Boy Scouts on the Open Plains; The Round-Up Not Ordered

Ned shook his head, though, of course, none of them saw this, for it was next door to dark under the protecting ledge, and particularly in the little cave that Nature had scooped out of the solid rock.

“It would be useless,” he told them.

“Yes, I reckon they’re all ready to meet us with a hot fire and some of us would go under,” Harry admitted, sadly. “But we can’t stand this much longer, Ned. Oh! if only there was another opening to the cave, how fine it would be to slip out and leave them doing their grand smoking act.”

“But there isn’t, I’m sorry to say,” admitted Ned. “I took the trouble to explore it through and through, and there’s not the first chance to find another crack.”

“Have you any plan, Ned?” pleaded Jimmy, who was choking at a terrible rate and seemed half-blinded already.

“Only a half-way idea,” replied Ned. “Here it is for what it’s worth. Three of us will surrender, by walking out and shouting that we give in. Jack must manage to hide somewhere in here and stand for it a little while longer. There’s just the smallest chance going that they’ll skip him; and, if it happens, he can hang around and help us out later.”

“I’m afraid it won’t work, Ned; because they must have seen that there were just four in our bunch, all told; and they’ll never be happy till they root me out,” was the opinion Jack expressed.

“All the same it may be worth trying,” Ned declared; “and even if you’re found out we can be no worse off than if we all gave up. This is a case that needs quick action.”

“Then just as you say, Ned, we’ll try it,” Jack agreed. “I’ll see if I can stand this rank smell a little while longer. Perhaps it may seem so bad that none of the rustlers’ll care to crawl in and look around. You can kind of give them to understand that one of your crowd has keeled over earlier in the fight. There’s just a little hope it may pan out. Now, for goodness’ sake get a move on as soon as you can. I’ll find a place behind some loose stones to lie down and play dead. Hope when the time comes for me to crawl out I won’t be too weak to move.”

Each of the other scouts squeezed Jack’s hand. He was a prime favorite in the troop, and they disliked leaving him behind more than they could tell; but there seemed little choice and Jack was always so willing to sacrifice himself for the good of others.

Ned took the lead.

“Keep close behind me,” he told Harry and Jimmy, as they started to crawl over to where they knew the exit must be; for the smoke was now getting so dense that even the faint light was shut out.

Reaching this place Ned shouted, though he found himself so hoarse that he hardly knew his own voice; and several times choked, as though he was close to the border of having a fit.

“Hello! hello out there! we want to surrender! We’re choking, and can’t stand it any longer. Don’t fire on us, and we’ll come out! Hello! hello!”

There came an answering hail, close at hand.

“All right, come along, but be sure and hold your hands up over yer heads, or you might get hurt! understand that, kids?”

“Yes we’re nearly all in! Here we come!”

With that Ned led the way, and staggering weakly, the three scouts groped their passage through the haze of bitter smoke toward the faint gleam of daylight that they could begin to see through the pall.

While they were still engulfed in this mantle they felt their guns rudely jerked from their hands and fierce clutches taken upon their garments. But the relief was so great when they reached the blessed air in the canyon, almost free from the acrid fumes of that terrible stink weed, that for the moment they could think of nothing else.

Each of them stood there, blinking, and rubbing their smarting eyes. Rude laughter jarred on their nerves, and they began to observe that a circle of lawless punchers stood around, apparently quite amused at the sight of their agony.

“Seems ter me thar was four o’ the tenderfeet kids; how ’bout that, Ally?” one of the rustlers observed in a voice that sounded like the grumble of thunder.

Ned managed to look at the speaker, and he just seemed to know without being told that this giant must be the “awful dad” of the lad Amos, whom they had helped out of the quicksand. He was indeed a striking figure, and must inspire terror in almost any man who happened to run counter to his will. When Hy Adams growled his dislike for anything, plans were apt to be hastily changed, and in a fashion calculated to suit his whim.

There was another alongside who caught Ned’s especial attention, too. He had only to take note of the fact that this tall party bore a scar on his left cheek to feel confident that this must be the rustler chief, Clem Parsons, who had played fast and loose with the United States Government, so that his apprehension by the Secret Service officers was apt to put quite a feather in the cap of the one fortunate enough to cause his arrest.

