Frank at Don Carlos' Rancho

by Harry Castlemon

  CHAPTER III.

  A STRANGE STORY.

  "Now," said Archie, when he had seen Uncle James ride off toward SanDiego, "what's to be done? It's dreadful slow hanging around the houseall the while, and I propose that we visit that bear trap. We mightrepair it, you know, and perhaps we can make it strong enough to holdOld Davy the next time he gets into it."

  As no objections were raised to this proposition, the boys strolledslowly toward the stable, where Mr. Winters now kept all his fineriding stock, it being unsafe to allow the animals to run at large.There was no danger that the robbers would get any more horses out ofthat stable, for Dick Lewis and old Bob Kelly had taken up theirquarters there. Archie thought it would have been a good thing for himand Frank, if this precaution had been adopted a few days before.

  The stable was full of horses, but Frank and Archie could not find anyto suit them. While Johnny and Dick were saddling their nags, thecousins, with their bridles in their hands, walked slowly up and downthe floor, critically examining the twenty sleek, well-kept animalswhich were standing quietly in their respective stalls; but theymeasured every thing by Roderick and King James now, and none of theiruncle's horses were good enough for them.

  "I believe I won't go, fellows," said Archie, at length. "I have agood mind to say that I will never leave the rancho again, until I getmy horse back. Will you agree to that, Frank, if I will?"

  "No, sir!" replied his cousin, quickly. "I can't see the use ofhurting my nose to spite my face. I am going on that expedition withCaptain Porter this winter, if I have to ride a mule."

  "Well, it beats me that there is no one here who can catch thoserobbers," said Archie, bitterly. "Dick Lewis, I have lost all faith inyou."

  The trapper was seated on a bench beside the door, busy at work on anew hunting shirt, which, like all the rest of his garments, wasgaudily ornamented with beads and bright-colored pieces of cloth. Hesmiled good-naturedly at Archie, but made no reply.

  "I built my hopes high upon you," continued the latter. "You havespent your life on the frontier; fought all through the Mexican war;have shot dozens of grizzly bears and Indians; been in numberlessscrapes with all sorts of desperate characters, and yet you allow OldDavy to invade the rancho every night, and walk off with some ofuncle's best stock, and permit a band of horse-thieves to settle downhere in our very midst, and carry on their trade without a word ofprotest. What do you mean by it?"

  "We have done all we could, little 'un--me an' old Bob have," repliedthe trapper. "But don't you know that thar are things movin' around usall the while, that no livin' man can't foller, 'cause they don'tleave no trail?"

  "Of course there are," said Johnny. "Birds, for instance."

  "But the birds didn't steal my horse," exclaimed Archie.

  "I aint sayin' they did," returned Dick. "I know well enough that yourhosses were stole by men, 'cause I seed the prints of their feet infront of this yere very door. I know which way they went, too, fur mean' old Bob tracked em."

  "You did?" cried Frank. "Then why didn't you follow them up, and catchthem?"

  "'Cause we couldn't; that's the reason. It's a leetle the queerestthing I ever hearn tell on."

  "What is?" asked all the boys in a breath. They began to getinterested and excited now, for the trapper's mysterious mannerindicated that he had some great secret to communicate.

  "I haint sartin that I had oughter say any thing about it," repliedDick. "It's something I can't begin to see through, an' that's thereason I haint told your uncle of it. You 'member when Mr. Winterslost them two hosses of his'n, don't you? Wal, the next mornin' me an'ole Bob tracked 'em nigh onto five miles, an' finally lost their trailabout a hundred yards from the creek that flows on this side of DonCarlos' rancho. Thar war the prints of their hoofs in the soft 'arth,as plain as bar's ears, an' thar the trail ended. Now, where did themtwo hosses go to? That's what I want to know."

  "Perhaps they turned up or down the creek to find a ford," said Frank.

  "They couldn't have done that without leavin' a trail, could they? Itwas a good hundred yards to the creek, as I told you, an' me an' Bobsarched every inch of the ground, but couldn't find the print of asingle hoof."

  "The robbers may have doubled on their trail, for the purpose ofthrowing you off the scent," suggested Johnny.

  "I don't reckon that men who have hunted wild Injuns an' varmints aslong as me an' Bob have, could be fooled by sich a trick as that ar',"replied the trapper. "I have since found out all about it, youngsters.Them hosses didn't make no more trail; that's the reason we couldn'tfoller 'em."

  "Then, of course, they didn't go any farther," said Dick Thomas.

  "Yes, they did. They went acrost that creek, an' into Don Carlos'rancho, an' never touched the ground, nor the water either."

  "Into Don Carlos' rancho!" repeated Archie in great astonishment.

  "And never touched the ground!" echoed Johnny. "Were they carriedover?"

  "Sartinly not. They walked."

  "How could two solid flesh-and-blood horses walk a hundred yardswithout stepping on the ground?" asked Frank.

