A FACE PUZZLES DAVE
It was a time of extreme peril for Roger, and no one realized it more
fully than did Dave. The angry steer was still some distance away, but
coming forward at his best speed. One prod from those horns and the
senator's son would be killed or badly hurt.
As said before, Phil had gone on, thinking his chums would follow. He
was already at the side of his horse, and speedily untied the animal,
and vaulted into the saddle.
"Why, what's up?" he cried, in dismay, as he turned, to behold Roger in
the hole and Dave beside him.
"Roger's foot is fast!" answered Dave. "Oh, Phil, see if you can't scare
the steer off!"
"I'll do what I can," came from the shipowner's son, and rather timidly,
it must be confessed, he advanced on the animal in question. He gave a
loud shout and swung his arm, and the steer looked toward him and came
to a halt.
"You've got your gun--if he tries to horn Roger, shoot him," went on
Dave.
"I will," answered Phil, and riding still closer he swung his firearm
around for action.
Dave made a hasty examination and saw that Roger's foot was caught by
the toe and the heel, and would have to be turned in a side-way fashion
to be loosened. He caught his chum under the arms and turned him partly
over.
"Now try it," he said quickly, at the same time turning once more to
look at the steer. The beast had finished his inspection of Phil and was
coming forward as before, with head and horns almost sweeping the
ground. Behind him trailed the long lasso, which was still fast to one
of his forelegs.
"Phil! Phil!" cried Dave, suddenly. "I have it! Catch the lasso if you
can and hold him back!"
"I will--if I can," was the ready response. And making a semicircle the
shipowner's son came up behind the steer, leaped to the ground, caught
hold of the lasso, and sprang back into the saddle, almost as quick as
it takes to tell it. Then he made the rope fast to his pommel and turned
his horse back.
The steer was but two yards away from Roger and Dave when the rope on
his foreleg suddenly tightened, and he found himself brought to a halt.
He gave a wild snort, and, just as Roger found himself at liberty, he
turned and gazed angrily at Phil and his steed. Then he charged in that
direction.
"Ride for it, Phil!" called Dave, but this warning was unnecessary, for
the shipowner's son was already galloping across the field as rapidly as
the nature of the ground permitted. The horse easily kept the lasso
taut, thus worrying the steer not a little.
By Dave's aid Roger managed to hobble to where the other horses were
tethered, and soon both boys were in the saddle and riding after Phil
and the steer.
"I guess the steer is getting winded," said Dave, coming closer. "He
doesn't seem to have as much fight in him as he did."
Around and around, in a broad circle, went Phil and his horse and the
steer. But the steps of the latter were slower and slower, and presently
the beast dropped into a walk and then refused to take another step.
Phil came to a halt also, but kept the lasso tight. Then the steer lay
down on his side.
"I guess he is conquered," was Roger's comment.
The three boys kept at a safe distance and waited for the appearance of
Sid Todd and the other cowboys. Presently Todd came over the rim of the
ravine and looked around anxiously.
"Anybody hurt?" he questioned, as he ran forward.
"Roger got his ankle twisted, running away from the steer," answered
Dave.
"What did the critter do?" went on the cowboy, and Phil and the others
told their story, to which Sid Todd listened with interest. The other
cowboys also came up, to look the fallen steer over.
"He sure is a crazy one," said Yates. "If I was the boss, I'd shoot
him."
"I'll report about him as soon as I get back," answered Todd. "Say, you
had a nerve to take hold of this lasso," he went on to Phil.
"Dave told me to do it," was the answer of the shipowner's son. "It was
easy enough--when I was on horseback. I shouldn't have done it if I had
been on foot."
"Not much--unless you're a staving good runner," said Yates, with a
grin.
The steer was too exhausted to make further resistance just then, and
the cowboys had but little trouble in taking the lasso from his foreleg.
"He'll be all right after a bit," said Todd, in answer to a question
from Dave. "But I think myself he isn't just O. K. in his head, and the
next time we want some fresh meat we might as well kill him off and be
done with it."
The cowboy insisted upon looking at Roger's ankle. The member was
somewhat swollen, but the senator's son said it would not bother him to
ride home. In a little while they were off in a bunch. When quite a
distance from the ravine they gazed back and saw that the steer had
gotten up and was grazing as if nothing out of the ordinary had
happened.
"Well, we have put in a rather strenuous day for a starter," remarked
Dave, when they came in sight of the ranch home. "If this keeps up----"
"But it won't," interrupted Phil. "I reckon some days will be dull
enough."
The girls were awaiting their return, and they listened with keen
attention to what the boys had to tell.
"You must bathe your ankle with liniment," cried Belle. "I'll get some
for you," and soon she presented Roger with the stuff. He did as
directed, and soon the swollen member felt far more comfortable. During
the evening the senator's son took it easy on the wide veranda and in
the sitting-room.
