Ted Strongs Motor Car

by Taylor, Edward C

  "That is different. I suppose you must go. But why don't you wait and go in with the troops? The Hole in the Wall is the rendezvous for all the white outlaws in this part of the country, and they are believed to be in league with the Indians, and will use the uprising of the Indians as a cover under which to run off all the stock in the country."

  "There is no use of our waiting for the troops when the young lady is in there, we don't know under what indignities. The troops put off attacking the Indians as long as they can for the sake of policy. We are all deputy United States marshals, and we get quicker action. Tell us where the Hole in the Wall is, and we will go in and get our own. The troops can do what they please later."

  "Weil, pardner, you talk straight, and you feel about the young lady as I would if she was a friend of mine. But they are a bad bunch in there."

  "I appreciate your warning, but it will not stop us."

  "All right; go ahead, and good luck to you. About a mile farther on you will come to a narrow defile leading to the north, cutting the range. That leads into a broad valley, at the west end of which is the place called the Hole in the Wall. It is practically impregnable. It is entered by a narrow passage which one man could hold against an army. It can be approached at night by riding down the valley, dismounting, and crawling over the mountain until you are above the Hole in the Wall, when every man can be wiped out by a few rifles."

  "Thanks, sergeant. We will take to the hills."

  With mutual good wishes, they parted, and the boys were soon riding in single file up the defile.

  In the valley they secreted themselves and their horses, while Ted and Bud went forward to reconnoiter. It was rapidly growing dark in the mountains as Ted and Bud crawled along the mountain paths toward the end of the valley.

  Suddenly Ted placed his hand on Bud's arm.

  "Some one right ahead of us," he whispered.

  "Sentinel, I reckon," answered Bud.

  Ted nodded: "You stay here. I'm going forward. I'll be back soon."

  Ted glided away into the gloom. Presently Bud heard a muffled cry. Then all was still again.

  He waited a few minutes, and was about to go forward, when he heard a slight rustle beside him, and there stood Ted.

  "It was a guard," he said. "I jumped him, and gagged him, but he gave me a pretty good fight. I've rolled him away where his pals won't find him. I guess we can go on now, but we must go slowly and quietly. I don't know how many more of them are about."

  "Get a line on where the hole is?"

  "Yes, we're on the right track. It is ahead of us."

  On they went, and, having proceeded about half a mile, they suddenly became aware of the neighing of horses and the voices of men, which seemed to come from beneath them, and it was not long before they saw a glare of light against the rocks not far ahead.

  They went more cautiously now, crawling forward on their hands and knees. Ted, in advance, soon threw up his hand and lay flat on the rocks, and Bud crawled to his side.

  They found themselves looking down into a circular little valley, in reality a hole in the wall of the mountain.

  Several camp fires were burning here and there, and about fifty Indians and white men were lounging about.

  Near the rear wall was a small tent, before which sat a fat old squaw.

  As Ted was looking, the flap of the tent was pushed aside, and Ted clutched Bud's arm, for Stella had come forth, and stood looking up at the sky.

  "By Jove, if we could only attract her attention," muttered Ted.

  "It would help her a lot if she knew we were so close to her," said Bud.

  The glare from the fires flaring upward fell full upon their faces, and they knew that if she looked in their direction she would not fail to see them.

  They saw her cast her eyes all around the sky, and in their direction. Ted dared not make a noise, but he nodded his head several times so that she would know who it was, should she chance to see him.

  Evidently she did not, for she turned away, and again her eyes swung around in the circle with her back to them.

  "I've a mind to throw somethin' down at her, and attract her attention ter us," said Bud.

  "And have every one of those cutthroats get on to us. Don't you do it," said Ted.

  In a moment Stella looked up again, and this time they saw her start, then stare fixedly at them. Ted nodded his head again, and this time she made a gesture that told them that she had seen them, and knew that they were there.

  "Duck yer head quick," said Bud, rapidly getting out of sight himself.

  "What's the matter?" asked Ted.

