SILVER FACE.
As Ted released the badly punished young Indian and rode back to where
the boys were waiting for him, Crazy Cow painfully raised himself to a
sitting position in his saddle. But the pain was too great, and he
slowly and painfully slid to the ground. But the backs of his legs were
so seamed with welts that he could not walk.
He was, indeed, an object for pity, but he had been defeated, and not
only that, but had been whipped on the most shameful spot, in Indian
fighting, and his friends would have none of him.
When he looked toward them for sympathy they only pointed the finger of
scorn at him, and laughed.
Now Ted rode out in front of the boys, and, raising his voice, said to
the Indians:
"Go back to your village. Do not come to my ranch again. Next time it
will be something worse than quirts with which we fight, and dead men,
instead of squaws with sore legs, will be the result. Go!"
The old medicine man turned his pony toward the mountains, and in a
guttural voice gave the command.
Without a word, and without looking back, the Indians started on their
way, Crazy Cow following dejectedly on foot, leading his pony.
He had been conquered and humiliated, but his heart burned with hatred
for the young white chief who had been the cause of it.
When the Indians were out of sight, Ted returned to the boys.
"Well, that's over for the present," he said.
"Yes, but we'll have trouble with those fellows later, you may be sure,"
said Ben. "Look out for a ball or a knife in the back from Crazy Cow."
"I don't fear him as much as I do the cunning and treachery of that old
villain, Flying Sun, who plans these raids and lets the young men
execute them while he stays back in a safe place."
"What interests me more than anything else just now is Stella and Bud. I
propose that we drop everything else and hunt for them. You know that
since the appearance of the man without a face, and now this encounter
with the Indians, to say nothing of sending Sol Flatbush's body home on
his horse, the members of the Whipple gang will be pretty keen after
every member of our party."
"True, Ben. We must be very careful of Stella from now on. I would not
have taken this ranch had I known that it was menaced by such a gang of
thieves as seems to be in the mountains."
"Where had we better scout?" asked Ben.
"Do you think Bud and Stella went farther west?"
"Yes. As we started away from the ranch house I heard Bud say to Stella,
'When the gang came out of the corral just before daylight I saw that
most of them headed into the west. If we go that way we're sure to beat
the others to the trail.' Then I saw them slip away quietly back of the
house, and later they disappeared over a rise due west."
"Then that's where we must look for them. Forward, fellows. We're going
to find Bud and Stella."
"Do you think it is necessary for all of us to go?" asked Kit.
"No, I don't. The ranch must have a guard of some sort. About half of
you turn back to the lines, and two of you ride to the ranch house to
see that all is well, and guard it."
Ben sorted out the fellows who were to go back to the ranch, keeping all
the broncho boys to start on the hunt for the missing ones.
No one felt exactly uneasy for the safety of Stella and Bud, but it was
proper, under the circumstances, to see that they were safe.
"As before, we will split up into couples to search for Bud and Stella,"
said Ted. "You better come with me this time, Ben."
To the west of the line of the Long Tom Ranch the land became more
broken. At first the hills ceased to be rolling and broke off into
cañons, more or less deep, with sometimes sides that assumed the dignity
of precipices.
The sides of the foothills were clothed in small tracts of scrubby pine
timber, and altogether it was not a pleasant country to travel over in
winter.
* * * * *
When Bud and Stella left the ranch house, Stella was bubbling over with
joy at the prospect of being in the hunt for the Indians, and the
prospect of Bud teaching her the mysteries of the trail, particularly
the war trail.
"Don't say a word," said Bud, with a wink, "an' we'll fool 'em all. Them
Injuns never went nowhere except inter ther east. I throwed out a blast
o' hot atmosphere erbout them goin' west. That wuz ter fool ole nosey
Ben, who had his neck stretched out like a spring chicken's ter hear
what was bein' said, an' git ther advantage o' my sooperior knowledge.
"Well, when I see that I thort I'd give him somethin' ter chase, so I
hands out the west p'int, when I mean ter go ter ther east. When we
start out we'll ride ter ther west until we come ter ther first draw,
then foller it ter ther south until we come ter a break leadin' east,
then foller that, an' we'll be fust onter ther red man's tracks."
"All right," laughed Stella. "That will be a good joke on Ben. He didn't
like it because he couldn't go with us."
