NORT'S PLAN
Silently the cowboys from Diamond X ranch watched the sheep herders and
their innocent, though undesirable, charges fade away to the south.
The Greasers took their wounded with them, and several spare horses
they had brought along made up for those that regretfully were shot by
the cowboys.
"I hope we've seen the last of that bunch," remarked Dick, tenderly
feeling of his wounded hand.
"No such good luck," declared Nort. "Do you really think they mean to
try and get pasturage here, Billee?" he asked.
"I sure do," replied the veteran. "They can't feed their sheep much
longer on the other side of the creek--they'll have to come here--if
they can."
"But we stopped 'em," said Snake.
"Only for a time," said Billee. "As Del Pinzo boasts, now they'll try
the courts."
"But that Greaser won't have a standing in any decent court," exclaimed
Bud. "He's a jail bird--he isn't even a citizen!"
"How does it come he is working for the interests of these Greasers,
some of whom may be citizens?" asked Nort.
"Del Pinzo will do anything by which he can get a dollar or have a
little power," was Billee's opinion. "How he got out of jail I don't
know. Maybe it's by some power over a government official, and maybe
he hopes, by that same hold, to influence the courts against us.
Anyhow, he's out of jail and he's cast his lot in with the sheep men
for his own advantage, you can gamble on that--not theirs. He has
stirred them up to demand certain things which they regard as their
rights under the new law.
"Well, maybe they are their rights, on land that hasn't already been
claimed, but that doesn't apply here. Your dad owns this land, Bud,
and we're going to see he doesn't lose it by any tricks of Del Pinzo."
"He seems to have given up his tricks for a time," remarked Bud.
"But only for a time," added Billee. "He'll have us in court next.
Not that there's an awful lot of law out this section," he said with a
grim smile, "but what there is can be mighty troublesome when you rub
it the wrong way."
There was nothing more to be done now as long as the sheep men had
departed. Though at that, Billee and his cowboys were not going to be
caught unawares. With all Del Pinzo's talk of applying to the law, he
might be "bluffing." He might seek to draw the defenders away and then
rush back, getting the sheep across the stream. Once on the Diamond X
range it would be hard to dislodge them.
"And it only takes a few hours of sheep on a pasture to spoil it for
horses," remarked Bud.
So, fearing treachery, a guard was left at the point where the battle
of the crossing had been fought. The remainder of the cowboys returned
to the "fort," and from there word was sent to Mr. Merkel of what had
occurred.
"So Del Pinzo will have me in court, will he?" remarked the owner of
Diamond X ranch. "Well, I reckon I won't worry until I see sheep on my
land."
But for all that, Mr. Merkel could not help wishing his papers had not
been stolen. For though he might, eventually, prove his claim without
them, it meant a delay. And during this delay the other side--the
sheep men--might obtain some legal advantage that would enable them to
take at least temporary possession of the land in dispute.
And, as Bud had truthfully remarked, only a short occupancy of pasture
by the odorous sheep would spoil the grazing and water for sensitive
cattle and horses.
For several days after the fight nothing happened. Dick and the
wounded cowboys received medical treatment, and all except one were
soon on the road to recovery. Poor Lanky had received a grievous wound
which eventually caused his death, and he was sincerely mourned.
Meanwhile Mr. Merkel kept on with his ranch work, and the boys,
visiting Happy Valley, found matters there going well. They were far
enough away not to need to worry about sheep for a time. Then, too,
their papers were safe and in case dispute arose as to ownership the
matter could easily be settled.
During this comparatively quiet spell, part of which time was utilized
by Mr. Merkel in a vain attempt to discover the missing deeds and other
documents, the boy ranchers paid several visits to the camp of
Professor Wright. That eager scientist was delving away after fossil
bones as enthusiastically as if he had never discovered any.
"What are you on the track of now?" asked Nort.
"A Brontotherium," answered the professor.
"What did he say--a bronco?" asked Bud. "We've got some over at our
place you can have for nothing," he added with a laugh. "They're not
dead yet, though some of the boys who tried to ride 'em wish they were."
"A Brontotherium," explained Professor Wright, "is an extinct animal,
something like the rhinoceros, but much larger--more than the size of
an elephant, I hope to prove. There are indications that I may find
the bones here."
"I hope you do," remarked Dick.
The boys wandered around the camp, and were about to leave the scene of
the digging and excavating when Nort uttered an exclamation.
"What's the matter?" asked his brother.
"Look! There's Del Pinzo!" exclaimed Nort, and, surely enough, the
figure of the wily Greaser or half-breed was seen moving among the men
engaged by the professor to help him and his assistant in digging up
fossil bones.
"You have that rascal again, I see, Professor," said Bud rather coldly.
"Well, he certainly is a great help," was the answer. "He has great
influence over the Mexican laborers."
"Too much," grimly remarked Bud. They went away, paying no further
attention to Del Pinzo though he smiled at them in what he doubtless
intended for a genial manner.
"What do you make of it, Bud?" asked Nort.
"Of what?"
"Professor Wright having that rascal with him?"
"Well," remarked Bud, with as judicial an air as he could assume on
short notice, "you can look at it in two ways."
"For instance?" suggested Dick, teasingly. "We're in for something
good, now," he whispered to his brother, though not so low but that Bud
could not hear.
"Well, either Professor Wright knows Del Pinzo is a rascal, and takes
to him in spite of that, or he doesn't know it--though how he can be
ignorant I can't understand," declared Bud. "If he doesn't--he's the
only one who knows the game who thinks Del is any better than a common,
onery horse thief!"
"Maybe something will happen, soon, to open his eyes," suggested Nort,
as they rode on.
When they reached the headquarters at Diamond X they found Sheriff Hank
Fowler in earnest conversation with Mr. Merkel.
"Anything doing, Dad?" asked Bud.
"Yes. I'm summoned to court to prove my title to the Spur Creek land,"
was the answer. "Hank has just served me with the papers."
"I'm tellin' him he don't need to worry none," said Mr. Fowler, with a
genial grin. "He can easy prove his title."
"Perhaps not so easy as you think," remarked Mr. Merkel, "since my
papers are missing. If I could only get them back!"
"And I think I have a plan that will get them back!" suddenly exclaimed
Nort.