THE COWBOY'S TRICK
"I thought you said your name was Ranger," said Morris Kent.
"It always has been," Jack replied. "But my father has been going by
the name of Roberts. He was known as that to his associates, because
of the necessity for keeping him in exile. So I'll have to consider
myself as the son of Mr. Roberts and Mr. Ranger, until we get this
cleared up. I am trying to find my father, and I think this old man
can aid me. He seems to have a secret."
"Then you had better go and see what he has to say," Mr. Kent
advised. Jack found the aged man propped up in bed. Though he was
still pale, he was evidently a little better.
"Let me see that ring again," he said, and Jack, who had taken to
wearing the emblem on his finger, held out his hand.
"Yes, yes; it is the same," he murmured. "I would know it among ten
thousand, though I have never seen it before."
"Who are you, and what do you know about this ring?" asked Jack. He
had been left all alone with the old man, the cowboy who had summoned
him, and Mr. Kent, having left the room.
"I am Peter Lantry," the wounded man replied. "Until a month ago I
lived with a man named Roberts, though his real name was Robert
Ranger. He took his first name for his last one because of some
scheming men. But that you know as well as I do. He told me all about
his son, and how, if he or I ever saw him he could be identified by a
peculiar ring, which he described. As soon as I saw the ring I knew
you must be the boy, and I have a message for you."
"What is it? Tell me quickly," said Jack.
"If I was only sure," murmured the old man. "Roberts warned me to be
careful about what I said. If I was only sure. I thought I was,--but
now I remember--he told me to be careful."
"Careful about what?" asked Jack.
"How do I know you are Robert Ranger's son?" asked the sufferer. "I
remember now, he said a stranger might get the ring. I wish I had
kept still," and he seemed quite worried. A flush came into his pale
cheeks, and it seemed as if he was in a fever.
"If you doubt me, I can easily prove that I am Robert Ranger's son,"
spoke Jack. "You probably know the story of Orion Tevis, and the
Indian, Smith. His son is here now, and he has a ring just like this.
Wait, I will call him."
"No! No! Don't!" exclaimed Mr. Lantry. "I must tell you alone. Come
closer. I am weak, and I must whisper to you what I have to say. No
one else must hear."
Jack sat down in a chair beside the bed, and the old man, looking
carefully around the room, as though he feared some one would hear
his secret, began:
"Your father and I have lived for the past three years in a little
hut, hidden in the Golden Glow mountains. He never ventured far away,
and what few trips to town were necessary I made. Some time ago your
father became sick. I am a rough sort of doctor, and I knew he needed
some remedies for the heart. I managed to get them, and Roberts (I
always call him by that name) grew better. But about a month ago the
medicine got low, and I knew I must get more. You see, I only made
two trips to civilization a year, one in the spring and one in the
fall. In winter it is impossible to get out of the gorge where we
live.
"I knew then I must start on my summer trip earlier than usual, for
the medicine in the shack would only last about two months. So I made
ready to go."
"But tell me how to get to where my father is," interrupted Jack.
"That is important. I must hurry to him."
"Wait a minute," spoke the old man. His brain was feeble and Jack
realized if he hurried or confused the sufferer he might get no
information at all.
"I started away from the shack, as I said," Mr. Lantry resumed. "I
rode my horse when I was able and led him when it was too rough. I
had not traveled many miles before I realized that I was being
followed. I caught several glimpses of two men, who kept close on my
trail, and, try as I did, I could not shake them off."
"Were they members of the timber gang?" asked Jack eagerly.
"They were," replied Mr. Lantry. "I will be brief now, as I am
getting weak. I hurried on, but the men kept after me. They closed in
on me in a lonely place about fifteen miles from here, I judge."
"What did they want?" asked Jack.
"They demanded that I lead them to where your father was. They knew
they could never find the place without a guide, for, doubtless, they
had often attempted it. We had the shack well hidden, your father and
I. Of course I refused to show them the way. And they threatened to
torture me, but I only laughed. Then in sudden anger one of the men
fired at me. The bullet went wild as his companion knocked his arm
down in time, but it struck me in the foot. Then the men rode away.
"I managed to keep on my horse until I fell off from weakness. Then
my animal wandered away and I had to crawl. I got as far as the rock
and was waiting there, hoping some one would come along, when you
found me."
"How long is it since you left my father?" asked Jack.
"It is a little over three weeks."
"And perhaps he is in want and suffering now," the boy cried. "I must
hurry to him. Tell me which way to go," and Jack sprang up, as though
to start at once in the dead of night.
"You must ride until--until you--until you see--you see-"
The old man's voice had been growing weaker and weaker. The last
words came from him in a hoarse whisper, and, with a feeble moan he
fell back on the pillow, with closed eyes.
"He's dead! Help! Help!" exclaimed Jack.
Mr. Kent and several cowboys came running into the room. Mr. Kent
placed his hand over the sufferer's heart.
"He is alive, but that's all," he said. "Jim, ride for the doctor."
"He never told me how to find my father," said Jack in a low voice.
"Oh, if he would only live until he can tell me that! I must go to
him! He may be sick or dead, all alone in his cabin!"
"Now don't you go to fretting, son," said Mr. Kent kindly. "You just
come away from here and go to bed. You're all tired out and worried.
This thing will all come out right. The old man may not be so bad off
as he seems. We'll get a doctor for him, and he'll fix him up so he
can tell you where your father is. If he doesn't I'll send the boys
out, and they'll go over all the mountain ranges hereabouts. They can
find a maverick in the wildest country you ever saw, and it would be
a pity if they couldn't locate a cabin, with all you know about where
it is."
