Mason of Bar X Ranch

Seeing no possible way of escape she went back to the shanty and threw herself down on the bunk in despair. As she lay there looking through a crack in the roof at the stars, she could hear the men swearing and still at their card game. Suddenly she sat bolt upright. The men were talking in English now, and she caught a word that caused her to listen breathlessly.

She heard the name of Mason and Bud spoken, and the conversation that followed caused her blood to run cold. It was a diabolical plot that they were planning to run Bud and his men into a trap carefully set for them. All of a sudden the talking ceased, and she heard one of the outlaws glide stealthily up to her shanty. Josephine’s heart almost stopped beating as she feigned sleep. The footsteps halted and she was conscious of eyes looking in on her through the one small window. After a brief moment, that seemed ages to the frightened girl, the footsteps softly retreated.

“She’s asleep,” she heard Powers say, after which they resumed their conversation.

The plot had been formed by Powers, and as he unfolded it word for word to the Mexican, Josephine could hardly keep herself from screaming. The plan was for Powers to take her away and force her to marry him. The halfbreed was to go with them, and as the two had a little money saved, they were to strike some town near the coast and start a gambling house.

First, Powers was to write a decoy note and the halfbreed was to take it to Ricker’s and get the Spanish girl Waneda to deliver it.

The note was to be addressed to Mason and worded in such a way as to make him think it was written by the Spanish girl herself. The note was to state that Waneda had discovered Josephine’s captors’ place of concealment, and wishing to repay him for his kindness to her when he had protected her from the halfbreed, she had hastened to him at once with the information. It was to be a clever forgery by Powers, using Waneda as the innocent tool.

Powers figured by the time that Waneda got the note to Bar X ranch, the cowboys would have become frantic in their failure to find Josephine, and would fall easy prey to the trap set for them.

Waneda after delivering the note was to ride back at once to Ricker’s.

Waneda was to be especially instructed not to deliver the note to Mason, but to give it to one of the cowboys, the plan being to let her get away before Mason could question her. The note was to state that Bud and his men were to go to Devil’s Gap and they could surprise Josephine’s captors and rescue her.

The halfbreed was to bring back some men from Ricker’s and all make for Devil’s Gap to lie in wait for Bud’s men and wipe them out.

The plot was cold-blooded and as Josephine listened as it was unfolded to the halfbreed her blood boiled. She thought only of Bud and his brave men running into certain death. There was a stir outside and Josephine knew that the halfbreed had departed on his mission of evil. The girl lay quiet and wide awake until almost morning, racking her brains for some way of warning Bud. She had heard the halfbreed return two hours before. He knew the mountains like a book and the shortest way through them. Hot and cold flashes passed through her body as she at last broke down and began to cry piteously. All was silent outside and she tried to stifle her sobs. She wondered what would become of herself if Bud’s men were all killed.

Powers was sure to carry out his threat and marry her. She resolved to kill herself before that. Death would be far better, she reasoned, than to let herself fall into this fiend’s power. The man was more of a devil than she had pictured him.

It was still dark inside the shanty, but she knew it must be getting close to the break of day.

Suddenly she sat up straight, her nerves rigid, while her blood almost froze in her veins.

She had heard a rustling near her, and something cold was pressed against her arm.

With all her command of will power she kept herself from screaming. The rustling continued and a low whine caused her to open her eyes wide in astonishment. It was her pet dog Rover by her side and it was the cold muzzle of his nose which had caused her fright. He stood beside her, his tail wagging and with a look of devotion in his fine eyes. He had found his mistress. Josephine threw her arms around him, her heart pounding wildly. She was overjoyed, and as she looked at him a sudden idea flashed into her mind.

“Dear old Rover,” the girl spoke in a soft whisper. “You must be very quiet now. I am in great danger. Listen, Rover, I want you to go right home, do you understand? Go right home at once, and I am going to tie a message to your collar.”

The intelligent creature wagged its tail as though he were trying to understand her.

Luckily, Josephine had a stump of a pencil in her riding habit, and finding a piece of an old newspaper in the dim light, she twisted the bit of paper in her handkerchief and fastened it to Rover’s collar.

