THE OLD STOCKMAN
"Someone will get hurt!" cried Jack.
"Here, hold my coat and hat!" exclaimed John, as he thrust those
articles of wearing apparel into Nat's hands.
"What are you going to do?" asked Jack.
"I'm going to rope that steer!" yelled the Indian lad.
He ran to where the cattleman had fallen from his horse. The rider's
leg was caught, and when he tried to stand, as John helped him up, it
was seen that it was broken.
"Is the horse a fast one?" John asked, pulling in the lariat, and
coiling it.
"He sure is," was the answer, while the man stretched out on the
ground to wait for aid, which was on the way.
A moment later John had mounted the horse and was off on a gallop
after the steer, which was circling around in a wild endeavor to
escape into the open. It's wild bellows were producing a panic among
the other animals, that were dashing about in the pens, in imminent
danger of knocking the sides down.
As John, who seemed to be perfectly at home in the saddle, rode at
the animal, it gave a snort and dashed off down a railroad track.
Just ahead of it a freight train was coming, but the steer did not
see it, as it dashed on, with lowered head.
Straight down the track after the steer, raced John, urging the horse
to top speed. Above his head swung the lasso, which the boy handled
almost with the skill of a veteran.
"Come back!" yelled Mr. Post. "Don't you see the train?"
Evidently John did see, but he was not going to stop. He realized
that unless he stopped the maddened steer it would dash ahead on into
the locomotive. While it could not do the ponderous machine any harm,
there was every chance of derailing it, if the wheels ground over the
lifeless body, and a wreck might follow.
"He's a plucky fellow!" exclaimed the cattleman, as some of his
friends came to carry him to a place where his injured leg could be
set.
The pony John was riding entered into the spirit of the race. It was
work for which he had been trained, and, though chasing after wild
steers down a railroad track was not like doing it out on the plains,
it was "all in the day's work." With nimble feet the pony leaped from
tie to tie, on and on and on after the maddened brute.
The engineer of the freight was blowing the whistle in frantic toots
to warn the steer from the track, but the animal did not heed.
"He'll never make it," exclaimed Jack.
"Timbuctoo and turntables!" cried Nat. "He's a brave one. Never knew
he could ride like that."
John dug his heels into the pony's side to urge it to another burst
of speed. Then, with a shout, he whirled the lasso in ever widening
circles about his head. Suddenly he sent it whirling straight ahead.
Like a thin snake the rope hissed forward, and then fell in coils
about the neck of the steer. John had taken a turn or two about the
pommel of the saddle, and, true to its training, the little pony
settled back on its haunches.
The next instant it seemed as if the steer had met a cyclone. It went
down in a heap, a wild mixture of horns and flying hoofs. And, not a
second too soon, for, as it rolled from the track, being fairly
snatched from the rails by the taut-ness of the rope, the train came
gliding up, though under reduced speed, and severed the lariat.
Then John, with a motion of his wrist, guided the pony from the path
to the train, which the engineer was doing his best to bring to a
stop. The boy and steed easily got out of the way, and then, turning
the pony, John rode to where he had left his companions. The steer,
all the desire for fight gone, stood dejectedly beside the track, and
a number of men, who had hurried up, took charge of it.
[Illustration: IT SEEMED AS IF THE STEER HAD MET A CYCLONE-Page 154]
"Say, that was the best bit of work I ever saw done!" commented Mr.
Post, as he came from the office where he and Mr. Liggins had been
talking. "I watched you through the window. Put it there, pardner,"
and he extended his hand, which John grasped.
"Where'd you learn to ride, young man?" asked Mr. Liggins, in
business-like tones.
"Some of my Indian relatives taught me," replied John modestly, as he
dismounted. "I'm not very good at it though. Haven't had any
practice."
"You don't need it!" exclaimed Mr. Liggins.
"Say, young fellow, I'd like to hire you. I need you out here. We
have accidents like this every day, only not so sensational, and if
you can save a steer that way once in a while you'd more than earn
your salary."
"Much obliged," John said, "but I can't take your offer."
"Why didn't you tell us you could rope a steer and handle a cow
pony?" inquired Jack,
"You never asked me," was John's reply. "You see I have some Indian
traits in me, even if I am only a half-breed."
"Well, you certainly can throw a rope," Jack admitted. "Wish I could
do half as well."
"Rollicking rattlesnakes! But I'm going to learn as soon as we get
out on the ranch," put in Nat.
"I guess you'll both have plenty of opportunity," John remarked.
"Well, what are you boys going to do now?" asked Mr. Post. "I'm
through with my business, and I've got to stay in town a few days,
but I'll be so busy I'm afraid I'll not get much chance to see you.
Besides you're going right on, aren't you?"
"That's our plan," said Jack.
"Well, I'll leave you then," went on the miner, "got to see another
man in the yards. I may meet you again, some day, and I may not. This
world's an uncertain place. Anyway, I'm glad I met you, and if you
ever get into trouble and I can help you, why just wire me. My
general address, for a year or two, will be Chicago, care of Lemuel
Liggins. He'll see that you get into the city from here, all right,
and will take good care of you. Now I'm off," and shaking hands with
the boys and with Mr. Liggins, the miner hurried away down the maze
of stock yards.
