The Boy Ranchers Among the Indians | Page 6

trail the devils. This is what the message said, and I'm sending the actual message to you by mail. "Get word to my uncle, Henry Merkel, Diamond X Ranch, that Floyd and I are taken. Ask him to send help." That's what the message said and I'm doing as requested. I've sent all the help I can, but the Yaquis got the start on us, owing to the fact that I was out of town with a posse after rustlers. But we'll get that girl and boy back or bust every leg we've got, Mr. Merkel. And you can send on help if you want to and join us.'"
The lengthy message was signed with the name "Hank Fowler," and when the reading was finished, Mr. Merkel glanced around at his listeners.
"These young folks are some kin of yours, I take it?" asked Old Billee Dobb.
"Sure," assented the ranchman. "More of my wife's than mine, but it's all the same. They were coming here on a visit, coming all the way from California by auto. I thought it was rather risky when they first wrote of it, but my wife says Rosemary is a good driver, and Floyd almost as good."
"Is he a Westerner?" asked Yellin' Kid.
"Not born and raised here," said Mr. Merkel, "but Floyd is no tenderfoot, and as for Rosemary--"
"She's a whole can of peaches! That's what she is!" cried Bud. "To have the nerve to stop and scribble a message to dad when the Yaquis had her and her brother. Clear grit I call that!"
"Sure thing!" assented Nort.
"Gee! I wish I'd been there!" sighed Dick.
"What! To be captured by the Indians and made into sausage meat?" joked Mr. Merkel, for at times they poked a bit of fun at Dick on account of his plumpness. Though, truth to tell, he was now not too stout, and the life of the west had greatly hardened him.
"They wouldn't have caught me without a fight!" he bruskly declared.
"That's right! A fight!" cried Bud. "What are we going to do about this, Dad? We can't let our cousins be carried off this way; can we, fellows?" he demanded of his boy rancher companions.
"I should say not!" was the instant response, duet fashion.
"No, it wouldn't be right for us to sit back and do nothing," agreed Mr. Merkel. "There aren't any too many men available to help out the sheriff. We've got to do our share. Get ready boys!" and he looked at his son and nephews, his glance also roving over his own aggregation of cowboys, most of whom were now gathered in front of the main ranch building of Diamond X.
"Where are we going?" asked Dick.
"On the trail of the Yaquis!" answered his uncle. "We can spare most of the bunch, now that the round-up is over. You don't need many out at your ranch, Bud. Call in all you can spare, and we'll hit the trail!"
"Whoo-pee!" shouted Nort, whirling his horse about and setting it at a gallop down through the corrals.
"This is news!" yelled his brother, following the lead of Nort.
"I only hope we aren't too late!" remarked Bud, when his cousins came back to join him.
"Too late? What do you mean!" asked Nort.
"I mean to save Rosemary--and Floyd. Those Yaquis--they're regular devils when they get on the war path! Oh, I hope we aren't too late!"
It was a hope the others shared.
Rapid action replaced the comparative quiet that reigned during the reading of the telegram. Cowboys rode to and fro, and Bud and his cousins prepared to depart for Diamond X Second to arrange for taking the trail against the Yaquis.
As the boy ranchers rode off down the trail, promising to return as speedily as possible, to join with the bunch from Diamond X, their eager talk over the recent events was interrupted by the noise of shouting.
"What's that?" cried Dick, looking in the direction of the noise. It appeared to come from a swale, or depression among some small, rounded knolls.
"Sounds like a cattle stampede," remarked Bud, urging his pony forward. "And yet it can't be that."
Nort and Dick followed as soon as they could swing their horses about. The sound of shouting and the thunder of the feet of many animals--horses or steers--came more plainly to the ears of the boy ranchers.
CHAPTER IV
ON THE TRAIL
With Bud in the advance, urging his pony to topmost speed, Nort and Dick followed. Bud shot along the trail, up one rise, down another, all the while coming nearer to the noise which increased in intensity. Clearly something was wrong either among a bunch of Diamond X cattle, or with some of the horses belonging to the ranch outfit. And that some human individual was concerned in the "fracas" was evident by the shouts and yells that, now and then,