KEEPING UNDER COVER
Down the trail were coming ten or a dozen cowboys, spurring and lashing
their horses and riding like mad in the direction the first rider had
taken.
It was a thrilling sight, and the boys' hearts were beating like
trip-hammers as they crouched lower behind their screen of bushes and
took in every detail of the chase.
The riders reached the little river and plunged in without drawing
rein. The water splashed high over horses and riders drenching them to
the skin.
Through the shallows the horses struggled and climbed up the further
bank. The trail left by the fugitive was broad and plain and the
pursuers had no trouble in picking it up. Once more the cavalcade
settled down into that swift, relentless pounding of hoofs, and a
moment later had disappeared over a slight swell in the prairie.
The Fairview boys looked at each other with shining eyes. They had been
eye witnesses of what promised to end in a tragedy.
"Do you think they'll catch him?" queried Bob in a voice that was
shaking with excitement.
"They're sure to," answered George. "His horse had two to carry and the
fellows after him had a horse apiece. A man can't get away under such
odds unless he can throw his pursuers off his track."
"There doesn't seem much chance to do that," put in Frank. "The prairie
seems open for miles."
"What do you suppose the fellow's done?" asked Bob.
"Maybe he killed a man and rode away with the man's wife or daughter,"
guessed Sammy; "and in some way or other the neighbors got wind of it
and set out to get the girl back."
"She seemed to be dead," hazarded Frank.
"Only fainted I guess," said Bob.
"What do you suppose they'll do to him if they catch him?" asked Sammy.
"Likely enough they'll hang him or shoot him," replied George. "I
wouldn't like to be in his place just now."
"I'm sure I've seen his face before," said Sammy.
"Where?" asked Frank.
"In the train near Grand Forks," answered Sammy. "I'm sure he was one
of the men who had that black box. I told you that those fellows were
bad ones."
"It may not have been the same man at all," said George. "He was riding
so fast that you couldn't make sure of him."
"Well, I'd like to know whether they caught him or not," said Frank.
"Suppose we get our horses and follow them a little way," suggested
Bob, eagerly.
The boys grasped the idea with enthusiasm.
"Come along!" cried George. "I don't believe we'll have to go very far
anyway. Those fellows were so close behind that maybe they've caught
him by this time."
There was a hurried mounting of their horses, and the boys set out in
the direction taken by the fugitive and his pursuers.
But as they approached the swell in the prairie that amounted almost to
a ridge, George counseled prudence.
"Perhaps we'd better get off the horses here and creep to the top of
the ridge and look over," he said. "We don't know what those fellows
might think about our butting in and we'd better keep out of sight as
far as we can."
They followed his suggestion, climbed on foot to the top of the ridge
and looked over.
The sight that met their eyes was fully as thrilling as the chase
itself had been.
[Illustration: THE SIGHT THAT MET THEIR EYES WAS THRILLING.]
The pursuers had overtaken the man who had been trying so desperately
to escape. The whole party were off their horses and gathered under a
huge cottonwood tree. The girl had recovered from her faint and was
standing with her head leaning on the shoulder of a stalwart young man
who supported her tenderly.
"I'll bet that's her brother or her beau," whispered Sammy.
"He seems to be mighty glad to get her back," commented Bob.
"What's become of the fellow who was taking her away?" asked Frank.
"I don't see him," replied George, scanning the group. "Perhaps he's
been shot."
"We'd have heard the sound of the shot if he had."
"There he is," cried Sammy, eagerly.
For just then the crowd gathered under the cottonwood had opened up a
little, and, in the center of the group, the boys saw the fugitive with
his hands tied behind his back.
But it was not this that caused the gasp of horror that came from them
all at once.
Around the man's neck was a noose and the other end of the rope was
thrown over a bough of the tree.
"Oh," exclaimed Sammy, growing pale, "they're going to hang him!"
"Looks like it," said Frank with chattering teeth.
"It's awful!" exclaimed George. "He ought to have a trial anyhow."
In their excitement the boys had almost risen to their feet, and just
at that moment some one under the tree caught sight of them and pointed
them out to his companions.
"They've seen us!" cried Bob.
"We'd better skip out," said Frank.
"They'll be sore at us for being witnesses," declared Sammy. "They want
to keep this thing among themselves. Let's get back to the river as
fast as we can."
They jumped on their horses and rode pell-mell back to the shelter of
the fringe of woods along the river bank.
They looked back and were relieved to find that no pursuers were in
sight.
"Still that doesn't prove anything," said George. "They may think that
while they're about it they might as well get the lynching over with.
Then they can come down here and attend to us afterward."
"They might make us take an oath that we wouldn't tell of anything
we've seen," suggested Sammy.
"I don't suppose they'd do anything worse than that to us," answered
George, "but that itself might get us into a whole lot of trouble. The
safest thing just now is to keep out of their way."
"They'll have no trouble in finding us if we stay here," remarked Frank.
"I'll tell you what we'd better do," said George, after thinking for
a moment. "Let's hunt up that old boat Mr. Claxton told us was hidden
a little way up the river. Then we can get in that and row along the
stream and lead the horses after us in the water. In that way they
won't leave any tracks and these fellows can't tell in what direction
we've gone."
The boys thought that this was a splendid idea. They scattered at once
and soon found the hiding place of the old flat-bottomed boat. There
was a serviceable pair of oars, and though there was a little water
in the bottom of the boat, they speedily bailed this out. They pulled
out into the middle of the little stream, George and Sammy handling
the oars, while Frank and Bob sat in the stern holding the ropes they
had attached to the horses, who splashed into the river and followed
without holding back.