CHAPTER XXV
THE TRICERATOPS
Diamond X cowboys were in complete possession of the mysterious camp ofthe two professors. The fight had been won by the Merkel forces, andat no very great sacrifices on their part. One or two of the cowboyshad been wounded, but not seriously, though two horses had been killed,and also one steer. On the other hand, the enemy, as represented bythe Greasers and some cowboys who were in the pay of the twoprofessors, were in need of hospital treatment in several cases; oneserious. But they had brought the trouble on themselves by theirlawless acts.
Babe helped Nort tie a bandage around the bullet-cut on his forehead,and then, with his eyes cleared of the blood, Nort was able to see thatvictory had come to Diamond X.
Bud's quick act, in lassoing Del Pinzo, just as the latter was about toride down Nort, had been one of the turning points in the fight. Whenthe Greasers saw their leader pulled from his saddle they turned andwould have fled, but for the cowboys who surrounded them, compellingthem to surrender with the grim words:
"Hands up!"
Nort saw Del Pinzo, and several of the others, being roped and tied onponies, and then his attention was attracted to Dick, who came limpingup with a rueful face.
"Hurt?" asked Nort of his brother.
"No, but wasn't it rotten that my horse had to stumble just as I wasgoing to pot one of 'em?"
"Yes, but _you_ might have been potted instead! We're well out of it,I think."
"They got you, though!" said Dick, a bit anxiously.
"Only a scratch," Nort answered, though his whole face was beginning tofeel stiff from the effects of the bullet wound.
"Well, we seem to have made a clean sweep," remarked Mr. Merkel as herode up, with Bud and some of the cowboys, to where Nort and Dickstood. "You boys all right?" he asked quickly.
"Sure!" exclaimed Nort. "But have you found out what it's all about?"
"We're going to," said Bud's father, grimly. "The two professors, asthey call themselves, didn't take any part in the fight. They're overnear that hole in the ground, with some of my steers yoked up to thatderrick. I'm going to find out what it means. Keep those fellows welltied, boys!" he commanded his cowboys who had charge of Del Pinzo andhis followers.
"Don't worry," drawled Babe, as he rolled a cigarette. "We've hog-tied'em!"
Indeed, it did seem impossible for Del Pinzo or any of the Greasers toget loose, but their bonds were looked to again, while some of thecowboys busied themselves with the wounded. Then Mr. Merkel, followedby his foreman and the boy ranchers, approached the little knoll onwhich stood the two professors and the uneasy cattle. The animals hadbeen prevented from stampeding during the fight because of the ropesthat bound them to the derrick.
Riding up to the scientists, who seemed dazed by what had taken place,Mr. Merkel sternly demanded:
"What does this mean?"
He pointed to the harnessed cattle--his own Diamond X steers, whichwere now more quiet.
"I might ask you the same," retorted Professor Wright, and there wasconsiderable excitement in his voice and manner. "By what authority doyou ride into our camp, attacking our men, and interfering with ourwork which we have permission from the United States government tocarry out?"
"I don't know anything about _that_," said Mr. Merkel, "but I do knowthat you have some of my cattle, and even the permission of thegovernment doesn't cover the rustling of animals from the Diamond Xranch."
"_Cattle rustling?_" murmured Professor Blair.
"Your cattle?" added Professor Wright, falteringly.
"Yes!" was the snapped-out answer. "Those are my steers you havehitched to that derrick.
"Oh--those!" exclaimed Professor Blair, with an air of relief. "Wemerely borrowed them. They will be returned to you soon."
"But what are you after, anyhow?" burst out Bud, unable longer torestrain his curiosity. "What are you pulling out of that hole?"
The two professors turned toward it as the boy rancher pointed, andNort and Dick, forgetting the pain of their wounds and bruises,followed their gaze to the excavation.
"We are pulling out ten million years," answered Professor Wright,slowly, in rather solemn tones. "Ten million years! We are pullingout a creature that walked the earth ten million years ago!"
There was a gasp from the listening cowboys, and Babe murmured:
"His brain sure is cracked!"
"Ten million years!" murmured Mr. Merkel. "But what has that to dowith rustling Diamond X cattle?"
