CHAPTER XXI--A STARTLING DISCOVERY
Chet's second thought was, naturally, for the horses. If anythinghappened to their mounts out here on the plains, they would be in a badway indeed. They were all of thirty miles from the Grub Stake trail, andif that trail were intersected with a line running directly south fromthis camp, such intersection would be about midway of the distancebetween Silver Run and Grub Stake.
In other words, once back upon the trail the boys would have a choice ofsomething like a hundred mile ride to either town. And if they had towalk it!
With his rifle at "ready" Chet stumbled away from the edge of thewater-hole until he could get a free sight of the plain on this side. Hemade out the horses almost immediately. They were feeding contentedlyand nothing seemed to have happened to them.
Chet raised his voice again and shouted for his chum. There was noreply, and the boy became more and more anxious as the moments passed.Where could Dig have gone?
It was just then that Chet heard a strange sound. It must have beengoing on ever since he was aroused; only his senses had been too dulledwith sleep to notice it.
A throbbing sound, that was steadily growing fainter. The boy suddenlycame to a sensible conclusion regarding it, and he dropped to his kneesand put an ear to the ground.
Horses' hoofs! No doubt of it. The thud of them over the sodded prairieswas rapidly decreasing. The horses were now some miles away from thewater-hole.
What did it mean? Had an attempt been made to raid the camp again, andhad Dig driven the raiders away? Was it he who had fired the shot thatawakened Chet? The latter turned back again with a terrible sinkingfeeling at his heart.
Perhaps there had been a fight and his chum was shot!
Chet Havens was much exercised. He ran to and fro in the camp, trying tofind some trace of his chum. There were the saddles--he had used his ownfor a pillow; and at this time he did not notice anything else missing.
He shouted again and again, but got no reply. Then he bethought him ofthe rifle, and he put the heavy weapon to his shoulder and fired threetimes in the air.
There sounded a squeal from the other side of the water-hole. The horseshad snorted, too; but Chet paid them no further attention. He startedaround the piece of water, yelling for his chum at the top of his voice.
He heard Dig calling after a minute. Then Chet saw him standing by thewater's edge and leaning on his gun.
"For goodness' sake! what's the matter with you?" gasped Chet, reachingthe other lad. And then he uttered a second startled exclamation. Dig'sface was bloody.
"What have you been doing?" demanded Chet again.
"That's this blamed old rifle," snarled Dig. "See what it did?" and heremoved the handkerchief with which he was swabbing his brow and showeda deep cut. "That's what it did to me!"
"How?" gasped Chet.
"Kicked!"
"But for goodness' sake! did you try to put the butt against yourforehead when you fired?"
"I don't know what I did. I was excited. I saw that man on horsebackleading the other horse--"
"What man?" interrupted his chum.
"Oh, be still!" exclaimed Dig, with great disgust. "Do you s'pose Istopped to ask him his name and where he came from? I up with the gun tofire a shot to warn you--"
"That must have been what woke me," said Chet.
"And it's what put me to sleep," said Dig, grimly. "I don't know whathappened after this old cannon tried to knock my head off."
"Tell me what happened before," urged Chet anxiously.
Dig explained how he had come to start around the pool. He had heard anoise while on this side and, stooping down, he had seen a horsemanbetween him and the background of the sky. The rider was leading asecond horse, and was moving quietly toward their encampment.
At first Dig had not known what to do--whether to return and awaken Chetsoftly or to keep watch of the man on horseback. And then Dig had seen aman afoot running up from the camp.
"The scoundrel was carrying something. We've been robbed, Chet. Is mysaddle all right?"
"Yes. But he might have taken something--"
He clapped his hand to his breast as he spoke. Dig did not notice hisagitation and went on with his story.
"Then's when I let go with old Betsy here. And whew! can't she kicksome? She knocked me cold, and I just woke up." Then he turned to peerinto Chet's face, demanding: "Say, boy! what's the matter with you?"
