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diff --git a/45989-0.txt b/45989-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b7d9222 --- /dev/null +++ b/45989-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6609 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 45989 *** + +[Illustration: "I'm Hit! Good Night!"] + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + Grace Harlowe's Overland Riders + in the High Sierras + + _by_ + + Jessie Graham Flower, A. M. + + _Illustrated_ + + THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING COMPANY + Akron, Ohio New York + + Made in U. S. A. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + Copyright MCMXXIII + _By_ THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING COMPANY + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + CONTENTS + + CHAPTER I--OLD FRIENDS GET TOGETHER + + Overlanders plan for their summer's vacation in the saddle. + Emma Dean "dotes on mysteries." Hippy Wingate gets a hard + blow. Stacy amazes his new friends by his dramatic entrance. + Shots and yells startle the Overland Riders. + + CHAPTER II--AN INTERRUPTED SLEEP + + The traveling salesman entertains his fellow passengers with + tales of wrecks and hold-ups. Chunky makes the passengers + laugh. Emma Dean has an attack of "nerves." Sheriff Ford is + suspicious. The "Red Limited" comes to a jolting stop. + "Robbers!" screams a woman. + + CHAPTER III--THE HOLD-UP OF THE RED LIMITED + + An ominous silence settles over the transcontinental express. + The sheriff calls for volunteers to drive off the train + bandits. Overland girls offer their services. The treasure car + cut off. Stacy, in his pajamas, joins the defenders. + + CHAPTER IV--IN A LIVELY SKIRMISH + + "Dynamite!" exclaims Sheriff Ford. Defenders give battle. + Stacy Brown shoots and talks. Hippy goes on a desperate + mission. Bandit guards are outwitted. Lieutenant Wingate + caught in a tight place. "I know you!" yells the Overland + Rider. + + CHAPTER V--ON THE TRAIL OF THE MISSING + + Sheriff Ford starts a search for Lieutenant Wingate. A clue at + last. "Captured by the bandits!" exclaims Tom Gray. Chunky + helps himself to a plum pudding. "Suffering cats! You're it!" + + CHAPTER VI--CHUNKY MEETS THE BANDITS + + The fat boy stampedes the outlaws' horses. "Oh, wow! I've lost + my biscuit." A pony that knew the way. "I suppose I emptied + twelve saddles," boasts Stacy. Shots arouse the sheriff's + camp. "Lie low, everybody!" + + CHAPTER VII--BANDITS CATCH A TARTAR + + Lieutenant Wingate, unconscious, is carried away on a pony's + back. A cruel blow. A pin-prick saves the day. The escape of + the Overland captive. "Cease firing! It's Hippy!" The + traveling salesman in a new rôle. + + CHAPTER VIII--HEADED FOR THE HIGH COUNTRY + + Woo Smith joins the Overland outfit. Stacy declares that his + pony can climb a tree. "I want food!" is the fat boy's plaint. + The Overlanders are introduced to a "kyack." Packs are + "thrown" and the journey to the Sierras is begun. + + CHAPTER IX--THEIR SLUMBERS DISTURBED + + "All aboard for the High Sierras!" The Chinaman proves to be a + rare find. "You leave it to Smith," advises Hippy. Stories of + rattlesnakes in campers' blankets set the Overland girls' + nerves on edge. Woo savvies "transmigration." + + CHAPTER X--"BOOTS AND SADDLES" + + The Overland camp in an uproar. "Snakes! Oh, wow!" howls the + fat boy. "Me savvy somebody pull queue," wails Woo Smith. The + dark mystery is finally solved. Stacy Brown proves to be an + unwilling "wrangler." + + CHAPTER XI--PONIES GET A BAD FRIGHT + + Hippy uses a pea-shooter with disastrous results. The fat boy + awakens in a wild rose bush. Suspicion becomes a certainty. + Overlanders make a perilous descent. "The ponies are + stampeding!" shouts Lieutenant Wingate. + + CHAPTER XII--AMID THE GIANT SEQUOIAS + + "Look! Oh, look," cries Emma Dean. Lieutenant Wingate shoots a + cinnamon bear. "Uncle Hippy never misses what he hits." + Stopped by a rattler. Tom Gray lost in the great forest. + Watched over by trees centuries old. + + CHAPTER XIII--THE CAMP AT THE "LAZY J" + + A surprise in the High Sierras. Overland Riders entertained at + a mountain ranch. Stacy tries to shoe a horse. The white mare + gets into action. Warned against the High Country. "Keep away + from the 'Crazy Lake' section," advises the foreman. + + CHAPTER XIV--WOO'S EYES ARE KEEN + + The Chinaman sights a "buck in lelet." Hippy misses a "sure + shot." "Why don't you use a pea-shooter?" jeers Stacy. A rifle + that had been tampered with. "I--I just wanted to get even + with you." A shot that reached the mark. + + CHAPTER XV--FOLLOWING THE AERIAL TRAIL + + The Overland Riders enjoy a venison dinner. Elfreda Briggs is + reminded of Coney Island. Crossing a perilous mountain ridge. + Emma Dean is afraid and doesn't care who knows it. The white + mare meets with sudden disaster. + + CHAPTER XVI--GOING TO BED IN THE CLOUDS + + Kitty gives her masters a perilous job. Stacy offers to get a + derrick. A scene to be remembered. Getting up in the world. + Tom Gray makes up the Overlanders' beds with a pick. Stacy + objects to being buried so soon after supper. + + CHAPTER XVII--IN THE LAND OF PINK SNOWS + + Woo loses a "piecee kettle" over the brink. The campfire + disappears in the clouds. Camping in the valley of the blue + lupines. A trail that was difficult to find. Elfreda becomes + suddenly light-headed. + + CHAPTER XVIII--AT THE "TOP OF THE WORLD" + + The mystery of the "pink snows" is finally solved by Tom. A + snowball battle above the clouds. On the peak of the High + Sierras. The Overland Riders go to sleep in a snowbank. + "Girls, this is an ideal summer resort." + + CHAPTER XIX--BOWLING IN NATURE'S ALLEY + + Hippy Wingate gives his companions a delightful surprise. The + Overlanders withdraw their threat to throw him off the + mountain. A mysterious lake is discovered. Emma Dean scores a + hit. Bullets stop the highest bowling game on record. + + CHAPTER XX--LEAD AND MYSTERY IN THE AIR + + Overland Riders suddenly find themselves under fire. Stacy + "creeps" to safety. "Get up and walk, you tenderfoot!" The + Aerial Lake lives up to its reputation. Woo Smith savvies + trouble. "Discovered!" exclaims Hippy. + + CHAPTER XXI--THE FACE IN THE WATERS + + The guide informs the Overlanders that a woman has been spying + on the camp. Stacy feels like a snowbird. Prowlers leave a + trail. Lieutenant Wingate meets with an unpleasant surprise. + The pool of the mountain trout and what Grace Harlowe saw + there. + + CHAPTER XXII--THE MYSTERY OF AERIAL LAKE + + Grace Harlowe flees from a hideous face. The Overland girls + are eager to solve the mountain mystery. Stacy Brown discovers + an "ark" and goes out for a sail. The fat boy mysteriously + missing. Woo consults the skies. The lost boy returns with an + appetite. + + CHAPTER XXIII--THE LAIR OF THE BAD MEN + + Chunky laughs at his companions' distress. Lieutenant Wingate + invites his nephew out for a "paddle." Stacy makes an + important discovery. Plunder found in the bandits' cave. The + log that was chained down. Bullets drive the Overlanders from + their quest. + + CHAPTER XXIV--MAKING A LAST STAND + + The Overland Riders are fired on by the mountain ruffians. + Imprisoned by dynamite in the robbers' cave. A battle that + came to a sudden end. Sheriff Ford to the rescue. Mother + Jones' career is ended. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + + GRACE HARLOWE'S OVERLAND RIDERS IN THE HIGH SIERRAS + + + + + CHAPTER I + + OLD FRIENDS GET TOGETHER + + +"Who is this Stacy Brown that you girls are speaking of?" questioned +Emma Dean as the Overland girls sat down to dinner in Grace Harlowe's +hospitable Haven Home. + +"He is my Hippy's nephew," Nora Wingate informed her. "You will like +'Chunky,' as he is known to his friends, and I promise you that he will +keep this outfit from getting lonely," added Nora laughingly. + +"He was one of the members of the Pony Rider Boys' outfit," volunteered +Grace. "You know we have heard of them several times on our journeyings. +They used to go out in search of adventure every summer, so Stacy is a +seasoned campaigner. We shall need him where we are going, too." + +"By the way, where are we going, Grace?" spoke up Elfreda Briggs. "I +believe our destination is to be in the nature of a surprise--a mystery, +as it were." + +"I just dote on mysteries," bubbled Emma. "Of course I could have +learned all about it had I not been too conscientious." + +"That is characteristic of your sex," replied Hippy Wingate soberly. +"May I ask you how you could have found out?" + +"I thank you for the compliment, and regret exceedingly that I cannot +return the compliment in kind. How could I have found out? Why, by the +transmigration of thought." + +"The what?" cried Elfreda laughingly. "Is this some new freak, Emma +Dean?" + +"It may be new with me, but the principle is as old as the ages. I +belong to the Society for the Promotion of Thought Transmigration. Our +great and Most Worthy Master lives in Benares, India, where numbers of +the faithful journey for instruction and inspiration once every two +years." + +"Do you mean to say that you belong to that fool outfit?" wondered +Hippy. + +"I am happy to say that I do. I joined last winter, and, novice that I +am, I have realized some remarkable results," replied Emma. + +"Nora, we ought to take her to a specialist before we start on our +journey. It won't do to have a crazy person with us. She might get us +into no end of trouble," suggested Hippy. + +"Humph! I'd much prefer to be crazy than to have a bungalow head," +retorted Emma scornfully. + +"A bungalow head?" exclaimed the girls. + +"Yes. A bungalow has no upper story, you know." + +"Ouch!" cried Hippy Wingate, clapping both hands to his head. "Now that +our Sage of India has spoken, suppose Grace and Tom enlighten us as to +where we are going this summer. In view of the fact that this is my +treat--that I have offered to pay the expenses of the Overland Riders on +this journey--it might not be inappropriate for me to inquire where we +are going. Elfreda's question in that direction is as yet unanswered." + +Tom Gray nodded to his wife. + +"I had intended to wait until Stacy Brown arrived, but as he is not a +member of our little organization, there is no reason why our business +matters should be discussed with him," said Grace. "Dear friends, we are +going to the High Sierras, the great snow-clad peaks of the far west. +Adventure, hardship and health are awaiting us there. It will be a long +journey before we reach the beginning of our real objective, but I +believe you folks will agree with me that the preliminary journey is +well worth while." + +"You say that Hippy is paying the bills?" interjected Emma. + +"He has so said. However, Tom will not have it that way, so we have +agreed that Tom and Hippy shall share equally in the expense of the +journey. Both feel quite rich now since they cleaned up on their big +lumber deal in the North Woods," replied Grace. + +Elfreda said that such an arrangement would not please her at all, +declaring that she would pay her own expenses. + +"You have nothing to say about it," laughed Tom. "The subject is closed. +So far as our having Stacy Brown as our guest, is concerned, you all +agreed to that when Grace wrote to you about his wish to join us on our +summer outing. Are you still of the same mind?" + +"Yes," answered the girls in chorus. + +"What about a guide? Is that arranged for?" asked Miss Briggs. + +"Not yet," answered Grace. "We thought we would leave that until we +reached our destination. Oh, girls, I have some of the loveliest trips +in mind for several seasons ahead, but I'm not going to tell you a word +about them now. In the meantime, anyone that has a suggestion to offer +will please offer it." + +"I have no suggestions to offer, but I should like to ask further light +on this new dope that Emma Dean has sprung on us. What is it, and how +does it work?" asked Hippy. + +"If you won't make fun of me I'll tell you," replied Emma. "The +transmigration of thought is 'tuning-in' one's mind to receive messages +from the mind of another person, just as a wireless operator 'tunes-in' +his instrument to catch the message being sent by another operator far +away. In other words, persons so attuned to each other may converse, +read each other's thoughts and hold communion, even though separated by +thousands of miles of sea or land or both." + +"Marvelous!" breathed Hippy. "For instance, please tune-in your mind and +tell me what I am thinking about. Let's see you do that, if you can," he +declared triumphantly. + +"Our minds never could be in perfect accord, Theophilus Wingate. We are +as far apart as the poles, but our range being so short, I can easily +tell you what you are thinking about. Not being a deep thinker, you are +as transparent as a piece of clear crystal." + +"Emma, don't you say that about my Hippy," protested Nora indignantly. +"My Hippy has a mind as big as his heart, and--" + +"You are thinking," interjected Emma gravely, "what a shallow little +butterfly I am, but what you do not know is that that thought is merely +the reflection of your own mentality. You are, in other words, seeing +yourself as others see you, Hippy Wingate." + +A peal of laughter from the Overland girls greeted Emma's retort. Hippy +flushed, then joined in the laughter. + +"This is so sudden," he murmured. "I'll tell you what you do. Wait until +Stacy arrives, then you just practice your transmigration stuff on him. +Stacy will make a wonderful subject for you. He is so temperamental, so +spiritual, that I am positive you and he will get wonderful results." +Hippy winked at Nora as he said it. + +None of the others had ever seen Stacy Brown, so they had not the least +idea what was in store for them from the comedian of the Pony Rider +Boys' outfit. Stacy was an old campaigner, however, and Hippy knew that +he would prove a valuable member of their party on the ride into the +High Sierras. Stacy knew the open, and with his companions had +experienced many exciting adventures in the wilder parts of the country. +The Overland Riders, too, had had their full share of thrilling +adventure, first as members of the Overton College Unit in France during +the great war, where Hippy Wingate had won honors as a fighting air +pilot, and Tom Gray at the front as a captain of engineers. However, +they had a new phase of excitement to experience in "Chunky" Brown, and +the first of those experiences was near at hand. + +A shot suddenly broke the summer stillness of Haven Home, a shot that +brought the Overland Riders to their feet. + +"_Bang, bang, bang!_" + +"Merciful Heaven! Are we attacked?" cried Elfreda Briggs. + +"Whoop! Yeo-o-o-o-o-w!" + +Three more shots were fired, followed by a succession of startling +whoops and yells. + +"What does it mean? I'm afraid!" cried Emma. + +The Overlanders ran out of the dining room to the veranda, but no one +was in sight. + +"Chunky has arrived. Don't be afraid, girls," laughed Hippy Wingate. "He +is on the other side of the house. There he comes!" + +A short, fat young fellow, riding a gray bronco and perched high on his +saddle, at this juncture dashed around the end of the house, firing two +shots into the air as he passed the amazed group. Just as he swept past, +his sombrero fell off, but Chunky did not stop. In a minute or two he +was back, and, making a graceful dip from the saddle, reached down for +the hat. As he did so, the pony swerved and Stacy Brown landed on the +grass of Haven Home, flopped over on his back, and after a few dazed +seconds got up and shook himself. + +Stacy made a low bow to the spectators gathered on the veranda. + +"Oh, my dear, my dear! Are you hurt?" begged Nora, running to him. + +"Hurt? Of course not. I always fall off before dinner. It puts a keen +edge on my appetite. Hulloa, folks! Glad to meet ye. Hey, Bismarck! Come +here," he ordered. + +His dusty gray pony trotted to him and nosed Stacy's cheek +affectionately. + +"Got anything loose around the house? I'm half starved," urged Chunky. +"Uncle Hip, introduce me to these beautiful young ladies. I've heard of +you folks, and so has Bismarck. You'll find him right friendly, +especially the front end of him, but I shouldn't advise you to get too +close to the tail end. He is very light there. Let him browse in the +yard while I feed the inner man." + +"Indeed not," objected Grace. "I am not going to have my flowers +trampled down after all my hard work on them this spring. Tom, please +lead Stacy's pony around to the stables. I will put something on the +table for you at once, Stacy. Come right in. We were just finishing +dinner when you arrived so violently. Oh! Pardon me. You haven't yet +been introduced to the girls." + +"Thanks!" bowed Stacy. "Thanks for the invitation, but come to think of +it don't introduce me until after dinner. I never like to meet strangers +on an empty stomach." + +"This is Miss Elfreda Briggs, a rising young lawyeress, and here is the +life of our Overland party, Miss Emma Dean. We address each other by our +first names, so you may call her Emma. Come now, Stacy." + +"You're a funny fellow, aren't you?" said Emma, surveying the newcomer +curiously as they walked towards the house. + +"Then we are a pair of 'em, eh?" chuckled the fat boy. + +"I am not a boy, thank my lucky stars and all the saints," objected +Emma. "I'll have you understand that, sir." + +"Let the dove of peace rest over your touchy spirit, Emma," laughed +Grace chidingly. + +"It isn't a dove. It's a crow," corrected Chunky. "A thousand pardons, +Emma dear. I--" + +"I'm not your dear," answered Emma with considerable heat. + +"Yes, you are, but you don't know it. To realize it you will have to +emerge from the unconscious state in which you now so sweetly repose," +teased Stacy, amid the laughter of the others. + +"I should prefer to be unconscious all the time," flung back Emma. + +"Ah! The food does smell good. Food always has a strange effect on me, +and really, I haven't smelled any in almost a thousand years--not since +breakfast this morning. By the way, where do we go and when do we +start?" + +"To the Sierras," answered Tom Gray. "How are you, Chunky?" he added, +extending a hand. + +"Starved. How's yourself?" + +"I think after we go back to the dining room and after I have my dessert +that I shall feel fit as a fiddle," replied Tom. "To answer the rest of +your question, we expect to start tomorrow forenoon. The ponies will be +shipped in a car that is now on the siding at Oakdale." + +"Girls, what do you think of my nephew?" cried Hippy jovially, as they +again seated themselves at the table. + +"So far as I am concerned, I think that he is another of those bungalow +fellows just like yourself, Hippy," answered Emma. "Mr. Brown, may I ask +if you ever have had any experience with mental transmigration?" she +asked, turning to Chunky. + +Chunky, his mouth full of food, surveyed her solemnly. + +"Uh-huh!" he replied thickly. "I met one of those animals once in the +Rocky Mountains. You see it was this way. We had been riding far into +the night to find a suitable camping place, when we were suddenly halted +by a savage growl just ahead of us. I went on ahead, with my trusty +rifle ready, to slay the beast whatever it might be. Suddenly I saw him. +He was the most terrible looking object that I've ever come up with in +all my mountain experience. I threw up my rifle and shot the beast dead +in his tracks." + +"Wonderful!" breathed Emma. "But what has that to do with mental +transmigration?" + +"I'm coming to that. It is wonderful--I mean it was. Will you believe +it, that terrible beast came to life. Yes, sir, he rose right up and +made for us. My pony bolted, and I fell off--just as I ordinarily do +before meal time. My feet at the moment chanced to be out of the +stirrups and I fell off. Well, I might have been killed--I surely would +have been killed, but I wasn't, just because of that stunt that you +mentioned. I transmigrated myself out of that vicinity with a speed that +left that terrible object so far behind that he just lay down and died +again," finished Stacy Brown solemnly, amid shouts of laughter, in which +all but Emma Dean joined. + +Stacy gave her a quick sidelong glance, and Hippy Wingate, observing the +look, knew that war had been declared between Stacy Brown and Emma Dean. + + + + + CHAPTER II + + AN INTERRUPTED SLEEP + + +"Right at this point," said the traveling salesman impressively, "a +train left the track and plunged into that ravine down there." + +"Any loss of life?" questioned Tom Gray. + +"A great many. I was in that wreck myself. I was shaken up a bit, that's +all. You see I know how to take care of myself. We commercial travelers +have to or we should soon be out of business. Nearly the whole train +went into that ravine, and the car in which I was riding stood on end. I +clung to the air-brake cord and thus was miraculously saved." + +"Humph!" muttered Stacy, hunching his fat shoulders forward. "You don't +look to be light enough to perch on an air-brake cord." + +The Overland girls glanced amusedly at Chunky and the traveling +salesman. The entire party was enjoying the late afternoon mountain air +from the rear platform of the observation car on the transcontinental +train known as the Red Limited. Just inside the door sat other +passengers, who had been enjoying the frequent passages-at-arms between +Stacy Brown and Emma Dean. The train had been rumbling over bridges and +lurching through narrow cuts, affording the passengers brief views of a +swiftly moving scenic panorama of interest and attractiveness. + +"As I was saying, the rope, in all probability, saved my life, as I was +the only person in the car that came out alive," continued the traveling +salesman. "I'm in ladies' fine shoes, you know." + +Stacy and Emma regarded the speaker's large feet, glanced at each other +and grinned. + +"I'll bet you couldn't transmigrate them," whispered the fat boy. + +Emma elevated her nose, but made no reply to the trivial remark. + +"I mean that I am selling ladies' fine shoes, young man," added the +salesman, he having observed the fat boy's grin. "My card." He passed +business cards to those nearest to him, and from them the Overlanders +learned that he was William Sylvester Holmes, traveling for a Denver +shoe firm. "My trade call me 'Bill,'" he explained. + +"Hello, Bill!" muttered Hippy, nudging Nora. + +"May I ask what car you were in?" questioned a tall, bronzed passenger +in a mild, apologetic voice. + +"The same as this one." + +"Hm-m-m! That's odd. I do not recall having seen you. However, I was in +the other end of the car, which perhaps accounts for it," said the +stranger in a more humble voice. + +William Sylvester flushed. Instead of being overcome, however, he +shifted his conversation to another train wreck that he said had +occurred a few miles further on at a place called Summit. + +The faces of the Overland Riders expanded into discreet smiles at the +mild way in which the tall man had rebuked the loquacious traveler. +Grace and Elfreda, in particular, found themselves much interested in +this big man. Grace asked a fellow passenger who the man was, and +learned that he was Bill Ford, for some years sheriff of Sonora County. +Ford had been observing the traveling salesman through mild blue eyes in +which there appeared an expression of more than casual interest. + +"It was that Summit wreck that nearly did me up," resumed Holmes. "We +went over an embankment there. Being in a berth in a sleeping car I was +unable to grab hold of anything. The car played football with me, but I +came off with nothing more serious than a broken arm. Oh, I have had my +experiences! Were you in that wreck, too?" he asked, turning quickly to +the sheriff. + +"Never heard of it," answered Ford carelessly. + +"All that saved us was the fact that the cars were made of steel. We'll +pass Summit within the hour, and I'll show you where we went off the +rails that time." + +"Tell us about something that happened when the train didn't leave the +rails," urged Stacy. + +"With pleasure. I remember, some two years ago--it was this very train, +I do believe--when a party of bandits held up a train on this line. That +occurred between Summit and Gardner. They uncoupled the express car and, +after compelling the engineer to haul it up the track a short distance, +dynamited the car and robbed it of the treasure it was carrying." + +"They've been cutting up that same kind of caper quite lately," nodded +the sheriff. + +"Di--id they rob the passengers?" stammered Emma Dean. + +"In some of the cars, yes. In my car they did not. I held them off with +my revolver. I----" + +"That was very careless of you. Why, sir, you might have shot yourself," +cried Stacy. + +Mr. Holmes gave the fat boy a withering glance and resumed his story. + +"After my display of courage the other passengers got brave, and with +their assistance I drove the bandits off. However, I should not advise +it. For the average person, the safe course is to sit still and take his +medicine. Gentlemen, never offer resistance when a gang of bandits +orders you to put up your hands, but put them up as fast as you can and +let them stay put," he added, fixing his gaze on Tom Gray who smiled and +nodded. + +"Yes, sir," agreed Chunky. "That's the way I always do." + +"Were you ever held up?" questioned the salesman. + +"Many times. I put up my hands too, but there was a gun in both of 'em," +answered Stacy amid much laughter. + +At this juncture a passenger asked the storyteller to tell them more +about the hold-up, which he did without urging. + +"The train in question was carrying a treasure, just as this one no +doubt is. The bandits had obtained information of this fact from a +confederate. They were right on the job when the train came along. After +stopping the train they placed men at the car door to take up a +collection from the passengers. All submitted tamely, as they should +have done, except in the car where I was, and--we are approaching Summit +now. From that point we go down grade for twenty miles or so, then we +begin to climb again. We stop at Summit." + +"Isn't it terrible, all that banditry. I'm afraid," shivered Emma when a +little later the party had gone to the dining car for supper. + +"For one who can transmigrate as well as you can, there should be no +fear," suggested Hippy. "Just transmigrate the bandits to some other +train." + +"I think we should transmigrate ourselves in the event of such a thing +occurring," vouchsafed Elfreda Briggs. + +Sheriff Ford came into the dining car shortly after the train had left +Summit, and nodded at the party in a friendly fashion. + +"What has become of our story-telling friend, sir?" asked Grace. + +"I saw him go into the smoking car ahead as the train was leaving +Summit. He sent two telegrams before leaving. This shoe business +requires a lot of telegraphing, it appears," added the sheriff dryly. + +"How do you know it was about shoe business?" demanded Stacy. + +"Because I happened to see the last telegram." + +Tom Gray eyed the sheriff inquiringly, but the mild blue eyes of Mr. +Ford conveyed nothing to him. + +After a pleasant evening, during which they saw no more of the traveling +salesman, the Overland party retired to their berths for sleep. Forward, +near the express car, rode the Overlanders' ponies in as much comfort as +is possible to provide for animals en route. At every stop during the +day one of the men of the party had run forward to look over the car of +"stock," as the riders called their saddle animals. Now, however, all +were too soundly asleep to think of ponies, and above the rumble of the +train might be heard the rasping snores of Stacy Brown and Hippy +Wingate. + +It was shortly after one o'clock in the morning when many of the +sleepers were awakened by a sudden disconcerting jolt caused by an +abrupt application of the air brakes. The train slowly settled down to a +slow crawl, the hiss of the air from the brakes being plainly audible to +those who had been awakened. + +The train stopped. Nothing of an alarming nature seemed to have +occurred, so the nervous passengers again settled down into their +blankets, for the night air was chill and penetrating. Others lay awake, +but there was nothing to hear except the snores which continued without +interruption. + +A few moments of this and then a subdued murmur of voices was heard just +ahead of the Overlanders' car. A brief period of silence followed the +murmur, then a man's voice, agitated and full of alarm, was raised so +high that almost every person in the car was awake on the instant. + +"What is it?" cried a woman's voice from behind berth curtains. + +"We're held up! The train is held up!" cried the man. + +"Robbers! Robbers!" screamed the woman who had asked the question; and a +chorus of frightened voices took up the refrain. + + + + + CHAPTER III + + THE HOLD-UP OF THE RED LIMITED + + +"Take it easy! Don't lose your heads. We are safe for the moment," urged +a voice that sounded like Sheriff Ford's. Whoever it was, his words +brought a measure of quiet to the excited passengers who were shivering +in the aisle in scant attire. + +The passengers then sought their berths again and began dressing, for +there would be no more sleep for them that night. Outside of the car +there was not the slightest indication that anything out of the ordinary +was occurring. An ominous stillness enshrouded the scene. Some one, more +curious than the rest, stepped to the front platform of the sleeping car +and, opening the vestibule door, looked out. The Overlanders learned +later that it was Mr. Ford. + +A rifle shot roared out, whereupon the sheriff prudently stepped back +and closed the door. Several smothered screams were heard, and then +silence once more settled over the car. + +Up to the present time not a word had been heard from the Overland +Riders. The curtains of their berths hung motionless, and Stacy Brown's +snores were louder than ever. Perhaps they were all asleep, but how that +could be possible in the circumstances it would be difficult to +understand. + +The voice of Sheriff Ford once more focused the attention of the +passengers on him. + +"Men," he said, addressing the passengers from one end of the car, "this +train is being held up, but it does not look as if the passengers will +be disturbed. If they are not, it means that the bandits are after the +express car, in which, as I happen to know, there is a large amount of +gold for shipment to the Pacific Coast for export. I am an officer of +the law. The fact that I am not in my own county is sufficient excuse +for my sitting down and letting the bandits have their own way, but I'm +not that kind of a critter. I'm going out to take a hand in this affair, +and I ask all the men in this car, who have weapons, to join me. +Provided we get help from the other cars of the train, we can, perhaps, +drive the robbers off. How many of you men are with me?" + +Two passengers stepped out from their berths. The curtains of the berths +occupied by Lieutenant Theophilus Wingate and Captain Tom Gray were +thrust aside, the curtain hooks rattling on the rods overhead, and they +were revealed clad in shirts, trousers and boots, each with a revolver +strapped on, sitting quietly on the edge of his berth. + +"Isn't there another _man_ in this car?" questioned Ford sarcastically. + +At this juncture Grace Harlowe, Elfreda Briggs, Nora Wingate and Emma +Dean stepped out into the aisle, each wearing a revolver at her side, +and Emma very pale and shaking in the chill air. + +"We are not men, but we are ready to do whatever you wish, Mr. Ford," +announced Grace. + +Ford smiled and nodded. + +"I thought so," he said. "This appears to be about all we can depend +upon. As for you young women, my hat is off to you, but this is no job +for women. It's a man's job. What you can do, however, is to mount guard +over this car and protect the other women. Can you all shoot?" + +Grace said they could. + +"Very well. Guard the vestibules, but in no circumstances open the +vestibule door. The other passengers will please remain in their berths +to avoid the possibility of being shot, and you young women will be +careful that you do not shoot the train crew. Challenge first, then +shoot, if you are not positive as to who any person is. Have you men +ammunition?" + +"Yes," answered Hippy. "Lead us to it. We haven't had any action in so +long that we are going stale." + +"We will go out by the rear door," announced the sheriff. "Please do not +use your weapons until you are ordered to do so. The most we can hope to +accomplish is to drive the bandits off--make them think they are +attacked by a posse. There isn't much chance of our being able to +capture the gang or any of them, much as I should like to do so. Yet I'm +going to try to get hold of at least one. All ready!" + +"Be careful, Hippy darling," begged Nora as the little party moved +towards the rear of the car. + +"You watch my smoke," chuckled Hippy. + +"Good luck," smiled Grace, waving a kiss to Tom as he turned to nod in +return for her parting words. + +Ford stepped out into the rear vestibule and peered through the window +into the darkness. + +"I'll go first," he said. "You follow when I give the signal. Not a word +from any of you. Wait!" Lifting the trap-door in the vestibule floor, +the sheriff let himself down on the steps, then cautiously stood up on +the outside, revolver in hand for use in case of trouble. + +"Come out!" he commanded in a low voice. "There appears to be no one +here. There goes the express car!" he added as a slight jolt of the +train was heard. "They've cut out that car and are going to pull it up +the track a piece and force it open. We'll have to hurry." + +Ford started on a run, the others falling in behind him. + +Up to this time no one had given Stacy Brown a thought, but as the party +was leaving the sleeper something awakened him. Then Stacy heard someone +say, "robbers!" The fat boy tumbled out into the aisle in his pajamas. + +"Wha--what is it?" he demanded sleepily. + +"The train is held up," answered Grace. + +"Oh! Wow!" + +"Yes, and Tom, Hippy and Mr. Ford, with two other passengers, have just +gone out by the rear door to see what they can do to help us out," +announced Miss Briggs. "You are a fine brave fellow to sleep through all +this uproar." + +"They have gone to capture the bandit outfit and get their heads shot +off for their pains," jeered the voice of a male passenger from the +forward end of the car. + +"You're a brave man, aren't you?" chided Emma, directing her remark at +Stacy. + +The fat boy blinked sleepily, then all of a sudden he woke up to a +fuller realization of the situation. Emma's remark had passed unnoticed, +but the taunt of the cowardly passenger had sent the blood pounding to +Stacy's temples. The boy snatched his revolver from his grip and buckled +on the holster, starting for the rear door at a run. + +"We can't all be heroes," he flung back at the passenger who had jeered +at the Overlanders. "Some