THE ALTERED BRAND.
As Ted went up into the air, Shan Rhue shouted a command, and the white
men in the Hole in the Wall ran to him.
"That boy must not get to the top," he shouted. "I want him."
"What will we do?" asked one of them.
"Here, Sol Flatbush, you are the best shot of us all. See if you can't
bring him down. But don't shoot him. I need him for other things. Shoot
the rope in two."
This was easier said than done, for the rope was so high that it was
almost out of the light cast by the fires.
Flatbush was, indeed, a splendid shot, and he fired twice at the rope
with his revolver, but missed each time on account of the uncertain
light and the swaying motion of the rope.
"Give me my rifle," he called, and one of the men fetched it for him.
Ted was within fifteen feet of the top when Flatbush, leaning against
the opposite wall, took deliberate aim and fired.
At the second shot Ted, who was aware that some one was trying to cut
the rope, felt it vibrate suddenly beneath his hand.
Before the last thread was severed he reached up and began to climb,
hand over hand. In a few seconds he was at the top, and the boys were
helping him over the edge.
For a moment or two he could say nothing; he could only listen to the
yells of rage and disappointment below. Now he was surrounded by his
friends, and Stella was free. Away on a mountain peak a light flared
up.
"What does that mean?" asked Stella, pointing to it.
"It is the signal that the Indians have gone on the warpath," said Ted.
"The sergeant was right. It is up to us now to do stunts."
"In what way?" asked Stella.
"We must keep those Indians and renegades confined in the Hole in the
Wall. If we can keep them there until the arrival of the troops we can
end the uprising without shedding a drop of blood. See, there is another
fire!"
Ted pointed to a blaze upon another peak, and this was followed by
others until there was a ring of fires on the crests of the mountains
for miles around.
"It is up to us to do a good thing here," he said. "Bud, take two or
three of the boys and go to Ben's assistance. Hold the mouth to the
entrance to the hole at all hazards. From what the sergeant said I have
no doubt but the troops will be here at least by daylight. We will keep
them busy down there from this place."
Bud hurried away with two of the boys, and Ted and the others composed
themselves to await developments. In the meantime, Stella told Ted the
details of her capture. Since she had been a prisoner she had been well
treated, so far as most of the men were concerned, although Shan Rhue
had insisted on seeing her every day, and had told her that he was going
to take her away to the North and make her marry him. She had defied
him, and had scorned him so scathingly that he had put many petty
persecutions on her, and had deprived her of her liberty for revenge.
"How did you happen to find me?" asked Stella, after she told all that
had happened to her.
"Little Dick was captured by an Indian, and while he was being brought
here the pony Spraddle stumbled and threw him. A small looking-glass
which was slung around his neck fell off, and Dick picked it up and
brought it to camp."
"The Indian was Pokopokowo," said Stella.
"That was his name."
"I tried in every way to get a message out to you, but it seemed
impossible. Then I hit upon the mirror, ripped the back off it, and made
my cryptogram on it with a pin. I let Pokopokowo see it, and when he saw
that there was a picture on it, and I told him it was good medicine, he
wanted it. Of course, I let him take it, hoping that it would be taken
outside, and that you would chance to see it, and so learn where I was."
"It was a very clever idea, and I doubt but for the mirror we should
have been able to get here in time. It was little Dick who saved you."
"Yes, little Dick and big Ted. Ted, you are wonderful!"
Below, in the hole, there were signs of activity. Men were rushing here
and there, saddling horses, packing mules, filling their cartridge
belts, and getting ready for some sort of action.
"They have seen the war fires on the hills," said Ted, "and are getting
ready for their raid upon the settlers. Evidently they do not know that
the gate to the outside is guarded, and they think that we are gone,
having succeeded in getting you."
Having finished their preparations for departure, an old Indian rode
forth on a pony decorated with eagle feathers.
"That is old Flatnose, the head chief," said Ted.
Flatnose was painted for war, and as he rode toward the passage from the
Hole in the Wall he swung his rifle above his head and shouted a
guttural command, at which a war whoop, shrill and terrifying, went up
from the Indians, followed by a hoarse shout from the white renegades.
"Now, we'll see some fun," whispered Ted to Stella, who was lying on the
crest of the hole beside him, watching the proceedings below. "I guess
Bud has got there by this time, and is ready to protect the opening out
to the valley."
Only a few minutes had passed before there came to their ears a volley
of rifle shots, followed by yells of fear, and the whites and Indians
came rushing back into the hole, scrambling and falling over one another
in confusion.
"I thought so," chuckled Ted. "They are trapped and they know it. They
can defend the hole against all comers by that passage, but it didn't
seem to occur to them that they might be made prisoners by the same
means."
