Sadie Rodney drew a deep breath.
"I am sorry, Mr. Merriwell," she said, "that this unfortunate affair
occurred, and I must express my admiration for the manner in which you
disposed of that fellow. I can scarcely believe it now. But I fear it
will mean more and serious trouble. I shall speak to father about it,
and Indian Charlie shall be watched."
"Don't let it trouble you," smiled Frank. "I do not fear that man, and
he will not harm me, unless he does so in a treacherous manner."
Within ten minutes every cowboy about the ranch knew what had happened,
and it was not long before they were trooping around to the front of the
house to get a look at the tenderfoot who had dared face Indian Charlie
and had knocked him out. They stared at the youth doubtingly, and then
went away shaking their heads.
"Look at them!" laughed Rattleton. "They won't believe you could do it,
Frank. I'll bet that some of them think Charlie was struck by
lightning."
"It's quite likely he will think so himself, when he is able to think at
all," said Hodge. "I thank you for chipping in, Frank; but I should have
tried him a whirl if you hadn't touched him."
"I saw him reach for his gun, and----"
"You reached for him. You found him, too. Here come more cowboys!"
Another party of horsemen were seen tearing down toward the ranch, and
the wild and reckless manner in which they rode made it a thrilling
spectacle.
"Ah!" cried Jack; "those fellows are horsemen! It is not often you see
men who can ride like that."
"Vale, I don'd know!" put in Hans. "You don'd seen me ride a proncho
alretty yet, eh? I vos a vonder. Pimeby britty soon I vos goin' to shown
you der sort uf a vild parepack rider I peen. You pet I vill surbrise
meinself!"
"That's right, b'gosh!" grinned Ephraim. "It will be better'n a circus
to see ye."
"Mebbe you don'd think I can't ride a proncho?" cried Hans, resentfully.
"You gif me a chance un I vill shown you."
"Begorra!" cried Barney; "it's a chance ye can be afther havin' now.
Come on, ye Dutch chaze."
"Oh, gone avay mit yourself!" said Hans, quickly. "I nefer ride a pig
preakfasts on."
"Haw! haw! haw!" laughed the Vermonter. "I knowed he'd back aout. Why,
you couldn't ride a saw-hoss!"
"Vot?" screamed Hans, angrily. "Don'd you pelief me! I pet myself zwei
tollar I can ride der pestest horse vot you never saw! Yaw! I done him
any oldt times!"
"Then come on, an' don't ye darst back aout."
Hans was wildly excited. His fat face was flushed and his eyes were
bulging. He presented such a ludicrous spectacle that the boys broke
into shouts of laughter.
"You hadn't better try to ride a broncho, Hans," warned Frank, who
feared the fat lad might be injured. "Keep away from the deceptive
broncho. Only the most expert horsemen can ride them."
"Vale, I peen der most exbert horseman vot you nefer saw. Yaw! I profe
him to yourself. Come on!"
Hans ran down the steps, tripped over his own feet, and rolled on the
grass, producing still more amusement.
"Come on!" he wildly cried, as he struggled up. "You don'd know der
kindt uv sduff I vasn't made uf. Shust you pring me to a hoss vot I
don'd peen aple not to ride! You can't done dot!"
"He'll nivver dare throy it, b'ys," grinned Barney. "He'll back out th'
minute he sees th' baste. Come on. It's poiles av shport we'll be afther
havin' wid him."
"Come on, fellows!" shouted Rattleton. "Here's where we have a circus!
Hurrah for fun!"
A moment later they were following the fat Dutch boy around to the
nearest corral, in the vicinity of which a number of cowboys were
gathered.
"Pring der proncho oudt righd avay alretty!" shouted Hans, as he waddled
around toward the corral, with the others following him. "I peen goin'
to shown you how to ride him, you pet!"
The cowboys stared at him in astonishment.
"Hey?" cried Hank Kildare, putting his hands on his hips and glaring at
the Dutch lad. "Whatever is thet thar ye say?"
"Vere dot proncho vos, ain'd id? I peen goin' to took a whirl oudt of."
"Git out! Ye're crazy! Why, you couldn't ride a dead cow!"
Hans grew still more excited. His face was red, and he wildly flourished
his short arms, fairly choking in his excitement.
"Py ginger! I shown you dot about pritty queek right avay!" he cried.
"Uf I don't ride der vorst proncho I nefer seen you vos a liar!"
The cowboys shouted with laughter.
"Why, dern my eyes!" came from Pecos Pete, who was a veteran "broncho
buster," or horse trainer. "I reckon mebbe I'll have to git you to show
me a few p'ints about ther business."
"I shown you somedings vot I don't know," flung back the excited Dutch
boy. "Pring oudt der proncho!"
"Hyar," said one of the cowboys, dismounting from the tough little beast
upon which he had ridden up to the ranch; "hyar's yer chance. Git right
on hyar."
"Vot am I gifin' you!" shouted Hans. "Dot peen a drained horses. Vot I
vos lookin' for been a horse dot don'd peen drained alretty yet."
"I'll allow as how you'll find ther critter ain't trained any too much.
You can't ride him."
"Vot vill I pet you apout dot?" excitedly demanded the fat boy. "You
don't think I can't ride him, ain'd id?"
"Wa-al, I judge he'll make it right lively for ye."
"Dot seddles id! How I peen aple his pack to ged on?"
Frank interfered, seeing Hans was in earnest about attempting to ride.
"You hadn't better try it," he said. "The broncho might kill you."
"Vot? Don'd you pelief me! Der proncho vot could done dot don'd peen
porn alretty yet. Get oud der vay of."
