The puzzle was how Philo Marsh and his crowd could have traveled as fast as they did, with Mrs. White in the party. Aunt Winnie was a cautious rider and the boys and Dorothy were ever complaining of her slowness when they were all out on the range together.
But when the pursuers chanced to cross the trail of the cavalcade6 they pursued, the hoofmarks of the ponies7 showed that they were traveling fast.
“That shows she is forced to keep up with them,” Tavia declared, with conviction.
“Don’t you fret10, Miss Dale,” broke in Lance Petterby, grimly. “If Philo has offered Mrs. White any indignity11 I dunno but he’ll be hung for it. The boys’ll be mighty12 sore—believe me!”
“That would be dreadful, too,” sighed Dorothy.
“Serve him just right, I say!” said Tavia, shortly.
This conversation had been carried on while they were mounting the steep rise to the plateau formerly13 described. In ten minutes they were at the river bank. The ground was of such a nature here that at a casual glance one could not tell whether horsemen had recently passed, going up stream, or not.
“Come on!” commanded Lance, waving his hat. “Whether them hombres is thar, or not, we’ll pull a hot finish.”
The ponies dashed on, following Gaby, as though perfectly14 fresh. They thundered on up the very narrow trail the girls had followed that day they had climbed to the mountain-top.
Suddenly, in a wide opening of the forest-clad plateau, they caught sight of a number of horsemen ahead. It was Marsh and his companions, but they got out of sight so quickly that Dorothy could not be sure that Aunt Winnie was with them.
The cowboys broke into yells of excitement. The ponies dashed forward, and whether the girls would, or no, they were borne at a desperate pace right up the trail after the other flying squadron of horses.
“Isn’t it great?” yelled Tavia, as she rode knee to knee with Dorothy.
But Tavia seemed to be enjoying the race to the full. And it was a race now. Philo Marsh had seen them coming, and without doubt he would try to do what he had to do, and get it over with, before the pursuers overtook him.
If the dynamite was ready set, and he could explode it before the pursuers reached the spot, nothing could put Lost River back into its course again.
Again and again Dorothy and her companions came in sight of the party ahead, but the glimpses they obtained were for a moment only.
“They’ve got some hoss-flesh thar,” commented Lance Petterby. “And they warn’t as fresh in the beginnin’ as ourn—that’s sartain. They230 been punishin’ of ’em some, by Jerusha Juniper!”
“She never did before,” repeated Nat.
The pursuers had not lost hope. The trail over the plateau was twisted, but almost level. Their horses seemed quite as willing as when they had started from the ranch-house.
They dashed up the little rise beside the noisy rapids and then the prospect17 opened before them for some two miles. Philo Marsh and his crowd were just ahead. The pursuers could see them quite plainly.
Lance began to yell and beat his pony with his hat. The Mexicans’ yelps18 were as shrill19 as a dog’s howl. The boys and Tavia were caught up by the excitement, and they shouted, too, but Dorothy remained silent.
She searched the cavalcade ahead for a glimpse of her aunt’s figure. There was a female in the crowd; but, was it Aunt Winnie?
Surely, that good lady could never have ridden with such abandon—not even if she had been lashed20 to her saddle! And this person ahead wore garments of much more brilliant color than Aunt Winnie had ever been known to put on.
“That never in the world is Auntie!” cried Dorothy, at last.
Tavia heard her, and flashed her chum a broad231 smile. Then Tavia urged her horse on, shouting as the boys shouted.
“You knew it all the time, Tavia Travers!” screamed Dorothy, in anger.
She crowded her own pony close to Tavia’s mount and shook that irrepressible young person by the arm. Tavia would pay no attention to her. The end of the race promised to be exciting, and Tavia’s attention would not be coaxed21 aside.
They were in sight of the head of the gorge22. The men in the lead began to yell. Evidently they expected to find some of their own kind here.
One of the Mexicans in the party of pursuit whipped a long-barreled revolver into sight. The herdsmen of Hardin Ranch were not supposed to carry weapons save at night when riding herd23. Lance Petterby saw the gun and yelled at his follower24:
“Put away that gat.! I’ll natcher’ly manhandle any feller that fires a gun.”
The next moment Ned White uttered a shout. “Hi! that’s not mother with those fellows. It’s—it’s that Mexican girl, Flores!”
Only a hundred yards separated the two parties. The girl who had ridden in the midst of the leading crew, suddenly swung her pony to one side, wheeled him about, and dashed back toward Dorothy and her friends.
“Flores! Flores!” cried Dorothy.
“They blow up! They blow up! Dynamite!” shrieked25 Flores, waving her arms excitedly and letting her pony take his course.