The inmates of the hole were in the confusion of terror, but at last
Flatnose and his son, Moonface, succeeded in pacifying them, and a
consultation was under way.
"Where is Shan Rhue?" asked Stella. "I haven't seen him for some time."
"That's so," answered Ted. "I don't see him." He scanned the hole
carefully, but Shan Rhue was not there.
"Is there any secret passage by which he might escape?" asked Ted.
"Do you see that little shelter of canvas over against the wall?" said
Stella.
Ted nodded.
"I believe there is a way out there known only to Shan Rhue. That is
where he slept," she continued.
"Then he has escaped by it. Sol Flatbush is not in evidence, either.
I'll bet a cooky they've skipped."
It was getting light in the east, and the Indians rode once more into
the passage, firing their rifles. Then they charged.
But soon they came rushing back; the boys at the entrance had again
repulsed them.
From far away came the soft but clear call of a bugle.
"The troops!" cried Ted, springing to his feet. "The cavalry is coming
from Fort Sill. This thing will soon be over now."
He and Stella went to the edge of the cliff overlooking the valley, and
far away saw a dark mass, in the midst of which they caught the flash of
the rising sun on polished swords and carbines, and a gleam of color
from the flag that fluttered in the fresh morning breeze.
The Indians in the hole had heard the bugle also, and now there was
confusion indescribable. On came the troops, and Ted and Stella went
down to meet them.
Captain Hendry was in command, and it did not take him long to get in
possession of the facts.
"So you've got them bottled up, eh?" he said to Ted.
"Yes; all you have to do is to make them surrender," answered Ted.
"Which I don't think will be such an easy thing."
"I don't think you'll have any trouble about it. Come with me, and bring
a firing squad of your men."
The captain gave the order, and followed Ted to where he could look down
into the hole.
Then the captain laughed. "You have done better than I expected," he
said.
Raising his voice, Captain Hendry shouted:
"Flatnose, you know me. This is Captain Hendry. I have got you in that
hole like a rat in a trap. If you are wise, you will throw down your
arms and surrender. I have my men here with me, and if you do not
surrender, we will have to shoot you to death one by one. Will you
surrender?"
The old chief looked up and saw the captain leaning over the edge above.
For several minutes he stared upward, then he threw his rifle to the
ground and gave a hoarse command, and his followers threw their arms
upon that of their leader.
One of the troopers ran down into the valley with a command, while those
above lay flat on the edge with their carbines in a ring pointed at the
throng below.
In a few minutes the bugle sounded again, and the troops were seen
marching into the hole. The war was at an end without a fatal shot
having been fired.
As Captain Hendry marched away with his prisoners, he thanked Ted for
the great service which he had done the government by holding the
Indians and renegades until the arrival of the troops.
"Well, that's over," said Ted, as the last of them faded out of sight at
the end of the valley. "But _our_ work is just begun. We've got to find
those five hundred head of stolen Circle S cattle."
"I suggest that we take a look behind that shelter of Shan Rhue's, and
see if there is a passage leading from it," said Stella.
"Good idea," said Ted, and they climbed down into the valley and entered
the Hole in the Wall, where the other boys were waiting for them.
Ted went at once to the shelter, which was only a piece of canvas which
had been at one time a wagon cover, and tore it away.
There was revealed a hole in the rock wall, and beside it a small mound
of earth.
Evidently the hole had been known to the white desperadoes who had used
the hole as a hiding place for many years, and that it had been their
habit to conceal it by means of a stopper of earth. This Shan and Sol
had removed, and had made their escape while the Indians and renegades
were preparing for their raid on the settlements.
Ted at once showed it to the other boys, and it was decided to follow
the passage and find out what was at the other end.
The hole was so small that Ted was compelled to enter it on his hands
and knees. Bud followed him, and then came Stella. Ben remained with
Carl to guard the entrance in case any of the white renegades should
return.
A short distance in, the passage, or tunnel, became larger, and soon
opened out into a natural cave, so that they were able to assume an
upright position.
Ted lighted his pocket electric searchlight and led the way. They walked
for some distance when they saw a gleam of light ahead, and a few
minutes later walked out of the cave into another valley, larger than
that which they had just left.
"Great Scott! Look at that," said Ted, pointing to where a large herd of
cattle was grazing.
"What?" asked Stella, who could see nothing unusual in a bunch of cattle
grazing in the valley.
"I believe they're ours."
Ted strode toward the cattle, which seemed to become uneasy at seeing a
man on foot, which range cattle will not tolerate.
