By the time the two had returned to the campfire the others had mustered courage enough to stand up. The professor, his whiskers bristling, had crawled from the depression into which he had rolled at the first sign of trouble, and Chunky was making his way cautiously from the bushes.
"Captain McKay, how much of this sort of thing shall we have to face?"
demanded the professor.
"You might have had to face a good deal more of it, had I not been here,"
answered the Ranger shortly.
"What do you mean?"
"That had I not been here you would have got the bullets fired at me.
As I have already said to Butler, those men were after your party.
When they saw me they knew they would not dare to waste a shot on any one else."
"While they were shooting you up, they knew my a.r.s.enal would get into action. They figured on killing me the first shot. But they didn"t,"
added the captain with a mirthless grin.
"I don"t like this at all," declared Professor Zepplin with a slow shake of the head.
"Neither do I," agreed Chunky. "I"d as soon be shot to death as scared to death. I"ll bet my hair is turning gray already. Oh, wow!"
"All hands, turn in," commanded the Ranger briskly. "I will stand watch over the camp for the rest of the night, though you will not be disturbed."
CHAPTER XVII
FUN ON THE MOUNTAIN TRAILS
Confident in the watchfulness of Captain McKay the Pony Rider Boys slept soundly all through that night. Even Chunky forgot to talk in his sleep, thus saving himself from sundry digs in the ribs from his companions.
But when the morning came again the lads were treated to still another surprise. Captain McKay was sleeping in front of their tent door, rolled in his blanket, using one arm for a pillow. Still further out lay three other men, with one sitting up. The latter was none other than Dippy Orell, one of the Rangers. A second glance showed the boys that the other three men were also of the Ranger band.
"Hullo, Bugs," greeted Dippy upon catching sight of the fat boy.
"Hullo. You here?" demanded Stacy.
"I"m here, what"s left of me."
"Bring any "possum for breakfast?" grinned Chunky.
"No, but I"ve a rod in pickle for you."
"All right. Keep it in pickle for yourself. I don"t like sour stuff."
"Hey, there, Bugs!" greeted another Ranger sitting up.
"My name"s Brown," Stacy informed him with dignity. "When did you come in?"
"We blew in with the dawn," answered Dippy.
"And we"re going to blow out with the sun," added Polly Perkins.
"Say, Kid," growled Cad Morgan, rubbing his eyes sleepily as he sat up blinking.
"His name is Bugs," interrupted Dippy.
"All right. Say, Bugs, I"ve got some news for you."
"I don"t care about any news you"ve got to give out It"s probably got a bullet in it somewhere. I"m sick of bullets. What I need is a little rest from chunks of lead. I"m coming down with nervous prostration as it is. Everything seems to happen around me. No matter what I do, I always get the worst of it. Why, that reminds me---"
"Is Chunky going to tell a story?" cried Ned, stepping over the sleeping captain as he came out.
"It sounds that way," laughed Tad. "Go on the Rangers are here to protect us if you tell another watch story. I reckon they"ll arrest you if you try anything like that on them."
"As I was saying that reminds me of a couple of years ago when my uncle bought a lawn mower because the gra.s.s was getting so long in our front yard that the cats couldn"t chew it---"
"Cats chew it?" jeered Dippy.
"Yes, before a rainstorm. They always do."
"Go on, go on. I"m pretty tough," urged Polly. "But don"t drive me too far or I"ll buck."
"As I was about to say---"
"You said that once before."
"I offered to run the lawn mower. Uncle thought that was fine. You see work and I never had hitched very well together. But I thought that would be some fun. So I started in mowing the yard the next morning," finished Chunky thoughtfully.
"Well, what happened?"
"Would you believe it, be---before I"d been at work half an hour, the town constable came up and arrested me for exceeding the speed limit. Now---now wasn"t that hard luck?"
The Rangers gazed at each other hopelessly. No one laughed, though Walter Perkins was heard to chuckle under his breath.
"If it might be proper, I reckon I"d like to ask what being arrested for exceeding the speed limit has got to do with catching bugs in a "possum bag?" demanded Dippy Orell.
"Why---why---the---the constable came up in a buggy, don"t you see?
Ha, ha. Don"t laugh. It might hurt your countenance. I"m used to laughing at my own jokes and---"
"Hee---haw, hee---haw!" wheezed Polly in imitation of a donkey. "What"d we better do with him, fellows?"
"I reckon I"d better tell him the news I was going to," answered Morgan.
"I reckon that"ll take the starch out of him right smart," nodded Polly.
"Dunk Tucker has got away, Bugs."