The Outdoor Girls in the Saddle Part 20

But if he did not worry, Betty certainly did in the days that followed.

She had dreams at night in which she saw Allen riding about in the shadows. There would be a report, two reports, and he would topple over backwards to lie crumpled up and motionless. No wonder that she became pale and lost her appet.i.te and made her mother worry even in the midst of the excitement over this double hunt--the hunt for men and gold.

One night after dinner Allen asked her to ride with him a little way, said it would do him a lot of good just to talk to her. Betty agreed, and they cantered off in the twilight, their bodies swaying to the rhythm of the beautiful animals under them.

For a long time they were silent, just enjoying the rapid motion, the sweet scented air that fanned their faces, the beauty of the hazy mountains in the distance. Then, suddenly Allen spoke.

"Betty," he said, swinging round toward her, "you aren't letting this thing get on your nerves, are you?"

"Wh-what do you mean?" she asked faintly. "What thing?"

"This gold business--the excitement of it all," he said, waving his hand largely as though to take in the whole landscape. "I've noticed you looked tired lately," he went on gently, "and I've worried about it, little Betty. I--I have almost dared to hope," he leaned toward her, but Betty was looking the other way, "that you were a little anxious about me. Were you?"

"Why--I--yes--no--why--I don't know," cried Betty wildly, then, meeting his eye, she laughed, a twinkling little laugh. "You shouldn't ask questions like that, not so suddenly, anyway," she said primly. "It isn't fair."

"Never mind, I got my answer," said Allen jubilantly, and again Betty found it a little hard to look at him. "You mustn't worry though, little girl," he went on gently. "There isn't any danger--really. I'm just playing a delightful little game--and I'm going to win. Went to see Levine to-day, representing your mother," he added, and his tone suddenly became grim. "He made me feel, or at least he tried to make me feel, that he had as much respect for my ability as he would for a little speck of dirt."

"The very idea!" cried Betty indignantly. "I'd just like to tell him what I think of--your ability----" she faltered on these last words, for Allen was gazing at her with a most disconcerting light in his eyes.

Suddenly she whirled n.i.g.g.e.r's head about and urged him to a gallop.

"Race you home, Allen!" she challenged. "Winner gets the other fellow's piece of cake."

"Who cares for cake!" cried Allen, but it might have been noticed that he followed her just the same.

CHAPTER XVIII

IN THE SHADOWS

Allen was acting in two capacities at this time--that of lawyer and that of private detective. He probably would not have taken this role for anybody but Betty and her family, but in order to serve them he was willing to do pretty nearly anything.

So he had taken to scouting around the northern end of the ranch after dark, in the hope that he might possibly discover something that would help him in his theory that there was really gold on the ranch and, also, that Peter Levine and his cronies, whoever they were, knew of it.

However, as the days pa.s.sed, bringing no new developments, the young fellow began to think that he had let his imagination run away with him.

He even began to formulate plans by which he could lure the unsuspecting Peter Levine into telling what he knew.

And then--just when he was beginning to despair of being any help at all to Betty and her family--fate or luck, or whatever one wishes to call it, chose to smile upon him once more.

He was prowling around when quite unexpectedly he found himself confronted by Andy Rawlinson. He had struck up quite a liking for the head cowboy, and the two walked along together.

Gradually they neared a patch of timber near the northern boundary of the ranch. The cowboy said he was looking for two calves that had strayed away.

"And it ain't no use to follow 'em into the woods on hossback," he explained.

"I have an object in coming here," declared Allen, at last. "I am watching out for Peter Levine." He felt he could trust Rawlinson.

"I thought as much," replied the head cowboy, with a chuckle. "Believe me, I wouldn't trust Levine out o' my sight, if I was the boss. I've seen him prowlin' around here several times."

"Then you think he has some secret motive in getting hold of the ranch?"

"Sure as shootin'. That feller is a bad one--take it from me."

"Please don't make too much noise around here," went on Allen. "I was thinking he might come again in the dark some night--to do a little prospecting, or something like that."

"I get you. It would be just like him. Quiet it is." And after that the pair spoke only in whispers.

Nothing was seen of the calves, and presently Rawlinson was on the point of going back, when, all at once, something occurred to make him remain.

The night was intensely dark; not a star twinkled through the storm clouds that scudded across the sky. Allen had just stubbed his toe on a projecting root and had muttered something uncomplimentary to the darkness of the night when an unusual sound caught the ears of the two young men and stopped them dead in their tracks.

Some one was coming through the brush. Some one, like Allen, had stumbled and was muttering under his breath.

"Shut up, can't you?" a second voice growled, and Allen's hand instinctively went to Rawlinson's arm to quiet him.

"Two of them," he thought exultantly, as he held himself and the cowboy against the trunk of a tree. "There may be some action after all."

The two strangers pa.s.sed close enough to Allen and Rawlinson to have touched them. But they did not notice the young men.

Allen and the cowboy, their blood tingling with excitement, followed the pair, and when, some hundred yards on, the strangers stopped, they stopped too, keeping within the shadow of the trees.

The strangers were bending over some sort of paper which they were examining by the light of an electric torch.

"Here's the place, Jim," one of the men said, pointing first to the paper and then into the shadow of the woods. "There's gold running wild around here, man. I've tested the bed of the creek that runs down there, and it's chock full of yellow men. Why, if we can get hold of this ranch we're rich men--rich over night, I tell you!"

"Huh!" grunted the other, noncommittally. "How are you goin' to get hold of this ranch? Ain't done it yet, so's any one could notice it."

"No, that's where you come in, Jim," replied the other, and as he turned eagerly to his companion Allen and Rawlinson recognized the features of Peter Levine. "This woman, this Mrs. Nelson who owns the place, won't sell. I'm afraid she may have an idea that there's gold here. And she suspects me, for some reason."

The other man laughed unpleasantly.

"'Tain't hard for most of us to guess the reason for that, Pete." And at the sneer Levine gave a grunt.

"You must have your little joke, Jim," he said. "But now let's get down to business. The woman distrusts me and she has sent for this insolent cub lawyer--Washburn, his name is. He's been to see me already, the unwhipped pup," he went on, while in the shadows Allen's hands gripped themselves into fists, "trying to find out more about my client and John Josephs. Say, that's a good joke, Jim. Here they are after that imaginary ranchman, John Josephs, and my client who they think are crooks, when all the time little Peter Levine is their meat and they don't know it."

"You didn't let on you wuz the one that wanted the place?" questioned Jim, who was evidently able to appreciate this joke. "You wuz just the lawyer, and so nowise interested except jest in the fee?"

"Righto!" chuckled the other. "And a good-sized fee it will be if once I can get my hands on it."

"Which you ain't--yet," the other reminded him. "Get busy, Pete, and tell us your scheme. I don't want to be standin' around here all night."

He gave an uneasy glance over his shoulder, and Allen and Rawlinson shrank still further into the shadows. They were not yet ready to make their presence known.

"All right," said Peter Levine, speaking hurriedly. "If you'll agree to my suggestion, you're in for easy money, Jim. All you have to do is to approach this Mrs. Nelson and make her an offer for the ranch--for yourself, you understand. She doesn't know you, and she may have become tired of mooning around here by now, and there's just a chance that she'll take you--that is, if you handle the cards right. No eagerness, you understand--just sort of offhand and careless, as if you didn't care much whether she took you or not."

"Huh!" said the other, with his noncommittal grunt. "Sounds easy, don't it? But what do I get out of it, ef I pull this deal off, eh?"