"I can't help it, I saw a lion, anyway," muttered the fat boy.
"Come up here!" It was Dad's voice calling to them. "Where's that rifle?"
"I—-I dropped it, I told you."
"Where did you drop it?"
"Right there."
"Show me."
Stacy climbed to the top of the rise and stepped confidently over to where he had let go the rifle before rushing down after having tried to shoot the lion. He actually stooped over to pick up the gun, so confident was he as to its location. Then a puzzled expression appeared on Stacy's face.
"Oh, it's there, is it?"
"Why—-I—-I———- Say, you're trying to play a joke on me."
"I rather think you've played it on yourself," jeered the guide. "Where did you leave it?"
"Right there, I tell you."
"Sure you didn't throw it over in the bushes down the other side?"
"I guess I know what I did with it," retorted Chunky indignantly.
"Well, it isn't here." Dad was somewhat puzzled by this time. He saw that Stacy was very confident of having left the gun at that particular place, but it could not be found.
"Maybe somebody's stolen it," suggested the boy.
"Nonsense! Who is there here to steal it, in the first place? In the second, how could any one slip in here at the right moment and get away with your rifle?"
"You have no—-no idea what has become of it—-no theory?" asked theProfessor.
"Not the least little bit," replied the guide.
"Most remarkable—-most remarkable," muttered Professor Zepplin. "I cannot understand it."
"We'll look around a bit," announced Dad.
The three men searched everywhere, even going all the way down to the base of the rise on either side, but nowhere did they find the slightest trace of the missing rifle. After they had returned to the summit, Dad, a new idea in mind, went over the rocks and the ground again in search of footprints. The only footprints observable were those of their own party. There was more in the mystery than Dad could fathom.
"Well, this gets me," declared the guide, wiping the perspiration from his forehead. "This certainly does."
"Is—-is my rifle lost?" wailed Chunky.
"I reckon you'll never see that pretty bit of firearms again," grinnedJim.
"But it must be here," insisted Stacy.
"But it isn't. Fortunately we have plenty of guns with us. You can get another when we go back to camp."
"Yes, but this one is mine——-"
"Was yours," corrected Nance.
"It is mine, and I'm going to have it before I leave this miserable old hole," declared the boy.
"I hope you find it. I'd like to know how the thing ever got away in that mysterious manner."
"Maybe the lion took it."
"Mebby he did. Funny I hadn't thought of that," answered Nance gravely.Then both he and the Professor burst into a shout of laughter.
They made their way slowly back to the point where they were to meet the others of the party. Chunky, now being without a rifle, was well content to remain with the guide and the Professor.
While all this was going on Tad and Walter were picking their way over the rough ridges, through narrow canyons, riding their ponies where a novice would hardly have dared to walk. The ponies seemed to take to the work naturally. Not a single misstep was made by either of them. They, too, could hear the dogs, but the latter were far away most of the time, even though, for all the riders knew, they might have been just the other side of the rocky wall along which the two boys were traveling.
They kept on in this way until late in the afternoon, when they stopped and dismounted, deciding that they would have a bite to eat.
"It doesn't look as if we were going to have any luck, does it, Tad?" asked Walter in a disappointed tone.
"No, it doesn't. But one never can tell. In hunting game you know it comes upon one suddenly. You have to be ever on the alert. We know that the dogs have been on the trail of something."
"Perhaps deer," suggested Walter.
"Yes, it is possible, though I don't know whether those dogs will trail deer or not. You know they may be trained to hunt lions. I didn't hear Mr. Nance say."
They were munching biscuit and eating oranges as they rested, which must have tasted good to them. The temperature was going down with the day, though the light was strong in the canyon where they were standing. Above them the jagged, broken cliffs rose tier on tier until they seemed to disappear far up in the fleecy clouds that were drifting lazily over the Canyon.
All at once Silver Face, Tad's pony, exhibited signs of restlessness, which seemed to be quickly communicated to the other animal. The pintos stamped, shook their heads and snorted.
"Whoa! What's wrong with you fellows?" demanded Tad, eyeing the ponies keenly. "Smell something, eh?"
"Maybe they smell oats," suggested Walter.
"I guess not. They are a long way from oats at the present moment."
Tad paused abruptly. A pebble had rattled down the rocky wall and bounded off some yards to the front of them. Silver Face started and would have bounded away had not a firm hand been at that instant laid on the bridle rein.
To one unaccustomed to the mountains the incident might have passed unnoticed. By this time Tad Butler was a pretty keen woodsman as well as plainsman. He had learned to take notice of everything. Even the most trivial signs hold a meaning all their own for the man who habitually lives close to Nature.
The lad glanced sharply at the rocks.
"See anything?" asked Walter.
"No."
"What did you think you heard?"
"I didn't hear anything but that pebble. The horses smelled something, though."
While he was speaking the lad's glances were traveling slowly over the rocks above. All at once he paused.
"Don't stir, Walt. Look up."
"Where?"
"In line with that cloud that looks like a dragon. Then lower your glance slowly. I think you will see something worth while."
It was a full moment before Walter Perkins discovered that to which his attention had been called.
"It's a cat," breathed Walt, almost in awe.
"Yes, that's a lion. He is evidently hiding up there, where he has gone to get away from the dogs. We will walk away a bit as if we were leaving. Then we'll tether the horses securely. Don't act as if you saw the beast. I know now what was the matter with the mustangs. They scented that beast up there."
The ponies were quickly secured, after which the boys crouched in the brush and sought out the lion again. He was still in the same place, but was now standing erect, head toward them, well raised as if in a listening attitude.