“There was four of ’em,” Ally Sloper observed, as he pushed forward at this juncture and faced the prisoners; and raising his voice he turned to Ned and added: “Where’d that other feller skip out to? Was he knocked over by our fire? We know that he never got away, we had the canyon blocked with a cork in the neck of the bottle.”

“We’ve lost him, somehow,” Ned replied, brokenly, as though deeply grieved by the fact; “and we hope you’ll look around and find our chum, who may be bleeding to death somewhere in the canyon behind a rock.”

His eagerness to have them search seemed to allay any suspicion that may have started to arise.

“Oh! we’ll give a sort of look when we’re getting out of this hole,” the man Ned took to be Clem Parsons observed carelessly; “but it’s too unpleasant around these diggings right now to stay any longer than we have to. Later on, if we happen to think of it, we may come back and look him up. Get a move on now, boys, and we’ll strike for the upper camp.”

Those who had hold of the three prisoners urged them forward, and it was evident that they meant to leave the vicinity of the recent fight. When Ned was sure of this he allowed himself to have a most violent fit of coughing, and managed to mix in several significant signals that were not unlike the howl of the wolf in the stillness of a night on the open plain.

This he knew must be heard by the suffering scout inside the cave. It would tell Jack they were going, and that he could immediately make a start looking toward relief from the overpowering fumes.

Ned would have been better satisfied could he have received a return sign from the devoted chum, to assure him all was well; but of course that was utterly out of the question. He could only hope that dear old Jack would not by this time have become so weak from his sufferings as to be unable to make his crawl out to the pure air, and then follow after them.

The three scouts looked quite dejected at first. They were so accustomed to having things come their way that this thing of being made prisoners galled them. Jimmy in particular bewailed the circumstances attending their capture. He seemed to think that it was next door to a disgrace because they had not been able to put up a desperate resistance, and at least disable several of the foe before yielding to superior force.

“’Tis a shame, that’s what it is,” he kept on muttering, grimly, “to have to put up your hands like we did without knockin’ the stuffin’ out of a few of the enemy. I’ll never be able to look myself in the face again, sure I won’t.”

“Oh! yes you will, Jimmy,” Harry assured him; “I expect to live to see the time when you sit beside a fire, gobbling your rasher of bacon and fried potatoes, and telling the story of this adventure to some of the other boys in the troop.”

“Now, that’s adding insult to injury!” declared Jimmy, sadly; “when you go and make my mouth water tellin’ about breakfast stuff. Chances are they’ll try to starve us while they hold the lot for ransom.”

Ned gave him a punch in the side when he said this.

“Let up on that kind of talk, Jimmy,” he whispered sternly; “don’t put the notion in their heads. If they once knew who Harry was, and what he came out here to do, they’d think up some scheme to get even with Colonel Job. Even Ally Sloper didn’t hear what our mission was, and thinks we’re just on the plains to have a good time. And keep up your spirits. Leave it to Jack; he’s our best hope just now.”

They were walking by themselves at the time, the rustlers forming a sort of cordon around them though separated by a dozen or two feet; and hence the scouts found an opportunity to exchange a few remarks in whispers without being overheard.

After that Harry and Jimmy did pluck up a little more hope. So long as Jack was free to move around they might expect assistance, though none of them could give more than a vague guess what shape it might take. Jack was to decide upon his own course. He might think it best to follow them up, and then, after seeing where the cattle thieves had their secret camp, make his way back to where the ponies had been left, mount, and head for the ranch at top speed in order to bring a rescue party to their relief.

How they hugged that hope to their hearts as they climbed upward after those of their captors who were in the van. Ned was wideawake all the while. He believed that Jack must surely follow them, and in order to make his task as easy as possible the scout master was trying in every way he knew how to leave plain indications of their having passed along this way.

All this had to be done in a fashion calculated not to attract the attention of the rustlers. If they realized that he was purposely turning over stones every now and then by pretending to stumble, they would know what this implied; consequently the rustlers would lay a trap for the comrade who was expected to follow; and hence Jack, when coming creeping along the trail, might walk into an ambush, so that he too be taken prisoner.

