Mason of Bar X Ranch

Soon after, to his dismay, his engine stopped running. In desperation he raced back through the cellar and collided with a man who had just started to come down the cellar stairs.

A fierce battle ensued between them, Mason’s adversary striving to bring his revolver butt down on his head. The fellow wore a mask and after repeated attempts Mason succeeded in tearing it off.

The gunman was a stranger to him. Mason redoubled his efforts and backheeling the man, threw him downstairs. The delay had proved costly, however, and when he got out to his car he found the gasoline tank punctured with bullet holes. In the distance a party of horsemen with Josephine, Ethel and Percy in their midst were riding hard for the foothills.

“Oh, hell,” he swore to himself as he leaned dejectedly against his useless racer. “I’m some rescuer, I don’t think. Why didn’t Trent Burton’s message come through sooner. The news two weeks old and those cut-throats at large all this time. I think now that the four riders Gaylor and I saw that day were just a scouting party of Ricker’s. Yes, and the rifle shot that blew my tire out was some of their dirty work too. Lucky the bullet hit a tire instead of one of the girls, but it wasn’t their fault that it didn’t.”

The thought of the girls’ plight nerved him to swift action and he set out to search the premises for a horse. He wondered what had become of the two cowboys who were in charge of the ranch. His mind was bordering on a state of frenzy after he had searched the corral and failed to find a horse.

About a hundred yards from the corral lay the bunk-house. It was a large building and Mason noticed there was a small shed attached to the far corner of it. Something impelled him to look the building over, and it was well that he did so. Upon entering the bunk-house he found the two guards. They were bound and gagged and tied to one of the bed posts. Mason liberated them, after which he stood regarding them with scorn.

“Well, you’re a fine pair of huskies, I must say,” he said contemptuously. “Hell’s to pay about this ranch, and here I find you two cowboys trussed up like two fine turkeys. Both girls carried off by Ricker and his gang of cut-throats and no one here to stop them. How did it happen, anyway?” he wound up savagely.

Both cowboys had been spare hands at the Bar X ranch, and Mason felt that Bud had made a mistake in not placing more competent men in charge of the Ricker ranch. His own choice would have been the two fire eaters, Scotty Campbell and Red Sullivan.

“Don’t be too hard on us, boss,” one of the cowboys pleaded. “It happened this way. Bob, here, rode over to the Post for supplies right after I came in off the range. Just after he had left and got out of sight somebody sneaked up behind me and cracked me over the head. When I came to my senses I found Bob tied up alongside of me. I didn’t have a chance, pard, honest I didn’t.”

“I got served the same way,” the cowboy named Bob spoke up. “I met the girls and the young fellow at the Post, and Miss Josephine said they were coming on to the ranch. I left quite a spell ahead of them and got served the same as Jim here.”

“So it seems,” Mason said sarcastically. “You fellows can square yourself to a certain extent if you will dig me up a horse.”

“That’s easy,” Bob spoke up eagerly, “my horse is tied in the shed at the end of the bunk-house, and Jim’s horse is there too.”

“All right,” Mason answered curtly, “I’ll take one of them and when you get a chance, tow my machine to Trader’s Post and have the gasoline tank repaired. The tank is shot full of holes and I will have to depend on you cowboys to see that it is fixed and send the bill on to me at Bar X ranch. I expect some of Bud’s men will be here before long, and by the way, I knocked one of Ricker’s men down cellar. You might go and see if he’s there yet, and hand him over to Bud’s men when they come along.”

Quickly he looked the cowboys’ horses over and picking out the better one he set out rapidly for Bar X ranch. On the way he met a detachment of Bud’s men led by Big Joe Turner. They had been ordered to report at the Ricker ranch and would be joined by Bud the next day. Big Joe informed him that a general alarm had been sent out and that the Gaylor brothers had been notified. A fast rider had been dispatched to their ranch and they were expected at Bar X the next morning. Mason related all that had happened at the Ricker ranch and gave as his judgment that there were eight men in Ricker’s gang.

There was a general tightening of belts and a savage glitter in the men’s eyes as he told his story. Josephine was a popular idol with the men of Bar X and it would go hard with her captors if they should fall into these cowboys’ hands.

Mason bid them good luck and pressed on. It was late at night when he arrived at Bar X, but he immediately sought out Bud and they held a long consultation.

They planned to send out a detachment of cowboys the next morning and another one in the afternoon.

In all, there were to be three detachments of cowboys who were to relay each other in turn.

