LEAD AND MYSTERY IN THE AIR
"Are--are we attacked?" wailed Emma Dean.
"Bullets are coming from somewhere, that is certain," answered Hippy,
raising his head from the ground on which he, as well as his companions,
had thrown themselves at the first shot.
Following the last two shots, the reports of rifles were distinctly
heard by each member of the party, and each pair of eyes was straining
to locate the source of the shooting.
"Oh, it must be a mistake," cried Emma.
"That doesn't help us any," replied Tom Gray. "But I do wish we had our
rifles."
"Don't wolly till to-mollow," advised Stacy.
Hippy raised himself to a sitting position and waved his handkerchief.
"_Woo, woo, woo!--Bang!_"
Hippy threw himself over backwards, his feet kicking up into the air,
his attitude being so funny that the Overlanders laughed heartily. Their
laughter, however, quickly subsided, when they recalled that the last
shot had passed very close to them.
Tom Gray had been listening to the whistle of the bullets and to the
reports that followed, and the result of his listening and looking was
the conclusion that the shooters were getting the range, and that,
undoubtedly, smokeless powder was being used.
"I don't care whether they see me or not," exclaimed Hippy, getting to
his feet, but no sooner had he done so than a bullet whistled so close
to him that, as he declared later, he felt the hot breath of it on his
cheek.
"Did you see that?" he cried, throwing himself on the ground.
"No. I didn't see it. I may have sharp eyes, but they aren't sharp
enough to see a bullet on the wing," retorted Stacy.
"What I cannot understand is, why they are shooting at us," wondered
Elfreda.
"Perhaps they think we have been throwing stones at them," suggested
Emma.
"Rolling stones gather no moss," interjected Stacy. "Possibly, however,
our rolling stones came near gathering in some parties down in the
valley, and they are retaliating by shooting at us."
"Girls! Let's get out of here," cried Grace, springing up. "I am weary
of hiding."
"Get down!" shouted several voices.
Grace gave no heed to the command, nor to the bullet that sang over her
head, but when one barely grazed her cheek, she decided that she was
quite ready to join her companions on the ground again.
"Are we going to lie here all day and let those ruffians shoot at us?"
demanded Emma.
"The only other alternative is to crawl away," answered Tom.
"Crawl where?" questioned Grace.
"To that ridge to the right of us."
"I'm blest if I do!" retorted Hippy, getting up and walking deliberately
towards the rocks indicated by Tom Gray.
The others, with the exception of Stacy Brown, not to be outdone in
courage by Lieutenant Wingate, got up and followed him, not hurriedly,
but walking slowly, keeping some distance between them, and in this way
finally reaching the ridge and safety. Several shots were fired at them
on the way, but all went wide of the mark.
"Where is Stacy? Quick! Maybe he has been hit," urged Nora almost
hysterically.
Grace sprang back and peered around the corner of the rocks.
"Oh, girls! Look at him, will you?" she cried.
Leaning as far out from the rocks as they dared, the Overlanders
discovered the missing Chunky. He was flat on the ground on his stomach,
wriggling along in a fair imitation of a serpent.
"Get up and walk, you tenderfoot!" laughed Hippy. "What are you afraid
of?"
"Nothing. I just happened to think how, when I was a baby, I used to
creep to the pantry to pick up crumbs, so I thought I'd see if I had
forgotten how," answered Stacy.
"You are a fine hero, aren't you?" observed Emma sarcastically, when
Stacy, having finally reached the protection of the rocks, got up and
brushed the dirt from his clothes.
"No. All the heroes are dead. I don't want to be a hero. What's the news
from the front?"
"Impossible!" muttered Tom, laughing in spite of himself. Tom had been
pondering, wondering, trying to account satisfactorily to himself for
this attempt on their lives.
"What do you make of it?" asked Elfreda, nodding at him.
"It may have been accidental," he replied.
Grace shook her head.
"No, they were shooting at us," declared Hippy.
"I have been wondering, thinking about what Mr. Giddings told us at the
'Lazy J' ranch," said Miss Briggs. "You remember what he said about the
mysterious Aerial Lake, don't you?"
