TED IN THE TOILS.
The following morning an impressive cavalcade set out for the ranch of
Colonel Billings, led by the genial owner himself. Behind him came Ted
and Stella, between whom rode little Dick.
Then came Mrs. Graham in a well-appointed carriage, and acting as her
outriders and escorts were the boys. When they arrived at the ranch,
after passing numerous herds of fine cattle on the way, they found one
of the finest ranch houses in the West.
It was a great, white modern structure that could be seen for miles
across the level prairie, which showed hardly a single rise or
depression in all the miles they had ridden.
None of the guests whom the colonel had told Ted would be present
accompanied the party. The colonel explained this by saying that other
matters had detained them in town, and that he preferred to permit them
to follow, rather than defer the pleasure of being their escort.
This was said with so much sincerity that Ted could not doubt him. Mrs.
Graham and Stella were ensconced in a large apartment on the first
floor, with large windows opening upon a wide veranda.
Both expressed themselves as delighted with their room, much to the
gratification of their host. The broncho boys found quarters in the
spacious second floor, which had as many rooms as the average hotel.
"Well, what do you think of Colonel Billings now?" Ted asked of Stella,
when they met on the broad lawn in front of the ranch house after they
had seen their rooms.
Stella simply shook her head.
"What do you mean by that?" asked Ted. "That you don't know, or that you
don't care to say?"
"I can't tell you yet, Ted. I like him somehow for his genial ways, and
yet something tells me to beware."
"Well, I'd sooner trust your intuition than my judgment. I'll keep an
eye on him. And--yet, I feel the same as you in a way. But I hate to
distrust any one."
"I know you do, Ted, and that is why you get fooled on some people
sometimes."
"But not on all people all the time?"
"That's it."
"Then what does one's first impression amount to, anyway?"
"Not much, unless they can make good a good first impression."
"I'm not going to worry about him. The other fellows are the ones for
that."
"That's what I think."
"I'm going to ride out over the range, and take a look at the cattle.
Want to go along?"
"Of course I do."
They found their horses in the corral, and after telling Colonel
Billings that they would be back for dinner, departed.
"When you go through the west gate into the big pasture, look out for a
big Hereford bull in there," Colonel Billings called after them.
Ted nodded and waved his hand, and they were off. Colonel Billings
certainly did have a splendid ranch. They rode for miles within the
fences before they came to the west gate.
"Think we better go any farther?" asked Ted, when they had come this
far.
"Yes. Let us go on," replied Stella. "We have plenty of time, and I
would like to see just how big this ranch is."
"Don't forget the red bull," said Ted, as he closed the gate behind
them.
"I've seen many a dangerous bull before," laughed Stella.
"If we find him and he takes after us, keep on the far side of me. I
don't much fancy that pony you're on."
"I don't myself. I wish we had a bunch of Moon Valley ponies here to
ride. I've never seen any that could come up to them."
They were following a trail that led directly into the west. It was a
cattle trail, and Ted's practiced eye told him that it led to water.
Several miles to the west he saw the plain became broken.
"There's water over there," he said.
"That's where we'll find the cattle," answered Stella. "Do you want to
go that far and look at them?"
"I will if you think you can stand it."
Stella looked at him scornfully.
"I guess this beast will go the distance," she answered, giving the
little gray a clip with her quirt, and galloping ahead of Ted, who was
not slow to follow.
As they proceeded the ground became more and more broken.
"I believe there is a bit of 'bad land' over there," said Ted, pointing
forward.
Still they saw no cattle, although Colonel Billings had told him that
morning that his greatest herd, the one he wished the boys to examine
with the view to purchase, lay in the big west pasture.
But all they could see so far was the broad stretch of green prairie and
the low line of the rough land in the distance. Not a living thing was
in sight.
The only movement was the flying shadows of the white clouds over the
prairie, and the waving of the deep, rich grass when a vagrant breeze
swept by.
But suddenly Ted pulled in his pony, and shaded his eyes with his hand,
staring into the west.
"What is it?" asked Stella, reining in.
"I thought I saw something red shoot across the horizon to the west,
where you see those gray rocks," answered Ted.
"A cow--or, perhaps, the dangerous red bull," laughed Stella.
"Nothing like that. It wasn't the right color. Did you ever see a
scarlet cow?"
"Never did."
