Injun and Whitey to the Rescue | Page 8

from the mountain in sacks, loaded on horse and muleback, and to be
delivered to the railroad at the Junction, a small settlement about
twenty miles south of the ranch.
The boys thought that as they were stock-holders in the mine, they
ought to go along and attend to this matter, too, but John couldn't see it
that way. He compromised on a half-holiday for them; study in the
morning, freedom in the afternoon. So that morning they stuck to their
lessons. With John there to oversee them they might neglect their
studies. With him away, and the boys placed on their honor, the thing
wasn't to be thought of.
And here it might be repeated that Injun had a very strong sense of
honor. He had faults, as most of us have, but breaking promises, or
what he considered as promises, was not among them.
So that afternoon, as Injun and Whitey could not be with the shipment
of ore, they did the next best thing. They rode off into the foothills.
And on a grassy hill that commanded a widespread view of the plains,
they looked far off over the prairie. And winding across it, clear off
near the horizon, they saw tiny specks which represented mules and
horses, laden with the sacks of precious ore, and its escort of
cowpunchers.
That evening it was lonely at the ranch, Bill Jordan and the other men
being at the Junction. String Beans nursed his sore foot, and Ham
prepared dinner, which Injun had with Whitey in the ranch house. Time
passed and still the men did not return. Evidently they were celebrating
the shipment of the mine's first output, or waiting to see it put safely
aboard the train at the Junction. So Whitey invited Injun to spend the
night, and he accepted willingly, as it gave him a chance to wear the
pink pajamas that he loved.

Yawning time had come and passed. Whitey was sleeping soundly and
dreamlessly, when he was aroused by a grip on his arm. It was Injun in
his pink pajamas.
"Some one come," he said.
"Mebbe it's Bill and the others," Whitey ventured.
"Not Bill--only one man," Injun replied.
The coming of a man didn't seem important to Whitey, but he knew
Injun must have had something on his mind, or he wouldn't have waked
him, and he waited for his friend to speak more of the words of which
he was so sparing. The next speech was not long.
"Look," said Injun, and he went to the window.
Whitey went and looked. There was a faint light in the bunk house, and
another down by the horse corral. As the boys watched, a man came out
of the bunk house, and even in the dim light Whitey recognized him.
He was String Beans.
"Why," whispered Whitey, "I thought he was lame. He doesn't even
limp."
"Him get well," Injun replied.
The light at the corral moved toward and joined that at the bunk house,
and the two revealed a man leading three horses.
"It's Whiff!" gasped Whitey. "I thought he was with the men at the
Junction."
"Him get back," Injun grunted, with meaning.
Absorbed in the scene being enacted before them, the boys watched in
silence.
Bill Jordan had said that Injun slept with his mind open; that most

Injuns did; that if they hadn't done that all these years there wouldn't be
no Injuns--and no doubt Bill was right. But any way you thought about
it, it was remarkable that the slight sound outside--the thudding of a
horse's hoofs on soft ground, or the letting down of the bars of the
corral--should have wakened Injun. It probably was not the sound so
much as the sense of something unusual, something threatening.
Furthermore, Injun had a different way of figuring things from Whitey.
Also he had been awake longer, so his mind had a better start, not being
bewildered by sleep.
"They're up to something," said Whitey.
"Um," grunted Injun.
The two men went into the bunk house and soon came out with another
man who was fat. It undoubtedly was Ham. Each man carried a saddle,
which he put on a horse. Then they mounted and rode away.
A cloud moved away, like a curtain, and a full moon shed its light over
the scene and into the window. The hour must have been late, for the
moon was low. Whitey turned and looked at Injun, who was stolidly
watching the riders disappear.
"Can you beat that?" Whitey demanded. "String Beans walked as well
as any one. I'll bet he wasn't hurt at the mine at all. That he was just
pretending."
"Uh," muttered Injun.
"Mebbe they've stolen something," continued Whitey.
"No, no come into the house, me hear 'em," said