Ted Strong's Motor Car

  CHAPTER XXXI.

  STELLA A CAPTIVE.

  We will leave Ted and the broncho boys, to follow the misadventures ofStella.

  After securing Magpie, which was taken back to the cow camp by Kit, who,much against his inclinations, was compelled to go into retirement untilhis arm healed, Ted released old man Norris, who secured a pony and roderapidly out of town.

  When Stella fell from the back of her pony to the road she becameinsensible. A ball from the weapon of one of Shan Rhue's gang hadclipped a lock of hair from her forehead, creasing the skull. By amiracle her life was saved, for the merest fraction of an inch laybetween her and death.

  During the hurly-burly of the fight, and as Ted was grasped in thepowerful arms of Shan Rhue, one of the gang rushed up to her as she layin the dust and picked her up.

  He was a powerful man, and carried Stella's light body as if she hadbeen a child. That he was not seen by some member of the Running Wateroutfit was due to the fact that they were too busily engaged in fightingto pay attention to anything else.

  When Stella regained her senses she was conscious of a racking headache,and, placing her hand to her forehead, brought it away wet and sticky.It was quite dark, and she groaned feebly. The pain was excruciating,and the motion of her body made her deathly sick.

  She felt around her, and her hand came in contact with a cold, hard, yetyielding substance. Then she heard the rumble of wheels, and knew thatshe was in a vehicle of some sort. The motion of the couch on which shewas lying was such that she came to the conclusion that she was in oneof those old stagecoaches hung on leather springs, which were so much inuse in the West before the advent of the railroads.

  As her mind grew clearer she tried to remember all that had occurred.Suddenly it flashed upon her. The capture of old Norris, the attempt ofShan Rhue and his gang to take him away to lynch him, and the beginningof the fight. How it had been finished she did not know.

  Neither did she know whether or not she was in the care of her friendsor in the custody of her enemies. Probably the latter, for if Ted andthe boys were taking her somewhere, surely she would have moreattention, and the blood would have been washed from the wound on herforehead.

  The curtains of the stage were down, and she did not know whether it wasday or night.

  Outside she heard the voices of men.

  "Hurry up them mules, Bill," a man's voice came to her gruffly.

  "Can't get any more out o' them. We've come nigh twenty mile on the run.I tell you, the mules is 'most all in," said a man, evidently the driverof the stage.

  "Well, we ain't got much farther to go," said the other. "But we got toget there before moondown, er we'll be up against it."

  "What time is the bunch goin' to be at the lone tree?"

  "Ten o'clock."

  "Then we've got just about an hour, eh?"

  "Just about. But we're a long ways off yet. Git all y'u can out o' themmules. Kill 'em if y'u have to get them there on time."

  "They're doin' all they can. Y'u don't want me to kill them before weget there, do y'u?" asked the driver crossly.

  "No, but if y'u miss the bunch y'u know what will happen. Shan ain'tmuch on the sweet temper since the kid bumped him so hard, an' he don'tlike y'u too well, nohow. I'm just givin' y'u a friendly tip."

  "Keep it. I ain't so stuck on Shan myself as I used to be."

  "Only don't let him know it. We ain't none of us in love with him, an'yet we come up an' eat out o' his hand when he calls us, just like a loto' hound dogs."

  The conversation told Stella the truth she had dreaded. She had beencaptured by Shan Rhue's ruffians, and she knew that she was in aprecarious predicament, for she could hope for no mercy from Ted'smerciless and beaten enemy.

  She would be used to punish Ted, and she sighed at the thought of whatgrief her disappearance would cause her aunt and the boys.

  Suddenly the curtain on the window was drawn aside. It was brightmoonlight without, and in it she saw the villainous face of a manlooking in upon her.

  Her eyes met his, and she uttered an exclamation.

  "Hello!" he exclaimed, in surprise. "Come to, have y'u?"

  Stella made no reply.

  "Thought fer a while that y'u'd slipped over the Great Divide," thefellow continued.

  "No fault of yours that I didn't," said Stella weakly, for the pain andnausea to which she was being subjected had taken all her strength.

  "I ain't had nothin' to do with it, lady. I'm just guidin' the outfit. Idon't know y'u, er how y'u got hurt. Feelin' better?"

  "I would be much better if I could get out and walk. The motion of thiscarriage makes me deathly sick."

  "Can't let y'u do that, lady. We're in too much of a hurry to stopnow."

  "But you might let me have a drink of water. I am dying of thirst."

  "I reckon I can do that."

  The flap over the stage window dropped, and in a moment she heard hushedvoices outside. Then a canteen was thrust through the window.

  "Take all y'u want, lady, an' drink hearty," said her guide.

  Stella wet her handkerchief and bathed her throbbing forehead, then tooka deep draft, and felt much refreshed.

  "Here's your canteen," she said.

  Again the flap was thrust aside, and the ugly face looked in upon herwith a leer.

  "Where are we, and where are we going?" asked Stella.

  "We're in the Wich--"

  "Hey, Jack, stow that," cried the driver.

  "But it won't do no harm--"

  "You know what the orders is," said the other significantly.

  "Sorry I can't tell y'u, lady. Orders is orders."

  "Oh, well, I don't suppose it would do me any good to know where I am,anyway, but you might as well tell me what you are going to do with me.It would relieve my anxiety, and make me feel better."

  "There ain't no harm comin' to y'u, lady, while I am with y'u," said thefellow, with a hateful leer that made Stella shudder.

  "Thank you," she said faintly, as with a sigh she laid her head backagain with her wet handkerchief on her brow.

