“Boy, what a bath!” Dave shouted. “We were just over the hill there when the well went off with a roar that seemed to lift the ground from under our feet. Just as we got there the oil came down on top of us.”
“Nothing will ever taste the same to me again,” Marshmallow mourned.
“We’d better get back to the ranch,” Doris said when she had recovered her breath. Kitty was holding fast to the high pommel of her saddle, weak from laughter.
“I’m sort of wary about turning in the horse and my borrowed clothes in this shape,” Dave admitted.
“Anyhow, crude oil is good for your hair,” Doris said. “Let’s go!”
It was a long jaunt back to the ranch, and as they jogged along the boys told of their experience.
“That well is on some of the land they can’t find an owner for,” Dave said. “It’s the far corner of the three sections Plum took us over yesterday.”
“I thought it looked familiar,” Doris said thoughtfully.
“That man Moon was awfully mad,” Marshmallow chuckled. “We—Dave and I and all the cowboys except the one who was wrestling a steer and didn’t know what was going on—were the first ones on the scene. Moon was there with three other men, all of ’em oil-soaked, ordering the drillers around. When we got there he tried to chase us away.”
“By the time he had us backing off,” Dave laughed, “everybody else was swarming in from the other side.”
“Do you know who the three men with him were?” Doris asked.
“Of course not,” Dave answered.
“You have met one, more or less socially,” Doris said with a wry smile. “The other two are not unknown to my family.”
“Oh, lay off the riddles,” Marshmallow said. “Are you just fooling, Doris?”
“No,” came the answer. “One of them was the stowaway, and the others were the men who robbed Uncle Wardell!”
“Honest!” exclaimed Marshmallow. “Let’s go back and tackle them!”
CHAPTER XVI
Plans
Marshmallow’s rash proposal about fighting was voted down.
It was a droll cavalcade that trotted into the yard of Crazy Bear Ranch later.
Yellow dust had settled thick over the oil on the boys. The girls were only a little less covered. Altogether they were a queer-looking crowd.
“What has happened?” Mrs. Mallow cried, as she ran out to meet them.
“Is—are you—you?” she demanded. “Marshall! The only way I could recognize you was by your shape.”
“We’re all right, Mother,” Marshmallow responded. “Just got a little crude oil on us. Doris said it was good for freckles or something.”
“We’ll explain as soon as we have bathed,” Dave said.
“We’ll have plenty to tell,” Doris cried over her shoulder, as she darted for her room.
There, in tubs of cold water filled by hand, the girls scrubbed themselves clean and with real relief changed into airy, fluffy afternoon frocks that would have graced the veranda of any country dub, and were particularly charming in the rough-and-ready surroundings of the ranch.
The boys were tardy in appearing, and when they made their entrance in linen knickers and white shirts open at the throat they still exhaled an aroma of oil.
“Let’s sit under the trees,” Mrs. Mallow suggested. “Then you can tell me everything.”
Marshmallow first interviewed Mrs. Saylor, and successfully, for he returned with a large pitcher of milk, glasses for all, and a plate of sliced cake.
“Now we can talk comfortably,” he grinned.
“But do talk,” Mrs. Mallow urged. “I’m still all at sixes and sevens. Tell me what happened.”
The boys told their story first.
Then Doris related her surprising share of the day’s adventures.
“We shall have to act quickly, then,” Mrs. Mallow announced as Doris concluded. “I think you might consult Mr. Plum. I am sure he can help, and I know he is not on the side of the oil speculators.”
“Oh, Plum’s an old fossil,” growled Marshmallow.
“Why, Marshall!” his mother exclaimed. “Such disrespect. You should have come with us this morning. We explored the most fascinating ruins!”
“I’d like to make a fascinating ruin out of—I mean, out of those robbers,” Marshmallow said.
“Don’t let the cake take the edge off your appetites,” Mrs. Saylor called from the house. “Supper in half an hour—with hot cornbread!”
The young folks waved to her in assent and greeting.
“Come on, a council like us ought to be able to plan a campaign to outwit the crooks before supper,” Dave urged. “Who has any ideas?”
