THE RUSTLERS
At a word from his master the well trained Buckskin doubled up, and lay
down on the ground. Most cowboy ponies are taught to do this trick by
their masters, and it is in common use; so that the punchers believe it
is a poor animal that has not learned to roll over and play dead on
occasion.
Bob, too, managed to induce his mount to do the same thing; but to make
it absolutely certain that no unwise flounder on the part of Domino
might betray them, he sat upon the horse's head, soothing him by little
pats on his glossy hide.
"I hear 'em coming," announced Frank, presently.
The sounds reached him against the wind, so that it was quite natural
to believe the approaching horses must by now be very close. There was
a confused pounding that could only spring from a large body of
animals. The trained ear of Frank caught a significance in the clash
of hoofs that told him much more than Bob was able to make out.
"All horses, Bob," he whispered across the little gap that separated
him from his chum; "and two thirds of 'em running free, without saddles
or riders. Lie low, now, and see if you can glimpse 'em as they go
past."
"Won't they be apt to run over us?" asked Bob, a bit nervously.
"Nixy. I looked out to pick a place they'd be apt to avoid. They'll
brush past a little further to the south," and Frank ended his words
with a hiss of warning.
The pounding of many hoofs continued. Frank, straining his eyes,
believed he was now able to make out a confused moving mass at some
little distance away, heading directly toward the foot of Thunder
Mountain.
As the starlight was so vague he could not make out more than that here
and there a figure was mounted on a galloping horse, with several
unridden animals trailing along behind, as though led by ropes.
The little caravan passed quickly. Already they were vanishing in the
deeper shadows lying closer to the base of the mountain that towered
aloft several thousand feet.
Still the two boys continued to sit there, guarding their horses;
although all danger of discovery seemed absolutely past.
"Whew!" exclaimed Bob, presently, as the sound of retreating hoofs
began to die away; "what d'ye think of that, eh, Frank?"
"Indians?" queried the Kentucky boy, eagerly.
"Well," replied his chum, "not so's you could notice. Say, now, you
didn't see any feathers on their heads, did you? And I sure heard the
fellow nearest us say something that only a white man would remark,
when his horse stepped into a hole, and almost threw him over its head."
"Cow punchers; or perhaps rustlers?" continued Bob, anxious to know.
"What would cowmen be doing away off here, tell me that, Bob? And
lugging along a bunch of extra mounts, too, in the bargain? No, I
rather think, Bob, that those fellows must have some of Mendoza's
cattle rustlers. And they've been making a dandy raid on some ranch's
saddle herd; or I miss my guess."
"Perhaps the Circle outfit had gotten careless," suggested Bob.
"I sure hope not, for the boys have had plenty of warning; and I reckon
Bart Heminway is some too good an overseer to permit such a raid. I'd
rather believe it was the X-bar-X outfit that has gone and got nipped
this time. But stop and think Bob; what d'ye expect takes these
cattle-rustlers over this way right now, headed straight for the
canyons of Thunder Mountain?"
"Oh, I see what you mean!" exclaimed the taller lad, immediately.
"Perhaps the secret hiding place of Mendoza and his crowd of cattle
thieves may be somewhere around this same old rock pile. It'd be just
like the tricky rustler to have a hide-out where nobody else ever came!"
"Now, why didn't somebody ever think of that before?" ejaculated Frank,
in a tone of mingled surprise and disgust.
"Looks easy, doesn't it, after we've run across a clue?" admitted Bob,
laughing softly. "You remember what they said about discovering
America, after Columbus did it. But supposing this thing _does_ turn
out to be true; how's it going to affect our little business, Frank?
Oh! say, I wonder if that crowd can have anything to do with the
rumbling of the mountain?"
Frank laughed heartily at the suggestion.
"Well," he remarked, "they're a pretty tough lot, all right; but even
such a bad bunch could hardly get enough hot air together to make a
mountain shake and groan like that. Besides, don't you see, Bob, they
must have been out yonder, riding this way with their stolen horses,
when that little circus came off."
"But one thing is sure," the other went on, sturdily; "they don't seem
to take any stock in that notion about a volcano, because, as we saw,
they headed straight for Thunder Mountain. That gives it away; they're
so used to the row that they don't pay any attention to it any longer."
"Correct!" echoed Frank, as though his mind was made up.
"Do we need to hold the horses down any longer?" asked Bob, who could
feel that Domino was becoming very restless under his enforced silence.
"I reckon not," replied the other, at the same time taking the blanket
from Buckskin's head; whereupon the animal, recognizing this as a sign
to rise, quickly gained his feet and shook himself.
"It's back to the blankets again for another nap," remarked Bob, when
he, too, had seen his animal regain an upright position. "Wonder
what's next on the programme for us. Twice, now, we've been waked up;
and I don't know whether it's really worth while trying to get any more
sleep to-night. It isn't a great ways from dawn, is it, Frank?"
The other cast a quick look up at the stars. Accustomed to reading
these heavenly sign posts of the night, he was able, from their
positions, to give a pretty fair guess as to the hour; just as the sun
served him in place of a watch during the day.
"Three hours yet to dawn, Bob; no use staying up all that time," he
said, presently. "We expect to be on the move again at peep of day;
because, after what's happened, it'll be wise for us to get off the
level here before broad daylight comes along. There might be curious
eyes on the watch up yonder, on Thunder Mountain; and that, you see,
would just spell trouble for our crowd."
