CHAPTER XXII
PONY RIDER BOYS IN THE STEW
Jay Stillman, after starting the fire, had suspended a kettle from acrane, having first half filled the kettle with a stew that heproposed to warm over for their evening meal. Fortunately for thetwo lads who were sliding down the chimney the stew had not yetbecome hot enough to do any damage to a boy's skin. On the otherhand, the smoke in a dense, suffocating cloud was pouring up thechimney.
As the yell in the chimney reached the ears of the two men sitting bythe table they gazed at each other in amazement. Quick-witted asthey were, the true significance did not occur to them. Pieces ofstone, soot, the accumulation of years, were dropping into the fire.Then came a solid body.
Tad Butler hit the fire first. He smashed into it, carrying kettleand crane down with him. Fire, burning brands and sparks belched outinto the room as though an explosion had occurred in the bigfireplace.
Tad with quick instinct was struggling to get out of the way of hisfalling companion, when Ned Rector landed on him full force. Tadhumped himself, and Ned went sprawling out on the hearth.
Butler did not lose his presence of mind for a second. In fact Tadhad formed his plans, so far as it was possible to form them, beforehe reached the fire.
Uttering a yell, calculated to strike terror to one who heard it, Tadrolled out on the hearth, his clothes ablaze and his hair almostsinged off. The mountaineers still sat in their chairs, lower jawshanging, eyes bulging.
Without waiting for the men to recover from their surprise, Tad gavea couple of quick rolls. The rolls served to put out some of thefire in his clothes as well as to bring him nearer to the objecttowards which he was rolling.
The boy's feet came up with great force, and the deal table standingbetween the two mountaineers rose up into the air, dishes, lamp andall.
Ned uttered a howl, a series of howls. Blood-curdling howls theywere, too. He had caught Tad's purpose and was aiding it with allhis might.
The lamp, dishes and all went over with a crash. The two men intrying to get out of the way of the flying dishes and lamp bothtoppled over backward, landing on their backs on the floor. Ofcourse the lamp exploded with a dull "pouff"!
"The door!" Tad commanded sharply. "Run low!"
Ned scrambled to all fours and made for the door dog-fashion. Bythis time Stillman and Batts had sprung to their feet and drawn theirrevolvers.
"Shoot! Shoot!" yelled Jay.
"My gun's stuck," howled Batts.
"Bang, bang, bang!"
Three shots were fired in quick succession from the pistol of JayStillman. Two of them bored holes in the door casing just above NedRector's head. The third shot went out through the open door.
Tad was still in the room, but crawling toward the door with allspeed. The light from the burning oil now flared up, revealing hispresence. Stillman let go two quick shots at the boy. One bulletgrazed Tad's head. He remembered afterward that it felt hot, likethe heat in the fireplace when he fell into the stew.
Batts at this juncture jerked his weapon from its holster, but thepistol slipped from his hand and fell to the floor.
"Oh, you fool!" roared Stillman.
Tad plunged out through the open door, landing on his face in thedirt.
"Jump to one side!" he commanded sharply.
Ned, taking the hint, gave a leap to the right, and just in time, forhe was standing directly in front of the open door, through which tworevolver bullets were fired almost at the instant of his leap. Tadhad crawled to the left.
"Run!" he called.
Ned did run until Butler called a halt a few rods from the cabin.Tad grasped the arm of his companion the instant he reached him, thenled the boy back toward the cabin.
"Where, where you going?" gasped Tad.
"To see what is going on back there. Are you hurt?"
"I'm near dead," groaned Rector. "I haven't any skin left exceptwhat is hanging in shreds. Oh, what an awful experience. I'll betyou are a sight, too."
The boys were creeping nearer the cabin. They found the two meninside stamping out the fire on which they had thrown blankets fromthe bunks.
Stillman dashed out of doors as soon as he had extinguished the fire.In his hand was his rifle. In the meantime Batts had procuredanother lamp and shortly afterwards had lighted and placed it on thetable.
Stillman remained outside, crouching by the doorway listening, withrifle ready to take a shot at the slightest sound. At that momentTad Butler and Ned Rector were lying less than ten feet from thecrouching figure of the mountaineer. They dared hardly breathe.
"What do you make of it, Jay?" asked the other man, thrusting hishead out close to the watching mountaineer.
"Funny business."
"Where are they?"
"I wish I knew. I'd kill them on sight."
"You--you don't think it was one of the outfit down in the gulch, doyou?" asked Batts.
"I reckon not. Still, it might have been. We'll get supper and I'llgo down there and find out," decided Stillman with emphasis. "If Isee any signs of a fellow who has been in a fire I'll plug him sureas my name's Stillman," raged the mountaineer.
"Look out, Joe!" warned Batts. "They may still be touchy about thepup and have a weather eye open."
"They won't catch me, now that I'm on my guard."
Stillman entered the cabin, slamming the door behind him.
"Somebody ought to keep watch," suggested Batts.
"You go out. I'll fix up the wreck. No; take your own gun. I wantmine where I can get hold of it. I overshot, too. Did you get wiseto the foxiness of those fellows? Run out on all fours so we'd shootover them. Foxy, foxy! That wasn't no tenderfoot trick."
Batts picked up his rifle and started for the door.
"Skip!" whispered Tad. "Run for it, but don't make a sound unlessyou want to stop a bullet."
Ned Rector needed no urging. By the time Batts had reached thethreshold of the door the boys were well down the path. Even thenthe keen-eared mountaineer heard them, and sent a bullet in theirdirection, but the bullet sailed far above the heads of the boys.Tad changed his course somewhat, as the fellow had their range alittle too closely to suit young Butler.
"I guess that's all," decided Ned.
"Don't be too sure of it. They may be following us, so we must becautious."
"What do you mean?" demanded Ned.
"I mean that I am going to follow those fellows. There surely issomething big on foot. I think I know what it is, and if I am rightwe shall have done the biggest piece of work of our lives."
Ned Rector groaned.