Boy Scouts on the Open Plains; Or, The Round-Up Not Ordered Read online

  CHAPTER XII.

  NIPPING A MUTINY.

  Once Chunky knew what was expected of him, and he proved that he coulddo things with a hurricane rush. Most cow-punchers are of his stripe,and speed is a mania on the range.

  "First thing I'll run out some ponies for you young fellers to mount,"he told the scouts, as he turned to leave the verandah where the shorttalk had taken place.

  "Me for a piebald mustang!" called out Jimmy, "I've somehow had that inmy mind ever since I set eyes on that speckled pony belongin' to Amos.Fix me up that way, if you want to see me happy, Mister Chunky."

  And greatly to Jimmy's delight, he was later on given just such a mountas he called for; though as for Ned, he did not wholly fancy thepeculiar whitish eyes that were a feature of the fancy looking beast.He imagined that the animal had an ugly temper, if crossed, and hopedthat Jimmy might not rue the day he yearned for a mottled cow pony.

  Meanwhile the big bell had been clanged that would serve as a signal totell all on the place that their presence was immediately desired. Theycame trooping out of the bunk house and from the direction of thecorral, where it chanced they had been busily engaged at the time.

  Curiosity could be seen stamped on most of their bronzed faces. Nedlooked for the man called Ally Sloper, and who had been described tohim so cleverly that he fancied he could pick him out among the throng.

  Even if he had not been advised beforehand, he knew he could havesettled upon the man; because, while nearly all the others seemed jollyand carefree, his face bore a dark frown.

  Ned believed the man suspected something; that he feared this hasty andunusual summons might interfere with the cunning scheme engineered forthat night. And while not appearing to watch the puncher at all, Nedcould easily see that he made frequent signals, when he thought himselfunobserved, to several others, whom Ned also marked down as the secretallies of the rustler's spy.

  These things, while seemingly unimportant, were really of considerableconsequence, because much depended on their keeping the traitors fromcommunicating with their friends in the hills.

  "Is that Sloper with the hat on the back of his head?" he asked Chunky,in a low tone, as the men were coming up.

  "Yes, and the one with him is Lefty Louie; that sneak trailin' along athis heels is Coyote Smith. Bob Caruso is the feller larfin' right now,and which makes him look like he could swallow a heifer easy; andTinplate George is at the end of the bunch, limpin' some, 'count of afling he got yesterday with a buckin' broncho. Got 'em all sized upnow, have ye, Ned?"

  "Yes, and tell Mrs. Haines to start the circus right away, Chunky," wasthe reply.

  The rancher's wife had been nervously waiting for a sign. She nowstepped forward and held up her hand, so that all noise ceased, and themen listened eagerly, for their curiosity had been greatly excited.

  "During the absence of Colonel Haines and Mr. Henshaw, you are to takeyour orders from this young man here, Ned Nestor, and through Chunky,who will act as temporary foreman. An emergency has arisen, making itvery necessary that all our herds be rounded up immediately and driveninto the big corral, where they can be guarded to-night. Ask noquestions, but do your duty as employees of this ranch. That is all Iwish to say, and I feel sure that every one of you will understand thatI am in consultation with those I have put in charge and that it is mywishes they are carrying out."

  The punchers stared at each other. They could, of course, give a prettygood guess what this must mean, for the only real danger that could befeared at this time of year would be from rustlers.

  As a rule, they were a jolly lot of carefree fellows, willing to workdouble one day and loaf the next, as the occasion arose; it was all inthe line of business with them.

  Ned had been watching Ally Sloper out of the tail of his eye. He sawthe man scowl like a pirate of the Spanish Main. Of course, this wasgoing to interfere seriously with all the well-laid plans between thespies and their rustler allies. They may have waited a long time forthis very chance, when both proprietors of the ranch would be away atthe same time; and, now that it had come, to be balked in their designswas enough to throw such a tempestuous man into a fury.

  "He's going to make trouble right away, Ned," whispered Jack in the earof the scout master.

  "Let him try it, and see what he runs up against, that's all," Nedreplied, as he watched Ally Sloper pushing his way to the front.

