The saddle boys on the plains

“Let me look at what he wrote, since you’ve chosen to break the seal,” said Frank, holding out his hand, into which his chum placed the page torn from the memorandum book of Jared Scott.

The man had indeed carefully noted just where he dropped each sack, when compelled to lose them. One would be found at the foot of three cedars, that stood out by themselves in a certain place he described; a second in a little gully that crossed an open stretch of ground, where two trails came together; while the third, and last, had been tossed out on the summit of the range where the basket had collided with the rocks.

Frank saw that the directions were so clear that they would not have a great deal of trouble in locating the three bags. If they had burst by coming in contact with the ground their heavy contents would still lie in a heap, and could be easily gathered up.

“Why do you think he set the time at seven days, Frank?” asked Bob.

“Hum! well, now that’s a question,” remarked his chum. “If I knew Mr. Jared Scott better, I might be able to hit the truth, first shot. It may be he wanted more time to get away himself. Then again, perhaps he expected to know how he was going to come out with the doctor; and hoped for one last chance to get back here himself, to gather up his scattered sacks.”

“That last guess sounds more like Jared,” remarked Reddy, bitterly. “He wouldn’t give up anything, if he saw any chance to keep a grip on it. But if it turned out that he had to ‘cash in,’ why then he might be willin’ for ye to get the stuff back again.”

“We’re all pretty well played out just now,” said Frank, after a pause.

“That’s right,” put in Bob.

“And nothing ought to be done till morning, when we can return to the mine with our prisoners. When we’ve got them off our hands, we’ll turn our attention to the job of finding the treasure. How does that suit you, Bob and Mr. Riley?” went on Frank.

Both of them declared that they were fully satisfied.

“Only we’ve got to make sure that none of these slippery customers gives us the go-by during the balance of the night,” added the ex-mine superintendent, scowling in the direction of Reddy, Blaisdell and the two men whose names they did not as yet know.

“We’ll hunt up some rope, and make them safe,” Frank declared; and after an examination of the contents of the two bags, what they sought came to light in the shape of a heavy and strong line.

So the four men were compelled to submit to having their legs, as well as their arms, bound. And after Mr. Riley got through with them there was small chance for any one of them to escape.

After that the tired boys found the best place possible in which to lie down. Bob must have been asleep within three minutes after his head touched the bag he was using for a pillow; and he knew nothing more until some one shook him, calling out that it was morning.

“Why, I just slept like a log,” declared Bob. “Never knew a thing all night. My! but I must have been pretty near all in, that time. How’s everything, Frank?”

“Couldn’t be finer; and a good morning to start back to the mine,” remarked his chum, who had a fire started on the hearth, and some of the contents of the two bags cooking for breakfast.

“Say, we’re lucky again, in finding all that grub, just when we were near the starvation stage,” remarked Bob, as he sniffed the odor of coffee.

The four men were just where Bob had last seen them at the time he lay down. All declared themselves stiff and sore, particularly those who had been hurt in the excitement that had marked the previous night.

“I’m cooking plenty of breakfast for the crowd,” Frank had announced aloud, as he saw the way in which the men would follow him around with their hungry eyes; “and one by one you fellows will be untied and fed; but after that your arms must be fastened again. We don’t trust one of you any further than we can see you.”

In good season they left the lone shack on the hillside, and headed down toward the spot where the two saddle boys, as well as Mr. Riley, expected to find their horses browsing.

Reddy had told where the pair they had ridden could be found. The men were fastened to the backs of these animals, which were to be led, as the little caravan took up the journey for distant Cherry Blossom mine.

“How long did it take us to get here?” asked Bob, after they had fairly started, Domino, Buckskin and the bay having been found readily enough below.

“More than three hours in all; but we’re going to be twice that getting back,” replied Mr. Riley.

“Why is that so?” asked Bob.

“Because, you see we don’t expect to try and make speed, as we did coming.”

“Well, we couldn’t, with these fellows tied up the way they are. A walk, or at best, a slow trot, is the limit with them,” and Frank pointed to the prisoners who sat grimly, two upon each spare horse.

“And then again, not wantin’ to try and pass on that narrow ledge, I’ve got to lead around another way, that’s longer, but safer. Perhaps we might make the mine a short time after noon, if all goes well,” concluded Mr. Riley.

On the way they happened to pass close to one of the points referred to in the brief note of instructions left in their charge by Jared Scott. Frank, desirous of proving the truth of the directions which had been placed in his hand by the balloonist, took occasion to make a thorough search.

