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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 20:05:43 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 20:05:43 -0700 |
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diff --git a/36398-h/36398-h.htm b/36398-h/36398-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b7f51d2 --- /dev/null +++ b/36398-h/36398-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,9423 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" +"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" > +<head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" /> + <meta content="Ruth Fielding at Silver Ranch" name="DC.Title"/> + <meta content="Alice B. Emerson" name="DC.Creator"/> + <meta content="en" name="DC.Language"/> + <meta content="1913" name="DC.Created"/> + <meta name="generator" content="ppgen (1.13) generated Jun 12, 2011 03:17 AM" /> + <title>Ruth Fielding at Silver Ranch</title> + <style type="text/css"> + body {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%;} + p {margin-top:1ex; margin-bottom:0; text-align:justify;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size:x-small; text-align:right; text-indent:0; + position:absolute; right:2%; padding:1px 3px; font-style:normal; + font-variant:normal; font-weight:normal; text-decoration:none; + background-color:inherit; border:1px solid #eee;} + .pncolor {color:silver;} + h1 {text-align:center; font-weight:normal;} + h2 {text-align:left; font-weight:normal;} + h1 {font-size:1.4em; margin-top:4em; margin-bottom:2em;} + h2 {font-size:1.2em; margin-top:4em; margin-bottom:2em;} + hr.pb {margin:30px 0; width:100%; border:none; border-top:thin dashed silver; clear:both;} + .sc {font-variant: small-caps;} + .center {margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; text-align:center;} + .larger {font-size:larger;} + .smaller {font-size:smaller;} + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + table.c {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + .caption {font-size: 80%;} + .sc {font-variant:small-caps} + div.center>:first-child {margin: .5em auto 0 auto;text-align:center;} + div.center p {margin: 0 auto; text-align:center;} + </style> +</head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's Ruth Fielding at Silver Ranch, by Alice B. Emerson + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Ruth Fielding at Silver Ranch + Schoolgirls Among Cowboys + +Author: Alice B. Emerson + +Release Date: June 12, 2011 [EBook #36398] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RUTH FIELDING AT SILVER RANCH *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank, David Edwards and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + + + + + +</pre> + +<div class='figcenter' style='padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='i001' id='i001'></a> +<img src='images/dust.jpg' alt='' title=''/><br /> +</div> +<p> + <br /> + <br /> + <br /> +</p> +<div class='figcenter' style='padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='i002' id='i002'></a> +<img src="images/frontis.jpg" alt="FRECKLES LEAPED UP, FRIGHTENED AND SNORTING." title=""/><br /> +<span class='caption'>FRECKLES LEAPED UP, FRIGHTENED AND SNORTING.</span> +</div> +<p> + <br /> + <br /> + <br /> +</p> +<div class='center'> +<p><span style='font-size:1.6em;font-weight:bold;'>Ruth Fielding</span></p> +<p><span style='font-size:1.6em;font-weight:bold;'>At Silver Ranch</span></p> +<p> </p> +<p>OR</p> +<p> </p> +<p>SCHOOLGIRLS AMONG THE COWBOYS</p> +<p>BY</p> +<p> </p> +<p><span style='font-size:larger;'>ALICE B. EMERSON</span></p> +<p> </p> +<p><span style='font-size:smaller;font-variant:small-caps;'>Author of “Ruth Fielding of the Red Mill,”</span></p> +<p><span style='font-size:smaller;font-variant:small-caps;'>“Ruth Fielding at Briarwood Hall,” Etc.</span></p> +<p> </p> +<p><em>ILLUSTRATED</em></p> +<p> </p> +</div> +<div class='figcenter' style='padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='i003' id='i003'></a> +<img src='images/title.jpg' alt='' title=''/><br /> +</div> +<div class='center'> +<p><span style='font-size:smaller;'>NEW YORK</span></p> +<p>CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY</p> +<p><span style='font-size:smaller;'>PUBLISHERS</span></p> +</div> +<p> + <br /> + <br /> + <br /> +</p> +<div class='center'> +<p>Books for Girls</p> +<p><span style='font-size:larger;'>BY ALICE B. EMERSON</span></p> +<p>RUTH FIELDING SERIES</p> +<p><span style='font-size:smaller;'>12mo. Cloth. Illustrated.</span></p> +</div> +<div style='font-size:smaller; margin:20px auto'> +<table class='c' summary='centered block'><tr><td> +<p style='margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>RUTH FIELDING OF THE RED MILL</p> +<p style='margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Or, Jasper Parloe’s Secret.</p> +<p style='margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'> </p> +<p style='margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>RUTH FIELDING AT BRIARWOOD HALL</p> +<p style='margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Or, Solving the Campus Mystery.</p> +<p style='margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'> </p> +<p style='margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>RUTH FIELDING AT SNOW CAMP</p> +<p style='margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Or, Lost in the Backwoods.</p> +<p style='margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'> </p> +<p style='margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>RUTH FIELDING AT LIGHTHOUSE POINT</p> +<p style='margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Or, Nita, the Girl Castaway.</p> +<p style='margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'> </p> +<p style='margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>RUTH FIELDING AT SILVER RANCH</p> +<p style='margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0'>Or, Schoolgirls Among the Cowboys.</p> +</td></tr></table> +</div> +<div class='center'> +<p><span class='sc'>Copyright, 1918, by</span></p> +<p><span class='sc'>Cupples & Leon Company</span></p> +<p> </p> +<p><span class='sc'>Ruth Fielding in the Red Cross</span></p> +<p> </p> +<p>Printed in U. S. A.</p> +</div> +<p> + <br /> + <br /> + <br /> +</p> +<div class='center'> +<p><span style='font-size:larger;'>CONTENTS</span></p> +</div> +<table class='c' summary='table of contents'> +<tr><td style='font-size:smaller'>CHAPTER</td><td></td><td style='font-size:smaller'>PAGE</td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>I.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>“Old Trouble-Maker”</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chI'>1</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>II.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Bashful Ike</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chII'>11</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>III.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>In Which Things Happen</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chIII'>18</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>IV.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>The Fire Fight</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chIV'>30</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>V.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>“Old Trouble-Maker” Turned Loose</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chV'>40</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>VI.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>The Roping Contest</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chVI'>51</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>VII.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Jane Ann Turns the Trick</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chVII'>57</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>VIII.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>What Was on the Records</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chVIII'>66</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>IX.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>The Fox Is Reckless</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chIX'>75</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>X.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Ruth Shows Her Mettle</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chX'>83</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>XI.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>An Ursine Hold-Up</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chXI'>89</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>XII.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>The Man From Tintacker</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chXII'>97</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>XIII.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>The Party at the Schoolhouse</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chXIII'>103</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>XIV.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Bashful Ike Comes Out Strong</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chXIV'>112</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>XV.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>“The Night Trick”</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chXV'>123</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>XVI.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>The Joke That Failed</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chXVI'>136</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>XVII.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>The Stampede</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chXVII'>143</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>XVIII.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>A Desperate Case</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chXVIII'>150</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>XIX.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>The Man at Tintacker</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chXIX'>157</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>XX.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>The Wolf at the Door</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chXX'>164</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>XXI.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>A Plucky Fight</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chXXI'>171</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>XXII.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Service Courageous</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chXXII'>178</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>XXIII.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Bashful Ike Takes the Bit in His Teeth</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chXXIII'>185</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>XXIV.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>Coals of Fire</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chXXIV'>192</a></td></tr> +<tr><td valign='top' style='text-align:right; padding-right:1em;'>XXV.</td><td valign='top' style='text-align:left; padding-right:3em;'><span style='font-variant:small-caps'>At the Old Red Mill Again</span></td><td valign='top' style='text-align:right;'><a href='#chXXV'>199</a></td></tr> +</table> +<p> + <br /> + <br /> + <br /> +</p> +<h1><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_1'></a>1</span>Ruth Fielding at Silver Ranch</h1> +<h2><a name='chI' id='chI'></a>CHAPTER I—“OLD TROUBLE-MAKER”</h2> +<p> +Where the Silver Ranch trail branches from +the state road leading down into Bullhide, there +stretch a rambling series of sheds, or “shacks,” +given up to the uses of a general store and provision +emporium; beside it is the schoolhouse. +This place on the forked trails is called “The +Crossing,” and it was the only place nearer than +the town of Bullhide where the scattered population +of this part of Montana could get any +supplies. +</p> +<p> +One of Old Bill Hicks’ herds was being grazed +on that piece of rolling country, lying in the foothills, +right behind the Crossing, and two of his +cow punchers had ridden in for tobacco. Being +within sight of rows upon rows of tinned preserves +(the greatest luxury extant to the cowboy +mind), and their credit being good with Lem +Dickson, who kept the store, the two cattle herders—while +their cayuses stood with drooping +heads, their bridle-reins on the road before them—each +secured a can of peaches, and sitting cross-legged +on the porch before the store, opened the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_2'></a>2</span> +cans with their knives and luxuriated in the contents. +</p> +<p> +“Old man’s nigh due, ain’t he?” asked Lem, +the storekeeper, lowering himself into a comfortable +armchair that he kept for his own particular +use on the porch. +</p> +<p> +“Gittin’ to Bullhide this mawnin’,” drawled +one of the cowboys. “An’ he’s got what he went +for, too.” +</p> +<p> +“Bill Hicks most usually does git what he goes +after, don’t he?” retorted the storekeeper. +</p> +<p> +The other puncher chuckled. “This time Old +Bill come near goin’ out after <em>rabbit</em> an’ only +bringin’ back the <em>hair</em>,” he said. “Jane Ann is +just as much of a Hicks as Bill himself—you take +it from me. She made her bargain b’fore Old +Bill got her headed back to the ranch, I reckon. +Thar’s goin’ to be more newfangled notions at +Silver Ranch from now on than you kin shake a +stick at. You hear me!” +</p> +<p> +“Old Bill can stand scattering a little money +around as well as any man in this State,” Lem +said, ruminatively. “He’s made it; he’s saved it; +now he might’s well l’arn to spend some of it.” +</p> +<p> +“And he’s begun. Jane Ann’s begun for him, +leastways,” said one of the cowboys. “D’ye +know what Mulvey brought out on his wagon +last Sat’day?” +</p> +<p> +“I knowed he looked like pitchers of ‘movin’ +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_3'></a>3</span> +day’ in New York City, or Chicago, when he +passed along yere,” grunted the storekeeper. +“Eight head o’ mules he was drivin’.” +</p> +<p> +“He sure was,” agreed the cow puncher. +“There was all sorts of trucks and gew-gaws. +But the main thing was a pinanner.” +</p> +<p> +“A piano?” +</p> +<p> +“That’s what I said. And that half-Injun, Jib +Pottoway, says he kin play on the thing. But it +ain’t to be unboxed till the boss and Jane Ann +comes.” +</p> +<p> +“And they’ll be gittin’ along yere some time +to-day,” said the other cowboy, throwing his +empty tin away. “And when they come, Lem, +they’re sure goin’ to surprise yuh.” +</p> +<p> +“What with?” +</p> +<p> +“With what they sail by yere in,” drawled the +puncher. +</p> +<p> +“Huh? what’s eatin’ on you, Bud? Old Bill +ain’t bought an airship, has he?” +</p> +<p> +“Mighty nigh as bad,” chuckled the other. +“He’s bought Doosenberry’s big automobile, I +understand, and Jane Ann’s brought a bunch of +folks with her that she met down East, and they’re +just about goin’ to tear the vitals out o’ Silver +Ranch—now you hear me!” +</p> +<p> +“A steam wagon over these trails!” grunted +the storekeeper. “Waal!” +</p> +<p> +“And wait till Old Bill sees a bunch of his +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_4'></a>4</span> +steers go up in the air when they sets eyes on the +choo-choo wagon,” chuckled Bud. “That’ll about +finish the automobile business, I bet yuh!” +</p> +<p> +“Come on, Bud!” shouted his mate, already +astride his pony. +</p> +<p> +The two cowboys were off and lashing their +ponies to a sharp run in half a minute. Scarcely +had they disappeared behind a grove of scrub +trees on the wind-swept ridge beyond the store +when the honk of an automobile horn startled the +slow-motioned storekeeper out of his chair. +</p> +<p> +A balloon of dust appeared far down the trail. +Out of this there shot the long hood of a heavy +touring car, which came chugging up the rise +making almost as much noise as a steam roller. +Lem Dickson shuffled to the door of the store and +stuck his head within. +</p> +<p> +“Sally!” he bawled. “Sally!” +</p> +<p> +“Yes, Paw,” replied a sweet, if rather shrill, +voice from the open stairway that led to the upper +chamber of the store-building. +</p> +<p> +“Here comes somebody I reckon you’ll wanter +see,” bawled the old man. +</p> +<p> +There was a light step on the stair; but it halted +on the last tread and a lithe, red-haired, peachy +complexioned girl looked into the big room. +</p> +<p> +“Well, now, Paw,” she said, sharply. “You +ain’t got me down yere for that bashful Ike Stedman, +have you? For if he’s come prognosticating around yere +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_5'></a>5</span> +again I declare I’ll bounce a +bucket off his head. He’s the biggest gump!” +</p> +<p> +“Come on yere, gal!” snapped her father. +“I ain’t said nothin’ about Ike. This yere’s Bill +Hicks an’ all his crowd comin’ up from Bullhide +in a blamed ol’ steam waggin.” +</p> +<p> +Sally ran out through the store and reached the +piazza just as the snorting automobile came near +and slowed down. A lithe, handsome, dark girl +was at the wheel; beside her was a very pretty, +plump girl with rosy cheeks and the brightest eyes +imaginable; the third person crowded into the +front seat was a youth who looked so much like +the girl who was running the machine that they +might have changed clothes and nobody would +have been the wiser—save that Tom Cameron’s +hair was short and his twin sister, Helen’s, was +long and curly. The girl between the twins was +Ruth Fielding. +</p> +<p> +In the big tonneau of the car was a great, tall, +bony man with an enormous “walrus” mustache +and a very red face; beside him sat a rather freckled +girl with snapping black eyes, who wore very +splendid clothes as though she was not used to +them. With this couple were a big, blond boy +and three girls—one of them so stout that she +crowded her companions on the seat into their +individual corners, and packed them in there +somewhat after the nature of sardines in a can. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_6'></a>6</span> +</p> +<p> +“Hello, Sally!” cried the girl in the very fine +garments, stretching her hand out to greet the +storekeeper’s daughter as the automobile came to +a stop. +</p> +<p> +“Hi, Lem!” bawled the man with the huge +mustache. “Is Silver Ranch on the map yet, or +have them punchers o’ mine torn the face of Nater +all to shreds an’ only left me some o’ the +pieces?” +</p> +<p> +“I dunno ‘bout that, Bill,” drawled the fat +storekeeper, shuffling down the steps in his list +slippers, and finally reached and shaking the hand +of Mr. William Hicks, owner of Silver Ranch. +“But when some of your cows set their eyes on +this contraption they’re goin’ to kick holes in the +air—an’ that’s sartain!” +</p> +<p> +“The cows will have to get used to seeing this +automobile, Lem Dickson,” snapped the ranchman’s +niece, who had been speaking with Sally. +“For uncle’s bought it and it beats riding a cayuse, +I tell you!” +</p> +<p> +“By gollies!” grunted Bill Hicks, “it bucks +wuss’n any critter I ever was astride of.” But he +spoke softly, and nobody but the storekeeper noticed +what he said. +</p> +<p> +“Mean to say you’ve bought this old chuck-waggin +from Doosenberry?” demanded the +storekeeper. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_7'></a>7</span> +</p> +<p> +“Uh-huh,” nodded Mr. Hicks. +</p> +<p> +“Wal, you’re gittin’ foolish-like in your old +age, Bill,” declared his friend. +</p> +<p> +“No I ain’t; I’m gittin’ wise,” retorted the +ranchman, with a wide grin. +</p> +<p> +“How’s that?” +</p> +<p> +“I’m l’arnin’ how to git along with Jane Ann,” +declared Mr. Hicks, with a delighted chortle, and +pinching the freckled girl beside him. +</p> +<p> +“Ouch!” exclaimed his niece. “What’s the +matter, Uncle Bill?” +</p> +<p> +“He says he’s bought this contraption to please +you, Jane Ann,” said the storekeeper. “But +what’ll Old Trouble-Maker do when he sees it—heh?” +</p> +<p> +“Gee!” ejaculated the ranchman. “I never +thought o’ that steer.” +</p> +<p> +“I reckon Old Trouble-Maker will have to +stand for it,” scoffed the ranchman’s niece, tossing +her head. “Now, Sally, you ride out and see +us. These girls from down East are all right. +And we’re going to have heaps of fun at Silver +Ranch after this.” +</p> +<p> +Helen Cameron touched a lever and the big +car shot ahead again. +</p> +<p> +“She’s a mighty white girl, that Sally Dickson,” +declared Jane Ann Hicks (who hated her +name and preferred to be called “Nita”). +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_8'></a>8</span> +“She’s taught school here at the Crossing for one +term, too. And she’s sweet in spite of her peppery +temper——” +</p> +<p> +“What could you expect?” demanded the +stout girl, smiling all over her face as she looked +back at the red-haired girl at the store. “She has +a more crimson topknot than the Fox here——” +</p> +<p> +There came a sudden scream from the front +seat of the automobile. The car, under Helen +Cameron’s skillful manipulation, had turned the +bend in the trail and the chapparel instantly hid +the store and the houses at the Crossing. Right +ahead of them was a rolling prairie, several miles +in extent. And up the rise toward the trail was +coming, in much dust, a bunch of cattle, with two +or three punchers riding behind and urging the +herd to better pasture. +</p> +<p> +“Oh! see all those steers,” cried Ruth Fielding. +“Do you own <em>all</em> of them, Mr. Hicks?” +</p> +<p> +“I reckon they got my brand on ’em, Miss,” +replied the ranchman. “But that’s only a leetle +bunch—can’t be more’n five hundred—coming up +yere. I reckon, Miss Helen, that we’d better pull +up some yere. If them cows sees us——” +</p> +<p> +“See there! see there!” cried the stout girl in +the back seat. +</p> +<p> +As she spoke in such excitement, Helen switched +off the power and braked the car. Out of the +chapparel burst, with a frantic bellow, a huge +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_9'></a>9</span> +black and white steer—wide horned, ferocious of +aspect—quite evidently “on the rampage.” The +noise of the passing car had brought him out of +concealment. He plunged into the trail not ten +yards behind the slowing car. +</p> +<p> +“Goodness me!” shouted the big boy who sat +beside Bill Hicks and his niece. “What kind of +a beast is that? It’s almost as big as an elephant!” +</p> +<p> +“Oh!” cried the girl called “The Fox.” +“That surely isn’t the kind of cattle you have +here, is it? He looks more like a buffalo. See! +he’s coming after us!” +</p> +<p> +The black and white steer <em>did</em> look as savage as +any old buffalo bull and, emitting a bellow, shook +his head at the automobile and began to cast the +dust up along his flanks with his sharp hoofs. He +was indeed of a terrifying appearance. +</p> +<p> +“It’s Old Trouble-Maker!” cried Jane Ann +Hicks. +</p> +<p> +“He looks just as though his name fitted him,” +said Tom Cameron, who had sprung up to look +back at the steer. +</p> +<p> +At that moment the steer lowered his head and +charged for the auto. The girls shrieked, and +Tom cried: +</p> +<p> +“Go ahead, Nell! let’s leave that beast behind.” +</p> +<p> +Before his sister could put on speed again, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_10'></a>10</span> +however, the big boy, who was Bob Steele, sang +out: +</p> +<p> +“If you go on you’ll stampede that herd of +cattle—won’t she, Mr. Hicks? Why, we’re between +two fires, that’s what we are!” +</p> +<p> +“And they’re both going to be hot,” groaned +Tom. “Why, that Old Trouble-Maker will +climb right into this car in half a minute!” +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_11'></a>11</span><a name='chII' id='chII'></a>CHAPTER II—BASHFUL IKE</h2> +<p> +The situation in the big automobile was quite +as serious as Tom and Bob believed, and there +was very good reason for the girls to express their +fright in a chorus of screams. But Ruth Fielding, +and her chum, Helen, on the front seat, controlled +themselves better than the other Eastern girls; +Jane Ann Hicks never said a word, but her uncle +looked quite as startled as his guests. +</p> +<p> +“I am sartainly graveled!” muttered the +ranchman, staring all around for some means of +saving the party from disaster. “Hi gollies! if +I only had a leetle old rope now——” +</p> +<p> +But he had no lariat, and roping a mad steer +from an automobile would certainly have been a +new experience for Bill Hicks. He had brought +the party of young folk out to Montana just to +give his niece pleasure, and having got Ruth +Fielding and her friends here, he did not want to +spoil their visit by any bad accident. These young +folk had been what Bill Hicks called “mighty +clever” to his Jane Ann when she had been castaway +in the East, and he had promised their +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_12'></a>12</span> +friends to look out for them all and send them +home in time for school in the Fall with the proper +complement of legs and arms, and otherwise +whole as to their physical being. +</p> +<p> +Ruth Fielding, after the death of her parents +when she was quite a young girl, had left Darrowtown +and all her old friends and home associations, +to live with her mother’s uncle, at the Red +Mill, on the Lumano River, near Cheslow in +York State. Her coming to Uncle Jabez Potter’s, +and her early adventures about the mill, +were related in the first volume of this series, entitled +“Ruth Fielding of the Red Mill; Or, Jasper +Parloe’s Secret.” +</p> +<p> +Ruth had found Uncle Jabez very hard to get +along with, for he was a miser and his kinder nature +had been crusted over by years of hoarding +and selfishness; but through a happy turn of circumstances +Ruth was enabled to get at the heart +of her crotchety old uncle, and when Ruth’s dearest +friend, Helen Cameron, planned to go to boarding +school, Uncle Jabez was won over to the +scheme of sending the girl with her. The fun and +work of that first term at school is related in the +second volume of the series, entitled “Ruth Fielding +at Briarwood Hall; Or, Solving the Campus +Mystery.” +</p> +<p> +For the mid-winter vacation Ruth accompanied +Helen and other school friends to Mr. Cameron’s +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_13'></a>13</span> +hunting camp, up toward the Canadian line. In +“Ruth Fielding at Snow Camp; Or, Lost in the +Backwoods,” the girls and some of their boy +friends experience many adventures and endure +some hardship and peril while lost in the snow-shrouded +forest. +</p> +<p> +One of Ruth’s chums, Jennie Stone, otherwise +known as “Heavy,” invited her to Lighthouse +Point, with a party of young people, for part of +the summer vacation; and although Uncle Jabez +was in much trouble over his investment in the +Tintacker Mine, which appeared to be a swindle, +the old miller had allowed Ruth to accompany her +friends to the seashore because he had already +promised her the outing. In “Ruth Fielding at +Lighthouse Point; Or, Nita, the Girl Castaway,” +is narrated all the fun and delightful experiences +the girl of the Red Mill and her friends had at +the seaside; including the saving of a girl from +the wreck of a lumber schooner, a miss who afterward +proved to be Jane Ann Hicks, the niece of +a very wealthy Montana ranch owner. The girl +had run away from the ranch and from her guardian +and calls herself Nita, “because the girl in +the paper-covered novel was called Nita.” +</p> +<p> +That was just the sort of a romantic, foolish +girl Jane Ann Hicks was; but she learned a few +things and was glad to see her old uncle, rough as +he was, when he came hunting for her. And Mr. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_14'></a>14</span> +Bill Hicks had learned a few things, too. He had +never seen people spend money before he came +East, and he had not understood Jane Ann’s longing +for the delicate and beautiful things in life. +He saw, too, that a girl could not be properly +brought up on a cattle ranch, with nothing but +cow punchers and Indians and Mexican women +about, and Mr. Hicks had determined to give his +niece “a right-down good time,” as he expressed +it. +</p> +<p> +It was to give Jane Ann pleasure, and because +of the kindness of Ruth and her friends to his +niece, that Mr. Bill Hicks had arranged this trip +West for the entire party, on a visit to Silver +Ranch. But the old gentleman did not want their +introduction to the ranch to be a tragedy. And +with the herd of half-wild cattle ahead, and Old +Trouble-Maker thundering along the trail behind +the motor car, it did look as though the introduction +of the visitors to the ranch was bound to be a +strenuous one. +</p> +<p> +“Do go ahead, Helen!” cried Madge Steele, +Bob’s elder sister, from the back seat of the tonneau. +“Why, that beast may climb right in +here!” +</p> +<p> +Helen started the car again; but at that her +brother and Ruth cried out in chorus: +</p> +<p> +“Don’t run us into the herd, Helen!” +</p> +<p> +“What under the sun shall I <em>do</em>?” cried Miss +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_15'></a>15</span> +Cameron. “I can’t please you all, that’s sure.” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, see that beast!” shrieked The Fox, who +was likewise on the back seat. “I want to get +out!” +</p> +<p> +“Then the brute will catch you, sure,” said Bob +Steele. +</p> +<p> +“Sit still!” commanded Mr. Hicks. “And +stop the car, Miss! Better to be bunted by Old +Trouble-Maker than set that whole bunch off on a +stampede.” +</p> +<p> +“Mercy me!” cried Mary Cox. “I should +think it would be better to frighten those cows in +front than to be horned to death by this big beast +from the rear.” +</p> +<p> +“Sit still,” said Jane Ann, grimly. “We won’t +likely be hurt by either.” +</p> +<p> +Old Trouble-Maker did look awfully savage. +Bellowing with rage, he thundered along after the +car. Helen had again brought the automobile to +a stop, this time at Bill Hicks’ command. The +next moment the girls screamed in chorus, for the +car jarred all over. +</p> +<p> +Crash went a rear lamp. About half a yard +of paint and varnish was scraped off, and the car +itself was actually driven forward, despite the +brake being set, by the sheer weight of the steer. +</p> +<p> +“If we could git the old cart turned around +and headed the other way!” groaned the ranchman. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_16'></a>16</span> +</p> +<p> +“I believe I can turn it, Mr. Hicks,” cried +Helen, excitedly. +</p> +<p> +But just then the steer, that had fallen back a +few yards, charged again. “Bang!” It sounded +like the exploding of a small cannon. Old +Trouble-Maker had punctured a rear tire, and +the car slumped down on that side. Helen +couldn’t start it now, for the trail was too rough +to travel with a flattened tire. +</p> +<p> +The black and white steer, with another furious +bellow, wheeled around the back of the car and +then came full tilt for the side. Heavy screamed +at the top of her voice: +</p> +<p> +“Oh, take me home! I never did want to go +to a dairy farm. <em>I just abominate cows!</em>” +</p> +<p> +But the crowd could not laugh. Huddled together +in the tonneau, it looked as though Old +Trouble-Maker would certainly muss them up a +whole lot! Jane Ann and her uncle hopped out +on the other side and called the others to follow. +At that moment, with a whoop and a drumming +of hoofs, a calico cow pony came racing along the +trail toward the stalled car. On the back of this +flying pony was a lanky, dust-covered cowboy, +swinging a lariat in approved fashion. +</p> +<p> +“Hold steady, boss!” yelled this apparition, +and then let the coils of the rope whistle through +the air. The hair line uncoiled like a writhing +serpent and dropped over the wide-spread horns +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_17'></a>17</span> +of Old Trouble-Maker. Then the calico pony +came to an abrupt halt, sliding along the ground +with all four feet braced. +</p> +<p> +“Zip!” the noose tightened and the steer +brought up with a suddenness that threatened to +dislocate his neck. Down the beast fell, roaring +a different tune. Old Trouble-Maker almost +turned a somersault, while Jane Ann, dancing in +delight, caught off her very modern and high-priced +hat and swung it in the air. +</p> +<p> +“Hurrah for Bashful Ike!” she shouted. +“He’s the best little old boy with the rope that +ever worked for the Silver outfit. Hurrah!” +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_18'></a>18</span><a name='chIII' id='chIII'></a>CHAPTER III—IN WHICH THINGS HAPPEN</h2> +<p> +The cow puncher who had rescued them was a +fine looking, bronzed fellow, with heavy sheepskin +chaps on his legs, a shirt open at the throat, +his sleeves rolled up displaying muscular arms, +and twinkling eyes under the flapping brim of his +great hat. While he “snubbed” the big steer to +his knees again as the bellowing creature tried to +rise, he looked down with a broad smile upon the +sparkling face of the Western girl. +</p> +<p> +“Why, bless yo’ heart, honey,” he said, in a +soft, Southern droll, “if you want me to, I’ll jest +natwcher’ly cinch my saddle on Old Trouble-Maker +an’ ride him home for yo’. It certainly is +a cure for sore eyes to see you again.” +</p> +<p> +“And I’m glad to see you, Ike. And these are +all my friends. I’ll introduce you and the boys to +them proper at the ranch,” cried the Western +girl. +</p> +<p> +“Git that bellowin’ critter away from yere, +Ike,” commanded Mr. Hicks. “I ’low the next +bunch that goes to the railroad will include that +black and white abomination.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_19'></a>19</span> +</p> +<p> +“Jest so, Boss,” drawled his foreman. “I been +figurin’ Old Trouble-Maker better be in the can +than on the hoof. He’s made a plumb nuisance +of himself. Yo’ goin’ on, Boss? Bud and Jimsey’s +got that bunch out o’ the way of your smoke-waggin.” +</p> +<p> +“We’ve got to shift tires, Mr. Hicks,” said +Tom Cameron, who, with his chum, Bob Steele, +was already jacking up the rear axle. “That +steer ripped a long hole in this tire something +awful.” +</p> +<p> +Bashful Ike—who didn’t seem at all bashful +when it came to handling the big black and white +steer—suddenly let that bellowing beast get upon +his four feet. Then he swooped down upon the +steer, gathering up the coils of his rope as he +rode, twitched the noose off the wide horns, and +leaning quickly from his saddle grabbed the +“brush” of the steer’s tail and gave that appendage +a mighty twist. +</p> +<p> +Bellowing again, but for an entirely different +reason, the steer started off after the bunch of +cattle now disappearing in the dust-cloud, and +the foreman spurred his calico pony after Old +Trouble-Maker, yelling at the top of his voice at +every jump of his pony: +</p> +<p> +“Ye-ow! ye-ow! ye-ow!” +</p> +<p> +“I declare I’m glad to see those cattle out of +the way,” said Helen Cameron, with a sigh. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_20'></a>20</span> +</p> +<p> +“I believe you,” returned Ruth, who was still +beside her on the front seat. “I just didn’t realize +before that cattle on the range are a whole lot +different from a herd of cows in an eastern pasture.” +</p> +<p> +Tom and Bob got the new tire in place and +pumped up, and then the automobile started again +for the ranch house. Jane Ann was quite excited +over her home-coming; anybody could see that +with half an eye. She clung to her uncle’s hand +and looked at him now and again as though to +assure the old fellow that she really was glad to +be home. +</p> +<p> +And Bill Hicks himself began to “fill into the +picture” now that he was back in Montana. The +young folks had seen many men like him since +leaving Denver. +</p> +<p> +“Why, he’s just an old dear!” whispered Ruth +to Helen, as the latter steered the car over the +rough trail. “And just as kind and considerate +as he can be. It’s natural chivalry these Western +men show to women, isn’t it?” +</p> +<p> +“He’s nice,” agreed Helen. “But he never +ought to have named his niece ‘Jane Ann.’ That +was a mean trick to play on a defenseless baby.” +</p> +<p> +“He’s going to make it up to her now,” +chuckled Tom, who heard this, being on the +front seat with the two chums. “I know the ‘pinanner’ +has gone on ahead, as he promised Nita. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_21'></a>21</span> +And carpets and curtains, too. I reckon this ranch +we’re coming to is going to ‘blossom like the +rose.’” +</p> +<p> +When they came in sight of Silver Ranch, just +before evening, the guests from the East were +bound to express their appreciation of the beauty +of its surroundings. It was a low, broad verandahed +house, covering a good deal of ground, +with cookhouses and other outbuildings in the +rear, and a big corral for the stock, and bunkhouses +for the men. It lay in a beautiful little +valley—a “coulie,” Jane Ann, or Nita, called it—with +green, sloping sides to the saucer-like depression, +and a pretty, winding stream breaking +out of the hollow at one side. +</p> +<p> +“I should think it would be damp down there,” +said Madge Steele, to the ranchman. “Why +didn’t you build your house on a knoll?” +</p> +<p> +“Them sidehills sort o’ break the winds, +Miss,” explained Mr. Hicks. “We sometimes +git some wind out yere—yes, ma’am! You’d be +surprised.” +</p> +<p> +They rode down to the big house and found a +wide-smiling Mexican woman waiting for them +on the porch. Jane Ann greeted her as “Maria” +and Hicks sent her back to the kitchen to hurry +supper. But everybody about the place, even +Maria’s husband, the “horse wrangler,” a sleek +looking Mexican with rings in his ears and a +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_22'></a>22</span> +broken nose, found a chance to welcome the returned +runaway. +</p> +<p> +“My! it’s great to be a female prodigal, isn’t +it?” demanded Heavy, poking Jane Ann with +her forefinger. “Aren’t you glad you ran away +East?” +</p> +<p> +The Western girl took it good-naturedly. +“I’m glad I came back, anyway,” she acknowledged. +“And I’m awfully glad Ruth and Helen +and you-all could come with me.” +</p> +<p> +“Well, we’re here, and I’m delighted,” cried +Helen Cameron. “But I didn’t really expect +either Ruth or Mary Cox would come. Mary’s +got such trouble at home; and Ruth’s uncle is just +as cross as he can be.” +</p> +<p> +Ruth heard that and shook her head, for all +the girls were sitting on the wide veranda of the +ranch-house after removing the traces of travel +and getting into the comfortable “hack-about” +frocks that Jane Ann had advised them to bring +with them. +</p> +<p> +“Uncle Jabez is in great trouble, sure,” Ruth +said. “Losing money—and a whole lot of +money, too, as he has—is a serious matter. Uncle +Jabez could lose lots of things better than he +can money, for he loves money so!” +</p> +<p> +“My gracious, Ruth,” exclaimed Helen, with +a sniff, “you’d find an excuse for a dog’s running +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_23'></a>23</span> +mad, I do believe! You are bound to see the best +side of anybody.” +</p> +<p> +“What you say isn’t very clear,” laughed her +chum, good-humoredly; “but I guess I know what +you mean, and thank you for the compliment. I +only hope that uncle’s investment in the Tintacker +Mine will come out all right in the end.” +</p> +<p> +Mary Cox, “The Fox,” sat next to Ruth, and +at this she turned to listen to the chums. Her +sharp eyes sparkled and her face suddenly grew +pale, as Ruth went on: +</p> +<p> +“I expect Uncle Jabez allowed me to come out +here partly because that mine he invested in is +supposed to be somewhere in this district.” +</p> +<p> +“Oh!” said Helen. “A real mine?” +</p> +<p> +“That is what is puzzling Uncle Jabez, as I +understand it,” said Ruth soberly. “He isn’t +sure whether it is a <em>real</em> mine, or not. You see, +he is very close mouthed, as well as close in money +matters. He never said much to me about it. +But old Aunt Alvirah told me all she knew. +</p> +<p> +“You see, that young man came to the mill as +an agent for a vacuum cleaner, and he talked +Uncle Jabez into buying one for Aunt Alvirah. +Now, you must know he was pretty smart to talk +money right out of Uncle’s pocket for any such +thing as that,” and Ruth laughed; but she became +grave in a moment, and continued: +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_24'></a>24</span> +</p> +<p> +“Not that he isn’t as kind as he knows how to +be to Aunt Alvirah; but the fact that the young +man made his sale so quickly gave Uncle Jabez a +very good opinion of his ability. So they got to +talking, and the young man told uncle about the +Tintacker Mine.” +</p> +<p> +“Gold or silver?” asked Helen. +</p> +<p> +“Silver. The young fellow was very enthusiastic. +He knew something about mines, and he +had been out here to see this one. It had been +the only legacy, so he said, that his father had +left his family. He was the oldest, and the only +boy, and his mother and the girls depended upon +him. Their circumstances were cramped, and if +he could not work this Tintacker Mine he did not +know how he should support the family. There +was money needed to develop the mine and—I +am not sure—but I believe there was some other +man had a share in it and must be bought out. +At least, uncle furnished a large sum of money.” +</p> +<p> +“And then?” demanded Helen Cameron. +</p> +<p> +“Why, then the young man came out this way. +Aunt Alvirah said that Uncle Jabez got one letter +from Denver and another from a place called +Butte, Montana. Then nothing more came. +Uncle’s letters have been unanswered. That’s +ever since some time last winter. You see, uncle +hates to spend more money, I suppose. He +maybe doesn’t know how to have the mine +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_25'></a>25</span> +searched for. But he told me that the young +man said something about going to Bullhide, and +I am going to try to find out if anybody knows +anything about the Tintacker Mine the first time +we drive over to town.” +</p> +<p> +All this time Mary Cox had been deeply interested +in what Ruth said. It was not often that +The Fox paid much attention to Ruth Fielding, +for she held a grudge against the girl of the Red +Mill, and had, on several occasions, been very +mean to Ruth. On the other hand, Ruth had +twice aided in saving The Fox from drowning, +and had the latter not been a very mean-spirited +girl she would have been grateful to Ruth. +</p> +<p> +About the time that Ruth had completed her +story of the Tintacker Mine and the utter disappearance +of the young man who had interested +her Uncle Jabez in that mysterious silver horde, +Jane Ann called them all to supper. A long, low-ceiled, +cool apartment was the dining-room at +Silver Ranch. Through a long gallery the Mexican +woman shuffled in with the hot viands from +the kitchen. Two little dark-skinned boys helped +her; they were Maria’s children. +</p> +<p> +At supper Mr. Hicks took the head of the long +table and Jane Ann did the honors at the other +end. There were the Cameron twins, and Madge +and Bob, and Jennie Stone and Mary Cox, beside +Ruth Fielding herself. It was a merry party and +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_26'></a>26</span> +they sat long over the meal; before they arose +from the table, indeed, much shuffling and low +voices and laughter, together with tobacco smoke, +announced the presence of some of the cowboys +outside. +</p> +<p> +“The boys is up yere to hear that pinanner,” +said Mr. Hicks. “Jib’s got it ready to slip out o’ +the box and we’ll lift it into the other room—there’s +enough of us huskies to do it—and then +you young folks can start something.” +</p> +<p> +Jane Ann was delighted with the handsome upright +instrument. She had picked it out herself +in New York, and it had been shipped clear across +the continent ahead of the private car that had +brought the party to Bullhide. The jarring it +had undergone had not improved its tone; but +Helen sat down to it and played a pretty little +medley that pleased the boys at the windows. +</p> +<p> +“Now, let Ruth sing,” urged Jane Ann. “The +boys like singing; give ’em something they can +join in on the chorus like—that’ll tickle ’em into +fits!” +</p> +<p> +So Ruth sang such familiar songs as she could +remember. And then Helen got her violin and +Madge took her place at the piano, and they +played for Ruth some of the more difficult pieces +that the latter had learned at Briarwood—for +Ruth Fielding possessed a very sweet and strong +voice and had “made the Glee Club” during the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_27'></a>27</span> +first half of her attendance at Briarwood Hall. +</p> +<p> +The boys applauded from the veranda. There +was at least a dozen of the ranchman’s employes +at the home corral just then. Altogether Mr. +Hicks paid wages to about sixty punchers and +horse wranglers. They were coming and going +between the home ranch and the ranges all the +time. +</p> +<p> +The girls from the East gave the Silver Ranch +cowboys a nice little concert, and then Jane Ann +urged Jib Pottoway to come to the piano. The +half-breed was on the veranda in the dusk, with +the other fellows, but he needed urging. +</p> +<p> +“Here, you Jibbeway!” exclaimed Mr. Hicks. +“You hike yourself in yere and tickle these ivories +a whole lot. These young ladies ain’t snakes; +an’ they won’t bite ye.” +</p> +<p> +The backward puncher was urged on by his +mates, too, and finally he came in, stepping +through the long window and sliding onto the +piano bench that had been deserted by Madge. +He was a tall, straight, big-boned young man, +with dark, keen face, and the moment Tom Cameron +saw him he seized Bob by the shoulder and +whispered eagerly: +</p> +<p> +“I know that fellow! He played fullback +with Carlisle when they met Cornell three years +ago. Why, he’s an educated man—he must be! +And punching cattle out on this ranch!” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_28'></a>28</span> +</p> +<p> +“Guess you forget that Theodore Roosevelt +punched cattle for a while,” chuckled Bob. “Listen +to that fellow play, will you?” +</p> +<p> +And the Indian could—as Mr. Hicks remarked—“tickle +the ivories.” He played by +ear, but he played well. Most of the tunes he +knew were popular ditties and by and by he +warmed the punchers up so that they began to +hum their favorite melodies as Jib played them. +</p> +<p> +“Come on, there, Ike!” said the Indian, suddenly. +“Give us that ‘Prayer’ you’re so fond +of. Come on, now, Ike!” +</p> +<p> +Bashful Ike evidently balked a little, but Jib +played the accompaniment and the melody +through, and finally the foreman of Silver Ranch +broke in with a baritone roar and gave them “The +Cowboy’s Prayer.” Ike possessed a mellow +voice and the boys hummed in chorus in the dusk, +and it all sounded fine until suddenly Jib Pottoway +broke off with a sudden discordant crash on +the piano keys. +</p> +<p> +“Hel-lo!” exclaimed Bill Hicks, who had +lain back in his wicker lounging chair, with his +big feet in wool socks on another chair, enjoying +all the music. “What’s happened the pinanner, +Jib? You busted it? By jings! that cost me six +hundred dollars at the Bullhide station.” +</p> +<p> +But then his voice fell and there was silence +both in the room and on the veranda. The sound +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_29'></a>29</span> +of galloping hoofs had shut the ranchman up. A +pony was approaching on a dead run, and the +next moment a long, loud “Ye-ow! ye-ow!” announced +the rider’s excitement as something extraordinary. +</p> +<p> +“Who’s that, Ike?” cried Hicks, leaping from +his chair. +</p> +<p> +“Scrub Weston,” said the foreman as he +clumped down the veranda steps. +</p> +<p> +Jib slipped through the window. Hicks followed +him on the jump, and Jane Ann led the +exodus of the visitors. There was plainly something +of an exciting nature at hand. A pony +flashed out of the darkness and slid to a perilous +halt right at the steps. +</p> +<p> +“Hi, Boss!” yelled the cowboy who bestrode +the pony. “Fire’s sweeping up from Tintacker +way! I bet it’s that Bughouse Johnny the boys +have chased two or three times. He’s plumb +loco, that feller is—oughtn’t to be left at large. +The whole chapparel down that a-way is blazin’ +and, if the wind rises, more’n ha’f of your grazin’ll +be swept away.” +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_30'></a>30</span><a name='chIV' id='chIV'></a>CHAPTER IV—THE FIRE FIGHT</h2> +<p> +The guests had followed Mr. Hicks and Jib +out of the long window and had heard the cow +puncher’s declaration. There was no light in the +sky as far as the girls could see—no light of a fire, +at least—but there seemed to be a tang of smoke; +perhaps the smoke clung to the sweating horse +and its rider. +</p> +<p> +“You got it straight, Scrub Weston?” demanded +Bill Hicks. “This ain’t no burn you’re +givin’ us?” +</p> +<p> +“Great piping Peter!” yelled the cowboy on +the trembling pony, “it’ll be a burn all right if +you fellows don’t git busy. I left Number Three +outfit fighting the fire the best they knew; we’ve +had to let the cattle drift. I tell ye, Boss, there’s +more trouble brewin’ than you kin shake a stick +at.” +</p> +<p> +“‘Nuff said!” roared Hicks. “Get busy, Ike. +You fellers saddle and light out with Scrub. Rope +you another hawse out o’ the corral, Scrub; +you’ve blamed near killed that one.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_31'></a>31</span> +</p> +<p> +“Oh! is it really a prairie fire?” asked Ruth, +of Jane Ann. “Can’t we see it?” +</p> +<p> +“You bet we will,” declared the ranchman’s +niece. “Leave it to me. I’ll get the horse-wrangler +to hitch up a pair of ponies and we’ll go over +there. Wish you girls could ride.” +</p> +<p> +“Helen rides,” said Ruth, quickly. +</p> +<p> +“But not our kind of horses, I reckon,” returned +Jane Ann, as she started after the cowboys. +“But Tom and Bob can have mounts. +Come on, boys!” +</p> +<p> +“We’ll get into trouble, like enough, if we go +to this fire,” objected Madge Steele. +</p> +<p> +“Come on!” said Heavy. “Don’t let’s show +the white feather. These folks will think we +haven’t any pluck at all. Eastern girls can be +just as courageous as Western girls, I believe.” +</p> +<p> +But all the time Ruth was puzzling over something +that the cowboy, Scrub Weston, had said +when he gave warning of the fire. He had mentioned +Tintacker and suggested that the fire had +been set by somebody whom Ruth supposed the +cowboys must think was crazy—otherwise she +could not explain that expression, “Bughouse +Johnny.” These range riders were very rough +of speech, but certainly their language was expressive! +</p> +<p> +This Tintacker Mine in which she was so deeply +interested—for Uncle Jabez’s sake—must be +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_32'></a>32</span> +very near the ranch. Ruth desired to go to the +mine and learn if it was being worked; and she +proposed to learn the whole history of the claim +and look up the recording of it, as well. Of +course, the young man who had gotten Uncle Jabez +to invest in the silver mine had shown him +deeds and the like; but these papers might have +been forged. Ruth was determined to clear up +the mystery of the Tintacker Mine before she +left Silver Ranch for the East again. +</p> +<p> +Just now, however, she as well as the other +guests of Jane Ann Hicks was excited by the fire +on the range. They got jackets, and by the time +all the girls were ready Maria’s husband had a +pair of half-wild ponies hitched to the buckboard. +Bob elected to drive the ponies, and he and the +five girls got aboard the vehicle while the restive +ponies were held by the Mexican. +</p> +<p> +Tom and Jane Ann had each saddled a pony. +Jane Ann rode astride like a boy, and she was up +on a horse that seemed to be just as crazy as he +could be. Her friends from the East feared all +the time that Jane Ann would be thrown. +</p> +<p> +“Let ’em go, Jose!” commanded the Silver +Ranch girl. “You keep right behind me, Mr. +Steele—follow me and Mr. Tom. The trail +ain’t good, but I reckon you won’t tip over your +crowd if you’re careful.” +</p> +<p> +The girls on the buckboard screamed at that; +But it was too late to expostulate—or back out +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_33'></a>33</span> +from going on the trip. The half-wild ponies +were off and Bob had all he could do to hold +them. Old Bill Hicks and his punchers had +swept away into the starlit night some minutes +before and were now out of both sight and hearing. +As the party of young folk got out of the +coulie, riding over the ridge, they saw a dull glow +far down on the western horizon. +</p> +<p> +“The fire!” cried Ruth, pointing. +</p> +<p> +“That’s what it is,” responded Jane Ann, excitedly. +“Come on!” +</p> +<p> +She raced ahead and Tom spurred his mount +after her. Directly in their wake lurched the +buckboard, with the excited Bob snapping the +long-lashed whip over the ponies’ backs. The +vehicle pitched and jerked, and traveled sometimes +on as few as two wheels; the girls were +jounced about unmercifully, and The Fox and +Helen squealed. +</p> +<p> +“I’m—be—ing—jolt—ed—to—a—jel—ly!” gasped Heavy. “I’ll be—one sol—id bruise.” +</p> +<p> +But Bob did not propose to be left behind by +Jane Ann and Tom Cameron, and Madge showed +her heartlessness by retorting on the stout girl: +</p> +<p> +“You’ll be solid, all right, Jennie, never mind +whether you are bruised or not. You know that +you’re no ‘airy, fairy Lillian.’” +</p> +<p> +But the rate at which they were traveling was +not conducive to conversation; and most of the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_34'></a>34</span> +time the girls clung on and secretly hoped that +Bob would not overturn the buckboard. The ponies +seemed desirous of running away all the time. +</p> +<p> +The rosy glow along the skyline increased; +and now flames leaped—yellow and scarlet—rising +and falling, while the width of the streak +of fire increased at both ends. Luckily there was +scarcely any wind. But the fire certainly was +spreading. +</p> +<p> +The ponies tore along under Bob’s lash and +Jane Ann and Tom did not leave them far behind. +Over the rolling prairie they fled and so +rapidly that Hicks and his aides from the ranch-house +were not far in advance when the visitors +came within unrestricted view of the flames. +</p> +<p> +Jane Ann halted and held up her hand to Bob +to pull in the ponies when they topped a ridge +which was the final barrier between them and the +bottom where the fire burned. For several miles +the dry grass, scrub, and groves of trees had been +blackened by the fire. Light smoke clouds drifted +away from the line of flame, which crackled +sharply and advanced in a steady march toward +the ridge on which the spectators were perched. +</p> +<p> +“My goodness me!” exclaimed Heavy. “You +couldn’t put <em>that</em> fire out by spilling a bucket of +water on it, could you?” +</p> +<p> +The fire line was several miles long. The +flames advanced slowly; but here and there, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_35'></a>35</span> +where it caught in a bunch of scrub, the tongues +of fire mounted swiftly into the air for twenty +feet, or more; and in these pillars of fire lurked +much danger, for when a blast of wind chanced to +swoop down on them, the flames jumped! +</p> +<p> +Toiling up the ridge, snorting and bellowing, +tails in air and horns tossing, drifted a herd of +several thousand cattle, about ready to stampede +although the fire was not really chasing them. +The danger lay in the fact that the flames had +gained such headway, and had spread so widely, +that the entire range might be burned over, leaving +nothing for the cattle to eat. +</p> +<p> +The rose-light of the flames showed the spectators +all this—the black smooch of the fire-scathed +land behind the barrier of flame, the flitting +figures on horseback at the foot of the ridge, +and the herd of steers going over the rise toward +the north—and the higher foothills. +</p> +<p> +“But what can they do?” gasped Ruth. +</p> +<p> +“They’re back-firing,” Tom said, holding in +his pony. Tom was a good horseman and it was +evident that Jane Ann was astonished at his riding. +“But over yonder where they tried it, the +flames jumped ahead through the long grass and +drove the men into their saddles again.” +</p> +<p> +“See what those fellows are doing!” gasped +Madge, standing up. “They’re roping those +cattle—isn’t that what you call it, <em>roping</em>?” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_36'></a>36</span> +</p> +<p> +“And hog-tieing them,” responded Jane Ann, +eagerly. “That’s Jib—and Bashful Ike. There! +that’s an axe Ike’s got. He’s going to slice up +that steer.” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, dear me! what for?” cried Helen. +</p> +<p> +“Why, the butchering act—right here and +now?” demanded Heavy. “Aren’t thinking of +having a barbecue, are they?” +</p> +<p> +“You watch,” returned the Western girl, +greatly excited. “There! they’ve split that +steer.” +</p> +<p> +“I hope it’s the big one that bunted the automobile,” +cried The Fox. +</p> +<p> +“Well, you can bet it ain’t,” snapped Jane +Ann. “Old Trouble-Maker is going to yield us +some fun at brandin’ time—now you see.” +</p> +<p> +But they were all too much interested just then +in what was going on near at hand—and down +at the fire line—to pay much attention to what +Jane Ann said about Old Trouble-Maker. Bashful +Ike and Jib Pottoway had split two steers +“from stem to stern.” Two other riders approached, +and the girls recognized one of them +as Old Bill himself. +</p> +<p> +“Tough luck, boys,” grumbled the ranchman. +“Them critters is worth five cents right yere on +the hoof; but that fire’s got to be smothered. +Here, Jib! hitch my rope to t’other end of your +half of that critter.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_37'></a>37</span> +</p> +<p> +In a minute the ranchman and the half-breed +were racing down the slope, their ponies on the +jump, the half of the steer jumping behind them. +At the line of fire Hicks made his frightened +horse leap the flames, they jerked the half of the +steer over so that the cloven side came in contact +with the flames, and then both men urged their +ponies along the fire line, right in the midst of +the smoke and heat, dragging the bleeding side +of beef across the sputtering flames. +</p> +<p> +Ike and his mate started almost at once in the +other direction, and both teams quenched the fire +in good shape. Behind them other cowboys drew +the halves of the second steer that had been divided, +making sure of the quenching of the conflagration +in the main; but there were still spots +where the fire broke out again, and it was a couple +of hours, and two more fat steers had been sacrificed, +before it was safe to leave the fire line to +the watchful care of only half a dozen, or so, of +the range riders. +</p> +<p> +It had been a bitter fight while it lasted. Tom +and Bob, and Jane Ann herself had joined in it—slapping +out the immature fires where they had +sprung up in the grass from sparks which flew +from the greater fires. But the ridge had helped +retard the blaze so that it could be controlled, +and from the summit the girls from the East had +enjoyed the spectacle. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_38'></a>38</span> +</p> +<p> +Old Bill Hicks rode beside the buckboard when +they started back for the ranch-house, and was +very angry over the setting of the fire. Cow +punchers are the most careful people in the world +regarding fire-setting in the open. If a cattleman +lights his cigarette, or pipe, he not only pinches +out the match between his finger and thumb, but, +if he is afoot, he stamps the burned match into +the earth when he drops it. +</p> +<p> +“That yere half-crazy tenderfoot oughter be +put away somewhares, whar he won’t do no more +harm to nobody,” growled the ranchman. +</p> +<p> +“Do you expect he set it, Uncle?” demanded +Jane Ann. +</p> +<p> +“So Scrub says. He seen him camping in the +cottonwoods along Larruper Crick this mawnin’. +I reckon nobody but a confounded tenderfoot +would have set a fire when it’s dry like this, noways.” +</p> +<p> +Here Ruth put in a question that she had +longed to ask ever since the fire scare began: +“Who <em>is</em> this strange man you call the tenderfoot?” +</p> +<p> +“Dunno, Miss Ruth,” said the cattleman. +“He’s been hanging ‘round yere a good bit since +Spring. Or, he’s been seen by my men a good bit. +When they’ve spoke to him he’s seemed sort of +doped, or silly. They can’t make him out. And +he hangs around closest to Tintacker.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_39'></a>39</span> +</p> +<p> +“You’re interested in <em>that</em>, Ruth!” exclaimed +Helen. +</p> +<p> +“What d’you know about Tintacker, Miss?” +asked Old Bill, curiously. +</p> +<p> +“Tintacker is a silver mine, isn’t it?” asked +Ruth, in return. +</p> +<p> +“Tintacker used to be a right smart camp some +years ago. Some likely silver claims was staked +out ‘round there. But they petered out, and ain’t +nobody raked over the old dumps, even, but some +Chinamen, for ten year.” +</p> +<p> +“But was there a particular mine called ‘Tintacker’?” +asked Ruth. +</p> +<p> +“Sure there was. First claim staked out. +And it was a good one—for a while. But there +ain’t nothin’ there now.” +</p> +<p> +“You say this stranger hangs about there?” +queried Tom, likewise interested. +</p> +<p> +“He won’t for long if my boys find him arter +this,” growled Hicks. “They’ll come purty close +to running him out o’ this neck o’ woods—you +hear me!” +</p> +<p> +This conversation made Ruth even more intent +upon solving the mystery of the Tintacker +Mine, and her desire to see this strange “tenderfoot” +who hung about the old mining claims increased. +But she said nothing more at that time +regarding the matter. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_40'></a>40</span><a name='chV' id='chV'></a>CHAPTER V—“OLD TROUBLE-MAKER” TURNED LOOSE</h2> +<p> +After getting to bed at midnight it could not +be expected that the young people at Silver Ranch +would be astir early on the morning following the +fire scare. But Ruth, who was used to being up +with the sun at the Red Mill—and sometimes a +little before the orb of day—slipped out of the +big room in which the six girls were domiciled +when she heard the first stir about the corrals. +</p> +<p> +When she came out upon the veranda that encircled +the ranch-house, wreaths of mist hung +knee-high in the coulee—mist which, as soon as +the sun peeked over the hills, would be dissipated. +The ponies were snorting and stamping at their +breakfasts—great armfuls of alfalfa hay which +the horse wranglers had pitched over the fence. +Maria, the Mexican woman, came up from the +cowshed with two brimming pails of milk, for +the Silver Ranch boasted a few milch cows at the +home place, and there had been sweet butter on +the table at supper the night before—something +which is usually very scarce on a cattle ranch. +</p> +<p> +Ruth ran down to the corral and saw, on the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_41'></a>41</span> +bench outside the bunkhouse door, the row of +buckets in which the boys had their morning +plunge. The sleeping arrangements at Silver +Ranch being rather primitive, Tom and Bob had +elected to join the cowboys in the big bunkhouse, +and they had risen as early as the punchers and +made their own toilet in the buckets, too. The +sheet-iron chimney of the chuckhouse kitchen was +smoking, and frying bacon and potatoes flavored +the keen air for yards around. +</p> +<p> +Bashful Ike, the foreman, met the Eastern girl +at the corner of the corral fence. He was a +pleasant, smiling man; but the blood rose to the +very roots of his hair and he got into an immediate +perspiration if a girl looked at him. When +Ruth bade him good-morning Ike’s cheeks began +to flame and he grew instantly tongue-tied! Beyond +nodding a greeting and making a funny +noise in his throat he gave no notice that he was +like other human beings and could talk. But +Ruth had an idea in her mind and Bashful Ike +could help her carry it through better than anybody +else. +</p> +<p> +“Mr. Ike,” she said, softly, “do you know +about this man they say probably set the fire last +night?” +</p> +<p> +Ike gulped down something that seemed to be +choking him and mumbled that he supposed he +had seen the fellow “about once.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_42'></a>42</span> +</p> +<p> +“Do you think he is crazy, Mr. Ike?” asked +the Eastern girl. +</p> +<p> +“I—I swanny! I couldn’t be sure as to that, +Miss,” stammered the foreman of Silver Ranch. +“The boys say he acts plumb locoed.” +</p> +<p> +“‘Locoed’ means crazy?” she persisted. +</p> +<p> +“Why, Miss, clear ‘way down south from us, +’long about the Mexican border, thar’s a weed +grows called loco, and if critters eats it, they say +it crazies ’em—for a while, anyway. So, Miss,” +concluded Ike, stumbling less in his speech now, +“if a man or a critter acts batty like, we say he’s +locoed.” +</p> +<p> +“I understand. But if this man they suspect +of setting the fire is crazy he isn’t responsible for +what he does, is he?” +</p> +<p> +“Well, Miss, mebbe not. But we can’t have +no onresponsible feller hangin’ around yere scatterin’ +fire—no, sir!—ma’am, I mean,” Ike hastily +added, his face flaming up like an Italian sunset +again. +</p> +<p> +“No; I suppose not. But I understand the +man stays around that old camp at Tintacker, +more than anywhere else?” +</p> +<p> +“That’s so, I reckon,” agreed Ike. “The +boys don’t see him often.” +</p> +<p> +“Can’t you make the boys just scare him into +keeping off the range, instead of doing him real +harm? They seemed very angry about the fire.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_43'></a>43</span> +</p> +<p> +“I dunno, Miss. Old Bill’s some hot under +the collar himself—and he might well be. Last +night’s circus cost him a pretty penny.” +</p> +<p> +“Did you ever see this man they say is +crazy?” demanded Ruth. +</p> +<p> +“I told you I did oncet.” +</p> +<p> +“What sort of a looking man is he?” +</p> +<p> +“He ain’t no more’n a kid, Miss. That’s it; +he’s jest a tenderfoot kid.” +</p> +<p> +“A boy, you mean?” queried Ruth, anxiously. +</p> +<p> +“Not much older than that yere whitehead ye +brought with yuh,” said Ike, beginning to grin +now that he had become a bit more familiar with +the Eastern girl, and pointing at Bob Steele. +“And he ain’t no bigger than him.” +</p> +<p> +“You wouldn’t let your boys injure a young +fellow like that, would you?” cried Ruth. “It +wouldn’t be right.” +</p> +<p> +“I dunno how I’m goin’ to stop ’em from +mussin’ him up a whole lot if they chances acrost +him,” said Ike, slowly. “He’d ought to be shut +up, so he had.” +</p> +<p> +“Granted. But he ought not to be abused. +Another thing, Ike—I’ll tell you a secret.” +</p> +<p> +“Uh-huh?” grunted the surprised foreman. +</p> +<p> +“I want to see that young man awfully!” said +Ruth. “I want to talk with him——” +</p> +<p> +“Sufferin’ snipes!” gasped Ike, becoming so +greatly interested that he forgot it was a girl he +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_44'></a>44</span> +was talking with. “What you wanter see that +looney critter for?” +</p> +<p> +“Because I’m greatly interested in the Tintacker +Mine, and they say this young fellow usually +sticks to that locality,” replied Ruth, smiling +on the big cow puncher. “Don’t you think I can +learn to ride well enough to travel that far before +we return to the East?” +</p> +<p> +“To ride to Tintacker, Miss?” he asked. +</p> +<p> +“Yes.” +</p> +<p> +“Why, suah, Miss!” cried Ike, cordially. +“I’ll pick you-all out a nice pony what’s well +broke, and I bet you’ll ride him lots farther than +that. I’ll rope him now—I know jest the sort of +a hawse you’d oughter ride——” +</p> +<p> +“No; you go eat your breakfast with the other +boys,” laughed Ruth, preparing to go back to the +ranch-house. “Jane Ann says we’re all to have +ponies to ride and she maybe will be disappointed +if I don’t let her pick out mine for me,” added +Ruth, with her usual regard for the feelings of +her mates. “But I am going to depend on you, +Mr. Ike, to teach me to ride.” +</p> +<p> +“And when you want to ride over to Tintacker +tuh interview that yere maverick, yo’ let me know, +Miss,” said Bashful Ike. “I’ll see that yuh git +thar with proper escort, and all that,” and he +grinned sheepishly. +</p> +<p> +Tom and Bob breakfasted with the punchers, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_45'></a>45</span> +but after the regular meal at the ranch-house the +two boys hastened to join their girl friends. +First they must all go to the corral and pick out +their riding ponies. Helen, Madge and The Fox +could ride fairly well; but Jane Ann had warned +them that Eastern riding would not do on the +ranch. Such a thing as a side-saddle was unknown, +so the girls had all supplied themselves +with divided skirts so that they could ride astride +like the Western girl. Besides, a cow pony would +not stand for the long skirt of a riding habit flapping +along his flank. +</p> +<p> +Now, Ruth had ridden a few times on Helen’s +pony, and away back when she was a little girl +she had ridden bareback on an old horse belonging +to the blacksmith at Darrowtown. So she +was not afraid to try the nervous little flea-bitten +gray that Ike Stedman roped and saddled and +bridled for her. Jane Ann declared it to be a favorite +pony of her own, and although the little +fellow did not want to stand while his saddle was +being cinched, and stamped his cunning little feet +on the ground a good bit, Ike assured the girl of +the Red Mill that “Freckles,” as they called him, +was “one mighty gentle hawse!” +</p> +<p> +There was no use in the girls from the East +showing fear; Ruth was too plucky to do that, +anyway. She was not really afraid of the pony; +but when she was in the saddle it did seem as +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_46'></a>46</span> +though Freckles danced more than was necessary. +</p> +<p> +These cow ponies never walk—unless they are +dead tired; about Freckles’ easiest motion was a +canter that carried Ruth over the prairie so +swiftly that her loosened hair flowed behind her +in the wind, and for a time she could not speak—until +she became adjusted to the pony’s motion. +But she liked riding astride much better than on +a side-saddle, and she soon lost her fear. Ike had +given her some good advice about the holding of +her reins so that a sharp pull on Freckles’ curb +would instantly bring the pony down to a dead +stop. The bashful one had screwed tiny spurs +into the heels of her high boots and given her a +light quirt, or whip. +</p> +<p> +The other girls—all but Heavy—were, as we +have seen, more used to riding than the girl of +the Red Mill; but with the stout girl the whole +party had a great deal of fun. Of course, Jennie +Stone expected to cause hilarity among her +friends; she “poked fun” at herself all the time, +so could not object if the others laughed. +</p> +<p> +“I’ll never in this world be able to get into a +saddle without a kitchen chair to step upon,” Jennie +groaned, as she saw the other girls choosing +their ponies. “Mercy! if I got on that little +Freckles, he’d squat right down—I know he +would! You’ll have to find something bigger +than these rabbits for <em>me</em> to ride on.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_47'></a>47</span> +</p> +<p> +At that she heard the girls giggling behind her +and turned to face a great, droop-headed, long-eared +roan mule, with hip bones that you could +hang your hat on—a most forlorn looking bundle +of bones that had evidently never recovered the +climatic change from the river bottoms of Missouri +to the uplands of Montana. Tom Cameron +held the mule with a trace-chain around his neck +and he offered the end of the chain to Heavy with +a perfectly serious face. +</p> +<p> +“I believe you’d better saddle this chap, Jennie,” +said Tom. “You see how he’s built—the +framework is great. I know he can hold you up +all right. Just look at how he’s built.” +</p> +<p> +“Looks like the steel framework of a skyscraper,” +declared Heavy, solemnly. “Don’t +you suppose I might fall in between the ribs if I +climbed up on that thing? I thought you were a +better friend to me than that, Tom Cameron. +You’d deliberately let me risk my life by being +tangled up in that moth-eaten bag o’ bones if it +collapsed under me. No! I’ll risk one of these +rabbits. I’ll have less distance to fall if I roll.” +</p> +<p> +But the little cow ponies were tougher than the +stout girl supposed. Ike weighed in the neighborhood +of a hundred and eighty pounds—solid +bone and muscle—and the cayuse that he bestrode +when at work was no bigger than Ruth’s Freckles. +They hoisted Heavy into the saddle, and Tom +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_48'></a>48</span> +offered to lash her there if she didn’t feel perfectly +secure. +</p> +<p> +“You needn’t mind, Tommy,” returned the +stout girl. “If, in the course of human events, it +becomes necessary for me to disembark from this +saddle, I’ll probably want to get down quick. +There’s no use in hampering me. I take my life +in my hand—with these reins—and—ugh! ugh! +ugh!” she finished as, on her picking up the lines, +her restive pony instantly broke into the liveliest +kind of a trot. +</p> +<p> +But after all, Heavy succeeded in riding pretty +well; while Ruth, after an hour, was not afraid +to let her pony take a pretty swift gait with her. +Jane Ann, however, showed remarkable skill and +made the Eastern girls fairly envious. She had +ridden, of course, ever since she was big enough +to hold bridle reins, and there were few of the +punchers who could handle a horse better than +the ranchman’s niece. +</p> +<p> +But the visitors from the East did not understand +this fact fully until a few days later, when +the first bunch of Spring calves and yearlings +were driven into a not far distant corral to be +branded. Branding is one of the big shows on a +cattle ranch, and Ruth and her chums did not intend +to miss the sight; besides, some of the boys +had corraled Old Trouble-Maker near by and +promised some fancy work with the big black and +white steer. