Читать книгу The X Bar X Boys in Thunder Canyon - Roger Garis - Страница 3
ОглавлениеThe Landslide
Raising his head in a gesture of disdain that was almost human, the horse walked stiff-legged around a porcupine that lay in the center of the trail.
“Steering clear of needles, Flash?” said his rider, laughing cheerfully. “Say, Roy,” he called to his companion, who sat astride a chestnut mustang, “is it true that porcupines can shoot their quills?”
“Bunk!” answered Roy Manley briefly. “Pure bunk, Teddy. You don’t mean to say you believed that, do you?”
“Well, now, that’s a question,” Teddy Manley replied, a veiled twinkle in his eyes. “Some say one thing, some say another. Pop Burns told me a porcupine shot him full of quills from ten feet away.”
“Pop Burns!” Roy snorted. “He could convince an Eskimo that ice was made of rock candy. You ought to know Pop by this time.”
The two brothers pulled their horses to a halt and gazed curiously at the small, quilled animal. The boys were alike in build, both being lean, wiry products of ranch life. Teddy Manley, fifteen years old, one year younger than Roy, had light hair and blue eyes, favoring his mother, Mrs. Bardwell Manley, in these respects. Roy took after his father in the matter of eyes and hair—both of these being brown.
Roy ran his hand over the ears of Star, his pony. From any other, this would have been cause for immediate proceedings tending toward the unseating of the rider, but now Star whinnied affectionately.
“Tell you what,” Roy declared. “Let’s bring this sticker home with us and get Pop to explain how it shoots its quills.”
“Good idea,” Teddy answered, grinning. “You’re elected, Roy. How are you going to carry it?”
“Humph! Never thought of that,” the brother demurred. “If we had something we could wrap it up in—”
“Or if we had a wagon,” Teddy went on. He was deriving much amusement from Roy’s serious attention to the problem at hand. Quieter, and looking at life through graver eyes than Teddy, Roy would frequently devote himself to the solemn consideration of a question which Teddy would dismiss with a light laugh. Roy’s nature was drawn from his mother, who, before her marriage to Bardwell Manley, had been a schoolteacher in Denver.
“Why don’t you tie him to Star’s tail?” asked Teddy, his face a study in innocence.
“Why don’t I? A fine suggestion!” his brother burst out. “Why don’t you carry him under your arm? You’ve got a leather vest on—you won’t get stuck.”
Teddy assumed to consider this proposition. He dismounted and walked toward the porcupine. Bending over, he peered closely at the curled-up animal.
“Looks as if he were dead,” the boy said finally.
“He’s not dead,” Roy declared convincingly. “You try to pat him on the head if you think so. He just curls up so you’ll let him alone.”
“Like a steam roller?”
“Yea, like a steam roller,” answered Roy, with a grin. “If you think I’m going to ask why, you’re mistaken. Go on, pick him up, Teddy. He won’t hurt you. He likes children.”
“Then why don’t you take a crack at him?” the other boy demanded. The one year’s difference in their ages was a touchy point with Teddy.
“Too busy. I have to hold your horse or he’ll slide down the mountain side.”
The two boys were returning from a ride across the country. They had been investigating some land that their father, who was the owner of the X Bar X Ranch, was thinking of purchasing for grazing ground. They had stayed longer than they had intended, and, wishing to reach home before night, had taken a short cut over Mica Mountain. The riding was not of the best, especially at this time of year when the warm summer sun had melted the snows on the peaks and the water, flowing down, was loosening the top soil. But the brothers were willing to chance a possible accident for the sake of arriving home “in time for grub.”
“Don’t worry about Flash!” Teddy exclaimed. “He could stand on the side of a house. Well, what’s the news? Are we going to take old Needleback home with us?”
“Sure! Wrap him in—” Roy stopped suddenly. He tilted his head forward in a listening attitude.
“Thunder,” Teddy remarked. “I heard it, too. Come on, let’s be on our way. Never mind the porcupine.” He walked over to Flash and rested his hand on the pommel of the saddle. As he did so the rolling noise was repeated, this time much louder.
“Thunder nothing!” Roy cried. “There’s not a cloud in the sky. That’s up the mountain some place.”
“Well, whatever it is, I don’t like the sound of it!” came from Teddy, as he vaulted into the saddle. “Makes my flesh creep. I’m tired, I guess. We’ve been riding ever since early morning. That’s the longest stretch I’ve been on a horse since that night we chased the rustlers all over creation. Baby, that was some time! Wonder what happened to the three men who got away?”
