Comrades of the Saddle by Frank V. Webster

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"Where have you been?"

"I've been up in the hills for a few days prospecting."

"Did you find the mine?" inquired Tom, forgetting the raid and
pursuit in his eagerness to learn about the Lost Lode.

"No, I didn't. I just learned another trail, which isn't the right
one."

Larry, however, was more interested in the cattle thieves and
brought the conversation back to them.

"Were the men near the hills when you saw them?" he asked.

"About a quarter of a mile away."

"Then come on. We must get to the hills so we can find their
trail," declared Horace.

"You kids sure ain't going after 'em alone?" exclaimed Jeffreys
incredulously.

"But if there are only four of them?"

"To you three, and they are men, don't forget that."

"But you'll make four," suggested Tom.

"Providing I was going with you, which I ain't, I'd like to, but I
reckon I'd better ride back to my own ranch and see they haven't
lifted any of my cattle. If they have, I'll get my boys and take
up the trail."

Realizing from the expressions on their faces that the lads were
surprised as well as disappointed at his refusal to accompany them,
the horseman said:

"You all just take my advice and don't try to follow those raiders
into the mountains. What you want to do is to find Wilder and
Snider as quick as you can, providing you won't go back to your
ranch, where you ought to be."

"Which you can bet your whole outfit we won't!" snapped Horace.
"We started on this chase and we're going to stay on it."

Jeffreys smiled at the determined manner of the young rancher,

"Then join your father as soon as you can. Don't try any fool
stunt like going into the mountains. Remember, when you are on the
prairie you can sec on all sides of you."

"Except when you're behind a crest," chuckled Tom.

At this reference to the recent contretemps Jeffreys frowned,
started to say something and instead dug his spurs into his pony,
galloping away without even so much as looking back.

"He's a fine neighbor--not," declared Larry as the trio resumed
their way. "I should have thought he would be only too glad to
help your father and Mr. Snider get back their cattle."

"He isn't very keen for the Half-Moon," rejoined Horace. "Father
beat him in a law case over a boundary line once and he's never
forgotten it."

"And I reckon he won't forget his meeting with us to-day," said
Tom, grinning.

At the memory of the reception they had given, Jeffreys the
comrades had a hearty laugh.

"Still, he gave us some good advice," asserted Larry. "I agree
with him that the thing for us is to find the Half-Moon and Three
Stars crowd as soon as we can."

"Which seems to be a pretty big order in itself," mused Tom. "I
say we go and see where they drove the cattle into the hills and
then decide."

This suggestion met with no opposition, and as the boys rode toward
the mountains, the wooded sides of which looked inviting because of
the relief they promised from the torrid heat of the plains, they
discussed various plans, only to discard them.

At last they reached the hills. Dismounting, they hobbled their
ponies, removed the saddles and bridles sticky with lather, and
then broke out some lunch which they ate ravenously, despite the
fact that their mouths were almost parched.

Greatly refreshed by the food, the boys decided to follow the trail
of the cattle till they could get some idea of its direction.

"Let's go on foot," suggested Tom. "The ponies will be all right,
the rest will do them good, and we can get through the brush and
over the rocks with less noise."

Readily his companions agreed, and picking up their rifles, they
quickly found the tracks made by the cattle.

For some distance the trail seemed more like an abandoned wood road
than anything else. But gradually it began to grow narrower and at
last became no more than a path winding in and out among the rocks.

Several times some sound caused the boys to raise their guns to
their shoulders and peer about in all directions, but nothing could
they see save the trees and rocks, and they ascribed the noises to
some denizen of the forest roaming about.

Of a sudden Tom, who was in the lead, stopped.

"I smell something awful queer," he whispered.

The trail wound along the edge of a sharp descent and just ahead
was an abrupt turn.

Ere either Larry or Horace could reply to their companion's
announcement all three were dumb-founded to see a big, shaggy brown
head appear round the turn in the trail.

"It's a bear!" gasped Horace.

At the sight of the three boys the big head had paused in surprise.
Then its lips began to curl, disclosing a wicked looking set of
teeth, and finally it broke into a savage snarl, at the same time
rising in the air.

"He's getting to his hind legs. That means fight!" breathed
Horace. "Come on, let's run!"

"But he'd overtake us and beat us down with his paws," returned
Larry. "We've got to kill him."