"My, isn't he a fine one!" whispered Walt. Walter Perkins was not suffering from the same complaint that Chunky had caught when he first saw his lion over in the other canyon, an offshoot from the Bright Angel Canyon, and where he had lost his rifle so mysteriously.
"Take careful aim; then, when he turns his side toward us, let him have it," directed Tad.
"Oh, no, you discovered him. He is your game. You shoot, Tad."
Butler shook his head.
"I want you to shoot. I have already killed a cougar. This is your chance to distinguish yourself."
Walter's eyes sparkled. He raised his rifle, leveling it through the crotch of a small tree.
"Wait till he turns," whispered Tad, fingering his own rifle anxiously. He could hardly resist the temptation to take a shot at the animal where it stood facing them far up the side of the canyon wall.
"Now!" Tad's tone was calm, steady and low.
Walter's rifle barked.
"You've hit him!" yelled Tad. "Look out! He's up again!" warned the boy.
The beast had not been killed by the shot. He had been bowled over, dropping down to a lower crag, where he sprang to his feet and with a roar of rage bounded up the mountainside.
"Shoot! Shoot!" cried Butler.
But Walter did not even raise his rifle. A sudden fit of trembling had taken possession of him. His was the "buck fever" in another form.
Bang!
Butler had let go a quick shot.
A roar followed the shot.
"Bang!"
"There, I guess that settled him," decided Tad Butler, lowering his rifle.
"I—-I should say it did," gasped Walter.
The tawny beast was throwing himself this way and that, the boys meanwhile watching him anxiously.
"I'm afraid he's going to stick up there," cried Walter, dancing about shouting excitedly.
"No, he isn't. There he comes."
"Hurray!"
"Duck!"
Tad grabbed his companion, jerking the latter back and running with him. They were just at the spot where the ponies had been tethered, when a heavy body struck the ground not far from where they had been standing. Silver Face leaped right up into the air, then settled back on his haunches in an attempt to break the hitching rope.
Tad struck the animal against the flank with the flat of his hand, whereat the mustang bounded to his feet.
"Whoa, you silly old animal!" cried Tad. "Look out, Walt, don't get too near that lion. You may lose some of your clothes if he shouldn't happen to be dead. I'll be there in a moment, as soon as I can get these horses quieted down."
In a moment Tad was running toward his companion.
"Is he settled?"
"I don't know. His—-his eyes are open," stammered Walter, standing off a safe distance from the prostrate beast.
Tad poked the animal with the muzzle of his rifle.
"Yes, he's a dead one. One less brute to make war on the deer. Won't old Dad be surprised when we trail into camp with this big game?" exulted the Pony Rider boy.
"Yes, but—-but how are we going to get the fellow there?" wonderedWalter.
"Get him there? Well, I guess we'll do it somehow. I'll tell you what, I'll take him over the saddle in front of me. That's the idea. You bring out Silver Face and we'll see how he feels about it. I wouldn't be surprised if he raised a row."
Silver Face did object most emphatically. The instant the pony came in sight of the dead lion he sat down on his haunches. Tad urged and threatened, but not another inch would the pinto budge.
"I guess I know how to fix you," gritted the boy.
He was on the back of the sitting mustang, his feet in the stirrups, before the pony realized what had happened. A reasonably sharp rowel, pressed into the pinto's side, brought him a good two feet clear of the ground.
Then began a lively battle between the boy and the horse.
"Don't let him tread on the beast," shouted Walter.
"N-n-no danger of that," stammered Tad. It was a lively battle while it lasted, but Silver Face realized, as he had never done before, that he had met his master. After some twenty minutes of fight, in which the pinto made numerous futile attempts to climb the sheer side of the canyon at the imminent danger of toppling over backwards and crushing his master, the brute gave up.
"Now you hold him while I load on the beast," directed Tad, riding up.
This called for more disturbance. Silver Face fought against taking a lion on his back. He drew the line at that. Just the same, after another lively scrimmage, Mr. Lion was loaded on, but no sooner had Tad swung into the saddle than he swung out again. He hadn't even time to get his toes in the stirrups before he was flying through the air, head first. Walter had difficulty in determining which was boy and which was lion. The lion struck the ground first, Tad landing on top of him.
With rare presence of mind, Walter had seized the pinto and was having a lively set-to with the beast, with the odds in favor of Silver Face, when Tad sprang up and ran to his companion's assistance.
Tad's temper was up. The way he grilled Silver Face that animal perhaps never forgot. Not that Tad abused his mount. He never would be guilty of abusing a horse. He was too fond of horseflesh to do such a thing, but he knew how to punish an animal in other and more effective ways. Silver Face was punished.
"Now, my fine fellow, let's see who's boss here!" laughed Tad. "Hold him while I put aboard the baggage, Walt."
The pony submitted to the ordeal a second time. This time there was no bucking, and shortly afterwards the lads started for their companions bearing the trophy of their hunt with them.
Long before they reached the meeting point they heard the long-drawn "Woohoo!" of Jim Nance calling them in. They were the only ones out at that time. Tad set up a series of answering "woos-hoos" that caused Silver Face to wiggle his ears disapprovingly, as if this were some new method of torture invented for his special benefit.
As they got in sight of the rest of the party, the boys set up a shout. Their companions, about that time, discovered that Tad was carrying something before him on the pony. Chunky and Ned started on a run to meet Tad and Walter. How Chunky did yell when he discovered what that something was.
"They've got a cat! They've got a cat!" he howled, dancing about and swinging his arms. "I tell you, they've got a cat!"
Tad rode into camp smiling, flinging the lion to the ground, which caused Tad's pony to perform once more.
"Who shot him?" cried the Professor, fully as excited as the boys.
