The Motor Boys on a Ranch; or, Ned, Bob and Jerry Among the Cowboys

by Clarence Young

  CHAPTER XV

  OUT OF THE AIR

  If Mr. Sid Munson, as he had called himself, was at all surprised tosee the boys under the present circumstances, he made no mention ofit. From his manner and air one would have thought it was something hehad expected all along, and that he would have been disappointed if hehad not encountered them. Smiling, his diamonds sparkling in the sun,and his red tie matching the healthful color of his face he came on,breezily--airily.

  “Well, boys, how are you?” he exclaimed genially. “You look just thesame as ever. Quite a change from the hotel where we first met, though.I’ll wager you didn’t expect to see me here.”

  “No, we didn’t, for a fact,” answered Ned.

  “And by the tone of your voice you’re not glad to see me,” went on Mr.Munson in no whit abashed. “Never mind. I’ll not give your game away.”

  “How do you know we have a game?” asked Jerry, and, for the life ofhim, he could not keep the coldness out of his voice. Verily, neitherhe nor his chums were glad to see the flashy man.

  “Everybody has a game--life’s a game,” returned the man. “I have mine,and I play it my own way. You have yours and you play it according toyour lights. So, as I said, I’ll not give you away. Are you making thisto sell?” and he nodded toward the airship.

  “No, just for pleasure,” responded Bob. “And if you would just as soonwe’d rather you wouldn’t mention it to anyone. We want it to be asurprise.”

  “I see!” exclaimed Mr. Munson. “Now that’s the way to talk,” for Bobhad spoken earnestly. “Well, I’ll keep mum about it. I suppose I’m nearthe Square Z ranch?” he questioned.

  “Are you going there to buy cattle?” asked Jerry. Neither he nor hischums had mentioned to anyone on the ranch what they had overheard Mr.Munson saying in the hotel. They had regarded it as part of the stolencattle mystery they were to solve, and they wanted to solve it in theirown way. But the sudden disappearance of the man they suspected hadrather puzzled them. Now he had bobbed up again, most unexpectedly.

  “Well, I don’t know--I might make an offer for some,” was the guardedanswer. “I don’t know just what my plans are. I came on from DesMoines, stopping off at several places. I’ve been riding sitting downso much that I decided to walk for a change. I told the man who droveme over here from the station to set me down about five miles fromSquare Z and I’d hoof it the rest of the way. But I guess he wasn’t avery good judge of distance. I’ve walked five miles already and I don’tseem to have arrived.”

  “It’s only about three miles further on,” said Jerry. “We--we are sortof stopping there and----”

  “Oh, don’t bother to explain!” broke in Mr. Munson. “I don’t want toknow anybody’s business, any more than I want them to know mine. It’sall in the game.”

  “If you wait a while we’ll take you back in the car,” said Jerry,nodding toward the big automobile. “We want to finish work on this tohave it ready for a flight as soon as possible.”

  “And are you really going up in that yourselves?”

  “Sure,” and Jerry’s voice was more cordial now. He had quickly formeda resolution, later shared by his chums, that they must, if necessary,placate this man. Though they suspected him of having dealings with thecattle thieves he might, or might not, be one of them to the extent ofsharing in their ill-gotten gains. Of course, there was the benefit ofthe doubt to be given, Jerry reasoned, and if they wanted this man’ssilence, as indeed they did regarding the airship, it would be best tohave him on their side rather than against them. And he seemed inclinedto be on their side.

  “Well, I’ve seen some of them in the air, with fellows in them,” wenton Mr. Munson, “but I never really had a chance to look at one closeby, nor talk to anyone who had flown. I always supposed a chap hadto be rather light and airy to go up in one, but you boys seem huskyenough.”

  “Oh, our machine can carry a good weight,” Jerry said. “We could eventake you up, and I guess you’ll go over two hundred.”

  “A little, yes. But you’ll never take me up--not if I know it!” andhe shook his head heartily. “I’ll take a chance in your auto, butnot in your airship. What do you expect to do with it, anyhow? Oh, Iforgot--no questions asked--that’s part of the game--forget it.”

  Indeed, the boys were glad not to have to answer. They had hopes ofaccomplishing several things by giving an exhibition flight over theranch. The chief was that they might startle the cowboys and causethem to become more friendly. For Jerry and his chums felt that theranch employees could, if they wished, give better clues to the cattlethieves than had yet been forthcoming.

  Mr. Munson, as indeed all casual visitors were, was made welcome bythe foreman of Square Z ranch. The newcomer explained that he was oncattle business, but he did not go into details nor was he asked. Hetold of having met the boys on his way to the ranch. His tale endedthere, and no mention was made of the airship.

  At supper that night Hinkee Dee, in his usual sneering, chaffing way,asked:

  “Well, have you got the cattle rustlers yet, tenderfeet?”

  “We have their address,” answered Jerry, good-naturedly.