And sure enough, he came upon the sack at the foot of the three cedars. It had burst under the heavy impact with the ground; but it was a comparatively easy matter to gather up the precious contents, so that there was practically no loss whatever.

“This looks as if we were going to get it all back!” remarked Mr. Riley, stopping to notice the look of yearning that appeared on the faces of the prisoners, as they feasted their eyes on the treasure sack.

It did take them fully six hours to reach the mine, and all of them were glad when the journey came at last to an end, particularly the bound men.

Everything was found to be moving finely at the Cherry Blossom. Sandy McCoy knew just how to manage things; for the fact of his having been an engineer aboard ship was in his favor when handling machinery.

Of course things had to be closed down for a short season after their arrival. The men were wild with excitement, for in some way the story of the robbery had leaked out. And when it was known that not only had two of the thieves been captured, but there was a very good chance for recovering all of the gold, hearty cheers announced that the late unpleasantness was already forgotten, and that from henceforth they were all in full sympathy with the company working the Cherry Blossom mine.

Of course the boys believed that the series of strange things that had come to pass since they left Circle Ranch, to make the long journey to the mine, were never to be equalled in all their experience. But when deciding thus they could not foresee certain events that were destined soon to come about. These will be related in the next volume of this series, to be called: “The Saddle Boys at Circle Ranch; or, In at the Grand Round-Up.”

Before returning to his ranch home, Frank spent three days in company with his chum, Mr. Riley, and Sim Garrison, searching for the other two missing treasure sacks. It proved that Jared Scott had very carefully noted where they had dropped. And, following out the plain directions which he had jotted down, they eventually found them both.

Thus the strike was settled; the treasure, stolen from the strong room, recovered; and all those who participated in the robbery caught, with the exception of Jared Scott.

Some time afterwards Frank tried to find him, but learned he had, with some friends, hurried away from the town on the river a few days after arriving there, regardless of his broken limb. Whether he really went up into the mountains in the hope of locating the treasure himself, regretting his act of giving its hiding place away, or simply vanished because he feared arrest, was never known.

Reddy and Blaisdell were tried for the crime, and received their sentence. Taking off time for possible good behavior they would have to serve some ten years.

The other two men managed to escape. They had not been in the league to begin with, nor had either of them touched the real treasure sacks at any time; though their intentions could not be doubted.

When the time came for the saddle boys to make the return journey Mr. Riley accompanied them. And he promised that if their story of what had happened during their absence from the ranch failed in covering the ground, he would have a few things to add to it, such as the Colonel would be glad to hear.

Bob had made sure to secure the skin of the panther which had fallen to his gun on that occasion when the big cat attacked him for shooting the deer he had apparently selected for his own dinner.

“I don’t care particularly about running across another of the same sort in a hurry,” he remarked, after he found that the skin was in good condition, the dry air having acted as a preservative; “and it seems to strike me this will make a pretty good mat.”

Nothing came to pass on the home trip that was out of the ordinary.

“Which shows how things will sometimes crowd a fellow,” remarked Frank, as his chum was running off the list of adventures that had come to them, and using about all his fingers to keep tally.

Colonel Haywood was very much pleased with the way in which the two lads had conducted matters. He often declared that had he been able to make the trip himself he could not have done better, and possibly might have fallen short of the success that had followed their efforts.

Mr. Riley was installed in his new job, and soon declared he was glad the change had come about. The life of the range suited him better than that of the mine.

One day a gentleman came to Circle Ranch and asked to see Frank. It turned out that he was a Professor Wadleigh, the real owner of the balloon that Jared Scott had stolen when he conceived the idea of hoodwinking his two fellow schemers, who were planning to rob the Cherry Blossom mine.

The professor had learned in some way that Frank knew about his lost balloon, and hence had come to see if there was any chance for recovering it, as the silk of which it was made was valuable.

Of course Frank gave him minute directions as to where the balloon had lain at last accounts; and the professor went off with the intention of hiring several guides, and making the attempt at recovering his property.

Whether he succeeded or not Frank never knew. But often he and Bob would recall the exciting happenings that marked their journey to the mine; and among these one that must always stand out with particular vividness was the occasion when they saw Jared Scott hanging from the wrecked balloon; and Frank snubbed the flight of the runaway gas-bag by whipping the anchor rope around a tree trunk.

THE END