“Ah, me, the joys of camping in the open!” Carol said to the world at large.
Rain had been steadily pouring down on the file of riders since early morning. Clad in shining slickers they were riding on through the downpour. It was decidedly uncomfortable and to make it worse, they had had to have a cold lunch because everything was soaked and neither Tom nor Jim could make a fire. Such conditions had led to Carol’s declaration.
The others smiled but Janet was the only one who grumbled in reply.
“When do we get to this cabin, Jim?” she called over the heads of Gale, Valerie and Virginia.
Jim knew of a cabin where he promised them they could spend the night in comparative dryness and warmth. It was an old miner’s shack, long since deserted by its owner, but no matter how ramshackle and tumbledown, it beckoned asa heavenly haven to the wet, weary riders because it promised shelter from the rain.
“In ’bout an hour, I reckon,” Jim replied. “Mebbe less.”
“I hope it’s less,” Gale murmured to Virginia.
Her cousin smiled at her. “Feeling disgusted with camping in the open? I wouldn’t blame you. This isn’t a nice experience for newcomers to our state.”
“It isn’t me,” Gale said with a surprised glance, as though the mere thought of her own comfort had never entered her head. “It’s Val. She’s looking rather--peaked.”
“She’s bearing up marvelously well,” Virginia replied with equal concern. “I hope today isn’t too much for her. I don’t want to spend more than one night in this cabin Jim is taking us to.”
“Why not?” Gale asked.
“Well,” Virginia shifted uncomfortably, “I--just don’t that’s all.”
“Come on, out with it,” Gale said gayly. “Don’t go keeping secrets from me. Is the place haunted?” she asked hopefully.
“It’s known as Ghost Cabin,” Virginia said reluctantly.
“How interesting!” Gale declared. “Tell me more! How did it come by that name?”
“It is near the entrance to an old silver mine,” Virginia explained. “Years ago this region was thought to hold valuable silver deposits. Some miners came and camped here. The owner of the cabin worked his mine for a year or so. Some people said he made a lot of money out of it. I don’t know. Anyway, the miner was found murdered in his cabin, supposedly killed by thieves.”
“Where does the ghost come in?” Gale wanted to know.
“The miner is supposed to come back to his cabin at night to wait for the thieves who murdered him,” Virginia told her.
“Cheerful thought,” Gale grimaced wryly. “Do you suppose he’ll come tonight?”
“I don’t know,” Virginia said doubtfully, albeit a bit hopefully. “It would be fun, wouldn’t it, to meet a ghost?”
“A lot of fun,” Gale agreed dryly. “I’m not particularly fond of the things myself. I’ll have to pass this tale on to the others.”
While they rode, Gale, with Virginia’s help, told the rest of the Adventure Girls the story about the cabin to which they were going. They were a little dubious about the night and its outcome, but all agreed it would be highly exciting.Tom and Jim promptly declared the tale a myth, that there were no such things as ghosts.
“You’re just trying to spoil our prospect of an exciting evening,” declared Janet loftily to Tom. “I shall look for ghosts just the same.”
“Go ahead,” he grinned, “and may you find a lot of them.”
“Oh, not a lot,” she said hastily. “One healthy one is about all that I could handle.”
“We’ll all be there to help you--handle him,” Carol assured her friend. “Don’t tell me we have finally reached our goal!” This last as the party rounded a clump of trees and through the rain saw a low, ramshackle cabin ahead of them. A little distance from the cabin was a shed and Carol demanded to know what it was.
“Entrance to his mine,” Tom replied, “Don’t go near it or you will probably fall down a shaft or something.”
Carol frowned on him. “I will not fall down anything,” she declared with dignity.
“See that you don’t,” he laughed. “Come along, Ambitious,” he urged one of the pack horses who was lolling behind.
Jim was the first to approach the cabin and when they crowded behind him there weremingled exclamations of disgust and disappointment. A layer of dust lay over everything and there were dirt and filth in abundance. But the sight of a fireplace and plenty of dry wood ready to flame up at the spurt of a match heartened them somewhat.
“First of all,” Jim said, “I’ll sweep the place. There’s a makeshift broom over there in the corner. You all wait outside.”
So there was nothing for the others to do but go back out into the rain until Jim and Tom could restore the place to some semblance of cleanliness.
“We’ll tie the horses back of the cabin,” Virginia proposed, to keep them busy.
“Feeling tired?” Gale asked anxiously of Valerie as the two walked side by side, leading their mounts.
Valerie nodded, forcing a smile. “No worse than you, I expect.”
Again Gale felt a thrill of admiration for her friend who was so cheerfully determined to fight her way back to strong, ruddy health.
“The minute the cabin is respectable, you shall sit down and not stir again tonight,” she declared.
“I’ll help get supper,” Valerie corrected.
“No you won’t,” Gale said.
“But I want to,” Valerie insisted. “I don’t want the girls to wait on me. I didn’t intend to be a burden when I came on this trip and I won’t be one!”
“Darling, you could never be that!” Gale said tenderly. She continued humorously: “Here we want to give you service and you won’t have it. I wish somebody----”
“All clear,” Tom called, and there was a sudden rush of wet figures for the poor sanctuary of the tumbledown shack.
A fire crackled cheerily in the fireplace and the tired riders were gathered around it gratefully, yielding to the comfort of its warmth and to the laziness a good supper had instilled in them.
“And still no ghosts,” Madge sighed, leaning her head cozily against Janet’s shoulder.
“No, and I can’t say that I miss them,” that individual added, stifling a yawn.
“It has stopped raining,” Jim volunteered from his post at the door. “Tom and I will put up a tent outside for the night.”
“You girls can roll in your blankets on the floor here in front of the fire,” Tom continued. “We----”
All of them came to attention. From somewhere, they were not certain of the exact position, came three slow, measured knocks.
“Ah, the ghost has arrived!” murmured Carol.
“Where was he?” demanded Virginia. “It sounded as though he were beneath the floor, but the place has no cellar.”
