CHAPTER VII
FOUR EYES
For a moment Bud Merkel seemed unable to comprehend the bad newsthus brought to him by his cowboy helpers and friends. Nort andDick, also, were shocked by the intelligence. But Bud quicklyrecovered. Perhaps it was because of his heritage of the west--theability to face danger and disaster with grim courage, partof his father's stock in trade.
"Rustlers, eh?" repeated Bud, and his voice was steadier thanYellin' Kid or Snake Purdee expected to find it. "Did they getmany?"
"Quite a bunch," answered Yellin' Bad. "We rounded up as many aswe could, and--"
"You mean you rounded up the _rustlers_?" asked Nort,eagerly.
"No, what was left of the steers," answered Snake. "Guess wewouldn't be back here alone--that is, just us two, if we'd had arun-in with the rascals. We didn't see 'em, but we did findtraces of 'em. What are you going to do, Bud? Get on theirtrail?"
"Let's talk it over, first," suggested the boy rancher, and he lookedat Nort and Dick, for they were partners with him on this venture oftrying to raise cattle in Happy Valley--which would have beenalmost a desert save for the water that came through the strangemountain tunnel.
"Tell us about it," urged Dick.
"Well, there isn't so much to tell," replied Yellin' Kid, hisvoice a bit lower, now that there was serious business afoot."Snake an' I started there, to haze back th' steers as you; toldus, Bud. But when we'd rounded up th' herd, drivin' 'em in fromwhere a lot of 'em had strayed, we saw, right away, that th'count was short. First we thought a bunch was hidin' out on us,but we made a pretty good search an' then we got th' evidence."
"The evidence?" exclaimed Nort.
"Yes, we saw where the rustlers had been at work. They must 'a'been there a day before we arrived. They probably cut out a goodbunch of cattle an' drove 'em off. But they didn't drive 'emall."
"What makes you think so?" asked Bud. "Do you mean that we have afew left?" and he laughed uneasily.
"Oh, there's more'n a _few_," said Snake. "But by evidenceKid means we saw where they'd been blurrin' the brand--theDiamond X brand!"
"Oh, they're doing that; are they?" asked Bud, sharply.
"Yes, we found th' ashes of two or three brandin' fires," went onYellin' Kid, "an' we picked up th' broken handle of a brandin'iron. No marks on it, like there was on the other," he said,referring to the time one of the irons from Double Z had beenfound on the range of the boy ranchers. "But we brought it along,anyhow," and he exhibited a broken and charred piece of wood.
"But we found more than that," he continued. "We found one steerthey'd killed, for beef likely, after they'd blurred th' brand.There wasn't much left. What th' rustlers didn't take th'buzzards did. But there was enough of th' hide left to show whatwork they were up to--blurring th' brand."
This, as you have learned from the previous books of this series,consists in burning some other mark over the legitimate brand oncattle, so that the original one can not be made out. Then theanimal may be claimed by whoever has it. Blurring a brand, thatis, making it illegible, or changing one brand into another, aretwo of the methods used by unscrupulous men to steal cattle.
The boy ranchers well understood what was meant by the newsbrought them by the two cowboys. The next thing to decide on waswhat course to pursue. "Did they leave any trail?" asked Bud.
"Well, we didn't stop t' hunt for it, as long as it wasn't aplain one," Snake answered. "Likely we could 'a' picked it up.But as long as there had been a raid we decided th' best thing t'do was t' save th' rest of th' cattle, an' then come an' tellyou, Bud."
"How many cattle do you think they took?" asked Nort.
"Oh, I should say fifty," answered Yellin Kid, "includin' th' onethey killed for beef. Probably they blurred th' brands on th'others an' drove 'em off--an' I shouldn't be a bit s'prised," hewent on, "but what we'd find most of your cattle, Bud, walkin'around on Double Z."
"Hank Fisher; eh?" exclaimed Dick.
"Yes, an' that slick Mexican half-breed of his, Del Pinzo!"declared Snake. "Anyhow, they got away with a bunch of yoursteers, Bud, an' now what are we goin' t' do? Are we goin' t' sitback an' let 'em laugh at us?"
"Not much!" declared the boy rancher. "But let's get thisstraight. I wonder why they didn't drive off the whole herd whilethey were at it?"
"Probably it was too big a contract for 'em," remarked Yellin'Kid. "An' then, too, they might not 'a' had men enough, or th'cattle may 'a' stampeded."
"An' maybe they was scared off," added Snake.
"Yes," agreed his partner on the ride from which they had justreturned, "that may have been so. Somethin' may have scared th'rustlers. But if I get a chance at 'em, I'll throw a bigger scareint' 'em!" and he significantly tapped the grim .45 at his hip.
"Any trace of which way they went?" asked Bud.
"There is--up to a certain point," admitted Snake.
"What do you mean?" the boy rancher asked.
"Well, I mean we could trace the cattle down the valley up tothat low place between the hills-a sort of pass. And then alltrace of 'em was lost."
"Lost!" repeated Nort.
"Yes, sir, lost!" declared Snake. "You couldn't see any moresigns of 'em than if they'd been lifted up in one of them flyingmachines and histed up over the mountain! That's th' funny partof this raid."
"There have been some other queer things around here," said Dick."There was that bottle last night."
"What was that?" asked Snake, quickly.
"There was some promiscuous shooting around here last night,"said Bud. "I'll tell you about it as soon as we get the straightof this rustler business. Maybe there's some connection. But Iwonder----"
He was interrupted by a voice singing, and the song was one ofthe usual cowboy refrains, though the voice was rather betterthan usual.
At first the boy ranchers thought it might be Old Billee Dobbwho, with Buck Tooth, had been out to a distant part of thevalley to see if he could get on the track of a mountain lion whichhad been killing cattle. But a glance showed the approachingsinger, who was also a rider, to be a stranger. He sat astride a big,black horse, much larger than the ordinary cow pony, and as heapproached the camp the sun glinted in curious fashion on his face.
"Four eyes!" exclaimed Snake, meaning, thereby, that the strangerwore glasses. The rising sun had reflected on their lens. On came"Four Eyes," singing as he advanced, until, when he came withinhailing distance, he drew rein, saluted the assembled companywith a half-military gesture and called out:
"Any chance of a job here?"