Jack felt encouraged at this, and said he would go to bed and try to
sleep. His companions had retired, as he learned when he got back to
the sitting room.
"I'll give you a room on the quiet side of the house," said Mr. Kent.
"You can change after to-night if you like."
He rang a bell, summoning the Chinese cook, who it appeared "was
housekeeper and general upstairs girl as well," and gave orders that
a certain room should be made ready for Jack.
"That loom, him sleep by Cactus Ike," said the Chinese.
"Never mind whether Cactus Ike is going to sleep there or not," said
Mr, Kent sharply. "You tell Ike he can bunk in with the rest of the
boys. He's no better than they are."
"Me sabe," replied the Celestial.
Jack was too tired to pay much attention to this conversation. Nor
did he attach any significance to a talk he heard under his windows a
little later.
"What's the matter with Ike?" he dimly heard some one ask.
"Mad 'cause he got turned out of his room for one of them tenderfoot
kids," was the answer. "I wouldn't want to get Ike down on me."
"Aw, he's a big bluff."
"He is, eh? Well, you wait."
But, in spite of his troubles and worriment over his father, Jack was
soon asleep from sheer weariness, and when morning came he forgot
there was such a person as Cactus Ike.
A doctor arrived from Fillmore about breakfast time and examined Mr.
Lantry. He said the old man was very sick, and would be for some
time. He was out of his head, from fever, and might be so for three
weeks. With careful nursing he would recover, said the medical man,
and he left some remedies.
"We'll see that he gets well," spoke Mr. Kent. "I'll have the cook
look after him, for I guess it will be hard to get a nurse out here."
"If he only recovers his reason, so he can tell me what I want to
know," Jack murmured.
"Oh, he will," said Nat's uncle, confidently. "In the meanwhile you
will have to be patient. Your father is in no danger now, for his
partner did not count on getting back in over a month, and there was
medicine enough in the cabin to last until then. Otherwise there is
nothing to fear. You tell me the land stealers can't find the shack,
so what else is there to worry about?"
"Nothing, I suppose," replied Jack, but, somehow, he couldn't help
worrying.
"Cheer up," said Mr. Kent. "We'll get your father for you. In the
meantime while we are waiting for the old man to get well you must
learn ranch life, and get good and strong, so that if you do have to
take part in a hunt for him you will be able to stand roughing it."
Jack thought this was good advice, as did his chums. They raced out
of the house after breakfast, determined to see all there was to see.
But this, they found, would take a long time.
Mr. Kent's ranch took in about a thousand acres. Some of it was on
the first plateau, and part among the hills, where the cattle grazed.
Besides the house, there were stables for the horses, kennels for the
dogs, a cook house, a dining shack, the sides of which could be
thrown open in the summer, barns for hay and grain, and a big tall
windmill that pumped water.
"Can we have regular horses while we're here?" asked Nat of his
uncle, as he and his chums started for the stable yard.
"Sure," replied Mr. Kent "You just go over there and tell Rattlesnake
Jim I said he was to fit you out with a horse and saddle each. He
knows which will be the best for you, better than I do. I don't have
time to keep track of the animals. I'm going to be busy all the
morning, so you can do as you please, within reason. Don't stampede
the cattle, that's all," and he turned away with a laugh.
The boys looked around the stable enclosure for their friend Jim, but
he was not to be seen.
"Lookin' for any one?" inquired a tall cowboy, who appeared from
under the shed. He had small, black shifty eyes, and when he spoke he
looked anywhere but at one.
"Where's Mr.--er--Mr. Rattlesnake Jim?" asked Nat. He was not exactly
sure how to address, or speak of the cowboys with their queer titles.
"Jim? Oh, he's gone over on the Spring range. Was you wantin'
anything?"
"Only some horses," said Nat.
"Oh, you're the boys," spoke the man. "Did Mr. Kent say you are to
have 'em?"
"Uncle Morris said Jim would give us horses to ride," Nat went on.
"Well, I guess I can pick 'em out for you," the man said. "One of you
boys named Ranger?"
"I am," said Jack,
"Oh, yes, you're a friend of the old man who was shot," went on the
cowboy as he entered the stable. "Well, I'll pick out horses I
think'll suit."
He disappeared into the regions of the stalls, and soon came out,
leading a fine black horse. He threw a saddle over its back. The
animal seemed a bit restive.
"Here's your horse, Ranger," the cowboy called.
"Is he safe?" asked Jack. "I'm not a very good rider."
"A girl could manage him," was the answer. "See, he's as gentle as a
lamb," and so it seemed for the man opened the animal's mouth and put
his hand in.
Thus encouraged, Jack mounted, and the horse moved off at a slow
pace.
"I guess he's all right," Jack thought
In a few more minutes two more horses were saddled, and Nat and John
had mounted.
"Now for a good gallop over the plain," called Nat, as he led the way
from the stable yard.
Jack was the last to ride forth. As he was passing the gate that
closed the corral he heard some one call to the man who had just
saddled the steeds:
"Who'd you give the black horse to, Ike?"
"None of your business," was the reply. "I'm running this game."
"Ike," thought Jack. "I wonder where I heard that name before." Then
the memory of the conversation under his window came to him. "Oh,
well, guess it's all right to have this horse," the boy thought. "I
can't harm him."
As the cowboy turned back into the stable a grim smile passed over
his face.
"Good gallop!" he muttered. "Lucky if you don't break your neck."
"Come on! I'll race you!" called Nat, and the three boys were soon
speeding over the level plain.