A SURPRISE OF THE ROAD
Fortunately for the two chums, the flash of lightning which had revealed
the two horses to them was followed by something of a lull in the storm
and this served to keep the steeds from stampeding again.
“Be careful, Roger,” cautioned Dave, as they separated to do as our hero
had advised.
“Do you want me to take my own horse or the one which happens to be
nearest to me?” questioned the senator’s son.
“Take the nearest, by all means—and be sure to hold on tight!”
In the darkness, and with the rain still coming down steadily, the two
approached closer and closer to the horses. One animal gave a low snort,
but whether of fear or recognition of his master could not be
ascertained.
“I guess we’ve got them, all right enough,” sang out Roger, as he made a
dash to cover the dozen feet that separated him from the nearest steed.
Dave was a few steps farther away from the other horse. At that instant
came another clap of thunder, followed almost instantly by the
lightning. Then came a crash in the forest, showing that a tree close by
had been struck.
The nervous horses wheeled around and reared up. Then one started in one
direction and the other in another.
“Grab him, Roger! Don’t let him get away!” yelled Dave, and made a wild
leap for the animal nearest him. He caught the loose rein, and an
instant later had a firm hold on the steed. The horse did considerable
prancing, but the youth, who some seasons before had tamed a bronco at
Star Ranch, was not daunted. He brought the animal to a standstill, and
then, seeing that it was his own mount, leaped lightly into the saddle.
“Now behave yourself, old boy,” he said soothingly, patting the animal
on the neck. “You’re all right. Take it easy.”
In the meanwhile, Roger was having an exciting experience with his own
horse. The animal had tried to back away from him, and had gotten a hind
leg fast between two trees. Now he began to kick out wildly, hitting one
of the trees several resounding blows.
“Whoa there! Whoa!” cried the senator’s son; but his horse continued to
kick out until, with a wrench, he got the other foot free. Then he began
to prance around once more, showing every evidence of wanting to run
away.
“Wait! I’ll hold him while you get into the saddle!” cried Dave, riding
up. And then he placed himself directly in front of Roger’s mount.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, the senator’s son made a leap and
got safely into the saddle; and then the two runaway horses settled down
to behaving themselves decently.
“This was luck, all right,” remarked Dave, when the brief excitement was
over.
“Right you are,” was the ready reply. “I didn’t fancy walking back to
the camp.”
“Nor losing two such valuable horses,” added our hero. “If they had
failed to return perhaps Mr. Obray would have made us pay for them, and
that would make a big hole in our salaries.”
Making sure that the horses should not get away from them again, the two
young civil engineers rode back to the road, and then with caution
picked their way along on the right-hand side of some ever-increasing
ponds of water. This was slow and dangerous work, the horses slipping
and sliding among the wet rocks and loose stones, and more than once
getting into mud and water up to their knees. But at last that peril was
left behind, and once again the youths found themselves on comparatively
solid ground and headed in the direction of the construction camp.
“We’ll sure have a story to tell when we get back,” remarked Roger, as
they rode along side by side.
“Yes. But we’ll want to change our togs before we start to tell it,”
returned Dave grimly. “I feel as if I had jumped overboard with all my
clothing on.”
“It looks to me as if the storm was passing away,” continued the
senator’s son, gazing up at the sky.
“Oh, more than likely it will stop raining as soon as we get back,
Roger. It would be just our luck.”
It was true that the storm was passing, and they were still some
distance from the construction camp when the rain practically ceased. A
portion of the clouds rolled away, making the sky much clearer.
“I’ll bet the sun comes out as brightly as ever before it sets,”
ventured Roger. “Hang it all! why couldn’t we have found some shelter
during this awful downpour? Then we wouldn’t have got wet to the skin.”
“Never mind, Roger. There is no use in crying over spilt milk. Don’t
forget how thankful we are that we got our horses back.”
The chums were still out of sight of the construction camp when they
heard a clatter of hoofs on the stony roadway ahead of them. In a minute
more a figure, clad in a semi-cowboy outfit, came galloping toward them.
“Hello! who can that be?” cried Roger.
“Maybe it’s one of our men coming out to look for us,” answered Dave.
“Perhaps Mr. Obray or Frank Andrews got worried when it began to blow so
and lighten so hard.”
The two young civil engineers slackened their pace, expecting that the
newcomer would halt as soon as he saw them. They drew up to one side of
the road, and were somewhat surprised to see the person on horseback go
by without paying any attention to them. He was a fellow about their own
age and had his head bent down over his horse’s neck as if he was in
deep thought.
Both of the young civil engineers stared at the rider as if he were a
ghost. Neither of them said a word, but they both looked after the
passer-by as if they could not believe the evidence of their senses.
“Dave, did you see him?” came at last in an excited tone from Roger.
“I certainly did, Roger!”
“It was Nick Jasniff!”
“So it was!”
“But how in the world did he get here?”
“I don’t know. I thought he was in prison!”
“So he was—we saw him sentenced ourselves, after we caught him on Cave
Island.”
“And his sentence can’t be up yet. The time is too short.”
“Maybe he broke jail or got out sooner on account of good behavior. You
know they give prisoners some time off if they behave themselves well.”
“You don’t think we could be mistaken?”
“I don’t think so. If that fellow was not Nick Jasniff, it was his
double.”
“Oh, don’t say anything about doubles!” cried Dave quickly. “I had all I
want of that sort of thing with Ward Porton. I’m quite sure that fellow
was Nick Jasniff himself. He had that same hang-dog, slouching way about
him he had when he went to Oak Hall.”
“But what can he be doing out here in Montana?”
“I don’t know,—unless he may have thought that some of the Merwells were
still out here. He, of course, must know about Mr. Merwell disposing of
the Three X Ranch.”
