The Broncho Rider Boys on the Wyoming Trail Part 1

The Broncho Rider Boys on the Wyoming Trail.

by Frank Fowler.

CHAPTER I.

ALONG THE WYOMING TRAIL.

"Getting near the end of our long ride, ain't we, Adrian?"

"Another night out ought to finish our great gallop from the Arizona border away up into the Wyoming cattle country, Billie."

"Huh! mebbe I ain't just glad to hear that news now. This broncho riding business may be all very well for a while; but a fellow can get too much, even of a good thing; ain't that so, Donald?"

"I've found that out myself many a time, and 'specially around the Christmas stuffing season, Billie. But you'll admit that our horses have held out well. Wireless is about as willing as when we started from my home weeks back."

"That's right, and so is Jupiter here, which is a wonder, considering that I'm nearly as heavy as my two saddle chums combined. Time was when Jupiter kept me guessing which way he had made up his mind to throw me off; but he don't act like a crazy thing any more."

"No, you cured him of that trick, all right, Billie, though we thought he'd break that stubborn neck of yours in the bargain," laughed the boy called Adrian.

"And you stick to the saddle like a burr these days, because you can ride just as well as-well, you can eat, which is going some, if I do say it," went on the third of the young riders, whom the fat boy had called Donald.

Billie laughed merrily, showing that he was a good-natured chap, and could take a joke, even when it was on himself, which is more than some lads are able to do, the more the pity.

While they plod on in this way, heading toward a group of houses where they hoped to find a wayside tavern at which they might secure some sort of a lunch, for they did not wish to stop to do any cooking at noon, we may as well take advantage of the opportunity to introduce these three lively boys to those readers who may not have had the good fortune to meet them before in earlier volumes of this Western series of books.

Donald Mackay was the son of a well-to-do ranchman located down along the Arizona border, where he carried on his cattle business at Keystone Ranch; and was at the same time heavily interested in certain copper mines situated among the mountains.

Adrian Sherwood was a friend, and a chum of Donald's, who had spent a long stretch with the Mackays, so that he almost looked upon their home as his own. He was an orphan, and owned a cattle ranch of his own up here in Wyoming, which had for a long time been managed by his Uncle Fred Comstock; but which the young fellow had not visited for a term of years, ever since meeting Donald, in fact.

During the last twelve months or so he had been receiving very disappointing returns from his property. All sorts of evil things had apparently swooped down on the valuable ranch, which had once been known under another name, but now went by that of the Bar-S outfit.

Adrian had bothered very little about it at first, but as these bad returns continued, his curiosity was aroused; and finally he found himself tempted to visit his property secretly, without warning his uncle of his coming. In this way he hoped to see for himself just what strange things were taking place up here in what was once the finest cattle country, barring none, in all the Wild West.

The third member of the trio of riders was named William Stonewall Jackson Winkle. Hence it would go without saying that he came of an intensely patriotic Southern family, one or more of whose members must have ridden with the famous Confederate general in those terrible days of the Civil War; though the Winkles now lived in the North, and Billie's father was a rich New York lawyer.

The boy had really been sent to pay a year's visit to his cousin, Donald, in the hope that the bracing air and breezy life of a cattle ranch, with plenty of outdoor exercise thrown in, might reduce his flesh more or less; and the cure had been fairly successful.

While Billie was still an enormously fat chap, his muscles were no longer flabby, but "hard as nails," as he often joyously avowed. He had come out West a genuine tenderfoot or greenhorn, only knowing how to ride fairly well; but gifted with an extraordinary stubborn disposition that forced him to keep "plugging" away at any thing he wished to learn until it _had_ to succ.u.mb.

So he had conquered the vicious pony named Jupiter, which none of the cow-punchers had had the patience to break of his evil ways. For a long time it was an open question whether Billie would break the pony, or the latter break Billie's neck; but in the end the determined boy had won out. And from that day on they delighted to call the fat chum Broncho Billie.

Down in Arizona these three lads, known far and wide as the Broncho Rider Boys because they were nearly always seen galloping swiftly over the plains on their mounts, either in pursuit of game, runaway cattle, or just for a wild lark, had of course met with numerous exciting experiences.

Some of these will be found narrated in previous volumes of this series, to which the reader who would know more about the saddle pards, is referred.

