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[Illustration: THE BEAR WAS TRYING TO CLIMB UP ON THE ENGINE HOOD.]
THE MOTOR BOYS ACROSS THE PLAINS
Or
The Hermit of Lost Lake
by
CLARENCE YOUNG
Author of "The Motor Boys," "The Motor Boys Overland,"
"The Motor Boys in Mexico," "Jack Ranger's Schooldays," etc.
Illustrated
New York
Cupples & Leon Co.
* * * * * *
BOOKS BY CLARENCE YOUNG
=THE MOTOR BOYS SERIES=
(_Trade Mark, Reg. U. S. Pat. Of._)
12mo. Illustrated
Price per volume, 60 cents, postpaid
THE MOTOR BOYS
Or Chums Through Thick and Thin
THE MOTOR BOYS OVERLAND
Or A Long Trip for Fun and Fortune
THE MOTOR BOYS IN MEXICO
Or The Secret of the Buried City
THE MOTOR BOYS ACROSS THE PLAINS
Or The Hermit of Lost Lake
THE MOTOR BOYS AFLOAT
Or The Stirring Cruise of the Dartaway
THE MOTOR BOYS ON THE ATLANTIC
Or The Mystery of the Lighthouse
THE MOTOR BOYS IN STRANGE WATERS
Or Lost in a Floating Forest
THE MOTOR BOYS ON THE PACIFIC
Or The Young Derelict Hunters
THE MOTOR BOYS IN THE CLOUDS
Or A Trip for Fame and Fortune
=THE JACK RANGER SERIES=
12mo. Finely Illustrated
Price per volume, $1.00, postpaid
JACK RANGER'S SCHOOLDAYS
Or The Rivals of Washington Hall
JACK RANGER'S WESTERN TRIP
Or From Boarding School to Ranch and Range
JACK RANGER'S SCHOOL VICTORIES
Or Track, Gridiron and Diamond
JACK RANGER'S OCEAN CRUISE
Or The Wreck of the Polly Ann
JACK RANGER'S GUN CLUB
Or From Schoolroom to Camp and Trail
* * * * * *
Copyright, 1907, by
CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY
THE MOTOR BOYS ACROSS THE PLAINS
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. RAMMING AN OX CART 1
II. A NEST OF SERPENTS 11
III. THE DESERTED CABIN 20
IV. NEWS FROM THE MINE 30
V. TROUBLE AHEAD 39
VI. ON A STRANGE ROAD 46
VII. THE RESCUE OF TOMMY BELL 55
VIII. PURSUED BY ENEMIES 65
IX. INTO THE CAVE 72
X. ATTACKED BY A COUGAR 81
XI. A RUNAWAY AUTO 90
XII. TOMMY FINDS A FRIEND 98
XIII. THE COLORED MAN'S GHOST 107
XIV. TROUBLE WITH A BAD MAN 117
XV. THE STORY OF LOST LAKE 127
XVI. A LONELY CABIN 135
XVII. THE INDIAN AND THE AUTO 144
XVIII. LOST LAKE FOUND 152
XIX. THE GHOST OF THE LAKE 161
XX. THE MYSTERIOUS WOMAN 169
XXI. THE DEN OF THE HERMIT 175
XXII. A REVELATION 185
XXIII. SEARCHING FOR THE HERMIT 195
XXIV. THE HERMIT'S IDENTITY 203
XXV. ATTACKED BY THE ENEMY 212
XXVI. ON THE ROAD AGAIN 221
XXVII. TROUBLE AT THE MINE 227
XXVIII. ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL 237
PREFACE
_Dear Boys_:
Here it is at last--the fourth volume of "The Motor Boys Series," for
which so many boys all over our land have been asking during the past
year.
To those who have read the other volumes in this line, this new tale
needs no special introduction. To others, I would say that in the first
volume, entitled, "The Motor Boys," I introduced three wide-awake
American lads, Ned, Bob and Jerry, and told how they first won a bicycle
race and then a great motor cycle contest,--the prize in the latter
being a big touring car.
Having obtained the automobile, the lads went west, and in the second
volume, called, "The Motor Boys Overland," were related the particulars
of a struggle for a valuable mine, a struggle which tested the boys'
bravery to the utmost.
While in the west the boys heard of a strange buried city in Mexico,
and, in company with a learned college professor, journeyed to that
locality. The marvellous adventures met with are told in "The Motor
Boys in Mexico."
Leaving the buried city, the boys started again for the locality of the
mine, and in the present tale are told the particulars of some strange
things that happened on the way. A portion of this story is based on
facts, related to me while on an automobiling tour in the west, by an
old ranchman who had participated in some of the occurrences.
