// fpn source for The Adventure Girls At K Bar O, by Clair Blank
// last edit: 22-Aug-2014 r.frank
.dt The Adventure Girls At K Bar O, by Clair Blank
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THE ADVENTURE GIRLSAt K Bar O
By
Clair Blank
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.il fn=title-illo.jpg w=96 link=title-illo-lg.jpg
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.ce
[Illustration: girl on horse]
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THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING
COMPANY
Akron, Ohio\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ New York
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.pb
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Copyright MCMXXXVI
THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING COMPANY
The Adventure Girls at K Bar O
Made in the United States of America
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.pb
.ta r:5 l:16 r:4
CONTENTS
I|ARRIVAL|#7#
II|ROBBERY|#14#
III|GALE’S ADVENTURE|#20#
IV|DISCOVERY|#33#
V|PURSUIT|#41#
VI|GHOST CABIN|#54#
VII|LANDSLIDE|#70#
VIII|PRISONERS|#81#
IX|ON THE TRAIL|#90#
X|RUSTLERS|#106#
XI|SURPRISE|#119#
XII|GONE|#128#
XIII|RESCUE|#139#
XIV|TRAPPED|#155#
XV|CAPTURE|#166#
XVI|ALARM|#175#
XVII|REVENGE|#189#
XVIII|PREMONITION|#204#
XIX|HELP|#214#
XX|REWARD|#225#
XXI|ADIOS|#240#
.ta-
.pb
.pn 7
.h1 nobreak
The Adventure Girls at K-Bar-O
.sp 2
.h2 id=ch01 nobreak
Chapter I||ARRIVAL
.sp 2
The thing that went under the name of automobile
wheezed into the ranchyard and rattled
to a halt. With creaks and groans in every
joint the car discharged its six very dusty, very
weary occupants.
At the same time, the screen door of the ranch
house banged shut and a flying figure descended
on the new arrivals.
“Oh, Gale, but I’m glad to see you,” the girl
from the ranch house declared hugging the foremost
one of the visitors.
Gale Howard returned the hug with equal
warmth. The two were cousins, and Gale and her
friends, The Adventure Girls, had traveled West
to spend the summer on the K Bar O Ranch,
owned by Gale’s uncle.
“But don’t tell me you traveled all the way
West in that!” Virginia Wilson murmured
aghast, when the introductions and first greetings
were over.
.pn +1
“We wouldn’t have lived to tell the tale,” declared
Carol Carter. “I never knew a car that had
so many bumps in it.”
“We came West to Phoenix on the train,” Gale
explained. “It was there we bought the car and
drove up here.”
“You wouldn’t think we bought it second
hand, would you?” Janet Gordon murmured.
“No,” Phyllis Elton agreed with a twinkle in
her eyes. “It looks as though we made it ourselves.”
The last two of the new arrivals, Madge Reynolds
and Valerie Wallace, who had been busy
unstrapping luggage and tumbling bags onto the
ground, turned now to the ranch girl.
“What shall we do with our stuff?” Madge
asked.
“I suppose you will want to change from your
traveling suits,” Virginia suggested, “so just
bring along what you want now. Leave the rest
here. Tom can bring it in later.”
Tom was her elder brother and as the girls
walked toward the ranch house he crossed the
yard from the corral. Behind him came Gale’s
uncle. Virginia called her mother and more
greetings and introductions followed.
.pn +1
“But how did you manage to leave home without
a chaperon?” Virginia asked from her position
on the bed in the room shared by Gale and
Valerie.
“It was all we could do to get away without
one,” a laughing voice in the adjoining room declared,
and Janet appeared on the threshold.
“Finally our parents decided that Gale and
Valerie, being the only sane and level-headed
ones among us, could be trusted to see that we
behaved properly,” Carol added, hanging over
Janet’s shoulder.
“That shows how much they really know Gale
and Valerie,” added Janet mischievously. “If
they had any sense at all, they would have appointed
me guardian angel of the troupe.”
“Then we would never have gotten this far,”
Valerie declared, struggling to pull on a brown
riding boot.
“Yes, Virginia,” Gale laughed, “when we did
let Janet drive for a little while, she ran us into
a ditch, went the wrong way on a one way street
in a little town below here, talked back to a policeman
and nearly landed us all in jail.”
“Yes, we had to let Gale drive thereafter for
self preservation,” Carol murmured.
.pn +1
“That is all the gratitude I get,” Janet
mourned in an injured tone. “I do my best to
make our trip a success and you don’t appreciate
me.”
“What? Aren’t you dressed yet?” Phyllis demanded
as she and Madge entered the other girls’
room. “Slow pokes!” she teased.
“Yes, do hurry,” Janet pleaded. “I want to get
outside and see the horse I’m to ride.”
“I’ll wager you don’t even know what side of
a horse to get on,” declared Carol as the latter
two disappeared into their own room.
“Well—ah—um—we won’t go into that,”
Janet evaded.
Virginia laughed and the other girls smiled
sympathetically.
“Don’t mind anything they say,” Madge advised
Virginia. “They don’t mean a word of it.”
“I gathered that much,” Virginia said, rising
as Janet and Carol returned, this time fully
dressed and eager to get outside.
The Adventure Girls were dressed alike in
brown breeches, leather boots, and khaki shirts
with brown silk ties to match. Some of them wore
crushable felt hats while the others carried them.
They had been delighted with the prospect of
.pn +1
spending a summer in the open air on the ranch,
looking forward to unknown adventures with
keen anticipation. The six had dubbed themselves
the Adventure Girls when on school hikes
and outings they had usually managed to stir up
some kind of excitement. It was their desire to
spend their summer becoming better acquainted
with the country out here, rather than spend
their months free from school in loafing about
home. They wanted to get out in the air, see new
wonders, and enjoy new adventures.
When, in response to a letter from Virginia,
Gale had suggested to the other five girls that
they come West and spend the summer in Arizona
it had seemed delightful and intriguing, but
not probable. Gradually the girls had won round
parental objections and collected the things they
would need. Now they were here, with a full
summer of freedom before them.
The K Bar O Ranch was one of the biggest in
the state. This the girls did not fully realize
until later, when they began to ride around the
countryside. Henry Wilson, Virginia’s father,
dealt in cattle and his herds were large and of
the finest stock. There were horses too, and it
was these that the girls were most interested in.
.pn +1
Virginia led the way to the corral. Tom was
there, talking to a cowboy and when he saw the
girls, brought up three saddled mounts, the cowboy
following with a string of four more. The
western ponies were sturdy little animals, sure-footed
and fast.
The girls claimed their mounts and Gale and
Valerie, already experienced riders, mounted
their horses immediately.
Janet looked her horse over with speculative
eyes. “Well, horse,” she said, “I think we are
about to become better acquainted and I hope
you are as nice as you look.”
“They’re all tame,” Tom assured the girls,
assisting Carol into her saddle.
“Hey,” Carol called to Janet. “You’ll never
get on that way!”
Virginia had her horse and by the time Tom
had helped Janet into the saddle, the girls were
moving forward. Virginia rode ahead with Gale,
the two setting their ponies at an easy trot over
the trail.
“We won’t go far,” Virginia said, “it will be
suppertime shortly and I know you wouldn’t
want to miss it. The lunch you had wasn’t very
substantial.”
.pn +1
“And this Arizona air certainly gives one an
appetite,” Gale declared. “What’s that?”
They had come to the crest of a hill and in
the green valley below could be seen a slowly
moving herd of the K Bar O cattle. But it was
not to the cows that Gale called her friend’s
attention. Off to the left had sounded a series of
sharp explosions, as a fusillade of rifle shots.
Virginia had grown a little pale under her tan,
and the hand that gripped her horse’s reins was
clenched tightly, but she summoned a smile for
Gale’s benefit.
“Just some of the boys having target practice,
I reckon,” she said easily.
But Gale was not to be deceived. Target practice
would not cause Virginia to appear suddenly
so nervous. However, Gale did not press the subject
at the time. She knew if there was something
wrong at the K Bar O she would know it before
long.
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch02 pn=+1
Chapter II||ROBBERY
.sp 2
“I’m going into town, ride along?” Virginia
asked, coming into the ranch house living
room the next morning.
“I will,” Gale said immediately.
“And me,” agreed Valerie.
“Did you say ride?” groaned Janet. “On a
horse?”
“Of course,” Virginia laughed.
Janet made a wry face and with the greatest
care eased herself into a chair piled with
cushions.
“Not this morning, my dear Virginia. I don’t
believe the horse likes me.”
Carol laughed from her position before the
fireplace. “For once in my life I agree with Janet.
You won’t get me on a horse today.”
“I shall stay right here, too,” Madge murmured.
“Somehow I appreciate comfort this
morning.”
.pn +1
“I’ll go with you,” Phyllis said, “if you will
go nice and slowly.”
Accordingly the four mounted and rode away,
leaving the other three comfortably fixed with
books and magazines. It was almost an hour’s
ride into the little town of Coxton at the pace the
girls went, but they enjoyed it. They found a lot
of things to talk about and besides they were in
no great hurry.
“I’m going to get me a rope,” Gale proposed
as the girls left their horses and mounted the
sidewalk. “If I’m going to be a westerner, I’m going
to learn to rope.”
“And I want a pair of gloves,” Valerie added.
“I have to see a man at the bank on business
for Father,” Virginia said, “do you want to come
along? Or do you want to do your shopping and
meet me here in a few minutes?”
“We’ll meet you here,” said Gale. “We won’t
get lost,” she added with a smile, taking in the
few stores and buildings on the single street the
town afforded.
“No danger,” laughed Virginia. “See you here
then.”
With a cheery wave of the hand she was off
across the street. The girls sauntered along,
.pn +1
regarding the stores and one of two lounging cowboys
with interest.
“I wish we’d seen an Indian,” murmured Phyllis.
“Just to prove that we are in the West.”
Valerie laughed. “I doubt if you would know
one if you did. They don’t wear war paint any
more, you know.”
“Of course I’d know one,” Phyllis said indignantly.
“I—look, there is a general store. Perhaps
you can get your rope in there, Gale.”
The girls mounted the single wooden step to
the store and stepped into the queerest conglomeration
of articles they had ever seen. It developed
that Gale got her rope, Valerie got her
gloves; in fact, they could get anything they
wanted. Even postcards, of which they took a
goodly supply.
There were few people on the street when they
left the store. An automobile drew up before the
bank and two men stepped out, a third remained
at the wheel.
“Guess Virginia hasn’t come out of the bank
yet,” Phyllis said, looking the length of the street
and not seeing the western girl.
The three of them strolled to the bank and
waited outside. Suddenly from inside the bank
.pn +1
came the sound of shots and a scream. Two men
appeared in the doorway with drawn revolvers.
One man faced the crowd on the street, the other
the people in the bank. The people on the street
had become tense, fearful.
Valerie grasped one end of Gale’s rope and
sprang across the pavement. Gale, realizing immediately
her friend’s intention, grasped her end
of the rope more securely. The bandits, running
from the bank to their waiting car, tripped headlong
over the rope. The first man’s gun flew one
way and the black bag in which was the money
from the bank flew the other.
Phyllis reached over, picked up the gun, and
leveled it calmly at the bandits. Valerie secured
the black bag. It had been alarmingly easy and
so quickly done that the spectators did not at
first realize that a robbery had been committed
and foiled almost on the same instant. Then
there arose a buzz of excited talk while two men
stepped from the group of spectators and took
charge of the thieves. Unnoticed, the car that had
been meant for the bandits’ means of escape,
sprang away from the curb and was gone in a
cloud of dust.
In the bank all was disorder and excitement.
.pn +1
One of the shots that had been fired was lodged
in the teller who had attempted to resist the
thieves. His condition was not serious, however,
and he was able to add his incoherent story to
the other tales told by the people who had been
present.
Virginia, when she joined the girls to go home,
was flushed and excited.
“You certainly acted quickly,” she declared
admiringly. “The town owes you a vote of
thanks. They would have gotten away sure if you
hadn’t tripped them.”
“Catching bandits is just one of the things we
do,” laughed Phyllis. “You ought to really see
us in action.”
“I had use for my rope before I thought I
would,” Gale said smilingly. “I haven’t even
learned how to use it yet—when we catch two
bandits.”
Back at the ranch the three of the Adventure
Girls would have said nothing about their part
in the robbery, but Virginia promptly declared
them heroines and told with harrowing details
every bit of the robbery, including the shooting
of the bank teller.
.pn +1
The girls who had remained at home were
utterly chagrined to think that they had missed
any excitement whatever and promptly began to
think of means to have some more.
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch03 pn=+1
Chapter III||GALE’S ADVENTURE
.sp 2
The Arizona night was cool, the sky studded
with stars. In the living room the girls from
the East were toying with the radio and dancing.
Gale and Valerie stepped out onto the porch into
the cool darkness. Walking a short distance from
the house they were enveloped in silence, interrupted
only now and then by the noise from the
radio. They sauntered to where a giant pine tree
spread its sheltering branches overhead.
Valerie coughed as she leaned against the
sturdy trunk and a sympathetic gleam entered
Gale’s eyes. The girls all knew that Valerie’s
health was not of the best, and it was hoped that
this month they were to spend here in Arizona
would do her good. She liked fun and excitement
as well as any of them, but she could not stand
too much. She needed to build up a stranger constitution
and her friends were sure the western
air would help as no medicine could.
“Nice, isn’t it?” Valerie asked dreamily.
.pn +1
“So quiet!” Gale agreed. “It would be a relief
to hear a noise.”
In the distance a coyote howled mournfully
and the girls shivered. Arm in arm they strolled
toward the corral.
“I wish Virginia’s parents would let us take
that camping trip,” Valerie said. “It would be
fun.”
At supper Janet and Carol had proposed a
camping trip which the others received with enthusiasm.
The idea was to take their horses and
camping equipment and go camping up in the
mountains, or down across the desert to Mexico.
The girls, Virginia included, and Tom were decidedly
in favor of it, but Mr. Wilson had demurred.
It was dangerous, he said, for a party of
young people to go camping about the hills just
now. Too many bandits and disturbances along
the Mexican border. However, the girls had refused
to drop the subject.
“Are you sure it wouldn’t be too much for
you?” Gale asked anxiously. “You can’t do too
much, you know.”
“We could take our time,” Valerie answered.
“I think it would be good for me, sleeping in the
open air and all.”
.pn +1
The girls had been walking along the corral
fence and now stopped in the darkness. Around
the corner from them two men were talking. The
girls recognized the voices of Mr. Wilson and
Tom.
“I tell you it would be a perfect cover for Jim
and me,” Tom was saying excitedly.
“But I don’t want to run the girls into danger,”
Mr. Wilson insisted.
In the darkness Gale and Valerie exchanged
wondering glances. Their curiosity was caught
and without realizing they were doing so, they
eavesdropped.
“No one would know,” Tom continued. “We
could act as guides for the girls and at the same
time perhaps discover a clue to the hideout of the
rustlers.”
“But it is dangerous, Tom,” Mr. Wilson said
slowly.
“Listen, Dad,” Tom said earnestly. “The rustlers
have been stealing your cattle and a lot of
other people’s for a long time, haven’t they?”
“Yes.”
“You admit that if a stop isn’t put to this robbing,
soon it will ruin you?”
.pn +1
“I’m getting desperate,” Mr. Wilson agreed
heavily, “But I can’t permit you or Jim or any
of those girls to run the risk.”
“But I tell you there isn’t any risk,” Tom
argued. “No one would ever suspect us. Even the
girls won’t know. We will be just a camping
party.”
“But if someone should find out what you are
doing—you would have no protection, there
would be nothing you could do.”
“We’ll figure something out,” Tom said. “Don’t
you see, Dad? It is the best way to attempt to
find the bandits. They would never suspect a
party of girls.”
The two voices trailed away as Tom and his
father moved toward the cowboys’ bunkhouse.
The girls stood perfectly still until they saw the
bunkhouse door opened and closed again behind
the two.
“Well,” Valerie said, “it appears we are to be
lures for rustlers.”
“I knew there was something wrong here at
the K Bar O,” Gale said thoughtfully as the girls
walked toward the house. “So it’s cattle thieves.
No wonder Virginia’s mother and father look
.pn +1
constantly worried. Even Virginia herself seems
to be always watching for something when we
are out riding.”
“We’d better say nothing to the others,” Valerie
said as they mounted to the porch.
“No,” Gale agreed. “If Uncle finally agrees to
let us go on the trip, we are not to let on we know
what Tom and his cowboy friend are up to.”
“Just keep our eyes and ears open,” murmured
Valerie.
The next morning at breakfast Tom announced
to the girls that his father had agreed
to the proposed camping trip. The news was received
with whoops of joy from Janet and Carol.
Gale and Valerie exchanged a quiet glance.
“We’ll take two tents for you girls,” Tom continued.
“Jim, the rider who is going with us, and
I will sleep in blankets. We’ll leave tomorrow.”
A clatter of hoofs and shouting outside brought
them all away from the breakfast table. A rider
was flinging himself from his weary horse. Both
the rider and the horse looked played out.
“What’s up, Bert?” Mr. Wilson asked, striding
from the ranch house and confronting the
rider.
The others eagerly crowded forward, intending
.pn +1
to miss not one word. From the man’s appearance
and the appearance of his horse something
important had happened.
“The two fellows who robbed the bank the
other day broke outa jail last night and got clean
away!” the rider said, mopping his face with a
handkerchief. “I been out for hours with the
Sheriff and his posse lookin’ for the trail. Didn’t
come this way, did they?”
Mr. Wilson shook his head. “If they did, Bert,
we didn’t see ’em. Come in and have some breakfast?”
“Shore will,” the man replied gratefully. “A
fella gets all fired hungry ridin’ around.”
“Didn’t the thieves leave any trail at all?”
Tom asked when the man had joined them and
they were all seated once more about the table.
“Wal, son,” the rider said, “we figger they
separated, one goin’ north and the other south.
Leastways, they were seen apart. Hank Cordy
saw one tryin’ to swim the creek. He chased him
but the fella got away. That was the short, dark
haired one. The tall one was seen ridin’ out this
way.”
“If he passed the K Bar O none of us saw him,”
Mr. Wilson declared.
.pn +1
“Wal,” the man sighed as he pushed his chair
away from the table and the rest followed him
into the ranch living room, “that was shore the
most appetizin’ meal I ever ate. Reckon now I’ve
got to be gettin’ along.”
“We’ll let you know if we see anything of the
robbers,” Tom called after him.
Madge and Phyllis declared their intention of
writing letters while Carol and Janet rode with
Tom and Virginia out to the valley where the
largest of the K Bar O’s herds was grazing. Valerie
was not looking so well this morning and
the other girls had coaxed her to lie down for a
while. It would be a tragedy if she were not well
enough for them to go on the proposed camping
trip the next day.
Gale, rope in hand, found her way to the corral
where Jim, she knew him by no other name,
the cowboy who was to accompany the girls on
their trip, was waiting to give her her first lesson
with the use of her lasso. She learned first to
make the slip knot, how to coil her rope, then
how to grasp it for throwing.
“I never knew there was so much to it,” she
declared after an hour had flown by.
“It won’t take you long to learn,” he assured
her.
.pn +1
A little while later Mr. Wilson appeared and
had an errand for Jim to do. Gale wandered off
by herself across the valley and up the hillside.
The sun was warm and it was tiring work climbing
through the grass and tangled undergrowth,
so when she came to a tree which offered a large
patch of shade from the sun she sank down to
rest. Pretty soon she lay back, her arms under
her head, gazing up at the little spot of blue sky
that she could see through the branches of the
tree.
Gale did not know when she fell asleep or for
how long she slept, but when she opened her eyes
the sun was blazing down into her face. It must
be hours she thought instantly since she had sat
down here to rest for a few minutes. Then the
thought of what had awakened her made her
prop herself up on an elbow and gaze around.
Her throat went suddenly dry and a half
smothered scream rose to her lips. It had been a
heavy pressure on her right leg that had brought
her back from her dreams, and now as she looked
down at her foot horror overcame her. Its scaly
body wound about her boot, the flat head swaying
from side to side, was a huge rattlesnake.
Gale dropped back on the grass with closed eyes,
.pn +1
trying to erase from her mind the sight of that
reptile, the bite of which meant death.
What was she to do? Scream? There was no
one about to hear her. She was too far from the
ranch house to summon help by calling aloud.
Raising her head a few inches she took one look
and let it drop back again. The gimlet eyes of
the snake were coming closer. It would not be
long before it struck, or had it done so already?
It could scarcely send its poisonous fangs
through her heavy boot, she reminded herself
desperately. But what was she to do? Nothing,
she told herself hopelessly, a sinking in her heart.
There was nothing she could do. She might struggle
for her freedom, but she could not hope to
avoid the darting, poisonous fangs of the snake.
It would surely strike soon, and when it did——
She caught her underlip between two rows of
white teeth to quell the groan of helplessness.
Tears of impotence sprang to her eyes. If only
there were something she could do—some way
she could—— Was it her imagination or did she
hear a sound? Quickly she raised her head and
a voice spoke from behind her.
“Don’t move! Keep quiet!” the man, for it
was a man’s voice, commanded.
.pn +1
Gale wondered hysterically if he expected her
to do anything else. She couldn’t move if she
wanted to. Terror made her lifeless.
“Please hurry!” she murmured.
A revolver shot was her answer and when next
she looked down at her boot she shivered. The
sight of the headless, mutilated body was sickening.
“Don’t look,” Jim whispered as he lifted Gale’s
boot clear of the snake. “Did it bite you?”
“I don’t think so,” Gale murmured fighting to
control her nerves. Now that it was all over she
felt as if she must scream. It was the natural reaction
and as she stood up she leaned weakly
against the tree. “How did—you happen—along
just in time?”
The cowboy replaced his revolver in the holster
at his belt. It was the first time Gale had
noticed that he wore a gun. How lucky it had
been for her that he did!
“I came lookin’ for you for some more practice
with yore rope,” he drawled, as he sometimes
did.
“You saved my life,” Gale said gratefully.
“Shucks,” the cowboy said, flushing deep red.
“How did the snake ever come to wind itself
about yore leg?”
.pn +1
“I was asleep,” Gale said. “I’ll never forget the
sight of that snake when I awoke. It was horrible!”
She trembled involuntarily.
Jim patted her shoulder with clumsy kindness.
“Do you reckon you can come back to the house
now?”
“Of course,” Gale said and turned to follow
him down the slope, sternly keeping her eyes
away from that slippery, scaly, headless thing lying
in the long grass.
“Do you always wear a gun, Jim?” she asked.
“I never noticed it before.”
“No, Miss Gale, none of us cowboys do,” he
answered. “Guns belong to the old, bad West.
But here lately we been havin’ trouble and I
kinda got used to havin’ one along when I go
ridin’.”
“Probably on account of the cattle thieves,”
Gale said to herself. Aloud she said:
“Trouble? What kind?”
“Oh, like these bank robbers,” he said evasively.
“There’s always somebody willin’ to steal
and honest folk have to protect themselves.”
“How did they get out of jail?” she asked as
they reached the bottom of the hill and started
along the trail to the ranch house.
.pn +1
“Sawed clean through the bars on the window,”
he answered. “Probably had help from outside.”
“Has the Sheriff discovered either of them
yet?”
“I reckon not. The Sheriff is good at trailin’
crooks, but these fellas are probably experienced
in hidin’ out. I ’spect they’re almost to the border
by now.”
“Which way are we going to travel tomorrow?”
Gale asked.
“Up into the hills would be the prettiest country,”
he answered.
At the corral fence they separated, Gale going
on to the ranch house and Jim into the cowboys’
bunkhouse. The girls were on the porch, Janet
and Carol perched at perilous angles on the railing,
Virginia and Valerie on the top step, and
Madge and Phyllis in chairs.
“Where have you been?” Janet demanded.
“What’s wrong?” Valerie asked.
“Wrong?” Gale questioned. She did not realize
that her recent experience with the deadly
rattlesnake had left her face pale and a tinge of
shadow in her eyes.
“You look as though you had seen somebody’s
ghost,” Carol declared.
.pn +1
“I came near to being one,” Gale answered,
squeezing between Valerie and Virginia.
“What do you mean?” Madge asked. “Did you
meet the bank robbers?”
Gale described with all the terrifying details
her adventure with the snake and the girls were
all speechless with amazement. When she had
finished they regarded her wonderingly, fully
appreciating what a close call she had had.
“I’ll bet that was the only rattlesnake in this
part of the country for weeks,” Virginia declared.
“But you would have to meet him.”
“Hereafter you don’t go off by yourself,” Janet
said determinedly.
Gale laughed. “You needn’t caution me now.
One experience is enough. You can be sure I won’t
fall asleep like that again!”
.pn +1
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch04
Chapter IV||DISCOVERY
.sp 2
The ranch house was astir early the next
morning. The girls dashed about in mad last
minute haste. Horses were saddled and waiting.
The few necessities the girls were taking were
rolled in slickers and strapped behind their saddles.
Tents, cooking utensils, and eating supplies
were loaded on two pack horses which Tom was
to lead behind his own mount. As the girls were
about to mount, Mr. Wilson called Gale and
Phyllis over to where he was giving some last
minute instructions to Tom and Jim.
Mr. Wilson handed a small caliber revolver
each to Gale and Phyllis.
“What——” Phyllis began wonderingly.
“I think you ought to have them for protection,”
Mr. Wilson explained. “Against rattlesnakes—and
jack rabbits. I’m trusting you two
with these because I think you are the steadiest
ones.”
“Gale knows about the rattlesnakes,” Tom
.pn +1
said smiling. “I’ll bet she would have given a fortune
for a gun yesterday.”
“I’ll say I would,” Gale said with a shudder.
“But we will have to have some target practice,
so we know which end of the gun to aim.”
“Tom can take care of that,” Jim interposed,
“he’s right handy with a gun.”
“I don’t like this,” Phyllis said to Gale as the
girls walked back to their horses. “Why should
we need guns for protection? We are going on
a peaceful trip.”
“What with bank robbers running loose,” Gale
smiled. “We might be glad we have them.”
The guns were stored in the girls’ slickers and
soon the party was ready to start. They waved
gay farewells to Mr. and Mrs. Wilson as their
horses trotted down the trail. Jim rode in front
to guide them and directly behind him came
Gale, Virginia, and Valerie. The other three Adventure
Girls followed and Tom brought up the
rear with the pack horses.
The sun was slowly creeping higher in the sky
pouring its warm rays on the world below. Three
hours after their start the party halted for
luncheon which they ate cold from their saddle
bags, pushing on immediately. Jim had a camping
.pn +1
place in mind and he wanted to make it in
plenty of time to pitch their tents by the light
of day.
Gale and Virginia watched Valerie with growing
alarm. The girl was looking paler and more
tired with the passing of the minutes. But Valerie
was too plucky to call a halt on her own
account. Once she swayed visibly in her saddle.
Gale, reining her horse in beside Valerie’s, put
an anxious arm about her friend.
“Too tired to go on, Val? Just say so. Jim
won’t mind camping right here.”
“No, don’t stop because of me,” Valerie
pleaded. “I’ll stick it out.”
She would stick it out, Gale agreed admiringly,
but it would take all her courage to do so. Certainly
Valerie deserved to conquer the ill health
that was robbing her of so much of the zest of
living.
The horses mounted to the ridge of a hill and
there Jim called a halt. He gestured with his arm
to the valley below where a cool stream of water
dashed over rocks on its way to join a bigger
tributary.
“There’s our camp site,” he said, beaming,
“and we’ve made it with a good hour of daylight
left.”
.pn +1
“Thank goodness we made it at all!” Janet
said vigorously, voicing the relief most of them
felt. “I’ll be as stiff as a board tomorrow.”
“I was going to suggest that we camp all day
tomorrow,” Virginia added. “It looks like a nice
spot, water and everything.”
“As you say,” Tom said cheerily. “Let’s get
going, Jim, down to our camp site. I want to get
settled and smell something cooking over the
fire.”
It took them about ten minutes to work their
way down to the little stream and when they descended
from their horses there was a chorus of
groans. All of them were stiff from their positions
in the saddle. It was worse because it was the
first time most of them had ever ridden all day.
“Get the tents up first,” Virginia proposed.
“You and Jim can do that, Tom, while we gather
some wood for a fire.”
After Tom and Jim had unsaddled the horses
they set about erecting the girls’ tents. It was not
long before a fire was crackling cheerily and
bacon was spitting in a frying pan over the blaze.
