Perhaps Frances had half expected some such incident as this to punctuate her journey to Amarillo. Nevertheless, the reckless tone of the man, and the way he used his rifle, troubled her.
"Put your hands up!" she murmured to Pratt. "Do just what he tells you.
He may be wicked and foolish enough to fire again."
CHAPTER XIX
MOST ASTONISHING!
"The man must be crazy!" murmured the young bank clerk.
"All the more reason why we should be careful to obey him," Frances said.
Yet she was not unmindful of the peril Pratt pointed out. Only, in Frances" case, she had been brought up among men who carried guns habitually, and the sound of a rifle shot did not startle her as it did the young man.
"Look yere, Mr. Hold-up Man!" yelled Mack Hinkman, when his amazement let him speak. "Ain"t you headed in the wrong way? We ain"t comin" from town with a load. Why, man! we"re only jest goin" to town. Why didn"t you wait till we was comin" back before springin" this mine on us?"
"Keep still there," commanded Pete, from the tree. "Drive on through the river, and up on this bank, and then stop! You hear?"
"I"d hear ye, I reckon, if I was plumb deef," complained Mack. "That rifle you handle so permiscuous speaks mighty plain."
"Let them on hossback mind it, too," added the man in the tree. "I got an eye on "em."
"Easy, Mister," urged Mack, as he picked up the reins again. "One o"
them is a young lady. You"re a gent, I take it, as wouldn"t frighten no female."
"Stow that!" advised Pete, with vigor. "Come out o" there!"
Mack started the mules, and they dragged the wagon creakingly up the bank. Frances and Pratt rode meekly in its wake. The man in the tree had selected his station with good judgment. When Mack halted his four mules, and Frances and Pratt obeyed a commanding gesture to stop at the water"s edge, all three were splendid targets for the man behind the rifle.
"Ride up to that wagon, young fellow," commanded Pete. "Rip open that canvas. That"s right. Roll off your horse and climb inside; but don"t you go out of sight. If you do I"ll make that canvas cover a sieve in about one minute. Get me?"
Pratt nodded. He could not help himself. He gave an appealing glance toward Frances. She nodded.
"Don"t be foolish, Pratt," she whispered. "Do what he tells you to do."
Thus encouraged, the young fellow obeyed the mandate of the man who had stopped them on the trail. He had read of highwaymen and hold-ups; but he had believed that such things had gone out of fashion with the coming of farmers into the Panhandle, the building up of the frequent settlements, and the extension of the railroad lines.
Pratt"s heart was warmed by the girl"s evident desire that he should not run into danger. The outlaw in the tree was after the chest hidden in the wagon; but Frances put his safety above the value of the treasure chest.
"Heave that chist out of the end of the wagon, and be quick about it!"
was the expected order from the desperado. "And don"t try anything funny, young fellow."
Pratt was in no mood to be "funny." He hesitated just a moment. But Frances exclaimed:
"Do as he says! Don"t wait!"
So out rolled the chest. Mack was grumbling to himself on the front seat; but if he was armed he did not consider it wise to use any weapon.
The man with the rifle had everything his own way.
"Now, drive on!" commanded the latter individual. "I"ve got no use for any of you folks here, and you"ll be wise if you keep right on moving till you get to that Peckham ranch. Git now!"
"All right, old-timer," grunted Mack. "Don"t be so short-tempered about it."
He let the mules go and they scrambled up the bank, drawing the wagon after them. The chest lay on the river"s edge. Pratt Sanderson had climbed upon his pony again.
"You two git, also," growled the man in the tree. "I got all I want of ye."
Pratt groaned aloud as he urged the grey pony after Molly.
"What will your father say, Frances?" he muttered.
"I don"t know," returned the girl, honestly.
"I"m going to ride ahead to the Peckham ranch and rouse them. That fellow can"t get away with that heavy chest on horseback."
"I"ll go with you," returned the ranchman"s daughter. "That rascal should be apprehended and punished. We have about chased such people out of this section of the country."
"Goodness! you take it calmly, Frances," exclaimed Pratt. "Doesn"t _anything_ ruffle you?"
She laughed shortly, and made no further remark. They rode on swiftly and within the hour saw the lights of Peckham"s ranch-house.
Their arrival brought the family to the door, as well as half a dozen punchers up from the bunk-house. The fire had excited everybody and kept them out of bed, although there was no danger of the conflagration"s jumping the river.
"Why, Miss Frances!" cried the ranchman"s wife, who was a fleshy and notoriously good-natured woman, the soul of Western hospitality. "Why, Miss Frances! if you ain"t a cure for sore eyes! Do "light and come in--and yer friend, too.
"My goodness me! ye don"t mean to say you"ve been through that fire?
That is awful! Come right on in, do!"
But what Frances and Pratt had to tell about their adventure at the ford excited the Peckhams and their hands much more than the fire.
"John Peckham!" commanded the fleshy lady, who was really the leading spirit at the ranch. "You take a bunch of the boys and ride right after that rascal. My mercy! are folks goin" to be held up on this trail and robbed just as though we had no law and order? It"s disgraceful!"
Then she turned her mind to another idea. "Miss Frances!" she exclaimed.
"What was in that trunk? Must have been something valuable, eh?"
"I was taking it to the Amarillo bank, to put it in the safe deposit vaults," Frances answered, dodging the direct question.
""Twarn"t full of money?" shrieked Mrs. Peckham.
"Why, no!" laughed Frances. "We"re not as rich as all that, you know."
"Well," sighed the good, if curious, woman, "I reckon there was "nough sight more valuables in the trunk than Captain Dan Rugley wants to lose.
Hurry up, there, John Peckham!" she shouted after her husband. "Git after that fellow before he has a chance to break open the trunk."
"I"m going to get a fresh horse and ride back with them," Pratt Sanderson told Frances. "And we"ll get that chest, don"t you fear."