With best wishes, and hoping we shall meet again, I leave you to peruse
the pages which follow.
CLARENCE YOUNG.
_March 1, 1907._
THE MOTOR BOYS ACROSS THE PLAINS
CHAPTER I
RAMMING AN OX CART
Mingled with the frantic tooting of an automobile horn, there was the
shrill shrieking of the brake-band as it gripped the wheel hub in a
friction clutch.
"Hi, Bob! Look out for that ox cart ahead!" exclaimed one of three
sturdy youths in the touring car.
"I should say so! Jam on the brakes, Bob!" put in the tallest of the
trio, while an elderly man, who was in the rear seat with one of the
boys, glanced carelessly up to see what was the trouble.
"I have got the brake on, Jerry!" was the answer the lad at the steering
wheel made. "Can't you and Ned hear it screeching!"
The auto was speeding down a steep hill, seemingly headed straight
toward a solitary Mexican who was moving slowly along in an antiquated
ox-drawn vehicle.
"Then why don't she slow up? You've got the power off, haven't you?"
"Of course! Do you take me for an idiot!" yelled Bob, or, as his friends
sometimes called him, because of his fatness, "Chunky." "Of course I've
shut down, but something seems to be the matter with the brake pedal."
"Have you tried the emergency?" asked Ned.
"Sure!"
_Toot! Toot! Toot!_
Again the horn honked out a warning to the Mexican, but he did not seem
to hear.
The big red touring car was gathering speed, in spite of the fact that
it was not under power, and it bore down ever closer to the ox cart.
"Cut out the muffler and let him hear the explosions," suggested Jerry.
Bob did so, and the sounds that resulted were not unlike a Gatling gun
battery going into action. This time the native heard.
Glancing back, he gave a frightened whoop and jabbed the sharp goad
into the ox. The animal turned squarely across the road, thus shutting
off what small chance there might have been of the auto gliding past on
either side.
"We're going to hit him sure!" yelled Ned. "I say Professor, you'd
better hold on to your specimens. There's going to be all sorts of
things doing in about two shakes of a rattlesnake's tail!"
"What's that about a rattlesnake?" asked the old man, who, looking up
from a box of bugs and stones on his lap, seemed aware, for the first
time, of the danger that threatened.
"Hi there! Get out of the way! Move the cart! Shake a leg! Pull to one
side and let us have half the road!" yelled Jerry as a last desperate
resort, standing up and shouting at the bewildered and frightened
Mexican.
"Oh pshaw! He don't understand United States!" cried Ned.
"That's so," admitted Jerry ruefully.
"Vamoose, is the proper word for telling a Mexican to get out of the
road," suggested the professor calmly. "Perhaps if you shouted that at
him he might--"
What effect trying the right word might have had the boys had no chance
of learning, for, the next instant, in spite of Bob's frantic working at
the brake, the auto shot right at the ox cart. By the merest good luck,
more than anything else, for Bob could steer neither to the right nor
left, because the narrow road was hemmed in by high banks, the machine
struck the smaller vehicle a glancing blow.
The force of the impact skidded the auto on two wheels up the side of
the embankment, where, poking the front axle into a stump served to
bring the car to a stop. The car was slewed around to one side, the ox
was yanked from its feet, and, as the cart overturned, the Mexican,
yelling voluble Spanish, pitched out into the road.
Nor did the boys and the professor come off scathless, for the sudden
stopping of their machine piled the occupants on the rear seat up in
a heap on the floor of the tonneau, while Bob and Jerry, who were in
front, went sprawling into the dust near the native.
For a few seconds there was no sound save the yelling of the Mexican and
the bellowing of the ox. Then the cloud of dust slowly drifted away, and
Bob picked himself up, gazing ruefully about.
"This is a pretty kettle of fish," he remarked.
"I should say it was several of 'em," agreed Jerry, trying to get some
of the dust from his mouth, ears and nose. "You certainly hit him,
Chunky!"
"It wasn't my fault! How did I know the brake wasn't going to work just
the time it was most needed?"
"Is anybody killed?" asked the professor, looking up over the edge of
the tonneau, and not releasing his hold of several boxes which contained
his specimens.
"Don't seem to be, nor any one badly hurt, unless it's the ox or the
auto," said Ned, taking a look. "The Mexican seems to be mad about
something, though."
By this time the native had arisen from his prostrate position and was
shaking his fist at the Motor Boys and the professor, meanwhile, it
would appear from his language, calling them all the names to which he
could lay his tongue.
"I guess he wants Bob's scalp," said Jerry with a smile.
"It was as much his fault as mine," growled Chunky. "If he had pulled to
one side, I could easily have passed."