Directly the tents were erected and the girls’
beds made with a blanket spread over pine
boughs, Valerie lay down utterly worn out. Gale
.pn +1
brought her supper and then left her alone to
fall asleep early and get as much rest as she
could. The others gathered about the campfire,
despite their weariness, to talk and to sing songs.
Tom had his harmonica and it seemed the fire
gave him inspiration for he played until the
others begged for mercy.
As Gale and Phyllis lay down on their bed of
boughs in the tent with Valerie, a coyote howled
dismally in the distance. From afar came an
answering cry.
“I’ll never get used to that noise if I stay here
a hundred years,” declared Phyllis. “It will keep
me awake all night.”
But five minutes after she had spoken Gale
heard her regular breathing and knew she was
asleep.
The next morning the girls were awakened by
the aroma of coffee and by Tom banging on the
frying pan.
“Wake up, sleepy-heads!” he roared.
The girls tumbled from their tents stiff and
only half awake. The cold creek water, dashed in
their faces, though, served to put life into them
with its tingling properties. Breakfast was more
delicious than they had ever remembered that
.pn +1
meal to be. Perhaps it was the invigorating air,
the exercise of the day before, or the excitement
prevailing over this trip, but they all had big
appetites.
“What are we going to do today?” Virginia
asked.
“I am going to rest, rest, and rest some more,”
Janet said loudly, as if daring someone to contradict
her. “I shall never, never forget that ride
yesterday.”
“I’m going to do the same,” Valerie declared.
She was looking a little weary this morning, but
she seemed in good spirits.
“Me likewise!” vouchsafed Carol.
“Well, I think I’d like to take a walk,” Madge
said. “How about it, Virginia?”
“Just the thing,” Virginia declared.
“Jim and I are going to follow the creek a
ways and see if there could possibly be any fish
in it,” Tom said.
The latter two started off and Madge and Virginia
started to walk along the creek in the opposite
direction.
“Let’s cross the creek and see what’s over the
hill on the other side,” proposed Phyllis to Gale.
The two crossed the creek on a series of stones
.pn +1
placed just right for the purpose. From the other
side they waved gayly at their remaining camp
mates and started forward. Here the undergrowth
was thick. In her hand Gale held the gun
Mr. Wilson had given her. It was not her intention
to be confronted unprepared by any more
rattlesnakes. Jim had explained the working
mechanism of the little gun and Gale was sure
she knew enough about it not to hurt herself at
least.
“Oh!” Phyllis jumped as something darted
across in front of them.
“Only a jack rabbit,” Gale laughed.
“You never can tell,” Phyllis murmured, treading
through the grass more warily. “I knew of a
man once who tread on a snake.”
“That’s not as bad as finding one wound
around your leg,” Gale declared. “Look, what’s
that up there?”
Half hidden by a growth of cactus and tangled
vines, yawned a dark cavernous hole.
“Let’s investigate,” proposed Phyllis. “It
rather looks like a cave. I didn’t know they had
caves in Arizona.”
“I know there were a lot of huge subterranean
caves discovered in 1909,” Gale answered. “But I
.pn +1
don’t know in what part of the state they were.
Phyllis, look!” The last words had come with a
gasp of incredulity.
They were closer to the cave now and could
clearly see the man who stood in the opening. He
was gazing away from them, toward the other
side of the valley.
“One of the bank robbers!” Phyllis gasped.
The man, as though he had heard her, turned
and looked in their direction. The next minute
he had turned and disappeared into the cave.
“C’mon,” Phyllis said excitedly, “let’s see
where he goes.”
The girls covered the few remaining yards to
the cave in a run. Once at the cave, caution overtook
them. The desperado might be lying in wait
for them, and it would be well for them to proceed
slowly and carefully.
As they entered the mouth of the cave, darkness,
black and impenetrable, dropped on them
like a cloak.
.pn +1
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch05
Chapter V||PURSUIT
.sp 2
Gale’s left hand clasped tightly in that of
Phyllis and with Gale holding her gun
tightly and ready for instant action should the
need arise, the two walked forward. They tried
to make as little noise as possible, but though
they walked on tiptoe, the sound echoed back
to them dully. The ground underfoot was rough
and uneven. On both sides of them the earth
walls were damp and cold. The air was heavy
and musty and the girls shivered as they tried
to walk bravely forward. From up ahead of them
came a sudden sound as of a boot heel striking
against stone.
“There he is!” Phyllis said in a sharp whisper.
“What’ll we do?”
“Follow him and see where he is hiding,” Gale
returned.
Slowly and with the utmost caution the girls
crept forward. Once when they came to a turn in
the passage they were unprepared for it and
.pn +1
stumbled into the wall. Thereafter as they walked
along, Phyllis kept one guiding hand against the
wall. Suddenly her hand came in contact with
something round and small set in a large niche in
the wall.
“Hold on, I’ve found something, Gale,” she
said. “I wish we had a flashlight.”
“What is it?”
“I guess it’s a candle. It is a candle, and it’s
been lit recently, too, because the end is still
warm and the wax isn’t hard yet.”
“Keep it, maybe we’ll find some matches,”
Gale laughed.
They came to a turn in the passage and for a
moment a little speck of light showed ahead of
them. But suddenly it flickered and died out.
“I’ll bet it was another candle,” Phyllis whispered.
“But if that was the man we are after who
blew it out, he is awf’ly far away from us.”
Gale stood still and Phyllis stopped also. Over
and about them was silence. As they stood there
they seemed to imagine all sorts of sounds, footsteps,
whispers from unseen antagonists, scurrying
of mice in the passageway.
“I don’t like this,” Phyllis said nervously.
“Let’s go back to camp and get Tom or Jim.”
.pn +1
“If you will lead the way out,” invited Gale.
“You mean to say we are lost in here?”
“Well, I haven’t the faintest knowledge in
which direction the entrance lies,” Gale said candidly.
“Do you?”
“It is back of some place,” Phyllis said uneasily.
“We’ve got to find it.”
“We’ve got to find it if we want to get out,”
Gale agreed. “Suppose we turn around and walk
the other way.”
A mocking laugh arose from somewhere in the
passage and echoed loudly and weirdly. Both
girls shivered from the ominous tone of it. They
walked along, Phyllis’ hand against the wall to
guide them, but soon her hand touched empty
air.
“There’s a turn here,” she cautioned.
“It’s a cross passage,” Gale said. “Passages on
both sides of us, but which one do we take?”
Again that taunting laugh rumbled from behind
them.
“Whichever way we go, I hope it is away from
him,” Phyllis declared trembling. “That laugh
gives me the jitters, it is so melodramatic. Soon
he will be telling us we are in his power.”
Gale laughed nervously as the girls continued
.pn +1
along the right hand passage. Phyllis stumbled
wildly over something and shrieked madly as her
exploring fingers came in contact with something
cold and hard.
“What is it?” Gale demanded.
“It f-feels like a s-skull,” Phyllis murmured
with difficulty.
“Don’t be silly,” Gale said, repressing a shudder.
“Probably only a rock. Come along, the girls
will begin to worry about us soon.”
“They would worry more if they knew we were
lost in here,” Phyllis declared.
They walked on for what seemed hours, straining
their eyes into the darkness for that bit of
light which would mean they were near the entrance,
straining their ears to catch unfamiliar
sounds.
“G-Gale, do you really think we will find the
way out?” Phyllis asked after a long while.
“Of course,” Gale said staunchly, with far
more cheerfulness than she felt. “We can’t stay
in here forever.”
“No,” Phyllis said and her voice shook uncontrollably.
“Soon we would starve.”
Gale, her own nerves on edge with the darkness
and their hopeless search for the opening,
.pn +1
recognized the hysteria in her friend’s voice. But
before she could remonstrate, there arose that
maddening, taunting laugh.
“Gale,” Phyllis said hysterically, “I can’t
stand it! I can’t! If we don’t find the entrance
soon, I’ll——”
Gale shook her sternly. “Phyllis! Pull yourself
together! Don’t you see, that is just what he
is trying to do, get us rattled? Of course we’ll
find the entrance. We’ve got to, but for goodness
sake don’t go to pieces now. Wait until we get
back to camp and then we’ll scream and tear our
hair.”
The picture of the two of them screaming and
tearing their hair was a little too much for Phyllis’
sense of humor and she laughed jerkily.
“It wouldn’t be so bad,” she said, Gale’s arm
about her shoulders, “if Relentless Rudolph
would stop laughing.”
“That’s a good name for him,” Gale smiled.
They stood together in the darkness, trying
to fathom a way out of their predicament.
“Gale, do you suppose——” Phyllis began.
“What?” her friend encouraged.
“This sort of thing was what your uncle was
thinking of when he gave us those revolvers?”
.pn +1
“I shouldn’t be surprised,” Gale said slowly.
“I wish I had mine now,” Phyllis wailed. “A
lot of good it does us in my slicker.”
“I’ve got mine,” Gale reminded her, “but we
haven’t seen anything to shoot at yet.”
“Why do you suppose he, Relentless Rudolph,
is trying to scare us so?” was Phyllis’ next question.
“I haven’t the faintest idea,” Gale answered.
“Unless he is trying to scare us so we will be
afraid to send the police after him.”
“Not much chance,” Phyllis said indignantly.
“I’d like to lead the police here, myself. If this
cave didn’t give me the jitters,” she added. “Let’s
get going—some place.”
Hand in hand they started off again. This passage
had a more hollow sound than the others.
Their footsteps, for they no longer bothered to
tread silently, sounded like thunder in their ears.
The ground was getting more uneven and suddenly
they bumped ignominiously into the wall.
“That’s the end of that,” Phyllis said in a tired
voice. “We’ll wear ourselves out before long.”
They went back the way they had come and
when they came to the cross passages, chose one
going in the opposite direction. Their steps were
.pn +1
lagging, and their eyes burned from straining
them to catch one glimpse of daylight.
“Phyllis! Look! The entrance!” Gale cried
joyously.
“Hurray! Let’s run!” Phyllis said eagerly.
All their tiredness was gone now. They raced
eagerly for the patch of light ahead of them and
burst out upon a valley of green.
“I was never so glad to leave any place,” Phyllis
said, sinking down beneath a tree and leaning
wearily against the trunk. “Rest a couple of minutes
and then we’ll go back to camp.”
“Phyllis,” Gale said slowly, gazing about them
first this way and then that. “This isn’t the same
place where we went in.”
“No,” Phyllis agreed thoughtfully, after looking
around, “it isn’t. Don’t tell me we’re lost
again! At that,” she said calmly, “I’d rather be
lost out here in the open than in those underground
passages.”
“Come on,” Gale said impatiently, “we can’t
sit here all day. We have to find the camp.”
The sun was high overhead. It was hours since
they had left their camp site. What must the
others be thinking? Had Tom or Jim started out
to find them?
.pn +1
“Maybe we could stay here and let ’em find
us,” Phyllis said, relaxed and lazy.
“We can’t stay here,” Gale said decidedly. She
hit upon a sudden inspiration to make her friend
bestir herself. “We are too close to the cave, the
bandit might pursue us,” she added smilingly.
That was enough. Phyllis jumped to her feet
and started to climb over the uneven ground
through the trees. At the top of the rise they saw
their camp nestling beside the little creek in the
valley. The subterranean passages they had been
in led directly through the hill which they had
started to climb earlier in the day. From where
they stood now, they could see the partly hidden
entrance which they had first discovered. On
their way down the hillside they took particular
care not to go near the mouth of the cave, lest
they should see and be seen by the bank bandit.
When they returned to the camp the others
greeted them with mingled exclamations of curiosity
and thankfulness.
“We had about decided that you were lost,”
Carol declared.
“You would have been right——” Gale began.
“Hold on!” Phyllis exclaimed. “Who is that
with Jim?”
.pn +1
The girls saw Jim approaching the campfire
where they were all gathered, and with him was
the man who two days before had brought the
news of the escape of the bank bandits to the
K Bar O.
“Are you still hunting for the escaped robbers?”
was Phyllis’ eager question the minute the
two men came within hearing distance of the
girls and Tom.
“Shore!” he answered promptly.
“Well,” Phyllis smiled over the sensation she
knew her words would create, “we saw one of
them this morning.”
“You what? Where? Are you sure it was one
of them?” The questions poured from all present.
“Oh, we’re sure all right,” Phyllis said. “He
scared us out of a month’s sleep. I’ve christened
him Relentless Rudolph the way he followed us
and laughed at us.”
“Followed you? Laughed at you?” Janet
echoed. “What do you mean?”
“Explain yourself,” urged Carol.
So while the others listened Gale let Phyllis
tell of their morning’s adventure. Phyllis recreated
vividly with words the suspense they had
.pn +1
felt while fumbling around in the dark of the passages.
The other girls were quite beside themselves
with excitement when she had finished.
Armed with flashlights and the revolvers they
always carried now Tom followed Jim and the
special deputy into the cave when Gale and Phyllis
had shown them the entrance.
The girls returned to the camp to await the
return of the three and their prisoner. They had
no doubts that if the bandit was still in the cave,
the three men would find him and bring him back
to face justice.
“But there might be another exit to the cave
that you don’t know about,” Virginia mused to
Phyllis and Gale. “Even now he might be miles
away.”
“Well,” Phyllis said uncomfortably, remembering
the thief’s laughter, “the farther he stays
away from me, the better.”
“I hope nothing happens to Tom,” Virginia
said with a worried frown for her brother. “If
there is any danger, he is bound to rush right into
it.”
“Don’t worry,” Gale consoled her, “Tom is old
enough to take care of himself. While we are
waiting, I’m going to have some target practice
so I’ll know how to handle this revolver.”
.pn +1
“A good idea,” Phyllis declared jumping to
her feet. “We’ll have a shooting match.”
Virginia tacked a large piece of paper to a tree
and paced off twenty-five feet. From her mark
Gale tried her luck at hitting their target. When
she had finished they discovered that one of her
six bullets had just nicked the edge of the paper.
The others had gone clear past the tree. Phyllis
was not even as lucky. None of her tries was successful.
“You couldn’t hit a barn door if you were inside
the barn,” Carol teased.
“You couldn’t do any better!” was Phyllis’
spirited retort. “Give us a chance, we’ll show
you.”
The sun fell farther and farther in the west.
The girls nervously idled away the time, keeping
anxious eyes on the hill opposite where they expected
Tom and his companions to reappear. But
the minutes flew and the others did not come.
The sun dropped from sight, leaving a trail of
glorious colors in his wake. From the east, night
like a pearly gray blanket covered the sky.
Virginia sliced bacon in the frying pan over the
fire. Gale made coffee and soon inviting aromas
of their supper drifted on the air.
.pn +1
“The smell of food will bring Tom if nothing
else does,” Virginia declared laughingly.
But it grew later. Darkness with its impenetrable
shadows closed down. The girls huddled about
the campfire, watching the fantastic shadows the
flames threw over the tents. They had had their
supper and put aside things to be warmed when
the others returned.
“Do you suppose they could have gotten lost
like we did?” Phyllis asked after a long and heavy
silence.
“They had flashlights,” put in Madge. “They
shouldn’t have.”
“Ah, but you don’t know that place!” Phyllis
shivered, “It gives me the creeps to think of it.”
“What’s that?” Virginia cried suddenly.
They listened attentively. A stick cracked as a
heavy foot trod on it. In the fitful firelight’s gleam
they could see three shadowy figures crossing the
creek.
“Tom?” Virginia called uncertainly.
“All safe,” Tom’s hearty voice assured her.
“But where is the bandit?” Valerie asked excitedly.
“That’s what we’d like to know,” grumbled
.pn +1
Tom. “We searched that place all through but
there was no one in there.”
“But we did see him,” Phyllis insisted. “He
must have escaped before you got there.”
“That’s what we figgered,” Jim put in. “We
found footprints of a man, but escaping the law
seems to be that fella’s strong point.”
“He won’t escape all the time,” murmured the
deputy. “We’ll catch up with him some day.”
The girls, Virginia and Gale, warmed the supper
for the three men and before they all turned
in for the night, the deputy took his leave, declaring
he could not spend the night at their
campfire, but had to be miles away by morning.
The girls slept peacefully and dreamlessly,
storing up energy for the day’s ride ahead of
them, for it was Tom and Jim’s plan to continue
on to a new camp site the next day.
.pn +1
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch06
Chapter VI||GHOST CABIN
.sp 2
“Ah, me, the joys of camping in the open!”
Carol said to the world at large.
Rain had been steadily pouring down on the
file of riders since early morning. Clad in shining
slickers they were riding on through the downpour.
It was decidedly uncomfortable and to
make it worse, they had had to have a cold lunch
because everything was soaked and neither Tom
nor Jim could make a fire. Such conditions had
led to Carol’s declaration.
The others smiled but Janet was the only one
who grumbled in reply.
“When do we get to this cabin, Jim?” she called
over the heads of Gale, Valerie and Virginia.
Jim knew of a cabin where he promised them
they could spend the night in comparative dryness
and warmth. It was an old miner’s shack,
long since deserted by its owner, but no matter
how ramshackle and tumbledown, it beckoned as
.pn +1
a heavenly haven to the wet, weary riders because
it promised shelter from the rain.
“In ’bout an hour, I reckon,” Jim replied.
“Mebbe less.”
“I hope it’s less,” Gale murmured to Virginia.
Her cousin smiled at her. “Feeling disgusted
with camping in the open? I wouldn’t blame you.
This isn’t a nice experience for newcomers to our
state.”
“It isn’t me,” Gale said with a surprised glance,
as though the mere thought of her own comfort
had never entered her head. “It’s Val. She’s looking
rather—peaked.”
“She’s bearing up marvelously well,” Virginia
replied with equal concern. “I hope today isn’t
too much for her. I don’t want to spend more than
one night in this cabin Jim is taking us to.”
“Why not?” Gale asked.
“Well,” Virginia shifted uncomfortably, “I—just
don’t that’s all.”
“Come on, out with it,” Gale said gayly. “Don’t
go keeping secrets from me. Is the place
haunted?” she asked hopefully.
“It’s known as Ghost Cabin,” Virginia said
reluctantly.
“How interesting!” Gale declared. “Tell me
more! How did it come by that name?”
.pn +1
“It is near the entrance to an old silver mine,”
Virginia explained. “Years ago this region was
thought to hold valuable silver deposits. Some
miners came and camped here. The owner of the
cabin worked his mine for a year or so. Some people
said he made a lot of money out of it. I don’t
know. Anyway, the miner was found murdered in
his cabin, supposedly killed by thieves.”
“Where does the ghost come in?” Gale wanted
to know.
“The miner is supposed to come back to his
cabin at night to wait for the thieves who murdered
him,” Virginia told her.
“Cheerful thought,” Gale grimaced wryly. “Do
you suppose he’ll come tonight?”
“I don’t know,” Virginia said doubtfully, albeit
a bit hopefully. “It would be fun, wouldn’t it, to
meet a ghost?”
“A lot of fun,” Gale agreed dryly. “I’m not
particularly fond of the things myself. I’ll have
to pass this tale on to the others.”
While they rode, Gale, with Virginia’s help,
told the rest of the Adventure Girls the story
about the cabin to which they were going. They
were a little dubious about the night and its outcome,
but all agreed it would be highly exciting.
.pn +1
Tom and Jim promptly declared the tale a myth,
that there were no such things as ghosts.
“You’re just trying to spoil our prospect of an
exciting evening,” declared Janet loftily to Tom.
“I shall look for ghosts just the same.”
“Go ahead,” he grinned, “and may you find a
lot of them.”
“Oh, not a lot,” she said hastily. “One healthy
one is about all that I could handle.”
“We’ll all be there to help you—handle him,”
Carol assured her friend. “Don’t tell me we have
finally reached our goal!” This last as the party
rounded a clump of trees and through the rain
saw a low, ramshackle cabin ahead of them. A
little distance from the cabin was a shed and
Carol demanded to know what it was.
“Entrance to his mine,” Tom replied, “Don’t
go near it or you will probably fall down a shaft
or something.”
Carol frowned on him. “I will not fall down
anything,” she declared with dignity.
“See that you don’t,” he laughed. “Come along,
Ambitious,” he urged one of the pack horses who
was lolling behind.
Jim was the first to approach the cabin and
when they crowded behind him there were
.pn +1
mingled exclamations of disgust and disappointment.
A layer of dust lay over everything and
there were dirt and filth in abundance. But the
sight of a fireplace and plenty of dry wood ready
to flame up at the spurt of a match heartened
them somewhat.
“First of all,” Jim said, “I’ll sweep the place.
There’s a makeshift broom over there in the corner.
You all wait outside.”
So there was nothing for the others to do but
go back out into the rain until Jim and Tom
could restore the place to some semblance of
cleanliness.
“We’ll tie the horses back of the cabin,” Virginia
proposed, to keep them busy.
“Feeling tired?” Gale asked anxiously of Valerie
as the two walked side by side, leading their
mounts.
Valerie nodded, forcing a smile. “No worse than
you, I expect.”
Again Gale felt a thrill of admiration for her
friend who was so cheerfully determined to fight
her way back to strong, ruddy health.
“The minute the cabin is respectable, you shall
sit down and not stir again tonight,” she declared.
“I’ll help get supper,” Valerie corrected.
.pn +1
“No you won’t,” Gale said.
“But I want to,” Valerie insisted. “I don’t want
the girls to wait on me. I didn’t intend to be a
burden when I came on this trip and I won’t be
one!”
“Darling, you could never be that!” Gale said
tenderly. She continued humorously: “Here we
want to give you service and you won’t have it.
I wish somebody——”
“All clear,” Tom called, and there was a sudden
rush of wet figures for the poor sanctuary of
the tumbledown shack.
A fire crackled cheerily in the fireplace and the
tired riders were gathered around it gratefully,
yielding to the comfort of its warmth and to the
laziness a good supper had instilled in them.
“And still no ghosts,” Madge sighed, leaning
her head cozily against Janet’s shoulder.
“No, and I can’t say that I miss them,” that individual
added, stifling a yawn.
“It has stopped raining,” Jim volunteered from
his post at the door. “Tom and I will put up a
tent outside for the night.”
“You girls can roll in your blankets on the floor
here in front of the fire,” Tom continued.
“We——”
.pn +1
All of them came to attention. From somewhere,
they were not certain of the exact position,
came three slow, measured knocks.
“Ah, the ghost has arrived!” murmured Carol.
“Where was he?” demanded Virginia. “It
sounded as though he were beneath the floor, but
the place has no cellar.”
“It came from the ceiling,” contradicted Phyllis.
“Do you really think it is a ghost?” whispered
Janet.
The others motioned for silence as the knocks
were resumed. Three more were followed by a
low, gurgling scream that rose and wavered on the
night air, dying slowly away. The girls exchanged
glances, their faces white and troubled. Tom was
frowning fiercely. Jim’s eyes were darting about
the room to find the source of the ghostly knocks
and scream.
“This isn’t funny any more,” Janet said fearfully.
“Do you think we can stay here all night?”
Valerie added.
“It will take more than knocks and a scream
to scare us away,” Virginia declared staunchly.
“But suppose it is the old miner come back to
.pn +1
wait for the thieves?” Carol began. “What
are——”
Her voice died away as the distinct rattling of
chains filled the air.
“All the desired sound effects,” Tom growled.
“It seemed to come from right under our feet,”
Gale declared.
“Rattling chains indeed!” sniffed Phyllis. “We
can be sure it isn’t a real ghost now. He has too
much to be true. Somebody is trying to scare us.”
“You’re right,” Jim agreed.
“But where is he? Why can’t we see him?” demanded
Virginia.
“He can’t be on the roof,” Tom said thoughtfully,
“there is no cellar——”
“He certainly isn’t here with us,” Carol declared.
“There goes that scream again!” She shivered.
“It gives me the creeps. Do you suppose he
could be on the outside?”
“No, he isn’t anywhere in sight,” Jim said
firmly, returning from a quick circle of the cabin.
“We haven’t heard him for some minutes now,”
Virginia said encouragingly. “Maybe he has
gone.”
“Just a slight intermission,” murmured Janet
calmly.
.pn +1
They waited, but nothing happened. Tom and
Jim set a tent up before the cabin. The girls
spread their blankets before the fire, all but
Valerie. The girls had insisted that she take possession
of the low bunk the cabin afforded. It
would be slightly more comfortable than the floor.
She was tired, but rolled in her blanket in the
silent cabin, Gale found she could not sleep. All
desire for sleep had left her and her mind was
active. The other girls were sleeping, she supposed
Tom and Jim were too, out in their tent.
But her ears magnified a thousandfold each
crackling of a log and each creak of the floor sent
expectant shivers along her spine. She realized
then she was waiting for the ghost of the cabin to
return. She was sure he would. No self-respecting
ghost would stop after such a mild attempt to
frighten them away if he was really anxious to be
rid of them. But who was it that was playing
ghost? The bank bandit? Hardly. Whoever it was,
why did he want people to stay away from the
cabin? From where she lay, she looked around at
the room. She could see nothing that anyone
might wish to keep from prying eyes.
Quietly she threw back her blanket and stood
.pn +1
up. Tiptoeing, she went to the door and stepped
outside. Stentorian snores were coming from the
little tent. Tom and Jim were in dreamland.
Smiling, she leaned against the door and stared
up at the stars overhead. The storm had cleared
and there was not a cloud in the sky. The stars
hung low like brightly lighted lanterns. The moon
cast its silver light on the earth, causing huge
black shadows under trees and behind the cabin
and the shanty set apart.
Standing in the darkness, the wind ruffling her
hair, gray eyes alight with a hint of the brightness
of the stars in their depth, Gale sighed with
sheer enjoyment of the scene. She had never before
realized that a spot such as this, away from
the noise and the people of the world, could be so
lovely. It was almost like standing on the edge of
the world. Behind her towered high and mighty
mountains, before her lay a sea of moon-swept
valley. Born and brought up in the little town of
Marchton, Gale had known some outdoor life,
but never the breathless beauty and limitless
quiet of a night in Arizona. Quiet had she
thought? Far away a coyote howled and yet another.
She shivered. The sound was so—uncivilized.
.pn +1
The cry of that animal was like a call
straight from the wild untamed world of which
she knew nothing.
Gale was staring at the dark little shanty that
Tom had said was doubtless the entrance to the
old miner’s mine. She wondered if the man had
ever realized his dream of great wealth, the dream
he doubtless had when he settled here and began
to dig. A shadow, a moving shadow, had detached
itself from the spot of darkness which was the
shanty and was going toward a thick clump of
trees. Instantly Gale stiffened to attention. Who
was it? Certainly it was no ghost, for no ghost
was ever so solid. Was it the one who had tried
to frighten them from the cabin? Certainly he
had not tried very hard. Perhaps he was coming
back later for a second attempt. Were there more
mysterious men in the shaft to the mine? Gale
had a sudden impulse to call Tom or Jim to investigate
that shadow. No, she would investigate
it herself, she decided. The man was out of sight
now, lost in the blackness of the trees and she
moved forward.
It was not far from the shadow of the cabin to
the protecting darkness of the shanty and Gale
covered it quickly. She did not want to be seen by
.pn +1
that other sleuthing person. She preferred to do
her detecting unseen and unknown. Her exploring
fingers found the latch, consisting of a nail
and a piece of string, and in a minute the shanty
door swung to behind her. It was dark and silent
in here. From her jacket pocket she took a small
flashlight. Ever since she and Phyllis had been lost
in the cave she had carried her light with her,
rather than leaving it rolled in her slicker. Now
she was glad she had it. The little circle of light
revealed a pair of worn wooden steps leading
downward. Gale listened intently and when she
heard nothing that indicated another’s presence,
descended into the passage. It was nothing like
the big coal mines she had read and seen pictures
of. It was merely a tunnel that had been hewed
out of the ground with pick and shovel. If the
ground had once held a fortune of silver, it gave
no evidence of it now. She had to stoop, so low
was the ceiling, as she picked her way along over
rocks and débris.
Suddenly the thin ray of light from her lamp
wavered and she noticed that it had grown dim.
The battery was growing weak and would not
last much longer. She switched it off. She must
save it so she would have at least enough light to
.pn +1
find her way back to the entrance. That was
where she made her mistake. Creeping along in
darkness, she did not see the black hole ahead and
when her foot touched empty air, fell head foremost
down—down—several feet.
For a moment she lay stunned with the unexpectedness
of her fall. Too, the jar of landing had
knocked all collected thought from her head.
Slowly she sat up and felt for an injury. Nothing
but bruises, thank goodness. She had dropped her
flashlight and had to feel out with her hands along
the damp earth until she found it. She hoped
fervently that the drop had not put it entirely out
of commission. No, when she pressed the little
button, a feeble ray of light shot out. The light
was bright enough to see that she had fallen into
a pit of some sort that stretched away out behind
her into darkness which the lamp would not penetrate.