of us are born cowards with a stripe of yellow +a yard wide through us. Go to sleep, children! I'll bag the lot of 'em +and fetch 'em back for you to look at." + +Stacy fell through the opening in the platform, the trap-door still +being open. In the fall, he bumped all the way from the platform to the +ground, where he fetched up heavily in a sitting posture. + +"Hey, you fellows! Where are you? Wait for me, I'm on the way," he +bellowed. "I've got the medicine with me. Sing out where you are." + +The fat boy started to run along the side of the train. He could not see +his companions, but he was positive that they could not be far in +advance of him. + +"W-a-i-t!" he shouted. + +"Who's that?" demanded Ford sharply. + +"It sounds like Brown of our party," laughed Hippy. + +"For goodness sake, go back and stop his noise or we'll have the robbers +down on us," urged Ford. "Run for it!" + +Hippy started back at a brisk trot, on the alert for the presence of +bandit sentries. He nearly collided with Stacy, and, knowing that the +fat boy was impulsive, Hippy feared that Stacy might take him for a +train robber and shoot, so he dropped down the instant he discovered his +companion. + +"Stop that noise! Do you want to get hurt?" demanded Hippy sternly. + +"'Course I don't. I want to hurt a robber. Where are they?" + +"You will find out soon enough if you don't keep quiet." + +"That's what I'm making a noise about. I want to call 'em out; then +you'll see what Stacy Brown and his little gun can do." + +"You are not to use your revolver until Mr. Ford gives you permission to +do so. He is in command of our party. The bandits are supposed to be +somewhere ahead of us. Come along, but don't you dare make a sound. +Where have you been all the time?" + +"Sleeping. Isn't that what folks buy sleeping car tickets for?" + +"Hurry," urged Hippy, who ran on, followed by Stacy, stumbling and +grunting, making enough noise to be heard several car-lengths away. The +two came up with the others of their party at the front end of the +forward car, where Ford had halted. + +"Where are they?" demanded Stacy. "I'm ready to capture the whole bunch. +All I want now is to be shown. I'm a wild-cat for trouble when I get +stirred up." + +"Silence, young man! I'll do all the talking necessary. You will get +your wish for action soon enough, and I reckon you'll get some of the +brag taken out of you, too," retorted Ford sarcastically. + +"Not if I see 'em first," gave back Stacy belligerently. + +"What is the order, Mr. Ford?" questioned Tom Gray. + +"We will go off to one side. It won't do to follow the railroad tracks. +To do so would surely draw the fire of the bandits. There are several on +guard not far from us," he added in a whisper, having been observing +closely as he talked. "I think I now know the lay of the land. Be +careful, all of you. If you will look sharp you will see that the +bandits have the treasure car near the mouth of the ravine that leads up +into the mountains." + +"They've taken our stock car too," groaned Stacy. + +"That's so. The ponies are gone, Ford," whispered Lieutenant Wingate. + +"I reckon they count on making a get-away on your horses," answered the +sheriff. "We'll be able to block that game, I hope. Come!" + +After having walked some distance parallel with the tracks, the +sheriff's party slowed down at a signal from their leader. Lanterns were +seen moving about beside the tracks a short distance ahead of the +sheriff. The safety valve of the engine was blowing off steam, the +blow-off growing to a deafening roar that died down only when the engine +pulled away from the express, baggage and stock cars. The locomotive +came to a stop a short distance from the three cars, then the sound of a +heavy object beating against the side door of one of the cars, was +heard. + +"They're trying to smash in the door of the express car," whispered +Ford. + +A volley of shots was fired at the car door by the bandits and was +promptly answered by shots from within the car. The men in the express +car appeared to be vigorously resisting the attack. They were firing at +the band outside with such good effect that the robbers soon ceased +their attempts to beat in the door with the section of a telegraph pole +that they were using for the purpose. A period of silence followed while +the bandits were holding a hurried consultation; then followed a +movement among them. + +"Let me shoot! They're getting away, I tell you," urged Stacy excitedly. + +"Not yet, young man. Those fellows are up to more mischief, and I think +I know what it is," answered Ford in a tense voice. "Men, we must get in +and get in at once or we shall be too late. It is time to move. Listen +to me, then obey promptly." + + + + + CHAPTER IV + + IN A LIVELY SKIRMISH + + +"We will crawl across the tracks between the engine and the cars," +whispered the sheriff. "Once on the other side we must get to the rear +of the bandits, and as soon as we find cover there we shall begin to +shoot. I hope we may be in time. When we reach the other side of the +rails I wish you men to spread out, but I want to know where every man +of our party is." + +Ford started at a run, the others following, fully as eager as the +sheriff to get into action. They had barely reached the rails when there +occurred a sudden, blinding flash, followed by a heavy report. + +"Dynamite!" exclaimed Ford. "I expected that." + +"Our poor ponies," groaned Tom Gray. + +"If they get near my Bismarck he'll kick the everlasting daylights out +of them," growled Stacy Brown. + +"Can't we do something?" urged Hippy. + +"Yes. We're going to do something and do it right quick," answered Ford +grimly. "Fellows, remember that the bandits have rifles, while we have +only our revolvers. You look out for those rifles, is my best advice to +you." + +They reached the other side of the railroad tracks without loss of time +and without attracting attention to themselves, and it was soon evident +to the sheriff's party that the dynamite had not accomplished its +purpose. The explosive had not been well placed, and the express car had +been little damaged, though a hole had been dug out beside the tracks +from the force of it. + +"When I give the word, shoot, but shoot over their heads," commanded +Ford incisively. "Spread out and get down on your stomachs when you have +taken your positions. Get going!" + +The men of the party crept along, skulking through the bushes that grew +on the mountain side along the railroad right of way. One by one the +members of the party dropped down and lay awaiting the word of command. +Every now and then a shot would be fired from the interior of the +express car, answered in each instance by a volley from the bandits. + +The preparations of Sheriff Ford up to this time had been made swiftly. +The signal agreed upon for beginning the attack on the train bandits was +two quick shots from Ford's revolver. + +The thin line of assailants waited in tense silence for the beginning of +hostilities. The members of the little party were steady, although their +pulses beat high, for no one deluded himself into the belief that this +affair was going to be wholly one-sided. + +Two sharp reports from Ford's revolver, even though eagerly looked for, +came so unexpectedly that every member of the party was startled, but +their panic lasted for only a few seconds. Six heavy revolvers answered +the signal. Three bullets sped harmlessly over the heads of the men who +were trying to rob the express car. Three other bullets from the weapons +of Ford, Tom and Hippy, by arrangement at the last moment before the +party spread out, had been fired low enough to reach the legs of the +bandits. + +Of course there could be no fine shooting on account of the darkness, +but the sheriff and the two men with him did very well indeed, if the +yells of rage that came from the bandits could be depended upon as +indication of hits. + +"Down!" warned Ford when the revolvers had been emptied. Every man in +the party well knew what was coming. + +The expected was not long in arriving. A volley of heavy rifle shots +ripped over the heads of the sleeping-car party. Ford's party quickly +reloaded as they lay; then began firing as rapidly as they could pull +the triggers of their weapons, aiming whenever they saw anything to aim +at. + +During all this firing the orders of the sheriff were implicitly +followed. Tom Gray and Lieutenant Wingate were as steady as rock, for +they had been through skirmishes before. Stacy was a little excited, but +more from eagerness to be up and at the bandits than from fear. The +bandits were getting desperate. On account of the interruption there had +been no opportunity to explode another charge of dynamite under the +express car, and they were now too fully engaged to proceed with that +work. + +The desperadoes knew very well from the sound that the attackers were +using small arms instead of rifles, thus leaving the advantage with the +bandits so far as weapons were concerned. The robbers now began creeping +stealthily up the slope, firing at every flash from a revolver, but +Ford's party was keeping so low that there was no great danger of any +one being hit except as they changed positions and ran for fresh cover, +which they always did following a volley from the bandits' rifles. The +sheriff's party was giving ground slowly, constantly changing positions +under his orders, the officer himself now and then running along the +line, giving quick low-spoken orders, without regard to his own safety. + +The bandits had been drawn away from the tracks for some distance when +Ford dropped down beside Hippy Wingate, who was firing from behind a +small boulder. + +"What is it, Sheriff?" questioned Hippy. + +"I have a plan," answered Ford. + +"Good! What is it?" + +"Our revolvers won't hold them back much longer. Should they rush us +someone is certain to get hit. In any event we shall then have to run +for it. I don't like to do that." + +"Not yet," answered Hippy with emphasis. + +"I think we may be able to save your horses and the express car if you +are willing to take a long chance." + +"I have taken so many already that chances no longer are a novelty. What +is it you wish me to do?" demanded Hippy. + +"Go to the engineer and tell him to back up. Tell him to hit those three +cars as hard as he dares--hit them as fast as he can without throwing +them from the rails or injuring the horses. Having done that, let him +back down the grade as quietly as possible so those fellows won't notice +him. When he hits the express car he is to keep on backing until he +reaches the train, which he is to push back a full half mile, and then +stop and wait for us to finish our job. When we have done that we will +fire a signal--three shots at intervals. I reckon the moon will soon be +up so we can see what we are doing. Tell the engineer, too, that we will +fire the same signal if we approach him, but, should he see anybody +coming up who does not give that signal, he is to start up his engine +and reverse for all he's worth. Get me?" + +"I get you, Buddy." + +"I would go myself, but I am needed here. When the time comes we shall +have to make a sharp get-away ourselves, but if we save the train that +will be enough. Do you think you can reach the locomotive?" + +"Surest thing you know, old top," answered Hippy laughingly. + +"Be careful! You will find that the engine is guarded, but I don't +believe there will be more than two men guarding it, and perhaps this +firing may have drawn them away, though I hardly think so." + +"Leave it to me." + +"Should you miss us on your return, make for the train as fast as you +can. You're the right sort, Lieutenant. Pick your own trail and the best +o' luck." + +Lieutenant Wingate was off a few seconds later, running cautiously, now +and then flattening himself on the ground to avoid the occasional +volley. Hippy had no fear of the bullets that whistled over him, though +he had a sufficiently intimate acquaintance with such missiles to hold +them in high respect. That was why he dropped to the ground when firing +was resumed. In a few moments he was out of range of the firing. He then +straightened up and ran with all speed, parallel with the tracks, but +keeping several rods to one side. + +As he neared the locomotive Hippy proceeded with more caution. The night +was now sufficiently light to enable him to see the figures of two men +sitting on the bank beside the tracks on the right side of the engine. +There was no special need for vigilance on their part now, for ahead of +the locomotive a telegraph pole had been felled across the tracks, while +to its rear were the cars and the bandits. All this made the guards +somewhat careless so that they failed to see a figure dart across the +tracks a few rods back of the locomotive tender. + +Lieutenant Wingate crept along under the overhang of the tender, on the +side opposite from the two guards. He did not know but there might be +men on that side also, but soon discovered that there were not. He had +crawled to the running board, by which entrance is gained to the +locomotive cab, before he was discovered by the fireman. + +"Sh-h-h-h!" warned Hippy just in time to check an exclamation that was +on the lips of the fireman. "Lean over. I have a message for you--for +the engineer. Don't make a quick move, but just settle down. You might +fire up the boiler a little. With the glare from the fire in their eyes +those two fellows won't see quite so clearly." + +The fireman, after a whispered word to the engineer, opened the fire +door and threw in fresh coal, then crouched down with his ear close to +the Overland Rider, whereupon Hippy briefly explained Sheriff Ford's +plan, at the same time acquainting the fireman with the situation to the +rear. + +Another whispered conversation across the boiler between engineer and +fireman followed, with Hippy Wingate clinging on the step of the +locomotive in tense expectancy. A sudden hiss of steam from the +cylinders on both sides of the engine startled him, and the big drive +wheels began slipping on the rails. + +"Hey there! What are ye up to?" yelled a guard, making a leap for the +running board. + +The fireman responded by hieing a chunk of coal, which caught the bandit +in the stomach, laying the fellow flat in the ditch beside the tracks. +The remaining guard fired point-blank without effect at the engineer's +window, but the driver's head was below the level of the cab window at +that instant. The wheels gained a foothold, the engine began backing +rapidly while the guard continued to shoot at the reversing hulk of +steel. + +"Good for you, Buddies!" cried Hippy enthusiastically. + +The engineer did not slow down as he approached the scene of the +hold-up, knowing that there were no persons in the way. + +Hippy had dropped off before the engine gained much headway, and rolled +over into the ditch and soon heard the tender hit the express car. + +The bandits had heard the engine rumbling down the grade, but they were +too busy shooting at Sheriff Ford's party to be able to spare the time +to interfere. In the meantime a new note had been added to the battle. +The train crew, now taking courage, had gone to the assistance of the +Sheriff, armed with revolvers, shot guns, iron bars and whatever else +they could lay their hands on. + +Grace Harlowe and her friends, in the meantime, however, remained on +guard, and not even the trainmen could have got into her sleeping car +without giving an account of themselves to the Overland girls. + +The firing now grew fast and furious. Hippy heard it, listened +attentively and realized that his little party was being assisted. + +"I must get back and take a hand," he muttered, making a wide detour +with the intention of coming in to the rear of Sheriff Ford and his men. +To do this he ran up the ravine from the railroad, near where the attack +had been made. + +Lieutenant Wingate had not proceeded far before he heard what sounded +like hoof-beats. At first he feared that the ponies of his outfit had +been taken; then he realized that this could not be the case. + +The ravine in which he found himself was now fairly well lighted by the +rising moon, and discovery was certain, the banks on either side being +so steep that the Overlander knew that he could not look for escape that +way. Not caring to be caught in a trap, Hippy turned and began to +retreat down the ravine, then halted abruptly, as he discovered a +horseman coming up the ravine at a gallop. A man was running just ahead +of the rider, the latter calling orders to the runner. + +At this juncture, Lieutenant Wingate unlimbered his revolver and waited. +The two men saw him, and the runner pointed to him, then dashed right +past Hippy, shielding his face with a hand. As he passed, the runner +fired a shot at Hippy. + +"I know you!" yelled the Overlander, sending a bullet into the ground +behind the runner. "I know your game, you scoundrel!" + +Hippy, for the moment, apparently had forgotten the man on horseback, +who was now to the rear of him, for Lieutenant Wingate, upon discovering +the identity of the man on foot, was so amazed that all other thoughts +took flight. + +All at once the Overland Rider remembered. He wheeled like a flash and +fired at the figure that was now towering over him. A blow, crushing in +its force, came down on the head of the Overland Rider, felling him to +the ground. The butt of a rifle in the hands of the horseman was the +instrument that caused Hippy's undoing. + +In the meantime, while Hippy was carrying Ford's message to the engineer +of the Red Limited, the hot reception they were getting led the bandits +to give up the fight and scatter. It was one of the fleeing +train-robbers who had struck Lieutenant Wingate down. + + + + + CHAPTER V + + ON THE TRAIL OF THE MISSING + + +"Have the train draw up here and wait for us," Sheriff Ford directed, as +the trainmen were about to return to their train after the bandits had +finally been driven off. "Those ruffians have had enough, and won't come +back. Some of them are wounded, too." + +"Aren't you coming with us?" asked a trainman. + +"No. I'm going to look for Lieutenant Wingate. He may be on the train, +but, if he is not, have the engineer give us three whistles." + +"Hippy wouldn't go back without us," declared Tom Gray with emphasis. + +"Go back to your train, men, while we look for our friend," urged +Sheriff Ford. + +The train crew lost no time in following Ford's advice, being eager to +get away from that locality. Stacy Brown was sent back with them to put +on his clothes. Stacy was shivering in his pajamas, but the fat boy had +done his duty as steadily as any of his companions, and fully proven his +courage, thus winning the admiration of Sheriff Ford and Tom Gray. The +two other volunteer passengers, one a salesman for a Chicago grocery +house, the other a Colorado ranchman, announced their intention of +remaining with the sheriff to assist him in his search. + +Shortly after the departure of the trainmen, three long blasts of the +locomotive whistle told the party that Lieutenant Wingate had not +returned to the train. + +"That settles it, men. It is up to us to get to work," declared the +sheriff. Ford divided his forces and sent parties in various directions +to search for the missing Hippy Wingate, hoping, and partly believing, +that the lieutenant had probably met up with the bandits on their +retreat into the mountains after abandoning their attack on the train, +and secreted himself somewhere in the vicinity of the attempted hold-up. + +The Overlanders were now in the Sierras, and the country all about them +was wild and uninhabited. After surveying his surroundings with critical +eyes, Ford took to the ravine up which Hippy had gone in attempting to +get back to his companions, and soon found the place where the bandits +had staked down their horses. + +Two warning whistles, the engineer's regular signal that the train was +about to start ahead, caused the sheriff to run down the ravine to the +railroad, at the same time firing three shots to recall his companions. + +"Get aboard in a hurry!" shouted the conductor, leaning from the engine +cab as the train came back to the scene of the attempted robbery. + +"Wait! Has Lieutenant Wingate returned?" demanded Ford. + +"No!" shouted Stacy Brown from the platform of the smoking car. "Didn't +you find him?" + +"Are you positive, Stacy?" called Tom Gray, running up at this juncture. + +"He is not on the train, Tom," answered Grace Harlowe from a vestibule +doorway. "The engineer said he dropped off just as the engine began +backing down. Tom, you must search for Hippy. Nora is nearly wild from +worry over him." + +"We are going to find him, little woman," answered Captain Gray. + +"Are you folks going to get aboard?" demanded the conductor insistently. + +"No. We're not going to leave that man here by a long shot," retorted +Ford. + +"All right. Stay if you want to. We're going ahead," snapped the +conductor. + +"Stop!" ordered the sheriff. "You hold this train until I give you leave +to move it. I am an officer of the law, and in command here for the +present. Captain Gray, what do you wish to do?" + +"Find the lieutenant, Sheriff." + +"Then, would it not be a good idea to unload your ponies?" asked Ford. +"We may have to be here until tomorrow, and perhaps make a long journey +into the interior, which we cannot well do on foot." + +"Yes. We will unload enough animals to carry your party," answered Tom. + +"Pull your train up to the mouth of the ravine and stop," commanded +Ford, clambering aboard the locomotive. "Get aboard there, boys." + +The train promptly pulled ahead while the sheriff had his final argument +with the conductor in the locomotive cab. The argument was brief, but +heated, the sheriff laying down the law to the angry conductor, who, by +the time his train had reached the mouth of the ravine, was wholly +subdued. + +The Overland Riders stepped off the train to watch the unloading of the +ponies and to get instructions from Tom and Mr. Ford. + +"We are about twenty-five miles from Gardner," said the sheriff, +addressing Grace. "You people, I believe, intend to detrain there. Have +someone unload your stock and then wait until we return. You will find a +very fair little hotel at Gardner." + +"We will wait," answered Grace composedly. + +Ford called upon the train crew to assist in unloading the ponies. +Unloading boards were obtained from the baggage car with which a rather +substantial gangway was constructed, and down it the light-footed +ponies--five of them--were led without the least difficulty. Rifles and +light equipment for the party were unloaded, the rest of the +Overlanders' property and two ponies being left on the train. + +While the unloading was in progress Tom Gray went to the dining car and +purchased provisions, consisting of canned goods, pork and beans and a +side of bacon. Stacy Brown, who had gone back to the sleeping car for +something he wanted from his suitcase, dropped in while Tom was +bartering, and helped his companion carry back their purchases. By the +time they reached the head of the train all was in readiness for the +departure. + +Ford waved the lantern that he had borrowed from the conductor. + +"Go ahead," he called to the conductor. "Mrs. Gray, don't forget to +report to Gardner what has become of us. If we are not back in two days +have them send a posse for us." + +"I understand," answered Grace Harlowe. + +"I say, you! You might have Emma do a little transmigrating for us while +we're away. I reckon we'll be needing it," called back Stacy. + +As the train pulled out, the passengers, including the girls of the +Overland party, were gathered on the platforms cheering. The searching +party now consisted, besides Sheriff Ford, of Tom Gray, Stacy Brown and +the two passengers who had been with them from the first, making five in +all. + +"Now, sir, what is your plan?" demanded Tom after they had saddled and +made ready to start. + +"I think we will follow up the ravine for a little way," answered the +sheriff. "Your man went this way. I know because the fireman saw him +take to the ravine. One of you lead my horse; I'm going ahead on foot +with the lantern." + +"If you have no objection, I will go with you," offered Tom. + +Ford nodded, and the two started away, the others, on the ponies, +keeping well to the rear. + +The two men in advance finally reached the point in the ravine where +Lieutenant Wingate had been struck down. With lantern held close to the +ground, the sheriff went over it on hands and knees, examining every +foot of the ground. + +"Stand where you are until I come back," he directed, addressing Tom +Gray. "Do you recognize this?" he asked, holding up a hat, upon his +return a few moments later. + +"It is the lieutenant's hat," answered Tom promptly, and Stacy Brown +agreed with him. + +"What's the use of a hat without a head to wear it?" demanded Stacy. + +"This!" replied Ford. "I have proved one thing. Our man came this way, +but beyond this point the only trace of him is the hat. Unless I am much +mistaken, he left here on the back of a horse, and he went that way." +The sheriff pointed up the ravine. "It is fair to assume that he did not +go voluntarily. The only inference possible, then, is that he has been +taken." + +"Captured by the bandits!" exclaimed Tom. + +Ford nodded. + +"For what reason?" + +"Candidly, I don't know, Captain. We have got to find out, and it is +advisable for us to go in search of the answer to that question as fast +as we can. We will mount and move on." + +"I suppose I am the one who will have to furnish the brains for this +party and find the missing man," declared Stacy pompously, but no one +laughed at his sally. + +A minute later they were mounted and on their way up the ravine, the +sheriff still carrying the lantern, which he held low, keeping his gaze +constantly on the trail, which still was fairly plain and easy for an +experienced man to follow. Stacy dropped behind a little way and +produced a plum pudding can from his pocket. Opening the can, he calmly +proceeded to eat the pudding. + +"What's that you're eating?" demanded one of the two passengers. + +"Pudding. A plum one." + +"Where did you get it?" + +"Oh, back there in the diner," answered Stacy carelessly. + +"You stole a pudding, eh?" laughed the questioner. + +"Oh, my; no, sir. How could you think such a thing? Don't you know I +wouldn't do anything like that?" + +"Oh! You paid for it," nodded the passenger. + +"I did not. Captain Gray did. You see it was this way. The captain paid +for six cans of baked beans, but they gave him only five cans. The +colored gentleman in the diner cheated us out of one can, and probably +pocketed the difference, so I sort of helped myself to a pudding to even +things up." + +"Humph! You are a young man of unusual ability. You should have been a +lawyer." + +"I know it," admitted Chunky. + +An exclamation from Ford interrupted the conversation. The sheriff had +picked up a handkerchief which Tom thought belonged to Hippy Wingate. +They believed that the lieutenant had dropped it purposely, knowing full +well that pursuit would follow promptly when his friends discovered that +he was missing. + +"We are on the trail all right," cried the sheriff. "Look sharp and +don't make much noise about it, either." + +Daybreak found the outfit still in the saddle. Now that they could see, +Ford threw away the lantern, and, after watering their ponies at a +mountain spring, they pressed on with all speed. The men ate a cold +breakfast in the saddle, there being no time to waste in halting to cook +breakfast. Further, the smoke from a camp-fire would be a danger signal +to the men for whom they were searching. + +About nine o'clock in the morning the sheriff and Tom found a +split-trail. The two trails led up a steep incline to a small plateau. +There they discovered the remains of a camp-fire. Ford dismounted and +ran his fingers through the ashes. + +"There has been a fire here within a few hours," he announced. + +"And the trail has gone to pieces," added Stacy Brown who had got down +from his pony and begun nosing about. + +"The bandits have taken different directions from here, haven't they?" +questioned the sheriff, glancing up. + +"Yes. I'll tell you what let's do. Let's shut our eyes and let the +ponies decide which trail to take," suggested Chunky gravely. "My +Bismarck can follow the trail of a squirrel." + +"This is not a squirrel trail," answered Ford briefly. "There are five +of us men here. Four will take separate trails while one remains here. +Let each man follow his trail for, say, three hours, then, whether or +not he has discovered anything, he will return to this point. We can +then decide upon further action." + +"I have an idea that the bandits discovered that they were being +followed," suggested one of the two passengers. "Otherwise, why should +they split up and take different trails?" + +"Yes. I agree with you," nodded the sheriff. Mr. Ford decided that one +of the passenger volunteers should remain behind, then assigned the +other passenger and Tom, Stacy and himself to follow the bandits' +trails, Ford selecting what seemed to be the most promising trail for +himself. + +Full understanding of what each one was to do was had, then the four +rode away, leaving their guard where he could see, yet remain hidden. + +The four trails led on for five miles without a break. Stacy, full of +importance because of the duty assigned to him, was watching his trail +closely, and, had he been less observant, he might have missed the point +where the trail again split. Discovering this, he halted and sat +regarding the two trails with solemn eyes. + +"Sharp trick," he nodded. "It doesn't fool Stacy Brown, though." He +decided that the left-hand trail swung over towards the one that Tom +Gray was riding, perhaps joining it a short distance from the junction +where Stacy was at that moment. Having come to this conclusion, the fat +boy had a bright idea. He would take a short cut across country. He knew +that this was a risky thing to do, but he had several mountain peaks for +landmarks and did not believe that he could go astray, so he started +full of confidence, leaving both trails behind him. + +An hour-and-a-half passed. Stacy still had thirty minutes to ride before +it would be time for him to turn back towards the starting point, as he +learned by consulting his watch, and he decided to make the most of +those thirty minutes. + +"There! Didn't I tell you?" he cried as he rode out into an open space +and instantly discovered the hoof-prints of several horses on the soft +ground. "I was positive that I couldn't be wrong. My time is up, but I +have found the spot where the rascals got together. Now I'll just turn +about and follow it home. This is the trail we must follow to find Uncle +Hip. Yes, I'll go back and report." + +Stacy Brown's intentions were good, and, well satisfied with what he had +accomplished, he rode along humming softly to himself, now and then +confiding his opinions to his pony. The little animal wiggled its ears +as if it understood. + +"Hulloa! There goes the sun. Seven o'clock! Who would have thought it? +According to my watch I've been back at the forks for a quarter of an +hour. I wonder if I really have?" Stacy regarded his surroundings +narrowly. "No. I never saw any of you mountain-peak fellows before. I +must have made a mistake in my reckonings, but I've got a biscuit in my +pocket, and we'll be able to go quite a distance on one biscuit, +especially on this kind of a biscuit. Some biscuits go a great deal +farther than others. This is one of the farther kind," finished Chunky, +performing a series of contortions as he tried to break off a piece of +biscuit with his teeth. + +The pony was laboring up a steep incline, the stirrup straps creaking in +rhythm with the animal's quick, short steps, Stacy's body, from the belt +up, bobbing upwards and backwards with monotonous regularity. The reins +lay over the saddle pommel, thus giving the pony's head full play and +enabling it to snatch a mouthful of greens here and there. + +Suddenly the little animal threw its head up and snorted. Stacy Brown +ceased munching and sat staring wide-eyed. + +"Suffering cats! You're IT, Stacy Brown!" he gasped. + +Jerking his rifle from the saddle-boot he fired three quick shots over +the head of his pony. + + + + + CHAPTER VI + + CHUNKY MEETS THE BANDITS + + +The pony had nosed its way around the base of a high rock, fetching up +on a meadow, when Stacy made the discovery that startled him. What he +saw was a group of men sitting about a cook-fire, hurriedly eating a +meal while their ponies grazed on the mountain grass some distance from +the fire. + +The boy knew instantly that he had stumbled upon the bandits. He +realized, too, in those brief seconds, that he must be a long way from +the place where he was to meet his companions. + +The desperadoes saw the intruder about the time that Chunky saw them. +Used to emergencies and quick action, the men sprang for their rifles, +which were standing against a boulder near at hand. Chunky also saw that +Lieutenant Wingate was not with them. Had the boy thought twice he would +have held his fire, but, as it turned out, his shots served a good +purpose. It startled the bandits, causing momentary confusion, which +gave Stacy an opportunity to head in an opposite direction, which he was +not slow in doing. + +"Ye-o-o-o-ow!" howled the fat boy in a shrill, piercing voice. The shots +and the yells startled the bandits' ponies as it had their owners. The +horses threw up their heads, snorted and galloped into the mountain +meadow, fully twenty rods from the camp, while the boy threw himself on +the neck of his pony, fully expecting a shot or a volley from them, and +dashed around the base of a high rock at a perilous pace. He had no more +than reached the protection of the rock than the _pock, pock_ of rifle +bullets, as they hit the rock to his rear, reached his ears. + +"Oh, wow!" howled Chunky. "I lost my biscuit." In ordinary circumstances +he would have gone back to look for the biscuit, but just now Stacy was +in somewhat of a hurry. Fortunately for the boy, it took the bandits +fully twenty minutes to round up their horses, by which time the fat boy +was far in the lead, riding like mad. He had lost all sense of +direction, but perhaps the pony had not. The little animal had taken +affairs into its own control and was laying out its own trail. + +The bandits, instead of following, rode with all speed farther into the +mountains, but Chunky continued on at his same perilous pace, even +though darkness had now overtaken him. + +"Whoa, Bismarck!" commanded Chunky finally, reining in his pony. "Do you +know where you're going, or don't you?" + +The pony rattled the bit between its teeth, tossed its head up and down, +and uttered a loud whinny. + +"You said 'yes,' didn't you? All right, if you know where you are, go +along. You surely can't know any less about it than I do." + +Rider and mount resumed their journey at a somewhat slower pace, and +rode on until Stacy was brought to a sudden stop by a sharp, gruff word +of command. + +"Halt!" ordered a voice just ahead of him. The pony gave a startled jump +that nearly unhorsed its rider. + +"Oh, wow!" howled Chunky, and on the impulse of the moment he fired two +quick shots at the sound. + +"Stop it! It's Tom Gray. Haven't you any more sense than to blaze away +before you know at what you are shooting?" + +"Oh, fiddlesticks! Had you been through what I have you would shoot at +the drop of the hat. Are you lost, too?" + +"Lost? I am not lost. Don't you know where you are?" + +"No. I might be in the suburbs of Chillicothe for all I know." + +"The camp is only a few rods away," Tom Gray informed him. + +"You don't say?" wondered Chunky. + +"We heard you coming, and thought it might be Mr. Ford. How did you +happen to come in over that trail?" + +"Ask Bismarck. He knows all about it. I don't. Got any news about Uncle +Hip?" + +"No. Of course you saw nothing of either him or the bandits." + +"I not only found the robbers, but I had a battle with them," answered +Stacy. + +"What's that? Don't trifle, Brown. This is a serious matter," rebuked +Tom. + +"I'm telling you the truth. It was this way. I was riding along, +peaceful like, when, all of a sudden, biff, boom, bang! It seemed to me +that fifty or a hundred men burst from the bushes." + +"So many as that?" laughed Tom. + +"Well, something like that. I may be a dozen or so out of the way, but +you see I didn't stop to count them. I raised my trusty rifle and--well, +to make a long story short, I fired right into that howling bunch of +bandits. I suppose I emptied as many as twelve saddles." + +"Wait a moment," urged one of the travelers who had joined them. "How +many times did you reload?" + +"Not at all. I didn't have time." + +"Captain Gray, he emptied twelve saddles, so he must have shot two men +with each bullet, as his magazine holds only six cartridges. I call that +some shooting." + +"Is that so? Then I must have done as you say. Wonderful, wasn't it?" + +At this juncture, Sheriff Ford rode into camp and was quickly told of +what Stacy had discovered. Mr. Ford, after a few quick questions, +realized that the boy really had stumbled on the right trail and +discovered the bandits. + +"You did well, young man," he complimented. "I thought I had struck a +lead, but the trail pinched out. Can you take us to the place where you +came on those ruffians?" + +"No, but the pony can, or you can follow my trail. I reckon I left a +pretty plain one. I know Uncle Hip better than you do, and if he has +been able to get away from the fellows who captured him I'll guarantee +that he will find us. He would know we wouldn't go away and leave him. +For that reason I suggest that we build a fire to attract Uncle Hip's +attention, should he be in this vicinity." + +One of the men protested, saying it would be dangerous, but the sheriff +agreed with Stacy. + +"We will have a fire and will post guards to protect ourselves," he +said. "We shall not be bothered by the bandits to-night; I am positive +of that. They know that the alarm has been given and that, in all +probability, a posse is already on their trail. If nothing develops +during the night--if we get no news from Lieutenant Wingate--we will +start for Gardner in the morning and organize a big searching party to +comb the mountains for him." + +After all phases of the situation had been discussed, the sheriff's plan +was agreed to, and a fire was built up. It had been blazing for some +time when, in a lull in the conversation, Stacy was reminded that he had +not finished telling about his meeting with the bandits. + +"Yes. You left off with shooting two men with each bullet," laughed Tom +Gray. + +"In the excitement of meeting up with the villains," resumed Stacy, +without an instant's hesitation, "I wheeled the pony--spun him about on +his hind feet like a top, set him down on all fours and dashed away. We +didn't gallop, we simply dashed. You know it wasn't that I was afraid. +Anyone who knows me knows that nothing can scare me. I--" + +"_Bang, bang, bang!