Less time did the action consume than is required to describe it,
and the boys were standing terror stricken when the bear charged
upon them, making vicious lunges at them with his huge paws.

Roused from his fright by the imminence of his peril, Tom raised
his rifle, only to have it knocked from his hands by a swing of one
of the bear's paws.

[Illustration: The rifle was knocked from his hand.]

"Drop down! drop down so I can shoot!" yelled Larry as he saw the
desperate situation in which his brother was placed.

Instantly Tom obeyed, throwing himself to one side as he fell.

But as the younger of the brothers dropped the bear, as though
singling him out for his particular antagonist, also dropped to all
fours, and Larry's shot went over him.

Horace, however, shot lower, and a terrible roar told them that the
bullet had struck home.

In the fury of his pain the bear seemed to think that the boy lying
flat on the rocks was the cause of his suffering, and, with mouth
distended, charged upon him.

In a frenzy lest they might not be able to save Tom, Larry and
Horace both fired.

At the impact of the bullets the bear rose on his hind legs, swung
wildly with his paws at the steel barrels that were pouring the
terribly painful things into him and fell prone, the huge carcass
missing Tom by less than a foot.

CHAPTER XVII

LOST!

From the moment when his brother had cried to him to drop, Tom had
kept his eyes on the bear, and when he saw the beast plunge forward
and realized that it was dead, he leaped to his feet, his pale face
telling of the awful strain under which he had been.

The reaction from their excitement made Larry and Horace tremble
and, for the time, they could only look from their companion to the
carcass of the bear, too unnerved to speak.

Tom was the first to recover from the fright, and he thanked the
others for what they had done.

"Let's not talk about it," interposed Larry. "The thing for us to
do is to get out of here lively. The reverberations from those
shots are echoing yet. The raiders must have heard them, and
they'll know some one is on their trail, so they will either come
back to sec who it is or else hide to waylay us."

Tom and Horace were perfectly willing to give up following the
trail farther, and all three were retracing their steps when the
elder of the chums cried:

"The rifle! Tom, you forgot to pick up your rifle."

"Which shows I was some scared," and he smiled apologetically.

"But it's a worse one on Larry and me," protested Horace. "There's
some excuse for you. But the bear wasn't charging us."

"Oh, well there's no harm done," returned Larry, pleased at the
spirit Horace's words showed. "We can go back and get it. It's a
mighty good thing, though, that we thought of It before we reached
the ponies. From the looks of the sky and the shadows it won't be
long before dusk, and Mr. Wilder told us night comes quickly in the
mountains."

Ere Larry had finished speaking they had started back to the scene
of their encounter.

Yet when they reached the spot Tom's rifle was nowhere to be seen.

In dismay the boys looked at one another. Already the mountains
were turning purple-black in the twilight, the shadows transforming
the trees and rocks into weird figures.

"Perhaps it's under the bear," hazarded Horace, his low voice
evidencing the awe which the silence and the surroundings inspired
in him.

"Then give a hand while we move him," commanded Larry. "It won't
do to stay here long or we may lose our way as well as the rifle."

Little relishing the thought of wandering through the woods in the
dark, the boys seized one of the paws and pulled with all their
might.

But, to their surprise, they could move the carcass scarcely at all.

"My, but he's a monster!" gasped Larry. "It's only a waste of
valuable time to try to lift him or even move him. The only thing
we can do is to try to feel under him with our hands."

Dropping to their knees, the lads thrust their arms under the
shaggy fur, being able to reach far; enough to make sure that the
much-wanted rifle was not beneath the body of the bear.

"Bet he knocked it over the cliff," declared Horace. "From which
side did he strike it, Tom?"

"More than I know. All I could see was paws. The air was full of
them and they seemed to come from all directions at once."

This explanation brought laughter to Larry and Horace, which ceased
abruptly, however, as from somewhere on the mountains there
suddenly rang out a low wail, more like the howl of a coyote than
anything else, yet with a certain difference that even the chums
were able to distinguish.

"Whatever that is, I don't care to meet it," exclaimed Horace.
"Let's go back. We've still got two rifles. If we stick to the
plains till we join father we can get along all right."

"Suppose we don't meet your father, what then?" returned Larry.

"Always looking for more trouble, as if we didn't have enough
already," chided Tom. "Of course we'll meet him. Anyhow, this is
no place to argue about it. If you and Horace can't protect me,
I'll take both your rifles and watch over the two of you."