"This is a partnership cat," laughed Tad. "We both have some bullets in him. How many did you fellows get?"
"Well, I had one, but he got away," answered Stacy, his face sobering instantly. "And—-and he carried off my rifle too."
"What's that?" demanded Tad.
Chunky explained briefly. But he had little opportunity to talk. Dad, who had been examining the dead lion, straightened up and looked at Tad.
"Good job, boys. It's a dandy. Must weigh nigh onto three hundred pounds. Have much of a tussle with him?"
"Not any. He was dead when he got down to us."
"Very fine specimen," decided the Professor, examining the dead beast from a respectable distance. "You lads are to be congratulated."
"Say, I'm going with you to-morrow," cried Stacy. "These folks don't know how to hunt lions."
"Do you?" demanded Nance witheringly.
Stacy colored violently.
"At least I know how to stalk them," he answered. "If I lose my gun in the excitement that doesn't mean that I'm not a natural born lion chaser. Anybody can shoot a lion, but everybody can't sit still and charm the lion right up to him."
They admitted that the fat boy was right in this assertion. Chunky had done all of that. Upon their return to camp, Walter and Tad had asked numerous questions about the loss of the gun. There was little additional information that either Stacy or the two men could give them. The gun had most mysteriously disappeared, that was all. Nance was more puzzled than any of the others and he groped in vain for an explanation of the mystery, but no satisfactory explanation suggested itself to his mind.
After supper the guide cut some meat from the cat and fed it to the weary dogs, who had not succeeded in treeing a single lion, though they had come near doing so several times. But they had sent the cats flying for cover, which had given Chunky and the other two boys opportunity to use their guns, though Stacy Brown, in his excitement, had failed to take advantage of the opportunity offered to him.
It was decided that the hunt should be taken up again on the following morning. Nance said Stacy might go with Tad this time, Nance taking charge of the other three boys. This was satisfactory to Chunky and Tad.
The morning found the camp awake at an early hour. Chunky and Tad set off together, the former having been equipped with a rifle from the extra supply carried by the party, the guide having administered a sarcastic suggestion that Chunky tie the rifle to his back so that he would not lose this one.
Chunky made appropriate reply, after which they rode away. The early part of the day was devoid of success. They did not even hear the bay of a hound all the forenoon. Tad took their quest coolly, undisturbed. He had already gotten one lion and could well afford not to get one this time. It was different with Stacy. He was anxious to distinguish himself, to make amends for his blunders of the previous day.
About an hour after they had eaten their lunch they heard the bounds for the first time. Tad listened intently for a few minutes.
"I think they are coming this way, Chunky."
"If they do, you give me the first shot. I've simply got to meet another cat."
"You shall have it, providing you are on the job and ready. These cats don't wait around for a fellow to get ready to shoot, as you have no doubt observed."
"Don't remind me of disagreeable things, please," growled Stacy. "I've had my chance and I lost it. Next time I see a cat I'm going to kill him on the spot. Wait; I'm going to take an observation."
"Don't go far," warned Tad.
"No, I won't. Just want to have a look at the landscape," flung back Stacy, hurrying away, while Tad stretched out for a little rest, well satisfied to have Stacy do the moving about until there was something real to be done, when Tad would be on hand on the jump.
Stacy had not taken his gun. In fact, he wholly forgot to do so, not thinking for an instant that he would have opportunity to use it. This was where the fat boy made another serious mistake. A hunter should never be beyond reaching distance of his gun when out on the trail for game. It is a mistake that has cost some men their lives, others the loss of much coveted game.
Choosing a low, bushy pinyon tree as best suited to the purposes of a lazy climber, Stacy climbed it, grunting and grumbling unintelligibly. He had hopes that he might discover something worth while, something that would distinguish him from his fellows on that particular day.
"I feel as if something were going to happen," he confided to the tree, seating himself in a crotch formed by a limb extending out from the main body of the tree, then parting the foliage for a better view. "It's funny how a fellow feels about these things some times. Hello, there, I actually believe those are deer running yonder. Or maybe they're cows," added Stacy. "Anyhow I couldn't shoot them, whichever they are, so I won't get excited over them."
Chunky fixed his eyes on the opposite side of the tree a little above where he was perched.
"I thought I saw something move there. Hello, I hear the hounds again.They've surely gotten on track of something. And——-"
Once more the fat boy paused. He saw something yellow lying along a limb of the tree, something at first sight that he took to be a snake. But he knew of no snakes that had fur on their bodies. The round, furry thing that he thought might be a snake at first now began whipping up and down on the limb, curling at its end, twisting, performing strange antics.
What could it mean? Stacy parted the foliage a little more, then once again, as had been the case on the previous day, his eyes opened wide.
He saw now what was at the other end of the snake-like appendage. And seeing he understood that he was in a predicament. But Chunky's voice failed him.
There on the opposite limb of the tree, less than ten feet away, crouched the biggest mountain lion Stacy Brown ever had seen. And it grew larger with the seconds. The beast was working its tail, its whiskers bristled, its eyes shone like points of steel. It seemed as if the beast were trying to decide whether to attack the boy within such easy reach or to leap to the ground and flee. The deep baying of the dogs in the distance evidently decided the cat against the latter plan. Then, too, perhaps the howls that Chunky now emitted had something to do with the former question.
Tad Butler, stretched out on the ground, found himself standing bolt upright as if he had been propelled to that position by a spring. The most unearthly howls he had ever heard broke upon the mountain stillness.
"Wow! Ow-wow-wow! Tad! Help, help, help! Quick!"
Tad was off like a shot himself, not even pausing to snatch up his gun which lay so near at hand. And how he did run!
"Where, Chunky? Where are you? Shout quick!"