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_49'></a>49</span> +</p> +<p> +“We’ll show you some roping now,” said Jane +Ann, with enthusiasm. “Just cutting a little old +cow out of that band in the corral and throwing +it ain’t nothing. Wait till we turn Old Trouble-Maker +loose.” +</p> +<p> +The whole party rode over to the branding +camp, and there was the black and white steer as +wild as ever. While the branding was going on +the big steer bellowed and stamped and tried to +break the fence down. The smell of the burning +flesh, and the bellowing of the calves and yearlings +as their ears were slit, stirred the old fellow +up. +</p> +<p> +“Something’s due to happen when that feller +gits turned out,” declared Jib Pottoway. “You +goin’ to try to rope that contrary critter, Jane +Ann?” +</p> +<p> +“It’ll be a free-for-all race; Ike says so,” cried +Jane Ann. “You wait! You boys think you’re +so smart. I’ll rope that steer myself—maybe.” +</p> +<p> +The punchers laughed at this boast; but they +all liked Jane Ann and had it been possible to +make her boast come true they would have seen +to it that she won. But Old Trouble-Maker, as +Jib said, “wasn’t a lady’s cow.” +</p> +<p> +It was agreed that only a free-for-all dash for +the old fellow would do—and out on the open +range, at that. Old Trouble-Maker was to be +turned out of the corral, given a five-rod start, +and then the bunch who wanted to have a tussle +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_50'></a>50</span> +with the steer would start for him. Just to make +it interesting Old Bill Hicks had put up a twenty +dollar gold piece, to be the property of the winner +of the contest—that is, to the one who succeeded +in throwing and “hog-tieing” Old +Trouble-Maker. +</p> +<p> +It was along in the cool of the afternoon when +the bars of the small corral were let down and +the steer was prodded out into the open. The +old fellow seemed to know that there was fun in +store for him. At first he pawed the ground and +seemed inclined to charge the line of punchers, +and even shook his head at the group of mounted +spectators, who were bunched farther back on the +hillside. Bashful Ike stopped <em>that</em> idea, however, +for, as master of ceremonies, he rode in suddenly +and used his quirt on the big steer. With a bellow +Old Trouble-Maker swung around and +started for the skyline. Ike trotted on behind +him till the steer passed the five-rod mark. Then +pulling the big pistol that swung at his hip the +foreman shot a fusilade into the ground which +started the steer off at a gallop, tail up and head +down, and spurred the punchers into instant action, +as well. +</p> +<p> +“Ye-yip!” yelled Bashful Ike. “Now let’s +see what you ’ombres air good for with a rope. +Go to it!” +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_51'></a>51</span><a name='chVI' id='chVI'></a>CHAPTER VI—THE ROPING CONTEST</h2> +<p> +With a chorus of “co-ees” and wild yells the +cowboys of Silver Ranch dashed away on the race +after the huge black and white steer. And Jane +Ann, on her bay mustang, was right up with the +leaders in the wild rush. It was indeed an inspiring +sight, and the boys and girls from the East +urged their own mounts on after the crowd with +eagerness. +</p> +<p> +“See Nita ride! isn’t she just wonderful?” +cried Helen. +</p> +<p> +“I don’t think there’s anything wonderful +about it,” sneered The Fox, in her biting way. +“She was almost <em>born</em> on horseback, you know. +It’s as natural to her as breathing.” +</p> +<p> +“Bu—bu—but it shakes—you up—a good—bit +more—than breath—breathing!” gasped +Heavy, as her pony jounced her over the ground. +</p> +<p> +Tom and Bob had raced ahead after the cowboys, +and Ruth was right behind them. She had +learned to sit the saddle with ease now, and she +was beginning to learn to swing a rope; Ike was +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_52'></a>52</span> +teaching her. Tom could really fling the lasso +with some success; but of course he could not enter +into this mad rush for a single steer. +</p> +<p> +A twenty dollar gold piece was not to be +scorned; and the cowboys were earnest in their +attempt to make that extra twenty over and above +their monthly stipend. But Jane Ann Hicks +worked for the fun of it, and because she desired +to show her Eastern friends how she excelled in +horsemanship. There were so many other things +which her friends knew, in which she was deficient! +</p> +<p> +She was up with the leaders when they came +within casting distance of the big steer. But the +steer was wily; he dodged this way and that as +they surrounded him, and finally one of the +punchers got in an awkward position and Old +Trouble-Maker made for him. The man couldn’t +pull his pony out of the way as the steer made a +short turn, and the old fellow came head on +against the pony’s ribs. It was a terrific shock. +It sounded like a man beating an empty rainwater +barrel with a club! +</p> +<p> +The poor pony was fairly lifted off his feet and +rolled over and over on the ground. Luckily his +rider kicked himself free of the stirrups and escaped +the terrible horns of Old Trouble-Maker. +The steer thundered on, paying no further attention +to overturned pony or rider, and it was Jib +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_53'></a>53</span> +Pottoway who first dropped a rope over the creature’s +horn. +</p> +<p> +But it was only over one horn and when the +galloping steer was suddenly “snubbed” at the +end of Jib’s rope, what happened? Ordinarily +Old Trouble-Maker should have gone down to +his knees with the shock; but the Indian’s pony +stumbled just at that anxious moment, and instead +of the steer being brought to his knees, the +pony was jerked forward by Old Trouble-Maker’s +weight. +</p> +<p> +The cowboys uttered a chorus of dismal yells +as Jib rose into the air—like a diver making a +spring into the sea—and when he landed—well! +it was fortunate that the noose slipped off the +steer’s horn and the pony did not roll over the +Indian. +</p> +<p> +Two men bowled over and the odds all in favor +of the black and white steer! The other +cowboys set up a fearful chorus as Jib scrambled +up, and Old Trouble-Maker thundered on across +the plain, having been scarcely retarded by the +Indian’s attempt. Bellowing and blowing, the +steer kept on, and for a minute nobody else got +near enough to the beast to fling a rope. +</p> +<p> +Then one of the other boys who bestrode a remarkably +fast little pony, got near enough (as he +said afterward) to grab the steer by the tail and +throw him! And it was too bad that he hadn’t +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_54'></a>54</span> +tried that feat; for what he <em>did</em> do was to excitedly +swing his lariat around his head and catch +his nearest neighbor across the shoulders with the +slack! This neighbor uttered a howl of rage and +at once “ran amuck”—to the great hilarity of +the onlookers. It was no fun for the fellow who +had so awkwardly swung the rope, however; for +his angry mate chased him half a mile straight +across the plain before he bethought him, in his +rage, that it was the steer, not his friend, that +was to be flung and tied for the prize. +</p> +<p> +The others laughed so over this incident that +the steer was like to get away. But one of the +fellows, known to them all as “Jimsey” had been +working cautiously on the outside of the bunch of +excited horsemen all the time. It was evident to +Ruth, who was watching the game very earnestly +from the rear, that this Jimsey had determined +to capture the prize and was showing more +strategy than the others. He was determined to +be the one to down Old Trouble-Maker, and as +he saw one after the other of his mates fail, his +own grin broadened. +</p> +<p> +Now, Ruth saw, he suddenly urged his pony in +nearer the galloping steer. Standing suddenly in +his stirrups, and swinging his lariat with a wide +noose at the end, he dropped it at the moment +when Old Trouble-Maker had just dodged another +rope. The steer fairly ran into Jimsey’s +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_55'></a>55</span> +noose. The puncher snubbed down on the rope +instantly, and the steer, caught over the horns +and with one foreleg in the noose, came to the +hard plain like a ton of bricks falling. +</p> +<p> +“He’s down! he’s down!” shrieked Bob, +vastly excited. +</p> +<p> +“Oh, the poor thing!” his sister observed. +“That must have hurt him.” +</p> +<p> +“Well, after the way that brute tried to crawl +into the automobile, I wouldn’t cry any if his neck +was broken!” exclaimed Mary Cox, in sharp +tones. +</p> +<p> +Jimsey’s horse was well broken and he swung +his weight at the end of the rope in such a way +that the huge steer could not get on his feet again. +Jimsey vaulted out of the saddle and ran to the +floundering steer with an agility that delighted +the spectators from the East. How they cheered +him! And his mates, too, urged him on with delight. +It looked as though Jimsey had “called +the trick” and would tie the struggling beast and +so fulfill the requirements of the contest. +</p> +<p> +As the agile puncher sought to lay hold of the +steer’s forefeet, however, Old Trouble-Maker +flung his huge body around. The “yank” was +too much for the pony and it was drawn forward +perhaps a foot by the sheer weight of the big +steer. +</p> +<p> +“Stand still, thar!” yelled Jimsey to the pony. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_56'></a>56</span> +“Wait till I get this yere critter tied up in a true +lover’s knot! Whoa, Emma!” +</p> +<p> +Again the big steer had jerked; but the pony +braced his feet and swung backward. It was then +the unexpected happened! The girth of Jimsey’s +saddle gave way, the taut rope pulling the saddle +sideways. The pony naturally was startled and +he jumped to one side. In an instant the big steer +was nimbly on his feet, and flung Jimsey ten feet +away! Bellowing with fear the brute tore off +across the plain again, now with the wreck of +Jimsey’s saddle bounding over the ground behind +him and whacking him across the rump at every +other jump. +</p> +<p> +If anything was needed to make Old Trouble-Maker +mad he had it now. The steer sped +across the plain faster than he had ever run before, +and in a temper to attack anything or anybody +who chanced to cross his trail. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_57'></a>57</span><a name='chVII' id='chVII'></a>CHAPTER VII—JANE ANN TURNS THE TRICK</h2> +<p> +“Oh, Ruth! that man is hurt,” cried Helen, as +the chums rode as hard as they dared after the +flying bunch of cattle punchers. +</p> +<p> +Jimsey lay on the ground, it was true; but when +they came nearer they saw that he was shaking +both fists in the air and spouting language that +was the very reverse of elegant. Jimsey wasn’t +hurt; but he was awfully angry. +</p> +<p> +“Come on! come on, girls!” called Tom. +“That old steer is running like a dog with a can +tied to its tail! Did you ever see the beat of +that?” +</p> +<p> +“And Nita is right in with the crowd. How +they ride!” gasped Madge Steele. “She’ll be +killed!” +</p> +<p> +“I hope not,” her brother shouted back. “But +she’s just about the pluckiest girl I ever heard +of.” +</p> +<p> +“She’s swinging her rope now!” gasped +Heavy. “Do you suppose she intends to try and +catch that steer?” +</p> +<p> +That was what Jane Ann Hicks seemed determined +to do. She had ridden so that she was +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_58'></a>58</span> +ahead of the troop of other riders. Bashful Ike, +the foreman, put spurs to his own mount and +tried to catch the boss’s niece. If anything happened +to Jane Ann he knew that Old Bill would +call him to account for it. +</p> +<p> +“Have a care there, Jinny!” he bawled +“Look out that saddle don’t give ye a crack.” +</p> +<p> +The saddle bounded high in the air—sometimes +higher than Jane Ann’s head—and if she +ran her mount in too close to the mad steer the +saddle might knock her off her pony. Nor did +she pay the least attention to Bashful Ike’s advice. +She was using the quirt on her mount and +he was jumping ahead like a streak of light. +</p> +<p> +Jane Ann had coiled her rope again and it +hung from her saddle. She had evidently formed +a new plan of action since having the field to herself. +The others—all but Ike—were now far +behind. +</p> +<p> +“Have a care thar, Jinny!” called the foreman +again. “He’ll throw you!” +</p> +<p> +“You keep away, Ike!” returned the girl, excitedly. +“This is my chance. Don’t you dare interfere. +I’ll show those boys I can beat them at +their own game.” +</p> +<p> +“Sufferin’ snipes! You look out, Jinny! +You’ll be killed!” +</p> +<p> +“I won’t if you don’t interfere,” she yelled +back at him. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_59'></a>59</span> +</p> +<p> +During this conversation both their mounts +were on the keen jump. The saddle was bounding +high over the plain as the steer still bellowed +and ran. Jane Ann urged her pony as close +alongside the steer as she dared, leaned sideways +from her saddle, and made a sharp slash in the +air with the hunting knife that had hung from her +belt in its sheath. The keen blade severed Jimsey’s +best hair rope (there would be a postscript +to Jimsey’s remarks about that, later) and the +saddle, just then bounding into the air, caromed +from the steer’s rump against Jane Ann’s pony, +and almost knocked it off its legs. +</p> +<p> +But the girl kept her seat and the pony gathered +his feet under him again and started after +the relieved steer. But she did not use her rope +even then, and after returning her knife to its +sheath she guided her pony close in to the steer’s +flank. Before that saddle had beaten him so +about the body, Old Trouble-Maker might have +made a swift turn and collided with the girl’s +mount; but he was thinking only of running away +now—getting away from that mysterious thing +that had been chasing and thumping him! +</p> +<p> +Ike, who cantered along just behind her (the +rest of the crowd were many yards in the rear) +suddenly let out a yell of fear. He saw that the +girl was about to try, and he was scared. She +leaned from her saddle and seized the stiff tail of +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_60'></a>60</span> +the steer at its base. The foreman drew his gun +and spurred his horse forward. +</p> +<p> +“You little skeezicks!” he gasped. “If you +break your neck your uncle will jest natcherly +run me off’n this range!” +</p> +<p> +“Keep away, Ike!” panted the girl, letting the +tail of the maddened steer run through her hand +until she felt the bunch of hair—or brush—at the +end. +</p> +<p> +Then she secured her grip. Digging her spurs +into the pony’s sides she made him increase his +stride suddenly. He gained second by second on +the wildly running steer and the girl leaned forward +in her saddle, clinging with her left hand to +the pommel, her face in the pony’s tossing mane. +</p> +<p> +The next moment the tail was taut and the jerk +was almost enough to dislocate her arm. But she +hung on and the shock was greater to the big steer +than to Jane Ann. The yank on his tail made +him lose his stride and forced him to cross his +legs. The next moment Old Trouble-Maker was +on his head, from which he rolled over on his +side, bellowing with fright. +</p> +<p> +It was a <em>vaquero</em> trick that Jane Ann had seen +the men perform; yet it was a mercy that she, a +slight girl, was not pulled out of her saddle and +killed. But Jane Ann had done the trick nicely; +and in a moment she was out of her saddle, and +before Ike was beside her, had tied the steer’s +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_61'></a>61</span> +feet, “fore and aft,” with Jimsey’s broken rope. +Then, with one foot on the heaving side of the +steer, she flung off her hat and shouted to the +crowd that came tearing up: +</p> +<p> +“That double-eagle’s mine! Got anything to +say against it, boys?” +</p> +<p> +They cheered her to the echo, and after them +came the party of Jane Ann’s friends from the +East to add their congratulations. But as Ruth +and the others rode up Heavy of course had to +meet with an accident. Hard luck always seemed +to ride the stout girl like a nightmare! +</p> +<p> +The pony on which she rode became excited because +of the crowd of kicking, squealing cow ponies, +and Heavy’s seat was not secure. When the +pony began to cavort and plunge poor Heavy was +shaken right over the pommel of her saddle. +Her feet lost the stirrups and she began to +scream. +</p> +<p> +“My—good—ness—me!” she stuttered. “Hold him—still! Stop! Ho—ho—ho——” +</p> +<p> +And then she slipped right over the pony’s rump +and would have fallen smack upon the ground +had not Tom and Bob, who had both seen her +peril, leaped out of their own saddles, and caught +the stout girl as she lost her hold on the reins and +gave up all hope. +</p> +<p> +The boys staggered under her weight, but managed +to put her upright on her feet, while her +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_62'></a>62</span> +pony streaked it off across the plain, very much +frightened by such a method of dismounting. It +struck the whole crowd as being uproariously +funny; but the good-natured and polite cowboys +tried to smother their laughter. +</p> +<p> +“Don’t mind me!” exclaimed the stout girl. +“Have all the fun you want to. But I don’t +blame the pony for running away. I have been +sitting all along his backbone, from his ears to the +root of his tail, and I have certainly jounced my +own backbone so loose that it rattles. I believe +I’d better walk home.” +</p> +<p> +It was plain that Jennie Stone would never take +a high mark in horsemanship; but they caught her +pony for her and boosted her on again, and later +she rode back to the ranch-house at an easy pace. +But she declared that for the remainder of her +stay at Silver Ranch she proposed to ride only +in the automobile or in a carriage. +</p> +<p> +But Ruth was vastly enamored of this new play +of pony riding. She had a retentive memory and +kept in mind all that Bashful Ike told her about +the management of her own Freckles. She was +up early each morning and had a gallop over the +prairie before her friends were out of their beds. +And when Mr. Hicks stated one day that he had +to ride to Bullhide on business, Ruth begged the +privilege of riding with him, although the rest of +the young folks did not care to take such a long +trip in the hot sun. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_63'></a>63</span> +</p> +<p> +“I’ve some business to attend to for my uncle,” +Ruth explained to the ranchman, as they started +from the ranch-house soon after breakfast. “And +I want your advice.” +</p> +<p> +“Sure, Ruthie,” he said, “I’ll advise ye if I +can.” +</p> +<p> +So she told him about Uncle Jabez’s mixup +with the Tintacker mining properties. Bill Hicks +listened to this tale with a frowning brow. +</p> +<p> +“Bless your heart, Miss!” he ejaculated. “I +believe you’re chasin’ a wild goose. I reckon +your uncle’s been stung. These wildcat mining +properties are just the kind that greenhorn Easterners +get roped into. I don’t believe there’s ten +cents’ worth of silver to the ton in all the Tintacker +district. It played out years ago.” +</p> +<p> +“Well, that may be,” returned Ruth, with a +sigh. “But I want to see the records and learn +just how the Tintacker Mine itself stands on the +books. I want to show Uncle Jabez that I honestly +tried to do all that I could for him while I +was here.” +</p> +<p> +“That’s all right, Ruthie. You shall see the +records,” declared Mr. Hicks. “I know a young +lawyer in town that will help you, too; and it +sha’n’t cost you a cent. He’s a friend of mine.” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, thank you,” cried Ruth, and rode along +happily by the big cattleman’s side. +</p> +<p> +They were not far from the house when Bashful +Ike, who had been out on the range on some +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_64'></a>64</span> +errand, came whooping over the low hills to the +North, evidently trying to attract their attention. +Mr. Hicks growled: +</p> +<p> +“Now, what does that feller want? I got a +list as long as my arm of things to tote back for +the boys. Better have driv’ a mule waggin, I +reckon, to haul the truck home on.” +</p> +<p> +But it was Ruth the foreman wished to speak +to. He rode up, very red in the face, and stammering +so that Bill Hicks demanded, with scorn: +</p> +<p> +“What’s a-troubling you, Ike? You sputter +like a leaky tea-kettle. Can’t you out with what +you’ve got to say to the leetle gal, an’ let us ride +on?” +</p> +<p> +“I—I was just a thinkin’ that mebbe you—you +could do a little errand for me, Miss,” stammered +Bashful Ike. +</p> +<p> +“Gladly, Mr. Stedman,” returned Ruth, hiding +her own amusement. +</p> +<p> +“It—it’s sort of a tick-lish job,” said the cowboy. +“I—I want ye should buy a leetle present. +It’s—it’s for a lady——” +</p> +<p> +Bill snorted. “You goin’ to invest your plunder +in more dew-dabs for Sally Dickson, Ike? +Yah! she wouldn’t look at you cross-eyed.” +</p> +<p> +Bashful Ike’s face flamed up redder than ever—if +that was possible. +</p> +<p> +“I don’t want her to look at me cross-eyed,” +he said. “She couldn’t look cross-eyed. She’s +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_65'></a>65</span> +the sweetest and purtiest gal on this range, and +don’t you forgit that, Mr. Hicks.” +</p> +<p> +“Sho, now! don’t git riled at me,” grunted the +older man. “No offense intended. But I hate +to see you waste your time and money on a gal +that don’t give two pins for ye, Ike.” +</p> +<p> +“I ain’t axin’ her to give two pins for me,” +said Ike, with a sort of groan. “I ain’t up to the +mark with her—I know that. But thar ain’t no +law keepin’ me from spending my money as I +please, is there?” +</p> +<p> +“I dunno,” returned Bill Hicks. “Maybe +there’s one that’ll cover the case and send a feller +like you to the foolish factory. Sally Dickson +won’t have nothing to say to you.” +</p> +<p> +“Never mind,” said Ike, grimly. “You take +this two dollar bill, Miss Ruthie—if you will. +And you buy the nicest box o’ candy yo’ kin find +in Bullhide. When you come back by Lem Dickson’s, +jest drop it there for Sally. Yo’ needn’t +say who sent it,” added the bashful cowboy, wistfully. +“Jest—jest say one o’ the boys told you +to buy it for her. That’s all, Miss. It won’t be +too much trouble?” +</p> +<p> +“Of course it won’t, Mr. Stedman,” declared +Ruth, earnestly. “I’ll gladly do your errand.” +</p> +<p> +“Thank you, Miss,” returned the foreman, +and spurring his horse he rode rapidly away to +escape further remarks from his boss. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_66'></a>66</span><a name='chVIII' id='chVIII'></a>CHAPTER VIII—WHAT WAS ON THE RECORDS</h2> +<p> +“Now, what can you do with a feller like +that?” demanded Mr. Hicks, in disgust. “Poor +old Ike has been shinning around Sally Dickson +ever since Lem brought her home from school—from +Denver. And she’s a nice little gal enough, +at that; but she ain’t got no use for Ike and he +ought to see it. Gals out here don’t like fellers +that ain’t got sperit enough to say their soul’s +their own. And Ike’s so bashful he fair hates +hisself! You’ve noticed that.” +</p> +<p> +“But he’s just as kind and good-natured as he +can be,” declared Ruth, her pony cantering on beside +the ranchman’s bigger mount. +</p> +<p> +“That don’t help a feller none with a gal like +Sally,” grunted Mr. Hicks. “She don’t want a +reg’lar <em>gump</em> hanging around her. Makes her the +laffin’ stock of the hull range—don’t you see? Ike +better git a move on, if he wants her. ’Tain’t +goin’ to be no bashful ’ombre that gets Sally +Dickson, let me tell ye! Sendin’ her lollipops by +messenger—bah! He wants ter ride up and hand +that gal a ring—and a good one—if he expects to +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_67'></a>67</span> +ever git her into double harness. Now, you hear +me!” +</p> +<p> +“Just the same,” laughed Ruth, “I’m going to +buy the nicest box of candy I can find, and she +shall know who paid for it, too.” +</p> +<p> +And she found time to purchase the box of +candy while Mr. Hicks was attending to his own +private business in Bullhide. The town boasted +of several good stores as well as a fine hotel. +Ruth went to the railroad station, however, where +there was sure to be fresh candies from the East, +and she bought the handsomest box she could find. +Then she wrote Ike’s name nicely on a card and +had it tucked inside the wrapper, and the clerk +tied the package up with gilt cord. +</p> +<p> +“I’ll make that red-haired girl think that Ike +knows a few things, after all, if he is less bold than +the other boys,” thought Ruth. “He’s been real +kind to me and maybe I can help him with Sally. +If she knew beans she’d know that Ike was true +blue!” +</p> +<p> +Mr. Hicks came along the street and found her +soon after Ruth’s errand was done and took her +to the office of the young lawyer he had mentioned. +This was Mr. Savage—a brisk, businesslike +man, who seemed to know at once just what +the girl wished to discover. +</p> +<p> +“You come right over with me to the county +records office and we’ll look up the history of +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_68'></a>68</span> +those Tintacker Mines,” he said. “Mr. Hicks +knows a good deal about mining properties, and +he can check my work as we go along.” +</p> +<p> +So the three repaired to the county offices and +the lawyer turned up the first records of the claims +around Tintacker. +</p> +<p> +“There is only one mine called Tintacker,” he +explained. “The adjacent mines are Tintacker +<em>claims</em>. The camp that sprang up there and flourished +fifteen years ago, was called Tintacker, too. +But for more than ten years the kiotes have held +the fort over there for the most part—eh, Mr. +Hicks?” +</p> +<p> +“And that crazy feller that’s been around yere +for some months,” the ranchman said. +</p> +<p> +“What crazy fellow is that?” demanded Lawyer +Savage, quickly. +</p> +<p> +“Why, thar’s been a galoot around Tintacker +ever since Spring opened. I dunno but he was +thar in the winter——” +</p> +<p> +“Young man, or old?” interrupted Savage. +</p> +<p> +“Not much more’n a kid, my boys say.” +</p> +<p> +“You’ve never seen him?” +</p> +<p> +“No. But I believe he set the grass afire the +other day, and made us a heap of trouble along +Larruper Crick,” declared the ranchman. +</p> +<p> +The lawyer looked thoughtful. “There was a +young fellow here twice to look up the Tintacker +properties. He came to see me the first time—that +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_69'></a>69</span> +was more than a year ago. Said he had been +left his father’s share in the old Tintacker Mine +and wanted to buy out the heirs of the other partner. +I helped him get a statement of the record +and the names of the other parties——” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, please, Mr. Savage, what was his +name?” asked Ruth, quickly. +</p> +<p> +“I don’t know what his name really <em>was</em>,” replied +the lawyer, smiling. “He called himself +John Cox—might have been just a name he took +for the time being. There wasn’t any Cox ever +had an interest in the Tintacker as far as I can +find. But he probably had his own reasons for +keeping his name to himself. Then he came back +in the winter. I saw him on the street here. +That’s all I know about him.” +</p> +<p> +“Tenderfoot?” asked Hicks. +</p> +<p> +“Yes, and a nice spoken fellow. He made a +personal inspection of the properties the first time +he was here. That I know, for I found a guide +for him, Ben Burgess. He stayed two weeks at +the old camp, Ben said, and acted like he knew +something about minerals.” +</p> +<p> +Mr. Savage had found the proper books and +he discovered almost at once that there had been +an entry made since he had last looked up the records +of Tintacker a year or more before. +</p> +<p> +“That fellow did it!” exclaimed the lawyer. +“He must have found those other heirs and he’s +got possession of the entire Tintacker Mine holdings. +Yes-sir! the records are as straight as a +string. And the record was made last winter. +That is what he came back here for. Now, young +lady, what do you want to know about it all?” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_70'></a>70</span> +</p> +<p> +“I want a copy, please, of the record just as it +stands—the present ownership of the mine, I +mean,” said Ruth. “I want to send that to Uncle +Jabez.” +</p> +<p> +“It is all held now in the name of John Cox. +The original owners were two men named Symplex +and Burbridge. It is Burbridge’s heirs this +fellow seems to have bought up. Now, he told me +his father died and left his share of the Tintacker +to him. That means that ‘Symplex’ was this +young Cox’s father. One, or the other of them +didn’t use his right name—eh?” suggested the +lawyer. +</p> +<p> +“But that doesn’t invalidate the title. It’s +straight enough now. The Tintacker Mine—whether +it is worth ten cents or ten thousand dollars—belongs +to somebody known as John Cox—somebody +who can produce the deeds. You say +your uncle bought into the mine and took personal +notes with the mine for security, Miss?” +</p> +<p> +“That is the way I understand it,” Ruth replied. +</p> +<p> +“And it looks as though the young man used +the money to buy out the other owners. That +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_71'></a>71</span> +seems straight enough. Your uncle’s security is +all clear as far as the title of the mine goes——” +</p> +<p> +“But according to what I know,” broke in Mr. +Hicks, “he might as well have a lien on a setting +of hen’s eggs as an interest in the Tintacker +Mine.” +</p> +<p> +“That’s about it,” admitted Mr. Savage. “I +don’t believe the mine is worth the money it cost +the young fellow to have these records made.” +</p> +<p> +“Well,” said Ruth, with a sigh; “I’ll pay you +for making the copy, just the same; and I’ll send +it home to uncle. And, if you don’t mind, Mr. +Savage, I’ll send him your name and address, too. +Perhaps he may want you to make some move in +the matter of the Tintacker property.” +</p> +<p> +This was agreed upon, and the lawyer promised +to have the papers ready to send East in two +or three days. Then Mr. Hicks took Ruth to the +hotel to dinner, and they started for the ranch +again soon after that meal. +</p> +<p> +When they came in sight of the Crossing, Ruth +saw that the little red painted schoolhouse was +open. All the windows were flung wide and the +door was ajar; and she could see Sally Dickson’s +brilliant hair, as well as other heads, flitting back +and forth past the windows. +</p> +<p> +“Hi Jefers!” ejaculated Bill Hicks. “I reckon +thar’s goin’ to be a dance at the schoolhouse Saturday +night. I nigh forgot it. We’ll all hafter +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_72'></a>72</span> +go over so that you folks from Down East kin see +what a re’l Montany jamboree is like. The gals +is fixin’ up for it now, I reckon.” +</p> +<p> +“I want to see Sally,” said Ruth, smiling. +</p> +<p> +“Huh!” grunted Bill, with a glance at the big +box of candy the Eastern girl held so carefully +before her. “You kin see her all right. That +red head of hers shines like a beacon in the night. +And I’ll speak to Lem.” +</p> +<p> +Ruth rode her pony close to one of the open +windows of the little schoolhouse. She could see +that the benches and desks had been all moved +out—probably stacked in a lean-to at the end of +the house. The floor had been swept and mopped +up and the girls were helping Sally trim the walls +and certain pictures which hung thereon with festoons +of colored paper. One girl was polishing +the lamp chimneys, and another was filling and +trimming the lamps themselves. +</p> +<p> +“Oh, hullo!” said the storekeeper’s daughter, +seeing Ruth at the window, and leaving her work +to come across the room. “You’re one of those +young ladies stopping at Silver Ranch, aren’t +you?” +</p> +<p> +“No,” said Ruth, smiling. “I’m one of the +girls visiting Jane Ann. I hope you are going to +invite us to your party here. We shall enjoy coming, +I am sure.” +</p> +<p> +“Guess you won’t think much of our ball,” returned +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_73'></a>73</span> +Sally Dickson. “We’re plain folk. Don’t +do things like they do East.” +</p> +<p> +“How do you know what sort of parties we +have at home?” queried Ruth, laughing at her. +“We’re not city girls. We live in the country and +get our fun where we can find it, too. And perhaps +we can help you have a good time—if you’ll +let us.” +</p> +<p> +“Well, I don’t know,” began Sally, yet beginning +to smile, too; nobody could be <em>grouchy</em> and +stare into Ruth Fielding’s happy face for long. +</p> +<p> +“What do you do for music?” +</p> +<p> +“Well, one of the boys at Chatford’s got a +banjo and old Jim Casey plays the accordion—when +he’s sober. But the last time the music failed +us, and one of the boys tried to whistle the dances; +but one feller that was mad with him kept showing +him a lemon and it made his mouth twist +up so that he couldn’t keep his lips puckered +nohow.” +</p> +<p> +Ruth giggled at that, but said at once: +</p> +<p> +“One of my friends plays the piano real nicely; +but of course it would be too much trouble to +bring Jane Ann’s piano away over here. However, +my chum, Helen, plays the violin. She will +bring it and help out on the music, I know. And +we’d <em>all</em> be glad of an invitation.” +</p> +<p> +“Why, sure! you come over,” cried Sally, +warming up to Ruth’s advances. “I suppose a +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_74'></a>74</span> +bunch of the Silver outfit boys will be on hand. +Some of ’em are real nice boys——” +</p> +<p> +“And that reminds me,” said Ruth, advancing +the package of candy. “One of the gentlemen +working for Mr. Hicks asked me to hand you this, +Miss Dickson. He was very particular that you +should get it safely.” She put the candy into the +red-haired girl’s hands. “And we certainly will +be over—all of us—Saturday evening.” +</p> +<p> +Before Sally could refuse Ike’s present, or comment +upon it at all, Ruth rode away from the +schoolhouse. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_75'></a>75</span><a name='chIX' id='chIX'></a>CHAPTER IX—THE FOX IS RECKLESS</h2> +<p> +When Ruth arrived at Silver Ranch that afternoon +she found that the ranchman’s niece and +the other girls had planned an outing for the following +day into the hills West of the range over +which Mr. Hicks’ cattle fed. It was to be a picnic +jaunt, the object being mainly to view the wonderful +“natural bridge” in a small cañon, some +thirty miles from the ranch. +</p> +<p> +A sixty-mile drive within twenty-four hours +seemed a big undertaking in the minds of the +Eastern young folk; but Jane Ann said that the +ponies and mules could stand it. It was probable, +however, that none of the visitors could stand the +ride in the saddle, so arrangements had been +made for both buckboards to be used. +</p> +<p> +Tom and Bob were each to drive one of the vehicles. +Jib Pottoway was to go as guide and general +mentor of the party, and one of the little +Mexican boys would drive the supply wagon, to +which were hitched two trotting mules. The start +would be made at three in the morning; therefore +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_76'></a>76</span> +the ranch-house was quiet soon after dark that +evening. +</p> +<p> +Maria had breakfast ready for them as soon +as the girls and Bob and Tom appeared; and the +wagon was laden with provisions, as well as a +light tent and blankets. Tom and Bob had both +brought their guns with them, for there might be +a chance to use the weapons on this jaunt. +</p> +<p> +“There are plenty of kiotes in the hills,” said +Jane Ann. “And sometimes a gray wolf. The +boys once in a while see cats about—in calving +time, you know. But I reckon they’re mighty +scarce.” +</p> +<p> +“Cats?” cried Heavy. “Do you shoot cats?” +</p> +<p> +“Pumas,” explained Jane Ann. “They’re +some nasty when they’re re’l hungry.” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, I don’t want to see any more of the wildcat +tribe,” Ruth cried. “I had my fill of them +last winter at Snow Camp.” +</p> +<p> +Tom of course was to drive the buckboard in +which his twin and Ruth rode; but the chums certainly +would not have chosen Mary Cox for the +fourth member of the party. However, The Fox +usually knew what she wanted herself, and got it, +too! She liked Master Tom and wished to ride +beside him; and the instant she learned which pair +of ponies he was to drive, she hopped into the +front seat of that buckboard. +</p> +<p> +“I’m going to sit with you, Tom,” she said, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_77'></a>77</span> +coolly. “I believe you’ve got the best ponies. +And you can drive better than Bob, too.” +</p> +<p> +Tom didn’t look overjoyed, and Helen, seeing +the expression of her twin’s face, began to giggle. +There was, however, no polite way of getting rid +of The Fox. +</p> +<p> +In a few minutes they were off, Jib Pottoway +heading the procession, and Ricardo, the Mexican, +bringing up the rear with the mule cart. +</p> +<p> +“You keep a sharp eye on them younguns, +Jib!” bawled Bill Hicks, coming to the door of +the ranch-house in his stocking feet and with his +hair touseled from his early morning souse in the +trough behind the house. “I’ll hold you responsible +if anything busts—now mind ye!” +</p> +<p> +“All right, Boss,” returned the Indian stolidly. +“I reckon nothin’ won’t bite ’em.” +</p> +<p> +Driving off thirty miles into the wilderness was +nothing in the opinion of these Westerners; but to +the girls from Briarwood Hall, and their brothers, +the trip promised all kinds of excitement. +And they enjoyed every mile of the journey +through the foothills. There was something new +and strange (to the Easterners) to see almost +every mile, and Jane Ann, or Jib, was right there +to answer questions and explain the wonders. +</p> +<p> +At first they saw miles upon miles of range, over +which fed the Silver Ranch herds. Heretofore +Ruth and her friends had not realized the size of +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_78'></a>78</span> +the ranch itself and what it meant to own fifty +thousand cattle. +</p> +<p> +“Why!” exclaimed Heavy, with some awe. +“Your uncle, Nita, is richer than Job—and the +Bible says he was the greatest of all the men of +the East! He only owned seven thousand sheep +and three thousand camels and a thousand oxen +and five hundred she-asses. Why, I believe there +are more creatures in that one herd yonder than +poor old Job owned.” +</p> +<p> +“I guess that was a pretty good herd for ’way +down there in Arabia, and so long ago,” returned +Jane Ann. “But cattlemen have learned a lot +since those times. I expect Uncle Bill has got +more ponies than Job had mules.” +</p> +<p> +“And the men who looked after Job’s cattle +were a whole lot different from those fellows,” +cried Helen, from the forward buckboard, pointing +to a couple of well-mounted punchers spurring +after a score of strays that had broken away from +the main herd. “Dear me, how recklessly they +ride!” +</p> +<p> +“But I guess that all cowboys have been reckless +and brave,” said Ruth, quickly. “Somehow, +herding cattle on the open plains and hills seems +to make for rugged character and courage. Think +of King David, and lots of those Biblical characters. +David was a cowboy, and went out and +slew Goliath. And I expect any of these punchers +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_79'></a>79</span> +we see around here wouldn’t be afraid of a giant,” +she concluded. +</p> +<p> +“Huh!” snapped The Fox, who usually found +something sharp to say in comment upon Ruth’s +speeches, “I guess these cowboys aren’t any better +than the usual run of men. <em>I</em> think they’re +rather coarse and ugly. Look at this half Indian +ahead of us.” +</p> +<p> +“What do you mean—<em>him</em>?” exclaimed Tom +Cameron, who was pretty well disgusted with The +Fox and her sly and sneering ways. “Why, he’s +got a better education than most of the men you +meet. He stood high at Carlisle, in his books as +well as athletics. You wouldn’t scoff at any other +college-bred fellow—why at Jib?” +</p> +<p> +“Indian,” said Mary Cox, with her nose in the +air. +</p> +<p> +“His folks owned the country-the whole continent!” +cried the excited Tom, “until white men +drove them out. You’d consider an Englishman, +or a German, or a Belgian, with his education, the +equal of any American. And Jib’s a true American +at that.” +</p> +<p> +“Well, I can’t say that I ever could admire a +savage,” sniffed The Fox, tossing her head. +</p> +<p> +For the most part, however, the girls and their +drivers had a very jolly time, and naturally there +could not be much “bickering” even in the leading +buckboard where The Fox rode, for Ruth was +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_80'></a>80</span> +there, and Ruth was not one of the bickering kind. +Helen was inclined to think that her chum was +altogether too “tame”; she would not “stand up +for herself” enough, and when The Fox said cutting +things Ruth usually ignored her schoolfellow’s +ill-nature. +</p> +<p> +Tom was not entirely happy with The Fox on +the seat beside him. He had hoped Ruth would +occupy that place. When Mary spoke to him perhaps +the young fellow was a bit cold. At least, +before they came to the cañon, through which +flowed Rolling River, Master Tom had somehow +managed to offend The Fox and her eyes snapped +and she held her lips grimly shut. +</p> +<p> +The trail became narrow here and it rose +steeply, too. The roaring river tumbled over the +rocks on the left hand, while on the right the sheer +cliff rose higher and higher. And while the ponies +climbed the rather steep ascent Jib Pottoway +spurred his horse ahead to see if the path was all +clear to the place where the cañon became a veritable +tunnel under the “natural bridge.” +</p> +<p> +“Go slow, Tom Cameron!” shouted the ranchman’s +niece from the second carriage. “There +are bad places when we get to the upper level—very +narrow places. And the river is a hundred +feet below us there.” +</p> +<p> +“She’s trying to scare us,” snapped The Fox. +“I never saw such people!” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_81'></a>81</span> +</p> +<p> +“I guess it will be best to take care,” grunted +Tom. “She’s been here before, remember.” +</p> +<p> +“Pah! you’re afraid!” +</p> +<p> +“Perhaps I am,” returned Tom. “I’m not +going to take any chances with these half wild +ponies—and you girls in the wagon.” +</p> +<p> +In a minute more they were at the top of the +rise. Jib had disappeared around a distant turn +in the path, which here was straight and level for +fully a mile. The muffled roar of the river came +up to them, and the abrupt cliff on the right cast +its shadow clear across the cañon. It was a rugged +and gloomy place and Helen hid her eyes +after glancing once down the steep descent to the +river. +</p> +<p> +“Oh! drive on, Tommy!” she cried. “I don’t +want to look down there again. What a fearful +drop it is! Hold the ponies tight, Tommy.” +</p> +<p> +“Pshaw, you are making a great adieu about +nothing,” snapped Mary Cox. +</p> +<p> +“I’ll have a care, Nell; don’t you fear,” assured +her brother. +</p> +<p> +Ruth was as serious as her chum, and as she +had a quick eye she noticed a strap hanging from +the harness of one of the ponies and called Tom’s +attention to it. +</p> +<p> +“There’s a strap unbuckled, Tom,” she cried. +“Do you see it hanging?” +</p> +<p> +“Good for you, Ruthie!” cried the boy, leaning out +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_82'></a>82</span> +of his seat to glimpse the strap. “Here, +Mary! hold these reins, please.” +</p> +<p> +He put the reins into the hands of The Fox +and hopped out. She laughed and slapped them +across the ponies’ backs and the beasts reared and +snorted. +</p> +<p> +“Have a care what you’re doing, Mary Cox!” +shrieked Helen. +</p> +<p> +“Whoa!” cried her brother, and leaped to +seize the nearest pony by the bit. But the half +wild animals jerked away from him, dashing +across the narrow trail. +</p> +<p> +“Pull up! pull up!” shouted Tom. +</p> +<p> +“Don’t let them run!” cried Jane Ann Hicks, +standing up in the carriage behind. +</p> +<p> +But in that single moment of recklessness the +ponies became unmanageable—at least, unmanageable +for The Fox. She pulled the left rein to +bring them back into the trail, and off the creatures +dashed, at headlong speed, along the narrow +way. On the right was the unscalable wall of +rock; on the left was the awful drop to the roaring +river! +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_83'></a>83</span><a name='chX' id='chX'></a>CHAPTER X—RUTH SHOWS HER METTLE</h2> +<p> +Shouting after the runaway, and shrieking advice +to The Fox, who still clung to the reins, was +of no particular use, and Tom Cameron realized +that as well as did Jane Ann. The boy from the +East picked himself up and leaped upon the rear +of the second buckboard as it passed him, and +they tore on after the frightened ponies. +</p> +<p> +Mary Cox could not hold them. She was not +a good horsewoman, in any case; and a moment +after the ponies broke loose, she was just as frightened +as ever she could be. +</p> +<p> +She did not drop the lines; that was because she +did not think to do so. She was frozen with terror. +The ponies plunged along the narrow trail, +weaving the buckboard from side to side, and +Mary was helpless to stop them. On the rear seat +Helen and Ruth clung together in the first shock +of fear; the threatening catastrophe, too, appalled +them. +</p> +<p> +But only for the first few seconds was Ruth inactive. +Behind the jouncing vehicle Tom was +shouting to them to “pull ’em down!” Ruth +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_84'></a>84</span> +wrenched herself free from her chum’s grasp and +leaned forward over the seat-back. +</p> +<p> +“Give the reins to me!” she cried in Mary’s +ear, and seized the leathers just as they slipped +from the hands of The Fox. +</p> +<p> +Ruth gripped them firmly and flung herself back +into her own seat. Helen seized her with one +hand and saved her from being thrown out of the +pitching vehicle. And so, with her chum holding +her into her seat, Ruth swung all her weight and +force against the ponies’ bits. +</p> +<p> +At first this seemed to have not the least effect +upon the frightened animals. Ruth’s slight +weight exercised small pressure on those iron +jaws. On and on they dashed, rocking the buckboard +over the rough trail—and drawing each +moment nearer to that perilous elbow in the +cañon! +</p> +<p> +Ruth realized the menacing danger of that turn +in the trail from the moment the beasts first +jumped. There was no parapet at the outer edge +of the shelf—just the uneven, broken verge of the +rock, with the awful drop to the roaring river +below. +</p> +<p> +She remembered this in a flash, as the ponies +tore on. There likewise passed through her mind +a vision of the chum beside her, crushed and mangled +at the bottom of the cañon—and again, +Helen’s broken body being swept away in the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_85'></a>85</span> +river! And The Fox—the girl who had so annoyed +her—would likewise be killed unless she, +Ruth Fielding, found some means of averting the +catastrophe. +</p> +<p> +It was a fact that she did not think of her own +danger. Mainly the runaway ponies held her attention. +<em>She must stop them before they reached +the fatal turn!</em> +</p> +<p> +Were the ponies giving way a little? Was it +possible that her steady, desperate pulling on the +curbs was having its effect? The pressure on their +iron jaws must have been severe, and even a half-broken +mustang pony is not entirely impervious to +pain. +</p> +<p> +But the turn in the road was so near! +</p> +<p> +Snorting and plunging, the animals would—in +another moment—reach the elbow. Either they +must dash themselves headlong over the precipice, +and the buckboard would follow, or, in swerving +around the corner, the vehicle and its three passengers +would be hurled over the brink. +</p> +<p> +And then something—an inspiration it must +have been—shot athwart Ruth’s brain. The +thought could not have been the result of previous +knowledge on her part, for the girl of the +Red Mill was no horsewoman. Jane Ann Hicks +might have naturally thought to try the feat; but +it came to Ruth in a flash and without apparent +reason. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_86'></a>86</span> +</p> +<p> +She dropped the left hand rein, stood up to +seize the right rein with a shorter grip, and then +flung herself back once more. The force she +brought to bear on the nigh pony by this action +was too much for him. His head was pulled +around, and in an instant he stumbled and came +with a crash to the ground! +</p> +<p> +The pony’s fall brought down his mate. The +runaway was stopped just at the turn of the trail—and +so suddenly that Mary Cox was all but +flung headlong upon the struggling animals. Ruth +and Helen <em>did</em> fall out of the carriage—but fortunately +upon the inner side of the trail. +</p> +<p> +Even then the maddened, struggling ponies +might have cast themselves—and the three girls +likewise—over the brink had not help been at +hand. At the turn appeared Jib Pottoway, his +pony in a lather, recalled by the sound of the runaways’ +drumming hoofs. The Indian flung himself +from the saddle and gripped the bridles of the +fallen horses just in season. Bob, driving the second +pair of ponies with a firm hand, brought them +to a halt directly behind the wreck, and Tom and +Jane Ann ran to Jib’s assistance. +</p> +<p> +“What’s the matter with these ponies?” demanded +the Indian, sharply. “How’d they get +in this shape? I thought you could drive a pair +of hawses, boy?” he added, with scorn, looking +at Tom. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_87'></a>87</span> +</p> +<p> +“I got out to buckle a strap and they got +away,” said Tom, rather sheepishly. +</p> +<p> +“Don’t you scold him, Jib!” commanded Jane +Ann, vigorously. “He ain’t to blame.” +</p> +<p> +“Who is?” +</p> +<p> +“That girl yonder,” snapped the ranchman’s +niece, pointing an accusing finger at Mary Cox. +“I saw her start ’em on the run while Tom was +on the ground.” +</p> +<p> +“Never!” cried The Fox, almost in tears. +</p> +<p> +“You did,” repeated Jane Ann. +</p> +<p> +“Anyway, I didn’t think they’d start and run +so. They’re dangerous. It wasn’t right for +the men to give us such wild ponies. I’ll speak to +Mr. Hicks about it.” +</p> +<p> +“You needn’t fret,” said Jane Ann, sternly. +“I’ll tell Uncle Bill all right, and I bet you don’t +get a chance to play such a trick again as long as +you’re at Silver Ranch——” +</p> +<p> +Ruth, who had scrambled up with Helen, now +placed a restraining hand on the arm of the angry +Western girl; but Jane Ann sputtered right out: +</p> +<p> +“No! I won’t keep still, Ruth Fielding. If it +hadn’t been for you that Mary Cox would now be +at the bottom of these rocks. And she’ll never +thank you for saving her life, and for keeping +her from killing you and Helen. She doesn’t +know how to spell gratitude! Bah!” +</p> +<p> +“Hush up, Jinny,” commanded Jib, easily. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_88'></a>88</span> +“You’ve got all that off your mind now, and you +ought to feel some better. The ponies don’t seem +to be hurt much. Some scraped, that’s all. We +can go on, I reckon. You ride my hawse, Mr. +Cameron, and I’ll sit in yere and drive. Won’t +trust these gals alone no more.” +</p> +<p> +“I guess you could trust Ruth Fielding all +right,” cried the loyal Tom. “She did the trick—and +showed how plucky she is in the bargain. +Did you ever see anything better done than the +way she threw that pony?” +</p> +<p> +Jane Ann ran to the girl of the Red Mill and +flung her arms around her neck. +</p> +<p> +“You’re just as brave as you can be, Ruthie!” +she cried. “I don’t know of anybody who is +braver. If you’d been brought up right out here +in the mountains you couldn’t have done any better—could +she, Jib?” +</p> +<p> +“Miss Fielding certainly showed good mettle,” +admitted the Indian, with one of his rare smiles. +“And now we’ll go on to the camping place. +Don’t let’s have any more words about it, or your +fun will all be spoiled. Where’s Ricardo, with +the camp stuff? I declare! that Greaser is five +miles behind, I believe.” +</p> +<p> +With which he clucked to the still nervous ponies +and, Tom now in the lead, the procession +started on in a much more leisurely style. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_89'></a>89</span><a name='chXI' id='chXI'></a>CHAPTER XI—AN URSINE HOLD-UP</h2> +<p> +The party of young people were so excited by +the adventure that they were scarcely in mind to +appreciate the rugged beauty of the cañon. The +opposite wall was covered with verdure—hardy +trees and shrubs found their rootage in the crevices +between the rocks. Some beds of moss, far +down where the spray from the river continually +irrigated the thin soil, were spangled so thickly +with starlike, white flowers that the patches +looked like brocaded bedspreads. +</p> +<p> +Around the elbow in the trail—that sharp turn +which had been the scene of the all but fatal accident—the +driveway broadened. Far ahead (for +the cañon was here quite straight again) they +could see the arching roof of rock, surmounted +by the primeval forest, which formed the so-called +natural bridge. The river tumbled out of the +darkness of the tunnel, fretted to a foaming cascade +by battling with the boulders which strewed +its bed under the roof-rock. The water’s surface +gleamed ghostly in the shadow of the arch, and +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_90'></a>90</span> +before the opening the arc of a rainbow shone in +the spray. +</p> +<p> +As the girls’ excitement subsided, Ruth saw this +scene far ahead and cried aloud in rapture: +</p> +<p> +“Look! Oh, just look! Isn’t that beautiful?” +</p> +<p> +“The waterfall,” agreed her chum, “or cascade, +or whatever they call it, is just a picture, +Ruthie!” +</p> +<p> +“Mighty pretty,” said Tom, reining in the +pony beside them. +</p> +<p> +“The cavern is so black and the water is so +white—like milk,” cried Madge from the second +carriage. “What a contrast!” +</p> +<p> +“I tell you what it looks like,” added Heavy, +who sat beside her. “A great, big chocolate +cream drop that’s broken and the cream oozing +out. M—m!” +</p> +<p> +They all laughed at the stout girl’s figure of +speech, for Jennie Stone’s mind seemed always to +linger upon good things to eat, and this comparison +was quite characteristic. +</p> +<p> +“I’d be afraid to go down under that bridge,” +said Helen. “It’s so dark there.” +</p> +<p> +“But there’s a path through the tunnel, Miss,” +said Jib, the Indian. “And there’s another path +by which you can climb out on the top of the +bridge. But the trail for a waggin’ stops right +yonder, where we camp.” +</p> +<p> +This spot was a sort of cove in the wall of the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_91'></a>91</span> +cañon—perhaps half an acre in extent. There +was a pretty lawn with a spring of sweet water, +the overflow of which trickled away to the edge +of the precipice and dashed itself to spray on the +rocks fifty feet below. +</p> +<p> +They had become used to the sullen roar of the +river now and did not heed its voice. This was a +delightful spot for camping and when Ricardo +came up with the wagon, the boys and Jib quickly +erected the tent, hobbled the ponies, and built a +fire in the most approved campers’ fashion. +</p> +<p> +Never had a picnic luncheon tasted so good to +any of the party. The mountain air had put an +edge on their appetites, and Heavy performed +such feats of mastication that Helen declared she +trembled for the result. +</p> +<p> +“Don’t you trouble about me,” said the stout +girl. “You want to begin to worry over <em>my</em> +health when I don’t eat at all. And I can’t see +where I have got so far ahead of any of the rest +of you in the punishment of this lunch.” +</p> +<p> +But afterward, when the other girls proposed +to climb the rocky path to the summit of the natural +bridge, Heavy objected. +</p> +<p> +“It’s injurious to take violent exercise after +eating heavily,” she said. +</p> +<p> +“I never knew the time when Heavy considered +it safe to exercise,” said The Fox, who had gradually +recovered her usual manner since the runaway. “The +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_92'></a>92</span> +time between meals isn’t long +enough, in her opinion, to warrant anybody’s +working. Come on! let’s leave her to slothful +dreams.” +</p> +<p> +“And blisters,” added Heavy. “My shoes +have hurt me for two days. I wouldn’t climb over +these rocks for a farm—with a pig on’t! Go on—and +perspire—and tell yourselves you’re having +a good time. I’ve a book here to read,” declared +the graceless and lazy stout girl. +</p> +<p> +“But aren’t the boys going?” asked Ruth. +</p> +<p> +“They’ve started for the tunnel down there—with +Jib,” said Jane Ann, with a snap. “Huh! +boys aren’t no good, anyway.” +</p> +<p> +“Your opinion may be correct; your grammar +is terrible,” scoffed Mary Cox. +</p> +<p> +“Never you mind about my grammar, Miss +Smarty!” rejoined the Western girl, who really +couldn’t forget the peril into which The Fox had +run her friends so recently. “If you girls are +comin’ along to the top of the bridge, come on. +Let the boys go down there, if they want to. The +rocks are slippery, and they’ll get sopping wet.” +</p> +<p> +“There isn’t any danger, is there?” queried +Helen, thinking of her brother. +</p> +<p> +“No, of course not,” replied Jane Ann. “No +more danger than there is up this way,” and she +led the way on the path that wound up the rocky +heights. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_93'></a>93</span> +</p> +<p> +The girls were dressed in corduroy skirts and +strong, laced walking boots—a fitting costume for +the climb. But had Jib been present at the camp +perhaps he would not have allowed them to start +without an escort. Ricardo had to remain at the +camp. This was a wild country and not even Jane +Ann carried any weapon, although when the +ranchman’s niece rode about the range alone she +carried a gun—and she knew how to use the +weapon, too. +</p> +<p> +But they could hear the shouts of the boys, rising +above the thunder of the river, when they left +the plateau and began to climb the heights, and +danger of any kind did not enter the minds of +the girls. It was like picnicking along the Lumano +River, at home, only the scenery here was +grander. +</p> +<p> +Ruth and Helen assumed the lead after a very +few minutes; they were even better climbers than +the Western girl. But the way was steep and +rugged and it wasn’t long before their chatter +ceased and they saved their breath for the work +in hand. Madge and Jane Ann came along after +the chums quite pluckily; but The Fox began +clamoring for rest before they had climbed half +the distance to the top of the cliff. +</p> +<p> +“Oh, come on, Mary!” ejaculated Madge. +“Don’t be whining.” +</p> +<p> +“I don’t see anything in this,” grumbled The +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_94'></a>94</span> +Fox. “It’s no fun scrambling over these rocks. +Ouch! Now I’ve torn my stocking.” +</p> +<p> +“Aw, come on!” said Jane Ann. “You’re a +regular wet blanket, you are.” +</p> +<p> +“There’s no sense in working so hard for nothing,” +snapped The Fox. +</p> +<p> +“What did you start out for, Mary?” demanded +Madge. “You might have remained at +the camp with Heavy.” +</p> +<p> +“And she had sense.” +</p> +<p> +“It’s too bad <em>you</em> haven’t a little, then,” observed +Jane Ann, rudely. +</p> +<p> +Ruth and Helen, who really enjoyed the climb, +looked down from the heights and beckoned +their comrades on. +</p> +<p> +“Hurry up, Slow Pokes!” cried Ruth. “We +shall certainly beat you to the top.” +</p> +<p> +“And much good may that do you!” grumbled +Mary Cox. “What a silly thing to do, anyway.” +</p> +<p> +“I do wish you’d go back, if you want to, +Mary,” declared Madge, wearily. +</p> +<p> +“She’s as cross as two sticks,” ejaculated Jane +Ann. +</p> +<p> +“Well, why shouldn’t I be cross?” demanded +The Fox, quite ready to quarrel. “This place +is as dull as ditch-water. I wish I hadn’t come +West at all. I’m sure, <em>I’ve</em> had no fun.” +</p> +<p> +“Well, you’ve made enough trouble, if you +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_95'></a>95</span> +haven’t had a good time,” Jane Ann said, frankly. +</p> +<p> +“I must say you’re polite to your guests,” exclaimed +Mary Cox, viciously. +</p> +<p> +“And I must say you’re anything but polite to +me,” responded the ranch girl, not at all abashed. +“You’re pretty near the limit, <em>you</em> are. Somebody +ought to give you a good shaking.” +</p> +<p> +Ruth and Helen had gotten so far ahead because +they had not wasted their breath. Now +they were waiting for the other three who came +puffing to the shelf on which the chums rested, all +three wearing frowns on their faces. +</p> +<p> +“For pity’s sake!” gasped Helen; “what’s the +matter with you all?” +</p> +<p> +“I’m tired,” admitted Madge, throwing herself +upon the short turf. +</p> +<p> +“This girl says it’s all foolishness to climb up +here,” said Jane Ann, pointing at The Fox. +</p> +<p> +“Oh, I want to reach the very summit, now +I’ve started,” cried Ruth. +</p> +<p> +“That’s silly,” declared Mary Cox. +</p> +<p> +“You’re just as cross as a bear,” began the +Western girl, when Helen suddenly shrieked: +</p> +<p> +“Oh, <em>oh</em>! Will you look at that? <em>What is +it?</em>” +</p> +<p> +Ruth had already started on. She did not wish +to have any words with The Fox. A rod or more +separated her from her mates. Out of an aperture +heretofore unnoticed, and between Ruth and +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_96'></a>96</span> +the other girls, was thrust the shaggy head and +shoulders of a huge animal. +</p> +<p> +“A dog!” cried Madge. +</p> +<p> +“It’s a wolf!” shrieked Mary Cox. +</p> +<p> +But the Western girl knew instantly what the +creature was. “Run, Ruthie!” she shouted. +“I’ll call Jib and the boys. <em>It’s a bear!</em>” +</p> +<p> +And at that moment Bruin waddled fully out +of the hole—a huge, hairy, sleepy looking beast. +He was between Ruth and her friends, and his +awkward body blocked the path by which they +were climbing to the summit of the natural bridge. +</p> +<p> +“Wu-uh-uh-uff!” said the bear, and swung his +head and huge shoulders from the group of four +girls to the lone girl above him. +</p> +<p> +“Run, Ruth!” shrieked Helen. +</p> +<p> +Her cry seemed to startle the ursine marauder. +He uttered another grunt of expostulation and +started up the steep path. Nobody needed to advise +Ruth to run a second time. She scrambled +up the rocks with an awful fear clutching at her +heart and the sound in her ears of the bear’s +sabre-like claws scratching over the path! +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_97'></a>97</span><a name='chXII' id='chXII'></a>CHAPTER XII—THE MAN FROM TINTACKER</h2> +<p> +Ruth was just as scared as she could be. Although +the bear did not seem particularly savage, +there surely was not room enough on the path for +him and Ruth to pass. The beast was ragged +and gray looking. His little eyes twinkled and +his tongue lolled out of his mouth, like that of an +ox when it is plowing. Aside from a grunt, or +two, he made at first no threatening manifestation. +</p> +<p> +Helen could not remain inactive and see a bear +chase her chum over the rocks; therefore she +picked up a good-sized stone and threw it at the +beast. They say—at least, boys say!—that a +girl can’t throw straight. But Helen hit the bear! +</p> +<p> +The stone must have hurt, for the beast let out +a sudden growl that was in quite a different tone +from the sounds he had made before. He turned +sharply and bit at the place on his flank where the +stone had hit him, and then, in a perfectly unreasonable +manner, the bear turned sharp around +and scampered after Ruth harder than ever. It +was plain that he blamed her for throwing the +stone. At least, she was nearest to him, and the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_98'></a>98</span> +bear was anxious to get out of the way of the +screaming girls below. +</p> +<p> +Ruth did not give voice to her fear. Perhaps +if she had shrieked as The Fox did the bear would +have been afraid of her. As it was, he came +on, growling savagely. And in half a minute he +was fairly upon her heels! +</p> +<p> +The way up the height was in a gully with steep +sides. Ruth, casting back over her shoulder a +single terrified glance, saw the lumbering beast +right upon her heels. The rocks on either hand +were too steep to climb; it seemed as though the +bear would seize her in a moment. +</p> +<p> +And then it was that the miracle happened. It +seemed as though the girl <em>must</em> be torn and mangled +by the bear, when a figure darted into sight +above her. A voice shouted: +</p> +<p> +“Lie down! Lie down, so I can shoot!” +</p> +<p> +It was a man with a gun. In the second Ruth +saw him she only knew he was trying to draw +bead on the pursuing bear. She had no idea what +her rescuer looked like—whether he was old, or +young. +</p> +<p> +It took courage to obey his command. But +Ruth had that courage. She flung herself forward +upon her hands and knees and—seemingly—at +the same instant the man above fired. +</p> +<p> +The roar of the weapon in the rocky glen and +the roar of the stricken bear, was a deafening +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_99'></a>99</span> +combination of sound. The bullet had hit the big +brute somewhere in a serious spot and he was +rolling and kicking on the rocks—his first throes +of agony flinging him almost to Ruth’s feet. +</p> +<p> +But the girl scrambled farther away and heard +the rifle speak again. A second bullet entered the +body of the bear. At the same time a lusty shout +arose from below. The boys and Jib having explored +the river-tunnel as far as they found it +practicable, had returned to the camp and there +discovered where the girls had gone. Jib hastened +after them, for he felt that they should not +be roaming over the rocks without an armed +escort. +</p> +<p> +“Hi, yi!” he yelped, tearing up the path with +a rifle in his hand. “Keep it up, brother! We’re +comin’!” +</p> +<p> +Tom and Bob came with him. Jib saw the expiring +bear, and he likewise glimpsed the man who +had brought bruin down. In a moment, however, +the stranger darted out of sight up the path +and they did not even hear his footsteps on the +rocks. +</p> +<p> +“Why, that’s that feller from Tintacker!” +cried the Indian. “Hey, you!” +</p> +<p> +“Not the crazy man?” gasped Jane Ann. +</p> +<p> +“Oh, surely he’ll come back?” said Helen. +</p> +<p> +Ruth turned, almost tempted to run after the +stranger. “Do you really mean to say it is the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_100'></a>100</span> +young man who has been staying at the Tintacker +properties so long?” she asked. +</p> +<p> +“That’s the feller.” +</p> +<p> +“We’d ought to catch him and see what Uncle +Bill has to say to him about the fire,” said Jane +Ann. +</p> +<p> +“Oh, we ought to thank him for shooting the +bear,” cried Madge. +</p> +<p> +“And I wanted to speak with him so much!” +groaned Ruth; but nobody heard her say this. +The others had gathered around the dead bear. +Of a sudden a new discovery was made: +</p> +<p> +“Where’s Mary?” cried Helen. +</p> +<p> +“The Fox has run away!” exclaimed Madge. +</p> +<p> +“I’ll bet she has!” exclaimed Jane Ann Hicks. +“Didn’t you see her, Jib?” +</p> +<p> +“We didn’t pass her on the path,” said Tom. +</p> +<p> +Ruth’s keen eye discovered the missing girl +first. She ran with a cry to a little shelf upon +which the foxy maid had scrambled when the excitement +started. The Fox was stretched out +upon the rock in a dead faint! +</p> +<p> +“Well! would you ever?” gasped Madge. +“Who’d think that Mary Cox would faint? She’s +always been bold enough, goodness knows!” +</p> +<p> +Ruth had hurried to the shelf where The Fox +lay. She was very white and there could be no +doubt but that she was totally unconscious. Jib +lent his assistance and getting her into his arms +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_101'></a>101</span> +he carried her bodily down the steep path to the +camp, leaving Tom and Bob to guard the bear +until he returned to remove the pelt. The other +girls strung out after their fainting comrade, and +the journey to the summit of the natural bridge +was postponed indefinitely. +</p> +<p> +Cold water from the mountain stream soon +brought The Fox around. But when she opened +her eyes and looked into the face of the ministering +Ruth, she muttered: +</p> +<p> +“And <em>you</em> saw him, too!” +</p> +<p> +Then she turned her face away and began to +cry. +</p> +<p> +“Aw, shucks!” exclaimed the ranchman’s +niece, “don’t bawl none about it. The bear won’t +hurt you now. He’s dead as can be.” +</p> +<p> +But Ruth did not believe that Mary Cox was +crying about the bear. Her words and subsequent +actions <em>did</em> puzzle the girl of the Red Mill. Ruth +had whispered to Tom, before they left the scene +of the bear shooting: +</p> +<p> +“See if you can find that man. If you can, +bring him into camp.” +</p> +<p> +“But if he’s crazy?” Tom suggested, in surprise. +</p> +<p> +“He isn’t too crazy to have saved my life,” declared +the grateful girl. “And if he is in his +right mind, all the more reason why we should +try to help him.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_102'></a>102</span> +</p> +<p> +“You’re always right, Ruthie,” admitted +Helen’s brother. But when the boy and Jib returned +to camp two hours later, with the bear pelt +and some of the best portions of the carcass, they +had to report that the stranger who had shot the +bear seemed to have totally disappeared. Jib +Pottoway was no bad trailer; but over the rocks +it was impossible to follow the stranger, especially +as he had taken pains to hide his trail. +</p> +<p> +“If you want to thank that critter for saving +you from the b’ar, Miss Ruthie,” the Indian said, +“you’ll hafter go clear over to Tintacker to do +so. That’s my opinion.” +</p> +<p> +“How far away is that?” demanded Mary +Cox, suddenly. +</p> +<p> +“Near a hundred miles from this spot,” declared +Jib. “That is, by wagon trail. I reckon +you could cut off thirty or forty miles through the +hills. The feller’s evidently l’arnt his way around +since Winter.” +</p> +<p> +Mary asked no further question about the man +from Tintacker; but she had shown an interest in +him that puzzled Ruth. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_103'></a>103</span><a name='chXIII' id='chXIII'></a>CHAPTER XIII—THE PARTY AT THE SCHOOLHOUSE</h2> +<p> +The bear fight and the runaway together so +disturbed the minds of the picnicking party in the +cañon that nobody objected to the suggestion of +an early return to the ranch-house. Ruth was +secretly much troubled in her mind over the mysterious +individual who had killed the bear. She +had not seen her rescuer’s face; but she wondered +if Mary Cox had seen it? +</p> +<p> +The girls never did get to the top of the natural +bridge. Jib and the boys in trying to trace the +stranger had gone over the summit; but they did +not tarry to look around. The girls and Ricardo +got supper, immediately after which they set out +on the return drive. +</p> +<p> +Jib insisted upon holding the lines over the +backs of the team that had run away—and he saw +that Mary Cox rode in that vehicle, too. But +The Fox showed no vexation at this; indeed, she +was very quiet all the way to Silver Ranch. She +was much unlike her usual snappy, sharp-tongued +self. +</p> +<p> +But, altogether, the party arrived home in very +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_104'></a>104</span> +good spirits. The wonders of the wild country—so +much different from anything the Easterners +had seen before—deeply impressed Ruth and her +friends. The routine work of the ranch, however, +interested them more. Not only Tom and +Bob, but their sisters and the other girls, found +the free, out-of-door life of the range and corral +a never-failing source of delight. +</p> +<p> +Ruth herself was becoming a remarkably good +horsewoman. Freckles carried her many miles +over the range and Jane Ann Hicks was scarcely +more bold on pony-back than was the girl from +the Red Mill. +</p> +<p> +As for the cowboys of the Silver outfit, they +admitted that the visitors were “some human,” +even from a Western standpoint. +</p> +<p> +“Them friends o’ yourn, Miss Jinny,” Jimsey +said, to Old Bill’s niece, “ain’t so turrible ‘Bawston’ +as some tenderfoots I’ve seen.” (“Boston,” +according to Jimsey, spelled the ultra-East +and all its “finicky” ways!) “I’m plum taken +with that Fielding gal—I sure am. And I believe +old Ike, here, is losin’ his heart to her. Old Lem +Dickson’s Sally better bat her eyes sharp or Ike’ll +go up in the air an’ she’ll lose him.” +</p> +<p> +It was true that the foreman was less bashful +with Ruth than with any of the other girls. Ruth +knew how to put him at his ease. Every spare +hour Bashful Ike had he put in teaching Ruth to +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_105'></a>105</span> +improve her riding, and as she was an early riser +they spent a good many morning hours cantering +over the range before the rest of the young people +were astir at Silver Ranch. +</p> +<p> +It was on one of these rides that Bashful Ike +“opened up” to Ruth upon the subject of the red-haired +school-teacher at the Crossing. +</p> +<p> +“I’ve jest plumb doted on that gal since she +was knee-high to a Kansas hopper-grass,” the big +puncher drawled. “An’ she knows it well +enough.” +</p> +<p> +“Maybe she knows it too well?” suggested +Ruth, wisely. +</p> +<p> +“Gosh!” groaned Ike. “I <em>gotter</em> keep her +reminded I’m on the job—say, ain’t I? Now, +them candies you bought for me an’ give to her—what +do you s’pose she did with ’em?” +</p> +<p> +“She ate them if she had right good sense,” +replied Ruth, with a smile. “They were nice +candies.” +</p> +<p> +“I rid over to Lem’s the next night,” said Ike, +solemnly, “an’ that leetle pink-haired skeezicks +opened up that box o’ sweetmeats on the counter +an’ had all them lop-eared jack-rabbits that sits +around her pa’s store o’ nights he’pin’ themselves +out o’ <em>my</em> gift-box. Talk erbout castin’ pearls before +swine!” continued Bashful Ike, in deep disgust, +“<em>that</em> was suah flingin’ jewels to the hawgs, +all right. Them ’ombres from the Two-Ten +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_106'></a>106</span> +outfit, an’ from over Redeye way, was stuffin’ +down them bonbons like they was ten-cent gumdrops. +An’ Sally never ate a-one.” +</p> +<p> +“She did that just to tease you,” said Ruth, +sagely. +</p> +<p> +“Huh!” grunted Ike. “I never laid out to +hurt her feelin’s none. Dunno why she should +give me the quirt. Why, I’ve been hangin’ about +her an’ tryin’ to show her how much I think of +her for years! She must know I wanter marry +her. An’ I got a good bank account an’ five +hundred head o’ steers ter begin housekeepin’ +on.” +</p> +<p> +“Does Sally know all that?” asked Ruth, +slyly. +</p> +<p> +“Great Peter!” ejaculated Ike. “She’d +oughter. Ev’rybody else in the county does.” +</p> +<p> +“But did you ever ask Sally right out to marry +you?” asked the Eastern girl. +</p> +<p> +“She never give me a chance,” declared Ike, +gruffly. +</p> +<p> +“Chance!” gasped Ruth, wanting to laugh, +but being too kind-hearted to do so. “What sort +of a chance do you expect?” +</p> +<p> +“I never git to talk with her ten minutes at a +time,” grumbled Ike. +</p> +<p> +“But why don’t you <em>make</em> a chance?” +</p> +<p> +“Great Peter!” cried the foreman again. “I +can’t throw an’ hawg-tie her, can I? I never can +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_107'></a>107</span> +git down to facts with her—she won’t let me.” +</p> +<p> +“If I were a great, big man,” said Ruth, her +eyes dancing, “I surely wouldn’t let a little wisp +of a girl like Miss Dickson get away from me—if +I wanted her.” +</p> +<p> +“How am I goin’ to he’p it?” cried Ike, in +despair. “She’s jest as sassy as a cat-bird. Ye +can’t be serious with her. She plumb slips out o’ +my fingers ev’ry time I try to hold her.” +</p> +<p> +“You are going to the dance at the schoolhouse, +aren’t you?” asked Ruth. +</p> +<p> +“I reckon.” +</p> +<p> +“Can’t you get her to dance with you? And +when you’re dancing can’t you ask her? Come +right out plump with it.” +</p> +<p> +“Why, when I’m a-dancin’,” confessed Ike, +“I can’t think o’ nawthin’ but my feet.” +</p> +<p> +“Your feet?” cried Ruth. +</p> +<p> +“Yes, ma’am. They’re so e-tar-nal big I gotter +keep my mind on ’em all the time, or I’ll be +steppin’ on Sally’s. An’ if I trod on her jest +wunst—wal, that would suah be my finish with +her. She ain’t got that red hair for nawthin’,” +concluded the woeful cowpuncher. +</p> +<p> +Ike was not alone at the Silver Ranch in looking +forward to the party at the schoolhouse. +Every man who could be spared of the —X0 +outfit (“Bar-Cross-Naught”) planned to go to +the Crossing Saturday night. Such a rummaging +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_108'></a>108</span> +of “war-bags” for fancy flannel shirts and brilliant +ties hadn’t occurred—so Old Bill Hicks said—within +the remembrance of the present generation +of prairie-dogs! +</p> +<p> +“Jest thinkin’ about cavortin’ among the gals +about drives them ’ombres loco,” declared the +ranchman. “Hi guy! here’s even Jimsey’s got +a bran’ new shirt on.” +</p> +<p> +“’Tain’t nuther!” scoffed Bud. “Whar’s your +eyes, Boss? Don’t you reckernize that gay and +festive shirt? Jimsey bought it ‘way back when +Mis’ Hills’ twins was born.” +</p> +<p> +“So it’s as old as the Hills, is it?” grunted Mr. +Hicks. “Wal, he ain’t worn it right frequent in +this yere neck o’ woods—that I’ll swear to! An’ +a purple tie with it—Je-ru-sha! Somebody’ll +take a shot at him in that combination of riotin’ +colors—you hear me!” +</p> +<p> +The girls too were quite fluttered over the prospect +of attending the party. Helen had agreed +to take her violin along and Bob offered to help +out with the music by playing his harmonica—an +instrument without which he never went anywhere, +save to bed or in swimming! +</p> +<p> +“And I can’t think of anything more utterly +sad, Bobbie,” declared his sister, “than your rendition +of ‘the Suwanee River’ on that same +mouth-organ. When it comes to your playing for +square dances, I fear you would give our Western +friends much cause for complaint—and many of +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_109'></a>109</span> +them, I notice, go armed,” she continued, significantly. +</p> +<p> +“Huh!” sniffed Bob. “I guess I don’t play +as bad as all that. Busy Izzy could dance a jig to +my playing.” +</p> +<p> +“That’s what I thought,” responded Madge. +“You’re just about up to playing jig-tunes on that +old mouth-organ.” +</p> +<p> +Just the same, Bob slipped the harmonica into +his pocket. “You never can tell what may happen,” +he grunted. +</p> +<p> +“It’ll be something mighty serious, then, Bobbie, +if it necessitates the bringing forth of that +instrument of torture,” said his sister, bound to +have the last word. +</p> +<p> +At dusk the big automobile got away from Silver +Ranch, surrounded by a gang of wall-eyed +ponies that looked on the rattling machine about +as kindly as they would have viewed a Kansas +grain thrasher. The visitors and Jane Ann all +rode in the machine, for even Ruth’s Freckles +would have turned unmanageable within sight and +sound of that touring car. +</p> +<p> +“That choo-choo cart,” complained Bud, the +cowboy, “would stampede a battalion of hoptoads. +Whoa, you Sonny! it ain’t goin’ tuh bite +yuh.” This to his own half-crazy mount. “Look +out for your Rat-tail, Jimsey, or that yere purple +necktie will bite the dust, as they say in the storybooks.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_110'></a>110</span> +</p> +<p> +The hilarious party from Silver Ranch, however, +reached the Crossing without serious mishap. +They were not the first comers, for there +were already lines of saddle ponies as well as +many various “rigs” hitched about Lem Dickson’s +store. The schoolhouse was lit brightly +with kerosene lamps, and there was a string of +Chinese lanterns hung above the doorway. +</p> +<p> +The girls, in their fresh frocks and furbelows, +hastened over to the schoolhouse, followed more +leisurely by their escorts. Sally Dickson, as chief +of the committee of reception, greeted Jane Ann +and her friends, and made them cordially welcome, +although they were all some years younger +than most of the girls from the ranches roundabout. +</p> +<p> +“If you Eastern girls can all dance, you’ll sure +help us out a whole lot,” declared the brisk little +schoolmistress. “For if there’s anything I do +dispise it’s to see two great, hulking men paired +off in a reel, or a ‘hoe-down.’ And you brought +your violin, Miss Cameron? That’s fine! You +can play without music, I hope?” +</p> +<p> +Helen assured her she thought she could master +the simple dance tunes to which the assembly +was used. There were settees ranged around the +walls for the dancers to rest upon, and some of +the matrons who had come to chaperone the affair +were already ensconced upon these. There +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_111'></a>111</span> +was a buzz of conversation and laughter in the +big room. The men folk hung about the door as +yet, or looked in at the open windows. +</p> +<p> +“Did that big gump, Ike Stedman, come over +with you-all, Miss Fielding?” Sally Dickson asked +Ruth, aside. “Or did he know enough to stay +away?” +</p> +<p> +“I don’t believe Mr. Hicks could have kept +him on the ranch to-night,” replied Ruth, smiling. +“He has promised to dance with me at least +once. Ike is an awfully nice man, I think—and +so kind! He’s taught us all to ride and is never +out of sorts, or too busy to help us out. We ‘tenderfoots’ +are always getting ‘bogged,’ you know. +And Ike is right there to help us. We all like +him immensely.” +</p> +<p> +Sally looked at her suspiciously. “Humph!” +said she. “I never expected to hear that Bashful +Ike was so popular.” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, I assure you he is,” rejoined Ruth, calmly. +“He is developing into quite a lady’s man.” +</p> +<p> +Miss Dickson snorted. Nothing else could explain +her method of emphatically expressing her +disbelief. But Ruth was determined that the +haughty little schoolmistress should have her eyes +opened regarding Bashful Ike before the evening +was over, and she proceeded to put into execution +a plan she had already conceived on the way over +from Silver Ranch. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_112'></a>112</span><a name='chXIV' id='chXIV'></a>CHAPTER XIV—BASHFUL IKE COMES OUT STRONG</h2> +<p> +Ruth first of all took Jane Ann into her confidence. +The ranchman’s niece had been going +about the room renewing her acquaintance with +the “neighbors,” some of whom lived forty miles +from Silver Ranch. The Western girl was proud +of the friends she had made “Down East,” too, +and she was introducing them all, right and left. +But Ruth pinched her arm and signified that she +wished to see her alone for a moment. +</p> +<p> +“Now, Nita,” the girl from the Red Mill +whispered, “we want to see that Mr. Stedman +has a good time to-night. You know, he’s been +awfully good to us all.” +</p> +<p> +“Bashful Ike?” exclaimed Jane Ann. +</p> +<p> +“Yes. And we must give him so good a time +that he will forget to be bashful.” +</p> +<p> +“He’s a right good feller—yes,” admitted Jane +Ann, somewhat puzzled. “But what can we do +for him?” +</p> +<p> +“Every one of us girls from the ranch must +dance with him.” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, crickey!” chuckled Jane Ann, suddenly. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_113'></a>113</span> +“You want to try to make Sally Dickson jealous, +don’t you?” +</p> +<p> +“No. I only want to make her see that Ike is +popular, even if she doesn’t think him worth being +kind to. And Ike <em>is</em> worth being kind to. He’s +a gentleman, and as kind-hearted a man as I ever +saw.” +</p> +<p> +“He’s all of that,” admitted the Western girl. +“But he’s so clumsy—” +</p> +<p> +“Forget that!” exclaimed Ruth. “And make +<em>him</em> forget his clumsiness. He’s as good as gold +and deserves better treatment at the hands of +Sally than he has been getting. Of course, she +won’t be jealous of us young girls——” +</p> +<p> +“Humph! ‘Young girls,’” scoffed Jane Ann. +“I don’t think we’re so awful young.” +</p> +<p> +“Well, we’re too young to be accused of trying +to take Sally’s beau away from her,” cried Ruth, +merrily. “Now, you’ll make him dance with you—and +first, too. He’ll have to if you say so, for +he’s your uncle’s foreman.” +</p> +<p> +“I’ll do it,” agreed Jane Ann. +</p> +<p> +Ruth of course found Helen ready and willing +to agree to her plan, and Madge did not need +much urging. They all liked Ike Stedman, and +although the brisk little schoolmistress seemed to +be a very nice girl, the foreman of Silver Ranch +was quite worthy of her. +</p> +<p> +“If he dares to dance with me,” chuckled +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_114'></a>114</span> +Heavy, “I am willing to keep it up all the evening. +That is, if you think such a course, Ruthie, +will awaken Miss Dickson to poor Ike’s good +points.” +</p> +<p> +“And how about those blisters you were complaining +about the other day?” asked Madge, +slyly. +</p> +<p> +“Pshaw! what girl ever remembered blisters +when she could dance?” responded the stout girl, +with scorn. +</p> +<p> +Ruth had all but The Fox in line when the violin +struck up the first number; she did not think it +wise to speak to Mary about the plan, for she +feared that the latter would refuse to coöperate. +The boys came straggling in at the first notes of +Helen’s violin, and there were no medals on Ike +Stedman for bashfulness at first. Tom Cameron, +spurred on by his sister, broke the ice and went at +once to the school-teacher and asked for the dance. +Bob followed suit by taking Mary Cox for a partner +(Mary engineered <em>that</em>), and soon the sets +began to form while Helen played her sprightliest. +</p> +<p> +The young men crowded in awkwardly and +when Jane Ann saw the tall figure of Ike just outside +the door she called to him: +</p> +<p> +“Come on in, Mr. Stedman. You know this +is our dance. Hurry up!” +</p> +<p> +Now Ike usually didn’t get up sufficient +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_115'></a>115</span> +courage to appear upon the floor until half the +evening was over, and there was a deal of chuckling +and nudging when the foreman, his face flaming, +pushed into the room. But he could not escape +“the boss’ niece.” Jane Ann deliberately +led him into the set of which Tom and Sally +Dickson were the nucleus. +</p> +<p> +“My great aunt!” groaned Ike. “Just as +like as not, honey, I’ll trample all over you an’ +mash yo’ feet. It’s like takin’ life in your han’s +to dance with me.” +</p> +<p> +“Mebbe I better take my feet in my hands, according +to your warning, Ike,” quoth Jane Ann. +“Aw, come on, I reckon I can dodge your feet, +big as they are.” +</p> +<p> +Nor did Bashful Ike prove to be so poor a +dancer, when he was once on the floor. But he +went through the figures of the dance with a face—so +Jane Ann said afterward—that flamed like +a torchlight procession every time he came opposite +to Sally Dickson. +</p> +<p> +“I see you’re here early, Mr. Stedman,” said +the red-haired schoolmistress, as she was being +swung by the giant cow puncher in one of the figures. +“Usually you’re like Parson Brown’s +cow’s tail—always behind!” +</p> +<p> +“They drug me in, Sally—they just drug me +in,” explained the suffering Ike. +</p> +<p> +“Well, do brace up and look a little less like +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_116'></a>116</span> +you was at your own funeral!” snapped the +schoolmistress. +</p> +<p> +This sharp speech would have completely +quenched Ike’s desire to dance had Ruth not laid +her plans so carefully. The moment the music +ceased and Ike made for the door, Heavy stopped +him. She was between the bashful cow puncher +and all escape—unless he went through the window! +</p> +<p> +“Oh, Mr. Stedman! I do so want to dance,” +cried the stout girl, with her very broadest and +friendliest smile. “Nobody asked me to this +time, and I just know they’re all afraid of me. +Do I look as though I bite?” +</p> +<p> +“Bless you, no, Miss!” responded the polite +foreman of Silver Ranch. “You look just as +harmless as though you’d never cut a tooth, as fur +as that goes!” +</p> +<p> +“Then you’re not afraid to dance the next +number with me? There! Helen’s tuning up.” +</p> +<p> +“If you re’lly want me to, Miss,” exclaimed +the much-flurried foreman. “But I won’t mislead +ye. I ain’t a good dancer.” +</p> +<p> +“Then there will be a pair of us,” was Heavy’s +cheerful reply. “If the other folk run off the +floor, we’ll be company for each other.” +</p> +<p> +Carefully rehearsed by Ruth Fielding, Jennie +Stone likewise picked the group of dancers of +which Sally Dickson and a new partner were +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_117'></a>117</span> +members; and once again Bashful Ike found himself +close to the object of his adoration. +</p> +<p> +“Hullo, Ike! you back again?” demanded +Sally, cheerfully, as they clasped hands in a +“walk-around.” “I believe you are getting to be +a regular lady’s man.” +</p> +<p> +“Aw—now—Sally!” +</p> +<p> +“So that Ruth Fielding says,” laughed Sally. +“You’re sure popular with those youngsters.” +</p> +<p> +Ike grinned feebly. But he was feeling better. +He had actually forgotten his feet—even in Sally’s +presence. Jennie Stone, although an all too solid +bit of humanity, was remarkably light upon her +feet when it came to dancing. Indeed, she was +so good a dancer that she steered Ike over the +floor to such good purpose that he—as well as +other people—began to believe that Bashful Ike +was no more awkward than the next man off the +range. +</p> +<p> +“Why, Ruthie!” whispered Madge Steele, +who was the next “victim” in line. “Ike is a +regular Beau Brummel beside some of these fellows. +Look at Heavy steering him around! +And look at the teacher watching them. Humph! +young lady I believe you’re got a ‘great head on +you,’ to quote Master Bobbie.” +</p> +<p> +“Now, you be real nice to him, Madge,” Ruth +urged. +</p> +<p> +“Of course I shall, child,” replied Miss Steele, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_118'></a>118</span> +with her most “grown-uppish” air. “He’s nice +anyway; and if we can ‘wake teacher’ up to his +importance, I’ll gladly do my part.” +</p> +<p> +“If it only gives him a grain of confidence in +himself, I shall be satisfied,” declared Ruth. +“That is what Ike lacks.” +</p> +<p> +The foreman of Silver Ranch was coming out +pretty strong, however. The Virginia Reel was +the favorite dance, and when Helen stopped playing +the applause was so great, that she responded +with a repetition of the whole figure; so Ike and +Heavy continued on the floor for a much longer +period, and the big cowpuncher gained more ease +of manner. When they ceased dancing the stout +girl led her escort right into the clutches of Madge +Steele. +</p> +<p> +Now, Madge was taller than the schoolmistress +and in her city-made gown looked years older. +The boys were rather afraid of Madge when she +“put on the real thing,” as her brother inelegantly +expressed it, for she seemed then quite a young +lady grown! +</p> +<p> +“I really believe you Western men are gallant, +Mr. Stedman,” she announced. “Chivalrous, +and unafraid, and bold, and all that. I am +deeply disappointed.” +</p> +<p> +“How’s that, Miss?” exclaimed poor Ike. +</p> +<p> +“I haven’t had an invitation to dance yet,” +pursued Madge. “If I had scarletina, or the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_119'></a>119</span> +measles—or even the mumps—I do not think I +should be more avoided by the male portion of +the assembly. What do you suppose is the matter +with me, Mr. Stedman?” +</p> +<p> +“Why, I—I——” +</p> +<p> +Ike was on the verge of declaring that he would +find her a partner if he had to use a gun to get +one to come forward; but he was inspired for once +to do the right thing. He really bowed before +Madge with something of a flourish, as the tinkle +of the violin strings began again. +</p> +<p> +“If you think you can stand <em>me</em>, Miss Steele,” +declared the big foreman, “I’d be near about +tickled to death to lead you out myself.” +</p> +<p> +“You are very good,” said Madge, demurely. +“But are you sure—I think that pretty little +teacher is looking this way. You are not neglecting +any old friends for <em>me</em> I hope, Mr. Stedman?” +</p> +<p> +Ike’s face flamed again furiously. He stole a +glance at Sally Dickson, who had just refused +Jimsey for a partner—and with sharpness. +</p> +<p> +“I’m pretty sure I’ll be a whole lot better off +with you, Miss,” he admitted. “Jest now, especially.” +</p> +<p> +Madge’s ringing laugh caught Sally’s ear, as +the Eastern girl bore the foreman of Silver Ranch +off to join the next set of dancers. The teacher +did not dance that number at all. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_120'></a>120</span> +</p> +<p> +Mrs. “Jule” Marvin, the young and buxom +wife of the owner of the Two-Ten Ranch, caught +Ike’s hand and whispered loudly: +</p> +<p> +“I never suspected you was such a heart-breaker, +Ike. Goodness me! you’re dancing +every dance, and with a new partner each time. +I haven’t got to be left out in the cold just because +I’m married to Tom, I hope? He can’t +dance with that game leg, poor old man! You +going to save a dance for me, Ike?” +</p> +<p> +“Suah’s your bawn, honey!” responded the +foreman, who was beginning to enjoy his prominence +and had known Mrs. Jule for years. “The +next one’s yours if you say the word.” +</p> +<p> +“You’re my meat, then, Ike,” declared the +jolly Western matron, as she glided away with her +present partner. +</p> +<p> +So there was a little rift in Ruth Fielding’s +scheme, for Ike danced next with the ranchman’s +wife. But that pleased the girl from the Red +Mill and her fellow conspirators quite as well. +Ike was no neglected male “wall-flower.” Sally +only skipped one dance; but she watched the big +foreman with growing wonder. +</p> +<p> +A rest was due Helen anyway; and Bob Steele +was at hand with his never-failing harmonica. +“The heart-rending strains,” as Madge termed +the rather trying music from the mouth-organ, +were sufficiently lively for most of the party, and +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_121'></a>121</span> +the floor was filled with dancers when Helen captured +Ike and he led her into a set just forming. +</p> +<p> +“You must be the best dancer among the men, +Mr. Ike,” declared Ruth’s chum, dimpling merrily. +“You are in such demand.” +</p> +<p> +“I b’lieve you gals have jest been ladlin’ the +syrup intuh me, Miss Cam’ron,” Ike responded, +but grinning with growing confidence. “It’s been +mighty nice of you.” +</p> +<p> +“You’d better give Sally a chance pretty soon,” +whispered Helen. “There is surely fire in her +eye.” +</p> +<p> +“Great Peter!” groaned Ike. “I’m almost +afraid to meet up with her now.” +</p> +<p> +“Pluck up your spirit, sir!” commanded +Helen. And she maneuvered so that, when the +dance was done, they stood right next to Sally +Dickson and her last partner. +</p> +<p> +“Well, ain’t you the busy little bee, Ike,” said +the school-teacher, in a low voice. “Are you bespoke +for the rest of the evening? These young-ones +certainly have turned your head.” +</p> +<p> +“Me, Sally?” responded her bashful friend. +“They like tuh dance, I reckon, like all other +young things—an’ the other boys seem kinder +backward with ’em; ’cause they’re Bawston, I +s’pose.” +</p> +<p> +“Humph!” ejaculated Miss Sally; “you ain’t +such a gump as to believe all that. That little +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_122'></a>122</span> +Smartie, Ruth Fielding, planned all this, I bet a +cent!” +</p> +<p> +“Miss Ruth?” queried Ike, in surprise. +“Why, I ain’t danced with her at all.” +</p> +<p> +“Nor you ain’t a-goin’ to!” snapped Sally. +“You can dance with me for a spell now.” And +for the remainder of that hilarious evening Sally +scarcely allowed Bashful Ike out of her clutches. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_123'></a>123</span><a name='chXV' id='chXV'></a>CHAPTER XV—“THE NIGHT TRICK”</h2> +<p> +The party at the schoolhouse was declared a +success by all Jane Ann Hick’s Eastern friends—saving, +of course, The Fox. She had only danced +with Tom and Bob and had disproved haughtily +of the entire proceedings. She had pronounced +Ruth’s little plot for getting Ike and Sally together, +“a silly trick,” although the other girls +had found considerable innocent enjoyment in it, +and the big foreman of Silver Ranch rode home +with them after midnight in a plain condition of +ecstacy. +</p> +<p> +“Ike suah has made the hit of his life,” Jimsey +declared, to the other cowboys. +</p> +<p> +“He was the ‘belle of the ball’ all right,” +chimed in another. +</p> +<p> +“If I warn’t a person of puffectly tame an’ +gentle nature, I’d suah be a whole lot jealous of +his popularity,” proceeded he of the purple necktie. +“But I see a-many of you ’ombres jest +standin’ around and a-gnashin’ of your teeth at +the way Ike carried off the gals.” +</p> +<p> +“Huh!” grunted Bud. “We weren’t gnashin’ +no teeth at old Ike. What put our grinders on +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_124'></a>124</span> +edge was that yere purple necktie an’ pink-striped +shirt you’re wearin’. Ev’ry gal that danced with +you, Jimsey, was in danger of gettin’ cross-eyed +lookin’ at that ne-fa-ri-ous combination.” +</p> +<p> +Sunday was a quiet day at the ranch. Although +there was no church nearer than Bullhide, +Bill Hicks made a practice of doing as little work +as possible on the first day of the week, and his +gangs were instructed to simply keep the herds +in bounds. +</p> +<p> +At the ranch house Ruth and her girl friends +arranged a song-service for the evening to which +all the men about the home corral, and those +who could be spared to ride in from the range, +were invited. This broke up several card games +in the bunk house—games innocent in themselves, +perhaps, but an amusement better engaged in on +week days. +</p> +<p> +The boys gathered in the dusk on the wide +porch and listened to the really beautiful music +that the girls had learned at Briarwood Hall. +Ruth was in splendid voice, and her singing was +applauded warmly by the cowboys. +</p> +<p> +“My soul, Bud!” gasped Jimsey. “Couldn’t +that leetle gal jest sing a herd of millin’ cattle +to by-low on the night trick, with that yere voice +of hers?” +</p> +<p> +“Uh-huh!” agreed Bud. “She could stop a +stampede, she could.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_125'></a>125</span> +</p> +<p> +“Oh, I’d love to see a real stampede!” exclaimed +Helen, who overheard this conversation. +</p> +<p> +“You would eh?” responded Jane Ann. +“Well, here’s hoping you never get your wish—eh, +boys?” +</p> +<p> +“Not with the Bar-Cross-Naught outfit, Miss +Jinny,” agreed Bud, fervently. +</p> +<p> +“But it must be a wonderful sight to see so +many steers rushing over the plain at once—all +running as tight as they can run,” urged the innocent +Helen. +</p> +<p> +“Ya-as,” drawled Jimsey. “But I want it to +be some other man’s cattle.” +</p> +<p> +“But do you really ever have much trouble +with the cattle?” asked Helen. “They all look +so tame.” +</p> +<p> +“Except Old Trouble-Maker,” laughed her +twin, who stood beside her. +</p> +<p> +“Looks jest like a picnic, herdin’ them mooley-cows, +don’t it?” scoffed Jimsey. +</p> +<p> +“They’d ought to be on the night trick, once,” +said Jane Ann. “It’s all right punching cows by +daylight.” +</p> +<p> +“What’s the night trick?” asked Heavy. +</p> +<p> +“Night herding. That’s when things happen +to a bunch of cows,” explained the ranchman’s +niece. +</p> +<p> +“I believe that must be fun,” cried Ruth, who +had come out upon the porch. “Can’t we go +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_126'></a>126</span> +out to one of the camps and see the work by night +as well as by day?” +</p> +<p> +“Good for you, Ruth!” cried Tom Cameron. +“That’s the game.” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, I wouldn’t want to do that,” objected +Mary Cox. “We’d have to camp out.” +</p> +<p> +“Well, them that don’t want to go can stay +here,” Jane Ann said, quickly. If anything was +needed to enlist her in the cause it was the opposition +of The Fox. “I’ll see what Uncle Bill +says.” +</p> +<p> +“But, will it be dangerous?” demanded the +more careful Madge. +</p> +<p> +“I’ve ridden at night,” said Jane Ann, proudly. +“Haven’t I, Jimsey?” +</p> +<p> +“Just so,” admitted the cowboy, gravely. +“But a whole bunch o’ gals might make the critters +nervous.” +</p> +<p> +“Too many cows would sure make the girls +nervous!” laughed Bob, grinning at his sister. +</p> +<p> +But the idea once having taken possession of +the minds of Ruth and her girl friends, the conclusion +was foregone. Uncle Bill at first (to +quote Jane Ann) “went up in the air.” When +he came down to earth, however, his niece was +right there, ready to argue the point with him +and—as usual—he gave in to her. +</p> +<p> +“Tarnashun, Jane Ann!” exclaimed the old +ranchman. “I’ll bet these yere gals don’t get back +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_127'></a>127</span> +home without some bad accident happening. +You-all are so reckless.” +</p> +<p> +“Now Uncle Bill! don’t you go to croaking,” +she returned, lightly. “Ain’t no danger of +trouble at all. We’ll only be out one night. We’ll +go down to Camp Number Three—that’s nearest.” +</p> +<p> +“No, sir-ree! Them boys air too triflin’ a +crew,” declared the ranchman. “Jib is bossing +the Rolling River outfit just now. You can go +over there. I can trust Jib.” +</p> +<p> +As the rest of the party was so enthusiastic, +and all determined to spend a night at Number +Two Camp on the Rolling River Range, Mary +Cox elected to go likewise. She declared she did +not wish to remain at the ranch-house in the sole +care of a “fat and greasy Mexican squaw,” as +she called the cook. +</p> +<p> +“Ouch! I bet that stings Maria when she +knows how you feel about her,” chuckled Heavy. +“Why let carking care disturb your serenity, +Mary? Come on and enjoy yourself like the rest +of us.” +</p> +<p> +“I don’t expect to enjoy myself in any party +that’s just run by one girl,” snapped Mary. +</p> +<p> +“Who’s that?” asked the stout girl, in wonder. +</p> +<p> +“Ruth Fielding. She bosses everything. She +thinks this is all her own copyrighted show—like +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_128'></a>128</span> +the Sweetbriars. Everything we do she suggests——” +</p> +<p> +“That shows how good a ‘suggester’ she is,” +interposed Heavy, calmly. +</p> +<p> +“It shows how she’s got you all hypnotized +into believing she’s a wonder,” snarled The +Fox. +</p> +<p> +“Aw, don’t Mary! Don’t be so mean. I +should think Ruth would be the last person <em>you’d</em> +ever have a grouch on. She’s done enough for +you——” +</p> +<p> +“She hasn’t, either!” cried Mary Fox, her face +flaming. +</p> +<p> +“I’d like to know what you’d call it?” Heavy +demanded, with a good deal of warmth for her. +“If she wasn’t the sweetest-tempered, most forgiving +girl that ever went to Briarwood, <em>you’d</em> +have lost your last friend long ago! I declare, +I’m ashamed of you!” +</p> +<p> +“She’s not my friend,” said Mary, sullenly. +</p> +<p> +“Who is, then? She has helped to save your +life on more than one occasion. She has never +said a word about the time she fell off the rocks +when we were at Lighthouse Point. You and +she were together, and <em>you</em> know how it happened. +Oh, I can imagine how it happened. Besides, +Nita saw you, and so did Tom Cameron,” cried +the stout girl, more hotly. “Don’t think all your +tricks can be hidden.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_129'></a>129</span> +</p> +<p> +“What do you suppose I care?” snarled Mary +Cox. +</p> +<p> +“I guess you care what Tom Cameron thinks +of you,” pursued Heavy, wagging her head. +“But after the way you started those ponies when +we drove to Rolling River Cañon, you can be sure +that you don’t stand high with him—or with any +of the rest of the boys.” +</p> +<p> +“Pooh! those cowboys! Great, uneducated +gawks!” +</p> +<p> +“But mighty fine fellows, just the same. I’d +a whole lot rather have their good opinion than +their bad.” +</p> +<p> +Now all this was, for Jennie Stone, pretty +strong language. She was usually so mild of +speech and easy-going, that its effect was all the +greater. The Fox eyed her in some surprise and—for +once—was quelled to a degree. +</p> +<p> +All these discussions occurred on Monday. The +Rolling River Camp was twenty miles away in the +direction of the mountain range. Tuesday was +the day set for the trip. The party would travel +with the supply wagon and a bunch of ponies for +the herders, bossed by Maria’s husband. On +Wednesday the young folk would return under +the guidance of little Ricarde, who was to go +along to act as camp-boy. +</p> +<p> +“But if we like it out there, Uncle Bill, maybe +we’ll stay till Thursday,” Jane Ann declared, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_130'></a>130</span> +from her pony’s back, just before the cavalcade +left the ranch-house, very early on Tuesday. +</p> +<p> +“You better not. I’m going to be mighty busy +around yere, and I don’t want to be worried +none,” declared the ranchman. “And I sha’n’t +know what peace is till I see you-all back again.” +</p> +<p> +“Now, don’t worry,” drawled his niece. “We +ain’t none of us sugar nor salt.” +</p> +<p> +“I wish I could let Ike go with ye—that’s what +I wish,” grumbled her uncle. +</p> +<p> +Ruth Fielding secretly wished the same. The +direction of the Rolling River Camp lay toward +Tintacker. She had asked the foreman about it. +</p> +<p> +“You’ll be all of thirty mile from the Tintacker +claims, Miss Ruth,” Bashful Ike said. “But it’s a +straight-away trail from the ford a mile, or so, +this side of the camp. Any of the boys can show +you. And Jib might spare one of ’em to beau you +over to the mine, if so be you are determined to +try and find that ‘bug’.” +</p> +<p> +“I <em>do</em> want to see and speak with him,” Ruth +said, earnestly. +</p> +<p> +“It’s pretty sure he’s looney,” said Ike. “You +won’t make nothing out o’ him. I wouldn’t +bother.” +</p> +<p> +“Why, he saved my life!” cried Ruth. “I +want to thank him. I want to help him. And—and—indeed, +I need very much to see and speak +with him, Ike.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_131'></a>131</span> +</p> +<p> +“Ya-as. That does make a difference,” admitted +the foreman. “He sure did kill that bear.” +</p> +<p> +The ponies rattled away behind the heavy +wagon, drawn by six mules. In the lead cantered +Ricarde and his father, herding the dozen or more +half-wild cow-ponies. The Mexican horse-wrangler +was a lazy looking, half-asleep fellow; but he +sat a pony as though he had grown in the saddle. +</p> +<p> +Ruth, on her beloved little Freckles, rode almost +as well now as did Jane Ann. The other +girls were content to follow the mule team at a +more quiet pace; but Ruth and the ranchman’s +niece dashed off the trail more than once for a +sharp race across the plain. +</p> +<p> +“You’re a darling, Ruthie!” declared Jane +Ann, enthusiastically. “I wish you were going to +live out here at Silver Ranch all the time—I +do! I wouldn’t mind being ‘buried in the wilderness’ +if you were along——” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, but you won’t be buried in the wilderness +all the time,” laughed the girl from the Red +Mill. “I am sure of that.” +</p> +<p> +“Huh!” ejaculated the Western girl, startled. +“What do you mean?” +</p> +<p> +“I mean that we’ve been talking to Uncle Bill,” +laughed Ruth. +</p> +<p> +“Oh! you ain’t got it fixed for me?” gasped +the ranchman’s neice. “Will he send me to +school?” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_132'></a>132</span> +</p> +<p> +“Surest thing you know, Nita!” +</p> +<p> +“Not to that boarding school you girls all go +to?” +</p> +<p> +“Unless he backs down—and you know Mr. +Bill Hicks isn’t one of the backing-down kind.” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, bully for you!” gasped Jane Ann. “I +know it’s your doing. I can see it all. Uncle +Bill thinks the sun just about rises and sets with +you.” +</p> +<p> +“Helen and Heavy did their share. So did +Madge—and even Heavy’s aunt, Miss Kate, before +we started West. You will go to Briarwood +with us next half, Nita. You’ll have a +private teacher for a while so that you can catch +up with our classes. It’s going to be up to you +to make good, young lady—that’s all.” +</p> +<p> +Jane Ann Hicks was too pleased at that moment +to say a word—and she had to wink mighty +hard to keep the tears back. Weeping was as +much against her character as it would have been +against a boy’s. And she was silent thereafter +for most of the way to the camp. +</p> +<p> +They rode over a rolling bit of ground and +came in sight suddenly of the great herd in care +of Number Two outfit. Such a crowd of slowly +moving cattle was enough to amaze the eastern +visitors. For miles upon miles the great herd +overspread the valley, along the far side of which +the hurrying river flowed. The tossing horns, +the lowing of the cows calling their young, the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_133'></a>133</span> +strange, bustling movement of the whole mass, +rose up to the excited spectators in a great wave +of sound and color. It was a wonderful sight! +</p> +<p> +Jib rode up the hill to meet them. The men +on duty were either squatting here and there over +the range, in little groups, playing cards and smoking, +or riding slowly around the outskirts of the +herd. There was a chuck-tent and two sleeping +tents parked by the river side, and the smoke +from the cook’s sheet-iron stove rose in a thin +spiral of blue vapor toward that vaster blue that +arched the complete scene. +</p> +<p> +“What a picture!” Ruth said to her chum. +“The mountains are grand. That cañon we +visited was wonderful. The great, rolling plains +dwarf anything in the line of landscape that we +ever saw back East. But <em>this</em> caps all the sights +we have seen yet.” +</p> +<p> +“I’m almost afraid of the cattle, Ruthie,” declared +Helen. “So many tossing horns! So +many great, nervous, moving bodies! Suppose +they should start this way—run us down and +stamp us into the earth? Oh! they could do it +easily.” +</p> +<p> +“I don’t feel that fear of them,” returned the +girl from the Red Mill. “I mean to ride all +around the herd to-night with Nita. She says +she is going to help ride herd, and I am going with +her.” +</p> +<p> +This declaration, however, came near not being +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_134'></a>134</span> +fulfilled. Jib Pottoway objected. The tent +brought for the girls was erected a little way +from the men’s camp, and the Indian stated it as +his irrevocable opinion that the place for the lady +visitors at night was inside the white walls of +that tent. +</p> +<p> +“Ain’t no place for girls on the night trick, +Miss Jinny—and you know it,” complained Jib. +“Old Bill will hold me responsible if anything +happens to you.” +</p> +<p> +“‘Twon’t be the first time I’ve ridden around +a bunch of beeves after sundown,” retorted Jane +Ann, sharply. “And I’ve promised Ruth. It’s +a real nice night. I don’t even hear a coyote +singing.” +</p> +<p> +“There’s rain in the air. We may have a blow +out of the hills before morning,” said Jib, shaking +his head. +</p> +<p> +“Aw shucks!” returned the ranchman’s niece. +“If it rains we can borrow slickers, can’t we? I +never saw such a fellow as you are, Jib. Always +looking for trouble.” +</p> +<p> +“You managed to get into trouble the other +day when you went over to the cañon,” grunted +the Indian. +</p> +<p> +“‘Twarn’t Ruthie and me that made you +trouble. And that Cox girl wouldn’t dare ride +within forty rods of these cows,” laughed the +ranchman’s niece. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_135'></a>135</span> +</p> +<p> +So Jib was forced to give way. Tom and Bob +had craved permission to ride herd, too. The +cowboys seemed to accept these offers in serious +mood, and that made Jane Ann suspicious. +</p> +<p> +“They’ll hatch up some joke to play on you-all,” +she whispered to Ruthie. “But we’ll find +out what they mean to do, if we can, and just +cross-cut ’em.” +</p> +<p> +The camp by the river was the scene of much +hilarity at supper time. The guests had brought +some especially nice rations from the ranch-house, +and the herders welcomed the addition to their +plain fare with gusto. Tom and Bob ate with +the men and, when the night shift went on duty, +they set forth likewise to ride around the great +herd which, although seemingly so peacefully inclined, +must be watched and guarded more carefully +by night than by day. +</p> +<p> +Soon after Jane Ann and Ruth rode forth, +taking the place together of one of the regular +herders. These additions to the night gang left +more of the cow punchers than usual at the camp, +and there was much hilarity among the boys as +Jane Ann and her friend cantered away toward +the not far-distant herd. +</p> +<p> +“Those fellows are up to something,” the +ranchman’s niece repeated. “We must be on the +watch for them—and don’t you be scared none, +Ruthie, at anything that may happen.” +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_136'></a>136</span><a name='chXVI' id='chXVI'></a>CHAPTER XVI—THE JOKE THAT FAILED</h2> +<p> +The two girls rode into the melting darkness +of the night, and once out of the radiance of the +campfires became suddenly appreciative of the +subdued sounds arising from the far-extending +valley in which the herd lay. +</p> +<p> +At a great distance a coyote howled in mournful +cadence. There was the uncertain movements +of the cattle on the riders’ left hand—here one +lapped its body with its great tongue—again +horns clashed—then a big steer staggered to its +feet and blew through its nostrils a great sigh. +There was, too, the steady chewing of many, many +cuds. +</p> +<p> +A large part of the herd was lying down. Although +stars flecked the sky quite thickly the +whole valley in which the cattle fed seemed over-mantled +with a pall of blackness. Shapes loomed +through this with sudden, uncertain outline. +</p> +<p> +“My! it’s shivery, isn’t it?” whispered Ruth. +</p> +<p> +“There won’t nothing bite us,” chuckled the +Western girl. “Huh! what’s that?” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_137'></a>137</span> +</p> +<p> +The sudden change in her voice made Ruth giggle +nervously. “That’s somebody riding ahead +of us. <em>You’re</em> not afraid, Nita?” +</p> +<p> +“Well, I should say not!” cried the other, +very boldly. “It’s one of the boys. Hello, +Darcy! I thought you were a ghost.” +</p> +<p> +“You gals better git back to the camp,” +grunted the cowboy. “We’re going to have a +shower later. I feel it in the air.” +</p> +<p> +“We’re neither sugar nor salt,” declared Jane +Ann. “We’ve both got slickers on our saddles.” +</p> +<p> +“Ridin’ herd at night ain’t no job for gals,” +said Darcy. “And that cloud yander is goin’ ter +spit lightnin’.” +</p> +<p> +“He’s always got a grouch about something. +I never did like old Darcy,” Jane Ann confided +to her friend. +</p> +<p> +But there was a general movement and confusion +in the herd before the girls had ridden two +miles. The cattle smelled the storm coming and, +now and then, a faint flash of lightning penciled +the upper edge of the cloud that masked the +Western horizon. +</p> +<p> +“’Tain’t going to amount to anything,” declared +Jane Ann. +</p> +<p> +“It just looks like heat lightning,” agreed +Ruth. +</p> +<p> +“May not rain at all to-night,” pursued the +other girl, cheerfully. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_138'></a>138</span> +</p> +<p> +“Who’s that yelling?” queried Ruth, suddenly. +</p> +<p> +“Huh! that’s somebody singing.” +</p> +<p> +“Singing?” +</p> +<p> +“Yep.” +</p> +<p> +“Way out here?” +</p> +<p> +“Yep. It’s Fred English, I guess. And he’s +no Caruso.” +</p> +<p> +“But what’s he singing for?” demanded the +disturbed Ruth, for the sounds that floated to +their ears were mournful to a degree. +</p> +<p> +“To keep the cattle quiet,” explained the ranch +girl. “Singing often keeps the cows from milling——” +</p> +<p> +“Milling?” repeated Ruth. +</p> +<p> +“That’s when they begin to get uneasy, and +mill around and around in a circle. Cows are +just as foolish as a flock of hens.” +</p> +<p> +“But you don’t mean to say the boys sing ’em +to sleep?” laughed Ruth. +</p> +<p> +“Something like that. It often keeps ’em quiet. +Lets ’em know there’s humans about.” +</p> +<p> +“Why, I really thought he must be making that +noise to keep himself from feeling lonely,” +chuckled Ruth. +</p> +<p> +“Nobody’d want to do that, you know,” returned +Jane Ann, with seriousness. “Especially +when they can’t sing no better than that Fred +English.” +</p> +<p> +“It is worse than a mourning dove,” complained the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_139'></a>139</span> +girl from the East. “Why doesn’t +he try something a bit livelier?” +</p> +<p> +“You don’t want to whistle a jig-tune to keep +cows quiet,” Jane Ann responded, sagely. +</p> +<p> +The entire herd seemed astir now. There was +a sultriness in the air quite unfamiliar on the +range. The electricity still glowed along the horizon; +but it seemed so distant that the girls much +doubted Darcy’s prophecy of rain. +</p> +<p> +The cattle continued to move about and crop +the short herbage. Few of them remained “bedded +down.” In the distance another voice was +raised in song. Ruth’s mount suddenly jumped +to one side, snorting. A huge black steer rose +up and blew a startled blast through his nostrils. +</p> +<p> +“Gracious! I thought that was a monster rising +out of the very earth! And so did Freckles, +I guess,” cried Ruth, with some nervousness. +“Whoa, Freckles! Whoa, pretty!” +</p> +<p> +“You sing, too, Ruthie,” advised her friend. +“We don’t want to start some foolish steer to +running.” +</p> +<p> +The Eastern girl’s sweet voice—clear and +strong—rang out at once and the two girls rode +on their way. The movement of the herd showed +that most of the cattle had got upon their feet; +but there was no commotion. +</p> +<p> +As they rode around the great herd they occasionally +passed a cowboy riding in the other direction, who +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_140'></a>140</span> +hailed them usually with some witticism. +But if Ruth chanced to be singing, they broke +off their own refrains and applauded the girl’s +effort. +</p> +<p> +Once a coyote began yapping on the hillside +near at hand, as Ruth and Jane Ann rode. The +latter jerked out the shiny gun that swung at her +belt and fired twice in the direction of the brute’s +challenge. +</p> +<p> +“That’ll scare <em>him</em>,” she explained. “They’re +a nuisance at calving time.” +</p> +<p> +Slowly, but steadily, the cloud crept up the sky +and snuffed out the light of the stars. The lightning, +however, only played at intervals, with the +thunder muttering hundreds of miles away, in +the hills. +</p> +<p> +“It is going to rain, Nita,” declared Ruth, with +conviction. +</p> +<p> +“Well, let’s put the rubber blankets over us, +and be ready for it,” said the ranch girl, cheerfully. +“We don’t want to go in now and have +the boys laugh at us.” +</p> +<p> +“Of course not,” agreed Ruth. +</p> +<p> +Jane Ann showed her how to slip the slicker +over her head. Its folds fell all about her and, +as she rode astride, she would be well sheltered +from the rain if it began to fall. They were now +some miles from the camp on the river bank, but +had not as yet rounded the extreme end of the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_141'></a>141</span> +herd. The grazing range of the cattle covered +practically the entire valley. +</p> +<p> +The stirring of the herd had grown apace and +even in the thicker darkness the girls realized that +most of the beasts were in motion. Now and +then a cow lowed; steers snorted and clashed +horns with neighboring beeves. The restlessness +of the beasts was entirely different from those +motions of a grazing herd by day. +</p> +<p> +Something seemed about to happen. Nature, +as well as the beasts, seemed to wait in expectation +of some startling change. Ruth could not +fail to be strongly impressed by this inexplicable +feeling. +</p> +<p> +“Something’s going to happen, Nita. I feel +it,” she declared. +</p> +<p> +“Hark! what’s that?” demanded her companion, +whose ears were the sharper. +</p> +<p> +A mutter of sound in the distance made Ruth +suggest: “Thunder?” +</p> +<p> +“No, no!” exclaimed Jane Ann. +</p> +<p> +Swiftly the sound approached. The patter of +ponies’ hoofs—a crowd of horses were evidently +charging out of a nearby coulie into the open +plain. +</p> +<p> +“Wild horses!” gasped Jane Ann. +</p> +<p> +But even as she spoke an eerie, soul-wracking +chorus of shrieks broke the oppressive stillness +of the night. Such frightful yells Ruth had never +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_142'></a>142</span> +heard before—nor could she, for the moment, believe +that they issued from the lips of human beings! +</p> +<p> +“Injuns!” ejaculated Jane Ann and swung her +horse about, poising the quirt to strike. “Come +on——” +</p> +<p> +Her words were drowned in a sudden crackle +of electricity—seemingly over their very heads. +They were blinded by the flash of lightning which, +cleaving the cloud at the zenith, shot a zigzag +stream of fire into the midst of the cattle! +</p> +<p> +Momentarily Ruth gained a view of the thousands +of tossing horns. A chorus of bellowing +rose from the frightened herd. +</p> +<p> +But Jane Ann recovered her self-confidence instantly. +“It’s nothing but a joke, Ruthie!” she +cried, in her friend’s ear. “That’s some of the +boys riding up and trying to frighten us. But +there, that’s no joke!” +</p> +<p> +Another bolt of lightning and deafening report +followed. The cowboys’ trick was a fiasco. +There was serious trouble at hand. +</p> +<p> +“The herd is milling!” yelled Jane Ann. +“Sing again, Ruthie! Ride close in to them and +sing! We must keep them from stampeding if +we can!” and she spurred her own pony toward +the bellowing, frightened steers. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_143'></a>143</span><a name='chXVII' id='chXVII'></a>CHAPTER XVII—THE STAMPEDE</h2> +<p> +Be it said of the group of thoughtless cowboys +(of whom were the wildest spirits of Number +Two camp) that their first demonstration as they +dashed out of the coulie upon the two girls was +their only one. Their imitation of an Indian attack +was nipped in the bud by the bursting of the +electric storm. There was no time for the continuance +of the performance arranged particularly +to startle Jane Ann and Ruth Fielding. Ruth +forgot the patter of the approaching ponies. She +had instantly struck into her song—high and clear—at +her comrade’s advice; and she drew Freckles +closer to the herd. The bellowing and pushing +of the cattle betrayed their position in any case; +but the intermittent flashes of lightning clearly revealed +the whole scene to the agitated girls. +</p> +<p> +They were indeed frightened—the ranch girl +as well as Ruth herself. The fact that this immense +herd, crowding and bellowing together, +might at any moment break into a mad stampede, +was only too plain. +</p> +<p> +Caught in the mass of maddened cattle, the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_144'></a>144</span> +girls might easily be unseated and trampled to +death. Ruth knew this as well as did the Western +girl. But if the sound of the human voice would +help to keep the creatures within bounds, the +girl from the Red Mill determined to sing on and +ride closer in line with the milling herd. +</p> +<p> +She missed Jane Ann after a moment; but another +flash of lightning revealed her friend weaving +her pony in and out through the pressing cattle, +using the quirt with free hand on the struggling +steers and breaking them up into small +groups. +</p> +<p> +The cowboys who had dashed out of the coulie +saw the possibility of disaster instantly; and they, +too, rode in among the bellowing steers. With +so many heavy creatures pressing toward a common +center, many would soon be crushed to death +if the formation was not broken up. Each streak +of lightning which played athwart the clouds +added to the fear of the beasts. Several of the +punchers rode close along the edge of the herd, +driving in the strays. Now it began to rain, and +as the very clouds seemed to open and empty +the water upon the thirsty land, the swish of it, +and the moaning of the wind that arose, added +greatly to the confusion. +</p> +<p> +How it <em>did</em> rain for a few minutes! Ruth felt +as though she were riding her pony beneath some +huge water-spout. She was thankful for the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_145'></a>145</span> +slicker, off which the water cataracted. The pony +splashed knee-deep through runlets freshly started +in the old buffalo paths. Here and there a large +pond of water gleamed when the lightning lit up +their surroundings. +</p> +<p> +And when the rain stopped as abruptly as it had +begun, the cattle began to steam and were more +troublesome than before. The lightning flashes +and thunder continued, and when a second downpour +of rain began it came so viciously, and with +so great a wind, that the girls could scarcely ride +against it. +</p> +<p> +Suddenly a shout came down the wind. It was +taken up and repeated by voice after voice. The +camp at the far end of the herd had been aroused +ere this, of course, and every man who could ride +was in the saddle. But it was at the camp-end +of the herd, after all, that the first break came. +</p> +<p> +“They’re off!” yelled Darcy, riding furiously +past Ruth and Jane Ann toward where the louder +disturbance had arisen. +</p> +<p> +“And toward the river!” shouted another of +the cowboys. +</p> +<p> +The thunder of hoofs in the distance suddenly +rose to a deafening sound. The great herd had +broken away and were tearing toward the Rolling +River at a pace which nothing could halt. Several +of the cowboys were carried forward on the +fore-front of the wave of maddened cattle; but +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_146'></a>146</span> +they all managed to escape before the leaders +reached the high bank of the stream. +</p> +<p> +Jane Ann screamed some order to Ruth, but the +latter could not hear what it was. Yet she imitated +the Western girl’s efforts immediately. No +such tame attempts at controlling the cattle as +singing to them was now in order. The small +number of herdsmen left at this point could only +force their ponies into the herd and break up the +formation—driving the mad brutes back with +their quirts, and finally, after a most desperate +fight, holding perhaps a third of the great herd +from running wildly into the stream. +</p> +<p> +This had been a time of some drought and the +river was running low. The banks were not only +steep upon this side, but they were twenty feet +and more high. When the first of the maddened +beeves reached the verge of the bank they went +headlong down the descent, and some landed at +the edge of the water with broken limbs and so +were trampled to death. But the plunging over +of hundreds upon hundreds of steers at the same +point, together with the washing of the falling +rain, quickly cut down these banks until they became +little more than steep quagmires in which the +beasts wallowed more slowly to the river’s edge. +</p> +<p> +This heavy going did more than aught else to +retard the stampede; but many of the first-comers +got over the shallow river and climbed upon the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_147'></a>147</span> +plain beyond. All night long the cowboys were +gathering up the herd upon the eastern shore of +the river; those that had crossed must be left +until day dawned. +</p> +<p> +And a very unpleasant night it was, although +the stampede itself had been of short duration. +A troop of cattle had dashed through the camp +and flattened out the tent that had sheltered the +lady visitors. Fortunately the said visitors had +taken refuge in the supply wagon before the cattle +had broken loose. +</p> +<p> +But, led by The Fox, there was much disturbance +in the supply wagon for the time being. Fortunately +a water-tight tarpaulin had kept the girls +comparatively dry; but Mary Cox loudly expressed +her wish that they had not come out to +the camp, and the other girls were inclined to be +a little fractious as well. +</p> +<p> +When Jane Ann and Ruth rode in, however, +after the trouble was all over, and the rain had +ceased, a new fire was built and coffee made, and +the situation took on a more cheerful phase. Ruth +was quite excited over it all, but glad that she +had taken a hand in the herding of the cattle that +had not broken away. +</p> +<p> +“And if you stay to help the boys gather the +steers that got across the river, to-morrow, I am +going to help, too,” she declared. +</p> +<p> +“Tom and Bob will help,” Helen said. “I +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_148'></a>148</span> +wish I was as brave as you are, Ruth; but I really +am afraid of these horned beasts.” +</p> +<p> +“I never was cut out for even a milkmaid, myself,” +added Heavy. “When a cow bellows it +makes me feel queer up and down my spine just as +it does when I go to a menagerie and hear the +lions roar.” +</p> +<p> +“They won’t bite you,” sniffed Jane Ann. +</p> +<p> +“But they can hook you. And my! the noise +they made when they went through this camp! +You never heard the like,” said the stout girl, +shaking her head. “No. I’m willing to start back +for the ranch-house in the morning.” +</p> +<p> +“Me, too,” agreed Madge. +</p> +<p> +So it was agreed that the four timid girls should +return to Silver Ranch with Ricarde after breakfast; +but Ruth and Jane Ann, with Tom Cameron +and Bob Steele, well mounted on fresh ponies, +joined the gang of cow punchers who forded the +river at daybreak to bring in the strays. +</p> +<p> +The frightened cattle were spread over miles +of the farther plain and it was a two days’ task +to gather them all in. Indeed, on the second +evening the party of four young folk were encamped +with Jib Pottoway and three of the other +punchers, quite twenty miles from the river and +in a valley that cut deeply into the mountain chain +which sheltered the range from the north and +west. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_149'></a>149</span> +</p> +<p> +“It is over this way that the trail runs to Tintacker, +doesn’t it, Jib?” Ruth asked the Indian, +privately. +</p> +<p> +“Yes, Miss. Such trail as there is can be +reached in half an hour from this camp.” +</p> +<p> +“Oh! I do so want to see that man who killed +the bear, Jib,” urged the girl from the Red Mill. +</p> +<p> +“Well, it might be done, if he’s over this way +now,” returned Jib, thoughtfully. “He is an +odd stick—that’s sure. Don’t know whether he’d +let himself be come up with. But——” +</p> +<p> +“Will you ride with me to the mines?” demanded +Ruth, eagerly. +</p> +<p> +“I expect I could,” admitted the Indian. +</p> +<p> +“I would be awfully obliged to you.” +</p> +<p> +“I don’t know what Mr. Hicks would say. But +the cattle are in hand again—and there’s less than +a hundred here for the bunch to drive back. They +can get along without me, I reckon.” +</p> +<p> +“And surely without me!” laughed Ruth. +</p> +<p> +And so it was arranged. The Indian and Ruth +were off up the valley betimes the next morning, +while the rest of the party started for the river, +driving the last of the stray beeves ahead of them. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_150'></a>150</span><a name='chXVIII' id='chXVIII'></a>CHAPTER XVIII—A DESPERATE CASE</h2> +<p> +Jane Ann and Tom Cameron had both offered +to accompany Ruth; but for a very good—if secret—reason +Ruth did not wish any of her young +friends to attend her at the meeting which she +hoped would occur between her and the strange +young man who (if report were true) had been +hanging about the Tintacker properties for so +long. +</p> +<p> +She had written Uncle Jabez after her examination +with the lawyer of the mining record books +at Bullhide; but she had told her uncle only that +the claims had been transferred to the name of +“John Cox.” That was the name, she knew, +that the vacuum cleaner agent had given Uncle +Jabez when he had interested the miller in the +mine. But there was another matter in connection +with the name of “Cox” which Ruth feared +would at once become public property if any of +her young friends were present at the interview to +which she now so eagerly looked forward. +</p> +<p> +Freckles, now as fresh as a pony could be, carried +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_151'></a>151</span> +Ruth rapidly up the valley, and as the two +ponies galloped side by side the girl from the +Red Mill grew quite confidential with the Indian. +She did not like Jib Pottoway as she did the foreman +of the Bar Cross Naught ranch; but the +Indian was intelligent and companionable, and he +quite evidently put himself out to be entertaining. +</p> +<p> +As he rode, dressed in his typical cowboy costume, +Jib looked the full-blooded savage he was; +but his conversation smacked of the East and of +his experiences at school. What he said showed +that Uncle Sam does very well by his red wards +at Carlisle. +</p> +<p> +Jib could tell her, too, much that was interesting +regarding the country through which they rode. +It was wild enough, and there was no human +habitation in sight. Occasionally a jackrabbit +crossed their trail, or a flock of birds flew whirring +from the path before them. Of other life +there was none until they had crossed the first +ridge and struck into a beaten path which Jib declared +was the old pack-trail to Tintacker. +</p> +<p> +The life they then saw did not encourage Ruth +to believe that this was either a safe or an inhabited +country. Freckles suddenly shied as they +approached a bowlder which was thrust out of +the hillside beside the trail. Ruth was almost +unseated, for she had been riding carelessly. And +when she raised her eyes and saw the object that +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_152'></a>152</span> +had startled the pony, she was instantly frightened +herself. +</p> +<p> +Crouching upon the summit of the rock was a +lithe, tawny creature with a big, round, catlike +head and flaming green eyes. The huge cat +lashed its tail with evident rage and bared a very +savage outfit of teeth. +</p> +<p> +“Oh! what’s that?” gasped Ruth, as Freckles +settled back upon his haunches and showed very +plainly that he had no intention of passing the +bowlder. +</p> +<p> +“Puma,” returned the Indian, laconically. +</p> +<p> +His mount, too, was circling around the rock +with mincing steps, quite as unfavorably disposed +toward the beast as was Freckles. +</p> +<p> +“Can it leap this far, Jib?” cried Ruth. +</p> +<p> +“It’ll leap a whole lot farther in just a minute,” +returned the Indian, taking the rope off his +saddle bow. “Now, look out, Miss!” +</p> +<p> +Freckles began to run backward. The puma +emitted a sudden, almost human shriek, and the +muscles upon its foreshoulders swelled. It was +about to leap. +</p> +<p> +Jib’s rope circled in the air. Even as the puma +left the rock, its four paws all “spraddled out” +in midair, the noose dropped over the savage cat. +The lariat caught the puma around its neck and +one foreleg, and before it struck the ground Jib +had whirled his horse and was spurring off across +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_153'></a>153</span> +the valley, his captive flying in huge (but involuntary) +leaps behind him. He rode back in ten +minutes with a beaten-out mass of fur and blood +trailing at the end of his rope, and that was the +end of Mr. Puma! +</p> +<p> +“There isn’t any critter a puncher hates worse +than a puma,” Jib said, gruffly. “We’ve killed +a host of ’em this season.” +</p> +<p> +“And do you always rope them?” queried +Ruth. +</p> +<p> +“They ain’t worth powder and shot. Now, +a bear is a gentleman ‘side of a lion—and even +a little old kiote ain’t so bad. The lion’s so +blamed crafty and sly. Ha! it always does me +good to rope one of them.” +</p> +<p> +They rode steadily on the trail to the mines +after that. It was scarcely more than fifteen +miles to the claims which had been the site, some +years before, of a thriving mining camp, but was +now a deserted town of tumble-down shanties, corrugated +iron shacks, and the rustied skeletons of +machinery at the mouths of certain shafts. +Money had been spent freely by individuals and +corporations in seeking to develop the various +“leads” believed by the first prospectors to be +hidden under the surface of the earth at Tintacker. +But if the silver was there it was so well +hidden that most of the miners had finally “gone +broke” attempting to uncover the riches of silver ore +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_154'></a>154</span> +of which the first specimens discovered had +given promise. +</p> +<p> +“The Tintacker Lode” it had been originally +called, in the enthusiasm of its discoverers. But +unless this strange prospector, who had hung about +the abandoned claims for so many months, had +struck into a new vein, the silver horde had quite +“petered out.” Of this fact Ruth was pretty positive +from all the lawyer and Old Bill Hicks had +told her. Uncle Jabez had gone into the scheme +of re-opening the Tintacker on the strength of the +vacuum-cleaner agent’s personality and some +specimens of silver ore that might have been dug +a thousand miles from the site of the Tintacker +claims. +</p> +<p> +“Don’t look like there was anybody to home,” +grunted Jib Pottoway, as they rode up the last +rise to the abandoned camp. +</p> +<p> +“Why! it’s a wreck,” gasped Ruth. +</p> +<p> +“You bet! There’s hundreds of these little +fly-by-night mining camps in this here Western +country. And many a man’s hopes are buried under +the litter of those caved-in roofs. Hullo!” +</p> +<p> +“What’s the matter?” asked Ruth, startled as +she saw Jib draw his gun suddenly. +</p> +<p> +“What’s that kiote doing diggin’ under that +door?” muttered the Indian. +</p> +<p> +The skulking beast quickly disappeared and Jib +did not fire. He rode his pony directly to the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_155'></a>155</span> +shack—one of the best of the group—and hammered +on the door (which was closed) with the +butt of his pistol. +</p> +<p> +“Hullo, in there!” he growled. +</p> +<p> +Ruth was not a little startled. “Why was the +coyote trying to get in?” she asked. +</p> +<p> +“You wait out here, Miss,” said Jib. “Don’t +come too close. Kiotes don’t usually try to dig +into a camp when the owner’s at home.” +</p> +<p> +“But you spoke as though you thought he +might be there!” whispered the girl. +</p> +<p> +“I—don’t—know,” grunted Jib, climbing out +of his saddle. +</p> +<p> +He tried the latch. The door swung open +slowly. Whatever it was he expected to see in the +shack, he was disappointed. When he had +peered in for half a minute, he stuck the pistol +back into its holster and strode over the threshhold. +</p> +<p> +“Oh! what is it?” breathed Ruth again. +</p> +<p> +He waved her back, but went into the hut. +There was some movement there; then a thin, babbling +voice said something that startled Ruth more +than had the puma’s yell. +</p> +<p> +“Gee!” gasped Jib, appearing in the doorway, +his face actually pale under its deep tan. “It’s +the ‘bug’.” +</p> +<p> +“The man I want to see?” cried Ruth. +</p> +<p> +“But you can’t see him. Keep away,” advised Jib, stepping +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_156'></a>156</span> +softly out and closing the door +of the shack. +</p> +<p> +“What is the matter, Jib?” cried Ruth. “He—he +isn’t <em>dead</em>?” +</p> +<p> +“Not yet,” replied the Indian. +</p> +<p> +“What is it, then?” +</p> +<p> +“Mountain fever—or worse. It’s catching—just +as bad as typhoid. You mustn’t go in there, +Miss.” +</p> +<p> +“But—but—he’ll die!” cried the girl, all her +sympathy aroused. “Nobody to help him——” +</p> +<p> +“He’s far gone. It’s a desperate case, I tell +you,” growled Jib. “Ugh! I don’t know what +we’d better do. No wonder that kiote was trying +to dig under the door. <em>He knew</em>—the hungry +beast!” +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_157'></a>157</span><a name='chXIX' id='chXIX'></a>CHAPTER XIX—THE MAN AT TINTACKER</h2> +<p> +Ruth waited for her companion to suggest +their course of action. The man she had come to +see—the mysterious individual whom she believed +had taken her uncle’s money to buy up the property +known as the Tintacker Claim—was in a raging +fever in that old shack near the site of the +mine. She had heard his delirious babblings while +Jib was in the hut. It never entered her mind +that Jib would contemplate leaving the unfortunate +creature unattended. +</p> +<p> +“You can’t talk to him, Miss. He don’t know +nothing,” declared the Indian. “And he’s pretty +far gone.” +</p> +<p> +“What shall we do for him? What needs +doing first?” Ruth demanded. +</p> +<p> +“Why, we can’t do much—as I can see,” grumbled +Jib Pottoway. +</p> +<p> +“Isn’t there a doctor——” +</p> +<p> +“At Bullhide,” broke in Jib. “That’s the nearest.” +</p> +<p> +“Then he must be got. We must save this +man, Jib,” said the girl, eagerly. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_158'></a>158</span> +</p> +<p> +“Save him?” +</p> +<p> +“Certainly. If only because he saved my life +when I was attacked by the bear. And he must +be saved for another reason, too.” +</p> +<p> +“Why, Miss Ruth, he’ll be dead long before a +doctor could get here,” cried Jib. “That’s plumb +ridiculous.” +</p> +<p> +“He will die of course if he has no attention,” +said the girl, indignantly. +</p> +<p> +“Well?” +</p> +<p> +“Surely you won’t desert him!” +</p> +<p> +“About all we can do for the poor fellow is to +bury him,” muttered Jib. +</p> +<p> +“If there was no other reason than that he is +a helpless fellow-being, we could not go away and +leave him here unattended,” declared the girl, +gravely. “You know that well enough, Jib.” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, we’ll wait around. But he’s got to die. +He’s so far gone that nothing can save him. And +I oughtn’t to go into the shack, either. That fever +is contagious, and he’s just full of it!” +</p> +<p> +“We must get help for him,” cried Ruth, suddenly. +</p> +<p> +“What sort of help?” demanded the Indian. +</p> +<p> +“Why, the ranch is not so awfully far away, +and I know that Mr. Hicks keeps a big stock of +medicines. He will have something for this case.” +</p> +<p> +“Then let’s hustle back,” said Jib, starting to +climb into his saddle. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_159'></a>159</span> +</p> +<p> +“But the coyote—and other savage beasts!” +exclaimed Ruth. +</p> +<p> +“Gee! I forgot that,” muttered Jib. +</p> +<p> +“One of us must stay here.” +</p> +<p> +“Well—I can do that, I suppose. But how +about you finding your way to the Rolling River +outfit? I—don’t—know.” +</p> +<p> +“I’ll stay here and watch,” declared Ruth, +firmly. “You ride for help—get medicine—tell +Mr. Hicks to send for a doctor at Bullhide, too. +I have some money with me and I know my Uncle +Jasper will pay whatever it costs to get a doctor +to this man. Besides—there are other people +interested.” +</p> +<p> +“Why, Miss, I don’t know about this,” murmured +Jib Pottoway. “It’s risky to leave you +here. Old Bill will be wild at me.” +</p> +<p> +“I’m going to stay right here,” declared Ruth, +getting out of the saddle. “You can leave me +your gun if you will——” +</p> +<p> +“Sure! I could do that. But I don’t know +what the boss’ll say.” +</p> +<p> +“It won’t much matter what he says,” said +Ruth, with a faint smile. “I shall be here and +he will be at Silver Ranch.” +</p> +<p> +“Ugh!” muttered Jib. “But what’ll he say to +<em>me</em>?” +</p> +<p> +“I believe Mr. Hicks is too good-hearted to +wish to know that we left this unfortunate young +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_160'></a>160</span> +man here without care. It would be too cruel.” +</p> +<p> +“You wait till I look about the camp,” muttered +Jib, without paying much attention to Ruth’s +last remark. +</p> +<p> +He left his pony and walked quickly up the +overgrown trail that had once been the main street +of Tintacker Camp. Ruth slipped out of the +saddle and ran to the door of the sick man’s hut. +She laid her hand on the latch, hesitated a moment, +and then pushed the door open. There was +plenty of light in the room. The form on the +bed, under a tattered old blanket, was revealed. +Likewise the flushed, thin face lying against the +rolled-up coat for a pillow. +</p> +<p> +“The poor fellow!” gasped Ruth. “And suppose +it should be <em>her</em> brother! Suppose it <em>should</em> +be!” +</p> +<p> +Only for a few seconds did she stare in at the +unfortunate fellow. His head began to roll from +side to side on the hard pillow. He muttered +some gibberish as an accompaniment to his fevered +dreams. It was a young face Ruth saw, but +so drawn and haggard that it made her tender +heart ache. +</p> +<p> +“Water! water!” murmured the cracked lips +of the fever patient. +</p> +<p> +“Oh! I can’t stand this!” gasped the girl. She +wheeled about and sent a long shout after Jib: +“Jib! I say, Jib!” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_161'></a>161</span> +</p> +<p> +“What’s wantin’?” replied the Indian from +around the bend in the trail. +</p> +<p> +“Bring some water! Get some fresh water +somewhere.” +</p> +<p> +“I get you!” returned the cowboy, and then, +without waiting another instant, Ruth stepped into +the infected cabin and approached the sufferer’s +couch. +</p> +<p> +The sick man’s head moved incessantly; so did +his lips. Sometimes what he said was audible; +oftener it was just a hoarse murmur. But when +Ruth raised his head tenderly and took out the +old coat to refold it for a pillow, he screamed +aloud and seized the garment with both hands and +with an awful strength! His look was maniacal. +There were flecks of foam on his lips and his eyes +rolled wildly. There was more than ordinary delirium +in his appearance, and he fought for possession +of the coat, shrieking in a cracked voice, +the sound of which went straight to Ruth’s heart. +</p> +<p> +The sound brought Jib on the run. +</p> +<p> +“What in all tarnation are you doing in that +shack?” he shouted. “You come out o’ there!” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, Jib,” said she, as the man fell back speechless +and seemingly lifeless on the bed. “We can’t +leave him alone like this.” +</p> +<p> +“That whole place is infected. You come +out!” the puncher commanded. +</p> +<p> +“There’s no use scolding me now, Jib,” she +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_162'></a>162</span> +said, softly. “The harm is done, if it <em>is</em> to be +done. I’m in here, and I mean to stay with him +till you get help and medicine.” +</p> +<p> +“You—you——” +</p> +<p> +“Don’t call me names, but get the water. Find +a pail somewhere. Bring plenty of cool water. +He is burning up with fever and thirst.” +</p> +<p> +“Well, the hawse is stole, I reckon!” grunted +the Indian. “But you’d ought to be shaken. +What the boss says to me about this will be +a-plenty.” +</p> +<p> +“Get the water, Jib!” commanded Ruth Fielding. +“See! he breathes so hard. I believe he is +dying of thirst more than anything else.” +</p> +<p> +Jib grabbed the canteen that swung at the back +of his saddle, emptied the last of the stale water +on the ground, and hurried away to where a thin +stream tumbled down the hillside behind one of +the old shaft openings. He brought the canteen +back full—and it held two quarts. +</p> +<p> +“Just a little at first,” said the girl, pouring +some of the cool water into her own folding cup +that she carried in her pocket. “He mustn’t have +too much. And you keep out of the house, Jib. +No use in both of us running the risk of catching +the fever. You’ll have to ride for help, too. And +you don’t want to take the infection among the +other boys.” +</p> +<p> +“You <em>are</em> a plucky one, Miss,” admitted the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_163'></a>163</span> +cowboy. “But there’s bound to be the piper to +pay for this. They’ll say it was my fault.” +</p> +<p> +“I won’t let ’em,” declared Ruth. She raised +the sick man’s head again and put the cup to his +lips. “I wish I had some clean cloths. Oh! let +somebody ride over from the camp with food and +any stimulants that there may be there. See if +you can find some larger receptacle for water before +you go.” +</p> +<p> +“She’s a cleaner!” muttered the Indian, shaking +his head, and walking away to do her bidding. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_164'></a>164</span><a name='chXX' id='chXX'></a>CHAPTER XX—THE WOLF AT THE DOOR</h2> +<p> +Ruth had the old coat folded and under the +sick man’s head again when Jib returned with a +rusty old bucket filled with water. He set it down +just outside the open door of the cabin—and he +did not come in. +</p> +<p> +“What d’ye s’pose he’s got in the pocket of +that coat that he’s so choice of, Miss?” he asked, +curiously. +</p> +<p> +“Why! I don’t know,” returned Ruth, wetting +her cleanest handkerchief and folding it to press +upon the patient’s brow. +</p> +<p> +“He hollered like a loon and grabbed at it +when I tried to straighten it out,” the Indian said, +thoughtfully. “And so he did when you touched +it.” +</p> +<p> +“Yes.” +</p> +<p> +“He’s got something hid there. It bothers +him even if he is delirious.” +</p> +<p> +“Perhaps,” admitted Ruth. +</p> +<p> +But she was not interested in this suspicion. +The condition of the poor fellow was uppermost +in her mind. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_165'></a>165</span> +</p> +<p> +“You let me have your pistol, Jib,” she said. +“I can use it. It will keep that old coyote away.” +</p> +<p> +“And anything else, too,” said Jib, handing +the gun to her and then stepping back to his +pony. “I’ll hobble your critter, Miss. Don’t go +far from the door. I’ll either come back myself +or send a couple of the boys from camp. They +will bring food, anyway. I reckon the poor chap’s +hungry as well as thirsty.” +</p> +<p> +“He is in a very bad way, indeed,” returned +Ruth, gravely. “You’ll hurry, Jib?” +</p> +<p> +“Sure. But you’d better come back with me.” +</p> +<p> +“No. I’m in for it now,” she replied, trying +to smile at him bravely. “I’d better nurse him +till he’s better, or——” +</p> +<p> +“You ain’t got no call to do it!” exclaimed +the Indian. +</p> +<p> +“There is more reason for my helping him +than you know,” she said, in a low voice. “Oh! +there is a very good reason for my helping him.” +</p> +<p> +“He’s too far gone to be helped much, I +reckon,” returned the other, mounting into his +saddle. “But I’ll be going. Take care of yourself.” +</p> +<p> +“I’ll be all right, Jib!” she responded, with +more cheerfulness, and waved her hand to him as +the cow puncher rode away. +</p> +<p> +But when the patter of the pony’s hoofs had +died away the silence brooding over the abandoned mining +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_166'></a>166</span> +camp seemed very oppressive indeed. +It was not a pleasant prospect that lay +before her. Not only was she alone here with +the sick man, but she <em>was</em> afraid of catching the +fever. +</p> +<p> +The patient on the couch was indeed helpless. +He muttered and rolled his head from side to +side, and his wild eyes stared at her as though +he were fearful of what she might do to him. +Ruth bathed his face and hands again and again; +and the cool water seemed to quiet him. Occasionally +she raised his head that he might drink. +There was nothing else she could do for his +comfort or betterment until medicines arrived. +</p> +<p> +She searched the cabin for anything which +might belong to him. She did not find his rifle—the +weapon with which he had killed the bear in +the cañon when Ruth had been in such peril. She +did find, however, a worn water-proof knapsack; +in it was a handkerchief, or two, a pair of torn +socks and an old shirt, beside shaving materials, +a comb and brush, and a toothbrush. Not a letter +or a scrap of paper to reveal his identity. Yet +she was confident that this was the man whom +she had hoped to meet when she came West on +this summer jaunt. +</p> +<p> +This was the fellow who had encouraged Uncle +Jabez to invest his savings in the Tintacker Mine. +It was he, too, who had been to Bullhide and +recorded the new papers relating to the claim. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_167'></a>167</span> +And if he had made way with all Uncle Jabez’s +money, and the mining property was worthless, +Ruth knew that she would never see Briarwood +Hall again! +</p> +<p> +For Uncle Jabez had let her understand plainly +that his resources were so crippled that she could +not hope to return to school with her friends when +the next term opened. Neither she, nor Aunt +Alvirah, nor anybody else, could make the old +miller change his mind. He had given her one +year at the boarding school according to agreement. +Uncle Jabez always did just as he said he +would; but he was never generous, and seldom +even kind. +</p> +<p> +However, it was not this phase of the affair +that so troubled the girl from the Red Mill. It +was the identity of this fever-stricken man that +so greatly disturbed her. She believed that there +was somebody at Silver Ranch who must have a +much deeper interest in him than even she felt. +And she was deeply troubled by this suspicion. +Was she doing right in not sending word to the +ranch at once as to her belief in the identity of +the man? +</p> +<p> +The morning was now gone and Ruth would +have been glad of some dinner; but in leaving the +other herders she and Jib had not expected to +remain so many hours from the Rolling River +crossing. At least, they expected if they found +the man at Tintacker at all, that he would have +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_168'></a>168</span> +played the host and supplied them with lunch. +Had Jib been here she knew he could easily have +shot a bird, or a hare; there was plenty of small +game about. But had she not felt it necessary to +remain in close attendance upon the sick man she +would have hesitated about going to the outskirts +of the camp. Even the possession of Jib’s loaded +pistol did not make the girl feel any too +brave. +</p> +<p> +Already that morning she had been a witness +to the fact that savage beasts lurked in the locality. +There might be another puma about. She +was not positively in fear of the coyotes; she knew +them to be a cowardly clan. But what would keep +a bear from wandering down from the heights +into the abandoned camp? And Ruth had seen +quite all the bears at close quarters that she +wished to see. Beside, this six-shooter of Jib’s +would be a poor weapon with which to attack a +full-grown bear. +</p> +<p> +It must be late in the afternoon before any of +the boys could ride over from the Rolling River +outfit. She set her mind firmly on <em>that</em>, and would +not hope for company till then. It was a lonely +and trying watch. The sick man moaned and +jabbered, and whenever she touched the old coat +he used for a pillow, he became quite frantic. +Perhaps, as Jib intimated, there was something +valuable hidden in the garment. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_169'></a>169</span> +</p> +<p> +“Deeds—or money—perhaps both,” thought +the girl nurse. “And maybe they relate to the +Tintacker Mine. Perhaps if it is money it is +some of Uncle’s money. Should I try to take it +away from him secretly and keep it until he can +explain?” +</p> +<p> +Yet she could not help from thinking that perhaps +Jib was right in his diagnosis of the case. +The man might be too far gone to save. Neither +physician nor medicines might be able to retard +the fever. It seemed to have already worn the +unfortunate to his very skeleton. If he died, +would the mystery of the Tintacker Mine, and +of Uncle Jabez’s money, ever be explained? +</p> +<p> +Meanwhile she bathed and bathed again the +fevered face and hands of the unfortunate. This +was all that relieved him. He was quiet for some +minutes after each of these attentions. The water +in the bucket became warm, like that in the canteen. +Ruth thought she could risk going to the +rivulet for another supply. So she stuck the barrel +of the gun into her belt and taking the empty +pail set out to find the stream. +</p> +<p> +She closed the door of the sick man’s cabin +very carefully. It was not far to the water and +she had filled the pail and was returning when +she heard a scratching noise nearby, and then a +low growl. Casting swift glances of apprehension +all about her, she started to run to the cabin; +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_170'></a>170</span> +but when she got to the trail, it was at the cabin +door the peril lay! +</p> +<p> +It was no harmless, cowardly coyote this time. +Perhaps it had not been a coyote who had dug +there when she and Jib rode up to the camp. She +obtained this time a clear view of the beast. +</p> +<p> +It was long, lean and gray. A shaggy beast, +with pointed ears and a long muzzle. When he +turned and glared at her, growling savagely, Ruth +was held spellbound in her tracks! +</p> +<p> +“A wolf!” she muttered. “A wolf at the +door!” +</p> +<p> +The fangs of the beast were exposed. The jaws +dripped saliva, and the eyes seemed blood-red. A +more awful sight the girl had never seen. This +fierce, hungry creature was even more terrifying +in appearance than the bear that had chased her +in the cañon. He seemed, indeed, more savage +and threatening than the puma that Jib had roped +that forenoon as they rode over to Tintacker. +</p> +<p> +He turned squarely and faced her. He was +not afraid, but seemed to welcome her as an +antagonist worthy of his prowess. He did not +advance, but he stood between Ruth and the door +of the sick man’s cabin. She might retreat, but +in so doing she would abandon the unfortunate +to his fate. And what that fate would be she +could not doubt when once she had glimpsed the +savage aspect of the wolf. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_171'></a>171</span><a name='chXXI' id='chXXI'></a>CHAPTER XXI—A PLUCKY FIGHT</h2> +<p> +Ruth had already set down the bucket of +water and drawn the heavy pistol from her belt. +The girls had been trying their skill with six-shooters +at the ranch at odd times, and she knew +that she stood a good chance of hitting the big +gray wolf at ten or twelve yards. The beast +made no approach; but his intention of returning +to the door of the cabin where the sick man lay, +if she did not disturb him, was so plain that Ruth +dared not desert the helpless patient! +</p> +<p> +The wolf crouched, growling and showing his +fangs. If the girl approached too near he would +spring upon her. Or, if she fired and wounded +him but slightly she feared he would give chase +and pull her down in a few seconds. She very +well know that she could not hope to distance the +beast if once he started to pursue her. +</p> +<p> +This was indeed a dreadful situation for a tenderly +nurtured girl. The wolf looked to be fully +as large as Tom Cameron’s mastiff, Reno. And +Ruth wished with all her heart (as this comparison +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_172'></a>172</span> +flashed through her mind) that the mastiff +was here to give battle to the savage beast. +</p> +<p> +But it were vain to think of such impossibilities. +If anything was to be done to drive off the wolf +at the cabin door, she must do it herself. Yet +she dared not make the attack here in the open, +and afoot. If she approached near enough to +him to make her first shot sure and deadly, the +beast gave every indication of opening the attack +himself. +</p> +<p> +And, indeed, he might spring toward her at any +moment. He was growing impatient. He had +scented the helpless man inside the shack and—undisturbed—would +soon burrow under the door +and get at him. Although not so cowardly as a +coyote, the wolf seldom attacks human beings +unless they are helpless or the beast is driven to +desperation by hunger. And gaunt as this fellow +was, there was plenty of small game for him in +the chapparel. +</p> +<p> +Thus, Ruth was in a quandary. But she saw +plainly that she must withdraw or the wolf would +attack. She left the bucket of water where it +stood and withdrew back of the nearest hut. +Once out of the wolf’s sight, but still holding the +revolver ready, she looked hastily about. Her +pony, hobbled by Jib, had not wandered far. Nor +had Freckles seen or even scented the savage marauder. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_173'></a>173</span> +</p> +<p> +Ruth spied him and crept away from the vicinity +of the wolf, keeping in hiding all the time. She +soon heard the beast clawing at the bottom of +the door and growling. He might burst the door, +or dig under it, any moment now! +</p> +<p> +The last few yards to the pony Ruth made at a +run. Freckles snorted his surprise; but he knew +her and was easily caught. The frightened girl +returned the revolver to her belt and removed +the hobbles. Then she vaulted into the saddle +and jerked the pony’s head around, riding at a +canter back toward the cabin. +</p> +<p> +The wolf heard her coming and drew his head +and shoulders back out of the hole he had dug. +In a few minutes more he would be under the +door and into the cabin, which had, of course, no +floor but the hard-packed clay. He started up +and glared at the pony and its rider, and the pony +began to side-step and snort in a manner which +showed plainly that he did not fancy the vicinity +of the beast. +</p> +<p> +“Whoa, Freckles! Steady, boy!” commanded +Ruth. +</p> +<p> +The cow pony, trained to perfection, halted, +with his fore feet braced, glaring at the wolf. +Ruth dropped the reins upon his neck, and although +he winced and trembled all over, he did +not move from the spot as the girl raised the +heavy pistol, resting its barrel across her left +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_174'></a>174</span> +forearm, and took the best aim she could at the +froth-streaked chest of the wolf. +</p> +<p> +Even when the revolver popped, Freckles did +not move. The wolf sprang to one side, snarling +with rage and pain. Ruth saw a streak of crimson +along his high shoulder. The bullet had just +nicked him. The beast snapped at the wound +and whirled around and around in the dust, snarling +and clashing his teeth. +</p> +<p> +But when the girl tried to urge Freckles in +closer, the wolf suddenly took the aggressive. He +sprang out into the trail and in two leaps was +beside the whirling pony. Freckles knew better +than to let the beast get near enough to spring +for his throat. But the pony’s gyrations almost +unseated his rider. +</p> +<p> +Ruth fired a second shot; but the bullet went +wild. She could not take proper aim with the +pony dancing so; and she had to seize the lines +again. She thrust the pistol into the saddle holster +and grabbed the pommel of the saddle itself +to aid her balance. Freckles pitched dreadfully, +and struck out, seemingly with all four feet at +once, to keep off the wolf. Perhaps it was as +well that he did so, for the beast was maddened +by the smart of the wound, and sought to tear +the girl from her saddle. +</p> +<p> +As Ruth allowed the pony to run off from the +shack for several rods, the wolf went growling +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_175'></a>175</span> +back to the door. He was a persistent fellow +and it did seem as though he was determined to +get at the sick man in spite of all Ruth could do. +</p> +<p> +But the girl, frightened as she was, had no +intention of remaining by to see such a monstrous +thing happen. She controlled Freckles again, and +rode him hard, using the spurs, straight at the +door of the shack. The wolf whirled and met +them with open jaws, the saliva running from the +sides of his mouth. His foreleg was now dyed +crimson. +</p> +<p> +Freckles, squealing with anger, jumped to reach +the wolf. He had been taught to ride down +coyotes, and he tried the same tactics on this +fellow. The wolf rolled over, snapping and +snarling, and easily escaped the pony’s hard +hoofs. But Ruth urged the pony on and the +wolf was forced to run. +</p> +<p> +She tried her best to run him down. They +tore through the main street of what had been +Tintacker Camp, and out upon the open ridge. +The wolf, his tail tucked between his legs, scurried +over the ground, keeping just ahead, but circling +around so as to get back to the abandoned +town. He would not be driven from the vicinity. +</p> +<p> +“I must try again to shoot him,” exclaimed the +girl, much worried. “If I ride back he will follow +me. If I hobble Freckles again, he may attack +the pony and Freckles could not defend himself +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_176'></a>176</span> +so well if he were hobbled. And if I turn the +pony loose the wolf may run him off entirely!” +</p> +<p> +She drew Jib’s pistol once more and tried to +get a good shot at the wolf. But while she did +this she could not keep so sharp an eye on the +course the pony took and suddenly Freckles sunk +one forefoot in a hole. +</p> +<p> +He plunged forward, and Ruth came very near +taking a dive over his head. She saved herself +by seizing the pommel with both hands; but in so +doing she lost the gun. Freckles leaped up, +frightened and snorting, and the next moment the +wolf had made a sharp turn and was almost under +the pony’s feet! +</p> +<p> +The wolf let out an unmistakable yelp of pain +and limped off, howling. Freckles kept on in +pursuit and the revolver was soon far behind. +The beast she pursued was now in a bad way; +but the girl dared not ride back to search for her +lost weapon. She did not propose that the wolf—after +such a fight—should escape. Ruth was +bent upon his destruction. +</p> +<p> +The wolf, however, dodged and doubled, so +that the pony could not trample it, even had he +wished to come to such close quarters. The clashing +teeth of the savage animal warned Freckles to +keep his distance, however; and it was plain to +Ruth that she must dismount to finish the beast. +If only she had some weapon—— +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_177'></a>177</span> +</p> +<p> +What was that heap on the prairie ahead? +Bones! hundreds of them! Some accident had +befallen a bunch of cattle here in the past and +their picked skeletons had been flung into a heap. +The wolf ran for refuge behind this pile and +Ruth immediately urged Freckles toward the +spot. +</p> +<p> +She leaped from the saddle, tossing the bridle +reins over his head upon the ground and ran to +seize one of the bigger bones. It was the leg +bone of a big steer and it made a promising club. +</p> +<p> +But even as she seized upon this primitive +weapon the wolf made a final stand. He appeared +around the far side of the pile. He saw +that the girl was afoot, and with a snarl he sprang +upon her. +</p> +<p> +Ruth uttered an involuntary shriek, and ran +back. But she could not reach Freckles. The +wolf’s hot breath steamed against her neck as +she ran. He had missed her by a hair! +</p> +<p> +The girl whirled and faced him, the club poised +in both her hands, determined to give battle. Her +situation was perilous in the extreme. Afoot as +she was, the beast had the advantage, and he +knew this as well as she did. He did not hurry, +but approached his victim with caution—fangs +bared, jaws extended, his wounds for the moment +forgotten. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_178'></a>178</span><a name='chXXII' id='chXXII'></a>CHAPTER XXII—SERVICE COURAGEOUS</h2> +<p> +There was no escape from the wolf’s attack, +even had Ruth desired to evade the encounter. +The beast’s flaming eyes showed his savage intention +only too plainly. To turn and run at this +juncture would have meant death for the brave +girl. She stood at bay, the heavy bone poised to +strike, and let the creature approach. +</p> +<p> +He leaped, and with all her strength—and that +was not slight—she struck him. The wolf was +knocked sideways to the ground. She followed +up the attack with a second and a third blow +before he could recover his footing. +</p> +<p> +The wound in his shoulder had bled a good +deal, and Freckles’ hard hoofs had crippled one +leg. He could not jump about with agility, and +although he was no coward, he was slow in returning +to the charge. +</p> +<p> +When he did, Ruth struck again, and with +good effect. Again and again she beat him off. +He once caught her skirt and tore it from the +waist-binding; but she eluded his powerful claws +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_179'></a>179</span> +and struck him down again. Then, falling upon +him unmercifully, she beat his head into the hard +ground until he was all torn and bleeding and +could not see to scramble at her. +</p> +<p> +It was an awful experience for the girl; but +she conquered her antagonist before her strength +was spent. When he lay, twitching his limbs in +the final throes, she staggered back to where her +pony stood and there, leaning upon his neck, +sobbed and shook for several minutes, while +Freckles put his soft nose into her palm and +nuzzled her comfortably. +</p> +<p> +“Oh, oh, Freckles! what a terrible thing!” +she sobbed. “He’s dead! he’s dead!” +</p> +<p> +She could say nothing more, nor could she recover +her self-possession for some time. Then +she climbed into the saddle and turned the pony’s +head toward the deserted huts without once +looking back at the blood-bedabbled body and +the gory club. +</p> +<p> +At the camp, however, she was once more her +own mistress. The fact that she must attend the +sick man bolstered up her courage. She hobbled +Freckles again and recovered the bucket of water. +John Cox (if that was his name) raged in his +fever and clutched at his precious coat, and was +not quiet again until she had cooled his head and +hands with the fresh water. +</p> +<p> +After that he fell into a light sleep and Ruth +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_180'></a>180</span> +went about the cabin, trying to set the poor furniture +to rights and removing the debris that had +collected in the corners. Every few moments she +was at the door, looking out for either enemy or +friend. But no other creature confronted her +until the sound of pony hoofs delighted her ear +and Tom Cameron and Jane Ann, with two of the +cowboys from the Rolling River outfit, dashed up +to the shack. +</p> +<p> +“Ruth! Ruth!” cried the ranchman’s niece, +leaping off of her pony. “Come out of that place +at once! Do as I tell you——” +</p> +<p> +“Don’t come here, dear—don’t touch me,” returned +her friend, firmly. “I know what I am +about. I mean to stay and nurse this man. I do +not believe there is so much danger as Jib +says——” +</p> +<p> +“Uncle Bill will have his hide!” cried Jane +Ann, indignantly. “You wait and see.” +</p> +<p> +“It is not his fault. I came in here when he +could not stop me. And I mean to remain. But +there is no use in anybody else being exposed to +contagion—if there is any contagion in the disease.” +</p> +<p> +“Why, it’s as bad as small-pox, Ruth!” cried +Jane Ann. +</p> +<p> +“I am here,” returned Ruth, quietly. “Have +you brought us food? And is that spirits in the +bottle Mr. Darcy has?” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_181'></a>181</span> +</p> +<p> +“Yes, Miss,” said the cowboy. +</p> +<p> +“Set it down on that stone—and the other +things. I’ll come and get it. A few drops of +the liquor in the water may help the man a little.” +</p> +<p> +“But, dear Ruth,” interposed Tom, gravely, +“he is nothing to you. Don’t run such risks. +If the man must be nursed <em>I’ll</em> try my hand——” +</p> +<p> +“Indeed you shall not!” +</p> +<p> +“It’s a job for a man, Miss,” said Darcy, +grimly. “You mount your pony and go home +with the others. I’ll stay.” +</p> +<p> +“If any harm is done, it’s done already,” declared +the girl, earnestly. “One of you can stay +outside and help me—guard me, if you please. +There’s been an awful old wolf about——” +</p> +<p> +“A wolf!” gasped Tom. +</p> +<p> +“But I killed him.” She told them how and +where. “And I lost Jib’s gun. He’ll be furious.” +</p> +<p> +“He’ll lose more than his little old Colts,” +growled the second cowboy. +</p> +<p> +“It was not Jib’s fault,” declared the girl. “I +could not so easily find my way back to the river +as he. I had to stay while he went for help. +Has word been sent on to the ranch?” +</p> +<p> +“Everything will be done that can be done for +the fellow, of course,” Jane Ann declared. +“Uncle Bill will likely come over himself. Then +there <em>will</em> be ructions, young lady.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_182'></a>182</span> +</p> +<p> +“And what will Helen and the other girls +say?” cried Tom. +</p> +<p> +“I wish I had thought,” murmured Ruth. “I +would have warned Jib not to let Mary know.” +</p> +<p> +“What’s that?” asked Tom, in surprise, for +he had but imperfectly caught Ruth’s words. +</p> +<p> +“Never mind,” returned the girl from the Red +Mill, quickly. +</p> +<p> +The others were discussing what should be +done. Ruth still stood in the doorway and now +a murmur from the bed called her turn back into +the shack to make the unfortunate on the couch +more comfortable—for in his tossings he became +more feverish and hot. When she returned to the +outer air the others had decided. +</p> +<p> +“Darcy and I will remain, Ruth,” Tom said, +with decision. “We’ll bring the water, and cook +something for you to eat out here, and stand +guard, turn and turn about. But you are a very +obstinate girl.” +</p> +<p> +“As long as one is in for it, why increase the +number endangered by the fever?” she asked, +coolly. “You are real kind to stay, Tom—you +and Darcy.” +</p> +<p> +“You couldn’t get me away with a Gatling +gun,” said Tom, grimly. “You know <em>that</em>, +Ruth.” +</p> +<p> +“I know I have a staunch friend in you, +Tommy,” she said, in a low voice. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_183'></a>183</span> +</p> +<p> +“One you can trust?” +</p> +<p> +“To be sure,” she replied, smiling seriously +at him. +</p> +<p> +“Then what is all this about Mary Cox? What +has <em>she</em> got to do with the fellow you’ve got +hived up in that shack?” shot in Master Tom, +shrewdly. +</p> +<p> +“Oh, now, Tommy!” gasped Ruth. +</p> +<p> +“You can’t fool me, Ruth——” +</p> +<p> +“Sh! don’t let the others hear you,” she whispered. +“And don’t come any nearer, Tom!” +she added, warningly, and in a louder tone. +</p> +<p> +“But The Fox has something to do with this +man?” demanded Tom. +</p> +<p> +“I believe so. I fear so. Oh, don’t ask me +any more!” breathed the girl, anxiously, as Jane +Ann and the cowboy rode up to say good-bye. +</p> +<p> +“I hope nothing bad will come of this, Ruth,” +said the ranch girl. “But Uncle Bill will be +dreadfully mad.” +</p> +<p> +“Not with me, I hope,” rejoined Ruth, shaking +her head. +</p> +<p> +“And all the girls will be crazy to come out +here and help you nurse him.” +</p> +<p> +“They certainly <em>will</em> be crazy if they want to,” +muttered Tom. +</p> +<p> +“They would better not come near here until +the man gets better—if he ever <em>does</em> get better,” +added Ruth, in a low tone. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_184'></a>184</span> +</p> +<p> +“I expect they’ll all want to come,” repeated +Jane Ann. +</p> +<p> +“Don’t you let them, Jane Ann!” admonished +Ruth. “Above all, don’t you let Mary Cox come +over here—unless I send for her,” and she went +into the shack again and closed the door. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_185'></a>185</span><a name='chXXIII' id='chXXIII'></a>CHAPTER XXIII—BASHFUL IKE TAKES THE BIT IN HIS TEETH</h2> +<p> +There was great commotion at Silver Ranch +when Jib Pottoway (on a fresh horse he had +picked up at the riverside cow camp) rode madly +to the ranch-house with the news of what was +afoot so far away across Rolling River. From +Old Bill down, the friends of Ruth were horror-stricken +that she should so recklessly (or, so it +seemed) expose herself to the contagion of the +fever. +</p> +<p> +“And for a person who is absolutely nothing +to her at all!” wailed Jennie Stone. “Ruth is +utterly reckless.” +</p> +<p> +“She is utterly brave,” said Madge, sharply. +</p> +<p> +“She has the most grateful heart in the +world,” Helen declared. “He saved her life in +the cañon—you remember it, Mary. Of course +she could not leave the poor creature to die there +alone.” +</p> +<p> +The Fox had turned pallid and seemed horrified. +But she was silent while all the others about +the ranch-house, from Old Bill Hicks down to +Maria the cook, were voluble indeed. The ranchman +might have laid violent hands upon Jib Pottoway, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_186'></a>186</span> +only there was so much to do. Such simple +medicines as there were in the house were +packed to take to Tintacker. Old Bill determined +to go over himself, but he would not allow any +of the young folks to go. +</p> +<p> +“And you kin bet,” he added, “that you’ll see +Jane Ann come back here a-whizzin’!” +</p> +<p> +The unfortunate Jib had enough to do to answer +questions. The girls would not let him go +until he had told every particular of the finding +of the man at Tintacker. +</p> +<p> +“Was he just <em>crazy</em>?” queried Heavy. +</p> +<p> +“I don’t know whether he’s been loony all the +time he’s been hanging around the mines, or not,” +growled the Indian. “But I’m mighty sure he’s +loco <em>now</em>.” +</p> +<p> +“If that was him who shot the bear up in the +cañon that day, he didn’t appear to be crazy +enough to hurt,” said Helen. +</p> +<p> +“But is this the same man?” queried Mary +Cox, and had they not all been so busy pumping +Jib of the last particular regarding the adventure, +they might have noticed that The Fox was +very pale. +</p> +<p> +When Jib first rode up, however, and told his +tale, Bashful Ike Stedman had set to work to run +the big touring car out of the shed in which it was +kept. During the time the young folk had been +at Silver Ranch from the East, the foreman had +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_187'></a>187</span> +learned from Tom and Bob how to run the car. +It came puffing up to the door now, headed toward +the Bullhide trail. +</p> +<p> +“What in tarnashun you goin’ ter do with that +contarption, Ike?” bawled Mr. Hicks. “I can’t +go to Tintacker in it.” +</p> +<p> +“No, yuh can’t, Boss. But I kin go to Bullhide +for the sawbones in it, and bring him back, too. +We kin git as far as the Rolling River camp in +the old steam engine—if she don’t break down. +Then we’ll foller on arter yuh a-hawseback.” +</p> +<p> +“You won’t git no doctor to come ‘way out +there,” gasped the ranch owner. +</p> +<p> +“Won’t I?” returned the foreman. “You +wait and see. Ruthie says a doctor’s got to be +brought for that feller, and I’m goin’ to git Doc. +Burgess if I hafter rope an’ hogtie him—you +hear me!” +</p> +<p> +The engine began to pop again and the automobile +rolled away from the ranch-house before +Mr. Hicks could enter any further objections, or +any of the young folk could offer to attend Ike on +his long trip. Fortunately Tom and Bob had seen +to it that the machine was in excellent shape, there +was plenty of gasoline in the tank, and she ran +easily over the trail. +</p> +<p> +At the Crossing Ike was hailed by Sally Dickson. +Sally had been about to mount her pony for +a ride, but when the animal saw the automobile +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_188'></a>188</span> +coming along the trail he started on the jump for +the corral, leaving Miss Sally in the lurch. +</p> +<p> +“Well! if that ain’t just like you, Ike Stedman!” +sputtered the red-haired schoolma’am. +“Bringin’ that puffin’ abomination over this trail. +Ain’t you afraid it’ll buck and throw yuh?” +</p> +<p> +“I got it gentled—it’ll eat right off yuh hand,” +grinned the foreman of Silver Ranch. +</p> +<p> +“And I was going to ride in to Bullhide,” exclaimed +Sally. “I won’t be able to catch the pony +in a week.” +</p> +<p> +“You hop in with me, Sally,” urged Ike, blushing +very red. “I’m goin’ to Bullhide.” +</p> +<p> +“Go joy-ridin’ with <em>you</em>, Mr. Stedman?” responded +the schoolma’am. “I don’t know about +that. Are you to be trusted with that automobile?” +</p> +<p> +“I tell yuh I got it gentled,” declared Ike. +“And I got to be moving on mighty quick.” He +told Sally why in a few words and immediately +the young lady was interested. +</p> +<p> +“That Ruth Fielding! Isn’t she a plucky one +for a Down East girl? But she’s too young to +nurse that sick man. And she’ll catch the fever +herself like enough.” +</p> +<p> +“Hope not,” grunted Ike. “That would be +an awful misfortune. She’s the nicest little thing +that ever grazed on <em>this</em> range—yuh hear me!” +</p> +<p> +“Well,” said Sally, briskly. “I got to go to +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_189'></a>189</span> +town and I might as well take my life in my hands +and go with you, Ike,” and she swung herself into +the seat beside him. +</p> +<p> +Ike started the machine again. He was delighted. +Never before had Sally Dickson allowed +him to be alone with her more than a scant few +moments at a time. Ike began to swallow hard, +the perspiration stood on his brow and he grew +actually pale around the mouth. It seemed to him +as though everything inside of him rose up in his +throat. As he told about it long afterward, if +somebody had shot him through the body just +then it would only have made a flesh-wound! +</p> +<p> +“Sally!” he gasped, before her father’s store +and the schoolhouse were out of sight. +</p> +<p> +“Why, Ike! what’s the matter with you? Are +you sick?” +</p> +<p> +“N-no! I ain’t sick,” mumbled the bashful +one. +</p> +<p> +“You’re surely not scared?” demanded Sally. +“There hasn’t anything happened wrong to this +automobile?” +</p> +<p> +“No, ma’am.” +</p> +<p> +“Are you sure? It bumps a whole lot—Ugh! +It’s not running away, is it?” +</p> +<p> +“I tell yuh it’s tame all right,” grunted Ike. +</p> +<p> +“Then, what’s the matter with you, Ike Stedman?” +demanded the schoolmistress, with considerable +sharpness. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_190'></a>190</span> +</p> +<p> +“I—I’m suah in love with yuh, Sally! That’s +what’s the matter with me. Now, don’t you +laugh—I mean it.” +</p> +<p> +“Well, my soul!” exclaimed the practical +Sally, “don’t let it take such a hold on you, Ike. +Other men have been in love before—or thought +they was—and it ain’t given ’em a conniption fit.” +</p> +<p> +“I got it harder than most men,” Ike was able +to articulate. “Why, Sally, I love you so hard +<em>that it makes me ache</em>!” +</p> +<p> +The red-haired schoolmistress looked at him +for a silent moment. Her eyes were pretty hard +at first; but finally a softer light came into them +and a faint little blush colored her face. +</p> +<p> +“Well, Ike! is that all you’ve got to say?” she +asked. +</p> +<p> +“Why—why, Sally! I got lots to say, only it’s +plugged up and I can’t seem to get it out,” stammered +Ike. “I got five hundred head o’ steers, +and I’ve proven on a quarter-section of as nice +land as there is in this State—and there’s a good +open range right beside it yet——” +</p> +<p> +“I never <em>did</em> think I’d marry a bunch o’ steers,” +murmured Sally. +</p> +<p> +“Why—why, Sally, punchin’ cattle is about all +I know how to do well,” declared Bashful Ike. +“But you say the word and I’ll try any business +you like better.” +</p> +<p> +“I wouldn’t want you to change your business, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_191'></a>191</span> +Ike,” said Sally, turning her head away. “But—but +ain’t you got anything else to offer me but +those steers?” +</p> +<p> +“Why—why,” stammered poor Ike again. “I +ain’t got nothin’ else but myself——” +</p> +<p> +She turned on him swiftly with her face all +smiling and her eyes twinkling. +</p> +<p> +“There, Ike Stedman!” she ejaculated in her +old, sharp way. “Have you finally got around to +offering <em>yourself</em>? My soul! if you practiced on +every girl you met for the next hundred years +you’d never learn how to ask her to marry you +proper. I’d better take you, Ike, and save the +rest of the female tribe a whole lot of trouble.” +</p> +<p> +“D’ye mean it, Sally?” cried the bewildered +and delighted foreman of Silver Ranch. +</p> +<p> +“I sure do.” +</p> +<p> +“Ye-yi-yip!” yelled Ike, and the next moment +the big touring car wabbled all over the trail and +came near to dumping the loving pair into the +gully. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_192'></a>192</span><a name='chXXIV' id='chXXIV'></a>CHAPTER XXIV—COALS OF FIRE</h2> +<p> +Once Bashful Ike had taken the bit in his teeth, +his nickname never fitted him again. He believed +in striking while the iron was hot, Ike did. And +before the touring car ran them down into Bullhide, +he had talked so hard and talked so fast +that he had really swept Miss Sally Dickson away +on the tide of his eloquence, and she had agreed +to Ike’s getting the marriage license and their +being wedded on the spot! +</p> +<p> +But the foreman of Silver Ranch found Dr. +Burgess first and made the physician promise to +accompany him to Tintacker. The doctor said +he would be ready in an hour. +</p> +<p> +“Gives us just about time enough, Sally,” declared +the suddenly awakened Ike. “I’ll have +that license and we’ll catch Parson Brownlow on +the fly. Come on!” +</p> +<p> +“For pity’s sake, Ike!” gasped the young lady. +“You take my breath away.” +</p> +<p> +“We ain’t got no time to fool,” declared Ike. +And within the hour he was a Benedict and Sally +Dickson had become Mrs. Ike Stedman. +</p> +<p> +“And I’m going over to Tintacker with you, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_193'></a>193</span> +Ike,” she declared as they awaited before the doctor’s +office in the big automobile. “That poor +fellow over there will need somebody more’n +Ruth Fielding to nurse him. It takes skill to +bring folks out of a fever spell. I nursed Dad +through a bad case of it two year ago, and I know +what to do.” +</p> +<p> +“That’s all right, Sally,” agreed Ike. “I’ll +make Old Bill give me muh time, if need be, and +we’ll spend our honeymoon at Tintacker. I kin +fix up one of the old shacks to suit us to camp in. +I don’t wish that poor feller over there any +harm,” he added, smiling broadly at the pretty +girl beside him, “but if it hadn’t been that he got +this fever, you an’ I wouldn’t be married now, +honey.” +</p> +<p> +“You can thank Ruth Fielding—if you want to +be thankful to anybody,” returned Sally, in her +brisk way. “But maybe you won’t be so thankful +a year or two from now, Ike.” +</p> +<p> +Dr. Burgess came with his black bag and they +were off. The automobile—as Sally said herself—behaved +“like an angel,” and they reached +Silver Ranch (after halting for a brief time at the +Crossing for Sally to pack <em>her</em> bag and acquaint +Old Lem Dickson of the sudden and unexpected +change in her condition) late at night. Old Bill +Hicks was off for Tintacker and the party remained +only long enough to eat and for Bob +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_194'></a>194</span> +Steele to go over the mechanism of the badly-shaken +motor-car. +</p> +<p> +“I’ll drive you on to the river myself, Ike,” +he said. “You are all going on from there on +horseback, I understand, and I’ll bring the machine +back here.” +</p> +<p> +But when the newly-married couple and the +physician had eaten what Maria could hastily put +before them, and were ready to re-enter the car, +Mary Cox came out upon the verandah, ready to +go likewise. +</p> +<p> +“For pity’s sake, Mary!” gasped Heavy. +“You don’t want to ride over to the river with +them.” +</p> +<p> +“I’m going to those mines,” said The Fox, defiantly. +</p> +<p> +“What for?” asked Jane Ann, who had arrived +at the ranch herself only a short time before. +</p> +<p> +“That’s my business. I am going,” returned +The Fox, shortly. +</p> +<p> +“Why, you can’t do any such thing,” began +Jane Ann; but Mary turned to Ike and proffered +her request: +</p> +<p> +“Isn’t there room for me in the car, Mr. +Stedman?” +</p> +<p> +“Why, I reckon so, Miss,” agreed Ike, slowly. +</p> +<p> +“And won’t there be a pony for me to ride +from the river to Tintacker?” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_195'></a>195</span> +</p> +<p> +“I reckon we can find one.” +</p> +<p> +“Then I’m going,” declared Mary, getting +promptly into the tonneau with the doctor and +Sally. “I’ve just as good a reason for being over +there—maybe a better reason for going—than +Ruth Fielding.” +</p> +<p> +None of her girl friends made any comment +upon this statement in Mary’s hearing; but Madge +declared, as the car chugged away from the +ranch-house: +</p> +<p> +“I’ll never again go anywhere with that girl +unless she has a change of heart! She is just as +mean as she can be.” +</p> +<p> +“She’s the limit!” said Heavy, despondently. +“And I used to think she wasn’t a bad sort.” +</p> +<p> +“And once upon a time,” said Helen Cameron, +gravely, “I followed her leadership to the +neglect of Ruth. I really thought The Fox was +the very smartest girl I had ever met.” +</p> +<p> +“But she couldn’t hold the Up and Doing Club +together,” quoth the stout girl. +</p> +<p> +“Ruth’s Sweetbriars finished both the Upedes +and the Fussy Curls,” laughed Madge, referring +to the two social clubs at Briarwood Hall, which +had been quite put-out of countenance by the +Sweetbriar Association which had been inaugurated +by the girl from the Red Mill. +</p> +<p> +“And The Fox has never forgiven Ruth,” declared +Heavy. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_196'></a>196</span> +</p> +<p> +“What she means by forcing herself on this +party at Tintacker, gets my time!” exclaimed +Jane Ann. +</p> +<p> +“Sally will make her walk a chalk line if she +goes over there with her,” laughed Helen. +“Think of her and Ike getting married without a +word to anybody!” +</p> +<p> +Jane Ann laughed, too, at that. “Sally whispered +to me that she never would have taken Ike +so quick if it hadn’t been for what we did at the +party the other night. She was afraid some of +the other girls around here would see what a good +fellow Ike was and want to marry him. She’s +always intended to take him some time, she said; +but it was Ruth that settled the affair at that +time.” +</p> +<p> +“I declare! Ruth <em>does</em> influence a whole lot of +folk, doesn’t she?” murmured Heavy. “I never +saw such a girl.” +</p> +<p> +And that last was the comment Dr. Burgess +made regarding the girl of the Red Mill after the +party arrived at Tintacker. They reached the +mine just at daybreak the next morning. Mary +Cox had kept them back some, for she was not a +good rider. But she had cried and taken on so +when Sally and Ike did not want her to go farther +than the river, that they were really forced +to allow her to continue the entire journey. +</p> +<p> +Dr. Burgess examined the sick man and pronounced him +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_197'></a>197</span> +to be in a very critical condition. +But he surely had improved since the hour that +Ruth and Jib Pottoway had found him. Old Bill +Hicks had helped care for the patient during the +night; but Ruth had actually gone ahead with +everything and—without much doubt, the doctor +added—the stranger could thank her for his life +if he <em>did</em> recover. +</p> +<p> +“That girl is all right!” declared the physician, +preparing to return the long miles he had +come by relays of horses to the ranch-house, and +from thence to Bullhide in the automobile. “She +has done just the right thing.” +</p> +<p> +“She’s a mighty cute young lady,” admitted +Bill Hicks. “And this chap—John Cox, or whatever +his name is—ought to feel that she’s squared +things up with him over that bear business——” +</p> +<p> +“Then you have learned his name?” queried +Tom Cameron, who was present. +</p> +<p> +“I got the coat away from him when he was +asleep in the night,” said Mr. Hicks. “He had +letters and papers and a wad of banknotes in it. +Ruth’s got ’em all. She says he is the man with +whom her Uncle Jabez went into partnership +over the old Tintacker claims. Mebbe the feller’s +struck a good thing after all. He seems to have +an assayer’s report among his papers that promises +big returns on some specimens he had assayed. +If he dug ’em out of the Tintacker Claim mebbe +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_198'></a>198</span> +the old hole in the ground will take on a new +lease of life.” +</p> +<p> +At that moment Mary Cox pushed forward, +with Sally holding her by the arm. +</p> +<p> +“I’ve got to know!” cried The Fox. “You +must tell me. Does the—the poor fellow say his +name is Cox?” +</p> +<p> +“Jest the same as yourn, Miss,” remarked Old +Bill, watching her closely. “Letters and deeds +all to ‘John Cox.’” +</p> +<p> +“I know it! I feared it all along!” cried The +Fox, wringing her hands. “I saw him in the +cañon when he shot the bear and he looked so +much like John——” +</p> +<p> +“He’s related to you, then, Miss?” asked the +doctor. +</p> +<p> +“He’s my brother—I know he is!” cried +Mary, and burst into tears. +</p> +<h2><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_199'></a>199</span><a name='chXXV' id='chXXV'></a>CHAPTER XXV—AT THE OLD RED MILL AGAIN</h2> +<p> +The mist hovered over the river as though +loth to uncover the dimpling current; yet the rising +sun was insistent—its warm, soft September +rays melting the jealous mist and uncovering, rod +by rod, the sleeping stream. Ruth, fresh from +her bed and looking out of the little window of +her old room at the Red Mill farmhouse, thought +that, after all, the scene was quite as soothing and +beautiful as any of the fine landscapes she had +observed during her far-western trip. +</p> +<p> +For the Briarwood Hall girls were back from +their sojourn at Silver Ranch. They had arrived +the night before. Montana, and the herds of +cattle, and the vast cañons and far-stretching +plains, would be but a memory to them hereafter. +Their vacation on the range was ended, and in +another week Briarwood Hall would open again +and lessons must be attended to. +</p> +<p> +Jane Ann Hicks would follow them East in +time to join the school the opening week. Ruth +looked back upon that first day at school a year +ago when she and Helen Cameron had become +“Infants” at Briarwood. They would make it +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_200'></a>200</span> +easier for Jane Ann, remembering so keenly how +strange they had felt before they attained the +higher classes. +</p> +<p> +The last of the mist rolled away and the warm +sun revealed all the river and the woods and pastures +beyond. Ruth kissed her hand to it and +then, hearing a door close softly below-stairs, she +hurried her dressing and ran down to the farmhouse +kitchen. The little, stooping figure of an +old woman was bent above the stove, muttering +in a sort of sing-song refrain: +</p> +<p> +“Oh, my back! and oh, my bones!” +</p> +<p> +“Then let somebody else save your back and +bones, Aunt Alviry!” cried Ruth, putting her +arms around the old housekeeper’s neck. “There! +how good it is to see you again. Sit right down +there. You are to play lady. <em>I</em> am going to get +the breakfast.” +</p> +<p> +“But your Uncle Jabez wants hot muffins, my +pretty,” objected Aunt Alvirah. +</p> +<p> +“And don’t you suppose anybody can make +muffins but you?” queried Ruth, blithely. “I +made ’em out to Silver Ranch. Maria, the Mexican +cook, taught me. Even Uncle Jabez will like +them made by my recipe—now you see if he +doesn’t.” +</p> +<p> +And the miller certainly praised the muffins—by +eating a full half dozen of them. Of course, +he did not say audibly that they were good. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_201'></a>201</span> +</p> +<p> +And yet, Uncle Jabez had a much more companionable +air about him than he had ever betrayed +before—at least, within the knowledge of +Ruth Fielding. He smiled—and that not grimly—as +the girl related some of her experiences during +her wonderful summer vacation. +</p> +<p> +“It was a great trip—and wonderful,” she +sighed, finally. “Of course, the last of it was +rather spoiled by Mary Cox’s brother being so ill. +And the doctors found, when they got the better +of the fever, that his head had been hurt some +months before, and that is why he had wandered +about there, without writing East—either to his +folks or to you, Uncle Jabez. But he’s all right +now, and Mary expects to bring him home from +Denver, where he stopped over, in a few days. +She’ll be home in time for the opening of school, +at least,” and here Ruth’s voice halted and her +face changed color, while she looked beseechingly +at Uncle Jabez. +</p> +<p> +The miller cleared his throat and looked at her. +Aunt Alvirah stopped eating, too, and she and +Ruth gazed anxiously at the flint-like face of the +old man. +</p> +<p> +“I got a letter from that lawyer at Bullhide, +Montana, two days ago, Niece Ruth,” said Uncle +Jabez, in his harsh voice. “He has been going +over the Tintacker affairs, and he has proved up +on that young Cox’s report. The young chap is +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_202'></a>202</span> +as straight as a string. The money he got from +me is all accounted for. And according to the +assayers the new vein Cox discovered will mill as +high as two hundred dollars to the ton of ore. +If we work it as a stock company it will make us +money; but young Cox being in such bad shape +physically, and his finances being as they are, +we’ll probably decide to sell out to a syndicate of +Denver people. Cox will close the contract with +them before he comes East, it may be, and on +such terms,” added Uncle Jabez with a satisfaction +that he could not hide, “that it will be the +very best investment I ever made.” +</p> +<p> +“Oh, Uncle!” cried Ruth Fielding. +</p> +<p> +“Yes,” said Uncle Jabez, with complacency. +“The mine is going to pay us well. Fortunately +you was insistent on finding and speaking to young +Cox. If you had not found him—and if he had +not recovered his health—it might have been +many months before I could have recovered even +the money I had put into the young man’s scheme. +And—so he says—<em>you</em> saved his life, Ruthie.” +</p> +<p> +“That’s just talk, Uncle,” cried the girl. +“Don’t you believe it. Anybody would have +done the same.” +</p> +<p> +“However that may be, and whether it is due +to you in any particular that I can quickly realize +on my investment,” said the miller, rising suddenly +from the table, “circumstances are such +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_203'></a>203</span> +now that there is no reason why you shouldn’t +have another term or two at school—if you want +to go.” +</p> +<p> +“<em>Want to go to Briarwood!</em> Oh, Uncle!” +gasped Ruth. +</p> +<p> +“Then I take it you <em>do</em> want to go?” +</p> +<p> +“More than anything else in the world!” declared +his niece, reverently. +</p> +<p> +“Wall, Niece Ruth,” he concluded, with his +usual manner. “If your Aunt Alviry can spare +ye——” +</p> +<p> +“Don’t think about me, Jabez, don’t think +about me,” cried the little old woman. “Just +what my pretty wants—that will please her Aunt +Alviry.” +</p> +<p> +Ruth ran and seized the hard hand of the +miller before he could get out of the kitchen. +“Oh, Uncle!” she cried, kissing his hand. “You +<em>are</em> good to me!” +</p> +<p> +“Nonsense, child!” he returned, roughly, and +went out. +</p> +<p> +Ruth turned to the little old woman, down +whose face the tears were coursing unreproved. +</p> +<p> +“And you, too, Auntie! You are too good to +me! Everybody is too good to me! Look at the +Camerons! and Jennie Stone! and all the rest. +And Mary Cox just hugged me tight when we +came away and said she loved me—that I had +saved her brother’s life. And Mr. Bill Hicks—and +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_204'></a>204</span> +Jimsey and the other boys. And Bashful Ike +and Sally made me promise that if ever I could +get out West again I should spend a long time at +their home—— +</p> +<p> +“Oh, dear, me Aunt Alvirah,” finished the +girl of the Red Mill, with a tearful but happy +sigh, “this world is a very beautiful place after +all, and the people in it are just lovely!” +</p> +<p> +There were many more adventures in store for +Ruth, and what some of them were will be related +in the next volume of this series, to be entitled: +“Ruth Fielding on Cliff Island; Or, The Old +Hunter’s Treasure Box,” in which will be related +the particulars of a most surprising mystery. +</p> +<p> +“Only one Ruthie!” mused old Jabez. “Only +one, but she’s quite a gal—yes, quite a gal!” +</p> +<p> +And we agree with him; don’t we, reader? +</p> +<div class='center'> +<p> </p> +<p>THE END</p> +</div> +<p> + <br /> + <br /> + <br /> +</p> +<p> +<span style='font-size:larger;font-weight:bold;'>THE RUTH FIELDING SERIES</span> +</p> +<p> +<span class='sc'>By</span> ALICE B. EMERSON +</p> +<p> +<em>12mo. Illustrated. Price per volume, 65 cents, postpaid</em> +</p> +<div class='figleft' style='padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='i004' id='i004'></a> +<img src='images/ad1.jpg' alt='' title=''/><br /> +</div> +<p> +<b>RUTH FIELDING OF THE RED MILL</b> +<em>or Jasper Parole’s Secret</em> +</p> +<p> +<b>RUTH FIELDING AT BRIARWOOD HALL</b> +<em>or Solving the Campus Mystery</em> +</p> +<p> +<b>RUTH FIELDING AT SNOW CAMP</b> +<em>or Lost in the Backwoods</em> +</p> +<p> +<b>RUTH FIELDING AT LIGHTHOUSE POINT</b> +<em>or Nita, the Girl Castaway</em> +</p> +<p> +<b>RUTH FIELDING AT SILVER RANCH</b> +<em>or Schoolgirls Among the Cowboys</em> +</p> +<p> +<b>RUTH FIELDING ON CLIFF ISLAND</b> +<em>or The Old Hunter’s Treasure Box</em> +</p> +<p> +<b>RUTH FIELDING AT SUNRISE FARM</b> +<em>or What Became of the Raby Orphans</em> +</p> +<p> +<b>RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES</b> +<em>or The Missing Pearl Necklace</em> +</p> +<p> +<b>RUTH FIELDING IN MOVING PICTURES</b> +<em>or Helping the Dormitory Fund</em> +</p> +<p> +<b>RUTH FIELDING DOWN IN DIXIE</b> +<em>or Great Days in the Land of Cotton</em> +</p> +<p> +<b>RUTH FIELDING AT COLLEGE</b> +<em>or The Missing Examination Papers</em> +</p> +<p> +<b>RUTH FIELDING IN THE SADDLE</b> +<em>or College Girls in the Land of Gold</em> +</p> +<p> +<b>RUTH FIELDING IN THE RED CROSS</b> +<em>or Doing Her Bit for Uncle Sam</em> +</p> +<p> +<b>RUTH FIELDING AT THE WAR FRONT</b> +<em>or The Hunt for a Lost Soldier</em> +</p> +<p> +<b>RUTH FIELDING HOMEWARD BOUND</b> +<em>or A Red Cross Worker’s Ocean Perils</em> +</p> +<p> +<b>RUTH FIELDING DOWN EAST</b> +<em>or The Hermit of Beach Plum Point</em> +</p> +<p> +<b>RUTH FIELDING IN THE GREAT NORTHWEST</b> +<em>or The Indian Girl Star of the Movies</em> +</p> +<p> +<b>RUTH FIELDING ON THE ST. LAWRENCE</b> +<em>or The Queer Old Man of the Thousand Islands</em> +</p> +<p> +<b>RUTH FIELDING TREASURE HUNTING</b> +<em>or A Moving Picture that Became Real</em> +</p> +<p> +<b>RUTH FIELDING IN THE FAR NORTH</b> +<em>or The Lost Motion Picture Company</em> +</p> +<p> +<b>RUTH FIELDING AT GOLDEN PASS</b> +<em>or The Perils of an Artificial Avalanche</em> +</p> +<p> +CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, <em>Publishers</em> NEW YORK +</p> +<p> + <br /> + <br /> + <br /> +</p> +<p> +<span style='font-size:larger;font-weight:bold;'>BILLIE BRADLEY SERIES</span> +</p> +<p> +<span class='sc'>By</span> JANET D. WHEELER +</p> +<p> +<em>12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Jacket in full colors</em> +</p> +<p> +<b><em>Price per volume, 65 cents, postpaid</em></b> +</p> +<div class='figleft' style='padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='i005' id='i005'></a> +<img src='images/ad2.jpg' alt='' title=''/><br /> +</div> +<p> +<b>1. BILLIE BRADLEY AND HER INHERITANCE</b> +<em>or The Queer Homestead at Cherry Corners</em> +</p> +<p> +Billie Bradley fell heir to an old homestead +that was unoccupied and located far away in +a lonely section of the country. How Billie +went there, accompanied by some of her +chums, and what queer things happened, go +to make up a story no girl will want to miss. +</p> +<p> +<b>2. BILLIE BRADLEY AT THREE-TOWERS HALL</b> +<em>or Leading a Needed Rebellion</em> +</p> +<p> +Three-Towers Hall was a boarding school for girls. For a short +time after Billie arrived there all went well. But then the head of +the school had to go on a long journey and she left the girls in charge +of two teachers, sisters, who believed in severe discipline and in very, +very plain food and little of it—and then there was a row! The girls +wired for the head to come back—and all ended happily. +</p> +<p> +<b>3. BILLIE BRADLEY ON LIGHTHOUSE ISLAND</b> +<em>or The Mystery of the Wreck</em> +</p> +<p> +One of Billie’s friends owned a summer bungalow on Lighthouse +Island, near the coast. The school girls made up a party and visited +the Island. There was a storm and a wreck, and three little children +were washed ashore. They could tell nothing of themselves, and +Billie and her chums set to work to solve the mystery of their +identity. +</p> +<p> +<b>4. BILLIE BRADLEY AND HER CLASSMATES</b> +<em>or The Secret of the Locked Tower</em> +</p> +<p> +Billie and her chums come to the rescue of several little children +who have broken through the ice. There is the mystery of a lost +invention, and also the dreaded mystery of the locked school tower. +</p> +<p> +<b>5. BILLIE BRADLEY AT TWIN LAKES</b> +<em>or Jolly Schoolgirls Afloat and Ashore</em> +</p> +<p> +A tale of outdoor adventure in which Billie and her chums have a +great variety of adventures. They visit an artists’ colony and there +fall in with a strange girl living with an old boatman who abuses her +constantly. Billie befriended Hulda and the mystery surrounding +the girl was finally cleared up. +</p> +<p> +<em>Send for Our Free Illustrated Catalogue</em> +</p> +<p> +CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, <em>Publishers</em> NEW YORK +</p> +<p> + <br /> + <br /> + <br /> +</p> +<p> +<span style='font-size:larger;font-weight:bold;'>THE BETTY GORDON SERIES</span> +</p> +<p> +<span class='sc'>By</span> ALICE B. EMERSON +</p> +<p> +<em>Author of the Famous “Ruth Fielding” Series</em> +</p> +<p> +<em>12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Jacket in full colors</em> +</p> +<p> +<em>Price per volume, 65 cents, postpaid</em> +</p> +<div class='figleft' style='padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='i006' id='i006'></a> +<img src='images/ad3.jpg' alt='' title=''/><br /> +</div> +<p> +<em>A series of stories by Alice B. Emerson which +are bound to make this writer more popular +than ever with her host of girl readers.</em> +</p> +<p> +<b>1. BETTY GORDON AT BRAMBLE +FARM</b> <em>or The Mystery of a Nobody</em> +</p> +<p> +At the age of twelve Betty is left an +orphan. +</p> +<p> +<b>2. BETTY GORDON IN WASHINGTON</b> +<em>or Strange Adventures in a Great City</em> +</p> +<p> +In this volume Betty goes to the National +Capitol to find her uncle and has several +unusual adventures. +</p> +<p> +<b>3. BETTY GORDON IN THE LAND OF OIL</b> +<em>or The Farm That Was Worth a Fortune</em> +</p> +<p> +From Washington the scene is shifted to the great oil fields of +our country. A splendid picture of the oil field operations of to-day. +</p> +<p> +<b>4. BETTY GORDON AT BOARDING SCHOOL</b> +<em>or The Treasure of Indian Chasm</em> +</p> +<p> +Seeking the treasure of Indian Chasm makes an exceedingly interesting +incident. +</p> +<p> +<b>5. BETTY GORDON AT MOUNTAIN CAMP</b> +<em>or The Mystery of Ida Bellethorne</em> +</p> +<p> +At Mountain Camp Betty found herself in the midst of a mystery +involving a girl whom she had previously met in Washington. +</p> +<p> +<b>6. BETTY GORDON AT OCEAN PARK</b> +<em>or School Chums on the Boardwalk</em> +</p> +<p> +A glorious outing that Betty and her chums never forgot. +</p> +<p> +<b>7. BETTY GORDON AND HER SCHOOL CHUMS</b> +<em>or Bringing the Rebels to Terms</em> +</p> +<p> +Rebellious students, disliked teachers and mysterious robberies +make a fascinating story. +</p> +<p> +<b>8. BETTY GORDON AT RAINBOW RANCH</b> +<em>or Cowboy Joe’s Secret</em> +</p> +<p> +Betty and her chums have a grand time in the saddle. +</p> +<p> +<em>Send for Our Free Illustrated Catalogue</em> +</p> +<p> +CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, <em>Publishers</em> NEW YORK +</p> +<p> + <br /> + <br /> + <br /> +</p> +<p> +<span style='font-size:larger;font-weight:bold;'>THE LINGER-NOT SERIES</span> +</p> +<p> +<span class='sc'>By</span> AGNES MILLER +</p> +<p> +<em>12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Jacket in full colors</em> +</p> +<p> +<em>Price per volume, 65 cents, postpaid</em> +</p> +<div class='figleft' style='padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='i007' id='i007'></a> +<img src='images/ad4.jpg' alt='' title=''/><br /> +</div> +<p> +<em>This new series of girls’ books is in a new +style of story writing. The interest is in knowing +the girls and seeing them solve the problems +that develop their character. Incidentally, a +great deal of historical information is imparted.</em> +</p> +<p> +<b>1. THE LINGER-NOTS AND THE MYSTERY HOUSE</b> +<em>or The Story of Nine Adventurous Girls</em> +</p> +<p> +How the Linger-Not girls met and formed +their club seems commonplace, but this +writer makes it fascinating, and how they +made their club serve a great purpose continues +the interest to the end, and introduces +a new type of girlhood. +</p> +<p> +<b>2. THE LINGER-NOTS AND THE VALLEY FEUD</b> +<em>or The Great West Point Chain</em> +</p> +<p> +The Linger-Not girls had no thought of becoming mixed up with +feuds or mysteries, but their habit of being useful soon entangled +them in some surprising adventures that turned out happily for all, +and made the valley better because of their visit. +</p> +<p> +<b>3. THE LINGER-NOTS AND THEIR GOLDEN QUEST</b> +<em>or The Log of the Ocean Monarch</em> +</p> +<p> +For a club of girls to become involved in a mystery leading back +into the times of the California gold-rush, seems unnatural until the +reader sees how it happened, and how the girls helped one of their +friends to come into her rightful name and inheritance, forms a fine +story. +</p> +<p> +<b>4. THE LINGER-NOTS AND THE WHISPERING CHARMS</b> +<em>or The Secret from Old Alaska</em> +</p> +<p> +Whether engrossed in thrilling adventures in the Far North or +occupied with quiet home duties, the Linger-Not girls could work +unitedly to solve a colorful mystery in a way that interpreted +American freedom to a sad young stranger, and brought happiness +to her and to themselves. +</p> +<p> +<em>Send for Our Free Illustrated Catalogue</em> +</p> +<p> +CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, <em>Publishers</em> NEW YORK +</p> +<p> + <br /> + <br /> + <br /> +</p> +<p> +<span style='font-size:larger;font-weight:bold;'>THE GIRL SCOUT SERIES</span> +</p> +<p> +<span class='sc'>By</span> LILIAN GARIS +</p> +<p> +<em>12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Jacket in full colors</em> +</p> +<p> +<em>Price per volume, 65 cents, postpaid</em> +</p> +<div class='figleft' style='padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='i008' id='i008'></a> +<img src='images/ad5.jpg' alt='' title=''/><br /> +</div> +<p> +<em>The highest ideals of girlhood as advocated +by the foremost organizations of America +form the background for these stories and while +unobtrusive there is a message in every volume.</em> +</p> +<p> +<b>1. THE GIRL SCOUT PIONEERS</b> +<em>or Winning the First B. C.</em> +</p> +<p> +A story of the True Tred Troop in a Pennsylvania +town. Two runaway girls, who +want to see the city, are reclaimed through +troop influence. The story is correct in scout +detail. +</p> +<p> +<b>2. THE GIRL SCOUTS AT BELLAIRE</b> +<em>or Maid Mary’s Awakening</em> +</p> +<p> +The story of a timid little maid who is afraid to take part in +other girls’ activities, while working nobly alone for high ideals. +How she was discovered by the Bellaire Troop and came into her +own as “Maid Mary” makes a fascinating story. +</p> +<p> +<b>3. THE GIRL SCOUTS AT SEA CREST</b> +<em>or The Wig Wag Rescue</em> +</p> +<p> +Luna Land, a little island by the sea, is wrapt in a mysterious +seclusion, and Kitty Scuttle, a grotesque figure, succeeds in keeping +all others at bay until the Girl Scouts come. +</p> +<p> +<b>4. THE GIRL SCOUTS AT CAMP COMALONG</b> +<em>or Peg of Tamarack Hills</em> +</p> +<p> +The girls of Bobolink Troop spend their summer on the shores of +Lake Hocomo. Their discovery of Peg, the mysterious rider, and +the clearing up of her remarkable adventures afford a vigorous plot. +</p> +<p> +<b>5. THE GIRL SCOUTS AT ROCKY LEDGE</b> +<em>or Nora’s Real Vacation</em> +</p> +<p> +Nora Blair is the pampered daughter of a frivolous mother. Her +dislike for the rugged life of Girl Scouts is eventually changed to +appreciation, when the rescue of little Lucia, a woodland waif, +becomes a problem for the girls to solve. +</p> +<p> +<em>Send for Our Free Illustrated Catalogue</em> +</p> +<p> +CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, <em>Publishers</em> NEW YORK +</p> +<p> + <br /> + <br /> + <br /> +</p> +<p> +<span style='font-size:larger;font-weight:bold;'>THE RADIO GIRLS SERIES</span> +</p> +<p> +<span class='sc'>By</span> MARGARET PENROSE +</p> +<p> +<em>12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Jacket in full colors</em> +</p> +<p> +<b><em>Price per volume, 65 cents, postpaid</em></b> +</p> +<div class='figleft' style='padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='i009' id='i009'></a> +<img src='images/ad6.jpg' alt='' title=''/><br /> +</div> +<p> +<em>A new and up-to-date series, taking in the activities of +several bright girls who become interested in radio. The stories +tell of thrilling exploits, outdoor life and the great part the +Radio plays in the adventures of the girls and in solving their +mysteries. Fascinating books that girls of all ages will want to +read.</em> +</p> +<p> +<b>1. THE RADIO GIRLS OF ROSELAWN</b> +<em>or A Strange Message from the Air</em> +</p> +<p> +Showing how Jessie Norwood and her chums became interested in +radiophoning, how they gave a concert for a worthy local charity, +and how they received a sudden and unexpected call for help out +of the air. A girl wanted as witness in a celebrated law case +disappears, and the radio girls go to the rescue. +</p> +<p> +<b>2. THE RADIO GIRLS ON THE PROGRAM</b> +<em>or Singing and Reciting at the Sending Station</em> +</p> +<p> +When listening in on a thrilling recitation or a superb concert +number who of us has not longed to “look behind the scenes” to see +how it was done? The girls had made the acquaintance of a sending +station manager and in this volume are permitted to get on the program, +much to their delight. A tale full of action and fun. +</p> +<p> +<b>3. THE RADIO GIRLS ON STATION ISLAND</b> +<em>or The Wireless from the Steam Yacht</em> +</p> +<p> +In this volume the girls travel to the seashore and put in a vacation +on an island where is located a big radio sending station. The big +brother of one of the girls owns a steam yacht and while out with a +pleasure party those on the island receive word by radio that the +yacht is on fire. A tale thrilling to the last page. +</p> +<p> +<b>4. THE RADIO GIRLS AT FOREST LODGE</b> +<em>or The Strange Hut in the Swamp</em> +</p> +<p> +The Radio Girls spend several weeks on the shores of a beautiful +lake and with their radio get news of a great forest fire. It also aids +them in rounding up some undesirable folks who occupy the strange +hut in the swamp. +</p> +<p> +<em>Send for Our Free Illustrated Catalogue</em> +</p> +<p> +CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, <em>Publishers</em> NEW YORK +</p> +<p> + <br /> + <br /> + <br /> +</p> +<p> +<span style='font-size:larger;font-weight:bold;'>THE CURLYTOPS SERIES</span> +</p> +<p> +<span class='sc'>By</span> HOWARD R. GARIS +</p> +<p> +<em>Author of the famous “Bedtime Animal Stories”</em> +</p> +<p> +<em>12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Jacket in full colors</em> +</p> +<p> +<em>Price per volume, 65 cents, postpaid</em> +</p> +<div class='figleft' style='padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='i010' id='i010'></a> +<img src='images/ad7.jpg' alt='' title=''/><br /> +</div> +<p> +<b>1. THE CURLYTOPS AT CHERRY FARM</b> +<em>or Vacation Days in the Country</em> +</p> +<p> +A tale of happy vacation days on a farm. +</p> +<p> +<b>2. THE CURLYTOPS ON STAR ISLAND</b> +<em>or Camping out with Grandpa</em> +</p> +<p> +The Curlytops were delighted when grandpa +took them to camp on Star Island. +</p> +<p> +<b>3. THE CURLYTOPS SNOWED IN</b> +<em>or Grand Fun with Skates and Sleds</em> +</p> +<p> +The Curlytops, with their skates and sleds, +on lakes and hills. +</p> +<p> +<b>4. THE CURLYTOPS AT UNCLE FRANK’S RANCH</b> +<em>or Little Folks on Ponyback</em> +</p> +<p> +Out West on their uncle’s ranch they have a wonderful time. +</p> +<p> +<b>5. THE CURLYTOPS AT SILVER LAKE</b> +<em>or On the Water with Uncle Ben</em> +</p> +<p> +The Curlytops camp out on the shores of a beautiful lake. +</p> +<p> +<b>6. THE CURLYTOPS AND THEIR PETS</b> +<em>or Uncle Toby’s Strange Collection</em> +</p> +<p> +An old uncle leaves them to care for his collection of pets. +</p> +<p> +<b>7. THE CURLYTOPS AND THEIR PLAYMATES</b> +<em>or Jolly Times Through the Holidays</em> +</p> +<p> +They have great times with their uncle’s collection of animals. +</p> +<p> +<b>8. THE CURLYTOPS IN THE WOODS</b> +<em>or Fun at the Lumber Camp</em> +</p> +<p> +Exciting times in the forest for Curlytops. +</p> +<p> +<b>9. THE CURLYTOPS AT SUNSET BEACH</b> +<em>or What Was Found in the Sand</em> +</p> +<p> +The Curlytops have a fine time at the seashore, bathing, digging +in the sand and pony-back riding. +</p> +<p> +<b>10. THE CURLYTOPS TOURING AROUND</b> +<em>or Delightful Days in Pleasant Places</em> +</p> +<p> +The Curlytops fall in with a moving picture company and get in +some of the pictures. +</p> +<p> +<em>Send for Our Free Illustrated Catalogue</em> +</p> +<p> +CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, <em>Publishers</em> NEW YORK +</p> +<p> + <br /> + <br /> + <br /> +</p> +<p> +<span style='font-size:larger;font-weight:bold;'>FOUR LITTLE BLOSSOMS SERIES</span> +</p> +<p> +<span class='sc'>By</span> MABEL C. HAWLEY +</p> +<p> +<em>12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Jacket in full colors</em> +</p> +<p> +<em>Price per volume, 65 cents, postpaid</em> +</p> +<div class='figleft' style='padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='i011' id='i011'></a> +<img src='images/ad8.jpg' alt='' title=''/><br /> +</div> +<p> +<b>1. FOUR LITTLE BLOSSOMS AT BROOKSIDE FARM</b> +</p> +<p> +Mother called them her Four Little Blossoms, but Daddy Blossom +called them Bobby, Meg, and the twins. The twins, Twaddles and +Dot, were a comical pair and always getting into mischief. The +children had heaps of fun around the big farm. +</p> +<p> +<b>2. FOUR LITTLE BLOSSOMS AT OAK HILL SCHOOL</b> +</p> +<p> +In the Fall, Bobby and Meg had to go to school. It was good fun, +for Miss Mason was a kind teacher. Then the twins insisted on +going to school, too, and their appearance quite upset the class. +In school something very odd happened. +</p> +<p> +<b>3. FOUR LITTLE BLOSSOMS AND THEIR WINTER FUN</b> +</p> +<p> +Winter came and with it lots of ice and snow, and oh! what fun +the Blossoms had skating and sledding. And once Bobby and Meg +went on an errand and got lost in a sudden snowstorm. +</p> +<p> +<b>4. FOUR LITTLE BLOSSOMS ON APPLE TREE ISLAND</b> +</p> +<p> +The Four Little Blossoms went to a beautiful island in the middle +of a big lake and there had a grand time on the water and in the +woods. And in a deserted cabin they found some letters which helped +an old man to find his missing wife. +</p> +<p> +<b>5. FOUR LITTLE BLOSSOMS THROUGH THE HOLIDAYS</b> +</p> +<p> +The story starts at Thanksgiving. They went skating and coasting, +and they built a wonderful snowman, and one day Bobby and +his chums visited a carpenter shop on the sly, and that night the shop +burnt down, and there was trouble for the boys. +</p> +<p> +<em>Send for Our Free Illustrated Catalogue</em> +</p> +<p> +CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, <em>Publishers</em> NEW YORK +</p> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Ruth Fielding at Silver Ranch, by Alice B. 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