_" + +"Oh, wow!" howled the fat boy, diving head first into a clump of bushes +where he crouched wide-eyed, the chill creepers chasing up and down his +spinal column. The others of the party sprang up and snatched their +rifles, Ford kicking the blazing wood of the camp-fire aside, and Tom +Gray dousing it with a pail of water. + +"Lie low, everybody, till I find out what this means!" commanded the +sheriff sharply. + +"Are--are we attacked? Have the scoundrels come back?" chattered Chunky. + +"Be quiet!" Mr. Ford crept out into the darkness, the others waiting in +tense expectancy listening for a rifle volley. + +Tom thought the shots they had heard were signals, but no one else +believed such to be the case. + +The flash of a revolver, a sharp report close at hand, was followed by a +shout from Stacy Brown and two shots from his own weapon at a shadowy +moving figure skulking behind a clump of bushes. + + + + + CHAPTER VII + + BANDITS CATCH A TARTAR + + +The blow on the head had left Lieutenant Wingate unconscious. Without +loss of a minute he was thrown over the back of the horse, in front of +the rider, like a sack of meal on its way home from the mill, then the +horse started away at a trot. + +After a few moments of violent jolting, consciousness began to return to +Hippy and he groped for something to take hold of to relieve the strain +of his trying position. His fingers finally gripped the boot of his +captor. + +Quick as a flash, the bandit brought down the butt of his revolver on +the captive's head, whereupon Hippy went to sleep again, the blood +trickling from nose and mouth. Other riders, in the meantime, had caught +up with and passed the rider who was carrying him away. From what was +said it was apparent that Hippy's captor was the leader of the party, +for the others deferred to his commands, and, riding on ahead, soon +disappeared. The trail grew more and more rugged. On the right a solid +granite wall rose sheer for several hundred feet, while on the left, the +side over which Hippy's head was hanging, the ground dropped away +sharply for fully three hundred feet. + +Lieutenant Wingate again began to recover consciousness. It seemed to +him as if all the blood in his body were concentrated in his aching head +and neck. He did not realize at the moment how the arms and hands were +smarting from being dragged through bushes and against the rough edges +of rocks, but he did discover that two large lumps had been raised on +his head, one well down towards the base of the brain. Had the second +blow been an inch farther down, it probably would have killed him. + +His head becoming clearer, Hippy began to consider his situation--to +think what he could do to extricate himself from his uncomfortable and +perilous position. His train of thought was suddenly interrupted by an +exclamation from the bandit and a sharp pressure of a spur against the +pony's side. Hippy could feel the rider's leg contract as the spur was +driven home. The pony reared and threatened to buck, but, evidently +changing its mind, started away at a jolting trot. + +The interruption had served one good purpose: it had given Hippy an +opportunity to get one hand up to his shirt, where the hand fumbled for +a few perilous seconds, then dropped cautiously to its former position. +That hand now held a pin. Miserable as he was, Hippy smiled grimly and +pricked the pony's side with the pin. + +The bandit roared as the animal jumped, and again applied the spur, +followed instantly by a jab of Hippy's new weapon, the pin. A lively few +seconds ensued, and the pony bucked so effectively that its rider had +all he could do to stick to the saddle, and at the same time manage his +captive and the reins. Hippy jabbed the pin in again and again, though +every buck of the animal nearly broke the Overlander in two. + +A few seconds of this treatment and the end came suddenly. With a final +humping of its back in a buck that lifted all four feet from the ground, +the pony went up into the air with arching back and with head held +stiffly close to its forefeet. The bandit threw all the strength of one +hand into an effort to jerk that stubborn head back where it belonged, +while the other hand grabbed desperately for the body of the captive, +which was slowly slipping away. The bandit, as a result, came a cropper +over the pony's head. Hippy wriggled and slipped off, shooting head +first down the sharp incline of smooth rocks that fell away from the +left side of the trail. The pony galloped away a few rods; then, +halting, gazed about him uneasily. + +The bandit, after a few dazed seconds, got up and started for his mount, +then halting suddenly began searching for his captive. Hippy Wingate was +nowhere in sight, though his captor found where his body had crushed +down the bushes as it slipped from the trail. The bandit finally gave it +up, and, catching his pony, quickly rode away. + +"No use. He's done for," growled the man before leaving the scene. "He's +gone clear to the bottom, mashed flat as a flapjack." + +The hoof-beats of the pony had no sooner died away than Hippy Wingate's +head was cautiously raised from behind the roots of a tree that clung to +the side of the mountain, gripped into a deep crevice for anchorage. + +"I'm not a flapjack just yet, old top," he muttered. "I may be if I am +not careful how I move about. I suppose I ought to hang on here till +daylight, but those fellows may come back. They can't afford to let me +get away. I know too much." + +[Illustration: "No Use. He's Done For!"] + +Hippy began crawling cautiously toward the trail, and finally gaining +it, sat down to think over what he had better do next. He felt for his +revolver and was relieved to find that it had not been taken from him, +and thus fortified, he decided that the prudent course would be to find +a hiding place and wait there for daylight, so he started away, taking +the back track, which he followed until it had so widened that he was +unable to keep to the trail. He then branched off to the right, holding +as straight a course as possible. The trickle of water caught his ear, +and, a moment later, Hippy was flat on his stomach, drinking long, deep +draughts from a tiny mountain stream. He then bathed his face and head +and his smarting, swollen arms. He knew that he ought to be moving, but +what direction to take was the question. Being a good woodsman, he knew +that to wander aimlessly about in the night surely would result in +losing himself completely. + +After searching about for some time, Lieutenant Wingate found a high +rock suited to his purpose. He climbed up and sat down. + +"The scoundrels will have to move quickly if they get me this time," he +muttered. "They'll--" Hippy's head drooped, and he sank slowly to the +rock fast asleep. + +When he again opened his eyes the sun was shining down into them, and +his cheeks felt as if they were on fire. + +"Morning! Who would think it?" he exclaimed. + +Without wasting time, he made his way back to the stream where he drank +and bathed. Now came the question as to the course he should follow. + +"It is probable that some of my outfit will remain by the railroad where +the hold-up occurred," he reflected. "That's where I am going." + +After a final look at the sun, Hippy started back briskly. He did not +follow the trail, believing that he could find a more direct course, and +that such a course eventually would lead him to the railroad a short +distance to the west of where he had been the previous evening. + +It was nearly noon when Hippy first began to realize that he was hungry. +He had not thought of breakfast, nor would it have done him any good had +he thought of it. An hour later he found a berry bush and ate all the +fruit it held. That helped a little and he again plodded on. About four +o'clock that afternoon he reached the railroad, and, not long after +that, he was trotting around the bend to the scene of the hold-up. The +place was deserted. Hippy fired a signal from his revolver and listened. +There was no reply. A rabbit hopped across the tracks. He fired twice at +it, missing each time. + +"There goes my supper!" he exclaimed ruefully. "Next time I sight game +I'll throw a stone at it. I reckon I can throw stones better than I can +shoot. I should have thought my friends would wait for me." + +Hippy did discover where the Overland ponies had been unloaded, then he +understood that his companions had gone in search of him. This knowledge +heartened him up a great deal, and he immediately set himself to work to +discover which way the party had gone. What he was looking for was the +trail of his own pony, whose shoeprints he believed he would be able to +identify instantly. Hippy picked up the trail in a remarkably short +time. + +"Here I go. I've got to travel some if I am to catch them before dark," +he cried, starting away. + +Darkness found Lieutenant Wingate wandering aimlessly near the place +where the trail forked and where his companions were now discussing +their further plans for the morrow. He concluded that he would have to +spend another night in the open and alone, and had just ensconced +himself on the highest ledge he could find when he caught sight of the +light from Sheriff Ford's camp-fire. Hippy gazed at it for some moments, +then raised his revolver and fired three shots. + +The camp-fire was suddenly blotted out. + +"There! I've shot out the fire," he grumbled. "Just the same, I don't +believe it is the bandit camp, and I'm going down." + +Moving with extreme caution, Hippy crept down the mountain-side until he +believed that he was near the place where he had seen the fire. + +"I reckon there's nothing doing, boys," Ford was saying. "Light the +fire, but keep a sharp lookout." + +Hippy got up. Stacy's keen eyes discovered him and the fat boy fired. + +"Hi, there! Cut the firing! It's Hippy," called Lieutenant Wingate, +ducking. + +"Oh, wow!" howled Chunky. + +A shout went up from the searching party when Hippy called out his +warning, and he was fairly dragged into camp where Sheriff Ford +hurriedly started a cook-fire and put over coffee as a starter. While +this was being done, Lieutenant Wingate briefly related the story of his +capture and escape. + +"You say you know the man who was on foot when you were taken?" asked +Tom Gray. + +"Yes, I know him." + +"Give me one guess and see if I can name him," spoke up Sheriff Ford, +straightening up, frying-pan in hand. + +"It's yours. Who is he?" laughed Lieutenant Wingate. + +"Our story-telling friend of the Red Limited, William Sylvester Holmes," +replied Ford confidently. + +"You win," chuckled Hippy. "How did you guess it?" + +"I was suspicious of him all the time. At Summit my suspicions were, in +a way, confirmed. He sent telegrams from there that, I now believe, +informed the gang about the treasure car." + +"Was there really a treasure car on the train, Ford?" asked Tom. + +"You might call it that. There was nearly three million dollars in gold +on that car. Pretty good haul, eh? I reckon the authorities of this +county will be glad to hear what you have to tell them. I will go to +Gardner with you and we'll have a confab with the sheriff there, if you +will spare the time." + +"Sure we will," spoke up Stacy. "We riders have to keep busy, you know." + +"It strikes me that you have been rather busy since I first met you," +returned the sheriff. + +"What are your wishes, to go through to-night or wait until morning and +get an early start?" he asked the two passengers. + +"I'll flag a train for myself down by the bend and you men can ride +through. You can't miss the way. There is a good trail all the way from +here to Gardner, and you should be there by early afternoon." + +The two passengers said that, if the sheriff would flag the train for +them, they would prefer to go by train too, as they were in haste to +reach their destination on the coast, important business awaiting them +there. + +"All right. I'll flag the next train after we get to the rails and put +you two men aboard. I can then ride through with these three Overland +men. I'd prefer a hoss to a Pullman any time." + +The party made themselves as comfortable as they could, sleeping on the +ground, and before daylight next morning Mr. Ford had breakfast ready. +Hippy was stiff and his hat hurt his head, but he made light of his +discomfiture and was ready for the start which was made before sunup. +Ford made good his word to stop the next train, which proved to be a +local, and there was not so much grumbling by the train crew as there +would have been had the train been a limited one. + +The horseback ride that day was a hard one, but all were used to the +saddle, and Sheriff Ford, himself a "rough-rider," was interested in the +riding of the three Overlanders. By this time he had grown to understand +Stacy Brown better, and his laughter at the boy's sallies was loud and +appreciative. Late in the afternoon the delayed party rode into Gardner +where a warm welcome awaited them from the Overland girls, who had +already arranged for a posse to go out to look for the missing ones. + +The authorities were keenly interested in the information that Sheriff +Ford and the three Overland men had to offer, and declared their +intention of starting out in an effort to round up the gang. That +evening there was a genuine reunion of the Overlanders at which their +further plans were discussed. It was left to Hippy to find a guide, +while Stacy was to select the pack animals, and the girls the food and +other equipment for the journey. The results of their quests were +destined to furnish much amusement on the following day. + + + + + CHAPTER VIII + + HEADED FOR THE HIGH COUNTRY + + +"I have found a guide," announced Hippy next morning, walking into the +post office where he found all the other members of his party writing +postal cards to friends in the east. + +"That's good. Where is he?" asked Tom Gray. + +"If you will look up you will see him." + +The Overlanders looked. Just to the rear of Hippy Wingate stood a +grinning Chinaman, both hands hidden in the ends of his flowing sleeves. +The Oriental was bowing and scraping, his queue animatedly bobbing up +and down. Stacy uttered a loud "Ha, ha!" + +"Permit me to introduce to you the Honorable Woo Smith whom I have +selected, subject to your approval, to accompany us on our journey to +the High Sierras," announced Hippy Wingate. + +"But surely, Hippy, this man cannot be a guide," protested Elfreda +Briggs. "We need a guide!" + +"Perhaps he isn't, but you can't find anything else with a magnifying +glass in this burg. Should you folks think best not to accept him, we'll +go it alone. I've done the best I can. Remember, too, that I'm a sick +man, that I've been mauled and keelhauled by a bunch of bandits and--" + +"Do you speak English?" interrupted Grace Harlowe. + +"Les. Me speak English velly fine." + +"You say his name is Woo Smith?" questioned Emma. + +"The Honorable Woo Smith," Hippy informed her. + +"What has he done in the way of mountain work?" persisted Grace. + +"I am informed that he has made frequent journeys to the mountains with +prospecting parties and hunters as cook, guide and general handy man. At +one time he was out with a government survey party." + +"As cook or guide?" interjected Nora Wingate. + +"The former, I believe." + +"This outfit needs a good cook," suggested Chunky. + +"Woo, do you know horses?" asked Tom Gray. + +"Les." + +"That reminds me, Chunky, what have you done about the pack animals?" +demanded Lieutenant Wingate. + +"Got three dandies. I have learned that we must travel light. They say +that the trails are very rough in the High Country, and further, that we +must depend upon the country for our food, generally speaking. I don't +know what Uncle Hip and I are going to do if it comes to short rations. +Of course, as a last resort we can eat the pack-horses. They eat horses +in France, so why shouldn't we do the same, if we're hungry enough." + +"That reminds me. One of the men out with us on our search for Hippy +declared that our ponies would not be suitable for this journey, and +that it requires animals accustomed to the peculiarities of the +Sierras," averred Tom Gray. + +"Oh, pooh!" grunted the fat boy. "My pony could climb a tree." + +"How much money do you wish, Woo?" questioned Tom. + +"Five dollah a week." + +"What do you say, good people?" asked Grace. + +"I don't care what you do," exclaimed Hippy. "I want food and I want +someone who knows how to cook it fit for human consumption, that's all." + +"I second the motion," agreed Stacy. "We can't all live on +soul-transmigration stuff. I'd get mental indigestion on that food in +thirty seconds by the watch." + +"We had a Chinaman on our journey across the Great American Desert, and +he was an excellent man," declared Elfreda Briggs. "I move that we take +this one." + +The others agreed with her, and Grace, turning to Woo, told him that he +was engaged. + +"What has been done about the general equipment?" asked Tom. + +Grace said that experienced men had advised against the Overlanders +burdening themselves with tents or any heavy equipment. + +"We have slept in the open many times before, so I think we shall be +able to get along very nicely," she added. + +Stacy Brown protested vigorously. He declared that he would not sleep +out of doors where bugs and other undesirable things could get at him, +but, after discussing the matter further, every one agreed that the +tents would prove an unnecessary encumbrance. They went over their list +critically, eliminating several articles that they thought they could do +without. + +"I have an idea!" exclaimed Stacy. + +"Keep it," urged Emma. "They seem to be reasonably scarce with you." + +"At least I don't transmigrate them," retorted Chunky. "As I was about +to remark when interrupted, I have an idea that this outfit will have to +browse with the horses if it wishes food." + +"It would be a great flesh-reducer," murmured Emma, giving Chunky a +sidelong glance. + +Elfreda suggested that they have a look at the pack-horses selected by +Stacy, so they all walked over to the corral, and expressed themselves +as well satisfied with Stacy's selections. One white, mischievous little +animal, with a circle of delicate pink about each eye, they named Kitty. +The name seemed to fit her. The other two animals they, decided to name +later on after learning their peculiarities. + +"I've ordered pack saddles for them," announced Hippy, "and a pair of +kyacks for each horse." + +"What is a kyack? Something good to eat?" questioned Stacy. + +"A kyack is an alforgas," Emma Dean informed him. "I am amazed at your +ignorance." + +"I agree with you, Emma. For once I do," nodded Hippy. "For your +information, Stacy, a kyack is a packing outfit. These are made either +of heavy canvas or of rawhide, shaped square and dried over boxes. After +drying, the boxes are removed, leaving the stiff rawhide or canvas, like +small trunks, open at the top. They are in reality sacks--" + +"Me savvy klyack," chuckled the Chinaman, rubbing his palms together +gleefully. + +"Mr. Smith knows," nodded Hippy. + +"The explanation is not satisfactory. Once more I rise to ask if this +kyack thing is some sort of dried beef that we are expected to eat when +real food is scarce?" insisted Chunky. + +"You and I, lad, would have to be pretty hungry to eat a kyack," laughed +Hippy. "The loops of the kyack are slung on each side of the horse. They +are used to pack belongings over the mountains. I have also ordered +sawbuck trees for the pack-saddles, together with pack-cinch, and +pack-rope for each animal. I also took the liberty of buying blankets +from which to make saddle-pads. It will be cheaper than trying to get +along with horses with sore backs, I think. Then there are hobbles for +the horses, a couple of cow bells--" + +"Are we going to take cows along with us?" wondered Chunky, opening his +eyes a little wider. + +"Not quite. Only a calf or two," murmured Emma Dean. + +"The bells are for the horses, so that they may be easily found in the +morning," spoke up Tom Gray. "I thought you had been out before." + +"I have, but never with such an outfit as this, especially the +transmigration end of it," retorted Stacy, giving Emma a quick look to +see if his shot had gone home. "I see," he added. "But every time I hear +the bells a-ringing, I shall think of home and a pitcherful of warm +milk." + +"Perfectly proper food for the species to which I so recently referred," +observed Emma airily. "However, from all accounts, you will have nothing +more nourishing than snow-water from the tall peaks of the Sierras." + +"Br-r-r-r!" shivered Stacy. + +At Hippy's direction, the Honorable Woo Smith led the pack-horses over +to the general store, and there, with Stacy to assist him, Hippy began +packing their equipment, throwing a diamond hitch about each pack. The +girls, observing the work, discovered that Stacy Brown was quite as +familiar with "throwing packs" as was his Uncle Hippy. + +"Mister Brown is not quite the fool he would have us believe," declared +Elfreda Briggs. "It is my opinion that he believes in putting his worst +foot forward, keeping the other one hidden behind it." + +A group of mountaineers were standing near, observing the operations +with interest. One stepped up and examined the much-worn saddle on Hippy +Wingate's pony. + +"Son," said he, "do ye reckon on climbin' mountains with that thing?" + +"Why not?" demanded Hippy. + +"I reckon it might be all right for the Rockies, but yer saddle'll be on +the critter's tail afore ye git half way to the top of the Big Sierras." + +Hippy stroked his chin reflectively. + +"You mean I ought to have a double-cinch on the riding saddles? Is that +it?" + +"I reckon." + +"Thanks, Buddy. I'll fix it. I should have thought of that, but I am not +at all familiar with the lay of the land up here." + +"Ye will be, pardner, after ye've fell off it a few thousand times. The +landscape in these here parts be rather sudden in spots," drawled the +mountaineer. + +A yell from the Honorable Woo Smith interrupted the dialogue. Kitty, the +mischievous pack-horse, had playfully seized the queue of Woo Smith +between her teeth and was jerking her head up and down, and, with each +jerk, the Chinaman was jolted backwards, howling lustily, chattering in +volleys in his native tongue. The street, near the village store, filled +with cowboys and citizens as if by magic. They set up yells, shouts and +cat-cries that smothered the chatter of the new guide. + +Grace, being nearest to the mischievous animal, sprang forward and gave +the white pack-horse a smart slap with the flat of her hand on Kitty's +plump stomach. The mare instantly dropped the howling Chinaman, and, +whirling on Grace with wide open mouth, looked as if she were about to +devour the Overland Rider. The girl never flinched. + +"Aren't you ashamed of yourself, Kitty?" she chided. "If ever I see you +do a thing like that again I'll surely have you punished. Do you +understand?" + +The mare's mouth closed slowly, her upper lip quivered, she nibbled +gingerly at Grace Harlowe's sleeve, and looked as meek as was possible +for a mischievous pony to look. The cowboys grunted disgustedly. They +were disgruntled that Grace had spoiled their fun, disappointed that the +white mare had not taken a large slice, either out of the Chinaman or +Grace Harlowe herself. + +"Grace, do you know, you have given us a most remarkable demonstration +of the transmigration of thought," declared Emma. "It was your thought, +transmitted to the mentality of the white mare, that caused her to +desist, to beg of you to forgive and--" + +"Yeo-o-o-o-ow!" howled Chunky. + +"Young man, your rudeness is inexcusable," rebuked Emma. + +"That's what the white mare wanted to say to Grace," retorted Stacy. + +While all this was taking place, Tom and Elfreda were talking with the +mountaineers, getting all the information they could about trails and +conditions in the mountains. The result of the information gleaned was +that the Overland Riders decided that they would take the "Cold Stream +Trail" for the High Country, a section seldom visited, but which Woo +Smith declared he knew all about. The spectators were inclined to make +sport of the explorers, and especially of the idea that women could ride +the Sierras. Even the postmaster sought to dissuade them from making the +attempt. + +"It's a bad country," he confided to Tom. "With that bunch of gals on +your hands, you'll starve to death, sure's you're a foot high." + +"There is plenty of game there, is there not?" questioned Tom. + +"Yes, for them that knows how to shoot." + +"Then I reckon we will not starve. What other objection is there?" + +"The Jones Boys. You watch out right smart for them." + +"Who are they?" demanded Elfreda, who had been an interested listener to +the conversation between Tom and the postmaster. + +The postmaster glanced about him apprehensively before replying, then, +leaning towards Tom, spoke in a half-whisper. + +"Outlaws!" he said. "I reckon you've heard of them. It is suspected that +they're the fellows that held up the Red Limited the other night. I +reckon you know something about that affair." The postmaster squinted +knowingly at Tom, who nodded. + +"So, that's it, eh?" + +"Yes. Better look out for them. They have their hang-out somewhere in +the mountains, but nobody has ever been able to trail them to it, and I +don't reckon no one ever will--and come back to tell about it. A squad +of Pinkerton detectives went into the mountains looking for those +fellows, but not one of that bunch of detectives has ever been heard +from since." + +"It sounds shivery, doesn't it?" spoke up Elfreda. "However, we have no +especial reason to fear the bandits because there could be no object in +their interfering with us. We do not carry money with us--not enough to +make it worth their while to try to rob us--nor are we looking for +trouble." + +"No object!" exploded the postmaster. "Lady, those fellows would kill +you for two bits and a piece of string." + +In his own mind, Tom Gray was not so positive that the bandits had no +reason for interfering with them. On the contrary, if the Jones Boys +knew that it was the Overland Riders who had assisted in driving them +from the scene of the attempted train robbery, the Overlanders might +confidently look for some stirring times in the High Sierras. + + + + + CHAPTER IX + + THEIR SLUMBERS DISTURBED + + +"All aboard for the High Sierras!" called Stacy Brown, swinging to his +saddle a few minutes later. The others, one by one, mounted and sat +awaiting the order to start. + +Woo Smith had gone on ahead. Scorning the use of a pony to ride, he had +trotted on, shooing the pack-horses along, the departure of the +Overlanders having been deferred until about an hour after he had left +them. Woo said that he would make camp at a good place and have supper +ready upon their arrival. + +The Overlanders finally started away, waving their hands to the curious +natives, and soon reached the trail that led towards the High Country. +The trail was an old one, but so seldom used that it could hardly be +dignified by the name of trail. Woo plainly was familiar with it, for he +had reached it by the most direct course, marking the beginning of it by +breaking over branches of bushes, a trick that he had learned from white +men with whom he had explored the mountains at some previous time. + +Very good time was made that day, and when about eighteen miles from +Gardner they saw the smoke of Woo's camp-fire. Half an hour later they +reached it and found that the guide had selected an ideal camping place. +There was water and good feed for the horses. Woo already had turned out +the pack-horses, which were grazing out of sight of the camp, and the +cowbells on two of them could be heard tinkling in the distance. + +"I reckon I drew a prize," declared Hippy pompously, referring to Woo. + +"Time will tell," answered Emma Dean. + +"I agree with you," answered Elfreda Briggs. "One shouldn't jump at +conclusions, as Grace Harlowe says." + +Saddles were quickly removed, and, before doing anything else, the men +of the party washed the backs of the ponies to prevent the animals +becoming saddle-sore. By the time they had finished and turned out the +ponies to browse, the guide had supper ready for them. The air was hot +and motionless, for they were not yet high enough in the mountains to +catch the cool breezes from the snow-clad tops, and all felt the heat. + +The Chinaman had prepared a supper that won golden words of praise from +the girls of the Overland party, and Stacy and Hippy ate until it seemed +as if they must pop open. The flapjacks fairly melted in the mouths of +the Riders and the coffee they pronounced to be delicious. + +"Won't it be fine not to have to do any cooking on this trip?" smiled +Emma. + +"Yes. I feel as if a great load had been lifted from my shoulders," +agreed Stacy. "I did most of the cooking for our Pony Rider outfit. +Ordinarily I would rather cook than do most anything that I know of." + +"I am sincerely glad that you are not cooking for this party," declared +Emma Dean with emphasis. + +"You are congratulating yourselves too early," interjected Nora Wingate. +"We are all going to do work just as we always have done." + +Grace and Elfreda agreed with her. + +"You don't mean that we've got to get up in the dewy morning and rustle +grub for the outfit, do you?" demanded Chunky. + +"Yes, of course," answered Grace. + +"That is the fun of camping," said Miss Briggs. "We should soon forget +all we knew had we servants to do the work for us. He is an industrious +fellow, though, I must say," added Elfreda, glancing at Woo, who was +busily at work washing dishes and singing "Hi-lee, hi-lo!" + +"He is a song-bird, too," observed Stacy. + +"Woo, you must be saving of the provisions," called Grace. "Remember we +must make our supplies go a long way, for we shall not get any more for +some time." + +"Don't wolly till to-mollow. Hi-lee, hi-lo; hi-lee, hi-lo!" sang the +guide. + +"What's that he says?" demanded Tom Gray. + +"He says, 'Don't worry until to-morrow,'" interpreted Emma. + +"Ha, ha!" laughed Chunky, and the Overland Riders joined in the +laughter. + +"You savvy plenty to-mollow. Me savvy glub to-mollow," added Woo, +chuckling to himself. + +"He speaks hog Latin quite fluently, doesn't he?" observed Stacy +solemnly. + +"You leave it to Smith. I found Smith, you know," reminded Hippy Wingate +pridefully. + +"Hi-lee, hi-lo!" sang the Chinaman, continuing with his work, while the +Overlanders, having finished their supper, gathered about the campfire, +and forgot the heat of the California night in its cheerful glow. It +seemed good to them to be out in the open once more, to be where they +were obliged to depend almost wholly on their own resourcefulness for +their food and lodging, if not for their lives, for they were going into +perilous places, places fraught with dangers. + +Woo, having completed his work, and having