“It came from the ceiling,” contradicted Phyllis.
“Do you really think it is a ghost?” whispered Janet.
The others motioned for silence as the knocks were resumed. Three more were followed by a low, gurgling scream that rose and wavered on the night air, dying slowly away. The girls exchanged glances, their faces white and troubled. Tom was frowning fiercely. Jim’s eyes were darting about the room to find the source of the ghostly knocks and scream.
“This isn’t funny any more,” Janet said fearfully.
“Do you think we can stay here all night?” Valerie added.
“It will take more than knocks and a scream to scare us away,” Virginia declared staunchly.
“But suppose it is the old miner come back towait for the thieves?” Carol began. “What are----”
Her voice died away as the distinct rattling of chains filled the air.
“All the desired sound effects,” Tom growled.
“It seemed to come from right under our feet,” Gale declared.
“Rattling chains indeed!” sniffed Phyllis. “We can be sure it isn’t a real ghost now. He has too much to be true. Somebody is trying to scare us.”
“You’re right,” Jim agreed.
“But where is he? Why can’t we see him?” demanded Virginia.
“He can’t be on the roof,” Tom said thoughtfully, “there is no cellar----”
“He certainly isn’t here with us,” Carol declared. “There goes that scream again!” She shivered. “It gives me the creeps. Do you suppose he could be on the outside?”
“No, he isn’t anywhere in sight,” Jim said firmly, returning from a quick circle of the cabin.
“We haven’t heard him for some minutes now,” Virginia said encouragingly. “Maybe he has gone.”
“Just a slight intermission,” murmured Janet calmly.
They waited, but nothing happened. Tom and Jim set a tent up before the cabin. The girls spread their blankets before the fire, all but Valerie. The girls had insisted that she take possession of the low bunk the cabin afforded. It would be slightly more comfortable than the floor.
She was tired, but rolled in her blanket in the silent cabin, Gale found she could not sleep. All desire for sleep had left her and her mind was active. The other girls were sleeping, she supposed Tom and Jim were too, out in their tent. But her ears magnified a thousandfold each crackling of a log and each creak of the floor sent expectant shivers along her spine. She realized then she was waiting for the ghost of the cabin to return. She was sure he would. No self-respecting ghost would stop after such a mild attempt to frighten them away if he was really anxious to be rid of them. But who was it that was playing ghost? The bank bandit? Hardly. Whoever it was, why did he want people to stay away from the cabin? From where she lay, she looked around at the room. She could see nothing that anyone might wish to keep from prying eyes.
Quietly she threw back her blanket and stoodup. Tiptoeing, she went to the door and stepped outside. Stentorian snores were coming from the little tent. Tom and Jim were in dreamland. Smiling, she leaned against the door and stared up at the stars overhead. The storm had cleared and there was not a cloud in the sky. The stars hung low like brightly lighted lanterns. The moon cast its silver light on the earth, causing huge black shadows under trees and behind the cabin and the shanty set apart.
Standing in the darkness, the wind ruffling her hair, gray eyes alight with a hint of the brightness of the stars in their depth, Gale sighed with sheer enjoyment of the scene. She had never before realized that a spot such as this, away from the noise and the people of the world, could be so lovely. It was almost like standing on the edge of the world. Behind her towered high and mighty mountains, before her lay a sea of moon-swept valley. Born and brought up in the little town of Marchton, Gale had known some outdoor life, but never the breathless beauty and limitless quiet of a night in Arizona. Quiet had she thought? Far away a coyote howled and yet another. She shivered. The sound was so--uncivilized.The cry of that animal was like a call straight from the wild untamed world of which she knew nothing.
Gale was staring at the dark little shanty that Tom had said was doubtless the entrance to the old miner’s mine. She wondered if the man had ever realized his dream of great wealth, the dream he doubtless had when he settled here and began to dig. A shadow, a moving shadow, had detached itself from the spot of darkness which was the shanty and was going toward a thick clump of trees. Instantly Gale stiffened to attention. Who was it? Certainly it was no ghost, for no ghost was ever so solid. Was it the one who had tried to frighten them from the cabin? Certainly he had not tried very hard. Perhaps he was coming back later for a second attempt. Were there more mysterious men in the shaft to the mine? Gale had a sudden impulse to call Tom or Jim to investigate that shadow. No, she would investigate it herself, she decided. The man was out of sight now, lost in the blackness of the trees and she moved forward.
It was not far from the shadow of the cabin to the protecting darkness of the shanty and Gale covered it quickly. She did not want to be seen bythat other sleuthing person. She preferred to do her detecting unseen and unknown. Her exploring fingers found the latch, consisting of a nail and a piece of string, and in a minute the shanty door swung to behind her. It was dark and silent in here. From her jacket pocket she took a small flashlight. Ever since she and Phyllis had been lost in the cave she had carried her light with her, rather than leaving it rolled in her slicker. Now she was glad she had it. The little circle of light revealed a pair of worn wooden steps leading downward. Gale listened intently and when she heard nothing that indicated another’s presence, descended into the passage. It was nothing like the big coal mines she had read and seen pictures of. It was merely a tunnel that had been hewed out of the ground with pick and shovel. If the ground had once held a fortune of silver, it gave no evidence of it now. She had to stoop, so low was the ceiling, as she picked her way along over rocks and débris.
Suddenly the thin ray of light from her lamp wavered and she noticed that it had grown dim. The battery was growing weak and would not last much longer. She switched it off. She must save it so she would have at least enough light tofind her way back to the entrance. That was where she made her mistake. Creeping along in darkness, she did not see the black hole ahead and when her foot touched empty air, fell head foremost down--down--several feet.