"Whew! things are thickening, for a fact!" exclaimed Bob.
"I was only thinking," Frank continued, "whether we ought to try and
get word back to the ranch about our discovery. If they knew Mendoza
and his rustlers were hiding somewhere about this place they'd comb the
whole mountain range so they could run him to earth. He's been the
pest of the border too long now, and something's just got to be done to
chase him back where he belongs, south of the Rio Grande."
"But you don't want to go back just yet, do you, Frank?" asked Bob,
uneasily.
"I'm ready to do what you say, though I'd like to stay," came the
prompt answer.
"Then I say, let's stick it out," declared Bob, with animation. "It
might turn out to be a false alarm, after all; and we'd feel pretty
cheap to bring all the boys along, and then not be able to show 'em any
game. No, I say it'll be time enough to go after 'em, when we make
dead sure!"
"That settles it, then," remarked Frank, with a little laugh, as though
pleased to learn that his saddle chum looked at the matter in such a
sensible light.
This time, after they had lain down in their blankets, there was no
further alarm. Frank, from long habits of early rising on the range,
awakened just as the first faint streaks of dawn began to show in the
eastern horizon.
It required but a touch to arouse Bob; and saddling up, with packs in
place, the boys soon left the scene of their night bivouac, heading
toward the heavy growth of timber directly at the foot of the mountain.
The early morning mists concealed their movements until they had
entered among the timber; when they left they were safe from any
suspicious eye, should the bold Mexican rustler have posted any watcher
upon the side of the mountain.
Again did the saddle boys build a small fire in a hole, over which they
proceeded to cook their breakfast; while the horses cropped the grass
near by, secured by the ever useful lariats, or riatas.
"There's where this leads into a big gully," remarked Bob, later on,
pointing as he spoke to where the ground became broken.
"Yes," Frank went on, thoughtfully, "and the chances are ten to one
that it changes into a regular canyon, where the water rushes down
whenever they have one of those gushers, or cloud bursts, that come
along once in a while around here. Now, I wonder if those riders hit
it up this way?"
He jumped to his feet as he said this. Passing back and forth, Frank
seemed to be examining the ground, marking the stepping stones of the
mountain.
"Signs aplenty around here," he remarked. "Wish old Hank was along to
read 'em. I reckon I can tell what they stand for, though."
"Then they went on up that canyon, you believe?" asked Bob.
"Reckon there isn't any doubt about that part of it," chuckled Frank;
"though just where that same canyon leads I can't say. P'raps it may
be a short-cut across the big range here, leading to the prairie on the
other side. P'raps it doesn't go anywhere, but just leads to a blind
hole that I've heard prospectors call a _cul de sac_. Anyhow, we ought
to find out, Bob."
"_They_ knew all right," remarked the other, positively. "Wouldn't get
any riders going up there in the dark, unless they were mighty familiar
with every foot of the way. That's my idea, Frank."
"And I reckon it's the true one," asserted the other. "They know this
place as well as I do all around old Circle Ranch."
"There's the sun coming up; and perhaps we'd better be getting a move
on about now?" suggested Bob.
"Wait!"
Something in the tone which his saddle chum used caused Bob to turn his
head, and look out toward the plain.
"Huh! what does that mean?" he ejaculated. "A single rider heading
this way; and he seems to be leading a burro loaded with supplies.
Must be a bold prospector, bound to look into the secrets of Thunder
Mountain as we're bent on doing; only he hunts for gold, while we're
just bent on finding things out."
"But look now," Frank said a little later, as the other came closer.
"Don't you see that it's only a little Mexican boy on that bag of bones
of a horse? Tell you what, Bob, he must have been sent to town for
fresh supplies by some party of gold hunters located right now over the
range."
"Yes, and how do we know but what this Mexican boy is hooked up with
that Mendoza crowd?" asked the other, seriously. "They might send him
off for grub, and such things as they happen to need. And he pays for
it with money they get from selling stolen cattle and horses! Nobody
would suspect him, Frank, and try to follow. I hope our horses don't
give us away now. I'd like to see what that little fellow does."
The boy indeed looked weary as he drew closer, leading his tired burro,
upon which a fair-sized load was strapped and roped.
"Get down, Bob," said Frank. "He hasn't glimpsed us, and, luckily
enough, our horses are feeding out of sight just now. Doesn't he look
sleepy and tuckered out though? See him nodding in his saddle, poor
little runt! Oh! what's that moving there among those rocks just
ahead?"
"Perhaps it may be one of the rustlers coming down to interview him,"
said Bob.
"Hist!" Frank uttered almost in his chum's ear as he craned his own
neck in order to see better.
The small boy on the tired broncho, and leading the patient burro, kept
on steadily advancing, apparently allowing his animal to follow its
nose, as though it knew the way fairly well from having passed along it
before.
"Look! look!" ejaculated Frank suddenly, jumping to his feet. "Great
guns! Bob, would you see what is coming out from among those loose
rocks there? A great big grizzly bear; and making straight for the
pack mule, sniffing the air as if he smelled grub! There, the horse
has scented him. See him rear up, will you? Oh! he's gone and done
it, as sure as you live--thrown the boy over his head! And the poor
burro is caught fast, with his leading rope held in a crotch of the
rocks. The boy will be killed if ever he meets up with that monster!
Quick! We must do something to save him, Bob, but whatever shall it
be?" and Frank leaped to his feet.