The Mexican, brushing the dust from his clothes, approached the auto
party, and continued his rapid talk in Spanish. The boys, who had been
long enough in Mexico to pick up considerable of the language, gathered
that the native demanded two hundred dollars for the damage to himself,
the cart and the ox, as well as for the injury to his dignity and
feelings.
"You'd better talk to him, Professor," suggested Jerry. "Offer him what
you think is right."
Thereupon Professor Snodgrass, in mild terms explained how the accident
had happened, saying it was no fault of the auto party.
The Mexican, in language more forcible than polite, reiterated his
demand, and announced that unless the money was instantly forthcoming,
he would go to the nearest alcade and lodge a complaint.
The travelers knew what this meant, with the endless delays of Mexican
justice, the summoning of witnesses and petty officers.
"I wish there was some way out," said Jerry.
As the Mexican had not been hurt, nor his cart or ox been damaged, there
was really no excuse for the boys giving in to his demands.
"Let's give him a few dollars and skip out," suggested Ned. "He can't
catch us."
This was easier said than done, for the auto was jammed up against a
tree stump on a bank, and the ox cart, which, the native by this time
had righted, blocked the road.
But, all unexpectedly, there came a diversion that ended matters.
Professor Snodgrass, with his usual care for his beloved specimens
before himself, was examining the various boxes containing them. He
opened one containing his latest acquisition of horned toads, big
lizards, rattlesnakes and bats. The reptiles crawled, jumped and flew
out, for they were all alive.
"Diabalo! Santa Maria! Carramba!" exclaimed the Mexican as he caught
sight of the repulsive creatures. "They are crazy Americanos!" he yelled.
With a flying leap he jumped into his ox cart, and with goad and voice
he urged the animal on to such advantage that, a few minutes later, all
that was to be seen of him was a cloud of dust in the distance.
"Good riddance," said Bob. "Now to see how much our machine is damaged."
Fortunately the auto had struck a rotten stump, and though with
considerable force, the impact was not enough to cause any serious
damage. Under the direction of Jerry the boys managed to get the machine
back into the road, where they let it stand while they went to a near-by
spring for a drink of water.
While they are quenching their thirst an opportunity will be taken to
present them to the reader in proper form.
The three boys were Bob Baker, son of Andrew Baker, a banker, Ned Slade,
the only heir of Aaron Slade, a department store proprietor, and Jerry
Hopkins, the son of a widow. All three were about seventeen years of
age, and lived in the city of Cresville, not far from Boston, Mass.
Their companion was Professor Uriah Snodgrass, a learned man with many
letters after his name, signifying the societies and institutions to
which he belonged.
Those who have read the first book of this series, entitled, "The Motor
Boys," need no introduction to the three lads. Sufficient to say that
some time before this story opens they had taken part in some exciting
bicycle races, the winning of which resulted in the acquiring of motor
cycles for each of them.
On these machines they had had much fun and had also many adventures
befall them. Taking part in a big race meet, one of them won an event
which gave him a chance to get a big touring automobile, the same car in
which they were now speeding through Mexico.
Their adventures in the auto are set forth at length in the second
volume of the series entitled, "The Motor Boys Overland," which tells of
a tour across the country, in which they had to contend with their old
enemy, Noddy Nixon, and his gang. Eventually the boys and Jim Nestor, a
miner whom they befriended, gained some information of a long lost gold
mine in Arizona.
They made a dash for this and won it against heavy odds, after a fight
with their enemies. The mine turned out well, and the boys and their
friends made considerable money.
The spirit of adventure would not drown in them. Just before reaching the
diggings they made the acquaintance of Professor Snodgrass, who told a
wonderful story of a buried city. How the boys found this ancient town
of old Mexico, and the many adventures that befell them there, are told
in the third book, called "The Motor Boys in Mexico."
Therein is related the strange happenings under ground, of the sunken
road, the old temples, the rich treasures and the fights with the
bandits. Also there is told of the rescue of the Mexican girl Maximina,
and how she was taken from a band of criminals and restored to her
friends.
These happenings brought the boys and the professor to the City of
Mexico, where the auto was given a good overhauling, to prepare it for
the trip back to the United States.
The boys and the professor, the latter bearing with him his beloved
specimens, started back for civilization, keeping to the best and most
frequented roads, to avoid the brigands, with whom they had had more
than one adventure on their first trip. It was while on this homeward
journey that the incident of the Mexican and the ox cart befell them.
Having slaked their thirst the boys and the professor went back to the
auto where, gathering up the belongings that had become scattered from
the upset, they prepared to resume their journey.
"Get in; I'll run her for a while," said Jerry.
"One minute! Stand still! Don't move if you value my happiness!"
exclaimed the professor suddenly, dropping down on his hands and knees,
and creeping forward through the long grass.