“Oh, I suppose they left the country,” Roy answered, as he guided his bronco down the steep trail. “Birds like that don’t linger long in one place, especially when they know that place isn’t healthy for them. The four we put in jail are there for a good stretch, I hope—though that jail in Hawley isn’t any too strong.”
“You said it! Well, if they escape, they escape, that’s all. But they’d better not try any more funny work around here. Dad’ll salivate ’em. Jimminy! I wonder what that noise was that we heard. It’s got me kind of leery.”
“Rocks falling, most likely. Don’t know what else it could be. I know it isn’t thunder. Come on, get a wiggle on. Be dark soon. Watch your step, this footing isn’t any too good.”
Keeping firm hands on the reins, the two ranch boys proceeded down the mountain side. The ground was covered with a loose shale, and the mountain on this side was nearly devoid of trees. It would not do to urge the horses to a faster gait than they naturally took, for a fall here meant a nasty slide.
“I hear Nell and Ethel are going to stay at the 8 X 8 most of this coming winter,” Roy remarked casually, as he guided Star around a large rock. He referred to two New York girls with whom the brothers had become acquainted some time before.
“You don’t say!” his brother returned, in a bantering tone. “I suppose the news just trickled out! You didn’t ask mother to ’phone over to Mrs. Ball and find out, did you? Oh, no! Well, let’s have it all. Why are they going to stay all winter, Mr. Bones?”
“Aw, dry up,” Roy said, laughing, albeit his face was a trifle red. “Trying to kid me, aren’t you? How’s Curly, Ted? Have you heard from her lately?”
“No, I haven’t!” and Teddy in his turn became flustered. “But I know why they are going to stay all winter, even if you don’t. Their folks went abroad. Mr. Carew had to settle an estate with ramifications in Italy, and Mr. and Mrs. Willis went with him and his wife.”
“Oh-ho! Our little detective on the job! Say, don’t try to kid me. After that you haven’t got a word to say! Star, take it easy! This pony must want to get home in a hurry.” Roy steadied his grip on the reins.
“Guess he didn’t like that noise any more than we did,” Teddy suggested. “These horses know almost as much as we do, they’ve been with us so long. It was sure tough when the rustlers stole them, wasn’t it? Great to have them back, though.”
“I’ll tell a maverick it is! And we’re lucky those rustlers—especially Froud—didn’t ride ’em to death. Checkered Shirt prevented Froud from injuring them, I guess. Wonder what became of him!”
“Can’t imagine. He turned out to be a pretty decent sort of a hombre after all, didn’t he? Well, I wish him luck. He certainly did us a favor.”
Teddy was referring to the leader of a gang of rustlers who had turned friendly when the brothers saved him from death and had in consequence helped them recover their ponies, which had been stolen by Gilly Froud to revenge himself against Mr. Manley for his discharge by the ranch owner.
As the brothers rode down the trail, Roy frequently turned in his saddle and gazed up the mountain. Finally Teddy asked:
“What’s the idea, Roy? Why the interested stare? Expect to see a friend of yours?”
“Not any. But I’m still curious about that noise. Seems to have stopped, and I’d like to know what it really was.”
“Thought you said it was rocks falling down the mountain?”
“Well, it probably was. But that doesn’t prove anything. Suppose it was a landslide? It might be, you know. And landslides aren’t things you can fool with.”
“A landslide on Mica Mountain? Forget it! Never knew one to happen yet. Golly, look at that buzzard! Wish I had a rifle along; bet I could knock him for a loup.”
Roy turned again in his saddle. Evidently he had not heard Teddy’s remark about the bird circling overhead, for he did not reply. Instead he listened intently.
“Say, what’s the matter with you?” Teddy demanded, as he watched his brother. “You give me the willies. Why don’t you—”
Roy held up his hand.
“Listen!” he commanded. “Hear that?”
To the boys’ ears came that same queer rumbling noise. Now it did not decrease as it had before, but grew louder and louder. The brothers faced each other, paling beneath their tan.
Suddenly a stone hit the ground with a crash directly in front of Teddy’s horse. The thunder increased in volume—it seemed almost at their heels. Then another stone fell—and another!
Like a flash, both boys turned. What they saw caused their breath to stick in their throats and their hearts to beat madly.
The whole mountain side seemed to have been torn loose. Huge boulders were tumbling toward them. The few trees that dotted the landscape were uprooted and toppled with majestic force. The air was filled with flying pieces of rock!
Above all rose that sullen, deep-throated roar like a giant in anger.
