CHAPTER V
ON THE TRAIL OF THE MISSING
"Have the train draw up here and wait for us," Sheriff Ford directed, asthe trainmen were about to return to their train after the bandits hadfinally been driven off. "Those ruffians have had enough, and won't comeback. Some of them are wounded, too."
"Aren't you coming with us?" asked a trainman.
"No. I'm going to look for Lieutenant Wingate. He may be on the train,but, if he is not, have the engineer give us three whistles."
"Hippy wouldn't go back without us," declared Tom Gray with emphasis.
"Go back to your train, men, while we look for our friend," urgedSheriff Ford.
The train crew lost no time in following Ford's advice, being eager toget away from that locality. Stacy Brown was sent back with them to puton his clothes. Stacy was shivering in his pajamas, but the fat boy haddone his duty as steadily as any of his companions, and fully proven hiscourage, thus winning the admiration of Sheriff Ford and Tom Gray. Thetwo other volunteer passengers, one a salesman for a Chicago groceryhouse, the other a Colorado ranchman, announced their intention ofremaining with the sheriff to assist him in his search.
Shortly after the departure of the trainmen, three long blasts of thelocomotive whistle told the party that Lieutenant Wingate had notreturned to the train.
"That settles it, men. It is up to us to get to work," declared thesheriff. Ford divided his forces and sent parties in various directionsto search for the missing Hippy Wingate, hoping, and partly believing,that the lieutenant had probably met up with the bandits on theirretreat into the mountains after abandoning their attack on the train,and secreted himself somewhere in the vicinity of the attempted hold-up.
The Overlanders were now in the Sierras, and the country all about themwas wild and uninhabited. After surveying his surroundings with criticaleyes, Ford took to the ravine up which Hippy had gone in attempting toget back to his companions, and soon found the place where the banditshad staked down their horses.
Two warning whistles, the engineer's regular signal that the train wasabout to start ahead, caused the sheriff to run down the ravine to therailroad, at the same time firing three shots to recall his companions.
"Get aboard in a hurry!" shouted the conductor, leaning from the enginecab as the train came back to the scene of the attempted robbery.
"Wait! Has Lieutenant Wingate returned?" demanded Ford.
"No!" shouted Stacy Brown from the platform of the smoking car. "Didn'tyou find him?"
"Are you positive, Stacy?" called Tom Gray, running up at this juncture.
"He is not on the train, Tom," answered Grace Harlowe from a vestibuledoorway. "The engineer said he dropped off just as the engine beganbacking down. Tom, you must search for Hippy. Nora is nearly wild fromworry over him."
"We are going to find him, little woman," answered Captain Gray.
"Are you folks going to get aboard?" demanded the conductor insistently.
"No. We're not going to leave that man here by a long shot," retortedFord.
"All right. Stay if you want to. We're going ahead," snapped theconductor.
"Stop!" ordered the sheriff. "You hold this train until I give you leaveto move it. I am an officer of the law, and in command here for thepresent. Captain Gray, what do you wish to do?"
"Find the lieutenant, Sheriff."
"Then, would it not be a good idea to unload your ponies?" asked Ford."We may have to be here until tomorrow, and perhaps make a long journeyinto the interior, which we cannot well do on foot."
"Yes. We will unload enough animals to carry your party," answered Tom.
"Pull your train up to the mouth of the ravine and stop," commandedFord, clambering aboard the locomotive. "Get aboard there, boys."
The train promptly pulled ahead while the sheriff had his final argumentwith the conductor in the locomotive cab. The argument was brief, butheated, the sheriff laying down the law to the angry conductor, who, bythe time his train had reached the mouth of the ravine, was whollysubdued.
The Overland Riders stepped off the train to watch the unloading of theponies and to get instructions from Tom and Mr. Ford.
"We are about twenty-five miles from Gardner," said the sheriff,addressing Grace. "You people, I believe, intend to detrain there. Havesomeone unload your stock and then wait until we return. You will find avery fair little hotel at Gardner."
"We will wait," answered Grace composedly.
Ford called upon the train crew to assist in unloading the ponies.Unloading boards were obtained from the baggage car with which a rathersubstantial gangway was constructed, and down it the light-footedponies--five of them--were led without the least difficulty. Rifles andlight equipment for the party were unloaded, the rest of theOverlanders' property and two ponies being left on the train.