  Somehow the other four did not follow him. They were wise enough torealize that such a move might expose them to suspicion. If Sloperchose to protest against being sent out on the range at this late hourof the day, that was his privilege; but there was no necessity for themto show their hand so early in the game. They knew what the anger ofcow-punchers was like and had a healthy respect for it.

  Before the advancing man could get near enough to say anything, Chunkybegan to speak as though he did not notice this aggressive movement.

  "I'll head one party, and with me will go Arizona Tom, Dutchy, AllySloper and two of the visitors at the ranch. Skinny will take anotherparty to bring in the herd from the alfalfa prairie," and so he went onapportioning the men, placing one he could positively trust at the headof each detachment, and making sure that each squad held a "suspect."

  It had all been well laid out, and in the strongest bunch, consistingof seven riders, two of the unfaithful lot had been included. Eachparty had been given a particular herd to manage, so that the workcould be carried out in systematic order.

  Of course, Chunky intended to give the several leaders a quiet tipbefore they started out, so that they could keep an eye on the suspectsand thwart any move that looked as though they meant to slip away, orsend warning to their friends in the hills.

  Sloper had stood and listened to what Chunky said. Evidently itconfirmed what suspicions he may have already had concerning thebreaking up of their plot. And he would have been a stupid man not tohave connected the coming of the scouts with this sudden move, lookingto a round-up that had not been ordered by the proprietors of the bigranch.

  Some of the men had started to hurry away; others stood there in ahalf-hesitating way, as though they had noticed the belligerentattitude of Ally Sloper and wished to see what he meant to do. He mayhave given trouble on other past occasions and was only kept on accountof his acknowledged skill as a puncher.

  "Hold on there, Chunky, I want to say as I aint agoin' out on the rangewith ye this time. I reckons as how I've done a good hard day's worka'ready. 'Sides that, take it from me straight that I don't mean tolook to a _kid_ like this here newcomer for my boss. I'm alayin' downon the job for onct, see?"

  "No, I don't see, Sloper," returned the emaciated puncher, facing theother, a gleam in his eyes that was not nice to watch. "Are you sick?"

  "What, me? Did ye ever know me to be sick? No, 'taint that. I jestdon't keer to work any more to-day. I'm agoin' to the bunk house an'lie down to smoke."

  "You're goin' out on the range with me, Sloper, hear that?" grittedChunky, as he faced the other defiantly. "You heard the rancher's wifegive her orders; and, also, the fact that she says as how we are all tolook to this young chap as her representative; likewise that I'm toadvise him, seein' as how he ain't well up in range ways. I've selected_you_ to be in my party. I want you for a good many reasons, one o'which are that you ain't got anything on me when it comes to roundin'up longhorns. So make up your mind you're agoin' out and help git thatprize herd in from the Washout Coulie."

  "I don't take my orders from any snip like that, I tell you, and Iain't agoin' to stand for you bein' foreman here, Chunky, understandthat!" the mutineer rasped, while four other punchers moved a littlecloser and waited to see how their ally came through, before they triedto copy his tactics; if he succeeded, they could follow suit; whereas,should he make a failure, they were at liberty to draw back and holdtheir horses for a more convenient season.

  "Oh! is that so, Sloper?" remarked the tall puncher, quickly, "an' tellme how you expect
to keep from goin' out on the range with my party?"

  "I throw up my job right here, see?" almost shouted Sloper. "You getwhat I says, don't you? You can't order me around, when I'm a freeagent. And I ain't workin' for the Double Cross people any more. I'mdone."

  "Oh! yes, you are," sneered Chunky. "We'll just look into that, Sloper.I reckons as how Colonel Job fixed things so he could count on _your_services a certain time. You're under contract here. Mrs. Haines, kinyou tell me how much longer Sloper's agreement to work for the ownersof the Double Cross Ranch, or whoever they chose to app'nt foremanhere, has to run?"

  "Just two months more," replied the colonel's wife, who kept the booksof the ranch and, therefore, knew all about the dealings with all thehands.

