A MYSTERIOUS SEARCH
Nort and Dick Shannon, Bud's "city cousins," seemed to realize, as did
the young rancher, his mother and sister, that something was wrong.
Prepared as Nort and Dick were for strange and sensational happenings
in the west, they sensed that this was out of the ordinary.
The solitary rider had also attracted the attention of the cowboys who,
the excitement at the corral being over, had turned toward their bunk
house to prepare for the evening meal. Slim Degnan, the foreman, Babe,
his assistant, and one or two others started forward as if to intercept
the horseman. But a cowboy on foot is like a sailor off the deck--out
of his element. They wore high-heeled shoes--boots made especially for
the use of spurs, and they were not capable of rapid progress except on
their steeds.
The lone rider was past them in a flash, turning into the lane that led
toward the ranch house, where Bud and the others could not be seen,
having turned at the call for help.
"What's the matter of him--locoed?" asked Babe.
"Looks that way," murmured Slim. "But Ma Merkel will know how to
handle him, and Bud has his gun. Still, I don't know but we'd better
mosey up that way, so as to sort of back the boy up, as long as his
dad's away."
"My idea coincides," murmured Babe. "We'll prospect along up there,"
he called to the other cowboys, some of whom seemed to show a desire to
rush to a possible rescue. "It'll be all right."
By the time the foreman and his assistant had reached the porch on
which stood the two tenderfeet eastern lads, with Bud, his mother and
sister, the lone horseman had dismounted, not with any degree of skill,
however, but slipping off as though greatly fatigued, or rendered limp
from fright.
"Can you send help to him?" he gasped, pointing back in the direction
whence he had come. "If you don't they may kill him! Oh, such men!
Such men!"
"Kill who? What's the matter? What sort of help do you need?" asked
Bud quickly, while Nort and Dick looked at the excited man. He bore
none of the marks of the west. His garb was of the East as his riding
had been, though he sat a fairly good saddle, or he never could have
ridden at the speed he did. But he had a good horse. Even Dick and
Nort knew enough about animals to tell that. The pony, his sides
heaving and his nostrils distended, gave this not altogether mute
evidence of his race against time.
"It's Professor Wright," came the panting answer. "He's off
there--with his prospecting party. I'm his assistant!"
"I thought he looked like a professor," murmured Dick to Nort.
"Keep still!" sharply commanded Nort.
"I am Professor J. Elwell Blair," went on the still greatly excited
rider, "an assistant to Professor Wright. We are camped about three
miles from here, over there," and he waved his hand toward where Bud
and Slim, on their homeward ride, had seen the wisp of smoke. "Some
Mexicans threaten to attack us," went on the man who called himself
Professor Blair. "In fact they had already started when Professor
Wright bade me ride for help. We knew there was a ranch over in this
direction. Can you send us help?" he asked anxiously.
"Sure!" exclaimed Bud.
"Oh, if your father were only here!" murmured Mrs. Merkel.
"Our boys are enough!" declared Nell, with sparkling eyes. "I wish I
might go!" she added. "Can't I?"
"No indeed!" declared her mother. "The idea! You must take Slim with
you!" she called after Bud, for he was already half way down the lane
leading to the corral, calling on Professor Blair to follow, and
shouting to Nort and Dick:
"Come on, if you want to see some lively doings!" Bud invited.
"We sure do!" yelled Nort.
"Hadn't we better change our clothes?" asked the slower Dick.
"Change nothin'!" cried Nort. "Leave your coat off if you want to!
I'm going to shed mine!" and shed it he did, dropping it on the ground
as he leaped forward.
"What is it, Bud?" asked Slim Degnan, as he and Babe, on their way to
the house, met the fleeing young rancher, who had even distanced
Professor Blair, though the latter had again mounted his tired horse.
"Don't know--exactly," came the answer. "He's a stranger," and he
jerked his thumb over his shoulder back toward the professor. "He and
a party are camped over in the hills--where we saw the smoke a while
back," he explained further. "He says a bunch of Greasers are trying
to do up his boss. Wants help!"
"Wa'al, he come to th' right place," remarked Babe Milton briefly, as,
with more speed than you would have believed he possessed, he ran
toward the corral.
Already several cowboys, sensing that something was wrong, had begun to
catch and saddle enough ponies to provide mounts for Bud, the foreman
and his fat helper.
"Give my cousins Baldy and Gimp!" cried Bud to one of the cowboys who
were in the corral. "You can ride those, even if you haven't got your
old clothes on," he added.
"Lively now!" cried the foreman, assuming, as was his right, command of
the little cavalcade. In less time than it takes to tell it, they were
riding along the trail, directed by Professor Blair, whose horse
seemed, somehow, to have recovered its wind sufficiently to keep pace
with the fresher steeds.
"Are you all right, fellows?" Bud called back to his cousins, as he,
himself, spurred ahead alongside Slim and Babe. Nort and Dick formed
the rear guard with the professor.
"Sure!" declared Nort. "Oh, boy! A fight the first day we get here,
Dick!" he yelled to his brother.
"Don't be too sure," called hack Bud. "These Greasers may hit the
trail as soon as we head into sight."
"Greasers are Mexicans, aren't they?" asked Dick.
"Yes," answered Professor Blair, who rode between the two easterners.
"We had to engage some, and I believe a few Indians, also, in our
prospecting work. Our own men are all right, but we were attacked by
some strange Mexicans and Indians--or we were about to be attacked,
when I rode off for help."
"What started the row?" asked Bud.
The question seemed to embarrass Professor Blair.
"The Mexicans seem to think we have something of value, or at least
know where valuables may be," he answered. "I believe they think we
are after desert gold, and though we have found some----"
"You have found _gold_!" cried Bud.
"No! No! It is a false rumor!" hastily declared the professor. "But
Professor Wright has been obliged to keep secret the object of his
search, and perhaps the mystery surrounding it has been misconstrued by
the ignorant men. They declare we are after gold, but it is something
far more valuable, though I am not allowed to disclose what----"
He was interrupted by the sound of distant shooting, followed by faint
yells. Bud Merkel clapped spurs to his horse and shot forward, while
Professor Blair excitedly exclaimed:
"Oh, they are killing him! They are killing him!"