Mason of Bar X Ranch

This time he broke down completely and under promise that he would be given a shorter prison sentence he told in broken English how he and his pal had entered the secret passage just as the fight was taking place at the ranch. Knowing Bud’s men to be there in force he had signaled to Ricker that he would bide his time and wait for a chance to rescue his chief.

He had intended to pick up some more men of his own kind, and if necessary cut his way through Bud’s men by a sudden dash and rescue his chief.

He had planned all this with his pal, and they were about to leave the secret passage when they heard Scotty and Mason moving about close to the hidden door of the wall. The sharp ears of the halfbreed heard one of them say he was going for a light and listening closely he discovered that the man who was to wait was Mason. Prudence told the halfbreed to leave at once and bring help to his chief, but his burning hate for Mason caused him to linger with the hope of getting the latter in his power.

As the reader already knows, Mason had succeeded in finding the way to open the secret door and had played right into the hands of the halfbreed, while his pal had crept cautiously behind him and dealt the vicious blow that had robbed him of his senses until revived by the Marshal. The sudden coming of the Marshal with Scotty had caused the halfbreed to change his plan to make Mason a prisoner and he had fled, with Scotty in close pursuit, but the latter had the halfbreed’s pal to reckon with, a fact that nearly cost him his life.

The work of the Marshal with Bud’s aid in breaking up the power of Ricker’s evil gang of gunmen was a notable performance. This man, chief of the counterfeiters and outlaws, had long held the country in awe of his desperate gang of gunmen, whom he controlled with an iron hand.

Many a case of robbery and cattle running had been laid to his master hand, but so cleverly had the work been accomplished that it was impossible to get direct evidence against him.

Dawn was breaking when the Marshal announced his work at the ranch as finished and the cowboys with their prisoners were lined up outside. The plan was for the Marshal to take charge of the prisoners and turn them over to the proper authorities, thus relieving Bud of all responsibility. Two of Bud’s men were to remain at the ranch until they had sealed up the secret passage and to watch out for suspicious characters.

The negro woman was provided with a horse after Bud had decided to take her back with him to Bar X ranch. The horses and cattle of the Ricker ranch were to be taken care of by some of Bud’s men until the courts had decided how many of Ricker’s cowboys were implicated in running the counterfeiting plant.

Bud sent a couple of his men after their horses that had been picketed about half a mile from the ranch, and upon their coming up the party mounted and headed for Trader’s Post. On their arrival there the party separated, after the Marshal had received a hearty handshake from all the cowboys of the Bar X ranch. The Marshal’s duties were to take his prisoners to the little railway station and catch the nine o’clock express, then after seeing them safely jailed his duties were ended. It was with genuine regret that Mason watched him depart. He had come to admire the Marshal’s good humor, and as he recalled in his mind the way the detective had fooled him all along with his half-witted smile and awkward shuffling gait, he smiled at the man’s clever deception.

Trent Burton, the halfwit, and Trent Burton in action, were two different persons.

It was a long weary ride to the ranch, and when the cowboys arrived there they were about fagged out. Josephine and Ethel were at the corral to meet them, and as Mason turned his horse over to one of the men, Josephine noticed his wounded arm and immediately ordered him to the ranch, showing great concern over his injury.

“My wound is nothing serious,” he protested in answer to anxious questions. “My arm will be lame for a few weeks, and then it will be all right again. The doctor at Ricker’s ranch fixed me up in fine shape.”

The sight of the two girls had acted like a tonic to his jaded system. The ranch owner, who had been talking with Bud, now walked hurriedly over to them.

“Bud tells me you put in a hard night of it, Jack,” he said, eyeing him anxiously. “I have ordered Pomp, our cook, to prepare a hot breakfast for you at the house, and we are going to have the negress you boys brought back with you to cook for the boys at the bunk-house. I don’t intend to swap Pomp for the woman until I know what she can do in the way of cooking, and we know Pomp to be excellent.”

“And I will have the doctor come and dress your arm, Sir Jack, just as soon as you have had your breakfast, but I guess we had better call it dinner, as it is almost noontime,” Josephine cut in eagerly; “and then you can tell us all about your adventure and how you got wounded. Oh, I almost forgot to tell you the good news. Tex is feeling much better and the doctor says he will surely recover.”

“I’m very glad to hear that,” he answered, keeping his eyes on the face of the girl.

He thought her eyes looked unusually bright this morning.

They walked slowly to the ranch, Mason between the two girls, who kept up a running fire of questions about his wound.

“You girls are trying to make too much of a hero of me,” he protested, smiling at their eagerness to welcome him back.

At the house he speedily convinced his mother that he was in no danger from his wound, and the girls continued to besiege him with questions concerning the night raid. He was seated in one of the large easy chairs in the library and every once in a while Josephine left him for a mysterious visit to the kitchen.

He could hear the rattle of dishes and a savory smell of cooking filled the room every time she opened the door.

“We are going to have Bud and Scotty dine with us,” Josephine announced after one of her visits. “And there will be just those two, with you, Ethel and myself. Pomp is doing himself proud. I told him he is to be our steady cook, as the cowboys are going to have the negro woman to cook for them in the future. I have arranged it with Dad, and you know he just about lets me have my own way in most things. I have always wanted Pomp for our steady cook and he will take a lot of hard work off of mother. All I can get out of Pomp is, ‘Yes, Missus, ’deed Missus, I will show dem gem-mens I can shore cook,’ and he is grinning from ear to ear.”