For a moment she lay stunned with the unexpectedness of her fall. Too, the jar of landing had knocked all collected thought from her head. Slowly she sat up and felt for an injury. Nothing but bruises, thank goodness. She had dropped her flashlight and had to feel out with her hands along the damp earth until she found it. She hoped fervently that the drop had not put it entirely out of commission. No, when she pressed the little button, a feeble ray of light shot out. The light was bright enough to see that she had fallen into a pit of some sort that stretched away out behind her into darkness which the lamp would not penetrate.
She got to her feet and endeavored to shake some of the dirt from her clothes. It was a risk to go forward without a light, but a glance at the wall of dirt and rock had shown her that she could never hope to climb up to where she had been before her fall. There was no course but to explore this passage here and to hope that thatmysterious shadow did not decide to come back into the mine immediately. But perhaps he had friends in here, friends that would not welcome her intrusion. The very thought that any minute she might stumble upon some mysterious, fearful unknown made her nervous and she proceeded with greater caution.
Gale endeavored to readjust her sense of direction, which had been somewhat confused with her fall, to find in what direction this passage led. If she was correct, and she believed she was, it should lead across to directly beneath the cabin where her friends were sleeping. In that case, the man she had seen might have been the “ghost” who with his mysterious knocks and screams had frightened them. But, remembering the fall which she had had, how did he get down to this lower passage, and once down here, how did he get up again? She had not been able to find any means of gaining the higher level. She halted and switched her flashlight on again. The light was failing rapidly and she dared to keep it on only a moment. But in that moment she had switched it overhead and seen the row of four or five boards which she was sure were part of the floor of the cabin. She sought a rock and hurled it up againstthe boards, ducking as it rebounded back at her. She followed it with another and then another.
“The ghost is back again,” said a nervous voice which she recognized as Janet’s.
Certainly it was the floor of the cabin and she had discovered how the ghost had done his mysterious knocking. His voice from here would have been clearly audible to them, too, just as she could hear the girls now.
“Gale’s gone!” she heard Valerie cry in alarm.
“Gone!” the others echoed.
She was just about to call out to reassure them when a sound in the passageway behind her made her hold her breath in suspense. Someone was coming along the tunnel. That must mean that the mysterious ghost had returned to do some more of his haunting. With quick and as quiet steps as possible, she retreated back the way she had come, and directly toward that unknown. Standing flattened against the earth wall, her heart thumping so she was sure he would hear it, Gale waited for the ghost to pass her. He did so, actually brushing against her in the darkness. He carried no flashlight and it was this fact alone that had saved her from discovery. Evidently he knew his way about in the darkness.
Aided now by fear, she sped along the narrow, low tunnel to where she had had her fall. The man certainly had not been in here when she fell, hence there must be some way he had entered since. She had to find that entrance to gain her freedom. Now that the others had discovered her absence, they would be alarmed and a search would be begun. She must get back and reassure them. She must also send Tom and Jim to find this mysterious stranger.
Flashing on the last faint rays of her flashlight, she saw the wall down which she had fallen and against it hung a crude rope ladder. So this was how he entered and left this lower tunnel! With one foot on the ladder, she slipped her flashlight into her jacket pocket. It had failed entirely now and she would have to depend on her memory to lead her to the entrance. It took but a few moments to climb the ladder and once at the top she pulled it up behind her. That would keep the ghost in the lower passage until Tom and Jim could come along and investigate him. There must be some reason why he “haunted” the cabin with his mysterious knocks.
Swiftly as possible she went along the tunnel and after several minutes stumbled against the steps leading up to the door.
“But I can’t understand how he got out!” Gale said again with a puzzled frown. “I purposely pulled the ladder up behind me to keep him in there.”
“There must be another way out that’s all,” Tom said.
“He’s gone and now we shall never know who the ghost was,” said Janet.
Tom and Jim exchanged a fleeting glance that only Gale seemed to see.
“Well, Gale gives a good imitation of a spook,” was Carol’s declaration. “Imagine, throwing rocks at the floor to scare us all out of our well earned sleep.”
“I was only demonstrating how it was done for my own satisfaction,” Gale laughed.
The nine of them were jogging along on their horses. They had had their breakfast while they discussed the disappearance of the ghost. For the man whom Gale had thought imprisoned in thelower tunnel had gone when Jim and Tom let themselves down on the rope ladder. They had not explored the tunnel to its full length so they were not sure, but they surmised that there must be another exit some place along the passage and it was this that the mysterious stranger had used. They had all endeavored to go back to sleep, but their rest was fitful and broken. They had eaten an early breakfast and now, two hours later, found them picking their way through cactus and undergrowth to the distant hills.
“Git along little dogie, git along, git along,” Janet sang lustily.
“I wish I had brought some cotton,” Carol commented darkly, “for my ears,” she added at Janet’s curious glance. “Then I wouldn’t have to listen to you sing.”
“Oh, you don’t appreciate a good voice when you hear it,” was Janet’s retort.
“A good voice, I do,” Carol declared, and moved her pony so that Gale was between her and Janet. “But who ever told you----”
“What? Not another musical person?” Madge demanded as Tom blew vigorously on his harmonica.
“If riding affects them like that,” Virginialaughed, “it is time we called a halt. What do you say, Jim?”
“For ten minutes,” Jim nodded.
They fell from their mounts, grateful for the respite. Tom promptly stretched out on the ground, his hat over his face to shut out the sun. Jim led the horses to a little stream of water as the girls stamped the stiffness out of their cramped legs.
“Where’s Jim?” Virginia wanted to know at the end of the allotted ten minutes for Jim was not in sight. The horses were standing ready for their riders, but they could not proceed without the guide.
Virginia went over and poked her brother into wakefulness.
“What’s the matter?” he asked drowsily.
“Jim hasn’t come back yet,” Virginia informed him, “and if we don’t get started, we won’t make our next campsite before dark.”
Tom stretched lazily. “Well, stay here an’ I’ll find him.”
Gale and Virginia mounted their horses and the others did likewise.
“You know, I’m either going to wear the horse out or he is going to wear me out,” Janet declaredwith a grimace as she lowered herself into the saddle. “I’m afraid it is the latter.”