  "They could step on something else, couldn't they? _They walked onclouds!_"

  As the trapper said this, he settled back on the bench, and looked atthe boys, to observe the effect this astounding announcement wouldhave upon them. He expected them to be greatly amazed, and theycertainly were. Any four boys in the world would have been amazed tohear such a declaration fall from the lips of a man whom they knew tobe strictly truthful, and who, moreover, was not jesting, but speakingin sober earnest. They looked at the trapper a moment, and then at oneanother, and finally Johnny and Dick Thomas burst into a loud laugh;while the cousins, who were better acquainted with their old friend,thrust their hands deep into their pockets with an air which saidplainly that they did not understand the matter at all, and waitedpatiently for him to explain.

  "You may believe it or not," said Dick, "but it's a fact, 'cause oleBob seed it with his own eyes. He watched the hul thing from beginningto end, and it well-nigh skeered him to death."

  "What did he see?" asked Frank, growing more and more bewildered. "Ididn't suppose that Bob was afraid of any living thing."

  "Nor he aint, nuther," returned the trapper, quickly. "But show himsomething that can't be hurt by a rifle-ball, an' he'll take to hisheels as quick as any body. As I was sayin', the trail of them twohosses ended thar on the bank of that creek, an' we couldn't find itag'in. Me an' ole Bob puzzled our heads over it fur a long time, an'we finally made up our minds that that ar' old Spaniard, Don Carlos,could tell us all about the matter if he was a mind to, an' Bob saidthat we would go back the next night, an' watch his rancho. Wal, whenthe next night come, we couldn't both go, 'cause your uncle said hewanted one of us to keep an eye on the stables: so I stayed at home,an' ole Bob went alone. He was gone about three hours, an' when hecome back I seed a sight I never seed afore, an' one I never expect tosee ag'in. Ole Bob's face was as white as a Sunday shirt, an' he wasshakin' all over like a man with the ager."

  "What had he seen?" repeated Frank, who was impatient to get at thebottom of the mystery.

  "Easy, easy, youngster, I'm comin' to that," replied Dick. "Now, I'veknowed ole Bob ever since I was knee-high to a duck, an' I've beenwith him in more 'n a hundred fights with Injuns, an' Greasers, an'varmints--sometimes, too, when we jest did get away with our ha'r, an'that was all--but I never seed him skeered afore. It made me feelkinder funny, I tell you, 'cause I knowed that thar had been somethingonnatural goin' on; an' I aint ashamed to say that I looked all aroundthis yere stable, to make sure that me an' him were alone. The olefeller didn't say any thing, till he had filled his pipe an' smoked itabout half out; an' then he told me what he had seed. 'Dick,' says he,'thar's been awful things agoin' on about that ar' old Greaser'srancho, an' if I hadn't seed it all with my own two eyes, I shouldn'tbelieve it. I went down thar where we lost the trail last night, an'arter hidin' my hoss in the bushes, tuk up a position from which Icould watch b
oth sides of the creek. I knowed that Don Carlos had goneto bed, 'cause thar was no light about the rancho, an' the doors an'winder-shutters were all closed. I hadn't been thar in the busheslong, afore I heered the trampin' of hosses; but it stopped all of asudden, an' fur the next five minutes I lay thar on the groundlistenin,' an' peepin' through the trees, tryin' to get a sight at thefellers. But I couldn't see 'em, an' finally I begun to crawl upcloser.

  "'Now, the last time I looked at the rancho, it was dark an' still,an' thar wasn't a sign of a human bein' about it; an' durin' the twominutes I was crawlin' t'wards them hossmen, thar wasn't even therustlin' of a leaf to tell me that thar was any thing goin' on. Butsich fellers as them that live in that rancho don't make no noiseabout their work. They had done a good deal in them two minutes; an'when I looked acrost the creek ag'in, I knowed how it come that we hadlost the trail of them hosses. I seed enough to skeer me wuss nor Iwas ever skeered afore, an' if I could have got up from the ground, Ishould have made tracks from thar sudden: but, Dick, I couldn'tmove--something held me fast.

  "'I told you that the last time I looked t'wards the rancho it was alldark, didn't I? Wal, it wasn't so now. The walls of the buildin', an'the bank of the creek, were lighted up by streaks of fire; an' wherethey come from I couldn't tell. Howsomever, I didn't think much aboutthat, fur I seed somethin' else that made my ole 'coon-skin cap raiseup on my head. It was a _bridge of clouds_, which ran from the wall ofthe buildin' down to the water's edge. Mebbe you won't believe that,Dick, but I seed it with my own eyes. Them streaks of fire, that comefrom the rancho, lighted up every thing fur a hundred yards around;an' I could see the clouds a rollin' an' tumblin' like the smoke fromthe mouth of a cannon. More 'n that, thar was a small flatboat in thecreek, which I hadn't seed thar afore, an' on it were four hosses an'three men. Two of the hosses were Roderick and King Jeems. Each onehad a feller on his back, an' each feller was holdin' another hoss bythe bridle.

