THE GIRLS ARE GONE
On Friday, the day that Teddy and Roy were to ride to the 8 X 8 for
Belle and bring her home, a squadron of black, low-hung clouds marched
over the mountains and began to discharge their ammunition of rain
toward a thirsty earth. They were seemingly well stocked, for they held
their position for three days, until, on the morning of the fourth, the
sun dispersed them.
During the storm, the business of the ranch had practically come to a
standstill, for there was little that could be done in wet weather.
Besides that, the time before a fall round-up is always slack, the
punchers spending most of their days repairing their outfits and doing
odd jobs about the yard and the corral.
Nick Looker wasted many hours in deep thought over the trick Pop had
played on him. Of course he found that his book had been taken from his
foot-locker, but even then he remained somewhat in the dark. He simply
could not fathom how Pop had turned the joke so cleverly. He took Roy
and Teddy into his confidence, and they listened with grave faces to his
tale of woe.
“If Pop was a clever scout, or something like that, I could understand
it,” Nick confessed. “But he’s such a dumb galoot! I can’t figure it
nohow! There he stands, with a look on his map as innercent as a
white-faced yearling, an’ I walk right into his hands! Then he turns
around an’ gives me the royal razz. No sir, it’s beyond me! Oh, I can
guess how he did the trick all right, after he saw how in that book of
mine. That ain’t what’s worryin’ me. What I want to know is how he
planned the whole busted business an’ was Gus in with him. By golly,
she’s too many fer me!”
The two brothers, restraining their laughter, admitted they could not
solve the problem for him, and, shaking his head, Nick walked away. It
was many days before he could hear a laugh without staring with a
suspicious scowl at the merry one.
The wind was strong at times and one extra heavy gust blew down several
of the poles upon which the telephone wire was fastened. As a
consequence, the phone was out of commission for several days. At the
time nobody thought anything of this, for the local line was none too
good and often went out of commission.
Although during the rain Roy and Teddy did no range riding, except one
afternoon when the sun shone for a few hours, promising clear weather,
only to disappear behind clouds again by evening, yet they were not
idle. Together with their father, they went over all possible places the
escaped rustlers might try to raid the herd and steal cattle, planning
to fortify the weak spots against possible depredations. There were now
five men riding herd, and Mr. Manley seriously considered adding
another, but after a consultation with the boys, decided against it.
“Can’t have ’em all out,” he declared. “If that ‘Reltsur’ starts
anything around the ranch, we don’t want to be handicapped by lack of
men. This time there’ll be none of this ‘man to man’ stuff. I want no
more trouble with that gang of hoss thieves, an’ I’ll let them alone if
they’ll stay their distance. But if they want to mix it—” and the man’s
eyes narrowed—“they’ll get what they’re lookin’ for! At the first sign
of trouble we ride ’em down, an’ polish ’em off, if we have to. The
sooner they learn that the new West has no place for rustlers an’
gunmen, the better. In the old days—” He hesitated, and a smile
trembled on his lips, but instantly his face grew grave again. “They’re
gone forever. We have no more time for chasin’ hoss thieves all over the
landscape. Besides, the men were different then.
“Do you suppose Gilly Froud would last a minute around a gang like
Whitey Kunkle an’ Mike Delnegro an’ Lasher Pete? Huh! he’d be run off
the reservation. Those waddies may have been tough, but they weren’t
cowards an’ wouldn’t plug a man without givin’ him a chance to go fer
his shootin’ iron. But these birds!” His eyes flickered with contempt.
“Why, they ain’t even tough! They’re just a bunch of sore-heads, afraid
to take a man on unless he’s tied hand an’ foot and him in the light
while they’re shootin’ from the dark! A fine gang! Sendin’ a note sayin’
I’d get mine if I didn’t lay off ’em!
“Well, let ’em come! Maybe when the lazy cowards find out they can’t
blaze away from behind a brick wall or a barroom window, they’ll change
their minds about thinkin’ they’re bold, bad cattle rustlers!”
This was the longest speech the boss had made in many a moon. But it
indicated his feelings in the matter, and left no doubt as to his
intentions if “Reltsur” tried to make good his threat. Mr. Manley never
looked for trouble, nor, indeed, did he meet it half way. It had to come
up to his door and knock if it wanted to see him; but once it did that,
the vicinity would not complain of lack of excitement for some time to
come.
It was only natural that his two sons should inherit some of this
steady, determined disposition of his, and Teddy and Roy had it in full
measure. Still, Roy’s was tempered with much of the gentleness of his
mother, and, like her, he met the world with grave, understanding eyes.
While he shared, in a measure, Teddy’s wholehearted appreciation of a
bit of horseplay, yet frequently he would see behind outward appearances
and discover things which were lost to his brother’s more superficial
glance.
Yet, in the situation existing at the X Bar X Teddy himself found plenty
of food for thought. His father had taken the warning signed “Reltsur”
with a great deal more gravity than the younger boy had thought he
would. This, in itself, was enough to convince Teddy that the matter
could not be laughed off. To add to this, the several happenings before
and after the visit of the night rider, while none of them significant
in themselves, yet totaled into an aspect calling for consideration.
The lone horseman on Mica Mountain, the day of the slide, who rode with
that slouch so reminiscent of another puncher. The delivery of the note.
The escape of the rustlers from jail. The hoofbeats behind the car as
the boys rode home from the 8 X 8. And, had they but known it, the
figure lurking near the corral on that same bright moonlight night when
the horses neighed and moved restlessly. All this presaged something.
