Kitabı oku: «Mason of Bar X Ranch», sayfa 13
CHAPTER XVIII – THE LOST AIRPLANE
Josephine rode away from Bar X ranch with a feeling of misgiving. She knew that she had treated Mason rather mean, but she felt piqued because he had neglected her for the last few days.
Ethel noticed her abstracted manner, and asked her the reason for it.
“I think your big brother has been neglecting us shamefully,” she said at last in answer to a repeated query from Ethel. “Dad doesn’t need him to work about the ranch as he persists in doing, and I think it mean of him while you are visiting us.”
Ethel smiled at her serious manner.
“You certainly cut him to-day when you refused his offer to go with us,” she said, watching keenly the effect of her words on her friend.
“Serves him right,” Josephine answered spiritedly. “I suppose he thinks I am a very unreasonable girl, but you know we planned to visit the secret passage at the Ricker ranch, and I really wanted to ask him to go with us, but for the last three days I have scarcely been able to get a word with him.”
“Jack thinks you are in love with Bud Anderson,” Ethel ventured gently.
Josephine laughed merrily.
“Bud and I are great friends and I like him immensely,” she answered, a far-away look in her eyes.
Percy Vanderpool had been an interested listener up to this point, but now he began to get impatient at the lack of interest they were showing in him.
“Aw, I say girls,” he drawled, “do you really think this bally ranch with the aw, secret passage is a safe place to go?”
Josephine flashed him an amused glance.
“If you are afraid, you may go back, but Ethel and I are going to see this place. There is no danger, for two of Bud’s men are guarding it,” she answered him scornfully.
“Oh, Percy is game, all right,” Ethel cut in; “I know he isn’t afraid to go where us girls dare go.”
At this praise the fop began to tell of some deeds of daring he had performed while on a trip through the jungles of Africa and the girls listened with much merriment.
Thinking he had impressed them with his great prowess he launched into such a lengthy tale of one of his trips that Josephine had to cut him off in the midst of it.
They were nearing Trader’s Post where they had planned to halt for a short rest before proceeding on to the Ricker ranch.
A foreboding of evil was stealing over Josephine and try as she would, she couldn’t seem to shake it off. She wished most heartily that she had permitted Mason to come with them and felt vexed with herself for being so obstinate.
As they entered Trader’s Post she caught sight of one of the cowboys Bud had left in charge of the Ricker ranch. He was on the opposite side of the street and bidding Ethel and Percy to wait, she hastened over and had a chat with him.
The cowboy had come to town for a few supplies and was going back at once. He assured her that everything was going fine at the ranch, and feeling relieved she hurried back to join Ethel and Percy.
After lunch and a short rest they started for the ranch. The cowboy would reach the ranch ahead of them, but somehow the meeting with him had helped dispel the depressing spirit that seemed to grip her. In the course of an hour they had reached the outbuildings of the ranch, and the desolate condition of the place almost struck terror to the girl’s heart, but remembering the meeting with the cowboy they pressed on.
Arriving at the ranch house, Josephine was shocked to find the door partly open, and the house was apparently deserted.
“That’s strange,” she said, nervously entering the room. “Come on in, Ethel, and bring Percy. We’ll see if he has got the nerve he has been bragging to us about. I’m not going to stay in this place long myself, it looks spooky to me. We will investigate that secret passage and then dust out of here. I have got a nice flashlight with me so we won’t have to stumble over anything.”
“I cannot understand what became of the two cowboys that are supposed to be in charge here,” Ethel replied, stepping inside and walking gingerly about the room. “Oh, say a real live counterfeiter’s den! Won’t I have something to tell the people back in New York when I get home?”
Josephine smiled at the Eastern girl’s enthusiasm.
“I guess only one of the guards stay here at a time,” she said, “and they probably take turns while one of them rides the range. The one we met is no doubt on watch here now, and is about the place somewhere. Come, Percy dear, I will let you take this nice new flashlight; won’t you lead the way into the cellar?”
It was plain to the girls that the task was not to Percy’s liking, but when they laughed at him he braced up and made a show of courage.
With quaking hearts, it must be confessed, they found a door leading into the cellar. Once at the bottom, they huddled close together.