She got to her feet and endeavored to shake
some of the dirt from her clothes. It was a risk to
go forward without a light, but a glance at the
wall of dirt and rock had shown her that she
could never hope to climb up to where she had
been before her fall. There was no course but to
explore this passage here and to hope that that
.pn +1
mysterious shadow did not decide to come back
into the mine immediately. But perhaps he had
friends in here, friends that would not welcome her
intrusion. The very thought that any minute she
might stumble upon some mysterious, fearful unknown
made her nervous and she proceeded with
greater caution.
Gale endeavored to readjust her sense of direction,
which had been somewhat confused with her
fall, to find in what direction this passage led. If
she was correct, and she believed she was, it
should lead across to directly beneath the cabin
where her friends were sleeping. In that case, the
man she had seen might have been the “ghost”
who with his mysterious knocks and screams had
frightened them. But, remembering the fall which
she had had, how did he get down to this lower
passage, and once down here, how did he get up
again? She had not been able to find any means
of gaining the higher level. She halted and
switched her flashlight on again. The light was
failing rapidly and she dared to keep it on only a
moment. But in that moment she had switched it
overhead and seen the row of four or five boards
which she was sure were part of the floor of the
cabin. She sought a rock and hurled it up against
.pn +1
the boards, ducking as it rebounded back at her.
She followed it with another and then another.
“The ghost is back again,” said a nervous voice
which she recognized as Janet’s.
Certainly it was the floor of the cabin and she
had discovered how the ghost had done his mysterious
knocking. His voice from here would have
been clearly audible to them, too, just as she
could hear the girls now.
“Gale’s gone!” she heard Valerie cry in alarm.
“Gone!” the others echoed.
She was just about to call out to reassure them
when a sound in the passageway behind her made
her hold her breath in suspense. Someone was
coming along the tunnel. That must mean that
the mysterious ghost had returned to do some
more of his haunting. With quick and as quiet
steps as possible, she retreated back the way she
had come, and directly toward that unknown.
Standing flattened against the earth wall, her
heart thumping so she was sure he would hear it,
Gale waited for the ghost to pass her. He did so,
actually brushing against her in the darkness. He
carried no flashlight and it was this fact alone
that had saved her from discovery. Evidently he
knew his way about in the darkness.
.pn +1
Aided now by fear, she sped along the narrow,
low tunnel to where she had had her fall. The
man certainly had not been in here when she fell,
hence there must be some way he had entered
since. She had to find that entrance to gain her
freedom. Now that the others had discovered her
absence, they would be alarmed and a search
would be begun. She must get back and reassure
them. She must also send Tom and Jim to find
this mysterious stranger.
Flashing on the last faint rays of her flashlight,
she saw the wall down which she had fallen and
against it hung a crude rope ladder. So this was
how he entered and left this lower tunnel! With
one foot on the ladder, she slipped her flashlight
into her jacket pocket. It had failed entirely now
and she would have to depend on her memory to
lead her to the entrance. It took but a few moments
to climb the ladder and once at the top she
pulled it up behind her. That would keep the
ghost in the lower passage until Tom and Jim
could come along and investigate him. There
must be some reason why he “haunted” the cabin
with his mysterious knocks.
Swiftly as possible she went along the tunnel
and after several minutes stumbled against the
steps leading up to the door.
.pn +1
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch07
Chapter VII||LANDSLIDE
.sp 2
“But I can’t understand how he got out!” Gale
said again with a puzzled frown. “I purposely
pulled the ladder up behind me to keep
him in there.”
“There must be another way out that’s all,”
Tom said.
“He’s gone and now we shall never know who
the ghost was,” said Janet.
Tom and Jim exchanged a fleeting glance that
only Gale seemed to see.
“Well, Gale gives a good imitation of a spook,”
was Carol’s declaration. “Imagine, throwing rocks
at the floor to scare us all out of our well earned
sleep.”
“I was only demonstrating how it was done for
my own satisfaction,” Gale laughed.
The nine of them were jogging along on their
horses. They had had their breakfast while they
discussed the disappearance of the ghost. For the
man whom Gale had thought imprisoned in the
.pn +1
lower tunnel had gone when Jim and Tom let
themselves down on the rope ladder. They had
not explored the tunnel to its full length so they
were not sure, but they surmised that there must
be another exit some place along the passage and
it was this that the mysterious stranger had used.
They had all endeavored to go back to sleep, but
their rest was fitful and broken. They had eaten
an early breakfast and now, two hours later,
found them picking their way through cactus and
undergrowth to the distant hills.
“Git along little dogie, git along, git along,”
Janet sang lustily.
“I wish I had brought some cotton,” Carol
commented darkly, “for my ears,” she added at
Janet’s curious glance. “Then I wouldn’t have to
listen to you sing.”
“Oh, you don’t appreciate a good voice when
you hear it,” was Janet’s retort.
“A good voice, I do,” Carol declared, and
moved her pony so that Gale was between her
and Janet. “But who ever told you——”
“What? Not another musical person?” Madge
demanded as Tom blew vigorously on his harmonica.
“If riding affects them like that,” Virginia
.pn +1
laughed, “it is time we called a halt. What do you
say, Jim?”
“For ten minutes,” Jim nodded.
They fell from their mounts, grateful for the
respite. Tom promptly stretched out on the
ground, his hat over his face to shut out the sun.
Jim led the horses to a little stream of water as
the girls stamped the stiffness out of their
cramped legs.
“Where’s Jim?” Virginia wanted to know at
the end of the allotted ten minutes for Jim was
not in sight. The horses were standing ready for
their riders, but they could not proceed without
the guide.
Virginia went over and poked her brother into
wakefulness.
“What’s the matter?” he asked drowsily.
“Jim hasn’t come back yet,” Virginia informed
him, “and if we don’t get started, we won’t make
our next campsite before dark.”
Tom stretched lazily. “Well, stay here an’ I’ll
find him.”
Gale and Virginia mounted their horses and the
others did likewise.
“You know, I’m either going to wear the horse
out or he is going to wear me out,” Janet declared
.pn +1
with a grimace as she lowered herself into the
saddle. “I’m afraid it is the latter.”
They waited for fully fifteen minutes before
either Tom or Jim came into sight. The horses
had caught the impatience of their riders and
were fidgeting to be off.
“We thought you had deserted us for sure!”
Virginia declared. “Where were you?”
To Gale it seemed that the two men had the
air of conspirators. There was a gleam in their
eyes that had not been there before. The minute
they came within earshot of the girls they stopped
talking and came on silently.
“Virginia,” Tom said immediately, “we want
you to lead the girls to Bear Rock and have lunch.
Wait there for us.”
“But where are you going?” Virginia demanded.
“Jim has found a trail that looks strange so we
are going to follow it,” Tom explained. “But we’ll
catch up to you at Bear Rock. You camp there
until we come, understand?”
“No,” Virginia said firmly. “I don’t understand.
What is so strange about this trail? Why
can’t we all ride that way?”
“We couldn’t follow the trail with all of you
.pn +1
along,” Tom declared. “It would be obliterated
in no time.”
“But, Tom, if we get lost up here we could
never find each other again,” Virginia continued.
“But Miss Virginia, you’ve been to Bear Rock
lots of times,” Jim put in. “Yore Dad would want
us to follow this trail, too. It shore looks mighty
strange. You won’t get lost.”
“You don’t know what you might be getting
into,” Virginia said. “I think you should let that
trail alone and mind your own business.”
Tom shook his head, tightening his saddle
strap.
“We’re goin’ so you might as well save your
breath. See you at Bear Rock,” he added as he
and Jim swung their horses about and were off in
a cloud of dust.
The girls stared after them in surprise, then
Virginia, with a shrug of her shoulders, turned
her horse and led the way at an abrupt angle
from the road taken by Jim and Tom. Gale undertook
to bring up the rear with the pack horses.
As the girls jogged forward, Phyllis rode directly
behind Virginia with Janet and Carol following.
Valerie had dropped behind with Gale.
“Do you suppose that mysterious trail was left
.pn +1
by the bank bandits?” Valerie murmured in a low
tone to her friend.
“I shouldn’t be surprised,” Gale answered.
“You know, Val, that is what they are really looking
for. I believe that is why Jim has a definite
camping place in mind for each day and doesn’t
let us loiter much along the way. He and Tom
must think the rustlers and robbers are connected.”
Valerie nodded. “Do you think the bandit
might have been the man you saw at the mine last
night?”
Gale frowned. “I don’t know. I’ve been thinking
about that. It might have been, but I can’t be
sure because I didn’t get a close enough look at
him. He might have been using the cabin as a
hiding place.”
“That’s why he tried to scare us away,” added
Valerie. “I believe that’s it!”
“What are you two chattering about?” Janet
wanted to know.
“About having broiled rattlesnake for supper,”
Valerie retorted. “I’ve heard it is very good with
mustard.”
It was but a short ride to Bear Rock, so named
because a huge boulder so resembled the head of
.pn +1
a ferocious grizzly. Once there, the girls dismounted
and gathered wood for a fire. They
would eat a cold luncheon, but insisted on at least
having hot coffee to drink. The horses were tethered
and the girls gathered about the fire. Seated
on stones, for the ground was still damp from the
heavy rains of the day before, the girls waited for
the two men to join them. They drank their coffee
and had long finished their lunch before the
clatter of hoofs reached them and Jim and Tom
rode up.
“We’ll have a new campsite tonight,” Tom said
at once. “Jim and I want to do a little more
sleuthing so we might as well go along and camp
when it gets dark, no matter where we are.”
“That’s better than leaving us behind at any
rate,” Carol declared. “I’m rather anxious to get
a look at this trail.”
“Just a lot of hoof marks,” Tom answered
blandly.
That was all it proved to be and the girls were
disappointed. They didn’t know what they had
expected to find, but certainly more than this.
Unexperienced in trail reading they didn’t realize
what a wide, easy-to-read trail had been left.
.pn +1
If they had, they might have been suspicious.
Even so, Tom and Jim, western bred and experienced
in trailing both men and animals, should
have been suspicious. But they weren’t.
In the northern region of Arizona are plateaus
broken by high mountains. Between the foothills
of a high range was a winding trail and it was this
that the Adventure Girls and their friends followed,
winding in and out through forests thick
with pine trees and cottonwoods, jack rabbits
darting across the trail, making the horses prance
and rear, and the girls getting so weary they could
hardly stay in their saddles.
At last Jim called a halt beside a small stream.
The sun was sinking swiftly. Darkness was creeping
into the east. When they had pitched their
tents and supper was started, the girls took time
out to admire the scenery of their surroundings.
They were camped on the base of a rugged plateau
broken in two by a narrow pass through
which they proposed to ride on the morrow. Overhanging
the pass was a huge boulder, balanced
precariously on the edge of the jutting cliff.
“Just one push is all that needs to block up
that whole pass,” Tom declared.
.pn +1
“Let’s hope nobody pushes it tomorrow when
we are going through there,” commented Janet
cheerfully.
“Let’s see what is on the other side of the
mountain,” proposed Gale to Valerie.
“All right,” she agreed readily, getting up from
her knees where she had been putting another
piece of wood on the fire.
“Or are you too tired?” Gale asked suddenly,
remembering that Val couldn’t keep going as incessantly
as the rest of them.
“Of course I’m not too tired for that short
walk,” Val said stoutly. “Come along.”
“When supper is ready give us a halloo,” directed
Gale as the two started out.
“You’re taking awful chances,” Carol declared
mischievously, “we might eat all the supper without
you.”
“You had better not!” Gale warned laughingly.
The two walked leisurely, enjoying the glorious
hues of the sunset. In the west the sky was a maze
of colors as the last rays of the sun flashed on the
banked clouds. The gurgling of the little stream
by which they walked was the only sound other
than that of their footsteps that they heard. Yet
.pn +1
Gale had the uncanny feeling that eyes were
watching them. Once she turned to look back at
the others in camp. They were all busy with something
or other. No one was watching her and Val.
Yet that peculiar feeling persisted.
Directly beneath the overhanging boulder they
paused to look up at it. It hung menacingly over
them. They took a few steps forward when something
made Gale look up again. Certainly her
eyes had not played a trick on her! The rock had
actually wavered. It was falling!
“Run, Val, run,” she shouted, at the same time
grasping her friend’s arm and pulling her along.
“What in the world——” Valerie began.
“The rock—it’s falling!” Gale panted.
Thereafter she did not need to urge Val to exert
speed to get away from the spot toward which the
rock was rushing. The two of them flung themselves
forward while certain destruction hurtled
down almost on them. The boulder crashed into
the earth with such force that it half buried itself.
On top of it poured earth that had been loosened
in its descent.
“What if we had been under it?” gasped Val
when the girls, at a safe distance, viewed the
wreckage behind them.
.pn +1
“We would look like pancakes now,” Gale said
humorously. “With that landslide, can you tell
me how we are going to get out of here for our
supper?”
Valerie looked around. What they had thought
was a trail leading through the mountains was
just a trail that led to the basin here, a valley on
all sides of which rose steep hills. Their only
means of entrance and exit had been through the
pass, and now that was effectively stopped.
“I wish we would have waited for supper,” Gale
said, attempting to keep lighthearted.
“You can join us,” said a suave voice behind
the girls.
They whirled and were grasped in rough hands.
“Well, two are better ’n none, eh, boss?” a
rumbling voice laughed. “Maybe we couldn’t get
’em all, but these two will do us.”
Both Gale and Valerie struggled, but what was
the use? They were soon subdued, not too gently,
and led away, their hands tied behind their backs,
to a cabin, hidden entirely from the trail in a
clump of trees.
.pn +1
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch08
Chapter VIII||PRISONERS
.sp 2
“What are you going to do with us?” Gale
demanded, summoning as much courage to
her voice as she could.
In the untidy, sparsely furnished room on the
first floor of the cabin the girls faced their abductors,
three of the most dangerous, most crafty
looking individuals they had ever seen. It was
with a pang of fear that both Gale and Valerie
recognized the leader as one of the bandits who
had robbed the bank in Coxton.
The leader leered at them with a wide grin.
“You, my fine young ladies, are to be our safe
ticket across the border.”
“You mean—to hold us as hostages?” Gale
asked.
“Call it anything you like,” he retorted. “We’re
goin’ to put the proposition up to your friends.
If they don’t agree, you don’t go back to ’em—that’s
all.”
.pn +1
“You wouldn’t dare to harm us!” Gale said
staunchly.
He laughed and exchanged glances with the
other two men.
“Take ’em upstairs, Mike,” he ordered, and
stamped from the cabin.
None too gently one of the other outlaws
pushed the girls before him to where a makeshift
ladder led to a loft above the first floor. They entered
through a trap door and it was slammed
shut after them. A rusty bar slithered into place
and they were prisoners.
Gale endeavored to stand upright and sat down
again abruptly as her head bumped against a
beam in the ceiling.
“Well, we’ve landed ourselves in a fine mess,
haven’t we?” she grumbled.
“What are we going to do, Gale?” Valerie
asked.
Gale heard the tremble in Val’s voice and
frowned gloomily. It was all her fault that they
were in this predicament. If she hadn’t suggested
the walk they wouldn’t be here now, they would
be back with their friends eating a good supper.
“The first thing seems to be to get loose,” Gale
said, keeping her voice perfectly normal. “Can
you get your hands out?”
.pn +1
“No,” Val said after a few moments of futile
struggling. “They made a good job of it.”
“Back up against me,” Gale directed, “and let
me see if I can get the rope off your hands first.”
Valerie did as directed, but it was impossible.
Not able to see the knot and working under such
a handicap was too hard. Gale had to give it up.
Below them everything was silent. Had the men
really gone to the camp of the girls’ friends as
they said they intended to do? If so, there must
be a way out of the valley other than climbing
over all that newly fallen rock and dirt. The
landslide hadn’t blocked them in then at any
rate! If once they got out of this cabin, Gale
knew they would be all right. She had the means
in her possession to guarantee safe conduct of
their abductors—or so she thought.
In the wall just above their heads was a window,
large enough for them to squeeze through
Gale reflected when she saw it. Large enough to
squeeze through if once they got their hands free
and could open it.
“Gale—even if we get free what will we do?”
Valerie asked. “The window will be too high from
the ground to jump. Then, too, those men will be
back soon——”
.pn +1
“If we get free,” Gale gritted through clenched
teeth, tugging at the rope, “things will be simple.
I’ve got my revolver in my boot.”
“You haven’t!” Val gasped.
Gale laughed. “Sure I have. I haven’t been
without it since my uncle gave it to me. I intended
to save it for rattlesnakes—but now we’ve
got something else to use it on.”
“You wouldn’t actually shoot one of them,
would you?” Val asked.
“What would you do?” Gale retorted. “With
enough provocation, I s’pect I would. After all,
they’re bandits—and we’re not exactly safe in
their hands.”
“You’re right!” Val said with sudden spirit.
“Shoot the whole three—they need it. I wonder
when they will be back?” she added tremulously.
Gale had gained her feet, keeping her head low
this time so as not to bump it, and standing with
her back to the window, her exploring fingers had
encountered the window catch.
“Ouch!” she said suddenly.
“What’s the matter?” Valerie demanded.
“This window catch—it’s as sharp as a knife.”
Endeavoring to turn the catch, her finger had
been cut by the edge of the lock. “Sharp as a
.pn +1
knife,” she murmured again under her breath.
“Hold everything, Val!” she cried excitedly.
It was an awkward, uncomfortable position
Gale had to assume in order to be able to work
the edge of the rope that bound her hands together
over the catch. It was tiring and so slow,
but it was accomplishing the task. The threads
of the rope were being cut through and in a few
moments she would be free. When finally the rope
fell away, her arms were stiff and her wrists sore
from where the rope had cut into the flesh. Then
it was only a matter of minutes until she had Val
free, too.
“Listen!” Val said, rubbing her wrists to restore
circulation.
The sound of heavy footsteps and the murmur
of voices drifted up to them. The three men reentered
the room below and the girls held their
breath. Almost subconsciously Gale secured her
tiny revolver from the top of her boot and
grasped it ready in her hand. But the trap door
did not lift. No one came up to see if they were
safe.
“What are we going to do now?” Valerie whispered
frantically.
Gale went to the window and looked out. A
.pn +1
porch had been added to the cabin and the roof
sloped away from the window where she stood.
With a protesting squeak the window swung inward
when she opened it. The girls waited lest
the faint noise attract the attention of their abductors.
But the voices continued in their indistinguishable
hum and in a minute Gale was
through the window on the roof. She helped
Valerie and the two of them clung to the window
sill. Inch by inch they eased themselves over the
short roof to the edge. There, Gale lay face downward
and hung over.
“You’ll fall!” Valerie hissed, holding firmly to
her friend’s belt.
“Shshsh,” Gale cautioned. “Are you good at
sliding down a pole? Well, whether you are or not,
you’re going to. I’ll go first and catch you,” she
added humorously. “But don’t you fall on top of
me!”
Gale restored her revolver to her boot and
swung her legs over the edge. For once in her life,
Gale was thoroughly glad for her athletic training
and gymnastic ability. Cautiously she transferred
her hold from the edge of the porch roof
to the pole around which her legs were locked.
.pn +1
She lowered herself inch by inch, with some little
damage by splinters, to the ground.
“All right!” she called up to Valerie.
Her friend’s legs appeared over the edge and
in another minute Val had begun her descent of
the pole. In a short time she was beside Gale and
the two joined hands to run from the scene. But
at the same moment, the cabin door was thrown
open and slammed shut again behind the leader
of the three men. He did not see the girls, but as
they attempted to step back into the shadow of
the trees, Gale stepped on a twig. It cracked as
loudly as a pistol report in the silence.
“Run, Val, toward the pass,” Gale said, her
hand on her friend’s arm, urging her along.
“But you——” Val protested.
“I’m coming,” Gale said. “Go on,” she urged.
“I’ll stop him from following us.”
The leader was coming toward them now, to
investigate that mysterious noise among the trees.
“Who’s there?” he called. “Stop or I’ll shoot!”
But the girls sped off through the trees. A bullet
whistled through the leaves above their heads
and abruptly they zigzagged from their course.
They could hear the bandit crashing after them.
.pn +1
They stumbled on, covering the ground as rapidly
as they could. Somewhere ahead was the pass
that had been blocked that afternoon, but surely
they could find some way past or over it. Beyond
the pass lay their friends and safety. The thought
lent new vigor to them. Another bullet sped past
them.
Gale whirled and fired point blank at the
shadow of their pursuer. A groan was her reward
and the chase was effectively stopped. The shots
had summoned the other two men who were
thrashing about in a vain attempt to find the
cause of the shooting. By the time they discovered
their companion, the girls were farther away.
Val had reached the blocked pass and was already
endeavoring to climb up and over the landslide
when Gale caught up with her. Gale assisted
her chum as much as she could, for she could see
that Val was nearing the end of her endurance.
They were forced to rest to catch their breath
several times, and each time they feared that the
three bandits would be on their heels. But silence
seemed to have settled over the valley and the
cabin they had left behind. They heard nothing
as they reached the rise of ground and began their
slippery slide down the other side.
.pn +1
Halfway down they met Tom and Jim, who
were making an attempt to climb over the boulder
and find the girls, and also to fathom the mystery
of the shots they had heard.
By the time the four arrived at the camp, Tom
and Jim were supporting Valerie. The excitement
had buoyed her up, but now that the suspense
was past, Val was utterly worn out.
.pn +1
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch09
Chapter IX||ON THE TRAIL
.sp 2
“Did you kill him, I hope?” Janet asked with
keen excitement.
Valerie was in her tent asleep while Gale, after
a substantial supper, told the others of what had
happened to them. She had come to the part in
their escape when she stopped and fired at the
bandit when Janet voiced her opinion.
Gale shivered. “I hope I didn’t,” she declared.
“I wouldn’t care to be a murderess.”
“I think there is not much danger of that,” Tom
reassured her. “Those fellows are pretty hard to
kill.”
“We were all nearly frantic,” Virginia said, a
fond arm about Gale’s shoulders. “First we saw
the rock fall and then when you didn’t come back—we
didn’t know what to think or do!”
“That’s something else,” Gale said, “that rock
didn’t fall of its own accord. It was pushed.”
“Are you sure?” Carol demanded.
“I saw the man,” Gale said positively. “Something,
.pn +1
I don’t know what, made me look up just
as we were walking under it.”
“That something saved you from being
smashed flatter than a pancake,” Janet said
wisely.
“But who would push the rock?” Madge asked
wonderingly. “Those men didn’t actually want to—murder
you, did they?”
Gale laughed nervously. “Let’s hope they
didn’t; they might try again.”
“Hereafter none of you go wandering away by
yourselves from camp,” Jim said sternly. “To-morrow
Tom and I will go see those fellows, since
they didn’t come to see us,” he added grimly.
“But you——” Virginia was beginning when
her voice died away into silence.
The thunder of hoofs echoed down into the valley
to them. All eyes turned up to where the rim
of the mountain was silhouetted against the
moonlit sky. Three black mounted figures were
picking their way slowly across the trail. In a
moment they were swallowed up in the blackness
of a forest as they made their way down to the
valley some distance from the Adventure Girls’
camp.
“Three of them,” Tom murmured. “Evidently
you didn’t kill that fellow after all, Gale.”
.pn +1
“And I’m afraid we won’t be able to get a look
at them tomorrow,” Jim added. “We’ll follow
their trail of course to see in what direction they
are heading. I think, Virginia, you had better lead
the girls back to the K Bar O. There is too much
danger in these hills.”
“Nothing doing,” Janet interrupted, flatly. “We
like danger and we don’t want to go home. If you
follow the bandits, so do we!”
“I’m afraid we’re all agreed on that,” Gale
nodded.
“So you see it is useless for you to argue,” Virginia
added, as Jim opened his mouth to protest.
“But Dad wouldn’t like it, Virginia,” Tom said
with a frown. “Jim and I are responsible for you
girls. If anything happens——”
“Nothing will,” Carol assured him. “We all
bear charmed lives. We shall return to the K Bar
O when our trip is over just as we started out,”
she declared.
“But what about Valerie?” Madge put in. “Do
you think she can stand a lot of hard riding?”
Gale grew thoughtful. “She came through tonight
with never a protest. I believe Val can stand
a lot more than we give her credit for.”
Later, lying on her bed of pine boughs beside
.pn +1
Phyllis, Gale thought of Valerie again. It had
been strenuous, climbing down from the roof and
later fleeing through the underbrush and over
that huge boulder had been particularly wearying,
without considering that they did it all on
top of a day’s riding. Val had borne up marvelously
well. True she had been near collapse at the
end, but then she herself had not had much vitality
left and she had always been stronger than
Valerie. Yes sir, Val was in a much better physical
condition than when they had started for the
West.
The morning, however, found Valerie not as
robust as Gale’s optimistic thoughts had pictured
her. Breaking camp was delayed until lunch time
in order to give Val the benefit of a few more
hours rest. After luncheon, the party saddled and
mounted their horses. After a while, Jim picked
up the trail of the outlaws and they followed it
a short distance. But the bandits had evidently
suspected a chase and rode their horses into a
stream. From there all trace of trail was wiped
out.
Sunset found them miles from the scene of the
girls’ adventure. Supper was prepared and after
it had disappeared they sat about the campfire
.pn +1
telling stories or singing songs. They retired early
and were up with the first rays of the sun.
Day after day they followed the same procedure.
Their skins were getting tanned and their
appetites were enormous.
“I never thought I could eat so much,” wailed
Janet, after a particularly hearty meal.
“You’ll look like a baby elephant when we get
back home,” prophesied Carol encouragingly.
They rode like regular westerners now, and
every day they appreciated more and more the
beauty of the country through which they rode.
If Jim had planned on showing them the loveliest
scenery, he was running true to plan. The girls
had never realized before that nature, untamed
by man, could be so lovely. They never realized
that just to sit and gaze at a sunset could bring
such a thrill. In every way the country was affecting
them. Physically they were healthier than
they had ever been. Their mental outlook was
brighter, more cheerful. Here in limitless space,
mid tall mountains, they felt more drawn to one
another. Their friendships grew and flourished.
One day they camped close to the mighty Colorado
River that flows through the Grand Canyon.
.pn +1
The cliffs of sandstone and limestone, almost a
mile high, were so rugged and majestic as to fill
the girls with awe. All the colors of the rainbow
were in the rocks and under the influence of the
sun and the shadows cast by it, formed pictures
of entrancing beauty, pictures too beautiful to
ever be put down on canvas. Rain and wind had
sculptured the cliffs into bewildering and fantastic
forms which added to their brilliant coloring.
“Doesn’t it make you feel tiny?” murmured
Janet, scarcely above a whisper, afraid to disturb
the great hush that hung over the Canyon.
“The Canyon was first seen by white men in
1541,” Tom told them. “The Colorado River
where it runs through the Canyon there is three
hundred feet wide, and in times of freshets it’s a
mighty torrent.”
“You sound like a traditional guide book,”
Janet told him.
“It’s wonderful,” Valerie murmured, voicing
the feelings of all of them.
Another day found the Adventure Girls and
their friends examining the colossal stone tree
trunks of the Petrified Forest. Here they found
more to awe and surprise them. Still another day
.pn +1
found them at the rim of the Painted Desert, the
desert with its multi-colored plains alive with
somber, purple shadows.
“I’m overwhelmed!” Carol declared. “From
now on I shall be a strong advocate of See America
First!”
Valerie had out the little sketching block she
always carried with her. With a strong talent for
sketching and limitless subjects on which to try
her skill, Val rode with her pencil and pad in her
hands nearly all day. She wanted to take back
home sketches of the spots that interested her
most on this trip.
“I’ll never be able to make it look as beautiful
on paper as it really is,” she sighed. “No one could
really hope to.”
“I’d like to have one of the sketches you made
of the Canyon the other day,” Gale said. “I intend
to frame it and keep it as a memento.”
“Isn’t it funny, Gale,” Val mused aloud, “how
you never miss anything until you’ve seen it.”
“You might feel as though you miss something,”
Gale agreed, “but you don’t know what
it is.”
“I shall miss all this a lot when we go back
East,” Val declared, looking about at the Arizona
.pn +1
sunset. “Everything is so—big out here. I
feel awf’ly small. When I think of the silly things
we quarrel over in school and the things we think
we can’t get along without in the city, it makes
me ashamed of myself.”