Soon Bud and Scotty arrived, and a little later Pomp announced that the meal was served, while Josephine conducted them to the dining-room where plates for five were laid. It was more of a banquet than a dinner, and during the meal Mason, with the help of Bud and Scotty, furnished the girls with all the details of the night’s raid. Ethel and Josephine listened with eyes open wide in astonishment when they came to the part in the story about the secret passage and the counterfeiter’s den, but when Mason told them of Trent Burton’s part in the raid they were amazed.

“And to think that man took us all in like that!” Josephine cried in wonder. “Sir Jack, did you have any idea that MacNutt was anything more than he pretended to be?”

She shook her finger playfully at him.

“No,” he answered slowly, as all eyes were turned upon him. “But I did seem to place a lot of confidence in him, and really I can’t explain the reason why. At times I felt the man was playing a double game, but that was as far as I could get with him, and you may be sure I was as surprised as anyone in the room when he called the turn on Ricker.”

“I admit that I took him for a plain damn fool all the time,” Bud said shortly.

Scotty nodded his head vigorously.

“Me, the same,” he said looking sheepish.

After the meal the doctor came in and gave Mason’s arm a new dressing, after which he was ordered to bed for rest. Josephine laid down some strict rules for him to follow in the matter of giving his arm a much-needed rest, with the healing promise that if he heeded them she would read to him in her leisure hours.

CHAPTER XV – THE DANCE AT THE GAYLOR RANCH

Six weeks had passed and business was running smoothly again at the Bar X ranch. Mason had fully recovered from his wound and Tex was also able to be about, although his complete recovery was still a matter of time. No word had been heard from Trent Burton, the Marshal, since he had taken his prisoners away. His services were in great demand by the Government, and the opinion prevailed at the ranch that he was working on a hard criminal case somewhere in the East. The Marshal had seemed anxious to dispose of the Ricker case in a hurry, saying that he had matters of great importance awaiting him at headquarters.

One fine morning, Mason feeling the need of exercise, found himself longing for a spin in his racing car. He had not been out in it since the time he drove to the station with Josephine to meet his mother and sister. The idea getting a firm hold on him, he made his way to the shed that did duty as a garage, with the intention of giving the car a careful overhauling. He paused as he was about to open the door, and looked down the trail leading to Trader’s Post.

It was a magnificent morning with a gentle breeze sweeping up the valley. He smiled as he made out the figures of Waneda and Tex just coming out of the bunk-house and headed his way. The Spanish girl called regularly on Tex every morning, and insisted that he take a walk in the warm sunshine. It was due to this fact that the cowboy was recovering so rapidly. The lanky cowboy had taken a great liking to his Spanish nurse with the large dreamy eyes, and it didn’t take very hard coaxing on her part to get him to take a walk when the weather was fine.

Mason was working industriously on his racer when the pair came up and looked in on him.

“Good morning, Tex,” he called cheerfully, bowing to Waneda. “Want to take a ride in my racer? I can take both of you to Trader’s Post and back again before breakfast is ready.”

Tex was eyeing the machine distrustfully.

“Nope,” he answered laconically. “A hoss is plenty good enough for me. What if the blamed thing got to frisking balky like? I reckon I ain’t afraid of no hoss that walks, but if this here critter got to acting up peevish like, why I know I sure would jump out. I ain’t got no objections to the gal here a-going with you if she likes.”

Before Waneda could answer two riders rode past them on their way to the ranch. Tex looked after them in surprise.

“Bruce and Lem Gaylor from the Gaylor ranch across the valley from us,” he said in a puzzled tone. “Wonder what they want this early in the morning?”

“Probably nothing serious,” Mason answered, briskly, turning his attention to getting his car in running order.

“People can begin to enjoy life again in this part of the country, now that the Ricker gang has been cleaned out,” he resumed. “Tex, doesn’t it seem good to know you can ride this range without bumping into some of Ricker’s cut-throats?”

Tex frowned darkly.

“Huh,” he snorted, “he’s got plenty of friends scattered around these parts, and I have been tipped off that Nick Cover’s cousin is going to get me on sight; his cousin works on a small ranch that joins Gaylor’s boundary line, and they say he is dead sore because Nick was jailed on my account.”

Tex was fingering his gun as he talked, and Mason could see the hot blood mount into his cheeks and his voice grew hard and stern. The raw deal he had received at the hands of one of Ricker’s men had left a bitter hatred in his soul. As he slowly recovered from his wound he vowed revenge for the cowardly shot that laid him low.

“I’m telling you, Jack,” the lanky cowboy continued impressively, “that you ain’t seen the last of Ricker’s gang of cut-throats, and you want to pack a gun when you’re riding this range. I’ve got it straight that you are a marked man since the raid, and the friends of Ricker will get you if they have to shoot from ambush.”

Mason was a bit startled at Tex’s vehement manner.

Waneda had kept silent up to this point, but Tex’s words had seemed to cause her great agitation.

“Tex is right, Signor,” she said earnestly, her great eyes full of entreaty, “you must be very careful, for while I was at Ricker’s he had many people call on him. His place is a sort of rendezvous, and I have seen all sorts of people gather there from all parts of the country.”

Mason was about to answer her when Tex announced that the Gaylor brothers were coming back from the ranch. He waited for them to pass by, but to his surprise they dismounted and asked Tex where they could find Jack Mason.