“They are tough customers,” Marshmallow cautioned. “And remember that they have the less desirable element of the country backing them up. There’s no use trying any force.”
“Do you suppose they suspect us?” Mrs. Mallow said.
“I don’t know,” Doris replied. “If that sleepy-headed registrar of deeds ever wakes up enough to tell Moon I was trying to locate the old claims there will be some sort of trouble, I expect.”
“Suppose we get Mr. Saylor to pick his strongest and most trusted men,” Marshmallow suggested, “and we will waylay the outfit along the road, tie ’em up and make them give up the deeds.”
“I thought you just said there was no use trying force,” Doris remarked.
“What about this for a plan?” Dave spoke up. “I’ll see if Pete can borrow Miss Bedelle’s plane and he and I can pretend to be barnstormers.
We’ll take the thieves for a ride and threaten to pitch them overboard unless they give up the papers.”
“I think you boys have been watching too many movie serials,” Doris laughed. “No, Dave. In the first place, they may not buy a ride, and in the second place they may not have the deeds with them and there you would be, flying around with the men afraid to land. And finally, Miss Bedelle might not lend her new airplane.”
“Gosh, it is a tough nut to crack,” Marshmallow admitted.
“I still think you ought to consult Mr. Plum,” Mrs. Mallow said. “He knows the country and the people.”
“All right. Where is he?” decided Doris, jumping to her feet.
“He has gone away for a few days on business,” Mrs. Mallow said. “He has to survey a new irrigation project.”
“We can’t wait for him,” Doris determined. “We must act quickly. I think the best thing of all is to get Miss Bedelle to help us. I’m sure she is as much opposed to the oil scheme as anyone.”
“I believe you are right,” Mrs. Mallow said. “Besides, we owe her a call, to thank her for the use of her plane.”
Further discussion was discontinued at that juncture by the announcement that supper was ready for them.
“We’ll drive over in the morning,” Doris said firmly, as the five trooped into the dining room.
Marshmallow’s eyes suddenly sparkled, and he snapped his fingers.
“Did you forget something?” Kitty asked. “Or remember something?”
“Just—er, just remembered that I wanted to bring some candy back from the village,” Marshmallow stammered. “Want to ride over with me after supper, Dave? My sweet tooth is aching.”
“Why, I guess so,” Dave replied, passing the fried ham to Doris.
Marshmallow ate hastily.
“Hurry up, Dave,” he kept urging his chum. “We want to get there before the stores close.”
“I never saw anybody get such a sudden yearning for candy,” Kitty said. “I wonder if there isn’t some pretty Mexican girl in the shop. Perhaps I had better go with you.”
“Oh, you’ll get your clean dress all dusty,” Marshmallow protested. “We’ll be back in a jiffy.”
The boys excused themselves while the three others lingered over the tea cups.
“I never saw Marshall refuse a second helping of dessert,” Mrs. Mallow said, her brows knit. “They are up to something, and it is
n’t candy,”
Doris observed sagely. “Watch out for practical jokes. I think Marshmallow is getting a little bored with this life.”
“What, after being practically blown up by an oil well, and hobnobbing with cowboys?” Kitty exclaimed.
“I just have a hunch,” Doris said. “We’ll fool them by going to bed early. I’m about dead for sleep.”
“And I,” Kitty seconded.
It was scarcely nine o’clock when Doris, Kitty and Mrs. Mallow retired to their respective rooms. The boys had not yet returned.
Doris was awakened by an insistent rapping on the door from a dream in which she was galloping over the country pursuing an airplane on horseback.
“Who’s there?” she called.
“It is I, Mrs. Mallow,” came the reply. “Doris, I am so worried. Marshall and Dave have not yet returned and it is past eleven o’clock.”
Doris jumped from the bed and slipped a kimono over her pajamas as she switched on the light. Kitty sleepily demanded what the matter was, but Doris first opened the door to admit Mrs. Mallow.
She, too, was in dressing gown and slippers.