Before anyone could answer, there was some movement at the far end ofthe valley camp, and into it came rushing several more steers bearingthe Merkel brand. They were being driven by several Mexican Greasers,who seemed very much surprised at the scene that met their gaze. Invain did Del Pinzo attempt to signal them to retreat.
It was too late. On they came, and with yells the Diamond X cowboysrushed for these latest arrivals.
"More rustling!" cried Bud. "We've caught 'em right at their game!"
"Go get 'em, boys!" commanded his father.
And in a few minutes, after the exchange of a few shots, the otherMexicans were captured, with the exception of one or two at the rear ofthe bunch of steers. They managed to ride off in the confusion.
"Oh, boy!" murmured Bud, as he threw his hat up in the air. "This isgreat! Even Zip Foster couldn't beat this!"
"He'll not get the chance, I guess!" murmured Nort, laughing.
"Looks like we'd corraled the whole bunch," said Slim. "Now let's takea look at this ten million year old creature the professors seem tohave bagged."
The prisoners were now secured and the boy ranchers, with Bud's fatherand his cowboys, drew near the great hole in the ground--the hole overwhich leaned an improvised derrick. From this derrick ran a long rope,rigged over pulleys, and it was to the pulling end of this cable thatthe Diamond X steers were hitched. The lifting end of the ropeextended down into the excavation.
"Just what sort of game is going on here?" demanded Mr. Merkel, and Butknew when his father spoke in this tone that there was likely to betrouble for some one. "What does it all mean?"
"The explanation is a long one," began Professor Wright, "but----"
"It doesn't take very long to size up that you've been rustling ourcattle!" said Slim, sharply.
"Rustling!" murmured the professor. "Rustling? Oh, I see, a westernterm for borrowing."
"_Borrowing_! Oh, Zip Foster!" murmured Bud, but his father motionedfor him to remain quiet.
But Professor Wright had caught Bud's remark, and it seemed to give anew light to the scientist. He stepped forward, having seen to it thatthe rope, by which something, "ten million years old," was beinghoisted from the earth, was made fast. The steers, which had beenstraining to lift the weight, were now comparatively quiet, and thesecond bunch, driven in by Del Pinzo's men, were cropping grass nearthe stream.
"There seems to have been some mistake," said Professor Wright. "Weintended to pay you for the use of your cattle, Mr. Merkel, as Iunderstand your name to be. And, now that we have almost accomplishedour search, we shall have no further need of your beasts. I don't knowwhy my helper sent after more, for those we have are amply able to liftout the fossils. We shall be through with your animals in a few hours,and will then pay anything in reason for their borrowed use."
A light seemed also to break over Bud's father, and the boy rancherslooked at one another with a new understanding.
"Do you mean to say," began the owner of the Diamond X ranch, "that youonly wanted to use my cattle as you might use oxen--as draft animals?"
"Of course," said Professor Blair. "That is all we wanted them for.Did you think we intended to _keep_ them?"
"Well--er--you'll excuse me saying so, but we certainly _did_!"declared Bud's father. "Rustling, we call it here, and it meansdriving off another man's branded stock. It isn't all clear to me yet.What are you after, anyhow? What's down in that hole, and what is itthat is ten million years old?"
"A Triceratops," answered Professor Wright. "We have been on the trackof one for a long time, and now we have found it. Almost the onlycomplete remains of the most perfect Triceratops it has ever been thefortune of anyone to discover! If you will only have a littlepatience, and grant us the use of your steers a short time longer,until we hoist from its ancient bed the remains, you may soon look uponone of nature's wonders--a Triceratops!"
"Triceratops!" murmured Babe Milton. "Is that one of them slidin'_horns_ you blow your lungs out on?"
"You're thinkin' of a trombone," said Snake Purdee, laughing.
"Or a saxophone," said Bud.
"No," said Dick, "I remember now. A Triceratops is one of the ancientDinosaurs, or lizard animals, that roamed the earth millions of yearsago. We studied a little about them in the Academy."
"You are right, young man, a Triceratops is one of the most wonderfulof Dinosaurs," said Professor Wright. "For many years I have beenseeking a perfect specimen, and now I have found it. In a little whileyou may gaze upon its skeleton remains, or at least most of them. HaveI your permission to continue the use of your cattle as a hoistingmedium?" he asked Mr. Merkel.
