CHAPTER XXIX
THE ROUND-UP
“Well,” began Professor Snodgrass, whose strange appearance on accountof his ragged and unshaven condition was a source of fascination to theboys, “I suppose you know about how I went away?”
“Out of the tent, yes,” assented Jerry. “We were awakened by hearingyou yell for help, and Bob here thought,” he added, grinning, “that oneof the big moths might have carried you away.”
“Not so bad as that!” laughed the professor; “though some of the mothswere very large and most beautiful specimens. I went out, withoutwaking any of you, and I was moving about with my net, my lantern andmy specimen boxes, when I suddenly felt myself grabbed from behind. Iheard the sound of low voices and at once it flashed into my mind thatthe rustlers had me. I had no chance to use my revolver.
“I called as loudly as I could, and when I said ‘they’ had me I thoughtyou boys, if you heard me at all, would understand.”
“We didn’t though, at least not for some time,” remarked Ned.
“But no sooner had I cried out for help than someone clapped a handover my mouth and I couldn’t make a loud sound. Then I was bound andgagged and stretched out on something by which I was pulled along theground. It seemed like a big sled.”
The boys uttered exclamations of surprise.
“What’s the matter?” Mr. Snodgrass asked.
“Nothing, only that we saw the marks of the log runners of thestone-boat on which you were carried away,” explained Jerry. “We triedto trace the strange marks,” he said, describing them, “but we failed.”
“Yes, a stone-boat,” agreed the narrator. “But they didn’t use it forhauling stone after they used it to give me an unexpected ride.”
“What did they use it for?” Ned asked.
“To haul cattle on.”
“Cattle!” cried the boys.
“Yes. They had a sort of fence built around the edge of the big, low,flat stone-boat. They would load it with cattle in the ravine and bymeans of pulleys and rope work it through the secret passage. That wasdone so the cattle would make no mark on the ground, telling in whatdirection they had been taken.”
“It sounds pretty complicated,” said Jerry. “But maybe it’s easy whenyou come to the details. What about the secret passage in the ravine?We suspected one but we couldn’t discover it.”
“I’d better tell my story in sequence,” suggested the professor.“Throughout the night I was hauled along on this stone-boat, as Ilater discovered it to be, and I couldn’t see where I was going. Whendaylight came those who had captured me halted in a pleasant little,but well hidden, valley where hundreds of cattle were pastured. Therewas a sort of camp, around a group of rude buildings, and in one ofthese I was locked.
“To make a long story short I had been captured by the cattle rustlersas a spy. They had seen you boys come to camp and they guessed youwere on their trail. They planned to get you all, but my going out inthe night upset their plans, and they took me. Then events occurred tochange their plans.
“That they were the cattle thieves who had me was soon proved to mysatisfaction. A few days after I had been made prisoner I saw earlyone morning, some of the rustlers driving into the valley some of thesteers from the Square Z ranch. I recognized the brand.”
“What did they do with them?” asked Ned, eagerly.
“Held them in the valley a few days, changed the brand marks, anddrove them away again. The valley was so well hidden in the mountainsthat I believe no one, save the thieves, knew of it.
“After about a week, during which time I was kept in the shack, I wasallowed to go about at will. But when I tried to get out of the valleyI found it was impossible. The sides were steep and dangerous to climb.There were but two entrances and both were guarded night and day. Onewas that by which the cattle were driven in, and the other where theywent out. Both were well concealed by winding paths leading throughdense forests, and though I found both, I could not get past theguards.”
“But you finally escaped,” said Bob.
“Yes. I’ll tell you how. As I said, after a while I was allowed to goabout as I pleased, and when I found out I could not escape I began tocollect specimens. And what wonderful ones there were in the valley!
“In time the rustlers paid little attention to me and, as I seemedengrossed in my collecting, they talked freely before me. It was inthis way that I learned the ravine was connected with the valley by asecret passage.
“When they made a cattle raid they would drive the steers up near theV-shaped end of the gorge. There the cattle would be held togetheruntil, ten or fifteen at a time they were put on the stone-boat andhauled through the secret opening, leaving no trace.”
“But how is the opening hidden?” asked Jerry.
“By means of a great wooden door covered with concrete on the outside,so that it looks like part of the rocky wall,” answered the professor.“I know about the location of it. It should be easy to find.”
“We’ll have a try at it!” murmured Jerry. “But how did you manage toget away, Professor?”
“By a stroke of good luck. The rustlers had brought in some of thechoice cattle from Square Z, and as they had a market to which thesteers must be sent in a hurry they decided to get them out of thevalley after dark. I saw then my chance to escape. There were, lyingabout the camp, any number of old hides, taken off the cattle that haddied or been slain for food. I wrapped one of these about me one darknight when the herd was to be driven out, and mingled with the cattle.It was taking a chance, I knew, but I managed to keep from beingtrampled on and went in the midst of the cattle through the woods tothe secret outlet of the valley. Once outside I lay down under a bushto wait until morning. My one regret was that I had to leave behind mylovely specimens. But I dared not carry them.
“Since that night I have been tramping about trying to find Square Zranch. But I must have gone away from it instead of toward it for Ibecame lost. My clothes and shoes began to wear out. I managed to getenough berries and roots to live on, for I had made a careful study ofbotany and knew what was best for me. But I was so hungry for a hamsandwich!” said the professor, pathetically.
“Have another!” begged Bob, offering one.
The professor munched it while concluding his narrative. He hadwandered on and on, finally becoming so footsore, weary and raggedthat he was the tramp the boys beheld him. But in his misery he didnot forget his collection mania and made boxes of bark to hold hisspecimens.