An hour passed, and all of the scouts were becoming very weary of climbing, much against their will, when indications ahead told them they must be getting close to the rustlers’ camp.

It was hidden in the most isolated part of the mountain range, and where there did not seem to be one chance in ten that any cow puncher would ever stray in search of lost steers. Faint wreaths of smoke first told the sharp-eyed Ned that the camp was near by; then he heard a dog bark, and a horse neigh, as well as sounds very similar to the rattle of steers’ horns when being driven from one pasturage to another.

Ten minutes later and they were walking into the camp. They boys observed everything closely, for they never expected to again find themselves in the midst of a gang of reckless rustlers, and it was their policy to “make hay while the sun shone.”

Strange to say they had not been searched up to now for any valuables, though the man who was leader of the rustlers had looked to make sure they were not armed with any weapons besides their rifles and hunting knives, both of which had been taken away from them.

Harry wished now he had thought to ask Jack to lend him his little camera, for the spectacle of that camp was one they must often wish to remember in future days. Still, as those who dwelt in the heart of the mountains were mostly fugitives from justice, it was hardly likely they would permit any one to snap off a picture that must prove of value to the officers who were often looking for them far and wide.

The afternoon was pretty well done by now. Had their original plans been carried out the boys would have been entering camp by this time. Instead they found themselves in one of the most distressing situations in their career; prisoners among the lawless rustlers, who must know that much of their recent defeat was due to the coming of these Boy Scouts to the cattle ranch bordering the Colorado country.

CHAPTER XXI.

IN THE HANDS OF THE RUSTLERS

As the night came on the spirits of the three scouts seemed to sink considerably. Somehow the passing of the sun and coming of darkness before the rising of the moon brought with it a new sense of being at the mercy of these rough men, who snapped their fingers at the law, and did about as they pleased.

Ned at first wondered why they had been brought here to the camp, the location of which had long been a mystery to outsiders. He even feared that circumstance meant something terrible to himself and two chums, because now that they held the secret of the hide-out of the rustlers, it did not seem likely they would be allowed to depart, even if they swore never to betray the fugitives from justice.

Then he noticed certain signs, being a most observant lad, as we already know, that told him another story. The rustlers for some reason or other were getting ready to make a change of base. Perhaps they believed that the vicinity of the Double Cross Ranch was likely to become too warm for them after what had happened, for Ally Sloper must have brought considerable news when he joined the gang.

The boys were allowed to sit together on a blanket. They had been tersely warned by the hoarse-voiced giant that if they so much as tried to escape they were sure to be shot down like coyotes; and there was that in his ferocious manner that made Harry shiver with apprehension; while Jimmy was seen to clench his fists and grit his teeth, as though his fighting blood had been aroused.

Ned had to smile, though, when he looked at the fearful difference between the two; one a giant and the other not far from being a dwarf. It reminded him of a little bantam defying a great barnyard rooster, or of David, armed only with his puny sling, facing Goliath, the mighty man of the Philistines.

Fortunately Jimmy had sense enough not to open his mouth, thanks to the shove Ned gave him with his elbow. Had he dared say anything bold and saucy to the big bully, the chances were he would have rued the day, for Hy Adams could have easily seized him by the nape of the neck and swung him around his head six or seven times, just for a lark.

“I wonder now do we get any?” Jimmy was saying, rather plaintively, as he sniffed the odors of supper cooking.

Jimmy could have stood for almost anything save starvation, or being deprived of his regular feed. If he had known that he had to run the gauntlet in the morning, or be toasted at the stake, the chances were that he would have let out a howl to the effect that he hoped they would at least fill him up with something to eat before making him lie down for the night.

“I wonder where he can be right now?” Harry was whispering, as he managed to cast his eyes around the bordering rocks, without doing it in such an open manner as to invite suspicion, in case any of the rustlers were watching them.

“Of course you mean dear old Jack,” the scout master went on to say; “and I’m hoping he’s at the ranch by this time, telling his story to the Colonel.”

