CHAPTER VIII.
THE MAN WHO VANISHED.
"There! He's gone again!" exclaimed Adrian, almost immediatelyafterwards. "He must have seen you pointing at him, Billie."
"My! but he must be a kind of sensitive fellow, if that little thing'dmake him sidle out of sight!" observed the stout chum, dejectedly. "Onesecond he was there, all right, and the next he had vamosed the ranch.Now you see him, now you don't. It's mighty queer, I think."
Donald and Adrian exchanged glances.
"What do you make of it, Ad?" queried the former.
"Why, just as Billie here says, it does look queer," replied the other,seriously. "If that had been a cowboy, or an honest miner, or even aprospector in these dangerous mountains, he might have had the decencyto wave a hand at us, even if it was too much trouble for him to makehis way down here to say how-d'ye."
"Never made a single wave, just backed out of sight," grumbled Billie."But anyhow, you don't reckon it could have been one of them hostileIndians, do you, boys?"
"Oh! no, not at all," chuckled Adrian. "We'd have seen that fact rightaway, for they wear feathers in their hair; and besides, you can'tmistake an Apache as far as you can see him. It was a white man allright, don't think anything else."
"But you can't guess who, now?" persisted Billie.
"Of course not," declared Donald. "There's always a chance to comeacross some rascal in this country, a fellow who has been run out of themining camps, or else is wanted on the ranges for some thieving job, andhas to live a hermit life. That may have been just such a man. Fact is,I reckon he was no other."
"And he didn't like our looks one little bit, did he?" pursued Billie."Seemed to be too honest in our get-up to suit him, mebbe. Well, that'ssome satisfaction, anyway; though it goes against the grain to have afellow dodge at sight of you, like you had the epidemic in yourclothes."
After waiting some little time to see if the mysterious stranger wouldshow himself again, and meeting with disappointment, the three BronchoRider Boys determined to resume their journey.
When, however, Billie tried to put the packs on Bray he instantly metwith the most strenuous objection. The mule backed away from him,snorting, and with his long ears put forward. In fact he exhibited allthe evidences of terror.
"Hey! what's the matter with you, Bray, you silly old thing? Think I'mgoing to take a bite out of you, mebbe? Well, you've got another guesscoming then; because that's the last thing I'd have in my mind. Standstill, can't you, and let me put your pack on. Whether you like it ornot, you've just _got_ to carry our things. Put that in your pipe andsmoke it, you crazy thing. Hold still, can't you? It's the same pack youhad before, only a little fresh venison, and that fine pelt aboard."
The other boys were laughing at the comical exertions of Billie, as hefound himself swung around by the prancing mule, with which he wasstruggling so valiantly.
"That's just what he's objecting to so hard, Billie," remarked Adrian,presently.
"What, that fine venison? Well, if he could only have a taste, perhapsthen Bray wouldn't be so mad at being made to carry it," Billie panted,as he still yanked at the stout bridle of the snorting mule.
"It's the panther skin, more than the venison, though I have knownhorses to object to carrying home meat," Donald told him. "You see, theydon't like the smell of the fresh blood; and that skin just gets poorold Bray wild. He knows just by his instinct that it came from aterrible wild beast, that would jump on his back, and claw him, if itever had the chance. And the mule isn't intelligent enough to understandthat it's dead now, and couldn't hurt him."
"But he's just got to carry it, Donald; you wouldn't think of throwingaway such an elegant skin that'll make so fine a rug, just because anold mule makes up his mind he wants to kick?" Billie entreated.
"Yes, and we'll lend you a helping hand, old fellow," declared Adrian.
"He may hold out against one, but three will floor him, you mark mywords," Donald told the relieved fat boy.
And sure enough, finding that they were all against him; and perhapsrealizing, after Donald had made him smell of the panther skin, that itdid not bite, old Bray quieted down a little, so that they loaded himwithout further trouble. But he often gave a sudden lurch, and a snortduring the balance of the day, as though catching a scent of theobjectionable object, and feeling new alarm.
Donald had mapped out their course as well as he had been able, from thecrude descriptions given to him by others. They knew that as the firstday's journey had really been wholly among the mountain heights, andthis, the second one was for the most part down in the valley, so thethird would differ in every respect from those that had gone before,since they must cross the dreary stretch of sand that was known far andwide as a dangerous desert.
But they would be certain to have an abundance of water along, and bykeeping their heads about them, surely there could not be any greatperil come upon them while making this passage.
