Mason of Bar X Ranch

“Yes,” she answered sleepily, though her heart was beating wildly. “I thought I heard someone shoot.”

Powers made no reply to this. Josephine’s mind was in an agony of torment as she heard the men beating the bushes and searching the rocks. Soon she heard them returning.

“Whatever it was I made a hit,” she heard Powers say. “I found a drop of blood on the rocks out there. I’m sure it was an animal of some kind.”

Josephine listened, and her heart grew heavy. Then she thought that if Rover had been hit and was able to get away, she reasoned that he would be sure to make for home all the faster. The thought gave her courage, and she rose quickly and washed. She tried to eat a little breakfast which the men offered her, but the food seemed to choke her. The outlaws were making preparations to leave. Josephine knew what their dastardly mission was, and she felt sick and dizzy.

She saw Powers coming towards her with a piece of tough rawhide in his hand.

“I am going to tie you up so you can’t run away. You can holler all you want to, but there won’t anybody hear you,” he said with a grin.

Josephine threw herself down wearily on the bunk in the shanty. The outlaw had tied her hands securely behind her back. She worked frantically trying to free her hands, but gave it up as useless for the tough rawhide cut her wrists until they bled. She turned her face to the wall with a heavy sob and a prayer on her lips that her dog would arrive home in time to save Bud and his men from certain death. Her only hope was to wait patiently and pray that some of the cowboys would be able to break through the cordon of outlaws lying in wait for them.

CHAPTER VII – THE RESCUE

After the ranch owner had been sent back to Bar X the men under Bud’s command rode until they reached the foothills. Dawn was breaking when the cowboys separated, each group going in an opposite direction. The plan was to make a wide detour and beat the mountains thoroughly. The leader of each party swore he would bring the halfbreed in dead or alive. They were all convinced that he had stolen Josephine away and that he had possibly been joined by Powers in the outrage.

Bud led one group of cowboys with Big Joe Turner in command of the other group. It fell to Mason’s lot to go with Turner, and he had as company Tex, Scotty and MacNutt, with a few others he was not so well acquainted with. Big Joe’s command was ordered to circle the mountains and search all available hiding places. Then they were to ride with all possible speed to Ricker’s and make inquiry there if they failed to pick up a clue in the mountains.

Both parties were to report at the Bar X ranch by nightfall and hold a consultation.

Bud had with him Buck Miller, Red Sullivan and the rest of the cowboys. The two parties numbered twelve picked men and they were all good fighters. Big Joe and his men rode all that day beating in and out of the mountains without a halt. MacNutt had kept up with them with amazing endurance, and even Scotty had begun to treat him with a little more respect. Mason was firmly convinced that the man had come among them with some secret purpose, and he determined to question him at the first favorable opportunity. There were times when MacNutt, thinking himself unobserved, would drop the mask of frivolous gayety, and a hard look would come into his eyes while he appeared to be thinking deeply. It was these sudden changes in the man that had caused Mason to regard him with suspicion.

None of the other cowboys of the ranch had noticed anything peculiar about the man outside of his levity, and Mason resolved to watch him more closely in the future.

It was an exhausted group of men that halted in the mountains that night to confer as to their next move. They had failed miserably to pick up any clue of the whereabouts of Josephine and her captors.

The cowboys were in an ugly mood by this time. On their hunt they had seen nothing of Bud and his men.

Mason’s strength had seemed superhuman as he untiringly urged the men on to greater efforts.

The shock caused by the halfbreed’s bullet had left him, and except for a faint scar on his temple he showed no signs of his close call from death.

Scotty was in a fretful mood and urged them to make Ricker’s at once in the hope of picking up some information.

“I’ll tell you what we had better do,” he spoke up eagerly. “We’ll go to Ricker’s and stand watch all night. We can stay just far enough away so they won’t get on to us, and maybe the half breed will try to sneak through our line. What do you think of the idea, Joe?”

Big Joe Turner did some quick thinking.

“Sounds good to me,” he said at last. “Bud wanted us to meet him to-night at Bar X, but if Powers is with the halfbreed, and I am convinced he is, we can do no better than to watch Ricker’s all night.”

“And there is a chance that one of them may try to sneak back there for supplies or something, and we will stand a chance of catching one of them,” cut in Tex, giving his belt an extra hitch.

