A TREMENDOUS SCHEME.
Billie began to tire of lying around, and once more started out to
investigate things for himself. He carried his little kodak along with
him, for there were a couple of pictures he had thought of which he
wanted very much to get, if the opportunity arose, and he could induce
some of the Zuni boys, in their peculiar costumes, to pose for him, and
he thought that would not be hard for a fellow whom his chums both said
had such an insinuating, wheedling way about him.
He spent a good hour in the task, while Donald still remained absent;
and Adrian put in his time in various ways, now with the horses, and
again at the tent.
The one who had remained behind was somewhat surprised at seeing Billie
hurrying toward the camp after a while, and to note the look of deep
anxiety upon the rosy face of the fat chum.
"Hello! there, what's been happening to you now, I wonder?" Adrian
remarked, as Billie threw himself down on the ground beside him,
seemingly short of breath, for he was panting heavily.
He made a gesture to indicate that after he had managed to get in
half-way decent shape again, he would proceed to enlighten the
stay-at-home chums; and so Adrian had to take it out for a minute or two
in vague guessing.
"Chances are three to one that it's got something to do with that same
Braddon?" he proceeded to say, presently, when Billie failed to start
explaining.
A violent nod of the other's head announced that his first shot had hit
the mark in the bull's-eye.
"Don't tell me he tackled you, and abused you in any way?" demanded
Adrian, with a look of gathering anger on his face.
Billie shook his head, this time in the negative. Then he seemed to have
reached the opinion that he had recovered enough of his breath to
explain.
"No, it wasn't that, you see; but what I managed to hear them say," he
exclaimed.
"Meaning Braddon and some of his bunch; is that it, Billie?"
"Yes, and the very pair Donald was warning us against, Shorty and
Junior," the fat boy went on to declare eagerly.
"So, they were having a nice little confab all by themselves, were
they?" asked the other.
"Just what they were; and say, Ad, d'ye know the temptation was really
too much for me, and I _had_ to make the try, even if I did know what
I'd rub up against if they discovered me listenin' to 'em talk."
"Do you mean to say you crept up close enough to hear anything?"
demanded Adrian, as though he could hardly believe it possible on the
part of the stout chum to attempt such a bold thing, in the first place,
and actually carry it to a successful issue in the second.
Billie wagged his head, and a proud gleam came into his sunny blue eyes.
"I got away with it, though how I did the same will puzzle me lots," he
started to explain. "But when I saw that bunch with their heads so close
together I just made up my mind they must be plottin' like fun; and I
wished I could get a chance to listen. Then, all at once I noticed that
there _was_ a way a fellow might crawl up back of the rocks, if only he
knew how to do it. How I wished either you or Donald was with me;
because you see I was afraid that I'd make a bad job of the thing, and
only get a few nice kicks for my trouble. But all at once I gritted my
teeth this way, you know; and when I do that there's going to something
happen, make up your mind to that."
"Yes, I know, Billie, there surely is; and so you concluded to try the
crawl by yourself, did you?"
"I just got down on my ham-bones, and began to sneak along the best I
knew how," the enthusiastic fat boy went on to say, excitedly, as though
even the remembrance of his recent feat stirred him to the core. "Inch
by inch, and foot by foot, I went crawling along, till at last I landed
in the snuggest little nook you ever saw, and where I couldn't go any
further because there wasn't any more cover."
"And what did you hear?" asked Adrian.
"I just managed to pick up a few words now and then, when one of the
bunch talked a little louder than common; and at first it was like a lot
of Choctaw to me, because, you see, I hadn't got my clue yet. After a
little I could put things together better, and then the whole thing
flashed on me like an avalanche."
"Yes, go on, Billie, I'm listening," urged the other, beginning to
himself feel the thrill of eager expectation, which of course was what
Billie was leading up to all this while.
"Let me tell you what I reckon that schemer Braddon is planning to do
with his big pay promises to the old Zuni chief," Billie continued,
impressively; "he wants to get the greater part of the tribe to flock
away after him; and when he finds a chance he means to give 'em the
slip, come back here, and force the old medicine man to show him where
that wonderful treasure of his lies, that has been talked about so much
all through this region for years! What d'ye think of that for a grand
scheme, now, Pard Adrian?"
The other sat there for a full minute, as though digesting the
tremendous idea in his mind, while Billie waited to hear what his
opinion might be, his face reflecting the various emotions that
controlled him.
Finally Adrian looked up.
"First of all, let me congratulate you, Billie, on doing what you did.
