Captain James Carson

“ Bob knew his chum was anticipating seeing a change take place at any minute now; that he fully believed the two agile cow punchers must have had ample time to crawl up the incline.
He found himself wondering whether the sentry would make any outcry. Of course any such sound would threaten the success of their plans, since it must excite the curiosity of the rustlers, and lead to an examination.
But then Scotty knew what he was about, and would hold his hand until he could be sure of silence and success. Somehow Bob found himself putting the utmost faith in the cowboy. ”

“ But look at that steer cavorting around over yonder. Whatever in the world do you suppose he’s doing, Bob?”
The Kentucky boy shook his head as though still unsatisfied.
“I reckon now, Frank might know a little about that knife,” he murmured to himself, as he looked at his chum. “But for some reason he wants to play innocent and let me think things out. And it isn’t like Frank, to act this way. Perhaps I’d best keep quiet, and watch him. He might give himself away somehow when he isn’t on his guard.” ”

“ Impulsive Bob, the Kentucky lad, still has much to learn about Western ways; but with such a chum as Frank Haywood to show him the secrets of forest, plain and trail, he at least bids fair to, in time, become well versed in the accomplishments that mark the true son of the wilderness. Until such time as perhaps we may once more gallop in the company of the saddle boys we will say to our young readers, good-bye. ”

“ Jumping to the ground, they searched the earth for traces that would indicate how the herd had not passed into the quivering quicksands, but turned aside.
No matter how cleverly the rustlers had concealed the marks of the many hoofs, and left a few time-worn tracks to deceive, some of those keen eyes now on the search were bound to discover what they so eagerly sought.
A quick call from one quarter soon announced that the expected signs had been found. Riding that way Frank and Bob saw that the trailer Scotty was indicating his discovery to Bart Heminway and the stockman. ”

“ I’d hate to meet a critter like that alone, and without more’n a knife to defend myself with, Frank!” Bob exclaimed, as he sat in the saddle, pushing several cartridges into the magazine of his rifle, and looking down at the hated quarry that had rewarded Frank’s last shot.
“Oh! he’s an old one, all right,” remarked Frank. “I can see the scars of many a fight on his hide, and about his muzzle. But wait till I fling him across the horse. Watch Buckskin prance! No horse likes to come in touch with a wild animal like a panther, wolf or bear, dead or alive. The scent of blood makes ’em wild, too. ”

“ Frank replied. “I’ve heard some of our boys say an Indian would be clumsy at hiding tracks alongside a few of Mendoza’s best hands. But wait and see what happens, Bob; perhaps we’ve got a few fellows along just as smart at finding a trail as they are at hiding one.”
“I hope so,” Bob rejoined. “I’d just hate to have to go home like a whipped dog, that carries his tail between his legs. And Frank, don’t you remember what your father said about Thunder Mountain, and how we saw a string of horses being led into the canyon that night?” ”

“ Bob looked surprised at this.
“Why, what harm can a dead bear do?” he asked. “I should think that all the fight had gone out of him by now.”
“Sure it has,” answered his chum; “but you’d never get that skittish herd past this spot, let me tell you. They would scent that bear fifty feet away. Dead or alive, it wouldn’t make much difference to them, and we’d be apt to have a stampede on our hands. How about that, Bart?”
“A dead certainty, Frank,” replied the foreman. ”

“ And of all the rustlers in Arizona, there’s none equal to Pedro Mendoza. Look at the steer, Bob!”
“Seems to just know we’re coming to lend a helping hand,” laughed Bob. “There he gallops around to the other side of the timber, as if he wanted to cut off Mr. Wolf before he took a start from that side. He’s a sharp one, that steer.”
“None smarter, and I ought to know, because that’s Old Baldy!” remarked Frank.
“What!” cried Bob, “didn’t you tell me a long time ago that Old Baldy had been nipped, with a bunch of cattle; and your foreman believed the rustlers had him?” ”

“ Stop and think, Bob; you’ll remember how he told dad, with one of his laughs, how we would never take the stock out of this valley? Well, he believes he’s fixed it that way right now!”
“Then we’re in a nice pickle, aren’t we?” lamented the other saddle boy. “If he’s blown that little pass into a ruin, and cut off our only way for going out, we’ll never get the cattle through.”
“Never is a long time, Bob; just wait till my dad gets to work. He always rises to his best when in a hole like this. There he is, coming this way with Bart and Scotty. ”

“ It was that of a man, and Frank felt sure he could recognize Andy Lane, one of the cow punchers who had been left out on the range as a night wrangler, to watch the herds that were quartered miles away from the big corral.
Something, then, must evidently have happened to bring Andy home. He undoubtedly brought serious news that had inflamed the mind of the usually cool rancher, and would account for his excited manner.
Frank looked further. He was accustomed to seeing things that might escape many another, less observing. ”

