CHAPTER XI.
THE SHEEP AND THE GOATS.
The scouts were now confronted by conditions calculated to keep themguessing at a lively rate. With both owners of the ranch away, to whomwere they to communicate their alarming news? How could they know thatin this telling the story, they might not be giving themselves away toone of the suspects?
It was a situation calling for considerable head work and reasoning, sothat a serious mistake might not be made in the start.
What made it still more difficult to manage was the fact, which Harryseemed to be aware of, that there was no real foreman on the place;Colonel Job himself filling that position, while James Henshaw tookother duties upon his shoulders.
"How about telling your Aunt Mehitabel about it, Harry?" Ned asked, asthey exchanged views and seemed to get no nearer a definite arrangement.
"Just what we'll have to do," replied the other chum, "and say, if onlyshe'll agree to let us have a free hand, and tell the boys to do whatwe want, p'raps we might find some way yet to upset the game of therustlers."
"You just bet we will that!" said Jimmy, with all the confidence of onewhose lexicon knew no such word as fail.
"The first thing we must do," ventured Ned, seriously, "is to find outwho it is sends these treacherous messages to parties that have evildesigns on the herds of the Double Cross Ranch."
"Them, you mean, don't you, Ned," added Jack, "because that messagespoke of there being five all told who would look out and see thatthings were made easy picking."
"Well," spoke up Jimmy, with a cunning leer, "sometimes you think I'msleepy, but I notice that now and then I manage to wake up long enoughto do my little stunt. His handle, it's Ally Sloper, by the same token."
"Who's that?" asked Harry.
"The dub that owns the homing pigeons," came the ready reply, whichcaused Ned to smile and nod his head in approbation.
"Good work, Jimmy!" he remarked, "you must have asked the fellow yourode in behind?"
"Just what I did, Ned," Jimmy told him. "I mentioned the fact that wehad seen a pigeon flying, and then he says as how this same Ally Sloperhe had got about five birds from a feller over in Kingman, on therailroad beyond the Opal and the Blue Ridge Mountains down in Arizona.He was told to let one go every little while, to see if they'd get safehome again. But, fellers, that place lies to the southeast as you know,and we saw that pigeon away off to the _northwest_ of here, which saysAlly Sloper he just lies!"
"That's a fine start," commended the scout master. "We know who thechief spy is, and it ought to be an easy thing to learn who his closepals seem to be, for like as not he'd stick only to those who are inthe same boat with him."
"Sounds well to me, Ned," Jack remarked, after apparently turning thematter over carefully in his mind.
"What's the game?" asked Jimmy.
"Here's the way it stands," remarked Ned, soberly. "That second messagemust have been sent to tell the gang that both bosses are away, andconditions looking good for a raid to-night."
"Whew! so soon as that?" ejaculated Jack, drawing a long sigh, for hewas pretty tired and had calculated on getting rested up between sunsetand another dawn; if, as they suspected, there were going to be greatgoings-on around the cattle ranch before many hours, it was possiblethat they might be on the jump all night; but then, Jack was a fellowwho could stand considerable punishment without throwing up the sponge,and that intake of breath might simply mean a resolution to do his partin the drama.
"If there was only some way now to round the cattle up and drive theminto the stockades or corrals, so they could be guarded," Nedcontinued, as though he might have been doing more or less planningbefore the critical moment arrived, "why, we might hold the fort untilmorning and not lose any of the herds."
"Do you suppose it could be done?" Harry wanted to know.
"I see no reason why not," came the sturdy reply. "It looked to me likethe herds were grazing within a few miles of here, though there may besome further off. Now, if the punchers only got the fever on them, I'veno doubt they could round the steers and cows up and get them in thestockade long before the rustlers would think of coming along."
"There's one bully thing about it," ventured Harry, smilingly. "We'regoing to have a full moon to-night, and a cattle drive will be apicnic. If it was pitch dark, or stormy, it might be a different story.The scout luck holds good. Things may look a bit gloomy for a while,but we get there in the end."