The plan was agreed to at once, and they pressed their tired horses hard to get to the ranch before it became too dark. Scotty was delighted that his plan had been accepted, and listened eagerly as Big Joe explained the methods they were to employ.

“We will ride up to within fifty yards or so of the ranch,” he was saying, “and we will surround the house and keep watch all night. If nothing develops we will draw off in the morning and make for home to hear what Bud has to report.”

A set of signals was then carefully prepared and understood by all. By the time they reached Ricker’s it was quite dark, but the stars snowed plainly.

Big Joe placed his men and they all settled down for an all-night vigil.

Their horses had been picketed far enough away so that if any of them should whinny they could not be heard at the ranch. To Mason, who lay prone on the ground staring into the inky darkness, for the stars had disappeared and a faint breeze had sprung up, this watching was dull business. He was stationed next to Tex, and after catching himself on the verge of falling asleep, he gave a signal that Tex understood and wormed his way cautiously towards him.

“I nearly fell asleep, Tex,” he said in a low whisper as he made out the form of his fellow sentinel.

“This is new business for you, lad,” the other returned in a like whisper. “You looked about done up to-day, man.”

It was a fact and Mason admitted it to himself. What with the terrific riding and his constant worry about their failure to find any trace of Josephine, it all had raised havoc with his nerves. He realized at last that he was in love with her and the thought that she cared for Bud brought a groan of anguish from him. Tex, who had been searching his pockets, held a flask towards him.

“Here, Jack, take a drink of this brandy and brace up,” he said in a kindly whisper.

Mason hesitated. He had gotten over the notion of taking any strong drink, but he knew if he was to keep up his strength he must have some stimulant.

“Don’t be foolish, man,” Tex said in a curt whisper. “I know you need it, and we can’t have any one lag on us now; the boys are prepared to follow that devil of a halfbreed for weeks if they have to.”

Mason knew that Tex was right, and took a drink of the brandy. It proved to be just what he needed and he felt his strength returning. There would be no occasion for anybody to accuse him of lagging behind while Josephine was in danger, he resolved, gritting his teeth. He started to return to his former post, but Tex insisted that they keep watch together. Mason agreed, and they conversed in low whispers as the night wore slowly away. Once, during their vigil, Tex grasped Mason firmly by the arm, and he could feel that the cowboy’s muscles were set rigid.

“What is it, Tex?” he questioned with set lips.

“I’m sure I heard something move up there near the house,” the cowboy answered in a scarcely audible whisper. “I’m going to give the signal to find out if the boys heard anything.”

Tex imitated the call of the whippoorwill. The answering signal came back to them in the negative. The cowboy swore softly.

“I’m sure something moved up there near the house, but the boys didn’t hear or see anything, so all we can do is to watch,” he confided to Mason in a disgruntled voice.

The halfbreed had slipped by the cowboys on his mission to Waneda without being seen by them!

Shortly after this incident a light appeared in one of the rooms.

“Something doing now,” Tex muttered tersely.

A minute later a door opened on their side of the house and to the watchers’ astonishment Waneda, the Spanish girl, appeared carrying a lighted lantern.

“Now, what in thunder is she up to this time of night?” growled Tex, as he gave the recall signal.

The cowboys grouped around him in answer to the signal. Big Joe pushed forward.

“I saw the light and the girl,” he said guardedly, addressing Tex. “What do you suppose it means?”

“I can’t figure it out,” the cowboy replied with a puzzled air. “Unless some one is sick in the house and she’s going to the Post for medicine. Didn’t any one of you hear a noise just before I gave this last signal?”

They all protested that they had not heard a sound or seen anything move during their watch.

“What did you imagine you heard, Tex?” queried Scotty.

“I didn’t imagine it, I know I heard something move up there near the house, and it sounded like a scuffling noise,” Tex retorted angrily. “I’m watching that light now. The girl is leading a horse from the corral. Shall we hold her up when she gets a few miles away?”

“No, let her go,” Big Joe answered shortly. “Go back to your stations men, it lacks but a few hours before daylight, and keep a closer watch than ever. If you hear any noise that sounds suspicious again, Tex, give the signal and we will close in on the place and force an entrance.”