"It is my opinion that we have been bombarding that very same lake,"
declared Grace. "That, however, does not explain the shots."
"Perhaps not," returned Elfreda, "but it does go a long way towards
proving that there is something in what the foreman of the 'Lazy J' told
us. I, for one, am in favor of giving that lake a wide berth."
"No, no," protested Hippy and Grace. "Let's find out what the mystery
is," added Grace.
"I'll stay back and watch the horses while you are gone," offered Stacy.
"Back to camp for us, now. To-morrow we shall decide what is best to be
done," advised Tom.
Having reached the safe side of the mountain, the party took a direct
course for their camp, which was located close to what they had named
"Bear Mountain," because its top strongly resembled an ambling bear.
They found pretty rough going until they reached a point about a mile
from the camp, and there Tom suggested that they move more cautiously,
and not blunder into camp, not knowing what they might find there.
They had approached within sight of their camp when Hippy halted and
beckoned his companions to him.
"What is it?" questioned Tom.
For answer, Hippy pointed to a jutting rock which they knew lay just
back of the camp itself. There, outlined on the rock, was a figure. It
did not require very keen eyes to recognize the figure, even at that
distance.
"Woo! Thank goodness," exclaimed Miss Briggs.
"I'll give him a yell," volunteered Stacy.
"No, no!" protested Grace. There was that in the attitude of the
Chinaman that appealed to Grace's bump of caution. "Wait until he sees
us," she counseled. "Trust Woo to shout, unless there be good reason why
he should not."
The party moved on cautiously, thus far well screened by foliage, but
the instant they appeared in the open, the guide saw them and began
excitedly waving his arms.
"Do you see?" nodded Grace.
"He does seem to be excited about something," agreed Tom.
"If there is likely to be trouble, perhaps I had better fall back as
sort of reserve," suggested Stacy. "In case of trouble it is a wise plan
to have reserves, you know."
No one paid the slightest attention to Stacy's suggestion, nor did they
increase their pace, not wishing to show that they shared the excitement
of the guide, though there was a suspicion in their minds as to the
cause of that excitement.
As they drew nearer, Woo Smith clambered down from his perch and trotted
out to meet them. His face expressed neither pleasure nor alarm.
"Good-afternoon, Mr. Smith," greeted Emma with dignity.
"Are the ponies all safe?" smiled Grace.
"Him velly good."
"Then what are you stewing about?" blurted out Stacy Brown.
"Anything wrong, Smith?" asked Tom Gray anxiously.
"Les. Bang, bang!"
"You mean bing, bing, don't you?" cut in Stacy.
"Me savvy bang, bang!" returned the guide.
"Oh, let it go at that," urged Hippy. "It doesn't make much difference
either way, whether it is 'bang, bang' or 'bing, bing'!"
"Me savvy boom, boom, too," added Woo.
"No, no. You mean bang, bang!" insisted Chunky.
"For goodness sake, give the poor fellow a chance," begged Elfreda
laughingly. "You will get him so befuddled that he will not know what he
means. Woo, what _is_ the trouble? Have you seen strangers about?"
The guide's queue bobbed vigorously, as he pointed to a ridge on the
other side of the canyon.
"Me savvy man there. Me savvy boom, boom! Bang, bang!"
Grace's face lighted up.
"We understand, Woo. You heard guns and you saw a man over there," she
nodded. "Did the man see you?"
The Chinaman shook his head.
"Do you think he discovered the camp?" asked Tom Gray.
Woo shook his head again.
"He heard the boom of our bowling game and the shots following. That
seems quite clear, but there appears to be no reason why we should be
excited about it," said Lieutenant Wingate.
Grace said she did not agree with him.
"What the guide says, indicates to me that the stranger was not only
seeking to wing us, but that he was looking for our camp. Was that all
you saw, Woo?"
"No. Me savvy woman."
"What's that?" demanded Hippy sharply.
The Overlanders' interest was aroused anew.
"Me savvy woman. Woman come close and peek. Woman see camp, then go
'way. Br-r-r! Big piecee woman make ugly face!"
"Discovered!" exclaimed Hippy Wingate dramatically.