The Pony Rider Boys in New Mexico

The Pony Rider Boys in New
Mexico
by Frank Gee Patchin

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Title: The Pony Rider Boys in New Mexico
Author: Frank Gee Patchin

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one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on April 7,
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The Pony Rider Boys in New Mexico
or
The End of the Silver Trail
by Frank Gee Patchin, 1910
_________________________________________________________
_______
CHAPTER I
SOMETHING IN THE WIND
"What was that?"
"Only one of the boys in the seat behind us, snoring."
"Sure they're asleep?"
"Yes, but what if they're not? They are only kids. They wouldn't

understand."
"Don't you be too sure about that. I've heard about those kids. Heard
about 'em over in Nevada. There's four of them. They call themselves
the Pony Rider Boys; and they're no tenderfeet, if all I hear is true.
They have done some pretty lively stunts."
"Yes, that's all right, Bob, but we ain't going to begin by getting cold
feet over a bunch of kids out for a holiday."
"Where they going?"
"Don't know. Presume they'll be taking a trip over the plains or heading
for the mountains. They've got a stock car up ahead jammed full of
stock and equipment."
"Scarecrows?"
"No. Good stock. Some of the slickest ponies you ever set eyes on.
There's one roan there that I wouldn't mind owning. Maybe we can
make a trade," and the speaker chuckled softly to himself.
A snore louder than those that had preceded it, caused the two men to
laugh heartily.
The snore had come from Stacy Brown. Both he and Tad Butler were
resting from their long journey on the Atlantic and Pacific train. Further
to the rear of the car, their companions, Ned Rector and Walter Perkins,
also were curled up in a double seat, with Professor Zepplin sitting very
straight as if sleep were furthest from his thoughts. They were nearing
their destination now, and within the hour would be unloading their
stock and equipment at Bluewater.
"They're asleep all right," grinned one of the two men who occupied the
seat just ahead of Stacy and Tad. "Is old man Marquand going to meet
us at the station?"
"Oh, no. That wouldn't be a good thing. Might attract too much

attention. Told him not to. We'll get a couple of ponies at Bluewater
and ride across the mountains. But we've got to be slick. The old man is
no fool. He'll hang on to the location of the treasure till the last old cat's
gone to sleep for good."
"Any idea where the place is?"
"No. Except that it's somewhere south of the Zuni range."
A solitary eye in the seat behind, opened cautiously. The eye belonged
to Stacy Brown. The last snore had awakened him, and he had lain with
closed eyes listening to the conversation of the two men.
He gave Tad a gentle nudge, which was returned with a soft pressure
on Stacy's right arm as a warning that he was to remain quiet.
"Do you know what the treasure consists of?"
"Maybe a mine, but as near as I could draw from Marquand's talk it is
jewels and Spanish money which one of the old Franciscan monks had
buried. The Pueblos knew where it was, but they sealed the place up
after the Pueblo revolution in 1680, and it's been corked tight ever
since."
"How'd Marquand get wise to it?"
"From an old Pueblo Chief whose life he saved a few months ago. The
old chief died a little while afterwards, but before he went, he told
Marquand about the treasure."
"Didn't suppose a redskin had so