"Why, h.e.l.lo, Lone Star," exclaimed Harry. "I didn"t know you were in town. Yes," he went on, "there"s a secret valley in the Santa Catapinas which has been used by them for centuries for their festivals, and although they are supposed to be kept within the limits of the reservation, every once in a while a bunch of them get over here and hold a snake dance."
"I"ve read about them," said Rob; "they do all kinds of weird things with rattlesnakes, don"t they?"
"Well, no white man has ever seen them--or, if he has, never lived to tell about it," said Harry, "so of course n.o.body knows exactly what they do. But anyhow, when we camped last night we had eight mules, and when we woke this morning there were only six. Jose, there--hey, Jose, wake up!" He prodded the Mexican who still sat on the wagon seat, with the end of his long whip. "Well, as I was saying, Jose trailed them and found them tethered in a arroyo about a mile from camp."
"The Indians took them?" asked Merritt.
"Yes, Jose, who"s as good a trailer as he is a sleeper, found unmistakable tracks of Moquis. I suppose they took the mules in the night and then got scared at something and hitched them in the arroyo, meaning to come back for them."
"Whereabouts did the Injuns cut into you, Harry?"
A new voice had broken into the conversation. That of Clark Jennings. He nursed above his right eye a rapidly swelling "goose egg," marking the spot at which he had collided with the roadway. At his elbow was the faithful Jess Randell.
"Why, h.e.l.lo, Clark, you in town, too? Every one from the Santa Catapinas seems to be in to-day--you, too, Jess. Well, the Indians paid us their little call just this side of the Salt Licks,--why?"
"Oh, jes" wanted to know. Me and Jess has got to ride home that way to-night, for it"s better riding when it"s cool; and I thought I"d like to know whar to expect the varmints."
"Well, that"s the best information I can give you," said Harry, "but what have you been doing to your eye?"
"Oh, nothing," muttered Clark, turning away, while a loud guffaw went up.
"What"s all the joke,--what is it?" asked Harry. It was soon explained, and the young rancher burst into a laugh.
"Say, Rob, you must mean to clean the country of bad men. Trimmed Clark Jennings! Ho, ho, ho!"
"Has he much of a reputation?" inquired Rob innocently, but with a twinkle in his eye.
"I should say so. He won"t forgive you in a hurry. He"s going to be your neighbor, too, for a while."
"How"s that?"
"His father owns the next ranch to us. Jess Randell is Clark"s cousin, an orphan, you know. He lives there, too. The two are great cronies, and think a lot of their reputation as tough citizens. The whole bunch have a bad name."
As the team from the Harkness ranch was tired out by the long, hard journey across the hot desert, it was decided that the boys should spend the night at the Mesaville House, and start for the ranch the next morning while it was cool. This would bring them into the mountains by dusk. Over supper they laughed and talked merrily, recalling the last time they had met, which was in a wet, dripping fog off the Long Island coast. How differently were they now situated!
After the meal Merritt and Harry sat down to a game of checkers, while Tubby, seated in a big chair, indulged in his favorite occupation--namely, taking a quiet doze. As for Rob, he wandered about the little town a while, but found nothing to interest him. Small as Mesaville was in common with most towns of the same character, it boasted several low dens in which the cow-punchers, miners and sheepmen gambled and drank their hard-earned money away. From these dens, as usual, there came the same blasts of foolish talk and loud laughter, as their swing doors opened and closed. A glare of light poured from their blazing interiors to the quiet, moonlit desert outside.
As Rob, rather sickened, turned away from this section of the town, the doors of one of the places swung open, and the forms of Clark Jennings and his crony, Jess, emerged; with them was a third figure, that of a tall, stoop-shouldered young man. The eyes of all three fell simultaneously on the figure of Rob as he walked away.
"Talk of the train and you hear her whistle," grinned Jess. "There he is now."
The companion of the two young cow-punchers nodded.
"That"s him, all right. I recognize him. It"ll be candy to me to get even with him."
"We can trust you, Jack?"
"I"ll fix him, never fear."
"All right, then, we"re going to start. We"ll ride into town ag"in in a few days and fix you up."
"All right. I need the money. How"s Bill and Hank making out?"