"I'll tell you one reason why it's important that we should find outjust who the cronies of this Ally Sloper are," continued Ned. "It wouldbe a bad thing now if we sent the whole five out in a batch, because,believing their game was up and that it would be unsafe for them toever come back here, chances are they would take advantage of theiropportunity to run off a herd while about it."
"Might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb--is that what you mean,Ned?" Jack asked.
"Yes, about that way," the scout master replied. "On the other hand, ifthey are broken up, and only one sent out with each bunch of punchersto corral the herds, these spies will not be able to work anythingcrooked. We'll draw their claws, as you might say, and make themharmless."
"Here comes my aunt," Harry broke in with, as a large woman brushed outof the doorway of the commodious ranch house and approached them.
She was an amiable woman, they could see at first glance; but Nedfancied that, in an emergency, Aunt Mehitabel would not prove capableof gripping the reins. No doubt, during all her married life she haddepended on her able husband to manage things on the outside, beingcontent on her part to see that things moved along regularly withindoors, and that meals came on time.
She greeted Harry warmly and was also delighted to meet his chums, allof whom she urged to go inside the house with her.
But the occasion was so serious that Ned did not wish to waste any moretime than was absolutely necessary.
"We've come to make you quite a little visit, ma'm," Ned remarked,after she had urged them to make themselves at home, and do whateverthey pleased, "and later on we expect to have a great time ridingaround the country and seeing things. But it is unfortunate thatneither one of Harry's uncles is home right now, because we've got somevery important news."
The lady of the house looked worried at once, just as Ned hadanticipated would be the case.
"Oh! what can it be?" she asked, her voice showing traces ofnervousness.
"On the way our chum, Jimmy here, happened to shoot a hawk that hadpounced down on a flying pigeon. Wrapped around one of the pigeon'slegs was a piece of tissue paper, and bearing a message. I have it herewith me, and both the hawk and the pigeon are in one of our packs onthe burros. This message was not signed, but it plainly announced thatthere are five untrustworthy men employed on this place who are inleague with cattle rustlers."
"Mercy on us, you don't say! And the colonel away, too! Whatever willbecome of us now?" Mrs. Haines started to wail, when Ned smilingly wenton to soothe her by remarking:
"But here are four stout boys, ready to do their level best to upsetthe plans of these cattle thieves, if given half a chance, ma'm. Now,in this message, it is promised that if the conditions look favorable,another line will be sent, the same way as this was. And as we came upwe saw a pigeon flying into the west, so we take it for granted thathas been done, and the rustler crowd will get busy between now andsun-up."
"The herds are all out on the range, unfortunately, and it is too latenow to get them in," the lady went on to say, dejectedly. "Oh! howunfortunate that you did not arrive a few hours ago, when my husbandwould have been here to take charge of things, for we have no foreman,you know."
"It may not be too late, even now, to get the herds rounded up andbrought in to the corral where the boys can guard them," Ned told her.
She looked at him admiringly, doubtless impressed, as many others hadbeen before then, with his manly bearing and the resolute look on hisface.
"I really beli
eve that if any one could manage it, you could, my son!"she said, with a simplicity and ardor that caused the warm glow tospread over Ned's face.
"With what assistance you might give us, Mrs. Haines, we believe we cansave the cattle from this threatened raid," he continued, calmly. "Andfirst of all it is of the utmost importance that we learn just whothese other four punchers may be who are hand in glove with AllySloper--the man who has sent the pigeon messenger."
"Oh! so he is the one?" she cried, "and I never could bear the sight ofhis face, because of the cast in that evil eye of his. But Job alwayslaughed at me, and said Ally Sloper was one of the best men he had onthe place. What do you want me to do, for you said I could help you winout?"
"First of all, in the absence of your husband and Harry's other uncle,"began the scout master, just for all the world, Jimmy thought, like agreat general, such as Napoleon or Grant, laying out his campaign, "itseems as if the men would take orders from you. Am I right there?