The missive ran:

The note you received front the Spanish girl is a decoy. For God’s sake turn back Bud and his men. Powers and the halfbreed with his men are waiting at Devil’s Gap to wipe them out. I am held a captive by Powers in the mountains about three miles east from Devil’s Gap. The place is like a fortress. Come quick if you would save me.

Josephine.

“Go home, Rover, home,” the girl breathed softly, pushing the dog gently from her.

She had to repeat the words sharply, and finally with a low whine he gave a bound and vanished in the gray mist of dawn. One of the men was astir, and the faint noise made by the dog caused him to send a shot whistling into the bushes. Powers had fired the shot, for Josephine heard the halfbreed call to him and ask what he was shooting at.

“I don’t know,” she heard him answer in alarm. “I thought I heard something move out there and took a snap shot.”

He came swiftly over and looked in on Josephine.

“Are you all right?” he called loudly to her.

“Yes,” she answered sleepily, though her heart was beating wildly. “I thought I heard someone shoot.”

Powers made no reply to this. Josephine’s mind was in an agony of torment as she heard the men beating the bushes and searching the rocks. Soon she heard them returning.

“Whatever it was I made a hit,” she heard Powers say. “I found a drop of blood on the rocks out there. I’m sure it was an animal of some kind.”

Josephine listened, and her heart grew heavy. Then she thought that if Rover had been hit and was able to get away, she reasoned that he would be sure to make for home all the faster. The thought gave her courage, and she rose quickly and washed. She tried to eat a little breakfast which the men offered her, but the food seemed to choke her. The outlaws were making preparations to leave. Josephine knew what their dastardly mission was, and she felt sick and dizzy.

She saw Powers coming towards her with a piece of tough rawhide in his hand.

“I am going to tie you up so you can’t run away. You can holler all you want to, but there won’t anybody hear you,” he said with a grin.

Josephine threw herself down wearily on the bunk in the shanty. The outlaw had tied her hands securely behind her back. She worked frantically trying to free her hands, but gave it up as useless for the tough rawhide cut her wrists until they bled. She turned her face to the wall with a heavy sob and a prayer on her lips that her dog would arrive home in time to save Bud and his men from certain death. Her only hope was to wait patiently and pray that some of the cowboys would be able to break through the cordon of outlaws lying in wait for them.

CHAPTER VII – THE RESCUE

After the ranch owner had been sent back to Bar X the men under Bud’s command rode until they reached the foothills. Dawn was breaking when the cowboys separated, each group going in an opposite direction. The plan was to make a wide detour and beat the mountains thoroughly. The leader of each party swore he would bring the halfbreed in dead or alive. They were all convinced that he had stolen Josephine away and that he had possibly been joined by Powers in the outrage.

Bud led one group of cowboys with Big Joe Turner in command of the other group. It fell to Mason’s lot to go with Turner, and he had as company Tex, Scotty and MacNutt, with a few others he was not so well acquainted with. Big Joe’s command was ordered to circle the mountains and search all available hiding places. Then they were to ride with all possible speed to Ricker’s and make inquiry there if they failed to pick up a clue in the mountains.

Both parties were to report at the Bar X ranch by nightfall and hold a consultation.

Bud had with him Buck Miller, Red Sullivan and the rest of the cowboys. The two parties numbered twelve picked men and they were all good fighters. Big Joe and his men rode all that day beating in and out of the mountains without a halt. MacNutt had kept up with them with amazing endurance, and even Scotty had begun to treat him with a little more respect. Mason was firmly convinced that the man had come among them with some secret purpose, and he determined to question him at the first favorable opportunity. There were times when MacNutt, thinking himself unobserved, would drop the mask of frivolous gayety, and a hard look would come into his eyes while he appeared to be thinking deeply. It was these sudden changes in the man that had caused Mason to regard him with suspicion.

None of the other cowboys of the ranch had noticed anything peculiar about the man outside of his levity, and Mason resolved to watch him more closely in the future.

It was an exhausted group of men that halted in the mountains that night to confer as to their next move. They had failed miserably to pick up any clue of the whereabouts of Josephine and her captors.

The cowboys were in an ugly mood by this time. On their hunt they had seen nothing of Bud and his men.

Mason’s strength had seemed superhuman as he untiringly urged the men on to greater efforts.

The shock caused by the halfbreed’s bullet had left him, and except for a faint scar on his temple he showed no signs of his close call from death.