“I suppose we were awful fools to come here alone,” Josephine remarked, jumping nervously at the sound of her own voice; it sounded strange and hollow to her in the long cellar. “Now that we’re here we’ll see it through. I remember Sir Jack telling that there was a button or knot that he pushed, and lo! a door opened into the secret passage. I suppose they have the passage sealed up, but I am going to see for myself just the same. Here, Percy, let me take that light, your face is white as a sheet and your hand is trembling. Brace up, man.”
Josephine took the light and led the way, the others following cautiously. They had not proceeded far when Josephine stopped short in a listening attitude.
For the first time, Ethel saw that she was carrying a revolver in one hand.
“What is it?” Ethel whispered anxiously, and her knees shook in spite of her.
“I thought that I heard a sound like an engine motor,” Josephine answered joyously.
Distinctly the sound of a motor came to their ears, each moment growing louder until the sound developed into a continuous roar.
“Hurrah,” Josephine cried, unable to suppress her delight. “Sir Jack is coming.”
The next instant a heavy hand was clasped over her mouth and a voice hissed in her ear:
“Keep silent, or you die!”
Josephine screamed and discharged her revolver. She heard a shout and an answering shot and she was sure that if it was Mason, he had heard her fire the shot and was coming to their assistance.
The revolver was knocked out of her hand before she could fire another shot, and she was grasped in the arms of her assailant and carried she knew not where. She knew that Ethel had fainted as she had seen her body sink limply to the floor, while Percy was struggling in the hands of two men.
Her captor picked her up and carried her along the passage until he came to a flight of stairs which led out into the open. Here she was placed on her feet and given over to the care of two men who acted as guards. Her captors wore masks and she was unable to make out any of their features. Ethel was brought out with Percy and placed under the same guards, who proceeded to bind their hands behind their backs.
Josephine could still hear an automobile engine running idle and an occasional revolver shot. Suddenly there came to her ears a volley of shots and soon after the engine stopped running. With sinking heart the girl realized that they were shooting holes in the gasoline tank. Ethel was gradually coming out of her swoon, and the helplessness of the poor girl made Josephine’s eyes flash fire.
“Cheer up, Ethel,” she said tenderly, as the girl came to her full senses. “These devils won’t be allowed to keep us as prisoners long. I think they put your brother’s car out of commission, but he was too much for them as I see that they haven’t captured him yet.”
They were gruffly ordered by the guard to cease talking. Soon another masked guard approached the prisoners and proceeded to blindfold them.
Before this happened, Josephine had counted six masked men, and she wondered if Mason had managed to escape unhurt. She strained her ears for every sound. At a short distance from her a group of masked men were talking in subdued tones, but her ears caught the word, chief, and a little later the name Ricker! Soon she heard them mention Mason’s name, so she knew that he had made an attempt to rescue them and the thought gave her new courage.
So she was in the power of Ricker and his cutthroats. She remembered that Mason had told her of Ricker’s oath to break jail and his threat to come back and get revenge on Mason and herself and now he was at large again. She wondered how Ricker happened to be at the ranch the very day she had chosen to visit it. She had played right into the hands of fate, and she remembered how hard Mason had pleaded with her not to leave Bar X. Her body grew numb and her eyes filled with tears. Well, anyway, they had not caught Mason yet, and her heart thrilled at the thought.
There was a chance that he might be able to rescue them and she knew he wouldn’t lose any time in getting a posse on the outlaws’ trail. That they would be more desperate than ever, she well knew, as they had broken jail and Ricker was an escaped murderer.
At this point in her meditations she was rudely jerked to her feet by one of the guards and placed on a horse. She managed to whisper a word of encouragement in Ethel’s ear and was delighted when she found that they were to ride together. That is, Ethel was placed on a horse and rode by her side, and she had a vague idea that Percy rode just ahead of them.
Then followed a long ride with many hardships.
In the course of a few hours they reached the mountains where the trail was very difficult, and at times their captors had to guide their horses over the rough trails.
After ages of climbing as it seemed to Josephine, they struck a more level trail. That they were high in the mountain ranges she had not a doubt and was fearful that the captors were taking them to some unknown mountain retreat where it would be difficult for rescuers to find them.
The captors had thrown off all restraint and were talking freely among themselves. Josephine kept her wits and listened closely. From the talk she gathered that they were being led by Pete Carlo, the Mexican. He knew the mountains better than any living person and was leading the outlaws to a retreat where it would be utterly impossible for anybody to discover them. Spot Wells was among her captors, too, for she had heard his name called by one of the men.
