THE TELEGRAM
While the wind fluttered in his hand the letter from Rosemary, telling
of her plans to visit Diamond X with her brother, and while Mr. Merkel
looked anxiously at Billee Dobb on his panting steed, a far-off look
was in the eyes of the ranchman. Bud thought he knew what his father's
air portended, and he was eager to speak, but he, as well as the
others, felt the tenseness of the situation, and waited for what might
come next.
Nell was about to speak, to voice her gladness that a girl companion
was to come to the ranch, when Mr. Merkel remarked:
"How come you heard all this, Bill--I mean about the Yaquis? None of
it filtered here until you come up sweating lather!"
"I met one of the deputy sheriffs in town," explained the veteran cow
puncher. "He'd just got a telegraph message tellin' him to be on the
lookout, as the redskins might be headed this way."
"Whoop-ee!" yelled Bud, flapping his hat down on his pony's flank,
thereby causing the animal to leap sideways. "Think of it! Indians!
Whoop-ee!"
"It's dreadful!" murmured Ma Merkel. "I don't like to think about it!"
"But, Aunt, we have to think of it if the Yaquis are coming this way,"
spoke Nort. "We want to think of it to protect you and Nell!"
"That's right!" added Dick, while some of the cowboys grinned at the
eagerness and impetuosity of the boys.
"Shucks!" exclaimed Mrs. Merkel, getting back her nerve. "Those Yaquis
are nothing more than a lot of Greasers, anyhow. They'll turn home at
the first sight of a few of the sheriff's posse. I don't believe I'll
worry after all."
"That's right!" shouted Yellin' Kid. "No need to worry when the bunch
from Happy Valley joins with the Diamond X outfit! We're a match for
all the Yaquis that never washed!"
"Let's don't be too sure of that, boys," cautioned Mr. Merkel. "What
more did you hear, Billee Dobb? Is it at all serious? How many of the
imps broke loose?"
"That I don't know, there's enough of 'em to make the government take
action. Some of the regular troops have received orders to move, and
they're on their way now. If there were only a scattered few of the
Yaquis, Uncle Sam wouldn't be so anxious. They've raided one Arizona
town, I heard."
"They have!" cried Nort, Dick and Bud in a breath.
"Why this must have happened several days ago," exclaimed Mr. Merkel.
"The Yaquis are quartered some distance from here, and news doesn't
travel as fast as all that. How do you account for it, Billee?"
"Well, the fellow who told me got his information from one of those
scavengers," explained Billee.
"_Scavengers_!" cried Bud.
"Yes, you know--one of them fellers that go up in flyin' machines,"
explained the old cow puncher.
"Oh, you mean _aviators_!" exploded Bud, trying not to laugh.
"Well, something like that, yes," admitted Billee. "Word of the rising
of the Indians was sent out by wireless, and some of the flying
machines were ordered to the border. One of 'em who was flying around
here had tire trouble, or something like that, and had to come down.
It was from him the boys back in town got some of the news, and the
deputy sheriff gave out the rest.
"Oh, the Yaquis are risin' up all right, and they may come out here. I
rode over like a prairie fire to let you folks know. We've had trouble
enough here at Diamond X and I didn't want any more."
"Much obliged to you, Billee," said Mr. Merkel. "Did you happen to
hear what town it was in Arizona that the Yaquis raided?"
"It was La--La--wait a minute now. It was one of those crazy Spanish
names. I'll tell you--La--La--La Nogalique--that's it!"
"La Nogalique!" cried Mr. Merkel, and he looked at the letter from
Rosemary.
"That's her!" affirmed the cowboy.
"Why--why!" exclaimed the ranchman, "that's the way they were
coming--in their auto! La Nogalique! They might have been there--"
"Who were coming?" asked his wife quickly.
"Rosemary and Floyd; They'd be there just about--when was that raid,
Billee Dobb?" cried Mr. Merkel.
"Last Friday!"
The ranchman whistled.
"That's bad!" he murmured. "Bad!"
"Would Rosemary and her brother have reached there by then?" asked Mrs.
Merkel.
