by Rex Beach
CHAPTER XIX. Hopalong's Decision
Shortly after noon, Hopalong, who had ridden with his head bowed low inmeditation, looked up and slapped his thigh. Then he looked at Red andgrinned.
"Look ahere, Red," he began, "there ain't no rustlers with theirheadquarters on this God-forsaken sand heap, an' there never was. Theyhave to have water an' lots of it, too, an' th' nearest of any accountis th' Pecos, or some of them streams over in th' Panhandle. Th'Panhandle is th' best place. There are lots of streams an' lakes overthere an' they're right in a good grass country. Why, an' army couldhide over there an' never be found unless it was hunted for blamed good.Then, again, it's close to the railroad. Up north aways is th' southbranch of th' Santa Fe Trail an' it's far enough away not to botheranybody in th' middle Panhandle. Then there's Fort Worth purty near,an' other trails. Didn't Buck say he had all th' rest of th' countrysearched? He meant th' Pecos Valley an th' Davis Mountains country. Allth' rustlers would have to do if they were in th' Panhandle would be tocross th' Canadian an th' Cimarron an' hit th' trail for th' railroad.Good fords, good grass an' water all th' way, cattle fat when theyare delivered an plenty of room. Th' more I thinks about it th' more Icottons to the Panhandle."
"Well, it shore does sound good," replied Red, reflectively.
"Do yu mean th' Cunningham Lake region or farther north?"
"Just th' other side of this blasted desert: anywhere where there'swater," responded Hopalong, enthusiastically. "I've been doin' some hotreckonin' for th' last two hours an' this is th' way it looks to me:they drives th' cows up on this skillet for a ways, then turns east an'hits th' trail for home an' water. They can get around th' ca on nearThatcher's Lake by a swing of th' north. I tell yu that's th' only wayout'n this. Who could tell where they turned with th' wind raisin' th'deuce with the trail? Didn't we follow a trail for a ways, an' thenwhat? Why, there wasn't none to follow. We can ride north 'till we walkbehind ourselves an' never get a peek at them. I am in favor of headin'for th' Sulphur Spring Creek district. We can spend a couple of weeks,if we has to, an' prospect that whole region without havin' to cutour' water down to a smell an' a taste an live on jerked beef. If weinvestigates that country we'll find something else than sand storms,poisoned water holes an' blisters."
"Ain't th' Panhandle full of nesters (farmers)?" Inquired Red,doubtfully.
"Along th' Canadian an' th' edges, yas; in th' middle, no," explainedHopalong. "They hang close together on account of th' war-whoops, an'they like th' trails purty well because of there allus bein' somebodypassin'."
"Buck ought to send some of th' Panhandle boys up there," suggested Red."There's Pie Willis an' th' Jordans--they knows th' Panhandle like yuknows poker."
Frenchy had paid no apparent attention to the conversation up to thispoint, but now he declared himself. "Yu heard what Buck said, didn'tyu?" He asked. "We were told to search th' Staked Plains from one end toth' other an' I'm goin' to do it if I can hold out long enough. I ain'tgoin' to palaver with yu because what yu say can't be denied as far aswisdom is concerned. Yu may have hit it plumb center, but I knows whatI was ordered to do, an' yu can't get me to go over there if you shoutsall night. When Buck says anything, she goes. He wants to know where th'cards are stacked an' why he can't holler 'Keno,' an' I'm goin' to findout if I can. Yu can go to Patagonia if yu wants to, but yu go alone asfar as I am concerned."
"Well, it's better if yu don't go with us," replied Hopalong, taking itfor granted that Red would accompany him. "Yu can prospect this end ofth' game an' we'll be takin' care of th' other. It's two chances nowwhere we only had one afore."
"Yu go east an' I'll hunt around as ordered," responded Frenchy.
"East nothin'," replied Hopalong. "Yu don't get me to wallow in hotalkali an' lose time ridin' in ankle-deep sand when I can hit th' southtrail, skirt th' White Sand Hills an' be in God's country again. I ain'tgoin' to wrastle with no ca on this here trip, none whatever. I'm goin'to travel in style, get to Big Spring by ridin' two miles to where Icould only make one on this stove. Then I'll head north along SulpherSpring Creek an' have water an' grass all th' way, barrin' a fewstretches. While you are bein' fricasseed I'll be streakin' throughcottonwood groves an' ridin' in the creek."