hung his frying-pans and +other equipment to nails driven in a tree, sat down on his haunches by +the fire, and, after composing himself, lost his long yellow fingers in +the mysterious depths of his wide-flowing sleeves. + +"Me savvy plenty fine night," he observed, gazing blissfully up into the +sky. "You savvy plenty fine night, too?" he asked, looking soulfully at +Miss Briggs. + +"I savvy the same as you do, Woo," replied Elfreda soberly. "It is going +to be a fine night for sleep, but I think the air will be cooler later +on." + +Woo nodded wisely, and Stacy glanced up with quickened interest. + +"Are we going to sleep on the ground?" he asked. + +"Yes," answered Tom Gray. "You ought to be used to that." + +"Are there snakes up here?" questioned the fat boy apprehensively. + +"Me savvy plenty snake," the guide informed them. + +"What kind?" wondered Emma. + +"Lattlers." + +"He means rattlers," interpreted Grace Harlowe. + +"Oh, wow!" muttered the fat boy. "I think I'll climb a tree." + +"You will take pot luck on the ground with the rest of us," answered Tom +rather severely. + +"Me savvy lattler in blanket once," declared the guide. "Lattler sleep +plenty in blanket. Go away in molning. Lattler no hurt Chinaman," +explained Woo. + +Signs of uneasiness were observable among the girls of the Overland +party, and in Stacy Brown as well. Tom declared that Woo was "drawing +the long bow," and said that he never had heard anything of the sort +about the Sierra trails. + +"I have," announced Hippy. "There are snakes all about here, but we are +not going to lose any sleep over it. Besides, Stacy is getting the +wiggles." + +"Yes. For goodness sake, drop the subject. You folks give me the +willyjiggs," shivered Emma Dean. + +"I'm not getting the wiggles," protested Stacy. "I reckon I'm not afraid +of anything that walks." + +"We were not speaking of that kind," reminded Nora. "We were speaking of +reptiles." + +"How long do you figure that it will take us to get into the High +Country?" asked Grace by way of changing the subject. + +"Me savvy eight days," answered Woo. "You savvy mebby pony him no +climb?" + +"Yes, they can, too," objected Stacy indignantly. "Our ponies can go +where a bird can. Don't you forget that." + +"Me savvy plenty snake, too," added Woo. + +"For goodness sake, stop that snake conversation," cried Emma. "I shall +surely dream about snakes if you go on that way." + +Smith grinned happily, then proceeded, with the utmost composure, to +relate experiences with big rattlers in the Sierras. He told of waking +up in the morning and finding one coiled in his blanket, under his arm, +or, perhaps, nestled close to his neck for warmth from the chill night +air of the higher altitudes, until Stacy was on the verge of a panic, +and Emma Dean was shivering. + +"Mr. Smith," she said, after regarding him inquiringly for some moments. +"Have you ever had any experience with transmigration of thought?" she +asked. + +"Tlans--tlans--" + +"Transmigration," assisted Hippy. + +"Tlansmiglation! Les. Me savvy. Me savvy one time big hunter shoot one +in mountains. Woo savvy bad medicine and run away," chuckled the +Chinaman. + +"I reckon that will be about all for you this evening, Emma," observed +Hippy Wingate, amid peals of laughter from the Overland girls. + +Tom got out the bedding, consisting of a blanket apiece, and a tarpaulin +for a cover, while Woo busied himself with cutting browse which he +placed on the ground and laid blankets on it. It was not a particularly +soft bed at that. While they were preparing their beds, Stacy poked +about with a stick, covering a radius of several rods. + +"What in the world are you doing?" demanded Nora Wingate. + +"He is beating up the landscape to drive out the serpents," answered +Emma. "You are a tenderfoot, aren't you?" + +"I don't like the fleas to get next to my skin," explained the fat boy +lamely. "They tell me that these California fleas are awful." + +"Were I as tough as you, I do not believe I should worry about a little +thing like that," retorted Emma. + +Stacy made no reply, but poked the fire savagely, then piled on more +wood, occupying all the time he could before preparing for bed, and the +others had turned in long before he was ready. + +"Stop that fussing and come to bed!" ordered Hippy. + +"Yes, for goodness sake, do," added Miss Briggs. "Woo Smith, aren't you +ready to turn in?" + +"Les. Me savvy glub first." + +"You might fetch Uncle Hip and myself a bite to eat while you are on the +food question," suggested Stacy. + +"No food until breakfast," admonished Grace. + +After idling about and grumbling for fifteen minutes more, Stacy finally +crawled in under the tarpaulin, uttering dismal groans and complaints +about the hardness of his bed. All were lying with feet towards the +fire. The smoke and the blaze drove away insects, and the warmth was +pleasant, even though the night was sultry, and it was not long after +that when the Overlanders dropped off to sleep. + +Woo, chuckling to himself and muttering, crept cautiously to the men's +side of the fire, surveyed the layout, then crawled in under the +tarpaulin beside Stacy Brown. A few moments later, Hippy, who lay next +to Stacy, was aroused by the fat boy's mutterings. Stacy was dreaming +about snakes. Hippy knew because he heard his fat nephew say, "Snakes!" + +"I'll teach that boy a lesson and make him dream of something worth +while," decided Hippy. Rising on one elbow, Lieutenant Wingate glanced +over the row of heads just visible above the top of the tarpaulin. He +could barely make out their features in the faint light, but when his +gaze finally came to rest on the face of the sleeping Chinaman, Hippy +Wingate was suddenly possessed of a brilliant idea. Woo lay flat on his +back, both hands snugly tucked into the wide-flowing sleeves. + +"I have it," chuckled Hippy. + +Reaching over Chunky very cautiously, he lifted the long black queue of +the guide, held it for a moment, then softly dropped it across the face +of the sleeping, snoring Stacy. Chunky muttered and stirred restlessly. +Hippy waited, then began slowly drawing the queue over Stacy's face. + +The fat boy awakened suddenly, but he did not move at once, for he was +fairly paralyzed with terror. Something cold and soft was wriggling over +his face. Uttering a mighty yell, Stacy grabbed that wriggling queue, at +the same time giving it a tug. + +It was now Woo Smith's turn to yell, and yell he did, as he struggled +and fought to free himself. + +Stacy, hurling the thing from him, leaped to his feet, howling lustily. +He stepped on Woo and went over backwards, landing on Hippy's stomach, +struggling and fighting, and finally finishing up by fastening his +fingers in Tom Gray's hair. + +The camp was instantly in an uproar, and none was more loud in his +protestations than Hippy Wingate himself. + + + + + CHAPTER X + + "BOOTS AND SADDLES" + + +"Stop that noise!" shouted Tom Gray. + +Emma uttered a frightened cry and springing up, started to run. + +"Come back! We are all right," commanded Miss Briggs. + +"Oh, what is it? Hippy, my darlin', are you all right?" wailed Nora. + +"Snakes! Snakes! Oh, wow!" howled Stacy Brown. + +All hands had turned out in a hurry, and Woo Smith was dancing about +chattering and fondling his head at the base of his queue. + +"Snakes! Where?" cried Emma. + +"It crawled right over my face," declared Stacy. "I grabbed it and +hurled it from me, and think I must have flung it against a tree and +killed it. Uncle Hip, go see if you can find it." + +"You poor fish!" chortled Hippy Wingate. + +"You--you must be a good thrower, for there isn't a tree near where you +slept," declared Emma. + +"That's so, there isn't," admitted Chunky. "Well, anyhow, it must have +been a stone that I threw the snake against." + +"What you did do, young man, was to fall on me with your full weight," +rebuked Hippy. "Oh, why did I ever ask you to come with us?" + +"That's what I have been wondering," agreed Emma. + +"Please, please quiet down, good people," begged Grace laughingly. +"Suppose we find out what actually did occur. Does anyone know?" + +"Yes. I know. A great big snake crawled over me," averred Stacy. + +"With all due respect to you, Stacy Brown, I don't believe it," differed +Elfreda. + +"He ate too much and had the nightmare," suggested Miss Dean. + +"It wasn't a mare. I tell you it was a snake," insisted Stacy. "I guess +I know what I am talking about, and don't you try to make me believe +anything different. I won't! I know what I believe, and I believe what I +know, and that's the end of it." + +"Well, sir, what is the matter with you?" demanded Tom, facing the +excited Chinaman. + +"Mr. Smith has the willyjiggs, too," answered Emma. + +Woo chattered and caressed his head. + +"Me savvy somebody pull queue. Me savvy head almost come off. Ouch!" + +"Just a moment. Just a moment," begged Grace. "You say someone pulled +your queue?" + +"Les." + +"This demands further investigation," spoke up Hippy. "The question now +before this tribunal is, who pulled the Chinaman's queue. Emma Dean, did +you pull Honorable Smith's queue?" + +"I did not," retorted, Emma indignantly. + +"All right, all right; don't get all heated up about it. I take it that +none of the other ladies tried to scalp our guide. How about you, +Stacy?" + +Stacy declared that he didn't know anything about it, and cared less, +and Tom Gray said the idea that he had done such a thing was +preposterous. + +"We will leave it to Smith," announced Hippy. "Woo, did Mr. Brown try to +pull your halter off?" + +"Les, les. Me savvy him pull queue. Him neally pull head off. Woof!" + +"I begin to understand. Ladies and gentlemen, the mystery is solved. The +Honorable Woo Smith's queue got on Stacy's face and Stacy thought it was +a snake. You see how easy it is to be carried away by one's imagination. +Stacy, if you raise further disturbance in this outfit I shall require +you to roost by yourself. I, for one, at least, need my rest." + +"If Woo will get out I'll keep quiet," answered Stacy. + +"Don't wolly till to-mollow," advised the Oriental, pawing about like an +animal, in search of a suitable place on which to lie down and sleep. + +No further disturbance occurred that night, though Stacy refused to turn +in until he had seen Woo lie down at some distance from him, and at +daybreak the Overlanders were aroused by the "Hi-lee, hi-lo!" of the +guide, who was out gathering wood for the breakfast fire. + +"Come, folks. Wash and get busy," urged Hippy. "Who is the wrangler this +morning?" + +"It is Stacy's turn, I believe," replied Tom Gray. + +"I don't want to wrangle. I'm too sleepy and too cold," protested the +boy. + +"That makes no difference. There is to be no shirking in this outfit," +answered Uncle Hippy. + +The wrangler is the man who goes out in the morning to round up the +horses. Following the custom in the mountains, the Overlanders had +turned out all but two of the ponies, permitting the stock to graze +where it pleased through the night. The pack animals had been hobbled. +It now became Stacy Brown's duty to find the animals, and drive the herd +into camp. + +"I don't hear the cow bells. The animals must have gotten away quite a +distance," suggested Emma mischievously. + +Stacy took all the time he could in getting ready, and, as a result, by +the time he was ready to start, breakfast was nearly ready to be served. + +"Don't I eat first?" he questioned anxiously. + +"Certainly not. Wranglers always go out for the horses before +breakfast," reminded Emma. + +Chunky threw himself into the saddle and galloped away at a reckless +pace, but his was a long chase, for the ponies had wandered some +distance from camp. They were lying down in a glade and did not move or +make a sound when the boy rode past them. + +Stacy had followed their trail out, but, suddenly discovering that he +had lost it, he turned about and went back to pick it up. This time he +discovered the animals. + +"So! There you are, eh?" he jeered, regarding the horses resentfully. +"Thought you would play me a smart trick, did you? I'll be even with you +for that." + +After much floundering about, the white pack pony, Kitty, finally got up +grunting and groaning dismally, then Stacy began removing the hobbles +from their legs. Kitty gave him the most trouble, the white mare +insisting on grabbing Chunky by the trousers every time he stooped to +unfasten the hobbles. This continued until Stacy finally lost his +patience, and, getting a switch, he gave Kitty a good sharp touching-up. +Finally, having completed his task, he turned their heads towards camp +and mounted his own saddle pony. + +"Shoo! Go on, you lazy louts! Think I am going to eat cold grub, just +out of consideration for you?" + +It was shortly after that that the Overlanders in camp heard the tinkle +of the bells on two of the pack animals, and when Stacy rode into camp +the party was half way through breakfast. Slipping from his saddle, +Stacy started at a run for breakfast, flinging a set of hobbles at the +cook as he passed. + +"Stacy! You are becoming a very violent young man," smiled Grace. + +"Becoming?" spoke up Emma Dean. "It is my opinion that he always has +been. No one could acquire his manners in so short a time." + +"Association sometimes plays strange freaks with one," retorted Stacy. +"Say, Uncle Hip. That white mare is a terror. She actually hid so that I +should not see her; then, when I finally found her, she tried to eat me +up. The brown one is the laziest thing I ever saw. We ought to call her +the Idler, she's so lazy." + +"Good!" cried Elfreda. "Idler she shall be, with the permission of our +Captain, Grace Harlowe." + +"How about the other one?" asked Stacy. + +"The black?" questioned Tom. + +"Yes. He is always stumbling and getting into difficulties," said +Chunky. + +"We will name him Calamity," said Grace. + +"That is what I was going to name the Chinaman," grumbled the fat boy. + +"The wrangler always attends to the packing, you know," reminded Elfreda +after they had finished breakfast. + +"This wrangler doesn't," answered Chunky. + +"Of course, in view of the fact that this is our first morning out, and +that you are still a little green--" teased Miss Briggs. + +"His natural color," interjected Emma. + +"I will help you," finished Hippy. "By the way, you need not throw the +diamond hitch around the packs this morning. Kitty has a soft pack, and +the square hitch will answer very well, provided you make it good and +tight." + +"Oh, I'll make it tight, all right. I'll lash it so tightly that the old +horse won't be able to breathe. I owe her a grudge, anyway," declared +Stacy. "Did you folks know that I learned a new hitch at Gardner?" + +"Impossible!" exclaimed Emma. + +"It is called 'The Lone Packer,'" continued Stacy, unheeding the +interruption. "It is even harder to learn to tie than is the diamond +hitch. For a load of small articles it is supposed to be the best in +use. The particular feature about it is that it pulls the pack away from +the animal's sides and prevents chafing." + +"Here, here! That isn't the way to throw a square hitch," objected +Hippy, hurrying over to Stacy who was laboring with the white mare's +pack, Kitty standing with all four feet braced, groaning dismally. "What +have you done to her?" + +"I? Nothing. She thinks she's smart." + +Hippy regarded the pack animal keenly, then, stepping up, he placed his +hat on top of her pack. The mare flinched and groaned. It was a test +that Hippy had seen practiced on lazy horses in France during the war. + +"So that's it, eh?" he chuckled. "She is soldiering, but never mind. We +will take all that out of her." + +"That is what I told Kitty this morning. I promised her that she should +get all that was coming to her. Stand up, you lazy-bones!" commanded +Stacy sharply, at the same time giving the mare a slap on the stomach. +Kitty instantly retaliated by taking a chunk out of the boy's sleeve, +and a wee bit of skin with it. + +Stacy howled and jerked away. His face flushed, and he raised a hand to +strike back. + +"Don't do that!" rebuked Grace. "Never, never strike a horse on the +head! It is a sure way to spoil an animal. And never punish a horse when +you are in anger. Should an animal need punishing, punish him humanely, +but trim him so thoroughly that you never may be called upon to repeat +the performance." + +"But, she bit me," protested Stacy. + +"Forget it!" laughed Grace. + +"I should say that the poor beast is already sufficiently punished after +biting Stacy Brown," observed Emma meekly. + +"Be firm, but gentle," continued Grace. "Kitty is in just the right mood +to be spoiled by rough treatment." + +Stacy was not over-gentle. He jerked the white mare about, shook his +fist in her face and announced in a loud tone what he would do to her +did she ever again try to make a meal out of his arm. + +In the meantime Hippy, with an interested group of Overland girls +observing, was putting the final touches to the packing, making the +lead-ropes fast, using a knot that he had learned, by which, in case of +trouble, one can reach from his saddle and jerk the pack free by a +single pull on a loose end of a rope. + +All was now ready for the start. Woo Smith, with a final look backward, +started ahead singing blithely. Hippy whistled "Boots and Saddles." The +Overland ponies knew the signal, but of course the pack-horses did not, +though they soon would learn that it was the command to get under way. +When a short distance from camp, the pack animals straggled off and +sought their own trails near the one that was followed by the riders, +Hippy now and then shouting to Woo to keep them up, for the Idler was +lagging behind, though she had started out in the lead of the +pack-horses. Woo Smith's "Hi-lee, hi-lo!" sung in the Oriental's shrill, +knife-edge voice kept time for the plodding ponies, that were now +climbing up a steep grade. The Overland party were well started on their +way to the high places of this wild, rugged country, where genuine +adventure awaited them. + + + + + CHAPTER XI + + PONIES GET A BAD FRIGHT + + +Up and up traveled the Overland party, the ponies here and there being +obliged to zigzag back and forth, picking their way like mountain goats. + +The members of the party were keenly interested in watching the +pack-horses to see how they acted under these trying circumstances, and, +to their satisfaction, found that the animals were thoroughly familiar +with their work. The saddle horses of the Overlanders, they had seen in +action before, and knew what they could do. Now and then the white mare +would poise with all four feet bunched as if she were about to make a +leap into space, then slowly one foot would reach out for a footing. +Having found it, the other fore foot would follow, then the hind feet, +Kitty all the time groaning dismally and wheezing like a leaky valve on +a locomotive. + +Ordinarily, horses on a trail make an effort to keep within sight of +each other, but in this instance Idler, the brown mare, did not appear +to care whether she were within or out of sight of her companions. +Hippy, when they made the noon luncheon camp, searched his kit for an +article that he had brought along, thinking it might prove useful. He +did not let the others see what it was, but secreted it on his person. +This article was a pea-shooter, and he had the peas to use in it, too. + +When the party moved on after luncheon, Hippy dropped behind to better +observe the pack-horses. Idler loafed, as usual. Hippy tried the +pea-shooter on her, and the brown mare jumped at a critical point. All +four feet went out from under her, and she landed on her back, greatly +to the detriment of her pack, and, had it not been that the pack was +very strong, the outfit she carried would have been ruined. + +"Oh, the clumsy beast!" groaned Grace Harlowe. + +"What ails the silly creature?" cried Emma. + +"She has thrown a fit," Stacy informed her. + +Hippy, whose scheme had exceeded his expectations, sprang from his +saddle and ran to the fallen horse, which, by this time, had rolled over +on her side. One foot further and Idler would have slipped down along +the rocks a hundred feet or more. + +"Stacy! Sit on her head! Fetch me a rope, someone," urged Lieutenant +Wingate. + +Passing the rope about the animal, they threw it around a tree above the +trail, then began removing the pack, which Tom had loosened by pulling +on the pack-rope. Relieved of the weight on her back, Idler, aided by a +pull on the rope, struggled to her feet, and, after no little effort, +she was gotten back on the narrow trail. About a hundred feet above +them, perched on a pinnacle of rock, sat the Honorable Woo Smith, hands +lost in his flowing sleeves. + +"Hi-lee, hi-lo! hi-lee, hi-lo!" sang the guide. + +Stacy shied a pebble at him. + +"Will you stop that 'hi-lee' business?" he demanded. "It is lucky for +you that you are above instead of below me, or I'd roll a rock down on +you." + +"Let the cook alone!" ordered Tom Gray. "I don't understand what caused +that beast to lose her footing so suddenly." + +Hippy Wingate, however, understood only too well, but he did not think +best to enlighten his companions, who might have found unpleasant +remarks to make. A full hour was lost in getting the brown mare and her +pack in condition to proceed, then the journey was resumed. + +Later in the day, Lieutenant Wingate found occasion to use his +pea-shooter again. The first effort in that direction had proved so +successful that he could not resist the second shining opportunity that +presented itself. This time Stacy was the victim. + +Stacy was asleep in his saddle at the time, his pony moping along with +head close to the ground, when Hippy sent a pea straight at the tender +flank of the animal. + +The pony woke up suddenly, and then another pea hit it. The fat boy's +mount bucked beautifully, and Chunky took a long flight, landing +head-first in a wild rose bush, howling and struggling, not rightly +knowing what had occurred. + +"Here, here! What's going on?" shouted Tom, turning in his saddle. + +"Stacy has come a cropper. Oh, please do it again, Stacy. It was +beautiful," urged Emma enthusiastically. + +"I--I fell off," wailed the boy, raising a very red face above the top +of the rose bush. "I--I transmigrated, didn't I, Emma?" Stacy grinned +sheepishly. "I'll trim the beast for that." + +"You will not," laughed Hippy. "The pony was not to blame in the least." + +As a matter of fact, the pony appeared to be even more amazed at the +mishap than were the Overlanders themselves. The excitement ended, and +the party once more under way, Chunky began to ponder over what had +occurred, and the more he pondered the more convinced did he become that +someone had played a trick on him. He eyed each member of the party +narrowly, finally regarding Uncle Hip with suspicion. + +"I wonder if he did it?" muttered the boy. + +The trail was growing more difficult and perilous with the moments, and +the Riders were making not more than a mile-and-a-half an hour, and at +one point it curved so sharply that the riders in the lead, in this +instance Tom and Stacy, were directly above Lieutenant Wingate, +traveling in the opposite direction. + +"Hulloa! What's Uncle Hip up to now?" wondered Stacy, casting suspicious +glances at him. Chunky saw something glisten in the hands of Uncle Hip; +then he saw him place the glistening object to his lips and blow. Miss +Kitty snorted and jumped, after which she quickened her pace. + +"So, that's the game, is it?" grinned Stacy Brown. "I reckon I know now +what made me come a cropper into the rose bush. Uncle Hip used a +pea-shooter on my pony. Wait till I get an opportunity! I'll make a show +of him for that." + +Tom had halted at the summit, and, shading his eyes, gazed off over the +scene before him. + +"What do you call that hole down there?" questioned Elfreda. + +"That? That is a box canyon," replied Hippy. + +"Are we going down there?" wondered Nora. + +"Yes." + +"We're going to do a giant leap for life to the bottom of the box in a +few moments," Stacy Brown informed her. + +Tom removed his sombrero and mopped his forehead. + +"I see nothing that looks like a trail," he declared. "Woo, are you +positive that there is a safe way to get down?" + +Woo bobbed his head vigorously. + +"Him plenty good way. You no savvy tlail?" + +Tom shook his head. + +"Me savvy tlail. You come. Me show." + +"Never mind, Woo. We are going to find that trail for ourselves. This +isn't the first time we have been in the mountains. You watch us," +answered Lieutenant Wingate. + +Hippy crawled down the mountainside for some distance, working along, +first to the right, then to the left. He observed, at the same time, +that the wall on the opposite side of the canyon had a more gradual +slope. Climbing the other side would be easier than the one they were +now going down. There was no trace of a trail on the Overlanders' side, +but Hippy found a way to get down. + +"Well?" questioned Grace, upon his return. + +"We can make it." + +"Of course we can make it. We shall have to jump, though," said Stacy. + +"Suppose you jump first, then, if the jumping is good, perhaps we may +follow," suggested Emma. + +"Jump? Why, you wouldn't dare jump off from a silver dollar," declared +Chunky. + +"Produce one and see whether I dare or not," offered Emma. + +"I--I don't think I have one," stammered Stacy amid laughter. + +"All ready," announced Lieutenant Wingate, mounting and starting down +the sharp incline. The others watched him for a few moments, then +followed, the pack animals taking their places without being urged, not +at all disturbed over the perilous descent. Hippy was now taking a +zig-zag course, which was the only safe way, unless one preferred to +adopt Stacy's suggestion and jump. To look at the mountain, traveling +down its steep side would seem to the novice an impossibility. However, +ponies familiar with mountain climbing are sure-footed and unafraid, and +do some remarkable climbing, frequently going where a tenderfoot would +hesitate to crawl on hands and knees. + +Here and there were small trees, with an occasional growth of bushes, +which afforded more or less protection from a bad fall, but on other +parts of the trail the rocks sloped away for hundreds of feet, lying +smooth and glaring in the bright afternoon sunlight. The Overland Riders +took the descent without any display of nervousness, but Kitty, the +pack-horse, groaned and grunted all the way down. One would imagine that +she was suffering agonies, but it was simply habit with her, and she got +no sympathy, though now and then she did feel the sting of a pebble that +one or another of the party hurled at her. + +Lieutenant Wingate was making much more rapid progress than his +companions, he being eager to reach the bottom before the light failed +them, for it would not do at all to be caught on the side of the +mountain after dark. A shout from below told them that he had reached +the valley. It was answered by another shout from above, then a "Hi-lee, +hi-lo!" in the high-pitched voice of the guide. A stone came bumping +down not far from Woo. + +"Stacy, did you throw that stone?" shouted Hippy. + +"I did." + +"Stop it! You might hit someone." + +"I want to hit someone. I want to wing that song-bird, and I'll do it +yet," threatened Chunky. + +The safe arrival of the rest of the Overland party at the bottom of the +pit put a stop to further gaiety at the expense of the guide. They found +themselves in a valley about a quarter of a mile in width and of unknown +length. The place was a meadow in the heart of the mountains, carpeted +with the brown California grass that did not appeal to the appetites of +the horses, and as soon as the animals were turned out they made haste +to climb the opposite slope in search of the succulent greens that they +seemed to know they should find up there. + +In the meantime, preparations for making camp and getting supper were +going on systematically down in the canyon. It was an ideal place for +camping, sheltered from storm, and from sunshine during the early and +late hours of the day. A clear, cold brook rippled merrily on their side +of the canyon, its waters leaping from the black rocks or lying in +sombre bank-shadowed pools; and, despite the apparent dryness of the +landscape, gorgeous bush-flowers bloomed, filling the air with their +perfume, the valley farther down being a riot of varied colors where the +stream had left its banks and spread out over the lower land. + +"Oh, girls, isn't this fairyland?" breathed Elfreda Briggs. + +"Wonderful!" agreed Grace. + +"All but the fairies," answered Stacy. + +"We have a gnome," suggested Emma, glancing at Chunky. "Fairies don't +stuff themselves. They live on atmosphere." + +"This fairy doesn't live on atmosphere," retorted Stacy. "He takes his +belt off, if necessary, too." + +"I would suggest that you take it off now and get to work. We have +plenty of it to do," reminded Tom Gray. + +All hands turned to, to help the cook, for they were hungry, and it was +natural that they should be, for climbing mountains in the High Country +is hard, grilling work. + +Supper was a busy rather than a lively affair, but after supper the +Overlanders found their tongues and were soon engaged in good-natured +raillery, but they were quite ready to turn in when Tom Gray whistled +"taps." This time there was no hesitancy on the part of anyone to +sleeping on the ground, and they dropped off to sleep with the tinkling +of the bells of the pack-horses in their ears, the rich perfumes of +flowers in their nostrils, their senses lulled pleasantly by the song of +the locusts and strange insects that none remembered ever to have heard +of before. + +The camp was awake shortly after daybreak. Once more Stacy Brown had to +be urged forth to wrangle the horses. He protested loudly when Elfreda +pointed to the opposite slope, which Chunky must climb, for the animals +were nowhere in sight. + +"I suppose I might as well go out. I always get the fag-end of the +stick," grumbled Stacy. + +"Never mind, Chunky. I'll fetch the horses," offered Tom. + +"No, no. I just wanted to say something," returned Stacy, hastily +stirring himself into activity and jumping on the bare back of his pony. +No sooner was he on than he was off again, for the pony had never been +ridden without a saddle, and promptly bucked when his owner mounted. +Stacy landed flat on his back in the campfire, sending up a shower of +sparks and smoke, and it was only the quick action of Nora Wingate that +saved him from being burned. As it was, his clothing was smoking when he +was dragged out. Hippy and Tom put Stacy's fire out by grabbing the boy +up and throwing him in the creek, where Stacy rolled over whooping and +howling his disapproval of the entire proceeding. + +"You should have known better than to try to ride that pony without a +saddle," rebuked Hippy. + +Stacy turned angrily on his now meek-eyed pony. + +"You donkey! Oh, you doddering idiot!" he raged, shaking a fist at the +animal. "You'll pay for that! You'll rue the day and the minute that you +bucked me off your back. Where is my saddle?" + +"Never mind. I will get the ponies," grinned Hippy. "You aren't fit." + +"I am. I'm always fit. I'll get 'em myself." + +"Be sure to bring back the donkey," teased Emma. + +Stacy cinched on his saddle before starting, and this time the little +animal offered no protest, but galloped away as docile as could be +desired. After he had left them, the Overlanders had a good laugh at his +expense, then began packing in preparation for the day's journey. + +The Overlanders finally began to wonder what had become of Stacy, for he +had been absent much longer than seemed necessary, then, all at once +they heard a yell on the opposite side of the canyon. + +"There he is! He is in trouble again," cried Tom, starting for his own +pony. + +"See him come! He will break his neck," worried Nora. + +Tom halted at his pony's side, for he had discovered something else. +Right on the heels of Stacy's mount came the saddle-ponies and the +pack-horses. The latter, being hobbled, were hopping like kangaroos, +making long leaps, covering a great deal of ground in each leap and +turning their heads to glance back with almost every jump. + +"What can be the matter?" wondered Grace, anxiously watching the descent +of the fat boy. Every second she expected to see him come a cropper and +fall the remaining distance down the mountainside, but Chunky did +nothing of the sort. He stuck tightly to his saddle, now and then +casting apprehensive glances back at the horses that were tearing along +in his wake. + +Lieutenant Wingate, suddenly surmising what the trouble was about, ran +for his rifle. + +"Wha--at is it?" stammered Emma Dean. + +"They are stampeding. Something is chasing them. I think I know what it +is," answered Hippy, darting across the canyon, clearing rocks and other +obstructions in a series of lively leaps, the others of his party +standing gaping, wondering, some of them a little fearful, especially +for the safety of the panic-stricken Chunky. + + + + + CHAPTER XII + + AMID THE GIANT SEQUOIAS + + +Stacy swept past, flinging back some unintelligible words, the ponies +still tearing along after him. The Overland Riders shouted with laughter +at the funny antics of the hobbled pack-horses. Kitty had forgotten to +groan, and Idler was imbued with a new spirit of activity. + +For the moment the outfit had forgotten all about Lieutenant Wingate. +When finally they thought to look for him he was nowhere in sight. + +"Hippy! Oh, Hippy!" hailed Tom Gray. + +No answer came back from Hippy, who was stalking the mysterious +something that had stampeded the ponies. + +"What is it?" cried the Overlanders in one voice, as Stacy rode back to +them wide-eyed. + +"I don't know. It was something big and awful. I couldn't see all of it, +but it looked to me like an elephant. Maybe it was a Bengal tiger, but I +didn't wait to see. If I had waited, the ponies would have run right +over me. When I saw them coming I threw on the high-speed lever and lit +out for home. I transmigrated. Where is my rifle? I am going back after +that beast, whatever it may be and--" + +"There goes Hippy across that open space," cried Grace, pointing. + +"Yes, and he is after something," added Tom. + +"Look! Oh, look!" cried Emma. + +All eyes were turned in the direction indicated by Grace. They saw a +dark object moving across the open space towards Hippy, then saw the +lieutenant raise his rifle and fire. Still the object came on. + +"It's a bear! Hippy's missed!" groaned Tom. + +"I'll wager my hat that Uncle Hippy didn't miss," answered Stacy. "He +never misses--when he hits." + +Hippy raised his rifle and fired again. + +"That was a hit!" cried Grace. + +Stacy galloped his pony up the other side of the mountain. + +"Came near making a meal of you, didn't he, Uncle Hip?" called Stacy as +he came up with Lieutenant Wingate. + +Hippy shook his head. + +"I tried to shoot him between the eyes, but he dodged as I pulled the +trigger. Next time I couldn't do any fine