THROWING THE ROPE
Silence followed this greeting and question, and then the two boy
ranchers, and their cowboy friends, waited for Bud to speak, he
being, in a sense, the head of the new organization. Though Dick
and Nort held equal shares, purchased for them by their father,
the two lads who had lived so long in the east deferred to the
boy of the west in this matter, thinking, naturally, that he
would better be able to handle it.
"Looking for a place?" asked Bud, genially enough, as he surveyed
the newcomer, from the top of his broad-brimmed range hat to the
pawing hoofs of his black steed, for the horse was impatiently
digging in the dirt.
"Yep!" was the answer. "I'm looking for a place." The voice was
pleasant, and there was none of that clipping off of the final
"g" in his words, so common a practice among most of the cowboys.
Perhaps they didn't have time to use the proper endings. "I'm
dead anxious to ride for some outfit," went on "Four Eyes," as he
had been dubbed and as he came to be called, as long as he
remained with Diamond X Second. "Your father sent me over here,"
he added.
"My father!" exclaimed Bud. "Do you know him? I don't know you!"
he added quickly, for he sensed that the stranger, in some
manner, had managed to pick him from all the others as the son of
the proprietor of Diamond X.
"I don't claim to know your father, only having met him once,
when I rode up, yesterday, to ask for a job," went on Four Eyes.
"I slept out last night--back there," he added with a wave of 'is
quirt in the direction of Diamond X. "Had supper with the boys at
your father's ranch, and he told me you might be needing some
one. If you don't----" He paused suggestively, evidently ready to
ride on and try his luck elsewhere if there was no chance in the
valley.
"I may need some one," Bud said. In fact, he was in need of an
additional hand, and since this latest action on the part of
rustlers he wanted help more than ever, for he was about to put
into execution a plan for getting on the trail of these
marauders. "But how'd you know who I was?" he asked, anxious to
ascertain how the stranger had picked him out, as distinguished
from Nort or Dick.
"Oh, your father looks like you," was the easy answer, given with
a laugh, in which Snake, Yellin' Kid and the boy ranchers joined.
"When he said he didn't need any riders, adding that perhaps you
might, I decided to take a chance."
"All right. I can use another hand--or, rather, _we_ can,"
and Bud waved his hand toward his cousins. "You can turn your
pony into the corral," he added, "and we'll give you something to
eat--unless you've had breakfast?" he questioned.
"Not so much but what I can eat more. Thanks! My name's Henry
Mellon. I've ridden some for Curly Q and Long L if you want any
references."
"I reckon my dad sized you up all right," spoke Bud.
"I reckon he did!" laughed Henry Mellon, or Four Eyes, as I shall
call him, following the custom of the others on the ranch. "I
wouldn't want to try to put anything over on him."
"It isn't exactly healthy," agreed Bud, for his father bore an
enviable reputation for finding out the truth about matters in
that "cow country."
"Ever ride for Double Z?" asked Yellin' Kid, and the loud tone's
of his voice appeared to startle the newcomer.
"Why, no," was the answer. "I can't say that I have. One of Mr.
Merkel's ranches?" he asked.
"No. It's Hank Fisher's place," spoke Snake. "Glad to meet up
with you," he added, riding forward and extending his hand.
"That's quite a hoss you got there. Beckon he can go some!"
"Well, he doesn't take dust from many," was the cautious
admission, as the new cowboy shook hands all around. "He'll be
glad of a rest, though, for I've ridden hard lately. I suppose I
can use another?" he asked Bud.
"Sure," was the answer. "Snake here, or Yellin' Kid, will show
you which ones you can add to your string. See you later,
fellows," Bud called to his cowboy helpers, as he motioned to
Nort and Dick to follow him to their own private tent.
"What do you think of it, Bud?" asked Nort, when they were alone,
and the new cowboy was being made to feel at home by Snake,
Yellin' Kid, and Old Billee, who had by this time ridden in. The
smell of cooking arose from the tent that Buck Tooth had turned
into a kitchen.
