CHAPTER XVI
THE VISION
Though Nort spoke with an appearance of calmness, there was somethingin his voice that made Dick catch his breath. It was not that theyounger lad was exactly afraid, but he was on the verge of becoming so.
"Lost, eh?" repeated Dick. Then, as he saw a half smile on Nort'sface, and looked about on what was really a beautiful scene, his littleworry seemed to vanish as mists roll away in the sun. "Well, if we'relost it isn't such a bad place to be in, and I reckon we can easilyfind our way back. 'Tisn't like being lost in the woods, as we oncewere."
"No," agreed Nort, "it isn't." They had gone camping once, with theirfather, and had wandered off in a forest, being "lost" all night,though, as it developed later, not far from their own folks.
"And I don't see why we can't easily ride back the way we came," wenton Dick.
"We can, if we find the way," agreed Nort. "But I seem all turnedaround. And I don't like to go back without those cattle. We offeredto ride off after 'em and bring 'em back, and we ought to do it."
"But where are they?" asked Dick, "and where's the main herd? Thatisn't so small that you could hide it in one of these valleys!"
They were, as I have said, in the midst of a rolling country, whereswales or valleys were interspersed with hills. One moment they hadheld in view the small bunch of steers that had wandered away from themain herd, but, in another instant, there was no sign of them.
"Listen, and see if you can hear anything," suggested Nort.
Quietly the boy ranchers sat on their horses; the only sounds being thecreaking of the damp saddle and stirrup leathers as the animals movedslightly. But there was no sound of lowing cows or snorting steers,and there came to the ears of Nort and Dick no distant shouts of Budand the cowboys, though the main herd, with the men in charge, couldnot have been more than two miles away. But, for all that, our heroeswere as completely isolated as though a hundred miles distant fromcivilization.
"I can't understand it!" murmured Dick.
"Nor I," said Nort, "It's just as if those cattle had dropped out ofsight in a hole in the ground. Maybe they did, Dick."
"What do you mean?" asked his brother.
"I mean maybe those mysterious professors have been digging big miningholes around here, and that bunch of steers we were chasing justnaturally slipped into one. We'd better look out, or we'll drop out ofsight ourselves!"
Though he spoke half jokingly, there was some seriousness in Nort'svoice, and Dick realized it.
"Those professors sure are queer, with their digging operations," Dickagreed. "I'd like to know what they are after, and why they're hangingaround Diamond X."
"Well, I'd like to know that, too," said Nort, "but first of all I'dlike to know our way out of this place. There must be some way out, aswe didn't have any trouble finding a way in."
"Of course we can get out," Dick answered. "There aren't any trees toamount to anything, and we aren't fenced in. We can ride in anydirection we like, and I say let's ride somewhere."
"I'm with you," spoke his brother. "But the only trouble is we mightbe riding farther and farther away from Bud and the rest of thefellows. Why not try to locate that bunch of cattle we're after?They'll be heading directly away from the main herd, I take it, and ifwe locate them all we'll have to do will be to drive them right aboutface, and we'll get back where we belong."
"All right, let's find the steers," assented Dick.
They started their ponies, which, doubtless, had been glad of thelittle breathing spell. But it was one thing to say find the missingsteers, and another to do it. One swale seemed to so melt in with anadjoining one, and one hill to merge with its mate, that they alllooked alike to the boys, who, as it developed afterward, kept workingtheir way farther and farther off from their friends.
"Hang those steers! Where are they, anyhow?" exclaimed Nort after halfan hour of search, during which no signs had been seen.
"Let's try over this way," suggested Dick, turning to the left.
Though it might seem that in a fairly open country, composed of hillsand vales, it would be hard to hide a bunch of cattle, still Nort andDick, to their chagrin, did not find it difficult. They werecompletely baffled, and the longer they searched the more puzzled theywere.
"Well, there's one thing about it," remarked Dick, when they drew rein,"we shan't starve right away, and if we have to stay out all night wehave the same accommodations we have had before," and he tapped thetarpaulin which formed part of his saddle pack.
"Oh, yes, we can camp out if we have to," agreed Nort, "and I shan'tmind that. But it's our failure to do the first job we tackled 'on ourown' that gets my goat. Bud will sure think we're tenderfeet for fair!"
"Yes, that is bad," agreed Dick. "But it can't be helped. I never didsee anything like the sudden way those cattle disappeared, and how wegot lost."
For that they were now completely lost, amid the low hills, was anaccepted fact to the boys. They had ridden here and there, until, inmercy to their ponies, they pulled reins. Yet they had gotten nofarther on their way, nor had they seen sign of the cattle. It wasgrowing late, too, and they realized that soon they must find a campingplace for the night, unless they located the homeward trail.
Of course to Bud, or any of the older cowboys of Diamond X ranch, theproblem that puzzled Nort and Dick would have been easy to solve.Knowing the country as they did, the cowboys could easily have sensedwhich way to ride, even though the bunch of cattle might have eludedthem.
But the two easterners did not even know which way to head to get backto their friends. They were completely lost and turned about, andtheir situation was growing more desperate.
I say "desperate," yet that word is used only in a comparative sense.They were in no immediate danger, for they were in the clean, opencountry, and not in a tangled forest or jungle. There were no wildbeasts near, only peaceful cows and steers. They had coverings for thenight, and greasewood shrubs, as well as a tree here and there amid thefoothills, offered fuel for a fire. They had a small amount of "grub"with them, and they had passed several springs of water, so they wouldnot thirst, and they had the means of making coffee, though no milk wasat hand. So, all in all, their situation was not at all "desperate,"though it was perhaps annoying.
"Let's fire our guns!" exclaimed Nort suddenly. "We forgot all aboutthem. Bud told us they were mainly used for signaling out here, and wemight let him and the rest know where we are by firing a few shots."
"Sure! Go to it!" agreed Dick. "But don't fire too many cartridges,"he added.
"Why not?"
"Well, there's no telling when we may want the shells, and we haven'tany too many."
"That's so," agreed Nort. "Well, we'll each fire two, at intervals."
This they did, but such echoes were aroused amid the hills by thereverberations of the reports that the lads doubted whether Bud and theother cowboys could accurately determine whence the sound of the firingcame.
"We've done our best," said Nort, after the fourth shot had goneechoing among the hills. "Now let's ride on a little, and if we don'tget out, or find those cattle, we'll pick a good place to camp for thenight."
This struck Dick as being the best thing to do and they urged theirtired ponies forward. Dick was casting his looks about, seeking for asuitable place to make the night camp, when he was attracted by a shoutfrom Nort, who was off to one side.
"Did you find 'em?" cried Dick, eagerly. "The cattle or our cowboys?"
"No, but look!" yelled Nort. "We're coming to a city!"
He pointed toward the east and there, on the far side of a greenvalley, amid green hills, was the vision of a small city, on the banksof a good-sized river. As the boys watched they saw a steamer come upto a dock and stop, though the scene was too far away to give them moredetails.
"Now we're all right!" yelled Dick.
But, even as he spoke the vision faded from the eyes of the startledboys. It melted from sight
as do some moving pictures, when the "fadeout" is used. It was as though a veil of mist came between the visionand the boys, or as if some giant hand had wiped it from a great slatewith a damp sponge.