Comrades of the Saddle Part 20

"He'll be on hand, barring accidents," returned his father.

This confidence of the owner of the Half-Moon in his foreman was justified, when, at the end of another hour, the men caught the flare of a camp fire in the direction of the pool.

"Must have hurried some," a.s.serted Snider.

But this comment elicited no other response than a quickening of the pace.

When they were within a mile of the fire Mr. Wilder drew rein.

"You boys wait here," he commanded. "I haven't any doubt but that it's Pete's fire. Still, it won't pay to take any chances. Snider and I will ride ahead to reconnoiter. If we are not back within half an hour, you'll know it's all right and can follow."

Little relis.h.i.+ng the enforced halt, the cowboys, however, obeyed, some of them dismounting and stretching out in the gra.s.s.

Riding a rod or so from the others, Bill, Nails and Sandy eagerly peered through the darkness, listening intently for any sound that should indicate danger.

The two ranch owners, being experienced in the art of scouting, rode to the left into a roll of the plains, one crest of which shut them off from the light. For they were aware that should they ride in its glare they would be seen by whoever was about the fire, and they wished to make sure it was Pete and his men at the pool before disclosing themselves.

But their caution was unnecessary. When they had covered only a little more than half the distance the lowing of cattle broke on their ears.

"That's the Half-Moon outfit, sure enough," declared Snider. And putting spurs to their ponies, the ranch owners galloped straight for the fire.

"Queer we can't see any of the boys," muttered Mr. Wilder in a low voice. "I know they are tired. But, all things considered, one of them at least ought to be on watch if for nothing else than to keep the cattle from breaking away. That they are restless, you can tell from their lowing.

"It's no wonder the raiders were able to cut out my short-horned Durhams if the boys didn't keep better watch."

His tone showed deep annoyance, and he was on the point of speaking again when a sharp challenge rang out from their left:

"Who goes there?"

Instantly Mr. Wilder's anger vanished as he recognized the voice of his foreman and replied:

"Don't get excited, Pete. It's only Jim Snider and me."

In response to his master's greeting the cowboy sprang to his feet and a movement of his hand toward his belt showed both ranchmen that he had been prepared to dispute their advance should they have proven foes instead of friends.

"Where are the others? You two didn't come alone, did you? I told Nails to have you get as many as you could," said the foreman.

"We left them back yonder," returned the owner of the Half-Moon.

"Nails said we were to meet you in the morning, and when we saw the fire Jim and I thought we'd make sure it was you."

"Well, I'm glad you've come," responded Pete. "Now we can get on the trail so much the sooner. How many did you bring?"

"Nine from the Three Stars, including Jim, Bill, Nails and myself.

With your boys that will make twenty, just the number of the raiders."

As he uttered the last words Mr. Wilder expected his foreman to evince surprise, but instead he and Snider were the ones to be taken aback as Pete remarked:

"So Nails found out, did he? What else did he? What else did he learn?"

Briefly the owner of the Half-Moon reported the information Nails had gleaned at Tolopah and then told him of the opinions he and the proprietor of the Three Stars had formed.

"You got the lay of the land down to the last sage brush," declared the foreman. "But we will put a crimp in Megget's plans that he will not forget. My men are asleep by the fire, so there is no use waking them till we've decided what to do."

"Then we must get down to business," returned his master. "I told the boys to ride up unless we returned in half an hour."

A moment there was silence, as though each were waiting for the other to make some suggestion as to the best course to pursue, and then Mr. Wilder said:

"So long as we know the headquarters are in the Lost Lode Mine, it seems to me we had better strike for it direct. Nails told me you knew some trail." And he looked at Pete.

"I know trails enough, but which is the one that leads to the Lost Lode, I can't say. That's just the trouble. It would take a month of Sundays to ride them all down. While we were driving the cattle up here, I was trying to figure out which trail to take in case Nails found the mine was the place."

"You have tried some of the trails, haven't you, Pete?" inquired the owner of the Three Stars.

"Sure. There are six I know that don't lead to the mine. That leaves three between the pool and the Long Creek bottoms, and it may be any one of them."

"Why do you think so?" asked his master.

"Because I know the right trail is between the pool and the bottoms."

Again the men lapsed into silence, which Mr. Snider broke by inquiring:

"What was it that young Alden mentioned about men crossing the dirt?"

"That's so. I'd forgotten it again," and quickly Mr. Wilder narrated the incident to his foreman.

"Probably that was Megget," a.s.serted Pete. "But that doesn't help us much. We don't know where that trail breaks on the plains.

Besides, while we practically know the headquarters are near the old mine, we don't know they are driving the cattle there. They may be heading straight for Don Vasquez's ranch.

"The plan that I kind of made up was to follow the trail from the bottoms till we were sure which way the raiders were headed. If it's for the mine, we can ride back along the plains and try out my three trails."

"But why not follow the cattle?" interrupted Mr. Wilder.

"Because I'd rather head them off than creep up on them. The raiders will be expecting us from behind. By riding on the prairie we can cover ten miles to their one, which will give us time to try out the three trails, and, when we find the right one, we can get in ahead and block the trail."

CHAPTER XIV

ANOTHER DISCOVERY

For several minutes the ranch owners discussed the suggestion and finally decided to act on it unless circ.u.mstances should make a change advisable.

Having settled the matter, they rode to the fire and aroused the sleeping cowboys, being joined a few minutes later by Bill, Sandy and the others. Soon the men of the Half-Moon were saddling their ponies.

"Queer we don't meet Ned anywhere," Bill exclaimed. "I see from the bags he's been here, Pete."

"He got here all right, but he didn't like to go back very well.

Had a bad case of nerves, so he took down the white awning."