They waited for fully fifteen minutes before either Tom or Jim came into sight. The horses had caught the impatience of their riders and were fidgeting to be off.
“We thought you had deserted us for sure!” Virginia declared. “Where were you?”
To Gale it seemed that the two men had the air of conspirators. There was a gleam in their eyes that had not been there before. The minute they came within earshot of the girls they stopped talking and came on silently.
“Virginia,” Tom said immediately, “we want you to lead the girls to Bear Rock and have lunch. Wait there for us.”
“But where are you going?” Virginia demanded.
“Jim has found a trail that looks strange so we are going to follow it,” Tom explained. “But we’ll catch up to you at Bear Rock. You camp there until we come, understand?”
“No,” Virginia said firmly. “I don’t understand. What is so strange about this trail? Why can’t we all ride that way?”
“We couldn’t follow the trail with all of youalong,” Tom declared. “It would be obliterated in no time.”
“But, Tom, if we get lost up here we could never find each other again,” Virginia continued.
“But Miss Virginia, you’ve been to Bear Rock lots of times,” Jim put in. “Yore Dad would want us to follow this trail, too. It shore looks mighty strange. You won’t get lost.”
“You don’t know what you might be getting into,” Virginia said. “I think you should let that trail alone and mind your own business.”
Tom shook his head, tightening his saddle strap.
“We’re goin’ so you might as well save your breath. See you at Bear Rock,” he added as he and Jim swung their horses about and were off in a cloud of dust.
The girls stared after them in surprise, then Virginia, with a shrug of her shoulders, turned her horse and led the way at an abrupt angle from the road taken by Jim and Tom. Gale undertook to bring up the rear with the pack horses. As the girls jogged forward, Phyllis rode directly behind Virginia with Janet and Carol following. Valerie had dropped behind with Gale.
“Do you suppose that mysterious trail was leftby the bank bandits?” Valerie murmured in a low tone to her friend.
“I shouldn’t be surprised,” Gale answered. “You know, Val, that is what they are really looking for. I believe that is why Jim has a definite camping place in mind for each day and doesn’t let us loiter much along the way. He and Tom must think the rustlers and robbers are connected.”
Valerie nodded. “Do you think the bandit might have been the man you saw at the mine last night?”
Gale frowned. “I don’t know. I’ve been thinking about that. It might have been, but I can’t be sure because I didn’t get a close enough look at him. He might have been using the cabin as a hiding place.”
“That’s why he tried to scare us away,” added Valerie. “I believe that’s it!”
“What are you two chattering about?” Janet wanted to know.
“About having broiled rattlesnake for supper,” Valerie retorted. “I’ve heard it is very good with mustard.”
It was but a short ride to Bear Rock, so named because a huge boulder so resembled the head ofa ferocious grizzly. Once there, the girls dismounted and gathered wood for a fire. They would eat a cold luncheon, but insisted on at least having hot coffee to drink. The horses were tethered and the girls gathered about the fire. Seated on stones, for the ground was still damp from the heavy rains of the day before, the girls waited for the two men to join them. They drank their coffee and had long finished their lunch before the clatter of hoofs reached them and Jim and Tom rode up.
“We’ll have a new campsite tonight,” Tom said at once. “Jim and I want to do a little more sleuthing so we might as well go along and camp when it gets dark, no matter where we are.”
“That’s better than leaving us behind at any rate,” Carol declared. “I’m rather anxious to get a look at this trail.”
“Just a lot of hoof marks,” Tom answered blandly.
That was all it proved to be and the girls were disappointed. They didn’t know what they had expected to find, but certainly more than this. Unexperienced in trail reading they didn’t realize what a wide, easy-to-read trail had been left.If they had, they might have been suspicious. Even so, Tom and Jim, western bred and experienced in trailing both men and animals, should have been suspicious. But they weren’t.
In the northern region of Arizona are plateaus broken by high mountains. Between the foothills of a high range was a winding trail and it was this that the Adventure Girls and their friends followed, winding in and out through forests thick with pine trees and cottonwoods, jack rabbits darting across the trail, making the horses prance and rear, and the girls getting so weary they could hardly stay in their saddles.
At last Jim called a halt beside a small stream. The sun was sinking swiftly. Darkness was creeping into the east. When they had pitched their tents and supper was started, the girls took time out to admire the scenery of their surroundings. They were camped on the base of a rugged plateau broken in two by a narrow pass through which they proposed to ride on the morrow. Overhanging the pass was a huge boulder, balanced precariously on the edge of the jutting cliff.
“Just one push is all that needs to block up that whole pass,” Tom declared.
“Let’s hope nobody pushes it tomorrow when we are going through there,” commented Janet cheerfully.
“Let’s see what is on the other side of the mountain,” proposed Gale to Valerie.
“All right,” she agreed readily, getting up from her knees where she had been putting another piece of wood on the fire.
“Or are you too tired?” Gale asked suddenly, remembering that Val couldn’t keep going as incessantly as the rest of them.
“Of course I’m not too tired for that short walk,” Val said stoutly. “Come along.”
“When supper is ready give us a halloo,” directed Gale as the two started out.
“You’re taking awful chances,” Carol declared mischievously, “we might eat all the supper without you.”
“You had better not!” Gale warned laughingly.
The two walked leisurely, enjoying the glorious hues of the sunset. In the west the sky was a maze of colors as the last rays of the sun flashed on the banked clouds. The gurgling of the little stream by which they walked was the only sound other than that of their footsteps that they heard. YetGale had the uncanny feeling that eyes were watching them. Once she turned to look back at the others in camp. They were all busy with something or other. No one was watching her and Val. Yet that peculiar feeling persisted.
Directly beneath the overhanging boulder they paused to look up at it. It hung menacingly over them. They took a few steps forward when something made Gale look up again. Certainly her eyes had not played a trick on her! The rock had actually wavered. It was falling!
“Run, Val, run,” she shouted, at the same time grasping her friend’s arm and pulling her along.
