CHAPTER XIII
A CLOUD OF DUST
Flappings of heels to the flanks of horses, the tightening of reins,firmer seats in the saddles and glances at the heavy revolvers swingingin their holsters at the sides of the riders came as a prelude to theburst of speed which immediately followed the sight of the distant herdof cattle being hazed across the prairie.
"Whoop-ee!" cried Yellin' Kid. "We'll show 'em what's what! Whoop-ee!"
"Reckon you can stand a fight?" asked Nort, looking at the leg of thecowboy, which had been severely injured.
"Shucks, yes! I'm all right now! I'd a leetle mite ruther lick abunch of sheep herders than jest plain onery cattle rustlers," went onYellin' Kid, "but anythin' for a fight!"
"You said it!" chimed in some of the other rough but ready and earnestpunchers.
"I s'pose there will be a fight," mused Dick.
"Unless they quit and run," said Bud. "You don't mind a little thinglike a fight, do you?" he asked his cousin. "Of course not! I wasonly joking!" he quickly added as he saw a look on Dick's face.
"It won't be the first time we've had a scrap," remarked Nort.
All this while they were riding hard toward the distant group which, atfirst had been but a cloud of dust, but which now resolved itself intoforms of horsemen and cattle.
And as the outfit from Diamond X approached nearer, it could be seenthat the drivers of the cattle were not regulation cowboys from anyranch north of the Rio Grande. There was an air and manner about thehorsemen urging on the weary cattle which betokened them asirregulars--rustlers, in other words.
The advantage--such as it was--appeared to be with the boy ranchers andtheir friends, for they were on fresh horses, and could ride hither andyon without having to drive before them, and keep from stampeding, abunch of cattle. As for the rustlers the success of their raiddepended on keeping the cattle they had stolen. Once the small herdgot beyond their control, they might as well cut and run for it, sinceit would be a case of everyone save himself, and every man for himself.
"Some of you cut out the cattle, boys," advised Old Billee, as hespurred along with the youngest rider. For though this veteran morethan doubled the years of the boy ranchers, he was almost as "spry" asany of them. "Cut out the cattle, and we'll look after these rustlers."
There were members enough in the outfit from Diamond X to provide for adivision of forces--enabling them to execute a flank movement, as itwere, though this does not exactly describe it.
"What's the best thing to do?" asked Bud, willing to take advice fromhis father's able helper. Bud was willing to learn, a most commendablespirit in a youth.
"Wa'al, this would be about as good a plan as any," remarked OldBillee, as he still continued to ride on, but at the same time he was,with his keen eyes, looking over the lay of the land. "Bud, you andyour cousins ride off to the left, with Hank and Sam, and see if youcan cut out the steers. If you can circle 'em around and bring 'em upbehind where we are now--or as near as you can. I'll take the rest ofthe boys and see if we can't speed up and close with the rustlers."
Bud at once saw that this was giving him and his boy chums, as well asSam and Hank, the other two cowboys, quite the safest end of thebattle. The cattle could be cut out without coming into very closecontact with the desperate rustlers. The fight with them would betaken care of by the more experienced Billee and his men.
Bud thought it over for a moment. He was not afraid of danger, but hewas not foolhardy, and he knew the veteran had been in many moreengagements like this than had Bud himself. Also Bud was too good asoldier to object to taking orders.
"All right," he finally said. "Suits me, Billee. How about youfellows?" he asked Nort and Dick.
With short nods they agreed to Billee's plan, and a few minutes laterit was put into execution. The outfit from Diamond X separated, andwhile Bud and his party spurred ahead to cut out the cattle, the otherscircled around to make a "flank" attack, as it might be called.
"Here we go!" cried Bud who, naturally, was the leader of the "cuttingout" sally.
On rushed the horses, the boys clapping heels to them and "fanning"them with their hats to urge them to greater speed. They were quiteclose, now, to the band of cattle being hazed away, and on some of thelagging steers could be made out the branding marks of the Diamond Xranch.
"Those are ours all right!" cried Bud to his cousins.
"And we'll have 'em back soon," added Dick.
"We'd better begin shooting," called out Hank, one of the two cowboyswho had been assigned to duty with Bud.
This was not as serious as it sounds, for the shots were not to bedirected at the rustlers but fired in the air to startle the cattle.In cutting out, or, rather, in separating from those who had stolenthem the steers from Diamond X, it was necessary to get the animals onthe run. They could then more easily be driven where they were wanted.
By this time, of course, the rustlers knew they were in danger not onlyof losing their ill-gotten cattle, but of losing their own freedom andperhaps their lives. They could be arrested and sent to jail for theftif they were caught.
For a few minutes after the pursuit became close, the rustlers made anattempt to get the cattle into one of the many small valleys with whichthe country around there abounded. But they soon saw that it was alosing fight. The animals were too wearied to be driven at much speed.
Then some order seemed to have been given by the leader of therustlers, for the nondescript bunch of cattle thieves swung off, andpractically abandoned their four-footed charges.
