CHAPTER III
A SUSPICIOUS VISITOR
The three looked at each other in alarm.
"Golly, I never thought anything could happen to the Kid," Bud saidslowly. "He was brought up in this country, and always said he couldfind his way about blindfolded."
"Perhaps the water hole was farther away than he thought," suggestedNort hopefully. "It's easy for any man to go astray on a matter ofdistance, you know."
"Well, maybe--but I doubt it. What I think happened is that his ponystumbled into a hole and lamed hisself. Well--we'll have to go lookingfor him, that's all. Nort, you and Dick branch out here to the right.Bud, you take the left trail. I'll try straight ahead. Now rememberyour trails, boys--we don't want no more accidents to happen. We'llall meet here in one hour. If anything happens, fire three shots. Gitalong there!" And Billee Dobb, together with the rest set out to findYellin' Kid who was so mysteriously and unaccountably lost.
Nort, who was riding with Dick, was the first to pick up a possibleclew.
"Looks as though someone passed here in a hurry," he said as he pointedto a newly beaten path through some heavy brush. "Now if I was justgoing along easy like I'd have ridden 'round that bush. The pony thatwent through there got a few scratches."
"Wonder if it could have been the Kid?" Nort mused. "Though why heshould be in such an all-fired hurry I can't understand. Unless he waschasing someone."
"Or being chased," Dick added.
"Perhaps he met a smuggler, Dick."
"Smuggler--'way up here? Not a chance! Say, Nort, you've gotsmugglers on the brain. You seem to think they ride around with bigsigns pinned on them--'I am a smuggler--shoot me.' Suppose the Kid didmeet a smuggler--how'd he know him from any other man?"
"That's right--guess he wouldn't," admitted Nort, a trifleshamefacedly. "But you know what he told us about that marshal beingshot."
"Oh, yes, but marshals get shot nearly every day, somewhere--and maybeit wasn't a Chink smuggler that shot him after all--maybe it was justan ordinary gang of rustlers."
"Well, you can say what you like, Dick, but I'll lay odds we see someexcitement when we reach Roaring River."
"We'll see some excitement sooner than that, if we don't find the Kid.See here--if he made this trail, he was going fast--and in thisdirection. Let's get on our way."
"Better go back, do you think?" Nort asked as he looked up toward thesun. "We've been gone at least an hour, and Billee said to returnwithin that time."
"Yes," Dick responded, a little sadly, for he and Yellin' Kid wereclose friends. "I sure hope the Kid's all right. Perhaps some of theothers picked him up."
"Perhaps. Let's hope so. At any rate, we haven't had muchsuccess--and I doubt even that the torn brush we saw was done by theKid."
"Can't tell, he may have ridden through there and then taken a suddenturn to the right or left. Or back again, for that matter. Well,let's get started."
As the two arrived at the agreed meeting place there was no need to askthe others if they had had any luck. The Kid was nowhere in sight.
"We saw a trail through some bushes that might have been made by theKid, Billee," said Nort to the old rancher.
"Yes, and it might have been made by any number of other things, too,"Billee declared, in a despondent tone. "Not that I am sure it _wasn't_the Kid's trail. It _might_ have been--but that doesn't help us much.No, I guess the only thing for us to do is to go right on lookin'--andhopin' he's O.K."
It was almost dusk when the four gathered together again. The Kid wasstill missing, and anxiety was written on the faces of all as theyprepared to camp for the night. Each man carried a blanket with him,and also a small snack of food and a canteen of water. As darknesssettled down a fire was started, and huddled in their blankets the boyranchers prepared to make the best of it.
The silence of the night hung close over the four blanketed figures.The firelight threw weird shadows about them, but above the stars shonecalmly on, quietly reassuring. A light breeze rustled softly throughthe mesquite bushes. Now and then a coyote yowled in the distance.
Suddenly Bud jerked upright. He nudged Dick, who was lying beside him.
"Dick!" he whispered, so as not to disturb the others, "do you hearanything?"
