Produced by Al Haines
[Frontispiece: missing from book]
THE
BOY RANCHERS
OR
_Solving the Mystery at Diamond X_
By
WILLARD F. BAKER
Author of "The Boy Ranchers in Camp,"
"The Boy Ranchers on the Trail," etc.
_ILLUSTRATED_
NEW YORK
CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY
THE BOY RANCHERS SERIES
By WILLARD F. BAKER
12mo. Cloth. Frontispiece
THE BOY RANCHERS
or Solving the Mystery at Diamond X
THE BOY RANCHERS IN CAMP
or The Water Fight at Diamond X
THE BOY RANCHERS ON THE TRAIL
or The Diamond X After Cattle Rustlers
_Other Volumes in Preparation_
CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, New York
COPYRIGHT, 1921, BY
COPPLES & LEON COMPANY
THE BOY RANCHERS
Printed in U. S. A.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I "SOME RIDIN'!"
II A CALL FOB HELP
III A MYSTERIOUS SEARCH
IV SUSPICIONS
V HITTING THE TRAIL
VI THE RUSTLERS
VII A CRY IN THE NIGHT
VIII "THE PROFESSOR'"
IX "WHAT DOES IT MEAN?"
X DEL PINZO
XI BAD BUSINESS
XII RIDING HERD
XIII THE ATTEMPT FOILED
XIV THE STAMPEDE
XV LOST
XVI THE VISION
XVII THE NIGHT CAMP
XVIII QUEER OPERATIONS
XIX PRISONERS
XX THE DIAMOND X BRAND
XXI THE ESCAPE
XXII BACK TO THE RANCH
XXIII CLOSING IN
XXIV THE FIGHT
XXV THE TRICERATOPS
THE BOY RANCHERS
CHAPTER I
"SOME RIDIN'!"
Two riders slumped comfortably in their saddles as the ponies slowly
ambled along. The sun was hot, and the dust stifling, a cloud of it
forming a floating screen about the horsemen and progressing with them
down the trail.
One of the riders, a tall, lanky and weather-beaten cowboy, taking a
long breath, raised his voice in what he doubtless intended to be a
song.
It was, however, more a cry of anguish as he bellowed forth:
"Leave me alone with a rope an' a saddle,
Fold my spurs under my haid!
Give me a can of them sweet, yaller peaches,
'Cause why? My true-love is daid!"
"Bad as all that; is it, Slim?" asked the other, who, now that he had
partly emerged from the cloud of dust, could be seen as a lad of about
sixteen. He, like the other, older rider, was attired cowboy fashion.
"Eh? What's that, Bud?" inquired the lanky one, seeming to arouse as
if from a day dream. "See suthin'?"
"Nope. I was just sort of remarking about that sad song, and----"
"Oh, shucks! _That_ wa'n't sad!" declared Slim Degnan, foreman of the
Diamond X ranch. "Guess I wa'n't really payin' much attention to what
I was singin', but if you want a real sad lament----"
"No, I don't!" laughed Bud Merkel, whose father was the owner of
Diamond X ranch. "Not that I blame you for feeling sort of down and
out," he added.
"Oh, I don't feel _bad_, Bud!" came the hasty rejoinder. "We did have
more'n a ride than I figgered on, but I don't aim to put up no kick.
It's all in the day's work. You don't seem to mind it."
"I should say not! We had a bully time. I'd spend another night out
in the open if we had to. I like it!"
"Yes, you seem to take to it like a duck does to water," added Slim.
"But it's a shame to mention ducks in the same chapter with this
atmosphere! Zow hippy! But it's hot an' dusty an' thirsty! Come
along there, you old hunk of jerked beef!" he added to his pony, giving
a gentle reminder with the spurs and pulling on the reins. The pony
made a feeble attempt to increase its gait, but it was no more than an
attempt.
The animal that was ridden by Bud--a pinto--started to follow the
example of the other.
"Regular mud-turtle gallop," commented the foreman.
"They'll go faster when they top the rise, and see the corral,"
commented Bud.
"An' smell water! That's what I want, a long, sizzling, sozzling drink
of water!" cried Slim, whose name fitted him better than did his
clothes. Then he broke forth again with:
"Oh, leave me alone with a rope an' a saddle----"
Slowly the riders plodded along. The sun seemed to grow more hot and
the dust more thick. As they approached a hill, beyond which lay the
corral and ranch buildings of Diamond X, Bud drew rein, thus halting
his pony.
"Let's give 'em a breather before we hit the hill," he suggested to the
foreman.
"I'm agreeable, son," was the foreman's easy comment as he slung one
leg over the saddle and sat sideways.