Scotty was in a fretful mood and urged them to make Ricker’s at once in the hope of picking up some information.

“I’ll tell you what we had better do,” he spoke up eagerly. “We’ll go to Ricker’s and stand watch all night. We can stay just far enough away so they won’t get on to us, and maybe the half breed will try to sneak through our line. What do you think of the idea, Joe?”

Big Joe Turner did some quick thinking.

“Sounds good to me,” he said at last. “Bud wanted us to meet him to-night at Bar X, but if Powers is with the halfbreed, and I am convinced he is, we can do no better than to watch Ricker’s all night.”

“And there is a chance that one of them may try to sneak back there for supplies or something, and we will stand a chance of catching one of them,” cut in Tex, giving his belt an extra hitch.

The plan was agreed to at once, and they pressed their tired horses hard to get to the ranch before it became too dark. Scotty was delighted that his plan had been accepted, and listened eagerly as Big Joe explained the methods they were to employ.

“We will ride up to within fifty yards or so of the ranch,” he was saying, “and we will surround the house and keep watch all night. If nothing develops we will draw off in the morning and make for home to hear what Bud has to report.”

A set of signals was then carefully prepared and understood by all. By the time they reached Ricker’s it was quite dark, but the stars snowed plainly.

Big Joe placed his men and they all settled down for an all-night vigil.

Their horses had been picketed far enough away so that if any of them should whinny they could not be heard at the ranch. To Mason, who lay prone on the ground staring into the inky darkness, for the stars had disappeared and a faint breeze had sprung up, this watching was dull business. He was stationed next to Tex, and after catching himself on the verge of falling asleep, he gave a signal that Tex understood and wormed his way cautiously towards him.

“I nearly fell asleep, Tex,” he said in a low whisper as he made out the form of his fellow sentinel.

“This is new business for you, lad,” the other returned in a like whisper. “You looked about done up to-day, man.”

It was a fact and Mason admitted it to himself. What with the terrific riding and his constant worry about their failure to find any trace of Josephine, it all had raised havoc with his nerves. He realized at last that he was in love with her and the thought that she cared for Bud brought a groan of anguish from him. Tex, who had been searching his pockets, held a flask towards him.

“Here, Jack, take a drink of this brandy and brace up,” he said in a kindly whisper.

Mason hesitated. He had gotten over the notion of taking any strong drink, but he knew if he was to keep up his strength he must have some stimulant.

“Don’t be foolish, man,” Tex said in a curt whisper. “I know you need it, and we can’t have any one lag on us now; the boys are prepared to follow that devil of a halfbreed for weeks if they have to.”

Mason knew that Tex was right, and took a drink of the brandy. It proved to be just what he needed and he felt his strength returning. There would be no occasion for anybody to accuse him of lagging behind while Josephine was in danger, he resolved, gritting his teeth. He started to return to his former post, but Tex insisted that they keep watch together. Mason agreed, and they conversed in low whispers as the night wore slowly away. Once, during their vigil, Tex grasped Mason firmly by the arm, and he could feel that the cowboy’s muscles were set rigid.

“What is it, Tex?” he questioned with set lips.

“I’m sure I heard something move up there near the house,” the cowboy answered in a scarcely audible whisper. “I’m going to give the signal to find out if the boys heard anything.”

Tex imitated the call of the whippoorwill. The answering signal came back to them in the negative. The cowboy swore softly.

“I’m sure something moved up there near the house, but the boys didn’t hear or see anything, so all we can do is to watch,” he confided to Mason in a disgruntled voice.

The halfbreed had slipped by the cowboys on his mission to Waneda without being seen by them!

Shortly after this incident a light appeared in one of the rooms.

“Something doing now,” Tex muttered tersely.

A minute later a door opened on their side of the house and to the watchers’ astonishment Waneda, the Spanish girl, appeared carrying a lighted lantern.

“Now, what in thunder is she up to this time of night?” growled Tex, as he gave the recall signal.

The cowboys grouped around him in answer to the signal. Big Joe pushed forward.

“I saw the light and the girl,” he said guardedly, addressing Tex. “What do you suppose it means?”

“I can’t figure it out,” the cowboy replied with a puzzled air. “Unless some one is sick in the house and she’s going to the Post for medicine. Didn’t any one of you hear a noise just before I gave this last signal?”