“I can shut my eyes and see the riot there’d be in that case,” mused Harry, with a sigh; “every puncher would be wanting to join the rescue bunch, and the herds might go hang for one night. But Ned, perhaps he followed us up here?”

“Yes, that might be so,” admitted the other scout.

“Meaning to try and get us loose all by himself,” added Harry, huskily, as if the very thought of such a thing caused him to tremble with eagerness.

“It would be a great feat if Jack could manage it,” admitted Ned, longingly, “and I’ve got a lot of faith in our chum; but somehow I hope he’s chosen to make for the ranch and get the boys started this way.”

“Queer they didn’t bother doing much hunting for Jack, did they?” pursued Harry.

“Oh! you heard what the leader said, that it was too smoky and unpleasant down in the canyon, and that they’d come back in the morning to look him up. Little do they care whether he’s living or dead. They’re a heartless bunch; and I’d like to see them caught in a net. You can see they’ve got some of their women folks along, and that this is like a regular border village. There’s a pack of dogs, and over in that cabin I’ve counted as many as four children – all with hair that looks like it had never known a comb and clothes that would shame an Indian squaw. But the men are a tough lot, and all they seem to care for is playing cards, drinking, smoking and stealing cattle.”

The night had settled down by now. It was dark at first, because the moon would not rise until a little later, being now past its full.

Greatly to the relief of Jimmy one of the women brought them over some supper, such as it was. They were hungry enough to forget its shortcomings, though Jimmy did complain a little that they saw the bottom of the kettle too soon to suit him, and that he just knew he’d wake up feeling starved long before dawn. But then Ned and Harry were so used to hearing their comrade let out this sort of a wail that they let it pass by, without extending him any sympathy.

“Now for a night of it!” Harry said, later on, after they had been sitting there, watching the strange scene until they began to feel sleepy.

“But how are we goin’ to sleep without our blankets?” Jimmy wanted to know.

“We might ask for some,” Ned told him, “but honest now, I’d feel a little queer about snuggling down in some of the coverings I’ve noticed around here.”

“Same with me,” added Harry, shuddering, “because I’m silly enough to be a little particular about the blanket I get my face down in. If they’d only let us crawl in out of the night air, that tumbledown cabin close by would suit the bill. Suppose you beckon to that leader fellow and ask him, Ned?”

So when Ned managed to catch the eye of the party he believed to be the much wanted Clem Parsons, he invited him to come over to where they sat, which the man did, though with a frown on his scarred face and an ugly look in his eye that the boys did not like any too well.

“It gets pretty cool toward morning and as we haven’t any blankets, would you mind if we crawled inside that deserted cabin there to sleep?” Ned asked.

“So you can get your heads together and try to skip out, is that what you’re after?” the rustler demanded, harshly. “Well, this place is as good as anything you’ll get, so make the most of it. Tomorrow we’re meaning to fix you up, so as to let old Colonel Job know what we think of him. Perhaps he’ll have a special cage built to keep his prize fowls in when you get back to Double Cross Ranch. We owe him a long bill, and think we see a chance to pay it before we quit this region for our new location down in Arizona. Now shut up and don’t give us any bother, or I’ll let Hy Adams loose on you. He wanted to have a quirt jubilee right away, with you boys tied to stakes, and every puncher being allowed three cuts at your bare shoulders. But I said, ‘Wait till morning for the fun.’”

With that he turned on his heel and left them, Jimmy with wide-open mouth and trembling with indignation.

“D’ye think now he meant that, or was he playin’ hocus-pocus with us boys?” was what Jimmy asked, as soon as he could catch his breath.

“I’d like to believe it was in the nature of a joke,” Ned told him, “and that he was only trying to make us feel bad during the rest of the night; but from all I’ve heard about Clem Parsons, he’s a cold-blooded scamp, and I’m afraid he means to do something to us, Harry, that will make your Uncle Job furious. He said they meant to leave this part of the country, and on that account it’s likely they’ll go further than if they expected to stay around here right along.”

“Gee! I’m sorry to hear that,” Harry observed, and it could be seen that the boy must be considerably worked up, for Harry seldom used slang of any kind.

As for Jimmy, he ground those strong white teeth of his and muttered to himself in a fashion that told how excited he was.