Gale laughed. “If you lived out here long
enough, I’m afraid you would have a bad inferiority
complex.”
“No, but don’t you feel that way?” Val
demanded. “Tomorrow we start for Monument
Valley near Kayenta. That’s one hundred and
seventy-five miles from the nearest telephone.
Imagine what that means! Back home we don’t
think anything of a telephone because nearly
everybody has one.”
“Yes, and just think, I haven’t had a chocolate
soda since I came out here,” chimed in Janet,
coming up behind them. “I hope I shall survive.”
“You look as though you might pull through,”
Valerie laughed.
“Come and get it!” Tom called and there was
a concerted rush for the makeshift supper table.
Day after day they rode through cañons and
winding intermittent gullies, shallow basins, and
dry washes. They followed trails through thick
sagebrush and cottonwoods, over dry beds of
.pn +1
streams and sunken deserts, marveling how the
dull gray and olive of the sagebrush and trees
mingled. They learned that many of the mountains
were extinct volcanoes and admired the brilliant
colored sandstone and shale formations.
Once or twice they ran into heavy thunderstorms
that turned dried-up streams into rushing torrents
of muddy swirling waters.
They explored with keen interest Monument
Valley with the spire-like rock of El Capitan at
its head, and its fantastic flat topped pillars rising
thousands of feet into the air. A day’s ride
from Kayenta the riders came upon Betatakin,
one of the most interesting, although least known,
of the cliff dwellings, standing silent within its
mammoth cave.
“Just think, hundreds of people lived and died
here a thousand years ago,” Virginia commented.
“I’m glad we don’t live in houses like these,”
Janet said, as she climbed up the worn stone steps
to the next level. “I’ve no desire to climb all these
steps every time I want to go home.”
“If you walked in your sleep it was just too
bad,” added Carol, looking back down at the
stones over which they had come.
“It gives me an appetite,” Madge complained.
“When do we eat?”
.pn +1
“The sooner the better,” put in Phyllis.
For hours the girls prowled around in the dark
houses of the cliff dwellers, taking their time to
examine everything of interest. The next day
they resumed their riding, heading south toward
the K Bar O.
During the days Gale and Phyllis had a lot of
practice with their revolvers and now could succeed
in coming fairly close to the bull’s eye every
time they tried. Gale, too, was becoming proficient
with her rope. Jim spent hours teaching
her and she proved an apt pupil.
Riding with Virginia behind Jim as they swung
along the trail, Gale was looking up at the trees
and the blue sky, thinking how she would hate to
leave all this when it came time for the Adventure
Girls to go back East.
“Look out, Jim!” Virginia screamed suddenly.
There was a snarl and a streak of yellow
leaped from the low-hanging limb of a tree. Jim’s
horse reared wildly and plunged away as its rider
was dragged from the saddle by the impact of the
cougar’s weight.
For a second none of the riders could do anything
but check their mounts. All the horses
threatened to run away and careened wildly, almost
.pn +1
unseating their riders. Meanwhile, Jim was
thrashing about on the ground, struggling for his
life while his companions watched helplessly.
“Quiet, boy,” Gale said, a soothing hand on
her trembling pony’s neck. With her other hand
she unfastened her rope.
“Look out, I’m going to shoot,” Tom said, raising
his rifle to his shoulder.
“Don’t!” Carol cried. “You might hit Jim.”
“But the beast is killing him,” Janet said with
a shudder. “Somebody do something!”
Despite Carol’s warning, Tom discharged his
gun and succeeded only in frightening the ponies
more. Jim was fighting madly to keep the sharp
claws and teeth away from his face and throat.
Once more Gale spoke to her pony and patted
him reassuringly. He jerked nervously under her
hand, but he was by far the quietest one of the
beasts. During the days in the saddle Gale had
learned the tricks and tendencies of her mount
and she had instilled a trust in him for his rider.
Now, though he longed to flee from this spot with
its danger, he stood quietly obedient to her voice
and touch. In her hand Gale held her coiled rope.
Tom had dismounted and handed the reins of his
horse and of the pack horses to Carol and was
.pn +1
edging nearer to those thrashing figures on the
ground. Virginia, too, had dismounted.
At the first opportune moment, Gale’s rope
slithered out and fell over the two. The loop
caught a hind leg of the cougar. Immediately it
tightened and the snapping teeth were diverted
from Jim to the rope about its leg.
“Go it, boy!” Gale urged her horse.
The horse darted forward. Behind her the rope
pulled the cougar clear from Jim. The pony sped
down the trail, its rider bent low in the saddle,
the rope dragging the squirming, struggling
mountain lion over the stony ground. Gale did
not slow her mount till she was sure that the animal
was dead. Then she turned her horse and
trotted him slowly back to the group.
Tom and Virginia were busy with Jim. The
cowboy’s shirt hung in ribbons, and the flesh of
his shoulders and arms was streaming with blood.
He had a long scratch along his cheek, but otherwise
he was safe and sound.
“Never thought that rope trainin’ would come
in so handy,” he grinned at her. “Reckon I owe
you a heap for pullin’ that fella offa me, Miss
Gale.”
“Is he dead?” Janet asked tremulously with a
.pn +1
glance for the dust covered thing at the end of
Gale’s rope.
“If he isn’t, he ought to be,” Gale replied, dismounting.
“Are you hurt much, Jim?”
The cowboy insisted that they should not stop
their day’s ride on his account. After Tom’s first
aid treatment had been administered and Jim remounted
his horse, they started forward again.
Tom had cut the cougar loose from Gale’s rope
and pulled him to one side of the trail.
“That’s what I like about the country out
here,” Janet said to no one in particular. “Always
something doing. Any time at all you might
step on a rattlesnake or get jumped on by a ferocious
animal. Nice country!” she declared with a
grin.
“Pleasant thoughts you have,” Carol laughed.
“It’s no worse than back home. There we have to
dodge street cars and taxi cabs.”
“Give me the taxi cabs,” Madge murmured.
“They at least give you a warning.”
It was late when they stopped for their camp.
Riding and excitement had whetted their appetites
and while they ate, Tom and Jim told them
of other experiences each had had with animals
in the surrounding country. Jim took the whole
.pn +1
affair as all part of the day, and refused to declare
himself a bit thrilled over it.
“At least we’ll have something to talk about
when we get home,” Phyllis smiled.
“We’ve got a lot to talk about,” Valerie declared.
“We’ve met nearly everything the West
can produce, haven’t we?”
“Nearly,” Virginia laughed. “Do you feel like
going home now?”
“No!” came unanimously from all the girls.
“Well, whether you like it or not, we are,” Tom
declared. “Tomorrow we get back on K Bar O
soil. Two more days and we’ll be at the ranch
house.”
“We’ve got to go home, our supplies are running
low,” Virginia explained.
“Can we go on another trip then?” Carol
asked immediately.
“If we have enough time,” Valerie commented.
“The days have gone so quickly. We’ll be going
home soon.”
“We’ll refuse to think of that,” Phyllis said
firmly. “Let’s hear some more of your experiences,”
she suggested to Jim and Tom.
For another hour while the fire crackled and
shadows danced over the tents and figures around
.pn +1
it, Jim entertained them with memories of the
range lands. Valerie and Phyllis retired first.
After them went the other four girls. Gale alone
remained beside the fire with her cousin and the
cowboy.
“Tom——” Gale began hesitantly.
“Yes?” Tom encouraged, tossing another log
on the fire.
“That trail we passed just before we camped—was
it the bandits’?” she asked.
Tom and Jim exchanged a fleeting glance.
“What made you think of them?” Tom asked.
“Before we started on this trip,” Gale said,
“Valerie and I overheard you and your dad talking
about rustlers. We didn’t mean to listen, but
we did. Had that trail today anything to do with
them? I thought you both looked worried when
you saw it.”
“We were worried,” Jim admitted. “It was a
fresh trail and the same men who held you
prisoner that night in the hills, made that trail.
We thought we had lost them sure, but it doesn’t
look that way.”
“What are you going to do?” Gale wanted to
know.
“Nothing,” Tom said promptly. “We are going
.pn +1
to take you girls safely back to the K Bar O.”
“The bandits are probably making for the
border into Mexico,” Jim murmured. “The Sheriff
and his men will catch ’em.”
Tom laughed. “They haven’t done much catching
so far. I’ll bet the bandits get clean away.”
“Then there is nothing to worry about,” Gale
said.
“No, nothing to worry about,” agreed Tom.
When Gale had entered the tent she shared
with Valerie and Phyllis, she went immediately
to sleep and did not know that long after she retired,
Tom and Jim talked seriously and long
about the possibility of meeting the rustlers before
they reached the ranch safely.
.pn +1
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch10
Chapter X||RUSTLERS
.sp 2
“Oh, how I love to get up in the morning,”
sang Janet between yawns as she stumbled
from the tent with Carol close behind her.
“Hullo, are we getting company?”
Two cowboys on dust covered, lathered ponies
had dashed into the camp circle and pulled their
mounts up short beside the campfire. Jim who
had been on his knees poking at the ashes to stir
the flames to life got up slowly with a wide grin
of welcome. Tom joined the four and Virginia,
coming from the tent, greeted them also.
“Let’s get an earful,” Carol proposed. “Evidently
they are riders from the K Bar O.”
“Then ya didn’ see anythin’ of ’em?” one of
the new arrivals was murmuring to Tom.
“Not a thing, Lem,” Tom replied with a serious
frown. “How many did they get?”
“Close to a hundred head, I reckon,” Lem declared
viciously.
“By now they are across the border,” Virginia
.pn +1
murmured. “Why did you look for them up here
near the hills?”
“A couple of the boys went toward the border,”
Lem’s partner answered. “We found a trail leadin’
up this way.”
“They didn’t pass near here or we would have
seen them,” Virginia said again and her brother
and Jim nodded in agreement.
“Then we got to be goin’ farther,” Lem said
remounting his pony.
“But can’t you wait and have a bite of breakfast?”
Tom wanted to know.
“Not now, son,” Lem replied. “We’ll eat a cold
snack from our saddle bags. We want to find
those birds before the trail is gone.”
“Wish you luck,” Jim sang out as the ponies
darted forward.
“Who were they?” Phyllis asked as she, with
Gale and Valerie, appeared.
“Riders from the Lazy K,” Virginia answered.
“Rustlers stole close to a hundred cattle last
night. They were following them.”
“But they didn’t bring the cattle up this way,
did they?” Carol put in.
“No, but the boys figured some of the riders
came this way. I hope they catch ’em,” Virginia
.pn +1
said viciously. “We’re probably due for a raid
tonight.”
Jim and Tom said nothing as they busied
themselves getting breakfast ready. Whatever
thoughts they may have had on the subject, they
kept to themselves.
Breakfast was eaten, for the most part, in
silence. Even when camp was struck and they
started on their way again, there was not the
usual light-hearted banter and teasing. Each one
realized that the situation at the K Bar O and
other ranches was coming to a head. Rustlers
had been busy too long. Now the ranchers were
acting. Instead of going to the ranch for safety
from rustlers and bandits, it seemed that the girls
were running into more trouble. Jim led the
way, silent and foreboding. Tom brought up the
rear with the pack horses. He too was silent and
grim. It was their attitude that brought home to
the girls just how serious the situation was.
Along about noon Jim’s horse developed a limp
that necessitated their moving more slowly.
After deliberation they decided to camp for the
rest of the day and night. Perhaps by the morrow
Jim’s horse would be well again and they could
travel at an increased pace. Now there was an
.pn +1
undisguised desire to get back to the ranch house
prevalent with all of them. Things were undoubtedly
happening there and the girls wanted
to be in on the excitement. They thought it high
time the ranchers got busy and did something
about their stolen cattle. The authorities had
failed to capture the thieves so it was up to the
ranchers themselves.
After camp was made Val took her sketching
board and went off by herself to draw. Gale had
not unsaddled her horse and now she mounted
him for a ride.
“Not that there is much to see,” Virginia
laughed when Gale started out. “Just sagebrush,
rocks, and trees.”
Gale liked to be alone sometimes and now she
did not feel the need of the companionship of
any of her friends. Once in a while the other girls
thought her a little strange when she went off by
herself. But there was nothing strange about her.
Gale was the sort of person who is not dependent
upon other people. She could spend a whole day
by herself and not be bored with her own company.
She couldn’t see why some people had to
always travel with a crowd, always have a lot
of other people with them. She could enjoy a
.pn +1
walk, a movie, or a ride just as much alone as
with others. Of course it was fun to travel with a
group, but she enjoyed a day all to herself quite
as much. When she was alone she could really
think.
Gale reined her horse in and looked back at the
valley she had just left. She could see all her
friends like moving spots against the dull gray
and olive background. On the other side, the
way she faced, a long flat plain stretched out to
the right while on the left was a forest of cottonwoods
and fir trees. There was a narrow trail
leading down from her position on the crest of
the hill through the woods and she urged her
horse forward. As she rode, she had to bend low
in the saddle to keep from being slapped in the
face by low hanging branches. Occasionally she
saw a rabbit or a squirrel, but for the most part
everything was still.
Her horse was young and frisky and jogged
along with light, prancing step. Gale was enjoying
herself hugely with no thought of the passing
of time. Her surroundings were quiet and inspiring
and, as usual with Gale in such circumstances,
she was dreaming of a thousand and one
things other than the present. When the girls got
.pn +1
back to Marchton they would start their last
year in the Marchton High School. The next
year they started college. As yet the girls had
not firmly decided on the school to which they
would go after high school days. They were concerned
now with ideas of what to do and be when
they were finally all through with school. They
all firmly resolved that they wanted careers, but
just what those careers were to be was a little undecided.
Of course it was understood that Val
would continue with her art. She was really the
only one of them all that had a talent of any kind
to which she could cling. Long and repeatedly
the girls had discussed the subject of careers.
What could they be? Artists? Only Val could do
justice to that branch of work. Actresses then?
Well, perhaps Phyllis would go in for the Drama.
Madge, Carol, and Janet were totally at sea, as
was Gale herself.
Gale had always thought she might like to be
a doctor. But just the thought of all the years of
study and preparation ahead of her was a little
disheartening. She liked the study of medicine
and had always been interested in it. At first she
thought of being a nurse, but now she didn’t like
that idea. The thought of being a doctor was
.pn +1
much more intriguing. Doctors led such fascinating
lives, she thought. In her rush of enthusiasm
and ardor she didn’t reckon with the long, tedious
hours the doctor devotes to his patients, nor the
fact that he has little free time for himself. Then,
too, she would like to be a sculptor. She liked to
model things in clay and she was sure she
could chisel interesting things from marble if
given the chance. She sighed and urged her horse
along a little faster. It was really quite a problem
deciding what to be. At any rate, whatever she
went into, she wanted to go into it full of enthusiasm
and willingness to work and do her best.
She had no intention of idling her life away. She
wanted to do something, to be somebody, to be
proud of her achievements whatever they might
be. She was resolved that she would forge ahead
to success and make a name for herself. After all,
why not? Other people had started out with
nothing and made themselves famous.
A huge drop of water on the back of her neck
brought her back sharply to the problem at hand.
Riding along and musing with herself, she had
not noticed the dark clouds that had gathered
overhead from nowhere. Now as her horse came
out into an open clearing, rain began pouring
.pn +1
down. She could not hope to get back to camp
before the worst of the storm broke. If this heavy
downpour continued, she would be drenched in
a minute. Wildly she looked about for shelter of
some kind. Through the trees to the left she saw
a log cabin, not much of a building, but enough
to afford shelter in the storm. To the rear she
found a sheltered hitching post where she tied her
mount and ran back to the main cabin.
One step inside she stopped and glanced
around. She had had the strangest premonition
when she stepped over the threshold. It was as
if she had a warning of something dreadful about
to happen. The room—there was only one—was
empty of all but its meager furnishings, a table
and two makeshift chairs standing before the
fireplace. A saddle and rifle lay in one corner. On
the table were a few dirty dishes. Someone had
been here lately, if they were not here now. She
had seen no horse when she tethered her own, but
there was a saddle and, more ominous still, the
rifle. Where was the owner?
The rain was teeming down outside and she
went to the window to stare out. A regular cloudburst!
Tomorrow a lot of the little streams they
had passed would be raging, swirling rivers. She
.pn +1
was glad this cabin had been here or else she
would have been drenched. She smiled as she
thought of how her camp mates might be receiving
this sudden rain. They would no doubt be
huddled in the waterproof tents, but nevertheless
they would be fuming with disgust. It was no
pleasure camping out when it rained. She looked
up at the gray skies, impatient to be off and away
from this cabin that filled her with that strange,
unreasonable fear. Why should she feel fear the
moment she stepped into the place? There was
no one here. Not a thing to frighten her. Yet she
was filled with a strange uneasiness. Evidently
her horse had felt it too, for when she had tied
him he whinnied faintly and nudged her arm with
mute appeal. She had thought nothing of it at the
time, but now it came back to her with ominous
warning. Animals had keen instinct and the horse
had felt a distrust of this place. She wished
heartily it would stop raining so she could go on.
She didn’t want to get wet and she didn’t want
to stay here.
She shook her shoulders impatiently and went
over to inspect the rifle in the corner. Probably
she was imagining things. It was the first time
she had let her imagination make her afraid of
.pn +1
anything. She was being silly she told herself
again sternly. Most likely this cabin had been
deserted for a long time. But when she picked
up the rifle she knew that wasn’t so. The rifle was
clean and recently oiled. Too, it was loaded. It
was the same make rifle as Tom carried in his
saddle sheath and quite without knowing why
she took the cartridges out of the barrel to examine
them. At the same moment she looked up
through the window to the trail she had so recently
left for this shelter.
Terror gripped her for a moment. Horsemen
were issuing from the thick growth of trees and
there was no disputing the identity of the first
man. It was the bank bandit who had held Val
and her prisoners in that other cabin. She
dropped the rifle over the saddle where it had
been and looked about wildly for a means of
escape. Were they close enough to see her if she
slipped out of the door? Of course they were!
In the rear wall was a window. She placed a chair
beneath it and a moment later was squeezing
through the opening. Rain or no rain, she preferred
to get wet to remaining in the cabin to receive
those men. How had they managed to elude
the Sheriff and his men so long? Were the bank
.pn +1
bandits connected with the rustlers who had been
stealing cattle from the K Bar O? Gale made a
shrewd guess that they were.
When she jumped from the window to the wet
earth Gale ran immediately to where her pony
was tied and, slipping her arm through the reins,
led him back into the woods to the rear of the
cabin. She was sure the thick growth of trees and
brush would shield them from view and that
proved to be the case. The trees overhead were
a little protection from the rain, but even so,
when she had been in the open five minutes she
was soaked. She had left her slicker in the camp
and now she wished fervently she had let it remain
rolled behind her saddle. She heard the
thunder of hoofs and sound of voices as the men
she had eluded dismounted at the cabin and
entered it. Surprised, she looked down at her
hand. She still had the two shells from the rifle
clutched in her fingers. She had departed in such
haste that she didn’t have time to replace them;
indeed, she had not even thought of them. Now
she shoved them deep into her breeches’ pocket
and huddled beside her horse.
It would be better to get into the saddle and
ride than to stand here in the rain, but she was
.pn +1
sure the sound of her horse’s hoofs would be
clearly audible to those men in the cabin and
they would be sure to investigate. Too, she had
an idea. It would be a big help to her uncle if she
could, in some fashion, determine if these were
the men who were stealing cattle from the
ranchers. Perhaps, now that she had stumbled
upon their cache, she could spy on them and learn
something of interest to the authorities. It was
worth trying. She would wait until it grew dark
and then sneak up and endeavor to listen to their
conversation and to obtain a glimpse of the men
within the cabin.
Her horse whinnied softly and she put an admonishing
hand on his muzzle while her heart
raced with apprehension. Suppose one of the men
heard him and came to see—— But they were
undoubtedly too busy and besides, they might
think it one of their own horses. Still, it would
be best to be on the safe side. She led her horse
farther into the woods and there tied him to a
cottonwood. She was hungry. She remembered
she had had only a light lunch but she remembered,
too, that she had put something in her
saddle bag just in case she wanted an afternoon
snack. It came in handy now. She found two
.pn +1
lumps of sugar, also, which the horse promptly
snuggled from her hand.
Another thought came to her and she bent
down to her boot. Her little revolver still nestled
in its customary place. She might have use for it
tonight, she reflected. Suppose the men were the
rustlers and suppose she did make sure of that
fact. How was she to notify the authorities? By
the time she got back to her camp and told Jim
and Tom and they summoned the Sheriff or some
of his men the rustlers would have ample time to
get away. What was she to do? With a shrug of
her shoulders she dismissed the thought. Everything
would take care of itself she was sure.
.pn +1
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch11
Chapter XI||SURPRISE
.sp 2
The rain had stopped. Darkness was over the
world and stars blinked solemnly from their
heavenly nest. The rain had brought coolness and
a light wind that stirred the leaves of the trees.
Round the campfire were gathered all the girls
but the absent Gale. Tom was collecting firewood
and Jim was making sure the horses were
secure for the night.
“Where do you suppose Gale can be?” Janet
asked again.
“I wonder,” agreed Phyllis. “This is the first
time in my acquaintance with her that she ever
missed a meal.”
“I’m beginning to be worried,” Virginia confessed.
“I don’t see why she stayed away so
long.”
“You don’t suppose—something could have
happened to her?” Valerie asked hesitantly.
“What for instance?” Madge demanded.
“Well, her horse might have run away or——”
.pn +1
“Nonsense!” Carol said crisply. “Gale’s horse
is the tamest one of the bunch. I’ll bet she is having
an adventure and a high old time.”
“But where can she be?” insisted Valerie.
Minutes passed into hours and hours passed
and still that question was not answered. The
camp was thoroughly alarmed now. They were
certain Gale was in trouble or had lost her way
in the strange country. Any number of things
might have happened, and their thoughts ran
rampant. The girls could see that Tom and Jim
were as disturbed as they. For the last half hour
Jim had, almost lovingly, been cleaning his revolver.
There was something ominous in just the
sight of him toying with his weapon. What was
he thinking?
“What are we going to do?” Valerie asked finally.
It was time for the girls to retire for it had
been planned to ride early on the morrow. But
now, with Gale missing, their plans were interrupted.
None felt that she could sleep if they did
go to bed.
“You girls might as well go to bed,” Tom said
practically. “Jim and I will wait until dawn and
then go out and pick up Gale’s trail. It would be
.pn +1
no use going now, for we could find nothing in
the darkness.”
They realized that he spoke the truth but still
it was hard to sit idle when they were longing to
know what was happening to their comrade. Reluctantly
Madge, Carol, Janet and Virginia went
to their tent. Valerie and Phyllis followed slowly
to theirs. Tom and Jim rolled in their blankets
by the fire, close together so they could talk in
low whispers. The light wind stirred the flames
and sent them reaching high into the air. A moment
more and they died down to smouldering
embers. Silence gradually settled down over the
tents and those two Indian-like figures on the
ground.
The camp was asleep or so it seemed. Not one
occupant of the tents or Tom or Jim saw the two
figures that stood on the outer edge of the circle
of light and smiled over the serenity which
gripped the camp. Big, burly men they were, used
to hard riding and hard living. The leather chaps
they wore and their heavy khaki shirts were covered
with dust. About their waists hung heavy
holster and cartridge belts. Figures of menace
they were, menace to the peace of the Adventure
Girls’ camp. In their eyes, cold and relentless,
.pn +1
was reflected the low, burning embers of the
campfire as the two took in every detail. They
seemed to have no desire to disturb the sleeping
campers, just to note the lay of the land, as it
were. When their silent inspection was finished
they turned and melted into the darkness from
whence they had come.
In the tent she shared now with only Phyllis,
Valerie lay wakeful and restless. Her thoughts
were contemplating a hundred and one things
that might have happened to Gale. The two had
been friends for a long, long time and now the
thought that her chum might be in trouble or
danger, perhaps, made Valerie long to be off to
her assistance. She lay staring at the black tent
roof. Beside her Phyllis lay calm, breathing regularly,
already in the land of dreams. Valerie
wished she could smother her own troublesome
thoughts and go to sleep. Tom and Jim knew
what they were about and if they said it was no
use hunting for Gale before morning, there simply
was no use that was all. She realized that
they could scarcely find a sign of Gale in the
pitch blackness of the Arizona night. They
thought that Gale might have lost her way and
could not return to the camp. Valerie seriously
.pn +1
doubted that. Gale could find her way about better
than any of them. She seemed to possess a
sixth sense that enabled her to remember any
route or trail of open country that she had once
taken. Valerie was sure Gale had not lost her
way. Instead, there was some other reason why
she hadn’t returned to the camp.
Valerie’s memory was particularly fresh with
scenes of the night she and Gale had been
prisoners of the bank bandit. Had something
similar happened to Gale tonight? There was
scarcely any other reason she should stay away
from camp. Valerie wondered if Gale still had her
little revolver with her. At least she had some little
protection with that.
Valerie sat up and ruffled her hair restlessly.
A moment later she stood at the open tent flap.
She could see Tom and Jim rolled snugly in
their blankets. What was that? For an instant
she thought a shadow appeared on the other side
of the camp circle. A minute later she changed
her mind. It must have been a sudden spurt of
the fire that threw a flickering shadow over the
sagebrush. She stepped out and let the flap close
behind her. There was no use to waken Phyllis
or the others just because she couldn’t sleep. She
.pn +1
breathed deeply of the cool night air and marveled
at the thrill she felt. It was a thrill to note
the difference in herself. How changed she was
since the first day they had camped in the open.
The sun and the usually dry air had wrought
wonders, wonders that had seemed impossible to
even Valerie herself. She had often wondered if
she would ever feel the glow of vigorous health.
Now she felt like a new person. That annoying
cough had entirely disappeared. She wondered
if the other girls realized what a transformation
had taken place within her. It had been a severe
struggle, the hardest battle she had ever fought,
but she had won. The weeks of riding and camping,
eating and sleeping outdoors, had tanned her
skin and put a sparkle in her eyes. Too, she had
gained weight. No more was she utterly exhausted
at the end of a day’s hard ride. No more
were the other girls livelier than she. Now she
felt equal to any situation that might arise.
She had walked from the camp a ways to drink
in the beauty of the night. Unconsciously she had
taken the same route Gale had ridden earlier in
the day. Ahead of her was the rise over which
Gale had gone. Valerie strolled along. The moon
came out and threw dark shadows under the trees
.pn +1
and brush. Glancing up suddenly, Valerie was
startled. She was sure she had seen a figure step
behind a group of trees ahead of her. She laughed
at her own fears. Nervousness wasn’t usually one
of her traits. It must be that Gale’s disappearance
was preying on her mind. She was beginning
to imagine ominous sounds and sights. She
frowned at the thought of Gale and kicked an
unoffending pebble from her path. She might as
well go back and try to sleep. There was no use
wandering about like a lost sheep. If the others
discovered her absence they would be alarmed
and there was no cause to create a disturbance.
She decided to walk to the top of the rise and
take a look at the plain that stretched away to
the right. She liked to see the plains in the moonlight;
it all looked as though the earth had been
sprinkled with silver dust. Then she would go
back to camp, probably to lay awake until dawn,
she thought darkly. It was no use to argue about
it. She worried about Gale and about what might
have happened. With rustlers and bank robbers
in the vicinity, what might not have happened?
Too, there was something about Tom and Jim
that made her apprehensive. They seemed to be
waiting for something. Their whole attitude was
.pn +1
one of preparedness, but for what? Did they expect
the outlaws to come to the girls’ camp? The
men would hardly do that she thought with a
smile. Why should they?
She came to the rise of ground and stood there
in the moonlight, overlooking the plain. For a
moment her eyes were somewhat dazzled by the
brilliance of the moonlight. Then she discerned
a low cloud of dust rolling along the horizon.
Small dark figures she discerned. What could it
be? She knew, Jim had told them, that a herd of
the K Bar O was somewhere off there to the
right. But were the riders moving the cattle tonight?
They were moving swiftly, too, she could
tell.
Another thought occurred to her and her eyes
narrowed with suspicion. Could it be rustlers?
Rustlers stealing another herd of K Bar O cattle?
It was possible, she declared to herself. The
regular riders would scarcely be moving the cattle
so swiftly so late at night. There was no reason
they should. On the other hand, if it were rustlers,
and if it were K Bar O cattle, where were
the regular riders? Didn’t they keep a close
watch these nights when there was such danger
in the air? If she were Gale’s uncle, she would
.pn +1
put extra men on in an endeavor to catch the
thieves. Suppose there was trickery among the
hired hands? Suppose one of the riders whom Mr.
