Mason of Bar X Ranch

“This is going to be a delicate mission,” the Marshal continued, “and at the least sign of a slip-up on our part, that beast will butcher those girls. Ricker is a desperate man and I am waiting for him to show his hand. He knows that I will be sent after him, and the fact that he has the girls and Percy in his power forces me to move with caution. I have a suspicion that he will try to get word through to us as to his demands. That is the reason why I am in no hurry to take to the mountains, and I want you to be here when that word comes. Rest content that the girls will be safe, for I am convinced that his first demand will be for money.”

An hour later the next section left in charge of the Gaylor brothers. When noon came, Mason was almost going mad at his inaction. He was electrified five minutes later when Scotty came to the house with news that a dispatch rider was waiting for him at the bunk-house. He hastened down and the message was placed in his hands. It was from Josephine and was written at the command of Ricker. The demand was for money with a warning not to try to find the girls under penalty of their death. If they agreed to pay over the amount of money demanded in the dispatch, Ricker would see that the prisoners were set free.

He stipulated in the message that they would be given forty-eight hours to decide, and at the expiration of that time, if a messenger did not arrive at Duke Williams’ place at Smoky Point, the prisoners would be killed.

It closed with a warning to Mason and Bud that any attempt to capture Ricker’s agent at Duke Williams’ hotel would result in the girls’ death.

The message was written in Josephine’s own handwriting.

“Where did you get this message?” Mason asked, looking sharply at the rider.

“It was given me at the station by a stranger and I was paid well to deliver it to you,” the rider answered simply.

“There will be no answer,” Mason said shortly, dismissing him.

He kept turning the envelope over in his hand. On one corner there was drawn the picture of a butterfly, and it puzzled him. Hunting up the Marshal he turned the message over to him.

The latter read it, then gave a long whistle.

“So, he has shown his hand at last,” was his comment; “whew! a cool million he wants. Modest in his demands, isn’t he?”

“What puzzles me,” Mason replied, “is what that butterfly means on the corner of the envelope.”

The Marshal looked it over carefully.

“Just merely the whim of a girl,” he said at length.

“I don’t believe it,” Mason protested warmly. “Josephine drew that picture on there for a purpose, and I would stake my life on it.”

“There may be a reason for the picture at that,” the Marshal replied thoughtfully; “well, anyway, the counterfeiter has shown his hand, and now I can work with light ahead.”

The Marshal’s forces were to start within an hour.

Mason with Red Sullivan and Scotty were looking over their guns at the bunk-house.

Tex, a short distance away from them, was watching an object in the sky. Finally he called Red over to where he stood, and Red in turn called Mason over to them.

“Shure, Jack, and isn’t that a devil of a big bird?” the Irishman asked, pointing to the sky.

Mason looked up and stared at the object which was looming up larger to their vision each minute.

“That’s an airplane,” he said at last in wonderment.

“Holy Saints!” Red cried, crossing himself, “and may the devil fly away with it!”

Mason could plainly hear the humming of the motor now, and he took off his hat and waved it excitedly.

“Tex, call Trent Burton to come here at once,” he said, a glad ring to his voice. “Red, I’ll bet your old red head, that’s my friend Roy Purvis the aviator, from New York.”

The airplane came down in graceful spirals and made a landing a short distance from the corral. Mason rushed over and the aviator offered him a languid hand which Mason shook heartily.

“Roy, you’re just the man I want to see,” he cried, “you dropped out of the sky just in time.”

“I’ll say I did, I was all out of gasoline, you know,” the aviator answered, leaning languidly back in his seat gazing interestedly at the cowboys who stood looking him and the airplane over in open-mouthed wonder.

“Am I welcome?” Roy questioned, turning his attention again to Mason.

“Certainly you’re welcome. What makes you think you wouldn’t be welcome to Bar X ranch?” Mason demanded.

“Well, be a good fellow and help unstrap me from this confounded seat, and when we get to the house I’ll tell you,” he answered whimsically.

Mason called one of the cowboys over to assist him. In a small compartment back of the aviator’s seat was his luggage. It consisted of four suitcases and a black object resembling a tank about the size of a suitcase. Roy took especial charge of this black tank.

