Boy Scouts on the Open Plains; Or, The Round-Up Not Ordered

by G. Harvey Ralphson

  CHAPTER VIII.

  AN UNWELCOME GUEST.

  When Ned started toward the spot where he knew Jack was on guard, hecould hear Harry groping for his rifle, and this told him the otherwould also be close on his heels. Harry, finding that Jimmy stillslumbered peacefully, managed to give him a severe poke in the ribs ashe passed that had an immediate effect.

  "Here, who's doin' that now?" broke from Jimmy's lips, and then, nodoubt, he suddenly realized that there was something up, for he saw Nedpoking the fire, holding his gun in the other hand, and Harry alsostanding erect, armed in the same manner.

  Accordingly, Jimmy made haste to discover his gun and follow afterthem. In the meantime, the dusky figure among the bushes which Jack wascovering had stood erect and started to advance toward the fire, asordered, holding his hands high above his head.

  "It's Harkness!" cried out the kid puncher, who had been on his feetabout as soon as Ned; and, somehow, no one was much surprised at theinformation thus conveyed.

  Ned saw that Harkness was just about such a looking man as one mightpicture if asked to describe a wolf-raiser. He had grayish hair and ascraggy beard; his face was ugly, and his eyes, like those of a rat forkeenness and audacity. Taken in all, he was as tough looking acharacter as the scouts had run across in many a day.

  "Wot d'ye mean a holdin' a man up thisaway, when he jest natrally drapsin to arsk who killed them pets o' his'n?" the wolf-herder blurted out,though careful not to take his hands down, for he knew that Jack wasstill covering him with that dangerous looking repeating rifle, andthere was an air of business about the weapon that warned him not toget careless.

  "Oh! you can lower your hands now, if you want," Jack sang out,"because we're all on deck and could riddle your hide with lead if youtried to use your gun. So just take things easy now, Mr. Harkness, ifthat's your name."

  "It air!" growled the man, staring hard at each boy in turn, as thoughhe did not know what to make of their khaki uniforms and was a littleafraid he had run up against a detachment of United States regulars.

  "And I reckon then that all these dead wolves belonged to you?" Nedwent on to remark, as he swept his hand around.

  The man said something hard under his breath.

  "Ye gone an' busted up my bizness, thet's wot ye done, w'en ye laid outtuh kill the animiles!" he complained, as he gritted his yellow teethvery much as one of the wounded wolves had done at Ned's approach.

  "That couldn't be helped, Harkness," the scout master told him. "Yourwolves had broken out, and you couldn't expect to ever trap many ofthem again, at the best. They came at us like fury, and we had todefend ourselves, or we'd have been torn to pieces like a flash. Andthat's why this happened. We weren't out hunting for trouble; butyou've lost you pack on account of a weak place in your pen."

  "But ain't yuh meanin' tuh pay me anything fo' shootin' up my petsthisaways?" Harkness demanded, trying to look fierce, though keeping aneye on Jack with his ready gun.

  Jimmy laughed out very loud.

  "Would you be after hearing the nerve of him, fellers?" he exclaimed inderision. 'Tis meself that thinks it sounds like adding insult toinjury. After lettin' the pack loose to make a square meal from us,then askin' pay, because we had to fight to save our precious lives.'Tis a rare joke, it is--not on your tintype, Mister Harkness. Ourprinciple is 'millions for defense, not a plunk for tribute.' So putthat in your pipe and smoke it."

  "You've got a lot of assurance, Harkness," Ned told him, severely, "tothink of asking such a thing. Why, the boot is on the other foot, andwe ought to be demanding that you pay us back for all the ammunition ittook to clean up your pack for you. I'm half inclined to believe wecould prosecute you for keeping such a lot of savage animals. You'd bewise to go mighty slow about trying to make trouble for any of us. Wemight take a notion to run you in."

  The man's whole demeanor changed when he discovered that his blusterwas not going to alarm the scouts.

  "I hopes now," he went on to say in a whining tone, "thet yuh won'tkeep me from taking the pelts off my poor pets. They's worth sumpin'tuh me, likewise the scalps o' the same. I been bankin' on thet moneythis long time. Hit's all I got tuh see me through the winter. Don't betoo hard on me, gents. I'm out o' the wolf raisin' line fo' keeps,arter this bust-up."

