply some well-deserved slang names to the two professors, neither of them was "big." They were small men – at least in stature.

"But you haven't any right to hold us here prisoners!" declared Dick, feeling that he must back up his brother in a firm protest. "We haven't done anything to you."

"Except to turn up where you aren't wanted!" broke in Silas Thorp. "If you'd minded your own business, and stayed away – let us alone – we wouldn't have to do this!"

In surprise at such a statement, Nort and Dick looked at the two professors.

Mr. Wright, with a wave of his hand toward his helper, to enjoin silence, made this statement:

"Mr. Thorp has put the matter rather crudely, perhaps, but that is the state of the case. Without going into details, boys, we are in this part of the country on a secret mission. We have almost accomplished what we are after, and, on the verge of the discovery, we do not wish to be balked. You happen to have stumbled upon us just when we are about to complete a wearisome search, which at least promises to be successful.

"We have enemies who would be glad to frustrate our schemes, and it is to prevent these enemies from obtaining knowledge of our movements, of our location, and the location of that which we are seeking, that we are forced to detain you. We hope soon to end our mission, and, once we have gained possession of what we are after, we shall be most happy to restore you to liberty."

He took breath after this somewhat lengthy address, and Nort and Dick looked at one another, more puzzled than before. What did it all mean? What was the queer secret of the professors, a secret that, somehow, seemed to involve Diamond X?

"Do you mean that you're keeping us here because you're afraid we'll tell something about you?" burst out Nort.

"Yes," answered Professor Blair. "We simply must keep our secret safe, now that we are on the verge of discovery."

"But we wouldn't tell!" declared Nort. "In fact we don't know anything about you – except that we've seen you once or twice. We don't know what your secret is – that is, we can only guess at it."

"That's just it!" interrupted Professor Wright. "You are the sort of lads who would make a correct guess, and then, when word of it got out, we would lose the fruits of many weary years of research."

"But we wouldn't tell anyone!" promised Dick. "All we know about it is that you're supposed to be prospecting for gold. There isn't any great crime, or secret, in that, unless you're trying to get gold off land that doesn't belong to you."

"No, it isn't gold, nor anything like gold," spoke Professor Wright, in rather dreamy tones. "It is much more valuable than gold. I never would have endured the hardships I have for mere gold."

"Nor I," said his partner, and then, for the first time the same thought came to Nort and Dick – that these men might be lunatics, obsessed with a strange idea, and that they were searching for something that might be likened to a fading mirage.

The boy ranchers looked at one another. If this was the explanation their position might be more dangerous than appeared. To be held captives by men who were mentally irresponsible, aided by an unscrupulous gang, of which Del Pinzo was a fair specimen, was not at all a reassuring thought. But Nort and Dick were not the ones to give up easily.

"Just what are you going to do?" asked Nort, when it was evident that, unarmed as they were, resistance was out of the question for the time being.

"Simply hold you here for a few days – not more than a week at most," answered Professor Blair.

"Suppose we don't stay?" asked Nort, sharply.

"Well, if you refuse to promise not to try to escape, we shall be forced to detain you as best we can," was the calm reply. "But we have no wish to use violence, and I think you will agree to submit quietly. Be our guests, so to speak."

"What if our friends come to rescue us?" asked Dick.

"Well, we have thought of that," spoke Professor Wright. "If they come we shall have to do our best to – er – persuade them to go away again – that is unless we can bring our task to an end sooner than we expect, and that is possible. If we can bring that about – make the discovery we hope for – you will be at liberty to depart at that moment. Otherwise you must stay here!"

"Well, we won't promise not to try to escape," declared Nort, hotly. "We'll do our best, not only to get away, but to bring the police down on you, or bring whatever authority they have out here. If you're going to act this way we'll be justified in doing our worst!"

"Naturally," agreed Professor Wright, smoothly. "Now that we have been made aware of your intentions we shall act accordingly. We shall be obliged to keep you under guard, but I assure you that if you do not act roughly neither will our guards. I am sorry you would not agree to our plan, and see matters in our light. It would have been so much more comfortable. And when we have explained, as we hope to do soon, you would appreciate our attitude."

"Well, all I can say now is that we don't appreciate it!" snapped

Nort, "and we'll leave at the first opportunity!"

"Then we'll see that you get no opportunities!" sneered Silas. "Let's take 'em out, Del!"

As it was evident that the two professors meant what they said, and that the boys would be roughly handled if they did not submit quietly, they followed their captors out of the dining tent, in answer to signals from Silas and the half breed that this was what was wanted.

"Here's going to be your stopping place," said Silas, with another sneer, as he stopped in front of a small tent. "And let me tell you it will be best for you to take it easy. You may get into trouble if you try to leave!"

To this Nort and Dick answered nothing. They were too angry to know what to say, but that they intended to submit quietly to this indignity was not in their natures. They cast quick glances about the camp before entering the tent, the flap of which Del Pinzo pulled back. The tent contained two cots and some small packing boxes for tables and chairs.

"All right!" said Nort, as he sized up the situation, and glanced back at the men who were his own and his brother's guards for the time being. "You can do your best to keep us here, and we'll do our best to get away. It'll be a fifty-fifty proposition!"

Nort was startled by an exclamation from Dick. The latter was gazing at some commotion on the far side of the camp. Looking out from the opened tent Nort saw being driven, along the bank of a small brook that ran through the swale, several big steers. They were being hazed along by Greasers on horses, and as the cattle splashed into the water, stopping to drink thirstily, the boy ranchers caught sight of the brands on their flanks.

It was the mark of the Diamond X ranch!