CHAPTER XV.
IN THE NICK OF TIME.
Jerry headed the machine toward the foothills. Once among them theadventurers might escape. The auto was going almost at full speed,swaying from side to side on the rough road. Nestor, who was keepingwatch of the herd, cried out:
"I'm afraid it's no use. They have turned and are right after us!"
The steers had changed their course to follow the red auto, which theyprobably took for an enemy. The thunder of their hoofs came nearer.
Fast as the auto was going, its speed was not enough to take it out ofreach of the infuriated animals, for the rough prairie was retarding it,but it was just the kind of country the cattle loved.
Even Nestor, familiar as he was with danger, seemed much alarmed at theplight. The boys' hearts were well-nigh terror-stricken, but as forProfessor Snodgrass, he did not appear at all frightened. He still kepton sorting his specimens.
The auto topped a little hill, having to slow up a bit at the grade.Down it went on the other side, but still the steers came on. A longlevel stretch of country appeared.
"We ought to be able to get away from them here!" cried Jerry, turningon more gasolene and increasing the current from the batteries. The autoseemed to jump forward.
"Look out! Stop!" yelled Nestor, seizing Jerry by the arm.
"We can't! We'll be killed if we do!" shouted the boy, thinking theminer had lost his head through fear.
"And we'll be dashed to death if we keep on! We're running straight fora precipice three hundred feet high! Shut down the machine or we'll goover the cliff!"
With a yank at the levers, Jerry turned off the power and put on thebrakes. And it was only just in time, for, not one hundred feet ahead,the prairie came to an abrupt end, terminating in a sheer bluff,over which the auto and those in it would have been dashed had notthe miner's practiced eye told him what to expect. He recognized theconformation of the land and knew what was coming.
The adventurers were now between two dangers. They could not go onbecause of the precipice, and their escape to the rear was cut offby the maddened steers that now were but a quarter of a mile away,thundering on fiercely. To turn to the left or right was impossible, asthe line of cattle was a curving one, like a pair of horns, and to go toeither side meant to run straight into the midst of the beasts.
"Let's get out of the machine and shoot as many as we can!" cried Ned,drawing his revolver. "Maybe we can scare them away!"
"Don't think of it!" exclaimed Nestor. "Cattle are used to seeing menonly on horseback or in wagons. Once on the ground we'd be trampledunder foot in an instant. Our only hope is to stay in the machine. Itwill protect us somewhat when they rush over us."
"Shall we shoot?" asked Jerry.
"Our only chance is to turn them to one side, and shooting at them maydo it," replied the miner. "Get ready and we'll all fire at once."
Each one drew his revolver, even Professor Snodgrass taking an extra oneNestor had. The cattle were now about eight hundred feet away.
"Fire!" cried Nestor.
The five revolvers spurted slivers of flame, smoke and bullets. In rapidsuccession every chamber was emptied, but the rush of the steers was notchecked. In fact, none of the cattle seemed to have been killed, or, ifany were, they fell down and were trampled under the hoofs of the others.
"I guess we're done for!" groaned Nestor. "Crouch down on the bottom ofthe car!"
The galloping animals were almost at the auto. Suddenly there soundeda fusillade of shots, mingled with wild yells. Jerry peered up overthe edge of his seat. He saw a man on a horse, riding straight acrossin front of the line of cattle. In one hand the stranger held a bigrevolver, which he fired right into the faces of the steers. In theother he held his coat, which he was waving like a flag.
At the same time he was yelling like a man gone mad. The reins of hishorse lay loose on the animal's neck, but the beast knew what wasexpected of him.
It seemed that the stranger would be knocked down and trampled underthousands of sharp hoofs. But he did not seem afraid, riding closer andcloser to the line of steers. He emptied one revolver and drew another,never ceasing to yell or wave his coat.
Suddenly, with wild bellows, the leaders of the cattle turned. They werefrightened at the strange figure before them. For a few seconds therewas great confusion amid the mass of steers. Those behind the line ofleaders tried to go straight ahead, but the latter, once having made uptheir minds that they would turn to the left did so.