While the unloading was in progress Tom Gray went to the dining car andpurchased provisions, consisting of canned goods, pork and beans and aside of bacon. Stacy Brown, who had gone back to the sleeping car forsomething he wanted from his suitcase, dropped in while Tom wasbartering, and helped his companion carry back their purchases. By thetime they reached the head of the train all was in readiness for thedeparture.
Ford waved the lantern that he had borrowed from the conductor.
"Go ahead," he called to the conductor. "Mrs. Gray, don't forget toreport to Gardner what has become of us. If we are not back in two dayshave them send a posse for us."
"I understand," answered Grace Harlowe.
"I say, you! You might have Emma do a little transmigrating for us whilewe're away. I reckon we'll be needing it," called back Stacy.
As the train pulled out, the passengers, including the girls of theOverland party, were gathered on the platforms cheering. The searchingparty now consisted, besides Sheriff Ford, of Tom Gray, Stacy Brown andthe two passengers who had been with them from the first, making five inall.
"Now, sir, what is your plan?" demanded Tom after they had saddled andmade ready to start.
"I think we will follow up the ravine for a little way," answered thesheriff. "Your man went this way. I know because the fireman saw himtake to the ravine. One of you lead my horse; I'm going ahead on footwith the lantern."
"If you have no objection, I will go with you," offered Tom.
Ford nodded, and the two started away, the others, on the ponies,keeping well to the rear.
The two men in advance finally reached the point in the ravine whereLieutenant Wingate had been struck down. With lantern held close to theground, the sheriff went over it on hands and knees, examining everyfoot of the ground.
"Stand where you are until I come back," he directed, addressing TomGray. "Do you recognize this?" he asked, holding up a hat, upon hisreturn a few moments later.
"It is the lieutenant's hat," answered Tom promptly, and Stacy Brownagreed with him.
"What's the use of a hat without a head to wear it?" demanded Stacy.
"This!" replied Ford. "I have proved one thing. Our man came this way,but beyond this point the only trace of him is the hat. Unless I am muchmistaken, he left here on the back of a horse, and he went that way."The sheriff pointed up the ravine. "It is fair to assume that he did notgo voluntarily. The only inference possible, then, is that he has beentaken."
"Captured by the bandits!" exclaimed Tom.
Ford nodded.
"For what reason?"
"Candidly, I don't know, Captain. We have got to find out, and it isadvisable for us to go in search of the answer to that question as fastas we can. We will mount and move on."
"I suppose I am the one who will have to furnish the brains for thisparty and find the missing man," declared Stacy pompously, but no onelaughed at his sally.
A minute later they were mounted and on their way up the ravine, thesheriff still carrying the lantern, which he held low, keeping his gazeconstantly on the trail, which still was fairly plain and easy for anexperienced man
to follow. Stacy dropped behind a little way andproduced a plum pudding can from his pocket. Opening the can, he calmlyproceeded to eat the pudding.
"What's that you're eating?" demanded one of the two passengers.
"Pudding. A plum one."
"Where did you get it?"
"Oh, back there in the diner," answered Stacy carelessly.
"You stole a pudding, eh?" laughed the questioner.
"Oh, my; no, sir. How could you think such a thing? Don't you know Iwouldn't do anything like that?"
"Oh! You paid for it," nodded the passenger.
"I did not. Captain Gray did. You see it was this way. The captain paidfor six cans of baked beans, but they gave him only five cans. Thecolored gentleman in the diner cheated us out of one can, and probablypocketed the difference, so I sort of helped myself to a pudding to eventhings up."
"Humph! You are a young man of unusual ability. You should have been alawyer."
"I know it," admitted Chunky.
An exclamation from Ford interrupted the conversation. The sheriff hadpicked up a handkerchief which Tom thought belonged to Hippy Wingate.They believed that the lieutenant had dropped it purposely, knowing fullwell that pursuit would follow promptly when his friends discovered thathe was missing.
"We are on the trail all right," cried the sheriff. "Look sharp anddon't make much noise about it, either."
