RIGGLEY & RATZGER OF NEW YORK
Every day that week was crowded with events for the people at Pebbly
Pit, and never had so many telegrams passed through the hands of the
amazed agent at Oak Creek. First there were those sent by Barbara and
Eleanor, and the replies to them. Next day the two girls telegraphed
anew from Oak Creek, and these had replies which were forwarded by Alec
Hewitt who passed Brewster's ranch. Following these, came a telegram
from Anne, saying she had heard from Mr. Maynard and would meet him as
planned. Then there came one from Mr. Latimer's office in New York to
Tom, saying that Dr. Evans and Mr. Latimer had started for the West on
Thursday, on the Limited. Probably they would reach Pebbly Pit on Sunday
or Monday. Closely following that message, came one to Mr. Brewster from
New York, signed Riggley & Ratzger, Lawyers, to the effect that "they
had been appointed the representatives for the company that was formed
to make jewels from lava-stone, and they would take great pleasure in
visiting Pebbly Pit on Saturday or Sunday, in order to inspect the
Rainbow Cliffs. They might be induced to make an offer for the ranch."
The latter suggestion caused Sam Brewster to laugh as he had not done
since he heard his Polly was determined to go to school. "What do you
think of such sublime fools, Maw?" chuckled he, handing the telegram
across the table as they sat on the porch.
"Why, I don't understand. If Evans and Latimer are on their way here,
why do they need representatives? Isn't Tom's father a real good lawyer
in New York?" said she.
"Sure, but the names alone give me an idea that they are crooks--listen:
Riggley and Ratzger. Doesn't it make you think of all queer kinds of
fish that one finds in big cities?" laughed her husband.
Tom came from the barns about this time, and Mrs. Brewster turned to
tell him the latest news about the seekers of lava-stones. In
corroboration of his wife's words, Sam Brewster held out the telegram.
Tom took it in trembling hands, for he had heard of the men whose names
were signed to the message. Then he glanced at the signatures and that
broke his amazed spell of silence.
"Why! Mr. Brewster, how dare they plan to visit here?" he shouted, his
face as red as a poppy.
"Oh, do you know them?" wondered Mr. Brewster.
"Know them? Why, man alive, _they_ are the same two rascals who served
the injunction on father and Dr. Evans, and then they tried to steal the
patent. They fought in Court, but lost their case. When they appealed,
the Court sustained the first verdict, so they had no choice but to give
up. I wonder what game they are coming here for?"
Mr. Brewster considered. "Tom, I wouldn't be surprised if they came
here, not knowing your folks are, also, coming. Maybe they hope to get
first shot at this proposition of Rainbow Cliffs and in this way, make
your father pay a fabulous price for the stone."
"Some crooked deal like that, you may be assured. But I can't understand
how they ever heard of Rainbow Cliffs and this ranch? There has been a
leak, somewhere, in Dad's organization," said Tom, emphatically.
"Well, let's decide now, before they come, what is best for us to do. If
they get here before your father and Evans, we must not give them any
idea that we expect other guests, nor must we say that we suspect them
of foul play. We must give them rope enough with which to hang
themselves."
Here Mrs. Brewster interpolated: "We may serve all of our friends a good
turn by receiving these strangers with the same western welcome that we
extend to every one. But let us not give any one else here a hint of
what we now know."
Tom agreed that this was a wise plan, so no one suspected there was an
under-current of excitement running in the elder Brewsters' and Tom's
thoughts, during the time that must elapse before the New York
"representatives" could arrive at Pebbly Pit.
Meanwhile, Mr. Maynard met Anne and John in Denver, and the three took
the noon local for Oak Creek. Polly and Eleanor were busy helping
Barbara pack her five trunks to have them ready for the ranch-wagon to
take to the station on Saturday, when Tom offered to drive in and meet
the train from Denver. This done, and Tom on his way, the two girls
wondered what next they could do until the return of the party from Oak
Creek.
"I say! Let's run to the Cliffs and watch for the first glimpse of
Daddy," suggested Eleanor.
"And I'll take some doughnuts to eat in case we get hungry," added
Polly.