Now it will be seen that Bud's little fiction in the hearing of Ben was
not the proper thing, and, as it turned out, Bud was mighty sorry for
his apparently innocent fib before the end of the day, or the dawning of
the next.
They did as Bud planned, and when they were well out of sight and
hearing of the other boys they turned to the east, and, when well out on
the prairie, turned their ponies' heads to the north.
As they cantered across the prairie, on which the snow was like dry sand
and only about an inch deep, they could see bands of their cattle here
and there pawing the snow off the grass, or "rustling" for their fodder,
as the cowmen call it.
"I shore believe thar's somethin' wrong on this yere range," Bud
remarked, after they had gone a few miles.
"Why?" asked Stella.
"Somethin' wrong with ther cattle."
"In what way?"
"Thar ain't half enough o' them here."
"Do you mean that some of them are gone?"
"Yep. Thet's jest what I mean."
"Strayed, probably?"
"No. Stole."
"Nonsense. Who could have stolen them? The Indians?"
"No. I reckon not. The Injuns is keen after ponies. In the fust place
thar ain't nobody what kin wear out a pony as fast as an Injun. They
work their ponies ter death, starve 'em, beat ther hides off'n 'em,
neglect 'em, and when they're wore out turn 'em loose fer ther wolves.
Second, they kin run off a bunch o' ponies in a hurry, but they balk
some at rustlin' cattle because they move so slow. If we aire shy on
beeves ther white men has got 'em."
"When we get back we ought to round the cattle up and count."
"That's ther only way ter do it. I've got a pretty good eye fer a herd,
an' it's my idee thet we're losers here, an' that ther rustlers is
gittin' rich off'n us."
About noon Bud pulled in his horse, and examined the snowy ground
carefully.
He had struck a trail.
Winding across the prairie in a northeasterly direction was a broad
trail, the tracks of many cattle and horses.
"Here we are," said Bud. "Thar's whar some o' our cattle and several
ponies have passed."
He got down to the ground, and, stooping over the trail, regarded it
carefully.
Suddenly he straightened up.
"This is not an Injun trail," he said.
"It isn't?" asked Stella.
"No. Here are the tracks of cattle, an' on top of them those of horses
ridden by white men."
"How do you know they were not Indians?"
"Here's an impression o' a horseshoe, an' here's another o' a different
size. These were made by animiles ridden by white men."
"I can understand why you should know that they were white men's horses
because Indians do not shoe their ponies, but I'm blessed if I can see
how you know that white men were riding them."
"Easy enough. These horses were ridden straight. An Indian, in spite of
stories to the contrary, is not a good horseman. He rides all over the
ground instead of straight ahead when he is going anywhere, seemin' as
if he wanted to get his money's worth of the ride. If it had been
Indians who were driving off these cattle, you would see pony tracks all
over the prairie about here."
"Then we've struck the wrong trail."
"Well, we've missed the Indians, but we've struck another and a better
lead. Ther boys under Ted will most likely git in ther trail o' ther
pony snatchers, but we're on another lay--cattle thieves."
"This is something of a surprise, isn't it?"
"You bet. If we hadn't run ercross this yere trail we mightn't have got
on ter ther fact thet our steers wuz bein' lifted ontil so many o' them
wuz gone thet it would make a big hole in our herd."
"Have they much the start of us?"
"I reckon they have." Bud was down on his knees, looking closely at the
tracks.
"Yes," he continued, "they went by here shortly after midnight."
"How do you know?"
"Against ther east side o' each o' these leetle depressions made by a
hoof is some fresh snow."
"I don't see how that tells the time."
"I do. Along about midnight last night a wind come up an' blew from ther
west fer half an hour. It drifted a little snow before it, which settled
inter these depressions an' banked up against ther east side o' these
tracks."
"That seems reasonable. Bud, where did you learn all these things about
trailing?"
"Never learned them nowhar. It's jest thinkin' about what yer see what
makes a scout an' trailer. These cattle is somewhar up in them hills
yon. They probably drove until sunup, an' then stopped ter give ther
critters a rest before shovin' them inter ther mountings."
"Then I suppose we better hurry. We may be able to find out where they
are."
"Righto, we'll mosey. I reckon we've struck a good thing."
"How many beeves do you suppose there were in that steal?"
"Oh, I reckon fifty er sixty."
"Whew! That's worth going after."
