by B. M. Bower
CHAPTER X. DEPUTIES ALL
At the ranch, whither they rode in haste, Luck meant to leave his boysand go on with the sheriff to town. But the Happy Family flatly refusedto be left behind. Even old Aleck Douglas--whom years and troublehad enfeebled until his very presence here with Jean and Lite was ahealth-seeking mission in the wonderful air of New Mexico--even oldAleck Douglas stamped his foot at Jean and declared that he was going,along to see that "the boy" got a square deal. There wouldn't be anyrailroading Luck to the pew for something he didn't do, he asserted witha tragic meaning that wrung the heart of Jean. It took Lite's argumentsand Luck's optimism and, finally, the assurance of the sheriff that Luckwas not under arrest and was in no danger of it, to keep the old man atthe ranch. Also, they promised to return with all speed and not to keepsupper waiting, before the two women were satisfied to let them go.
"Oh, Luck Lindsay," Rosemary bethought her to announce just as they wereleaving, "you better keep an eye out for Annie, while you're in town.She's gone--and the dog and all her clothes and everything. Maybe shetook the train back to the reservation. I just wanted you to know, so ifyou feel you ought to bother--"
"Annie gone?" Even in his preoccupation the mews came with a stab. "Whendid she go?"
"We don't know. She set up an awful yowling when you boys went to work.And the dog commenced howling, till it was simply awful. So we rodein to town after the mail, and when we came back she was gone, bag andbaggage. We didn't see anything of her on the trail, but she could dodgeus if she wanted to--she's Injun enough for that."
So Luck carried a double load of anxiety with him to town, and the firstthing he did when he reached it was to seek, not the beaten cashierwho had accused him, but the ticket agent at the depot, and the baggagemen--anyone who would be apt to remember Annie-Many-Ponies if she took atrain out of town.
You might think that, with so many Indians coming and going at thedepot, selling their wares and making picturesque setting for thecurios which are purveyed there, that Luck stood a very slight chance ofgaining any information whatever. But a Sioux squaw in Albuquerque wouldbe as noticeable as a Hindoo. Pueblos, Navajos--they may come and gounnoticed because of their numbers. But an Indian of another tribe andstyle of dress would be conspicuous enough to be remembered. So, when noone remembered seeing Annie-Many-Ponies, Luck dismissed the conjecturethat she had taken the train, and turned his attention to picking up thetrail of the bank-robbers.
Here the Happy Family, with Applehead and Lite Avery, had managedto accomplish a good deal in a very short time. The Native Son, forinstance, had ridden straight out from the bank into the Mexicanquarter, as soon as he learned that the red automobile had gone upSilver Street and turned south on Fourth. By the time Luck reached thebank Miguel came loping back with the news that the red machine hadcrossed the lower bridge and had turned up toward Atrisco, that littleMexican hamlet which lies between the river and the bluffs where thewhite sand of the desert spills over into the nearest corrals and littlepastures.
The others had learned definitely that Bill Holmes had manipulated thefake camera while the bank was being robbed, and that the man with him,who bad also driven the machine, was a certain chauffeur of colorlesspersonality and an unsavory reputation among other drivers; and thatthe number of the automobile was a matter of conjecture, since threedifferent men who were positive they remembered it gave three differentnumbers.
In company with the sheriff they called upon the cashier, who was in bedwith his head bandaged and his nerves very much unstrung. He was muchcalmer, however, than when he had hysterically accused Luck of betrayinghim into putting the money out to be stolen. He admitted now that hewas not at all sure of the voice which talked with him over the phone;indeed, now when he heard luck speak, he felt extremely doubtful of thesimilarity of that other voice. He protested against being blamed forbeing too confiding. He had never dreamed, he said, that anyone could beso bold as to plan a thing like that. It all sounded straight, about thespoiled negative and so forth. He was very sorry that he had causedLuck Lindsay any inconvenience or annoyance, and he begged Luck's pardonseveral times in the course of his explanation of the details.
They left him still protesting and apologizing and explaining andtouching his bandaged head with self-pitying tenderness. In the streetLuck turned to the sheriff as though his mind was made up to somethingwhich argument could not alter in the slightest degree.
"I realize that in a way I'm partly responsible for this," he saidcrisply. "The scenes I took the other day made this play possiblefor Ramon and his bunch. What you'd better do right now is to swearApplehead and me in as deputies--and any of the boys that want to comealong and help round up that bunch. We'll do it, if it's to be done atall. I feel I kind of owe it to that poor simp in there to get the moneyback--sabe? And I owe it to myself to bring in Ramon and Bill Holmes,and whoever else is with 'em on this; young Rojas we know is for one."
"Where do you aim to look for 'em, if you don't mind telling?" HankMiller was staring doubtfully down at Luck.
"Where? Miguel here says they went toward Atrisco. That means they'rehitting for the Navajo reservation. There's three hundred miles ofcountry straight west, and not so much as a telegraph pole! Mighty fewservice stations for the machine, too, when you think of it--and roughcountry to travel over. If they try to go by automobile, we'll overhaulthem, most likely, before they get far. Also, we can trace 'em easyenough."