Some of the Mexicans held in their ponies. At the warning more than one desired to keep out of the danger zone. But Lance Petterby drove on, yelling:
“Not much they won’t set off no dynamite. They ain’t gwine tuh be let.”
Without doubt he would have flung himself the next minute, single handed, upon the half dozen scoundrels had there not occurred something quite unexpected. Philo Marsh and his henchmen had leaped from their horses. They were almost at the head of the gorge. The rock between where the ground fell away into the chasm26, and the brink27 of the rushing river, was narrow. It was plain to be seen that a properly set blast must open a gap into the bank of the river and turn the latter’s course.
Once changed into this gorge which led to the north, it would be very difficult to shut off the flow of water from the new channel.
Just as Lance was about to throw himself upon the men working for the mining company, a figure lounged into view before the party. It was that of a tall, slouching man, and he was heavily and prominently armed, having a brace28 of pistols slung29 about his body outside his coat. He was smoking a pipe.
“Yep,” drawled the foreman of the Hardin Ranch. “I run off your two friends this mawnin’. They’d got them holes drilled and the dynamite sticks set. All they waited for was that ’lectric battery you got thar in that thar leetle box, Philo.
“But it ain’t no go. I’ve extracted them dynamite sticks an’ they air soakin’ in the river right now. I tol’ yuh tuh let Miz White erlone. She’s er mighty able lady and I don’t kalkerlate tuh let no squirrel-faced, bald-headed feller, with a dyed mustache, interfere31 with her consarns. D’ye get me?”
Lance Petterby led the cheering as the party from the Hardin Ranch reached the scene and heard the foreman’s words. Lance rode right up to Philo’s pony and knocked the electric battery off the saddle-bow, and the box was smashed on the ground.
“What you doin’, Petterby?” yelled Marsh.
Lance leaned from his saddle and wagged a finger under the villain’s nose. “Gimme another word and I’ll smash you like I done your play-toy yonder. I’m achin’ tuh leave my mark on yuh,” whispered Lance, so that the girls could not hear him—or, he thought they could not.
“Isn’t he splendid?” cried Tavia to Dorothy. “Lance is a regular story-book hero.”
But Dorothy wanted to hear Flores’ story. “How did you come to be with those men, Flores?” she asked the Mexican girl.
“Oh, Señorita! I know—I see—I no can sp’ak da Inglese well, you know, Señorita. I know dey come here to blow up de river. I run to de beeg house to tell. Dey ketch me—mak’ me ride wit’ dhem——”
“We get you, Flores,” said Lance, quickly. Then he said something to the Mexicans in their own tongue and the fellows exchanged fierce glances and scowled32 at Philo Marsh, who sneaked33 away from their vicinity in quick retreat.
Flores was in tears; but Tavia was still widely smiling. “Oh, dear!” she sighed. “Wasn’t it fun, Doro—as long as it lasted? I never do expect to have such a ride again. It was just like one of those moving picture chases we used to see.”
“Tavia Travers!” exclaimed Dorothy. “I believe you knew all the time that it wasn’t Aunt Winnie these men had carried off.”
“Well! you might have seen all the colors of the rainbow in her frock, too, before they first rode out of sight,” said Tavia, her eyes wickedly dancing. “I never saw Mrs. White sporting very gay colors, my dear.”
“But where is Auntie?”
“She went to lie down, you remember, before ever we went down to see them burn those poor little calves,” Tavia replied. “She had a headache. Like enough she fell asleep and did not hear us when we came back. You called only once for her.”
If never before, Dorothy Dale felt a measure of exasperation34 at Tavia which came near causing a falling-out between them. And yet, when Dorothy stopped to think, she realized that she was at fault in that she had not searched properly for Aunt Winnie before starting upon this wild-goose chase.
Then she heard what Nat was saying to Tavia. Nat could always find something to praise in the latter young person’s conduct, no matter what she did:
“Say, Tavia! if you hadn’t started this riot about mother being kidnapped, Hank would have had to face this gang alone. Maybe they would have got him. You’re all right, Tavia!”
“Thanks, Monsieur!” responded the elfish Tavia, bowing.
“And no knowing what Philo Marsh would have done, had his crowd been in the majority,” growled35 Ned, from the other side of the girls. “He looks ugly enough right now to chew nails.”
But Mr. Marsh had come to the end of his rope. He and his friends conferred together for only a few moments and then rode slowly away.
“But they may be back with more dynamite, if this place isn’t watched,” said Ned. “How about it, Mr. Ledger?”
“The boy’s right,” said Lance. “Philo is a regular snake in the grass.”