"Just about," her husband replied slowly. "Just about! This looks
bad! Boys, we've got to do something! Those Yaquis may just be off on
a little harmless jamboree, or they may be excited by a lot of their
Medicine Men, or whatever they call 'em! Once let 'em get on the
rampage, half Mexicans as they are, and we won't know what to expect!
It looks bad! I'm glad the round-up is over. It gives us time. Boys,
I think--"
But what he thought Mr. Merkel did not disclose--at least for the time
being. The attention of all was again attracted by the sound of rapid
hoofbeats, and, looking toward the trail that led to town, a horseman
was seen riding toward Diamond X. By the manner of his approach it was
easily assumed that he came on no ordinary errand.
"More news of the Indians, or I miss my guess!" murmured Bud.
And while the solitary horseman is rapidly approaching, I will endeavor
to imitate his speed in acquainting my new readers with a little of the
past history concerning the boy ranchers as they have played their
parts in the previous books of this series.
The initial volume is entitled "The Boy Ranchers," and tells how Nort
and Dick Shannon went to visit their cousin, Bud Merkel, on the ranch
of the latter's father. This ranch, Diamond X, was in a western state,
not far from the Mexican border. And, as you know, the Yaqui Indians
were, in the main, a tribe of Mexican Redmen, who made their home
partly in the Land of Montezuma and partly in Arizona, as best pleased
them. Efforts were made by the Mexican Government to keep the Yaquis
on a reservation, but the efforts were not always successful.
Mr. Merkel was a ranchman of experience, and planned to have his son
follow in his footsteps. This Bud was eager to do, and when his
cousins came he saw a chance for them to get into the cattle raising
business on their own account.
This they did, but not before they had solved a strange mystery
centering about Diamond X. As you may recall, the ranch was named
after the brand used to mark its cattle--an X within a diamond outline.
The mystery solved, the boy ranchers turned their attention to other
matters, and these are related in the second volume, "The Boy Ranchers
In Camp." Mr. Merkel, by using an ancient underground water course
beneath Snake Mountain, had brought much-needed moisture to a distant
valley he owned, thus making it possible to use it as a place for
raising cattle. This new ranch, variously called Happy Valley, Diamond
X Second, and Buffalo Wallow, was given in charge of the boys to
experiment with. They were allowed to raise cattle on their own
responsibility. Without water Diamond X Second was out of the
question. And the story in the second book has to do with the efforts
of Del Pinzo, a dangerous character, and others, to drive away the
boys. There was a fight over water rights, and another desperate
fight, involving some strange ancient secrets.
The third book, "The Boy Ranchers on the Trail," deals with the boy
ranchers after they have become full-fledged "cow punchers." So
successful were they in Happy Valley that they incurred the enmity of
Del Pinzo and his followers. Cattle rustlers stole many valuable
steers from Bud and his cousins, and it was not until after a desperate
encounter that the unscrupulous men were defeated.
Then, for a time, peace settled down over Diamond X and the boys'
ranch. The spring round-up was over, and a successful year begun, when
the ordinary course of events was interrupted in the manner I have set
down in the beginning of this book--by news that the Yaquis had risen.
All eyes were turned on the solitary horseman, who rode fast on the
heels of Billee Dobb. As this rider came nearer, it could be seen that
a paper fluttered in his hand.
"Special delivery letter, maybe," ventured Dick.
"Maybe," admitted Bud.
"I--I have a feeling that it's bad news," murmured Mrs. Merkel to Nell.
"Maybe not," Bud's sister whispered. "It may be only a rush order for
cattle to be shipped.
"All that were fit have been shipped," her mother said. "I'm
afraid--I'm afraid--"
With a shower of gravel, scattered by the sliding feet of his
hastily-reined pony, the man drew up in front of the group.
"Mr. Henry Merkel here?" he asked, crisply.
"Here," said Bud's father, quietly.
"Got a telegraph message for you. It's from La Nogalique!"
"La Nogalique!" murmured Mr. Merkel. "Oh, I hope Rosemary--"
With a rapid motion Mr. Merkel tore open the yellow envelope.