Hans was determined, and Frank found it useless to argue with him.
"Is the animal vicious?" he asked in an aside of its owner.
"Wa-al, he ain't bad," was the slow reply. "He kin buck a leetle, but
he's trained to it, an' he won't try it unless I set him at it."
"Then don't set him at it, for Hans might be thrown off and killed. Let
him ride, and he will be satisfied. It'll be more sport to hear him
boast than it would be to see him flung off and injured."
The cowboy looked doubtful, but Frank finally succeeded in getting him
to agree not to set the broncho to bucking.
Then Ephraim and Barney each got hold of one of Hans' legs to assist him
to mount.
"Are yez riddy?" asked the Irish lad, a twinkle in his eyes, with one of
which he winked a signal at the Vermonter, who grinned back knowingly.
"Vait a leedle!" squawked Hans, as he reached up with his short arms and
got a hold on the saddle--"vait till I ged me der saddles hold uf!"
"Wal, be ye reddy naow?" asked Ephraim.
"Yaw. Led her went!"
Barney and Ephraim gave a whoop and lifted Hans off his feet. Then, as
the broncho shied sideways, they dropped him with a dull thud to the
ground, where he struck in a sitting posture, the breath going out of
his body with a grunted puff.
The cowboys laughed heartily, and the girls, who were watching from a
distance, were much amused, Miss Gale alone looking severe and
unruffled.
"Shimminy Gristmas!" gasped the Dutch boy, as soon as he could catch his
breath. "Why you done dot, ain'd id? Why you scared der proncho your
holler mit? Don'd you know somedings?"
"Haw! haw! haw!" laughed Ephraim, slapping his thigh. "Darn my
pertaturs! but that's ther funniest thing I ever saw!"
"Hey?" squawked Hans, shaking his fist at the Vermonter. "Vot you don'd
peen laughin' at? I don'd seen nottings funny apoud id!"
He got up slowly and advanced toward the broncho, which was standing
quiet enough.
"Begorra! it wur a mistake, me b'y," declared Barney. "It wur simply an
exidint."
"Oh, id vos an oxident?" said Hans, his suspicions allayed by Barney's
honest manner. "Vale, don'd you led id fail to happen again. Und if dot
Yankee poy from Fermonts done dot any more I peen goin' ter kick uf him
der stuffin's oudt!"
With this threat he prepared to attempt to mount once more.
Barney and Ephraim came forward to lift him. The Irish lad made a
significant upward gesture behind Hans' back, and Ephraim nodded and
chuckled.
"Are yez riddy?" Barney asked once more.
"Yaw. Led her gone!"
Then, with all their strength, the mischievous assistants fairly flung
the fat boy over the broncho's back.
Hans came down on the other side, striking the ground with a dull thud,
having fallen flat on his back. He lay there a moment, and then slowly
reached out toward the sky with his hands, as if trying to catch
something.
"Py shimminy!" he exclaimed; "I nefer seen such peautiful fireworks
pefore!"
This seemed to amuse the gathering cowboys more than anything that had
happened, and their shouts of laughter aroused the fallen lad, who sat
up and looked around.
Frank and his friends were amused.
"Vill somepody peen kindt enough to exblain vot habbened," urged Hans,
in a bewildered way.
Barney and Ephraim rushed around and lifted him to his feet, although he
regarded them with some suspicion.
"May th' ould Nick floy away wid a broncho thet won't shtand still!"
cried Barney. "Av th' baste hadn't moved thin it's mounted ye'd been
alriddy."
"Did der proncho move?"
"Move?" cried Ephraim, with a broad gesture. "Does dynamite move if yeou
swat it with a brick!"
Hans faced the animal, shaking his fist angrily at the innocent
creature.
"Look ad here, Mister Proncho!" he squealed; "uf you don'd done dot
again, I peen goin' to kick uf you der hay oudt! Dot vos peesness! I
don'd dislike dot foolin', und I vant you to misunderstood dot!"
"Thar, b'gosh!" said Ephraim; "I kinder guess the gol darn critter
understands it naow!"
"You pet! Now, you put me ub right avay queek pefore he haf forgotten
id. Hurry up!"
Again the boys caught hold of Hans, but this time they lifted him onto
the back of the broncho, where, with no small amount of awkwardness, he
succeeded in getting seated in the saddle.
"Hah!" he cried, triumphantly. "Don'd I toldt you so! Ven I vos retty to
done peesness, I vos der poy to got there!"
"Hurrah!" shouted the other boys, waving their caps and hands. "What's
the matter with Dunnerwust? He's all right! 'Rah! 'rah! 'rah!"
The Dutch boy looked proud as a peacock.
"Look avay oudt now!" he said. "I vas goin' to shown you der vay to
ride."
Then he tried to start the broncho, but the animal refused to stir.
"Vot peen der madder mit you?" angrily demanded Hans, striking the
creature with his hand. "Why you don'd gone along, ain'd id?"
Still the broncho stood quite still, its head down and its short ears
tipped back in an ominous manner.
Hans tried in various ways to start the creature up, but was not
successful.
"Der proncho peen dead!" he said, in disgust, thumping the animal with
his heels.
As if resenting this, the creature suddenly gave a squeal, made a bound
into the air, and came down with all four feet close together and its
back "humped."
Dunnerwust shot up from the saddle in a most surprising way.
By chance he came straight down and struck in the saddle again. He tried
to catch hold and cling on, but the broncho made another leap.
"Hellup! hellup!" roared Hans, as he again shot into the air. "Dat
proncho haf injy-rubber mit his pack in!"