Thus far they had suffered no indignity from the men, but she trembled when she thought of brutal Spot Wells and his attempt to carry her and Ethel off at Smoky Point when the timely arrival of Mason checkmated him. She was almost in despair at their probable fate when she heard two of the captors start up a conversation near her.
She listened eagerly, and from the words dropped with a coarse laugh and curse, she learned that Ricker had made a jail delivery with the Mexican, Jim Haley and Nick Cover.
The outlaws had been at large about two weeks and immediately after their escape from jail they had struck out for Nevada. Arriving at their old haunt, the Ricker ranch, they had kept concealed for a few days. Ricker’s plan had been to raid the Bar X ranch and make a quick kill including Mason and Bud Anderson, and then to carry off the girls out of pure revenge.
Her coming with Ethel and Percy to the Ricker ranch on the very day this diabolical plan was to be carried out had upset all Ricker’s plans. Kind fate was playing into his hands, for here was Percy Vanderpool, the son of a millionaire from New York. The cowboys at the ranch had been captured by Ricker’s men while he laid plans to make Percy and the girls prisoners and take them to the mountains to be held for ransom.
Josephine felt somewhat relieved when she overheard this statement, for she was sure they would not come to any harm while there was a chance of a large reward for the outlaws.
She was sure that Percy’s father would pay a large sum of money to secure his son’s release, and no doubt there would be a large amount of money demanded from her father and Ethel’s. The talking had ceased and she failed to learn more.
The chances were that Ricker would tell them in plain terms what he expected their fathers to do when they reached their mountain retreat.
She was hoping the ride would end soon as her body ached and she knew that Ethel and Percy must be suffering too. She was glad when finally an order was given by Ricker to dismount and the blindfold was removed from their eyes.
Next, their hands were untied, and Josephine went over and put her arms around Ethel.
“Forgive me, dear, I am sorry I got you into this trouble,” Josephine said with a heavy heart.
“You are no more to blame than I am,” Ethel protested stoutly. “I was just as anxious to see the secret passage as you were, and my brother will make it hot for these cut-throats if they dare to harm us.”
Josephine’s eyes glistened.
“I know he will, dear, and I am sure he will rescue us. He rescued me from the Mexican once before when I was in just as bad a position as now.
“Did you hear what the outlaws were saying as we came up the trail? I think they will try to hold us for a ransom.”
Ethel started to reply, when Ricker pushed up to them with a leering smile.
“Some birds I have caught in my cage to-day,” he said with a coarse laugh. “Your quarters are right over there by that flat table rock. There is a shanty there which I will have the men fix up comfortable for you, and you won’t be harmed if you don’t try to escape. And I wouldn’t advise you to try it, either,” he added with an oath.
“In due time your folks will be presented with my terms for your release, and if they don’t come across with the money it will go hard with you girls. My men will have quarters just inside this semicircle here.” He waved his hand towards a natural barrier of rock. “One of my men will have you under watch night and day, and the rest will see that none of your friends come too close for their health. If they try it they are dead men. I can hold off a small army from this retreat, and I don’t intend to leave here until I gain my ends, which is money, and plenty of it too.”
He stopped and looked hard at the girls.
“Josephine, when the proper time comes, you are going to write a letter for me,” he said threateningly.
Josephine faced him with flashing eyes.
“I’ll write no letters for you, you swine,” she said defiantly, “and when Mason comes he will kill you.”
“Not so fast, my little spitfire,” he purred, “but I am telling you straight. If you value Mason’s life, or any lives at the Bar X ranch, you will write this letter which I will dictate to you. If any of your friends come within two hundred yards of this place it will be sure death to them. Just look around and see for yourself how foolish it would be for any one to try to rescue you.”
With this warning he turned and left them.
Josephine took a general survey of the place. At last she turned a pale face to Ethel, for she had noticed the natural barriers of rock all about them.
“This place is twice as hard to get at as the one where I was held a prisoner before,” she said sadly.
It was beginning to get dark and the girls were completely tired out. They went over to the little cabin on the flat table rock and throwing themselves down tried to sleep. Percy was to make his quarters with the men in another cabin a hundred yards across the flat rock from the girls’ cabin, and they were surprised to see how well he seemed to bear up under his present troubles. Josephine arranged to have one of them keep watch while the other slept, and in this way they passed the long night.
