James Cody Ferris

“ Mr. Manley said quietly. “We’ll do all we can to get the broncs back! When we’re ready, I want you and Roy to come along with me. As soon as we reach home we’ll get other ponies and be on our way.” He pulled the ends of his mustache and settled down once more into silence.
Teddy knew this mood of his father. He had seen it twice before, once, years ago, when a puncher had knocked Roy down, and once when a cowboy, with a misshapen idea of humor, had coaxed Teddy upon the back of the worst horse on the ranch, a real “man-eater.” ”

“ Froud appeared relieved. “Well, he’s no friend o’ mine. He travels with a different outfit than what I do. Here—”
Froud suddenly peered out from the trees. The next moment he jammed the gun into Roy’s ribs.
“You make a sound an’ I’ll drill you sure!” he whispered fiercely.
Cautiously, Roy turned his head. Not fifty feet away was his brother Teddy, riding slowly along past the grove.
“Quiet!” Froud ordered softly between set teeth. “If you want to see how two ounces of lead feels between yore ribs, just yell! By golly, I’ll blow yore liver right out o’ you!” ”

“ The first stars were peeping from a cloud-strewn sky when Roy and Teddy rode into the yards of the X Bar X. Without waiting to tie up their horses, they rushed into the house. Mrs. Manley was talking to Norine in the living room.
“Mother!” Teddy exclaimed, “where’s dad? Is he in?”
“Just went toward the corral, Teddy,” Mrs. Manley answered. Then, as she saw Teddy’s face, she asked: “What happened? Is Belle all right? She didn’t—”
“Nothing like that at all, Mom!” Roy cried, giving her a quick hug. “We’ve got good news. We know where our horses are!” ”

“ Teddy began tensely.
Mrs. Manley shook her head.
“No luck, boys. He wants you to take Belle over to Peter Ball’s place as soon as you can and to hurry back. I wish she would wait until this business is over. Still, I won’t be foolish and start to worry. She is so eager to visit Nell and Ethel that I haven’t the heart to say she can’t. There is not a great deal of opportunity for social life out here. Anyway, I want her to become well acquainted with the two girls, for she may go to New York next winter and she’ll be happier if she has friends there. When do you want to start?” ”

“ He got to that cabin of yours, an’ Roy an’ Teddy bound up his wound. He told everything, an’ he’ll be in the saddle again in two weeks. Froud, you’re a marked man!”
The rustler caught at the saddle horn. He trembled as though with the ague, and wet his lips with his tongue. He strove to speak, but the words would not come.
“Save ’em,” Nick Looker said in a contemptuous voice. “You might need later all the talk you got. Come on now! Ride on! We ain’t got all night. All right, boss? Do we go?”
“We go, Nick! An’ don’t worry about watchin’ Froud. ”

“ Bug Eye made his appearance at six o’clock. He had slept off his wild anger at finding his flivver wantonly wrecked, but still the indignity of being made to walk all those miles to the X Bar X smouldered within him. A cowboy’s legs are not for walking, they are to keep him steady on a horse.
Upon being told of Roy’s adventure with Froud, Bug Eye asked Mr. Manley for a horse to ride after the rustler, but he was persuaded to calm down and sit tight for a bit. ”

“ Pete ought to put better men to riding his cattle.”
“Now, I don’t know,” Teddy replied slowly. “They’ve got some good punchers over on the 8 X 8. Way I figure it, those rustlers are mighty clever. They ride into a herd at night, cut out as many head as they can handle, and drive ’em away before the riders can get to them. But, by jinks, they’d better not try to get away with any of the X Bar X cattle! They’ll have one sweet fight on their hands if they do;” Teddy looked down at the side of his saddle where the insignia X—X, burned in the leather, could be plainly seen. ”

“ Ethel said, with a shudder. “Mr. Manley, I think that’s terrible! Do the men really like to eat mice?”
Belle and Roy could hold in no longer. They exploded into a hearty laugh. Nell and Ethel saw the joke immediately, and could not refrain from laughing too.
“I think you’re mean to tease us,” Ethel exclaimed, pouting in mock anger. “We are awfully green, aren’t we? I might have known you were only fooling!”
“Never mind,” Belle consoled the Eastern girls. “If you stay out here long enough, you’ll be a real Westerner. Then you can go back to New York and ride a horse down Broadway.” ”

“ Teddy called. “Maybe we can find out something more from one or two of the men there.”
“Don’t think so, son,” his father answered. “There’s a certain crowd that hangs out in Eagles that I don’t particularly hanker for. I guess you know who I mean.”
“There’s one bird I’d like to see again,” Teddy remarked slowly. “The puncher who was outside Rimor’s. He needs a lesson in politeness.”
Mr. Manley nodded.
“We may meet him again. Seemed to me he knew more than he wanted to tell. Still, he might have been just plain ugly. You can’t accuse a man of bein’ a rustler because he won’t answer questions.” ”