There was a suggestion of mockery in Tom's voice, but taking it
good naturedly, Larry replied:

"Oh, no you won't. You can't throw your gun away every time you
get scared and then take ours from us. You just get in between
Horace and me. Horace, you lead because you know how to follow a
trail better, and I'll keep off the bears and raiders," he added
with a smile.

The movements of the boys, however, were more rapid than their
words, and they were traveling the trail once more ere Larry's
joking allusion to the loss of the rifle and the protection he
would afford.

So long as their way lay among the rocks they followed the trail
with little difficulty, but when they entered the woods their
troubles began in earnest.

None too self-possessed in the dark, even when going about the
ranch, when he entered the inky darkness caused by the maze of
boughs and foliage, Horace lost his head completely, and it did not
take the comrades long to realize they had wandered from the trail.

"Better let me take the lead, Horace; I'm taller," said Larry, at
the same time giving his brother a poke In the ribs as a warning
not to object.

"Well, you'll have to be a giraffe to see your way over the tops of
these trees," chuckled Tom.

Their plight was too serious to admit of jest, however, and after
wandering for half an hour, stumbling over dead limbs and running
into trees and branches, they halted in despair.

"I remember Si told us back home that when a man's lost he
generally travels in a circle," said Tom.

"So he did, and he said It was usually to the left, because a man
takes a longer step with his right foot," added Larry.

"That may help when you know which is the right and which is the
left of the way you have been going, but here we've turned round to
talk, so we don't even know that much," interposed Horace.

"That's a fact," admitted the elder of the chums reluctantly as he
realized that by facing one another they had lost all sense of
direction. "It's a good thing you thought of it, Horace, or we
might have got ourselves into a worse mess than we're in now,"

"If it weren't for all that good food cooked by Hop Joy back with
the horses and the fact that I'm hungry, I'd be in favor of staying
right where we are till morning," announced Tom.

"I reckon that is the best thing we can do, anyhow," declared his
brother.

"Not with my appetite," retorted Tom.

"This is no time to be funny," reprimanded Larry. "If we keep on
moving, we may never get out, while if we stay here we can climb
into one of these trees and be safe till daylight shows us----"

"By jove! That's the very thing!" exclaimed the younger of the
chums, and there was such a tone of genuine enthusiasm in his voice
that the others asked excitedly:

"What?"

"Why, the trees. We won't need to sleep in them. By climbing a
tall one, we can get the lay of the land as soon as moonlight
comes, which will show us at least how to get out onto the plains
again."

"Hooray!" cried Larry and Horace together.

Each realized the plan was feasible, provided the night was not
cloudy, and once on the prairie it would not be difficult for the
young rancher to lead the way to the horses. And, although they
knew that the moon would not rise for two hours at least, they were
so eager to try the plan that they began to discuss who should be
the one to do the climbing.

The two brothers claimed preference because they were both stronger
and taller than their companion, but Horace silenced them by
declaring that not only could he go higher because he was lighter,
but that he would be able to recognize their whereabouts from his
knowledge of the mountains.

Restraining their impatience as best they could, the boys sat down.

"When we do get out, which way shall we go to join Mr. Wilder and
the others?" asked Larry.

This question started further discussion. One suggestion after
another was made only to be rejected because of some obstacle, and
finally they decided the safest thing to do would be to ride till
they found the trail over which the cattle had been driven from the
bottoms and follow that.

Soon Horace climbed a convenient tree.

"We sure are dubs!" he cried.

"Why? Is the moon up?" asked the two chums eagerly..

"No, the moon isn't up. I don't need it. The stars are bright
enough. We've been sitting here fretting all this while within a
hundred yards of the prairie!"

CHAPTER XVIII

A MYSTERIOUS CALL

Horace and Larry having picked up their rifles, the three boys
resumed their way, Larry leading slowly, taking care to make his
steps of as nearly equal length as possible, and in due time they
came onto the prairie.

"My, but this stretch of level does look good," declared Tom, and
his companions expressed their hearty agreement as they hastened
toward the spot where they left their ponies.

Finding them without difficulty, the lads broke out the food and
ate ravenously,

"Hey, go easy on the grub," cautioned Larry as he noted the amount
his companions were eating. "This is all we have to last us until
we meet the others--or get back to the ranch," he added as the
thought recurred to him that luck would play a large part in the
success of their search for the pursuing party.

