The hoof-beats changed to thunder, and with the pounding on the dry trail came the jangle of stirrups and sling-belts. Then a voice, and the coach was surrounded by dust-covered troopers and horses breathing heavily. Lieutenant Crosby pulled up beside the window of the stage.
"Are you there, Colonel Patten?" he panted. He peered forward into the stage, but no one answered him. "Is the paymaster in here?" he demanded.
The voice of Lieutenant Curtis shouted in turn at Hunk Smith. "Is the paymaster in there, driver?"
"Paymaster? No!" Hunk roared. "A drummer and three ladies. We"ve been held up. The Red Rider--" He rose and waved his whip over the top of the coach. "He went that way. You can ketch him easy."
Sergeant Clancey and half a dozen troopers jerked at their bridles. But Crosby, at the window, shouted "Halt!"
"What"s your name?" he demanded of the salesman.
"Myers," stammered the drummer. "I"m from the Hanc.o.c.k Uniform--"
Curtis had spurred his horse beside that of his brother officer. "Is Colonel Patten at Kiowa?" he interrupted.
"I can"t give you any information as to that," replied Mr. Myers, importantly; "but these ladies and I have just been held up by the Red Rider. If you"ll hurry you"ll--"
The two officers pulled back their horses from the stage and, leaning from their saddles, consulted in eager whispers. Their men fidgeted with their reins, and stared with amazed eyes at their officers. Lieutenant Crosby was openly smiling, "He"s got away with it," he whispered.
"Patten missed the stage, thank G.o.d, and he"s met nothing worse than these women."
"We MUST make a bluff at following him," whispered Curtis.
"Certainly not! Our orders are to report to Colonel Patten, and act as his escort."
"But he"s not at Kiowa; that fellow says so."
"He telegraphed the Colonel from Kiowa," returned Crosby. "How could he do that if he wasn"t there?" He turned upon Hunk Smith. "When did you leave Henderson"s?" he demanded.
"Seven o"clock," answered Hunk Smith, sulkily. "Say, if you young fellows want to catch--"
"And Patten telegraphed at eight," cried Crosby. "That"s it. He reached Kiowa after the stage had gone. Sergeant Clancey!" he called.
The Sergeant pushed out from the ma.s.s of wondering troopers.
"When did the paymaster say he was leaving Kiowa?"
"Leaving at once, the telegram said," answered Clancey.
""Meet me with escort before I reach the b.u.t.tes." That"s the message I was told to give the lieutenant."
Hunk Smith leaned from the box-seat. "Mebbe Pop"s driving him over himself in the buckboard," he volunteered. "Pop often takes "em over that way if they miss the stage."
"That"s how it is, of course," cried Crosby. "He"s on his way now in the buckboard."
Hunk Smith surveyed the troopers dismally and shook his head. "If he runs up against the Red Rider, it"s "good-by" your pay, boys," he cried.
"Fall in there!" shouted Crosby. "Corporal Tynan, fall out with two men and escort these ladies to the fort." He touched his hat to Miss Post, and, with Curtis at his side, sprang into the trail. "Gallop! March!" he commanded.
"Do you think he"ll tackle the buckboard, too?" whispered Curtis.
Crosby laughed joyously and drew a long breath of relief.
"No, he"s all right now," he answered. "Don"t you see, he doesn"t know about Patten or the buckboard. He"s probably well on his way to the post now. I delayed the game at the stage there on purpose to give him a good start. He"s safe by now."
"It was a close call," laughed the other. "He"s got to give us a dinner for helping him out of this."
"We"d have caught him red-handed," said Crosby, "if we"d been five minutes sooner. Lord!" he gasped. "It makes me cold to think of it. The men would have shot him off his horse. But what a story for those women!
I hope I"ll be there when they tell it. If Ranson can keep his face straight, he"s a wonder." For some moments they raced silently neck by neck, and then Curtis again leaned from his saddle. "I hope he HAS turned back to the post," he said. "Look at the men how they"re keeping watch for him. They"re scouts, all of them."
"What if they are?" returned Crosby, easily. "Ranson"s in uniform--out for a moonlight canter. You can bet a million dollars he didn"t wear his red mask long after he heard us coming."
"I suppose he"ll think we"ve followed to spoil his fun. You know you said we would."
"Yes, he was going to shoot us," laughed Crosby. "I wonder why he packs a gun. It"s a silly thing to do."
The officers fell apart again, and there was silence over the prairie, save for the creaking of leather and the beat of the hoofs. And then, faint and far away, there came the quick crack of a revolver, another, and then a fusillade. "My G.o.d!" gasped Crosby. He threw himself forwards digging his spurs into his horse, and rode as though he were trying to escape from his own men.
No one issued an order, no one looked a question; each, officer and enlisted man, bowed his head and raced to be the first.
The trail was barricaded by two struggling horses and an overturned buckboard. The rigid figure of a man lay flat upon his back staring at the moon, another white-haired figure staggered forward from a rock.
"Who goes there?" it demanded.
"United States troops. Is that you, Colonel Patten?"
"Yes."
Colonel Patten"s right arm was swinging limply at his side. With his left hand he clasped his right shoulder. The blood, black in the moonlight, was oozing between his fingers.
"We were held up," he said. "He shot the driver and the horses. I fired at him, but he broke my arm. He shot the gun out of my hand. When he reached for the satchel I tried to beat him off with my left arm, but he threw me into the road. He went that way--toward Kiowa."
Sergeant Clancey, who was kneeling by the figure in the trail, raised his hand in salute. "Pop Henderson, lieutenant," he said. "He"s shot through the heart. He"s dead."
"He took the money, ten thousand dollars," cried Colonel Patten. "He wore a red mask and a rubber poncho. And I saw that he had no stirrups in his stirrup-straps."
Crosby dodged, as though someone had thrown a knife, and then raised his hand stiffly and heavily.
"Lieutenant Curtis, you will remain here with Colonel Patten," he ordered. His voice was without emotion. It fell flat and dead. "Deploy as skirmishers," he commanded. "G Troop to the fight of the trail, H Troop to the left. Stop anyone you see--anyone. If he tries to escape, cry "Halt!" twice and then fire--to kill. Forward! Gallop! March! Toward the post."
"No!" shouted Colonel Patten. "He went toward Kiowa."
Crosby replied in the same dead voice: "He doubled after he left you, colonel. He has gone to the post."
Colonel Patten struggled from the supporting arms that held him and leaned eagerly forward. "You know him, then?" he demanded.
"Yes," cried Crosby, "G.o.d help him! Spread out there, you, in open order--and ride like h.e.l.l!"
Just before the officers" club closed for the night Lieutenant Ranson came in and, seating himself at the piano, picked out "The Queen of the Philippine Islands" with one finger. Major Stickney and others who were playing bridge were considerably annoyed. Ranson then demanded that everyone present should drink his health in champagne for the reason that it was his birthday and that he was glad he was alive, and wished everyone else to feel the same way about it. "Or, for any other reason why," he added generously. This frontal attack upon the whist-players upset the game entirely, and Ranson, enthroned upon the piano-stool, addressed the room. He held up a buckskin tobacco-bag decorated with beads.
"I got this down at the Indian village to-night," he said. "That old squaw, Red Wing, makes "em for two dollars. Crosby paid five dollars for his in New Mexico, and it isn"t half as good. What do you think? I got lost coming back, and went all the way round by the b.u.t.tes before I found the trail, and I"ve only been here six months. They certainly ought to make me chief of scouts."