The Boy Ranchers on the Trail Part 26

The others watched him, while he straightened his saddle, which had slipped around under the horse. Then d.i.c.k called up:

"It's all right. I can ride him, I reckon," which he proved by vaulting into the saddle.

"How am I going to get back up there, though?" he asked. "It's as slippery as an iceberg."

"You can't get up," Snake called down. "Don't try it. The trail up here goes along the same direction as the one down there. Keep on it until we join you."

Which d.i.c.k did, his pony, fortunately, proving to have suffered no injuries in the unexpected slide down the hill. And thus, by a narrow margin, was an accident diverted. For had the slope down which d.i.c.k plunged, because of taking the turn too suddenly, been of rock, both he and the horse might have been badly hurt, if not killed.

"Keep a lookout for that Greaser," called d.i.c.k up to his chums above him.

"I don't believe you saw any," retorted Slim. "There aren't any signs of him here."

Nor were there, though the cowboys made careful scrutiny. And afterward d.i.c.k admitted that he might have mistaken the fluttering of a bush for the hat of someone he thought a member of Del Pinzo's gang. In a short time the upper path merged into the trail below, and d.i.c.k rejoined his friends, exhibiting some scratches sustained in his perilous slide.

Together the posse rode on, making a trail back to the main defile, and out of the one down which the Greaser and his gang had turned, where they had been discovered by d.i.c.k. And then Bud's prediction came true. The sun, which never shone directly into the main canyon for any great length of time, began to set, bringing gloom into the defile long before it would make its appearance on the level country up above.

Seeing the gathering darkness, Slim advised calling a halt, and this was done several miles beyond the place where the last trace of the stolen cattle had been observed.

"Shall we camp here!" asked Bud, deferring to the foreman, as was natural under the circ.u.mstances.

"We've got gra.s.s and water," Slim remarked, indicating a spring toward which, even then, some of the horses were hastening.

"Water for the ponies and us, gra.s.s for the animals, and there ought to be some grub left."

"There is," said Snake Purdee, who had a.s.sumed, or been given (it did not much matter which) the office of commissary. "We brought along plenty."

"And we may need it before we reach the end of the trail,"

remarked Bud. "I don't believe it's going to be easy to find where those cattle disappeared to."

"There's only two ways, or at th' most three, in which they could be kept away from us," said Slim, as he slid from his saddle.

"What are they?" asked d.i.c.k, who, like his brother, was always eager to learn from a true son of the West, such as was the foreman of Diamond X.

"Well," Slim resumed, "they've either been driven down some side pa.s.sage, or gorge, such like as we found Del Pinzo in, or they were back-tracked to th' open an' driven off there th' same night they was run off."

"That might be," admitted Bud. "I didn't think of a back track."

"Well, I did," Slim said, "but the signs of it was so faint I pa.s.sed it up."

A back trail, I might explain, is where an animal, or several of them, or even a human, for that matter, turns and retraces the way first traveled. A fox, fleeing before the hounds, will often do this, and as the scent does not indicate the direction in which Reynard is running, the dogs are often deceived.

But in the case of the fox the imprints of the animal's paws are so light that perhaps only with a microscope could it be told when he had "back-tracked." Except, of course, in some place where soft mud might retain the impression of both trails.

In the case of a large body of cattle, also, though the scent would not be relied upon, it would be difficult for the casual, or, in some cases, even the trained observer, to say where the herd had been turned and driven back over the same course originally taken.

Thus pursuers would be baffled. And when to this is added the fact that the floor of the gorge was of rock, in the main, which did not take, or retain, any impressions, the puzzle was all the more difficult to solve.

"Well, we'll see what happens in the morning," observed Bud, as preparations for the camp went on.

The usual watches were set that night, two of the posse being constantly on guard. It was rather nervous work for the boy ranchers, especially Nort and d.i.c.k, as they started at every chance sound which seemed to echo so loudly in the darkness. And once d.i.c.k, who was taking the tour of duty with Yellin' Kid, suddenly fired at an object he saw moving.

It was only a luckless coyote, as was evidenced by the howl of pain that followed the report of d.i.c.k's gun, and then the night was made hideous and sleepless, for the time, by the chorus of weird howls from the other slinking beasts who were hanging about, hoping for something to eat.

However, it was nearly morning when d.i.c.k did his shooting, and a little later they all turned out for an early breakfast, the odor of the coffee and sizzling bacon producing an aroma finer than that of the most costly French perfume.

"And now for the day's work!" exclaimed Bud, when they were once more ready to set off on the trail.

"And may we find something!" was the fervent pet.i.tion of d.i.c.k.

Off they started, refreshed by the night's halt and eager for what lay before them.

I shall not weary you by a recital of all the minor incidents of the day, how they found many false trails and leads, several of which at first seemed promising, but all of which led to nothing.

It was Bud who made the real discovery which, eventually, led to the solving of the mystery. Bud had alighted from his pony, when the halt was made for the noonday lunch, and was climbing up the side of the rocky hill which extended for miles and formed one wall of the gorge.

"Looking for gold?" asked d.i.c.k, as he saw his cousin pick up and examine several rocks.

"Sure!" was the laughing answer. "Might find the bones of another Triceratops, too!"

Bud reached forward to pick up something else, and a rock slipped from beneath his foot. He had been resting heavily on it, and the sudden lurch threw him backward. To save himself he clutched at the nearest object, which happened to be a bush growing in the side of the hill. For a moment it seemed that this would save the lad from at least sliding down the declivity, but the bush was not deeply rooted and, in another moment pulled out in the ranch boy's hands. He flung up his arms, and almost toppled over backward, but managed to throw himself forward, and then he slid down several feet.

"Hurt!" called up d.i.c.k, ready to hasten to his cousin's aid.

"No, but my shoes are full of gravel. Next time I come up a place like this I----"

Bud suddenly ceased speaking, and began to scramble up the side of the shale-covered hill almost as fast as he had slid down.

Then, as he reached the place whence the bush had pulled out he seemed to be looking into some crevice or opening.

A moment later he turned, looked down on the party gathered in the defile below him, and shouted:

"I've found 'em! I've found 'em! Here they are, in one of the queerest places you can imagine! Come up here and look!"

CHAPTER XXIII

THE FIGHT

Scrambling up the side of the gorge, slipping and sliding back, almost like the frog in the well, d.i.c.k, Nort and the cowboys reached Bud's side. He maintained his footing only by constantly working his way upward, for the shale, at this point, was almost like fine sand, and kept slipping down, taking the boy rancher with it. But there were bushes growing here and there, and by holding to these, taking care not to pull them out by the roots, Bud managed to stay about where he had been when he made the amazing discovery.

For it was an amazing discovery, as all the others admitted when they reached his side, and looked through the fissure which had been disclosed when Bud pulled out the big bush by which he tried to save himself a fall.

"What is it?' cried Nort.

"And where are they?" demanded d.i.c.k.

"It's our cattle! They're inside there--a place like a football stadium only there aren't any seats," explained Bud, breathlessly.