CHAPTER XXI
SURPRISES COME FAST
The cause of Tad's alarm had been a slight trembling of the softground underfoot, followed by a crunching sound as if something orsomeone had trod on a rotting stick. The lad knew that either man orbeast was near at hand, but he did not have time to satisfy himselfwhich of the two it was. He acted quickly, and, regardless of snakes,wriggled away to a place of greater safety. He reasoned, of course,that if it were the owner of the shack returning, he would ride hishorse to its stable first of all.
Crouching down in the bushes the boy waited and listened. By thistime he could tell that it was a horse approaching. Taking a longchance the boy half rose from his hiding place and peered out. Notmore than six rods from him he saw the fellow who had stolen his doeriding straight towards him.
The Pony Rider Boy quickly drew back and none too soon, for thefellow's eyes caught the faint movement of the bushes at that point.He probably thought this movement had been caused by some lurkinganimal, for he made no attempt to investigate. He tethered his horsesilently, then to Tad's alarm either his own horse or Lilly's uttereda loud whinny.
The boy in the bushes groaned inwardly.
"That gives the whole game away," he muttered. "I am lucky if hedoesn't send a shot this way just for luck."
The stranger did nothing of the sort. Instead, he stood stock still.Tad could fairly feel the eyes of the man burn into his hiding place,though he could not see the man at all. There was a slight movementwhere the stranger's horse was tethered, a scarcely perceptiblevibration of the earth under Tad's feet. He listened and learned thatthe man was walking away.
Butler again took a chance and peered over the tops of the bushes.The fellow was walking toward his shack, and what was more, hisrevolver was in his hand ready for instant use. The boy hoped thatLilly had been warned by the whinny of the horse and made his escapefrom the shack. But Lilly had not heard. He was fussing about inthe shack, as Tad quickly deduced from the actions of the newcomer.
The boy began crawling towards the shack, making a detour so as notto expose himself to view, and for a moment he lost sight of his man.When he next caught sight of him, the fellow was standing close tothe entrance of his shack with revolver leveled at it, or rather atthe opening.
In a twinkling Tad Butler's pistol was in his hand, trained on theback of the newcomer. Still, the boy was not excited; he waswatching for the move that would indicate the other man's intentionto shoot. Butler did not believe he was going to do so. In this hewas right.
For fully three minutes the man stood still gazing into the shack.Tad did not know what was going on in there, for he was unable to seeinto the place from his position, nor did he dare move on until thefellow made his next move. This he did very shortly.
"Hold up your hands!"
The fellow's voice rang out with startling distinctness. It made Tadstart. He still had the man covered with his own weapon. The boysaw Bill Lilly appear at the door, but there was neither surprise norfear on the face of the guide as he faced the revolver in the handsof the newcomer.
"So, it's you, is it, Alligator Pete? I reckoned you'd be along herepretty soon."
"What are you doing in my shack?"
"I reckoned I'd cage a few more moccasins for your menagerie. Putdown that gun and I'll talk to you."
Pete laughed. He observed that Lilly's revolver was not in itsholster. As a matter of fact, the guide had removed it, keeping itin his hand in case of a surprise, and in looking into Pete'sbelongings he had had occasion to lay the weapon down. The laterinterruption came so quickly and unexpectedly that Billy did notthink of his revolver until too late to recover it. He knew the manbefore him. It was Alligator Pete in reality, and Pete was in awhite rage.
"I reckon I'll put down the gun when I get ready and not before,"answered the "Alligator." "What are you doing in my shack?"
"I'll answer that question by asking you one. What do you mean byinterfering with my party?"
"I haven't."
"You have. You stole a doe that one of them shot."
"Oh, I did, eh?" sneered Pete.
"You know you did, but that wasn't all. You laid a false trail overthe bear sign hoping to call the wolves. You knew they would attackmy dogs. You planned it all, you miserable whelp! You see I knowall about it. It's lucky for you that I haven't got my pistol. I'dshoot you where you stand!" Lilly's voice was calm but incisive.
"I reckon I'd have something to say about that; I reckon this gunmight go off before yours did. I reckon it may go off as it is."
"No. You are too big a coward to shoot a man face to face. I couldjump you now before you could shoot."
"You'd better not try it," warned Pete angrily. "You lie when yousay I did those things. You want to get me in a box. You've beentrying to get me in a box for the last year."
"You have got yourself in a box, Pete. This time it's a box that youwon't get out of so easily as you think. I have the dead wood onyou."
"This is the only dead wood that talks here," answered Pete, tappinghis revolver significantly. "And it talks loud, too. Now what doyou reckon you are doing in my shack?"
"Just what you did in one of mine once, tried to find out something.The difference is that I have found something and you didn't, becausethere wasn't anything to find."
"And what do you reckon to do now?"
"To make you answer for what you have done," replied Lilly evenly.
"How?"
"That is my business so far. Remember I have some boys in camp whocan identify you. Remember you tried to shoot one of them."
"I didn't. I didn't intend to hit him. Don't you think I could hita man at twenty paces without--"
A broad grin was spreading over the face of Bill Lilly.
"I'm mighty glad you admit it," he said in a sarcastic tone. "Itsaves a lot of trouble."
Pete's face flushed.
"It don't save you any. Now look here, Bill Lilly, I've gotsomething to say to you. On one condition I'll let you go and saynothing about your going through my shack."
"What's the condition?"
"That you step aside and give me a show at some of those fellows whothink they are mighty hunters, but have more money than brains.Another one is that you don't say anything against me when you getback home, and--"
"Those are two conditions. You said you would make only one," jeeredLilly.
"I'll make as many as I want to. Another one is that you get sickand have to go home, leaving the party to me for the rest of thetime."
Billy laughed outright.
"You must be crazy, or else you take me for a fool. You ought toknow that I'm not quite so daffy as to agree to a thing like that."
"You'll agree or it will be the worse for you. Remember I've got thebest of you."
Billy opened his mouth to speak, then discreetly closed it again. Hewas about to say that Pete was reckoning without a knowledge of thesituation, when suddenly the thought of Tad Butler entered theguide's mind. Tad was nowhere in sight. The boy, he believed, wasout on the trail, and he did not know how far the boy might havewandered. Lilly did not know what was best to be done in thecircumstances. He was unarmed. It was true he might leap on hisassailant, but the chances were that Pete would shoot him before hecould disarm the man.
"I don't agree to any of your conditions. Now what are you going todo about it?" demanded Lilly, his lips closing into a firm, straightline.
"I am going to--"
Pete did not finish what he was about to say. A sudden andunlooked-for interruption changed the current of his thoughts in astartling manner. With a yell he leaped back, his revolver going offinto the air.
In a second Alligator Pete lay rolling and writhing on the ground.