CHAPTER XIV
THE FIGHT IN THE SECRET PASSAGE
When Mason regained consciousness, Trent Burton the Marshal wasbending over him supporting his head and holding a flask of brandy tohis lips. The brandy and muffled reports of revolver shots soundingthrough the secret passage revived him instantly.
"Get Pete Carlo the Mexican halfbreed!" he gasped, staggering weaklyto his feet. "The halfbreed was holding me up when I was struck downfrom behind," he continued, "and there must be another cut-throatworking with him. Where's Scotty?"
Trent Burton's two automatics appeared like magic in his hands.
"Scotty is having it out with the halfbreed," he answered rapidly. "Wecaught sight of the Mexican just as we came up to you, and thinkingyou were badly wounded I ordered Scotty to round him up while Iexamined your wound. You have been roughly handled this night my lad,and you had better report to Jean Barry while I go after this otherdesperado. He must be somewhere between Scotty and us this veryminute. I had no idea there was more than one of them and they may betrying to work Scotty in between them."
They could hear an exchange of shots at intervals, but the firingseemed to be getting farther away and more faint each time.
"I'm not going back until I find out how Scotty is faring with thosecut-throats," Mason declared firmly. "My head is feeling much clearernow, and I know my hand is steady enough to shoot straight, besides Iwant a chance at the man that knocked me out. Bud and his men won'thear any of this shooting down here and we can't expect any help fromthem. The halfbreed and his pal will try to get Scotty in between themto finish him off and make their escape."
"You're a brave lad," the Marshal said in admiration.
"Come, follow me. I have a plan to trap the halfbreed's pal, at leastI think we can draw his fire, and that is our only chance to get himin this darkness."
He bent swiftly over, and Mason could hear him searching about thefloor with his hands. Presently he straightened up and thrust a pieceof broken table leg into Mason's hand.
"What's this for?" the latter whispered in astonishment.
"Just you hand that piece of wood to me in a hurry when I call forit," came the surprising answer. "We will make all possible speedthrough this secret passage without using our lights, and for thelove of Mike, don't make any noise!"
"When we get to where that revolver duel is going on you will seesomething happen."
Mason followed after the strange and fearless detective with greatdifficulty. The latter's speed was terrific, and at times when Masonlagged behind he would find the detective crouched against the wallwaiting for him. It was a hazardous undertaking as they might at anymoment plunge into some unknown pit or trap. They had traveled somehundred feet when they came to a turn in the passage and now couldhear the revolver shots plainly.
The Marshal was moving slowly and with great stealth now. Presentlythey could see the flash from the muzzle of the men's guns as theyfired. Each time the flashes came from different positions, showingthe men had changed their location after firing.
The Marshal was crouched low and huddled against the wall. Mason wassure he had his two deadly automatics trained on one of those flashes.
Suddenly to his horror he saw the flash from a third gun, and it camefrom a different position from the first two.
He thought he heard a groan follow this last shot and bent low towhisper to the silent being at his feet.
"Hand me that piece of wood and when I throw it, train your gun on thenext flash, and shoot to kill," the Marshal hissed in a thrillingwhisper. "Lie flat on the ground. I'm going to draw that murderer'sfire."
Mason felt the Marshal's arm grow rigid as he hurled the piece oftable leg with great force against the opposite wall about twenty feetahead of them.
Immediately the third gun began to flash again and Mason could hearthe bullets as they pattered on the wall above his head. Before hecould return the shots the Marshal's guns were in action, and aperfect stream of fire leaped from their muzzles.
The third gun was silent! Suddenly the shrill note of a whistlepierced the silence of the secret passage. Bud was coming to join inthe fight.
The Marshal sent back an answering call, and Bud, leading fourcowboys, came up to them with a rush.
"Keep going, boys," the Marshal's voice rang out sharply. "Rush thispassage; Pete Carlo, the halfbreed, is hiding just ahead of us andhe's got somebody with him."