“Why all these warlike preparations?” he queried, noticing the bristling guns of the cowboys. “Looks like I had dropped into a fighting man’s country for fair.”

“I’ll explain the whole business to you when we get to the house and you have had some refreshments,” Mason answered.

“Hang the refreshments,” Roy growled, with another puzzled look at the cowboys with their revolvers and saddle guns.

At the house, after having been introduced all around, he surprised Mason by asking him if there was a dark room in the house.

“No,” the latter answered with a blank look, “but I think we could rig you up one.”

“Friends,” the aviator said with a look into their anxious faces, “I can see that you are in some kind of trouble, and from a hint that my friend Mason dropped, I think I can help you out. Just rig me up that dark room, Jack, and I will show you something that will surprise you.”

“There is a small closet in my room and you can use it,” Mason said quickly.

Taking the mysterious black tank with him the aviator left them and was in the room for a half hour. When he came out he held a number of films in his hands.

“Before I join these films together,” he said to his mystified audience, “I want to tell you of a little incident that happened to me this morning. Starting from a town about a hundred miles from here, and depending entirely on my compass, for I had no idea where the Bar X ranch lay, I crossed the railroad track at a point fifty miles below here.

“If you remember, there was a slight mist this morning, making it difficult to distinguish objects unless I flew quite low. Knowing I had a good supply of gasoline I opened the engine up wide and flew at a high altitude and drifted aimlessly in the hope that the mist would soon clear away.

“My wish was soon granted, but, to my surprise, I found myself flying over your wonderful mountains and hopelessly lost. Bringing the airplane around, I determined to cruise in the opposite direction.

“Flying at a lower altitude, I was surprised to see a group of men directly under me. The place was an ideal spot to land, and shutting off the engine I began to make spirals, at the same time taking this series of films you see in my hand.

“One of the men commenced to fire a revolver at me, and thinking it wouldn’t be healthy to land among them, I started my engine. After much difficulty, I succeeded in reaching this ranch. I didn’t know what ranch it was, but for once I was lucky.”

The aviator joined the films together and held them out to their startled eyes. It was a complete picture of the counterfeiter’s retreat in the mountains and showed the two girl prisoners!

“This is wonderful,” the Marshal exclaimed. “Bud, do you think you have a man that can locate this place?”

“I know right where it is,” Bud replied, breathing heavily. “It is dead easy to find, but hard to get at. It can be taken all right, but if we force the position, they are sure to kill the girls.”

Mason was making a close examination of the films.

A semicircle of rock showed plainly, and as near as he could judge, about two hundred yards back from this semicircle there was a flat table rock, backed by a cliff that rose hundreds of feet in the air.

A cabin, showing the two girls outside looking up at the sky, was plainly visible.

Mason called Bud over to him.

“Bud, you say you know where this place is?” he questioned him.

The latter nodded.

“And the only point of attack is this semicircle of rock,” Mason continued, “and if we rush that point there is nothing to prevent Ricker from killing the girls before we could get to them.”

“That’s just the way I figure it out,” Bud agreed.

“Well, I have a plan that has a chance of success,” Mason said grimly. “If we should pay those cutthroats the money they demand, we are not sure they will keep their word about delivering the prisoners safely to us. We have just got to go in and get them.

“My plan is to dynamite this semicircle of rock, then rush in and get the girls before Ricker’s men can recover from their surprise. They are sure to guard that point every minute. Let me have Scotty to draw their fire while I lay the blasting charge. They know what a reckless daredevil Scotty is and as I will keep out of sight they will think he is attacking them single-handed, and they will all be busy trying to pick him off. When the blasting charge goes off you can rush the position and capture them before they recover from their surprise.”

“That’s a good plan, lad,” the Marshal said with an approving glance at him. “We will arrange to arrive at their mountain retreat at five o’clock tomorrow morning. It won’t do to make the attack at night, for if anything went wrong they could kill the prisoners before we knew it. I’ll send Jean Barry to the Ricker ranch with my automobile, and have Big Joe get all the men together. Our party will join them there in time to reach the counterfeiter’s stronghold by five o’clock to-morrow morning.”

“Jack, have the cowboys take their horses along with them to the ranch, and I will take you there in my airplane,” Roy cut in.

