CHAPTER XII.
ALOFT AFTER A PRISONER.
"All ready for the big show," cried Kit, riding up to Ted. "When will webegin the sports?"
Ted looked over the grand stand, which was built around an arena inwhich the cowboy sports were to come off.
This was the most important event of the day, for while bronchobustingand cattle roping are a cowboy's business, yet he finds unendingamusement in doing these same things if his girl and friends are thereto witness his skill.
After some ordinary feats of trick riding by the visiting cowboys,several really dangerous steers were turned loose in the arena, and forseveral minutes a very fair imitation of a Spanish bullfight, minus thekilling of the animals, took place.
After several of the steers had been roped, thrown, and tied, therestill remained in the arena a sullen and difficult brute, which was astricky as a rat, and the boys gave him up one at a time.
"Why don't you give the girls a chance at him?" shouted a cowgirlderisively, from the seats.
"Any girl who wants to tackle him is at liberty to do so," Ted shoutedback through his megaphone.
Instantly three girls leaped into the arena, and borrowed ponies fromtheir cowboy acquaintances.
Ted motioned to Sophy Cozak, the pretty and buxom girl from the Bohemianprairie, whom Bud had admired at the dance; she rode forward on Bud'sown particular horse, Ranger.
Sophy had several brothers who had taught her the cow business, and shehad few equals on the range.
As she rode out she was greeted with a round of applause from heradmirers. She gathered up her rope and sent the horse forward at an easylope toward the steer, which looked at her a moment and trotted off.
Sophy followed him, and made three casts of the rope, and every time thebrute dodged it, and the rope fell to the ground.
That settled it with Sophy, and she rode in, and another girl took herplace. She, too, was unsuccessful, as was the third, and the audiencewas distinctly disappointed.
"Ladies and gentlemen," cried Ted, through the megaphone. "It was notthe intention of any one living on the Moon Valley Ranch to take part inthese contests, but if there are no other young ladies in the grandstand who would like to try their ropes on the steer, we can produce onewhom we think can rope and tie it at the first trial. I refer to MissStella Fosdick. I have not consulted her wishes in the matter, but willask her if she will undertake it."
At this a wild cheer went up, and Ted dashed out of the arena to findStella. In a moment he was back, and announced that Miss Fosdick wouldtry it.
Presently Stella rode in on Custer at a hard gallop, gathering up herrope as she rode. There was a sort of gay self-confidence in her mannerthat captivated the throng, and the cheers split the air.
Stella rode straight at the steer, which, seeing her approach; gallopeddown the arena with her in pursuit.
Swinging her rope above her head, she chased it back until it was aboutin the middle of the field, and suddenly the rope left her handunerringly and shot through the air, seemed to hesitate for an instant,then fell over the steer's head.
Custer came to a stop the moment the rope left her hand, with his bodywell braced. The steer went to the end of the rope as fast as it couldgo, then was flung in the air, and lay upon his back sprawling like someridiculous four-legged crab, while the girl leaped from her saddle, ranswiftly across the intervening space, tied his legs together, and heldup her hand.
The crowd fairly went wild with enthusiasm at her feat, as she mountedagain, leaving the steer to the tender mercies of the cow-punchers, whoflocked about her. Then she dashed out of the arena, waving her hat inrecognition of the applause.
Then the bunch of wild Montana horses, which never had felt the saddle,were driven in, and Ted offered a twenty-dollar gold piece to anypuncher who could rope, saddle, and bridle, and ride one of the bronchosten minutes without being thrown.
"Easy money!" shouted the cowboys, flocking into the arena.
The black, which had caused Ted so much trouble when the bunch firstcame to the ranch, was not with them. He was considered too dangerous ananimal to be handled at an entertainment where there were so many womenand children.
Only two cow-punchers succeeded in even getting their saddles on thebronchos without throwing them and hog-tying them, and only one, BillySudden, stayed the required ten minutes, and he said afterward that itwasn't his fault, because the broncho wouldn't let him get off.
Ted then announced that there was another animal in the herd that hewould ask no man to ride, but that he would try to do so himself.
Another great cheer went up as Ted rode away after the black demon, towhom the boys had given the name Lucifer, for his supposed resemblanceto his satanic majesty.
But it was found impossible to drive Lucifer into the arena.