When morning came they were full of aches and pains as neither had slept well during the night and the bunks were hard. Both girls had finally agreed that it would be best to grant Ricker’s demands, and write the warning letter to Mason.
The men were astir over in their camp and the smell of coffee boiling came to them with an appetizing flavor. A stream flowed close by and Josephine went over to it and started to bathe her swollen eyes.
She was startled by a strange humming noise over her head and looked up in alarm.
“Oh, look! Ethel!” she screamed, “an airplane!”
Like a huge bird it soared above them, then the motor stopped and the airplane began to come down gracefully in long sweeping spirals. The girls were waving their handkerchiefs at the aviator when Ricker came rushing out of the men’s cabin and fired his revolver at him. Instantly the motor started to hum and the airplane began to lift. Soon it was a mere speck in the sky.
Josephine clasped Ethel in her arms and her eyes were swimming with tears.
“I’ll bet my life that was Roy Purvis, the aviator,” Josephine said, her spirits drooping at their slim chance of being rescued. “Sir Jack told me that he expected an aviator to visit him from New York, and I believe that was his airplane and he has lost his way in the mountains!”
CHAPTER XIX – THE ROUND-UP
When Mason arrived at the Ricker ranch in his racer there was an ominous silence about the place that confirmed his worst fears. He knew the girls must have arrived at the ranch ahead of him, but seeing no signs of life about the place he left his motor running and sprinted for the house.
Just as he threw the door open he heard a piercing scream followed by a revolver shot that appeared to come from the depths of the cellar. He drew his revolver and fired an answering shot. He dashed madly down the stairs leading to the cellar where he found himself in pitch darkness. Sounds of a struggle reached his ears as he blindly felt his way along the cellar. He cursed his stupidity for not thinking to have brought along a light of some kind.
The sounds of a struggle had abruptly ceased and a deathly silence prevailed. Too late!
He had traversed the entire length of the cellar and was about to start a search of the secret passage when he heard a number of shots fired in rapid succession.
Soon after, to his dismay, his engine stopped running. In desperation he raced back through the cellar and collided with a man who had just started to come down the cellar stairs.
A fierce battle ensued between them, Mason’s adversary striving to bring his revolver butt down on his head. The fellow wore a mask and after repeated attempts Mason succeeded in tearing it off.
The gunman was a stranger to him. Mason redoubled his efforts and backheeling the man, threw him downstairs. The delay had proved costly, however, and when he got out to his car he found the gasoline tank punctured with bullet holes. In the distance a party of horsemen with Josephine, Ethel and Percy in their midst were riding hard for the foothills.
“Oh, hell,” he swore to himself as he leaned dejectedly against his useless racer. “I’m some rescuer, I don’t think. Why didn’t Trent Burton’s message come through sooner. The news two weeks old and those cut-throats at large all this time. I think now that the four riders Gaylor and I saw that day were just a scouting party of Ricker’s. Yes, and the rifle shot that blew my tire out was some of their dirty work too. Lucky the bullet hit a tire instead of one of the girls, but it wasn’t their fault that it didn’t.”
The thought of the girls’ plight nerved him to swift action and he set out to search the premises for a horse. He wondered what had become of the two cowboys who were in charge of the ranch. His mind was bordering on a state of frenzy after he had searched the corral and failed to find a horse.
About a hundred yards from the corral lay the bunk-house. It was a large building and Mason noticed there was a small shed attached to the far corner of it. Something impelled him to look the building over, and it was well that he did so. Upon entering the bunk-house he found the two guards. They were bound and gagged and tied to one of the bed posts. Mason liberated them, after which he stood regarding them with scorn.
“Well, you’re a fine pair of huskies, I must say,” he said contemptuously. “Hell’s to pay about this ranch, and here I find you two cowboys trussed up like two fine turkeys. Both girls carried off by Ricker and his gang of cut-throats and no one here to stop them. How did it happen, anyway?” he wound up savagely.
Both cowboys had been spare hands at the Bar X ranch, and Mason felt that Bud had made a mistake in not placing more competent men in charge of the Ricker ranch. His own choice would have been the two fire eaters, Scotty Campbell and Red Sullivan.