Slim Degnan and Bud had ridden off to look for a break in one of the
many long lines of wire fences that kept the stock of Diamond X
somewhat within bounds, and it had taken longer to locate and repair
the break than they had counted on.
They had been obliged to remain out all night--not that this was
unusual, only they had not exactly prepared for it--and, in
consequence, did not have all the ordinary comforts. But, as Bud had
said, he had not minded it. However, the ponies were rather used up,
and the riders in the same condition, and it was with equal feelings of
relief that they came within sight of the last hill that lay between
them and the ranch.
"Well, might as well mosey along," spoke Slim, at length. "Sooner we
get some water inside us, an' th' ponies, th' better we'll all be."
"I reckon," agreed Bud. "But I don't believe Zip Foster could have
done the job any quicker than we did."
"Who?" queried Slim, with a quizzical look at his companion.
"Zip Foster," answered Bud.
"Never heard of him. What outfit does he ride for?" asked the foreman,
but he saved Bud the embarrassment of answer by suddenly rising in his
saddle and looking off in the distance.
Bud had his own reasons for not answering that seemingly natural
question, and he was glad of the diversion, though he was not at once
aware of what had caused it. But he followed the direction of the
foreman's gaze, and, like him, saw arising in the still air, about two
miles away, a thin thread of smoke--a mere wisp, as though it had
dangled down from some fleecy cloud. But the smoke was ascending and
was not the beginning of a fog descending.
"Can't be any of our boys," murmured Slim. "They aren't out on
round-up yet. An' it's too early for grub."
"Indians?" questioned Bud. Sometimes the bucks from a neighboring
reservation felt the call of the wild, and slipped out to have a
forbidden feast on some cattleman's stock, only to be brought up with a
round turn by the government soldiers.
"Don't think so," remarked Slim. "They don't have much chance t'
practice their wiles, but, with all that, they know enough not t' make
a fire that smokes. Must be some strangers. If it's any of them
ornery sheep men," he exclaimed, "I'd feel like----"
"They wouldn't dare!" exclaimed Bud, for being the son of a
cattle-ranchman he had come to dislike and despise the sheep herders,
whose flocks ate so closely as to ruin the feeding range for steers.
The sheep would crop grass down to the very roots, setting back its
growth for many months.
"No, I don't reckon it would be sheepers," murmured Slim. "Wa'al,
mebby they know at the ranch. We'll be headin' home now, I guess.
Come on there, you old tumble-bug!" he called to his horse, and then he
raised his voice and roared:
"Leave me alone with a rope an' a saddle,
Fold my spurs under my haid!
Give me a can of them sweet, yaller peaches,
'Cause why? My true-love is daid!"
Slim's horse started off on a lope, freshened by the rest, and Bud's
followed. They topped the rise, and, then as the animals came within
sight and smell of their stables, and caught the whiff of ever-welcome
water, they dashed down the slope toward the green valley in which
nestled the corral and buildings of Diamond X ranch.
"If I wasn't so doggoned tired," said Slim to Bud as they prepared to
pull up on reaching the corral, "I'd ride over after supper, and see
what that smoke was. I don't perzactly like it."
"Maybe I'll go," offered Bud. "If it _should_ happen to be sheepers,
dad'll want to know it."
"He shore will, son. But--Zow hippy! What's going on here?" cried
Slim. He pointed toward the corral of the ranch--a fenced-off field
where the cowboys kept their string of ponies when the animals were not
in use. Here, too, spare animals were held against the time of need.
Just now a crowd of cowboys surrounded this corral. Some were perched
on the rails of the fence, and others leaned over. Some were swinging
their hats as though in encouragement, and one was rapidly emptying his
gun on the defenseless air, which was further torn and shattered by
wild yells.
As the two wayfarers neared the corral, there dashed from among the
cattle punchers surrounding it an exceedingly fat cowboy, whose face,
wreathed in smiles, was also wet with perspiration. He swung his hat
around in a circle and yelled shrilly:
"Some ridin', boys! Some ridin'! Go to it!"
"What's the matter, Babe?" asked Slim, of his assistant who had thus
given vent to his feelings.
"Go look! It's so good I don't want to spoil it!" laughed the fat one.
"Two tenderfoots--Oh, my--Hole me up, somebody!" he begged. "Some
ridin'!"
Bud had a glimpse, in the corral, of a youth about his own age, flying
rapidly around the enclosure on the back of a bucking bronco. The lad
was holding on with both arms around the horn of the saddle.
"Get him off!" cried Bud in a high pitched voice, as he recognized the
pony to which the strange lad was clinging. "Tartar will kill him!
Get him off!"