Fortified with a bag of these delectable balls, the two girls hastened
away. Barbara was all sweetness and generosity, now that she was sure of
going to join her mother in a fashionable camp. And many fine bits of
underwear, or dresses fell Sary's way, when Barbara went through her
wardrobe, and discarded the things she felt would be too
ordinary-looking in such an exclusive "set" as she was about to join.
Sary refused nothing, carrying everything thrown to her, in her arms as
carefully as if she were holding a new-born babe. On the first trip she
made through the kitchen in order to reach her private domain, she
stopped before Mrs. Brewster and held out the lace-trimmed underwear.
"Mis Brewster, Ah never did think Ah would have sech fine troosos fer my
marritch. When Ah married Bill Ah diden have nawthin' but a new cambric
dress and a sun-bunnet. But this marritch will be the reel thing, what
with all the stuff I'm k'lectin, already."
"You are fortunate, Sary, to be on hand just as Miss Bob's trunks are
cleared out," remarked her mistress.
"Yeh, and d'ye know what?" Sary leaned over to whisper confidentially.
"Yeh see Ah'm not lettin' anythin' she gives me lay around one minute,
'cause she may change her mind. And ef she once saw _what_ a heap she is
throwin' away, she might think Ah was gettin' too much!"
Mrs. Brewster laughed at Sary's wily ways, and replied: "Well, I'll
spare you from all the work as long as you are gathering plums from
Bob's orchard. I hope you can fill a whole trunk, Sary."
But an unforeseen outgrowth of all these donations was sure to happen.
Once Sary had watched the trunks hoisted up in the ranch wagon, and
realized that there would be no more "pickin's" for her, she ran to her
room and began sorting and gloating over the mass of cast-off clothing.
And so mesmerized was she with pictures of herself adorned in the
dresses that were made for the form half her girth that Mrs. Brewster
found it impossible to coax her back to the kitchen.
Having the Saturday's baking to do, as well as to prepare the dinner for
extra ones that night, she went to the door to ask Polly and Eleanor to
come in and help her. But the two girls were not in sight.
There was but one hope left! She must do as clever generals did in
battle, when the fight seems to go against them--strategy.
She hurried to Sary's door which was closed and locked.
"Oh Sary! I remembered something that I wished to ask you about several
times this past week. Did Jeb give you the engagement ring yet?"
Not a sound came from within for a few moments, then the key turned and
Sary's amazed face appeared in the doorway. The floor and bed were
covered with finery, each piece spread out full length.
"Ah clean fergot all about it. Is Miss Anne got her'n?"
"Oh, yes! John went to Denver with her to choose the stone."
"Kin Jeb git a ring in Oak Crick, d'ye s'pose?"
"Mercy no! Oak Creek hasn't any jewelry shop, you know."
Sary was lost in thought for a time, and this was Mrs. Brewster's
opportunity. "I've been wondering how it would do to hint to Jeb that it
would make a lovely trip if he were to accompany you to Denver for a
day, and let you select your own ring."
"Oh!"
The one word breathed in a scarcely audible sound plainly expressed
Sary's ecstasy. Her great hands were loosely clasped before her as her
eyes turned ceiling-ward.
"Of course with the house full of company for a few days it will be
impossible to think of such a thing, but Bob is going away the first of
the week, and then John and Tom leave; next Miss Anne goes back to
Denver to see about sending her stuff to New York, or selling what she
really won't need, and then you will have time to take such a trip. I
will see that Jeb realizes that it is his privilege to do this for you."
"Oh, Mis Brewster, what kin Ah ever do fer you?"
"Well, you can begin to repay me for my kindness by coming out to help
me with Saturday's work. And while we are doing that I will plan with
you what had best be said and done."
Sary felt that there was a cunning here that she was not able to cope
with, but she could not resist the temptation to talk and plan about an
engagement ring for herself, so she bravely turned her back on the array
of finery, and stoically followed her mistress.
Meantime Polly and Eleanor climbed the cliffs and sat where they could
see the Bear Fork's trail in the distance. Polly was sure they would
see the great ranch-wagon the moment it came around the bend.
They had not been seated there more than twenty minutes before Eleanor
craned her neck and gazed earnestly at two dots that seemed to be
crawling along the trail. Polly turned and gazed also.
"Why, it's two horsemen! I wonder if Jim and Ken can be thinking of
visiting us over Sunday,--because Mr. Latimer is coming, you know,"
exclaimed Eleanor, joyfully surprised.
