CHAPTER VI
THE CAPTURE OP THE HORSE THIEF
"There they are!" cried Ned Rector, a flash of lightning havingdisclosed the man kneeling over Tad Butler. "He's got Tad down!"
But Lige Thomas did not even hear the warning words. He, too, duringthe momentary illumination, had caught the significance of the scene.
With a mighty leap he hurled himself upon the body of the crouchingmountaineer, both going down in a confused heap, with the unfortunateTad underneath.
Ned Rector was only a few seconds behind the guide. While the two menwere straggling in fierce embrace, he sprang to them, and, grabbingTad by the heels, drew him from beneath the bodies of the desperatecombatants. But Ned's heart sank when he saw Lige drop over backward,with the mountaineer on top.
With a courage born of the excitement of the moment, Ned clasped bothhands under the fellow's chin, jerking his head violentlybackwards. So sudden was the jolt that the lad distinctly heard theman's neck snap, and, for the moment, believed he had broken itentirely.
However, the mountaineer's tough coating of muscle made such a resultimpossible. Yet he had sustained a jolt so severe that, for the timebeing, he found himself absolutely helpless, and wholly at the mercyof his antagonists.
Lige leaped upon the thief with the lightness of a cat, quicklycompleting the job which Ned Rector had begun. In a moment more theguide had thrown several strands of tough rawhide lariat about thebody of the dazed mountaineer, binding the fellow's arms tightly tohis side.
"I guess that will hold him for a while," laughed Ned. Then,bethinking himself of Tad, whom in the excitement of conflict he hadentirely forgotten, Rector dropped down beside his comrade.
"Tad! Tad! Are you all right?"
Tad made no response. He told Ned afterwards that he had heard himdistinctly, though to save his life he could not have answered.
Ned pulled him up into a sitting posture, and shook the boy until histeeth chattered. Tad gulped and began to choke, his breath beginningto come irregularly.
"How's the boy?" demanded the guide, rising after having completed histask of binding the captive.
"He'll be all right in a minute. Is there any water about here!"
"No; not nearer than the camp. Wait a minute; I'll bring him aroundwithout it," announced Lige.
In this case, however, Tad felt that the remedy was considerably worsethan the disease itself. Lige brought his brawny hand down with aresounding whack, squarely between Tad's shoulders, which operation herepeated several times with increasing force.
"On--ouch!" yelled Tad, suddenly finding his voice under the guide'sheroic treatment. "Wh--where am I?"
"You're in the woods. That's about all I know about it," laughed Ned,assisting his companion to his feet, and supporting him, for Tad wasstill a bit unsteady from his late desperate encounter. "You're luckyto be alive."
"What--what has happened!"
"That," answered Ned, pointing to Lige as the latter roughly jerkedthe captive mountaineer to an upright position.
"Find the ponies!" commanded the guide sharply. "I hear them in thebushes there. Will they come if you whistle!"
"Depends upon which ones they are. Mine will."
But, though Ned whistled vigorously, neither of the animals appearedto heed the signal.
"Jimmie isn't there. I'll go get them." And Ned ran off into thebushes, where they could hear him coaxing the little animals tohim. In a few moments he returned leading them by their bridle reins.
"Whose ponies are they?" asked Tad, leaning against a tree forsupport.
"Texas and Jo-Jo. The fellow picked a couple of good ones. But then,all the ponies are worth having," added Ned, realizing that he wasplacing the others ahead of his own little animal. "What do youpropose to do with that fellow over there, guide?"
"Depends upon you young gentlemen. Just now I am going to tie him onone of the ponies and take him back to camp. I suppose you know whatthey do with hoss thieves in this country, don't you?" asked Thomas.
"Never having been a horse thief, and never having caught one, I can'tsay that I do," confessed Master Ned. "What do they do with them?"
"Depends upon whether there are any large trees about," answered Ligesignificantly. "We must be getting back now. Master Tad, you get onyour pony, and I will lead Jo-Jo behind with the thief."
The mountaineer had been securely tied to the back of Walter Perkins'smount, and the procession now quickly got under way, Tad riding ahead,Ned Rector bringing up the rear, that he might keep a wary eye ontheir prisoner on their way back to camp. Ned was armed with a club, astout limb of oak, which he had picked up before the start, and whichhe covertly hoped he might have an opportunity to use before reachingcamp.
However, no such chance was given him, and, after picking their waycautiously over the rocky way, for trail there was none, they at lastreached their temporary home.
Ned gave a war whoop as a signal to the camp that they were coming,which was answered with a slightly lesser degree of enthusiasm byStacy Brown.
The storm had died down to a distant roar and the camp was indarkness.
"Get a fire going as quickly as possible," directed the guide.
Ned quickly procured dry fuel, and in a few moments had a cracklingfire burning.
Professor Zepplin and Stacy Brown now came forward into the circle oflight. After the sudden departure of his tent the Professor had takenrefuge in one of the other tents, where he had remained, not knowingexactly what had happened.
In the excitement of losing his own little home he did know that allthe boys, save Stacy, had rushed out of camp, shouting about the theftof the ponies. Chunky averred that all the stock had run away. Stillthere seemed nothing left for the two to do except remain where theywere until the return of the others of the party. They would have beensure to lose themselves had they ventured away from camp in thedarkness.
Both paused suddenly when they observed the figure of a man tied tothe back of Jo-Jo.