Wilson trusted was in league with the outlaws?
It was quite possible. The man could very easily
fix it so the rustlers would have a clear hand.
Was that what was happening? She frowned
thoughtfully. At any rate, she was sure that it
was rustlers moving K Bar O cattle and she was
going to tell Jim and Tom about it.
She turned and her heart froze in her throat.
Before her two men stepped forward to block the
path. Rough hands seized her and she was lifted
bodily from the ground. Kicking and squirming
she let out a piercing scream to summon the help
of her camp mates. Just one scream, no more was
she allowed. She was roughly and effectively silenced
and carried to where two horses stood
docilely among the trees. Her captors mounted
and she was swung up in front of one of them
across the saddle. It was no use to fight. Her captors
were much stronger than she and there was
no course but to submit in stormy but, she
hoped, dignified silence as the two horses started
away.
.pn +1
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch12
Chapter XII||GONE
.sp 2
Phyllis reached out a hand. “Awake, Val?”
But when there was no answer and her hand
encountered empty air she sat up alarmed.
“Val?” she called softly. Still there was no answer
and Phyllis went to the tent flap and stepped
out. Everywhere was silence. “Val!” she called
again.
“What’s the matter?” a soft voice spoke behind
her and Virginia joined her.
Phyllis smiled. “Can’t you sleep either?”
“No,” Virginia answered. “But—Val. Where
is she?”
“She isn’t in the tent. I thought she might
have stepped out here,” Phyllis said with a
thoughtful frown. “But I don’t see her. I wonder
where she can be?”
“Probably went for a walk,” Virginia smiled.
“I suppose she was thinking of Gale. I wish it
was morning,” she added uneasily.
“What do you honestly think has happened to
Gale?” Phyllis asked.
.pn +1
“I wish I knew,” Virginia said with a sigh. “I
wish I knew,” she repeated.
“Will you two chatterboxes please go to
sleep?” Tom yawned from his blankets. “Regular
night owls, that’s what you are.”
“We can’t sleep,” Virginia said, seating herself
cross-legged on the ground beside her brother.
“And there is no reason you should either,” she
added mischievously.
“Go away!” her brother implored. “We have
to get up at dawn.”
“Anything wrong?” Jim asked, sitting up and
shaking off his blanket. “Girls all right?”
“Val has gone for a walk,” Phyllis informed
him. “How long ago I don’t know.”
“I wish——” Virginia was beginning when she
stopped.
From the darkness behind them came a piercing
scream. It echoed like thunder through the
sleeping stillness of the valley. It brought the remaining
girls tumbling from their tent. The four
by the campfire exchanged startled, incredible
glances.
“That was Val’s voice!” Phyllis said with an
effort.
“Come on, Jim!” Tom was already disappearing
.pn +1
into the sagebrush. Behind him was Jim and
the girls trailed after. No one proposed to be left
alone in camp.
But, uncertain as they were of the exact spot
from whence the scream had come, they thrashed
about in the darkness finding nothing. Finally
Tom held up a commanding hand for silence.
“Listen!” he ordered.
There was borne to them on the night air the
pounding of hoofs. For a time they were heard
and then the sound died slowly into silence.
“Horses!” Janet said incredibly. “But who—why—who
screamed?” she demanded.
Jim was off at top speed for the spot where the
horses must have been when they started. When
the rest joined him he was bending over examining
hoof marks with the aid of a burning pine
faggot. He stamped the torch out when he saw
the girls and turned to lead the way back to
camp. There he bent serious glances upon all of
them.
“Tom,” he said finally, “saddle your horse and
ride to the ranch for yore father and some men.
Don’t lose any time about it either. There’s
something mighty funny goin’ on up here and
we’re goin’ to need help.”
.pn +1
The girls exchanged frightened glances.
“What do you think, Jim?” Virginia asked.
“I think, I know,” he corrected himself, “those
riders we heard were the bandits we’ve been runnin’
across ever since we came on this trip. I
think they’ve got Miss Valerie just as they’ve
probably got yore other friend.”
“You mean—Gale?” Carol asked in a whisper.
“I shore do and unless we do something
mighty prompt there’s no tellin’ what’ll happen.”
Tom had hastily thrown his saddle on his
horse and now he led the creature into the circle
of firelight. In his hand he carried his revolver.
Gravely he handed it to Virginia.
“You might need it before I get back,” he said.
“But you——” Virginia protested.
“I’ll get another,” he said calmly. “You’ll stick
to the camp, Jim?” he asked turning to the cowboy.
“I can’t do nothin’ until you and yore Dad
come,” Jim replied. “One wouldn’t have a chance
against a couple of those fellows.”
“Right you are!” Tom agreed and swung himself
into the saddle. “I’ll probably be back sometime
about noon,” he said and was off.
.pn +1
As long as they could hear them, the girls listened
to the rumbling beat of his horse’s hoofs.
When silence settled down on the valley again
they looked expectantly at Jim and Virginia. The
latter two were westerners, versed in the ways
of the West. Surely they could tell the girls what
they could do. It was inconceivable that they
should sit idle for hours and hours, just waiting
for Tom and his companions to come.
“Can’t we do something?” Madge asked, voicing
the desire of all of them.
“We can make sure that nobody enters or
leaves this camp without all of us knowing it,”
Jim said sternly.
“What could Val have been thinking of to
wander off like that?” Virginia added worriedly.
“She probably didn’t think there was anything
to fear,” Phyllis defended. “What are we to do?”
she asked of Jim.
“Get your revolver,” he said crisply.
Phyllis bent down and pulled it from her boot.
She had taken the suggestion from Gale, and now
she was never without it.
“We’ll have to watch the camp,” Virginia said
practically. “Is that your idea, Jim?”
“Yes. I’ll take a spot here in the shadows.” Jim
.pn +1
indicated the direction from which Val’s scream
had come. He stationed Virginia and Phyllis on
both sides of the camp. The others, unarmed,
could go back to bed or do as they pleased as
long as there was no noise and they didn’t leave
the camp.
“As though we could sleep,” Janet sniffed disdainfully
when bed was suggested.
“I’m going to sit with Virginia,” Madge said
and departed to take up her post in the shadows
at Virginia’s side.
Carol and Janet went off to join Phyllis and so
once more silence descended on the Adventure
Girls’ camp.
Virginia and Madge sat with their backs
against a tree, facing the camp. Protected by the
heavy shadows all around them, the girls could
see the camp site clearly, but anyone coming
stealthily onto the camp could not see them.
“Why do you suppose Jim thinks it necessary
to guard the camp?” Madge whispered.
“It looks as though those bandits were interested
in us for some reason,” Virginia murmured.
“Why should they kidnap two of the girls, as Jim
thinks they did, unless for some special reason?”
Madge thought this over for a moment. “But
.pn +1
what reason could they have?” she asked at
length.
“I don’t know,” Virginia answered.
It was strange. The girls had done nothing to
warrant this attack on them by the outlaws. Or
had they? They couldn’t tell what Gale or Val
might have found after they left the camp. Perhaps
they had stumbled on the hiding place of
the bandits and now were being held prisoner by
those very outlaws. Virginia half smiled to herself.
The girls had come out for a restful, interesting
summer and they had stumbled into a feud
of bandits and rustlers.
She hoped fervently that Tom, riding hard
toward the K Bar O, was safe. Since he had given
her his gun, it left him unarmed and if he should
come face to face with any of the rustlers—— She
turned her thoughts sternly away from that
subject. She had faith in Tom’s ability to take
care of himself. He was no child, he was older
than she, and he knew the range land and its
secrets. The only time he had left the ranch was
when he had been away to school. After graduation
he had returned eagerly to his interrupted
western life. Virginia settled herself more comfortably.
No, Tom would be all right. It was not
.pn +1
him she should worry about, but the two girls
who had disappeared so mysteriously.
Since she was ten and Gale nine, Virginia had
not seen her cousin until that day weeks before
when the ramshackle car had puffed into the
ranch yard and its occupants had piled gratefully
from it. They had exchanged letters faithfully,
but they never really knew each other until they
started on this camping trip. Riding, eating,
sleeping, laughing together in the vast silence
and beauty of Virginia’s native state, the two
cousins had grown close. Now Virginia knew and
admired her cousin tremendously. She recognized
in Gale the same high ideals and love of truth
and sincerity that she herself cherished. There
was in Gale, too, a spirit of mischievous recklessness
and courage that delighted Virginia. In
Gale’s gray eyes there burned a continual spark
and her red lips were always laughing. She liked
Gale, honestly and whole-heartedly. She wanted
to be one of her firmest friends, because she was
sure Gale would be loyal and unselfish to those
who won her deepest friendship.
Smothering a yawn, Virginia glanced at Madge
beside her and received a sunny smile. She smiled
in answer and folded her arms. She liked all the
.pn +1
girls that had come West with Gale. What a fine
name they had chosen for themselves. The Adventure
Girls! The very words spoke of fun, mystery,
and excitement. They must have countless
good times. All of them were capable of stirring
up mischief and excitement. She wondered how
so many different natures had ever come together.
She must ask Gale sometime how they
had first formed their group.
The darkness was like a heavy blanket and the
faint wind was soothing. The trees stirred faintly
overhead. The few remaining embers of the
campfire in front of them glowed like a small red
eye through the blackness. Each faint sound was
like a roar in their ears. Their nerves were on
edge and magnified each whisper of a leaf or
cracking of a twig. The stars overhead were fading
and the moonlight was waning. Far, far in
the east the first faint streaks of daylight were
creeping into the sky.
Virginia straightened up, startled. She had
been asleep! That was her first chagrining
thought. Jim had put her on guard and she had
fallen asleep. Madge grinned at her when they
glanced at one another.
“Have a good nap?” she asked laughingly.
.pn +1
Virginia laughed too. “Why didn’t you wake
me?” she demanded.
“What for?” Madge asked blandly. “Nothing
happened. In fact,” she giggled, “I’ve a sneaking
suspicion that I was asleep too.”
“Wouldn’t we make fine night watchmen?”
Virginia laughed.
Jim had stepped into the circle of the camp
and now he called them. “Might as well have
breakfast,” he suggested practically.
“When should Tom get back?” Phyllis asked.
“It’s a long ride to the ranch house,” Jim said,
poking at the fire. “Best he could do would be
sometime this afternoon.”
The girls said nothing but each felt a sinking
of the heart at the big delay it meant. It would
be hours yet before they could start looking for
their comrades.
They had breakfast, consisting mainly of
steaming hot coffee and warmed biscuits; but at
that, they felt better, more cheerful, after a little
food. They could look upon Gale’s and Val’s
absence with more fortitude and confidence in
the good fortune of their friends. Both absent
girls were resourceful and quick-witted. Perhaps
nothing serious had happened to them after all.
.pn +1
The girls were wondering what to do with
themselves during the hours they must spend
when the galloping of hoof beats was heard.
Their hearts beat faster. Was it Tom and men
from the ranch or—could it possibly be the bandits?
.pn +1
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch13
Chapter XIII||RESCUE
.sp 2
Darkness found Gale in much the same
position she had occupied through the rainstorm,
standing beside her horse and gently
stroking his nozzle. The rain had stopped but
she was uncomfortably wet. She wondered
whether this was a climate where one caught
colds easily. If so, she would probably have a
dandy tomorrow. The horse shifted his feet impatiently
and nudged her shoulder.
She smiled at him. “Impatient to be off, old
boy? So am I. Something tells me that this is going
to be a night of excitement. I wonder if I’m
being foolhardy in spying on these fellows. I
might be, you know,” she said seriously to the
horse. He nodded his head as though in agreement.
“Oh, so you think I’m foolhardy, do you?
But on the other hand, I might be able to help
Uncle. What do you think, old fellow?”
The horse shook his head and whinnied softly.
“Please don’t do that,” she said hastily, a hand
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on his nose. “If you make such a noise you might
bring those men out to investigate and that
wouldn’t be lucky for either you or me.”
The stars came out and with them the moon.
The bright moonlight made Gale frown in annoyance.
Any other time she would have marveled
at the white radiance of Mr. Moon, but
now it was indiscreet. The cabin where she was
to do her spying stood squarely in the center of
a large patch of moonlight. There would be no
skulking in darkness close to it. If she hoped to
get close enough to peer in a window or to hear
what was being said, she would not only have to
cross that moonlit space but to stand in the white
light, clearly visible to anyone coming to the
cabin. Well, she had made up her mind what she
wanted to do and now she was going through
with it.
She wondered what her friends were thinking
at her absence. She wished there was some way
she could let them know she was safe and sound.
But in an hour or two she would be on her way
back to them with information that might be
valuable. She wished she had a good supper,
though. That was what ailed her horse too, he
was hungry.
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Through the trees she could see that there was
a light in the cabin and smoke curled from the
chimney. Loud voices too, could be heard. Perhaps
they were planning something this very
minute. Making sure her horse was securely tied
to a tree, Gale started slowly toward the cabin.
It would be a ticklish business and goodness
knew what might happen if she was caught. She
approached the rear of the cabin but it was no
good to take up a post here. The window was too
high for her to see in and the voices were merely
an indistinguishable blur through the thick wall.
Before the cabin stood six horses, reins hanging
and their heads drooped forward. Six horses!
That meant there were six riders in the cabin.
Coming around the corner of the cabin, Gale trod
heavily on a twig and it snapped loudly. She
stood still on the verge of flight, her heart racing.
But when no one came she realized that they
were making too much noise to hear such a slight
sound. Evidently it was an occasion for celebration
for they all seemed in high spirits.
The window where she had meant to make her
observations was closed but the door stood ajar.
It was perilous looking in at the window, for
any moment one of them might glance toward
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the glass and see her. Gale discovered that,
pressed flat against the wall beside the open door,
she could hear everything being said, though she
could not see the occupants. It was the latter
position that she took. Making herself as flat as
possible against the rough logs, so there was
scarcely risk of detection as long as the men remained
indoors, Gale strained her ears to make
sense of the conversation.
Suddenly their voices lowered, tones became
confiding and mysterious. Now Gale could distinguish
only snatches of what was being said.
She slid a little closer to the open door.
“Pedro will stay here,” one man said sternly.
“Three of you will tend to the cows and the two
of us will scout around to that dude camp and
see what’s goin’ on.”
Gale wondered if there was another party of
easterners camping in the hills, or did those
words “dude camp” apply to her and her friends?
Quite possibly they did. But why were these men
interested in what they did?
“They’re too near the cattle to suit me,” one
of the other outlaws said in a deep rumbling
voice. “Suppose they see us? Then they’ll be able
to give a nice little description to the Sheriff.”
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He didn’t sound like an original westerner,
Gale thought. More like a gangster of the movie
type. Another voice joined in, soft and slurring.
A Mexican, probably a half-breed, she decided
mentally. For a while she could catch no more of
what they said and then only a word here and
there. But finally she knew enough that they
planned to steal more of the K Bar O cattle.
Should she go now and tell Jim and Tom so they
could forestall the thieves? No, she would wait
longer. Perhaps there was something more she
could learn. Where they were taking the cattle
for instance. As though in reply to her thoughts,
the Mexican spoke again.
“You should have the cows across the border
by morning.”
But there seemed to be some little dispute
about this. Three of the men started arguing.
There was a step near her and a man’s shadow
fell on the ground where the light from the doorway
streamed out. He was standing in the doorway
looking across to the trees. If he turned an
inch more in her direction he would see her. Gale
held her breath and leaned stiffly against the
wall. He must hear her heart beating so loudly.
It sounded like thunder in her own ears. Tossing
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his cigarette out to the ground the man turned
and stepped back into the cabin again. Gale almost
sank to the ground in sheer relief. Pure
luck, that was all it had been, that kept the man
from sensing her presence. If he had stepped just
a bit farther out, or turned just a bit more in her
direction, she would have been discovered. And
then what would have happened? She refused to
think about that. Cautiously she moved a few
paces away from the door. There was no need for
her to invite exposure.
Heavy steps sounded in the cabin and with
lightning rapidity Gale disappeared around the
corner of the building and none too soon. Two of
the riders strode to their horses and mounted.
“Follow in an hour, Shorty,” one of them
called and the two departed.
Were they the two who were going to investigate
the camp, she wondered. She hoped her
friends would have some warning of the men’s
approach and were able to prepare themselves.
She would like to have followed them but she
meant to stick here and see what happened. The
rustlers were leaving one man at the cabin. Why?
What further than robbery did they plot? Were
they planning to return here and use the cabin as
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their hiding place after the K Bar O cattle were
safely across the border? If that was it, she
wanted to know so she could send the Sheriff and
his men here and be sure it was no wild goose
chase.
The moon was high overhead and moving
slowly toward the west. Gale had no means of
knowing what time it was for she wore no wrist
watch, but she judged it to be about midnight.
She would say it was an hour since the two riders
had left, but still the other three had not followed
them. The four of them were having a high
old time, she reflected as a loud laugh floated out
to her. She seated herself on the ground and
leaned against the wall. Might as well be comfortable
while she waited for something to happen.
She was at the side, safe from immediate
discovery should they come out without warning.
But it would be better not to remain seated here,
should she hear them, for it might just happen
that they would come around this side.
Suddenly the loud talking came to an end and
there was a scraping as of chairs on the floor.
Three men came to the door and walked leisurely
to their horses. Gale was peeping around from
the back of the cabin now and she watched them
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as they rode away. There remained now only one
man in the cabin. Cautiously she went around
to the window at the front. Slowly she brought
her eyes up to the level of the windowsill and
gazed in. The Mexican—she had been right as to
his nationality she realized now—sat before the
fireplace, his chair tilted back, his feet propped
on the table. In his hands he held a stick of wood
and a knife and he whistled as he sent the chips
flying. His profile was toward Gale and she
shivered at the ugliness of his countenance.
“Wouldn’t like to meet him in a dark alley,”
she reflected to herself as she studied him. A long
scar ran down his cheek, making his profile even
more repulsive than it would ordinarily have
been. “Something definite with which to identify
him, that scar,” she told herself as she left the
window.
The moon as it moved westward caused a
dark, heavy shadow on the far side of the cabin
and Gale stepped into its protecting blackness.
A sudden thought of her horse occurred to her
and she went back to where he was tied to see if
he was secure and safe. There was no telling
when she might want him in a hurry. She might
have to leave suddenly, she thought humorously.
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She returned to the cabin and sat down in the
protecting shadow. She wondered if there was a
harder thing in the world than the job of waiting.
Her eyes were growing uncomfortably heavy
and the danger of falling asleep was very near.
She smothered a yawn and stood up. If she fell
asleep now!
What was that? The gallop of hoofs? It was.
And they were coming to the cabin here. Who
was it? The outlaws coming back from their
nightly marauding? Or could it, by some inconceivable
magic, be Tom or Jim looking for her?
Somehow she had not expected them to. At any
rate not at night. Of course if she didn’t return
to camp by the morning, no doubt they would go
out to look for her. But she planned to be safely
among them by morning. Meanwhile, those
horses were drawing nearer. At last they came
into the moonlight from the direction she herself
had come early that afternoon.
There were two horses but it looked as though
one horse was carrying a double load. Gale’s interest
was aroused. Who was it? The horses were
pulled up short in front of the cabin and Gale
flattened herself against the wall. She did not
have as good a view of the new arrivals as she
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might have wished for, but she could catch
glimpses of them and she could hear their voices.
Right now they seemed anything but pleased.
They were having trouble with something—or
someone.
“Let me go!”
Out of the thin air, it seemed to Gale, she
heard Valerie’s voice. Valerie here! How did she
get here? Was she on the horse with one of the
outlaws? That must be the explanation of the
double burden one of the horses was carrying. In
some way, the men had kidnapped Valerie and
brought her here. Gale rejoiced inwardly now
that she had stayed, but her heart leapt and her
hands clenched the next second when she heard
what sounded like a slap and a half smothered
scream from Valerie.
“Maybe that’ll keep you quiet for a while,”
one of the men said.
Gale longed to rush out and interfere on
Valerie’s behalf but she knew how foolish that
would be. She could only wait for an opportunity
and pray that they did not seriously harm Val.
That it should be Valerie made it all the more
tragic in Gale’s estimation. If it had been Phyllis
or Madge or Virginia, one more able to stand
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rough handling and hardship, Gale would have
been more optimistic about her chances. But with
Val she was worried. She, Gale, had to help her
friend, but how?
Carefully she approached her post by the window
and looked in. Valerie was seated in a chair
by the fireplace and the Mexican was approaching
with two straps from the saddle lying in the
corner. He proceeded to strap Val’s hands to the
chair posts. The other two riders watched him for
a moment and then came toward the door. Gale
hastily retreated and did not appear again until
their horses were lost in the black trees. Back at
the window she watched, while the Mexican
walked slowly around his captive, deliberately
appraising her. The door was closed and she
could not hear what was being said, but it was
evident that Valerie was saying uncomplimentary
things for the breed’s face was growing
blacker and blacker with rage.
It was Gale’s intention to call the Mexican
from the cabin on some ruse and while he was
out slip in and cut Val free. But for that purpose
she would need a knife. She ran back to her horse.
In her saddle bag she carried a knife and, while
she was here, it would be just as well to move
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her horse up closer to the cabin. If she and Val
had to make a dash for it, it would be well not
to have to run too far. Leaving her horse standing
at the rim of the open space where the cabin
was, she approached the window again. Now she
had to think of a ruse to get the Mexican out of
the cabin.
The light in the cabin was from the fire in the
fireplace and from two lanterns which cast a
sickly yellow glow over the occupants of the
building and the meager furnishings. Gale could
see the Mexican bending over Val, leering at her.
She could see Val’s bright eyes and flushed cheeks.
Whatever the Mexican was saying to taunt her,
it had thoroughly aroused Val’s temper. She saw
Val’s lips move and wished desperately that she
might hear what the girl said. But the walls of the
cabin were thick and the windows and doors
closed, effectively smothering all sound. The
Mexican’s hand shot out and struck Val a heavy
blow across the cheek, bringing a dark red stain
to the white skin.
Gale saw Val’s head droop until her chin rested
on her chest. What was wrong? Was she going
to cry now, of all times? It was just what the
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Mexican wanted, to make her grovel. Evidently
the Mexican thought he had subdued all signs of
rebellion in his fair prisoner for he bent closer
with a sneering smile. But it was a trick! When
the Mexican bent over, Val’s foot shot up and
kicked him hard in the pit of the stomach. He
stumbled backward, doubled over in pain.
Gale could have danced in delight. Three cheers
for Val! Her fighting blood was up. Gale found
herself a little surprised at Val’s daring. Val had
more courage than the girls had given her credit
for. But now would come a reckoning. The Mexican
was straightening up, his face still contorted
with pain, and drawing a knife from his belt. He
took two steps toward Val, caressing the knife
with loving fingers. If Val was afraid, she gave no
sign of it and for that Gale admired her all the
more. She was quite well aware that had she been
in Val’s place she would have been scared green.
The Mexican looked awfully intent on doing a bit
of carving.
As for Val, she was frightened. The light in the
half-breed’s eyes and the way he held the knife
sent little shivers up her back. She twisted vainly
at the bonds about her hands. Must she sit here
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while he stuck his knife into her? But for all her
terror, she gave no sign of it. Her head was high
and her gaze steady.
“Ah! You are brave my leetle one!” the Mexican
said with his slurring accent. “But you weel
not be so brave w’en I have—what eez that?”
To Val’s ears it sounded like hoofbeats. She
prayed earnestly that it was. Even if it was but
the other two bandits coming back, it would delay
the Mexican’s knife a little longer.
Gale, recognizing that the Mexican sought revenge
for that kick and was intent upon securing
that revenge with his knife, cast about quickly
for some means of getting him from the cabin.
Her eyes came round from the window to the
Mexican’s horse standing meekly a few paces
away. She crossed to him, pulled the reins up over
his head and gave him a sharp slap on the flank.
The horse started forward with a jerk and Gale
disappeared around the side of the cabin. With
the sound of the hoofbeats the door of the cabin
was pulled open and the Mexican stepped to the
ground. Gale could see him staring after his horse,
but he made no effort to chase the animal as she
had hoped he would. He stood there for several
minutes until the horse had disappeared and then
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with a smothered exclamation of disgust or wrath
stalked back into the cabin. Her ruse had failed.
He didn’t apparently care what happened to his
horse. Now what was she going to do? Val needed
help and she, Gale, must do something. She didn’t
have time to go for Jim or Tom. She would have
to handle the Mexican herself, and hope that she
and Val would have a fighting chance. If he should
foil her attempt at rescue, then they would both
be his helpless prisoners and anything might happen!
She laughed nervously at her own lack of
confidence. She wasn’t very optimistic at any rate.
However, they would see—what they would see.
She peeped in the window again. The Mexican
was wiping the blade of his knife carefully on his
shirt sleeve. She knew he was so deliberately cool
and slow just to keep Valerie in suspense and to
undermine her courage. She looked at her friend.
Valerie’s color had faded a bit and her eyes were
a little more luminous, but not with fear. She saw
Val’s lips move again but she didn’t know that
Val had said:
“Well, why don’t you get it over with?”
“In time, my leetle one, in time,” Pedro
laughed.
“If you don’t hurry my friends might arrive
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and spoil your little party,” Valerie continued
imperturbably.
He laughed again. “They weel not come here,
my friend.”
“Yes they will,” Valerie said coolly, “and when
they do, you will look very handsome—at the
end of a rope.”
“Rope?” he pretended not to understand her.
“Yes, a rope,” Valerie said bluntly, “for they
will hang you to the highest limb of the nearest
tree and your friends with you!”
He laughed, albeit a tiny gleam of fear had
flickered for a moment in his eyes.
“But I weel not be here,” he said smoothly.
“And you, my preety flower, will not be able to
tell them w’ere I have gone.”
Valerie swallowed with difficulty. The fellow
was getting on her nerves. He knew her story
about her friends coming had been a bluff and he
was gloating over the fact. If something didn’t
happen soon, her nerve would go to pieces.
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.h2 id=ch14
Chapter XIV||TRAPPED
.sp 2
Gale, her revolver clasped firmly in her right
hand, and the knife with which she was to
free Valerie secure in her left, crept forward to
the door. What if the door was bolted on the inside?
That would spoil everything! With her foot
she pushed on the heavy panels and, creaking protestingly,
the door swung inward.
The Mexican had wheeled sharply when the
door first moved, and now he stared in amazement
at the slender girl on the threshold and
then at the business-like revolver in her hand.
“Oh, Gale!” was all that Valerie could manage
to utter, so great was her joy and relief.
“Hands up, Señor,” Gale commanded.
The knife clattered to the floor as the Mexican
obediently raised his arms above his head. Gale
walked forward to Valerie.
“O. K., Val?”
“Yes—now,” Val said, with answering smile.
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The Mexican, thinking to catch Gale off guard,
slowly lowered his arms, but she was watching
him.
“Reach for the sky, you!” she said savagely.
“I’m not afraid to shoot, so be careful.”
But the Mexican, his pride outraged that such
a slip of a girl should dare oppose him, lunged
forward and caught Gale’s wrist in his hand.
Gale’s finger pressed the trigger, but the bullet
sped harmlessly past him. His fingers were like
steel talons about her wrist, hurting so she had to
drop the revolver. It fell to the floor by her foot
and a kick sent it spinning into the corner. At the
same time she pulled herself free of the man and
darted to the other side of the rickety table. He
retrieved his knife from the floor and took a few
catlike steps toward her.
Gale retreated until she stumbled against a
stool. She gripped it firmly and watched her
enemy.
“Don’t come near me!” she warned.
Forgotten was the knife she still had. Now she
had another plan of defense and, desperate as it
was, she meant to use it. The Mexican came
nearer and she swung the stool up with a crashing
blow against his head. It was an effective
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means of subduing him, for he crumpled to the
floor without a sound.
“That was the one I owed him,” Val muttered.
Gale shivered, and turning away, secured her
gun and went across to Val, her back deliberately
upon her fallen enemy. It took but a moment to
slash Valerie’s bonds.
“Oh, Gale!” Valerie said, almost sobbing, her
head on Gale’s shoulder. Now that there was no
longer any reason for her to be brave, reaction
had set in. “It was—horrible!”
“You were marvelous!” Gale said soothingly.
“I was scared!” Val contradicted with a nervous
laugh. “And now I’m acting like a silly goose.
Oh, Gale, how did you get here? Where did you
come from?”
“I was here all the time,” Gale said, “ever since
this afternoon. But we’ll have explanations later.
Come along, we have to get out of here.”
