Comrades of the Saddle Part 29

Quickly the horses swam for the sh.o.r.e, and as the Elkhorn was only deep for a few rods, it was not many minutes before the cowboys were shaking and removing their wet garments. But the boys were oblivious of their condition.

In open-mouthed wonder they stared at the spectacle presented by the flames from whose devouring fury they had so narrowly escaped.

The wall of fire had in reality been farther away than it had seemed. For several minutes it advanced, the tongues of flames towering in the air. A moment the livid wall paused as it reached the brink of the river, while jets of fire reached out as though striving to clutch the men who had escaped. Then seemingly bent on overtaking them, the flames leaped over the edge, devouring the brush and gra.s.s to the water's edge, where, loath to admit defeat, the flames flickered uncertainly and then died away, leaving nothing but a pall of smoke to mark their course of destruction.

"They came mighty near getting us that time," exclaimed Pete, looking back over the still glowing plains.

"Too near," a.s.sented Mr. Wilder. "But Megget's men will suffer for this trick, never fear."

"They'll sure be surprised when they see us," chimed in the owner of the Three Stars.

"That's just it," returned Mr. Wilder. "Of course, they think we have perished in the flames, and when they see us riding in on them they will be so scared it will take all the fight out of them."

None the worse for their experience, the cowboys were eager to be under way again that they might exact satisfaction upon the raiders for their unwilling flight. But Mr. Wilder curbed their impatience by saying:

"It's all right to want to get on the trail again, but if we should start now, while the plains are still hot, we run the risk of crippling some of our ponies. We'll eat breakfast here and then in an hour I guess we can start. What do you think, Jim?"

"It will be all right to take grub and we can tell about the ground when we've eaten."

Fate, however, was still on the side of the ranchers, for while they were at their meal it began to rain.

With a shout the cowboys greeted the first drops, but their masters grew serious.

"This rain will make it mighty hard to pick up the trail," observed the owner of the Three Stars.

"But we won't need to search for it," interposed Tom.

At his words all eyes were turned upon him, and Mr. Wilder voiced their sentiments by asking:

"Why?"

"Because I know the very place where Horace and Larry and I rode into the mountains. I thought I might want to remember it, so I broke off some branches and cut a half moon in one of the trees with my jackknife."

"That's all right, but why should we follow that trail?" demanded Bill. "The men who set the fire were all of--how far, Horace, from Tom's trail?" and he looked at his brother.

"A good twenty miles."

"Why should we ride twenty miles when we can start right in at the hills back where the fire started?" continued Bill.

Some of the cowboys laughed at this seeming evidence of Tom's lack of understanding of the situation, but the younger of the chums had his good reasons, as he quickly proved by replying:

"Because that is where they drove fifty cattle in. Mr. Jeffreys said it was a short cut. Besides, it stands to reason the men wouldn't have gone that way unless the trail led to the mine where they could join the rest of the gang. I may be from the East," and he glanced at the boys who had laughed at him, "but I'm not so much of a tenderfoot as not to know four men aren't going on a pleasure trip with a herd of fifty steers."

"I reckon the kid is right," said the owner of the Half-Moon after the merriment this jibe evoked had subsided. "Even if the 'rustlers' didn't know we had started when they lifted the cattle from the pool, they'd know something was up when all the boys were away and that we could follow the trail to the mountains.

Consequently, they being only four, would take the shortest route to join the main body."

"That argument would have been all right before the fire, Jim, but things are different now," rejoined Bill.

"Certain. But the difference is the raiders will take more time in driving the cattle in the thought that there's no one to pursue 'em till the fact of the prairie fire reaches Tolopah."

"And then that bow-legged sheriff will set out," grunted Skinny.

"He couldn't catch a prairie dog. There's only one man I'd like to see on the job besides the bunch we've got here."

"Name him," cried several of the cowboys.

"Shorty Jenks."

"Why, that's our friend!" exclaimed Tom and Larry.

"I don't know about his being a friend of yours, but there's nothing on two or four legs he's afraid of. And he's great on tricks. He'd think up a scheme in no time to land Megget."

"I think Tom's idea is the right one," said Mr. Wilder. "By riding that trail we can reach the Lost Lode probably in a few hours, while it might take days to find where the gang that set fire rode into the hills. This rain has cooled off the ground, so we can start right away."

No direct command to pack the food and saddle up did the cowboys need and as day dawned they again entered the Elkhorn River.

Tom had been provided with an extra rifle Mr. Wilder had been carrying and great care did he and the other lads take to keep their arms and ammunition from getting wet a second time.

Arrived at the top of the bank from which they had leaped to safety, the party beheld a long stretch of blackened ground. As far as they could see, it stretched away to the north and in width it was about four miles.

"Why didn't it burn everything, instead of cutting a sort of path?"

asked Larry after a survey of the scene.

"That's one of the things you can't explain," replied the owner of the Three Stars. "It just don't, that's all. Of course, the wind has to be right--that is, stay in the same direction as when the fire was started. And when it does you can count on the fire's following pretty close to its lines. You see this one was set in a sort of semi-circle, with the ends burning toward one another. If you want a fire to spread, start it fan-shaped."

"There's one way the fire helped us," said Horace. "We can travel faster than we could through the gra.s.s, and it doesn't tire the horses so."

"Just another proof it's an ill wind that doesn't do somebody good," quoted Mr. Wilder, smiling.

"Maybe, but I'd rather go without the wind than have another experience like last night's," returned the owner of the Three Stars.

CHAPTER XXII

LAWRENCE'S PLAN

Realizing that they would be able to advance but slowly along the trail, giving their ponies a chance to rest, the men were riding a stiff lope.

At first Mr. Wilder had insisted that the three youngest boys return to the ranch as soon as Tom had showed them the trail, but they had pleaded so hard, a.s.serting they were ent.i.tled to accompany the pursuers because of their discovery of the trail, that he had finally consented, making the condition, however, that when they entered the hills the boys must ride next the rear, where in case of attack, they would not be in the brunt of it.

Larry was following the edge of gra.s.s as they drew near the place where the fire had been started. As his eyes roved over the billowy plains, they suddenly were attracted by a peculiar furrow that seemed to run through the gra.s.s like a channel.

For the moment he was tempted to call the attention of the others to it, and then, fearing their ridicule, decided to find out what it was first.

Accordingly he reined his pony to one side and was approaching the furrow when he was startled to hear a cry of delight:

"I've got it! I've got it!"