As they advanced, the configuration of the ground became more and more familiar to the two boys. They pa.s.sed places which they had ridden over in approaching the half-hidden valley, before they fairly stumbled on it and were captured.
"I reckon we"re getting warm," decided Mr. Merkel, after several hours of cautious riding. "Some of you fellows better take it on foot for half a mile or so, and see what you can locate. We"ll wait for you here."
Two cowboys, leaving their horses rather reluctantly, formed an advance scouting party, and the others waited down in a little swale. In less than half an hour the two scouts had returned, and their manner showed suppressed excitement.
"We located "em," said one. "They"re in the next valley."
"What are they doing?" asked Bud.
"We didn"t stop to see that," was the answer. "As soon as we saw the white tents we came back."
"All right," said Mr. Merkel grimly, "now we"ve got "em! Spread out, boys, and don"t do any shooting unless it"s absolutely necessary. We just want to capture the rascals. But be sure your guns are in working order."
Most of the cowboys knew this without looking, but Bud, Nort and d.i.c.k made a careful inspection of their weapons.
Proceeding cautiously, the cavalcade approached. Some had been sent on in advance, to circle about and approach the valley from the far side, thus enabling it to be surrounded.
Two shots, fired at a brief interval, was to be a signal from the advance party, led by Slim, that they were in place, and ready to attack.
"There! One shot!" suddenly cried Bud, as a sharp report cut the air.
It was followed, almost immediately, by another.
"Come on, boys!" cried Mr. Merkel, and there was a general leaping to saddles. Bud and his cousins were not a bit behind the cowboys and a little later, amid shouts, the two parties rode at a fast clip down the slopes toward the mysterious camp.
"Look! There are your cattle!" cried Nort to Mr. Merkel, as several steers were seen, standing in a bunch near some queer piece of apparatus that looked like a derrick.
"That"s right!" shouted the cattleman, for he had caught sight of the animals bearing the Diamond X brand. "But what in the name of sour dough biscuits are they doing?" he asked. "If these are rustlers they"re the queerest ones I ever saw!"
"Well, they"re rustlers all right!" yelled several of the cowboys.
"Come on, fellows! Let"s get at "em!"
"Right you are, Buddy!" rang out savage, exultant yells on all sides.
The cowboys wished for nothing better than to come to hand grips with lawless men who stole the fruit of others" labor. "Treat "em rough!"
"Sit tight and ride hard!" called Bud to Nort and d.i.c.k. "There"s going to be some hot work!" and he spoke to his pony, which leaped forward as if he, too, wanted to get into the fight.
"Will we need our guns?" asked d.i.c.k.
"Better have "em handy!" advised Nort, as his hand went to the leather holster at his hip.
"Look at "em!" shouted Bud. "They"re going to fight us all right!"
Indeed, it did appear that the party in the camp established by the professors, taken by surprise as they were, meant to resist to the utmost. Men could be seen running back to the tents, whence some reappeared with guns or big .45s. Others, including the two professors themselves, remained at the scene where some of the Diamond X cattle were attached by ropes to the apparatus that looked like the derrick.
"Are they trying to brand your cattle over again, Bud?" asked d.i.c.k as he and his cousin rode alongside of the young rancher.
"I don"t know," was the answer. "If they are, they"re going about it in a new way. I wonder what they are up to, anyhow?"
Well might he ask that, for as the raiding party made its rush into the valley several men near the professors, were urging forward the steers that were harnessed, or yoked together in some manner, to cause them to act as a lifting force. By means of ropes rigged over the derrick-like structure, something heavy was being hoisted from a great hole in the ground.
The steers, unused to this work, for which gentle oxen might have been admirably fitted, were acting wildly, and the Greasers, and other campers, were having their hands full. This with the shouts of the attacking party, the thud of the feet of many galloping horses and the firing of shots into the air by the wildly enthusiastic cowboys from Diamond X, made the place one of great confusion.
"Rout "em out, boys!"
"Haze "em into the brook!"
"Cut out our cattle!"
"Rope "em an" hog-tie "em!"
These were only a few of the many directions that were yelled at the tops of voices as the boy ranchers and their friends swept onward down the valley, converging on the band of men they believed to be cattle rustlers, if not something worse.
"Hands up, there!"
"Drop those guns!"
These commands came sternly from Mr. Merkel, Babe and Slim, while d.i.c.k and Nort, riding beside Bud, felt a wild thrill as they realized that they were to have a part in this strenuous fight. To possible danger they gave not a thought.
But if the attacking party thought everything was to be easy, it was not long before this idea vanished. After the first surprise, the Greasers, and other rough characters in the camp of the professors, regained their nerve, and prepared to fight. There were shouts in hissing Spanish, and Del Pinzo was observed to be rallying his followers.
Bud and his cousins had a glimpse of this wily Mexican leaping on his horse, and, surrounded by a number of evil-looking men, riding straight for the invaders.
"They"re coming!" cried Nort.
"I see "em!" muttered d.i.c.k.
"Keep together!" advised Bud in a wild cry. "Stay with me, and we"ll ride right through "em!"
Several weapons popped, and two or three saddles were emptied, one on the side of the Diamond X forces. Nort and d.i.c.k heard bullets whistling in the air over their heads, and though they may have ducked, instinctively, they did not after the first two or three of these nerve-racking experiences.
"Come on! Come on!" yelled Bud to his cousins, as they saw Del Pinzo and his gang of Greasers spurring toward them.
Nort and d.i.c.k touched their horses lightly, and the spirited ponies sprang forward. d.i.c.k had a glimpse of the two professors, and one or two other men, standing by the derrick structure as though dazed at the sudden turn in affairs. Some of the helpers were endeavoring to quiet the harnessed cattle.
"Ride "em down, boys! Ride "em down!" yelled Mr. Merkel.
"You said it!" shouted Slim Degnan, and Babe added his voice to the din, the while starting one of the verses of his cowboys" song.
"Crack!"
That was a gun going off close to the ear of d.i.c.k. He leaned over slightly in his saddle, fearing he had been hit. But in another instant he realized that Bud had fired, with a pistol held so close to the eastern lad"s ear as nearly to deafen him.
"Well, I got him, anyhow!" yelled Bud, and d.i.c.k saw a man who had been riding at Del Pinzo"s side drop his gun and clasp his right hand in his left. "That"s what I wanted to do--disarm him. No need to shoot to kill!" Bud went on.
d.i.c.k saw a Mexican riding straight at him, and the boy endeavored to bring his weapon to bear as Bud had done. But just as the boy rancher was going to pull the trigger something else happened. He felt himself flying over the head of his pony, and the next moment came heavily to the ground, while blackness closed his eyes. d.i.c.k was out of the fight.
The battle between the cowboys and the Greasers now waged hotly. Guns cracked on both sides and more than one saddle was emptied. This before the two forces actually came together. And come together they did, with the thud of horses and men meeting, as when two rival football elevens clash on the gridiron. Only this was more desperate.