"What's this? What's this?" demanded the Professor in puzzledaccents. "A man tied to a horse? What is the meaning of this, sir?"
Lige Thomas smiled grimly.
"That's our prisoner," declared Tad, who, sitting upon his horse inhis bedraggled, torn pajamas, presented a most ludicrous figure.
"You certainly are a sight, sir," declared Professor Zepplin,surveying the boy with disapproving eyes. "What is the meaning of allthis disturbance? First, my tent goes up into the air; then you alldisappear, though where I am not advised. And now, you return with aman tied to a pony."
"The man's a thief--" began Ned.
"It was this way, Professor," Tad informed him. "I saw some onewalking away with Jo-Jo and Texas. I ran after and caught up with thefellow. Then the others came and we nabbed him. That's all."
"Yes, sir; if it hadn't been for Master Tad's quickness we might havelost both the ponies," added the guide. "He caught the fellow andhandled him as well as a man could have done until we got there. Whenyou get your full strength, you'll be a whirlwind, young man," glowedLige.
Blushing, Tad slipped from his pony.
"The man is a thief, you say, Thomas?"
"Yes, sir."
"Well, well; I am surprised. I should like to take a look at him."
Thomas dumped the prisoner on the ground in the full glare of thetorches, still leaving his arms bound, and taking the furtherprecaution of securing the fellow's feet.
"Who are you, my man!" demanded the Professor sternly, peering downinto the prisoner's dark, sullen face.
There was no response.
"Humph! Can't he talk, Thomas?"
"I reckon he can, but he won't," grinned Lige. "There ain't no use inasking him questions. He knows we've caught him in the act, and heknows, too, what the penalty is."
"The penalty--the penalty? You refer to imprisonment, of course?"
"No; that ain't what I mean."
"Then, to what pena
lty do you refer?" inquired the Professor.
"We usually hang a hoss thief in this country," replied the guide,grimly. "But, of course, it's for you and the boys to say what shallbe done."
"Hang him? Hang him? Certainly not! How can you suggest such a thing?We will turn him over to the officers of the law, and let them disposeof him in the regular way," declared the Professor with emphasis.
"That's all right, but where are we going to find any officers?" askedTad. "They don't seem to be numerous about here."
"The young gentleman has hit the bull's-eye, sir. It's sixty miles,and more, to a jail. You don't want to go back, do you?"
"Certainly not."
"That's how we men of the mountains come to take the law into our ownhands, sometimes. We have to be officers and jails, all in one,"hinted the guide significantly.
"Then, there remains only one thing for us to do, regrettable as itmay seem," decided the Professor after a moment's thought.
"Yes, sir?"
"Let the fellow go, but with the admonition not to offend again."
Lige laughed.
"Heap he'll care about that," he retorted, his, face growing glum.
However, at the Professor's direction, the prisoner was liberated. Nosooner was this done than the fellow leaped to his feet and started torun.
"Catch him!" roared Lige.
Tad promptly stuck out a foot. The mountaineer tripped over it,measuring his length on the ground. Lige jerked the fellow to his feetand stood him against a tree, the thief becoming suddenly meek when hefound himself looking along the barrel of a large six-shooter.
"I reckon you can run now, if you want to," grinned the guidesuggestively.
"Admonish him," urged the Professor.
"Now, you see here, fellow," said Lige in a menacing tone, "you'vestruck a rich find tonight. Next time, I reckon you won't get off soeasy. I've got you marked. I'll find out what your brand is, then I'lltell the sheriff to be on the lookout for you. Now, you hit the trailas fast as your legs'll carry you. If I catch you up to any moretricks--well, you know the answer. Now, git!"
And the late prisoner did. One bound carried him almost out ofcamp. The boys shouted derisively as they heard him flounderingthrough the bushes as he hastily made his escape.
"Where is Walt? Did he go hack to bed?" asked Tad, after theexcitement had subsided.
"To bed? No; he followed you," replied Stacy Brown.
"Followed us? You are mistaken. Did you see anything of WalterPerkins, Mr. Thomas?"
The guide shook his head.
"Did not go with you? I think you must be in error," spoke up theProfessor, with quick concern.
"He certainly was not with us," insisted Ned. "I did not even see himleave his tent."
"Why, he must have gone. With my own eyes I saw him running afteryou," urged Professor Zepplin in a tone of great anxiety.
"Guide, get torches at once. The boy surely is lost."
Alarmed, the boys needed no further incentive to spur them to instantaction. Grasping fagots from the fire, they lined up, standing withanxious faces, awaiting the direction of Lige Thomas, to whom theyinstinctively looked to command the searching party.
"Wait a minute," commanded Lige in a calm voice. "Which way did yousee him go, Professor?"
"Let me reflect. I am not sure--yes, I am. I distinctly rememberhaving seen him run obliquely to the left there. It was just after Ihad lost my tent----"
"Over that way?" asked Lige, pointing.
"Yes, that was the direction. I am positive of it now. But, if he wentthat way, he didn't follow you?" added the Professor hesitatingly.
"Do you know what lies there, less than ten rods away?" asked theguide, gravely.
"I don't understand you."
"There's a cliff there that drops down a clear hundred feet," answeredLige, impressively.
A heavy silence fell over the little group.
The Pony Rider Boys in the Rockies; Or, The Secret of the Lost Claim Page 7