"Yu'll have to go alone, then," said Red, resolutely. "Frenchy ain'ta-goin' to die of lonesomeness on this desert if I knows what I'm about,an' I reckon I do, some. Me an' him'll follow out what Buck said, huntaround for a while an' then Frenchy can go back to th' ranch to tellBuck what's up an' I'll take th' trail yu are a-scared of an' meet yu atth' east end of Cunningham Lake three days from now."
"Yu better come with me," coaxed Hopalong, not liking what his friendhad said about being afraid of the trail past the ca on and wishing tohave some one with whom to talk on his trip. "I'm goin' to have a nicelong swim to-morrow night," he added, trying bribery.
"An' I'm goin' to try to keep from hittin' my blisters," responded Red."I don't want to go swimmin' in no creek full of moccasins--I'd rathersleep with rattlers or copperheads. Every time I sees a cotton-mouth Ifeels like I had just sit down on one.
"I'll flip a coin to see whether yu comes or not," proposed Hopalong.
"If yu wants to gamble so bad I'll flip yu to see who draws our paynext month, but not for what you said," responded Red, choking down thedesire to try his luck.
Hopalong grinned and turned toward the south. "If I sees Buck afore yudo, I'll tell him yu an' Frenchy are growin' watermelons up near LastStand Rock an' are waitin' for rain. Well, so long," he said.
"Yu tell Buck we're obeyin' orders!" shouted Red, sorry that he was notgoing with his bunkie.
Frenchy and Red rode on in silence, the latter feeling strangelylonesome, for he and the departed man had seldom been separated whenjourneys like this were to be taken. And when in search of pleasure theywere nearly always together. Frenchy, while being very friendly withHopalong, a friendship that would have placed them side by side againstany odds, was not accustomed to his company and did not notice hisabsence.
Red looked off toward the south for the tenth time and for the tenthtime thought that his friend might return. "He's a son-of-a-gun," hesoliloquized.
His companion looked up: "He shore is, an' he's right about this rustlerbusiness, too. But we'll look around for a day or so an' then yu raisedust for th' Lake. I'll go back to th' ranch an' get things primed, sothere'll be no time lost when we get th' word."
"I'm sorry I went an' said what I did about me takin' th' trail he wasa-scared of," confessed Red, after a pause. "Why, he ain't a-scared ofnothin'."
"He got back at yu about them watermelons, so what's th' difference?"Asked Frenchy. "He don't owe yu nothin'."
An hour later they searched the Devil's Rocks, but found no rustlers.Filling their canteens at a tiny spring and allowing their mounts todrink the remainder of the water, they turned toward Hell Arroyo, whichthey reached at nightfall. Here, also, their search availed them nothingand they paused in indecision. Then Frenchy turned toward his companionand advised him to ride toward the Lake in the night when it wascomparatively cool.
Red considered and then decided that the advice was good. He rolled acigarette, wheeled and faced the east and spurred forward: "So long," hecalled.
"So long," replied Frenchy, who turned toward the south and departed forthe ranch.
The foreman of the Bar-20 was cleaning his rifle when he heard thehoof-beats of a galloping horse and he ran around the corner of thehouse to meet the newcomer, whom he thought to be a courier from theDouble Arrow. Frenchy dismounted and explained why he returned alone.
Buck listened to the report and then, noting the fire which gleamed inhis friend's eyes, nodded his approval to the course. "I reckon it'sTrendley, Frenchy--I've heard a few things since yu left. An' yu canbet that if Hopalong an' Red have gone for him he'll be found. I expectaction any time now, so we'll light th' signal fire." Then he hesitated;"Yu light it--yu've been waiting a long time for this."
The balls of smoke which rolled u
pward were replied to by other ballsat different points on the plain, and the Bar-20 prepared to feed thenumbers of hungry punchers who would arrive within the next twenty-fourhours.
Two hours had not passed when eleven men rode up from the ThreeTriangle, followed eight hours later by ten from the O-Bar-O. Theoutfits of the Star Circle and the Barred Horseshoe, eighteen in all,came next and had scarcely dismounted when those of the C-80 and theDouble Arrow, fretting at the delay, rode up. With the sixteen fromthe Bar-20 the force numbered seventy-five resolute and pugnaciouscowpunchers, all aching to wipe out the indignities suffered.