  "'By the time I had noted these things the boat begun to move, an'then I seed something else that skeered me. That ar' boat, Dick, wasrowed acrost that creek without hands. It's a fact, 'cause I seed it.I rubbed my eyes to make sure that I wasn't dreamin', but thar wasn'tno mistake about it. Them two fellers sot thar on their hosses,without layin' a finger on an oar or paddle, the other stood in thestarn, with his hands in his pockets, an' yet the boat carried themacrost. It wasn't no time in reachin' the other bank, an' when itstopped, the hossmen rode out on this bridge of clouds, which seemedto have been put thar on purpose fur them, and went t'wards the house.I kept clost watch of them, to see which way they turned, but theydidn't turn at all. They kept straight ahead, an' went into therancho. I rubbed my eyes ag'in, an' when I opened 'em the boat wasn'tthar, the bridge of clouds had disappeared, the fire had gone out, an'the rancho was as dark an' silent as though thar had never been nobodyabout it. I tell you, Dick, I was skeered when I seed that; but I'vegot a leetle courage, I reckon, an' I made up my mind that I wouldfind out the meanin' of them strange doin's, or die a tryin'. I hadseed them two fellers go into the rancho, an' I wanted to know howthey got in, an' what they were goin' to do thar. I didn't stop tothink the matter over, 'cause I knowed I should back out if I did; butjumpin' to my feet, I ran down the bank of the creek to the water, an'struck out for the other shore. I wasn't long in gettin' acrost, an'presently I found myself standin' clost to the wall where I had seedthe fire shinin', an' where them two hossmen had gone in. Was I reallyawake? Had I seed any body about thar at all? Dick, thar wasn't a dooror winder on that side of the buildin'! The wall was as solid as theground--not a single crack or crevice in it. How could them twofellers have gone through a stone wall five foot thick? I axed myselfthat question, an' then I fetched a little whistle, an' turned an' runfur my life. I swum that creek quicker'n it was ever swum afore, Ireckon; an' when I reached my hoss, I put spurs to him, an' come homea flyin'. I kept lookin' back all the while, to see if thar wasn'tsomethin' follerin' me, an' I didn't draw an easy breath until I comewithin sight of this rancho. I've seed an' heered of a heap of queerthings durin' the sixty years I've been knocked about on the prairy,but this yere is a leetle ahead of 'em all.' That's the way old Bobtold me his story, youngsters," said Dick, in conclusion. "You maylaugh at it if you want to, but I won't, 'cause I know that every wordof it is the truth."

  For a few moments after the trapper ceased speaking, the boys stoodlooking at him and at one another in blank amazement. His storyreminded them of the tales of enchantment they had read in the ArabianNights. As strange as it may seem, however, they were not so muchastonished at the recital of the singular events that had happened atthe old Spaniard's rancho, as they were to know that Roderick and KingJames had been seen to go in there. Frank turned the matter over inhis mind, and told himself that he had heard something that would,sooner or later, lead to the breaking up of the robber-band. Like theothers, he could not explain the "bridge of clouds," nor could heunderstand how a boat could be ferried across a wide creek withouthands, or how a solid stone wall, five feet thick, could open to admitthe horsemen; but still he knew that if these things had reallyhappened, they were the results of human agency, and that there wasnothing supernatural about them. He did not believe that Don Carloshad any thing to do with the horse-thieves, and yet it did not seempossible that such proceedings as the old trapper had witnessed couldgo on in his rancho without his knowledge. Don Carlos was a prominentpersonage in the settlement. He was one of the wealthiest men inSouthern California, numbered his cattle and horses by thousands, hismoney by bushels instead of dollars (Uncle James had once told hisnephews that he had seen three barrels of gold in the old Spaniard'sbed-room), and there was no need that he should risk his life byengaging in any such business. Besides, he had lost several finehorses himself, and had been untiring in his efforts to discover thethieves. If he was one of the guilty parties, he certainly had reasonto congratulate himself on the skillful manner in which he had avoidedarousing the suspicions of his neighbors.

  "I have told you the story, youngsters," said Dick, "an' you can dowhat you think best. You can bear one thing in mind, howsomever, an'that is, if you're goin' to be keerless, like you allers are, an' tryto find out what's been goin' on at that rancho, you can look to thesettlers for help, if you want any. Ole Bob says that thar aint moneyenough in Californy to hire him to go back thar; an' if he won't go,you'd better believe that Dick Lewis won't go nuther. I don't want tosee any thing that ole Bob is afeared of."

  "I think we had better let the matter rest until Uncle James returns,"said Frank. "He will know what ought to be done. Now let us go outand look at that trap."

  "You had better keep away from thar," said Dick. "If Ole Davy happensto be prowlin' about in the woods, he'll larn you more of the nater ofgrizzly bars than you ever knowed afore."

  "O, we're not going to trouble him," replied Johnny.

  "And if he knows when he is well off he won't trouble us either," saidArchie. "I've wanted to fight somebody ever since I lost that horse;and I'm just as willing it should be Old Davy as any one else."

  The cousins had a good deal of trouble in selecting their horses; but,with the trapper's assistance, they were finally mounted to theirsatisfaction, and after securing their weapons, and a couple of axes,with which to repair the trap, they whistled to their dogs, andgalloped toward the mountains.