CHAPTER VII.
WHAT CAME ACROSS THE DESERT.
That which brought the two--the plainsman and the lad--to such anamazed halt was nothing more nor less than the sight of the huge formswhich had appeared to Jack in the sand-storm and which had given themsuch an alarm the night before, and which doubtless, as they now viewedit in a flash of intuition, had almost stampeded the stock while theirowners were exploring the top of the mesa. But Coyote Pete was not theman to remain long rooted in astonishment.
With one quick jerk, he raised his rifle, and a vivid spatter of firefollowed. As the report died out, one of the great forms sank to theground with a scream that sounded almost human. The others glided offin the same direction as they had the night before, and vanished in thesame mysterious way, before the thunderstruck Jack could get a shot atthem.
"They're real, at any rate," exclaimed Coyote Pete, showing in his toneof relief, that until the great shadowy mass had sunk before hisbullet, he had had some doubts of that fact.
"W-w-w-w-what is it?" came a frightened voice at their elbows, and,looking around, they saw the professor, in pajamas striped like abarber's pole, gazing apprehensively about him. Close behind him cameRalph Stetson and Walt, their weapons clasped determinedly, andevidently ready to face whatever emergency the sudden shot hadbetokened.
"Yes, what is it--Indians or bears?" demanded Ralph, entirely forgetfulof the fact that bears are not wont, as a rule, to roam the barrendesert.
"Dunno, but we'll see in a minute," said the cow-puncher, in answer tothe excited questions. Followed by the rest, he made his way forwardto where the great bulk that he had shot lay still and motionless onthe ground. Even Jack owned to a slight feeling of apprehension asthey neared the great form,--harmless as, whatever it might be, it hadnow become.
As for the stock, they were still plunging wildly about and snorting ina terrified fashion, and, had it not been for their stout raw-hidetethers, they would undoubtedly have stampeded.
Drawing a match, Pete held it high as he neared the stricken bulkoutstretched before them. The next minute he gave an astonished cry:
"A camel!"
"A _what_!" gasped the entire group in unison.
"Jes' what I said, a backterian camel," reiterated Pete, strikinganother match.
They could all see then that he spoke the truth, astounding as itseemed. The creature that lay still before them, a bullet through itsbrain, was a veritable, undoubted specimen of the Bactrian species.
"But--but--great heavens!" cried Jack, hardly able to believe his eyes,"how,--what----"
"What on earth is a camel doing out here on the New Mexican desert?"the professor finished for him.
"Going eight days without a drink," suggested Ralph in an undertone;but none of the party was in a mood for humor just then.
It was Pete who solved the mystery.
"I've got it," he exclaimed, "and I'm a plum-busted idjut not to havethought uv it afore; I've hearn about 'em often enough. This herebackterian camel must be one of that bunch of Circus Jesse's."
"Circus Jesse! Who was he, or she?" asked Jack.
"Why, he was a feller what owned a big eastern circus, but owned aranch out here as well. It struck him one time that if camels was goodfor transportation purposes over the Sahara desert they ought ter bejust as good here. So, what does he do but start a camel express fromMaguez ter Amadillo over the border, with some of the backterians frumhis circus."
"And didn't it work?" asked Ralph.
"No. That is, it did fer a while, till ther novelty wore off, and thenfolks went back ter ther old reliable mule or burro. Circus Jesse, hegot so blamed sore, that one fine day he turned the whole shootin'match of his backterians loose, and packin' his trunk, let the country,and resolved in futur' ter stick ter his circus."
"Was that long ago?" asked Jack. "I shouldn't have thought thecreatures would have lived long without being recaptured."
"It's about five years since Jesse got out, I reckon," rejoined Pete,"an' fer a while camel-hunting was a popular sport. By an' by,however, they got so wary no one could get near 'em, and, except fer ascare they'd throw inter a prospector now and ag'in, we never heard nomore of 'em. I'd clean fergotten all about 'em, till I made this oneinter cold backterian meat."
"I suppose they found food and water here and regarded the Mesa astheir own property," declared Jack.
"That's about it. This is a place that's seldom visited, and I guessthey just figgered out that they'd found a happy home."
"But what became of the rest of them?" asked Ralph, who had beenapprised by Jack of the strange vanishment of the dead creature's mates.
"Must uv gone down that draw I noticed frum ther top uv ther mesato-day," explained Pete. "Yer see, frum here, it would look as if theyvanished inter the solid earth when they entered it, bein' as how youcan't see there's any kind of a gully there till you get up high."
The next morning this was found to be the true explanation. Tracks onthe bottom of the gully showed plainly how the strange desert wanderershad effected their disappearance in such a startling manner. But itwas some time before Pete could sit down to a meal without beingreminded of his "fire-spouting spook," which had cast such alarm intothe camp the first night. The boys spent a week more at the mesa,during which time Professor Wintergreen obtained voluminous notes onone of the most interesting specimens of its kind in the south-west.
The days passed tranquilly, and, with the exception of the duty ofremoving the carcass of the dead camel, nothing to interrupt theroutine of survey work occurred. The mates of the dead beast hadevidently decided not to revisit their pasture grounds, for they didnot put in a reappearance.
"Well, boys," said the professor one morning when they were allgathered at the summit of the mesa, "I guess that to-morrow morning wecan say good-by to the scene of our rather tame adventures. My work iscomplete."