Lucky that Froud, at least, was out of the way. Then a sudden thought
struck Teddy, and he chuckled. Perhaps it was lucky for Froud, too, that
he was safe in jail! Just before his capture he had knifed the head of
the band of rustlers of which he was a member, so that he might take the
leader’s place and thus get a larger share of the booty for himself. He
had left the man for dead, but, with a desperate effort, the leader, who
named himself Brand, which was particularly appropriate, finally reached
a cabin where Teddy and Roy had taken shelter from a storm. They had
bound up Brand’s wounds and later, out of thankfulness for their
services, he had told them of a plan the rustlers had made to steal the
cattle of the X Bar X. Then he left—left, possibly, to hunt Froud, who
had knifed him. Thus it was well for Froud that he was still in safety
behind prison bars.
Teddy’s mind was revolving these thoughts during the time that the rain
beat down upon the range, converting it into an ocean of mist, with the
mountains sticking their heads out like the tall masts of ships. But at
last a brisk wind arose, the clouds were blown away, and the sun greeted
the dripping trees with a warm smile.
That afternoon Mrs. Manley asked Roy and Teddy to take a car to Peter
Ball’s place and bring Belle home.
“I’m afraid she may have outstayed her welcome already,” their mother
added, with a smile. “She may want to bring Nell and Ethel back with
her. I don’t suppose you boys will object?”
“Well, not very loudly, Mom,” Teddy answered, with a laugh. “I know Roy
won’t, anyhow. I caught him using a rhyming dictionary the other day.”
“Like fun you did!” his brother retorted, his face fiery red. “That was
just an ordinary, plain, every-day dictionary! Where do you get that
stuff—‘rhyming dictionary’? What would I do with a rhyming dictionary?
What would be the sense of it? I don’t even know how to use one—that
is, not very well. And, anyway, that wasn’t one! It was—”
“Whoa, baby! Tighten up that cinch-strap—you’re slipping! Wow! Listen
to him, Mom! He’s going to be a politician! I can tell!”
“Well, it wasn’t a rhyming dictionary,” Roy grumbled, laughing a little.
“And you’d better take a look at the car, Teddy. We don’t want another
puncture or another scare like—like—that landslide,” he finished
quickly. “What time shall we start, Mom?”
Mrs. Manley wanted them to leave as soon as possible, so they might get
back before dark; so, making sure the auto was filled with gas and oil,
they began their journey. After the storm, the air was cool and
invigorating, and, as they rode along, Roy explained the theory of “low
pressure areas” until Teddy remarked that he thought an area was a song
from an opera. It took a minute for this to penetrate, but when it did
Roy snorted in disgust and refused to say another word until Teddy hit
an especially large bump, sending Roy flying toward the top of the car.
Even then Roy’s description of Teddy’s driving had very little to do
with opera.
“Wonder what the girls did during all that rainy weather,” Teddy
remarked, as they neared the 8 X 8.
“Curly was probably writing letters to you, which she forgot to send,”
Roy responded, with a grin. “Aside from that, I guess they talked.
Somehow, girls seem to do that especially well.”
“Think Nell and Ethel will come back with Belle?”
“Yep.”
“Golly, you sure seem positive about it. How do you know?”
“Got a hunch.”
Teddy drove on in silence for a moment.
“What’ll you bet they won’t be at home when we get there?” he said
finally.
“What do you mean—that they’ll be out riding? Well, we can wait. Bug
Eye will probably be there, an’ we can bat the sock with him for a
while. Jimminy, I don’t know what made me think he could have written
that note—and him the one who helped us capture the rustlers, too!
Well, we live and learn. I guess, after all, that message was just to
scare us. Nothing will come of it. The rustlers are probably miles away
from here by now, heading for Mexico. Chances are we’ll never hear of
them again. Come on, step on it. Mother said she wanted us back before
dark.”
As he depressed the accelerator, Teddy stole a look at his brother. Roy
had expressed the very opposite of his former declarations! Did he
really think the horse thieves had abandoned their plans for revenge?
Well, maybe so. It seemed likely, now that all this time had passed
without any sign of them. Teddy sank more deeply in the seat. If Roy
wasn’t worrying, certainly he should not!
A quarter of an hour more and they reached the yard of the 8 X 8. As
Teddy and Roy alighted, they noticed that there was no sign of activity
about the place. The yard was deserted.
“Told you they’d be out,” Teddy asserted, as the boys walked toward the
door of the ranch house.
“Riding, most likely. Guess Mrs. Ball is in, though.”
Teddy rang the doorbell and waited. In a moment the door opened, and a
large, jolly-faced woman greeted them with a smile.
“Come in, come in!” she said, beaming on them. “Glad you boys came over.
Bug-Eye was saying only the other day that he wanted to ask you about a
new kind of carburetor. Pete is out, but if you’ll sit down I’ll get you
some milk and sandwiches. Guess you can eat?”
“Right the first time, Mrs. Ball,” Roy answered, with a grin. “But don’t
go to any trouble. We’ve got to start right back—as soon as sis and
Nell and Ethel are ready. They’re out riding, I suppose?”
A puzzled look came over Mrs. Ball’s face. She hesitated when halfway to
the door, and turned.
“What do you mean, out riding?” she asked, curiously. “They’re at your
place, aren’t they?”
“At our place!” Teddy echoed. He paled slightly. “I’m—I’m afraid I
don’t understand you, Mrs. Ball. Why should they be at our place?”
“Why, you sent for them! You don’t mean to say—”
“Let’s get this straight, Mrs. Ball,” Roy said slowly. His voice
trembled just a little. “Aren’t Belle and Ethel and Nell here?”
“Why, of course not! Oh, what can have happened? Oh, my gracious! I
don’t know what I’m doing! I’m so turned around! Why, a man came
Saturday in an auto with a note from your mother, saying he was to take
the girls with him—the three of them! And they went, Belle, Ethel, and
Nell—they went with him! Why, I thought he was from your place! Oh, my
lands! what can have happened? The three girls—they’re gone—they’re
gone!”