"Never mind," said Ted, "we'll throw the saddle on him here, and I'llride him in."
A crowd of men and boys was standing around, and Ted removed his saddleand handed it to a young fellow in the crowd to hold until he had thrownLucifer. The animal was standing in the center of the circle, his waryeyes taking in the crowd, and letting fly with his heels at the approachof any one.
"Now, Bud," called Ted, "ride in on him and rope him. You, Kit, get himby the leg and throw him, and I'll slip a bridle on him."
It was not much of a trick to rope and hold him so that he couldn'tkick. But when Ted tried to slip the bit between his teeth, he foughtlike the demon that he was, biting and kicking, so that he had to bethrown to his side and his head held down before the bridle could be puton him.
Then he was allowed to rise. There was no doubt but that the horse wasinsane with rage and fear, and several cowmen came forward and tried topersuade Ted from attempting to ride him, but Ted was as obstinate asthe horse, and said that he would conquer the black, or die in theattempt.
He finally found the fellow who had been holding his saddle, although hehad left his stand and was found back behind the crowd talking to a gangof young fellows, among whom Ted recognized several of Creviss'companions. This delayed and angered him, and he called the saddlebearer down for deserting his post, and was answered with sneers andlaughter.
After many trials, and the exertion of a great deal of patience, Ted gotthe saddle on Lucifer and hastily cinched, and as he sprang to thebrute's back the ropes were loosed. With a bound and a snort of terrorthe black dashed forward, and it was with the greatest difficulty thatTed swung it so it went through the gates and into the arena withoutdashing him against the posts.
Once inside the arena, the brute began to exhibit terrible ferocity.
Stella and Bud had followed in his wake, and when the girl saw how thebrute was behaving, she whispered to Bud:
"That demon will kill him yet."
"If he don't kill it," answered Bud.
"Why did you let him ride it? I got there a moment too late, and he wasalready in the saddle, or I should have stopped it."
"What could I do? He had told the people he would ride it, and thatsettled it with him."
Lucifer was exercising all the tricks known to wild and terrifiedbronchos when they first feel saddle and bridle, and which seem to beinbred in them. He bucked, but there was never a horse that could buckTed off. He reared, he kicked, rolled, and fell backward. But every timehe stopped for a moment to note the result, there the unshakable enemywas on his back again. Clearly he was puzzled.
Then a new paroxysm of rage would shake him, and he would go through thesame performances again, but with no better success.
Suddenly Ted brought his quirt down on the brute's flanks, and it leapedhigh into the air in an agony of fear and pain. It had felt thatstinging thing before, and hated it.
Then it started to run away from this terrible thing that bestrode itsback.
"By Heaven! it's running away," muttered Bud. "It'll be an act o'Providence if Ted isn't killed."
Down the arena they dashed, Ted sitting in the saddle as if he and itand the stallion we
re all of a piece.
When the brute came to the arena's end, and saw before him the shoutingmultitude, it suddenly swerved to come back, and Ted realized thatsomething had happened to the saddle. It was slipping, and yet he wassure he had cinched it tight. Back they came tearing again, and passedStella and Bud like a rocket.
"Great guns!" cried Bud, "his saddle's loose. He's a goner now, shore."
Every one saw Ted's danger, for Ted was leaning well over, and thesaddle was on the horse's side. A hollow groan went up.
At Bud's first words Stella was off after Ted like a shot.
The horse, as every one could now see, was trying its best to kill Ted,and many of the spectators were positive that it would do so.
Now the cinch had parted.
"The cinch has broken," the shout went up. "It will kill him, sure!" Tedwas now leaning far over on the horse's side, his left leg well underthe horse's belly and his foot in the stirrup, while the heel of hisleft, boot was clinging to the edge of the tipped saddle. It was a mostprecarious position, for if the saddle slipped farther he would go underand be trampled and kicked to death before any one could reach him.
The powerful brute was bent on Ted's destruction, and seemed about toaccomplish it, when Stella galloped to his side, and, grasping his hand,held him safe.
"The cinch is off," she called to him. "I'll help you up, then kick thesaddle loose."
Slowly but surely Ted worked himself up until he could release his footfrom the stirrup. Then, with a sudden wrench that almost pulled Stellato the ground, he was again on top. With a kick he sent the saddle tothe ground, and was riding bareback, while the brute stumbled andalmost went to his knees as the saddle fell between his legs.