“You don’t suppose he came out here to see us, do you?”
“To see us? Not on your life! Why should he want to see us? He knows
well enough that we have no use for him.”
“But maybe he wants to get square with us. You know he threatened us in
all sorts of ways after we had him arrested. And you know what an awful
wicked fellow he is, Dave. Didn’t he try once in the Oak Hall gym to
brain you with an Indian club?”
“Yes; I remember that only too well, Roger. Just the same, I don’t think
a fellow like Jasniff would come away out here to square accounts with
us. It’s more likely he came out here to get away from the people who
know him. Maybe he thought he could start life over again in a place
like this, where nobody knew him.”
“Humph! possibly you’re right. But if that’s the case, I don’t want him
to come around where I am. I have no use for a jailbird,” grumbled the
senator’s son.
The youths had resumed their journey, and a few minutes later they came
into sight of the construction camp. This consisted of a rudely-built
office, backed up by a score or more of smaller buildings used as
bunk-houses. At the end of a row was a large, low building in which was
located the kitchen and also the mess hall, or “Palace of Eats,” as some
of the engineers had christened it. Still further away was a small shed
for horses, with a corral attached.
“Hello! I was wondering what had become of you two chaps,” cried Frank
Andrews, as they rode up to the building wherein they and the assistant
and some others had their quarters. “Some let-down you got caught in.”
“I should say so!” cried Roger. “We came within an ace of being
drowned.”
“Be thankful that you weren’t struck by lightning,” returned the older
engineer, with a twinkle in his eyes. “I suppose you’ll want to get some
dry duds on before you make any report about those marks.”
“The marks are all there, just as Mr. Obray expected they would be,”
answered Dave. “I’ve got a list of them here in my notebook.”
“By the way, Mr. Andrews, was there a stranger here a little while ago—a
fellow about our age?” questioned Roger.
“There was somebody here. I don’t know who it was,” answered the
assistant. “He was over at the main office, talking to Mr. Obray.”
“And you don’t know who he was?”
“No.” Frank Andrews gazed at the two chums questioningly. “Anything
wrong about him?”
“That is what we want to find out,” answered the senator’s son. “We
thought we knew him; and if so he isn’t the kind of fellow that any one
would want around here.”
“Why, how is that?” questioned Frank Andrews. And thereupon, in a few
brief words, Roger and Dave told about Nick Jasniff and his doings.
“You’re right! We don’t want any jailbirds around this camp!” cried the
assistant. “When you go up to the office you had better tell Mr. Obray
about this.”
Dave and Roger were glad enough to get under shelter. They lost no time
in taking a good rub-down and in changing their apparel. Then they
hurried over to the office of the construction camp, where they found
the manager and several of his assistants going over various papers and
blue-prints.
“Got back, eh?” said Mr. Obray, with a smile. “You certainly didn’t have
a very nice day for the trip.”
“Oh, well, it’s all in the day’s work, Mr. Obray,” answered Dave
lightly.
“And we had one advantage coming back,” put in Roger. “We didn’t suffer
the least bit from dust;” and at this sally a smile lit up the features
of all present. They liked Dave and Roger very much, and the fact that
Dave’s chum was the son of a United States Senator added something to
the importance of both of the young men.
Getting out his notebook, Dave lost no time in turning in his report,
which was supplemented by what Roger had to say. Then the two young
civil engineers were asked a number of questions, to which they replied
as clearly as possible.
“I guess that’s about all,” said Mr. Obray finally. “I think that makes
it pretty clear. Don’t you, Mr. Chase?” he continued, turning to one of
the other men present.
“I think so,” answered Mr. Chase. “But we’ll still have to make an
investigation up there at Number Six. I’m not satisfied about the
formation of that rock. I think we’re due for a lot of trouble.”
“Well, we’ll meet it as it comes—there is no use in anticipating it,”
answered Ralph Obray briefly.
He was a man who was never daunted, no matter how great the obstacles
that confronted him. It was his clear-headedness that had won more than
one engineering victory for the Mentor Construction Company when all the
other engineers had given up a task as impossible.
“Mr. Obray, we would like to ask you a few questions in private if you
don’t mind,” said Dave in a low voice, when he saw the other civil
engineers turn away to consult a map that hung on one of the office
walls.
“All right, Porter. Come right in here,” answered the manager, and led
the way to a corner, where he had a small private office.
“I wish to ask you about a fellow we met on the road just before we got
back to camp about half an hour ago,” explained our hero. “He was a
fellow about our own age. He was on horseback, and I thought he might
have been here.”
“There was a fellow here, and he left less than an hour ago,” answered
the manager. “I should think he was about your age, or maybe a year or
two older.”
“Was he a tall, lanky sort of fellow with a rather slouchy air about
him?” questioned Roger.
“Yes, that description would fit him pretty well.”
“And did he have a squint in one eye?” questioned Dave suddenly,
remembering a peculiarity about Nick Jasniff which he had almost
forgotten.
“Yes, there certainly was something the matter with one of his eyes. The
upper lid seemed to droop considerably.”
“Might I ask what that fellow was doing here?”
“He came here looking for a job. He said he was working on one of the
ranches in this vicinity but that he preferred to work for us and learn
civil engineering if we would give him a chance. I told him we were
pretty well filled up as far as our engineering corps was concerned, but
said he might call some other time. You see, Barry and Lundstrom are
thinking of leaving, and if they do we might have a chance for one or
two outsiders, provided they were of the right sort.”
“Well, if this fellow is the person we think he is, he isn’t any one you
would care to have around here, Mr. Obray,” cried Roger.
“And why not?” demanded the manager of the construction camp.
“Because if he is the fellow we think he is, he is a thief and a
jailbird!”