"They wouldn't be arriving Saturday afternoon, as they wouldn't be able
to leave camp until Sunday," added Polly.
Both girls shaded their eyes with their hands but neither could make out
the forms of the riders. They were mere specks on the white trail. But
the girls held their breath when the horsemen turned from Bear Forks
trail and rode in under the precipice that overhung the entrance to
Pebbly Pit.
"Whoever it is, they are coming here," said Polly.
"I wonder if it could be Mr. Latimer and Dr. Evans--they may have
arrived in Oak Creek sooner than they expected," ventured Eleanor.
"We can watch better from this point than anywhere else, and when they
pass the Rainbow Cliffs, we can see who they are," now said Polly.
So they watched impatiently until the riders came from under the hanging
walls of rock, and rode again along the top of the shale that covered a
wide area between the ravines and the Cliffs.
This great stretch of shale was very treacherous going, as on the both
sides were deep gulches, or erosions, made by floods from thaws and
storms. An abandoned trail ran quite close to one of these ravines but
the land-slides of shale had compelled the people at Pebbly Pit to break
out a new and safer trail through the middle of the field. To strange
eyes, the old trail on the edge of the gulch, was the harder and easier
going, but every one coming to the ranch knew the center-trail to be the
one always used. Strangers seldom visited Pebbly Pit, and never without
a member of the ranch family, or a neighbor to escort them.
When the two horsemen reached the branching of the trails, they halted,
and the girls saw them ponder. One man motioned with a hand at the rough
trail running over the top of the shale in the middle of the area, but
the other seemed to argue that the edge-trail was the best one to take.
"Oh dear! I hope they won't take that slippery one!" cried Polly, in
tense nervousness.
"I wish we could yell and warn them!" exclaimed Eleanor, half-rising
from her seat.
"They'll never hear us at this distance, but we might run along the
top-trail and beckon them to climb up there."
"But, Polly, by the time we reach the shale they will be almost at the
Rainbow Cliffs," objected Eleanor.
"Yes, I know, but it seems awful to sit here and watch them ride over
that dangerous road."
"To relieve our minds, we can go down as far as possible and meet them
when they ride out at Rainbow Cliffs," suggested Eleanor.
So the two girls scrambled down from their high point of observation,
and started along the rock-ribbed road that led past the Cliffs. They
had not gone far along this trail, however, before Polly saw Jeb riding
down from the corrals.
"If I could only get Jeb's attention, he could ride fast and warn those
men of their danger," Polly said, thinking aloud.
"Let's both scream at the top of our lungs and see if he can hear us."
So the two girls stood out on the edge of a huge bowlder and, making
megaphones of their hands, shouted again and again. The depression made
by the crater that lay between the Cliffs and the corral, acted as a
hollow tube, so Jeb finally wheeled around and tried to locate the call.
When he saw the girls, he immediately started to meet them as no one on
the ranch would shout that way for fun.
It took ten minutes for Jeb to cover the circuitous path and join the
girls, and when they had hastily explained the cause of their concern,
he replied: "Gosh! Ah was told to hang a sign on that flat cliff to warn
folks offen the bad trail!"
"Well, you didn't, so now race down the good trail and try to make the
men hear you," demanded Polly.
Jeb spurred his horse at that, and was soon out of sight, but Polly and
Eleanor continued in the same direction, to see if all turned out well
for the riders.
Having reached and passed the last spur of the Rainbow Cliffs, and then
climbing the steep ascent to the top-trail, they finally came to a rise
whence the whole shale-field could be seen. But not a sign of horsemen
could be seen. Jeb, riding like mad, right across the loose shale in
reckless risk of breaking his broncho's legs, was the only man visible.
Eleanor turned and looked in wonderment at Polly, but when she saw the
look of horror on her friend's face, she caught at her arm.
"Polly! What do you think has happened?"
"Oh, Nolla! I fear they are down in that gulch! Most likely the shale
started sliding under their horses' hoofs, and before they realized
their danger, they were swept along over the top!"
"Oh, mercy! Polly--never that! Why they will be killed!"
Polly never said a word but watched Jeb as he reined in his horse.
Jumping from the saddle and hobbling the animal, he very carefully
crawled over the apparently safe surface between himself and the ravine.