But now Ted took charge of the situation. With quirt and spur he drovethe beast here and there, punishing it, giving it no rest, allowing itto do nothing in its own way until it staggered and heaved and swayedwith fatigue and lack of breath, and yet he urged it.
"He'll kill that horse yet," said Billy Sudden.
"No, he knows what that horse will stand, and he's going to make himstand it," said Bud.
The people had never seen such riding as this, and when they realizedthat Ted had conquered the stallion and was now rubbing it in, theyshouted until their throats cracked.
At last the horse could go no farther, and Ted let it stop, as heslipped to the ground and gave the brute a slap with his hand.
"I reckon you'll know better next time, old fellow," was all he said,and walked to where his saddle was lying.
As he picked it up, he was seen to stop and look at the cinch carefully,then hurry to where the boys were awaiting him.
"Fellows," he said solemnly, throwing the saddle on the ground, "thatcinch did not break, it was cut."
A dozen of the boys leaped to the ground and examined the cinch.
It was true. The cinch had been cut almost through with a sharp knife,and the strain upon it had parted it. There could be no doubt as to whathad been intended.
As Stella came riding up, she shouted:
"The cinch was cut. I saw it. Wiley Creviss did it. I didn't realize atthe time what he was doing or know that it was Ted's saddle, and when Idid find out, he was mounted and away."
A howl of indignation went up at this.
"Scatter out, boys, and round up Creviss," shouted Billy Sudden. "Weknow what to do with him when he's caught."
Ted's adventure with Lucifer ended the performances in the arena, and,as the balloon was inflated and ready to ascend, the people flocked towhere it was straining at the ropes.
Ted had mounted Sultan again, and left the arena surrounded by Stellaand the boys.
"Who's going up in her?" asked Ted.
"Ben Robinson, the boss," answered Ben.
"Do you know who he is?" asked Ted.
Ben stared at him without replying.
"I'll tell you," said Ted. "He's Skip Riley, thief and ex-convict, theleader of the Flying Demons. He is the man who caused us to lose ourmoney last night, and who engineered all the mysterious robberieshereabouts. Do you reckon he intends to come back?"
Ben's eyes started from their sockets in surprise.
"I--I don't know," he stammered. "By Jove! we must stop him. Maybe he'sgoing to skip."
The boys had crowded about Ted as he spoke.
"We'll have to hurry if we get him," shouted Ben. "He's in the basketnow."
With shouts of warning Ted and the boys pushed their horses through thecrowd, which rushed aside to let them through.
They could see Skip Riley lift a large tin box into the basket from theground. As he was getting ready to start there was a shrill cry, and themidget came waddling through the crowd and climbed over the side of thecar and up Riley's body until it clung to his shoulder like a monkey. Agreat many of the thoughtless laughed at this. They did not understandthe significance of the move.
"Get ready to cut her loose," shouted Riley.
Two or three men stood by with sharp knives in their hands.
Riley saw Ted and the boys pushing rapidly through the crowd.
"Cut her loose!" shouted Riley, and the balloon shot upward, amid theshouts of the people.
"Too late,'" said Ben.
"Not yet," cried Ted, spurring through the crowd.
A long guide rope was dragging from the car of the balloon.
"Follow me, Bud. The balance of you catch Creviss and the rest of them.I'm going with Riley."
Before they knew exactly what he meant, Ted grasped the guide rope as itpassed over his head, and was swung out of the saddle and dangled in theair, to the horror of the people, who expected to see him fall and bedashed to pieces at any minute, for the balloon had shot up rapidly andwas now several hundred feet above the ground.
But Riley, looking over the country and taking account of the directionin which the balloon was traveling, was unaware that he had taken onanother passenger.
Hand over hand Ted climbed steadily, until at last he reached the carand looked over the edge of it.
Riley's back was toward him, and noiselessly Ted slipped over the sideand into the basket.
Then the midget happened to turn his head, and saw Ted and uttered afrightened cry, which brought Riley around so that he found himselflooking into the cold, dark bore of Ted's forty-four.
"Got you!" said Ted coolly.
"How did you get here?" said Riley, trying to smile. "If I'd known thatyou wanted to come I'd have waited for you."