"Watch out for their guns and fire at the first flash. I think theygot Scotty, the poor fellow, but if not he knows we are here now andhe won't shoot in our direction."
All this was said as they almost ran through the secret passage, theirlights searching every nook and corner.
They were braving the chance of drawing a shower of bullets from thehidden foe, but the Marshal was determined to clean out the secretpassage at any cost.
Rounding a sharp turn in the passage they came upon Scotty huddled ina niche against the wall. He was clutching his revolver tightlybetween his knees while his head was sunk forward on his chest. A tinystream of blood was trickling down his cheek, showing where he hadbeen hit. Mason dropped quickly down beside him and felt over hisheart.
To his great relief there was a little heart action.
"Quick! the brandy!" he cried in an overjoyed voice. "He's alive, Ithink the bullet only stunned him."
The Marshal, producing his flask, bent over and forced a small portionof the liquor down Scotty's throat. They had the satisfaction ofseeing him open his eyes and stare about in a dazed way. His gazefinally rested on Mason and he rose to his feet with alacrity.
"I'm all right," he said almost savagely, shaking off the Marshal'sdetaining hand. "The bullet only creased my head and knocked mesenseless. It takes more than a dirty greaser to kill this cannyScotchman. Have you looked for the half breed? I think I got him inthat last exchange of shots, then a third gun cut in from a differentdirection, and I went to sleep."
They were startled at this point by a cry from one of the cowboys whohad pressed on through the secret passage.
"I guess I can answer for your third gunman, Scotty," the Marshal saidtersely. "Come, let's see what the men have found."
Rapidly making their way to where the men were flashing their lights,they came upon the form of a man stretched on the ground. It was thehalfbreed's pal, and he was dying. He was still breathing, but withgreat difficulty. Trent Burton's guns had cut short his villainouscareer, and forty feet from him lay the halfbreed. Bud made a hastyexamination of the latter's wound, and to his surprise he discoveredthat the bullet had not reached a vital spot.
The halfbreed had been hit in the right side just above the hip andwas unconscious from loss of blood.
Just above him through a small aperture in the roof the stars werefaintly shining.
A thorough search proved this to be the outlet for the secret passage,and it was evident the halfbreed was about to make his escape when abullet from Scotty's gun had laid him low.
Under Bud's order the two men were carried out of the secret passageand taken to the ranch, where they were placed under the doctor'scare. The man of medicine quickly pronounced the one that had fallenunder Trent Burton's guns to be past all earthly aid, and setvigorously to work to revive the halfbreed.
An hour later, his wounds properly dressed, the halfbreed was placedunder guard.
He sat glaring sullenly at his captors, and his eyes gleamed savagelywhenever they rested on Mason or Scotty. It was Scotty's gun that hadlaid him low and gotten him into his present trouble while he wasattempting to escape. He cherished a bitter hatred for Mason since thetime the latter had tumbled him out of his saddle with a well placedshot when the rescue of Josephine was accomplished.
The bullet wound had nearly cost him his life and caused him to taketo the mountains in hiding, save for an occasional visit to the Rickerranch, which was made possible by his almost superhuman knowledge ofthe mountains and the existence of the secret passage. The halfbreed'sshifty eyes finally turned
in the direction of the chief ofcounterfeiters, who sat staring moodily into space.
A slight cough from the halfbreed succeeded in attracting his chief'sattention and a series of signals passed between them by means of analmost inaudible sound made by a light tapping of their bootheels.