“Don’t be too hard on us, boss,” one of the cowboys pleaded. “It happened this way. Bob, here, rode over to the Post for supplies right after I came in off the range. Just after he had left and got out of sight somebody sneaked up behind me and cracked me over the head. When I came to my senses I found Bob tied up alongside of me. I didn’t have a chance, pard, honest I didn’t.”
“I got served the same way,” the cowboy named Bob spoke up. “I met the girls and the young fellow at the Post, and Miss Josephine said they were coming on to the ranch. I left quite a spell ahead of them and got served the same as Jim here.”
“So it seems,” Mason said sarcastically. “You fellows can square yourself to a certain extent if you will dig me up a horse.”
“That’s easy,” Bob spoke up eagerly, “my horse is tied in the shed at the end of the bunk-house, and Jim’s horse is there too.”
“All right,” Mason answered curtly, “I’ll take one of them and when you get a chance, tow my machine to Trader’s Post and have the gasoline tank repaired. The tank is shot full of holes and I will have to depend on you cowboys to see that it is fixed and send the bill on to me at Bar X ranch. I expect some of Bud’s men will be here before long, and by the way, I knocked one of Ricker’s men down cellar. You might go and see if he’s there yet, and hand him over to Bud’s men when they come along.”
Quickly he looked the cowboys’ horses over and picking out the better one he set out rapidly for Bar X ranch. On the way he met a detachment of Bud’s men led by Big Joe Turner. They had been ordered to report at the Ricker ranch and would be joined by Bud the next day. Big Joe informed him that a general alarm had been sent out and that the Gaylor brothers had been notified. A fast rider had been dispatched to their ranch and they were expected at Bar X the next morning. Mason related all that had happened at the Ricker ranch and gave as his judgment that there were eight men in Ricker’s gang.
There was a general tightening of belts and a savage glitter in the men’s eyes as he told his story. Josephine was a popular idol with the men of Bar X and it would go hard with her captors if they should fall into these cowboys’ hands.
Mason bid them good luck and pressed on. It was late at night when he arrived at Bar X, but he immediately sought out Bud and they held a long consultation.
They planned to send out a detachment of cowboys the next morning and another one in the afternoon.
In all, there were to be three detachments of cowboys who were to relay each other in turn.
“What gets me,” Mason said in perplexity, “is why Trent Burton didn’t get word through to us sooner.”
“I forgot to tell you that I received another message from him while you was away,” Bud said with a look of wonder in his eyes. “He explained in this last message that the jail officials tried their best to locate him, but he was away on a case at the time. The message was brought to me by a rider just an hour after I received the first one. He sure is a wonder and is a strange man. Here, read this last message yourself.”
“Talking about me?” an amiable voice said over their shoulder.
Both men jumped to their feet in astonishment. They were sitting in a little room used as an office of the ranch house.
“For God’s sake, Trent Burton!” Bud stared at him.
“How did you get here?”
“Why, it was very simple, I assure you,” the strange man answered blandly. “The door was partly open and I merely walked in. I repeat, were you talking about me?”
“We sure were,” Mason answered. He had recovered in a measure from his astonishment.
“Well, you know the old saying, speak of the devil and you hear his wings.”
“You must have wings at that,” Bud retorted; “what I want to know is how you arrived at this ranch so soon after wiring me?”
“First part, special train; second part, fast automobile. Fast automobile is outside this minute. Now that I have cleared myself, what has my estimable friend Ricker been doing since he broke loose? I see where I have all my work to do over again.”
Briefly they told him of the counterfeiter’s latest outrage, and all three sat up till a late hour perfecting plans for the morrow.
There was little sleep for Mason that night, and the morning found him worn and haggard. Trent Burton had taken absolute charge and already one group of fighting men had left the ranch to join Big Joe Turner at the Ricker ranch. Mason wanted to leave with them, but the Marshal wouldn’t listen to his pleading.
“Stick with me, man, and brace up,” he said kindly. “I want all the brainy men with me. There is still another outfit to go before we start, and in our group will be such men as Bud, fire-eating Scotty, Red, Tex, Buck Miller and yourself. The Gaylor ranch has sent over ten men and Bruce Gaylor is coming with the rest. We will need all the men we can get to beat the mountains and surround the outlaws.”
Mason was silently turning the events of the past twenty-four hours over in his mind.
“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.
