CHAPTER VI.
TRICK RIDING.
The Indians made room for Frank to mount and ride.
Standing beside the wheel Frank sprang into the saddle without usingthe step, caught the pedals and started.
The savages gave utterance to a grunt of wonder and admiration.
Frank had practiced trick riding, and he now proposed to exhibit hisskill, feeling that it might be a good scheme to astonish the savages.
He started the bicycle into a circle, round which he rode with thegreatest ease, and then of a sudden he passed one leg over the frame,and stood up on one of the pedals, which he kept in motion at the sametime.
The Indians nodded and looked pleased.
Then Frank began to step cross-legged from pedal to pedal, passing hisfeet over the cross bar of the frame and keeping the wheel in motionall the time.
A moment later he whirled about, and with his face toward the rear,continued to pedal the bicycle ahead the same as if he had been seatedin the usual manner on the saddle.
"Heap good!" observed Black Feather.
Then, like a cat Merriwell wheeled about, lifted his feet over thehandlebars to which he clung, slipped down till he hung over theforward wheel, placed his feet on the pedals, and rode in that manner.This made it look as though he were dragging the bicycle along behindhim.
There was a stir among the Indians, and they looked at each other.
Without stopping the bicycle, Frank swung back over the handlebars tothe saddle. Having reached this position, he stopped suddenly, turningthe forward wheel at an angle, sitting there and gracefully balancingon the stationary machine.
"Heap much good!" declared Black Feather, growing enthusiastic.
"Oh, those little things are dead easy," assured Frank, with a laugh."Do you really desire to see me do something that is worth doing?"
"What more white boy can do?"
"Several things, but I'll have to make a larger circle."
It was growing dark swiftly now, the sun being down and the shadows ofthe mountains lying dark and gloomy in the valleys.
"Go 'head," directed Black Feather.
Frank started the bicycle in motion, and then, with it going at goodspeed, he swung down on one side and slowly but neatly crept throughthe frame, coming up on the other side and regaining the saddlewithout stopping.
"Paleface boy great medicine!" said Black Feather.
"Ugh!" grunted all the Indians but Blue Wolf.
The little savage was looking on in a sullen, wondering way,astonished and angered to think the white boy could do all thosethings, while he had been unable to mount the two-wheeled horse.
"How do you like that, Black Feather?" asked Frank, cheerfully.
"Much big!" confessed the chief. "Do some more."
"All right. Catch onto this."
Then away Frank sped, lifting the forward wheel from the ground andletting it hang suspended in the air, while he rode along on the rearwheel.
"Merry is working hard enough," said Rattleton. "I never knew he coulddo so many tricks."
"There are lots of things about that fellow that none of us knowanything about," asserted Browning, who was no less surprised,although he did not show it.
"He is a fool to work so hard to please these wretched savages!"muttered Diamond.
"Now, don't you take Frank Merriwell for a fool in anything!" cameswiftly from Harry. "I never knew him to make a fool of himself in allmy life, and I have seen a good deal of him."
"Well, why is he cutting up all those monkey tricks? What will itamount to when it is all over?"
"Wait and see."
"The Indians will treat us just the same as if he had not done thosethings."
"Perhaps so."
"Of course they will!"
"Now, Black Feather, old jiblets," cried Frank, in his merriestmanner, "I am going to do something else. Get onto this."
Sending the bicycle along at high speed Frank lay over the handlebarsand swung his feet into the air till he held himself suspended in thatmanner, head down and feet up.
The Indians were more pleased and astonished than ever.
"Oh, it's all in knowing how!" laughed Frank, as he gracefully andlightly dropped back to the saddle.
Again the Indians grunted.
"Now, Black Feather, old chappie," said Frank, "I am going to do thegreatest trick of all. I'll have to get a big start and have lots ofroom. Watch me close."