“Slowly my young friends!” an oily voice spoke
behind Gale.
The latter could see Val’s face whiten with sudden
terror. She heard her catch her breath and
felt her tremble.
“Gale—he was shamming—it was a trick. He’s
got a gun!” Val whispered brokenly.
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Gale put Valerie from her and turned about.
The Mexican was peering along the barrel of a
rifle leveled at them. Her gaze went beyond him
to the corner where lay the saddle and where, this
afternoon, she had found the same rifle he now
held. Her hand went into her breeches pocket and
she smiled broadly.
The more the Mexican glowered over the gun
at them, the more Gale smiled. Valerie watched
her friend with amazement. Had the evening’s
events mentally unbalanced Gale? It was no situation
at which to laugh. At least she didn’t see
the funny side.
“Gale! What’s the matter?” Val asked, shaking
Gale’s arm vigorously. “Are you crazy? He’ll
shoot!”
“No, he won’t,” Gale said, shaking her head.
“He can’t. The gun isn’t loaded.” For an instant
the rifle wavered. “Look for yourself,” she invited,
hoping desperately that it hadn’t been reloaded.
Pedro did so and with a muttered exclamation
of disgust flung the gun aside.
“And now we’ll let you take Val’s place,” Gale
said, leveling her revolver at him. “Come on, sit
down there!”
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It took but a moment to fasten him as securely
as Valerie had been. He glared at them all the
while.
“W’en I am free I will keel you!” he promised
balefully.
“Ah, but you won’t be free,” Gale assured him
happily. “The Sheriff will take care of that.”
“You t’ink so, eh?” he laughed. “The gringo
jail cannot hol’ me!”
“Sure of yourself, aren’t you?” was Gale’s
opinion.
He nodded. “I know. An’ I weel fin’ you and
wit’ my knife I weel slash so——”
“Never mind the details,” Valerie interrupted.
“Come on, Gale, let’s leave him.”
“Right you are,” Gale said cheerily. “Well,
Pedro, the next time we see you I hope you are
behind bars.”
“I weel not be,” he said confidently.
Outside was the sound of voices. Valerie turned
startled eyes to Gale. The Mexican laughed and
then Gale understood why he had talked so loud
and confidently. He had talked to cover the sound
of approaching horses and he had succeeded. His
friends had returned and they were trapped.
Gale’s mind worked with lightning rapidity. If
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their plans had worked only two outlaws were
to return here. The other three would be busy
taking cattle across the border into Mexico. But
even two——
“What will we do, Gale?” Valerie’s voice was
steady. The emergency had brought back her
courage.
Gale thrust her revolver into Val’s hand and
snatched up the rifle. She brought the shells from
her pocket and loaded it.
“Get on the other side of the door,” she directed
her friend. “We have to take ’em by surprise
or else——”
Valerie shivered. “Yes,” she agreed, “or else!”
“Steady,” Gale warned, “here they come.”
There was a ring of a bootheel as the two men
approached the cabin unsuspectingly. Gale was on
one side of the doorway and Val on the other.
As the men stepped into the room and stopped
aghast at the sight of the Mexican, the girls
stepped forward. The two, taken utterly unaware
by the pressure of the gun muzzles in their backs,
raised their hands obediently.
“Face the wall,” Gale ordered, and the two
turned meekly. She knew if she gave them time to
overcome their surprise they would not be so
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docile. Cautiously she reached forward and secured
first one man’s gun and then the other.
While Valerie watched the two, Gale emptied the
guns, put the shells into her pocket and tossed
the revolvers onto the table.
“What shall we do with them?” Valerie asked
nervously, indicating the two men standing, faces
to the wall, at the rear of the cabin.
“That’s what I’m wondering,” Gale murmured
with a frown. “I suppose one should watch them
while one goes back to camp for Tom and Jim.”
“Well,” Val said firmly, “I’m sure I couldn’t
find the way back to the camp, and I refuse to
stay here alone! So what?”
“Indeed, so what?” Gale returned. “We have
to do one or the other. Stand still there!” she
warned, as one of the outlaws made as though to
turn around. “Don’t forget I’ve got a gun and I
know how to use it.”
“It’s almost morning,” Val said.
Through the window they could see the sky
growing lighter as night faded into dawn. One of
the bandits turned about.
“See here you——”
“Keep quiet,” Gale commanded, “and turn
around.”
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“No kid is gonna tell me what to do,” the man
returned. “I’ll——”
Deliberately Gale raised her gun and fired a
bullet into the wall over his head. “I might hit
you next time,” she said sweetly.
The man turned then with a muttered exclamation
that only his companion heard. The two of
them stood with their faces to the wall while the
girls held a conference.
“We have to do something,” Valerie said. “And
in a hurry too,” she added.
“What’s that?” Gale asked.
Val went to the window and looked out. Coming
into view between the trees were riders, about
six of them and all of them carried rifles across
their saddles.
“Horses,” Val answered in a low, worried tone.
“I wonder if their pals are to come back this
morning?”
“Maybe some of them,” Gale replied uneasily.
“Now what will we do? I wish we had never got
mixed up in this.”
“No more than I do,” Val agreed. “Well?” she
asked.
“Can you recognize any of the riders?” Gale
wanted to know.
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“No,” Val answered, gazing out the window.
“They are not coming toward the cabin now.
They seem to be having a conference about what
to do.”
“If they come on here we are lost,” Gale declared.
“We’ll have to stop them.”
Val turned to watch the outlaws while Gale
took a look out the window. There were men in
the distance, but they were indistinguishable in
the gray light of dawn and because of the thickness
of the trees. While she watched, they started
forward toward the cabin. She raised her rifle
and fired a bullet that raised a spurt of dust in
front of the advancing horses. That had the desired
effect. The men retreated to the trees again.
There they seemed to spread out fanlike.
“Going to surround the place,” she said to Val.
“We’re trapped all right. We might as well invite
them in now.”
“We won’t give up without a fight,” Val said
staunchly.
At the moment she spoke a well-planted bullet
shook the center panel of the door. The girls exchanged
looks.
“I don’t think it will be much of a fight,” Gale
said. “We have only one rifle bullet left. That
won’t be much help.”
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“I’d like to know who it is,” Valerie said with
a frown. “If it is these fellows’ friends why did
they stop before they got to the cabin in the first
place?”
Another bullet thudded into the door. The outlaws
looked about uneasily.
“Why don’t you go out and meet your friends,”
one of them demanded of Gale.
She regarded him with a shrewd glance. “Our
friends?” she murmured. “Are you sure you
weren’t expecting anybody?”
“Shore, the King of England,” the other man
drawled loftily.
“Do you suppose it could be our friends?” Valerie
asked.
“Too many,” Gale said immediately, but she
was uncertain.
Were the outlaws as uneasy over these new arrivals
as they seemed? Or was it pretense to trick
the girls? Gale wished she knew. To her the terror
of the outlaws seemed real enough. There
was no mistaking the fear on the face of Pedro
when a bullet entered through the window and
pinged against the fireplace alarmingly close to
him. They feared these men, but why? Were the
new arrivals officers of the law or a band of rival
.pn +1
outlaws? Were there such things as rival groups
of bandits?
Gale pulled Val against the wall beside her. It
was safest out of range of any gun that might
shoot in the window. Suddenly from the rear of
the cabin came a shout. Another voice took it up.
A hasty glance out the window showed men running
from cover and toward the door.
“Use your gun,” screamed one of the outlaws.
“No,” Gale said firmly. “We’ll see who they
are—first!”
.pn +1
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch15
Chapter XV||CAPTURE
.sp 2
Walking to the door Gale threw it open
and stepped into the arms of the two men
who rushed forward. She recognized them with
a great overwhelming joy.
“Tom! Jim! How on earth did you get here?
Who——”
“We’ve brought the Sheriff and his men,” Tom
said breathlessly. “Looks as though you had the
situation well in hand,” he added after he had
greeted Valerie and taken in the sight of Pedro
and the other two.
The Sheriff with two of his deputies crowded
into the room and took charge of the three bandits.
“Reckon you’ll do no more rustlin’ cattle or
robbin’ banks,” the Sheriff said, as he snapped
handcuffs on the bigger of the two, while one of
his men did the same with Pedro.
“Ya can’t keep me in jail,” the man returned.
.pn +1
“An’ when I get out—I’m goin’ after these two
kids!”
“Threats won’t get you anywhere,” Tom said
practically. “Well, girls, want to go back to
camp? Your chums are pretty worried about
you.”
Valerie and Gale mounted the latter’s horse
and Tom took them back to camp. Jim remained
with the Sheriff to see the prisoners started on
their way to the K Bar O and from there to Coxton.
Later he would join the Adventure Girls
again.
“Who shot at us from the window?” Tom demanded
as they jogged along.
Gale grinned. “I did. How did I know it was
help? I thought it was some more bandits.”
“And you were taking no chances, eh?” Tom
laughed.
“But how did you know we were in the cabin?”
Valerie asked him next.
“Recognized Gale’s horse standing in back,”
Tom replied. “How did you get there in the first
place?”
“When the rain came on yesterday I was looking
for shelter,” Gale explained. “I got in there
and just had time to crawl out the back window
.pn +1
when I saw the men ride up. I decided to hang
around and see if I could learn anything about
the cattle that are being stolen from your Dad.
I did. I heard them plotting to steal some more
last night and drive them over the border into
Mexico. Then all but the Mexican went away.
Along about midnight two men came back and
had Val with them. From then on things moved
fast.”
“I saw the rustlers last night, Tom,” Valerie
chimed in. “At least I think it was them. They
were rounding up a herd of cattle and I turned to
come back to camp and tell you when two men
grabbed me and took me to that cabin. There the
Mexican managed to scare me out of a year’s
growth—until Gale came along.”
“I left the camp last night for the ranch and
to get Dad and some men,” Tom added his bit.
“I met the Sheriff and three of his deputies riding
out to meet us and this morning we picked up
the trail of the two men who had kidnapped you,
Valerie. You know what happened after that.
Oh, yes, Dad and some of the boys got the three
who were after the cows last night.” He smiled.
“I want to hear what happened all night and how
you managed to trick those fellows, but I’ll be
.pn +1
patient until we get back to camp and you’ve had
some breakfast. I suppose you are hungry?”
“Are we!” Gale and Valerie echoed together.
“And I’m so sleepy I could sleep standing up,”
Gale declared.
“You and me both,” Valerie murmured.
The three of them soon after rode up to the
camp. The girls pounced on the two adventurers
and welcomed them with open arms. While they
were waited on and served with breakfast they
told their story and the other girls declared it
thrilling. After the last bite of breakfast Gale and
Val went to their tent so sleepy they could
scarcely keep their eyes open. They slept the
sleep of utter exhaustion for ten hours. When
they awoke the sky was aglow with sunset
colors and the other girls were waiting with their
supper.
“We are going to ride tonight,” Virginia informed
them as the two appeared. “While you
were snoozing we had a nap, too, so we could ride
by moonlight.”
“Grand,” Gale declared.
“We thought you would never wake up,” Janet
complained. “How could you sleep so long?”
“A clear conscience is the secret, my dear,”
.pn +1
Valerie declared with a laugh. “I’ll bet you never
slept as soundly as we did.”
“And why shouldn’t I?” Janet demanded in a
loud voice. “I’ve nothing on my conscience——”
“How about the time you spilt ink on the professor’s
desk? And the time you rang the fire gong
when there was no cause, and the time——” Carol
was enumerating when Janet interrupted.
“They should keep you awake,” Madge added
mischievously.
“You’ve committed just as many crimes,”
Janet defended quickly.
“I’ll wager they have,” Virginia said with a
sympathetic arm about Janet’s shoulders. “Well,
Tom?” she said to her brother who was approaching
from the horses. “All set to go?”
“As soon as we take down the other tent,” he
agreed. “How’re you, girls?” the last was to Gale
and Valerie.
“Fine as a fiddle!” Valerie declared.
Indeed she appeared to be. Gale had at first
watched her friend with some trepidation, remembering
the strenuous events of last night.
Before, Valerie had always been worn out, utterly
exhausted after any excitement or nerve strain.
Now she was as calm and steady as any of them.
.pn +1
It was borne home to them all that Valerie had
surely won her long fight for health.
Val herself was the happiest as it was natural
that she should be. She, too, had been anxious as
to the results of last night’s adventure. This
morning when she and Gale had gone to bed,
tired as she had been, she had feared an undoing
of all the good work these weeks in the sun and
air had done. But now, to her own amazement as
well as to the surprise of her friends, she felt more
fit, more cheerful than she had done for many
months. It was a continual joy to her to be able
to ride and compete equally with her friends, to
know that she was as capable of meeting an
emergency as any of them.
“Oh, Val!” Phyllis said, hugging her exultantly.
“You look marvelous this morning.”
“Indeed she does,” Gale agreed, as the three of
them walked to their horses.
“I feel it too,” Val declared.
“All the credit goes to beautiful Arizona,”
Phyllis said cheerily.
“No it doesn’t,” Val said sturdily. “You girls
deserve a vote of thanks on my behalf. I hereby
express it,” she said gayly.
“Who is getting thanked and for what?” Janet
.pn +1
interrupted, overtaking the three while Madge,
Carol, and Virginia lagged behind.
“I’m offering all the Adventure Girls a vote of
thanks for helping me back to health,” Valerie
said.
“And we claim we didn’t have anything to do
with it,” Gale said immediately. “It was sheer
grit on Val’s part that she won out.”
“I’m inclined to agree with you,” Janet said to
Gale. “She has been wonderful, hasn’t she?”
“My word!” Valerie laughed. “I’m getting a
lot of bouquets. You will bring on a rainstorm
with such compliments.”
“It’s the truth,” Phyllis asserted. “And our
trip has served its purpose.”
“What do you mean?” Valerie demanded suspiciously.
“Was this Arizona trip planned for my
especial benefit?”
“Well, you see—we—ah——” Phyllis floundered.
“Phyllis Elton!” Janet sighed. “You never
open your mouth but you put your foot in it!”
“Well, I couldn’t help it,” Phyllis grumbled.
“Val shouldn’t be so suspicious.”
“Gale,” Valerie commanded, “tell me what this
is all about. What does she mean by the trip has
.pn +1
served its purpose? Tell me!” she insisted as Gale
hesitated.
“Why—um—you see, Val, we—got together
and sort of talked it over and we decided——”
“You all decided to spend your summer out
here so I could get well,” Val said, a suspicion of
tears in her voice. “Was there ever a girl had such
friends?”
“Bosh!” Janet said crisply, immediately dispersing
all sentiment. “We did it for ourselves.
Aren’t we the Adventure Girls and didn’t we come,
out for some more adventures? But so far,” she
added humorously, “you and Gale have been doing
all the adventuring. Getting kidnapped
and——”
“And almost run through by a Mexican and
his knife,” finished Valerie. “Well, from now on,
Janet, I cheerfully resign all my adventures in
your favor.”
“Can I count on that?” Janet asked when the
other girls joined them.
“We are on our way home, girls,” sighed Carol,
“and all our adventuring is over for another summer.
Dear me, winter and school are dull times,
don’t you think?”
“Yes!”
.pn +1
“No!” came simultaneously from Janet and
Phyllis.
Carol had not spoken the whole truth. They
were on their last long ride of the summer, but
their adventures were not over, and this they
were shortly to discover for themselves.
.pn +1
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch16
Chapter XVI||ALARM
.sp 2
The moonlight turned the ground to silver
dust and gave the girls the appearance of
ghostly white riders as, single file, they started
on their journey back to the K Bar O ranch house.
They were feeling a trifle sad and regretful that
it was almost time to leave these wide open spaces
they had grown to love, when all thought of the
approaching parting was jogged out of them.
Janet, who had been riding behind Gale, turned
her horse from the line to come up beside Phyllis.
At the same moment something, presumably a
squirrel or jack rabbit, darted across from the
side of the trail in front of her horse. She had
been riding with loose reins, her horse’s head
drooping forward, and now, when her horse reared
in sudden fright, she was almost unseated. The
horse stood for a moment balanced on his hind
legs, pawing the air wildly with his forehoofs,
then came down to earth and raced away, Janet
trying frantically to retrieve her reins.
.pn +1
Jim had joined them again for the return to
the ranch house, and now the minute he saw
Janet’s horse was a runaway, urged his own
mount after the girl’s. Tom was a close second,
with Gale right behind him. The others strung
out behind the first three, all bent on catching
the runaway or saving Janet from an accident.
The wild dash of her horse, taking her utterly
by surprise, had knocked all thought from Janet’s
head and now she could do nothing but cling
grimly to her seat. Darn the horse! she thought
exasperatedly. He was supposed to be tame and
used to the wild life of the plains and hills, yet a
little jack rabbit could scare him out of his wits!
She flung a hasty glance over her shoulder and
saw her friends bearing down on her. But as if her
own horse decided he didn’t want to be caught,
he put on a sudden spurt and widened the distance.
Janet could see the reins dangling over the
horse’s head, just out of her reach. Murmuring
soothingly in his ear, Janet endeavored to catch
the elusive reins but failed. One hand clinging
desperately to the pommel on her saddle, Janet
rose in her stirrups. For an instant she felt the
reins in her fingers and then she had lost them
.pn +1
again. She was quite well aware what the consequences
would be if her horse threw her. She
might suddenly find herself with a broken shoulder
or arm or a fractured skull. The thought
wasn’t at all pleasant and she set her teeth
grimly, determined to stop the fool horse before
something did happen to both of them.
They were coming out onto a wide plain where
her horse had the best chance of all to run himself
out. But she didn’t propose to stick to him
until he was tired. She wanted him stopped now
before he jolted all her bones loose. Clinging to
the saddle and rising in her stirrups she leaned
as far forward as possible. The horse lurched suddenly
and it was by the merest piece of luck that
she wasn’t thrown off on her face. But she clung
to her saddle and persisted in her attempt to reach
the reins. Finally her fingers closed on the left
rein and she hung onto it desperately. She pulled
with all her strength but the horse didn’t slacken
in speed, not a fraction. He seemed bent on reaching
some invisible object ahead and nothing could
swerve him from his purpose. Janet braced her
feet squarely in the stirrups, put both hands on
the rein and continued to pull.
Phyllis, who was behind Gale in the race to
.pn +1
reach Janet, saw the runaway swerve suddenly,
an act all of them had been unprepared for.
Janet’s horse raced parallel to its pursuers and it
was a moment of lost precious time before either
Jim or Tom could change the course of their own
mounts. Phyllis, by the time Jim was after Janet
again, had sent her horse at an abrupt angle from
the group. If Janet’s horse did not swerve again,
and she herself kept on at the present line, the two
were bound to come together. Perhaps if they collided
it would bring Janet’s horse to a halt, she
reflected with a bit of humor.
For all of Janet’s tugging at the rein her horse
was adamant. He did not slacken his speed until
he began to feel tired. He had swerved from his
course, but he would not stop. Janet, her whole
attention claimed by the horse under her, did not
see Phyllis until horse and rider loomed up before
her. She felt herself suddenly hurled over
her horse’s head as he made a mad attempt to
stop himself, and the next second she found herself
on top of Phyllis on the ground.
Janet rolled off her friend and sat up. She felt
herself all over to be sure she was still in one
piece. It had been quite a jolt, that landing on the
ground. Then she turned to Phyllis. Her chum
.pn +1
had not stirred and Janet feared the girl might be
seriously hurt.
“I say, Phyll, are you all right?” Janet asked
anxiously.
Phyllis opened her eyes and grinned through
the dust and grime she had acquired when she
pitched headlong to the ground.
“Yes,” she said thickly through a mouth full
of dust. “I s’pose I’m all right, but you knocked
all the wind out of me. I also saw several stars
I never knew existed. But we stopped him, didn’t
we?” she demanded, gazing at Janet’s horse which
was standing meekly beside Phyllis’ own, all trace
of rebellion gone.
“He ought to stop now, the crazy thing,” Janet
said, getting stiffly to her feet. “You know,
Phyll,” she said with a laugh, “you aren’t at all
soft to land on. I’m all bumps and bruises.”
“You can be glad I was here to land on,” Phyllis
said, “you might have picked a cactus, you
know.”
“It isn’t everybody has a runaway,” Janet said
with satisfaction. “I’ve certainly something to
write home about now,” she declared, as the two
turned to greet their friends.
“All right?” Gale asked anxiously as the others
.pn +1
flung themselves from their horses and gathered
solicitously around.
“Yes, but I’m going to sue Janet for damages,”
Phyllis declared, rubbing a bruised place tenderly.
“She had no right to knock me off my horse.”
“You had no business running into me,” Janet
laughed in turn.
“Our hearts were in our mouths when we saw
Janet fly through the air over her horse’s head,”
Val declared.
“She floats through the air with the greatest
of ease——” Carol started to sing when Janet
glared at her.
“Riding, especially runaways, gives me an appetite,”
Virginia said. “Suppose we have a bite of
lunch.”
“You are indeed my friend,” Janet declared to
Virginia. “You always know just what I need.”
A half hour later the ride was resumed. Janet
and Phyllis, to the amusement of their friends,
both lowered themselves gingerly into their saddles.
Their experience had left them jolted and
bruised and before much riding they began to
coax the others to camp for the rest of the night.
“We might as well,” Tom said. “It’s already
.pn +1
nearing morning and this afternoon will see us at
the K Bar O even if we take our time.”
They camped on the plains and decided not to
put the tents up for the few hours that they meant
to remain there. The girls rolled in blankets, feet
toward the campfire, and in a few moments all
but Gale and Virginia were dozing.
Lying flat on her back, the earth warm beneath
her, staring up at the stars overhead, Gale felt
suddenly tiny, so infinitesimal. The plain was so
wide, the sky so near, the stars so bright——
“What are you thinking about?” Virginia asked
from beside her.
“The stars,” Gale answered. “Didn’t somebody
call them the windows of heaven?”
“Are you looking for the angels with their
golden harps?” Virginia laughed.
“Yes,” Gale agreed with a smile. “Do you think
I’ll see any?”
“Never can tell,” Virginia said, smothering a
yawn. “Which one is your wagon hitched to?”
“Which angel?” queried Gale.
“No, silly, which star?”
“That one up there, see it? The little one, all
sparkly. Oh!” Gale laughed, “It winked at me.”
.pn +1
“Not very big,” Virginia commented, squinting
at the sky. “Whyn’t you pick a big one?”
“Wait until it grows up,” Gale murmured.
“Just like me, wait until I grow up!”
“Won’t that be sompin’,” Virginia giggled.
“What are you going to be? A female Lindbergh?”
“Never can tell,” Gale said. “Maybe I’ll be another
Columbus.”
“I don’t know whether there are any lands left
to discover, so you might have a little difficulty
along that line,” was Virginia’s opinion. “Meanwhile—I’m
getting sleepy.”
She fell silent and Gale, too, pulled her blanket
closer for a cool wind had sprung up. The last
thing she remembered before Tom brought them
all wide awake with a loud banging on the frying
pan was the wild, untamed howl of a coyote.
With the first dancing rays of the sun, the riders
were up and about their business. Packs securely
fastened on the pack horses and the girls
mounted, they started on their way. As always
when riding their spirits rose with the sun. Tom
was playing his harmonica and Janet and Carol
both insisted on giving voice to the tune Tom was
playing until the other girls threatened dire punishment
unless they stopped.
.pn +1
Noon found them riding into the valley with
the K Bar O ranch house just ahead of them. To
the girls it seemed as though there were a great
many men gathered about the bunkhouse and the
corral. The very air seemed tinged with suspense
and mystery. Unconscious that they did so, all
the riders spurred their horses on at an increased
pace. Why should there be such activity where
usually there were peace and orderliness unless
something had happened? It was as if a cloud of
trouble had descended on the K Bar O.
“I wonder what’s the matter?” Virginia murmured
to Gale. “I hope nothing has happened——”
“We’ll soon find out,” Gale answered as the
horses trotted up to the corral and the girls dismounted.
“Look, isn’t that the Sheriff?”
“Hello, there, youngsters!” Gale’s uncle came
forward and at his heels came Sheriff Colman.
“What’s up, Dad?” Tom asked anxiously.
The Sheriff looked a bit sheepish and Mr. Wilson
frowned in annoyance.
“It’s the—rustlers,” the Sheriff said finally.
“They’ve escaped—vamoosed!”
“Gone?” Valerie asked incredibly. “But
how——”
.pn +1
“We locked ’em in the bunkhouse last night;
when we came to the bunkhouse—they were
gone.”
“The three of them?” Virginia asked.
Mr. Wilson nodded. “We think they are hiding
somewhere around the ranch. They couldn’t
have gone far.”
Carol cocked a speculative eye in the direction
of Gale and Valerie. “I wouldn’t want to be in
your shoes with the three of them loose.”
“You’re cheerful,” Gale told her.
“It does make me rather uncomfortable,” Valerie
said, uneasily glancing over her shoulder
as if she expected the Mexican to rise up behind
her.
“Don’t let their threats frighten you,” the Sheriff
said heartily. “There are enough of my deputies
here on the ranch to subdue an army. You’ll
be safe.”
“I hope so,” Valerie said, but her tone wasn’t
very confident.
“How about some lunch?” Tom put in. “You
can tell us about what’s happened then.”
“Where’s Mother?” Virginia asked.
“She’s gone into town to stay with the Johnsons
a few days—until we find these bandits,” her
.pn +1
father replied. “I wish you girls hadn’t come back
right now.”
“We thought we were coming to peace and
quiet,” Phyllis laughed. “Instead we walk into
a——”
“Riot,” supplied Janet.
Luncheon was a spasmodic affair, interrupted
by deputies wanting a consultation with the Sheriff,
and with discussions as to where the men
might be hiding. The hours between luncheon and
dinner passed and still the outlaws were not
found. They eluded capture with the elusiveness
of ghosts. The Sheriff was angry and chagrined.
It didn’t speak well for his prowess as an officer
of the law to have criminals escape him so constantly.
The girls were worried. Each believed that the
bandits would try to seek revenge on the two who
had been responsible for their capture. Valerie
especially had unpleasant memories of Pedro and
his knife.
Gale and Virginia alone held the opinion that
the outlaws wouldn’t linger near the ranch when
there were so many officers about. Why should
they risk their freedom for revenge? It seemed
silly to fear the angry threats made when the
.pn +1
Sheriff and his men captured the bandits. Those
kind of men were notoriously brave talkers, but
when it came to putting their deeds into words
they were slow in action. Gale believed their bluster
had been a mere attempt to cover up their
fear of the law. She refused to be worried over
their escape.
“I’ll wager they are in Mexico by now,” she
said confidently to Valerie as the two stood at the
window of their room preparatory to jumping
into bed.
“The Sheriff doesn’t think so,” Valerie said
bluntly. “Or if he does, why didn’t he follow
them?”
“Because they didn’t leave a trail,” a jolly voice
said behind them and Janet and Carol trailed into
the room through the communicating door. Both
were clad in flowing pajamas and robes and seated
themselves cross-legged on the bed.
“I happen to know,” Carol said in a mysterious
whisper, “that the Sheriff and his men trailed
the outlaws to the creek and there the trail was
lost.”
“Isn’t that always the way?” Janet said wearily.
“I thought we were going to have some excitement
but all the fun is over before we get
here.”
.pn +1
In answer to her words a volley of shots rang
out from the ranch yard.
Valerie frowned on her friend. “All the fun is
over, eh? I wonder what that was?”
“I’m going to find out,” Gale said and ran from
the room with Valerie at her heels.
Carol and Janet remained calmly on the bed.
When Gale and Valerie returned Janet looked up
in inquiry.
“Merely one of the patrolling sentries shooting
at a shadow,” Gale said dryly.
“Hm,” Janet yawned. “Those fellows are so
nervous if they suddenly looked in a mirror they
would shoot themselves!”
“How come you didn’t run when you heard the
shooting?” Valerie wanted to know. “For all you
know it might have been a lot of excitement.”
Janet shook her head. “I’ve got a sixth sense
that tells me when there is excitement in the air.”
“It doesn’t tell you when your horse is going to
run away though, does it?” Carol asked teasingly.
“Please,” Janet begged, “that is a painful subject.
Let’s not talk of it—I’ve still got a couple
of bruises. I’m going to bed,” she announced suddenly.
.pn +1
“It’s about time,” Carol declared, jumping up.
“Why do you say that?” Janet demanded. “If
you’re so sleepy why didn’t you go hours ago?”
“Because I can’t go without you, darling,”
Carol said sweetly. “I can’t sleep even if I do, because
when you come in you are sure to fall over
something and scare all sleep out of me.”
