Mason of Bar X Ranch. Bennett Henry Holcomb
around my place.”
As he spoke, five men from within silently took their places alongside of him.
The lines on Bud’s face tightened. There was a stir among his men and a stiffening of muscles. It seemed to Mason as if the air was suddenly charged with electricity, so tense was the situation.
“I’m watching you, Ricker!” the word came from Bud like a crack of a pistol. “I see that you and your men are itching for a fight. Steady! Take your hand away from your hip, Ricker, or I’ll bore you!”
Bud sat his horse facing Ricker. Both his hands were carelessly toying with his scarf knot, about breast high where the butt of a six-shooter protruded. It was a position feared by all his enemies.
Ricker laughed mirthlessly.
“Oh, well,” he said in a changed tone, “take a look around, but you won’t find the greaser here.”
Mason breathed a sigh of relief. The danger point seemed past for the moment. Bud left half of his men on guard in front of the house and made a careful search of the premises, but found no trace of the halfbreed.
“I suppose you are satisfied now,” Ricker sneered, as Bud gave the command for his men to leave.
“No, I’m not satisfied,” Bud answered him sharply. “I am certain the Mexican has visited you since yesterday. My men trailed him to Devil’s Gap and he was swinging in a circle towards your place when they lost his trail. That’s all I’ve got to say, but you’ll hear from me again.”
Bud gave a signal and the cowboys set a fast pace for home as the storm showed signs of breaking on them at any moment. Mason rode with Bud, and they kept up a conversation with difficulty amid flashes of lightning and the crash of thunder.
“Gee, this is some storm,” gasped Mason after an unusually bright flash of lightning, followed by a deluge of rain.
“Yes,” Bud roared in his ear to make himself heard, “we get them like this out here, but what I am sore about is that we didn’t get that greaser.”
Mason started to answer, but his words were drowned by the thunder. When the party finally arrived at the Bar X corral it was dark and lights were flashing in and out of the ranch house.
“Something must be wrong at the house,” Bud muttered as they hastily put their horses up.
As Bud and Mason started for the house, some one came towards them with a lantern. It proved to be Mrs. Walters, and she seemed to be in great distress.
“Oh, I am so frightened,” she cried, as she caught sight of them. “Josephine has disappeared. She went for a ride soon after you men left, and here it is nine o’clock and she hasn’t returned. I fear something has happened to her.”
Mason was shocked to think of Josephine out alone and in the storm.
“For God’s sake, Bud,” he cried in anguish, “get the men together and let’s find her.”
Bud blew a whistle and the cowboys rallied around him.
“Boys,” he said sternly, “there’s been hellish doings on this ranch lately. Josephine has disappeared and it’s up to us to find her. I lay this to that halfbreed’s work. Mount your horses and take lanterns along with you and see if you can’t pick up her trail before the rain washes all traces of it away.”
The cowboys obeyed with alacrity and muttered deep threats against the halfbreed. It would fare hard with him if he fell into their hands this night; his punishment would be swift and sure.
Mrs. Walters gave the men the direction that Josephine had taken and they started off with a rush.
Buck Miller was leading the way as he was the best trailer among them. He could follow a trail equal to an Indian. Aided by an occasional flash of lightning, the men picked their way slowly. The rain had ceased, but the wind was blowing almost a gale.
Buck had picked up Josephine’s trail about a hundred yards from the corral. After following it for about an hour they found it led towards Devil’s Gap, a favorite ride of Josephine’s when she wished to be alone. According to her mother, the girl had taken a horse from the corral that had been used as a pack horse to bring provisions from Trader’s Post.
The ranch owner had insisted on joining them in the search, and it seemed to Mason as if he had grown years older in the last hour. His manner was pitiful as the shock of his daughter’s possible fate showed in his eyes. The trail was very difficult to follow on account of the hard fall of rain. The men were proceeding with caution for fear of losing it altogether.
In this manner they rode for two hours when there came a cry from Buck who was far in advance of them. There was an answering yell from the cowboys as they pressed their horses hard and rode up to him.
“Buck, what have you discovered?” Mason demanded anxiously.
Buck motioned for them to keep back before he answered. He had dismounted and was eagerly scanning the ground. Bud joined them at this juncture and repeated Mason’s question. Buck for an answer held up a piece of cloth.
“Other horses’ tracks join here,” he said sagely, pointing to the ground. “The girl was held up here, for there is evidence of a struggle.”
Bud examined the piece of cloth and handed it to the ranch owner.
“It’s from Josephine’s dress,” the unhappy father declared with a groan.
“The girl put up a fight here,” Buck continued, “and it looks as if there were two or more persons that waylaid her.”
The ranch owner was nearly frantic and it was with difficulty that the men restrained him from plunging blindly alone on the trail.
“Keep cool,” Bud advised him. “Buck tells me the trail divides here. They have one lead horse and one carrying double. I am going to send one of my men home with you as you are in no condition to go on. Besides, your wife needs your counsel just now. I am going to divide my forces and we will stay on the trail night and day until we find her, then God help them if they have harmed her in any way.”
Bud choked at the last sentence, his emotions overcoming him. After a short argument with the heartbroken father, Bud’s advice prevailed and the party set out on their quest.
CHAPTER VI – JOSEPHINE’S PERIL
After the men had left for the Ricker ranch, Josephine felt lonesome and, telling her mother she was going for a short ride, she hastily slipped into a khaki riding dress, for the air felt like rain. Her mother tried to persuade her not to go, as the halfbreed and Powers were at large and might do her harm if she should happen to run across them.
“You know, dear,” she said as a final argument, “Powers hasn’t liked you since you refused to let him pay you court, and it would be just like him to take up with that Mexican.”
“I know he hates Mr. Mason and would do him an injury if he got a chance,” she added.
“I guess the shoe pinches the other foot,” the girl answered with a happy laugh. “From what I have seen of Mr. Mason, Powers had better keep away from him. He seems perfectly able to take care of himself.”
The fond mother looked keenly at her daughter. Was it possible she was in love with this New Yorker? The question she asked herself struck home with heavy force. It had seemed only yesterday that she was carrying her in her arms. Now, as she looked, she realized her daughter was fast growing into womanhood.
Josephine was watching her mother in amusement.
“Cheer up, mother,” she cried with a laugh, throwing her arms around her neck and kissing her. “You look as though you had been to a funeral. I’m not going to elope or run away, I’m only going for a short ride, and just think of the old plug of a horse I’ve got to take. All the best ones are in use; darn that old Mexican, anyway, I hope Bud gets Fleet back for me,” she wound up, angrily stamping her foot.
“Bud will get him back for you if possible; run along now dear if you must go, and get home early as I think