The Boy Ranchers on the Trail | Page 9

mask tryin' t' open th' strong box,
and your dad gave th' usual countersign.
"But th' burglar wheeled, an' popped one at your dad, not hittin' him I'm
glad t' say, an' out th' winder he jumped, th' burglar, I mean. Then the

rest of th' gang, which was waitin', rode off, shootin' some, as your dad
was doin'.
"Come t' find out, they'd got a few hundred dollars from the desk where
your dad left th' cash, Bud, but th' main part was in th' safe, an' that
they couldn't get open. Course soon as we knowed what was up we
organized a posse, an' started off--all but Babe. He fell--or rolled--out
of his bunk an' twisted his leg, somehow.
"Anyhow, Buck an' I was told off t' ride this way, partly t' let you
fellers know what had happened, an' partly t' see if there was any trace
of th' skunks what robbed your dad down here in Happy Valley. How
about it? Seen anybody?"
"Well, yes, we did see some one sneaking around here when we arrived
last evening," Bud answered. "But that was long before the robbery."
"And tell him what we found!" urged Dick
"Oh, yes, a stethoscope," went on Bud. "But that has nothing to do with
the matter. Maybe some doctor, or medical student, is out here for his
health, and dropped it as he rode over our place."
"What's a slitherscope!" asked Yellin' Kid. "Anything like a
Triceratops?"
"No!" laughed Nort. "We'll show you. But say, what can we do toward
getting these robbers?"
"We've got t' trail 'em," spoke the older cowboy, as he turned to go to
the tents with the boy ranchers, Buck Tooth following with the two
half-winded ponies. "Soon as I get my breath----"
"That's right!" interrupted Bud. "Come on up and sit down. I'll make
you some coffee. I forgot you'd ridden all night."
"Half of it, anyhow," asserted Yellin' Kid. "An' I rode hard! But so did
Buck Tooth, only you'd hardly know it. He sure can make his cayuse

cover th' ground!"
Indeed the Indian showed little signs of the hard riding he had
accomplished between midnight and dawn. And when he and Yellin'
Kid were having a belated morning cup of coffee further details of the
story were told.
Who the robbers were, and how many there were in the gang that
attempted to force the safe at Diamond X, were matters left to further
enlightenment. Mr. Merkel had only seen one in his office, bending
over the safe, and this one had fled at the command of "hands up!"
Then the others had raced away, amid a fusillade of shots which they
returned.
It was so dark--the moon of the early night having been clouded
over--that the direction taken by the robbers had not been ascertained.
"They probably scattered," declared Yellin' Kid. "It would be th' safest
way--for them! But there's a chance some might 'a' come this way, so
your dad wanted you t' be on the watch."
"We will!" declared Bud. "And when some of the boys come back on
the job here, and we get our allotment of cattle so things settle down to
normal, I'm going back to the ranch and have a talk with dad."
"'Twouldn't be a bad idea," agreed Yellin' Kid. "But where's that mouth
organ you said you found?"
"A stethoscope," laughed Bud. "Here it is," and he exhibited the
medical instrument.
"Hum!" mused the cowboy. "It might be a burglar tool for all I'd know
the difference. But now, if it's agreeable t' you fellers, let's have a look
around. Maybe some of them burglars got a chunk of lead in him and
he's hidin' out around here."
However, a search in the vicinity of Happy Valley camp disclosed
nothing, and then Bud and his cousins set about getting back into the

routine that had been interrupted by the round-up.
"The first thing we've got to do," Bud declared, "is to mend that break
in the telephone line. If that had been working last night you could have
called us up, Kid, instead of you and Buck having to ride out here."
"Yes, we wished th' line was working" admitted the cowboy. "But it
wouldn't have been of much use, it seems. Them burglars didn't come
out this way. However, it's just as well t' have it fixed."
There was a system of telephones connecting Bud's camp with his
father's main ranch and also the two branch ones, and the system was
likewise hooked-up with the long distance. But a recent wind, just
before the round-up, had blown down some poles in Happy Valley,
putting Bud's line out of commission. This was why he and his chums
could not be reached by wire from Diamond X.