"Shucks! Yes!" exclaimed the ranchman. "I don't know what you'redriving at, except that it's something scientific, but you're more thanwelcome, and I'm sorry there was all this fuss over it. If we had onlyknown what you were after we could have helped."
"I did not dare let the object of my expedition become known, until Iwas sure of success," said Professor Wright. "A rival college has sentsome of its scientists into this same field, and only by strategy havewe been able to elude them and reach our wonderful success."
"Oh, so that's what all the secret was about!" exclaimed the ranchman."Well, was he in the secret, too?" he asked, pointing to the bound andscowling Del Pinzo.
"He knew we were after something of this sort; yes," answered thescientist, "but he has no comprehension, of course, of what aTriceratops is. I believe he told his Mexican and Indian helpers, whoassisted us from time to time, that we were after _gold_."
"Oh, so that's how that rumor got abroad," murmured Mr. Merkel.
"Did you send Del Pinzo's men off to get more of our cattle just now?"asked Slim, pointing to the second batch of Diamond X steers.
"No, and we never sent him, or them, to any special place to getanimals to use on our pulley ropes," said Professor Wright. "We leftthat to him, merely stipulating that he was to hire animals, and wewould pay for their use."
"Then I see his game!" cried the foreman of the ranch. "He took thischance to rustle some cattle on his own account, thinking you wouldn'tknow the difference, and that you'd be blamed for it. You slickGreaser!" he cried, shaking his fist at Del Pinzo. "This makes it allclear, now!"
"We certainly never intended to do more than hire a few of yourpowerful steers, to use as oxen," said Professor Wright. "But I cansee, now, that we should have made this clear from the first, and nothave left it to one who, evidently, does not bear a good reputationwith you."
"You got off an earfull that time," commented Babe Milton, dryly.
"But why were my two nephews held as prisoners in your camp?" asked Mr.Merkel. "There doesn't seem to have been any excuse for that."
"Only our zeal to avoid discovery, and to keep our plans secret from arival college expedition," said Professor Wright. "For this I mustapologize to the boys. They stumbled in on our camp just when we hadlocated the bones of the Triceratops, and we feared they had come fromour rivals. I offered them all the freedom possible, if they wouldgive me their parole, but they saw fit not to, and I thought the endjustified the means.
"I see, now, that I made a mistake in trying to keep the boysprisoners, though it would have been only for a short time. But theygot away."
"They sure did--with _paregoric_!" chuckled Bud.
"Well, no great harm was done," said Professor Wright. "And now thatexplanations have been made, and the guilty caught," and he looked atDel Pinzo, "we will proceed to lift out the Triceratops."
"Ten million years old!" murmured Slim. "Whew!"
"And perhaps older," said Professor Blair.
"Get ready, men!" he called to those in charge of the harnessed steers.
Then began a strange scene. The powerful animals from Diamond X ranch,acting for the time being as beasts of burden, leaned forward in theimprovised yokes. There was the creaking of pulleys, the straining ofropes and the squeak of wood under pressure.
Then from the great hole that had been dug, and blasted, in the earth,there arose a mass of bones, imbedded in rock--part of the skeleton ofan ancient and prehistoric Triceratops.
This fragment of an animal--one of the Dinosaurs that roamed thewestern part of America from ten to twenty-five million yearsago--before the Rocky Mountains were even formed--this fragment gavelittle idea of the weird beast itself.
I have not time, or space, to tell you more about it than can besketched in a few words. But those of you who have seen therestoration of these monsters, in museums, will bear me out when I saythat they must have been among the wonders of the ancient world.
The Triceratops resembled a rhinoceros as much as anything else, butwas much larger. He had comparatively short legs, a short heavy tailand, doubtless, a very thick skin.
His skull was his most remarkable feature. On top were three horns,the one directly over the end of his snout being short, the middle onelong and the rear slightly shorter. Back of the last horn extended ahuge, bony plate, not unlike the back shield on the helmet of afireman, and over each eye was another protective plate of bone,doubtless intended, as was the rear one, to guard vital organs.