"Oh, doing odd jobs around the ranch. You know, Cousin Bill has turned out to be quite a cow-puncher; guess he rode horses back East?"
"Yes, his father owned some in Hampton," rejoined the stoop-shouldered young man. (It will be recalled that when Bill Bender left Hampton he spoke of stopping a while with relatives in the West.)
After a little more talk, the three bade each other good night. Soon the clatter of two ponies" hoofs, growing fainter and fainter in the distance, marked the departure from town of Clark Jennings and his crony. In the meantime, Rob had looked into the hotel, and finding Harry and Merritt still engrossed in a hotly contested fifth game, and Tubby snoring contentedly, had set out on another stroll. This time his aimless footsteps took him in the direction of the desert. By the railroad bridge he paused, gazing down at the moonlit water. Where the bridge abutments projected, the thready current of the San Pedro collected and formed quite a deep pool.
"If this was the East, there"d be fish in there," mused Rob, when suddenly behind him he thought he heard a furtive footfall. He turned quickly. But, even as he did so, an irresistible shove was given him.
Blindly extending his arms, Rob plunged forward down the steep embankment.
CHAPTER III.
THE DESERT WATER HOLE.
As Rob toppled forward into vacancy, he received a startling momentary impression of familiarity from the tones of a loud laugh which rang out behind him. Fortunately for him, the water at the foot of the bridge abutment was some six or seven feet deep, and he struck it spread-eagle fashion, so that beyond the shock of his sudden fall he was uninjured.
He at once struck out for the bank. When he stood again on the dry ground, shaking the water from himself, he began to rack his memory for the recollection of where and when he had heard a similar laugh to the one that had sounded in his ears as he plunged forward into s.p.a.ce. Try as he would, however, he could not place it, and giving up the attempt finally, he made his way back to the hotel.
The checker players started up as the dripping figure of the Boy Scout leader entered the room, and naturally began to ply him with questions.
Rob"s story of the events of the preceding few minutes was soon told, but so far as the shedding of any light on the mystery was concerned, it remained as blank a puzzle as ever.
"I"d like to think that I dreamed it all," said Rob, "but these"--wringing out his wet clothes--"won"t let me."
"Well, there"s no doubt that you were shoved over intentionally,"
decided Harry Harkness, "but who is there out here who would do such a thing?"
"It might have been one of those two cow-punchers you had the row with this afternoon," suggested Merritt.
"No. I saw Clark and Jess ride out of town a good half-hour before Rob could have been shoved over," said Harry.
"Maybe they mistook me for some one else," suggested Rob, as the easiest way of disposing of the matter. Privately, though, he entertained a different opinion. If he could only place that laugh! But try as he would, he could not for the life of him recall where he had heard it before.
Soon afterward the Boy Scouts and their ranch friend retired to bed, Tubby having been sufficiently aroused to make his way upstairs to their room. Tired out as Rob was, he sank into a deep sleep almost as soon as his head touched the pillow. With Tubby things were different, however.
His nap in the chair had rendered him wakeful, and he tossed and turned till almost midnight before he began to grow drowsy. Just as he was dropping off, two persons entered the adjoining room. The part.i.tions, as is usual in the West, were of the very thinnest wood, and he could easily hear every movement made by their neighbors.
"Well, Jack," said one of the voices, evidently resuming a conversation that had been begun some time previously, "so you did the kid up, eh?"
"Yes, sent him head first over the bank. Wish he"d broken his neck. The kid is one of that bunch that was responsible for my leaving Hampton."
"Is that so? I don"t wonder you are sore at him. Why didn"t you hit him a good crack on the head while you were about it?"
"Oh, I figured that a cold bath would do as a starter. Wait till that bunch gets up to the mountains. Clark and Jess and my friends, Bender and Handcraft, will attend to them."
Tubby"s brain was in a whirl. He had had no difficulty in recalling one of the voices,--that of the one who had spoken of sending Rob over the bank of the San Pedro. Who the other was he couldn"t imagine, however, except that he was evidently a crony of the first speaker. Impulsively the stout youth shook Rob"s shoulder, and as the other opened his eyes, enjoined him to silence.