"Yes, it has happened a few times, but I would not have known a thingabout what to do, only for Chunky's advice," she told him.
"Oh! you can rely on Chunky then, can you?" asked Ned, quickly, forthat was one of the points he wanted settled, because a great dealdepended on it.
"Always. My husband would trust him with his life. If ever we do have aforeman at the Double Cross, Chunky will be the one."
"I'm glad to hear that, because I rode in behind him, and somehow Ifancied he would be the one to confide in. Please send out for him assoon as you can, ma'm, because we have little time to waste. I hope tolearn from Chunky just who the other four traitors are, for he willhave noticed how this Ally Sloper picks out his friends. Birds of afeather flock together, you know; and these fellows would feel safer ifthey kept in constant touch with each other."
The other scouts approved of what Ned was doing, as their manner ofnodding at different times indicated. They knew that their leader wasequal to running things, even though he might not know so much aboutthe working of a cattle ranch. And in times gone by they had seen himpitted against what seemed to be overwhelming odds, to win out in theend; so that they had unbounded confidence in whatever he started to do.
The rancher's wife left them for a minute, and presently came back tosay that she had sent out the Chink cook, Chin-chin Charlie, to findChunky, and tell him to come right to the house on important business.
"We'll get this working pretty soon, I think," Jack declared, withanimation.
"And they'll just have to hunt up some broncs for the lot of us tostraddle, too," added Harry.
"Tell me about that," chuckled Jimmy. "How glad I'll be to mount afiery charger and dig me heels into his flanks, after all this terriblewalkin' the lot of us have been doin' lately. I do be wishin' Chunky'dhurry. If he's gone off now, and couldn't be found at the bunkhouse,we'll be in a nice pickle, sure."
"Don't worry, because I think he's coming," Ned told him.
Just as he said, this lanky puncher came up on the verandah of theranch. He was quickly put in possession of the facts, and expressedhimself in forcible terms concerning the alleged treachery of AllySloper and his four allies.
"I c'n put a hand on the hull blooming lot," he declared, "because ithappens as how that same Ally has been keepin' company with jest fourpunchers. They are Lefty Louie, Coyote Smith, Bob Caruso that the boyscalls Robinson Crusoe, and Tinplate George--all clever punchers, butmighty slick articles at that. If Miss Haines sez as how we take ourorders from you, Ned, just give the word, and you'll see them wartsarounded up like grease."
"Oh! well, we ought to go to extremes only as a last resort, I think,"said Mrs Haines, who dreaded lest there be some shooting in making thearrest, and that some of the boys who were her favorites would gethurt. "Ned has a plan that might answer the same purpose. Tell himabout it, Ned, please."
So the scout master unfolded his scheme.
"How many herds are there on the range just now, Chunky?" he asked.
"Four, all told, with a smattering of others that don't 'mount to much."
"Suppose, then, you make me out a list of the punchers, so that therewill be one of these suspects with every bunch, not counting AllySloper," Ned continued.
"Hello! I'm beginnin' to tumble to the game and, let me say, it fillsthe bill first-class," was the quick comment of the lanky one.
He gave the names to Ned as rapidly as the other could write them down;and it was speedily arranged, so that of the four parties one of theconspirators had been designated to accompany each. As for Allyhimself, it did not matter much what he did, though they must keep himunder surveillance, lest he upset all their cleverly laid plans bycutting the corral or, in some other fashion, rendering it impossibleto keep all the hundreds of longhorns near the ranch house, where theycould be guarded.
All this was fixed up in a very short space of time and then Neddeclared they ought to get busy. The sun was sinking toward the westernhorizon; but they knew there was going to be no period of darkness,because the moon was full, which meant that it would rise exactly atsunset.
"We can eat after we've got those herds rounded up and safe in thecorral, not before," was Ned's ultimatum, when Mrs. Haines spoke aboutsupper; and this caused one long face to make itself seen among thescouts, for Jimmy dearly loved his feed.
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