  "That settles it then, Sloper," said Chunky. "We need your servicesright bad to git them cattle into the stockade. And let me tell youright here, you're agoin' out on the range with us now and workalongside the rest of the boys, or somethin' is likely to happen rightsuddent."

  He carelessly let his hand slip around to the butt of his gun whilesaying this. Jimmy and, perhaps Harry, anticipated seeing somefireworks, because they thought Sloper was a gunfighter; but Ned couldread character better and he had already decided that the man had acraven soul back of all his bluster. So he was not at all surprised tosee him quail before the steady gaze of Chunky.

  "This is a raw deal you're givin' me, Chunky!" he muttered.

  "I'm doin' jest what Colonel Job'd do if he was on the spot, and one ofhis contract men tried to lay down on him," retorted the otherpositively. "After he gits back, if you care to take it up with him, yekin do it. But while I'm runnin' things, alongside o' this younkerhere, you'll do your part, or I'll know the reason why. Now, boys, gityour ponies and we'll be off. Thar's a heap o' hard work to do afore wekin take things easy."

  He managed matters so that he could say a few words to Skinny and theother two dependable punchers who had been placed in charge of thethird and fourth parties.

  They were told to keep a watchful eye on the suspected ones, thoughthere was no time to explain just why. But, after all, there could bebut one reason for giving this warning, and Skinny, as well as theother leaders, were able to figure it out. They had already guessedthat news had come concerning a contemplated foray on the part ofrustlers and that these men were suspected of being hand in glove withthe lawless night runners of cattle.

  There was presently a bustling scene as the punchers saddled theirponies and prepared for hard work out on the range.

  Chunky managed to keep close to Ally Sloper all of the time and theman, seeing this, did not dare venture anything like flight, lest he befollowed by a shower of bullets.

  Orders were given for ponies for the four scouts and it was not longbefore they found themselves mounted on frisky bronchos, which it tookall their skill to manage. But fortunately all of them had doneconsiderable riding in times past, so that they did themselves credit.And doubtless the punchers had picked animals that, according to theirway of thinking, were exceedingly docile, though quite lively enough tosuit Ned and his chums.

  There was Jimmy grinning from the back of a beautifully spotted animal,and apparently as happy as any one could be. He had found a way tosling his gun, so as to have both hands free to manage the mount; and,truth to tell, there were times when Jimmy was apt to wish he had athird hand in the bargain, for the calico pony proved to be the mostunruly one of the quartette.

  All this was done in a comparatively short time, because each puncherlooked out for himself. Harry and Jack were to accompany Skinny'sbunch, while Jimmy and Ned meant to be with Chunky. This arrangementsatisfied the scout master, who felt that if there was anything goingon it was apt to be in connection with that detachment which had AllySloper on its roll call. And, as usual, Ned wanted to be on the firingline when things were happening.

  Owing to various causes Chunky's bunch was the last to get away. Inthree separate directions could be seen little clouds of alkali dust inwhich the reckless riders had vanished, heading for the feeding groundsof the herds, to which they had been assigned.

  As these lay some miles away, and the task of rounding up the cattle,as well as driving them on the return trip, would consume considerabletime, it was not expected that the first of the herds would reach thestockade until the moon was several hours high.

  When Ned and Jimmy galloped forth, keeping close to the other fourriders, they turned in the saddle to wave to the stockman's wife, whostood on the piazza, to see the last of them off, with the Chinese cookclose by, and also a couple of women, who were also employed in thehouse.

  The scout master believed he had reason to feel satisfied, because hehad been allowed to balk the treacherous designs of those who wouldhave sacrificed the property of their employer by sending word to thecattle rustlers. But as his eye wandered over to where the sullen AllySloper sat his saddle, Ned knew that this was hardly the end. A man ofhis double nature was not apt to throw up his hands and acknowledgehimself beaten, just because he had been knocked down in the firstround.

  "He'll bear close watching," was Ned's mental comment, "and even thenchances are he may find a way to slip us, when the excitement ofrounding-up the steers and the cows is on. But once we get the herdstarted home, I don't believe he'd be able to do us any great harm, ifhe did skip out. Still, Chunky is dealing with the hound and I mustn'tinterfere."