Mason had left the room in answer to a call from the Marshal, and onreturning to watch the captives his sharp ears instantly caught thesound, faint as it was. Remembering the signals he had heard in thecellar he regarded the sound as of deep significance. He promptly madethe Marshal and Bud aware of his suspicions that the two weresignaling each other, with the result that the halfbreed was takeninto another room and put through a grilling third degree. At the endof an hour of this sweating process he was taken out, and Jim Haley,the foreman, was given the same treatment. Others that were close tothe operations of the chief of counterfeiters were taken in turn.Through the answers wrung from the captives they learned that thesecret passage had originally been the bed of a creek that had longago changed its course or had become dried up. As the bed of the creekran close to the ranch, Ricker conceived the idea of using it as ameans of exit to and from the ranch. He had it tunneled deeper androofed over with extreme care. The work had been accomplished socleverly that none but the men who were in on the counterfeiting dealknew of its existence. Even Jean Barry, the Marshal's deputy, had beenamong the counterfeiters and had not become aware that the secretpassage led out of the cellar. A telegraph instrument, cleverlyconcealed and partly muffled, was found in the room where the fighthad taken place, and tracing the wires out they found they led to thesecret passage.
In the secret passage another telegraph instrument was found, showingthat Ricker had been in communication with the halfbreed. All thewires and instruments were destroyed by the Marshal, and the halfbreedwas again taken away from the other prisoners and given a more severegrilling.
This time he broke down completely and under promise that he would begiven a shorter prison sentence he told in broken English how he andhis pal had entered the secret passage just as the fight was takingplace at the ranch. Knowing Bud's men to be there in force he hadsignaled to Ricker that he would bide his time and wait for a chanceto rescue his chief.
He had intended to pick up some more men of his own kind, and ifnecessary cut his way through Bud's men by a sudden dash and rescuehis chief.
He had planned all this with his pal, and they were about to leave thesecret passage when they heard Scotty and Mason moving about close tothe hidden door of the wall. The sharp ears of the halfbreed heard oneof them say he was going for a light and listening closely hediscovered that the man who was to wait was Mason. Prudence told thehalfbreed to leave at once and bring help to his chief, but hisburning hate for Mason caused him to linger with the hope of gettingthe latter in his power.
As the reader already knows, Mason had succeeded in finding the way toopen the secret door and had played right into the hands of thehalfbreed, while his pal had crept cautiously behind him and dealt thevicious blow that had robbed him of his senses until revived by theMarshal. The sudden coming of the Marshal with Scotty had caused thehalfbreed to change his plan to make Mason a prisoner and he had fled,with Scotty in close pursuit, but the latter had the halfbreed's palto reckon with, a fact that nearly cost him his life.
The work of the Marshal with Bud's aid in breaking up the power ofRicker's evil gang of gunmen was a notable performance. This man,chief of the counterfeiters and outlaws, had long held the country inawe of his desperate gang of gunmen, whom he controlled with an ironhand.
Many a case of robbery and cattle running had been laid to his masterhand, but so cleverly had the work been accomplished that it wasimpossible to get direct evidence against him.
Dawn was breaking when the Marshal announced his work at the ranch asfinished and the cowboys with their prisoners were lined up outside.The plan was for the Marshal to take charge of the prisoners and turnthem over to the proper authorities, thus relieving Bud of allresponsibility. Two of Bud's men were to remain at the ranch untilthey had sealed up the secret passage and to watch out for suspiciouscharacters.
The negro woman was provided with a horse after Bud had decided totake her back with him to Bar X ranch. The horses and cattle of theRicker ranch were to be taken care of by some of Bud's men until thecourts had decided how many of Ricker's cowboys were implicated inrunning the counterfeiting plant.
Bud sent a couple of his men after their horses that had been picketedabout half a mile from the ranch, and upon their coming up the partymounted and headed for Trader's Post. On their arrival there the partyseparated, after the Marshal had received a hearty handshake from allthe cowboys of the Bar X ranch. The Marshal's duties were to take hisprisoners to the little railway station and catch the nine o'clockexpress, then after seeing them safely jailed his duties were ended.It was with genuine regret that Mason watched him depart. He had cometo admire the Marshal's good humor, and as he recalled in his mind theway the detective had fooled him all along with his half-witted smileand awkward shuffling gait, he smiled at the man's clever deception.
Trent Burton, the halfwit, and Trent Burton in action, were twodifferent persons.