“ The boy looked at the unconscious man with open admiration. Then, bending swiftly down, he seized the puncher’s shoulders. “Where’ll we take him?” he asked of his father. “In here?” motioning toward the cook-house.
“No, better take him to the house,” Mr. Manley suggested, looking at Gus closely. “He’s out, cold! No wonder! Ridin’ twelve miles under that sun with a hole ripped in his arm! He sure is a nervy boy!”
“I’ll tell a maverick!” Roy exploded. “Come on, Teddy, we’ll lift him over to the house. Sing Lung, you run ahead and tell mother to get a bed ready. And talk English, not Chinese.” ”

“ Those ponies ain’t the kind to wander around, once they’re tied up. They’ve been stolen an’ nothin’ less!” he thundered.
“What happened? Is something the matter?” Nell asked, as she and Ethel faced Mr. Manley.
“You bet there’s something the matter!” the cattleman roared. “There’s a whole lot the matter! My hoss has been taken right from under my nose—stolen from Eagles in broad daylight! What kind of a town is this, anyway? Hey you!” He strode over to a cowboy who was leaning against the door jamb at Rimor’s. Roy and Teddy realized that he was the man they had noticed when they reached town. ”

“ Angry thoughts were milling in the boy’s mind as they neared the group of quakermasts. Turning his head slightly, Roy saw that they had reached a section of the country known as Harver’s Gully. The light in the east was stronger now, and Roy could make out the Rocky Run River a few miles to the north. Further up the stream was the X Bar X, but if one followed the course of Rocky Run, winding as it did, it would require a ride of some three or four hours to reach the Manley ranch. ”

“ Pop Burns, the oldest hand on the X Bar X ranch, claimed that he had “invented” the brand for Temple Manley, the grandfather of Roy and Teddy. Pop was inordinately boastful of this distinction, which he had conferred on himself, and he never tired of telling newcomers how he had happened to hit on the device of the “two sawbucks with a piece of rail fence in between,” as he sometimes described it. ”

“ Having arrived at the gully, the two boys rode slowly through the grove of quakermasts where Roy had been held captive. Then they mounted the hill on the other side and looked sharply about them.
“Don’t see much of importance, do you?” Teddy queried.
“Not much. Guess I was mistaken. But it looked queer, I’ll tell a maverick! I thought sure we’d find something hereabouts.”
“After all, it was only a hunch,” Teddy stated. “Most of the time they go wrong. Come on, let’s give the fish a whirl. Pop said they’re running fine.”
Riding down the incline, the boys came once more to the river. ”

“ No decent fellow would kick a pony.”
“Still thinking about Gilly Froud?” Roy asked. “Come on, snap out of it! Lots of nicer things to think about. For instance, that wrist watch you bought at school. Baby, wait till Nick Looker finds out you own a wrist watch! Maybe he won’t ride you a little!”
Teddy grinned in reply, and pushed his sombrero back from his forehead. It was certainly a hot day.
The two Manley brothers, Teddy, aged fifteen, and Roy, one year older, were at home, for a long time, they hoped, if not for good, from the Hopper Boarding School, an institution just outside of Denver. ”

“ Hey, Teddy, think you can coax that cayuse you’re riding into something more than a trickle? Maybe he’ll run, if you talk to him real nice.”
Teddy Manley did not reply, but clucked softly to his mount. Flash responded with a leap that caused General, the bay that Teddy was leading, to toss his head in protest.
“You’d better be careful,” Roy cautioned. “There’s only one man who can boss General, and that’s dad. If the bay takes it into his head to stop, he’ll stop, and neither one of us will be able to budge him. ”

“ The two brothers examined the fake iron and the real one with care, and then Teddy turned to his brother.
“The question is—what is to be done?” he demanded.
“Well, what can we do? Seems like it’s raining harder than ever now. Even if we did cut for home and tell the gang what we’ve found, what good would it do? It’s a cinch those rustlers won’t come back when they know we’re watching this cabin.”
“But do they have to know that? Why can’t we get the bunch, sneak back, and lay for those horse and cattle thieves? They’ll return sooner or later, because their guns and stuff are here.” ”

“ Mr. Manley and Roy were in the lead. Their horses took on that long, easy gait that carries a cowboy comfortably over thirty miles of prairie in a day. No one knew just how long this chase would last.
Gus Tripp urged his mount closer to Mr. Manley’s.
“Say, boss,” he drawled, “I suppose you heard about the 8 X 8 bein’ visited?”
“A little, Gus,” Mr. Manley answered. “Man on the train told me. Do they know who the rustlers were?”
“Well, they got kind of an idee. There’s been other ranches missin’ stock in just the same way that the 8 X 8 lost theirs. They say the same gang does all the jobs.” ”