They all protested that they had not heard a sound or seen anything move during their watch.

“What did you imagine you heard, Tex?” queried Scotty.

“I didn’t imagine it, I know I heard something move up there near the house, and it sounded like a scuffling noise,” Tex retorted angrily. “I’m watching that light now. The girl is leading a horse from the corral. Shall we hold her up when she gets a few miles away?”

“No, let her go,” Big Joe answered shortly. “Go back to your stations men, it lacks but a few hours before daylight, and keep a closer watch than ever. If you hear any noise that sounds suspicious again, Tex, give the signal and we will close in on the place and force an entrance.”

By this time both light and girl had vanished. Tex, who had been watching the corral, gave a snort of disgust.

“I think we made a mistake by not holding the girl up,” he said in a peeved voice to Mason.

“Oh, I think Waneda is too fine a girl to be up to anything crooked,” he answered in her defence.

The lanky cowboy stared hard at him.

“Then you don’t know the breed,” he said with a drawl. “Spanish or Mexican, all are greasers to me. Ain’t getting sweet on her be you? I remember now, that you saved her from the halfbreed one day.”

Mason’s face reddened.

“You jump at conclusions, Tex,” he said sharply. “No offense meant, Jack,” he returned earnestly, “only I wish we had stopped the girl.”

Nothing more was said between them, and they kept silent watch until the first streak of dawn appeared. Big Joe gave the recall signal. When the cowboys had assembled he gave the order to mount and make a quick trip home. The big fellow rode with Mason.

“Jack, I am anxious to hear if Bud had any luck,” he confided to him as they pushed their horses into a fast run.

Mason nodded.

“We’ve just got to find Josephine to-day if Bud hasn’t already found her,” he answered grimly.

They reached Bar X ranch at noontime by hard riding. There they heard good news, the first good news since Josephine’s disappearance. The ranch owner called Big Joe and Mason to the house immediately on their arrival.

“The Spanish girl from Ricker’s came here with a message for Mason this morning,” he burst out excitedly before they got fairly within hearing distance. “I called Bud and he told her Mason was away. She seemed disappointed at the news, but after saying she would leave the message in Bud’s hands, she left. It was addressed to Mr. Mason. After waiting a reasonable length of time, for he didn’t know when you were coming home, Bud opened the message. Well, he almost jumped out of his boots when he read it. The message told him where to find Josephine and how to capture her abductors. They have been gone about an hour now,” he concluded.

“Yes,” cut in his wife, beaming on Mason, “it seems according to the message that this Spanish girl wants to repay Mr. Mason for his kindness to her when she was attacked by the halfbreed. She got hold of information of the place where Josephine is held a captive, and hastened here at once with the information.”

“Sounds reasonable,” commented Big Joe.

“Wish we had stopped her now,” he added to Mason.

Josephine’s mother was almost beside herself with joy at the thought of the safe recovery of her daughter.

“Her dog Rover whined around the house for her,” the ranch owner was saying, “but soon he disappeared and hasn’t showed up since.”

“Where did the message direct them to go and find her?” Big Joe questioned. “They may need help.”

“Devil’s Gap,” the ranch owner answered.

“Devil’s Gap,” Big Joe repeated in wonder. “Why, we were through there three times yesterday, wasn’t we, Jack?”

“There’s something wrong about this,” Mason declared, his brows knitting.

“Bud said that the message read about Josephine’ captors moving about from place to place,” ranch owner explained.

Big Joe was getting impatient.

“Come on, Jack. We’ll go and talk it over with the boys,” he said, turning on his heel with an impatient frown.

Mason followed him. At the bunkhouse they made the cowboys acquainted with this new phase of the hunt.

“I told you so.” Tex cried in a matter-of-fact tone after Big Joe had finished speaking. “We had ought to have held the girl up as I wanted to. Somebody broke through our line last night, and the girl left the ranch soon after I heard that scuffling noise. We don’t know if that message is crooked or not.”

Big Joe was plainly impressed by Tex’s serious manner. Mason was leaning against the bunkhouse door listening wearily to their talk.

“I think we had better get together and make for the Gap. Bud may need help, Joe,” he said from the doorway.

