CHAPTER VI
CHUNKY MEETS THE BANDITS
The pony had nosed its way around the base of a high rock, fetching upon a meadow, when Stacy made the discovery that startled him. What hesaw was a group of men sitting about a cook-fire, hurriedly eating ameal while their ponies grazed on the mountain grass some distance fromthe fire.
The boy knew instantly that he had stumbled upon the bandits. Herealized, too, in those brief seconds, that he must be a long way fromthe place where he was to meet his companions.
The desperadoes saw the intruder about the time that Chunky saw them.Used to emergencies and quick action, the men sprang for their rifles,which were standing against a boulder near at hand. Chunky also saw thatLieutenant Wingate was not with them. Had the boy thought twice he wouldhave held his fire, but, as it turned out, his shots served a goodpurpose. It startled the bandits, causing momentary confusion, whichgave Stacy an opportunity to head in an opposite direction, which he wasnot slow in doing.
"Ye-o-o-o-ow!" howled the fat boy in a shrill, piercing voice. The shotsand the yells startled the bandits' ponies as it had their owners. Thehorses threw up their heads, snorted and galloped into the mountainmeadow, fully twenty rods from the camp, while the boy threw himself onthe neck of his pony, fully expecting a shot or a volley from them, anddashed around the base of a high rock at a perilous pace. He had no morethan reached the protection of the rock than the _pock, pock_ of riflebullets, as they hit the rock to his rear, reached his ears.
"Oh, wow!" howled Chunky. "I lost my biscuit." In ordinary circumstanceshe would have gone back to look for the biscuit, but just now Stacy wasin somewhat of a hurry. Fortunately for the boy, it took the banditsfully twenty minutes to round up their horses, by which time the fat boywas far in the lead, riding like mad. He had lost all sense ofdirection, but perhaps the pony had not. The little animal had takenaffairs into its own control and was laying out its own trail.
The bandits, instead of following, rode with all speed farther into themountains, but Chunky continued on at his same perilous pace, eventhough darkness had now overtaken him.
"Whoa, Bismarck!" commanded Chunky finally, reining in his pony. "Do youknow where you're going, or don't you?"
The pony rattled the bit between its teeth, tossed its head up and down,and uttered a loud whinny.
"You said 'yes,' didn't you? All right, if you know where you are, goalong. You surely can't know any less about it than I do."
Rider and mount resumed their journey at a somewhat slower pace, androde on until Stacy was brought to a sudden stop by a sharp, gruff wordof command.
"Halt!" ordered a voice just ahead of him. The pony gave a startled jumpthat nearly unhorsed its rider.
"Oh, wow!" howled Chunky, and on the impulse of the moment he fired twoquick shots at the sound.
"Stop it! It's Tom Gray. Haven't you any more sense than to blaze awaybefore you know at what you are shooting?"
"Oh, fiddlesticks! Had you been through what I have you would shoot atthe drop of the hat. Are you lost, too?"
"Lost? I am not lost. Don't you know where you are?"
"No. I might be in the suburbs of Chillicothe for all I know."
"The camp is only a few rods away," Tom Gray informed him.
"You don't say?" wondered Chunky.
"We heard you coming, and thought it might be Mr. Ford. How did youhappen to come in over that trail?"
"Ask Bismarck. He knows all about it. I don't. Got any news about UncleHip?"
"No. Of course you saw nothing of either him or the bandits."
"I not only found the robbers, but I had a battle with them," answeredStacy.
"What's that? Don't trifle, Brown. This is a serious matter," rebukedTom.
"I'm telling you the truth. It was this way. I was riding along,peaceful like, when, all of a sudden, biff, boom, bang! It seemed to methat fifty or a hundred men burst from the bushes."
"So many as that?" laughed Tom.
"Well, something like that. I may be a dozen or so out of the way, butyou see I didn't stop to count them. I raised my trusty rifle and--well,to make a long story short, I fired right into that howling bunch ofbandits. I suppose I emptied as many as twelve saddles."
"Wait a moment," urged one of the travelers who had joined them. "Howmany times did you reload?"
"Not at all. I didn't have time."
"Captain Gray, he emptied twelve saddles, so he must have shot two menwith each bullet, as his magazine holds only six cartridges. I call thatsome shooting."
"Is that so? Then I must have done as you say. Wonderful, wasn't it?"
At this juncture, Sheriff Ford rode into camp and was quickly told ofwhat Stacy had discovered. Mr. Ford, after a few quick questions,realized that the boy really had stumbled on the right trail anddiscovered the bandits.
"You did well, young man," he complimented. "I thought I had struck alead, but the trail pinched out. Can you take us to the place where youcame on those ruffians?"
"No, but the pony can, or you can follow my trail. I reckon I left apretty plain one. I know Uncle Hip better than you do, and if he hasbeen able to get away from the fellows who captured him I'll guaranteethat he will find us. He would know we wouldn't go away and leave him.For that reason I suggest that we build a fire to attract Uncle Hip'sattention, should he be in this vicinity."
One of the men protested, saying it would be dangerous, but the sheriffagreed with Stacy.
"We will have a fire and will post guards to protect ourselves," hesaid. "We shall not be bothered by the bandits to-night; I am positiveof that. They know that the alarm has been given and that, in allprobability, a posse is already on their trail. If nothing developsduring the night--if we get no news from Lieutenant Wingate--we willstart for Gardner in the morning and organize a big searching party tocomb the mountains for him."
After all phases of the situation had been discussed, the sheriff's planwas agreed to, and a fire was built up. It had been blazing for sometime when, in a lull in the conversation, Stacy was reminded that he hadnot finished telling about his meeting with the bandits.
"Yes. You left off with shooting two men with each bullet," laughed TomGray.
"In the excitement of meeting up with the villains," resumed Stacy,without an instant's hesitation, "I wheeled the pony--spun him about onhis hind feet like a top, set him down on all fours and dashed away. Wedidn't gallop, we simply dashed. You know it wasn't that I was afraid.Anyone who knows me knows that nothing can scare me. I--"
"_Bang, bang, bang!_"
"Oh, wow!" howled the fat boy, diving head first into a clump of busheswhere he crouched wide-eyed, the chill creepers chasing up and down hisspinal column. The others of the party sprang up and snatched theirrifles, Ford kicking the blazing wood of the camp-fire aside, and TomGray dousing it with a pail of water.
"Lie low, everybody, till I find out what this means!" commanded thesheriff sharply.
"Are--are we attacked? Have the scoundrels come back?" chattered Chunky.
"Be quiet!" Mr. Ford crept out into the darkness, the others waiting intense expectancy listening for a rifle volley.
Tom thought the shots they had heard were signals, but no one elsebelieved such to be the case.
The flash of a revolver, a sharp report close at hand, was followed by ashout from Stacy Brown and two shots from his own weapon at a shadowymoving figure skulking behind a clump of bushes.