"Now I'm sure that's what happened, Nolla, or Jeb wouldn't try to get
over there. He's going to see just how bad things are."
"Poll, we'd better run as fast as we can, and get things ready at the
ranch. Your father ought to know this, so he can hitch a cart to two
strong horses and drive there to help carry the men to the house."
"Nolla, I fear there will be nothing left to carry away. Once the shale
starts to slide down that gulch, it goes like the wind and buries
everything under its weight and bulk."
"All the same, I will feel that I am doing something to help--let's go!"
So Polly and her companion turned and ran back along the Rainbow Cliffs
trail, until they reached the spot whence they had called to Jeb. They
stopped for a moment to catch their breath, and while straining their
eyes towards the house, saw Mr. Brewster just leaving it.
His horse was waiting at the block, so both girls instantly began
shouting to attract his attention. He had keen hearing, and turned to
see what might be wrong in the direction of the Cliffs. When he saw the
two girls wildly beckoning him to come, he sprang into the saddle and
galloped the horse over the intervening space to meet them.
Their story was told in a few words, and Sam Brewster immediately
surmised who the riders were. He told the girls to go on to the house
and tell Mrs. Brewster to be ready with emergencies, in case either of
the travelers were found. Then he turned his horse and galloped to the
barns where he called several of the men to help in the rescue work.
Polly and Eleanor would have preferred to go back to the shale-fields
and watch the men, but they had to go where they could be of most
service in the case.
"Where shall we put them, mother, if father brings both back to the
house?" asked Polly.
"There is only one thing we can do, and that is to prepare the cots in
the harness-room for them. It is in times of need, like this, that I
wish we had a large house."
Down on the shale-fields, Jeb had crept to the edge of the gully and
peered over. Far, far below, where the stream roared over the rocks and
down waterfalls like a miniature Niagara, he saw one horse doubled up in
an unnatural heap. He surmised at once, that it was dead. But half-way
up he spied hoofs protruding from the shale, and to this spot he tried
to make his way.
As he thought, the rider was still entangled with the stirrups of the
horse and could not jump free when the accident had occurred.
By dint of working down, clinging like lichen to the shale surface, Jeb
reached the animal whose hoofs stuck pathetically upward. He carefully
scraped away the shale and exposed the head of a man. He could not say
whether the victim was alive or dead, and he dared not dig away more
shale, just then, or the whole side would begin to move again. Having
cleared the head so the man could breathe, if possible, he looked
anxiously around for the second rider. Not a sign of him was seen from
the place where Jeb clung.
Believing that one live man was worth two dead ones, Jeb returned to the
task of unearthing the one he had found. Every slab of shale was slowly
removed, meanwhile Jeb watched the loose sides above him for the least
intimation that it might slide again. But so careful was he, that the
body was uncovered without the surrounding shale being disturbed. Jeb
felt of the man's heart and found a very slight pulsation there. He was
alive!
But how to get his feet free from the leather on the horse, and how to
carry the big heavy fellow up that treacherous side? Jeb never lost his
presence of mind, nor did he ever feel unduly excited over what he
thought could not be helped; had he known what a fatalist was, he would
have told you that that is what _he_ was.
He sat perfectly still, because the unwary movement of a single muscle
might move that mountain-side down upon him, but he could _think_ and
what could hinder him from doing it? As if the very discovery that he
was superior in that way, to the senseless shale all about him, made him
master of the situation, so he smiled and patiently waited.
"'Cuz Ah knows Polly and Miss Nolla'll get word to Mis'r Brews'er an'
he'll know what to do fer us." So he sat and waited.
It's all well enough to say, "Oh, he wouldn't do anything else. Any one
could have waited!" But how many would have waited in that same
situation, without a qualm of fear, or without doubting the simple
assurance that the master of the ranch would know best what to do to
help?
As if to reward this faith, Jeb soon heard voices shouting back and
forth above his head, and after a time, he saw the noose of a stout rope
falling down in his direction.
He grinned. "Ah never thought of _that_!" murmured he.
"Jeb," came the deep tones of Mr. Brewster from above, "try to fix this
safely around you, and then see if there is anything down there that you
can do. Shout up if you want help, and we will try to let another man
down to work with you."