"Eh? What? What's that? You speak to me?" Dick muttered sleepily.
"Listen! Can't you hear a noise like a horse walking?"
Dick sat up, now wide awake.
"Say, I believe I do! Wait a minute--" and he tossed some wood on thefire--"let's have a look!"
"Kid?" Bud called hopefully.
The approaching pony gave a sudden leap forward.
"Yea boy!" yelled its rider. "Home again!"
"It is the Kid!" Dick cried exultingly.
"Nort! Billee! The Kid's back!"
In a moment Yellin' Kid was surrounded by the four who shot questionsat him as fast as they could talk.
"Where in the name of the spread eagle have you been?"
"What happened?"
"Did you get lost?"
"Are you all right?"
"Hey, hey! Not so fast! Gimme time! Wait 'til I get down off thishere pony. Oh, baby--that feels good." And the Kid stretched long andhigh. "What a ride! Say--got anything to eat?"
"Sure! Sink your teeth in this," Billee said, handing him a cold beefsandwich from his kit. "And here's some water. Are you all right,Kid?"
"Me? Sure! Except tired and hungry. Been ridin' most of the day an'night. S'pose you-all would like to know what it's all about, hey?"
"Well, if you haven't anything to do at present, you might let us in onthe secret. We looked all over Texas for you," Dick said, grinning,happy now, that their lost comrade had returned.
"Just a second while I put this little paint pony of mine over with theothers. Old boy--you sure had some journey to-day!" and the Kid rubbedthe horse's nose. "Stood up well, too. To-morrow I'll give you a bigfeed--what you need now is rest--like me. Well, boys, guess I'll turnin."
"You'll what?"
"You will not--not until we hear what happened!"
"He'll turn in--well for the love of Pete!"
"All right boys--all right!" the Kid laughed. "Seems you want to hearsomething about my trip, hey? Well, to start from the beginning, theday dawned clear an' bright. The wind was ticklin' my ears as Irode----"
"Cut it out!"
"Let's have the story, you locoed dust-raiser!"
"All right, we'll cut the kiddin'. Tell you what really happened. Ifound the water hole where I thought it would be, and I found somethingelse, too. There was a horse standin' near it, and by the side of thehorse was a Chink--on his hands an' knees, crawlin' around on theground. Thinks I, here's a crazy man. So I rides up slow, and when Igot up close I asks he Chink what he's lookin' for. He don't pay noattention to me whatever. I gets off my horse and says it again. Thenthe crazy Chink looks up at me and says "Chock Gee." That's all. Just"Chock Gee." Me, not knowin' Chinese, I can't tell what he's after.But I see it won't do no good to insist on knowin' so I starts to helphim up, thinking maybe he's hurt. Soon as I touched him, what does thecrazy Chink do but jump like a cat for his saddle, give my paint aterrible crack with his quirt, and set off like a scared rabbit, mypony after him, leavin' me stranded, high an' dry!"
The Kid looked at his eager listeners and grinned.
"That new pony of mine--she's sure got some speed. She was out ofsight in two seconds. An' then, boys--I had to depend on the ole legs!So I went huntin' for her. Caught her about four miles from where heran' me parted company. Then I went huntin' for you-all, but you wasnowheres to be found. And from then 'til now, I was ridin' around,lookin' for you."
"And the Chink--what happened to him?"
"Blessed if I know! But if I ever see him again I'll give himsomething to remember me by."
"So that's where you were all that time! We thought you'd been blownto Dallas on a cyclone. Anyway, we're glad you're ba
ck. Reckon youcould stand a little sleep, eh?" Bud said.
"You bet. I'll sling my blanket down by you, Dick, and we'll getstarted for Roarin' River as early as possible. It's still a good waysahead. Good night, boys!"
"Hey, you men!"
From the darkness came a sudden voice. All five turned swiftly, fivehands reaching for revolvers together. Into the firelight rode a tallhorseman.
"Hey, boys!" he called again. "Any of you see a Chink wanderin' aroundhere?"