CHAPTER XIX
IN A MAZE
Bud stood in amazement looking at Kid and listening to what theexcited cowboy was saying. Then the gaze of the western boyrancher turned toward a depression in the ground, whence arosewhat he and Yellin' Kid had thought was smoke but which, inreality, was steam from a hot spring.
"A boiler, eh?" repeated Bud. "First I ever knew we had any sonear Happy Valley."
"Me, either," went on Kid. "I suspicioned what it was when I gotclose and couldn't smell any wood burnin'. Then I put my handout, but the steam fooled me. I didn't know the top of the waterwas so close, an' I dipped right down into it. Whew! It was hot!"
"Did it scald you?" asked Bud.
"Pretty nigh it," answered the cowboy, exhibiting a very redhand.
At this moment a noise behind the two attracted their attention.They turned to see pointed at them the black openings of two .45guns, and they had glimpses of eager eyes looking over the sightsof the weapons. "Don't shoot! I'll come down!" laughed Bud, inimitation of what was the current saying concerning the famousDavy Crockett.
"What is it?" asked Nort, owner of one of the menacing guns, ashe arose and slid his .45 into the holster.
"Did they get away?" Dick wanted to know, as he stood beside hisbrother. The two boys had left the main body and worked their wayup to join the vanguard, in the persons of Bud and Kid.
"There wasn't anyone to get away," Bud answered grimly. "It wasonly a boiling spring, and we took the steam of it for smoke."
"Boiling spring!" cried Nort. "I never saw one before."
"Me, either," added his brother, and together they looked at thedepression in the ground, filled with scalding hot water. Attimes it bubbled up, like some great kettle over a fire, and thenthe steam was as thick as the smoke at some camp fire when greenwood is used. Again the spring was comparatively quiet.
"I've seen 'em before," remarked Bud, "though I didn't know wehad any so near Happy Valley. There's lots of 'em out in theYellowstone Park region, and in other places, some not many milesfrom here."
"Any volcanoes?" asked Nort.
"Or geysers?" Dick queried.
"Not that I know of," Bud answered. "You don't need volcanoes tomake boiling springs, though I suppose the hot water must beboiled over some internal fire beneath the earth's surface. Andthese same fires do, sometimes, make volcanoes.
"But I've never seen any volcanoes around here; have you,fellows?" and he appealed to the cowboys.
"Not since I came up from Mexico," one answered. "I was close toone there. And I've seen Old Faithful, and some of the othergeysers in the Yellowstone."
"They put soap in some to make 'em spout, don't they?" askedDick, who remembered to have read something to that effect.
"So I've heard," the cowboy said, "though it isn't supposed to bedone. It sort of wears out the geyser, I believe, though I don'tknow much about such things. Anyhow, I don't know of any aroundhere, though I have seen a few boiling springs, farther to thesouth."
"Yes, I have, too," Bud admitted. "Well, here's one, and she sureis hot," he added, as a sudden activity on the part of thephenomenon sent up another cloud of steam. "We could boil eggsthere if we had any."
"We brought some along," Dick said, "but they're hard-boiledalready. No use doing the job over. Say, but this is interesting!" headded, as the spring suddenly spouted up a little way, almost likea miniature geyser.
"It would be more interesting if we could get closer on the trailof that gang of cattle thieves, and take away our steers," saidBud. "I wonder if the poor animals hurried in here for water, andcouldn't drink it because it was hot?" He recalled days ofhelping haze cattle on long trails, when the creatures weretormented by thirst, and he knew how they suffered.
"There are a few signs that they've been in here," remarked Slim,as the party was gathered around the boiling spring. "But theyaren't here now."
"Not much use in us staying here, either," commented Bud, as helooked around on the bleak and cheerless prospect. Except for theboiling spring there was no sign of natural life. All about weregreat and small rocks, piles of shale and jagged stones, asthough the place had been swept by a prehistoric fire. They werein one of the twists and turns of the rocky defile, and it was arocky pass, with no trees or grass growing except near the top,and these appeared to be a sort of overgrowth from the grass andfoliage growing down above.
"No, they didn't stop here long," declared Yellin' Kid. "Theypassed on, an' that's what we got to do."
"Might as well stay here and have grub, now we're dismounted,"suggested Nort.
The idea was voted a good one, and was soon put into operation.They ate and talked of what had passed and what lay before them.Of the latter they could only conjecture, but it is safe to saythat not one of them in his wildest imagination ever conjecturedsuch an ending to their trailing as actually occurred.
"Well, let's get on," called Bud, when appetites had beensatisfied--that is all but those of the horses. There was nograss for them, though they did manage to drink some of the waterfrom the boiling spring where it had collected in little pools,and had cooled. But this would never have sufficed for hundredsof cattle.
Once more they were on the way, and shortly afterward they leftthe grim and rocky defile for a more fertile region, where therewas grass for the animals. But they were still down between arange of high hills which towered on either side.
The trail twisted and turned, this way and that, winding back andforth. But ever there was to be seen, here and there, signs thatthe herd of cattle had been driven this way. Faint the signswere, at times, and at last they disappeared altogether.
"Where have they gone?" asked Nort.
"Looks like they dropped down a hole, but there isn't any holehere," said Yellin' Kid.
"Oh, we'll pick the trail up later on," suggested Bud.
But even as they started off once more Bud, who had justconsulted a compass he carried, uttered a cry of amazement.
"What's the matter?" asked Slim.
"We're going the wrong way," declared Bud. "We're heading northinstead of south. We're all turned around! Something's wrong!"