“What in the world----” Valerie began.
“The rock--it’s falling!” Gale panted.
Thereafter she did not need to urge Val to exert speed to get away from the spot toward which the rock was rushing. The two of them flung themselves forward while certain destruction hurtled down almost on them. The boulder crashed into the earth with such force that it half buried itself. On top of it poured earth that had been loosened in its descent.
“What if we had been under it?” gasped Val when the girls, at a safe distance, viewed the wreckage behind them.
“We would look like pancakes now,” Gale said humorously. “With that landslide, can you tell me how we are going to get out of here for our supper?”
Valerie looked around. What they had thought was a trail leading through the mountains was just a trail that led to the basin here, a valley on all sides of which rose steep hills. Their only means of entrance and exit had been through the pass, and now that was effectively stopped.
“I wish we would have waited for supper,” Gale said, attempting to keep lighthearted.
“You can join us,” said a suave voice behind the girls.
They whirled and were grasped in rough hands.
“Well, two are better ’n none, eh, boss?” a rumbling voice laughed. “Maybe we couldn’t get ’em all, but these two will do us.”
Both Gale and Valerie struggled, but what was the use? They were soon subdued, not too gently, and led away, their hands tied behind their backs, to a cabin, hidden entirely from the trail in a clump of trees.
“What are you going to do with us?” Gale demanded, summoning as much courage to her voice as she could.
In the untidy, sparsely furnished room on the first floor of the cabin the girls faced their abductors, three of the most dangerous, most crafty looking individuals they had ever seen. It was with a pang of fear that both Gale and Valerie recognized the leader as one of the bandits who had robbed the bank in Coxton.
The leader leered at them with a wide grin. “You, my fine young ladies, are to be our safe ticket across the border.”
“You mean--to hold us as hostages?” Gale asked.
“Call it anything you like,” he retorted. “We’re goin’ to put the proposition up to your friends. If they don’t agree, you don’t go back to ’em--that’s all.”
“You wouldn’t dare to harm us!” Gale said staunchly.
He laughed and exchanged glances with the other two men.
“Take ’em upstairs, Mike,” he ordered, and stamped from the cabin.
None too gently one of the other outlaws pushed the girls before him to where a makeshift ladder led to a loft above the first floor. They entered through a trap door and it was slammed shut after them. A rusty bar slithered into place and they were prisoners.
Gale endeavored to stand upright and sat down again abruptly as her head bumped against a beam in the ceiling.
“Well, we’ve landed ourselves in a fine mess, haven’t we?” she grumbled.
“What are we going to do, Gale?” Valerie asked.
Gale heard the tremble in Val’s voice and frowned gloomily. It was all her fault that they were in this predicament. If she hadn’t suggested the walk they wouldn’t be here now, they would be back with their friends eating a good supper.
“The first thing seems to be to get loose,” Gale said, keeping her voice perfectly normal. “Can you get your hands out?”
“No,” Val said after a few moments of futile struggling. “They made a good job of it.”
“Back up against me,” Gale directed, “and let me see if I can get the rope off your hands first.”
Valerie did as directed, but it was impossible. Not able to see the knot and working under such a handicap was too hard. Gale had to give it up. Below them everything was silent. Had the men really gone to the camp of the girls’ friends as they said they intended to do? If so, there must be a way out of the valley other than climbing over all that newly fallen rock and dirt. The landslide hadn’t blocked them in then at any rate! If once they got out of this cabin, Gale knew they would be all right. She had the means in her possession to guarantee safe conduct of their abductors--or so she thought.
In the wall just above their heads was a window, large enough for them to squeeze through Gale reflected when she saw it. Large enough to squeeze through if once they got their hands free and could open it.
“Gale--even if we get free what will we do?” Valerie asked. “The window will be too high from the ground to jump. Then, too, those men will be back soon----”
“If we get free,” Gale gritted through clenched teeth, tugging at the rope, “things will be simple. I’ve got my revolver in my boot.”
“You haven’t!” Val gasped.
Gale laughed. “Sure I have. I haven’t been without it since my uncle gave it to me. I intended to save it for rattlesnakes--but now we’ve got something else to use it on.”
“You wouldn’t actually shoot one of them, would you?” Val asked.
“What would you do?” Gale retorted. “With enough provocation, I s’pect I would. After all, they’re bandits--and we’re not exactly safe in their hands.”
“You’re right!” Val said with sudden spirit. “Shoot the whole three--they need it. I wonder when they will be back?” she added tremulously.
Gale had gained her feet, keeping her head low this time so as not to bump it, and standing with her back to the window, her exploring fingers had encountered the window catch.
“Ouch!” she said suddenly.
“What’s the matter?” Valerie demanded.
“This window catch--it’s as sharp as a knife.” Endeavoring to turn the catch, her finger had been cut by the edge of the lock. “Sharp as aknife,” she murmured again under her breath. “Hold everything, Val!” she cried excitedly.
It was an awkward, uncomfortable position Gale had to assume in order to be able to work the edge of the rope that bound her hands together over the catch. It was tiring and so slow, but it was accomplishing the task. The threads of the rope were being cut through and in a few moments she would be free. When finally the rope fell away, her arms were stiff and her wrists sore from where the rope had cut into the flesh. Then it was only a matter of minutes until she had Val free, too.
“Listen!” Val said, rubbing her wrists to restore circulation.
The sound of heavy footsteps and the murmur of voices drifted up to them. The three men reentered the room below and the girls held their breath. Almost subconsciously Gale secured her tiny revolver from the top of her boot and grasped it ready in her hand. But the trap door did not lift. No one came up to see if they were safe.
“What are we going to do now?” Valerie whispered frantically.
Gale went to the window and looked out. Aporch had been added to the cabin and the roof sloped away from the window where she stood. With a protesting squeak the window swung inward when she opened it. The girls waited lest the faint noise attract the attention of their abductors. But the voices continued in their indistinguishable hum and in a minute Gale was through the window on the roof. She helped Valerie and the two of them clung to the window sill. Inch by inch they eased themselves over the short roof to the edge. There, Gale lay face downward and hung over.