Away he went, bending over the handlebars and sending the bicycleflying over the ground. He acted as if he intended to make a bigcircle, but suddenly turned and rode straight toward the pass by whichthey had entered the basin. Before the Indians could realize hisintention, he was almost out of sight in the darkness of the youngnight.
Howls of rage and dismay broke from the redmen. They shouted after theboy, but he kept right on, quickly disappearing from view.
"There," sighed Browning, with satisfaction, "I told you he was notdoing all that work for nothing, fellows."
"He's done gone an' lef us!" wailed Toots.
"That's what he has!" grated Diamond--"left us to the mercy of thesemiserable redskins! That's a fine trick!"
"Oh, will you ever get over it?" rasped Rattleton. "Why shouldn't he?He had his chance, and he'd been a fool not to skin out!"
"I thought he would stand by us in such a scrape as this."
"What you thought doesn't cut any ice. He'll come back."
"After we are murdered."
Rattleton would have said something more, but the Indians, who hadbeen holding an excited conversation, suddenly grasped the fourremaining lads in a threatening manner.
"Oh, mah goodness!" palpitated Toots. "Heah is whar I's gwan teh losemah wool! It am feelin' po'erful loose already!"
Browning was on the point of launching out with his heavy fists andmaking as good battle of it as he could when he heard Black Feathersay:
"No hurt white boys. Make um keep still, so um not run 'way off likeodder white boy. That am all."
"I'll take chances on it," muttered Bruce, giving up quietly.
The four lads were forced to sit on the ground, and some of thesavages squatted near. The fire was replenished, and the Indiansseemed to hold a council.
"Deciding how they will kill us," said Diamond, gloomily.
"Nothing of the sort," declared Rattleton. "See them making motionstoward the bicycles. They are talking about the wonderful two-wheeledhorses."
"Gracious!" gasped Toots; "dat meks mah hair feel easier!"
Browning held a hand on his stomach in a pathetic manner.
"Oh, my!" he murmured. "How vacant and lonely my interior departmentseems to be! Methinks I could dine."
"The hard bread and jerked beef," whispered Jack. "It is in thecarriers attached to the wheels."
"Yes, and we had better let it remain there."
"Why?"
"These Indians look hungry, too."
"You think----"
"I do. They will take it away from us and eat it if we bring it out.That would leave us in a bad fix."
"But they can get it out of the carriers."
"They can, but they won't."
"Why not?"
"They are afraid of those bicycles--so afraid that they will not gonear them. Therefore our hard bread and jerked beef is safe as long aswe let it remain where it is."
Harry agreed with Bruce, and they decided not to touch the food in thecarriers; but all were thirsty again, and they expressed a desire tohave another drink from the water-hole.
To this the Indians did not object, and they took turns at drinking,although the water did not taste nearly as sweet as it had the firsttime.
Having satisfied themselves in this manner they sat down on the groundonce more, being compelled to do so by the redskins, who were watchingthem closely.
"They have us in a bad position in case they take a notion to crack usover the head," said Harry. "We wouldn't get a show."
"Mah gracious!" gurgled
Toots, holding fast to his scalp with bothhands. "We's gwan teh git it fo' suah, chilluns! De fus' fing we knowwe won't no nuffin'!"
"We must get out of this somehow," muttered Bruce.
"That's right," nodded Jack. "Merriwell has taken care of himself, andleft us to take care of ourselves."
He spoke in a manner that showed he felt that Frank had done them agreat wrong.
"It's a good thing he got away as he did," asserted Harry. "Now weknow we have a friend who is not a captive like ourselves, and we knowhe knows the fix we are in. You may be sure he will do what he can forus."
"He'll do what he can for himself. How can he do anything for us?"
"He'll find a way."
"I doubt it."
"You have become a great doubter and kicker of late, Diamond. It iscertain the loss of that Mormon girl who married the other fellow hassoured you, for you were not this way before. Why don't you try toforget her?"
"I wish you might forget her! You make me sick talking about her somuch! I don't like it at all!"