"Wow! Ow-wow-wow!" was the only answer Stacy Brown could make, but the sound of his voice unerringly guided Tad to the location. But Stacy could not be found.
"In the name of——-"
"Wow! Ow-wow-wow!" howled the agonized voice of the fat boy from the branches of the pinyon tree.
Tad peered up between the branches. He saw Stacy looking down upon him with panic stricken gaze.
"For the love of goodness, what's the matter, Stacy? You nearly frightened me to death."
"Look out!" The words, shouted at the top of the fat boy's voice, were so thrilling that Tad leaped back instinctively.
"See here, don't make a fool of me, too. What's the matter with you?Come down out of that."
"I can't. He'll get me."
"What will get you? Nothing will get you, you ninny!"
"The lion will get me."
"Have you gone raving mad on the subject of lions?" jeered Butler.
"Look, if you don't believe me. He's up here. He's trying to get a bite out of me. Shoot him, as you love me, Tad; shoot and shoot straight or I'm a dead one."
For the first time since his arrival on the scene Tad began to realize that Stacy was not having fun with him. Something really was up that tree—-something besides a Pony Rider boy.
"You don't mean to tell me there's a cat up there——-"
"Yes, yes! He's over there on the other side. Shoot, shoot!"
"I haven't my gun with me."
The fat boy groaned helplessly.
"I'm a dead one! Nothing can save me. Tell them I died like a man; tell them I never uttered a squeal."
Tad had sprung around to the side of the pinyon tree indicated by Chunky. Up there on a bushy limb, clear of the heavier foliage, lay a sleek, but ugly looking cat, swishing its tail angrily. First, its glances would shoot over to Stacy Brown, then down to Tad Butler. The lion, as Tad decided on the spot, had gone into the tree to hide from the dogs as had the one that had been shot on the canyon wall the previous afternoon. This time the proposition was a different one. Both boys were in dire peril, as Tad well knew. At any second the cat might spring, either at him or at Stacy. And neither boy had a gun in his hands.
Tad's mind worked with lightning-like rapidity. It was a time for quick thinking if one expected to save one's skin from being torn by those needle-like claws. Butler thought of a plan. He did not know whether there were one chance in a million of the plan working. He wanted that lion a great deal more than the lion wanted him. He was going to take a desperate chance. An older and more experienced man might not have cared to try what Tad Butler was about to attempt.
The Pony Rider boy's hand slipped down to the lasso hanging from his belt. He was thankful that he had that. The lasso was always there except when he was in the saddle, when it was usually looped over the pommel.
"Chunky, yell! Make all the noise you can."
"I am. Wow-ow-wow. Y-e-o-w wow!"
"That's right, keep it up. Don't stop. Make faces at him, make believe you're going to jump at——-"
"Say, anybody would think this were a game of croquet and that I was trying to make the other fellow miss the wicket. Don't you think——-"
"I'm trying to get you to attract his attention——-"
"I don't want to attract his attention. I want the beast to look the other way," wailed the fat boy. "I want to get out of here."
"Well, why haven't you?"
"I dassent."
While carrying on this conversation with his chum, Tad was watching the cat narrowly. The animal was showing signs of greater excitement now. The boy decided that the beast was preparing to jump one way or another—-which way was a matter of some concern to both boys at that particular instant.
The cat took two long paces in Stacy's direction. Stacy emitted the most blood-curdling yell Tad had ever heard. It served Butler's very purpose. The beast halted with one hind foot poised in the air, glaring at Stacy, who was howling more lustily than ever.
Swish!
Tad's lariat shot through the air. His aim was true, his hand steady and cool.
When the startled cat felt the touch of the raw-hide rope against its leg it made a tremendous leap straight ahead.
"Too late!" clicked Tad. "That loop is taut on you now!"
"M-m-murder! Look out!" bellowed Stacy.
For the cat's leap had carried it straight at the fat boy. In fact one sharp set of claws raked the lad from shoulder to waist, though without more than breaking the skin.
That blow settled Stacy.
"I'm dead—-ripped to pieces!" he yelled.
Without waiting to jump from the tree, Stacy simply fell. Over and over on the ground he rolled until he was a dozen yards away from the tree.
"If you're dead," Tad grinned, "get up and come over here, and tell me about it."
Stacy slowly rose to his feet. He was badly shaken, covered with dirt and with some blood showing through the rents in his clothes.
"Nothing but my presence of mind and my speed saved me, anyway,"Chunky grumbled ruefully.
All in a twinkling that whirling yellow ball shot out of the tree, striking the ground before Tad Butler could draw the rope taut. However, the rope still hung over a limb. How the dirt flew! Tad realized that swift action must come ere the beast should make a leap at them.
Stacy started away, but Butler's sharp tone halted him.
"Chunky!" Tad panted.
"What?"
"Get hold of this rope with me. Shake yourself. What ails you? Have you got a streak of yellow in you?"
"I can thrash the fellow who says I have?" roared the fat boy, springing to his feet.
"That's the way to talk. Come, hurry—-get hold here! He's too much for me and he's going to get away from me if you don't lend a hand."
"Wh-what do you want me to do?"
"Grab hold of this rope, I tell you."
Chunky did so, but keeping a wary eye on the rolling, tumbling, spitting yellow ball, which was a full grown mountain lion, and an ugly brute. The king of the canyons, however, was in a most humiliating position for a king of any sort. He had been roped by his left hind foot, the other end of the rope being in the hands of the intrepid Pony Rider boy, Thaddeus Butler. Tad knew well that he had a good thing and he proposed to hang on as long as there was an ounce of strength left in his body. By this time Stacy had gotten a grip on the rope.
