Ted Strong in Montana Part 50

Ted herded the Gray Wolves into one of the rooms and placed guards at the door and at the outside windows.

The desperadoes were thoroughly cowed. Burk was so frightened that he was willing to do anything Ted said, and cringed to the leader of the broncho boys like a thrashed cur.

"What are you goin' to do with us?" he asked Ted.

"I'm going to put you where you will no longer disgrace the office you held by the authority of the United States," said Ted promptly. "You will get all you deserve."

"Let me down easy," begged Burk.

"You don't deserve it. You will be in jail as soon as it gets light enough to march you to Rodeo."

The first thing for Ted to do was to get rid of his prisoners, then to go after Mowbray, the archcriminal, and bring him to justice, and to arrest Ban Joy, the j.a.panese thug, whom he was convinced was the murderer of Helen Mowbray.

There was one more thing that demanded his attention for the safety of the live stock as well as the people of the Bubbly Well Ranch, and that was the destruction of White Fang, the demon wolf that was as well known in that part of the country as a destructive agency as Mowbray, the thief and murderer, himself.

For years White Fang had preyed upon the ranchmen, exacting a heavy toll in cattle and sheep. Every huntsman in the country had taken to the chase for him, but the cunning old rascal had outwitted or out-footed them all.

The following afternoon the broncho boys, led by Ted Strong, marched up the main street of Rodeo to the jail with a score of desperadoes bound to their horses.

When they appeared a great many of the townspeople, friends of the prisoners, gathered and made a demonstration to take them away from the boys.

Ted immediately formed the boys in a circle about the prisoners.

With rifles trained upon the crowd the broncho boys held them off while Ted spoke to them quietly, but with a force that carried conviction. He told the people just what the prisoners had done, and what he expected to prove against them, hinting that there were other men in the town who would join them in jail if what he suspected proved to be true. Later in the day a strange thing happened: Several men in high office disappeared from the town, and were never seen there more.

Having turned his prisoners over to the sheriff, the boys rode back to the Bubbly Well Ranch, feeling safe from further depredations for a time at least.

On the lower part of the ranch the wolves had been playing havoc with the calves and the yearlings, and the major's cowboys were continually bringing in news of the depredations of the pack.

The pack was led by old White Fang, the cowboys said, and they could do nothing with him. Whatever traps they laid for him were upset by the cunning of the old rascal, and he made life miserable for the men responsible for the cattle.

"What are we going to do about him?" said the major one day to Ted. "I suppose we'd better organize a big hunt, and drive the wolves out of the country."

"No use," said Ted. "The old beggar would hide in the mountains until it was over, and then renew the attack on you."

"What do you propose, then?"

"I'm going out after him myself, and I'll not come back until I get him."

Stella, who was curled up in a big chair in the living room reading, looked up quickly when Ted said this, and smiled out of the corner of her mouth, for she scented sport in this.

"I think I'll go along," said the major.

"I'd like to have you, major, but it won't do this time. You are too heavy a rider. It will take a light rider to turn the trick with White Fang," answered Ted, and the major looked a bit taken back.

But Stella chuckled to herself. If it took a light rider, she was in that cla.s.s.

Later in the day she saw Ted and Bud go toward the corral. Ted carried in his hand a new, strong Mexican lariat.

She watched them a few minutes before she realized their mission.

"I believe they're going on the wolf hunt," she said to herself, "and without me." Her eyes flashed. "We'll see about that."

She ran into her room, and soon emerged ready for a ride. But when she got on the veranda Ted and Bud were galloping away across the prairie.

Without hesitating she ran to the corral, caught her pony and saddled it, and was in pursuit.

Ted heard the clatter of her pony's feet and turned to see her coming at whirlwind speed, and slowed up to wait for her.

"Ha, ha!" she cried, as she came up with them, her face wreathed in smiles. "Thought you'd go without me, eh?"

"Didn't think you'd care about such a commonplace thing as chasing a wolf," said Ted.

"Well, I'm going," she answered, putting her pony into a gallop.

They rode for the lower pasture, which ran up into the foothills of Sombrero Peak, where the recent depredations of the wolves had been bothering the cow-punchers.

They pa.s.sed small herds of cattle grazing here and there, attended by herders, who waved their hands to the trio as they swept past.

As they were entering the foothills Ted's keen eye caught sight of a slinking form on the rise of a hill running parallel with their path.

He reined in suddenly and looked long at it.

"By Jove, I believe that's our game over there," he said. "Take a look at it, Bud and Stella. Don't you think that is White Fang?"

"It sh.o.r.e is, er his twin brother," said Bud, to which Stella nodded acquiescence.

"Take it easy," said Ted. "We'll ride toward him, and when we get as close as we can without his bolting, put your spurs to it and chase him for all you're worth. He can run like a scared rabbit."

They rode easily toward the wolf, who looked up at them with a wise, sidewise twist of his h.o.a.ry old head, but did not increase his speed any.

"He's tolling us into the hills where he can easily get lost," said Ted.

"Don't let him do it! Head him off! Turn him back to the prairie."

Diverging, they rode parallel with White Fang again, and, before he suspected their maneuver, they were ahead of him, and began to close in.

But finally White Fang stopped and watched them for a moment, then deliberately turned and set off on the back trail at a smart lope along the ridge he had come.

"I wish we had a couple of Russian wolfhounds here," said Ted, as the three were breezing along in the trail of White Fang. "That would make it something like a chase."

"I'm bettin' that ole galoot will give us somethin' ter do before we ketch up with him, at that," said Bud.

"Close up on him," said Ted. "He's having too good a time."

They let their horses out a notch or two, and closed up on White Fang, who was off the ridge by this time, and galloping across the prairie.

The old wolf did not seem to have as much steam in him as usual, and loped along in easy fashion, occasionally looking over his shoulder at them, apparently gauging the distance and their speed.