IN A MAZE
Bud stood in amazement looking at Kid and listening to what the
excited cowboy was saying. Then the gaze of the western boy
rancher turned toward a depression in the ground, whence arose
what he and Yellin' Kid had thought was smoke but which, in
reality, was steam from a hot spring.
"A boiler, eh?" repeated Bud. "First I ever knew we had any so
near Happy Valley."
"Me, either," went on Kid. "I suspicioned what it was when I got
close and couldn't smell any wood burnin'. Then I put my hand
out, but the steam fooled me. I didn't know the top of the water
was so close, an' I dipped right down into it. Whew! It was hot!"
"Did it scald you?" asked Bud.
"Pretty nigh it," answered the cowboy, exhibiting a very red
hand.
At this moment a noise behind the two attracted their attention.
They turned to see pointed at them the black openings of two .45
guns, and they had glimpses of eager eyes looking over the sights
of the weapons. "Don't shoot! I'll come down!" laughed Bud, in
imitation of what was the current saying concerning the famous
Davy Crockett.
"What is it?" asked Nort, owner of one of the menacing guns, as
he arose and slid his .45 into the holster.
"Did they get away?" Dick wanted to know, as he stood beside his
brother. The two boys had left the main body and worked their way
up to join the vanguard, in the persons of Bud and Kid.
"There wasn't anyone to get away," Bud answered grimly. "It was
only a boiling spring, and we took the steam of it for smoke."
"Boiling spring!" cried Nort. "I never saw one before."
"Me, either," added his brother, and together they looked at the
depression in the ground, filled with scalding hot water. At
times it bubbled up, like some great kettle over a fire, and then
the steam was as thick as the smoke at some camp fire when green
wood is used. Again the spring was comparatively quiet.
"I've seen 'em before," remarked Bud, "though I didn't know we
had any so near Happy Valley. There's lots of 'em out in the
Yellowstone Park region, and in other places, some not many miles
from here."
"Any volcanoes?" asked Nort.
"Or geysers?" Dick queried.
"Not that I know of," Bud answered. "You don't need volcanoes to
make boiling springs, though I suppose the hot water must be
boiled over some internal fire beneath the earth's surface. And
these same fires do, sometimes, make volcanoes.
"But I've never seen any volcanoes around here; have you,
fellows?" and he appealed to the cowboys.
"Not since I came up from Mexico," one answered. "I was close to
one there. And I've seen Old Faithful, and some of the other
geysers in the Yellowstone."
"They put soap in some to make 'em spout, don't they?" asked
Dick, who remembered to have read something to that effect.
"So I've heard," the cowboy said, "though it isn't supposed to be
done. It sort of wears out the geyser, I believe, though I don't
know much about such things. Anyhow, I don't know of any around
here, though I have seen a few boiling springs, farther to the
south."
"Yes, I have, too," Bud admitted. "Well, here's one, and she sure
is hot," he added, as a sudden activity on the part of the
phenomenon sent up another cloud of steam. "We could boil eggs
there if we had any."
"We brought some along," Dick said, "but they're hard-boiled
already. No use doing the job over. Say, but this is interesting!" he
added, as the spring suddenly spouted up a little way, almost like
a miniature geyser.
"It would be more interesting if we could get closer on the trail
of that gang of cattle thieves, and take away our steers," said
Bud. "I wonder if the poor animals hurried in here for water, and
couldn't drink it because it was hot?" He recalled days of
helping haze cattle on long trails, when the creatures were
tormented by thirst, and he knew how they suffered.
"There are a few signs that they've been in here," remarked Slim,
as the party was gathered around the boiling spring. "But they
aren't here now."
"Not much use in us staying here, either," commented Bud, as he
looked around on the bleak and cheerless prospect. Except for the
boiling spring there was no sign of natural life. All about were
great and small rocks, piles of shale and jagged stones, as
though the place had been swept by a prehistoric fire. They were
in one of the twists and turns of the rocky defile, and it was a
rocky pass, with no trees or grass growing except near the top,
and these appeared to be a sort of overgrowth from the grass and
foliage growing down above.
"No, they didn't stop here long," declared Yellin' Kid. "They
passed on, an' that's what we got to do."
"Might as well stay here and have grub, now we're dismounted,"
suggested Nort.
The idea was voted a good one, and was soon put into operation.
They ate and talked of what had passed and what lay before them.
Of the latter they could only conjecture, but it is safe to say
that not one of them in his wildest imagination ever conjectured
such an ending to their trailing as actually occurred.
"Well, let's get on," called Bud, when appetites had been
satisfied--that is all but those of the horses. There was no
grass for them, though they did manage to drink some of the water
from the boiling spring where it had collected in little pools,
and had cooled. But this would never have sufficed for hundreds
of cattle.
Once more they were on the way, and shortly afterward they left
the grim and rocky defile for a more fertile region, where there
was grass for the animals. But they were still down between a
range of high hills which towered on either side.
The trail twisted and turned, this way and that, winding back and
forth. But ever there was to be seen, here and there, signs that
the herd of cattle had been driven this way. Faint the signs
were, at times, and at last they disappeared altogether.
"Where have they gone?" asked Nort.
"Looks like they dropped down a hole, but there isn't any hole
here," said Yellin' Kid.
"Oh, we'll pick the trail up later on," suggested Bud.
But even as they started off once more Bud, who had just
consulted a compass he carried, uttered a cry of amazement.
"What's the matter?" asked Slim.
"We're going the wrong way," declared Bud. "We're heading north
instead of south. We're all turned around! Something's wrong!"