"I wish I had seen the race!" cried Jessie, smiling at Dave. "Some day
you'll have to have another and let us girls look on."
"What's the matter with you girls having a race?" queried Dave. "That
would be dead loads of fun--for us boys."
"Belle would be sure to win--she can ride like the wind," answered
Laura.
As soon as it grew dark that evening the girls and boys went indoors,
and played and sang. Belle showed her skill on the piano, and Dave and
Phil tried the mechanical arrangement of the instrument, with perforated
music rolls. Almost before they realized it, it was time to go to bed.
The next morning Roger still limped a little, and it was agreed to take
it easy. All wanted to write letters, and the entire day was spent in
doing little else.
"How will the letters be posted?" asked Dave.
"Todd will take them over to the railroad station to-morrow," answered
Mrs. Endicott.
Shortly after dinner the next day, the cowboy announced that he was
ready to take the mail to the station. Phil and Roger had wandered off
to the barns, to look at some calves.
"If you don't mind, I'll go with you to the station," said Dave to the
cowboy. "The ride would just suit me."
"Glad to have you along," answered Sid Todd. He had taken a strong fancy
to the boys and to Dave in particular.
They were soon on their way, Todd carrying the mail in a bag slung over
his horse's neck. Man and boy were in the best of spirits, and both made
rapid time over the dusty roads.
"Maybe you'll meet a friend of yours at the station when the train comes
in," said Todd.
"A friend? Who?" asked Dave.
"That Merwell boy. Yates heard he was coming to-day. One of the cowboys
from Merwell's ranch said so."
"I don't know that I care to meet him," answered Dave. "He is no friend
of mine."
"That boy ought to have his hide tanned good and proper," growled the
cowboy. "He's been a sore spot here for years."
"Have you had trouble with him?"
"Yes, and so has everybody else on this ranch, and on his own ranch,
too, for the matter of that. Not that he did anything very bad,"
continued Todd. "But it's jest his mean, measly ways. He don't know how
to treat a hand civilly."
"Isn't his father the same way?"
"Sometimes, but not always. The old man knows that the boys won't stand
for too much of that thing."
"Who is at their ranch besides Mr. Merwell?"
"Oh, the regular hands, that's all."
"No young folks?"
"No."
"I should think it would be lonely for Link."
"Maybe it is. But that ain't no reason why he should act so mean," added
Sid Todd.
"I should think he'd want to invite some of his friends to visit him."
"Maybe Mr. Merwell don't want it. He's putty close, you must remember,
and it costs money to entertain."
"Well, I pity Link if he has got to stay there alone."
"He don't stay all the time. He rides to town, and smokes and gambles,
and gets into all sorts of trouble, and then he gets scared to death for
fear the old man will find it out," concluded Sid Todd.
They were soon at the station, and there found they would have to wait
half an hour for the train to come in. Several cowboys were present and
also a gentleman with a white, flowing beard.
"That is Mr. Hooper," said Sid Todd. "He owns a ranch up the river--the
Bar X. He's a fine man." And a few minutes later he introduced Dave to
the ranch owner.
"Glad to know you," said Mr. Hooper. "I heard that my friend, Endicott,
had a lot of boys and girls at his place. Tell Belle she must bring all
of you over to my place some day."
"Thank you, I will," answered Dave.
"We haven't any boys and girls there, but I reckon we can give you a
good time," went on Mr. Hooper.
Among the cowboys at the station, Dave noticed one tall and particularly
powerful fellow. His face looked somewhat familiar, and the Crumville
youth wondered if he had met the man before.
"That is Hank Snogger, the fellow who left our place to work for Mr.
Merwell," said Sid Todd, in a low voice.
"His face looks familiar to me, but I can't place him," returned Dave.
"Did he come from the East?"
"I think he did, years ago. Think you know him?"
"It seems to me I've met him before--or met somebody that looked like
him," answered Dave, slowly. He was trying in vain to place those
features.
"Don't you remember the name?"
"No."
"We ain't on very good terms any more, otherwise I'd give you a
knock-down to him," went on the cowboy.
"I don't know that I care for an introduction," answered Dave. "He
doesn't look like a person I'd want for a friend--he looks rather
dissipated."
"He was a good man when he worked for Mr. Endicott. But he's not so good
since he went over to Merwell."
There the talk about Hank Snogger ended. Once or twice the man looked
curiously at Dave.
Each time something in his face struck the youth as decidedly familiar.
Yet, try his best, the boy could not place the fellow.
"It's no use," he told himself at last. "Perhaps I don't know him, after
all. But I've seen a face like that somewhere--I am sure of it."