They had made the journey of hundreds of miles mounted on their horses, and taking things rather easy. With them they carried rifles, and some cooking utensils as well as blankets; for many a night they camped just as they found themselves in the open, making themselves fairly comfortable. At other times they put up at roadside taverns, especially when a bad spell of weather came along, and the chance for shelter offered.

From what Adrian had said to the stout chum, they were now close to the end of their long journey, with their mounts in tiptop condition.

Indeed, he had a.s.sured Billie that this night would in all probability be their last on the Wyoming trail, as they should reach Bar-S Ranch before another sundown succeeded the one that was before them.

Billie liked riding, but being such a heavy fellow he longed for a change. To his mind a few days spent in lying around and taking things easy would be a delight. At times he joked, and told his chums that if they kept him on the jump much longer he would be able to get a job in some dime museum as the Living Skeleton; but somehow this doleful information did not appear to cause either Adrian or Donald any alarm.

They would look him over critically, and then grin, as they shook their heads in the negative, as though unable to detect any difference in his heft nowadays from what it used to be when they left Keystone Ranch.

In this way they rode in among the houses that formed a prairie village.

Farms doubtless lay scattered around, with the owners preferring to live in a community, and ride out to their work every day, either in wagons, or the latest thing in automobiles, which were already becoming very common on the plains.

Seeing an awkward, half-grown boy, who looked as though he might be connected with the tavern in front of which they had halted, Adrian called out to him.

"We want to stop over and get some lunch; can you have our ponies fed, and then brought around to the hitching fence again, after being watered?"

"Reckon I kin, boss," replied the boy, who was a rather silly looking fellow, Billie thought, and who kept staring at him so hard that he rather fancied he had never before set eyes on so stout a youth; he even grinned and chuckled while taking the bridle reins of the three ponies, and continued to stare at Billie until the three travelers had disappeared in the tap-room of the tavern.

"Seems like you made a hit with that fellow, Billie," remarked Donald, chuckling.

"Well, I ain't proud of my conquest," muttered the fat boy, who had not felt easy under the bold stare of the hostler; "he hain't got the sweetest face I ever set eyes on; and 'peared to me he might be close to a fool."

"Here's the landlord," remarked Adrian, and turning to the tall man who came bustling forward, he continued: "We'd like to have something warm to eat, if you can give it to us in a short while; your stable boy has taken our ponies around to bait and water. Are we in time for dinner?"

"Be ready in ten minutes, and glad to hev you along with us," replied the other.

They found that the dinner, while limited in variety, was very good, and with an abundance that pleased Billie especially, for the fat chum was a great eater.

Having satisfied their appet.i.tes Donald and Adrian gave Billie a little extra time. They recognized the fact that he had to eat for nearly twice their weight; and had only one set of jaws with which to do the masticating, as Billie often complained, when they reproached him for lingering over the spread.

But finally even he had to confess that he could devour no more, though he did shake his head when leaving the table, as though it was against his principles to allow so much to remain after he had dined.

The horses were already fastened at the rail out at the front door, and having settled for the accommodation, besides leaving a generous tip for the hostler who did not appear to be around, they mounted and rode off; at least Donald and Adrian did without any trouble.

Billie, however, was not so fortunate. Jupiter acted very queer, after having had his wild spirit so well brought under subjection by his young master long ago. He shook his head, and snorted, as though afraid of something, even prancing hither and thither as if unwilling to let Billie get into his saddle.

"Whoa! you silly thing!" shouted the fat boy, with a foot in the stirrup; and then, seeing that Jupiter was bound to make him try his best to mount this time, Billie suddenly threw himself upward, and as his other leg pa.s.sed over the saddle he found himself seated.

Hardly had he done so than Jupiter commenced a series of prancings and buckings of the same type as of old, evidently objecting strenuously to Billie's weight. Not being able to dismount his young master in this way the really frantic pony suddenly dashed furiously along, pa.s.sing both the others like a shot. And Billie, as he left the village tavern in the lurch, believed he heard a discordant shriek of boyish laughter that, it struck him, must have come from the throat of the ugly stable boy who had stared so hard at him and grinned like an ape!

CHAPTER II.

THE STRANGE ACTIONS OF JUPITER.

"h.e.l.lo! what ails Billie and his mount now?" burst out Adrian, as the fat chum went flying past, with Jupiter acting like a crazy thing, stopping short every little while to "buck," and leap, and dance wildly, after which he would go off again like the wind.

They started their own bronchos along at a lively pace in order to keep Billie in sight, at least.