"He ain"t nowhar. Rosy Delaney says he went off with Pumpkin to look for his dad, who had disappeared----"
"Then he didn"t come back? What can have become of him and Bonnie Bird?"
p.a.w.nee Brown"s face grew full of concern. "Something is wrong around here, Jack," he continued, and told the boomer of what had happened up at the Devil"s Chimney. "First it"s the father, and now it"s the son and my mare. I must investigate this."
"I"m with yer, p.a.w.nee--with yer to the end. Yer know thet."
"Yes, Jack; you are one of the few men I know I can trust in everything.
But two of us are not enough. If harm has befallen the Arbuckles it is the duty of the whole camp--or, at least, every man in it--to try to sift matters to the bottom."
"Right ye air, p.a.w.nee. I"ll raise a hullabaloo and rouse "em up."
Jack Rasco was as good as his word. Going from wagon to wagon, he shook the sleepers and explained matters. In less than a quarter of an hour a dozen stalwart boomers were in the saddle, while Jack Ras...o...b..ought forth an extra horse of his own for Brown"s use.
"Has anybody seen the dunce?" questioned the scout.
No one had since he had gone off with d.i.c.k to look for the so-called ghost.
"We will divide up into parties of two," said p.a.w.nee Brown, and this was done, and soon he and Jack Rasco were bounding over the trail leading toward the Indian Territory, while others were setting off in the direction of Arkansas City and elsewhere.
"Something curious about them air Arbuckles," observed Rasco as they flew along side by side. "Mortimer Arbuckle said as how he was coming hyer fer his health, but kick me ef I kin see it."
"I think myself the man has an axe to grind," responded the leader of the boomers. "You know he came West to see about some land."
"Oh, I know thet. But thar"s somethin" else, sure ez shootin" ez shootin", p.a.w.nee. It kinder runs in my noddle thet he is a"lookin" fer somebuddy."
"Who?"
"Ah, thar"s where ye hev got me. But I"ll tell ye something. One night when the boy wuz over ter Arkansas City the old man war sleeping in the wagon, an" he got a nightmare. He clenched his fists an" begun ter moan an" groan. "Don"t say I did it, Bolange," he moans. "Don"t say that--it"s an awful crime! Don"t put the blood on my head!" an" a lot more like thet, till my blood most run cold an" I shook him ter make him wake up. Now, don"t thet look like he had something on his mind?"
"It certainly does, and yet the man is not quite right in his upper story, although I wouldn"t tell the son that, Rasco. But what was the name he mentioned?"
"Bolange, or Volange, or something like thet. It seems ter me he hollered out Louis onct, too."
A sudden light shone in the great scout"s eyes. He gripped his companion by the arm.
"Try to think, Jack. Did Arbuckle speak the name of Vorlange--Louis Vorlange?"
"By gosh! p.a.w.nee, you hev struck it--Vorlange, ez plain ez day. Do yer know the man?"
"Do I know him?" p.a.w.nee Brown drew a long breath. "Jack, I believe I once told you about my schoolboy days at Wellington and elsewhere before I left home to take up a life on the cattle trails?"
"Yes, p.a.w.nee. From all accounts you wuz cut out for a schoolmaster, instead of a leader of us boomers."
"I was a professor once at the Indian Industrial school at p.a.w.nee Agency. That is where I got to be called p.a.w.nee Brown, and where the p.a.w.nees became so friendly that they made me their white chief. But I aspired to something more than teaching and more than cow punching in those boyhood days at Wellington; I wanted to have a try at entrance to West Point and follow in the footsteps of Grant and Custer, and fellows of that sort."
"Ye deserved it, I"ll bet, p.a.w.nee."
"I worked hard for it, and at last I got a chance to compete at the examination. Among the other boys who competed was Louis Vorlange. He had been the bully of our school, and more than once we had fought, and twice I had sent him to bed with a head that was nearly broken. He hated me accordingly, and swore I should not win the prize I coveted."
"Did he try, too?"
"Yes, but he was outcla.s.sed from the start, for, although he was sly and shrewd, book learning was too much for him. The examination came off, and I got left, through Vorlange, who stole my papers and changed many of my answers. I didn"t learn of this until it was too late. My chance of going to West Point fell through. There was nothing to do but to thrash Vorlange, and the day before I left home I gave him a licking that I"ll wager he"ll remember to the day of his death. As it was, he tried to shoot me, but I collared the pistol, and for that dastardly attack knocked two of his teeth down his throat."
"Served him right, p.a.w.nee. But I don"t see whar--"
"Hold on a minute, Jack. I said Vorlange didn"t go to West Point; but he was strong with the politicians, and as soon as he was old enough he got a position under the government, and now I understand he is somewhere around the Indian Territory acting as a spy for the land department."
"By gosh! I see. An" ye think Mortimer Arbuckle knows this same chap?"
"It would look so. If I can read faces, the old man is innocent of wrong-doing, and if that is so and there is the secret of a crime between him and Louis Vorlange you can wager Vorlange is the guilty party."
"p.a.w.nee, you hev a head on yer shoulders fit fer a judge, hang me ef ye ain"t," burst out Jack Rasco admiringly. "I wish yer would talk to Arbuckle the next time he turns up. Mebbe yer kin lift a weight off o"
his shoulders. The poor old fellow--creation! wot"s that?"
Jack Rasco stopped short and pulled up his horse. A wild, unearthly scream rent the air, rising and falling on the wind of the night. The scream was followed by a burst of laughter which was truly demoniacal.
p.a.w.nee Brown pulled his horse up on his haunches. What was this new mystery which confronted him?
Again the cry rang out; but now the scout recognized it and a faint smile shone upon his face.
"It"s the dunce," he exclaimed. "Pumpkin! Pumpkin! Come here!"
A moment of silence followed and he called again. Then from the brush which grew among the rocks emerged the form of the half-witted boy.
"Pumpkin, where is d.i.c.k Arbuckle?" questioned p.a.w.nee Brown, leaping to the ground and catching the lad by his arm.
"Lemme go! I didn"t hurt him!" screamed Pumpkin. "He went that way--like the wind--on a bay horse which was running away. Oh, he"s killed, I know he is!"
"You are sure of this?"
"Hope to die if it ain"t so. Poor d.i.c.k! He"ll be pitched off and smashed up like his father was smashed up. Hurry, and maybe you can catch him."
"I believe the dunce speaks the truth," broke in Jack Rasco.
"How long ago was this?"
"Not more"n an hour. Hurry up if you want to save him," and with a yell such as he had uttered before, Pumpkin disappeared.
p.a.w.nee Brown and Rasco wasted no more time. Whipping up their steeds, they set off on a rapid gallop in the direction the runaway horse had pursued.
CHAPTER V.
THE CAVALRYMEN.