“ But it takes time.”
“Old Baldy is with that lot, Frank; I’m sure I can tell him from here, leading them all, like a proud general.”
“Yes, that’s Baldy, sure. And no need of him worrying about his feed after this. Every cowboy on the range is proud of the way that old rascal found his way out of the Lost Valley. Why, just think how much we owe him. Only for his leaving a marked trail up to the second gateway we’d still have part of our herd cooped up there, and a big job to dig a passage through those tumble-down rocks to get ’em out.” ”

“ Once again the dead wolf was tossed across the back of the plunging buckskin pony. No matter how well trained a horse may be, he will never become accustomed to the presence of a beast of prey. Even circus horses show their nervousness, after drawing a cage containing a tiger or a lion for weeks and months at a time.
Old Baldy trotted along after them as they rode off.
“That proves he was on his way home when he scented that lame wolf; and perhaps chased him into that bunch of timber,” remarked Frank, as he turned in the saddle and saw the following steer. ”

“ Colonel Haywood had carried out all his quickly-laid plans for the campaign, looking to the arrest of the rustler. He had sent a reliable man to the spring-hole where the cattle drank, with strict orders as to what he should do if anyone came and acted suspiciously during the night. No mercy was to be shown a man who would descend to such a pass as to try and poison an entire herd of cattle, just to have revenge on the man who had broken up his unlawful trade.
Bart Heminway talked to the four cowboys wanted at the house, and they had managed to slip indoors. ”

“ Frank went on; and from this Bob knew that it was about this matter his chum and the colonel had been whispering.
“Ugh! Frank much friend Havasupai, long go. Not forget. How can help?” was what the old Moqui said.
“We heard what the rustler said to you,” Frank went on eagerly, though carefully. “He scorns you because your people have sent you out to die like a dog or a coyote. Help us to trap Mendoza and his men. We would shut them up in the cabins while we run off our stock. And as you are allowed in the camp, you might be of great help to us. Will you do it, Havasupai? ”

“ There were little accidents, to be sure, on the way down; but all things considered they did remarkably well. But it was certainly a used-up bunch of cowboys that, an hour or so before dusk, gave a screech as they found themselves on the level once more, with no more climbing or descending mountains ahead.
“Never want to see a mountain again!” declared Scotty, as he limped along, his feet sore, and his lower limbs feeling as though they had been scorched.
“But look there, isn’t that Jeff coming with the ponies?” asked Frank, pointing. ”

“ Bob said, dismally.
“Everything that is worth while takes time,” remarked the stockman, encouragingly; “and tracking can’t be learned in a week, a month, nor yet in a year. Truth to tell, most cowboys never do learn it worth while. It doesn’t run in the blood, you see. They can rope steers, break bucking broncos, and do all such things; but only to a favored few does the trail give up all its wonderful secrets.”
“I hope Frank gets sight of the tracks first,” said Bob, as his eyes followed the stooping figure of his chum longingly. ”

“ If he runs, the steer will catch up with him; and if he stays, it’s a bit of lead between his ribs. I’m sorry for him, Frank; but I reckon he’s been responsible for more than a few heifers that have disappeared mysteriously from time to time.”
“Yes, that’s so,” replied Frank. “Stockmen hate wolves more’n anything on four legs. There’s only one thing that hits ’em worse.”
“Rustlers, you mean, Frank?” remarked the Kentucky boy.
“Yes, the Mexicans or halfbreeds, who drop down on a herd of cattle, or the saddle band of the punchers’ horses, and disappear with them. ”

“ And we’re a-goin’ to know what that object was before a great while now.”
“We’ve just got to,” laughed Frank, “because we’ll soon be at the top of the old ridge, the way we’re climbing. And dad, if it turns out that Old Baldy shows us a new way out of the valley, what are you going to do to him when we get back home?”
“He can own the ranch,” replied the stockman, readily. “He’ll be in clover for the rest of his days, I promise you, son.”
The way grew more difficult; yet no matter what obstacles seemed to loom up ahead, there was always a way around them, and Old Baldy knew the trail. ”

“ But a grizzly bear was a foe worthy of the efforts of the most experienced hunter.
Bob had had one experience in this line, and not a great distance away from the spot where he now stood; for it had been on the occasion of their first visit to Thunder Mountain that it happened, and in the entrance to the big canyon leading upward.
He could see the bear, now that Scotty had pointed him out. The animal was apparently aware of the presence of human beings; but he showed not the slightest trace of fear, or a desire to retreat.
“He seems to be right on the trail,” declared Frank, as he looked. ”