Then, like sheep following the bell-wether of the flock, the beasts tookafter their leaders. They rushed to one side, thundering past withintwenty feet of the auto, while the stranger, pulling up his horse,still continued to wave his coat and shout.
THEY RUSHED TO ONE SIDE, THUNDERING PAST THE AUTO.]
"He's saved our lives!" exclaimed Nestor. "He's stampeded the cattleaway from us in the nick of time!"
On and on galloped the steers until the last one disappeared over therolling hills of the prairie. Then the man on the horse rode over to theauto.
"Howdy!" he called.
"Howdy!" replied Nestor.
"Got ye in kind of a tight place, didn't they?" went on the horseman.
"We would have been killed only for you," spoke Jerry and his voice toldhow thankful he was.
"Oh, shoo! That wa'n't nothin'," replied the stranger. "I seen ye comin'up in that there shebang of yours an' then I seen the cows chasin' ye. Iwas a leetle afraid ye'd go over the cliff, but ye stopped in time. ThenI see it was up to me to stop them critters, an' I done it."
"Lucky for us you did," put in Nestor.
"I happened to be out huntin'," went on the horseman, "or I wouldn'thave seen ye. I know cattle an' their ways an' I knowed there was onlyone way to head 'em off, an' that was to skeer 'em."
"I'm Jim Nestor," said the miner, and he told the names of hiscompanions.
"Glad to meet ye," said the horseman, dismounting and shaking handswith each one. "I'm Hank Broswick."
Nestor told the hunter something of the trip they were making, andBroswick in turn related how he was a free-lance hunter, roving over theprairies and among the mountains as suited his whims.
"Had yer suppers?" Broswick asked.
"No; an' I don't see any place around here to git 'em," spoke Nestor."We've got some grub, though, an' we'd be pleased to have your company."
"Thanks. I can add my share to the meal," replied Broswick. "I'd jestshot some prairie chickens afore ye come up, an' we'll roast 'em."
While he went over to where he had left the fowls, Jerry backed theauto, turned it around, and sent it down the hill to the level plain.
"It's a case of camp out again to-night," observed Nestor.
"That suits me," spoke Ned, and the other boys agreed with him.
A fire was soon made, the prairie chickens were prepared for roasting,coffee was set on to boil, and with some tinned biscuits the adventurersmade a hearty meal.
Sitting around the camp-fire as night came on, the hunter told severalof his adventures while on the trail. Once he had a terrible fight witha grizzly bear, the scars of the combat being visible on his face andarms.
"Are there any bears around here?" asked Bob.
"Not getting afraid, are you, Chunky?" queried Ned.
"No; I only just wanted to know," replied the stout youth, looking overhis shoulder in as careless a manner as he could assume.
"Waal, there's a few now an' agin'," answered the hunter, "but theydon't bother me much, not while I have this along," and he patted arifle which he had left with his game before he rode out to stampede thecattle.
"Are you bound for any particular place?" asked Nestor of Hank.
"Nope; I'm my own boss."
"Then, why not come along with us?" proposed the miner. "We may needyour help, for there's a bad gang ahead of us."
He told something of the plans of himself and the boys, in regard to thegold mine, and related how there were enemies in front, and added thathe mi
ght pay the hunter for his time.
"I'll go 'long!" exclaimed the hunter, after a moment's thought. "I usedto be a prospector myself."
More fuel was heaped on the fire, the adventurers wrapped themselves intheir blankets and prepared to spend the night in the open.
It was past midnight when Bob was suddenly awakened by feeling some onetrying to turn him over.
"Go 'way," he said, sleepily. "Let me alone."
Something cold and clammy was thrust against his face, and he heard thebreathing and noted the peculiar smell of some wild animal.
With a shout of terror he sat upright. In the glow from the fire he saw,rearing up on his haunches before him, a big, black bear!
The Motor Boys Overland; Or, A Long Trip for Fun and Fortune Page 16
