Three Young Ranchmen: or, Daring Adventures in the Great West. Stratemeyer Edward

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СКАЧАТЬ ranch, even if the boys did not, and he meant to gain possession of it, if not by fair means, then by foul.

      "We'll have to take a look for the cattle this afternoon," said Paul, some time after the conversation concerning Uncle Barnaby came to a close. "We don't want any of them to get in the sink hole again."

      "That's so; we'll start at once, and we'll see to it that we lock up good," laughed Chet. "No more thieves wanted."

      The house was soon tidied up, and then, after closing up everything well and setting an alarm to scare away any newcomer, Chet and Paul set out on foot over the rolling land which led from the river.

      Half a mile beyond the rolling land was a nasty bit of spongy soil known as the sink hole. Not unfrequently the cattle would stray in this direction and more than one had sunk to death in the mire.

      "Some cattle around there now!" cried Paul, as they drew close to the spot. "It's lucky we came this way."

      "Go to the westward of them," said Chet. "We can drive them – " Chet broke off short, for just then a piercing cry rang in their ears:

      "Help! help! For the sake of heaven, help!"

      Chet and Paul were thrilled to the heart to hear that wild, agonizing cry for assistance which rang out so clearly on the afternoon air. Plainly a human being was in distress, and needed immediate assistance.

      They looked around, but for several seconds saw nothing. Then the cry rang out again, more sharply, more pitiably than ever.

      "Help! help! Save me from death!"

      "Do you see him?" demanded Paul, breathlessly.

      "No, I do not," rejoined Chet. "But he must be near. Did not the cry come from over there?" pointing with his finger to the right.

      "I believe it did. Come on!"

      Paul set off on a run around the edge of the sink hole, which was all of several hundred feet in diameter. Close behind him came Chet, wondering who the man could be and how they might assist him should he be beyond their reach.

      Two dozen steps brought them in sight of the sufferer. He was a young man and his general dress and appearance betokened that he was a stranger in those parts, and, in fact, a stranger to the wilds; a city fellow, born and bred.

      "Save me! Help!" cried the man for a third time. He was up to his middle in the spongy soil and sinking rapidly.

      "Keep up your courage; we will assist you!" shouted Paul in return.

      "Thank God, somebody has heard my cry!" murmured the man, gratefully. "You must be quick; I am sinking rapidly," he continued aloud.

      "Have you anything in the shape of a rope with you?" asked Paul of Chet.

      "I have not."

      This was a sad predicament, as the man was all of three yards from solid ground. How to get to him was a question. But it was solved by Chet, as he brought a bit of stout cord from his pocket.

      "Tie the two stocks of the guns together," he said. "This way; let me show you."

      He held the two stocks side by side, so that they overlapped each other about eight or ten inches. The cord was hastily wound about them and tied, and it was Chet who thrust one of the gun barrels toward the sinking man, while he firmly grasped the other.

      "Catch hold," he said. "Paul, help me land him."

      The man caught the end of the gun and Paul took hold of Chet's hand. Two efforts were made, the first time the man letting the gun slip and sinking deeper than ever. But the second effort was successful, and, panting from his unusual exertion, the man reached the solid ground and fell exhausted.

      CHAPTER V.

      Good Cause for Alarm

      It was several minutes before the man who had been rescued from the sink hole could sit up and talk. His hat was gone, and with a dirty face and tangled, muddy hair, he presented a sorry spectacle.

      "I'm very thankful to you for what you have done," were his first words, accompanied by a look that told plainly he felt what he said. "I thought I was at the end of my string sure, as they say in these parts."

      "I allow that's a bad hole to get into," returned Chet. "I wouldn't want to get into it myself."

      "And may I ask to whom am I indebted for my life?" continued the man.

      "My name is Chetwood Winthrop, and this is my brother Paul."

      "I am exceedingly glad to know you, boys. My name is Noel Urner, and I am from New York. I am a stranger in Idaho, and I know nothing of such treacherous places as this – at least I did not know of them until a short while ago." And the man shuddered as the memory of his fearful experience flashed over him.

      "It's one of the unpleasant things of the country," responded Paul, with a little laugh. "But how came you in it?" with a glance down at the spurs on the man's boots.

      "I see you are looking at my spurs. Yes, I had a horse, but he is gone now."

      "Gone! In the sink hole?" ejaculated Chet.

      "No; he was stolen from me."

      "Stolen!" Both boys uttered the word simultaneously.

      "Yes. I was riding along when I came to a spot where I saw some flora which particularly interested me, for I am a botanist, although for pleasure only. I dismounted and tied my horse to a tree and climbed up to secure the specimens which were on a shelf of rock some thirty feet over my head. Soon I heard a clatter of horses' hoofs as they passed along the road. I came down with my specimens to see who the riders were, but they had already passed on, taking my horse with them."

      "The horse thieves!" cried Chet.

      And he told the man of the raid made on the ranch and how Allen had gone off in pursuit of the thieves. The reader can well imagine with what interest Noel Urner listened to the tale.

      "One would not believe it possible!" he exclaimed, when Chet had wound up by saying he wished Allen would lay every one of the rascals low. "I fancied horse thievery was a thing only permitted in the wildest portions of the territories."

      "There are horse thieves everywhere," said Paul. "Every one living for a hundred miles around has suffered during the past ten years. Sometimes we think them wiped out, and then, all of a sudden they start up again."

      "Well, I trust your brother gets your horses back," said Noel Urner. "It's a pity he won't know enough to take mine away from the thieves, too!"

      "He'll collar the thieves and all they have, if he gets half a chance, you can depend on that," said Chet. "But won't you come to our ranch with us? You can clean up there and have something to eat if you are hungry."

      "Thank you, I will go gladly. Possibly you can sell me a headgear of some sort too."

      "We can fit you out all right enough, sir."

      It did not take the boys long to chase the cattle away from the sink hole, and this accomplished, they set off for the ranch with Noel Urner between them.

      They found the young man an exceedingly bright and pleasant chap. He said he had come west two months before and СКАЧАТЬ