CHAPTER X
BISCUIT AND MYSTERY
"There, I hope we have seen the last of that ruffian," exclaimed theProfessor as Smoky rode away.
"I am afraid we haven't, Professor," answered Tad, with a shake ofthe head.
"Why--why, what makes you think that?"
"He is a vengeful man. He is already plotting to get even with us.However, there's no use to worry about him. We will take care of himif he comes around our outfit."
"Yes, we'll take care of Smoke," jeered Chunky. "I wonder if thereare any more like him in these parts?"
"I shouldn't be surprised," returned Tad. "You did very well inhelping to hold the other mountaineers off yesterday, Chunky. Butyou spoiled it all twice."
"How?"
"By going to sleep on the job. Never go to sleep unless there isgood reason for doing so."
"There was good reason. I should say there was," protested the fatboy.
"What was the reason?"
"I was sleepy."
"Surely, you could not ask a better reason, Tad," said the Professorwith a grim smile.
"I've nothing more to say?" laughed Tad. "That argument isunanswerable."
Ned suggested that they get under way, so they mounted and rode awaytowards Smoky Bald, that huge towering mountain, rising up into thesky nearly seven thousand feet. The Pony Rider Boys were nowapproaching what was known as "The Land of the Sky," and theirspirits were fully as high as the name. About them the country wasbecoming more rugged, making progress slower and slower, but they didnot mind.
By this time it was unusual to see a human being, though at rareintervals they came upon a mountaineer's cabin. The occupants ofsuch always were suspicious of the strangers, and the boys cut shorttheir calls with merely passing words of greeting.
For two days following the departure of the bully they had pressed onand on. But now another disturbing factor had come up to irritatethem. Their food was most mysteriously disappearing. No matter howmany biscuit they baked, these were sure to disappear within a fewhours.
A similar state of affairs, though not to the same extent, hadexisted on their way through Smoky Pass. Now it had sprung up again. At first Tad suspected Stacy Brown and his appetite; then the guidecame in for a share of suspicion, but not a clue was the lad able tofind. He thought he had checked the losses when he ordered all thereserve stores piled in the corner of his tent with his duffle-bag,but the mystery still remained unsolved.
"It's my opinion that there's something going on around thesediggings," declared Chunky as they were sitting about the campfireone evening.
"There is no doubt about that," replied Tad. "If you can find outjust what is going on you will be doing the Pony Rider Boys, as anassociation, a real service."
"I had a dream last night," began Chunky.
"Did you dream that you were living in marble halls?" chuckledRector.
"No, I couldn't dream anything so pleasant when you were snoring inthe next tent. I've had the same dream for three nights running.And, fellows, it was an awful dream. I know it means trouble forsomeone."
"Well, what was your dream?" asked Tad.
"I don't want to hear it if it is another of your old chestnuts,"declared Ned.
"Go on, tell it, Chunky," urged Walter.
"It was a terrible dream," replied the fat boy in a deep, thrillingvoice.
"Well, well, surely it couldn't have been any more terrible than thissuspense," interrupted Butler.
"I dreamed--I dreamed--" Stacy paused to gaze feelingly at hiscompanions.
"You dreamed? Yes?" reminded Rector.
"I dreamed--I dreamed I saw three blind men leading a one-eyed horseto water."
"Oh, pooh!" scoffed Ned Rector.
"Three nights," continued Stacy, "did I dream of this nerve-rackingscene. Don't look at me like that, William Veal! That's just theway the blind men stared at me."
"Go on," laughed Tad. "What did the three blind men and the one-eyedhorse do?"
"They went down to the creek and took a drink," crooned Stacy, gazingsteadily at the wide-eyed Chops. Chops was actually pale about thelips. "Then--then I dreamed another--the most awful of all."
"Yes, yes?" pleaded Walter, now really worked up to a high pitch ofexcitement.
"For three nights running I dreamed that I saw a black cat chasing athree-legged rat through a field of red clover. Br-r-r-r!" The lastword came out with explosive force.
Billy Veal leaped to his feet with a yell. The Pony Rider Boys burstinto a roar of laughter, with the exception of Stacy, who sat assolemn as an owl. Chops was trembling, for, like most of his race,he was superstitious.
"If I might make so bold as to inquire," said Tad after quiet hadonce more been restored, "why was the black cat chasing thethree-legged rat through the field of red clover?"
"The cat thought the rat had the biscuit that have been stolen fromthis camp, I reckon."
This was the signal for another outburst, in which Billy Veal took nopart. The guide was too thoroughly frightened to be amused. Hissuperstitious nature had been strongly appealed to.
"It means that there's trouble brewing in this outfit. I shouldn'tbe surprised if some one were going to die. I'm sure it will be thevillain who has been stealing our biscuit."
"No, that isn't what it means," interrupted Rector.
"What does it mean, then?" demanded Stacy.
"It means that you have been overloading your stomach for the lastthree nights before turning in. I am beginning to think it was youwho stole and ate the stuff."
"You must be a--an oracle. That's it. You're one of those dreambooks," retorted Chunky. "Now seeing you are an oracle, what wouldit have meant had the rat been running through the clover without anylegs at all? Answer me that if you can, Mr. Dream Book!"
"Very simple. Almost childish. That would mean that instead ofeating biscuit before going to bed, you had been eating mince pie."
"You are almost human, Ned," grinned Chunky. "But you don't know agnome when you see one."
"A gnome?"
"Sure thing. Those were gnomes--the real spooky, spinky kind thatgive you the shivers up and down your back when they're out gnoming.Chops knows what a gnome is, don't you, Chops?"
"N-n-n-nassir, yassir," chattered the guide.
"Don't, for goodness' sake, Chunky. He'll run in a minute," beggedButler.
"And--and that wasn't all," continued Stacy. "I heard the cat uttera name, and the rat had a face just like--"
"What did the cat say, and--"
"The cat said, 'Meow!'" jeered Ned.
"No it didn't. The cat said 'Veal, Veal,' just as plainly as youcould imagine," nodded the speaker.
Chops fairly gasped.
"Yes, but what did the rat look like?" urged Tad.
"Well, it looked to me like a rat," answered the fat boy solemnly.
"You will all have the nightmare tonight if you don't choose a morecheerful topic for discussion just before turning in," warnedProfessor Zepplin.
"Yes, change the subject," urged Rector. "I don't want to dream offour-legged rats and blind mice, and besides, Chops is on the vergeof nervous prostration."
Chunky got up and stretched himself. He strolled over to where Billystood leaning against a rock.
"The rat had your face," he whispered sharply in the ear of the guide.
Chops uttered a blood-curdling yell and with a leap cleared thecampfire and started racing for the tall timber.
[ILLUSTRATION: "There He Goes!"]
"There he goes," wailed Ned.
"After him!" shouted Tad.
"Guide! Guide! Come back here, guide!" roared the Professor. ButChops was on fleet feet, with four shouting, yelling boys in hot pursuit.
"That's the last we shall see of our guide," moaned the Professor,sitting down heavily.