The sheriff pulled at his stubby mustache and looked the bunch over."You know that country?" he asked, still doubtfully. "Them Navvies areplumb snaky, lemme tell yuh. Ain't like the Pueblos--you're taking arisk when yuh ride into the Navvy country. They'll get yuh if they geta chancet; run off your horses, head yuh away from water--they're plumbMEAN!"
"Well, now, I calc'late I know them Navvies putty tol'ble well,"Applehead cut in. "I've fit 'em comin' and goin'. Why, my shucks! Ef Inotched my gun for the Navvies I've got off an' on in the course uh mytravels, she'd shore look like a saw-blade, now I'm tellin' yuh!"
"Yes, an' yuh got a couple too many fer to go monkeyin' around on theirgroun' agin," the sheriff informed him bluntly. "They ain't forgot thetrip you made over there after Jose Martinez. Best fer you to keep off'nthat reservation, Applehead--and I'm speakin' as a friend."
"As a friend you kin shet up," Applehead retorted pettishly. "EfLuck hits fer the Navvy country after them skunks, I calc'late oleApplehead'll be somers close handy by--"
"Hurry up and swear us in," Luck interrupted. "We've got to get to theranch and back with an outfit, yet tonight, so we can hit the trail assoon as possible. No use for you to take the oath, Andy--what you betterdo is to stay at the ranch with the women folks."
"Aleck will be there, and Pete and Tommy and the cook," Andy rebelledinstantly. His hand went up to take the oath with the others.
There on the corner of the street where the shadows lay under a gentlywhispering box-elder tree, Hank Miller faced the group that stood withright hands uplifted and swore them as he had sworn--with the oath thatmade deputy sheriffs of them all. He told them that while he did notbelieve the thieves had gone to the reservation, and would look for themelsewhere, the idea was worth acting upon--seeing they wanted to do itanyway; and that the sheriff's office stood ready to assist them inany way possible. He wished them luck and hurried away, evidently muchrelieved to get away and out of an uncomfortable position.
In the next two hours Luck managed to accomplish a good deal, whichwas one of the reasons why he was manager and director of the FlyingU Feature Films. Just for example, he went to a friend who wasalso something of a detective, and put him on the job of findAnnie-Many-Ponies--a bigger task than it looked to Luck, as we haveoccasion to know. He sent some of the boys back to the ranch in amachine, and told them just what to bring back with them in the wayof rifles, bedding rolls, extra horses and so on. The horses they hadridden into town he had housed in a livery stable. He took the NativeSon and a Mexican driver and went over to Atrisco, routed perfectlypol
ite and terribly sleepy individuals out of their beds and learnedbeyond all question that a red automobile with several men in it hadpassed through the dusty lanes and had labored up the hill to the desertmesa beyond and that no one had seen it return.
He sent a hundred-and-fifty-word message to Dewitt of the Great WesternCompany in Los Angeles, explaining with perfect frankness the situationand his determination to get out after the robbers, and made it plainalso that he would not expect salary for the time he spent in the chase.He ended by saying tersely, "My reputation and standing of company hereat stake," and signed his name in a hasty scrawl that made the operatorscratch his ear reflectively with his pencil when he had counted thewords down to the signature. After that, Luck gave every ounce of hisenergy and every bit of his brain to the outfitting of the expedition.
So well did he accomplish the task that by one O'clock that night alow-voiced company of men rode away from a livery stable in the heart ofthe town, leading four pack-horses and heading as straight as might befor the bridge. They met no one; they saw scarcely a light in any of thewindows that they passed. A chill wind crept up the river so that theybuttoned their coats when the hoofbeats of the horses sounded hollow onthe bridge. Out through the lane that leads to Atrisco, which sleptin the stolid blackness of low adobe houses with flat roofs and tinywindows, they rode at a trot. Dogs barked, ran but to the road andbarked again, ran back to the adobe huts and kept on barking. In onefield some loose horses, seeing so many of their kind in the lane,galloped up to the fence and stood there snorting. These were still intheir colthood, however, and the saddle-horses merely flicked ears intheir direction and gave them no more heed.
"I'm glad you're sure of the country, up here on top," Luck said toApplehead when they had climbed, by the twisting, sandy trail, to thesand dunes that lay on the edge of the mesa and stretched vaguely awayunder the stars. To the rim-rook line that separated this first mesafrom the higher one beyond, Luck himself knew the sand-hills well.But beyond the broken line of hills off to the northwest he had nevergone--and there lay the territory that belongs to the Navajos, who area tricky tribe and do not love the white people who buy their rugs andblankets and, so claim the Navajos, steal their cattle and their horsesas well.
At the rim of lava rock they made a dry camp and lay down in whatcomfort they could achieve, to doze and wait for daylight so that theycould pick up the trail of the red automobile.