Jack of the Pony Express Part 13

Those letters were only a dummy set, sent through the mail to throw them off the scent. They contained information of absolutely no value. I thought there might be a hold-up, Jack, though I could not tell when it would occur. So I had my friends send me back a dummy set of letters. It was those useless doc.u.ments which the hold-up men took. The real letters will come through later. It's a joke on those outlaws all right," and again Mr.

Argent chuckled.

CHAPTER XII

A RIDE FOR LIFE

Jack Bailey did not know what to do or say. He just stood there in the morning light, gazing at Mr. Argent, as though to make sure of the miner's words. Finally he faltered:

"Do you really mean it?"

"Mean it? Of course I do!" was the answer. "It's a joke on those rascals.

They've had all their trouble for their pains. They've gone off with a set of dummy letters, plans and other mining information that will take them several weeks to digest. And they'll waste a lot of time trying to locate the claim. Only they'll be from fifty to a hundred miles from it. Oh, they'll be fooled all right!"

Jack experienced a sudden revulsion of feeling. He swayed and seemed about to fall. Dr. Brown caught him.

"Hold on! This won't do!" the physician exclaimed. "We must get him home.

Why he's hurt!" he cried, as he saw the blood on Jack's hands.

"It's just some cuts--from the gla.s.s I sawed the rope on," the lad murmured. Already his strength was coming back to him. He was so glad the robbers had not obtained the real letters. It was a clever ruse on the part of the miner.

There was a spring not far from the place where Jack had recovered the mail bags, and he was given some water from this. His cuts were also washed and attended to by Dr. Brown. Then on a spare horse that had been brought along Jack rode back to Rainbow Ridge, one of the men carrying the mail and express stuff.

There was considerable excitement in town when the cavalcade returned.

Already preparations were under way for the organization of a posse to hunt the robbers, and if necessary, scour the country for Jack.

But he had been found, and the mail and express matter, except the decoy letters, recovered. So the only thing left to do was to set out after the unscrupulous men who had attacked Jack.

There was little chance that they would be apprehended, however. They had a start of several hours, and probably had good horses.

"Besides," said Mr. Argent, "they will very likely head for the supposed location of the mine. It will take them out of this immediate neighborhood," he chuckled.

"And for a good while, I hope," said Mr. Perkfeld.

"Oh yes, it will take them a few weeks to find out they've been fooled,"

the miner said. "But then they may come back again."

"If they do we'll arrest 'em!" declared Jed Monty, cracking his stage whip.

As had been expected, the posse could get little trace of the hold-up men.

They had disappeared after having cast aside the rifled mail pouches. It developed, however, that a few pieces of registered matter, and some express stuff had been taken, in addition to the bogus letters. The stolen stuff was jewelry, and there was not much chance that it would be recovered. Those to whom it was consigned would have to stand the loss.

But when it was considered that nearly all the valuable mail had come through safe, or rather, had been recovered, and that Mr. Argent's real letters were still safe, every one said it was a very lucky outcome indeed.

Jack's cuts did not amount to much, and he wanted to ride the route the next day after his experience, but Dr. Brown and his father would not let him. So a subst.i.tute was provided, furnishing his own horse, for Jack said Sunger was too tired to be used without some rest. The pony had made the trip alone, over the trail, and it was his appearance at the Watson home which had led to the alarm.

A good rest, and the knowledge that nothing really serious had happened, did much to restore Jack, and on the second day following his experience he was back in the saddle again. His cuts had been well bandaged, so he could use his hands. He was not actually required to ride the express route, but he would not let any one else do it.

"Maybe I'll get a chance to trace those robbers," he said. "I feel sure I would know at least one of them again--the man who sat on his horse all the while. I'm going to be on the watch for him."

The excitement caused by the hold-up of the pony express soon died away. In western communities there is so much going on that interest is soon shifted to newer events.

The posse that went out to seek the robbers had no luck in finding them.

All traces seemed to disappear after the bags were found in the old mine-hole. A man was kept in hiding at that place for nearly a week, ready to give the alarm if the hold-up men returned to get the pouches which they had hidden. But they did not come back.

Meanwhile Jack soon became himself again. His father, too, improved slowly, though he was far from well, and would not be able to ride the trail again for a long time.

Of course, Jennie had to hear the whole story of the hold-up from Jack himself, and she sympathized deeply with him.

"Oh, it was just terrible!" she exclaimed, in her impulsive, but sweet and girlish fashion. "I just can't bear to think of your lying out there all alone, in the dark, and tied up with ropes!"

"Well, it wasn't exactly a picnic," Jack admitted.

"And to think of your cutting yourself on the gla.s.s!" she went on, as she looked at his hands, one of which she held gently.

"Oh, it might have been worse. If it hadn't been for the gla.s.s I might have lain there a while longer, and in that case I probably would not have found the stolen mail bags, for if I had waited there until the rescuers came I'd never have walked down the trail."

"Perhaps it was all for the best," Jennie admitted. "But I do hope nothing like that happens again."

"Same here!" exclaimed Jack. "Now have you the mail ready?"

And then, for a time, it was business.

For two weeks or more Jack rode the trail, back and forth, carrying the mail and the pony express matter. He was not again disturbed, and Mr.

Perkfeld gave orders that, except in case of great necessity, he should not make night trips.

Nothing more was seen of the hold-up men, and Mr. Argent heard no news concerning his mining business. Whether or not those who had taken the bogus letters tried to locate the rich claim was not disclosed.

"But the real letters will come along some day--any day now--Jack," the miner said, "And when they do--"

"When they do no one shall get them away from me!" Jack exclaimed, and he was not boasting. He meant it. And you shall see how he kept his promise.

Several more attempts were made on the part of those who wanted Jack's place to supplant him as pony express rider. But he had made himself a favorite with the stage drivers, as well as with Mr. Perkfeld, who said Jack could keep on riding the trail until his father was ready to resume his duties. Several mean little things occurred, which, like the loose planks in the bridge, Jack felt were designed to make trouble for him. But he avoided them, fortunately, and none was as serious as the bridge incident. The author of that remained a mystery, though Jack had his suspicions.

Jake Tantrell continued to sneer at our hero. He made several efforts to get Jack's place, even offering to do the work for less money, but his offer was not accepted.

Then came an unpleasant season, when the fall rains set in. The sun seemed to have forgotten how to shine, and Jack fairly lived in his poncho, or big rubber riding blanket that went over his head, protecting him and the mail bags.

"How's the Ponto river, Jack?" asked his father one day, when the lad had stopped to speak to the invalid. "Is she rising much with all this water that's falling?"

"Yes, she's getting pretty high, Dad."

"Look out for the bridge there. It isn't any too strong, and it may go out with the high water."

"Oh, I'm not worrying about that. They've strengthened it within these last two weeks, and I guess it will hold. Still the water is high in the mountains. There's some talk of the Richfield dam not holding."

"Is that so? Well, if that goes out the folks down below will get a wetting."