Suddenly he straightened up and looked keenly down the trail. His eyes had caught sight of an object moving slowly towards the bunkhouse.

“Josephine’s dog,” he said aloud.

“What did you say, Jack?” Big Joe called from within.

“Josephine’s dog is coming down the trail and is limping badly,” he answered excitedly.

“Limping, you say, Jack?” Big Joe asked as he came out of the bunkhouse, the cowboys at his back.

“Yes,” Mason answered, “he must have got hurt some way.”

“Come here, old fellow,” he called, for the dog was almost up to them now.

The dog gave a whine of delight as he limped up to Mason and crouched at his feet.

“Poor fellow, his foot is bleeding,” he said as he bent over to examine the injured member. “Why, what’s this?” His eye had caught sight of something white tied to the dog’s collar.

He hastily unfastened the white object and was holding it up for the others to see, when a piece of paper fell to the ground.

“Josephine’s handkerchief and a note!” he cried, aghast, staring hard at the white missive.

Quickly snatching it up he read its contents.

“For God’s sake, boys,” he cried, his face blanching white.

“This note is from Josephine herself. She fastened it to Rover’s collar and sent him home. That message the Spanish girl brought is a decoy, and is leading Bud and his men into an ambush!”

Exclamations of fury broke from the men at his words. Big Joe instantly began giving orders to the cowboys after Mason had read the contents of the note to them.

“Into your saddles, boys,” the big cowboy thundered, his face pale and resolute. “I know a short cut to the Gap, and we’ll be in at the death if we can’t head Bud off. Ride, men, as you never rode before.”

The cowboys were in their saddles in a twinkling, and bending low on their horses’ necks they rode like demons in a race against odds.

Mason wanted to get his automobile out and join in the race against death, but Big Joe wouldn’t listen to his plan.

“It wouldn’t be of any use to us the way we are going into the mountains,” he said, gritting his teeth.

Pomp, the dusky cook, had been dispatched to the house with the note so the ranch owner would know why they had left in such a hurry. Scotty, who had the fastest horse among the cowboys, was drawing gradually away from them.

“Take the short cut, Scotty,” Big Joe ordered him. “When you make the Gap if you hear heavy firing, don’t join Bud, but start blazing away at the halfbreed’s gang and draw their fire. When we get there we’ll open fire on them from a different direction and hem them in if we ain’t too late. Do you get me, Scotty?” he yelled after him.

“I sure do,” the answer floated back to them. Scotty was riding low in the saddle, jockey style. He was making the ride of his life.

Mason was in a fever of suspense. His horse seemed to be only crawling along.

“Do you think we will be able to head Bud off in time?” There was a catch to his voice as he put the question to Big Joe, who was riding near him.

“Bud has only got about an hour’s start on us, and with the short cut we’re taking I have hope of saving him. If Scotty follows my instructions, everything will go all right, but I am afraid he will attempt to join Bud and get wiped out along with the rest of them. He’s such a hot-headed chump that if he runs into the halfbreed’s gang before Bud’s men do, it would be just like him to tackle them singlehanded,” came the unpromising answer.

The cowboys had turned off the main trail and had struck into the first range of foothills. Here, the climbing was extremely difficult, and a false step or a loose stone would send man and beast to certain death.

They were following a trail leading up into the mountains on the brink of a deep gorge.

Once, Mason’s horse stumbled and he gave himself up for lost with a prayer on his lips, but the faithful animal caught a secure footing again, although he could feel the horse quiver under him.

“Close call, old top,” he said cheerfully to his horse, as he patted him on the neck.

After an age, as it had seemed to Mason, of this kind of travel they reached a small plateau high in the mountains. Big Joe, who was in advance, called a halt, and raised a warning hand.

“Keep quiet as possible, men,” he said as the cowboys dismounted and crowded around him.

“There is Devil’s Gap just to the right of us a within good rifle shot. Scotty must be close by, too. Now, if the halfbreed and Powers are waiting there for Bud, they will keep under cover until he and his men show themselves through the pass. What we have got to do is to pick off the halfbreed’s men before they can get in their deadly work. I figure that they will show themselves just as soon as Bud gets through the pass. We won’t be able to see Bud’s men from here, but them devils will have to show themselves to us, and it’s up to you men to get them first.”