So they thought, for youth is ever optimistic; and a merciful Fate takesdelight in hiding the future from mortal eyes.
The middle of the afternoon found them making fair progress onward,still in the valley, though Donald warned them that in all probabilitythey would camp that night on the edge of the wide desert strip that laybetween them and the region where the village of the cliff dwellers waslocated.
"I'm getting awful thirsty," remarked Billie, smacking his lips; "andthis water we're carrying along in the canteens is hot, and don't seemto go right to the spot. I hope we'll run across a good spring after alittle while; because a nice cold drink would please me more'n I cantell you."
"Cheer up then, Billie, for chances are we'll do that very same before agreat while," said Adrian; "because I saw where Donald here has got amark on his map that means water, and we can't be very far away from itright now."
Donald said nothing one way or the other, though Billie did cast anappealing look in his direction; he just kept on pushing ahead, andturning from time to time to take note of the country they were passingthrough, for his map was not very lucid, and wise Donald wanted to makesure he was right.
Indeed, hardly ten minutes later Billie was heard to give an exclamationof delight and rapture.
"There she is, fellows, and as fine a spring as you'd want to see in a'coon's age!" he went on to call out, in his explosive way. "And say, ifsomebody hasn't gone and planted palms around it, too, just for all theworld like the oasis you read about in stories of Africa. And just youwatch me lower that same basin, when I get started. We've got to keepthe ponies back, though, so they won't muddy things up before we get ourfill. See, they've scented water; you can tell it by the way they act."
Both Adrian and Donald smiled, for they had noticed this same thing somelittle time before. The acute sense of smell on the part of the animalshad allowed them to know about the presence of water long before theirmasters were aware of it.
"Hold on, take your time, Billie," warned Donald; and somehow the otherthought he said this in the queerest possible way.
"Oh! I see how it is, you just don't feel like making a rush, and thinkwe all ought to be on a level footing," Billie observed, with as near anattempt at irony as he could attain. "H'm makes me think of that storythey used to tell about the parson and his little flock on the coast."
"What was that, Billie?" asked Donald.
"Why, you see, he had for his people mostly wreckers; and one day whenhe was preaching so fine, some one brought word that there was a wreckfloated in down the coast. Of course every man in the congregationstarted to run, leaving the preacher stuck up there in his high pulpit.So he calls out, and tells them how wicked it was to think of suchthings on a Sunday; and all the while he talks he's a heading toward thedoor, calming the men, and holding of 'em spellbound like. But when theparson gets right up to the door he alters his tune immediate, for whatdoes he shout out but: 'Now boys, as every one has an even chance, let'shurry down and see if we can save any poor sailorman from that terriblewreck!' And away he goes at
the head of the string, lickety-split forthe beach. And p'raps that's what our friend Donald here's got in mind."
Both the others laughed at Billie's story; but Donald did not seeminclined to either admit or deny the truth of the other's accusation.Still Adrian could see that strange look on his face, and noted thatDonald had taken up his station close alongside Billie, as though benton restraining the other.
They quickly reached the palms that waved above the spring. Everyonecould see that it was a perfectly lovely resting spot. The afternoon sunwas quite hot down in the valley there, and the shade under those palms,with their wide crowns of handsome leaves, seemed particularly inviting.
But best of all was the gleam of the water that nestled in a fair sizedcup under the trees. Billie had eyes only for this.
"Oh! don't it look great, though?" he was saying enthusiastically, as hehastened his pace, while the others kept alongside persistently. "Plentyfor all of us, and the ponies in the bargain. We might fill up thecanteens again with fresh stuff because there's no tellin' whether we'llrun across another spring as fine as this one seems to be."
"Yes, seems to be," repeated Donald; but Billie was too anxious to getto drinking to pay any heed to the word.
He led the procession, and reached the border of the pool. It certainlydid present a most inviting aspect to those hot and tired boys, andsmall blame to Billie that he should immediately proceed to throwhimself down alongside the spring, as though bent on carrying out histhreat to lower it more or less.
To his astonishment he felt someone grip him by the shoulder, before hecould even wet his lips; and looking up in wonder, he saw it was Donaldwho held him.
"Didn't I tell you to go slow, Billie?" said the other, seriously; "andhere you are, rushing headlong into trouble, without even botheringlooking around. Just turn you head, and take a peep at what you seethere."
Billie, his eyes as round as saucers with surprise, did so; and inanother second he found himself staring at a piece of paper that wasstuck in the cleft of a stick close to the water's rim, and which had inlarge letters the one word "WARNING."