You can get into more trouble, and faster than---"
"At least I don"t try to shave the professor with my revolver," retorted Tad sharply. "Hark! What was that?"
"I---I didn"t hear anything."
"Sh-h-h!" Tad gripped the arm of his companion. Stacy repressed an "ouch" with some difficulty. The two lads stood listening.
Particles of dirt were rattling from the roots of the fallen tree, sounding like hailstones as they fell to the rocks in the cave. Then a faint ray of light appeared under the bottom of the ma.s.s of roots.
"Somebody is coming," whispered Tad. "Stand perfectly still until I tell you to move."
"They can"t see us at once. Don"t make a sound on your life."
"Wha---what are you going to do?" whispered Stacy, his teeth chattering audibly.
"Duck, if I get half a chance. But I don"t think I shall. There it goes!"
The great ma.s.s of roots rose clear of the ground, exposing the full height of the opening, and the eyes of the two Pony Rider Boys grew large at what they beheld there in the framed circle of light,
CHAPTER XXIII
IN A PERILOUS POSITION
As root ma.s.s swung upward, a man with a vicious slap on the animal"s thigh, sent a horse bounding in. He followed the horse. Then after him came five other men, crowding in with every appearance of haste.
Not a word had been spoken up to this time.
"Now run for your life!" whispered Tad in the ear of his companion.
"No, this way. Stoop low. I don"t want to get pinned in that other place."
Tad had been using his eyes while glancing about the compartment, and using them to good purpose. He had espied a heap of blankets, either discarded ones or some that had been used for the ponies. He was inclined to the former opinion. He was quite sure that blankets would not be used for the animals at this time of the year. At any rate there was now no time for reflection. It was a time for quick action.
Leading Chunky to the heap, which lay under a projecting ledge of rock some four feet from the floor, Tad forced his companion over behind the pile, then himself crawled in, puffing the blankets over them.
Stacy"s teeth were still chattering.
"Stop it!" commanded Tad, giving the fat boy a violent pinch.
This time Chunky did say "ouch!" But before the word was out of his mouth Tad had clapped a blanket over the offending mouth.
"Do you want to be killed?"
"N---n---no."
"Then keep still!"
"Wha---what are they doing?"
"That is what I want to find out if you will lie quiet and not give me any further trouble. They are staking their horses. This must be the stable. The men, as I thought, will go back further. I hope we can hear what they say."
"I don"t care what they say. I want to get out of here."
"You never will if you don"t muzzle yourself. Now do try to keep quiet while I listen."
Tad raised his head cautiously, but quickly drew it back. What he had seen was the face of the man who had pa.s.sed himself off as captain of the Rangers when visiting the camp of the Pony Rider Boys a few days before that. This was Willie Jones, the man for whom every Ranger in the state was searching at that moment. And then---Tad shivered in spite of himself when he made the discovery---stepping up to the leader to ask him a question was Dunk Tucker, the fellow whom Tad had captured. Dunk had regained his freedom and had joined his band. His presence here indicated that it was not a good place for the Pony Rider Boys. Tad hoped his own fellows might keep close to their camp.
He wondered if the Rangers would be able to trace the bandits to their lair, or if the former even knew the outlaws had returned to that locality again. The words of Tucker answered his question.
"Well, we outrode them, Cap," said Tucker.
"Yes, but if you hadn"t made a fool of yourself and tried a pot shot on McKay they wouldn"t have known we were anywhere about. That was a fool play on your part, Dunk. Your temper will be the death of you.
We"ll be lucky if it isn"t the death of the whole outfit. I don"t want any more of it. If you can"t control yourself better, the word will go out that you aren"t safe. You know what that means?"
Dunk grinned maliciously.
"I reckon I do. How long we going to stay in here this time?"
"I"ll let you know when I am ready to go."
"But ain"t you going to clean out that camp?"
"If you mean the boys, I am not. I am looking for bigger game just now. When we get through you can settle your little grudge if you want to. I reckon you"ll get your fingers burnt, the same way you did before, if you try it. Those boys are pretty slick."
Tucker"s face grew black. No need to tell Tad of what the outlaw was thinking at that moment. He was thinking of the time when the boys had made him a prisoner and how they had been responsible for his having been taken to El Paso and locked up. There was murder in the heart of Dunk Tucker at that moment, as Tad Butler well knew.
The men had lighted candles and stuck them in crevices in the rocks, so that the chamber was fairly well lighted. The horses were white with foam, showing that they had been ridden hard. The watching boy understood. The bandits had been hard pressed by the Rangers.
Jones walked away, leaving Tucker standing there nursing his deadly rage. After a time Dunk followed into the other chamber, where the men fell to discussing their escape in tones plainly audible to the boys hidden under the blankets. From the conversation Tad drew that the men had been on a raid and that they had been forced to throw away much of their plunder because of having been so hard pressed by the pursuing Rangers. Still, three small packs had been unloaded from the ponies in the cave and carried to the inner chamber. The outlaws were not in good humor. Their leader was the only one whose face reflected a smile. Willie could smile even when facing a gun.
That smile had upset more than one man"s aim and saved Willie"s life.
Jones fully realized the value of his disconcerting smile.
Tad"s reflections were interrupted by the voice of one of the outlaws.
"They"re here," said the voice. "I"d like to take a pot at them."
"It"ll be your last if you try it," threatened Jones. "This is the only safe retreat we"ve got. We don"t propose to give it away by any, such fool play as shooting at a Ranger from it, much as we"d like to get rid of some of those fellows. They"re crowding us pretty close.
And right here, I"ve got a proposition to make. By the way, Gregg, what are they doing?"
"Looking for trails."
The outlaw captain smiled grimly.
"Let "em look. Precious little trail they"ll find, and precious little good it"ll do them if they do find it."
"Joe said those stones weren"t where he"d left them."
"That"s all right. Probably some of those boys have been fooling around here. They"re a nosey crowd. But there"s no chance that they have discovered anything yet. Give them time and they may. Once we break up the Ranger camp the boys will take French leave mighty quick.