  Ned consulted with his chums for a minute or two and then turned againto the intruder.

  "Here's what we propose to have you do, Harkness," he remarked, withsuch an air of finality that the man knew he must yield tocircumstances, "hand over that gun of yours to me; you'll get it againin the morning, when we break camp. Then lie down and go to sleep. Oneof us will be on the watch all the time, so if you try anymonkey-doodle business, as Jimmy here would call it, better go slow, orsomething will happen. Do you understand that, Harkness?"

  The man's ugly face grew as black as a thunder cloud, and then with aneffort he tried to grin, though it only added to his unsavoryappearance.

  "Thar be times w'en a feller has tuh eat crow an' I reckons as how thisbe sech a time fo' me, younker," he said, slowly. "Oh! I hain't no'jections tuh stayin' hyar alongside the fire; but I hopes as howyuh'll let me hev my pelts w'en mo'nin' comes 'long."

  "Yes, we'll agree to that and, if you behave, you can take yourproperty after we clear out in the morning. Perhaps we'll go so far asto invite you to breakfast, too, in the bargain, Harkness, to show thatwe have no bad feelings because your pack made us have a pretty hotsession to-night. So that's settled. Your gun, please."

  The wolf-herder handed it over, though with an ill grace. No doubt, hewas what they call a "bad man" down in the Southwest, and this thing ofbeing made a prisoner by a parcel of half-grown boys, as it seemed,galled him greatly.

  After that he dropped down near the fire, clasped both arms about hisknees and stared moodily into the flames.

  "Jack, seems to me you've outstayed the time limit we set," Nedsuggested, after taking a quick look up to where the moon was sailingthrough a star-decked sky; for scouts early learn to tell time from thepositions of heavenly bodies, and the setting of a star will be almostas sure an indication that a certain hour has arrived as though a watchhad been consulted.

  "Oh! well, I thought you seemed to be sleeping so sound that I'd let itrun on a little," the other made answer, for Jack was as generous asthey make boys, "and then, you see, I got interested watching _him_come creeping along like a snake, stopping every minute to examine oneof the dead wolves, and saying something to himself each time, like hekept getting madder and madder."

  "Well, I'm going on duty now, Jack, so just crawl over to your blanketand turn in," said Ned, in his quiet but positive way.

  Amos was hovering near him at the time, as though he wanted to say afew words on the sly. He found the chance when Ned sat down, alsoleaning against the same tree that had supported the other vidette.

  "I wouldn't think too much about hurtin' the feelings of that oldmule-skinner if I was you, Ned," the kid cow-puncher went on to say,"he ain't near so mad as he puts on. Why, if it hadn't been for you andthe rest, he'd never got a single pelt of all that pack. They were freeand would a got clear away, if we hadn't rounded the same up here.Fifteen hides, and as many scalps, he gets, without wasting hisammunition. He's putting on--that's what. But keep an eye out for him,Ned. That was a smart trick to take his gun away; but you've onlyscotched the snake, not killed it."

  Ned promised that he would watch the wolf-herder closely and not allowhim to make any sort of suspicious move.

  "I don't think he means to try any funny business, though," he added."You see he stands to lose all his pelts if he pulls his freight andgives us the good-bye sign. And with five against him, the odds are toobig; for a boy with a rifle can be just as dangerous as a full-grownman."

  It was somewhere near one o'clock at the time of the alarm. The moonwas high up in the heavens and even starting down her road toward thewestern horizon.

  Ned kept watch and ward dilige
ntly. He did not mean to be caughtnapping by any unsuspected circumstance. It was hardly likely thatHarkness could have any allies near by. Ned had been particular inasking about that, and Amos assured him that so far as he knew, thewolf-herder conducted his business alone, shunning the society ofothers, save on rare occasions when he came to town for a spree.

  The night passed away without anything else happening to disturb thesleep of Jimmy. Harry awoke later on and insisted on taking his turn atkeeping watch; so Ned secured his blanket and lay down close to him,having impressed it on Harry's mind that, at the least sign of amovement on the part of Harkness, he was to reach out a hand and shakehim.