The Triceratops was the largest animal of his kind, more thantwenty-five feet long, and while he may not have matched theBrontosaurus, or Thunder Lizard, which was from forty to sixty feetlong, from ten to fourteen feet high, with thigh bones measuring sixfeet in length (the largest single bones known to science)--while, Isay, the Triceratops may not have been a match for the Thunder Lizard,he was a Dinosaur to be reckoned with.
And as the remains of this prehistoric monster, that had lived, walked,eaten and fought on earth from ten to twenty-five million years ago,rose out of the pit, even the workaday cowboys could not repress acheer.
"That's the idea, boys!" cried Professor Wright, who was quite adifferent person, now that his work was crowned with success. "I feellike cheering also! This is the culmination of my life's ambition, andthat of my helper, Professor Blair!"
When the wounded had been cared for and the prisoners had been sent tothe nearest jail, the remains of the skeleton of the Triceratops, partof the bones imbedded in rock, were carefully hoisted out and laid toone side. When I tell you that the skull, alone, of one of thesemonsters, imbedded in rock, weighed, when boxed for shipment to amuseum, over three tons, you may form some idea of the magnitude ofthis sort of relic collecting, and understand why many powerful steerswere needed, with tackle, to raise specimens out of a deep pit.
That the boy ranchers were intensely interested in the remaining workof restoring to science the lost Triceratops, goes without saying.When it was made plain that the two professors and their men were notcattle rustlers, Mr. Merkel gave them every assistance in his power,assigning some of his cowboys to help with the labor of excavating theremaining bones, not all of which could be found.
For it is rare that a complete skeleton of these monster Dinosaurs isrecovered. While our western states, in certain places, are rich infossil remains, there is very seldom a complete skeleton unearthed. Atbest there are but a few bones, or the impressions of bones, in thesandstone rocks or shale. But from these bones, from the impressionsof those that have been eaten by time, and by their knowledge of whatsort of anatomy was needed to keep these wonderful creatures on earth,it is possible for scientists to almost completely and perfectlyrestore them, in some medium like papier-mache.
"We shall be the envy of all our colleagues!" declared ProfessorWright
, as the work progressed from day to day, the boy ranchersbecoming eager helpers. Professor Wright and Professor Blair laboredwith their men, and as hard.
There was one exception to this--Silas Thorp. He of the sour face andhangdog manner, it was discovered, had acted with Del Pinzo in stealingcattle, intending to sell them for their own profit, after they had"borrowed" the animals from Diamond X ranch, letting the two professorsthink the steers had legitimately been "hired."
Silas made his escape during the fight, but Del Pinzo and most of hismen were captured. Not all of the professors' employees wereconfederates of the Greasers, Del Pinzo and Silas Thorp. Some were asignorant as the scientists themselves that anything wrong was going on.These men were soon freed, and helped in the work of excavating theTriceratops.
There really were some cattle rustlers engaged in operations aroundDiamond Z ranch when Nort and Dick happened to come on their visit.This fact was discovered later when some of the cattlemen organized aposse, and after a fight, in which several on both sides were slain,arrested a notorious gang.
It was Del Pinzo who had tried to rope Dick that night, hoping, it wassurmised, that in the confusion, he might be able to steal some steers.
But the mission of the professor, that same night, was perfectlylegitimate. He had heard that some rival scientists were "on histrail," and he rode off alone to see if this might be true. He foundnothing, however, but his suspicions were ever on the alert. As amatter of fact he learned, later, that his rivals had never been nearhim. But he took all precautions, some needless, as it afterwarddeveloped.
That some of the Double Z outfit, and perhaps even the owner of thatranch, Hank Fisher himself, were involved in cattle rustling, wassuspected, but not proved--at least for some time.
With the discovery that the professors were really scientists, and notcattle rustlers, all suspicion of them vanished. They had come west tohunt for the fossil relics and bones of the Triceratops. The reasonthey headed for Diamond X ranch was because, some time previous,another scientist, connected with the same college to which ProfessorWright and Professor Blair were attached, had been given, by a Mexicanguide, a bone from that strange monster--the Triceratops.
By dint of much questioning this professor learned that the bone hadbeen found on land near Diamond X ranch. Professors Blair and Wrightsecured government permission to prospect on unclaimed land, and thusbegan a search for the complete skeleton, a search that ended sodramatically.
