THE VISION
Though Nort spoke with an appearance of calmness, there was something
in his voice that made Dick catch his breath. It was not that the
younger lad was exactly afraid, but he was on the verge of becoming so.
"Lost, eh?" repeated Dick. Then, as he saw a half smile on Nort's
face, and looked about on what was really a beautiful scene, his little
worry seemed to vanish as mists roll away in the sun. "Well, if we're
lost it isn't such a bad place to be in, and I reckon we can easily
find our way back. 'Tisn't like being lost in the woods, as we once
were."
"No," agreed Nort, "it isn't." They had gone camping once, with their
father, and had wandered off in a forest, being "lost" all night,
though, as it developed later, not far from their own folks.
"And I don't see why we can't easily ride back the way we came," went
on Dick.
"We can, if we find the way," agreed Nort. "But I seem all turned
around. And I don't like to go back without those cattle. We offered
to ride off after 'em and bring 'em back, and we ought to do it."
"But where are they?" asked Dick, "and where's the main herd? That
isn't so small that you could hide it in one of these valleys!"
They were, as I have said, in the midst of a rolling country, where
swales or valleys were interspersed with hills. One moment they had
held in view the small bunch of steers that had wandered away from the
main herd, but, in another instant, there was no sign of them.
"Listen, and see if you can hear anything," suggested Nort.
Quietly the boy ranchers sat on their horses; the only sounds being the
creaking of the damp saddle and stirrup leathers as the animals moved
slightly. But there was no sound of lowing cows or snorting steers,
and there came to the ears of Nort and Dick no distant shouts of Bud
and the cowboys, though the main herd, with the men in charge, could
not have been more than two miles away. But, for all that, our heroes
were as completely isolated as though a hundred miles distant from
civilization.
"I can't understand it!" murmured Dick.
"Nor I," said Nort, "It's just as if those cattle had dropped out of
sight in a hole in the ground. Maybe they did, Dick."
"What do you mean?" asked his brother.
"I mean maybe those mysterious professors have been digging big mining
holes around here, and that bunch of steers we were chasing just
naturally slipped into one. We'd better look out, or we'll drop out of
sight ourselves!"
Though he spoke half jokingly, there was some seriousness in Nort's
voice, and Dick realized it.
"Those professors sure are queer, with their digging operations," Dick
agreed. "I'd like to know what they are after, and why they're hanging
around Diamond X."
"Well, I'd like to know that, too," said Nort, "but first of all I'd
like to know our way out of this place. There must be some way out, as
we didn't have any trouble finding a way in."
"Of course we can get out," Dick answered. "There aren't any trees to
amount to anything, and we aren't fenced in. We can ride in any
direction we like, and I say let's ride somewhere."
"I'm with you," spoke his brother. "But the only trouble is we might
be riding farther and farther away from Bud and the rest of the
fellows. Why not try to locate that bunch of cattle we're after?
They'll be heading directly away from the main herd, I take it, and if
we locate them all we'll have to do will be to drive them right about
face, and we'll get back where we belong."
"All right, let's find the steers," assented Dick.
They started their ponies, which, doubtless, had been glad of the
little breathing spell. But it was one thing to say find the missing
steers, and another to do it. One swale seemed to so melt in with an
adjoining one, and one hill to merge with its mate, that they all
looked alike to the boys, who, as it developed afterward, kept working
their way farther and farther off from their friends.
"Hang those steers! Where are they, anyhow?" exclaimed Nort after half
an hour of search, during which no signs had been seen.
"Let's try over this way," suggested Dick, turning to the left.
Though it might seem that in a fairly open country, composed of hills
and vales, it would be hard to hide a bunch of cattle, still Nort and
Dick, to their chagrin, did not find it difficult. They were
completely baffled, and the longer they searched the more puzzled they
were.
"Well, there's one thing about it," remarked Dick, when they drew rein,
"we shan't starve right away, and if we have to stay out all night we
have the same accommodations we have had before," and he tapped the
tarpaulin which formed part of his saddle pack.
"Oh, yes, we can camp out if we have to," agreed Nort, "and I shan't
mind that. But it's our failure to do the first job we tackled 'on our
own' that gets my goat. Bud will sure think we're tenderfeet for fair!"
"Yes, that is bad," agreed Dick. "But it can't be helped. I never did
see anything like the sudden way those cattle disappeared, and how we
got lost."
For that they were now completely lost, amid the low hills, was an
accepted fact to the boys. They had ridden here and there, until, in
mercy to their ponies, they pulled reins. Yet they had gotten no
farther on their way, nor had they seen sign of the cattle. It was
growing late, too, and they realized that soon they must find a camping
place for the night, unless they located the homeward trail.
Of course to Bud, or any of the older cowboys of Diamond X ranch, the
problem that puzzled Nort and Dick would have been easy to solve.
Knowing the country as they did, the cowboys could easily have sensed
which way to ride, even though the bunch of cattle might have eluded
them.
But the two easterners did not even know which way to head to get back
to their friends. They were completely lost and turned about, and
their situation was growing more desperate.
I say "desperate," yet that word is used only in a comparative sense.
They were in no immediate danger, for they were in the clean, open
country, and not in a tangled forest or jungle. There were no wild
beasts near, only peaceful cows and steers. They had coverings for the
night, and greasewood shrubs, as well as a tree here and there amid the
foothills, offered fuel for a fire. They had a small amount of "grub"
with them, and they had passed several springs of water, so they would
not thirst, and they had the means of making coffee, though no milk was
at hand. So, all in all, their situation was not at all "desperate,"
though it was perhaps annoying.
"Let's fire our guns!" exclaimed Nort suddenly. "We forgot all about
them. Bud told us they were mainly used for signaling out here, and we
might let him and the rest know where we are by firing a few shots."
"Sure! Go to it!" agreed Dick. "But don't fire too many cartridges,"
he added.
"Why not?"
"Well, there's no telling when we may want the shells, and we haven't
any too many."
"That's so," agreed Nort. "Well, we'll each fire two, at intervals."
This they did, but such echoes were aroused amid the hills by the
reverberations of the reports that the lads doubted whether Bud and the
other cowboys could accurately determine whence the sound of the firing
came.
"We've done our best," said Nort, after the fourth shot had gone
echoing among the hills. "Now let's ride on a little, and if we don't
get out, or find those cattle, we'll pick a good place to camp for the
night."
This struck Dick as being the best thing to do and they urged their
tired ponies forward. Dick was casting his looks about, seeking for a
suitable place to make the night camp, when he was attracted by a shout
from Nort, who was off to one side.
"Did you find 'em?" cried Dick, eagerly. "The cattle or our cowboys?"
"No, but look!" yelled Nort. "We're coming to a city!"
He pointed toward the east and there, on the far side of a green
valley, amid green hills, was the vision of a small city, on the banks
of a good-sized river. As the boys watched they saw a steamer come up
to a dock and stop, though the scene was too far away to give them more
details.
"Now we're all right!" yelled Dick.
But, even as he spoke the vision faded from the eyes of the startled
boys. It melted from sight as do some moving pictures, when the "fade
out" is used. It was as though a veil of mist came between the vision
and the boys, or as if some giant hand had wiped it from a great slate
with a damp sponge.