  But just as Ned had said, the wolf man must have figured it out that hehad everything to gain and nothing to lose by staying where he was andwaiting for the boys to break camp, when his gun would be returned andhimself left at liberty to rid those dead animals of their shaggy graycoats.

  Jimmy was thoughtful to cook enough breakfast for an extra mouth, andso Harkness was given his full share of coffee, bacon, and friedpotatoes, as well as all the crackers he could eat.

  He said little or nothing, unless some question happened to be firedhis way, when he would make a curt answer. All the while he kept hisears open and eyed the boys in a suspicious way, as though disturbed bytheir presence in the neighborhood. Those suits of khaki evidentlypuzzled Harkness, who could never have run across Boy Scouts before andknew nothing about their ways.

  Noticing these looks on his part, and how he appeared to be listeningintently, as though desirous of picking up certain information thatmight prove of value to him later on, Ned cautioned his chums againstspeaking of their affairs. This he managed to do, through certaingestures and nods, when the man's eyes happened to be turned in anotherdirection.

  Later on they made ready to pull up stakes and once more start on theirjourney toward the cattle ranch, which they expected to reach beforesunset on this same day.

  Harkness was eagerly waiting to be handed his gun, which Ned had takenthe trouble to unload while it was in his possession. There was notmuch chance that the man would dare fire upon them, since he knew whatthe result would be and how apt to prove unpleasant for a fellow of hissize; but, then, Ned believed in taking all precautions possible, andhe certainly did not like the looks of that heavy face with itsrat-like eyes, which Jimmy compared with the glittering orbs of a petferret he had at home.

  He had already been busily engaged removing the hides of the slainwolves and seemed to be willing to accept what the fates had given him.All the same, Ned believed he was a treacherous character who wouldbetray his best friend for a money consideration, and he did not meanto trust him too far.

  When everything had been packed and they were ready to depart, Ned laidthe rusty gun of the wolf-herder on the ground.

  "There's your property, Harkness," he remarked casually, "just as Ipromised. And I want to say in parting company with you, that I thinkyou're lucky to get about half your pelts, after losing the wholeoutfit. Of course, we don't expect you to thank us for saving half aloaf; but we'll be looking back as we leave here to see how you get on.And, Harkness, I wouldn't be in any too big a hurry to step over towhere I laid your gun. So-long!"

  The man said never a word in reply but if looks could kill, surely Nedmust have met his finish then and there, to judge from the black scowlthat settled on the heavy face of the wolf man.

  In this fashion, then, they started out on what they hoped would betheir last day's journey before arriving at the ranch of Harry's uncle.All of the scouts seemed to be feeling particularly merry on thisbright morning. Perhaps it was because of the clever way in which theyhad escaped from the many perils that had lain in wait to ambush themsince leaving the Coast.

  "We're well out of gunshot distance by now," observed Jack, "and he'sstill working with his pelts, so it doesn't seem as though we'd haveany trouble with that Harkness. Of all the tough looking charactersI've ever run across, he sure takes the cake. I don't believe therecould be anything worse made."

  At that Amos was heard to chuckle.

  "Oh! you think so, do you, Jack?" he remarked with lofty scorn, "justwait till you glimpse my awful dad, and then you can talk. He's a holyterror! Why, even the yellow curs in the town streets take to runningwith their tails between their hind legs when they see him comingalong. His looks and his fog-horn voice have carried him through many atight place; but there's one hole he always sticks in. My dad is asgood as a whole regiment, to make men shake in their boots; but--" andagain did the kid puncher pause in that strange way, while a mysterioussmile crept over his dark face, as though certain recollections gavehim more or less amusement.

  Ned's curiosity had been aroused to a mild extent, but he would not askquestions, preferring to wait for time to unravel the mystery connectedwith these vague hints on the part of Amos Adams.

  A short time later and they had lost all track of the previous night'scamp in the hazy distance. And from that time forward, the scouts wereinterested only in what lay ahead; for somewhere far off they knew wasto be found the cattle ranch to which they were bound and where a warmwelcome, undoubtedly, awaited them, after their perilous hike acrossburning deserts, towering mountain ridges, and the valley with the evilname.