Mason looked at his watch.

“That will be fine,” he said. “It is just one P.M. and I won’t have to start from here until about five o’clock if I go by airplane. We are all to meet at the Ricker ranch and make a start from there some time during the night. The Marshal and Bud have the trip timed so we will reach the counterfeiter’s stronghold early in the morning and take them by surprise.”

Mason and Roy laid a plan for the latter to be in the vicinity of the mountain retreat, and after Mason had set off the explosive charge and a successful rescue was accomplished, Roy was to carry the glad news by airplane to the girls’ anxious parents.

They put in some of the time going over the airplane and getting it in order. The Marshal and Bud had left with the last cowboys, and at five o’clock Mason and Roy started their flight. In a short time they had overtaken and passed the Marshal’s riders.

Arriving at the Ricker ranch they made a safe landing and immediately turned in to get a little rest.

Mason’s sleep was fitful, and he was glad when aroused by the Marshal and told that the hour had struck.

The dynamite with wire and a battery was given to him, and Scotty was carefully rehearsed in the part he was to play. The moon was shining as the grim riders formed and set out rapidly for the foothills. Sunrise found them concealed at the base of the outlaws’ stronghold.

Mason and Scotty began their perilous climb to the semicircle of rock. It was thought to be utterly impossible to approach closer than a hundred yards to the stronghold without being challenged by the guards. It was the brave Scot’s duty to open fire the minute he was challenged and attract the outlaws’ attention while Mason was to crawl to a position where he could place the charge of dynamite to the best advantage.

When the charge was planted he was to set it off, while the Marshal was to hurl his men on the outlaws before they could recover from their surprise.

They had climbed to within seventy-five yards of the strongly guarded point, when a sharp command to halt rang out. Scotty recklessly exposed himself to view for an instant and received a bullet through the crown of his hat. Flattening his body against the rocks, he opened a hot fire in reply. Mason continued to crawl ahead fast, but cautiously, working slightly around to the right. The outlaws sent a hail of bullets down past Scotty, which the Scot returned with interest, still keeping up his pretense of attack.

Mason worked up so close that he could see the outlaws answering Scotty’s shots with their rifles. He carefully placed the dynamite charge and dropped swiftly down the ledge with wire and battery. At a safe distance from the deadly charge he turned the switch of the battery. A tremendous explosion followed.

Amid falling rocks, Scotty came racing over to him, and together they scrambled up the cliff and into the outlaws’ stronghold.

The outlaws were wild with excitement and Jim Haley was trying to rally them when a bullet from Scotty’s gun put him out of action.

Mason and Scotty dropped down behind a rock just as a volley of bullets whistled over their heads.

Ricker rallied his men and firing rapidly he gave a yell of defiance. Seeing that he had but two men behind the rock to deal with, he called to his men and they started to rush in upon them.

Pieces of rock and dirt were filling the eyes of Mason and Scotty as they crouched behind the rock and their position was getting perilous as they couldn’t return the fire without exposing themselves.

As the outlaws charged across the open, a bullet caught Ricker in the side and he reeled, his gun in the air.

Bud and Trent Burton were in the fight and the latter had cut loose with his deadly automatics!

Sorely wounded, the counterfeiter turned and bringing his gun down, emptied it point blank at his hated foe. Trent Burton’s guns were trained on him and were spitting a steady stream of lead.

The counterfeiter’s knees began to sag and his shots went wild. Josephine and Ethel stood at the cabin door, their faces white with fear.

Overhead, Roy’s airplane motor was humming in harmony with the cracking of the guns. Mason stood up from behind the rock as he saw the halfbreed Mexican start with a yell toward the girls’ cabin.

Mason shouted a warning to the girls and turned his smoking gun on the halfbreed. At the third shot the Mexican fell, and Mason rushed over and clasped his sister in his arms.

When the fight was over, Percy was found tied securely in the outlaws’ cabin.

Ricker was dying and Jim Haley and Nick Cover were severely wounded. The Mexican was brought into the outlaws’ cabin and breathed his last while Trent Burton was examining his wound.

