"Yes, yes!"
The Texan made an effort to cool down.
"Look here, Felicia," he said. "We"re both so excited we don"t hit any sort of a trail and stick to it for shucks. If anything whatever has happened to my pard, I want to know it right quick. Keep cool and tell me all about it. What was it that happened?"
"But I tell you I don"t know--I don"t know," came faintly from the girl.
"We rode some miles to the south. It was splendid. We laughed, and chatted, and had such a fine time. Then, when we turned to come back, I challenged d.i.c.k to a race. My horse was just eager to let himself out, and we raced. I had the lead, but my horse was so hard-bitted that I couldn"t look back. Two or three times I called to d.i.c.k, and he answered. I heard his horse right behind me, and felt sure he was near.
Once I thought he was trying to pa.s.s me, and I let my horse out more.
"I don"t know how far I went that way, but it was a long, long distance.
After a while his horse seemed letting up. He didn"t push him so hard.
Then I pulled up some and called back to him again, but he didn"t answer. I had to fight my horse, for he had the bit in his teeth and was obstinate. After a while I managed to turn, and then I saw something that gave me an awful jump. d.i.c.k"s horse was a long distance away, and was going at a trot, but d.i.c.k was not in the saddle. The saddle was empty, and d.i.c.k was nowhere to be seen."
"Great tarantulas! Great horned toads! Great Panhandle!" exploded Buckhart. "You don"t mean to tell me that my pard let any onery horse dump him out of the saddle? Say, I won"t believe it! Say, I can"t believe it! Why, he can ride like a circus performer! He is a regular centaur, if I ever saw one! Whatever is this joke you"re putting up on me, Felicia?"
"No joke, no joke!" she hastily a.s.serted. "It"s the truth, Brad--the terrible truth! d.i.c.k was not on the horse. I don"t know what happened to him, but he wasn"t there. As soon as I could I rode back to find him. I rode and rode, looking for him everywhere. I thought something must have happened to him that caused him to fall from the saddle. I wondered that I had heard no cry from him--no sound."
"And you didn"t find him?"
She shook her head.
"I found nothing of him anywhere. I rode until I was where we started to race. After that I had called to him, and he had answered me more than once. I know that, at first, he was close behind me."
"Jumping jingoes!" spluttered Brad. "This beats anything up to date! You hear me warble! You must have missed him, somehow."
"It is not possible, Brad. I stuck to the road and followed it all the way through the chaparral, beyond which we had started to race this way."
"Then you raced through a piece of woods, did you?"
"Yes, yes."
"Do you remember of hearing him answer any to your calls after you had pa.s.sed through those woods?"
"I don"t remember."
"Oh, Brad, what if he was thrown from his horse and some wild animal dragged him into the chaparral after he fell senseless on the road! You must find him! Where is Frank? Tell Frank at once!"
"That"s good sense," declared the Texan. "But wherever is d.i.c.k"s horse?"
"I don"t know where the animal is now. I paid no further attention to it after I found d.i.c.k was missing."
By this time the Texan had heard enough, and, lifting Felicia clear off her feet, he strode into the hotel with her, as if carrying a feather.
Just inside the door he nearly collided with Cap"n Wiley.
"Port your helm!" exclaimed the sailor. "Don"t run me down, even if you are overloaded with the finest cargo I ever clapped my eyes on."
"Hold on, Wiley!" commanded Brad. "Just you drop anchor where you are. I want you."
"Ay, ay, sir!" retorted the marine. "I will lay to instantly. Ever hear the little story about the captain who ran out of provisions and, getting hard up, decided to have eggs for breakfast and made his ship lay two?"
"Cut your chestnuts out, now!" growled the Texan. "Where is Frank?"
"I last saw his royal nibs in close communion with a gentleman who is literally rotten with money."
"Not Macklyn Morgan?"
"Well, hardly. He is not chumming with old Mack to any salubrious degree. It was Thomas Kensington."
"Do you know where Frank is now? If you do, find him instantly and tell him something has happened to d.i.c.k."
"Ay! ay!" again cried Wiley. "Just you bear off and on right where you are, and I will sight him directly and bring him round on this course."
The sailor hurried away, leaving Brad to question Felicia still further about the road they had taken outside of Prescott.
Fortunately Frank was easily found, and Wiley came hurrying back with him.
"What is it, Brad?" asked Merry, controlling his nerves and betraying little alarm, for all that he saw by the appearance of Felicia that some serious thing had occurred.
"Oh, Frank--d.i.c.k!" she panted. "You must find him--you must!"
The Texan quickly told Merry what had happened as related by Felicia.
Frank"s face grew grim and paled a little--a very little. His jaw hardened, and his eyes took on a strange gleam.
"I opine I know just the road they took," said Buckhart. "She has told me all about it. I am dead certain I can go straight back over that trail."
"Wiley," said Merry, still with that grim command of himself, "get a move on and have some horses saddled and made ready."
"Leave it to me," cried the sailor, immediately taking to his heels and dusting away.
By this time others in the hotel knew what had happened, and a number of people had gathered around. Unmindful of them, Frank took Felicia on his knee as he sat on a chair and questioned her.
"Oh, Frank!" she suddenly sobbed, clasping him about the neck. "You will find d.i.c.k, won"t you?"
"As sure as I am living, Felicia," he a.s.serted, with that same confident calmness. "Don"t you doubt it for a moment, dear. Rest easy about that."
"You don"t think some wild animal has got him?"
"I hardly fancy anything of that sort has happened to my brother."
Merry called for the housekeeper, who soon came and he turned Felicia over to her, saying:
"Look out for her, Mrs. Jones. Take care of her and don"t let her worry more than can be helped."
"Lord love her sweet soul!" exclaimed the housekeeper, as she received the agitated girl from Frank and patted and petted her. "I will look after her, Mr. Merriwell. Don"t you be afraid of that. There, there, dear," she said, softly stroking Felicia"s cheek. "Don"t you take on so.
Why, they will find your cousin all right."
"You bet your boots!" muttered Brad Buckhart, who was examining a long-barreled revolver as he spoke. "We will hit the trail and find him in less than two shakes of a steer"s hoof."