“You’ll fall!” Valerie hissed, holding firmly to her friend’s belt.
“Shshsh,” Gale cautioned. “Are you good at sliding down a pole? Well, whether you are or not, you’re going to. I’ll go first and catch you,” she added humorously. “But don’t you fall on top of me!”
Gale restored her revolver to her boot and swung her legs over the edge. For once in her life, Gale was thoroughly glad for her athletic training and gymnastic ability. Cautiously she transferred her hold from the edge of the porch roof to the pole around which her legs were locked.She lowered herself inch by inch, with some little damage by splinters, to the ground.
“All right!” she called up to Valerie.
Her friend’s legs appeared over the edge and in another minute Val had begun her descent of the pole. In a short time she was beside Gale and the two joined hands to run from the scene. But at the same moment, the cabin door was thrown open and slammed shut again behind the leader of the three men. He did not see the girls, but as they attempted to step back into the shadow of the trees, Gale stepped on a twig. It cracked as loudly as a pistol report in the silence.
“Run, Val, toward the pass,” Gale said, her hand on her friend’s arm, urging her along.
“But you----” Val protested.
“I’m coming,” Gale said. “Go on,” she urged. “I’ll stop him from following us.”
The leader was coming toward them now, to investigate that mysterious noise among the trees.
“Who’s there?” he called. “Stop or I’ll shoot!”
But the girls sped off through the trees. A bullet whistled through the leaves above their heads and abruptly they zigzagged from their course. They could hear the bandit crashing after them.They stumbled on, covering the ground as rapidly as they could. Somewhere ahead was the pass that had been blocked that afternoon, but surely they could find some way past or over it. Beyond the pass lay their friends and safety. The thought lent new vigor to them. Another bullet sped past them.
Gale whirled and fired point blank at the shadow of their pursuer. A groan was her reward and the chase was effectively stopped. The shots had summoned the other two men who were thrashing about in a vain attempt to find the cause of the shooting. By the time they discovered their companion, the girls were farther away.
Val had reached the blocked pass and was already endeavoring to climb up and over the landslide when Gale caught up with her. Gale assisted her chum as much as she could, for she could see that Val was nearing the end of her endurance. They were forced to rest to catch their breath several times, and each time they feared that the three bandits would be on their heels. But silence seemed to have settled over the valley and the cabin they had left behind. They heard nothing as they reached the rise of ground and began their slippery slide down the other side.
Halfway down they met Tom and Jim, who were making an attempt to climb over the boulder and find the girls, and also to fathom the mystery of the shots they had heard.
By the time the four arrived at the camp, Tom and Jim were supporting Valerie. The excitement had buoyed her up, but now that the suspense was past, Val was utterly worn out.
“Did you kill him, I hope?” Janet asked with keen excitement.
Valerie was in her tent asleep while Gale, after a substantial supper, told the others of what had happened to them. She had come to the part in their escape when she stopped and fired at the bandit when Janet voiced her opinion.
Gale shivered. “I hope I didn’t,” she declared. “I wouldn’t care to be a murderess.”
“I think there is not much danger of that,” Tom reassured her. “Those fellows are pretty hard to kill.”
“We were all nearly frantic,” Virginia said, a fond arm about Gale’s shoulders. “First we saw the rock fall and then when you didn’t come back--we didn’t know what to think or do!”
“That’s something else,” Gale said, “that rock didn’t fall of its own accord. It was pushed.”
“Are you sure?” Carol demanded.
“I saw the man,” Gale said positively. “Something,I don’t know what, made me look up just as we were walking under it.”
“That something saved you from being smashed flatter than a pancake,” Janet said wisely.
“But who would push the rock?” Madge asked wonderingly. “Those men didn’t actually want to--murder you, did they?”
Gale laughed nervously. “Let’s hope they didn’t; they might try again.”
“Hereafter none of you go wandering away by yourselves from camp,” Jim said sternly. “To-morrow Tom and I will go see those fellows, since they didn’t come to see us,” he added grimly.
“But you----” Virginia was beginning when her voice died away into silence.
The thunder of hoofs echoed down into the valley to them. All eyes turned up to where the rim of the mountain was silhouetted against the moonlit sky. Three black mounted figures were picking their way slowly across the trail. In a moment they were swallowed up in the blackness of a forest as they made their way down to the valley some distance from the Adventure Girls’ camp.
“Three of them,” Tom murmured. “Evidently you didn’t kill that fellow after all, Gale.”
“And I’m afraid we won’t be able to get a look at them tomorrow,” Jim added. “We’ll follow their trail of course to see in what direction they are heading. I think, Virginia, you had better lead the girls back to the K Bar O. There is too much danger in these hills.”
“Nothing doing,” Janet interrupted, flatly. “We like danger and we don’t want to go home. If you follow the bandits, so do we!”
“I’m afraid we’re all agreed on that,” Gale nodded.
“So you see it is useless for you to argue,” Virginia added, as Jim opened his mouth to protest.
“But Dad wouldn’t like it, Virginia,” Tom said with a frown. “Jim and I are responsible for you girls. If anything happens----”
“Nothing will,” Carol assured him. “We all bear charmed lives. We shall return to the K Bar O when our trip is over just as we started out,” she declared.
“But what about Valerie?” Madge put in. “Do you think she can stand a lot of hard riding?”
Gale grew thoughtful. “She came through tonight with never a protest. I believe Val can stand a lot more than we give her credit for.”
Later, lying on her bed of pine boughs besidePhyllis, Gale thought of Valerie again. It had been strenuous, climbing down from the roof and later fleeing through the underbrush and over that huge boulder had been particularly wearying, without considering that they did it all on top of a day’s riding. Val had borne up marvelously well. True she had been near collapse at the end, but then she herself had not had much vitality left and she had always been stronger than Valerie. Yes sir, Val was in a much better physical condition than when they had started for the West.