“I am worried about the boys,” she confessed. “I usually don’t worry about Marshall at all. I know he can take care of himself—back home in Plainfield, but in this rough frontier country I am ill at ease.”
“This is Saturday, isn’t it?” Doris asked. “There is nothing to worry about. They have gone to the weekly movie show. Even Mr. and Mrs. Saylor drove to town, and most of the ranch hands rode in.”
“That must be it,” Mrs. Mallow sighed. “You are such a comfort, Doris! I’ll go back to bed now, but I know I shan’t sleep until they are back.” Kitty stretched her graceful arms and yawned unabashed.
“If you can’t sleep, Mrs. Mallow, why not sit up with us a while?” she suggested. “I’ve had a beauty nap, and am all rested.”
“Oh, no,” Mrs. Mallow protested. “You girls get all the sleep you can. Some day you will realize how a mother worries over little nothings.” She rose to go, and had just put her hand on the knob of the door when the sound of a motor was heard in the yard.
“There they are now!” Doris exclaimed.
“It may be the Saylors returning,” Mrs. Mallow said. “I’ll just wait and see.”
The three waited in silence.
Footsteps approached, hesitated, and then continued past the door.
“Is that you, Dave?” Doris called.
There was no reply.
“Marshall!” Mrs. Mallow cried out, her voice sharp with anxiety.
The sound of gruff whisperings could be heard. “I told you they were up to some joke,” Doris said under her breath. She tiptoed to the door and suddenly threw it wide.
“Boo!” she shouted. “You can’t fool—oh!” The girl reeled back and slammed the door.
“It—it’s that Moon man, and somebody else!” she gasped.
“Oh dear, oh dear,” moaned Mrs. Mallow. “And we are here by ourselves.”
“Say, inside there,” demanded someone from beyond the door. “Open up!”
“You had better get away in a hurry,” Doris cried back bravely. “You are trespassing!”
“No, I’m not,” came the reply. “I’m a deputy sheriff and I’m here with Mr. Moon who claims that two young fellers living here tried to burglarize his room at the hotel.”
The occupants of the room looked at one another, speechless.
Kitty dived under the covers, but Doris hurried to her clothes and began to dress as rapidly as possible.
Presently she was clad, and opened the door again.
“What you say is absurd,” she said.
“I’m sorry, lady, but I’m only doing my duty,”
said a man, flashing his badge. “You’ll have to let me look in the boys’ room.”
Doris was thinking quickly. How could she hold off these men?
“If they’re in their room—which they won’t be —we’ll wake ’em quick enough,” Moon laughed evilly. “Come on, Sheriff. Look in the next room.”
CHAPTER XVII
The Plot That Failed
Doris, her heart in her mouth, followed the men to the door of the chamber occupied by the two boys.
“Is this where they sleep?” the deputy sheriff demanded.
Doris refused to answer.
“Try it anyhow, Sheriff,” Moon commanded.
The officer rattled the doorknob and then pushed violently against it. Under his weight the door flew open.
“Here, show a light,” Moon laughed again. “I guess we’ll find the place empty.”
Doris’s hair almost rose on end as she heard a voice, unmistakably Dave’s, murmur sleepily:
“Wha-what’s the matter? Who’s there?”
The sheriff struck a match, and by the dim flare revealed the two boys in their beds, covered to their chins. Dave was blinking sleepily, but Marshmallow, his mouth open, snored gently.
“I guess you were wrong, Mr. Moon,” the officer said.
“I—well, I could have sworn—” stammered th« discomfited Moon.
“What’s the matter, Doris?” Dave demanded, now wide awake.
“I don’t know, but it is outrageous,” stormed the girl. “Now, will you men please leave these grounds at once before I call for help!”
“I’m sorry, lady, but I was just doin’ my duty,” the sheriff apologized, backing away.
Henry Moon, speechless, was already in full retreat. A moment later the car was heard to move off into the warm, dark night.
“Are they gone?” came from Marshmallow.
“Yes,” Doris replied. “And will you two please—”
“Explain?” Dave finished for her. “Certainly!”
Throwing back the covers, he jumped from the bed, fully clad, as Doris switched on the light.