This made it easier for the boy ranchers, though the task of urging thecattle away from the line they were traveling was hard enough at best.
"Come on!" yelled Bud, when he saw what was happening. "We've got 'emgoing!"
This was true, as regarded the rustlers. They were about to savethemselves if they could.
With drawn guns, firing rapidly and yelling as loudly as they could,the boy ranchers rode in among the frightened steers, endeavoring toturn them off to the right. For a moment it seemed as if they were notgoing to do this, but eventually their tactics succeeded, and theleaders of the herd swung off. Then the others followed and it was nowa comparatively easy matter to drive them along where it was desiredthey should go.
"Poor things!" murmured Dick sympathetically, as he saw the wearycattle. "We'll have to let 'em rest, Bud."
"Guess you're right," agreed the son of the Diamond X owner. "Theywon't be much good for shipping to market until they get some fat backon their bones." Many of the cattle were in woeful shape, and allsuffered from lack of water, since the rustlers had driven them sohard, endeavoring to get far away with them as soon as possible thatthey had not stopped to water them.
"There's a little stream over there," announced Sam, one of the cowboyswho knew this part of the country well. "We can haze 'em over thereand keep 'em for a while."
This was considered the best thing to do, and soon the weary cattlewere drinking their first water in many hours. Afterward they all laydown to rest, not even eating until some of the weariness had passed.
Meanwhile the cowboys under Old Billee had come to close quarters withthe rustlers and the fight started immediately. There was nothingunusual about it, the rustlers merely desiring to get away and theoutfit from Diamond X wishing to capture them to make them pay fortheir lawlessness.
One rustler was captured, for he was so wounded that he fell from hishorse. The others got away, one badly hurt, it seemed, for he had tobe taken in charge by one of his companions who lifted him to his ownsaddle.
As for Billee and his forces, they suffered somewhat, two of thecowboys being painfully wounded by bullets. But, on the whole, theaffair ended much better than might have been expected. The stolencattle had been recovered, in as good condition as could be hoped for,and the rustlers had been driven off, with the exception of the woundedone.
It was planned to take him to the nearest jail, but this trouble wasobv
iated for the man died in the night.
Riding back after having driven off the rustlers, Billee and his menfound the cattle quietly resting, while Bud and his friends were doinglikewise, as they had ridden hard.
"We'll camp here for the night," decided Billee. "Too bad there isn'ta telephone here that we could use to send word back to your dad, Bud.But we can't have everything."
"No," agreed Yellin' Kid with a chuckle. "I'd like a room an' a bathwith plenty of hot water, but I don't see any growin' on no treesaround here!"
However, the cowboys were used to this sort of life and they counted itno unusual hardship. A fire was made, those who had been scarred bybullets were looked after and then the ever-welcome "grub" was served.
The next day, after the hasty burial of the dead rustler, on whomlittle sympathy was wasted, and concerning whose identity no one caredmuch, the march back to Diamond X was begun, the cattle being slowlydriven toward their former pasture. As not all the cowboys were neededfor this, a sufficient number were told off by Billee, and theremainder, including the boy ranchers, made better speed back toheadquarters.
There the news of the successful chase after the rustlers was receivedwith satisfaction, and Mr. Merkel said he hoped it would be a lesson toother thieves.
"I wish we could give the same sort of lesson to any sheep herders thatmight be around here," remarked Bud.
"That's so," said his father. "And perhaps you'd better be gettingback to Spur Creek. No telling what might have happened while you'vebeen away. We didn't leave anyone on guard."
"I don't know as it was necessary," said Bud. "But, all the same, we'dbetter get back."
They made the start early the next morning--the boy ranchers, withYellin' Kid and Snake, and there was the promise of more cowboys tohelp them hold the "fort" should it be considered necessary.
"Well, everything seems to be all right," remarked Bud as he and hisparty rode up to the shack on the edge of the stream. "No signs of thesheep yet."
"And no smell, either," chuckled Yellin' Kid, as he sniffed the air.
"It takes the perfesser for that!" said Snake with a laugh.
"I wonder what Professor Wright is doing?" said Nort.
"Oh, digging up a lot of old bones, I reckon," Bud answered. "Butlet's get grub and rest. I'm tired."
The events of the past few days had been strenuous enough to make themall welcome a period of rest. And they had it, for a few hours. Andthen something occurred to start a series of happenings that lasted andcreated excitement for some time.
It was toward the middle of the afternoon when Nort, who had gone downthe stream a little way, looked across Spur Creek and saw hanging inthe hazy air a cloud of dust.
"Wonder if that's a wind storm," he mused. But as there was not a signof vapor in the clear blue sky he gave up that theory. "Guess I'dbetter let 'em know," he thought, turning back toward the fort.
And when the others came out to look at the cloud of dust, on theMexican side of the river--a cloud which had grown larger--Budexclaimed:
"Sheep, I'll bet a hat!"