The morning, however, found Valerie not as robust as Gale’s optimistic thoughts had pictured her. Breaking camp was delayed until lunch time in order to give Val the benefit of a few more hours rest. After luncheon, the party saddled and mounted their horses. After a while, Jim picked up the trail of the outlaws and they followed it a short distance. But the bandits had evidently suspected a chase and rode their horses into a stream. From there all trace of trail was wiped out.
Sunset found them miles from the scene of the girls’ adventure. Supper was prepared and after it had disappeared they sat about the campfiretelling stories or singing songs. They retired early and were up with the first rays of the sun.
Day after day they followed the same procedure. Their skins were getting tanned and their appetites were enormous.
“I never thought I could eat so much,” wailed Janet, after a particularly hearty meal.
“You’ll look like a baby elephant when we get back home,” prophesied Carol encouragingly.
They rode like regular westerners now, and every day they appreciated more and more the beauty of the country through which they rode. If Jim had planned on showing them the loveliest scenery, he was running true to plan. The girls had never realized before that nature, untamed by man, could be so lovely. They never realized that just to sit and gaze at a sunset could bring such a thrill. In every way the country was affecting them. Physically they were healthier than they had ever been. Their mental outlook was brighter, more cheerful. Here in limitless space, mid tall mountains, they felt more drawn to one another. Their friendships grew and flourished.
One day they camped close to the mighty Colorado River that flows through the Grand Canyon.The cliffs of sandstone and limestone, almost a mile high, were so rugged and majestic as to fill the girls with awe. All the colors of the rainbow were in the rocks and under the influence of the sun and the shadows cast by it, formed pictures of entrancing beauty, pictures too beautiful to ever be put down on canvas. Rain and wind had sculptured the cliffs into bewildering and fantastic forms which added to their brilliant coloring.
“Doesn’t it make you feel tiny?” murmured Janet, scarcely above a whisper, afraid to disturb the great hush that hung over the Canyon.
“The Canyon was first seen by white men in 1541,” Tom told them. “The Colorado River where it runs through the Canyon there is three hundred feet wide, and in times of freshets it’s a mighty torrent.”
“You sound like a traditional guide book,” Janet told him.
“It’s wonderful,” Valerie murmured, voicing the feelings of all of them.
Another day found the Adventure Girls and their friends examining the colossal stone tree trunks of the Petrified Forest. Here they found more to awe and surprise them. Still another dayfound them at the rim of the Painted Desert, the desert with its multi-colored plains alive with somber, purple shadows.
“I’m overwhelmed!” Carol declared. “From now on I shall be a strong advocate of See America First!”
Valerie had out the little sketching block she always carried with her. With a strong talent for sketching and limitless subjects on which to try her skill, Val rode with her pencil and pad in her hands nearly all day. She wanted to take back home sketches of the spots that interested her most on this trip.
“I’ll never be able to make it look as beautiful on paper as it really is,” she sighed. “No one could really hope to.”
“I’d like to have one of the sketches you made of the Canyon the other day,” Gale said. “I intend to frame it and keep it as a memento.”
“Isn’t it funny, Gale,” Val mused aloud, “how you never miss anything until you’ve seen it.”
“You might feel as though you miss something,” Gale agreed, “but you don’t know what it is.”
“I shall miss all this a lot when we go back East,” Val declared, looking about at the Arizonasunset. “Everything is so--big out here. I feel awf’ly small. When I think of the silly things we quarrel over in school and the things we think we can’t get along without in the city, it makes me ashamed of myself.”
Gale laughed. “If you lived out here long enough, I’m afraid you would have a bad inferiority complex.”
“No, but don’t you feel that way?” Val demanded. “Tomorrow we start for Monument Valley near Kayenta. That’s one hundred and seventy-five miles from the nearest telephone. Imagine what that means! Back home we don’t think anything of a telephone because nearly everybody has one.”
“Yes, and just think, I haven’t had a chocolate soda since I came out here,” chimed in Janet, coming up behind them. “I hope I shall survive.”
“You look as though you might pull through,” Valerie laughed.
“Come and get it!” Tom called and there was a concerted rush for the makeshift supper table.
Day after day they rode through cañons and winding intermittent gullies, shallow basins, and dry washes. They followed trails through thick sagebrush and cottonwoods, over dry beds ofstreams and sunken deserts, marveling how the dull gray and olive of the sagebrush and trees mingled. They learned that many of the mountains were extinct volcanoes and admired the brilliant colored sandstone and shale formations. Once or twice they ran into heavy thunderstorms that turned dried-up streams into rushing torrents of muddy swirling waters.
They explored with keen interest Monument Valley with the spire-like rock of El Capitan at its head, and its fantastic flat topped pillars rising thousands of feet into the air. A day’s ride from Kayenta the riders came upon Betatakin, one of the most interesting, although least known, of the cliff dwellings, standing silent within its mammoth cave.
“Just think, hundreds of people lived and died here a thousand years ago,” Virginia commented.
“I’m glad we don’t live in houses like these,” Janet said, as she climbed up the worn stone steps to the next level. “I’ve no desire to climb all these steps every time I want to go home.”
“If you walked in your sleep it was just too bad,” added Carol, looking back down at the stones over which they had come.
“It gives me an appetite,” Madge complained. “When do we eat?”
“The sooner the better,” put in Phyllis.
For hours the girls prowled around in the dark houses of the cliff dwellers, taking their time to examine everything of interest. The next day they resumed their riding, heading south toward the K Bar O.
During the days Gale and Phyllis had a lot of practice with their revolvers and now could succeed in coming fairly close to the bull’s eye every time they tried. Gale, too, was becoming proficient with her rope. Jim spent hours teaching her and she proved an apt pupil.
Riding with Virginia behind Jim as they swung along the trail, Gale was looking up at the trees and the blue sky, thinking how she would hate to leave all this when it came time for the Adventure Girls to go back East.