The two professors had hired an outfit, and planned to spend the entiresummer looking for the remains of the prehistoric monster Dinosaur.Their actions were misunderstood by some of the Mexicans and Indiansthey hired, these ignorant men thinking gold was the object of thesearch. Hence the attack on the camp at the time Bud and his friendswarded it off.
On the occasion when Ridin' Kid rode his horse against the tent, whichseemed to conceal something valuable, there was, inside the canvasshelter, some bones that, later, proved to be part of the very skeletonwhich Bud, Nort and Dick helped to raise from its ten-million-year-oldbed. The professors were afraid there would be a premature discoveryof what, to them, were valuable relics, so guarded the tent jealously.
But eventually the bones and fossils were hoisted out of the hole,which had to be blasted larger to enable this work to go on, and thescientists departed for the East and their colleges, parting on thebest of terms with the Diamond X outfit.
"Saddle up, boys!" called Mr. Merkel to Bud, Nort and Dick one day,about a month after the fight in the valley camp.
"What for--have we got to quiet a stampede?" asked Dick, who hadrecovered from his injuries, as had Nort.
"No, we've got to ride in to town, to give evidence against Del Pinzoand his gang," answered Bud's father. "Their trial comes off to-day.They've been in jail ever since we roped 'em!"
"More excitement!" yelled Bud as he raced for the corral to saddle hispony, an example followed by Nort and Dick.
The boy ranchers, with some of the older men, rode off over theprairies to the distant seat of the local government, where the trialof the cattle rustlers was to be held.
And, as they rode into the small town, a typical western ranchsettlement, they became aware of something exciting that was going on.
Through the main street rode a number of cowboys, with drawn guns intheir hands. Several of these horsemen knew the Diamond X outfit, andwhen one man clattered past on his horse Mr. Merkel cried:
"What's up?"
"Jail delivery!" was the answer. "Those cattle rustlers broke out justnow! We're after 'em! Come on!"
"Not Del Pinzo and his gang!" cried Bud.
"You said it!" shouted the man--a deputy sheriff. "A lot of Greasersrode in just now, started shootin' up promiscus like, and in theexcitement Del Pinzo and his crowd managed to get out of the calaboose!We got to get a new one, I reckon! But come on! We may land 'em yet!"
"Oh, Zip Foster!" yelled Bud, as he urged his horse forward.
"More exciting fun!" commented Nort. "Got your gun, Dick?"
"Sure!" was the answer.
Through the main street of the town rode the boy ranchers, followingthe trail of the posse of officers and men who were trailing theescaped prisoners.
As they turned into a cross thoroughfare the sound of rapid firing cameto the ears of Bud and his cousins.
"Watch your step!" counseled Mr. Merkel. "Wait a minute!"
But the boys did not wait. On they rushed, only to come into action atthe tail end of the fight. Some cowboys and members of the sheriff'shastily organized posse were shooting at some Greasers who had turnedto make a stand. But the Mexicans saw that they were outnumbered, andfled off in disorder, firing and being fired at.
However, there were no casualties, and when one of the deputiesexplained that this "bunch" was not Del Pinzo and the escaping men, butsome others, Bud and his friends rode back.
"They tried to draw us off the trail of that slick Greaser," explainedone of the deputies.
"Can't we join the posse?" asked Nort of Mr. Merkel.
The ranchman shook his head.
"There's enough after 'em without you," he said. "And as long as DelPinzo has taken matters into his own hands, and succeeded in postponinghis trial, we might as well get back to Diamond X."
Bud, Nort and Dick rather regretted this, but when they learned, later,that the sheriff and his men rode hard all night after the prisoners,only to lose them among the hills near the Mexican border, our heroesdecided it was just as well they had not gone.
"So Del Pinzo got away after all, did he?" asked Babe, when the boyranchers rode back to put their ponies in the corral. "That Greasersure is a bad one! He'll make trouble yet!"
And Del Pinzo did. He was of a vindictive nature, and he associatedmuch of his trouble with Diamond X ranch. So, naturally, he watchedhis chance to be revenged on those connected with it, including Nortand Dick.
But for the details of this I must refer you to the succeeding volumeof this series.
"Well, fellows, are you satisfied with what you saw and what you did,for a start?" asked Bud of his cousins, two or three days after theescape of Del Pinzo.