  "I saw Shan Rhue walking toward Stella."

  "But she saw us, just before she ducked into her tent. Now it's up to us to get her out of there."

  "You bet. But it will be a big job to get in there."

  "I've got a plan that ought to work out."

  "What is it?"

  "You go back and get the boys. Put Ben and Clay down in the valley to hold the entrance to the Hole in the Wall. Bring the rest up here. Hurry! I'll stay here on guard. If any man attempts to touch Stella, I'll pot him from here. Bring your lariat with you."

  Bud hurried away as he was bid, and in the course of half an hour, during which Ted, looking over the edge of the Hole, saw the men preparing to retire for the night, he returned with seven of the boys.

  "Now, fellows," said Ted, "I'm going down into the hole to send Stella up on the rope."

  "Jeering jackals!" exclaimed Bud. "Don't you ever do that. It means sure death ter you, an' p'r'aps ter Stella, too."

  "No, I don't think so. At any rate, I'm going to take a chance. It will be up to you fellows to keep the bunch down there busy while I'm at work. Three of you will stay on this side of the hole, and four on the other. If you do your firing right, you will keep those fellows jumping from side to side so fast that they won't have any time for me."

  "I see yer scheme, but I wouldn't like ter undertake it myself."

  "Did you bring the rope?"

  "Here it is," said Bud, unwinding it from around his waist.

  Ted took it from him while the boys distributed themselves in their firing positions as he had directed.

  Ted looped the rope under his arms. "You'll lower me down, Bud," he said. "Maybe I'll come up hand over hand if I can, and you will pull away when I give the rope two jerks."

  He took another look over the edge. All the men were rolled up in their blankets asleep, except an old Indian who sat crouched over the fire.

  Ted carefully lowered himself over the edge for the descent.

  Down he went slowly and quietly, and soon his feet touched the ground just back of Stella's tent.

  "Hiss-t!" He gave a low, sibilant warning of his presence, and in a moment the corner of the tent moved aside, and he saw Stella's bright eyes looking into his. He motioned her to come out, and the flap was gently lowered again.

  In a few moments, which seemed hours, the flap was raised again, and Stella crawled forth.

  "Oh, Ted," she whispered, pressing his hand. He held up a warning finger as he rapidly tied the rope beneath her arms.

  "Bud will pull you up. Good luck," he whispered.

  "Are you going to stay down here?" she whispered back.

  "Yes, I must. Hurry!" He gave the rope two jerks, and it at once began to tighten, and Stella's feet left the ground as she slowly ascended skyward.

  Ted, concealed against the wall back of the tent, saw her go up and up. She was more than halfway to the top when an old Indian woman crawled out of the tent, and, casting her eyes aloft, saw Stella.

  A sudden scream rang through the hole. It was the Indian's warning. The rope began to go faster, and before the sleepy men in the hole had been able to sit up and rub their eyes, Ted saw Stella reach the top and disappear over its edge.

  But the old Indian woman had run among the men crying out something in her native tongue. Evidently she was telling of the escape of Stella, for in an instant all sleep v
anished and the place was full of men running about or staring up at the edge of the wall over which Stella had gone.

  Then Shan Rhue came forth, swearing horribly. He caught the old squaw by the arm and threw her down.

  "So you let the white squaw go, did you?" he asked. "And how much was you paid for it?" But the poor old wretch only shrank closer to the ground and moaned her protests that she had nothing to do with the escape of the white squaw.

  Shan Rhue strode toward the tent, behind which Ted was crouching with his hand on his revolver.

  Shan Rhue threw open the front of the tent and looked within. Then he straightened up, and caught a glimpse of Ted, whom he did not at first recognize in the gloom.

  He reached in his powerful right arm to pull the intruder out, and looked into the muzzle of Ted's six-shooter, behind which he now saw Ted's smiling face.

  At that he straightened up with a loud laugh that filled the Hole in the Wall and reverberated from side to side.