The Marshal arranged to have Mason and Bud leave at once with the girls, and when they arrived at the Ricker ranch, Mason was to take the Marshal’s automobile and drive them to Bar X ranch.

“Some round-up,” the Marshal observed to Bud as they parted. “I wanted to take Ricker alive, but he was trying to get me, so it was his life or mine.”

“Yes, and I had to pin Spot Wells just as he was drawing a bead on Scotty,” Bud replied regretfully.

CHAPTER XX – SILVER SKIES

The trip to the Ricker ranch was uneventful, the girls maintaining a tired silence. They had passed through an ordeal that would have tried the nerves of strong men. At the ranch, Mason hastily got the Marshal’s car ready and they started for the ride home. Bud insisted on remaining at the Ricker ranch to look after the men and prisoners when they came in.

Mason drove at a moderate speed, and gradually the girls came out of their listless mood.

“Cheer up,” Mason said gaily, “I’ll soon have you home right side up with care, and you will get a grand welcome, I can assure you. Roy, the aviator, flew home with the good news as soon as he found out that we had made your rescue, and it would be just like him to come sailing back this way any minute.”

“You’re very good to us,” Josephine murmured, leaning back in the seat with a tired sigh.

He glanced at them quizzically.

“What you girls need is a good rest to-night and you will be all right in the morning,” he said, compassionately.

Halfway to the ranch they saw the daring aviator heading towards them. The birdman was flying at a dizzy height and when directly over them he went into a series of loops after which he banked the airplane sharply and continued along with them to the ranch. It would be useless to try to describe the joy of the girls’ anxious parents when they found them safe in their arms.

In the evening, Bud came in with Percy Vanderpool and the cowboys. Jean Barry the deputy had come with them to run the Marshal’s car back to the Ricker ranch. The Marshal was to remain at the ranch until the wounded prisoners could be moved. He would then lodge them in jail and return East to an important criminal case. He sent hearty congratulations to the girls on their timely escape from the outlaws, and promised to visit Bar X again in the near future.

The next day Mason was kept busy about the ranch until noon. Roy had just returned from a flight to Trader’s Post and brought back a message for Mason. It was from his father, saying he was coming to take his mother and sister home.

The news that his father was coming to Bar X ranch pleased him immensely, and he hastened to break the news to his mother and sister.

His mother seemed glad, but Ethel’s face clouded when she heard her father was coming.

“What’s the matter, sis?” he cried in wonder. “Don’t you want to go home?”

“Of course not,” she answered in a vexed tone. “Why, I have been here scarcely a month, and it is much more pleasant out here this time of the year than in a stuffy city.”

“Well, you can take the matter up with Dad when he comes,” he said briefly, starting for the door. “Roy is going to take me to Trader’s Post to see if they have got my car repaired.”

Josephine had just entered the room and he paused, with his hand on the door knob. She was dressed in a stunning creation of champagne silk and he gazed at her in silent admiration.

“How do you like my new dress, Sir Jack?” she asked, making him a curtsy. “My, but you are a busy man. I am going to play lady for a few days, and I intended to ask you to take me down to Rover’s kennel. Father tells me the poor dog has been acting sick lately, and I want to see if there is anything I can do for him.”

“Certainly I’ll go with you,” he answered readily; “I will tell Roy not to wait for me and will join you in a minute.”

Roy agreed to make the trip alone, and when Mason arrived at the kennel, Josephine was bending over Rover. The dog was frisking around her and joyously barking a welcome.

“There’s nothing the matter with Rover, he’s merely lonesome to see you,” he said.

They had taken seats on a rustic bench between two cottonwood trees. Josephine was fondly watching the dog’s antics.

“Oh, I am so glad there is nothing the matter with him. He was the means of saving my life once, you know.”

“That time, I remember well,” he answered, a feeling of gloom stealing over him.

He was thinking of her deep concern over Bud’s injury when she was rescued from the brute Tom Powers.

“I suppose you would have been better pleased yesterday if Bud had been the one to rescue you,” he said, a little ungallantly.

“What makes you think that?” her face was averted from him.

“Well, you love him, don’t you?” he put the question bluntly.

Josephine was silent and he relentlessly repeated his question.

“No, I – I – love some one else,” the girl faltered at last.

His breath came in quick gasps.