"Now pull steadily until I tell you to stop."
Slowly, digging his claws into the dirt, biting at the rope that held him fast, the cat was drawn toward the pinyon tree despite all his struggles. Tad's object was to pull the beast off its feet, in which position it would be unable to do very much damage.
Perhaps the cat realized something of this, for all of a sudden it sprang to the base of the tree and with a roar landed up among the lower limbs.
Ere the beast even felt the touch of the tree limb under its feet, the brave Chunky was several rods away peering from behind a rock, howling like a Comanche Indian.
Tad, too, had made some lively moves. The instant he saw that the cat was going to jump he took a quick twist about the tree, shortening the rope until it was taut. He made a quick knot, then leaped back out of the way. But none too soon. The cat pounced on the spot where he had been standing, narrowly missing the boy. But the rope was free of the limb of the tree over which it had been first drawn. The beast was free to gambol about as far as the rope would permit.
The boy's mind was still working rapidly.
"Run to the guns, Chunky. Shoot and keep shooting until you attract the attention of the rest of the party. We've got to have help. We never shall be able to handle him ourselves, and I want to save him."
Stacy hesitated.
"Run, I tell you!" shouted Butler. "Don't stand there like a statue.Go!"
Chunky jumped as if he had been hit, and ran limping toward the place where they had left their weapons and their mustangs. He found both, though Chunky was too excited to notice the ponies at all. Already they were restless, having scented the mountain lion.
Snatching up his own rifle, Stacy fired six shots in rapid succession. Then grabbing the other gun, he let six more go, but continued snapping the firing pin on the empty chamber after all the cartridges had been exploded, before he realized that he was not shooting at all. Stacy in trying to reload fumbled and made a mess of it, spilling a lot of shells on the ground, most of which he was unable to find again.
"We got him! We got him!" the fat boy kept chuckling to himself. "We certainly have done it this time."
Finally he got one gun loaded, and had fired it off six times when he heard Tad Butler's "Whoo-e-e-e-e."
Chunky hurried back to his companion.
"They've answered," called Tad.
In the meantime the latter had been having a lively time. He knew that were he to give the least possible chance the beast would bite the rope off and escape even if he did no worse. It was to prevent this that the boy exerted all his ingenuity and effort. This consisted of whoops and howls, throwing rocks at the animal, dodging in now and then to whack the lion with a piece from a limb that had been broken down by the cat in its thrashing above.
The dust was flying. At times it seemed as if the lion must have gotten the hardy Pony Rider boy. At such times the lithe, active form of Tad Butler could be seen leaping from the cloud of dust while the beast followed with savage lunges to the end of its rope. It seemed impossible to tire out either boy or cat.
It was this condition of affairs that Stacy Brown came upon on his return. He stood gazing at the scene, fascinated.
"Look out, Tad! He'll get you!" shouted the boy.
"Get in here and give him a poke in the ribs," cried Butler.
"Not for a million dollars, badly as I need money," returned the fat boy. "What do you take me for, an animal trainer?"
"Then I'll have to keep on doing it till Mr. Nance gets here to help me. This is the greatest thing we've ever done, old boy!"
"Yes, it'll be a great thing when the brute hands you one from those garden rakes of his. Get away and I'll shoot him," directed Stacy, swinging his rifle into position.
"Put that gun down!" thundered Tad. "You'll be winging me next thing you do. Put it down, I say!"
Stacy grumblingly obeyed. Meanwhile the gymnastic exercise continued with unabated vigor. There was not an instant's pause. The mountain lion was busier perhaps than it ever had been in its life. It was battling for its life, too, and it knew it.
Once Tad was raked from head to foot by a vicious claw, but the Pony Rider boy merely laughed. His endurance, too, was most remark able. Stacy would hardly get within gun-shot of the beast, always standing near a tree convenient for climbing. Tad was not saying much now. He was rather too busy for conversation. At last the report of a rifle was heard not far away.
"Answer them. It's the gang," called Tad. Chunky fired a shot into the air, following it with four others. It was only a short time before Jim Nance with Professor Zepplin and the two other boys came dashing up, shouting to know where Tad and Chunky were. They saw Chunky first, on guard with his rifle as if holding off an enemy.
"What's the trouble?" cried Nance.
"We've got him! We've got him!" yelled Stacy.
About that time Nance discovered the swirling cloud of dust, from which at intervals emerged a yellow ball. The guide caught the significance of the scene at a single glance.
"It's a cat," howled Ned. "Let me shoot him."
"Put away your guns. I guess we know how to catch lions in a scientific manner," declared Stacy.
"They've roped the cat," snapped the guide. "Beats anything I ever heard of." He was off his mustang instantly and running toward Tad. "Keep him busy, keep him busy, boy. I'll fix him for you in a minute."
"I don't want you to kill him."
"I'm not going to. We've got to stretch him."
Tad did not know what stretching meant in this particular instance, but he was soon to learn. Nance got off to one side of the busy scene, then directed Tad to ease up a bit. The boy did so. He saw that Dad, too, was planning to use his lariat, though the boy had no idea in what way. The cat instantly sat down and began tearing at its bonds. All at once Nance's rope shot through the air. It caught the lion fairly around the neck.
For a few moments the air was full of streaks of yellow. The cat was now fast at both ends. The neck hold was the worse of the two, for it choked the beast and soon tired him out.
"Now stretch him," directed the guide.
"How do you mean?"
"Take a single hitch about the tree with your rope, so that we can straighten him out."
This Tad did, while Nance performed a similar service on his own line, being careful not to choke the lion to death. During this latter part of the proceeding the party that had up to that time held off, now approached.
"Will he bite?" asked Walter.