“That’s what John Dempsey calls him,” said Tavia to Dorothy; but Dorothy would not speak to her chum just then, for she still felt aggrieved36.
“What yuh want,” said Lance to Hank Ledger, “is somebody tuh patrol this here river till them Desert City people sign up an’ take charge of things—if Miz White is goin’ tuh let ’em have the water.”
“Them’s the fellers that’s goin’ to git it,” agreed Hank. “She told me so. And you air right, Lance—you bein’ the man for the job. I’ll speak to Miz White about it—if yuh’ll sign on. Sixty a month an’ found—better’n you’re gittin’ now, old boy.”
“I’m on,” agreed the cowpuncher, looking at the two girls slily. But Dorothy saw the glance, and she was again disturbed. “I got tired of eatin’ that Chink’s cookin’ over at the Double Chain Outfit37, anyhow. B’sides, I believe I kin5 git my old lady tuh stay out yere with me for a spell, an’ I’ll need a raise in wages, Hank.”
They left him there on guard and rode back to the ranch-house. Aunt Winnie was placidly38 knitting on the veranda39, for Mrs. Ledger had assured her that her sons and the two girls had ridden off in company with Lance Petterby and the Mexicans.
But she was excited when she received the report of what had been done over by Lost River. The way Philo Marsh and his henchmen had treated Flores could not be overlooked.
Mrs. White wrote to Mr. Jermyn again and this time the lawyer received the letter. He drove out the next day to the ranch, and after hearing the particulars of Philo’s attempted raid upon the Lost River water supply, he advised a settlement of the whole affair to be made at once.
It was discovered that Marsh had circulated the report in Desert City and among the dry-farmers that the new owners of Colonel Hardin’s property had already agreed to sell the water-rights to the Consolidated40 Ackron Company. As soon as it was made known to the city’s council that Mrs. White stood ready to carry out the dead Colonel’s tentative agreement, the city fathers and the farmers came forward with a proposition and a bond that Lawyer Jermyn advised Mrs. White to accept.
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1
ranch
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| n.大牧场，大农场 | |
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pony
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| adj.小型的；n.小马 | |
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marsh
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| n.沼泽，湿地 | |
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dynamite
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| n./vt.(用)炸药(爆破) | |
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kin
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| n.家族，亲属，血缘关系；adj.亲属关系的，同类的 | |
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cavalcade
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| n.车队等的行列 | |
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ponies
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| 矮种马，小型马( pony的名词复数 )； ￡25 25 英镑 | |
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toad
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| n.蟾蜍，癞蛤蟆 | |
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9
groaned
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| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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fret
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| v.(使)烦恼；(使)焦急；(使)腐蚀，(使)磨损 | |
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indignity
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| n.侮辱，伤害尊严，轻蔑 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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stammered
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| v.结巴地说出( stammer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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yelps
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| n.（因痛苦、气愤、兴奋等的）短而尖的叫声( yelp的名词复数 )v.发出短而尖的叫声( yelp的第三人称单数 ) | |
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shrill
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| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
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lashed
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| adj.具睫毛的v.鞭打( lash的过去式和过去分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
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coaxed
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| v.哄，用好话劝说( coax的过去式和过去分词 )；巧言骗取；哄劝，劝诱 | |
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gorge
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| n.咽喉，胃，暴食，山峡；v.塞饱，狼吞虎咽地吃 | |
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herd
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| n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起 | |
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follower
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| n.跟随者；随员；门徒；信徒 | |
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shrieked
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| v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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chasm
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| n.深坑，断层，裂口，大分岐，利害冲突 | |
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brink
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| n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿 | |
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brace
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| n. 支柱,曲柄,大括号; v. 绷紧,顶住,(为困难或坏事)做准备 | |
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slung
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| 抛( sling的过去式和过去分词 )； 吊挂； 遣送； 押往 | |
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ledger
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| n.总帐，分类帐；帐簿 | |
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interfere
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| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
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scowled
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| 怒视，生气地皱眉( scowl的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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sneaked
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| v.潜行( sneak的过去式和过去分词 )；偷偷溜走；（儿童向成人）打小报告；告状 | |
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exasperation
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| n.愤慨 | |
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growled
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| v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说 | |
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aggrieved
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| adj.愤愤不平的，受委屈的；悲痛的；（在合法权利方面）受侵害的v.令委屈，令苦恼，侵害( aggrieve的过去式)；令委屈，令苦恼，侵害( aggrieve的过去式和过去分词) | |
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outfit
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| n.（为特殊用途的）全套装备，全套服装 | |
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placidly
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| adv.平稳地，平静地 | |
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veranda
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| n.走廊；阳台 | |
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consolidated
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| a.联合的 | |
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