“ Teddy grunted, with a grin. “For supper! Sure! Have to get dogged-up for supper. Guess I will, too.” Then his face took on a more serious expression. “Say, Roy, you don’t think we’ll have to stop looking for those thieves while the girls are here, do you?”
“I’ll tell a maverick we won’t!” Roy exploded. “Not if dad has anything to say about it, and I guess he has! He wants General back, and he wants him bad. If any clue turns up, we’ll go right after the rustlers!” ”

“ He asserted that:
“Shootin’ a man is worse than stealin’ the X Bar X brand,” which, for Pop, was the criterion of mean and despicable actions.
Nell and Ethel had been persuaded to stay several days longer than they had intended, Belle meeting the objection that they “had no clothes,” by the statement that on a ranch they needed none, and as Norine offered to wash any needed linen over night, the excuse of “no clothes” was taken from them.
Truth to tell, Roy and Teddy were as insistent as was their sister that the girls stay. ”

“ Manley, Belle, Ethel, Nell and Norine, looks of anxiety on their faces. Even Gus Tripp had gone with the rest.
“Our evening dresses!” Ethel exclaimed mournfully. “We can say good-bye to them, I guess!”
“You may get them back!” Belle insisted. “When dad goes after some one he usually lands him; doesn’t he, Mother?”
Mrs. Manley did not reply. She stood twisting her handkerchief into a tight knot. In her heart was a prayer that her two boys and her husband would come through safely.
Outside, Teddy, Roy, and the others were running for the corral.
“Hold on! Wait a minute!” Mr. Manley called. ”

“ Teddy noticed that the punchers who remained were talking in low tones and with none of their accustomed banter.
“They’re all business,” Roy remarked to Teddy. “If those rustlers get away this time they’re pretty clever. This last trick they pulled was one too many. They’ve got the whole country on their necks now.”
Needless to say, Nell and Ethel were delighted to see Belle, and also her brothers. But Roy and Teddy could scarcely stay long enough to say “hello.” They were anxious to get back, see their father, and join in the chase. ”

“ From the top of the left shoulder to the breast ran a red gash.
“Knifed!” Roy exclaimed. “If we don’t stop that bleeding soon, he’ll cash in!”
“A tourniquet—it’s the only chance,” came from Teddy. “Can you make one?”
“Think so—though the cut is in a mighty tough place.” Always at his best in emergencies, Roy ran to the other room and twisted the wooden handle off one of the branding irons. Then, with his jackknife, he cut the injured man’s sleeve off at the shoulder, and bound it about the man’s chest and shoulder so that it pressed against the main arteries. ”

“ Manley saw the girls glance up in apparent surprise, she said, smiling a little: “Yes, we have electric lights—and everything. Mr. Ball has them, also, as you must have noticed. You see most of the ranchers around here have their own gasoline motors which generate the current. But take off your things, won’t you? You are tired and dusty, so come upstairs. Belle is eager to see you.”
Roy was hurrying to his own room to “slick up,” as he called it, when Teddy burst into the house. ”

“ Teddy and Roy could hardly wait to ride to Cottonwood Bowl. Swallowing a hasty breakfast, they started, together with Nick and Pop. Mr. Manley stayed at the ranch to guard the prisoners until the sheriff from Hawley could take them into custody.
As the riders reached the spot Brand had described, Teddy mounted the rock and parted the brush which grew on top. He looked over. Then he gave a yell.
“Flash! And Star and General! Running around like colts! Take a look, Roy! Take a look! Baby! Let’s get down there quick! Here’s the path around to the left! Come on, Roy! Hurry up! ”

“ Roy declared, with a grin, as he, Ethel, and Teddy walked back to the house, leaving the cowboys to “professor” Nick Looker. “Say, this dance will be a riot! I’ll bet every one of those boys, except, maybe, Pop Burns, is in love with Norine! There’s going to be some wild struggle to decide who has the first waltz with her!”
Supper at the X Bar X was quickly concluded, and the hour for the dance approached. By dint of much coaxing, Gus obtained permission to sit on the side and watch.
“Won’t hurt me a bit,” he proclaimed. “I feel fine! Arm don’t hurt a-tall.” ”

“ Mr. Manley said, with a grin. “That’s what we call those saddles out West. The kind we ride are real saddles. Like the one I have on General, for instance. He wouldn’t know what to do if some one pasted one of those English saddles on his back.”
By this time they had reached the corner of the station. Back of the freight station the three horses had been tied by Roy and Teddy. Mr. Manley was in the lead. He turned suddenly and faced Nell and Ethel. ”

“ Every man for himself! Spread out! If you get into trouble, fire three shots. But don’t get too far apart, so the fellow next to you couldn’t hear them. I’ll be the center man, and you can deploy on me. Open up now, boys, an’ let’s go!”
With a yell to the horses, the chase started anew. Teddy and Roy took the left and right of Mr. Manley, each riding out straight for a quarter of a mile, and then turning. The others rode the same distance from the man nearest to him, until there was a long line streaked across the prairie. ”