"Stick your finger in his mouth and see?" jeered Chunky. "He can scratch, too. But we got him, didn't we? We're the original lion tamers from the wild and woolly West."
"Come, who is going to tie those claws together, Stacy?" demanded the guide.
"Do what?"
"Tie the cat's feet together."
"Let the Professor do it. He hasn't done anything yet on this trip.Besides, I've got to stand here ready to shoot if the lion gets away.If it weren't for that I'd tie his feet."
"Here, you tie his feet, then. I'll handle the gun," volunteered Ned, stepping forward.
Chunky drew back.
"If some one will hold my end of the line I'll attend to that little matter," said Tad.
"I guess it's time I did something around here," interjected Ned."What do you want me to do, Mr. Nance?"
"Take your rope, watch your opportunity and rope the forward legs. After that is done have somebody hold the rope while you tie the feet securely together."
Ned roped the feet without further question, then handing the line to Walter Perkins, he calmly tied together the feet of the snarling, spitting beast. The same was done with the hind feet, though the latter proved to be much more dangerous than the forward feet. But the mouth of the animal was still free. He could bite and he did make desperate efforts to get at his captors. They took good care that he did not reach them. Chunky suggested that they pull the cat's teeth, so he couldn't bite. Tad wanted to know if they couldn't put a muzzle on.
"The question is what are you going to do with him, now that you have him?" demanded the Professor.
"That's the first sane word that's been spoken since we arrived here," grinned Nance.
"We are going to take him back to camp, of course," declared Tad.
"Of course we are. Don't you understand, we're going to take him back to camp," affirmed Stacy.
"What's your plan, Butler?" asked Nance.
"If you leave it to me, I'll show you."
"Go ahead."
Tad cut a long, tough sapling. This, after some effort, he managed to pass through the loop made by the bound legs of the lion. This strung the beast on the pole.
"Now, we'll fasten the two ends to two ponies," decided the lad.
Silver Face and Walter's pony having been broken in on the previous day, these two were chosen to carry the prize. They did not object, and in a short time the procession started off for camp, with the lion, back down, strung on the pole between two ponies, snarling, spitting, roaring out his resentment, while Chunky, leading the way, was singing at the top of his voice:
"Tad Butler is the man; he goes to all the shows, he sticks his head in the lion's mouth and tells you all he knows. Who-o-o-pe-e-e!"
Jim Nance didn't say much, but from the way he looked at Tad Butler, a quizzical smile playing about the corners of his mouth, it was plain that he was filled with admiration for the young Pony Rider who could take a lion practically single-handed.
As yet the story of the capture had not been told. Their prize must first be taken care of. This part of the affair Nance looked after personally. He found a few strands of wire in his kit and with these he made a collar and a wire leader that led out to where the tough lariat began. To this the lion was fastened, his forefeet left bound, the hind feet being liberated In this condition he was tied to a tree in the camp in Bright Angel Gulch.
Chunky was not sure that he liked the arrangement. He was wondering whether lions were gifted with the proverbial memory of elephants. If so, and if the big cat should get loose in the night, Chunky knew what would happen to himself. The boy determined to sleep with one eye open, his rifle beside his bed. He would die fighting bravely for his life. He was determined upon that.
Around the camp fire a jolly party of boys gathered that night after supper, their merry conversation interrupted occasionally by a snarling and growling from the captive.
"Now, young gentlemen, we are anxious to hear the story of the capture," said the Professor.
"Oh, it was nothing," answered Stacy airily. "It was nothing for us. Shooting cats is too tame for such hunters as Tad and me. We just saw him up a tree—-that is, I saw him, and——-"
"Where were you?" interrupted Nance.
"I was up the same tree," answered Stacy.
"I'll bet the cat treed him," shouted Ned Rector. "How about it, Tad?"
"Chunky's telling the story. Let him tell it in his own way."
"I'll tell you about it, fellows. I was up a tree looking for lions. I found one. He was sitting in the same tree with me. He was licking his chops. You see, he wanted a slice of me, I'm so tender and so delicious——-"
"So is a rhinoceros," interjected Ned.
"If the gentleman will wait until I have finished he may have the floor to himself. Well, that's about all. I yelled for Tad. He came running, and he roped the cat."
"Then what did you do?" questioned Walter.
"Oh, I fell out of the tree. Look at this!" shouted Stacy as soon as he was able to make himself heard above the laughter, pointing to his ripped clothes. "That's where the beast made a pass at me. I'm wounded, I am; wounded in a hand-to-hand conflict with the king of the canyon. How would that read in the Chillicothe 'Gazette' I'm going to dash off something after this fashion to send them: 'Stacy Brown, our distinguished fellow citizen, globe-trotter, hunter of big game and nature lover, was seriously wounded last week in the Grand Canyon of Arizona——-'"
"In what part of your anatomy is the Grand Canyon located?" questionedNed Rector. "I rise for information."
"The Grand Canyon is where the Pony Rider Boys store their food," returned Stacy quickly. "Where did I leave off?"
"You were lost in the Canyon," reminded Walter.
"Oh, yes. 'Was seriously wounded in the Grand Canyon in a desperate battle with the largest lion ever caught in the mountains. Assisted by Thaddeus Butler, also of Chillicothe, Mr. Brown succeeded in capturing the lion alive, after his bloodstained garments had been nearly stripped from his person.'"
"The lion's bloodstained garments?" inquired Walter mildly.
"No, mine, of course. 'Mr. Brown, it is said, will recover from his wounds, though he will bear the scars of the conflict the rest of his life.' Ahem! I guess that will hold the boys on our block for a time," finished Chunky, swelling out his chest. "Yes, that'll make them prisoners for life," agreed Ned Rector.