"Come inside the office and rest a bit," invited Mr. Liggins. "You've
got lots of time, and I'll drive you to town later."
"Wait a minute!" cried Jack, darting after Mr. Post.
He ran from the office and started down the maze of tracks in the
direction the miner had taken. But Mr. Post was not to be seen. He
had either met some acquaintance and gone into one of the numerous
small offices and shacks that dotted the yards, or else was lost in
the crowds. Jack soon came back, looking disappointed.
"What did you want of him?" asked Nat.
"I wanted to find out more about Orion Tevis," replied Jack. "You
remember he spoke of him just before the accident when we collided
with the freight, and I meant to ask him if he knew the man on whom
the finding of my father may depend. But I forgot about it in all the
excitement. Now it's too late."
"Who did you want to inquire about?" asked Mr. Liggins, coming
forward. "Excuse me, but I happened to hear you mention a strange
sounding name."
"Orion Tevis," said Jack. "Do you know anything about him, Mr.
Liggins?"
"Do I? Well I guess I do. Me and him didn't work as mining pardners
for ten years for nothing. I reckon I do know Orion Tevis. So does
Josh Post."
"Where is he now?" asked Jack eagerly. "I must find him. He may know
where my father is, who is in hiding because of the scheming of some
wicked men."
"Well, now you have got me," Mr. Liggins said. "I haven't seen Tevis
for some years, not since he retired from active work. He speculates
in cattle now and then, and I had a letter from him a few months
ago."
"Where is that letter now?" asked Jack, his voice trembling with
eagerness.
"Land live you! I guess I burned it up," replied Mr. Liggins. "I
never save letters. Get too many of 'em. But it was from some place
out in Colorado. A little country town, I reckon, or I'd have
remembered the name."
"Try to think of it," pleaded Jack. "A lot may depend on it. I may be
able to get Mr. Tevis's address from the Capital Bank in Denver, but
they may refuse to give it to me, or may have lost it."
"Wish I could help you, son," said Mr. Liggins, sympathetically. "But
I reckon I lost that letter. Hold on, though, maybe I can fix you up.
You say his address is at the Capital Bank?"
"That's what I understand."
"Well, I wouldn't be surprised. Come to think of it now, he did write
me he transacted all his business through them. More than that he
sent me a sort of card to use in case I ever got out there, and
wanted to see him. Said there was reasons why he didn't want every
one to know where he was, so he instructed the bank to give his
address to only those who showed a certain kind of card. I reckon I
kept that card as a sort of curiosity."
"I hope so," murmured Jack.
The stockman began looking through a big wallet he pulled from his
pocket. It was stuffed with papers and bills.
"Here it is!" he exclaimed, as he extended a rather soiled bit of
pasteboard. "Queer looking thing."
Indeed it was. The card had a triangle drawn in the center. Inside of
this was a circle, with a representation of an eye. In each of the
angles were, respectively, a picture of a dagger, a revolver and a
gun. On top appeared this:
"_In Medio tutissimus ibis_"
"Don't seem to mean anything as far as I've ever been able to make
out," Mr. Liggins said. "Looks like a cross between a secret order
card and a notice from the vigilance committee. And them words on the
top I take to be some foreign language, but I never went to school
enough to learn 'em."
"They're Latin," said Jack, "and mean, literally, 'you will go most
safely in the middle,' or, I suppose, 'the middle way is safest.'"
"That's like Orion Tevis," commented the stockman. "He was always a
cautious fellow, and rather queer here,"--he tapped his forehead.
"But now I don't mind giving you that card. It may be no good, and it
may help you. If it does I'll be glad of it. I owe you a good turn.
That was one of my steers that broke away, and I'm glad it didn't
cause a freight wreck."
"I'll take good care of this," said Jack, as he put the card in his
pocket, "and send it back to you."
"Well, if you find Tevis, just do as he says about it," the cattleman
answered. "Now I'll drive you back to the city."
Jack was much pleased at getting the card. He felt it would help him
in his strange quest after his father.
"It will be additional evidence, for us" he said to John. "Mr. Tevis
might think the rings were spurious."
"Not much danger of that," the Indian answered. "Still, the card may
come in handy."
Mr. Liggins drove the boys to the hotel where they were to stay over
night. They consulted the time-tables in the lobby, and learned that
their train did not leave until the next afternoon.
"Now for a good night's sleep," said Jack, as he and his chums were
being taken up in the elevator to their rooms that night. At the
sound of the lad's voice a tall, dark man, in the corner of the car
started. Then, as he caught a glimpse of the boys' faces, he turned
so his own was in the shadow.
"Well, well, luck has certainly turned things my way," he murmured.
"Here's where I get even for the trick they played me on the train."
Little imagining they were menaced by one who felt himself their
enemy, the three chums went to their rooms, which adjoined.
"Very good," whispered the dark man, who had remained in the corridor
as the boys walked it. "I think I will pay you a visit to-night."