SURPRISE
The rain had stopped. Darkness was over the world and stars blinked
solemnly from their heavenly nest. The rain had brought coolness and a
light wind that stirred the leaves of the trees.
Round the campfire were gathered all the girls but the absent Gale. Tom
was collecting firewood and Jim was making sure the horses were secure
for the night.
“Where do you suppose Gale can be?” Janet asked again.
“I wonder,” agreed Phyllis. “This is the first time in my acquaintance
with her that she ever missed a meal.”
“I’m beginning to be worried,” Virginia confessed. “I don’t see why she
stayed away so long.”
“You don’t suppose--something could have happened to her?” Valerie asked
hesitantly.
“What for instance?” Madge demanded.
“Well, her horse might have run away or----”
“Nonsense!” Carol said crisply. “Gale’s horse is the tamest one of the
bunch. I’ll bet she is having an adventure and a high old time.”
“But where can she be?” insisted Valerie.
Minutes passed into hours and hours passed and still that question was
not answered. The camp was thoroughly alarmed now. They were certain
Gale was in trouble or had lost her way in the strange country. Any
number of things might have happened, and their thoughts ran rampant.
The girls could see that Tom and Jim were as disturbed as they. For the
last half hour Jim had, almost lovingly, been cleaning his revolver.
There was something ominous in just the sight of him toying with his
weapon. What was he thinking?
“What are we going to do?” Valerie asked finally.
It was time for the girls to retire for it had been planned to ride
early on the morrow. But now, with Gale missing, their plans were
interrupted. None felt that she could sleep if they did go to bed.
“You girls might as well go to bed,” Tom said practically. “Jim and I
will wait until dawn and then go out and pick up Gale’s trail. It would
be no use going now, for we could find nothing in the darkness.”
They realized that he spoke the truth but still it was hard to sit idle
when they were longing to know what was happening to their comrade.
Reluctantly Madge, Carol, Janet and Virginia went to their tent. Valerie
and Phyllis followed slowly to theirs. Tom and Jim rolled in their
blankets by the fire, close together so they could talk in low whispers.
The light wind stirred the flames and sent them reaching high into the
air. A moment more and they died down to smouldering embers. Silence
gradually settled down over the tents and those two Indian-like figures
on the ground.
The camp was asleep or so it seemed. Not one occupant of the tents or
Tom or Jim saw the two figures that stood on the outer edge of the
circle of light and smiled over the serenity which gripped the camp.
Big, burly men they were, used to hard riding and hard living. The
leather chaps they wore and their heavy khaki shirts were covered with
dust. About their waists hung heavy holster and cartridge belts. Figures
of menace they were, menace to the peace of the Adventure Girls’ camp.
In their eyes, cold and relentless, was reflected the low, burning
embers of the campfire as the two took in every detail. They seemed to
have no desire to disturb the sleeping campers, just to note the lay of
the land, as it were. When their silent inspection was finished they
turned and melted into the darkness from whence they had come.
In the tent she shared now with only Phyllis, Valerie lay wakeful and
restless. Her thoughts were contemplating a hundred and one things that
might have happened to Gale. The two had been friends for a long, long
time and now the thought that her chum might be in trouble or danger,
perhaps, made Valerie long to be off to her assistance. She lay staring
at the black tent roof. Beside her Phyllis lay calm, breathing
regularly, already in the land of dreams. Valerie wished she could
smother her own troublesome thoughts and go to sleep. Tom and Jim knew
what they were about and if they said it was no use hunting for Gale
before morning, there simply was no use that was all. She realized that
they could scarcely find a sign of Gale in the pitch blackness of the
Arizona night. They thought that Gale might have lost her way and could
not return to the camp. Valerie seriously doubted that. Gale could find
her way about better than any of them. She seemed to possess a sixth
sense that enabled her to remember any route or trail of open country
that she had once taken. Valerie was sure Gale had not lost her way.
Instead, there was some other reason why she hadn’t returned to the
camp.
Valerie’s memory was particularly fresh with scenes of the night she and
Gale had been prisoners of the bank bandit. Had something similar
happened to Gale tonight? There was scarcely any other reason she should
stay away from camp. Valerie wondered if Gale still had her little
revolver with her. At least she had some little protection with that.
Valerie sat up and ruffled her hair restlessly. A moment later she stood
at the open tent flap. She could see Tom and Jim rolled snugly in their
blankets. What was that? For an instant she thought a shadow appeared on
the other side of the camp circle. A minute later she changed her mind.