aiming because the bear was +too close. Do you see what he is--a big cinnamon bear? I am going to +have that skin. Go back and tell them to wait until I finish this job, +and that we are going to have bear steak for supper to-night." + +Stacy galloped back with the message, then Tom rode out to assist in the +skinning and to select such meat as he wished to carry with them. The +bearskin proved to be very heavy, but Hippy insisted on taking it along, +first, however, treating the skin so that it would keep until they +reached a place where the curing and tanning might be continued. + +Woo, upon observing the bear skin and the steaks taken from the animal, +lapsed into song, which Stacy pretended not to hear. It irritated Chunky +to listen to that "Hi-lee, hi-lo!" and put him into a fighting humor. + +An hour after their delayed start they topped the rise on the opposite +side of the canyon and paused to gaze over the peaks and rugged +mountain-tops that lay before them in a vast panorama. Over yonder in +the clouds hung the snow-capped peaks of the High Sierras, now and then +taking on a purple shade from some tinted cloud. + +"It doesn't seem possible that we shall be able to make those mountains +with our ponies, does it?" wondered Elfreda. + +"Are we going there?" demanded Stacy. + +"I believe so." + +"Hm-m-m-m!" + +"Are you getting cold feet already?" teased Emma. + +"Not yet, but I expect to when I get in those chilly looking snow-caps +off yonder," answered Stacy quickly. "This life is just one ridge after +another." + +They had mounted ridges, and crossed broad and narrow valleys for some +time without incident and the steady creak of saddle straps and girths +was becoming monotonous, when suddenly Grace's pony jumped clear of the +ground with all four feet and began to back. Grace Harlowe, instantly +understanding, called "Look out!" and whirled her pony about. + +"What is the trouble, Grace?" called Tom, who was riding farther to the +rear. + +"A snake! I heard it, but do not know where it is." + +"Stay back. I will find him and dispatch him," shouted Hippy, hurrying +forward. + +"Send him a message for me while you are about it. Tell him Emma Dean +wishes him to transmigrate," chortled Stacy. + +Just then Lieutenant Wingate discovered the snake, and raising his rifle +he aimed it over the head of his pony for a few seconds, then pulled the +trigger. + +"Did you get him?" shouted Nora. + +"Of course he did. My Uncle Hip never misses anything," declared Stacy. + +"No. Not even food," added Emma. + +"You may all get off. I am going to skin the reptile. He is a fine +specimen," announced Lieutenant Wingate. "I propose to make a hat band +of him. It isn't everyone who can wear a rattler around his sombrero, +you know." + +"I'll say that was a fine shot," declared Stacy. + +"Yes, but not better than almost any other person could make," differed +Emma Dean. + +"Velly fine. Me savvy fine shot," interjected the Chinaman. + +"Emma, in a way, is right," spoke up Grace. "It does not take any sort +of marksmanship at all to shoot the head from a rattler. Even a person +who never has fired a gun in his life should be able to shoot one." + +Hippy laughed. + +"You don't believe it. Suppose you let Emma try it when next we meet a +snake. Point your rifle at a rattler and he will line his head up with +the muzzle. Move the muzzle from side to side and he will follow it, +always keeping his head in line with it. Then, all you have to do is +pull the trigger. Why, I believe I could shoot and hit one with my eyes +shut. I think I should like to make the experiment next time we see a +rattler," said Grace. + +"Never mind; never mind! We will take your word for it," protested Stacy +Brown. "We do not need a public demonstration." + +"It surely would be interesting," agreed Elfreda. + +"Oh, all right. Just let me know when the show is coming off and I'll +have business on the other side of the mountain," declared the fat boy. + +During this temporary halt the pack-horses had plodded on alone. They +made a detour of the spot where the snake was being skinned, seeming +instinctively to know where they were expected to go, and soon after +they started off, Woo Smith followed with his "Hi-lee, hi-lo!" + +About midday they topped a range of hills, and before them saw revealed +a vast forest that stretched over more miles of mountain country than +they cared to try to estimate. At first they had no idea of the bigness +of the trees; it was merely a great forest. + +Lieutenant Wingate, who had been gazing inquiringly at the scene, +fanning himself with his sombrero, turned to his companions. + +"Good people, you are now gazing on some of the big trees of California +of which you no doubt have heard or read much. Before you lies the +world-famous Sequoia forest. Let us push on. When you are among the +trees you will get a better idea of their great height." + +"You should have been a guide on a sightseeing bus," averred Emma, as +the Overlanders rode on. + +The party reached the edge of the great forest some two hours later, +where, in the cool shadows, they halted for a rest. + +"I am told," resumed Hippy pompously, "that this forest comprises more +than five thousand specimens of trees." + +"And you will also observe," announced Emma Dean, standing up in her +stirrups and waving her sombrero, "that many of them are from ten to +twenty feet in diameter. At the great height to which they grow, the +least leaning either way would cause the trees to break off. You will +observe, also, the perfect symmetry of the trees. They are perfect works +of art," finished Emma, resuming her seat on the saddle. + +"Hooray!" shouted Stacy Brown. "Emma has transmigrated again." + +Emma's companions looked at her in amazement, then burst out laughing. + +"Where in the world did you learn all that, darlin'?" questioned Nora +Wingate admiringly. + +"I heard the postmaster at Gardner telling Hippy about it," answered +Emma meekly, amid shouts of laughter at Lieutenant Wingate's expense. + +The scene was so impressive that the laughter of the Overland Riders +soon died away, for the great silence of this wonderful forest had taken +strong hold on them. Whereas all other forests in which they had +traveled, were continually nodding and murmuring, the giant Sequoias +stood in absolute calm. Tom Gray explained this silence by saying that, +owing to their great height, the trunks were solid, the branches rigid +and the movement very slight. Even though there might be some slight +murmurings, the tops were so far above the ground that the human ear +could not catch the faint rustling up there. + +As the party moved on through the silent forest aisles, the bigness of +the trees grew Upon them. + +"You savvy big tlees?" asked Woo Smith finally, after a long period of +silence on his part. + +The Overlanders nodded. + +"Do you know where there is a spring or a creek?" asked Tom. + +"Me savvy spling," nodded Woo. + +"Lead us to it. Is it far from here?" + +The guide answered with a shake of his head. + +An hour later, no water being yet in sight, Grace called a halt. + +"Woo, I do not believe you savvy any spring at all," she said. "I think +we should camp right where we are. It will soon be dark, and if we keep +on going we shall undoubtedly be worse off than if we remain where we +are. Smith, have you lost the trail?" she demanded. + +Woo did not reply at once, but gazed up at the tops of the trees, +muttering to himself. + +"You're lost! That's what's the matter," grinned Stacy. + +"Woo no lost. Tlail him lost. Me savvy tlail lost," chuckled the +Chinaman. + +"I thought so," agreed Hippy gravely. "There being no objection, I +second Grace's motion that we camp here." + +"While you are making camp I will go out and prospect for water," +offered Tom, wheeling his pony about and riding off into the forest. +Tom, being a forester by profession, an experienced woodsman, they felt +no concern over his departure, but, as the hours following his departure +wore on and Tom Gray did not return, the Overlanders began to worry. + +At nine o'clock they began firing signals at intervals, and Woo Smith +built up a blazing fire, but there was no response to either signal. +Grace Harlowe was the least worried of the party. + +"We will have supper," she said. "Tom will be all right. Should he be +lost it will not be the first time." + +"Yes, but what if he doesn't find himself?" questioned Emma tremulously. + +"In that event he will make camp and sleep in the forest, so you folks +make your beds and turn in for a good night's sleep, just as I am going +to do," urged Grace. + +"Hi-lee, hi-lo!" chanted Woo. + +"Stop that noise, will you!" commanded Chunky. "I am not in the mood for +song this evening, and I might do you bodily harm," he added, starting +to prepare his bed. This he did by smoothing the ground with an axe +swung adz-wise between his legs, then filling in the open space with dry +pine needles. The Overlanders observed his work in interested silence. + +"You do know how to do something, don't you?" approved Emma. + +"Someone in the outfit has to have a head with him," retorted Chunky. +"It makes me sleepy to look at it. If I weren't sleepy I would make beds +in the same way for you girls. Let Uncle Hip do it, I can't keep awake +long enough. Good night!" Stacy lay down, and the others quickly cradled +under their blankets and went to sleep, watched over by the huge +Sequoias that had stood sentinel on that very spot for hundreds of +years. + +Then, all at once, it was morning. The songs of birds filled the air, +and a squirrel, whisking its tail nervously, chattered on a giant tree +trunk, then darted up out of sight. + + + + + CHAPTER XIII + + THE CAMP AT THE "LAZY J" + + +Stacy sat up and rubbed his eyes. + +"What did you wake me up for?" he demanded. "Hulloa, Tom!" + +"I awakened you by transmigration of thought," answered Emma. "Oh, +girls, girls, wake up! Tom is here," she cried. + +The camp was instantly aroused. Tom was discovered sitting calmly by a +little fire that he had built, waiting for the sleepers to awaken. Tom +had done exactly what Grace said he would. When he lost his bearings in +the darkness, he lay down to wait for daylight. When daylight came he +found no difficulty in picking up his trail and returning to camp. + +"Did you find water?" demanded Hippy. + +"Not a drop. For that reason, we must take a quick breakfast and hurry +on. I think we shall find water beyond the next low range, and it is +necessary that we do so before the sun gets high and hot. We can stand +it for some time longer, but the horses cannot." + +The start was made soon after that, Tom and Hippy packing their +belongings while Woo and the girls were getting breakfast. The trail +they followed took them up a gradual slope for several miles and then +pitched giddily into a deep canyon, a canyon that covered all of fifty +acres, from which the hills rose in great swells into the far distance. +The climb down the side of the mountain was tiresome and difficult, but +they forgot their discomfort when finally they came upon a stream of +cold, sparkling water that came down from the snow-capped tips of the +High Sierras. + +"Oh, look!" cried Emma. "Cows! Now we can have some milk." + +"Cows!" groaned Stacy. "Those aren't cows, they are cattle." + +There were loud exclamations of wonder when the Overlanders saw a lot of +cattle, in charge of several herders, grazing less than a mile away. +After permitting the horses to drink all that was good for them, and +after the Overlanders themselves had drunk and filled their water +bottles, they galloped on towards the herd. From the herders they +learned that the cattle belonged to the "Lazy J" ranch. The animals were +on their summer grazing grounds, having come up into the hills for the +summer months. + +The herders informed the Overlanders that the ranch-house was about five +miles due east of there, and that the boss would be glad to see them. + +"My horse has a loose shoe. Is there a blacksmith outfit over there?" +asked Hippy. + +"Sure," answered a herder. "You'll have to do your own smithing, +though." + +"I reckon I can do that all right," answered Lieutenant Wingate. "We can +make camp there and have a rest before we undertake the next hard +climb." + +After waving good-byes to the herders, the Overland Riders resumed their +journey, arriving at the "Lazy J" ranch about mid-afternoon. They were +warmly welcomed by Mr. Giddings, the foreman, who showed his amazement +that a party of young women should have made the rough ride into the +mountains. + +"Help yourselves to anything in sight. It's all yours," he offered. +"Glad to have you take pot luck with me in my shack. There isn't much, +but what there is you are welcome to." + +"No. You sit down with us and have a snack," urged Grace. + +Mr. Giddings did so, and after a late luncheon he conducted Hippy to the +blacksmith shop, where Lieutenant Wingate removed the loose shoe from +his pony and straightening it on the anvil proceeded to nail it back in +place, observed interestedly by the Overlanders and several cowboys who +were resting up at the ranch-house. Even the cowboys' cook came out, +frying-pan in hand, to see how the tenderfoot would go about it to shoe +a horse. + +The cowboys looked on with solemn visages, expressive of neither +approval nor disapproval. Their interest quickened, however, when Stacy +Brown announced that he was going to remove a loose shoe from the off +hind foot of the white mare, Kitty, and set it properly in place. + +Kitty was led in, and Chunky made his preparations with sundry +flourishes to show the spectators that he knew what he was about. Kitty +was not unobservant, and every move of the Overland boy was narrowly +watched by her. + +"I should advise you to watch her ears," urged Grace. + +"It isn't her ears, it's those hind feet that I am interested in," +replied Stacy. "Ears can't hurt a fellow--feet can," he said. "Whoa, you +brute!" added Stacy, running a hand down one of the pony's hind legs, +then lifting the foot from the ground. + +What followed was almost too swift for the human eye. Barely had the +foot been lifted than Kitty kicked the boy clear out of the shop. In his +flight, Chunky was catapulted against the cook, and both went down in a +heap. + +The faces of the cow-punchers relaxed. They howled, fired their +revolvers into the air and went fairly wild with joy, while Grace and +Elfreda disentangled Stacy and the cowboys' cook and stood them on their +feet. + +[Illustration: "Are You Hurt?"] + +"Are you hurt?" begged Grace solicitously. + +"Of course I am. I'm killed, but the white mare is going to get worse +than I did," threatened the fat boy. + +"Cool off. Don't punish her now," advised Elfreda. + +"I don't want to cool off. I want to shoe that beast." Stacy strode +belligerently to the now meek little animal. "I ought to break your +miserable neck, but I haven't time to do it to-day. Besides, the weather +is too warm. If I did, this outfit would make me dig a hole and bury +you. I always get the worst of it when trying to do a good turn for +others. Now you stand still or I'll surely forget myself." + +This time Kitty made no objection to having her loose shoe removed, but +once off Stacy did not know how to put it on again, and Tom Gray had to +finish the job to the great enjoyment of the cowboys. The job finally +finished, Stacy and Hippy perspiring from their efforts, the Overlanders +went out to watch the range men come in, uttering wild whoops as they +discovered that there were women in camp. + +Throwing themselves from their saddles, the range men soused their heads +in the creek that flowed near the ranch-house, and were ready for the +evening meal. After supper, all hands lounged out to the green in front +of the bunkhouse, smoked their pipes and told thrilling stories of +adventure in the Sierras--told them for the benefit of the tenderfeet +who were their guests. + +The Overland girls chatted with the rough but big-hearted cow punchers, +who, that night, declared that they never had come up with such a likely +bunch of young women. + +When Mr. Giddings learned from Tom Gray that the party was bound for the +High Sierras, he shook his head dubiously. + +"No place for white folk, especially women," he warned. + +"Why not?" questioned Tom. + +"Trouble! It's the Devil's country up there." + +"We are used to roughing it under all sorts of conditions," replied Tom. +"We learned how to do that during the Great War. All these young women +were in the service, at or near the front in France; Mr. Wingate was an +aviator, and I was a Captain of Engineers, so you see we aren't afraid +of trouble." + +"That's all right. I take off my hat to you, especially to the young +ladies. This country is another breed of cats, however, and they tell +strange stories about men going up there and never being found +afterwards, or, as is sometimes the case, found dead in the Crazy Lake +section. Aerial Lake, they call it." + +"Where is this mysterious lake?" asked Miss Briggs. + +"I don't rightly know. I don't know anything about it. I reckon I don't +want to know. Neither would you if you had been up here long and had +heard as much about it as I have. Did you ever hear of the Jones gang?" + +"I reckon we have. We had a little mix-up with them. At least, we +understand that was the outfit," Hippy informed them. + +"Yes, and we drove them off and gave them a good walloping," added +Stacy. + +"Let's hear the yarn," called a cowboy. + +Hippy related the story of the hold-up and of the skirmish that +followed, resulting in the driving off of the train robbers. The cowboys +listened attentively, their expressions showing an increasing respect +for the "tenderfeet" who had dropped in on them for a friendly call. + +"Why should this band of outlaws have reason to interfere with us?" +asked Tom. + +"Why do they bother other folks?" answered Mr. Giddings. "For what they +can get out of it, of course," he said, answering his own question. + +"They will not get much if they hold us up," Grace Harlowe informed +their hosts. + +"No. I reckon that would not likely put you in peril, for the reason +that they are after bigger game, like that treasure on the Red Limited. +There's another thing, though, that might make it equally bad for you +people." + +"What is that, Mr. Giddings?" asked Elfreda. + +"The railroad has had Pinkerton detectives after that gang for a long +time, on account of an express robbery, which makes the gang rather +touchy about strangers being in the mountains." + +"Where does this Jones crowd make its headquarters?" questioned Hippy. + +"That's just the point. Nobody seems to know, but they are supposed to +hang out to the eastward of this place. We have never seen any of them +since I have been on this range, which is going on five years." + +"Then we do not have to bother our heads about them at all," announced +Tom. "We are not going in that direction." + +"You're going to the peak, aren't you?" asked Giddings. + +"Yes," replied Grace. + +"Hm-m-m-m-m! I'll bet I know what you folks are after. You're after +golden trout. You're not the first parties to come up here looking for +those shiny fellows." + +"Eh? What's that?" questioned Hippy, instantly on the alert. + +"Where are they? I'm the boy that is looking for gold," spoke up Stacy. + +"Maybe there ain't any such thing," laughed Giddings. "But they do tell +a story about a prospector coming across a stream up Farewell Gap way, +where the golden trout were as thick as pollywogs in a mud puddle." + +Tom said he had never heard of them. Giddings replied that he reckoned +no one else ever had in reality. + +"They do say," resumed the foreman, "that when the fisherman discovered +those fellows basking in the sun at the bottom of the stream, he sure +thought he had struck it rich. He believed that he had found sure-enough +gold nuggets, but when he went to gather them, the nuggets just up and +dusted." + +"That's the way nuggets usually do," answered Stacy wisely. + +"I hope we find them," said Hippy. "I have a rod and a book of flies +with me." + +"It's enough to give a fellow heart disease, anyway," continued +Giddings. "So, between the Joneses, the lake and the movable nuggets, +you folks have plenty of entertainment ahead of you." + +"There is generally excitement and some trouble where we hang up our +hats," laughed Nora Wingate, "but we manage somehow to get along all +right." + +"I wish you luck, pardner," nodded Mr. Giddings. "I'll have a bunk-house +cleaned out for you folks to-night, so you can sleep indoors," he +offered. + +Thanking him, but declaring that they preferred to sleep in the open, +just as they had been doing for several seasons, the Overlanders made +camp out of doors just beyond the corral. The night was hot and the +flies very thick. The night's rest was not at all satisfying for this +reason, and for the added one that the cowpunchers' ponies in the corral +were restless. Hippy said it indicated that a storm was coming, but +Stacy differed with him. He averred that the ponies were restless for +the same reason that he was--because the flies bit them--and the +Overlanders laughingly agreed that there might be something in the fat +boy's reasoning after all. + +Next morning they were out with the earliest of the punchers. After +breakfast, packs were made up and lashed with firm hitches thrown about +them. Then bidding good-bye to their hosts and shaking hands all around, +the Overland Riders set out for their long journey over the mountains--a +journey that would occupy some weeks and be filled with exciting as well +as enjoyable experiences. + + + + + CHAPTER XIV + + WOO'S EYES ARE KEEN + + +The air was becoming chilly, the Overland Riders now being at an +altitude of nearly eight thousand feet, and still upward bound. + +A week had elapsed since they left the "Lazy J" ranch, and during all +that time they had sighted no game except some grouse that they had shot +at but failed to bring down. Provisions were at a low ebb and all knew +that they were nearly face to face with a serious situation. + +Hippy Wingate was pondering deeply when they pulled up for luncheon one +noon. He was wondering what he was going to give his party for supper, +for Hippy was the official game-hunter of the Overland party, and they +had come to rely on his resourcefulness to provide food for them. Stacy +Brown was even more deeply interested in this matter than was "Uncle +Hip," but for a somewhat different reason. + +"What do we eat to-day?" he asked in a tone that he tried to make sound +light-hearted. + +Some one laughed. + +"Oh, it's not because I'm hungry," hastily explained Chunky. "I just +wanted to know so as not to have to open all the packs unless we are +going to have a spread." + +"Ours is more likely to be a snack than a spread," suggested Grace +laughingly. + +"What is it going to be, Hippy?" questioned Nora. + +"Raisins and hard tack, my dear." + +"You don't mean it?" gasped the fat boy. + +"I reckon that will be about it if I don't see some game to shoot at," +replied Hippy a little soberly. + +"Raisins and hard tack for a man with an appetite like mine," groaned +Stacy. "You might as well feed a bricklayer on angel food and expect him +to smack his lips and pat his stomach with heavenly satisfaction. This +is too much, and too much is enough." + +"If you folks will camp here I will go out and see if I cannot scare up +some game," suggested Hippy. + +"I do not believe you will find anything worth while at this altitude," +said Tom Gray. "It is a condition that I have feared we should meet. +I--" + +"You no savvy game?" interjected the Chinaman. + +"No, Smith," replied Hippy. "We savvy plenty appetite, but we no savvy +anything with which to satisfy it. If I could sight a deer--" + +"Me savvy deer. Me show buck in lelet," cried Woo, gesticulating +excitedly. + +"What kind of heathen talk is that?" wondered Emma. + +"'Buck in lelet!'" mocked Stacy. + +Hippy was eyeing the guide inquiringly, knowing very well that Woo had +something in mind. + +"Buck in lelet," repeated the Chinaman, indicating the horns on a deer's +head, with his hands. + +"I understand," nodded Tom Gray. "What he is trying to say is, 'buck in +velvet.'" + +"Ha, ha! The further they go the worse they are. First it was Emma Dean +whose wheels went wrong; now it is my Uncle Hip and Captain Gray," +jeered Stacy. "Is it the altitude that has gone to _your_ head?" + +"No, it has not," retorted Lieutenant Wingate. "Woo has more sense than +all of us together. At this season of the year the bucks 'carry their +antlers in velvet.'" + +"Oh, pooh! That is a fine fairy tale to feed hungry people with. Folks +back east might swallow it, but not up here among the high and lofty +peaks of the Sierras. Tell me something that I can swallow," laughed +Stacy. + +"Stacy, if you will hold your horses I will try to explain," rebuked +Tom. "At this season of the year the antlers of the bucks are very +tender, and that condition is called 'carrying the antlers in velvet.' +In those circumstances the bucks frequent the high rocky peaks that +their tender horns may not be torn off in contact with tough bushes and +trees. Later on you will find the bucks on the lower ranges. Then, as +the antlers become hard, almost as hard as iron, the bucks take to the +dense thickets." + +Stacy Brown mopped his forehead. + +"Emma, why don't you transmigrate a little? Send a little thought wave +out and see if you can't get in touch with a nice fat buck all dressed +up in velvet," he suggested. + +Emma Dean elevated her nose, but made no reply. She was at that moment +more interested in the guide, who was running his yellow fingers about +his wrists inside the wide sleeves, and chuckling to himself at a +rapid-fire rate. + +"Me savvy! Hi-lee, hi-lo; hi--" + +"What were you going to say?" urged Hippy. + +"You savvy buck in lelet?" + +Lieutenant Wingate shook his head. + +"Me savvy buck." + +"You do? Where?" + +The guide pointed his long, bony finger towards the rocks on the other +side of a narrow pass in the mountains. The mountain there was covered +with brownish grass and some spindling saplings. Lieutenant Wingate +looked until his eyes ached, then turned to Smith. + +"Woo, you must be mistaken," he said. + +The guide took the stick that he used to beat up the trail ahead on his +march each day, laid it across a rock, and, after sighting it, beckoned +to Lieutenant Wingate to look over it. + +"You savvy?" he questioned eagerly. + +"No, I don't, Woo." + +"Mebby you savvy to-mollow," replied the Chinaman disgustedly. + +The Overland Riders snickered, and even Hippy grinned appreciatively. + +"I reckon you are not far from right, Woo. I--" Hippy paused abruptly. +Out of that mass of brown something began to grow into his vision, to +stand out until everything else appeared to have disappeared. + +"You savvy nicee piecee buck?" chuckled the guide. + +Hippy reached a cautious hand behind him. + +"My rifle. Quick!" he whispered. "Woo is right. There lays a fine big +fellow behind that bush over yonder. I don't know whether he sees us or +not. It is a dead sure shot, too. Don't make a sound," urged lieutenant +Wingate as his rifle was cautiously laid in his outstretched hand. + +Placing it across the rock where Woo had laid the stick for him to sight +over, Hippy took careful aim a little below the base of the antlers of +the buck. His automatic rifle belched forth a deafening roar that went +rolling and echoing from peak to peak. + +At the same instant, what appeared to be a dull brown and white ball +leaped into the air and went bounding away in tremendous leaps. Hippy's +rifle went to his shoulder and he fired again, but the shot only served +to hasten the speed of the fine large buck that Woo Smith had +discovered. Hippy had missed a "sure shot" as well as a long shot. + +"Uncle Hip never misses what he shoots at," quoted Emma a little +maliciously. + +"Why don't you use your pea-shooter?" scoffed Stacy. "Dead Shot Hip made +a mess of it that time." + +"He did," admitted Hippy, "and Stacy Brown missed a fine fat meal. Laugh +at me all you like, folks. I deserve it, but I don't understand how I +could miss that shot." + +"Don't wolly till to-mollow," advised the guide wisely. + +"May I look at your rifle?" asked Grace. + +Lieutenant Wingate handed it to her and Grace gave it a critical +inspection, then held it out to Hippy. + +"Look it over carefully. I think you will discover why you missed," she +suggested. + +Hippy intuitively glanced at the sights, and shot a quick look of +inquiry at Chunky, but Chunky's face was woodeny in its lack of +expression. Without another word, Lieutenant Wingate set up a mark, +placed his rifle on the rock, marking its exact position, and, taking +careful aim, fired. The bullet shot under by more than a foot, whereas +it should have shot over the mark, the rifle being originally sighted +for a much longer distance. Several cartridges were expended in +resighting the weapon and adjusting the open sight, which he found had +been changed from its former position. + +"There, now! Show me another deer. I don't believe I shall miss the next +one." + +"You savvy sight no good," chuckled the Chinaman. + +Lieutenant Wingate nodded. + +"Stacy, come here. I would hold converse with thee," he ordered. + +Stacy complied, but with evident reluctance, and, obeying a gesture from +Hippy, seated himself on a slab of granite beside his Uncle Hip. + +"Why did you fool with the sights on my rifle?" demanded Lieutenant +Wingate sharply. + +"I--I--I--" + +"Don't quibble. Whenever you put on a wooden face I know that you have +been up to monkey-shines. Why did you do it?" + +"I--I--I just wanted to get even with you, Uncle Hip," stammered the fat +boy. + +"For what?" + +"You--you pinked my pony with a peashooter and made me come a cropper in +a rose bush. Don't you deny it. You know you did," added Chunky, +adopting his most savage tone. + +Hippy Wingate chuckled. + +"That is it, eh?" + +"Yes." + +"When did you change them--change the open sights?" + +"I did it when you were after water last night." + +"Shake, pard!" cried Hippy, extending an impulsive hand. "We are quits +now, aren't we?" + +"Yes, we are dear friends. We're more than that--we love each other most +to death," declared Stacy fervently. + +"Oh, fiddlesticks!" exclaimed Emma Dean. "You make me weary." + +"But, Stacy, the next time you wish to get even with a fellow, please do +not tamper with his weapons, especially in a country like this," warned +Lieutenant Wingate. "It is a dangerous thing to do. Suppose I had met up +with a cinnamon bear at close range, for instance--what do you think +would have happened?" + +"I reckon there would have been a sprinting match between you and the +cinnamon," observed Stacy in a tone that brought a shout of laughter +from the Overland girls. + +"You are partly right," agreed Hippy laughingly, "but don't do anything +like that again, will you?" + +Stacy promised that he would not, but the probabilities are that he +forgot the promise within five minutes after he had made it, for at that +instant Woo Smith uttered a sudden exclamation that drew the instant +attention of the Overland Riders. + +"Me savvy buck! Me savvy buck in lelet," chuckled the Chinaman +excitedly. + +Hippy was on his feet in an instant. + +"Where, where?" + +"You savvy him white lock?" + +"Yes, I see the white rock. Sure enough; there he is!" + +When the automatic roared a moment later, a brown ball was seen to leap +into the air, but, instead of bounding away, it straightened out and +took a long, curving leap, crashed into the dwarfed bushes, then whipped +over on its back. + +"I got him!" shouted Lieutenant Wingate triumphantly. + +"Great shot!" cried Elfreda Briggs enthusiastically. + +"Hi-lee, hi-lo; hi-lee, hi-lo!" sang the guide, hopping about +delightedly, his queue wriggling in the air with serpent-like movements. +This time no one appeared to be irritated by Woo's singing, for +Lieutenant Wingate's shot meant food in plenty for the Overland Riders. + + + + + CHAPTER XV + + FOLLOWING THE AERIAL TRAIL + + +Shouting and laughing, the entire party raced down the hill and up the +other side to view the result of Lieutenant Wingate's shot. They found +the buck lying dead where it had fallen, with a bullet hole through its +head. + +"Can my Uncle Hip shoot? Well, I reckon he can," declared Stacy +pompously. "Cleverness runs in our family," boasted Stacy. + +"That quality must have exhausted itself before you joined the family," +retorted Emma. + +Stacy admitted that he had lost some of it after becoming a member of +the Overland Riders, which, he said, was undoubtedly due to association +with inferior intellects, to which Emma had no reply to make, other than +characteristically elevating her nose and turning her back on the fat +boy. + +"Come, come," urged Hippy. "Stacy, you and Tom will have to help me +dress this beast if you want meat. It is certain that we shall not +starve today." + +The job of dressing the buck was accomplished clumsily, the Overland +girls being interested spectators and offering frequent suggestions on +the subject, of which they knew nothing. + +That night the Riders enjoyed a great spread. Following it, such of the +meat as they wished to carry with them they spitted on sharp sticks in +the smoke of the camp-fire. This was the beginning of the curing process +required to put the meat in condition to keep, so that they might carry +it along, for the party did not dare trust to the chance of finding +other game farther on, fearing that they again might be caught foodless. +One experience of the kind was enough. + +Lieutenant Wingate and his companions had learned a lesson in +observation from the guide, and Hippy began to understand that a hunter, +when after game, must put out of his mind every object in the landscape +except the particular thing for which he is looking. He tried out that +idea that same day by looking for various objects, one at a time, and +was amazed at the result. Under this method, objects that he had not +before observed at all now stood out with great prominence. Hippy then +recalled what an old hunter, then sniping Germans, had told him in +France: "Let your eyes sweep quickly over the landscape but pay no +attention to the more prominent objects, and you will be amazed at the +quickness with which you will discover that for which you are looking." + +The method worked out just as Hippy's informant had said it would, and +Hippy determined never again to be caught napping. However, his respect +for the guide had increased considerably, and especially for the +keenness of Woo Smith's eyes. + +With all the venison they could carry packed in their kits, the party +set out early on the following morning and soon found themselves on the +brink of another box-canyon, which they reached without mishap, then +made their way up the side of another mountain, and on over a series of +rugged elevations that would tax the sure-footedness of a mountain goat. + +"This up and down progress reminds me of a wild ride that I once had on +a scenic railway at Coney Island," declared