THE CONTESTED TRAIL
The thought that the cattle thieves should have dared to make still
another raid on the very night when the outfits of the Half-Moon
and Three Stars ranches had set out to run them to cover was so
startling that for several minutes after Tom had suggested it no
one spoke.
Larry was the first one to recover from the shock of surprise.
"There's no use in trying to guess," he declared. "We must find
out. The only way to do that, so far as I can see, is to follow
the trail and discover where it leads."
This proposition received the excited endorsement of the other two
boys, and Horace added:
"Wouldn't it be dandy if we could round up Megget and his men
before father and the others? Come on!"
"Don't be in too much of a hurry," urged Tom.
"Oh, if you are afraid to go, you needn't. I'll go alone," sneered
Horace.
Flushing at the taunt of cowardice, Tom bit his lips that he might
not say anything he should regret.
"You ought to know, Horace, that neither Larry nor I are afraid,"
he responded. "I was only thinking about your mother. We promised
her we would be back by to-morrow night. The idea of our going in
pursuit of Megget by ourselves is foolish. The thing to do is to
make sure this trail leads into the mountains and then go and try
to find your father and his men."
"Now you're talking sense," interrupted Ned.
"To find them will certainly take us longer than until to-morrow
night. In order that Mrs. Wilder need not worry, we must let her
know of the change in our plans."
"That's so," agreed Larry. "Still there is no reason for our all
going back; one is enough. Let's draw lots to see who it shall be."
"Not much," returned Horace. "So long as father and Bill are away,
I am in charge of the Half-Moon. The rest of you must do as I say.
Ned is the one to go back!"
"But you boys don't know anything about the trails," protested the
man. "You will get lost."
"We certainly can follow this one," retorted Horace hotly. "And we
can always find our way back. Just tell mother we shall join
father."
In vain the driver of the grub wagon endeavored to dissuade the
lads, but the thought of taking part in the pursuit of the raiders,
after all, made them deaf to all his arguments, and at last Horace
exclaimed impatiently:
"You are only delaying us, Ned. I say you are to return to the
ranch. That settles it. Larry and Tom and I are going to take the
trail." And, without further ado, he shook out his pony and headed
for the mountains, the two brothers at his side.
The pace at which Horace rode was terrific, and because of the hot
sun, the horses were soon covered with lather.
"Look here, we've got to go at a slower gait," announced Larry.
"If we keep up this clip, our ponies will give out. They can't
stand it and the heat, too. And if they do give out, it will be
sure to be just at the very time we need them most."
"But we'll soon be in the mountains, and then it will be cooler,"
asserted Horace. "I want to overhaul the raiders before night.
Won't father and the others feel small when they learn that we
three, whom they left behind because we were too young, have
rounded up Megget?"
"You don't mean to say that you intend for us three to tackle the
raiders alone?" exclaimed Tom.
"Why not?"
"Because we wouldn't stand one chance in a thousand--no, nor in ten
thousand--of being able to capture them. We don't know the trail
at all, and they probably are familiar with every rock and turn in
it. If they should discover that we were pursuing them, all they
would need do would be to lie in wait for us and capture us when we
came along."
The truth of what the younger of the chums said was so evident that
even the impetuous Horace was forced to admit it.
"Then what shall we do?" he asked. "If you have any better plan to
suggest, out with it."
Tom, however, could think of nothing feasible and was silent.
The boys had pulled their ponies down to a walk and for several
minutes none of them spoke.
Of a sudden Blackhawk raised his head, sniffed the air and then
uttered a low whinny.
The sound, coming so unexpectedly, scared the lads, and they looked
at one another in alarm.
"He smells something," exclaimed Horace in a whisper, as though
fearing to speak out loud.
The boys were in the lowland between two crests of the rolling
plains.
"Perhaps it's the cattle. They may be on the other side of that
rise in the plains," returned Larry.
Anxiously the three boys gazed toward the crest. The thought that
they might be close upon the very men they were chasing startled
them, and they were at a loss as to the best thing to do.
"If it is the raiders and the cattle Blackhawk scented, then
they'll be on the lookout for us," murmured Tom. "They could hear
that whinny for----"
"By jove! it is they," cried Larry excitedly. "See those horses'
ears bobbing?" And he pointed to the south.
Following his finger, his companions beheld two sharp points
steadily advancing from the farther side of the crest.
"Be ready to give it to 'em," breathed Horace, at the same time
unslinging his rifle.
But before he could get it to his shoulder the head of the horse
came into view and the next instant the head and shoulders of a man.
In a flash the chums seized their rifles.
The horseman was only about one hundred yards away, and as he
caught sight of the rifles pointed toward him he pulled his pony to
its haunches.
"Throw up your hands!" yelled Horace. "If you make a move, we'll
drop you. You are a prisoner of the Half-Moon Ranch!"
As the horseman heard the name he shouted:
"Steady, there! I'm Jim Jeffreys. What are you up to, anyhow?"
"Who's Jim Jeffreys?" demanded Larry of Horace.
"He's one of our neighbors, if it's him."
"Well, don't you know? Can't you recognize him?"
Having recovered from his fright, the boy stared at the man who had
caused it and then announced:
"Yes, it is Jim."
"It's a pity you couldn't have recognized him before!" snapped Tom
as he and his brother lowered their rifles.