  So the stage rumbled on for almost an hour, with Stella the prey ofsickness and pain. She doubted if she could have walked even if she hadbeen permitted to leave the stage.

  But as she lay there she thought, and from the scraps of conversationshe had heard, and from what her guide was about to tell her when he wasinterrupted by the driver, she knew that she had been captured andabducted during the fight by Shan Rhue's men, and that she was in theWichita Mountains.

  That much, at least, she knew, but what caused her much anxiety was thatshe did not know the result of the fight.

  She came to the conclusion that the broncho boys and their friends musthave lost in the encounter, else she would not be in her presentpredicament.

  But what of poor old Norris, for in spite of his rascality she was sorrythat he had fallen into the hands of the ruthless Shan Rhue.

  "Keep off to the left," shouted the guide. "We're almost there. Downinto that coulee y'u go. There ain't another crossin' this side o' threemile, an' we ain't got time to go so far out o' our way."

  "Say, we're liable to turn over down there. Better get the gal out, an'let her walk down. I can get safe up the other side."

  "All right. Stop 'er."

  The stage stopped, and the cessation of the swaying, swinging motion wasa blessed relief to the tortured girl.

  "Come on out," said the guide, as he threw the door open. "We'll have toask you to walk to the bottom o' this coulee, if y'u don't want to bescrambled about on the bottom o' the coach."

  Stella was glad to get out, but when her feet were on the ground sheswayed and staggered like a drunken person from sheer sickness andweakness.

  Beside her was her guide on his horse, and she was compelled to leanagainst it for a moment until she recovered herself.

  The stage had gone lumbering and swaying down the bank of the coulee,and before it reached the bottom it turned on its side.

&n
bsp; The driver leaped in safety to the ground, and the guide went scramblingdown the bank to his assistance.

  The mules were plunging and kicking, and threatened to break theirharness to pieces.

  Stella was mutely thankful that she had not been in the stage when itwent over, as she sat down on a rock to rest and watch the efforts ofthe swearing and angry men to right the stage.

  Once she thought of trying to escape while the men were engrossed intheir work, and she arose eagerly.

  But when she got to her feet she realized the impossibility of such athing, for she almost fell. Then she sank down again, and resignedherself to her fate.

  But soon the stage was put back on its wheels again, and the guidecalled to her to come down.

  This was a slow and painful operation, during which the driver sworeimpatiently at the delay. But she accomplished it, and crawled into thestage and sank down on the pallet which had been made for her with theseat cushions.

  Now they were off again, faster than before, and with correspondinglymore discomfort to Stella. Oh, if the journey would only end, shethought.

  "Here we are," she heard the guide's voice in a shout.

  The stage stopped, and Stella heard a rush of feet.

  "Got her?" some one demanded gruffly.

  "Yep, but she's all in," replied the guide. "Her forehead was creased bya bullet, an' the trip has about finished her."

  "Can't help that. Get her out. We've got to be moving. The soldiers areout to-night."

  "What's the matter?"

  "Injuns.".

  "Uprisin'?"

  "Not yet, but the agent over to Fort Sill has a tip that they areputting on paint."

  "What's the trouble?"

  "Somethin' about beef issue. The last cows issued to the Injuns were nogood, an' the Injuns made a kick, an' the agent told them to go to thedeuce. Old Flatnose an' his son Moonface, the Apache chiefs, have alwaysbeen bad actors, an' now they are tryin' to scare up a muss."

  "Reckon they'll do it?"

  "The commandant at Fort Sill seems to think they will, for he's got twocompanies out on the scout."

  "The boys better look out, then. The Injuns don't like the gang over atthe Hole in the Wall none too good."

  "We stand all right with Flatnose and his son, an' it's their bandthat's actin' bad."

  "Well, y'u better get a move on y'u. The moon will be down in an hour."

  "Get the gal out, then, an' we'll be movin'."

  "All right," said the guide, poking his head into the coach. "Here'swhere you get out. Boss said to treat her well," he continued, turningto the man with whom he had been talking.

  "Oh, we'll do that, all right," was the reply.

  Stella scrambled painfully out of the coach. All about her were mountedmen, both whites and Indians. There were a score or more of them.

  "Can you ride?" asked one of them of Stella.

  "Yes," she replied, "if you don't go too fast. I'm sick and weak."

  "We'll do the best we can," said the man shortly.

  Then he called back to his followers:

  "Jake, bring up that spare hoss."

  In a moment, and with a staggering weakness, Stella climbed into thesaddle. With a man on each side of her, she took up the march again.

  Through dark defiles in the black mountains the cavalcade made its way,Stella clinging to the saddle, and often in danger of falling off.Presently they came into a glade, or park, which was surrounded bytowering mountain walls. For half an hour they traversed this, then cameto the end, and before them yawned an opening in the wall less than tenfeet wide.

  They entered this, and after traversing it a short distance Stella foundherself in a circular chamber in the mountains with the starry sky for aroof. Several fires were burning in the chamber, around which Indiansand white men were sprawling, playing cards, talking, or silentlysmoking.

  In one corner was a corral, in which many horses were confined.

  "You can get down now," said the leader of the party that had conductedher to the place. "There is a shelter for you over there."

  He pointed to a small tent on the farther side of the chamber.

  "You will be perfectly safe here. You do not seem well. I will send youassistance."

  "Where am I?" asked Stella.

  "You are a prisoner in the Hole in the Wall," was the reply.

  "Then Heaven help me," said Stella, sobbing.