"If you don't like it lump it."
Jack and Harry glared at each other as if they were on the point ofcoming to blows, and this gave Browning an idea. He saw the Indianshad noticed there was a disagreement between the boys, and he leanedforward, saying in a low tone:
"Keep at it, fellows--keep at it! I have a scheme. Pretend you arefighting, and they will let you get on your feet. When I cry readywe'll all make a jump for our wheels, catch them up, place them in theform of a square, and stand within the square. The redskins are afraidof the wheels--think them 'bad medicine.' They won't dare touch us."
Browning had made his idea clear with surprising swiftness, and theother boys were astonished, for they had come to believe that the bigfellow never had an original idea in his head.
Both Jack and Harry were taken by the scheme, and Diamond quicklysaid:
"It's a go. Keep on with the quarrel, Rattleton."
Harry did so, and in a very few seconds they were at it in a mannerthat seemed intensely in earnest. Their voices rose higher and higher,and they scowled fiercely, flourishing their clinched hands in the airand shaking them under each other's nose.
Browning got into the game by making a bluff at stopping the quarrel,which seemed to be quite ineffectual. He seemed to try to forcehimself between them, but Rattleton hit him a hard crack on the jawwith his fist, with which he was threatening Diamond.
"Scissors!" gurgled Bruce, as he keeled over on his back, holding bothhands to his jaw. "What do you take me for--a punching bag?"
"You have received what peacemakers usually get," said Harry, as hecontinued to threaten Diamond.
The Indians looked on complacently, their appearance seeming toindicate that they were mildly interested, but did not care acontinental if the two white boys hammered each other.
Jack scrambled to his feet and dared Harry to get up. Harry declaredhe would not take a dare, and he got up. Then Bruce and Toots lost notime in doing likewise, and, just when it seemed that the apparentlyangry lads were going to begin hammering each other Browning cried:
"Ready!"
Immediately the boys made a leap for the bicycles, caught them up,formed a square with them, and stood behind the machines, likesoldiers within a fort.
The Indians uttered shouts of astonishment, and the four boys foundthemselves looking into the muzzles of the guns in the hands of thesavages.
"What white boys mean to do?" harshly demanded Black Feather. "No canrun away."
"Heap shoot um!" howled Blue Wolf, who seemed eager to slaughter thecaptives. "Then no can run away."
"Hold on!" ordered Browning, with a calm wave of his hand. "We want toparley."
"Want to pow-wow?" asked Black Feather.
"That's it."
"No pow-wow with white boys. White boys Injuns' prisoners. No pow-wowwith prisoners."
"No!" shouted Blue Wolf. "Shoot um! shoot um!"
"Land ob massy!" gurgled Toots. "Dey am gwan teh shoot!"
"Black Feather," said Browning, with assumed assurance and dignity,"it will not be a healthy thing for your men to shoot us."
"How? how?"
"Do you see that we are protected by the 'bad medicine' machines? Ifyou were to do us harm now, these machines would utterly destroy youand every one of your party. The moment you fired at us these machineswould be like so many demons let loose, and as they are not made offlesh and blood, they could not be harmed. Not one of your party couldescape them."
The light of the fire showed that the Indians looked at each otherwith mingled incredulity and fear.
"Wow!" muttered Rattleton. "Is this Browning I hear? How did youhappen to think of such a bluff?"
"Have to think in a case like this," returned the big fellow,guardedly. "I think only when it is absolutely necessary. This is oneof those occasions."
The Indians got together and held a consultation.
"Can't we make a run for it now?" asked Diamond, eagerly.
"We can," nodded Bruce, "but we won't run far. They'd be able to dropus before we could get out of the light of the fire."
"What can we do?"
"Why, we'll have to----"
Browning was interrupted by a clatter of hoofs, which caused him toturn toward the East. The Indians heard the sound, and they turnedalso.
Then wild yells of terror rent the air.