“What gets me,” Mason said in perplexity, “is why Trent Burton didn’t get word through to us sooner.”

“I forgot to tell you that I received another message from him while you was away,” Bud said with a look of wonder in his eyes. “He explained in this last message that the jail officials tried their best to locate him, but he was away on a case at the time. The message was brought to me by a rider just an hour after I received the first one. He sure is a wonder and is a strange man. Here, read this last message yourself.”

“Talking about me?” an amiable voice said over their shoulder.

Both men jumped to their feet in astonishment. They were sitting in a little room used as an office of the ranch house.

“For God’s sake, Trent Burton!” Bud stared at him.

“How did you get here?”

“Why, it was very simple, I assure you,” the strange man answered blandly. “The door was partly open and I merely walked in. I repeat, were you talking about me?”

“We sure were,” Mason answered. He had recovered in a measure from his astonishment.

“Well, you know the old saying, speak of the devil and you hear his wings.”

“You must have wings at that,” Bud retorted; “what I want to know is how you arrived at this ranch so soon after wiring me?”

“First part, special train; second part, fast automobile. Fast automobile is outside this minute. Now that I have cleared myself, what has my estimable friend Ricker been doing since he broke loose? I see where I have all my work to do over again.”

Briefly they told him of the counterfeiter’s latest outrage, and all three sat up till a late hour perfecting plans for the morrow.

There was little sleep for Mason that night, and the morning found him worn and haggard. Trent Burton had taken absolute charge and already one group of fighting men had left the ranch to join Big Joe Turner at the Ricker ranch. Mason wanted to leave with them, but the Marshal wouldn’t listen to his pleading.

“Stick with me, man, and brace up,” he said kindly. “I want all the brainy men with me. There is still another outfit to go before we start, and in our group will be such men as Bud, fire-eating Scotty, Red, Tex, Buck Miller and yourself. The Gaylor ranch has sent over ten men and Bruce Gaylor is coming with the rest. We will need all the men we can get to beat the mountains and surround the outlaws.”

Mason was silently turning the events of the past twenty-four hours over in his mind.

“This is going to be a delicate mission,” the Marshal continued, “and at the least sign of a slip-up on our part, that beast will butcher those girls. Ricker is a desperate man and I am waiting for him to show his hand. He knows that I will be sent after him, and the fact that he has the girls and Percy in his power forces me to move with caution. I have a suspicion that he will try to get word through to us as to his demands. That is the reason why I am in no hurry to take to the mountains, and I want you to be here when that word comes. Rest content that the girls will be safe, for I am convinced that his first demand will be for money.”

An hour later the next section left in charge of the Gaylor brothers. When noon came, Mason was almost going mad at his inaction. He was electrified five minutes later when Scotty came to the house with news that a dispatch rider was waiting for him at the bunk-house. He hastened down and the message was placed in his hands. It was from Josephine and was written at the command of Ricker. The demand was for money with a warning not to try to find the girls under penalty of their death. If they agreed to pay over the amount of money demanded in the dispatch, Ricker would see that the prisoners were set free.

He stipulated in the message that they would be given forty-eight hours to decide, and at the expiration of that time, if a messenger did not arrive at Duke Williams’ place at Smoky Point, the prisoners would be killed.

It closed with a warning to Mason and Bud that any attempt to capture Ricker’s agent at Duke Williams’ hotel would result in the girls’ death.

The message was written in Josephine’s own handwriting.

“Where did you get this message?” Mason asked, looking sharply at the rider.

“It was given me at the station by a stranger and I was paid well to deliver it to you,” the rider answered simply.

“There will be no answer,” Mason said shortly, dismissing him.

He kept turning the envelope over in his hand. On one corner there was drawn the picture of a butterfly, and it puzzled him. Hunting up the Marshal he turned the message over to him.

The latter read it, then gave a long whistle.

“So, he has shown his hand at last,” was his comment; “whew! a cool million he wants. Modest in his demands, isn’t he?”

“What puzzles me,” Mason replied, “is what that butterfly means on the corner of the envelope.”

The Marshal looked it over carefully.

“Just merely the whim of a girl,” he said at length.

“I don’t believe it,” Mason protested warmly. “Josephine drew that picture on there for a purpose, and I would stake my life on it.”

“There may be a reason for the picture at that,” the Marshal replied thoughtfully; “well, anyway, the counterfeiter has shown his hand, and now I can work with light ahead.”

The Marshal’s forces were to start within an hour.