“Look out, Jim!” Virginia screamed suddenly.
There was a snarl and a streak of yellow leaped from the low-hanging limb of a tree. Jim’s horse reared wildly and plunged away as its rider was dragged from the saddle by the impact of the cougar’s weight.
For a second none of the riders could do anything but check their mounts. All the horses threatened to run away and careened wildly, almostunseating their riders. Meanwhile, Jim was thrashing about on the ground, struggling for his life while his companions watched helplessly.
“Quiet, boy,” Gale said, a soothing hand on her trembling pony’s neck. With her other hand she unfastened her rope.
“Look out, I’m going to shoot,” Tom said, raising his rifle to his shoulder.
“Don’t!” Carol cried. “You might hit Jim.”
“But the beast is killing him,” Janet said with a shudder. “Somebody do something!”
Despite Carol’s warning, Tom discharged his gun and succeeded only in frightening the ponies more. Jim was fighting madly to keep the sharp claws and teeth away from his face and throat.
Once more Gale spoke to her pony and patted him reassuringly. He jerked nervously under her hand, but he was by far the quietest one of the beasts. During the days in the saddle Gale had learned the tricks and tendencies of her mount and she had instilled a trust in him for his rider. Now, though he longed to flee from this spot with its danger, he stood quietly obedient to her voice and touch. In her hand Gale held her coiled rope. Tom had dismounted and handed the reins of his horse and of the pack horses to Carol and wasedging nearer to those thrashing figures on the ground. Virginia, too, had dismounted.
At the first opportune moment, Gale’s rope slithered out and fell over the two. The loop caught a hind leg of the cougar. Immediately it tightened and the snapping teeth were diverted from Jim to the rope about its leg.
“Go it, boy!” Gale urged her horse.
The horse darted forward. Behind her the rope pulled the cougar clear from Jim. The pony sped down the trail, its rider bent low in the saddle, the rope dragging the squirming, struggling mountain lion over the stony ground. Gale did not slow her mount till she was sure that the animal was dead. Then she turned her horse and trotted him slowly back to the group.
Tom and Virginia were busy with Jim. The cowboy’s shirt hung in ribbons, and the flesh of his shoulders and arms was streaming with blood. He had a long scratch along his cheek, but otherwise he was safe and sound.
“Never thought that rope trainin’ would come in so handy,” he grinned at her. “Reckon I owe you a heap for pullin’ that fella offa me, Miss Gale.”
“Is he dead?” Janet asked tremulously with aglance for the dust covered thing at the end of Gale’s rope.
“If he isn’t, he ought to be,” Gale replied, dismounting. “Are you hurt much, Jim?”
The cowboy insisted that they should not stop their day’s ride on his account. After Tom’s first aid treatment had been administered and Jim remounted his horse, they started forward again. Tom had cut the cougar loose from Gale’s rope and pulled him to one side of the trail.
“That’s what I like about the country out here,” Janet said to no one in particular. “Always something doing. Any time at all you might step on a rattlesnake or get jumped on by a ferocious animal. Nice country!” she declared with a grin.
“Pleasant thoughts you have,” Carol laughed. “It’s no worse than back home. There we have to dodge street cars and taxi cabs.”
“Give me the taxi cabs,” Madge murmured. “They at least give you a warning.”
It was late when they stopped for their camp. Riding and excitement had whetted their appetites and while they ate, Tom and Jim told them of other experiences each had had with animals in the surrounding country. Jim took the wholeaffair as all part of the day, and refused to declare himself a bit thrilled over it.
“At least we’ll have something to talk about when we get home,” Phyllis smiled.
“We’ve got a lot to talk about,” Valerie declared. “We’ve met nearly everything the West can produce, haven’t we?”
“Nearly,” Virginia laughed. “Do you feel like going home now?”
“No!” came unanimously from all the girls.
“Well, whether you like it or not, we are,” Tom declared. “Tomorrow we get back on K Bar O soil. Two more days and we’ll be at the ranch house.”
“We’ve got to go home, our supplies are running low,” Virginia explained.
“Can we go on another trip then?” Carol asked immediately.
“If we have enough time,” Valerie commented. “The days have gone so quickly. We’ll be going home soon.”
“We’ll refuse to think of that,” Phyllis said firmly. “Let’s hear some more of your experiences,” she suggested to Jim and Tom.
For another hour while the fire crackled and shadows danced over the tents and figures aroundit, Jim entertained them with memories of the range lands. Valerie and Phyllis retired first. After them went the other four girls. Gale alone remained beside the fire with her cousin and the cowboy.
“Tom----” Gale began hesitantly.
“Yes?” Tom encouraged, tossing another log on the fire.
“That trail we passed just before we camped--was it the bandits’?” she asked.
Tom and Jim exchanged a fleeting glance.
“What made you think of them?” Tom asked.
“Before we started on this trip,” Gale said, “Valerie and I overheard you and your dad talking about rustlers. We didn’t mean to listen, but we did. Had that trail today anything to do with them? I thought you both looked worried when you saw it.”
“We were worried,” Jim admitted. “It was a fresh trail and the same men who held you prisoner that night in the hills, made that trail. We thought we had lost them sure, but it doesn’t look that way.”
“What are you going to do?” Gale wanted to know.
“Nothing,” Tom said promptly. “We are goingto take you girls safely back to the K Bar O.”
“The bandits are probably making for the border into Mexico,” Jim murmured. “The Sheriff and his men will catch ’em.”
Tom laughed. “They haven’t done much catching so far. I’ll bet the bandits get clean away.”
“Then there is nothing to worry about,” Gale said.
“No, nothing to worry about,” agreed Tom.
When Gale had entered the tent she shared with Valerie and Phyllis, she went immediately to sleep and did not know that long after she retired, Tom and Jim talked seriously and long about the possibility of meeting the rustlers before they reached the ranch safely.