Elfreda Briggs as they +finally halted for a rest. Elfreda's face was red from exertion and +excitement, and her hair had become the plaything of the mountain +breezes. + +"Don't wolly till to-mollow," chuckled Stacy. + +"Stacy, you're right," nodded Tom Gray. "But it is now time we were +moving. See that ridge to the right of us?" + +"Surely we do not have to cross that, do we?" begged Emma. + +"Yes. We shall have to ride its entire length in order to reach the high +mountain peak that you see still farther on. Either we must start now or +wait until tomorrow," averred Tom. + +"It never will do to be caught on the top of that ridge in the +darkness," agreed Hippy. + +The ridge referred to lay slightly higher than their present position, +but there was plainly a safe trail leading to it. Orders to move were +given by Hippy. The Overland Riders were quickly in their saddles, and +the party slowly mounted the ridge, but halted as they came to the top +of it. For once the girls experienced a case of "nerves." + +"We never shall be able to ride over this awful trail," cried Elfreda +Briggs. + +"Oh, let's go back," begged Emma. + +"Impossible!" answered Hippy. "This is the trail that we shall have to +follow to reach the high peak of the Sierras." + +"If the horses behave and no one loses her head we ought to be able to +cross safely," averred Grace. + +"My head is swimming already," moaned Nora. + +"Why don't you turn it over and let it float for a few minutes?" +suggested Chunky. + +After directing Woo to proceed on ahead, the journey was resumed, and +the ponies stepped out over the knife-edge top of the ridge. This ridge, +not more than a dozen feet wide along the top, formed a natural bridge +connecting two mountain ranges. Here and there the sides of the ridge +fell away sheer for hundreds of feet, and at others, smooth granite +rocks sloped away to the canyon below. + +Ahead of the Riders, Woo Smith was picking his way unconcernedly, +singing blithely. The girls of the party sought to look equally +unconcerned, but not with very much success, for each one was feeling +the effect of the great height and their peril on the narrow path. Emma +Dean finally slipped from her saddle, and passing the bridle-rein over +one arm, proceeded to pick her way on foot. + +"Cold feet, eh?" scoffed Stacy. + +"No. I'm scared, that's all," replied Emma. "I don't care who knows it, +either." + +Grace glanced at the faces of her companions, and then, at the rapidly +narrowing trail. + +"While I believe that we shall be in less peril on our ponies than on +foot, I suggest that we all walk," she said, dismounting. "With your +feet on the ground you will be less nervous." + +Grace's companions lost no time in following her example, but they +dismounted cautiously. It was a relief to feel the solid ground under +their feet. A laugh further relieved the strain when Hippy Wingate +finally dismounted. The girls teased him unmercifully, though all knew +that a man who had fought the Germans in the clouds was not likely to be +disturbed by great heights. A few moments later Stacy dismounted, but +Tom remained on his pony and appeared to be enjoying the novel +experience of riding along this unusual aerial trail. + +Miss Kitty, the lazy pack-horse, as usual, brought up the rear of the +line and was dragging farther and farther behind. Her actions were +observed with keen interest by the Overlanders, there being no certainty +as to what the white pack mare might or might not do. She proved the +wisdom of their lack of confidence in her when, weaving from side to +side to avoid stepping over projecting rocks or boulders, she stepped +off the trail with one hind foot. + +"Quick, Hippy!" cried Nora excitedly. "She will fall over!" + +Lieutenant Wingate sprang forward and gave the mare a quick slap on her +flank. The mare jumped, then down she fell on her side with hindquarters +hanging partly over the brink, and there she lay groaning dismally, the +picture of misery and fear. The faces of the Overland girls paled, for +each knew that the slightest struggle on the part of the white mare +would send her sliding to the bottom of the canyon fully a thousand feet +below. + + + + + CHAPTER XVI + + GOING TO BED IN THE CLOUDS + + +"Oh, Hippy, you have done it this time!" cried Nora. + +"Keep quiet! Don't frighten her!" cried Grace, snatching the lariat from +her saddle and handing it to Hippy. "Slip the loop over one of her hind +legs, but for goodness sake do not make any sudden moves." + +"Wait! I'll get a derrick," shouted Stacy. + +"Keep quiet!" commanded Tom sternly, at the same time taking a rope from +the pommel of his own saddle and hurrying to Lieutenant Wingate's +assistance. While Grace, was patting the head of the fallen animal, +trying to soothe her, Tom slipped the rope over her neck, Hippy having +dropped the loop over one hind foot. + +"Oh, Tom, you surely will choke Kitty to death if you pull on the neck +rope," warned Grace. + +"Serve her right if I did," growled Tom. "She is a perpetual nuisance. +What next, Lieutenant?" + +"We must haul her up, that's all. Keep your rope taut, but don't put too +much strength on it," directed Hippy, as he began to pull on the rope +about the white mare's hind leg. He failed to budge her. + +"It is the pack," said Elfreda. "Don't you see that Kitty's pack is +pressing right against the rocks?" + +"That's right," agreed Tom Gray. "We must unload the beast before we can +do a thing with her. Confound her!" + +"Now, Tom," admonished Grace Harlowe. + +"Stacy! Get that pack off and be careful about it too," ordered +Lieutenant Wingate. + +Stacy could not manage the pack alone, so Grace and Elfreda assisted him +in removing it. This undertaking, perilous as it was, was accomplished +after more than two hours had been lost through Kitty's clumsiness. It +was then discovered that the white mare had gone lame, but Hippy found +that she had suffered nothing more serious than a bruised hip. + +"We must be on our way," he urged. + +"As it is, we shall not get across this ridge before dark," declared +Elfreda, glancing at the lowering sun. + +"Oh, don't say that," begged Nora. "We must." + +Tom Gray shook his head. + +"To make haste would be dangerous," he warned. + +As soon as the white mare was again in proper shape the party started +ahead, determined to get as far on their way as possible before night, +but darkness was settling over the canyons on either side of them when +Lieutenant Wingate finally called a halt. + +"We must make camp while we can see to do so," he directed. + +"What, here?" cried Emma. + +"It is the best we have," answered Lieutenant Wingate in a doubtful +tone. + +The trail had been steadily narrowing as they proceeded, and ahead of +them it appeared to be almost impassable, at least for horses. It was +decided to stake the ponies down in single file, which the three men +finally succeeded in doing to their satisfaction. It was not an ideal +tethering place, but most of the animals were used to sleeping in +ticklish places, and, in fact, if necessary could sleep standing up. + +Packs were removed and stored in safe places, but Woo, who had been sent +out to locate a spring, returned with the information that he could find +none. This, however, did not disturb the Overlanders, for their bottles +held sufficient water for supper and breakfast, provided they were +economical in its use, so a small cook-fire was built, and in a few +moments the kettle was singing merrily and the odors of coffee and +venison were in the air, to the accompaniment of Woo Smith's "Hi-lee, +hi-lo." It was an unusual supper for the Overland Riders, sitting there +with their food served on an army blanket laid on the ground, with empty +space and sombre canyons on either side of them now filled with inky +blackness. + +While they were eating, Woo gathered stems of bushes and piled them +ready for making a larger fire to light up the camp after supper. + +"I should like to know where we are going to sleep," reminded Nora as +they finished the meal. + +Tom said he would make up their beds very shortly, whereat the +Overlanders laughed, but with not much mirth in their voices. + +"If you don't make haste you won't be able to find beds to make up," +averred Emma. "Don't you see the fog rolling in? We shall soon be +enveloped in it." + +"Fog!" Hippy laughed heartily. "Why, child, that isn't fog--it is +clouds. We are above them, but I think they will rise and take us in. +When it gets a little darker here, you will see a sight that will +interest you." + +Hippy's prediction was fulfilled. The moon rose full at about nine +o'clock that evening, and exclamations of wonder were uttered by the +girls of the party, as its beams lighted up the slowly moving clouds +that now had risen almost level with the top of the ridge itself. Here +and there sharp peaks thrust themselves through the cloud seas, which +were dark and menacing to the eyes of the observers. + +"How beautiful," murmured Elfreda Briggs. + +"It is indeed," breathed Grace. "The scene reminds me of the one that we +looked down upon when we were riding the Old Apache Trail, except that +this is infinitely more beautiful. Hippy, does not this remind you of +France, when you were flying above the clouds?" + +"In a way, yes. Many is the time that I have gone to sleep on a cloud +for a few seconds. Tom, what is our altitude here?" he asked, turning to +his companion. + +"According to my aneroid, about eight thousand feet." + +"We are surely getting up in the world," chuckled Emma. + +"Don't congratulate yourself too soon, Miss Dean. We may be going the +other way before morning," reminded Stacy Brown. "What about starting a +conflagration, Captain Gray?" + +"Woo, stir up the campfire and let's have some light and warmth," +directed Tom. + +"Oh, it is too bad to destroy this wonderful view. If you build a fire +we shan't be able to see the full cloud effect," protested Grace. + +"You will," answered Hippy. "We soon shall be enveloped in clouds, and +we are going to feel the cold, too." + +There was a biting chill in the air already and, to the amazement of the +campers, mosquitoes were numerous and very active. + +Tom, after a survey of their surroundings, said he would make up the +beds, and called to Woo to bring the pick-axe. + +"Make up the beds with a pick?" exclaimed Emma. + +"Yes. By the way, where do we sleep tonight?" asked Miss Briggs in a +slightly worried tone. + +"I will show you," replied Tom, beginning to dig a trench in the thin +layer of soil that covered the ridge. + +"If you can transmigrate a real bed, I wish you would make it two so +that I may have one," called Stacy. + +Tom made no reply, but, after digging the trench, he had the guide and +Hippy place stones on either side of it as an added protection against +rolling out of bed. + +"Stacy, get in here and see if this hole fits your ample proportions," +directed Tom. + +Stacy hesitated. + +"I don't like to be buried so soon after supper," he complained. "Is +this some new game that you are trying to play on me?" + +"Yes. It is a game to keep you from falling out of bed and making a mess +of yourself," replied Tom tersely. + + + + + CHAPTER XVII + + IN THE LAND OF PINK SNOWS + + +"I--I think I should prefer to sleep downstairs," stammered Stacy. + +"If that is the way you feel, you have only to roll over and you will be +downstairs for keeps," promised Lieutenant Wingate. + +"All right, I'll sleep in the hole in the ground, but don't you dare +throw dirt on me," warned Stacy, crawling into the trench and cautiously +disposing of himself to see if his bed fitted. "This isn't even half a +bed, Tom. How am I going to turn over?" + +"Don't," laughed Grace. + +"Yes, please do," urged Emma. + +"Wow!" muttered Chunky sitting up and peering over the edge of his bed +at the cloud-sea rolling slowly along just below the camp. "Wouldn't it +be a terrible catastrophe if I were to be transmigrated out of bed?" + +"That depends upon the point of view," suggested Emma. + +The Overlanders were startled at this juncture by a shout from the +Chinaman, accompanied by a series of bangs. + +"Somebody knocked over the kitchen table!" cried Chunky. + +"Me savvy piecee kettle go 'way," wailed Woo, who, in emptying out some +dishes, had let them fall over the side of the ridge so that the +utensils were then on their way to the bottom of the canyon, a thousand +feet below. + +"He has lost the kettle," groaned Nora. "At this rate we shall soon be +without anything." + +"Except our appetites," finished Chunky. + +"What a tragedy," observed Emma. + +"Don't wolly till to-mollow," advised the guide. "Hi-lee, hi-lo!" +Nothing could disturb the equanimity of Woo Smith for very long, and he +immediately resumed his duties. The loss of a few utensils was not a +thing to be greatly disturbed about--at least he so reasoned the matter +out. + +It was late in the evening when the Overlanders finally got into their +trenches and dropped off to sleep, but their sleep was brief. First, +Stacy had a nightmare and set up such a howling that all hands awakened +in alarm. The next disturbance came when a sudden mountain wind-storm +sprang up. The Overlanders were aroused just in time to see their +campfire lifted into the air and hurled out over the clouds in which the +embers and sparks quickly disappeared. + +"Oh, this is terrible! We shall surely be blown off the ridge," cried +Emma. + +"Lie down in your trenches and let the blooming storm blow itself out!" +shouted Hippy. "No wind-storm up here can harm you so long as you keep +down." + +The girls of the party rather reluctantly lay down again, and found +that, in that position, the wind barely touched them, and, from that +time on, peace reigned in the Overland camp until morning. The morning, +however, brought with it fresh troubles. Every member of the party +awakened shivering. Stacy declared that his feet were frozen, which Emma +asserted was a chronic condition with him. + +The Overlanders dragged themselves from the trenches, shoulders hunched +forward, hands thrust into their pockets, their faces blue and pinched. +The limit of their endurance was reached, however, when the familiar +voice of Woo Smith assailed their ears. + +"Hi-lee, hi-lo! Don't wolly till to-mollow," sang the guide. + +"Smith!" shouted Tom Gray. + +"He--he thi--thi--thinks he's a bird," chattered Stacy. "I hope he tries +to fly." + +"Smith, please cut out the singing and prepare hot coffee as quickly as +possible," directed Tom. + +"Me savvy coffee. Me savvy nicee piecee day. You savvy nicee day?" +bubbled the guide. + +"Oh, let him have his way, Tom," urged Grace laughingly. "We should be +glad that we have such a cheerful guide." + +"Cheerful idiot!" muttered Tom. + +"Yes, Woo. We savvy," called Grace, smiling over at the grinning face of +the Chinaman. "Please make haste with the breakfast, though. Girls, get +up and look out over the wonderful scene before you, and I will +guarantee that you will instantly forget your troubles." + +With shaded eyes, they looked and did, for the moment, forget their +chilled condition. The peaks were now in the full glare of the morning +sun, while down in the canyons day had not yet fully dawned, and the dim +shadows there were gray with the morning mist. + +Another day of hard riding was before them, but before starting out Tom +and Hippy announced that they would try to find a trail up the mountain +that loomed in the sky some distance beyond. Upon reaching the end of +the ridge that formed a natural bridge connecting two mountain ranges, +Tom and Hippy came upon a sharp descent that led down into a broad, open +valley, beyond which lay the mountain they were to climb. + +"This looks promising," nodded Tom, as they jogged down into the valley. + +"It is more than that; it is wonderful," cried Hippy as the two men +found themselves in a field knee-deep with blue lupines that grew there +in profusion. The odor of the flowers was almost overpowering. To the +right and the left of the two explorers were bunches of tuft-grass, here +and there groves of slender lodge-poles, and spindling pines and +junipers. Tom and Hippy paused in admiring silence. It was more +beautiful than anything that they had thought possible in this rugged +country. + +While they were hunting for a possible trail that would lead them up the +mountain, Tom Gray declared that Nature had used this sweetly scented +field for a dumping ground, after having completed the building of the +mountain itself. + +"Yes, and she protected her work mighty well when she erected that +snow-capped peak," answered Hippy. "I know that there _must_ be a way +out of this place to reach that mountain," he added, getting up from a +fall, very red of face, his jaw set stubbornly. + +Despite their persistent efforts to find a trail out of the valley of +the lupines, it was noon before they did discover a possible way out for +their party. After marking it by tying a handkerchief to the bent-over +top of a spindling pine, they started back to join their companions. The +Overland party had some time since saddled and bridled their ponies and +were ready to move when Tom and Hippy returned to them, and all were on +their way soon after the arrival of the two men. + +"You are going to see something that will gladden your heart, Brown +Eyes," declared Hippy as they started on. It was late in the afternoon +when they finally rode into the valley below. The blue lupines, the +grass, the pines and the junipers there presented a scene that brought +cries of delighted amazement from the Overland girls. + +"Oh, look at the pink ice cream!" cried Emma, pointing to the towering +mountain which they were to try to climb. + +"Why, Tom, we didn't notice that coloring on the snow up there this +morning," exclaimed Lieutenant Wingate. "It must be a cloud reflection." +Tom Gray nodded and said that the pink shade probably would soon +disappear. + +"We must camp in the midst of these flowers," cried Grace Harlowe. "It +is finer than any place we have yet seen in these mountains." + +"I agree with you," answered Elfreda. "It gives me fresh courage to go +on. Why, Grace, I feel as if I could vault a six-foot fence." + +"Suppose you try to jump over the white mare," suggested Grace, +laughingly. "This high altitude has gone to my head, too." + +"No, thank you. I think that it might be best for a person of my years +to keep her feet on the ground," laughed Elfreda. "But the effect, as +well as the view here, is wonderful. I do not believe there is anything +like it anywhere else in the world." + +Camp was promptly made amid the flowers. Soon thereafter the clouds on +the horizon rolled down behind the mountains as the sun sank out of +sight, but as long as light remained on the mountain tops, the wonderful +pink tint clung to the everlasting snows on the pinnacles, and the +mosquitoes increased in numbers and ferociousness. + +"The higher we go the worse they get," complained Stacy Brown. "Isn't it +queer how that pink tint hangs on?" + +"Say, girls," bubbled Emma Dean, "what if it should prove to be ice +cream in reality?" + +"In that event I know someone who never would go home," laughed Nora. + +"Two someones," reflected Stacy, with a far-away, longing look in his +eyes. + + + + + CHAPTER XVIII + + AT THE "TOP OF THE WORLD" + + +The morning dawned with the sky a molten green and gold. The mountain +peak and the high ridges were a beautiful pink, and below them lay the +green and blue of the meadow like a velvet carpet. + +"Wonderful!" breathed the girls in chorus. + +"Could anything be more beautiful?" murmured Grace. + +"This is worth all the hardships we have endured," declared Elfreda. + +The Overlanders continued to admire the scene until breakfast was ready. +Immediately after the meal the journey was resumed, each one eager to +reach the pink snows above that held so great a fascination for all. +They came to the snow line late in the day. The ponies were left in +charge of Woo Smith to remain until the party returned from the high +peak of the Sierras, which was now their immediate objective. + +Now that they were close to it, they discovered that the snow really was +pink. No one seemed able to explain this mystery until Tom announced it +as his opinion that the pink shade was due to a tiny bright red flower +whose petals were found imbedded in the snow. Stacy scooped up a handful +of snow and tasted it, and then made a wry face. + +"It tastes like turpentine," he declared. + +The Overland Riders danced and capered about in the snow like school +children, and tried to snowball each other, but found the snow so +crumbly that it could not be rolled into balls. This they overcame by +wetting handfuls of snow from their canteens, and then, ere they even +thought of making camp, they had a merry snowballing battle thousands of +feet above sea level. They battled until their breaths gave out in the +rarefied air--threw snowballs at each other until almost exhausted. + +"Never mind. Don't wolly till to-mollow," comforted Stacy Brown. + +With the coming of night a chill settled over the mountain, beside which +the previous nights were almost sultry, and a damp, gray cloud hid the +lower reaches of the peaks like a great gray blanket. The Overlanders +were glad that they were above rather than below that cloud, and they +hugged their cook fire, though it was far from being a roaring one, for +they did not have fuel to waste. + +Tom Gray, who, before the evening was far advanced, went out to examine +the strange twisted little trees that grew here and there, discovered +that they were full of pitch. He said nothing to his companions, but, +moving back a little distance from the camp, he tested one with a match. +The trunk of the twisted tree flared instantly. He put out the blaze +with snow and returned to camp. + +"How would you folks like a real camp-fire?" he asked. + +"There ain't no such thing," mocked Emma. + +Grace gazed at her husband inquiringly, knowing quite well that Tom had +some plan for a fire in mind. + +"The easiest thing in the world, my dear friends," chuckled Tom. "All +that is needed to make a regular conflagration is the know-how." Tom +struck a match against the trunk of a small scrubby tree against which +he was standing, and held the match close to the trunk until he felt the +heat, then sprang away from it. The tree blazed up gloriously. + +"I did it with my magic wand!" he cried, waving his arms dramatically. + +Exclamations of wonder greeted the achievement, and the Overlanders +gathered about the blaze, holding out their hands to catch some of the +warmth. + +"Me savvy nicee piecee fire," observed Chunky solemnly. + +"However did you do it, Tom?" wondered Nora. + +"The tree is filled with pitch," answered Tom Gray. "When we get ready +to turn in we will light another one. I don't suppose we shall get any +warmth from it, but we can hear it crackle, which will be some comfort." + +That night the Overlanders made their beds under an overhanging rock +where there was no snow, and were lulled to sleep by another of Tom +Gray's burning trees. They awakened in the morning again stiff with +cold, but half an hour after sunrise they had fully recovered their +spirits and were making preparations for the long hard hike ahead of +them. + +Each of the men carried a pack on his back, leaving the girls to carry +such provisions as they thought would be needed. Even the rifles had +been left behind with Woo, the mountain climbers carrying no arms but +their revolvers. Ropes, an axe and a shovel were included in the +equipment and they finally set out for what Elfreda Briggs characterized +as "The Top of the World." + +The peak of the great mountain was reached late in the afternoon, with +all hands well tired out. They found the summit of the peak strewn with +huge granite slabs, from some of which the snow had been blown away in +spots, forming little scooped-out cups in the pink mantle. + +"Well, now that we have enjoyed this punk view, suppose we get down to +some place where we can make camp and sleep," suggested Stacy. + +"This is where we are to sleep to-night," answered Tom. + +"What! Here?" gasped Stacy. + +"Yes. Did we not come up here for that purpose?" + +Stacy shivered, and glanced down over the glittering snow field, then +shivered some more, but made no further comment. + +"This will be the first time that I ever slept in a snow bank, and I +trust it may be the last," observed Emma resignedly. "Last night we +found a nice dry spot for our beds, but up here--Br-r-r-r!" + +"You will be as comfortable as though you were in your own bed at home," +promised Grace. + +"I wish to goodness I had your imagination," grumbled Chunky. "It must +be beautiful to be able to dream things the way you do." + +No fuel for a fire had been brought along on this last leg of the climb +above timber line, so supper was a cold meal. Everyone felt so miserable +after supper that the Overlanders with one accord began preparing to +roll up in their blankets for the night. Hippy had already dug trenches +in the snow for the party to sleep in, so they might be out of the wind. +The girls talked chatteringly of everything they could think of, to +assist them in forgetting their misery, then crawled into their trenches +and tightly rolled themselves up in their blankets. + +"This is the first time I ever went to bed with my boots on," complained +Elfreda. "Should I live until morning I surely shall have something to +brag about." + +"Why, girls, this is an ideal summer resort," laughingly chided Grace. + +The response was a chorus of dismal groans. For a few moments after that +the Overlanders lay gazing up at the bright stars, then a gradual warmth +overspread their shivering bodies, and one by one they dropped off to +sleep, now nearly thirteen thousand feet above sea level. + + + + + CHAPTER XIX + + BOWLING IN NATURE'S ALLEY + + +Contrary to expectations the Overland Riders slept soundly all through +the night, but the moment they crawled from under their blankets in the +morning, they began to shiver. + +"Come on! Take a run with me," urged Tom. + +"Please go away and let me die," moaned Emma. + +"We must have exercise to start our blood circulating," reminded Hippy. + +"I don't want exercise. I want something to warm me up on the inside," +protested Stacy. + +Grace and Elfreda, holding hands, were already dancing about in +grotesque fashion, taking long draughts of air into their lungs, the +color rising to their faces as the circulation of their blood responded +to their lively movements. + +"Never mind, folks," comforted Hippy. "If you will all take a lively +sprint, then a snow-wash, I will give you something that will please you +and fix you up in great shape." + +"I shall be past all human help long before that," answered Emma. + +"Why don't you transmigrate yourself to a warmer clime for an hour or +so?" suggested Stacy. + +Tom Gray nodded to Hippy, whereupon Lieutenant Wingate took from his +pack a tiny alcohol stove, which he filled from a small bottle and +lighted. Over the stove he placed a coffee pot full of white snow dug +from underneath the crust where it was not tainted with what Stacy had +been pleased to characterize as a "turpentine taste." As the snow melted +in the coffee pot, more snow was added until there was sufficient for +their use. The Overlanders, quickly discovering that something unusual +was going on, ran to the coffee-maker. + +"Wha--at's this?" demanded Elfreda. + +"An alcohol stove--a hot cup of coffee for each in a few moments," +chuckled Lieutenant Wingate. + +"Hippy Wingate, did you have that last night?" demanded Emma. + +"Yes." + +"And you let us suffer with cold and eat a coffeeless supper?" rebuked +Nora Wingate. + +"You lived through it. Why kick, now that you are about to have a warm +drink?" + +"We ought to throw you off the mountain," declared Grace. + +"Don't do it till he gets the coffee ready," urged Stacy. + +"The reason that I did not use the alcohol kit last night was that I had +only enough alcohol to burn the stove for one meal," explained Hippy. "I +knew that you would be in more urgent need of coffee in the morning than +you were last night." + +"I withdraw my suggestion that we throw you over," laughed Grace. + +"Are you ready?" called Lieutenant Wingate. "The coffee is." + +"Are we ready? Just watch us," cried Emma Dean. + +Each had an individual cup, and Hippy passed lumps of sugar to them from +his own kit. They had no milk, but there was no complaint, for the +Overlanders were glad enough to get the coffee black. This, with some +biscuit and cold venison, comprised the meal, but they declared +unanimously that they had never had a more appetizing breakfast. + +"I have decided," announced Stacy finally, "not to be a party to the +plan to throw Uncle Hip overboard--at least not to-day. Good-morning, +Sun! Welcome to our happy home," he added, bowing to the rising sun. + +Tom called attention to two birds circling over them, which he said were +jays looking for crumbs, whereupon the girls broke up pieces of hard +tack and sprinkled them over the ground a few yards from the camp. The +jays swooped down on the crumbs, chattering and scolding. Grace then +suggested that, having reached the "top of the world," they resume their +journey and explore the lower ridges, taking the whole day for their +return to camp. The first quarter of a mile down was a slide rather than +a walk, but the Overlanders made merry over their frequent mishaps, +finally reaching a long granite slope on the south side of the mountain +where there was little snow. There, the sun's rays blazed down all day +long, and there many sparkling streams had their origin. + +About them the ground was strewn with boulders from the size of a man's +head up to great spheres of flint-like stone, many as round and +glistening as though they had been turned and polished by man. + +"Oh, look at the beautiful lake!" cried Nora enthusiastically, pointing +to a body of water in the valley far below them. "What is it?" + +"It doesn't appear on my map. I don't know what it is," answered Tom. + +"Perhaps it is the Aerial Lake that we have been warned against," +suggested Grace. + +"I was thinking of that myself," nodded Tom. "There are trees growing in +the lake, but what are those glistening objects farther out?" + +"Rocks," replied Grace, after focusing her binoculars on the shining +marks. + +"I wonder if I can hit one of them," said Stacy, picking up a round +stone which he sent rolling down the smooth granite slope. The stone +shot over a broad, shelving rock, leaped far out into the air, then, +after what seemed an interminable time, splashed into the lake. The +Overlanders saw a tiny spurt of water as the stone struck the surface of +the lake. + +"Folks, I've got an idea. Greatest thing you ever heard of, too," cried +Hippy. + +"Throw it over the cliff," suggested Emma. "The very best possible use +to which you can put your ideas." + +"That is exactly what I am going to do, my dear Emma. Just watch my +smoke." + +The Overland Riders were puzzled to know what Hippy had in mind. First, +he cut several tough lodge poles, then selecting a boulder half as high +as himself, Hippy easily pried it from its resting place with a pole and +started it down the slope. The boulder soon began to roll, gaining +momentum with the seconds, striking fire as now and then it came into +contact with sharp projections of rock. + +The boulder finally hit the shelving slabs of granite at the edge of the +cliff with a mighty crash and leaped out into the air. The party watched +its projectile-like flight with fascinated gaze. + +Then came the splash into the lake. The Overlanders did not hear the +splash but they saw the water spurt up into the air like a miniature +geyser, and fall in a silver shower over a wide area. + +"Hurrah!" shouted Stacy, tossing his hat into the air. + +Tom Gray was excited, and so were his companions. Stacy Brown was +already prying at a boulder with a pole, while Hippy had run to another +one and was digging an opening into which to insert his lever, using a +flat stone for a fulcrum. Many of the boulders lay resting on the slope +and thus were easily thrown out of balance. + +"Wait!" cried Elfreda. "We will have a game of bowling." + +"Yes, and the highest one that was ever played," exclaimed Grace. + +"And I'll be Rip Van Winkle. Show me a soft place to lie down and +sleep," cried Stacy. + +"Where are the ninepins?" demanded Emma. "One cannot bowl without having +something to bowl at." + +"Use the trees down yonder in the lake," suggested Hippy. "The one who +makes the first score will be free of camp duties for the next +twenty-four hours." + +"I won't play," declared Chunky. "I know you want to work some sharp +game on me." + +"And the one who makes no score at all must do the work for all those +who do make scores," added Elfreda laughingly. + +The fat boy sat down stubbornly. + +"Go on with your game," he said. + +"What's the matter? Don't you want to play, Honey?" asked Nora. + +"No. I'm going to be the umpire," answered Stacy. + +"As you please," laughed Hippy. "You will have to do the chores anyway. +Folks, I am going to try to hit the third tree to the left of that group +of rocks near the middle of the lake. Now watch me." + +Hippy started a rock, which he had selected with great care. It boomed +over the ledge, observed in breathless silence by the spectators, then +hurtled far out over the lake, finally smashing into the blue waters, +throwing spray high in the air. + +"A miss!" shouted the Overlanders. + +"He missed it by half a mile," jeered the umpire. "Why don't you change +your sights? You are shooting over the mark." + +[Illustration: "It's a Hit!"] + +Tom took the next try. He balanced his rock, after having pried it +loose, and made it ready for the fall, and sent it crashing along on its +way. As nearly as the eye could measure, Tom's boulder fell some twenty +rods to the right of the tree aimed at. Tom then made ready a boulder +for Grace. She failed to hit the lake, and derisive howls greeted her +effort. Elfreda and Nora did a little better than that. Both hit the +lake, but nowhere near the mark they had aimed at. + +Stacy got up slowly and yawned. + +"You folks make me tired. You ought to go to night school and learn how +to roll stones. Why, even our little transmigrating Emma could beat you +sharps at throwing stones. Emma, will you roll if I fix a boulder for +you?" questioned Stacy. + +"Yes, if you promise not to play tricks on me." + +Stacy winked at Emma and nodded sideways to the others, as indicating +that the trick was to be played on them, then snatching up his pole he +ran to a boulder that he had some time since selected for his own. + +After prying the rock into proper position, squinting and sighting and +surveying the rock from all sides, he nodded to Emma and offered the +pole to her. + +"Take it easy. If you can't move the rock I'll lend you a hand," +whispered Stacy. + +"Ladies and gentlemen, you are now about to witness one of Emma Dean's +most notable transmigration feats. Keep your eyes on the performer and +you will see that she has nothing up her sleeve--nor under her hat," +announced Hippy Wingate. + +"Tip it over!" commanded Stacy, throwing his weight on the pole with +Emma. "Watch the two twin-trees down there, but look sharply or you +won't see them when they disappear from the face of the earth," he +warned, strolling back towards his companions. + +Emma's boulder, not being quite round, moved very slowly at first, and +once it threatened to stop altogether and go no further, but finally, +gaining new impetus, it started savagely on its way to the ledge, where +it did a clumsy hop into the air, then dived for the lake. + +"It is going to hit the lake!" cried Grace. + +"What did you think we were trying to hit?" demanded Stacy. "If it is a +hit--if little Emma makes a killing, I did it. If she misses, she did +it." + +"It's a hit!" yelled Lieutenant Wingate. + +"You don't say?" wondered Stacy, turning quickly, the most amazed member +of the Overland party. + +Cheers greeted the achievement as two trees standing side by side in the +lake disappeared as if by magic. Stacy threw out his chest and paraded +back and forth with folded arms, an expression of dignified superiority +on his face. + +"I don't have to work for a whole week," observed Stacy. + +"Oh, yes you do," answered Elfreda. "You know you weren't in the +game--you are only the umpire. Further, Emma won the roll, and will have +a vacation until to-morrow afternoon." + +"There goes my Hippy's roll!" cried Nora, and for the moment attention +was centered on Lieutenant Wingate's rolling boulder. It made a clean +hit, knocking down a tree close to the water. + +"The racket must be terrific down there," said Grace. "Hippy, you surely +raised a disturbance with that last shot." + +Tom tried once more and sent a boulder into the lake. The Overlanders +plainly heard the impact, and could see a shower of broken rock being +distributed over the surface of the lake. + +Suddenly a new sound smote the ears of the Overland Riders, a familiar +sound that they had heard many times in France and on their journeys in +their own land. + +"What's that?" demanded Stacy. + +"That?" answered Hippy. "Why, that is a butterfly lullaby. You surely +ought to know that sound by this time." + +"_Woo, woo, woo!