"I think I shall have to edit that account before it goes to the paper," declared Professor Zepplin.
"How can you edit it when you didn't see the affair?" demanded Chunky.
"Editors are not supposed to see beyond the point of the pencil they are using," answered Ned. "But they know the failings of the fellows who do the writing."
"What do you know about it? You never were an editor," scoffed Stacy.
"No, but I'd like to be for about an hour after your article reached the 'Gazette' office."
"How about giving that cat something to eat, Mr. Nance?" asked Tad, thus changing the subject.
The guide shook his head.
"He wouldn't eat; at least not for a while."
"What do lions eat?" asked Walter.
"That one tried to eat me," replied Stacy. "I don't like the look in his eye at all. It says, just as plain as if it were printed, 'I'd like to have you served upa-la-mode.'"
At this juncture, Jim Nance walked over; with a burning brand in hand, to look at the cat's fastenings. The lion jumped at him. Jim poked the firebrand into the animal's face, which sent the cat back the full length of his tether. After examining the fastenings carefully, Nance pronounced them so secure that the beast would not get away.
The ponies had been tethered some distance from where the prize was tied, the dogs being placed with the ponies so that they might not be disturbed by the captive during the night and thus keep the camp awake with their barks and growls.
After a time all hands went to bed, crawling into their blankets, where they were soon fast asleep. Late in the night Nance sat up. He thought he had heard the lion growl. Stepping to the door of the tent he listened. Not a sound could be heard save the mysterious whisperings of the Canyon. Jim went back to bed, not to awaken until the sun was up on the following morning.
Tad Butler, hearing the guide rise after daylight, turned out at the same time. Tad stepped outside, his first thought being for the captive. The Pony Rider boy's eyes grew large as he gazed at the tree where the cat had been left the evening before. There was no lion there.
"Hey, Mr. Nance, did you move the cat?"
"No. Why?"
"He isn't where we left him last night."
"What?" Nance was out on the jump. "Sure as you're alive he's gone.Now doesn't that beat all?"
Tad had hurried over to the place where he stood gloomily surveying the scene.
"I wonder where the rope and wire are?"
"That's so. He must have carried the whole business with him."
"How could he? How could he have untied the wire from the tree? There is something peculiar about this affair, Dad."
Whatever Dad's opinion might have been, he did not express it at the moment. Instead he got down on all fours, examining the ground carefully, going over every inch of it for several rods about the scene.
"Well this does git me," he declared, standing up, scratching his head reflectively.
By that time the rest of the party had come out.
"The lion's gone," shouted Tad.
"What, my lion got away?" wailed Chunky. "And he didn't take a chunk out of me to carry away with him?"
"I had no idea we could hold him. Of course he gnawed the rope in two," nodded the Professor.
"He didn't get loose of his own accord, sir," replied the guide.
"Then you don't mean to tell me that some person or persons liberated him?"
"I don't mean to tell you anything, because I don't know anything about it. I never was so befuddled in my life. I'm dead-beat, Professor."
Tad was gloomy. He had hoped to take the lion home with them, having already planned where he would keep the beast until the town, which he thought of presenting it to, had prepared a place for the gift. Now his hopes had been dashed. He had no idea that they would be able to get another lion. It was not so easy as all that. But how had the beast gotten away? There was a mystery about it fully as perplexing as had been the loss of Stacy's rifle. Tad was beginning to think, with Dad, that mysterious forces were, indeed, at work in the Grand Canyon.
While he was brooding over the problem, Chunky, emulating the movements of the guide, was down on hands and knees, examining the ground.
"Find any footprints?" called Ned in a jeering voice.
Stacy did not reply. His brow was wrinkled; his face wore a wise expression.
"Look out that you don't get bitten," warned Walter mischievously.
"By what?" demanded Stacy, glancing up.
"Footprints," answered Ned.
"Could any person have gotten in here and let the cat go without our having heard him, Mr. Nance?" asked Tad Butler.
"I reckon he couldn't."
"Did you hear anything in the night, Nance?" questioned the Professor.
"Come to think of it, I did get up once. I heard the cat growling, or thought I did, but after I had looked out and seen nothing, nor heard anything, I went back to bed again and didn't know anything more till sun-up. I guess I'm pretty slow. I'm getting old for a certainty."
"No; there is something peculiar, something very strange about this affair, Professor," spoke up Tad.
"Due wholly to natural causes," declared the Professor.
"No, I reckon you're wrong there, Professor," said Nance. "I'd have understood natural causes. It's the unnatural causes that gets a fellow."
"I've spotted it, I've spotted it! I know who freed the lion!" howled Stacy.
All hands rushed to him.
"Who, what, how, where, when?" demanded five voices at once.
"Yes, sir, I've found it. That lion——-"
"Don't joke," rebuked the Professor.
"I'm not joking. I know what I'm talking about. That cat was let go by a one-legged Indian. Now maybe you won't say I'm not a natural born sleuth," exclaimed the fat boy proudly.
"A one-legged Indian?" chorused the lads.
"He's crazy," grumbled Dad. "He has cat on the brain."
"That's better than having nothing but hair on the brain," retortedStacy witheringly.
"How do you know a one-legged Indian has been here?" questioned Tad, seeing that Chunky was in earnest.
"Look here," said the boy, pointing to a moccasin print in the soft turf at that point. "There's the right foot. Where's the left? Why there wasn't any left, of course. He had only one foot."
"Then he must have carried a crutch," laughed Ned. "Look for the crutch mark and then you'll have the mystery solved."
Jim Nance chuckled. Stacy regarded the guide with disapproving eyes.