“I do not,” Janet protested.
When the two, still arguing, had closed the door
to their room Gale and Valerie prepared for bed.
“I shall probably dream of Pedro,” Valerie said
as she jumped between the covers. “That fellow
haunts me!”
“Nonsense,” Gale laughed. “Don’t let your
mind dwell on it. Anyway,” she sighed, “we’ll be
going home in three days and then you can get all
the sleep you like.”
“Just the same,” Val murmured, “I won’t ever
forget that knife.”
When the lights were out and sleep had come
to the girls, Gale slept dreamlessly, peacefully.
But Valerie tossed and fretted, pursued in her
dreams by Pedro and his knife, which, with the
fantasy of dreams, had grown to new and large
proportions.
.pn +1
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch17
Chapter XVII||REVENGE
.sp 2
Their horses were fresh and eager and the
girls had a hard time holding them into a leisurely
walk on the way back from town. Gale
and Valerie—the other girls had remained at the
ranch house to pack some of their things, for they
were to leave for the East day after tomorrow—were
the only ones who had felt eager for an early
morning ride. Tom had saddled their horses for
them and the girls had ridden into Coxton to get
a last look at the little western town. They made
some trifling purchases in the general store and
now were on their way back to the ranch.
The sun shone down, its brilliance sending little
dust eddies up from the road. At the roadside
a bird twittered.
“Funny,” Valerie said, “I never thought of
them as having birds in Arizona.”
Gale laughed. “Why shouldn’t they?”
“I don’t know. It just never occurred to me.
Did it you?”
.pn +1
“I read about them in an encyclopedia,” Gale
confessed laughingly. “I’m afraid that is the way
most of us become acquainted with places we’ve
never seen. It’s a very unsatisfying way.”
“I suppose you have an idea in your head to
go to see all the places in the world some day?”
“How did you guess?” Gale demanded gayly.
“That is just what I’ve been keeping up my
sleeve. Do you possess the same secret yen?”
“I do,” Val said smilingly. “But the places I
want to see are a little far to walk and there’s not
much hope of my going any other way.”
They turned off the trail into the ranch yard
and Janet hailed them frantically.
“Hi there! Come and hear the news!” she
called.
“What is it?” Gale asked as they dismounted
and left their horses’ reins dangling.
“Hear ye, hear ye,” Carol chanted, “the Sheriff
is about to capture the famous outlaws.”
“Just like he did several times,” Val said dryly.
“This time he is not going to let them out of his
sight one minute until they are sentenced and on
their way to a federal prison,” Janet said.
“How does he propose to catch them?” Gale
asked, sitting astride the banister.
.pn +1
“A little while ago,” Janet said, her voice a
confidential whisper, “a rider came from across
the valley somewhere. He says one of the bandits
was seen about five miles on the other side of
Coxton.”
“Only seen!” Valerie echoed.
“Is that all?” Gale added. “I thought they at
least had the three of them tied to a tree or something.”
“Let me finish!” Janet said. “He also said that
they have Pedro—he fell off his horse and hurt
himself—or something,” she added vaguely.
“Anyway they’ve got him.”
“Let’s hope they keep him,” Val said heartily.
“Why doesn’t the Sheriff go get him?”
“He is,” Carol interrupted. “He and his men
are getting their horses ready now. We’re going,
too,” she continued. “We coaxed and coaxed until
Mr. Wilson said we might ride along if we
didn’t get in the way. Everybody’s going,” she
added.
“Well, I’m not!” Val said positively. “Everybody
can go that wants to. I’m staying right
here!”
“Oh, Val,” Janet began coaxingly.
“I’m staying with Val,” Gale agreed. “Nine
.pn +1
chances out of ten it will be a wild goose chase
anyway.”
“You’re going to miss all the fun,” Carol
threatened.
“I don’t mind,” Val said. “Besides, I don’t want
even one more glimpse of Pedro or I’ll dream
about him again.”
“Oh, but everybody is going,” Janet said, “Virginia—Madge—Tom—us,”
she enumerated.
“You’ll be quite alone,” added Carol.
“We don’t mind,” Gale assured them.
From the house came Virginia and Phyllis and
Madge. Their voices were added to Janet’s and
Carol’s, but Gale and Valerie remained firm in
their decision to remain at the ranch. The girls
trailed off to the corral to get their mounts.
Valerie and Gale walked with them and joined
Mr. Wilson, Tom, and the Sheriff where they were
talking.
“Going along?” Tom asked.
“No,” Gale shook her head. “We’re of the opinion
it is all a wild goose chase so we’re staying
here.”
“I rather agree with you,” he said in a low
tone, “but it is up to the Sheriff to follow every
lead you know or the people will say he is shirking
.pn +1
his duty. I don’t believe those fellows are
even in the United States any more,” he continued.
“Anyway, it won’t take long to make sure.”
“I hope it is true,” Valerie said. “I’ve had the
jitters ever since those fellows got away again.”
“Well, Val, I’ll give Pedro your regards when
I see him,” Carol said as the girls rode up.
“You don’t have to bother,” Val said hastily.
“You better come along,” Janet laughed. “My
sixth sense tells me we are due for some excitement.”
“No,” Val said. “I’m going to stay here and
make fudge.”
“Now why didn’t you tell me that sooner?”
Tom said aggrievedly. “Fudge is my weakness.”
“We’ll save you some,” Gale promised.
“Adios!”
The girls and the Sheriff, with his men and Mr.
Wilson and Tom, rode away in a cloud of dust.
Valerie and Gale leaned on the corral fence,
watching them out of sight. Then they turned
and proceeded leisurely up to the house.
“I wish them luck,” Valerie declared. “And
now for the fudge!”
The K Bar O possessed a very fine Chinese
cook who did the cooking for the ranch house, as
.pn +1
well as the bunkhouse, and he presided in solitary
estate over the kitchen and its equipment. Loo
Wong had very definite ideas about who was
privileged to set foot in his domestic kingdom,
and Mrs. Wilson was the only one whom he
greeted with his wide smile. The “boss-lady” was
welcome at any time, but woe to the others who
tried to muss up his kitchen.
Now as the girls entered the ranch house and
approached the kitchen they went on tiptoe. Together
they peeped around the door. Everything
was spick and span, but Loo Wong was nowhere
in sight.
“It seems the coast is clear,” smiled Gale.
“Ah, but if Loo Wong returns there will be fireworks,”
Val declared. “However, here goes.”
From the closet Valerie brought the pan and
the necessary ingredients while Gale sat on the
edge of the table and watched. The brown mixture
was on the stove and a delicious odor filled
the room. When Valerie took the pan from the
fire to beat the fudge Gale stuck an experimental
finger in it for a taste.
“Ouch!” she cried.
Valerie giggled. “You might have known it was
hot,” she said unsympathetically.
.pn +1
“Just the same, it tastes good,” Gale declared.
“When can I have a piece?”
“When it gets cold!” Valerie said. “Come
along, young lady,” she said, leading Gale into
the other room. “Let it alone for a while.”
The girls took magazines and settled themselves
for the rest of the afternoon. The silence
was undisturbed but for the occasional rustling
of paper when a page was turned. Val got up and
turned on the radio. Soft music filtered into the
room.
“Imagine,” Gale smiled lazily from her comfortable
position, “way out here we can dance to
music from California or New York.”
“Hm,” Val answered, executing a few intricate
steps from sheer joy and happiness.
“Val,” Gale continued teasingly, coaxingly,
“how about that fudge? It is a shame to leave it
all by itself in the kitchen.”
“It ought to be cold enough now,” was Val’s
opinion and there was a concerted rush for the
kitchen.
With appropriate ceremony Val cut the candy
and each of them chose a piece.
“Ah,” Gale murmured. “It is delicious, delightful,
de——” Her voice died slowly away.
.pn +1
Standing in the doorway was Loo Wong looking
mightily unpleased and angry. He took in the
two girls and then the dirty dishes piled on the
sink. With difficulty Gale swallowed the last remaining
bit of her fudge as Loo Wong took a further
step toward them.
“We’ll wash the dishes,” Val said hastily, seeking
to placate him.
Gale held out the fudge. “H-Have a piece,” she
invited.
Loo Wong looked from one girl to the other.
Slowly he reached out and took a piece of candy.
Wonderingly he bit into it and a slow grin spread
over his yellow face.
“Missy alle same fline cook,” he declared. “You
teach Loo Wong?”
If the girls had looked at each other they would
have laughed so neither glanced at the other.
Both of them had expected dire results for mussing
Wong’s kitchen, but instead he wanted them
to teach him to make fudge.
Gale, inwardly shaking with mirth, sat on the
table and watched while Val instructed the
Chinaman. Loo Wong might be adept at making
flapjacks and other western specialties, but when
it came to candy he wasn’t so artful. He insisted
.pn +1
on doing things wrong and Val was becoming exasperated.
But finally it was done, and set out to
cool. Loo Wong, the grin of a delighted child on
his face, hands hidden in voluptuous sleeves,
bowed low and went out to the bunkhouse to
start supper.
“I wouldn’t have missed that for anything,”
Gale declared with a hearty laugh. “When he
first came in I expected no less than murder. Instead——”
“We better wash the dishes,” Val declared.
“He might take it into his head to come back. It
was funny, wasn’t it?” she murmured laughingly.
“He looked so serious all the time, too. And you,”
she said, “you wouldn’t help me explain it to
him.”
Gale laughed. “He asked you. Besides, I was
enjoying myself,” she added.
“There!” Val sighed when the dishes were
clean and tucked away in their proper places.
“Now everything is just as we found it.”
“I’m going back to my magazine,” Gale declared.
“I wonder when the girls will get back?”
Above the music on the radio a knock sounded.
“Maybe Loo Wong has returned,” Val said
with a laugh, jumping up and going to the kitchen.
.pn +1
At the same time another knock came on the
front door.
“What is this?” she heard Gale murmur as she
got up to see who was there.
Val pulled open the kitchen door and stumbled
back in amazement. Terror gripped her heart and
her hands were suddenly cold. She caught at the
table for support.
“What do you want—here?” she asked through
dry lips.
The man who stood on the threshold advanced
slowly into the room and closed the door behind
him. All too well she had recognized him. It was
Pedro, the Mexican who had sworn revenge. He
was here, the Sheriff hadn’t caught him. Slowly
she began to back away toward the other room.
Perhaps together she and Gale could do something.
Possessed solely with an unreasoning terror
she turned and fled into the living room where
she flung herself on Gale.
“Gale—what’ll we do?” she demanded wildly.
“Keep your chin up,” Gale said into Val’s ear.
“It seems we have two visitors.”
“Two?” Val said in surprise. “Who—oh!”
While Pedro entered from the kitchen, Val
faced the other man whom Gale had been forced
.pn +1
to let in at the front door. It was the bank bandit,
the same man who with his partner they
had held up in the cabin when the Sheriff arrested
the three. The man who had boasted that no jail
could hold him. It seemed he had spoken the
truth for here he was again, free.
Pedro looked across at his companion who was
fingering a horsehair rope and smiled. That smile
made the girls’ blood run cold. It was like an evil
shadow of what was to come.
Gale felt Val’s hand tighten convulsively on
hers. She looked at her friend. Poor Val, she
looked scared to death. Gale hoped she didn’t
show her own fright as plainly. Somehow, the
knowledge that Valerie was frightened and was
counting on her, Gale, for help, served to banish
some of Gale’s own terror. When one was terror-stricken,
one couldn’t think clearly and goodness
knew, they were in need of some straight, clear
thinking at this moment. How had these men
eluded the police so long? How had they managed
to keep in the vicinity and remain hidden
from their pursuers?
“How—how did you get here?” Gale said nervously.
“We thought——”
“We were miles away, eh?” the outlaw said
.pn +1
with a loud laugh. “We couldn’t leave without
payin’ a final visit to you. It was easy to get your
friends off the ranch.”
“But what if we had gone with them?” Gale
demanded, wishing desperately that they had
gone with the others.
“We’d have tried another way,” he said calmly.
“You ride alone sometimes.”
“But it is nicer so,” Pedro put in. “No one will
hear you—scream!”
Valerie, who had been listening in frightened
and worried silence, now permitted herself a
gleam of triumph. They supposed no one would
hear, did they? Loo Wong was in the bunkhouse.
In fact, he might at any moment come here to
the big ranch house. And surely he would hear?
Val smiled to herself. Both girls had pretty good
lungs and once they let out a yell, Loo Wong
would have to have bad ears indeed not to hear
them!
“Loo Wong,” Val said in the barest of whispers to
Gale.
Gale nudged her friend in understanding. It
was well that they did have a faint hope of help,
but it would not do to let these men know of Loo
Wong. They had come here bloodthirsty and revengeful.
.pn +1
What would happen before they left?
Of that she scarcely dared to think. The outlaw
was fingering his rope again, in a most unpleasant
manner. What was he contemplating? She
shivered at the malicious look on his face. They
might try anything, they were utterly ruthless.
She wished frantically that there was some way
in which they might summon Loo Wong.
“No, as I said, we couldn’t leave without paying
a visit to you,” the outlaw continued. “Did
you ever see anybody horsewhipped?” he asked
next.
Gale paled at the suggestion. “You can’t mean
to—you must be mad!” she said.
“Oh, an’ I might as well tell you, there’s no
use yellin’ for that crazy cook o’ the Wilsons. My
pal is takin’ care of him.”
That took all the wind out of the girls’ sails. It
was the final blow. Now they were certainly cornered.
All their friends away and Loo Wong—incapacitated.
“Are you mad to come here like this?” Gale
said stormily. She had decided it was better to
put up a staunch front. “You know what will
happen when you are caught, and you will be
caught! The Sheriff will shoot you on sight!”
.pn +1
“We won’t be here,” the man said confidently.
“Tonight we’re leavin’ the country for good, eh,
Pedro?”
“Sí,” replied his companion with a wide grin.
“We go ver’ fast.”
“Not fast enough to get away,” Gale said confidently.
“And when they catch you——”
“That’s enough! They’re not goin’ to catch
us,” he repeated, jerking his rope between his
hands and taking a firm grip on the handle.
Gale wished suddenly that they had not come
to Arizona at all this summer. But then when
they had started out who had thought things
might come to this? The West nowadays was supposed
to be calm and orderly, with no traces of
the old-time Billy the Kid and his confederates.
They had wanted adventures and now they were
certainly getting them.
“I wonder if Janet’s sixth sense told her of
this,” Val murmured, with a dry attempt at humor.
“Ever since you landed here things have been
poppin’,” the outlaw resumed, fixing a stern eye
on Gale. “First you grab the bank money and
land us in jail. Then you hand us over to the
Sheriff again.”
.pn +1
“And we’ll do it a third time,” Gale said.
“Not when we get through,” the man assured
her. “I reckon we’ve got a little score to settle
and we’re goin’ to do it—now!”
.pn +1
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch18
Chapter XVIII||PREMONITION
.sp 2
The Adventure Girls, with their companions,
rode along briskly through the bright sunshine.
They were all anxious to reach the spot
where the outlaws had been as soon as possible
so they did not dawdle along the way.
“Gale and Val don’t know what they’re missing,”
Janet declared as they jogged along. “It’s
not every day you can join in a chase for bandits.”
“But just think of them lounging around eating
big chunks of fudge,” Carol said mischievously.
Janet frowned on her. “Must you give voice to
such disturbing thoughts? If they don’t save me
a piece, I’ll never forgive them,” she added
darkly.
“What’s the matter with you?” Virginia asked
Phyllis as the latter rode along between Virginia
and Tom.
“I?” Phyllis laughed, “I’ve got a funny feeling
.pn +1
that I’d like to run back to the ranch. Call it
a premonition or——”
“A hunch,” supplied Tom. “Well, it’s about
time we called a halt. I’m thirsty,” he declared,
sliding from his saddle and approaching the little
stream beside which the party had halted.
The afternoon was wearing fast away and long
shadows were appearing under the trees.
“Say, Sheriff, when do you reckon we’ll find
these fellows?” Tom wanted to know.
“’Bout two, three hours yet,” the Sheriff replied.
“That means we’ll be riding back to the ranch
in the moonlight,” put in Madge.
“For which three cheers,” added Janet. “I like
night riding.”
When they remounted, Phyllis declared her intention
of returning to the ranch house. It took a
bit of determination to persuade the others to
leave her, but she was firm about it and finally
watched them ride off without her. Then she
turned her horse and headed back to the K Bar
O. She was in no hurry now, so she let her pony
proceed at a leisurely walk.
It was strange, this feeling she had, that she
should go back to her friends. She could not tell
.pn +1
why she should feel so. There was certainly nothing
that could happen to them at the ranch. Yet
she had that queer feeling that there was something
doing, something in which she should have
a part.
She looked up at the setting sun. It would be
dark before she reached the ranch house and, she
plotted mischievously, she would surprise Gale
and Valerie. Pounce on them all unaware. Behind
her sounded the beat of hoofs and Tom rode into
sight.
“Hi, there!” he called. “Wait up for a pal.”
“Going home, too?” she demanded.
“Yep,” he nodded, reining his horse in beside
hers. “I thought you might get lost, so I’ll be your
guide.”
“Was it me or was it Val’s fudge,” Phyllis
asked suspiciously, “that made you decide to
come along?”
“Well now,” Tom drawled, a twinkle in his eye,
“I reckon the fudge was an added inducement.”
“I thought so,” laughed Phyllis.
“That hunch of yours must have been strong
to take you back to the ranch,” Tom declared
after a while.
.pn +1
“It’s strange,” Phyllis frowned. “I can’t account
for it.”
“Hunches are funny things,” Tom agreed.
“Sometimes they’re right and sometimes—well,
sometimes they’re not so good.”
“Do you get them?” Phyllis asked.
“Lots of times,” he agreed. “I remember once
a couple years ago, I was out night riding with
the herd. I made up my mind to return to the
ranch in the middle of the night. I came to a fork
in the trail and a hunch told me to take the trail
to the right, so I did. Well, all of a sudden my
horse balked and refused to budge another step.
He was right stubborn about it too. I reckon I
called him everything I could think of and used
my whip a lot, too. But he just set back on his
haunches and refused to go on.
“It was so dark I couldn’t see a thing of what
was ahead an’ thought maybe Dusty was afraid
of something. Usually he was the best-behaved
horse on the K Bar O.”
“What did you do?” Phyllis asked interestedly.
“I got down and took out my flashlight. I got
a habit of carryin’ a light with me, and turned it
ahead of us. Did my hair stand on end! Here I
.pn +1
had been trying to drive him off a sixty-foot cliff.
All he would have had to take was one step to
land us both in kingdom come.”
“He had good reason to be stubborn,” Phyllis
murmured in awe. “I didn’t know horses had such
sense!”
“Yep, you can trust a horse’s judgment in preference
to a man’s sometimes,” Tom said. “Especially
in the country out here.”
They rode along, chatting amiably, while the
sun sank farther and farther out of sight.
“Boy, am I hungry!” Tom declared. “I hope
Loo Wong has supper ready.”
“But he doesn’t know we’re coming,” Phyllis
reminded him.
“Surely Gale and Val intend to eat,” Tom said.
“There will be enough for us, too.”
When they rode into the ranch yard it was
dark and the windows of the bunkhouse and the
ranch house were gleaming yellow. Three horses
stood saddled by the corral. When Phyllis and
Tom rode up and dismounted, Tom went across
and examined the horses curiously. He was back
at Phyllis’ side in a moment.
“Something funny going on here,” he said in a
low undertone. “The place is too quiet to be
natural.”
.pn +1
“My hunch was right,” Phyllis murmured in
return. “But what is it? Don’t you know those
three horses?”
“No, never saw ’em before,” he answered.
“Let’s go to the bunkhouse and see if we can find
Loo Wong.”
Cautiously they crossed the ranch yard and
peered in the bunkhouse window. Phyllis involuntarily
caught her breath at what they saw.
Loo Wong was seated against the wall and directly
in front of him, across the table, his back
to the window and door, sat another man, a dirty,
unkempt individual. The latter had his feet
propped on the table and a rifle aimed squarely
at Loo Wong’s head. Loo Wong was glaring
fruitlessly at his enemy. The situation was highly
injurious to his oriental pride and this disgusting
individual was keeping him from his duties in the
kitchen. Wong was properly angry, but he had no
desire to resort to violence and perhaps end up
with a bullet in him from the other’s gun, so he
submitted impassively.
“What can we do?” Phyllis demanded of Tom.
Neither of the two was armed, but it was imperative
that they rescue Loo Wong and determine
what, if anything, had happened to Gale
.pn +1
and Valerie. Tom pulled his hat, the usual ten
gallon size, farther down on his forehead and
grinned maliciously.
“You stay here,” he directed in a tone that
brooked no argument.
Around by the door was piled firewood. Loo
Wong was negligent in carrying his wood into the
kitchen and usually commissioned one of the
cowboys to do it, but today no one had bothered.
Tom chose a piece that would be admirable as
a club and approached the door.
Not by a glance or a sound did Loo Wong betray
himself when he saw the door slowly open
and the face of the young boss appear. He kept
his almond eyes fixed on the man opposite him,
hands hidden in his enveloping sleeves, face perfectly
impassive. What was going on in his mind
it was impossible to tell.
Phyllis, watching at the window, wondered
how in the world he managed to sit so perfectly
still. She, herself, was almost dancing in impatience.
She expected to see the outlaw whirl about
and shoot at Tom any minute. It was impossible
that he could be wholly ignorant of Tom’s presence.
She held her breath as Tom shut the door
behind him and approached catlike to his prey.
.pn +1
She saw the man suddenly straighten in his chair
and stand up. He turned and at the same time
Tom hurled himself forward. The man fired his
rifle and Phyllis instinctively ducked. It was fortunate
that she did, for the bullet crashed
through the glass over her head. When she cautiously
raised her eyes to the window again, the
outlaw was on the floor and Loo Wong was grinning
at Tom.
Phyllis left the window and ran to the door.
She wanted to get up to the ranch house and see
if Gale and Val were safe and sound, but she
wanted company, for something told her she
might run into trouble. Ever since she had seen
that man guarding Loo Wong, she had a secret
conviction that the girls were in trouble. If they
were, it was up to her, Tom, and Loo Wong, to
get them out of it. The Sheriff and the others
wouldn’t be back for hours yet.
“That’ll hold him for a while,” Tom declared
as she appeared. He dusted his hands and turned
to the Chinese cook. “What happened, Wong?”
Laboriously and in his funny English, Loo
Wong proceeded to acquaint the others with the
details of how the man had surprised him at work
and held him prisoner at the point of a gun. Of
.pn +1
the two girls in the ranch house, he knew nothing.
He had not known the man who accosted
him had had companions.
“When did he come, Loo Wong?” Tom asked.
“Mebbe one, almost one hour,” the Chinaman
said with a shrug of his shoulders. “Time flies.”
“Don’t you think we better go up to the
house?” Phyllis asked Tom worriedly.
“Yes, come along, Wong!” Tom said turning
to the door.
“One moment, please,” the Chinaman said and
disappeared into the kitchen.
“What do you suppose he is after?” Phyllis
asked impatiently.
“I don’t know,” Tom said with a half smile.
“He has a funny idea in his head, I suppose.”
He was as anxious as Phyllis to get to the
ranch house. He believed, now, that the hunt the
Sheriff and the others had gone on was a hoax.
For some reason the outlaws had come here to
the ranch, of that he was certain, and he thanked
his stars he had decided to return to the K Bar O
with Phyllis. He knew the men, on the day the
Sheriff had arrested them, had sworn to get even
with the two girls who were responsible for their
capture, but he had not dreamed that they would
.pn +1
attempt anything—above all, here at the ranch.
He tried not to seem worried in front of Phyllis,
but he was.
Loo Wong appeared from the kitchen brandishing
his meat cleaver. The wide, sharp blade
gleamed dully in the lamplight.
“Don’t aim that thing at me,” Tom laughed.
“What are you going to do with it?”
“Show blandits tlwo, thlee thing,” Loo Wong
said gravely.
“You’ll show them two or three stars if you
hit them with that,” Phyllis declared. “Let’s go,
Tom.”
The three stepped from the bunkhouse and
started across the yard. From the house ahead of
them came a crash and the light in the front room
went out. A shout arose, then another.
“Stay here, Phyllis,” Tom said, starting forward
at a run. “Come along, Wong.”
“Velly fast!” responded the Chinaman, his
cleaver clasped tightly in his hand, ready to
smash the first thing that accosted him.
.pn +1
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch19
Chapter XIX||HELP
.sp 2
The horsehair whip was heavy and long. It
cracked ominously as the outlaw swung it
once around his head and brought it down on the
floor.
Val jumped as it snapped scarcely six inches
from her ankle. Two high spots of color burned
in her cheeks and her eyes were blazing. She was
beginning to conquer her terror and to feel exasperated
with the situation, it was so like a melodramatic
“thriller” of the movies. She was sure
these men wouldn’t dare use the whip on them,
but—she glanced apprehensively at Pedro, and
saw his knife once more between his caressing
fingers. Darn the man! Did he always have to
look so much like a—pirate? Mentally she decided
that was just the appearance he gave,
ragged, dirty, daring—a pirate who was ready to
make his victims walk the plank. Val wished
frantically that their friends would return and
upset the outlaws’ plans. Of course they wouldn’t
.pn +1
dare to harm Gale and her, but just the same she
wanted to be rid of them.
Gale was not as confident of escape from injury
as Val. She believed the men were determined
to seek the revenge which they claimed.
Their threatening appearance certainly did not
belie their words. The sight of the whip curled
in the leader’s hand was enough to convince Gale
of their purpose. They intended to use the whip
on the girls, and unless something happened to
interfere——
Gale was glad Val was conquering her terror.
It seemed after the first surprise and terror were
over, Val rallied surprisingly. Now she was
standing beside Gale, calm and haughty. If the
two of them kept their wits about them, they
might be able to find a means of escape from the
situation. But how? They could not look for help
from their friends because they were still miles
away. It was up to them to either take the horsewhipping,
or to rebel and overthrow the tyranny
of these two bandits. With lightning glances,
Gale looked about the room for something, anything
that might help, for she was determined to
fight.
The girls were standing before an open window.
.pn +1
The night breeze faintly rustled the curtain.
Before them was the lamp that lighted the
room, standing on a table among books and
magazines. At one end of the room, effectively
blocked by Pedro, was the door to the dining
room and the kitchen beyond. At the other side
of the room was the front door by which the chief
outlaw had entered. A dash to either of the doors
would be useless.
Pedro watched with a pleased grin while his
companion stepped closer to the girls. Instinctively
the girls gave ground until they were flat
against the wall—by the window.
“Val,” Gale whispered.
“Yes?”
“Can you jump out the window in a minute?”
“Half a minute,” Val said at once. “But
what——”
“Get ready,” Gale murmured urgently.
Gale had an idea. True it was a long chance,
but it might work. If the room was suddenly
plunged in darkness, the outlaws would momentarily
be nonplussed. That moment was all they
needed. Once outside they might have a chance
of outrunning or tricking their pursuers. If they
stayed here in the room, the whip was bound to
.pn +1
fall on them. As it was, the bandit was swinging
it viciously and it took agility to avoid the stinging
lash.
Obedient to Gale’s command to get ready to
drop out of the window, Val half turned to face
the wall.
“Don’t think you can get out that way,” the
outlaw said. “We’ve got you now and we’re going
to settle a few things!” He swung the whip and
it descended with a crack on Val’s shoulders.
At the same time Gale launched herself forward
and with one sweep of her arm knocked
the lamp to the floor. With a ringing crash, the
room was plunged into darkness. She heard
Pedro shout to his partner as she saw Val’s
figure outlined against the window when her
friend climbed over the sill. It all happened in a
split second and Gale sprang to the front door
which the outlaw had deserted when he sprang
after Valerie. But ere she reached the door Pedro
was behind her and a heavy hand on her shoulder
pulled her stumbling back into the room. She
eluded him and sprang away. She had the advantage
of the bandits, for she knew the Wilson
living room and she knew what to avoid but the
men didn’t. They thrashed about, stumbling over
.pn +1
the furniture and muttering angrily. Sliding
along the wall she reached the dining room door
and slipped through while the men still sought
her in the darkness.
She stepped into the silence of the other room
and bumped into someone. She drew back with a
stifled exclamation. Had the men stationed another
of their friends in here?
“Gale?” a voice demanded.
“Tom! Quick, they’ll get away!” she said.
“How many are there?” he asked.
“Two. Oh, do be careful!”
