Ike Watson's Arrival
Let us go back to Allen.
We left him just as the sound made by Paul's horse aroused the leader of
the horse thieves, whose full name was Saul Mangle.
"The feller that went over into the river, as sure as fate!" burst from
the lips of Mangle, and he started back in astonishment.
"Impossible!" cried Darry, the second man. "That feller must have been
killed!"
"See for yourself."
With these words Saul Mangle sprang forward to stop Allen, who was about
to mount Jasper. He reached the young man's side as Allen gained the
saddle.
"Come down out of that!" he cried, roughly.
"Not much!" returned the young man. "Clear the track, unless you want to
be run down!"
He urged the horse forward. Jasper started, but ere he had taken three
steps, Mangle caught him by the bridle.
"Whoa!" he cried. "Whoa, I say!"
"Let the horse go, do you hear?" ejaculated Allen, sharply.
"I won't do it! Darry! Jeff! Come here, why don't you?"
The others leaped into the brush. Allen saw that affairs were turning
against him. He leaned forward to Jasper's neck.
Smack! Mangle caught a sharp blow full across his mouth. It came so
quickly that he staggered back and his hold was loosened.
"On, Jasper, on, my boy!" cried Allen, slapping the animal with his
palm. "Come, Rush! Come, Rush!" he added to Chet's horse, which stood
close beside.
Off went Jasper with a bound, and Rush followed at his heels.
"Stop him! Hang the measly luck!" roared Saul Mangle. "Darry! Jeff! What
are you at?"
As he cried out, the leader of the horse thieves felt for his pistol.
But before the weapon could be drawn both horses and Allen had
disappeared behind a clump of cottonwoods.
"We had bettah follow him on de mustangs," suggested the negro. "He
can't ride----"
"Of course, we'll follow him!" growled Mangle. "Don't stand and talk
about it. Come on! He'll be out of hearing in another minute! This is
the worst luck yet!"
He leaped for one of the mustangs. In another second all three of the
men were mounted and riding after Allen as rapidly as the nature of the
land and growth would allow.
"How do you think he escaped?" asked Darry, as they pushed on.
"Can't make it out," replied Mangle. "We'll make him tell the story when
we catch him. Ha! what was that?"
A sudden crash ahead had arrested their attention. He listened. A dead
silence followed.
"The hosses and young feller have gone into some sort of a hole," cried
Darry. "We'll have him now, all right enough."
On they went through the brush, Mangle leading the way. Suddenly the
leader came to a halt. Before him was a sheer descent of eight or ten
feet.
"Here's where he and the hosses went down," he said to his followers.
"But where is he?" questioned Darry.
"Not far off, I'll warrant ye. Come on."
"Dis yere mustang won't take dat leap," put in Jeff, drawing back.
"And I won't venture it," added Darry, "I don't want to land on my
head."
"Cowards!" howled Saul Mangle. "Well, then, there is a trail to the
right; take that. Here goes!"
He spoke to his animal, and an instant later rider and mustang went down
in a graceful curve. They landed in a bunch of brush, none the worse for
the leap.
Darry and Jeff followed by way of the trail. They could hear Allen
pushing through the brush not over a hundred yards ahead.
The young man was having a hard time of it. He was going it blindly, and
was so faint from want of sleep and something to eat that he could
hardly sit up in the saddle.
Yet he realized his peril and clung on desperately, meanwhile urging the
horse and his mate to do their best to place distance between them and
their pursuers.
But now the slight trail he was pursuing became rougher, and it was with
difficulty that any progress could be made. The horses labored along
bravely, but were no match on such ground for the nimble-footed
mustangs.
"Halt! Do you hear?" were the first unpleasant words which greeted
Allen's ears, and looking back he saw that Saul Mangle was in plain
sight.
Allen attempted to dodge out of sight. To frighten him Mangle fired off
his pistol, the bullet cutting through the brush under Jasper's feet.
"Will you stop now?" yelled Mangle.
Allen was in a quandary. He did not wish to be shot, and yet----
But the young man was not called on to solve the dreadful question.
While he hesitated there was a loud shout from some distance to his
right, and looking up the rocks he saw to his great joy Ike Watson, the
hunter, sitting astride of his horse, rifle in hand.
"Wall, wall!" shouted the old man. "And what's the row, Allen, I want to
know?"
"Horse thieves, Ike! Save me!" was the quick reply. "There are three of
them after me!"
"Saul Mangle, as I'm a nateral born sinner, and Darry Nodley and Jeff
Jones! Wall! wall! wall! Turn about, before it is too late, ye
sarpints!"
The loud cry from Ike Watson caused the gang of horse thieves to come to
a sudden halt. Every one of them knew old Ike Watson only too well--knew
him for a man of quaint humor, but with a sense of justice that no one
dared to question.
"Hang the measly luck!" muttered Saul Mangle. "There's Ike Watson!"
"Then the jig's up for the present, and we had better vamoose!" returned
Nodley.
"Clar out, do ye hear me?" yelled Ike Watson to the crowd of three.
"Don't wait for me to git riled up."
"Come on!" whispered Saul Mangle, with a scowl, and like magic the trio
of villains turned about and disappeared down a side trail, leaving poor
exhausted Allen safe in friendly hands at last.
"By the grasshoppers of Kansas, but ye look fagged out, Allen!"
exclaimed old Ike Watson as he sprang down and caught Allen in his arms.
"What's the matter with ye, boy?"
"I've had an awful experience, Ike," replied the young ranchman as soon
as he could recover sufficiently to speak. "I've been underground
several miles, and I haven't had a mouthful to eat since yesterday
morning!"
"Gee shoo, Allen! Wall! wall! wall! If I didn't know ye so well I'd be
apt ter think ye war tellin' me a fairy tale. But I allow as how
Granville Winthrop's son couldn't lie if he tried."
"I speak the truth, Ike. But where are those villains?"
"Gone, boy, gone. They knowed better nor to stay whar Ike Watson was,
ho! ho!"
"They are horse thieves, and ought to be locked up."
"Thet Saul Mangle ought to be strung up, ye mean. And Darry Nodley and
that coon, Jeff Jones, ain't much better. But they are gone now."
"Well, I have Paul's horse and Chet's, too, anyway," returned Allen,
with a slight smile of satisfaction.
"Whar's your own horse?"
"Dead, I reckon. We went off the Upas Pass bridge together into the
river, and I suppose she was drowned. Poor Lilly!"
"Off the bridge! Gee shoo! Then ye war carried down the Black Rock
River?"
"Yes!" Allen gave a shudder. "It was fearful, Ike. But come, let us get
to the ranch, and I can tell my story to all at once!"
"That's the best way, sure. But down that air stream! Great snakes and
turkey buzzards!"
"I know it hardly can be believed, but that is not the worst or most
wonderful part of it. But come; I am nearly famished."
"Here's a bite I have in my pouch; eat that," returned Ike Watson, and
he passed over some crackers and meat which Allen devoured with keen
relish.