Finally, he reached the great rock, not knowing where he was andscarcely able to go on. Then he had heard the hum of the aircraftengine above him, and had recognized the ship of his friends.
“You are to be congratulated on getting away from those rustlers,” saidJerry. “It wasn’t easy, I imagine.”
“Indeed it wasn’t,” said the professor fervently, and the boys admiredhim for his pluck.
Not that he had ever lacked it, but his was a restful life, compared totheirs, and he seldom had need to show what he could do in a strenuousway. Though once, when Jerry had been in danger from a wild animal onone of their trips, the professor, armed only with a light gun whichhe used to bring down birds without injuring their plumage, rushed upand fired in the animal’s face, delaying the attack long enough for Nedto kill the beast.
“They watched me pretty closely,” went on the scientist. “But whenI began collecting bugs and spiders, of which there is a wonderfulvariety in the valley, they began to think I was a bit out of my head,”he said with a chuckle. “Then, thinking me harmless and simple, theydid not keep such a close espionage over me, and----”
“You fooled ’em good and proper!” exclaimed Bob, admiringly. “Wecouldn’t have done it half as well.”
“Not much!” declared Jerry. “We’d have probably tried to concoct someelaborate scheme to escape, and they’d have found it out right away.But the professor’s simple trick worked.”
“I didn’t exactly intend it for a trick,” said the sci
entist, whowas the soul of honesty and fair-dealing. “I really did make a goodcollection while I was held a prisoner in the valley.”
“And have you really learned the secret of the mysterious ravine andjust how the cattle rustlers work?” asked Ned.
“I think I have. Of course I haven’t seen the actual secret door, but Ibelieve I can show you how to find it.”
“And the reason the marks of the cattle always stopped before theend of the gorge was reached was because they put the beasts on thestone-boat and dragged them over the remaining distance,” said Jerry.“It was a clever trick, but it’s been found out.”
“But not by us,” put in Ned, gloomily. “We have fallen down all alongon this job.”
“Well, you found me, and that’s as good as finding the secret, for Ican tell it to you!” exclaimed the professor. “If you hadn’t found meyou might never have discovered what you wanted. So, you see, it is thesame, one way or the other.”
“I wonder if we can catch the thieves?” mused Bob.
“I think you can,” the professor said. “They didn’t seem to have anyidea of giving up their dishonest raids, and, doubtless, they’ll payanother visit to Square Z.”
“Then we must go back and get ready for a round-up!” exclaimed Jerry.“Are you sure you can lead us to the secret valley, Professor?”
“All we’ll have to do will be to go to the gorge, find the hidden doorand go through a tunnel-like passage that leads through the base of themountain. It is the dried bed of an ancient stream, I take it.”
The airship never made better time than in getting back to the ranch,and the surprise created by the return of Professor Snodgrass, raggedand with bristly, unshaven face, was great. Everyone, from the foremanto the least of the laborers, was thrown into a state of excitement.
It was not until after Professor Snodgrass had been shaved by the ranchbarber, and had put on some garments that were not in tatters becauseof his long tramp through forest and brush, that Watson really got atthe facts of the professor’s abduction and subsequent escape.
“And so you have discovered the camping place of the rustlers!”exclaimed the foreman, gleefully.
“Well, the professor knows where it is,” Jerry remarked.
“You made good only just in time,” went on Mr. Watson.
“Why?” Ned inquired.
“Because there was another raid last night. The biggest yet. I was justgoing to send your father word. Instead, I’ll wait and we’ll round-upthese thieves. It’s the best news I’ve heard yet! But we must be livelynow.”
“Oh, if they have just taken some more cattle they will not move ordispose of them for some time,” said the professor. “They will have tochange the brand and arrange for their sale.”
“That’s a part I’d like to know,” said the foreman. “How do theydispose of the stolen stock?”
But this the professor could not tell.
“All hands that can be spared for the round-up!” was the general crythe next morning, and Hinkee Dee was so busy seeing to the men that hehad no time to be sarcastic or to sneer at the Motor Boys, in case hehad been so disposed. In fact, he did not even notice them, though theother cowboys praised them warmly for their rescue of the professor--anact that would be, it was hoped, the means of wiping out the gang ofoutlaws.
“Where’s the Parson?” asked Hinkee Dee, as he was marshalling hisforces, for he was to lead the party, the foreman having some businessto attend to at the ranch that required his presence there.
“He rode to town,” volunteered Gimp.
“Huh! That’s a nice thing to do when he knew I wanted him on thisround-up!” snapped Hinkee Dee. “Here, you Gimp, ride after him and tellhim to come back at once. No, never mind. I’ll need you. Just tellhim to follow us when he comes back,” he called to the foreman, whopromised to do so.
“The Parson knew he’d be needed. I don’t see why he went away at a timelike this without telling me,” fumed Hinkee Dee. “We’re short-handed asit is. Where’s Munson? He’ll be of some help, even if he has a stiffleg.”
“He went in to town right after Parson did,” someone said.
“Well, this is a nice thing!” stormed Hinkee Dee. “Why didn’t they makea regular party of it? But we won’t wait. Come on, and we’ll round-upthis gang.”
It was arranged that the boys and the professor should go on ahead inthe airship, to locate and open, if possible, the secret door. Thecowboys would follow, go through the passage and surprise, if theycould, the rustlers in their very possession of the stolen cattle. Itwould be good evidence against them.
“I wonder what made Munson and the Parson go off just before the timefor the raid?” asked Bob, as he and his chums, with the professor, werein the airship, speeding toward the mysterious gulch.
“Oh, just a coincidence,” suggested Ned. Jerry did not give an opinion,but he had his own ideas.