“Phyllis and Val are outside, go out to them,”
he said and pushed her to one side. He and
Phyllis and Wong had met Valerie when she
dropped from the window.
In quick strides he entered the living room and
in another minute had flung himself on one of the
men. Together they struggled in the darkness.
Loo Wong had come up silently behind Gale and
now he followed Tom into the confusion.
“They’ll kill each other,” Phyllis declared
nervously as she and Val joined Gale.
“Tom has a hefty punch and I hope he uses
it,” Valerie said determinedly. “I—oh!”
.pn +1
A revolver shot had crashed through the sound
of struggle and there was an accompanying groan.
“Tom?” Gale called uncertainly.
When there was no answer she crept forward
and into the living room. Suddenly all had become
quiet and she scarcely dared to press the
switch to light the overhead lights for fear of
what she might see. The light disclosed Tom
swaying over the prostrate form of the chief bandit,
while Loo Wong sat calmly on Pedro’s chest,
brandishing his meat cleaver.
“You’re hurt, Tom!” Gale said running forward.
“Just a scratch in the arm,” he answered. “I
reckon we got these fellows this time.”
“Alle same velly blad business,” was Loo
Wong’s opinion.
“Let me fix your arm, Tom,” Gale said.
“It’ll be all right,” he assured her.
But Gale insisted and after cutting away the
bloody sleeve cleansed and wrapped the wound
in clean bandages. As he had said it was not
severe, but it was better that they should take no
chances.
After Gale’s first-aid treatment was over, Tom
.pn +1
and Loo Wong locked the two desperadoes with
their partner in the bunkhouse and there they
stayed until the Sheriff returned.
The others returned to the ranch house to set
the living room to rights. It was a wreck, table
overturned, lamp broken, magazines torn, and
chairs upside down.
“It looks as though a cyclone had hit the
place,” Phyllis declared.
“I’ll send your Mother a lamp when I get
home,” Gale promised Tom. “It was my idea to
put the place in darkness.”
“You don’t have to bother,” he said laughingly.
“You’ll probably get a reward for capturing
those fellows. We’ll let the Sheriff buy the
lamp.”
“You and Loo Wong deserve the reward,” Val
put in. “We didn’t do a thing.”
“You captured them that time in the cabin,”
Tom said. “That’s what the reward is for. I don’t
want any money. You can have every bit—to
find some new adventures with,” he added laughingly.
By the time the others arrived home some semblance
of order had been restored but much of
the furniture still showed signs of rough usage.
.pn +1
“It was all a wild goose chase,” Janet greeted
them, sinking into the first convenient chair. “I
wish I had stayed home with you. Is there any
fudge left?”
“Plenty,” Valerie said. “Didn’t you have any
excitement?” she asked sweetly.
“Nary a crumb,” Carol declared. “For once
Janet’s sixth sense was totally wrong.”
“You mean it led in the wrong direction,”
Phyllis said. “You didn’t need to chase off after
the excitement. It came to the ranch.”
“What are you talking about?” demanded
Madge.
“What happened to Tom?” Virginia continued
as her brother and the Sheriff and Mr. Wilson
left the ranch house and walked toward the bunkhouse.
“Did he fall off his horse?” added Janet.
“He was shot,” Phyllis said innocently, gleefully
noting the sensation her words created.
“What’s this?” Carol asked, rousing herself
from a comfortable position. “Did I hear aright?
Shot? How? By whom? And why?”
“Haven’t you noticed the living room is
slightly awry?” Gale demanded.
“We thought maybe you were having football
.pn +1
practice or something with the lamp,” Carol
commented. “What happened?”
“Well, you see it was this way,” Valerie began
mischievously, to keep them in suspense. “I was
making fudge in the kitchen and you know how
fussy Loo Wong is about his kitchen.”
“Don’t we!” Virginia agreed. “Did he catch
you?”
“Yes, he did,” Gale laughed.
“And asked me to teach him to make fudge,”
Valerie added.
“But what has that to do with mussing the living
room?” Janet demanded. “I don’t see the
point.”
“Oh, yes, I forgot to tell you, it was after that
that the bank robbers called on us,” Valerie said
nonchalantly.
“The bank robbers called on you,” Carol said
slowly. “Are you joking?”
“No,” Gale assured her. “You’ll find three of
them carefully subdued and locked in the bunkhouse.”
“One of them shot Tom,” Virginia said rather
than asked.
“Exactly,” Phyllis agreed. “That was during
the fight.”
.pn +1
“Fight? Don’t be so aggravating!” stormed
Janet. “Give us the details!”
“All right,” Valerie said laughingly, “we’ll tell
you, and maybe next time you will stay with us
for your excitement.”
Phyllis told of her and Tom’s arrival at the
ranch house and Gale and Valerie took turns describing
what had happened at the ranch house.
The other girls were half glad and half sorry that
they had been absent. They were glad they had
not had to face the two bandits, but at the same
time sorry because they had missed the excitement.
“Gosh,” mourned Janet, “nothing happens
when we are around.”
“Never mind,” consoled Valerie, “Tom says
we will get a reward and you can help us spend
it.”
“Hurrah! How much do you get?” demanded
Carol brightly.
“I don’t know,” Gale answered. “Anyway, we
shall probably have to wait until the prisoners
are safely in jail. That means we won’t be able
to go home day after tomorrow.”
“Oh well, if we stay another day or two it
doesn’t make any difference,” Madge said, dismissing
.pn +1
that subject abruptly. “What do you
propose to do with your reward?”
“We hadn’t thought about it,” Valerie said.
“We shall all have to put our heads together and
think of something—not anything crazy!” she
said with a glance at Janet and Carol.
“Do you insinuate that anything crazy might
come from our heads?” the latter two demanded
crisply.
“I have known such times,” Val laughed.
“My friend, you wound me deeply,” Janet said
with mock tears. “My thoughts are always for
the betterment of humanity.”
Carol coughed loudly over a smothered giggle.
“Quite so,” she agreed. “But that doesn’t settle
the question of what to do with the reward.”
“Perhaps we better wait and see if there really
is a reward,” Gale suggested dryly.
“Meanwhile, let’s eat,” Carol proposed and the
rest were unanimous in agreement.
They all trooped to the kitchen, but there
found Loo Wong already in the throes of making
a late lunch and there was nothing they could do
to help him so they went back to the living room
to wait and to talk.
.pn +1
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch20
Chapter XX||REWARD
.sp 2
The sun was warm and dazzling. Gale felt
uncomfortably hot as she rode along. The
creak of saddle leather and the clop clop of her
horse’s hoofs were all the sounds that disturbed
the stillness. Somehow she had lost the others
when she stopped some distance back and now
she rode alone.
It was the day the Adventure Girls had
planned to leave for home, but they hadn’t carried
out their plans. Yesterday the notorious
bandits had, under heavy guard, left for a federal
prison. The Sheriff had bestowed the reward, one
thousand dollars, upon the Adventure Girls. Now
the question was, what were they to do with it?
They had all agreed upon using it for some
worthy cause rather than keeping it for themselves,
but they couldn’t find a worthy cause.
Dismounting from her horse, Gale let him
drink from a tiny brooklet. A low, cheerily whistled
tune caught her attention and she looked
.pn +1
about for the whistler. Several yards from her,
industriously whittling a wooden twig, sat a
small boy, with ragged clothes and tangled curly
hair. His eyes, when he looked up at Gale, were as
blue as the skies overhead.
“’Lo,” he said with an engaging grin.
“Hello,” she replied smilingly, dropping down
beside him.
“Fine horse, that,” he declared. “You’re from
the K Bar O, aintcha?”
“That’s right,” she answered. “Who are you?”
“I’m Bobby,” he answered brightly.
She accepted this wondering who in the world
Bobby might be. “You live around here?” she
asked.
“On t’other side of the hill,” he replied.
“You’re just visitin’, huh?”
“Yes, I live in the East.”
“Where?”
“In Marchton, that’s a little town near the
Atlantic Ocean,” she replied.
“What’s an ocean?” he wanted to know.
“Why an ocean is a—um—a big body of
water,” she said.
“Somethin’ like a lake, huh?”
.pn +1
“Something like it, only much bigger,” she
assured him. “Don’t you learn about oceans in
school?”
“I don’t go to school,” he replied.
“Why not?” Gale asked.
“Cause my Mother hasn’t any money for my
clothes or books,” he answered brightly. “Anyway,
I’m goin’ to be a cowboy when I get big and
I don’t haveta know much for that.”
“Wouldn’t you like to go to school?” she persisted.
He bent over his knife and the wood he was
whittling. “Aw, shucks,” he said. “Course I
would. But I can’t. I talk to the riders a lot an’
Tom and Virginia too. They tell me stories and
Virginia teaches me ’rithmetic sometimes.”
Gale wondered why Virginia had never mentioned
the little boy to the Adventure Girls. Then
she remembered when they had first arrived Virginia
had casually talked about him, but the girls
had gone off on their camping trip and he had
not been mentioned again. Gale liked him, he
seemed a bright little fellow, quick to learn and
to imitate.
“I can ride an’ fish an’ shoot,” he bragged.
.pn +1
“Course I don’t know much outa books, but I’ll
get along.”
Gale marveled that a youngster, scarcely eight,
could be so optimistic and have such a cheerful
acceptance of his destiny. She felt a trifle guilty
that she didn’t have such philosophy about the
things she wanted but couldn’t have.
“Do you have a horse of your own?” she
asked.
“No,” he admitted, “but Tom loans me one
lots of times.”
“Want to take a ride on mine?” she asked.
His eyes sparkled joyfully at the suggestion
and he murmured a bashful “Gee!”
“Go ahead,” she invited. “I’ll wait here for
you.”
His legs didn’t reach to the stirrups, but horse
and rider seemed welded together as Bobby urged
the roan across the valley. At first Gale was
afraid he might be unseated, but she soon discovered
she need have no fear. Bobby was a born
rider, and knew as much about sticking in the
saddle as Gale herself.
“He sure can run,” Bobby panted as he jumped
off beside Gale and handed her the reins.
“He sure can,” she replied with a smile. She
.pn +1
held out her hand and Bobby placed his in it.
“Goodbye, Bobby,” she said cheerfully. “Maybe
I’ll see you again before I go home.”
“I live in the cabin over by the creek,” he
said. “Ma an’ me’ll be glad to see ya,” he declared.
“Oh, and Bobby,” she said, pausing, one foot
in the stirrup. “If a fairy gave you a wish what
would you wish?”
“I’d wish to go to school,” he answered
promptly. “Are you a fairy?” he added.
“Hardly,” Gale said, “but I might meet one
and I’ll tell her about you.”
As she rode away she looked back at the
sturdy little figure standing gazing after her. He
was such an oldish little chap for his years. What
a pity he had to waste his active little brain because
his mother had no money to send him to
the country school. What Gale admired was his
fortitude and readiness to accept the little good
things that did come his way.
She had an idea in her head and all the way
back to the ranch house it persisted in teasing
her. But what would the other girls think of her
idea? That she meant to find out as soon as possible.
She dismounted at the corral and Jim came
.pn +1
forward to take her horse. On the porch of the
ranch house were gathered the Adventure Girls
with Virginia.
“Aha, run away from us, will you?” accused
Janet.
“You lost me,” Gale replied.
“We have been discussing ways of spending
your reward,” Carol informed her. “We have
about decided to save it for another trip out here
next summer.”
“To meet some more bandits,” interposed Valerie
dryly.
“That might not happen in another hundred
years,” Virginia declared. “You would have to
pick the summer that we were having trouble.
Other years all is peaceful and serene.”
“Look,” Phyllis said laughingly, “if we hadn’t
come out you might still be having trouble. We
cleared everything up.”
“Of course,” Virginia laughed teasingly.
“You’re good!”
“What do you think, Gale?” Madge asked.
“Hm?” Gale brought her gaze back from the
tops of the far pine trees on the horizon. “About
what?”
“You weren’t listening,” Janet accused.
.pn +1
Gale laughed. “No, I wasn’t,” she confessed.
“What were you saying?”
“Don’t listen to them,” Val interrupted. “Each
one has a worse idea how to spend the thousand
dollars.”
“Haven’t you an idea that will put our minds
at rest?” Phyllis demanded of Gale. “We really
have to do something, you know. We start for
home tomorrow and we haven’t much time.”
“Don’t you have a plan, Gale?” Janet demanded.
“You must have, everybody else does.
Come now, confess!”
“Yes,” Gale said, “I have a plan, and I’m wondering
what you would think of it.”
“Well, we can’t think a thing unless you tell
us what it is,” Carol said practically.
“Yes, Gale, tell us,” Phyllis agreed. “Yours
will probably be the best. The rest of these weak
minded people will soon suggest buying an airplane.”
“I resent that!” Janet said loudly. “What is
the matter with an airplane?”
“Not a thing,” Phyllis consoled her. “I
just——”
“Suppose we let Gale talk?” Madge cut in.
“This afternoon when I lost you girls I met a
.pn +1
little boy. A cute little chap. About eight, I
should say. He has the most trusting blue eyes
and curliest hair——”
“Are you going to adopt him?” interposed
Carol.
“Silly,” Gale said. “Let me finish. I talked to
him quite a while. He is awf’ly cunning and
smart—as smart as any of you,” she added
wickedly.
“He must be smart to compare with us,” Janet
declared modestly.
“Hush!” Valerie commanded. “Go on, Gale.”
“He asked me where I lived and I told him a
little town on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean.
He wanted to know what an ocean was.”
“I hope you could tell him,” Carol murmured
mischievously.
“I wish you could have seen him, girls. He is
positively thirsting for knowledge. But he can’t
go to school because his mother has no money
with which to send him. It is a shame because
an education would certainly not be lost on him.
It made my heart ache just to see him and to
hear him tell about how fortunate he was that
Tom and Virginia and the other cowboys told
him stories and taught him a little of arithmetic
.pn +1
and spelling. He is so cheerful with what he has,
his riding and fishing and hunting. He could be
such a fine man because he has an insatiable
ambition.
“I thought we might give him the thousand
dollars. It would see him through the little country
school here and by the time he is older he
might be able to earn more. It would be such a
good use to which to put our money. We could
always remember how happy we made one little
boy. It is something he wants more than anything
else in the world. Just to look at him made
me want it, too.
“Of course all you girls have a share in the reward
and it is up to you to do as you please, but
I can tell you if you should agree with me Bobby
would love it—and you,” she finished.
“Hurrah for Bobby!” Carol said loudly. “I
want to meet him.”
“Didn’t I say Gale’s plan would be the best?”
Phyllis demanded, hugging Gale affectionately.
“You always seem to know just what we’d like,”
she told her chum.
Virginia hugged Gale too. “You’re a darling,
Gale, to think of Bobby. I know he’ll be tickled
pink. Let’s go tell him now.”
.pn +1
With one accord the girls ran to the corral and
saddled their horses. Virginia, who had been to
see Bobby often before, led the way to the broken
down little cabin.
Gale had the check for the thousand dollars
and the girls all agreed that she should be the
one to present their gift to the little boy.
Before the cabin, its door hanging ajar on one
rusty hinge, the girls dismounted. Virginia sent a
ringing halloo into the interior and Bobby soon
appeared. He gravely informed his visitors that
his mother wasn’t home. He greeted Gale with a
wide grin and smiled shyly at the other girls, who
were all delighted with the appearance of their
little protégé.
“Bobby, honey,” Virginia said, “Gale has
something to tell you.”
“Yes, Bobby,” Gale said smiling broadly, “remember
me telling you I might meet a fairy when
I was riding back to the ranch?”
“Did you?” he demanded eagerly.
“I did,” Gale said gravely. “I told her all about
you and how fine a man you are. I told her you
wanted more than anything in the world to go
to school and what do you think?”
“What?” Bobby asked, his wide, earnest gaze
fixed on Gale’s face.
.pn +1
“She gave me this.” Gale handed Bobby the
check and at his puzzled expression continued:
“It is worth a whole lot of money, enough to
send you to school for a couple of years.”
He looked dazedly from one smiling face to
the other and back at Gale. “I’m goin’ to school?”
he said in a dazed voice.
“Yes, darling, as soon as it opens for the term,”
Gale said.
To their surprise his lip puckered and he flung
himself on Gale, hiding his face on her shoulder
with a smothered sob. Across his blond head, Gale
and Virginia exchanged a smiling glance, tears
not far from the surface of either pair of clear
eyes.
“Bobby,” Gale murmured, “aren’t you glad?
Don’t you want to go to school?”
“Course I do,” he said, choking, “t-that’s why
I’m cryin’.”
“Gosh,” Carol said when the girls rode away,
leaving an ecstatic, beaming Bobby behind them.
“I never knew it was so nice to play Santa Claus.
We’ll have to do it often,” she said slyly tucking
her handkerchief back into her pocket.
“I’m so glad you suggested giving the money
to Bobby, Gale,” Val said, a suspicious thickness
in her voice.
.pn +1
“So am I,” Janet declared, “but hang it all, I
almost cried with him.”
“I guess we never realized before how fortunate
we were,” Phyllis said, contemplating the
blue sky overhead. “Didn’t it do something to
you just now? I feel all sort of big inside. Like—like
I wanted to be nice to everybody in the
world.”
“It does make you happy just to make somebody
else happy,” Madge agreed. “He is such a
cunning little chap.”
“And worthy of anything we might do for
him,” Virginia declared. “His mother has raised
him with the best manners of any youngster in
Arizona.”
“What happened to his father?” Valerie asked.
“He used to work in a silver mine,” Virginia
said. “He and several other men owned it in
partnership. Bobby’s father was killed trying to
rescue one of the other men from a cave-in or
something. I don’t know the exact facts. Bobby’s
mother is wonderful with sewing and my mother
and some other ladies from Coxton keep her supplied.
That is the only way they get along.”
“I wish we had had two thousand dollars,”
Janet said.
.pn +1
“But if Bobby’s father owned a silver mine
why don’t they have money?” Madge asked.
“The mine never amounted to much,” Virginia
answered. “It was only a small vein of silver and
it didn’t last very long.”
The girls returned to the ranch house, each
with a little warm glow in her heart. Making
Bobby happy as they had done, had shown each
one how much happiness there is in giving joy
to some one else.
The Wilsons had prepared a festive program
for their guests’ last night at the ranch. There
were music and dancing and chatter and laughter.
The hilarity kept up for hours.
“You know,” Janet said, “I feel like celebrating
tonight—for Bobby.”
“Strange as it may seem, I was thinking the
same thing,” Phyllis declared.
“I used to get the jitters every time I thought
of Pedro and his knife,” Val confided to Gale in
a secluded dark corner of the porch where they
had gone for a breath of air between spurts of
gaiety. “Now I’m glad we did meet them as we
did.”
“Why?” Gale wanted to know.
“Well, look what we did with the money,” Val
.pn +1
said. “It was worth all our adventures to see that
little boy’s face this afternoon.”
“He was just about overwhelmed,” Gale
smiled softly. “It is amazing that he could be so
starved for knowledge and contact with other
youngsters his age.”
“Tomorrow we shall leave all this,” Val said,
motioning to the trees and sky, lit by the giant
yellow moon and sparkling stars, and the ranch
house and the corral.
“Wasn’t it a worth while summer, though?”
Gale asked. “We’re all so much better able to
cope with the studies and struggles we’ll have
this, our last term, in high school.”
“Where are you going to college?” Val asked
suddenly.
“Why—I don’t know——” Gale said vaguely.
“I want to go to Briarhurst. I don’t know if I
shall, though.”
“That’s my aim, too. I shall probably——”
“Say, aren’t you having a good time?” Carol
demanded through the window.
“Sure we are,” Val declared.
“Then come in and join the party,” Carol commanded.
.pn +1
“The queen commands,” laughed Gale. “We
have to obey.”
The two went back to the living room and
danced some more. The noise kept up until the
wee hours of the morning when, out of sheer
necessity, the girls went off to bed. Each had a
vague suspicion that they would not be able to
get up the next morning and get the early start
on which they had planned.
.pn +1
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch21
Chapter XXI||ADIOS
.sp 2
Their fears were confirmed. About ten
o’clock the next morning Gale and Valerie
managed to leave their beds for breakfast. But
when they appeared in the dining room they discovered
that they were the first and only ones to
make their appearance. Mrs. Wilson despatched
Valerie to bestir Phyllis and Madge and Gale departed
to rouse Carol and Janet.
She knocked loudly on their door but all remained
blissfully quiet. She peeped around the
corner of the door and beheld her two friends
curled like kittens, enjoying their nap.
“Hey!” she yelled. “Last call for breakfast.”
“Huh?” Carol cocked one sleepy eye in her direction
while Janet remained in dreamland.
“I said,” Gale repeated painstakingly, “it is
the last call for breakfast.”
“I don’t want any,” Carol said, turning over
and burying her head in the covers.
.pn +1
“Come on, get up,” Gale urged, shaking her
friend, “we want to get an early start.”
“Let’s go home tomorrow,” Carol begged. “I
wanta sleep.”
“We have to leave today,” Gale insisted.
“There can be no more putting it off. Come on,
turn out, or I’ll pour cold water on you!” she
threatened.
At that declaration Carol managed to sit up,
but she was half asleep as she tried to struggle
out of her pajamas.
“Lazy bones, get out of there,” Gale demanded
of Janet.
The latter squinted frowningly at Gale. “Must
you bother me?” she demanded. “Go away!”
“Not until you get up and dress,” Gale said
calmly. “We’ve got to get started.”
“I want my breakfast,” Janet said.
“Well, you won’t get a bite unless you get up
this minute!” Gale declared vigorously.
“In that case,” Janet yawned, “I reckon I’ll do
without it. Good night.”
Gale went to the door. “Virginia,” she called,
“bring me a bucket of cold water. The colder the
better!”
“What’s that for?” Janet demanded.
.pn +1
“To pour on you,” Gale said calmly.
“I’m up!” Janet declared, tossing back the
covers and jumping out of bed.
She was up, but it took her and Carol at least
another half an hour to complete their dressing.
When finally they appeared for breakfast, it was
lunch time. After lunch there was frantic last
minute scrambling to collect baggage.
The old car in which they had arrived at the
K Bar O was brought to the front of the ranch
house and there the girls viewed it with frowns.
“That tire is certainly flat,” Carol declared.
“It looks like a deflated pancake.”
“Jim and I’ll have it fixed in no time,” Tom
offered.
“Brothers are good for something,” Janet murmured
satisfactorily to Virginia.
“Where’s Phyllis?” Gale asked.
“I don’t know,” Janet said. “Isn’t she in the
house with Val?”
Gale went into the living room and called but
neither Phyllis nor Valerie answered.
“Perhaps she is down at the corral kissing her
horse goodbye,” suggested Carol brightly.
“Go see,” Janet said.
“Go yourself,” Carol murmured lazily.
.pn +1
“I have it,” Janet said. “We’ll both go. Maybe
Loo Wong has an extra piece of cake,” she whispered
in Carol’s ear.
“The way those two departed I’ll bet they were
thinking of food,” Madge commented.
“Phyllis isn’t down at the corral and neither
is Val,” Janet informed them when, after a
lengthy absence, she and Carol returned.
“Were you eating anything?” Madge demanded
suspiciously.
“Of course not,” Carol said with dignity.
“Didn’t we just have lunch?”
“Then wipe that chocolate icing off your tie,”
Madge said laughingly.
“Look. Here they come. What in the world is
Phyllis carrying?” Carol demanded wonderingly.
“A cactus,” Janet giggled. “What are you going
to do with that?” she asked.
“Take it home with me,” Phyllis grinned, “for
a souvenir. You can sit on it in the car,” she invited.
“Thoughtful of you,” Janet grimaced.
“There’s your tire all fixed,” Tom said, dusting
himself off as he straightened up from his
work.
.pn +1
“Gee, I’m glad it went flat here and not ten
miles away,” Phyllis sighed. “Just think, we
might have had to fix it.”
“I hope the old thing holds together until we
reach Phoenix,” Janet said, looking the car over.
“I wouldn’t want to walk.”
“Why that car is good for years yet,” Carol
declared, a twinkle in her eye.
“Sure, if it just sits in the garage,” agreed
Phyllis.
“It’s getting rusty already,” Janet said.
“Well, there is one consolation,” Carol murmured,
“the horn can never rust away.”
“Why not?” Janet wanted to know.
“Because it’ll break up in honks!” Carol answered.
Carol had been sitting on the porch step with
Janet, but suddenly she found herself catapulted
into the dust.
“That’s for that terrible joke,” Janet said
firmly. “Another one like that and we will make
you ride on the rear bumper.”
“We better get going,” Madge put in. “It is
getting late.”
The girls had had such a good time and they
had grown fond of Virginia. It was hard to say
goodbye.
.pn +1
“I wish you were coming East with us,” Gale
said sadly.
“Couldn’t you?” Phyllis asked eagerly.
Virginia shook her head. “No can do. But maybe
I can visit you some time. I hope you can come
out here again, too.”
“You will let us know how Bobby gets along
in school?” Val asked. “We’ll want to know.”
“Of course,” Virginia assured them. “I want
you all to write to me, too. Don’t forget.”
After their goodbyes were over the girls piled
into the car, Gale at the wheel. Ineffectively she
pressed her foot on the starter. There was a whirr
but the engine refused to break into the longed-for
roar. The girls exchanged exasperated
glances.
“I suppose we’ll have to get out and push,”
Carol groaned.
“Nothing doing!” Janet balked at the suggestion.
“What’s the matter with the old thing anyway,
Gale?”
Gale replied with a shrug of her shoulders and
climbed out. She opened the engine hood and
looked at the complicated array of gadgets. She
knew a little, not much, about an automobile
engine.
.pn +1
“Everything looks all right,” Tom declared.
“I’ll get under and see what’s what.”
“How’s it?” Phyllis asked, leaning over the
door.
“A couple bolts loose,” Tom yelled back.
Several minutes later Tom reappeared,
streaked with grease but triumphant.
“Try it now,” he suggested.
But the car refused to obey the summons to
action.
“Lizzie certainly isn’t a lady!” Janet declared
impatiently. “Maybe she wants to be coaxed.”
“I’ve got it!” Gale said suddenly with a snap
of her fingers.
“Goodness, hold onto it whatever it is,” Phyllis
begged.
Gale grinned sheepishly. “We should have
thought of it, sooner. I’ll wager we haven’t any
gas.”
Tom looked at the tank and laughed. “Dry as
the desert,” he declared. “But there is a five-gallon
can in the bunkhouse. I’ll get it.”
The gas tank was filled and the engine responded
readily now to Gale’s pressure on the
starter. They said their goodbyes again.
“Goodbye, goodbye, parting is such sweet sorrow,”
.pn +1
Janet said sorrowfully, clinging to Virginia’s
hand.
“Now I know it is time to go,” Carol said.
“When Janet quotes Shakespeare things will begin
to happen.”
The car rattled and wheezed as it began to
move.
“Hey, hold everything,” Phyllis called to Gale.
“Here comes Loo Wong.”
Once more their departure was halted. Loo
Wong had packed a lunch and he proceeded to
present it to Janet with a low bow and a wide
grin.
“Loo Wong wish many happiness. Bid all
tloubles goodbye fo’lever.”
“Same to you, Loo Wong, and many of ’em,”
Janet declared. “Girls, what would we have done
without Loo Wong?”
“We couldn’t do without him,” Carol declared.
“He makes the best pancakes I’ve ever eaten.”
“Don’t forget how to make fudge, Loo Wong,”
Valerie called.
The Chinaman bobbed up and down, hands
hidden in wide sleeves and his face wreathed in
smiles.
“This time it is really goodbye,” Gale called.
“Don’t forget to write, Virginia!”
.pn +1
The car wheezed and rattled out of the ranch
yard onto the dusty road. Handkerchiefs fluttered
until the car was swallowed up in a cloud
of dust and the ranch house was hidden from
view. They had a long trip ahead of them and
they settled down comfortably for their last
glimpse of Arizona scenery.
“Ah, now let’s eat,” proposed Janet. “Ouch!”
Unwittingly she had leaned against the cactus
plant Phyllis had stored in with the baggage.
“Get along, Liza,” Gale said, patting the steering
wheel encouragingly as the engine coughed.
“Don’t let us down now,” she pleaded.
So, with the girls hoping that the old car would
hold together until they reached Phoenix where
they would take the train to the East, let us leave
the Adventure Girls. Those who have enjoyed
the six girls’ adventures may join them again in
“The Adventure Girls in the Air,” when they have
some exciting times with airplanes and find themselves
in new and surprising situations.
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Transcriber's Note:
The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.