Frank Merriwell's Athletes Part 62

Inza had seen him, and she ran to tell Frank what had happened.

Away went the cowboys in pursuit of the kidnaper and his victim, and Frank, mounted on Fleetfoot, was leading them.

The boy remembered how Swiftwing had carried off Inza.

Frank coiled up the lariat as he rode.

There was great excitement about the ranch. Men and women ran in all directions, shouting and calling.

The cowboys, headed by Merriwell, swept past to the south.

Indian Charlie looked back and saw his pursuers. He recognized the boyish leader, and ground his teeth.

"That fellow has brought me nothing but bad luck!" he grated. "I don't care now! Let them catch me if they can! I'd like to get a shot at Merriwell myself! I wouldn't make such a bungle of it as that fool half-breed made. I was to give Cornmeal fifty dollars, but he failed to do the job."

Sadie Rodney had not fainted, although it seemed so at first.

"Oh, you wretch!" she exclaimed, faintly, having overheard his words.

"So you hired the half-breed to kill Frank Merriwell! You are more of a wretch than I thought!"

She shuddered with horror.

"Oh, s.h.i.+ver away!" brutally laughed the man. "I am a demon, and I know it! I'm proud of it! It was born in me, and I have not been able to get away from it. I vowed I would have you at any cost, and I mean to keep my word."

"You will not succeed."

"Oh, yes, I shall! They can't run me down."

"You do not know the stuff Fleetfoot is made of, and Frank Merriwell is mounted on Fleetfoot. You can't get away from him."

"So much the worse for him! I shall shoot him!"

Away they went, mile after mile being covered.

Charlie looked back again. Mounted on the black horse, Frank was drawing away from the cowboys. He was gaining on Charlie.

"Let him come!" snarled the desperate wretch. "He can't save you!"

Frank continued to gain.

The kidnaper was riding recklessly, without considering the course he was taking. Soon he could hear the beating hoofs of the horse ridden by his persistent pursuer.

Closer and closer Frank crept. His face was set with determination. He was alone, but he would rescue Sadie Rodney.

Suddenly a scream of fear came from the girl.

"The bluffs!" she cried-"the bluffs! We are right upon them!"

Indian Charlie realized it for the first time. He saw before them the bluffs which arose two hundred feet from the bed of a dry gorge.

Then he hastily tried to rein about with his free hand.

Too late!

The horse took the bit in his teeth and charged straight at the gorge which lay in advance.

To go over the bluff meant a plunge to death, and yet he was unable to rein his horse about. Frantically he tried to turn the creature aside.

Frank realized the peril that threatened the man and girl. He freed the lariat he had brought all this distance and prepared to use it. Around and around his head the noose circled, and then, just before the horse in advance reached the brink of the bluff, he made the cast.

The noose sailed through the air and dropped over the head and shoulders of the man and girl. The trained horse Frank bestrode suddenly turned and braced itself.

Snap!-the rope tightened, and two human beings were jerked from the back of the horse, just as, with a wild shriek of fear, the animal plunged over the brink.

When the cowboys came up they found Frank talking rea.s.suringly to Sadie Rodney, who had been stunned somewhat by the fall to the ground, but was not seriously hurt, while the body of Indian Charlie lay sprawled on the ground.

Charlie's neck was broken when he fell, and his plotting and crookedness were over forever.

Great was the reception the party was given at Rodney's ranch. Great were the honors bestowed on the "tenderfoot," who, as Hank Kildare expressed it, "had shown the punchers he wuz jest as good as the best of them-an' a sight better!"

William Rodney could not find words to express his thankfulness and admiration of Frank.

The tournament was over for that day, but the dance followed in the evening, and a jolly time it was.

Sadie Rodney waltzed twice with Frank, but he did not neglect Inza, who received full a.s.surance that the rancher's daughter had not won her place in Frank's heart.

It was a jolly time, and for all of the misfortune which had befallen Frank, the boys felt they were fully repaid for the time spent in visiting Rodney's ranch.

And in spite of all that had occurred there was not a grumbling spirit among "Frank Merriwell's Athletes."

THE END