It was a long weary ride to the ranch, and when the cowboys arrivedthere they were about fagged out. Josephine and Ethel were at thecorral to meet them, and as Mason turned his horse over to one of themen, Josephine noticed his wounded arm and immediately ordered him tothe ranch, showing great concern over his injury.
"My wound is nothing serious," he protested in answer to anxiousquestions. "My arm will be lame for a few weeks, and then it will beall right again. The doctor at Ricker's ranch fixed me up in fineshape."
The sight of the two girls had acted like a tonic to his jaded system.The ranch owner, who had been talking with Bud, now walked hurriedlyover to them.
"Bud tells me you put in a hard night of it, Jack," he said, eyeinghim anxiously. "I have ordered Pomp, our cook, to prepare a hotbreakfast for you at the house, and we are going to have the negressyou boys brought back with you to cook for the boys at the bunk-house.I don't intend to swap Pomp for the woman until I know what she can doin the way of cooking, and we know Pomp to be excellent."
"And I will have the doctor come and dress your arm, Sir Jack, just assoon as you have had your breakfast, but I guess we had better call itdinner, as it is almost noontime," Josephine cut in eagerly; "and thenyou can tell us all about your adventure and how you got wounded. Oh,I almost forgot to tell you the good news. Tex is feeling much betterand the doctor says he will surely recover."
"I'm very glad to hear that," he answered, keeping his eyes on theface of the girl.
He thought her eyes looked unusually bright this morning.
They walked slowly to the ranch, Mason between the two girls, who keptup a running fire of questions about his wound.
"You girls are trying to make too much of a hero of me," he protested,smiling at their eagerness to welcome him back.
At the house he speedily convinced his mother that he was in no dangerfrom his wound, and the girls continued to besiege him with questionsconcerning the night raid. He was seated in one of the large easychairs in the library and every once in a while Josephine left him fora mysterious visit to the kitchen.
He could hear the rattle of dishes and a savory smell of cookingfilled the room every time she opened the door.
"We are going to have Bud and Scotty dine with us," Josephineannounced after one of her visits. "And there will be just those two,with you, Ethel and myself. Pomp is doing himself proud. I told him heis to be our steady cook, as the cowboys are going to have the negrowoman to cook for them in the future. I have arranged it with Dad, andyou know he just about lets me have my own way in most things. I havealways wanted Pomp for our steady cook and he will take a lot of hardwork off of mother. All I can get out of Pomp is, 'Yes, Missus, 'deedMissus, I will show dem gem-mens I can shore cook,' and he is grinningfrom ear to ear."
Soon Bud and Scott
y arrived, and a little later Pomp announced thatthe meal was served, while Josephine conducted them to the dining-roomwhere plates for five were laid. It was more of a banquet than adinner, and during the meal Mason, with the help of Bud and Scotty,furnished the girls with all the details of the night's raid. Etheland Josephine listened with eyes open wide in astonishment when theycame to the part in the story about the secret passage and thecounterfeiter's den, but when Mason told them of Trent Burton's partin the raid they were amazed.
"And to think that man took us all in like that!" Josephine cried inwonder. "Sir Jack, did you have any idea that MacNutt was anythingmore than he pretended to be?"
She shook her finger playfully at him.
"No," he answered slowly, as all eyes were turned upon him. "But I didseem to place a lot of confidence in him, and really I can't explainthe reason why. At times I felt the man was playing a double game, butthat was as far as I could get with him, and you may be sure I was assurprised as anyone in the room when he called the turn on Ricker."
"I admit that I took him for a plain damn fool all the time," Bud saidshortly.
Scotty nodded his head vigorously.
"Me, the same," he said looking sheepish.
After the meal the doctor came in and gave Mason's arm a new dressing,after which he was ordered to bed for rest. Josephine laid down somestrict rules for him to follow in the matter of giving his arm amuch-needed rest, with the healing promise that if he heeded them shewould read to him in her leisure hours.