THE WATER THIEVES
It was an hour or more later when, having inspected the aeroplane
and marveled much thereat, the horse hunters arose to take their
leave. They would have to press on, they explained, to reach the
rendezvous of the wild horses in the San Pablo range. These hills
lay far to the northeast. Bud perspiringly made the farewell
speech.
"Thankin' you one and all," he began, with perhaps a vague
recollection of the last circus he had seen, and there he stopped
short.
"Anyhow we thanks you," he said, getting a fresh start and jerking
the words out as if they had been shots from a revolver. "It ain't
every day we has a pleasure like this here hes bin--"
"Hooray!" yelled the other horse hunters, who, already mounted,
stood behind their leader at the edge of the willows.
"An'--an'--wall, ther desert hes dangers uv its own an' if at any
time Bud Reynolds er ther boys kin help yer out send fer them to
ther San Pablo Range and if we're thar we'll be with yer ter ther
last bank uv ther last ditch."
With a sigh of relief Bud flung himself upon his pony and drove the
spurs home. Amidst a tornado of yells and shouts the rest, waving
their sombreros wildly, dashed off after him. In a few moments they
were only a cloud of dust on the alkali.
"I declare I feel kind of sad now they're gone," said Miss Sally
after an interval of silence.
"Rough diamonds," opined old Mr. Bell guardedly.
"But they've got warm, big hearts," stoutly declared Peggy. "I wish—"
She stopped abruptly.
"Wish what, Peggy dear?" asked Jess, noting the troubled look that
had crept over her chum's face.
"Oh, nothing at all," rejoined Peggy. But she was not speaking the
whole truth, for the girl had been thinking what a bulwark of
strength Bud and his followers would have been against the vague
menace of Red Bill.
It was late that night--after midnight as well as Peggy could
judge--that she was awakened by Jess bending over her cot in the
tent that both girls shared.
"O-h-h! Peggy, Peggy! I'm frightened!" wailed the girl aviator's
chum.
"Frightened? Of what dear?" asked Peggy wide awake in an instant.
"I--I don't just know," quavered Jess, "but, Oh, Peggy, you'll think
I'm an awful 'fraid cat, but I'm absolutely certain I heard
footsteps, stealthy footsteps outside just now."
"Nonsense, girlie. It must have been a nightmare," rejoined Peggy
with sharp assurance.
"I might have thought so," went on Jess, "but I looked out through
the flap of the tent to make sure and I'm certain as that I'm
standing here now that I saw some figures on horseback over by the
water hole."
"Perhaps another party of horse hunters," suggested Peggy
soothingly.
"But, Peggy dear, they made hardly any noise. That is, the horses I
mean. I heard men's footsteps, but after a minute they mounted and
rode off, and--oh, it was too ghostly for anything--they made no
noise at all."
"You mean you couldn't hear any sound of the ponies' hoofs?" asked
Peggy incredulously.
"No, they moved in absolute silence. Peggy, you don't think it was
anything supernatural, do you?"
For answer Peggy drew her revolver from under her pillow and tiptoed
to the tent flap. It faced the water hole and in the bright white
moonlight a clear view of it could be obtained. But after a
prolonged scrutiny Jess's plucky chum was unable to make out any
objects other than the usual ones appertaining to the camp.
"Imagination, my dear," she said, with positiveness. But Jess still
shuddered and seemed under the influence of some strange fear.
"It was not imagination, Peggy. It wasn't it really wasn't."
"Well, we'll look in the morning and if we find tracks we shall know
that you are right, and we'll get the boys back for a while anyhow,"
reassured Peggy.
But in the morning it was Alverado who came to the tent and in an
excited voice asked to see "missee" at once.
Peggy hastily completed dressing and emerged, leaving Jess still
asleep. Something warned her that it would be best not to arouse
her chum just then.
"What is it, Alverado?" she asked, as the Mexican, betraying every
mark of agitation, hastened to her side.
"Santa Maria, missee," breathed the Mexican, "water almost all
gone!"
"The water is almost all gone?" quavered Peggy, beginning to sense
what was coming.
"Yes, missee. Me go there this morning and--Madre de Dios--the
water hole almost empty."
"Were there any tracks?" inquired Peggy anxiously.
"Plenty tracks, but the man's had the cavallos' feet bundled in
sacks so make no noise--leave no tracks."
"Let me have a look."
With Alverado at her side Peggy hastened toward the water hole. She
could hardly repress an exclamation of alarm as she gazed at the
hole. Bare six inches of muddy water was on the bottom, where the
day before there had been a foot or more. All about were vague
blotty-looking tracks which showed plainly enough the manner in
which the marauders had concealed all noise of their movements. The
muffled hoofs would naturally give forth no sound.
"So Jess was right after all," breathed Peggy softly; "but who could
have done such a thing? And why?"
But the latter question had not framed itself in her mind before it
was answered. Without water they would not be able to exist at
Steer Wells for twenty-four hours. A retreat would be equally
impracticable. It was all horribly clear. The theft of the water
was the first step in a deliberate plan to drive them out. The
motive, too, was plain enough in the light of the overheard
conversation at the National Hotel. The men who wanted Mr. Bell's
mine had waited till he had located it before striking their first
blow. What would their next be? Peggy's pulses throbbed and the
grove seemed to blur for an instant. But the next moment she was
mistress of herself again. Clearly there was only one thing to do.
Lay the whole matter before Mr. Bell.
"Alverado," said Peggy quietly, "after breakfast I am going to the
range over yonder. You must guard the camp."
"Yes, missee," replied the Mexican; "I take care of him with--with
my life."'
"I am sure you will," said Peggy in her most matter-of-fact tones,
"and in the mean time say nothing to anyone else about what you have
found. Bring up the water for breakfast yourself and don't let Mr.
Bell come near the water hole if you can help it."
"It shall be as the senorita wishes," rejoined Alverado in low
tones; but there was a ring in his voice that told Peggy that she
could trust the brown-skinned "Mestizo" to the utmost.