"You can go easy if you like. So long as there's anything to eat,
I am going to eat," returned his brother. "Don't worry. We won't
starve. If worse comes to worse, I can get you some deer meat,
provided you'll lend me your rifle."

"Or I can get you some mountain lion meat," added Horace.

"I notice neither of you mention bear meat," chuckled the elder of
the chums.

"Because it doesn't agree with us," returned Tom, and at this
allusion to their recent adventure they all laughed merrily.

In delight at the extrication from their dilemma the boys chatted
and joked as they repacked the saddle bags, unhobbled their ponies
and prepared to resume riding.

"There's only one thing that could, add to my happiness," remarked
Larry as he swung onto Lightning's back.

"What's that?" Inquired his companions.

"About a gallon of drinking water."

"I'm some thirsty, too," said Horace, "but I don't know of a place
where there is any water."

"Then we'll leave it to the horses," asserted Tom. "Mr. Wilder
told me they would always locate water if there was any about.
From the way Blackhawk acts, I think he scents some."

"Scents water!" sneered Horace.

"Just you wait and see," retorted the younger of the comrades, and
giving free rein to his pony, he let him nose along through the
grass for some distance when the animal turned abruptly and entered
the woods, stopping beside a brook.

"You'd better appoint me guide and captain of this company," smiled
the boy as they dismounted and drank greedily of the cool water.

"You'd be a fine captain without a gun," retorted Larry, and in
high spirits they remounted.

For a time the boys had the moon for company, but toward, midnight
clouds gathered in the sky and a chilly wind began to blow.

"How about pitching camp pretty soon?" suggested Larry.

"Wait till we get to Elkhorn River," answered Horace".

"How far is that? I didn't suppose there was such a thing in these
plains."

"Oh, I should say it was fifteen miles from here," returned the
young rancher. "It isn't much of a river, but it's better than
none."

"Wouldn't ride fifteen--Hello! What's that glow in the sky right
next the mountains?" exclaimed Tom, pointing to where a faint glare
was visible against the dark background of trees.

"It's a fire," asserted Horace, "a camp fire. You can tell by the
steadiness of the light."

Excitedly they speculated as to whose it could be.

"If it's raiders, we want to know it. Perhaps we can round up some
of them," declared Horace.

And urging their ponies into a gallop, the boys rode forward.

When they were near enough to distinguish the flames they
dismounted, hobbled their horses in the underbrush and approached
on foot.

No sign of man or beast could they see, and their curiosity was
further aroused.

"Stoop down so your heads are In the grass," admonished Horace.
"It may be they have seen us and are hiding among the trees. Don't
make any noise and stick close together."

Crouching low, the trio advanced stealthily. Nearer and nearer
they drew, yet no sound could they hear. Consumed with curiosity,
Horace suddenly stood up, determined to learn if any one were
sleeping beside the fire.

Yet no sooner had he risen than a command rang out:

"Throw up your hands!"

The two brothers, ignorant of their companion's action, gasped at
the words. But Horace let out a whoop of joy.

"Hooray! It's father and the boys," he cried so loud that
instantly a dozen figures bounded from about the fire.

"Well, if it ain't them kids!" ejaculated Pete, who had been on
guard. "It's lucky you recognized my voice, Horace."

By this time Tom and Larry had straightened up and all three were
hastening toward the camp fire, thinking only of their good fortune
in finding their friends.

"Horace, what does this mean?" demanded his father sternly. "I
told you to stay at home, and yet we haven't been gone but
twenty-four hours and you come tagging along."

But the severity of his father did not dismay the young rancher.
Looking straight at him, the boy hastily told of the ride to the
pool and the discovery that more cattle had been driven away.

The information excited the cowboys greatly, and emphatic were
their opinions of the daring of the thieves in making another raid
and within a few hours after the men pursuing them had set out.

"They probably were watching us all the time," asserted the owner
of the Three Stars.

"Probably," agreed Mr. Wilder. "But what have you boys been doing
since you learned of the raid? You could almost walk your ponies
from the pool to here in all this time."

Before any of them could reply, however, a long, low wail rang out.
Surprised, the men glanced at one another,

"That sounds like a coyote, but it ain't," asserted Pete.