“ Bob asked.
“One man will stay here to keep tabs on what is happening in camp,” Frank answered, as if he had it all figured out in his own mind, and did not hesitate about posting his companion. “But it’s safer for the others to sleep far enough away, so if there happens to be a big snorer among ’em, he won’t tell the rustlers that we’ve come to town to pay them a visit.” ”

“ Frank whispered, as in imagination he could see Mendoza’s Mexican rustlers heading the drove off, and compelling the frightened animals to enter the second opening.
“I take off my hat to such drivers of cattle as those fellows,” remarked Bob, who did not understand how the thing could have been done.
This time they were only a short while in the narrow cut. All they had to do was to follow straight ahead, and keep in single file. Every man was also warned not to try to make haste, for they did not wish to betray their presence by any unlucky stumble. ”

“ And rest easy, boys, this time nothing is going to keep us from running down Mendoza’s rustlers! They believe they’ll be able to hoodwink us again; but wait and see. Perhaps they can; but the pitcher may go to the well once too often. So can Mendoza. Success has made him bold. We must clips his wings, boys!”
At that sort of talk a cheer burst forth from the Circle riders. They already knew their part in the drive, and while about half of them galloped after the foreman, the others followed Ted Conway in an opposite direction. ”

“ Frank replied, thoughtfully. “A Mexican can change his looks easy enough, you understand. We saw Mendoza in the Lost Valley, and as I remember him, he had a mustache, and little sideburns in front of his ears, the way so many Mexican senors do. Suppose he took a notion to have a clean face, why, his best friend might pass him by, Bob.” ”

“ Frank continued. “I’ve heard lots of stories about his daring. Some people choose to call him a coward; but, bad man as he is, I don’t believe that name fits him. And in all his career as a cattle rustler I don’t think he ever had such a hard knock as when we snatched all his cattle away from him, and our boys held him up a whole day in that bunk-house.”
“Yes,” Bob admitted, “that sounds all right. I can understand how angry it must make a man like that to remember his profitable business of helping himself to other people’s horses and cattle has been frosted, and ruined forever in Arizona.” ”

“ It was now light enough to make a start, and the cries of the cowboys began to cause a movement in the herd. The barbed wire corral had been cut, so that the animals were easily driven forth, and headed on the trail that would, in a short time, bring the vanguard to the neck of the bottle—that narrow pass through which they must apparently proceed in order to leave the valley. ”

“ Once at the corral the boys found that, as daylight came on, the cowboys were getting busy indeed. They recognized the best part of the herd as their property; but besides these there seemed to be fully as many other cattle. Mendoza had claimed these as his lawful possession; but no one believed him; for it was found that in every case the brands on full-grown cattle had been altered. Only a few partly grown animals bore the single star that seemed to be the trade mark of the hidden valley ranch. ”

“ And if Mendoza wanted to see what the inside of the ranch house looked like, and meet the women folks face to face, he’d be just as apt as anything to try some way like that. It would be easy for such a bold man, Bob.”
“But what do you suppose the old warrior wants you to hold up here for?” asked the Kentucky boy, who could ask questions as became a lawyer, even if he failed to grasp situations as readily as his chum.
“How about that, Havasupai?” asked Frank, as he turned to the Moqui, who had been listening to what they said with deep earnestness. ”

“ So here we start into the valley, where our prize herd is kept on the grass.”
“They did that thing up handsome, Frank,” admitted Bob.
“It’s a way Scotty has,” chuckled the other. “He never goes into anything but he carries it out like machine work. And Bob, this is only the beginning, remember. We’ve got a heap cut out for us yet. It’s going to be a night you’ll never forget as long as you live. And as for Senor Mendoza, the boys of Circle Ranch expect to give him his Waterloo right here in his own camp. Come along, Bob; show how you can move along this path into the narrow pass.” ”

“ Of course, as they advanced along the side of the valley, the sounds that had come so faintly to their ears when beyond the barrier now grew more positive. Cattle could be heard, trust the experienced ears of cowboys for detecting their presence. Then, besides, voices sounded, as men called out to one another; while the fellow who twanged the mandolin persisted in his efforts to practice on the airs he possibly meant to sing the next time he went courting down below the Mexican border. ”

“ Still, somehow, Bob could not quite get that scornful laugh, as well as the mocking words of Mendoza, out of his mind.
“He meant something by it, I’m sure of that,” he was saying to himself for the fifth time at least, as he stalked along, doing his share of driving the herd toward the outlet of the secret valley back of Thunder Mountain.
This being on foot galled the cowboys very much. If there is anything a puncher dislikes it is being compelled to play his part without a horse. ”