  “What!” exclaimed Mr. Munson in real or simulated surprise. “Are youbothered with cattle raids here, too?”

  “Sure. Haven’t you heard about it?” answered Mr. Watson. “But I forgot,you just arrived.”

  “They’re a pest--those rustlers,” declared the Parson.

  “They’re worse than that,” came from Gimp. “You never know when they’regoing to hit you--it’s like the toothache. And they’re such ornerycritters. Too lazy to do an honest man’s work, they make the otherfellow work for ’em. I’d like to get a bunch of ’em within reach of mygun,” and he tapped his big revolver significantly.

  “Cattle rustlers, eh?” said Mr. Munson, musingly. “I’m sorry to hearthat. It may interfere with my business,” though he did not say in whatway. “I heard rumors in several places where I stopped that they wereup to their old tricks,” he resumed, “but I supposed you ranchmen hadorganized to drive them out of business.”

  “We did once,” said Mr. Watson. “Back in ninety-two, when some of thesmall settlers around here got so bold in their cattle rustling thatthey’d run a herd off under your nose, we formed a small army, andstarted to round up the suspects.”

  “That was the Johnson County Raid, wasn’t it?” asked Ned.

  “Yes. But how’d you know?” the foreman questioned.

  “I read about it,” Ned replied.

  “Yes, we had quite a time then,” went on Mr. Watson. “We trailed someof the suspects to a lonely cabin and surrounded ’em. Two was killedand then the whole lot got roused up and they came back at us. We’dhave been in a bad way ourselves only some United States troops heardof our plight and rescued us. But it stopped cattle rustling for atime. Now they’re at it again, and the worst of it here with us is thatwe can’t get a single clue.”

  “That’s mean,” agreed Mr. Munson. “Well, I’m in no particular hurry andif I hear anything that would help I’ll let you know.”

  “Oh, don’t tell us--tell these boys!” sneered Hinkee Dee, nodding atthe motor boys. “They’re the only original cattle detectives.”

  “Is that so? Are you really after the thieves?” asked Mr. Munson.

  “Well, my father, one of the owners of this ranch, said we could tryour hands,” replied Ned, “especially after these gentlemen had failed,”and he looked at the assistant foreman, who laughed.

  “Well, you might stumble on the trail just as well as anyone else,”agreed Mr. Munson. “I wish you luck. It’s no fun to raise choice cattleand have them stolen.”

  Jerry and his chums wondered whether the man would refer to his boastthat he had bought Square Z cattle below the market price, but he saidnothing, nor did they.

  The next day when Mr. Munson had gone with the foreman to look overthe round-up of some distantly pastured cattle, and when ProfessorSnodgrass had gone afield on his usual bug-hunting
expedition, thethree boys talked matters over.

  “We want to make this airship flight impressive,” Jerry said.

  “How are we going to do it?” asked Bob.

  “Well, my notion is to start a discussion of it say to-night aftersupper. I understand most of the cowboys don’t believe in airships.Few, if any of them, have ever seen one, for they haven’t been awayfrom the ranch in a good while. They may have read about long flights,but they don’t believe much of what they read. So they’ll be all themore surprised when they see us flying over their heads. I think thebest time to do it will be right after dinner some day, when they’resitting in the shade smoking and telling yarns. We can come along justthen.”

  “Good!” agreed Ned and Bob.

  To prepare the minds of the cowboys for the surprise, or, rather, toascertain their feelings on the matter, Jerry started the ball rollingthat night by reading from a paper something about a woman having madea particularly long flight.

  “Don’t you believe it!” declared Hinkee Dee. “No human bein’ can flythrough the air, and never will.”

  This suited the boys, as the assistant foreman was the chief one theywanted to impress. So Jerry kept the talk going by adding:

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about! Of course, anybody can flyif they have the nerve.”

  “I suppose you think you have!” sneered Hinkee Dee.

  “Yes, I have--we all have,” was Jerry’s quiet answer.

  “Let me out of here!” laughed the man. “I--I feel sorter sick. You makeme tired!”

  “Just the condition I want him in,” Jerry said to his chums as theywent to bed that night.

  Two days later the airship was ready for a flight. The engine had beentried and worked perfectly. The boys had gone off as usual in theirautomobile and now, as the hour of noon approached, they awaited thefavorable moment for approaching and hovering over Square Z ranch.

  “Well, let her go,” said Jerry as he and his chums took their seats inthe airship. The powerful motor hummed, the craft hesitated a momentand then shot swiftly over the smooth ground. Jerry turned on more gas,gave the control of the elevating rudder a shift and, as lightly andairily as a bird, the craft soared.

  “Feels like old times!” shouted Bob in Jerry’s ear, but the engine,muffled as it was, made so much noise that the tall lad barely heard.He nodded his head in answer.

  “They’re all there!” the lips of Ned formed as they came near the groupof ranch houses. Looking down the boys could see the cowboys relaxingafter dinner. Out of the air swooped down toward them the flying craft.