"Well! Did you run across the Von Mindens?" was Ernest"s greeting.
"No! What"s happened?"
"We don"t know. The old lady was so long coming out of her tent that toward noon I investigated, to find that she was no longer with us. I went up to Prebles" and Charley reported that two of the madam"s burros were missing this morning as well as the pack ropes. We think that she hit out in the night and is trailing the old boy up in the ranges. He started off early, serene in the thought that she was down here. Charley didn"t mention the burros to him."
"Well, thank heaven for small favors!" exclaimed Roger. "She certainly got on my nerves."
"Did you find oil?" asked Gustav.
"Yes, I unearthed a fine cache of it. I wish you folks could see the outfit up there on Snake Peak," and he told them what he had found.
"But you aren"t going to annex that oil until you hear from the owners?"
exclaimed Ernest.
"You write to the owners, when we get it here, enclosing a check for the oil at market rates. I may have trouble, but I doubt it."
They were sitting as usual before their tent smoking their good night pipes.
"You will get into trouble, Rog," warned Ernest. "Impatience is all right and good driving power, but what"s the use of laying yourself open to difficulties?"
"Don"t be an old maid, Ern, with your piffling German conscientiousness.
I haven"t the slightest notion of stealing. I"ll pay for every drop of the oil--"
"How vas the road?" asked Gustav.
"No road at all," replied Roger. "I just plunged through across country."
"Then, the horses, where--"
"Lord, that"s right!" interrupted Roger. "I noticed that there was a good enough road leading out of the mine to the south--toward Archer"s Springs. But it"s clear on the other side of the range and parallel to this trail, of course. No good to us at all. Don"t tell me we"ve got to build a road to get that oil out. My lord, what a country!"
"Vell," said Gustav, "if it is too hard to get it out, then you don"t steal it, then you don"t break the law, then you don"t get arrested, so that is good."
"Don"t you think I won"t get it out, if I have to pack it out in a canteen," said Roger. "High treason, arson, murder are nothing to stand between me and that cache of oil."
"You"d better swipe two teams of horses, Rog, on one of your predatory expeditions," exclaimed Ernest. "d.i.c.k may need his own horses occasionally this spring."
Roger rose and knocked the ashes out of his pipe. "I"d like to swipe that gas producer engine up there," he replied and went to bed.
CHAPTER IX
GUSTAV
It was late the next afternoon when d.i.c.k drove slowly along the trail.
The three men were flat on their backs under the absorber, patching leaks, when they heard the squeak of the wagon and the soft tread of horses" hoofs in the sand. They made no attempt to greet him.
The next morning, however, Roger plodded up to the ranch house to consult with d.i.c.k about the moving of the oil. Although it was close to eight o"clock, d.i.c.k was just finishing breakfast. He was cheerful and talkative.
"Don"t try to use horses," he urged. "There"s old Rabbit Tail lives ten miles over the range. He"s got a bunch of little wild burros and he does packing for the miners when there is any. He"ll pack that oil for you."
Roger brightened up, then shook his head. "I can"t pay him. The Smithsonian folks aren"t coming up to the scratch and I"ve got to finish this job without funds. I"ve about twenty-five dollars in hand and two hundred more in sight. I thought perhaps I could exchange work with you.
Help you to re-seed and then to increase your irrigating capacity here."
"Gosh, that"s hard luck!" exclaimed d.i.c.k. "Did you hear that, Charley, about Roger"s money?"
Charley, who had been busy in the kitchen, came in now with a fresh cup of coffee for Roger in one hand and an extra chair in the other. Had Roger"s mind been less concentrated on the problem in hand he might have noted the fine ease with which she swung the chair up to the table for him before either he or d.i.c.k could proffer help. Charley was so slender that one did not easily recognize the splendid strength she sometimes displayed.
"Yes, I heard," said Charley with a look of sympathy at the restless fire in Roger"s deep gray eyes. "I guess we"re all up against it and will have to cultivate patience. Perhaps Rabbit Tail will trust you, Roger."
"I call him Roger dear, and he likes it. Why don"t you too, Charley?"
interrupted Felicia, coming in from the porch where she had been building an adobe doll house.
The abstracted look left Roger"s face for a moment. "Yes, why don"t you, Charley?" he asked with a grin that made his face look bright.
Charley laughed. "If it will make you look human, like that," she exclaimed, "I will call you anything you wish, Roger dear!"
Roger"s grin faded to an expression that was curiously tense. d.i.c.k, who had been giving only half attention to this exchange, now said: "Rabbit Tail won"t trust you. He"s had too many dealings with the whites, poor devil. We"ll have to break a trail to the mine and use our team. Just let me get that alfalfa in again, Roger, and I"ll help you out."
"I can pay you up in days" work as far as the use of your time and team go," said Roger. "What I"ll always be in your debt for is the advice and backing you give me."
d.i.c.k grunted. "I"m glad my four years" h.e.l.l down here is of value to some one. I"ll let you know when I"ve finished re-seeding."
"I want to help on that," insisted Roger. "Our international debt is getting too one-sided."
"Well, I"ll be mighty grateful to you," sighed d.i.c.k. "I"ll take your help on the re-seeding, but I"ll be still more appreciative if you"ll take a look at my gasoline engine to-morrow morning. I"ve spun that fly wheel until my hope of salvation"s gone. And I"ve got to wet that field down."
"I"ll get at it now," said Roger.
With Felicia trailing at his heels, Roger made his way to the shed beside the spring. The engine and pump were both old. Roger tinkered for a half hour, Felicia standing by to hand him the wrench or the oil can on demand.
"Do you love me, Roger?" the child asked, as Roger tugged at a rusty oil cup screw.
"I certainly do. Do you love me?"
"Yes. Do you love Charley?"
"Well, I"m fond of Charley. I"ve known her a long time, you know."
"But you aren"t fonder of her than you are of me?" insisted Felicia.
"Certainly not! You"re my best sweetheart. Now the oil can, Felicia."
The little girl stared at Roger, with speculative eyes. "Charley says you"re very interesting. What is an interesting man, Roger?"
"One who knows how to start a gas engine, chicken," exclaimed Charley, coming into the shed. "Mercy, Felicia, are you always as personal as this?"