_" was the sound that smote their ears again. + +"Down, all of you! We're under fire!" shouted Tom Gray. + + + + + CHAPTER XX + + LEAD AND MYSTERY IN THE AIR + + +"Are--are we attacked?" wailed Emma Dean. + +"Bullets are coming from somewhere, that is certain," answered Hippy, +raising his head from the ground on which he, as well as his companions, +had thrown themselves at the first shot. + +Following the last two shots, the reports of rifles were distinctly +heard by each member of the party, and each pair of eyes was straining +to locate the source of the shooting. + +"Oh, it must be a mistake," cried Emma. + +"That doesn't help us any," replied Tom Gray. "But I do wish we had our +rifles." + +"Don't wolly till to-mollow," advised Stacy. + +Hippy raised himself to a sitting position and waved his handkerchief. + +"_Woo, woo, woo!--Bang!_" + +Hippy threw himself over backwards, his feet kicking up into the air, +his attitude being so funny that the Overlanders laughed heartily. Their +laughter, however, quickly subsided, when they recalled that the last +shot had passed very close to them. + +Tom Gray had been listening to the whistle of the bullets and to the +reports that followed, and the result of his listening and looking was +the conclusion that the shooters were getting the range, and that, +undoubtedly, smokeless powder was being used. + +"I don't care whether they see me or not," exclaimed Hippy, getting to +his feet, but no sooner had he done so than a bullet whistled so close +to him that, as he declared later, he felt the hot breath of it on his +cheek. + +"Did you see that?" he cried, throwing himself on the ground. + +"No. I didn't see it. I may have sharp eyes, but they aren't sharp +enough to see a bullet on the wing," retorted Stacy. + +"What I cannot understand is, why they are shooting at us," wondered +Elfreda. + +"Perhaps they think we have been throwing stones at them," suggested +Emma. + +"Rolling stones gather no moss," interjected Stacy. "Possibly, however, +our rolling stones came near gathering in some parties down in the +valley, and they are retaliating by shooting at us." + +"Girls! Let's get out of here," cried Grace, springing up. "I am weary +of hiding." + +"Get down!" shouted several voices. + +Grace gave no heed to the command, nor to the bullet that sang over her +head, but when one barely grazed her cheek, she decided that she was +quite ready to join her companions on the ground again. + +"Are we going to lie here all day and let those ruffians shoot at us?" +demanded Emma. + +"The only other alternative is to crawl away," answered Tom. + +"Crawl where?" questioned Grace. + +"To that ridge to the right of us." + +"I'm blest if I do!" retorted Hippy, getting up and walking deliberately +towards the rocks indicated by Tom Gray. + +The others, with the exception of Stacy Brown, not to be outdone in +courage by Lieutenant Wingate, got up and followed him, not hurriedly, +but walking slowly, keeping some distance between them, and in this way +finally reaching the ridge and safety. Several shots were fired at them +on the way, but all went wide of the mark. + +"Where is Stacy? Quick! Maybe he has been hit," urged Nora almost +hysterically. + +Grace sprang back and peered around the corner of the rocks. + +"Oh, girls! Look at him, will you?" she cried. + +Leaning as far out from the rocks as they dared, the Overlanders +discovered the missing Chunky. He was flat on the ground on his stomach, +wriggling along in a fair imitation of a serpent. + +"Get up and walk, you tenderfoot!" laughed Hippy. "What are you afraid +of?" + +"Nothing. I just happened to think how, when I was a baby, I used to +creep to the pantry to pick up crumbs, so I thought I'd see if I had +forgotten how," answered Stacy. + +"You are a fine hero, aren't you?" observed Emma sarcastically, when +Stacy, having finally reached the protection of the rocks, got up and +brushed the dirt from his clothes. + +"No. All the heroes are dead. I don't want to be a hero. What's the news +from the front?" + +"Impossible!" muttered Tom, laughing in spite of himself. Tom had been +pondering, wondering, trying to account satisfactorily to himself for +this attempt on their lives. + +"What do you make of it?" asked Elfreda, nodding at him. + +"It may have been accidental," he replied. + +Grace shook her head. + +"No, they were shooting at us," declared Hippy. + +"I have been wondering, thinking about what Mr. Giddings told us at the +'Lazy J' ranch," said Miss Briggs. "You remember what he said about the +mysterious Aerial Lake, don't you?" + +"It is my opinion that we have been bombarding that very same lake," +declared Grace. "That, however, does not explain the shots." + +"Perhaps not," returned Elfreda, "but it does go a long way towards +proving that there is something in what the foreman of the 'Lazy J' told +us. I, for one, am in favor of giving that lake a wide berth." + +"No, no," protested Hippy and Grace. "Let's find out what the mystery +is," added Grace. + +"I'll stay back and watch the horses while you are gone," offered Stacy. + +"Back to camp for us, now. To-morrow we shall decide what is best to be +done," advised Tom. + +Having reached the safe side of the mountain, the party took a direct +course for their camp, which was located close to what they had named +"Bear Mountain," because its top strongly resembled an ambling bear. +They found pretty rough going until they reached a point about a mile +from the camp, and there Tom suggested that they move more cautiously, +and not blunder into camp, not knowing what they might find there. + +They had approached within sight of their camp when Hippy halted and +beckoned his companions to him. + +"What is it?" questioned Tom. + +For answer, Hippy pointed to a jutting rock which they knew lay just +back of the camp itself. There, outlined on the rock, was a figure. It +did not require very keen eyes to recognize the figure, even at that +distance. + +"Woo! Thank goodness," exclaimed Miss Briggs. + +"I'll give him a yell," volunteered Stacy. + +"No, no!" protested Grace. There was that in the attitude of the +Chinaman that appealed to Grace's bump of caution. "Wait until he sees +us," she counseled. "Trust Woo to shout, unless there be good reason why +he should not." + +The party moved on cautiously, thus far well screened by foliage, but +the instant they appeared in the open, the guide saw them and began +excitedly waving his arms. + +"Do you see?" nodded Grace. + +"He does seem to be excited about something," agreed Tom. + +"If there is likely to be trouble, perhaps I had better fall back as +sort of reserve," suggested Stacy. "In case of trouble it is a wise plan +to have reserves, you know." + +No one paid the slightest attention to Stacy's suggestion, nor did they +increase their pace, not wishing to show that they shared the excitement +of the guide, though there was a suspicion in their minds as to the +cause of that excitement. + +As they drew nearer, Woo Smith clambered down from his perch and trotted +out to meet them. His face expressed neither pleasure nor alarm. + +"Good-afternoon, Mr. Smith," greeted Emma with dignity. + +"Are the ponies all safe?" smiled Grace. + +"Him velly good." + +"Then what are you stewing about?" blurted out Stacy Brown. + +"Anything wrong, Smith?" asked Tom Gray anxiously. + +"Les. Bang, bang!" + +"You mean bing, bing, don't you?" cut in Stacy. + +"Me savvy bang, bang!" returned the guide. + +"Oh, let it go at that," urged Hippy. "It doesn't make much difference +either way, whether it is 'bang, bang' or 'bing, bing'!" + +"Me savvy boom, boom, too," added Woo. + +"No, no. You mean bang, bang!" insisted Chunky. + +"For goodness sake, give the poor fellow a chance," begged Elfreda +laughingly. "You will get him so befuddled that he will not know what he +means. Woo, what _is_ the trouble? Have you seen strangers about?" + +The guide's queue bobbed vigorously, as he pointed to a ridge on the +other side of the canyon. + +"Me savvy man there. Me savvy boom, boom! Bang, bang!" + +Grace's face lighted up. + +"We understand, Woo. You heard guns and you saw a man over there," she +nodded. "Did the man see you?" + +The Chinaman shook his head. + +"Do you think he discovered the camp?" asked Tom Gray. + +Woo shook his head again. + +"He heard the boom of our bowling game and the shots following. That +seems quite clear, but there appears to be no reason why we should be +excited about it," said Lieutenant Wingate. + +Grace said she did not agree with him. + +"What the guide says, indicates to me that the stranger was not only +seeking to wing us, but that he was looking for our camp. Was that all +you saw, Woo?" + +"No. Me savvy woman." + +"What's that?" demanded Hippy sharply. + +The Overlanders' interest was aroused anew. + +"Me savvy woman. Woman come close and peek. Woman see camp, then go +'way. Br-r-r! Big piecee woman make ugly face!" + +"Discovered!" exclaimed Hippy Wingate dramatically. + + + + + CHAPTER XXI + + THE FACE IN THE WATERS + + +"A woman!" breathed Miss Briggs. + +"You must be mistaken," differed Nora. + +"What did she look like?" questioned Grace. + +"Me savvy no good," answered Woo with an emphasis that drew a laugh from +the Overland Riders. + +"How strange," murmured Emma. "What could a woman be doing in this awful +country?" + +"Perhaps she lives here," suggested Elfreda. "I should not be surprised +at anything in the High Sierras." + +"Show me where she was when you saw her," requested Tom Gray. + +Woo led him to a huge boulder, about a hundred yards from the camp. + +"Me savvy piecee woman peek ovel locks," said the guide. + +"A woman peeked over the rocks there. Is that it?" asked Elfreda, the +entire party having followed Woo out to the scene of his discovery. + +"Les." + +"What did she do then?" persisted Tom. + +"Him go 'way plenty quick." + +Grace and Hippy hurried forward and began examining the ground, but +found no trace, no footprints, nothing that would indicate that a person +had been there. + +"Woo, it is my opinion that you went to sleep and had nightmare," +declared Hippy laughingly. "No one has been here. See! She would have +left footprints at least." + +"Piecee woman go 'way," insisted Woo. + +"Don't wolly till to-mollow," imitated Stacy Brown. "Woo, got anything +loose about the house? I've been living on pink snow for so long that I +feel like a snowbird in distress. Food is what my system demands." + +"A bird, did you say?" questioned Emma. "I agree with you that you are +something of a bird, but not of the snowbird species." + +Grace was the only one of the party who believed that their guide really +had seen a human being spying on the camp. The others, after some +discussion, dismissed the matter from mind, and devoted their attention +to the supper which Woo had prepared and served. A much more comfortable +night was spent in this lower altitude, and, with the rising of the sun, +the Overlanders prepared to resume their journey. + +The party was still at a considerable elevation above the lake, which +had sunk out of sight as if it had never existed, due to the fact that +huge granite shelves intervened between them and the mysterious water. +They judged that the lake must lie at an elevation of close to eight +thousand feet above sea level. + +"I smell something," exclaimed Hippy as they were dismounting for +luncheon and a rest that day. + +"So do I," agreed Stacy Brown. "Someone is baking bread and using salt +yeast. Lead me to it, quick!" + +"What you smell is a dead campfire," Tom Gray informed the fat boy. +"Unless I am greatly mistaken, the fire has not been out long, either. +Come on, folks, help me to find it. It may give us some information that +we need." + +By proceeding against the gentle breeze that was blowing they were +enabled, after considerable searching about, to locate the dead +campfire. + +"Here it is!" cried Tom, scraping aside a cover of leaves and grass that +had been spread over the ashes to hide the tell-tale evidence. "See! The +embers have been kicked aside and water poured over them. It is the +water poured on the fire that produces the strong odor that we smell." + +"How long ago was that done, do you think?" asked Hippy. + +"Several hours ago, I should say." + +Hippy made a circuit of the camp site that they had come upon, and +returning, announced that he had made a further discovery--the spot at +which horses had been turned loose. + +"There appears to have been four of them, though I cannot be positive +about that," he said. "I merely saw the footprints of four animals as +they started on their way northward." + +"But suppose they are looking for us?" exclaimed Miss Briggs. "If they +are headed north they are headed towards the place where we were fired +upon, are they not?" + +"Oh, don't worry," laughed Hippy. "They have a nice, long, rough journey +ahead of them. We seem to have missed each other very cleverly. However, +they may be nothing more than an exploring party, and we have been so +stirred up over what we have heard of the High Country that every little +thing takes on an importance that doesn't belong to it." + +"I wish I could make a long speech like that and get away with it," +observed Stacy admiringly. + +"Young man, you say altogether too much as it is," retorted Tom Gray. "I +think that perhaps it might be well for us to take an inventory of our +surroundings, as well as of what lies immediately ahead of us, before we +start out," he added. + +Hippy volunteered to do a little scouting, and Grace said she would +accompany him, as anything of that sort appealed to her, so they set out +together, but soon separated and took different courses. + +Grace first of all sought a high point from which she obtained a very +good view of the surrounding country, but saw nothing of a disturbing +nature. A deer stood outlined on a shelf of rock a few hundred feet +above and to the south of her; a bear ambled across an open space, +zigzagging his way down. Bears do not like to go straight down a hill or +mountain-side. The fact that their front legs are shorter than the hind +legs makes going straight down a steep incline difficult, so, unless +pursued, they ordinarily follow the switchback principle, zigzagging +along until they reach the bottom. + +The Overland girl watched the ambling beast with interest until it +finally disappeared. She had no doubt that it was descending to the +valley in search of food, lured there, perhaps, by the scent of an +abandoned camp. Except for these two animals, she was unable to discover +any sign of life, nor was there a wisp of smoke within her vision that +might indicate the presence of human beings. + +While Grace was making a general observation of the landscape, +Lieutenant Wingate was endeavoring to follow the trail of the unknown +horsemen to determine, as definitely as possible, the direction that +they had taken. Their trail, which he followed for nearly a mile, still +continued towards the peak, and it was his belief that that was their +destination, or at least some other near-by point where they might hope +to meet up with the Overland party. + +Hippy pondered over this, and found himself wondering what the motive of +the horsemen might be. Still pondering, he began retracing his steps to +meet Grace at a point decided upon before they started away on separate +trails. + +Lieutenant Wingate was cautiously making his way through a thick growth +of bushes, watching his step and listening for the familiar whirring +warning of a rattler, when a sudden interruption occurred, an +interruption that caused Hippy to throw himself on the ground, and lie +still. + +The interruption was a bullet, a bullet that clipped his hat, nipping a +piece out of the brim, and giving the Overlander a scare. At first he +thought the shot might have been fired by one of his own party, and was +about to call out a warning, but changed his mind and began wriggling +away from the scene. He had, by this time, forgotten all about the snake +peril, his one burning desire being to get as far away from that +locality as possible in the shortest possible time. + +Hippy found it slow going, because he twisted and turned so much, +following as crooked a trail as he could lay out for himself, for the +purpose of confusing the author of that shot, should the fellow decide +to follow him. + +Suddenly Hippy thought of Grace. She, too, might be in peril. His first +inclination was to get up and run to their rendezvous, but upon second +thought he came to the conclusion that it would be wiser to make an +effort to discover the one who had shot at him. With this in view, +Lieutenant Wingate began making a detour with the intention of coming up +behind the shooter, Hippy having a good general idea of the position +occupied by the man at the time the shot was fired. + +All his efforts came to naught. He had spent nearly an hour in stalking +his man before he realized that he was wasting time. + +While he was engaged in his quest Grace had sat listening. She had heard +the shot, and reasoned that it had been fired from somewhere in Hippy's +direction. There being no answering shot, however, she forced herself to +believe that her companion had shot at a snake, and decided to proceed +on to the place where they were to meet before returning to camp. + +Grace took a different route to reach the spot, and this route took her +near a swiftly moving stream of water that flowed down into the lake. +The stream was wide where she came upon it, and to find a suitable +fording place the Overland girl continued on further up-stream. Her way +led her under an overhang of granite rocks several feet higher than her +head. Beneath her was a pool, deeper than the stream below, and in the +pool she saw fish darting. The pool seemed to be fairly alive with them. + +Grace's mind instantly turned to what the foreman of the "Lazy J" ranch +had said about the golden trout in the High Sierras. + +"Oh, wouldn't it be wonderful if I had discovered a pool of those live +nuggets!" she cried, throwing herself down and gazing into the pool, on +which the sunlight shone, mirroring her own face and the rocks behind +her on its surface. + +"They aren't golden trout at all; they are mountain trout, and oh, what +beauties! I must tell Hippy and have him get a mess for us. I reckon +that golden trout story is a myth. However, golden or speckled beauties, +it is all the same to the Overlanders. A mess of fish is what they need. +I--" + +The Overland girl paused suddenly. The smile on the face she saw in the +water faded and a catch interrupted her breath. + +"Wha--at is it?" she gasped. + +In the water, beside her own, another face was reflected. It was the +face of a woman. At first, Grace believed that some trick of nature was +showing her a double of her own face, distorted and unrecognizable, but +she instantly realized that this could not be possible. The face that +she was looking down into on the surface of the pool was as hideous a +countenance as she had ever gazed upon, scarred, distorted and crowned +by a head of matted hair that bristled at its top and hung in tangled +skeins over the ears. The face was all that she could see. + +For an instant the eyes of the girl and the woman above her seemed to +meet on the face of the waters. + +Grace whirled and sprang up, revolver in hand, for there was menace in +the eyes that she had been looking into. + +Quick as the Overland girl was, Grace Harlowe found herself gazing up at +a barren shelf of rock, unoccupied, silent as a tomb, with not a sign of +life to be seen, either there or anywhere about her. + +It was inexplicable. A feeling of something akin to terror took +possession of Grace Harlowe, then all at once, panic seized her, and, +uttering a little cry, she fled on fleet foot back down the stream, +unheeding where it might lead her, hoping and thinking only of getting +away from that which had given her such a fright. + + + + + CHAPTER XXII + + THE MYSTERY OF AERIAL LAKE + + +Grace ran on until suddenly halted by a shout from Hippy Wingate. + +"Whither away, my pretty maid?" cried Hippy. + +"Oh! You gave me a start," answered Grace breathlessly. "I've had such a +fright, Hippy. I have seen the most awful face that I ever looked upon." + +"In the words of the guide, 'don't wolly till to-mollow.' What did it +look like? Tell me about it." + +Grace told him what had occurred and described as best she could the +face that she had seen mirrored in the pool. + +"That sounds like the woman Woo saw watching the camp," he nodded. "I +think we ought to go back to camp and tell the folks what you have +discovered." + +"You mean it sounds like Woo's description of her," answered Grace +laughingly. + +"You know what I mean. Come on!" + +The Overlanders listened breathlessly to Grace Harlowe's story of her +experience, but no one had an explanation to offer. They asked her if +she had gone up to the rock to see if anyone were hiding there, but +Grace said she had not done so because she was too frightened. + +"I've never lost my head before, but I surely did this time," she added, +smiling in an embarrassed sort of way. "I found a pool full of mountain +trout--no, not golden trout--and I would suggest that one of you men go +out and see if you can't catch a mess. Trout would be relished by all, +including even myself, scared as I am." + +"Trout! Me for them," cried Hippy. "You come along, Tom, and perhaps, +between us, we may be able to find the beautiful creature that gave +Grace the first real scare of her life. I'm glad you have found +something that frightens you," chuckled Hippy. "Me for the fish now." + +Tom accompanied Lieutenant Wingate, leaving Stacy with the girls, and +with instructions to stay in camp. The two men returned two hours later +with a mess of trout sufficient to last the party several days. Stacy +was asked to assist in cleaning them, then the fish were broiled, and a +delicious trout meal was enjoyed. Not since they started had they sat +down to such dainty food. + +The Overland Riders were on the trail early next morning. This trail +eventually led them up the side of a mountain, over places where they +were obliged to hitch ropes to the ponies to assist them over +particularly troublesome spots, yet it was all great fun. + +As the party went on, game become more plentiful. Quail scuttled away at +their approach, with heads ducked low, and here and there a flash of +brown and white told of a frightened deer fleeing to safety. No one +ventured a shot. The party had sufficient provisions for present needs, +and further, it was understood that, unless absolutely necessary, there +was to be no shooting. Tom, however, killed a rattler that lay coiled on +a shelf of granite buzzing away like an alarm clock, but that was the +only exciting incident of the morning's ride. By noon they had worked +their way up to an apparently impassable ridge. Tom went on ahead, soon +returning with the welcome information that there appeared to be a break +in the ridge about a mile to the south of them, and that he thought they +could get through it. + +The Overlanders made camp late that afternoon, and on the following +morning, now thoroughly rested, they followed rough and rugged trails, +surmounting difficulties almost as great as the worst they had met above +timber line. Their reward came later in the morning when they discovered +that they had unerringly followed the right course. + +"There's the lake!" shouted Nora. + +Before them, framed in a rim of black forest and rock, lay a lake of the +deepest emerald green they had ever gazed upon. About the shore, and +extending down to the water, white pebbles formed a mat for the picture. + +"It is our Aerial Lake," declared Grace. "It is the same lake that we +saw several days ago and that we bombarded with rocks." From somewhere +in that vicinity the shots that had disturbed them undoubtedly had been +fired. It was quite a large body of water, just how large they could not +see, on account of a sharp bend in the lake, and intervening mountains. + +"Aren't we going down to make camp now?" asked Elfreda Briggs. + +"Yes, for I'm just dying to know what the secret, the great dark secret, +of Aerial Lake really is," bubbled Emma. + +"From all accounts it's a homely woman," laughed Nora. + +"Oh, there are others," reminded Stacy. + +"That was not a nice thing to say, Stacy," rebuked Grace, laughing in +spite of her efforts to be stern. "It was decidedly ungracious." + +"So are the kind I mean," retorted Stacy. "Hark!" + +A rifle shot echoed through the canyons, but, though ears were strained +to catch the sound, no second shot was heard. + +"I wonder at whom they are shooting this time?" muttered Tom. "We are +again reminded that we are not the only persons in the High Sierras, so +let us be cautious." + +"Watch your step, ladies and gentlemen," warned Stacy as the party +started on. + +The Overlanders chose a camp site back among the trees a few rods from +the shore of the lake. This site was not only well screened from +observation, but afforded an excellent view of the lake as far as the +bend. Camp was quickly made, after which Stacy and Hippy shouldered +their rifles and started out to get acquainted with their surroundings, +as the party intended to remain at the lake for several days. The two +had gone but a short distance from camp ere the Overlanders heard Chunky +utter a shout. + +"I've found an ark," he cried, pointing triumphantly to a dugout canoe +that lay on the shore. + +The dugout had been hewn from a solid log and bore indications of recent +use. Stacy searched for a paddle but could not find one. While the +Overlanders, who had hurried out to him, were discussing Stacy's find, +Hippy was nosing about on the beach, closely observing the ground. He +found boot tracks there, but they did not appear to have been recently +made, so he decided that some days had elapsed since anyone had been on +that particular spot. + +Stacy promptly forgot that he was out reconnoitering, and, cutting down +a small tree with his hatchet, he proceeded to fashion a crude paddle +from it. He then announced that he was going paddling. Tom said no, but +Stacy said yes, whereupon Hippy read his nephew a sharp lecture on +"respect to one's elders." + +To all this, Stacy made no reply, as he considered that he would gain +nothing were he to protest too strenuously. + +"That's all," finished Hippy. + +"Thanks, Uncle Hip. But if anything should happen to me, you'll be sorry +that you were so cruel." + +"Oh, take your old dugout and go on," exclaimed Hippy. "If you drown, +don't blame me. If it were not that you are a good swimmer I shouldn't +trust you in that cranky craft." + +"That is very kind of your Uncle Hippy," reminded Grace. "I hope you +appreciate it." + +Stacy failed to answer. Still tinkering with the paddle, he watched his +companions out of the corner of one eye, as they walked slowly back +towards their camp. Lieutenant Wingate, rifle in the crook of one arm, +continued on. An hour and a half later, as Hippy was returning, he saw +his nephew paddling slowly down the lake. Hippy waved his hat and +"hoo-hooed," to which Stacy paid no attention whatever. + +"Better keep in close. The wind is coming up," called Lieutenant +Wingate. + +Stacy Brown was still silent, and Hippy, chuckling to himself, went on +to camp, where he told his companions of things he had discovered on his +jaunt, none of which were of importance, except that he had found +further evidence of the presence of human beings and horses. + +At luncheon time, Stacy was still absent, but his absence excited no +comment, because the boy was very fond of the water and probably in his +enjoyment of it he had forgotten all about the passage of time. But when +it came four o'clock in the afternoon and still no Stacy, someone +suggested that they go out and look for him. Hippy was the one who went. +He soon came running back, waving his hat to attract the attention of +his companions. + +"Something has happened to Stacy!" he shouted. + +"What is it--what has become of him?" called Tom Gray. + +"Stacy's dugout is floating bottomside up on the lake, but he is nowhere +in sight," answered Lieutenant Wingate. + +The Overlanders started at a run for the lake. + +"There it is! I see it," cried Emma. + +"Oh, Hippy, can't you do something?" begged Nora. "What is that floating +out there?" + +"It's a log," answered Hippy. Despite the fact that the whitecaps were +rolling up the lake, this log remained in one position all the time, but +no one of the Overland party observed that fact. + +"I can swim out to the canoe. Who knows but that Stacy may be under it?" +offered Grace. + +"No, no," protested the Overlanders in one voice. + +"Grace, the water is icy cold. To swim out in that water would be the +death of you. If anyone does it, either Hippy or myself will," announced +Tom. "Is that a hat I see floating there?" + +"It's Stacy's hat," cried Elfreda. "Oh, this is too bad. Cannot +something be done?" + +"There he goes! He will be drowned. Somebody stop him!" begged Emma as +Lieutenant Wingate plunged into the lake and began beating his way +towards the overturned canoe. Hippy had not even paused to remove any +part of his clothing. + +"Come back!" shouted Grace shrilly. + +"Come back!" urged Tom. "Even if he is there you can't help him now." + +"Don't worry. I am all right," came back Lieutenant Wingate's voice, +sounding far away. + +"Me savvy plenty cold watel," piped Woo Smith, but no one gave heed to +his words, and it is doubtful if any of the Overlanders even heard him. + +"I don't believe Stacy is drowned at all," declared Emma. "You will +laugh at me, but I have a thought message that he isn't." + +"This is no time for nonsense, my dear," rebuked Elfreda. + +"It isn't nonsense, it's transmigration," protested Emma. + +About this time they observed that Hippy was close to the dugout, and +all eyes were fixed anxiously on him. They saw him grasp the turned-over +boat, then dive under it. Hippy was out of sight but a few moments when +his head was seen bobbing up on the opposite side of the dugout. + +The Overlanders shouted to him, but the wind was against them and Hippy +did not even know that they were calling. + +"Someone run to camp and fetch a bath towel," urged Grace. "Never mind, +I'll go," she added, starting away at a run for the camp. Grace was back +ere Lieutenant Wingate reached the shore. Tom was there to meet him, and +assisted Hippy, dripping, and blue of face and lips, to his feet. + +"Here, Tom. Take the towel and give Hippy a brisk rub-down." + +"How--where?" gasped Tom. + +"Anywhere. Go out in the bushes, do it anywhere, but for goodness sake +don't delay. What did you find?" + +"Nothing--not a single thing to indicate anything," answered Lieutenant +Wingate dully. + +"Please hurry! Don't you see that Hippy has a chill, Tom?" + +Tom Gray hustled his companion out of sight, then stripped him and gave +him a brisk rubdown, so brisk in fact that Hippy finally begged him to +stop. + +"I shan't have any skin left if you go one rub further," he complained. + +"Here is Hippy's other suit," called Nora. "How is he?" + +"Skinned alive," answered Hippy with a groan. + +Tom ran out and snatched up the suit, which he immediately assisted +Hippy to put on. + +"Are you still chilly?" questioned Captain Gray after his companion had +gotten fully into dry clothes. + +"I should say not, after what you have done to me. I don't care anything +about my own condition. What I am half crazy about is Stacy. I don't, +for the life of me, understand how a fellow who can swim as well as he, +_could_ drown. Tom, help me out. What do you think I had better do?" + +"Do? I think you have done enough--all that can be done. My advice is +that we get back to camp. The girls have a good fire going, and my +suggestion is that you sit by the fire and dry out your shoes while we +decide what we should do next." + +"I don't suppose there _is_ need for hurry. If he is drowned he's +drowned, and that's all there is about it, and if he isn't, he isn't. +Yes, we will go back." + +When Tom and Hippy emerged from Nature's dressing room, Tom carrying his +chum's wet clothing, they found the Overland girls awaiting them a short +distance away. Nora embraced Hippy and wept on his shoulder, and, as a +matter of fact, the other three girls of the party had difficulty in +keeping their own tears back. + +"Oh, this is terrible!" moaned Nora. + +Emma pulled herself together. + +"I have a mental message that Stacy is all right, and that he will be +back to-night," comforted Miss Dean. + +"False hopes, I am afraid," answered Tom. + +"Woo, how deep is that lake?" + +Woo consulted the skies. + +"No savvy. Mebby fish can tell." + +No more was said. It was a sober Overland party that slowly retraced its +steps to the camp, but, as they stepped in among the trees and came in +sight of the little camp, the