  "Well, of all the luck," he shouted. "This has worked out just as I expected. I knew that if I got ther gal in yere that you'd be after her, an' here you are. Well, my bucko, you remember what I said about getting even with you. Now is the time. You've come to the end."

  "Oh, I don't know," said Ted coolly. "I'm a long ways from a dead one yet. Be careful what you do. This six-shooter of mine is mighty sensitive on the trigger."

  He heard a soft, swishing noise behind him, and knew that Bud was lowering the rope again. As he thrust his gun forward into the face of Shan Rhue, the bully backed away a few feet.

  At that moment the rope swung down in front of his face, and, hastily putting his revolver into his pocket, Ted grasped it and went sailing up into the air hand over hand, assisted by Bud and Carl, who were pulling on the rope for all they were worth.

  CHAPTER XXXVI.

  THE ALTERED BRAND.

  As Ted went up into the air, Shan Rhue shouted a command, and the white men in the Hole in the Wall ran to him.

  "That boy must not get to the top," he shouted. "I want him."

  "What will we do?" asked one of them.

  "Here, Sol Flatbush, you are the best shot of us all. See if you can't bring him down. But don't shoot him. I need him for other things. Shoot the rope in two."

  This was easier said than done, for the rope was so high that it was almost out of the light cast by the fires.

  Flatbush was, indeed, a splendid shot, and he fired twice at the rope with his revolver, but missed each time on account of the uncertain light and the swaying motion of the rope.

  "Give me my rifle," he called, and one of the men fetched it for him.

  Ted was within fifteen feet of the top when Flatbush, leaning against the opposite wall, took deliberate aim and fired.

  At the second shot Ted, who was aware that some one was trying to cut the rope, felt it vibrate suddenly beneath his hand.

  Before the last thread was severed he reached up and began to climb, hand over hand. In a few seconds he was at the top, and the boys were helping him over the edge.

  For a moment or two he could say nothing; he could only listen to the yells of rage and disappointment below. Now he was surrounded by his friends, and Stella was free. Away on a mountain peak a light flared up.

  "What does that mean?" asked Stella, pointing to it.

  "It is the signal that the Indians have gone on the warpath," said Ted. "The sergeant was right. It is up to us now to do stunts."

  "In what way?" asked Stella.

  "We must keep those Indians and renegades confined in the Hole in the Wall. If we can keep them there until the arrival of the troops we can end the uprising without shedding a drop of blood. See, there is another fire!"

  Ted pointed to a blaze upon another peak, and this was followed by others until there was a ring of fires on the crests of the mountains for miles around.

  "It is up to us to do a good thing here," he said. "Bud, take two or three of the boys and go to Ben's assistance. Hold the mouth to the entrance to the hole at all hazards. From what the sergeant said I have no doubt but the troops will be here at least by daylight. We will keep them busy down there from this place."

  Bud hurried away with two of the boys, and Ted and the others composed themselves to await developments. In the meantime, Stella told Ted the details of her capture. Since she had been a prisoner she had been well treated, so far as most of the men were concerned, although Shan Rhue had insisted on seeing her every day, and had told her that he was going to take her away to the North and make her marry him. She had defied him, and had scorned him so scathingly that he had put many petty persecutions on her, and had deprived her of her liberty for revenge.

  "How did you happen to find me?" asked Stella, after she told all that had happened to her.

  "Little Dick was captured by an Indian, and while he was being brought here the pony Spraddle stumbled and threw him. A small looking-glass which was slung around his neck fell off, and Dick picked it up and brought it to camp."

  "The Indian was Pokopokowo," said Stella.

  "That was his name."

  "I tried in every way to get a message out to you, but it seemed impossible. Then I hit upon the mirror, ripped the back off it, and made my cryptogram on it with a pin. I let Pokopokowo see it, and when he saw that there was a picture on it, and I told him it was good medicine, he wanted it. Of course, I let him take it, hoping that it would be taken outside, and that you would chance to see it, and so learn where I was."

  "It was a very clever idea, and I doubt but for the mirror we should have been able to get here in time. It was little Dick who saved you."