Again the cry broke on the air and was repeated twice.

"Why, it's the very same sound we heard in the mountains!"
exclaimed Larry. And his companions confirmed him.

"The same cry you heard in the mountains?" repeated Mr. Wilder.

"Yes, sir," and in a few words the elder of the brothers related
their adventures.

"Then it's a signal," declared Pete. "You boys have been followed.
It's a mighty good thing we were camping here."

"Those cries came from the plains. Mebbe it's the thieves going
for more cattle," declared Sandy.

"We'll find out what it is. Everybody to horse!" commanded Mr.
Wilder. "Pete, three or four of you go with Horace and the Aldens
to get their ponies. We'll ride up and join you."

CHAPTER XIX

A TERRIBLE PLOT

Quickly the men ran to the woods where they had concealed their
ponies, unhobbled, saddled and mounted them, riding along till they
came to where Pete and the boys were.

"Which way shall we go?" inquired Sandy when all were In their
saddles. "That cry came from straight ahead of us on the plains,
according to my judgment."

Pete and the other cowboys agreed with him, and, trusting to their
sense of direction, the owner of the Half-Moon said:

"Then we'll ride due east. Spread out abreast. The more ground we
can cover the better."

"But don't get too far apart," interposed the rancher from the
Three Stars. "Keep close enough together so you can see the man on
your right."

Rapidly were these commands given, and within fifteen minutes after
the mysterious calls had startled them the twenty-three horsemen
were advancing over the prairie, eyes and ears alert for sound or
sight of the men who had uttered the signals, the two Eastern boys
and Horace riding between Mr. Wilder and Pete at the southern end
of the line.

But for once Sandy's ears had played him false. Ignorant of the
psychological fact that only when a man's head is turned can he
correctly judge the direction of sound, it being impossible to
distinguish between a sound coming from directly in front or
behind, the foreman of the Three Stars Ranch had been deceived
because he had been looking straight ahead out into the prairie.
And instead of riding toward the men who had roused them by their
cries, each bound of the horses was carrying them farther away.

When Larry and his companions had met the bear, the four raiders
with the cattle Jeffreys had seen were only about two miles in
advance of them. As the boys had thought, the reverberations of
the shots had reached the ears of the men at the rear of the cattle
and they had uttered the wail as a signal to those ahead, jumping
to the conclusion that they were being followed.

Making use of their knowledge of the mountains, the raiders had
hurriedly driven the cattle into the forest, where they would be
out of sight and so could not give warning of the whereabouts of
the thieves, and had then hidden themselves behind some rocks along
the trail. From their ambuscade they would be able to shoot down
their pursuers or capture them as they felt inclined.

But as the reader knows, the boys doubled on their trail and so
divided the trap.

After waiting till dark without any sign of pursuers, the raiders
grew fearsome.

"We've got to find out for sure whether it's somebody on our trail
or just some one that is hunting," declared one of them, who, if
the two brothers could have seen him, they would have recognized as
Gus Megget.

"Considering we've waited more than two hours and no one has showed
up, I say we ought to push onto the Lode, Gus," asserted another.

"How can we drive cattle over this trail in the dark?" growled the
chief of the raiders. "You ought to have more sense, seeing the
trouble we've had to get them as far as this in the daylight."

"So long as we can't drive, we might just as well go back and find
out who's been shooting."

Realizing that it was futile to urge their leader to change his
mind, the other raiders sullenly acquiesced, and, emerging from
their places of concealment, went into the woods to get their
horses and were soon riding stealthily back over the trail.

Though they dared not refuse to go, the men, however, were not
backward in expressing their disapproval of the move, declaring
that they were tempting disaster by returning when they had made so
successful a start.

But Megget paid no attention to their grumblings and soon his
companions lapsed into silence.

Fate, however, which had saved the two brothers and the young
rancher from stumbling into the ambush, was still favoring them.

For when the raiders reached the edge of the prairie Megget ordered
a halt that they might eat, and when again they resumed their ride
the boys were far on their way toward the spot where they met their
friends.

Not long did it take their pursuers to discover the place where the
three had eaten and then to find the direction in which they had
departed.

"What's the use of following any farther, Gus?" demanded one of
them. "So long as they have ridden to the south, and there are
only three of them, anyhow, we are in no danger."

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