"You mean him?" and Bud nodded toward where the cowboys were
congregated in friendly talk.
"No, I mean about the rustlers."
"Oh, they're bad! No question about it--they're _bad!_"
declared Bud. "As soon as we get a chance we'll ride over and
take a look at the place. It doesn't seem reasonable that they
can drive a bunch of cattle off down the valley, and then have
all traces of 'em disappear as if they'd gone up in an airship."
"That's right!" chimed in Dick. "Do you s'pose this Four Eyes saw
the rustlers?"
"He didn't come from that direction," declared the western lad.
"He _says_ he didn't," spoke Nort. And when Nort accented
that one word Bud looked at his cousin quickly.
"Don't you believe what he says?" Bud asked.
"All the same I'd call up your father," went on Nort.
Bud hesitated a moment and then said:
"I will! No use taking chances. He may be all right, but it won't
do any harm to know it. I like his looks, though we don't often
get a cowboy with glasses. I'll call dad!"
Which he did, on the telephone, learning from his father that Mr.
Merkel knew nothing about the stranger, though he "sized him up,"
as being all right.
But Mr. Merkel had done more than this. He had called, on the
telephone, or had been in communication, otherwise, with the late
employers of Henry Mellon, and the cowboy was well spoken of. He
was a reliable hand, it was said.
"So we don't have to worry about _him_," Bud told his
cousins. "But we do have to take some action about these
rustlers! Hang 'em! I wish they were all bottled up in the
tunnel!"
"That's right!" chimed in Dick.
"Are we going on their trail?" asked Nort.
"If we can pick it up," agreed Bud. "Anyhow, we'll take a ride
over that way. What with cattle missing, and queer shots being
fired behind your back, we're likely to be in for as lively a
time as when we had the water fight!"
"Or locating a Triceratops!" added Nort with a laugh.
After breakfast, and the finishing of the usual "chores" about
camp, the boy ranchers prepared to ride over and look at the
place where the raid had been made. "What cattle had not been
taken--and it was only a small part of the herd that had been
driven off--were now nearer the camp headquarters, having been
hazed over by Snake and Yellin' Kid. Mr. Merkel had been told of
the theft, and had advised prompt action on the part of his son
and nephews.
"Four Eyes seems to be making himself right at home," remarked
Dick, as the three boys started toward the corral, intending to
saddle their ponies and ride over to the scene of the
cattle-rustling operations.
"Yes," agreed Bud.
Henry Mellon was in the midst of Old Billee, Buck Tooth, Snake
and Yellin' Kid, and, as the boy ranchers watched, they saw N
Four Eyes twirling his lariat above his head.
"What's he doing?" asked Dick.
"Oh, just showing 'em some fancy roping," Bud answered.
"Let's go over," suggested Nort. "I'd like to get on to a few
tricks, myself."
They found Four Eyes attempting some of the more difficult feats
of rope throwing. After twirling his lasso about his head, the
rope forming a perfect circle, he changed the direction from
horizontal to perpendicular, and nimbly leaped backward and
forward through the swiftly circling lariat.
Snake tried this, but his spurs caught and there was a queer
mix-up of man and rope. Snake could equal the newcomer's feat in
twirling the rope around his head horizontally, but failed, as
did Yellin' Kid, in the other trick.
"It's just a knack," said Four Eyes, modestly enough. "I had a
lot of spare time, and I practiced some of these fancy twists. I
can rope four horses at once."
"Yes you can--not!" challenged Snake.
"I'll prove it--of course they have to be going in the same
direction," stipulated the new cowboy.
"Even with that I doubt it," went on Snake. "I've heard of that,
but I never saw it done."
"If you fellows will ride past me I'll rope you all," and Four
Eyes indicated Snake, Yellin' Kid, Old Billee and Buck Tooth.
They mounted horses, and as Bud, Nort and Dick watched, the
newcomer prepared for the test.