It was the work of no greenhorn. After this Donald and myself have got
to look out, if we don't want to wake up some fine morning, and find
ourselves only has-beens. You're getting there with a rush. But I reckon
you hugged that hiding-place till they went about their business; you
never tried to crawl back again, and take new chances?"
"I guess I knew enough for that, Adrian. I just lay there, and waited.
They went off after a bit; and when the coast was clear, I stepped out
and walked around, like nothing was the matter. But as soon as I got the
first chance, let me tell you I scooted for the camp, licketty-split. I
was fairly bursting with that news. And it's nice of you to pay me such
a compliment, that's right. I feel as if it was worth all it cost, just
to know that one of my chums appreciates me."
"And the other will say the same when he hears what you did," Adrian
hastened to declare. "But I wish Donald would show up; he's been gone
all of two hours."
"Say, you don't think they could a got hold of him, any sort of way, do
you, Adrian?" questioned Billie, as though a sudden terrible suspicion
had gripped him.
"Well, hardly, in broad daylight," laughed the other; "if it was night,
now, there might be some little reason to think that way. He'll be along
soon. P'raps he's found those cowboys good company, and is clinching
them as friends, so we could rely on their backing, if it came to such a
showdown."
"Oh! I hope we don't have trouble with that bunch," remarked Billie;
"because I'm opposed to violence, you know; but then, if they try to
chase us out of this Zuni town, I reckon I'd get my back up, and kick
just as hard as the rest of you. But you believe what I told you, don't
you, Adrian?"
"It seems almost too terrible to believe, but when I remember the look
on the face of that man, Mark Braddon, I'm tempted to say that nothing
would be too dreadful for him to try, if he thought he saw a chance to
make a big haul by it."
"Well, he would, if his game worked well, and they could force the old
medicine man to give up the secret of his hidden treasure," Billie went
on to say in a reflective sort of way. "Goodness knows we've heard a
heap about the same; and if even one tenth of it is true, he must know
where a mighty rich gold vein lies in the heart of this old Sacred
Mountain of theirs."
"Still, do you know, I'm not so very much surprised at what you've been
telling me," the other chum went on to say.
"You sort of had an idea he was up to some dodge like that, didn't you,
Adrian?" Billie asked; for he had fallen into a way of believing that
these two wide-awake comrades of his could see through puzzles that
bothered him greatly.
"He looked like a man who would engineer a big game, and yet I couldn't
seem to get it through my head what sort of a play he could make by
luring the chief away with more than half the tribe. Then what I heard
about the tremendous pay he offered, which he kept on increasing every
new time he talked it over with the head man, made me suspect that he
never meant to do the right thing. But honest now, Billie, I never once
thought of such a clever scheme as you've been telling me about."
"Well, what'll we do about it?" demanded the fat chum.
"Nothing right away, I should think," replied Adrian, after apparently
thinking it all over.
"What, not even tell the chief how he's been taken in and done for;
would that be fair and square for us, Adrian?"
"There's no hurry, you see," answered the other, calmly; "look at the
thing without getting excited, Billie, and you'll agree with me.
To-morrow comes the day for all this Zuni ceremony business to reach a
head, for they're going to give the rattlesnake dance then. After that's
once over with we can get the chief to listen, while you tell all you
heard. He'd be a fool after that to take any stock in the big offers of
money that Braddon is making, to coax him to be an attraction for his
Wild West Show, which, between you and me, I never heard of, and don't
believe ever had any existence."
Billie sighed. Perhaps he still thought they should "make hay while the
sun shone," and it may have been that he secretly feared lest the
schemer Braddon find some way to get the better of them; so that his
path might be cleared, and nothing interfere with the carrying out of
his villainous scheme.
But then he was so accustomed by now to yielding to the better judgment
of his two chums that he did not offer any further objections.
"We'll see what Donald says about it when he comes in," added Adrian;
"though I feel pretty sure he'll think the same that I do. We don't want
anything to interfere with our enjoying that wonderful affair tomorrow,
you know. And this fakir of a showman can't just swoop off with the main
part of the village in the wink of an eye. If they concluded to go with
him they'd have to take some time to make preparations, you see; and
that'd let us have a chance to whisper a few interesting things in the
ear of the old chief, that might make him sit up and take notice."
"You're right, Adrian, quite right," admitted Billie, as though fully
convinced by this time; "there's no desperate need of hurry; and just as
you often say, many a well laid plan's gone to pieces because of too
much haste. But we'll soon know what Donald has to say about it, because
here he comes right now, and with a wide grin on his face, as though
he'd made good friends of those cow-punchers!"