  "Yes, little Dick and big Ted. Ted, you are wonderful!"

  Below, in the hole, there were signs of activity. Men were rushing here and there, saddling horses, packing mules, filling their cartridge belts, and getting ready for some sort of action.

  "They have seen the war fires on the hills," said Ted, "and are getting ready for their raid upon the settlers. Evidently they do not know that the gate to the outside is guarded, and they think that we are gone, having succeeded in getting you."

  Having finished their preparations for departure, an old Indian rode forth on a pony decorated with eagle feathers.

  "That is old Flatnose, the head chief," said Ted.

  Flatnose was painted for war, and as he rode toward the passage from the Hole in the Wall he swung his rifle above his head and shouted a guttural command, at which a war whoop, shrill and terrifying, went up from the Indians, followed by a hoarse shout from the white renegades.

  "Now, we'll see some fun," whispered Ted to Stella, who was lying on the crest of the hole beside him, watching the proceedings below. "I guess Bud has got there by this time, and is ready to protect the opening out to the valley."

  Only a few minutes had passed before there came to their ears a volley of rifle shots, followed by yells of fear, and the whites and Indians came rushing back into the hole, scrambling and falling over one another in confusion.

  "I thought so," chuckled Ted. "They are trapped and they know it. They can defend the hole against all comers by that passage, but it didn't seem to occur to them that they might be made prisoners by the same means."

  The inmates of the hole were in the confusion of terror, but at last Flatnose and his son, Moonface, succeeded in pacifying them, and a consultation was under way.

  "Where is Shan Rhue?" asked Stella. "I haven't seen him for some time."

  "That's so," answered Ted. "I don't see him." He scanned the hole carefully, but Shan Rhue was not there.

  "Is there any secret passage by which he might escape?" asked Ted.

  "Do you see that little shelter of canvas over against the wall?" said Stella.

  Ted nodded.

  "I believe there is a way out there known only to Shan Rhue. That is where he slept," she continued.

  "Then he has escaped by it. Sol Flatbush is not in evidence, either. I'll bet a cooky they've skipped."

&
nbsp; It was getting light in the east, and the Indians rode once more into the passage, firing their rifles. Then they charged.

  But soon they came rushing back; the boys at the entrance had again repulsed them.

  From far away came the soft but clear call of a bugle.

  "The troops!" cried Ted, springing to his feet. "The cavalry is coming from Fort Sill. This thing will soon be over now."

  He and Stella went to the edge of the cliff overlooking the valley, and far away saw a dark mass, in the midst of which they caught the flash of the rising sun on polished swords and carbines, and a gleam of color from the flag that fluttered in the fresh morning breeze.

  The Indians in the hole had heard the bugle also, and now there was confusion indescribable. On came the troops, and Ted and Stella went down to meet them.

  Captain Hendry was in command, and it did not take him long to get in possession of the facts.

  "So you've got them bottled up, eh?" he said to Ted.

  "Yes; all you have to do is to make them surrender," answered Ted.

  "Which I don't think will be such an easy thing."

  "I don't think you'll have any trouble about it. Come with me, and bring a firing squad of your men."

  The captain gave the order, and followed Ted to where he could look down into the hole.

  Then the captain laughed. "You have done better than I expected," he said.

  Raising his voice, Captain Hendry shouted:

  "Flatnose, you know me. This is Captain Hendry. I have got you in that hole like a rat in a trap. If you are wise, you will throw down your arms and surrender. I have my men here with me, and if you do not surrender, we will have to shoot you to death one by one. Will you surrender?"

  The old chief looked up and saw the captain leaning over the edge above. For several minutes he stared upward, then he threw his rifle to the ground and gave a hoarse command, and his followers threw their arms upon that of their leader.

  One of the troopers ran down into the valley with a command, while those above lay flat on the edge with their carbines in a ring pointed at the throng below.

  In a few minutes the bugle sounded again, and the troops were seen marching into the hole. The war was at an end without a fatal shot having been fired.