Marshmallow followed suit, likewise revealing himself in the clothing he had worn at the table.
“It’s a long story, mates,” Marshmallow grinned.
“But first make sure that those men have really gone,” Dave cautioned.
“I’ll tell Mrs. Mallow and Kitty that everything is all right,” Doris said.
She paused at the door of her room and Kitty’s to tell the news, and then made sure that Moon and the deputy sheriff had gone.
A few minutes later all five were assembled in the boys’ room, the two girls and Mrs. Mallow listening with horror to the boys’ story.
“It was all my idea,” Marshmallow began, “and if you think I’m bragging, I’ll confess that nothing came of it.
“It flashed over me just before dinner, this scheme, and I gave Dave the sign to come down to the village with me—alone. We knew that Saturday night meant big doings, especially with the movie show on, so our scheme shouldn’t have fallen through.”
“What scheme?” Doris exclaimed. “Don’t be so mysterious!”
“Patience, patience,” Marshmallow advised. “We went to the Raven Rock Ritz, that magnificent hostelry where Moon and his two friends are stopping, and Dave and I took’a room there, too.”
“What in the world for?” demanded Mrs. Mallow. “Are you dissatis—”
“Sh! All will be revealed,” her son grinned. “It cost only two dollars, and we didn’t pay that, having to leave sort of unceremoniously. In signing the register we looked over the page for Henry Moon’s name and got the number of his room. There are only eight or ten in the hotel, and we found that his was at the end of the one and only corridor on the first and only floor.
“So Dave and I sauntered down. Somebody was saying in an excited sort of voice, ‘I tell you, she found it all out. She’s wise.’ Then and there we knew there wasn’t much time to waste.”
“They were talking about you, of course,” Dave interrupted, indicating Doris.
“We walked out front, then, where we could keep an eye on the hall door,” continued Dave, “and after a while Moon came out with the Bedelle boy—the stowaway, you know—
and the two men. We watched them go up the street a little way, then we went back to Moon’s room, tried the key to our room in the lock—and it worked!”
“Marshall!” Mrs. Mallow exclaimed in a shocked voice. “You could have been arrested! That is—”
“We almost were arrested, as you know,” Marshmallow admitted. “But when one is on the trail of thieves one has to take risks.
“Anyhow, we went into the room and I kept watch at the door while Dave started a search for the stolen papers.”
“I hunted everywhere,” Dave said, picking up the thread of the story. “In the bureau, in the pockets of a suit hanging in the closet, and then I started to look for suitcases when I heard Marshmallow give a sort of gurgle!”
“Maybe I did gurgle,” Marshmallow admitted. “I wanted to yell, but knew I mustn’t.”
“Because,” said Dave, “when I glanced past Marsh down the hall where Moon and his two friends were coming, they saw us and began to run in our direction.”
“Oh, dear! Oh, dear!” Mrs. Mallow moaned softly.
“So we dived through the open window,” Marshmallow continued. “Moon poked his head out of the window right over us and yelled, ‘There they go!’”
“The next thing he said was, ‘It was those two young cubs from the Crazy Bear Ranch! I should have known they weren’t in this forsaken hole for fun!’” Dave interjected.
“Then the orders flew,” Marshmallow went on. “He told one man he called Wolf to stand guard, right in the room. Then he asked a fellow he called Sam to come with him, as he was going to get the sheriff and drive out toward the ranch and catch us on the way.”
“We sneaked up to the front of the hotel,” Dave said, “and there was our car, of course, parked in the street. Moon recognized it, so he made this Sam fellow get in the back and crouch down, to grab us when we got in.”
“That gave us our idea,” Marshmallow laughed.
“But how did you get here, then?” Doris cried.
“With Moon and the sheriff!” roared Marshmallow. “Right near us Moon’s car was parked well in the dark, so Dave and I jumped into the rear compartment and pulled a lot of oily slickers and dungarees over us. Soon Moon came along with the deputy, raving about how he had caught us stealing everything he owned and flashing a gun at him. They got in the car and drove to the ranch.
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