"We sure have had some summer!" exclaimed Nort.
"Never one like it!" agreed Dick. "It's a shame to have to go back toschool!"
"Well, you wouldn't like it out here in winter as much as you have thissummer," spoke Bud. "It's pretty fierce, sometimes. But can't youcome out next year?"
"You said it!" cried Nort. "From now on we're going to be ranchers inthe summer, and students in the winter. And the summer can't come anytoo soon for me!"
"Well, just at present, grub can't come any too soon for me!" laughedBud, as he urged his pony onward. The boys had been out on a lastride, mending a broken fence. For, by this time, Nort and Bud werealmost as expert cowboys as was their western cousin.
"I made a pie for you!" called Nell, Bud's pretty sister, as they rodeup to the corral, and turned their horses in. "I hope y
ou'll like it!"
"Couldn't help it!" said Nort, gallantly. "Pie! Yum! Yum! Wherehave I heard that word before?"
"It does seem to savor of happy days," remarked Dick.
"Oh, cut out the poetry!" advised Bud with a laugh. "Let's figure howlong it will be before you can come back."
For Nort and Dick did come back to Diamond X ranch. Their furtherdoings will be told of in the next volume of this series to be called"Boy Ranchers in Camp, or the Diamond X Fight for Water." In that youmay learn what Bud, Dick and Nort did, and more about mysterious ZipFoster and the wily Del Pinzo.
As Bud, Nort and Dick entered the house, escorted by the smiling Nell,who was well pleased at the tribute to her pie-making, there was arattle of hoofs, and a bunch of the cowboys clattered in, having beenout riding herd.
"Grub ready?" cried Babe, as he slumped off his weary pony--Babe washeavy enough to make almost any pony weary.
"Come on!" cried Mother Merkel.
"Don't tell them about the pie!" whispered Nort to Nell.
"Oh, there's enough for all of them--mother and the women baked a lot,but I made one specially for you boys," Nell answered.
And what the boy ranchers said I leave you to guess.
Up the lane leading from the corral to the house came the hungry cowpunchers, to wash the dust and grime from hands and faces, and then toeat with appetites that even a Triceratops might envy. And as theysplashed at the washing bench, Slim raised his voice in what,doubtless, he intended for song and warbled:
"Leave me alone with a rope an' tobaccy, Then let the rattlers sting! Give me a sweet, juicy apple to chaw on, Then when I'm sad I will sing."
There was a rattle of tin wash-basins, the swish of water as it washeaved at the singer, and then a howl of dismay from Slim.
"Take that soap out o' my mouth!" he bawled, and amid a chorus oflaughter he ran around the corner of the porch, to escape theattentions of his jolly friends.
"Come on to grub!" sang out Bud, and no second invitation was needed.And while the boy ranchers are thus insured of at least temporaryhappiness, we will say, with the Spaniards:
"_Adios!_"
THE END
THE BOYS OUTING LIBRARY
THE SADDLE BOYS SERIES
By Capt. James Carson
The Saddle Boys of the Rockies The Saddle Boys in the Grand Canyon The Saddle Boys on the Plains The Saddle Boys at Circle Ranch The Saddle Boys on Mexican Trails
THE DAVE DASHAWAY SERIES
by Roy Rockwood
Dave Dashaway the Young Aviator Dave Dashaway and His Hydroplane Dave Dashaway and His Giant Airship Dave Dashaway Around the World Dave Dashaway: Air Champion
THE SPEEDWELL BOYS SERIES
by Roy Rockwood
The Speedwell Boys on Motorcycles The Speedwell Boys and Their Racing Auto The Speedwell Boys and Their Power Launch The Speedwell Boys in a Submarine The Speedwell Boys and Their Ice Racer
THE TOM FAIRFIELD SERIES
by Allen Chapman
Tom Fairfield's School Days Tom Fairfield at Sea Tom Fairfield in Camp Tom Fairfield's Pluck and Luck Tom Fairfield's Hunting Trip
THE FRED FENTON ATHLETIC SERIES
by Allen Chapman
Fred Fenton the Pitcher Fred Fenton in the Line Fred Fenton on the Crew Fred Fenton on the Track Fred Fenton: Marathon Runner
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