Daybreak found the outfit still in the saddle. Now that they could see,Ford threw away the lantern, and, after watering their ponies at amountain spring, they pressed on with all speed. The men ate a coldbreakfast in the saddle, there being no time to waste in halting to cookbreakfast. Further, the smoke from a camp-fire would be a danger signalto the men for whom they were searching.
About nine o'clock in the morning the sheriff and Tom found asplit-trail. The two trails led up a steep incline to a small plateau.There they discovered the remains of a camp-fire. Ford dismounted andran his fingers through the ashes.
"There has been a fire here within a few hours," he announced.
"And the trail has gone to pieces," added Stacy Brown who had got downfrom his pony and begun nosing about.
"The bandits have taken different directions from here, haven't they?"questioned the sheriff, glancing up.
"Yes. I'll tell you what let's do. Let's shut our eyes and let theponies decide which trail to take," suggested Chunky gravely. "MyBismarck can follow the trail of a squirrel."
"This is not a squirrel trail," answered Ford briefly. "There are fiveof us men here. Four will take separate trails while one remains here.Let each man follow his trail for, say, three hours, then, whether ornot he has discovered anything, he will return to this point. We canthen decide upon further action."
"I have an idea that the bandits discovered that they were beingfollowed," suggested one of the two passengers. "Otherwise, why shouldthey split up and take different trails?"
"Yes. I agree with you," nodded the sheriff. Mr. Ford decided that oneof the passenger volunteers should remain behind, then assigned theother passenger and Tom, Stacy and himself to follow the bandits'trails, Ford selecting what seemed to be the most promising trail forhimself.
Full understanding of what each one was to do was had, then the fourrode away, leaving their guard where he could see, yet remain hidden.
The four trails led on for five miles without a break. Stacy, full ofimportance because of the duty assigned to him, was watching his trailclosely, and, had he been less observant, he might have missed the pointwhere the trail again split. Discovering this, he halted and satregarding the two trails with solemn eyes.
"Sharp trick," he nodded. "It doesn't fool Stacy Brown, though." Hedecided that the left-hand trail swung over towards the one that TomGray was riding, perhaps joining it a short distance from the junctionwhere Stacy was at that moment. Having come to this conclusion, the fatboy had a bright idea. He would take a short cut across country. He knewthat this was a risky thing to do, but he had several mountain peaks forlandmarks and did not believe that he could go astray, so he startedfull of confidence, leaving both trails behind him.
An hour-and-a-half passed. Stacy still had thirty minutes to ride beforeit would be time for him to turn back towards the starting point, as helearned by consulting his watch, and he decided to make the most ofthose thirty minutes.
"There! Didn't I tell you?" he cried as he rode out into an open spaceand instantly discovered the hoof-prints of several horses on the softground. "I was positive that I couldn't be wrong. My time is up, but Ihave found the spot where the rascals got together. Now I'll just turnabout and follow it home. This is the trail we must follow to find UncleHip. Yes, I'll go back and report."
Stacy Brown's intentions were good, and, well satisfied with what he hadaccomplished, he rode along humming softly to himself, now and thenconfiding his opinions to his pony. The little animal wiggled its earsas if it understood.
"Hulloa! There goes the sun. Seven o'clock! Who would have thought it?According to my watch I've been back at the forks for a quarter of anhour. I wonder if I really have?" Stacy regarded his surroundingsnarrowly. "No. I never saw any of you mountain-peak fellows before. Imust have made a mistake in my reckonings, but I've got a biscuit in mypocket, and we'll be able to go quite a distance on one biscuit,especially on this kind of a biscuit. Some biscuits go a great dealfarther than others. This is one of the farther kind," finished Chunky,performing a series of contortions as he tried to break off a piece ofbiscuit with his teeth.
The pony was laboring up a steep incline, the stirrup straps creaking inrhythm with the animal's quick, short steps, Stacy's body, from the beltup, bobbing upwards and backwards with monotonous regularity. The reinslay over the saddle pommel, thus giving the pony's head full play andenabling it to snatch a mouthful of greens here and there.
Suddenly the little animal threw its head up and snorted. Stacy Brownceased munching and sat staring wide-eyed.
"Suffering cats! You're IT, Stacy Brown!" he gasped.
Jerking his rifle from the saddle-boot he fired three quick shots overthe head of his pony.