"How about the subterranean river?" asked Ralph, but a howl of derisionfrom the others silenced him.
"Subterranean fiddlestick," burst out Jack, but the professor silencedhim.
"The existence of such a stream is not so improbable as you seem tothink," he said, "and Master Ralph is to be commended for hisenterprising desire to locate it, but I think that our investigationshave shown that if such a river ever did exist and the mesa dwellershad access to it, that the entrance, wherever it might have been, hasvanished long ages ago."
Pete had taken no part in this conversation, but had wandered about thetop of the mesa rather aimlessly, from time to time looking sharply atthe surroundings beneath him in the alert manner of one whose life hasbeen passed in the open places.
Suddenly he gave a quick exclamation and pointed off into thenorth-west.
"Look! Look there!" he exclaimed, riveting his eyes on something hiskeen vision had sighted, but which remained as yet invisible to theboys.
"What's coming--another storm?" asked Ralph.
"I don't know what it is yet," rejoined the other in a strangely uneasytone, "it looks like--like----"
"A pillar of dust," exclaimed Jack, who had by this time sighted it,too, and had come to the aid of the unimaginative plainsman.
"So it does," cried the others, who now, with the exception of theshort-sighted professor, could also see the approaching dust-cloud.
"What can it be?" wondered Walt, peering eagerly in its direction.
"Somebody riding. Several of 'em, I should say, by the dust they'reraising," rejoined Pete bluntly.
The boys exchanged quick glances. Somebody riding across that aridwaste? Their destination could only be the mesa, then, but who couldit possibly be?
Had they been able to solve the riddle at that instant, they would havescattered pell-mell for their ponies, and made the best of their wayfrom the Haunted Mesa, but, not being endowed with anything more thanordinary sensibilities, it was, of course, impossible for them torealize the deadly peril that was bearing down upon them in thatdust-cloud.
"I
can see things more clearly now," cried Jack, as for an instant avagrant desert air blew aside the dust-cloud and revealed severalriders, surrounding some cumbersome, moving object in their midst.
"There's a wagon!" he cried, "a big one, too, and surrounded byhorsemen. What can it mean?"
"That we'd better be skedaddling as quick as possible," shot out Pete,brusquely.
The professor, who had wandered away from the group and was down insidethe hollow altar, was hastily summoned and apprised of the strangeapproach of the mysterious cavalcade.
"Why, bless me, boys, what can it mean?" he cried, nimbly attempting aflying leap over the edge of the altar in his haste to ascertain forhimself the nature of the approaching party.
Suddenly, however, as his feet touched the top, and he was scramblingover, he gave a sharp cry and fell back within the altar with a gasp ofpain.
"Are you hurt?" asked Jack, running to the side of the ancient place ofsacrifice.
The professor lay prostrate within. His face was white and set andbeads of sweat stood out on his forehead.
"My--my ankle," he groaned. "I broke it some time ago, and in hurryingto clamber over the top of the altar I fear I have snapped it again.Oh!"
He gave a heartrending groan of pain. The boys stood stricken withconsternation. It was going to be a long and difficult task to get theprofessor out of his present predicament, and there seemed need forhaste.
"Here, put this under your head," said Jack, stripping off his jackethastily, and throwing it within, "I'll tell Coyote Pete about youraccident, and we can get remedies from the packs."
But when Jack turned, only Ralph and Walt stood beside him. The sturdycow-puncher had vanished.
"He's gone to get the glasses," explained Walt.
Presently Coyote Pete, very much out of breath from his dash down thepath and up again, stood beside them. He had the glasses in his hand,and lost no time in applying them to his eyes. He had not had themthere two minutes when he gave a quick exclamation and turned hastilyto the boys.
"Lie down; lie down, every one of you," he ordered sharply.
They lost no time in obeying, as they knew that the old plainsman musthave an excellent reason for such a command. The next instant Petehimself followed their example. Crouching low, he once more peeredthrough the glasses above the edge of the cup-like depression.
"Who are they?" asked Jack in a low voice, wriggling his way to Pete'sside.
"I'm not sure yet, but they are all armed. I caught the flash ofsunlight on their rifles. If they are Mexican insurrectos, we are in abad fix."
"Mexicans! What would they be doing this side of the border?"
"That remains to be seen. But I don't like the looks of it."
"Suppose they are Mexicans, Pete, would they do us any harm?"
"That depends a whole lot on whether they are on lawful business ornot."
"You mean----"
"That I don't like the looks of it. If there's an insurrection inMexico, those fellows are after no good on this side of the border.They may be some band of cut-throats, who are taking advantage of thedisturbances to raise Cain."
"Good gracious," exclaimed Jack, "and the professor's just injuredhimself so that we can't move him for some time anyhow."
Coyote Pete turned sharply on the boy.
"What's he done?"
"Broken his ankle, or, at any rate, seriously sprained it."
Pete's rejoinder to this was a long whistle of dismay. He saidnothing, however, but once more applied the glasses to his eyes. Jacksaw him gnaw his moustache, as he gazed out over the desert. Thedust-cloud was quite close now--not more than a mile away. The boys,with their naked eyes, could easily catch the moving glint of metal.
"Well, Pete, what do you think?" inquired Jack eagerly, as thecowpuncher at length set down the glasses.
"That we're in Dutch," was the expressive rejoinder.