Overlanders halted abruptly and gazed +astounded. + +On a blanket that he had spread out sat Stacy Brown, his clothing +wrinkled and dirty. Before him stood two cans of beans, open, and a +plate of trout, while both cheeks protruded unnaturally as Stacy gazed +soulfully at his companions. + + + + + CHAPTER XXIII + + THE LAIR OF THE BAD MEN + + +"Hulloa, folks!" greeted Stacy thickly. + +"Stacy!" cried Nora, running to him and throwing impulsive arms about +the neck of her nephew. + +Lieutenant Wingate drew Nora away and stood gazing down sternly at the +munching Chunky. No one said a word, except Woo Smith, who hummed his +"Hi-lee, hi-lo!" + +"Where have you been?" finally demanded Hippy sternly. + +"I--I've been up there," pointing to the side of the mountain, at the +same time getting to his feet. + +"Sit down! Now out with it. The whole story, sir!" + +"I was mad with you. I--I--I thought it would be fun to fool you all. +There wasn't anybody in sight, so I tipped over and--" + +"Accidentally?" interrupted Hippy. + +"No. On purpose. Then I shoved the canoe out and threw my hat into the +water, climbed up the side of the mountain and watched you all hunting +for me," chuckled Stacy. "You all had been so hard on me that I didn't +care if I never came back." + +"I don't understand how you could stand it to stay away at meal time," +wondered Emma. + +"Oh, that was all right. I had some biscuit, then I found some dried +venison in a cache in a cave up there. Somebody had been there. It was +fine food, I tell you, but all the time I kept my eyes on the camp. I +didn't think you would go away and leave me, but I wasn't taking +chances. It was lots of fun watching you folks searching for Stacy +Brown's body, and I laughed when I saw Uncle Hip swimming out to look +under the canoe. Say, you can swim some, can't you?" + +Hippy bristled. Stacy's last words were the crowning ones. Lieutenant +Wingate nodded to Tom. + +"Come, Stacy. We wish you to go down by the lake with us. Fetch your +paddle," directed Hippy. + +"Wha--at are you going to do?" stammered the boy. + +"We three are going paddling, my beloved nephew," answered Lieutenant +Wingate. + +"Don't be too hard on him," whispered Grace as the three were about to +depart, Stacy going reluctantly, but not daring to offer further +objections. + +"Give me that paddle," ordered Hippy when they had reached a point well +out of sight of the camp. "Stacy Brown, you have done about the most +unforgivable thing that a boy could do. You led us to believe that you +had been drowned; you have caused us much mental anguish, and it is no +more than right that we 'transmigrate' a little of it to you. Lie down +on your stomach!" + +"I don't want to. Wha--at are you going to do?" + +"I am going to paddle you, young man. Tom, how many do you think would +be about right?" + +"I should say that a paddle, one paddle, for each member of the Overland +party would be about right," suggested Tom Gray. "There are six of us." + +A moment more and Hippy Wingate was delivering the punishment, not too +hard, but just enough so as to make his plump nephew writhe. + +"Six! There!" announced Hippy. + +"You forgot to give him one for Woo Smith," suggested Tom. + +"You're right." Hippy remedied the oversight at once. "Get up! You made +me swim in the cold lake, so I think I will give you a dose of the same +medicine. I'm going to throw you in the lake." + +"Oh, wow!" howled Chunky. + +"No, no," protested Tom Gray. "Don't do that, Hippy. He might catch cold +and be sick on our hands," grinned Tom. + +"I'll be even with you for this, Uncle Hip," threatened Stacy. + +"He hasn't had enough yet, Tom. Help me throw him in." + +"Yes, I have. I've had enough. I'll never play such a trick on you +again. It was a low-down trick to play. Next time I'll do it in some +other way, but if you let me alone I'll let you alone." + +"Don't make threats," warned Lieutenant Wingate. + +"I can tell you something you want to know, too. I know something that +you don't know," answered Stacy. + +"First you had better come back to camp and apologize to the girls," +suggested Tom. + +Stacy went along, rather timidly at first; then, as the thought of what +he had discovered occurred to him, he swelled out his chest and began to +boast. + +"Suppose you tell us what it is that you have discovered," suggested +Grace after Tom had repeated to the girls what Stacy said. + +"Yes. I'll tell you. When I was trying to get where you folks wouldn't +see me, I dodged behind some bushes and discovered that I was right in +front of an opening in the rocks. At first I thought it was a bear den. +Then I stumbled against a big bear trap that closed with a crash, but it +didn't frighten me at all. You see I am not a bear." + +Emma said there might be a difference of opinion on that subject. + +"I lighted a match and found a lantern, just like the train conductors +use. I looked about and found myself in a cave. I found a lot of stuff +there, including some boxes of crackers and venison, that was cached to +keep it away from the bears if they got past the trap." + +The Overlanders were keenly interested. Elfreda asked what else he had +found in the cave. + +"Mostly things to eat and to eat with. I didn't bother about much of +anything else. I reckon maybe it was the bad men's cave that I +discovered. When it comes to making discoveries I don't suppose there is +a human being who can equal myself. The only thing that I can't lay +claim to having discovered is Emma Dean." + +"That is because your ideals and your instincts lack elevation," +retorted Emma. + +Tom and Hippy glanced at each other and nodded. Both were of the same +mind with reference to Stacy's discovery. Perhaps there lay the real +secret of the Aerial Lake. + +"Let us go over and investigate," suggested Tom. + +"I'm with you," agreed Hippy. "Stacy, you will please lead the way to +this bandit retreat, or whatever it may be, but if you fool us again, +it's the lake for yours." + +All hands started for the cave, with Stacy Brown in the lead, full of +importance. It was quite a rough climb to the scene of Stacy's +discovery, and the boy took the worst course he could find to reach it, +which the others of the party suspected ere they had gone far on their +way. + +"Look out for bear traps!" warned Chunky. "You know I haven't looked +about much on the inside. There! Look at that, will you?" he demanded, +parting the bushes and revealing a small dark opening in the rocks. + +"You aren't going into that hole, are you?" cried Emma. + +"I went in, didn't I?" returned Stacy. "I didn't have a crowd of women +with me, though." + +Hippy entered first, using his pocket lamp to light the way, followed by +Stacy and Tom, then the others filed in, leaving Woo Smith on the +outside to see that they were not surprised by the former occupants of +the place. + +Once inside, the Overlanders found that the roof of the cave was high +enough to permit them to stand erect, but beyond them the darkness was +so deep that they could not see the end of the hole in the mountain. + +"Br-r-r! I'm afraid," cried Emma. + +"That's because you aren't a man," answered Stacy. "Hulloa! There's some +stuff that I didn't see." + +"Pullman car blankets!" exclaimed Tom Gray. "This looks as if we had +made a real discovery." + +"You mean I have," corrected Stacy. + +"Yes. It is plunder. No mistake about that," agreed Lieutenant Wingate. +"Stacy, did you look around farther back in the cave?" + +"No. I didn't have time." + +"I think you were afraid of the dark," teased Elfreda. + +"Stacy is afraid of nothing at all, you know, Elfreda," reminded Grace +laughingly, whereupon Stacy's chest swelled perceptibly. + +"I am not," he made reply. + +A systematic search of all parts of the cave failed to reveal anything +of great value, but they decided that it might be wise to remove some of +the blankets as proof of what they had found. + +"I know something else, too," spoke up Stacy Brown. + +"Well?" demanded Hippy, eyeing Stacy suspiciously. + +"The log is chained down." + +"What log?" questioned Grace quickly. + +"That log out in the lake," Stacy informed them. "It's funny that you +folks haven't noticed that it has been in the same position ever since +we got here. There's something queer about that log, too. I observed it +the first time I walked along the shore, but it didn't make much of an +impression on me at the moment, and--" + +"I doubt if it would have done so if it had fallen on you," interposed +Emma. + +"Thank you. One would hardly notice the log at all unless the lake were +quite rough, which would enable you to see the full length of the log +when it was in a trough. I examined the log when I was out in the canoe, +and there's something else about it that is queer." + +The Overlanders with one accord started for the shore to look at the +log. + +"It's chained down," shouted Stacy. + +"I believe the boy is right," exclaimed Elfreda Briggs. + +"Where's that dugout?" called Hippy. + +"I reckon it has gone around the bend," answered Emma. + +"No. The wind is in the wrong direction," answered Tom. "I see it! There +it is, at the upper end. It has drifted sideways to the beach." + +"I am going to have a look at that log," cried Hippy, starting at a run +for the dugout. Tom and his companions followed. + +"Stacy, get the paddle," directed Tom. + +The fat boy obeyed without protest, which was rather unusual for him. + +"Me savvy plenty piecee fun," chattered Woo as they ran. + +"If I am a prophet, you will be savvying something besides fun before we +have done with this affair," observed Elfreda Briggs soberly. "This is +only the beginning." + +Stacy arrived with the paddle about the time that Hippy and Tom reached +the dugout. The two men turned the boat over and shoved it out. + +"You girls remain on shore," ordered Hippy. "The boat will not hold more +and give us room to work. Stacy, you sit still. Don't you dare rock the +boat." + +The lake was still rough and Hippy found it hard work to handle the +dugout, but after throwing off his coat and shifting his passengers to +better balance the dugout, he made better headway, finally reaching the +bobbing log. + +"Stacy is right. The log is anchored," exclaimed Tom. "What can that +mean?" + +"We are going to find out right smart, Captain," answered Hippy. "Do you +see? The thing is anchored with a chain about its middle, and from +rings, bolted to the ends, ropes lead down into the lake. That must mean +that something is at the other end of the ropes. Tom, you ballast the +other end of the dugout while Stacy and I pull on the rope at this end. +We will try not to upset you. For myself, I have had one ducking to-day +and that is quite sufficient. Stacy has one coming to him. All right, +Chunky, heave away." + +They hauled on the rope with all the strength they dared exert, for to +pull with too strong a hand meant a ducking in the cold waters of the +lake. + +Something came slowly to the surface. + +"Oh, fudge! It's an anchor--it is a piece of iron," grumbled Stacy. + +"Yes, but it isn't an anchor," answered Hippy excitedly. + +"Boys, you have pulled up an iron box. Can you get it aboard?" cried +Tom. + +On the box, in yellow letters, was the name of a well-known express +company. The box was securely locked, and apparently the lock had not +been tampered with. + +"We've made a find!" cried Stacy. + +"Loot of some sort," agreed Tom. "That is a money chest, probably of the +same sort that the Red Limited was carrying when the bandits attacked +our train between Summit and Gardner. There is undoubtedly another one +like it at my end of the log, but the question is what are we going to +do with our find." + +"What are we going to do with it? Why, we're going to open it, of +course," declared Stacy. "If there is loot in it, findin's is keepin's +so far as Stacy Brown is concerned." + +Tom was of the opinion that they had no right to open the chest, but +suggested that they take it and whatever else they might find, to a safe +place and bury it, and then get word to the authorities. + +"I believe you have the right thought," nodded Hippy, after a moment's +reflection. "There can be no doubt that this is stolen property, not the +least doubt in the world. Therefore we are not taking another man's +property--we are trying to save stolen property. Come, Stacy, let's give +it another haul, then try to lift it aboard." + +"If I don't get any of the plunder, I don't haul," objected Chunky +stubbornly. + +"Pull! If you don't I'll throw you overboard," threatened Hippy +savagely. + +"I'll drop it if you do. I'll--" + +A bullet snipped the water not a dozen yards from the dugout, followed +by the report of a rifle. + +"You're under fire! Look out!" shouted the voice of Grace Harlowe, +shrill and piercing. + +"Let 'em shoot!" retorted Hippy. "Tom, are you game to go through with +it?" + +"Yes." + +"_Bang, bang, bang!_" Three bullets hit the water close at hand, sending +up little spurts of white spray. Another bullet went through the top of +Stacy Brown's hat. + +"Wow!" howled Chunky. "You can get shot if you want to, but I don't." + +"Buck up!" urged Lieutenant Wingate. "We'll have the thing aboard in a +moment." + +Another bullet sang past them, clipping a sliver from the side of the +dugout. The sliver hit Stacy on his bare arm and drew blood. + +"I'm hit! Good-night!" yelled Stacy, suddenly letting go of the rope and +diving head first into the lake. + +As Stacy let go of the rope and took his dive, the iron chest splashed +and went to the bottom, causing the canoe to turn turtle. Lieutenant +Wingate and Captain Gray were hurled into the icy waters of the Aerial +Lake head first, with bullets spattering in the water all about them. + + + + + CHAPTER XXIV + + MAKING A LAST STAND + + +"You poor fish!" roared Hippy as he came up sputtering. + +Stacy was making for the shore at full speed, creating considerable +disturbance in the water as he progressed. Tom Gray and Hippy, +concluding that safety first was the motto for them, were hitting up a +rapid gait. The bullets, however, did not cease falling about them. All +at once reports of other rifles, apparently fired close at hand, reached +the ears of the swimmers. + +"The girls are shooting!" cried Tom. + +The Overland girls had run to camp for their rifles, and with them were +trying to search out the hidden mountain marksmen, trusting to drive the +mountaineers off, or at least to check their fire until their three +companions could reach shore. + +Hippy and Tom were swimming for the shore in the direction of the +mountain cave. Observing this, the Overland girls ran forward to meet +them. + +"Hurry! Oh, hurry!" shouted Nora in great distress. + +"They can't reach us with their bullets now," answered Hippy. "We are +protected by the overhang of the mountain on their side." + +"Hippy is right. They have stopped shooting," announced Grace. + +At this juncture Stacy Brown floundered ashore and ran dripping towards +the cave. + +"Here, here! Where are you going?" called Elfreda. + +"Into my bomb-proof shelter; that's where I'm going," flung back Stacy. + +"You had better hide," reminded Elfreda. + +"Where's that boy?" cried Hippy as he, too, floundered ashore. + +"Never mind Stacy now. We have other and more important matters on +hand," answered Grace. "Hurry, Tom. I have sent Woo up among the rocks +to act as lookout while we consider what to do next." + +"This is a fine mess. Here I am drenched to the skin, shivering like a +man with the ague, and a band of scoundrels trying to shoot me up. +Hospitable country, I must say," complained Tom Gray. + +"It might be worse. You and Hippy had better go into the cave and change +your clothes," suggested Grace. + +"Change to what?" + +"That's so. It might be imprudent for any of us to go to camp for fresh +clothing." + +"Come, girls, let's gather wood and build a fire," urged Miss Briggs. +"We can build a small fire in the cave and let our men dry out in there +and we will stand guard on the outside." + +"Good! That is real headwork," agreed Tom. "Give me a handful of sticks +and I'll start a fire if you will provide the matches. Mine are soaked." + +Hippy had already started in search of Stacy Brown, but Stacy was not in +sight. He had fled to the farther end of the cave, whence he was gazing +apprehensively towards the opening. + +"You may come out," offered Hippy. "I'm too wet to have my interview +with you now. When I get dried out I'll have a friendly conversation +with you. Come out!" + +Stacy sidled out, watching Uncle Hip narrowly. Tom came in at this +juncture, with an armful of twigs that the girls had gathered, and +started a small fire. + +"I don't want to be smoked out," complained Stacy. + +"There is worse than that coming to you, young man," reminded Tom. "At +present, however, we have other things to attend to. Strip and dry out." + +"I don't want to dry out. I want to be soaked," retorted Stacy. + +"Don't worry. You're going to be," warned Lieutenant Wingate. + +"If it hadn't been for me you folks never would have discovered +anything," Stacy declared, turning a reproachful gaze on his two +companions. + +"And if it hadn't been for you, I should not have been dumped into a +lake of ice water twice in one day," returned Hippy. "Tom, what is your +idea of this shooting?" + +"We have interfered with someone's business, that's plain," replied Tom. +"When we hauled up that box of plunder, or whatever it may be, they let +go at us with their rifles. Nor is that the worst of it--we are in for +more trouble, and I should not be at all surprised to see it break at +any moment, I--" + +"Tom!" cried Grace Harlowe with a rising inflection in her voice. + +"Yes?" + +"Woo is running towards the cave, waving his arms. I think he has +discovered something." + +Hippy nodded at Tom and began drawing on his wet clothing. + +"May the girls go inside now?" called Grace. + +"No! Keep out! We will be ready in a moment," answered Hippy. + +A shot, followed by a howl from Woo Smith, caused the two men to +redouble their efforts. Hippy finished dressing first and ran out, rifle +in hand, just as the guide came running up. + +"Me savvy tlouble. Plenty men come 'long." + +"How many?" interjected Tom. + +"Sees." + +"Six, eh? We ought to be able to handle them," answered Hippy. + +"There probably are more than six. What shall we do?" questioned Grace. + +"All hands get inside the cave. From there we can watch the lake, and at +the same time be fairly well protected," directed Hippy. + +Acting upon a hail from Tom that he was ready, the Overlanders hastened +into the cave, where Woo was questioned in detail as to what he had +observed. Having obtained all the information that the guide had to +give, Hippy and Tom crept out, and lay secreted in the bushes in front +of the cave to guard against surprises. + +They had been there but a short time when Lieutenant Wingate discovered +a man on the rocks about a hundred yards to the right of them. At almost +the same instant Tom Gray nudged his companion. + +"Two men are over in our camp," he whispered. + +"Don't shoot. Time enough for that. They don't know where we are. +They--" Hippy paused abruptly. + +"They don't, eh?" jeered Tom Gray as a bullet flattened itself on the +rocks just above the opening into the cave. "Keep down in there!" + +"I think they are merely trying to smoke us out," answered Hippy calmly. + +A scattering volley of bullets was fired at the cave opening as he +spoke, but there was no response from the besieged Overland Riders. +Elfreda called softly to know if the two men needed assistance, but both +said all the assistance they needed just then was to be let alone. + +"There go the ponies!" exclaimed Tom Gray. + +When Hippy looked he saw three men leading the Overland saddle ponies +into a defile in the mountains. Hippy threw up his rifle, but lowered it +instantly. + +"It won't do any good to shoot. Then again I might hit a pony. What I +want to do is to get a man. Sh-h-h-h!" + +The man that Hippy had seen, but who had disappeared immediately +afterward, he now discovered lying on a slab of rock up high enough to +give him a fairly good view of the entrance to the cave. + +"I see him. Don't move. He is looking this way," whispered Lieutenant +Wingate. + +After a few moments of cautious observation, the man on the rock crawled +back and disappeared. + +The day was rapidly drawing to a close and the two Overland men began to +feel considerable concern. There was little hope in their minds that +they were going to get out of their present situation that night. Tom +and Hippy discussed the situation, and considered the idea of creeping +away in the night, but finally concluded that their greatest safety lay +in keeping out of sight and awaiting developments. + +"It is their move first," declared Tom. "And when they do start +something we shall be on the job, though I am a little concerned about +our ammunition. We have none to waste. It seems to me that there ought +to be some in that cave, if the scoundrels are half as prudent as we +think they are." + +Hippy called softly to Nora, asking her to have a thorough search of the +cave made to see if ammunition might not be found. Half an hour later +Nora reported that they could find none. + +"Then we shall have to get along with what we have," decided Tom Gray. +"With what we have we ought to be able to give a pretty fair account of +ourselves." + +Night fell, with the lake and the mountainsides bathed in a flood of +moonlight, for the moon was full and well up. The fire in the cave had +long since been put out so that the besiegers might not smell the smoke, +and, shortly after dark, the girls passed out a luncheon, taken from the +stores of food that Stacy Brown had discovered on his first visit to the +cave. Tom and Hippy were munching this eagerly, when Tom uttered a +suppressed exclamation. + +"Look yonder!" he whispered. + +"It's the dugout!" breathed Hippy. + +The dugout, with three men in it, was being rapidly paddled out into the +lake, which was now quiet, a gleaming sheet of silver in the bright +moonlight. The paddlers went straight to the log and began hauling up on +the rope at one end. + +"They are after the chests. What would you advise, Tom?" asked Hippy +eagerly. + +"We are going to shoot, that's what," answered Tom Gray, leveling his +rifle. "I don't want to hit anyone, but I do want to give them a scare." +Taking careful aim at the canoe, he fired--and missed. Tom shot again, +and this time his bullet reached its mark--the dugout. + +Hippy Wingate tried a shot and scored a hit the first time. The men in +the dugout showed indications of panic. + +"Let 'em have it hard," urged Tom, whereupon both men began shooting, +but the shooting was not confined to their own rifles. From somewhere on +the mountain-side other rifles spoke, and bullets spattered against the +rocks that stood out white in the moonlight, hard by the cave. + +"They've located us!" cried Tom Gray. "Stacy, come out here, but creep +out," he ordered. + +The fat boy came wriggling out, rifle in hand. + +"See if you can find the fellows who are shooting at us; then stir them +up," directed Tom. + +A few moments later, Chunky's rifle spoke. In the meantime Tom and Hippy +had been shooting at the boat, taking their time, aiming with +deliberation, until finally the fire became too hot for the men in the +dugout, and they paddled rapidly shoreward to the other side of the +lake. Soon after their arrival there they began to shoot at the +cave-mouth. Hippy and Tom then turned their rifles in that direction, +but with what result they were unable to determine. + +Stacy shot slowly and steadily, without apparent nervousness, and the +two men began to feel respect for the irrepressible Chunky. After a time +the fire on both sides died down and silence settled over the scene. +Finally, Grace suggested that she and Elfreda relieve the men of their +watch, which, after reflection, was agreed to. After a vigil of some +hours Grace called for Tom and pointed towards the lake, that was +shining in the moonlight. + +"Is not something moving out there?" she questioned. + +"Yes. It is those scoundrels after the chests again. Call Hippy!" + +After watching the shadowy shape of the dugout for some moments the two +Overland men again opened fire, and once more the dugout was hurriedly +paddled ashore. + +No further disturbance occurred that night. The girls went to sleep, but +Lieutenant Wingate and Captain Gray remained on duty from that time on. +All of the following day was spent in the cave, not a shot being fired +on either side. The Overlanders were of the opinion that their +adversaries were keeping out of sight for the purpose of luring the +party out into the open, so they remained where they were. + +Another night came on, and at about ten o'clock the Overland Riders were +treated to a deluge of rifle bullets, which was not returned, as the +ammunition supply was now too low. + +"Grace, have you taken an inventory of the food?" asked Tom, after the +firing had died down. + +"Yes. We have enough for present needs, but have you considered that we +may be held here until either we starve or are shot? I, for one, am in +favor of making our escape. Take my word for it, our besiegers will play +some trick that will prove our undoing," declared Grace with strong +conviction in her tone. + +"We will stick it out another day," answered Lieutenant Wingate. + +"And walk all the way back to Gardner," finished Elfreda Briggs. "I am +of the opinion that--" + +"Hark!" warned Nora, holding up a hand for silence. A faint tapping +sound was heard by all. It seemed to be somewhere over their heads, but +no one was able to interpret the sound, and after a time it ceased. + +"Something is doing. Get your rifles ready," ordered Tom. + +The words had no sooner left his lips than a heavy detonating explosion +sent a shower of rock and dirt down over their heads. None of the pieces +was large enough to injure the Overlanders, but the dust set them +coughing and choking so that instinctively all crowded towards the cave +entrance for air, and further, because of fear that the rocks above +might cave in on them. + +"That was dynamite!" exclaimed Tom Gray. "Either they are trying to bury +us here or to drive us out." + +"And I am going out," declared Lieutenant Wingate. "Tom, you stay here, +but for goodness sake make the folks keep down. The first head I see I +am going to shoot at. Give me some cartridges, each of you." + +Five minutes later Lieutenant Wingate was crawling out on his stomach as +silently as an Indian. Once more he heard that familiar tapping on the +rocks above the cave. + +"The fiends!" he muttered. "I've got to get up to their level or go +above them." He decided to proceed to the left of the cave, then ascend +and approach the rocks above it. This he succeeded in doing. About the +time he came within sight of the rocks over the cave the ground was +shaken by another explosion. In the bright moonlight, he saw three men +running towards the scene. + +Hippy threw up his rifle and fired. One of the three men plunged forward +and rolled over the edge of the rocks, landing, as Lieutenant Wingate +thought, near the entrance to the cave. The other two men instantly +disappeared. + +"One!" growled the Overland Rider, hurriedly removing himself from that +particular locality. Reaching a point where he could look across the +cave entrance, Hippy made a startling discovery. The second charge of +dynamite had been fired close to the edge of the rocks overhanging the +cave entrance, so that the falling rocks had blocked it entirely. +Lieutenant Wingate now crawled to the entrance, not knowing what instant +he might be the target for a bullet, and, placing his lips close to a +crevice, called softly. + +His hail was answered from within. To his great relief, he learned that +none of his companions had been injured, but that they dared not try to +remove the wreckage from the inside fearing they might bring down a mass +of rocks. Hippy advised them to remain quiet until later when he would +try to work his way in. + +"Just now, I must keep a sharp lookout," he added. Not another shot did +he get at their adversaries, however, but just after daylight a rattling +fire sprang up. Listening attentively, Hippy concluded that two parties +were engaged in the shooting--at it "hammer and tongs," as he expressed +it. A few minutes later he saw two men running for the lake--saw them +leap into the dugout and paddle excitedly towards the anchored log. He +waited until they began to haul in on the rope at one end of the log, +and then opened fire. One bullet bowled a man over. The other man +grabbed the paddle and struck out for the shore with all speed. He had +nearly reached it when a burst of fire from among the trees near where +the Overland camp was located knocked the man over. He fell over +backwards in the dugout, which slowly drifted ashore. + +A group of horsemen at this juncture rode out into the open, and an +instant later a bullet whistled past Hippy's head. + +"Gee whiz!" exclaimed Lieutenant Wingate. "I reckon the whole community +has it in for me. I've got to have a look at those people." With that +Hippy worked his way cautiously through the bushes until he got an +unobstructed view of the newcomers. The Overland Rider gazed, and as he +did so his under jaw sagged. + +"Ye-o-o-o-w!" yelled Hippy, leaping to his feet. + +A rifle bullet answered him, but he was down ere it reached him. Once +more he sprang up and fired three quick shots straight up into the air, +then went down again. This time there was an interval, then the welcome +answer--three signal shots--was fired. Hippy got up and waved his hat. +He had recognized one member of that party. That member was Sheriff +Ford. + +"Overland!" shouted Lieutenant Wingate upon getting to his feet. + +Sheriff Ford did not recognize him at once, but the party of horsemen +rode towards him with rifles at ready, Hippy standing out in the open +with hands held up. Sheriff Ford then uttered a shout as he recognized +the Overland Rider. + +It was a happy meeting--for Hippy Wingate. It took but a moment for +explanations. A posse, with two sheriffs, including Ford, and five husky +citizens of Gardner, had come out in search of the bandits who had tried +to rob the Red Limited, and who were supposed to have held up and robbed +another treasure train a week earlier. + +On their way to release the Overland party, Hippy confided to Sheriff +Ford the discovery of the iron chests secured to the log in the lake. + +"I suppose there is a reward for the recovery of the plunder, but if +there is, you take it. We don't want it," said Hippy. + +Sheriff Ford protested, but Hippy said the Overland Riders could not +consider accepting a reward under any circumstances. Ford said that in +such event, the reward would be shared by the members of the posse, and +that, in fact, the reward offered by the express company was the +principal motive for the posse coming out to try to accomplish what the +Pinkertons had thus far failed to do. + +The Overlanders were, after considerable hard work, released from their +imprisonment in the cave, and it was then that Ford told them of the +fight with the bandits, who, he said, were all members of the Jones +Boys' gang. Of ten bandits, the posse had killed or wounded four. They +found two who had been wounded before the arrival of the posse, one of +whom, Hippy believed, was the fellow he had shot on the shelf of rock, +and took four prisoners, including Mother Jones, the mother of the +leaders of the gang. Four bandits had succeeded in escaping. + +"Mother Jones!" exclaimed the Overlanders. + +As it later developed, it was Mother Jones whose face had so frightened +Woo, and which Grace Harlowe had seen reflected in the pool. Mother +Jones had done the shooting at the Overlanders, following the Overland +party's discovery of the chests in the lake. It was Mother Jones who had +fired at them when they were bombarding the lake with boulders. + +No time was lost in getting the chests from the bottom of the lake, and +none was more interested in the contents than were the original +discoverers, the Overland Riders. The chests were found to contain +something more than half a million dollars in gold and banknotes, but +two other chests stolen from the same shipment never were found, though +the lake was dragged from end to end. It was believed that the contents +of the missing chests had been divided among the bandits and secreted +somewhere in the mountains, but not a man of the Jones gang would admit +this to be the fact. + +The Overland ponies were found secreted in a mountain defile, and that +night there was a jollification in camp, a real feast of venison and +trout, songs and story-telling, even Woo Smith indulging in his familiar +song, to which no one now objected. Stacy Brown overlooked no +opportunity to call attention to the fact that he was the one who had +discovered the treasure chests, discovered the log to which they were +anchored, and said he supposed that the railroad or the express company +owed him a hundred thousand dollars. + +"How much do you want? Come now," urged Sheriff Ford. + +"Want?" exclaimed Stacy. "I don't want anything from you, but I want +these unfortunate Overland Riders to appreciate what I have done for +them, and I want them to apologize to me for the abuse they heaped on me +while I was seeking to transmigrate trouble from their doors." + +Sheriff Ford laughed heartily at Stacy's remarks. + +"For he's a jolly good fellow," began Nora Wingate, in which the +Overland Riders joined whole-heartedly, even Emma Dean, for the moment, +forgetting her feud with Stacy Brown to the extent of keeping time with +her lips, Woo Smith independently chattering his "Hi-lee, hi-lo!" shouts +of laughter winding up the tribute to the fat boy's hold on their +affections. + +The Overland Riders decided to accompany the sheriffs and their party to +Gardner. Being well satisfied with their vacation they were now ready to +go home. The prisoners and the treasure were taken along to Gardner, +which was reached several days later. Then the Riders entrained for home +after the most interesting journey they had ever taken. On their way +east they elected the irrepressible Chunky to full membership in the +Overland Riders, and he promised to accompany them on their next +season's ride. + +The story of that ride will be found in a following volume entitled, +"GRACE HARLOWE'S OVERLAND RIDERS IN THE YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK." The +mysterious loss of the Riders' ponies, the raid of the grizzlies, the +puzzling robbery at the Springs Hotel, a night of terror on Electric +Mountain, the hold-up of the Cumberland coach, and the solving of the +Yellowstone mystery, are among the many experiences that befell Grace +Harlowe's Riders on their never-to-be-forgotten journey through the +great National Park. + + + THE END + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Grace Harlowe's Overland Riders in the +High Sierras, by Jessie Graham Flower + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 45989 *** |