It must have been a sudden spurt of the fire that threw a flickering
shadow over the sagebrush. She stepped out and let the flap close behind
her. There was no use to waken Phyllis or the others just because she
couldn’t sleep. She breathed deeply of the cool night air and marveled
at the thrill she felt. It was a thrill to note the difference in
herself. How changed she was since the first day they had camped in the
open. The sun and the usually dry air had wrought wonders, wonders that
had seemed impossible to even Valerie herself. She had often wondered if
she would ever feel the glow of vigorous health. Now she felt like a new
person. That annoying cough had entirely disappeared. She wondered if
the other girls realized what a transformation had taken place within
her. It had been a severe struggle, the hardest battle she had ever
fought, but she had won. The weeks of riding and camping, eating and
sleeping outdoors, had tanned her skin and put a sparkle in her eyes.
Too, she had gained weight. No more was she utterly exhausted at the end
of a day’s hard ride. No more were the other girls livelier than she.
Now she felt equal to any situation that might arise.
She had walked from the camp a ways to drink in the beauty of the night.
Unconsciously she had taken the same route Gale had ridden earlier in
the day. Ahead of her was the rise over which Gale had gone. Valerie
strolled along. The moon came out and threw dark shadows under the trees
and brush. Glancing up suddenly, Valerie was startled. She was sure she
had seen a figure step behind a group of trees ahead of her. She laughed
at her own fears. Nervousness wasn’t usually one of her traits. It must
be that Gale’s disappearance was preying on her mind. She was beginning
to imagine ominous sounds and sights. She frowned at the thought of Gale
and kicked an unoffending pebble from her path. She might as well go
back and try to sleep. There was no use wandering about like a lost
sheep. If the others discovered her absence they would be alarmed and
there was no cause to create a disturbance.
She decided to walk to the top of the rise and take a look at the plain
that stretched away to the right. She liked to see the plains in the
moonlight; it all looked as though the earth had been sprinkled with
silver dust. Then she would go back to camp, probably to lay awake until
dawn, she thought darkly. It was no use to argue about it. She worried
about Gale and about what might have happened. With rustlers and bank
robbers in the vicinity, what might not have happened? Too, there was
something about Tom and Jim that made her apprehensive. They seemed to
be waiting for something. Their whole attitude was one of preparedness,
but for what? Did they expect the outlaws to come to the girls’ camp?
The men would hardly do that she thought with a smile. Why should they?
She came to the rise of ground and stood there in the moonlight,
overlooking the plain. For a moment her eyes were somewhat dazzled by
the brilliance of the moonlight. Then she discerned a low cloud of dust
rolling along the horizon. Small dark figures she discerned. What could
it be? She knew, Jim had told them, that a herd of the K Bar O was
somewhere off there to the right. But were the riders moving the cattle
tonight? They were moving swiftly, too, she could tell.
Another thought occurred to her and her eyes narrowed with suspicion.
Could it be rustlers? Rustlers stealing another herd of K Bar O cattle?
It was possible, she declared to herself. The regular riders would
scarcely be moving the cattle so swiftly so late at night. There was no
reason they should. On the other hand, if it were rustlers, and if it
were K Bar O cattle, where were the regular riders? Didn’t they keep a
close watch these nights when there was such danger in the air? If she
were Gale’s uncle, she would put extra men on in an endeavor to catch
the thieves. Suppose there was trickery among the hired hands? Suppose
one of the riders whom Mr. Wilson trusted was in league with the
outlaws? It was quite possible. The man could very easily fix it so the
rustlers would have a clear hand. Was that what was happening? She
frowned thoughtfully. At any rate, she was sure that it was rustlers
moving K Bar O cattle and she was going to tell Jim and Tom about it.
She turned and her heart froze in her throat. Before her two men stepped
forward to block the path. Rough hands seized her and she was lifted
bodily from the ground. Kicking and squirming she let out a piercing
scream to summon the help of her camp mates. Just one scream, no more
was she allowed. She was roughly and effectively silenced and carried to
where two horses stood docilely among the trees. Her captors mounted and
she was swung up in front of one of them across the saddle. It was no
use to fight. Her captors were much stronger than she and there was no
course but to submit in stormy but, she hoped, dignified silence as the
two horses started away.