"Tell me so I can laugh too," begged Chunky soberly.
"Why, you poor little tenderfoot, don't you know how that one track got there?"
Chunky shook his head.
"Well, that cowardly half breed that you call Chow was crossing the rocks here when the cat made a pass at him. Chow made a long leap. One foot struck there, the other about ten feet the other side. He hadn't time to put the second foot down else the cat would have got him. A one-legged Indian! Oh, help!"
"Haw-haw-haw!" mocked Stacy, striding away disgustedly while the shouts of his companions were ringing in his burning ears.
But the mystery was unsolved. Tad did not believe it ever would be, though he never ceased puzzling over it for a moment. That day no one got a lion, though on the second day following Ned Rector shot a small cat. Tad did not try to shoot. He wandered with Chunky all over the peaks and through the Canyon in that vicinity trying to rope more lions.
"You let that job out," ordered the guide finally. "Don't you know you're monkeying with fire? First thing you know you won't know anything. One of these times a cat'll put you to sleep for a year of Sundays."
"I guess you are right. Not that I am afraid, but there is no sense in taking such long chances. I'll drop it. I ought to be pretty well satisfied with what I have done."
Tad kept his word. He made no further attempts to rope mountain lions. In the succeeding few days three more cats were shot. It was on the night of the fourth day after the escape of the captive that at something very exciting occurred in Camp Butler.
The camp was silent, all its occupants sound asleep, when suddenly they were brought bounding from their cots by frightful howls and yells of fear. The howls came from the tent of Stacy Brown. Stacy himself followed, leaping out into what they called the company street, dancing up and down, still howling at the top of his voice. Clad in pajamas, the fat boy was unconsciously giving a clever imitation of an Indian ghost dance.
Professor Zepplin was the first to reach the fat boy. He gave Chunky a violent shaking, while Nance was darting about the camp to see that all was right. He saw nothing unusual.
"What is the meaning of this, young man?" demanded the Professor.
"I seen it, I seen it," howled Stacy.
"What did you see?"
"A ghost! I seen a ghost!"
"You mean you 'saw' a ghost, not you 'seen'," corrected the Professor.
"I tell you Iseena ghost. I guess if you'd seen a ghost you wouldn't stop to choose words. You'd just howl like a lunatic in your own natural language——-"
Dad hastily threw more wood on the dying camp fire.
"I guess you had a nightmare," suggested Tad.
"It wasn't a mare, it was a man," persisted Stacy.
"He's crazy. Pity he doesn't catch sleeping sickness," scoffed Ned.
"Tell us what you did see," urged the Professor in a milder tone.
"I—-I was sleeping in—-in there when all at once I woke up——-"
"You thought you did, perhaps," nodded Walter.
"I didn't think anything of the sort. I know I did. Maybe I'd heard something. Well, I woke up and there—-and there——-" Chunky's eyes grew big, he stared wildly across the camp fire as if the terrifying scene were once more before him. "I woke up."
"You have told us that before," reminded Dad, who had joined the group.
"I woke up——-"
"That makes four times you woke up," laughed Ned. "You must, indeed, have had a restless night."
"I woke up——-"
"What again?"
"You wouldn't laugh if you'd seen what I saw" retorted the fat boy, with serious face. "There, right at the entrance of the tent, was a ghost!"
"What kind of a ghost?" asked Dad.
"Just a ghost-ghost. It was all white and shiny and—-br-r-r-r!" shivered the boy. "It grinning. I could see right through it!"
"You must be an X-ray machine," declared Tad, chuckling.
"It didn't need anything of that sort. He was so shimmery that you could see right through him."
"What became of the spook? Did he fly up?" asked the guide.
"No, the spook just spooked," replied Stacy.
"How do you mean?" questioned Professor Zepplin.
"He thawed out like a snowball, just melted away when I yelled."
"Very thrilling, very thrilling. Most remarkable. A matter for scientific investigation," muttered the Professor, but whether he were in earnest or not the boys could not gather from his expressionless countenance.
"What did Chunky have for supper?" asked Walter.
"What didn't he have?" scoffed the guide. "We have to eat fast or we wouldn't get enough to keep up our strength."
"I guess I don't get any more than my share," retorted Stacy. "I have to work for that, too."
"Well, I'm going to bed," announced Ned Rector. "You fellows may sit up here and tell ghost stories all the rest of the night if you want to. It's me for the feathers."
"You're right, Ned," agreed Tad. "We are a lot of silly boys to be so upset over a fellow who has had a crazy nightmare. Professor, don't you think you ought to give Stacy some medicine?"
"Yes, give him something to make him sleep," chuckled Walter.
The boy was interrupted by a roar from Ned Rector's tent. Ned was shouting angrily. He burst out into the circle of light shed by the camp fire, waving his hands above his head.
"They've got mine, they've got mine!" he yelled, dancing about with a very good imitation of the ghost dance so recently executed by the fat boy.
"Got what?" demanded Dad sternly, striding forward.
"Somebody's stolen my rifle. The spook's robbed me. It's gone and all my cartridges and my revolver and——-"
The camp was in an uproar instantly. Chunky was nodding with satisfaction.
"It wasn't stolen. The spook just spooked it, that's all," he declared convincingly.
"But you must be in error, Ned," cried the Professor.
"I'm not. It's gone. I left it beside my bed. It isn't there now.I tell you somebody's been in this camp and robbed me!"
A sudden silence settled over the camp. The boys looked into each other's faces questioningly. Was this another mystery of the Bright Angel Gulch? They could not understand.
"Mebby the kid did see a ghost after all," muttered the guide.
"The kid did. And I guess the kid ought to know," returned Stacy pompously.