Jeb soon had the rope about his body, and feeling free to dig, went to
work to pull the unconscious man out of the saddle. The side that the
dead horse had fallen upon pinned the man's one leg down so securely
that Jeb could not manage to extricate it without help. So he held on
to the body he had thus far brought out from the shale, and then called
up to his master.
"Ah cain't git his left laig out from the sturrup! This dead hoss is too
heavy fer me to shove over. Ef some one'll come down an' use a crow-bar
Ah reckon we-all kin manage it all right."
With all the tension and doubt of being of any use in this accident, Mr.
Brewster could not help thinking of Jeb's way of asking assistance--as
if he was in the kitchen of the house and told Sary to come downstairs
to entertain him.
Another man was lowered by means of a second rope, and as he came
opposite the dead horse, he called a halt on the pulley above. With his
crow-bar, he worked just as carefully as Jeb had done in loosening the
shale about the body. But the moment Jeb found he could extract the
crushed foot from the side that had been buried in the stone, the other
man ceased prodding, as one little prod too many might turn the whole
loose lava upon them again.
"Lower another rope fer the stranger!" shouted the hired man. And soon
the limp body was drawn slowly up to safety.
"What about the other one, Jeb?" shouted Mr. Brewster.
"Reckon he went on down, 'cuz his hoss is down thar. Shall Ah go on down
and see?"
"No! we-all can get down from the Devil's Causeway, without taking any
risks on this loose wall. Better see if you-all can find any papers or
wallet in the panniers of that horse."
Jeb then felt and brought forth a fine leather bag shaped like a
knap-sack. But he was not aware that most lawyers and professional men
in cities use similar bags. Then the word was given to hoist, and both
men were soon up beside the unconscious stranger.
While Mr. Brewster used first-aid on the stranger, several men of the
party started for the cleft back of the Cliffs from which one could get
down in to the gulch. In fact, it was the great flood of water that ran
from the back of the Cliffs that caused this deep washout, or gully.
Having taken hold of the unknown man and suddenly turned him so that he
hung limply over the back and shoulders of his carrier, Mr. Brewster
started his horse across the shale, and then turned in on the Cliff
trail. The sooner the unconscious man was treated the better, thought
the ranch-man.
Jeb and his men were left to help the others who, after having carefully
picked a way over the shale, would search in the gulch for any signs of
the second man.
By the time the would-be rescuers reached the place where the dead horse
was seen doubled up, moans attracted their attention to a clump of
buffalo grass that had forced its way up beside the stream.
There, almost hidden by great bowlders that had caught the drift of
shale as it swept down from the top of the ravine, they found the second
rider. As the horse was more than forty feet above this spot, they
figured that the man must have shot from the saddle when all were
precipitated over the top, and landed as if by a miracle in this
comparatively safe niche made by the rocks.
The moment the man heard human voices he tried to attract their
attention, but they had already heard and planned how best to reach him.
He could not move, as those limbs which had not suffered fractures, were
rendered helpless by the weight of shale pinning them down. His chest
was free, however, and in spite of the gashes and bruises all over his
face and neck, he could breathe easily.
"Ah reckon we-all had better carry him up the gulch to the Devil's
Causeway, and git out by that route," suggested one of the men.
"Yeh! Let's call to Jeb to go back and meet we-all at the Cliffs so's we
kin put him acrost one of the hosses."
In half an hour, therefore, Mr. Ratzger, the senior member of the law
firm of Riggley and Ratzger, of New York, was carried in front of the
Rainbow Cliffs and placed in Jeb's arms, while another man led Jeb's
horse carefully towards the ranch-house.
"Ah, so these are Rainbow Cliffs, are they! Shall I ever forget them?
Had Riggley listened to my advice we both would now be sitting in our
comfortable office-chairs in New York. But no! he must needs try to
force gold from a stone-wall!" As Ratzger sighed, Jeb remarked
philosophically: "Ef _you_-all'd rather be sittin' at home than a
galavantin' round places where money kin be found, Ah b'lieves it's the
onny reason you-all is spared whiles your friend is locooed."
Ratzger had never heard the term "locooed" so he was not quite sure what
Jeb meant. But he was thankful that he had life enough left even to
suffer with the broken arms and legs; for a trifle like that was not to
be scorned when he might have been done for completely even as he feared
old Riggley was.