“I don’t suppose I have the right to know, but is it one of the Gaylor boys you love?”

“No.”

“Well, is it anybody I know?”

“Yes, and he’s an awful thickhead, but – I – I-love – him just the same.”

He turned away in irritation.

“Well, I should think a girl of your intellect would pick out a man with brains, anyway,” he said wrathfully.

“I – I – have, but – at times, he’s such a fool.”

He turned slowly and looked at her in exasperation. The girl’s head had sunk forward, and he heard her sobbing softly.

“Josephine!”

Quickly he bent over her and raised her face to his as he gathered her in his arms. Her eyes were shining through her tears like beautiful stars, and he saw a light in them that thrilled him. He kissed away the tears as she lay quiet and passive in his arms.

“Josephine, you love me?” he whispered in wondering delight.

“Silly boy,” she managed to gasp, “I have loved you from the first time we met. Now, unhand me, you villain. Here come Ethel and Bud and they will see us.”

“I don’t care,” he said recklessly, holding her fast. “Anyway, they are going into the house.”

“You received a message from your father about noon time?” she asked dreamily.

“Yes.”

“I’ll be very much pleased to meet him. I wonder if he will like me?”

“The idea! Of course he will. How can he possibly help liking you?”

“Well Sir Jack, just because you like me, that’s no sign everybody else will,” she said demurely.

“Why, you’ll be winding Dad around your little finger in less than thirty minutes after he gets here, and I’ll bet my life on it.”

“Say,” he added, “do you know that Ethel is crazy about this part of the country and doesn’t want to go back home with Dad?”

“Don’t you know the reason?”

“Reason,” he echoed.

“It’s Bud,” she said simply.

“Bud,” he cried in bewilderment. “Do you mean to tell me that Ethel is in love with Bud Anderson?”

“Yes, but I don’t see any harm in that, Bud is a fine fellow.”

“I know,” he said thoughtfully. “Lord, but it will be a shock to Dad. Josephine, I just happened to think of something. Why did you draw the picture of that butterfly on the envelope Rick sent through to me?”

“I wrote that letter right after Roy’s airplane appeared to us, and I was going to draw a picture of the airplane, but Ricker stood over me and I didn’t dare to. He even wanted to know what the butterfly meant, and I told him that it was a sign between us so you would know the letter was written by me. You see I was trying to let you know that we had seen Roy’s airplane, and I knew you were expecting him out here. We gave up hope of Roy finding you as we thought he was lost in the mountains.”

“He was lost in the mountains, but he found us all right, and later I will tell you all about it,” he said, looking fondly at her. “I was sure that butterfly meant something, but couldn’t figure it out. You little beauty, when Dad comes I am going to take you to New York and we will get married there. Would you be willing to leave your home here, and live with me in New York?”

Roy was returning in his airplane, and right over them he began making loops and hair raising nose dives, finally going into a tail spin.

Josephine watched him breathlessly until Mason repeated his question.

“I would like very much to live in New York, if I thought I could get along with your father,” she answered naively. “Sir Jack, I want you to make me a promise. Please don’t go up in that airplane again. If Roy wants to risk his neck, I’m sure I don’t want you to risk yours.”

“All right,” he laughed, “I promise, so you see we will get along famously.”

Josephine smiled contentedly.

“And another thing,” she said, eyeing him seriously. “I will want to have my saddle horse, Fleet, and my dog, Rover, with me if I live in New York. I never could leave them here and be happy.”

“I will have them shipped along with us when we go,” he declared, “and I am going to buy you a nice white chummy roadster car when we get home and you can drive it all by yourself.”

“That won’t be any fun unless you go with me,” she pouted.

“Oh, I will be with you so much that you will be glad to get rid of me once in a while.”

She voiced a quick protest.

“Let’s go into the house and tell the people,” he cried boyishly.

They went in and Mason directly looked up Josephine’s father and received his hearty consent to giving his daughter’s hand in marriage, but when he told him he intended to take her to New York to live, the old man almost broke down.

In the meantime, Ethel informed her mother and Josephine that she was engaged to marry Bud Anderson. The two girls planned on a double wedding in New York, after which Bud was to take his bride back to Nevada.