Bud had mounted, and they galloped along the trail, which was broad and
deep. It led them through coulees and over hills and down into valleys,
and the sun was high and the trail apparently endless.
"Bud, let us stop and eat our lunch. I'm hungry," said Stella.
"All right. I'm a bit peckish myself," was the reply.
They were in a narrow valley which was strewn with great bowlders, and
on the sides of the hills grew a great many scrub pines. Through the
center of it ran the broad trail.
The lunch was tied to the cantle of Bud's saddle, while Stella carried a
canteen of coffee, for she was a great favorite of McCall, the cook, and
when she started out for the day he invariably put up the best lunch a
cow camp could afford.
Bud, in the meantime, had found a spring on the hillside and had watered
the horses, then made a fire of pine boughs over which they heated the
coffee and warmed themselves. Then they began their luncheon.
Bud was so busily appeasing his hunger that he did not say much, and did
not think it strange that Stella said nothing. They were seated on
opposite sides of the fire, and Bud, thinking that perhaps Stella might
need something, looked across at her.
What he saw caused him to stare.
Stella was looking over his head with an expression of horror on her
face. Her wide, staring eyes were filled with an unspeakable horror.
Her hand was poised in mid-air, just as if she had been going to put
something into her mouth, when the action was arrested by the sight of
something that froze her with terror.
"Stella, what's ther matter?" Bud managed to blurt out.
Stella's lips moved, but no sound came from them. She was too frightened
to speak.
Then Bud, observing the direction in which she was looking, turned his
head.
In an instant he was on his feet. He had become very pale, and his hand
shook as he reached slowly toward his holster.
Standing behind him was a creature such as he never had seen before.
It was a man of great stature, clad entirely in black, over which was
thrown a long, black cloak.
But the horror of the creature was the face. Out of an expressionless
mask of silver, without nose or mouth, gleamed a pair of fierce, black
eyes, that twinkled maliciously. Midway of the face were two holes,
nostrils through which he breathed.
It was the man at whom Carl had fired his six harmless bullets--the man
with the silver face.
Bud stood staring at him like one frozen, but Stella, when she saw that
Bud was as frightened as herself, was able to take her eyes away from
those terrible orbs that shone through the silver face, and regained her
composure, and now was able to look at him without terror and with
curiosity.
There was something fascinating in that blank, rounded, shining, white
face, lighted only by those remarkable eyes.
What was behind that mask? A face, or only a blank?
Bud had somewhat recovered from the ague of terror into which the sudden
appearance of the man with the silver face had thrown him, for he was a
brave fellow, and not easily shaken from his courage.
"What do you want?" he asked at last, but yet with a little tremor in
his voice.
There was no answer, but the eyes continued to burn in a very suggestive
way. It seemed as if the man behind the mask was trying to speak, but
could not.
Presently, however, he made a motion with his hand that told them to
follow him.
"I'll be derned if we do," said Bud stubbornly. "Who aire yer, anyway,
an' what business hey yer buttin' in on us this away?"
A strange, inarticulate, bubbling sound came from behind the silver
face, but Bud could not understand it.
Again came the signal to follow.
"Not on yer life," said Bud firmly. He drew his revolver, and a look of
decision came into his face. When Bud took on this look he meant
business.
"Oh, Bud, don't oppose the terrible creature," whispered Stella, to whom
fear had come again from looking on that blank but fascinating face.
"No, by jing, I ain't goin' erlong with thet freak. If I could see his
face an' knowed who he wuz I might talk business."
As he said this the eyes behind the silver mask fairly shot forth sparks
of anger, and again that horrible bubbling noise was heard.
The creature raised his arm. There was a sudden rush, and Bud felt his
arms grasped from behind.
But as this happened he had presence of mind enough to point his
revolver at the man in the silver mask and pull the trigger.
The weapon crashed, and, as the smoke cleared away, Bud saw the thing of
horror still standing unharmed where he had been, although the revolver
had been pointed directly at his heart, while from behind the mask came
again that sickening, bubbling laugh.
At another signal from the figure Bud was dragged a little way up the
hillside, and his wrists were securely tied, his arms embracing a tree.
While this was being done Stella, too frightened to make an outcry, was
led away, and, looking over his shoulder, Bud saw her mount Magpie and
ride away surrounded by four men, led by the man with the silver face,
who bestrode a splendid black charger.
Bud was left alone to survive, if he could, the perils of frost and
hungry wolves.