CHAPTER VI.

BOB CAPTURED.

"Maybe I am doing a fool thing," Bob thought as he urged the horse up the rough trail. "One thing's dead sure. I've got to be mighty careful, because I'm up against a bad bunch and no mistake."

For a half-hour he pushed on as fast as he dared urge the horse, stopping to listen every few minutes. But no sound, save the rustle of the tree-tops as hey swayed in the light breeze, came to him. Whether or not he was gaining on the man he could not tell, but he had seen no sign of him when he reached the top of the mountain.

"He must be making good time," he thought as he paused to allow Satan to get his breath. "I wonder how far they'll follow the trail." Then the thought struck him that he was doing a very foolish thing to expose himself there where there were no trees to hide him from view and he at once started to follow the trail down the other side. "I must keep my eyes open for a side trail," he thought a few minutes later as he again plunged into the thick forest.

He had gone, perhaps, a mile from the top when his eye caught sight of a narrow path running off toward the north. The place where it branched off the main trail was just beyond a huge pine tree and was so well hidden that, had he not been on the watch for just such a thing, he would never have seen it.

"Now I wonder," he mused as he drew rein. Then he slipped from the saddle and closely scrutinized the entrance to the narrow path. There had been no rain for several weeks and the ground was very hard and dry, but his knowledge of woodcraft stood him in good stead and he had little trouble in reading that several horses had turned off there not long since. The pathway was so narrow and filled with rocks that it seemed to him almost impossible that a horse could traverse if, and, after a moment's thought, he decided to leave Satan there and follow the new path on foot.

He led the horse into a deep thicket where there was little likelihood that he would be seen by any one passing along the trail and tied him to a small sapling. Then he plunged into the narrow trail jumping from rock to rock the better part of the time. He figured that he could probably make better time on foot than they would make on horseback, as they would be obliged to go very slowly or risk breaking a horse's leg. It got worse as he went along and had it not been for unmistakable signs, which his trained eye was able to read, he would not have believed it possible that a horse could get over the ground.

"I must be gaining on them," he thought after he had covered what he judged was a mile from the main trail.

A moment later a rattlesnake gave his ominous warning only a foot or two in front of him as he reared his ugly head above a rock and the boy jumped to one side so quickly that he slipped from a rock and came down in a heap, giving his right foot a sharp wrench. The pain, for an instant, made him sick but he crawled hastily backward until he was several feet away.

"Here's a pretty kettle of fish," he thought as he stood up and tested his weight on the injured leg.

To his great joy, however, he found that it was only a slight sprain and that he could bear his weight on it without causing a great amount of pain. For a moment he seriously considered the advisability of giving it up and going back, but he was not made of the stuff that gives up easily and he determined to push on for a while at least. But another sharp rattle in front fold him that an enemy was protesting his right of way. He had an automatic in his pocket and, as he was a good shot, he knew that there would be little difficulty in disposing of the protestor were it not for the fact that the shot would be certain to alarm the men somewhere ahead of him.

"That would never do," he thought as he picked up a stone about the size of his fist.

The snake's head was out of sight as he straightened up but rose into view as he took a step forward. The distance was about ten feet and he hurled the stone with all his strength but, to his disappointment, he missed. But he was more fortunate the second time, the rock striking the snake's head fair and square. The head went down out of sight behind the rock and he could hear it thrashing about. He waited a few minutes then, picking up another larger rock, stepped cautiously forward. He had no way of knowing how badly he had injured his snakeship and, as the noise of the writhing had stopped, he judged that he had either killed it or else it was coiled ready to spring. So he tossed the stone in the air in such a way that it fell just behind the rock which hid the snake from his sight. It made no sound when it struck from which he judged that it must have landed on the snake. He waited a moment longer and, hearing nothing, judged that the sake must be dead. So he stepped nearer until he could see over the rock.

The snake was dead, its head mashed to a jelly by the second rock which had landed fairly on it. It was a large one, fully as long as the one Sue had shot earlier in the day.

"I'm going to keep those rattles," he said to himself as he drew his knife from his pocket and cut them off.

He could not make quite so fast time now as he was obliged to favor his leg which now gave him considerable pain when he bore his weight on it.

"If I don't meet up with something before long I'll have to give it up, as I promised to turn up before dark," he thought as he pulled out his watch and noted that it was nearly four o'clock. "If I don't strike something in another half-hour I'll turn back. That'll give me time to get back before dark, I guess."

It was about twenty minutes later when the sharp crack of a rifle brought him to a quick stop.

"That wasn't very far away," he thought as he listened.

Then, a moment later he heard the sound of a man's voice off to his right. He was unable to distinguish the words although, from the sound, he could not be far away. The forest was very dense and he felt sure that he could creep fairly close to them without running much risk. So he turned from the path and, moving with extreme caution, crept from tree to tree, listening all the while. Soon he heard the voice again and now it was nearer, so near, in fact, that he had no difficulty in hearing what he said.

"It's about time Red was gettin' here, don't you think?" the voice asked.

"He'll get here all right, give him time," a second voice replied.

"Wall, I don't like him bein' so confounded long 'bout it," the first voice growled.

"Aw, yer always a stewin' 'bout somethin' or other. Why don't yer take things easy like I do?" a third voice broke in.