"Don't go any closer, Ted," said Stella. "Wait until Bud goes back after
the horses."
"I just want to get a glimpse of the brand. By Jove, here's our lost
Circle S brand, I believe. But look at it. It has been altered."
"How?"
"See those two perpendicular lines drawn through the S, making the brand
Circle Dollar-mark. That's a most ingenious thing. It has been done with
a running iron. The fellow who stole our cattle has just changed it by
running a curved hot iron through the S."
"Yer shore right," said Bud. "That Circle Dollar brand hez been
registered somewhere. It's up to us ter find out who registered it, an'
we've got ther thief. I'll skip out fer ther hosses an' ther boys. I
reckon we kin git in here by ridin' across ther backbone o' ther hills."
"All right, get back as soon as you can, and we'll wait for you in the
cave."
Bud and the boys were back within half an hour, having found a pass into
the valley through the hills which inclosed it.
"It's as plain as the face of the sun to me," said Ted, when they were
mounted and were riding toward the cattle. "Shan Rhue would have had
those cattle over the border in a day or two, had he not been so unwise
as to have abducted Stella. It's up to us now to get that bunch back to
the herd."
It did not take the boys long to get the bunch together, and Ted and
Stella rode out to the front of it to point it down the valley, while
the other boys started back to the rear to drive up.
Suddenly they heard yells in the rear, accompanied by pistol shots and
the cracking of quirts. In an instant the herd was up with distended
eyeballs and lifted tails. The poison of fear was in them.
Looking back, Ted saw several men riding toward the herd at a terrific
pace. At the head of the band rode Shan Rhue and Sol Flatbush.
Then a remarkable thing happened: Every man of them produced a red
blanket. They dashed among the cattle waving the blankets in the faces
of the now terrified cattle.
"Look out for trouble," shouted Ted, for he saw at once the intention of
Shan Rhue. It was to stampede the herd.
The effort was immediately successful, for the terrified animals, with
a deafening roar that expressed abject fear, started forward on a
gallop, with a front as resistless as the prow of a battleship.
Stella was on the side of the herd opposite Ted.
She heard his warning cry, and then looked back at the herd. If she
stayed where she was, there was no escape from death, for by her side
was the sheer wall of the valley. There was only one way to safety, to
ride across to the side of Ted.
She gave one look, then started.
Stella rode quartering the path of the stampede, and would have made it
in safety had it not been for a prairie-dog hole, into which her pony's
foot went. Magpie went down. The thundering host of frantic cattle was
upon her when she felt herself caught in mid-air.
The thought of death was still ringing in her head, and everything swam
before her eyes.
"You're all right! Stick close!" It was the reassuring voice of Ted,
who, at the imminent risk of his own life, had ridden out and plucked
her from the jaws of death.
Behind them, as Sultan, straining every nerve and muscle to carry them
to safety, galloped ahead of the cattle, the boys rode into the ruck,
beating the brutes with their quirts in an endeavor to stop them.
But they went a mile before they began to slow down, and Ted was able to
deflect the course of Sultan, who was beginning to tire from the double
burden and the terrific pace.
But at last the steers calmed down, and permitted themselves to be
driven quietly to where the rest of the herd were grazing.
As soon as Ted had restored the stolen cattle, he and Bud started back
into the valley in search of Shan Rhue and Sol Flatbush, but, although
they searched everywhere, the renegades could not be found.
In the cave through which they had come from the Hole in the Wall they
found a running branding iron, and fastened to the wall the following
notice:
"To TED STRONG AND OTHERS: You win this time, but there will be
others, and I am a lucky man in the end. You can't beat me.
"S. R."
Later they discovered that Shan Rhue had recently registered in Colorado
the Circle Dollar brand, and evidently it was his purpose to steal
nearly all of the Circle S herd.
But although he escaped with his lieutenant, Sol Flatbush, the men of
his band, who had been captured by the soldiers, were convicted and sent
to prison for long terms, after they had confessed that Shan Rhue's
organization had made a business of rustling cattle all through the
Southwest for many years.
Ted received several letters from the authorities in Washington
commending his services in averting an uprising of the Indians, and the
capture of the white renegades, but while this was gratifying, he felt
disappointed that Shan Rhue and Sol Flatbush were not in prison, also.
However, Ted believed in the motto, "I bide my time," and he felt in his
bones that some time in the future his path and that of the bully, Shan
Rhue, would cross again.
THE END.
No. 42 of the WESTERN STORY LIBRARY, by Edward C. Taylor, is
entitled "Ted Strong in Montana."
End of Project Gutenberg's Ted Strong's Motor Car, by Edward C. Taylor