“There he is talking with that big rustler now,” Harry remarked, a minute later; “the one you think must be Hy Adams, and who hurried over to join the leader after he saw him leave us. See the giant swinging his arms, and hear him growl like thunder in the distance. Now, what d’ye think he can be asking of Clem Parsons, Ned? D’ye expect he wants to have that nice little practice whipping-bee right away, and not wait for morning to come?”

“I don’t know, but something’s bothering him – that’s sure – for he keeps pointing this way and wagging that great big head of his, like he’d shake it off. Seems to me as though he’s winning his point, too, because the other man isn’t objecting as much as he did before.”

“There, he shrugs his shoulders and turns away, just like he told him to do as he wanted and that as for him, he washed his hands of the whole business. Oh! what if they do start in to use those cruel quirts on our backs, Ned?”

Ned Nestor turned a little white himself at the very thought; but he clenched his teeth in that determined way of his and said, slowly:

“That would be pretty tough, boys, and I hope it doesn’t strike us; but if it should, remember that we’re scouts, and supposed to be able to stand pain, like the Indians were taught, without wincing or crying out.”

All of them were watching Hy Adams with uneasy eyes. They seemed to know from the triumphant glare with which the terror of the hills observed them that he must have carried his point with the leader, and was now only figuring on how he had better proceed.

“Oh! if only I had my Marlin here right now, mebbe I wouldn’t put him on the blink in a hurry, though?” Jimmy was sighing; “I’d hold up the camp and let you fellers find your own guns. Then we’d pick out the ones we wanted to keep, and tell the others to clear out. But that’s all a dream, because here I am with only me two fists to back me up, and they wouldn’t count against that hog!”

Hy Adams was now talking with several of the most dissipated looking of the men. Whatever he might be telling them it seemed to please the others immensely, for they laughed harshly; and one fellow immediately stepped over to take down his quirt from where it hung alongside the door of a shack.

“There, did you see that?” demanded Harry, “it means whips after all, Ned! Oh! to think of their cruel hearts. Just like we lived down in Delaware, where they have the whipping post going. Can we do anything to get them to let up on the game?”

“I’m sorry to say not,” responded Ned. “Seems as if they’d got to the point where they must see the blood flow to satisfy their desire for revenge. We spoiled their little scheme for getting your uncle’s best herd of prize cattle that he means for exhibition purposes and this Adams has it in for us on that account.”

“Did you ever see such a terrible brute in your born days?” Harry asked, with a shiver of dread, for there were three punchers now who had laid hold of quirts and amused themselves, cracking the lashes at the ends of the whips as though desirous of inspiring additional fear in the hearts of the prisoners by making such suggestive sounds.

“Amos was right when he said his step-father was the biggest terror along the border,” Ned admitted. “I’ve seen some bad men, but never one that struck you as the howling storm does, and that describes Hy Adams. I’m feeling sorry for Amos, who must get in the way of that ham of a fist every once in so often. And that little woman who calls Hy Adams her husband, just think of how she must suffer when he rages like a bull in a china shop?”

“Now he’s heading this way, Ned,” Harry said half inaudibly, for he was tremendously excited.

“Well, try your level best to show a brave front, Harry, no matter what happens. We’ve been in lots of tough places and, somehow, always seem to get out before the worst we’ve been expecting comes along. I’ll try and talk him out of doing this cowardly thing. Sometimes I seem to be able to swing people around to my way of thinking, you know, Harry.”

“Yes, that’s so, Ned, you nearly always can; but you’re up against it this time, I’m afraid. He’s only a big brute, and chances are he’ll strike you in the mouth if you try and talk him out of doing a thing he wants to carry out. We certainly are in the worst fix of our lives right now.”

“Talk to me about the silver linin’ of the cloud,” burst out Jimmy, “I’d like to see what that means. Here we’re in a black hole and the ladder’s been took away. I’m feeling pretty punk myself; but c’n stand it if the rest of you do.”

“They always say it’s darkest just before dawn, Jimmy,” advised Ned, seeking to buoy up the spirits of his two chums more than that he could himself see any reason for hope.