The Phantom Town Mystery

A SILVER PLANE

There was an almost breathless silence for a moment as the small silver plane swooped gracefully down and made an easy landing; then the enthusiasm of the crowd burst forth in shouts of welcome.

“Say, Kid, you’re all right!”

“That’s the kind of a cayuse to be riding!”

“A silver airship for the silver city!”

“Hurrah for the skidder of the skies!”

Horses on the outskirts of the crowd, unused to such commotion, reared and pranced on their hind legs. Then, seeming to believe that something might be lacking in the warmth of their welcome, a cowboy shot off his gun into the air. Instantly Deputy Sheriff Goode shouted for silence.

“Nixy on that!” he commanded. “All of you fellows get to shootin’ an’ we won’t do much creepin’ up on the gang.”

“Goodness!” Mary said to Jerry. “He must think those bandits are hiding somewhere near here. They couldn’t possibly hear the shooting if they were over the border in Mexico, could they?”

The cowboy shook his head. “It’s just that he doesn’t want to take any chances, I reckon.” Then, generously, he added, “You girls will want to meet Harry Hulbert, won’t you? He’s talking to the ‘Dep’ now. Jehoshaphat! That’s too bad. He’s going right up again.”

“I guess the Deputy Sheriff wants Harry to start in scouting and not waste time visiting with girls,” Dora remarked.

“Back! Back everyone!” the deputized cowboys rode around the square, clearing it again, for the curious and interested crowd had pressed close to the plane.

“There, up she goes! Whoopee!” Some cowboy shouted in Mary’s ear. “Me for the air!” he waved his sombrero so close that it fanned her cheek.

“Ain’t that the plumb-beatenest way to go places?” another cowboy was actually addressing Dora in such a friendly manner that she replied in like spirit, “Yes, it’s great!”

Jerry turned to Dick. “Take the girls back to where we left the car, will you? I’m going to speak to Goode. Be over in a minute.”

“Oh, Big Brother,” Mary caught his hand, “don’t do anything that might be dangerous, will you? It would be terrible for your mother if anything happened to you.”

Hope and love had, for a moment, lighted the cowboy’s eyes, but the last part of Mary’s importuning had seemed to be entirely for another, and so, as he turned away, Jerry’s heart was heavy.

Mary’s gaze, he noticed, had quickly turned from him up to the sky where a silver plane was still discernible riding toward the moon.

Dick took an arm of each girl and the crowd made a path for them.

“I like these cowmen and boys, don’t you, Dora?” Mary had climbed into the rumble with her friend. “They have such nice, kind faces and they’re so picturesque with their wide hats and colored shirts and handkerchiefs.”

Dora nodded. “There’s a boy over there on horseback. See his leather chaps are fringed and he has spurs on his boots.”

“They act as though this was some sort of a celebration, don’t they, Dick?”

The boy was leaning against the car watching the milling throng which was being augmented in numbers by newcomers riding in from the dark desert.

“What’s the big show?” A weazened, grizzly-headed man in tattered clothes had suddenly appeared at Dick’s side. He had a canvas-covered roll strapped to his back and carried a stout stick. His pinched face was starved-looking and his eyes were feverishly bright.

Dick explained what was happening and, without a word, the queer creature scuttled out of sight in the crowd.

“That poor man!” Mary exclaimed sympathetically. “What can he be?”

“Don’t ask me,” Dick replied. “I haven’t been out here long enough to know all the types.”

A pleasant voice said, “That’s a typical desert rat. He digs around and sometimes finds a little gold, but mostly he lives on sand, I reckon.”

Mary recognized the speaker as a clerk in the grocery store. Before she could ask more about the poor unfortunate, someone hailed their informant and he hurried away.

Jerry returned and his face was grave. “I hardly know what to say,” he began. “I don’t want to frighten you girls unnecessarily, but Deputy Sheriff Goode thinks it would be unwise for you to return over that lonely road to Gleeson tonight, or, at least not until the hiding place of the bandits has been discovered.”

“Oh, Jerry!” Mary’s one thought was concern for her father. “I must let Dad know that I am safe and that I may not be home at once. Won’t you please telephone him? You will know best what to say.”

“Yes, I’ll be back in a minute.” They watched him pushing his way toward the one drug store in the town.

Mary turned toward Dick. “Now, what does that mean, do you suppose?”

“I think it merely means that the ‘Dep’ isn’t sure that the robbers did cross into Mexico. He thinks they may be hiding nearer here than that.”

“I thought as much,” Dora commented, “when he was so upset because a cowboy started shooting.”

Jerry was not gone long. “I explained to your mother, Dick. She said Mr. Moore is asleep and that she will not waken him. Her advice is that you girls take a room in the little old hotel here and wait until morning.”

The girls were relieved as they had neither of them relished the idea of returning over that desolately lonesome road with bandits at large.

Jerry was continuing. “Mrs. Goode runs the hotel and she’s just as nice and friendly as she can be. The mothering sort. Dick, you stay here in the car, will you, while I escort the girls across the road?”

“With the greatest of pleasure!” the Eastern boy said.

Dora teased, as she permitted him to assist her out of the rumble. “You ought not to say that you’re pleased to have us leave you.”

“Not that; NEVER!” Dick assured her, then in a low voice he confided, “I’ve been wild to be in on all this, and if I’d been sent home with you girls, I – ”

Dora laughingly interrupted. “You might have been in it more than any of the others.” She shuddered at the thought. “We three might have – ”

“Now, who’s using her imagination?” Mary inquired. Then, after scanning the heavens, she added, “Big Brother, the Seagull has flown entirely out of sight, hasn’t it?”

“I reckon it has. Back in a minute, Dick.”

Mary and Dora were thrilled with excitement and thought all that was transpiring a high adventure, although they were a little troubled, fearing that the three boys in whom they were interested might be in danger before the night was over.

The old adobe two-story building to which Jerry led the girls was across the wide square from the post office. The large office was filled with people, most of them women of the town who had gathered there. Many had come from the lonely outskirts. They had been afraid to stay alone in their homes while their men were bandit-hunting.

Jerry soon saw the pleasant face of the rather short, plump Mrs. Goode. He led the girls to her and explained their presence.

“So you are Mary Moore grown up!” the woman said kindly. “I knew your mother well when she came here as a bride. Everyone loved her in these parts; they sure did.” Then, to the tall cowboy who stood waiting, although impatient to be away, she assured him, “I’ll take good care of them, don’t fear!”

“I know you will. Good night, Mary and Dora.” The cowboy held out a hand to each then was gone.

Dora thought, “Oho, something has happened. There was no tenderness in that parting. Hum-m, what can it be? Ah, I believe I see light!”