"Well, the thing I saw was scarlet, and it was not shaped like a cow."
He was still looking intently into the west.
"There it is again!" he exclaimed, unlimbering his field glasses.
After a moment of intense scrutiny, he raised the glasses suddenly to
his eyes.
"By Jove!" he cried, "it's a motor car, and I believe it's 118."
"Impossible!" cried Stella.
"No, entirely possible," said Ted intensely. "Don't you see if it was
this fellow Checkers who got the machine from the agent by false
pretenses he would take it as far away from town as possible?"
"Yes, I see that."
"Then which direction would he take if, as I think, he is in league with
the train-robbing syndicate, which we have persuaded ourselves to think
made their headquarters at Green River, but in this direction? We have
learned that others of those we believe to be in it are to be the guests
of this ranch, and--"
"I see. He could not well bring the red car to the ranch house."
"That's it."
"Then where do you suppose he's going with it?"
"There's no better place to hide it than in those very 'bad lands,' if I
am guessing right, at the rough land yonder."
"True. What are you going to do about it?"
"I'm going to find that red car and my friend, Checkers."
"Not alone, Ted. You're going to get the other boys to help you, aren't
you?"
"Now is the accepted time. I'm going right away now. But it would be a
good scheme for you to ride back to the ranch and tell Bud and the boys
quietly what I am about, and have them come out in case I should need
help."
"I hate to see you ride away alone, Ted. You can't tell what there is
over there. Better let me go along."
"No, Stella, it would be no use. You know that I appreciate your courage
and skill in every way, but this, probably, will be no work for girls."
Stella pouted at this. She did not like the idea of the long ride back
to the ranch house alone.
She looked at Ted to see if he really was in earnest, and when she saw
the look in his face she turned back with a wave of the hand and a "So
long!" and started for the ranch house.
"Tell Bud to bring three or four of the boys out here with him," shouted
Ted after her. "Thank you, Stella."
But she only nodded her head and pursued her way, and Ted, after looking
after her for a moment, rode forward. He had not seen the red car for
several minutes, it having disappeared behind a rocky butte.
Having a fair horse, he gave it the gad and struck into a gallop. Soon
he entered upon the rough land, and from a rise saw a stream below and a
herd of cattle beyond, where the prairie began again; the railroad, and
a small red station house, with two or three low buildings about it.
He now understood that he had seen the red car on the far side of the
ravine, through which the stream flowed, and went down to the stream,
his horse sliding on its haunches amid a clatter of broken clay and
pebbles.
He was soon across and clambered up the other wall of the ravine, and
there in the clay found the impression of the tires of the red car.
"I'm all right now," he muttered to himself. "On the track of Checkers
and the robbers' automobile. I wonder where it will end."
He had no difficulty in following the tracks of the automobile for a
considerable distance, when the ravine ran out on that side and the bank
of the stream flattened; and he rode along it, following the trail with
ease.
Then the bank of the stream rose again, and the water flowed through a
ravine, into which the red car had entered. It could not escape him, and
Ted chuckled, and examined his revolver, loosening it well in its
holster, for he had not forgotten the warning against Checkers given him
by Chief Desmond.
The ravine grew deeper as he advanced, and soon it became tolerably dark
at the bottom where the high walls shut out the light. Suddenly his
horse stumbled, and, as Ted shot over its head, he heard the twang of a
broken wire that had been stretched across the path.
He had fallen into a trap. As he struck the earth, he was stunned for a
moment, then a heavy weight was upon him.
He twisted around and felt for his revolver, but it had fallen from his
holster, and he felt his arms grasped and a thong passed around his
wrists, and then around his ankles.
The weight was lifted from him and he rolled over on his back. Standing
above him was the man whom he knew as Checkers.
"Well, my lad, you delivered yourself like a lamb to the slaughter,"
said Checkers, with a smile.
Ted could say nothing. He was too busy wondering how easily he had
fallen into the toils.
"You went up against a tough proposition when yon tackled me," continued
the man. "It would have been a good thing for you if you had never run
across me. You know too much to be left alive. I shall see that you are
properly taken care of."
Checkers issued a shrill whistle.
"Come," he said to Ted, "get to your feet."
Ted arose as three men came around an elbow of the wall of the ravine.
"Take care of this boy," said Checkers to them. "And if he escapes--"
He finished the sentence with a smile that made the men wince.