Chet was absolutely pallid. He lips parted, but were so dry that for amoment he could not speak. Finally he blurted out:
"They--they've got 'em!"
"Got what?" gasped Dig. "Who's got 'em?"
"The deeds."
"Are you crazy, Chet? Nobody's got those deeds. They're in yourpocket--"
"No!" cried Chet wildly. "They're gone!"
"Nonsense!"
Chet had drawn open his shirt and turned it so that Dig could easilyfeel the empty pocket inside. He could only mutter:
"Whew! what bad luck! what _bad_ luck! Don't you think mebbe you've lost'em, Chet? Dropped 'em out, maybe?"
"I am afraid not," returned his chum, getting control of himself again."If you saw one of those men coming from the direction of our camp--"
"Well, he had something besides papers in his hands," grunted Dig. "Comeon! let's go back and see just how bad things are."
"No matter what other damage they did," Chet declared, "the loss of thedeeds father entrusted to my care is the only really serious loss. Ifeel dreadfully, Dig. He trusted us, and I let 'em get away from me. Andafter having had one warning, too!
"Yes! two warnings. Amoshee--John Peep--told me they were on the trailafter us."
"Who were after us? What are you talking about?" demanded the puzzledDigby.
Chet told him as they hastened around the pool to the camp and thehorses.
"Well! of all the stingy guys!" exclaimed Dig. "By all the hoptoads thatwere chased out of Ireland! you're the meanest fellow, to keep this allto yourself. Hadn't the first idea that we were being trailed by twovillains. Cricky!"
"You talk as if it were fun," said Chet in disgust. "What shall I say tofather? He'll blame me--but that doesn't so much matter. I tell you,Dig, I've got to get those deeds back. This fellow is after the oldCrayton claim and he'll get the deeds changed, somehow, and get Mr.Morrisy to sign them, and then father will lose what he's alreadyinvested in the claim. I tell you, I must get them back!" he repeated,almost in tears.
"Huh!" grunted Digby, "you've got it wrong."
"Have what wrong?" asked Chet, surprised.
"You say you have to get the papers back. Wrong. We have to get 'emback. I'm with you, Chet, no matter how big the job is."
"Oh, thank you, Dig! I know you'll stand by me," Chet declared. "We'llhave to start as soon as possible after these thieves. We must pick uptheir trail and chase them."
The boys reached the camp at this moment. There were a few live coals inthe bed of the fire, and Dig stirred them with his foot and then threwon some light fuel. Soon the blaze sprang up and the light flickeredover the spot.
Their saddles had not been touched. Chet had already made sure of that.His own blanket was on the ground where he had flung it off when hearose, awakened by the rifle shot; but Dig's had disappeared.
"By the last hoptoad that was chased out of Ireland!" yelled Dig. "Thedirty rascals have swiped my blanket--And the skillet! Holy mackerel,Chet! they've taken the coffee-pot, too, and all the tinware. That wouldbe just like that Tony Traddles! The great, hulking, no-account brute!"
"No use calling him names," said Chet grimly. "They've pretty wellcleaned us out. But the worst is the deeds," and he sighed.
"I wonder they didn't take the horses," exclaimed Dig.
"Your seeing them and firing the gun probably saved our mounts for us,"his chum said.
"But if I'd stayed in the camp they wouldn't have cleaned us out," saidDig thoughtfully.
"Not so sure. They might have crept up on you and knocked y
ou on thehead."
"Instead of which that old Betsy gun had to knock me over. Just as bad.It knocked me out for the time being, and those scoundrels got away."
"They must have been close in, watching you and me, when you startedaround the pond," Chet explained. "We know what Tony is--a bad man. Thefellow with him is probably worse. They wouldn't think anything ofknocking us both out if they hadn't got what they wanted without."
"Well, what's done is done," Dig said mournfully. "Now what shall wedo?"
"We can't do much till daylight. It's no fun following a horse trail inthe night--and those horses started on the gallop. They will be tiringtheir mounts out while ours are resting. We'll lose nothing by waitingtill dawn," Chet said, with confidence.