"I don't think," said Ted. "But now we'll go down."
"No, I've got to give the people a run for their money. We must go alittle farther."
"I said we'd go down."
"But we can't until the gas gets cool and exhausts. I have no escapevalve."
"Then I'll shoot a hole in the bag. I guess we'll go down then."
"For Heaven's sake, don't do that! You'd blow us all to pieces."
"Then down with her. I mean what I say."
Riley looked at Ted for a moment, then pulled a string. There followed ahissing noise, and the balloon began to sink, slowly at first, then morerapidly.
Ted did not dare take his eyes off Riley to see how close they were tothe ground. But he heard the Moon Valley long yell, and knew that theywere near the earth, and that Bud Morgan was not far away.
Suddenly the car bumped on the ground, bounced and struck again, thenstopped, and Ted heard Bud's cheerful voice right behind him.
"Jumpin' sand hills, so yer got him, eh? Come, climb out," said Bud toRiley, "we need yer on terry firmy."
"Cover him, Bud, while I search him. If he makes a break, kill him. He'san ex-convict, so don't take any chances with him," said Ted.
Riley yielded up a gun and a knife and then he was hustled out of thecar, with the midget still clinging to him, and Ted took charge of thetin box.
Billy Sudden and some of his men had come up, and so had Ben and Kit,and Riley was conducted back to the ranch house strongly guarded.
Once inside with their
prisoners and the boys, Ted closed the doors onthe curious crowd. The first thing he did was to open the tin box. Ontop were the packages of bills stolen from the cubby-hole, and beneathit a large amount of money and the bonds taken from the StrongburgTrust Company, as well as registered letters from which the money hadnot yet been extracted, and a large amount of brand-new treasury noteswhich answered the description of the government funds stolen fromCreviss' bank.
"It's all here," said Ted, "and the evidence is complete."
"But how did he manage to do it without leaving a mark or a broken lockbehind him?" asked Ben.
"How? By means of this," and Ted placed his hand on the head of themidget, who shrank from him with a snarling cry.
"Still I don't understand it."
"The day I saw him in the Creviss bank he marched out with the plunderunder my very eyes. The day before the robbery this fellow went into thebank with the dwarf in his valise. Wiley Creviss was alone. The valisewas opened, and the dwarf slipped out of the valise and into the vault,and concealed himself.
"During the night the dwarf collected all the money and bonds he could,and made himself comfortable. When it came time for the bank to open inthe morning he again concealed himself, and remained in hiding untilnoon, when Wiley Creviss again came on watch while the cashier went todinner. Then Riley, here, entered with his valise, and the dwarf creptinto it, and was carried out of the bank with the money."
"But what had the midget to do with the theft of our money?"
"That's simple. Farley and the dwarf were to do the job. The dwarf wassent up to the roof, for he can climb like a monkey, and came down thechimney and opened the door for Farley. That was a mistake, for theywould not have been caught, except for Farley."
"How did they know where you hid the money?"
"The dwarf saw us through the window, and Kit saw him, but I thought itwas all imagination. That was how they robbed the post office. The dwarfwas lowered down the chimney. That is about the size of it. Am Icorrect, Riley?"
"Correct enough, so far as I'm concerned. I guess it's back to 'thestir' for me. But this midget didn't know what he was doing, and oughtto be sent to an asylum instead of the prison," said Riley.
At that moment there was a great commotion without, and a crowd ofcowboys rode up. In the center of the circle made by them was WileyCreviss and several of his gang. In all, with Riley and the dwarf, therewere eight of them in custody, and without ado they were hurried to theStrongburg jail.
The United States marshal was in Strongburg when Ted came in with hisprisoners.
"What is all this, Strong?" asked the marshal.
"That bank-robbing gang you ordered me to bring in," answered Ted.
"You made quick work of it. Get any of the money?"
"All of it. It is in the Strongburg bank. You see, they made the mistakeof robbing us last night. But for that they would have got away, and wewould have had a hard time catching them. As it was, they walked rightin to us."
Skip Riley went back to the penitentiary for a long term of years, andthe midget was sent to an asylum for the feeble-minded.
Jack Farley turned State's evidence, and Creviss and ten other youngreprobates were sent to a reformatory.
As for Lucifer, he turned out, next to Sultan and Custer, the best horseon the ranch.
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