"GET HEADY, BOYS!"
Anxiously the boy ranchers and the others watched the face of the
stockman as he read the message. It was rather lengthy, which
accounted for the somewhat protracted time it took Mr. Merkel to get at
the meaning of the words. But when he had read to the end he passed
the missive to his wife, exclaiming, as he did so:
"Couldn't be much worse!"
"Are they killed?" cried Nell, clasping her hands.
"No, but maybe they'd better be," grimly answered her father.
"Rosemary and Floyd are carried off by the Yaquis!" he added.
"How do you know?"
"Does the message say so?"
"Which way did they go?"
These were the questions, fired in rapid succession, by Bud, Nort and
Dick.
"That information's in the telegram," explained Mr. Merkel. "The
message is to me from the Sheriff of La Nogalique, or at least from
some one in his service, for it's signed with his name. I know him,
slightly."
"Did he see Rosemary and Floyd carried off?" Dick wanted to know.
"Not exactly. But wait. I'll read it so you may all hear," said Mr.
Merkel, taking the missive from his wife's trembling hand. "Old Hank
Fowler didn't try to get it all in ten words so we have a pretty fair
idea of what went on. Reckon he knew he didn't have to pay for that
message. It come out of the county funds I take it. Listen to this,
boys!"
Mr. Merkel read:
"'I regret to inform you that some relatives of yours were carried off
in the last raid of the Yaquis here. The Indians came over the border
from Mexico and shot up this place (La Nogalique). I was away, but
some of the boys give them a fight, and drove them off. But they took
with them some guns, cattle, what money they could steal and a young
lady and gentleman who claim to know you. The way it happened was
this. This young lady, named Rosemary Boyd, and her brother Floyd,
came here in an auto, from California. They give it out they were on
their way to Diamond X. But they hadn't more than reached town than
the Yaquis came in and shot things up.
"'The Indians took this young couple, and it was owing to the pluck of
the girl that we knew what happened.'"
"Good for Rosemary!" cried Nell. "How did it happen?"
"I'm coming to it," her father said, having paused to get his breath.
It was dry work, talking so much and under the stress of excitement,
and Nell had broken in on him.
"'As the Indians were riding away, with this young lady and her
brother,'" the message went on, "'she managed to scribble something on
a piece of paper she tore from a note book. She tossed it to one of
the cowboys who was shot in fighting the Yaquis. He brought the girl's
message to me after the fight, when I'd sent some of my men to trail
the devils. This is what the message said, and I'm sending the actual
message to you by mail. "Get word to my uncle, Henry Merkel, Diamond X
Ranch, that Floyd and I are taken. Ask him to send help." That's what
the message said and I'm doing as requested. I've sent all the help I
can, but the Yaquis got the start on us, owing to the fact that I was
out of town with a posse after rustlers. But we'll get that girl and
boy back or bust every leg we've got, Mr. Merkel. And you can send on
help if you want to and join us.'"
The lengthy message was signed with the name "Hank Fowler," and when
the reading was finished, Mr. Merkel glanced around at his listeners.
"These young folks are some kin of yours, I take it?" asked Old Billee
Dobb.
"Sure," assented the ranchman. "More of my wife's than mine, but it's
all the same. They were coming here on a visit, coming all the way
from California by auto. I thought it was rather risky when they first
wrote of it, but my wife says Rosemary is a good driver, and Floyd
almost as good."
"Is he a Westerner?" asked Yellin' Kid.
"Not born and raised here," said Mr. Merkel, "but Floyd is no
tenderfoot, and as for Rosemary--"
"She's a whole can of peaches! That's what she is!" cried Bud. "To
have the nerve to stop and scribble a message to dad when the Yaquis
had her and her brother. Clear grit I call that!"
"Sure thing!" assented Nort.
"Gee! I wish I'd been there!" sighed Dick.
"What! To be captured by the Indians and made into sausage meat?"
joked Mr. Merkel, for at times they poked a bit of fun at Dick on
account of his plumpness. Though, truth to tell, he was now not too
stout, and the life of the west had greatly hardened him.
"They wouldn't have caught me without a fight!" he bruskly declared.
"That's right! A fight!" cried Bud. "What are we going to do about
this, Dad? We can't let our cousins be carried off this way; can we,
fellows?" he demanded of his boy rancher companions.
"I should say not!" was the instant response, duet fashion.
"No, it wouldn't be right for us to sit back and do nothing," agreed
Mr. Merkel. "There aren't any too many men available to help out the
sheriff. We've got to do our share. Get ready boys!" and he looked at
his son and nephews, his glance also roving over his own aggregation of
cowboys, most of whom were now gathered in front of the main ranch
building of Diamond X.
"Where are we going?" asked Dick.
"On the trail of the Yaquis!" answered his uncle. "We can spare most
of the bunch, now that the round-up is over. You don't need many out
at your ranch, Bud. Call in all you can spare, and we'll hit the
trail!"
"Whoo-pee!" shouted Nort, whirling his horse about and setting it at a
gallop down through the corrals.
"This is news!" yelled his brother, following the lead of Nort.
"I only hope we aren't too late!" remarked Bud, when his cousins came
back to join him.
"Too late? What do you mean!" asked Nort.
"I mean to save Rosemary--and Floyd. Those Yaquis--they're regular
devils when they get on the war path! Oh, I hope we aren't too late!"
It was a hope the others shared.
Rapid action replaced the comparative quiet that reigned during the
reading of the telegram. Cowboys rode to and fro, and Bud and his
cousins prepared to depart for Diamond X Second to arrange for taking
the trail against the Yaquis.
As the boy ranchers rode off down the trail, promising to return as
speedily as possible, to join with the bunch from Diamond X, their
eager talk over the recent events was interrupted by the noise of
shouting.
"What's that?" cried Dick, looking in the direction of the noise. It
appeared to come from a swale, or depression among some small, rounded
knolls.
"Sounds like a cattle stampede," remarked Bud, urging his pony forward.
"And yet it can't be that."
Nort and Dick followed as soon as they could swing their horses about.
The sound of shouting and the thunder of the feet of many
animals--horses or steers--came more plainly to the ears of the boy
ranchers.