All the time the boy was creeping nearer until finally, peering out from behind a thick clump of bushes, he could see the men sitting beneath the limbs of a large tree while their tired horses were hobbled only a few feet away. To his disappointment there was no sign of any place which would serve as a hiding place for stolen cattle. He watched for a few minutes and then, judging that he had probably learned all that he could and that he would have barely time to get back to the ranch before dark, he got carefully to his feet and was about to start when, suddenly a pair of powerful arms were thrown about him and he was borne to the ground. He realized at once that it would be useless to resist, so he kept quiet and after a moment the man seized him by the collar and jerked him to his feet.

"So it's you, eh," he said roughly.

"It would seem so," Bob replied quietly.

"Perhaps yer won't be quite so fresh in answerin' my questions now."

Bob made no reply and the man asked:

"What yer doing here?"

"I guess it's plain enough," Bob replied.

"It's plain enough ter me that you were spying on us."

Bob knew that it would be useless to deny the obvious fact, so he said nothing.

"Can't yer speak?" the man growled.

"I can, but what's the use?"

"I guess yer're right thar. I caught yer red-handed, so ter speak. But come on an' we'll see what the rest of the gang think about it."

Still keeping his great hand on Bob's collar he half-dragged and half-led him to where the others were waiting.

"What yer got thar, Red?" one of them called as soon as they came in sight.

"Name it an' yer kin have it," Hains laughed. Then as he came into their midst, he continued:

"I caught this feller a piece back thar watchin' of yer. What'll we do with him?"

"Why, that the same boy that was with the girl and other boy we found back a little way off the main trail."

Both because he used better language than the others and by his black hair and beard, Bob recognized the speaker as the man who had found them earlier in the day.

"So you met 'em?" Hains asked.

"Yes, and believe me the girl was as pretty as a picture and she had some tongue, believe me."

"An' I 'spose that on account of her prutty face yer let 'em go," Hains snapped.

"Not exactly on account of that," the man replied. "But there didn't seem any reason not to."

"I 'spose not, but how 'bout this feller? Want me ter let him go?"

"That's a different thing entirely," the man said. "He was caught spying on us and that makes a difference."

"I'll say it does, a heap of difference," one of the other men broke in.

"Wall, boys, what'll we do with him?" Hains demanded.

"Give him a necktie party," one proposed.

"String him up," another shouted.

"Aw jest put a bullet whar it'll do the most good," a third suggested.

Bob was scared. He knew that he was in the hands of desperate men, men who would stop at nothing if they thought their safety was threatened, and his heart sank as he heard the suggestions from the different members of the band. How he wished he had listened to Sue and his brother and was safe back at the ranch.

"He's only a kid," suggested the black-haired man.

"But he big enough ter tell what he's seen," another declared.

"Sure he is, but what has he seen?"

"He's seen us, ain't he?"

"And so have a lot others."

"Aw, what's the use o' arguin' 'bout it I'll do the trick," a man who had not spoken before, said as he drew an ugly-looking revolver from his belt, and Bob gave an involuntary shudder.

"Hold on thar, Tim," Hains ordered and the man replaced the gun, growling something which Bob did not catch. "Let's get supper first an' then we'll tend ter him. Now, kid, you stay put right thar and if yer try to get away yer'll get a bullet that'll stop yer. Get me?"

Bob did not doubt that the man meant exactly what he said and he sank down on a rock with a sigh which he could not repress. Not that he had given up hope, but he could not help feeling that his situation was desperate in the extreme. Perhaps after all, he thought, the men were only trying to scare him. He tried to force himself to believe that such was the case but got little comfort from the hope. Closing his eyes for a moment he breathed a silent prayer for protection and, somehow, after that he felt better.

By this time the men had a big fire going and all were busy getting ready the meal except Hains and the black-haired man. They were talking earnestly together a little apart from the rest, and it seemed to the watching boy that the black-haired man was urging the other to some course of action. But, if so, it appeared that his argument was not meeting with much success, for Hains frequently shook his head and finally turned away and went to where the horses were hobbled and carefully looked each one over as though to satisfy himself that none could wander away.

The entire party seemed, for the time at least, to have forgotten all about the boy, for no one paid the slightest attention to him. He watched them carefully and, had it not been for his injured leg, he told himself, he would have made the attempt to slip away into the dense woods, trusting that he might get enough of a start before he was missed to enable him to escape.

But hampered, as he knew he would be, with the sprain, he dared not risk it. So he waited as patiently as possible, wondering what the outcome would be. Finally the supper, consisting of lamb, which they had roasted over the fire, potatoes and hot coffee, was ready and the men began to eat hungrily, still completely ignoring him. Again he was minded to attempt to get away, but the fear of the injured leg again held him back. He pulled out his watch and saw that it was well past six o'clock and he began to feel hungry.

After what seemed a long time, one of the men, at an order from Hains, came to him bearing a good-sized hunk of meat and a couple of potatoes on a piece of birch bark, and a tin cup about half-filled with coffee.

"Here yer are, Kid," he said. "Eat, drink and be merry, for ter-morrow, who knows."

He sat the food down on the ground and turned back. Bob picked it up and, although there was neither knife, fork or spoon, he managed to eat it all. The potatoes were a bit soggy, but the meat was good and he was surprised at the quality of the coffee.

"The fellow who made that coffee knows his job all right," he said to himself as he drained the last of it.

Greatly to his surprise the men, after they had cleaned up after the meal, continued to pay not the slightest attention to him, and soon dusk began to steal over the forest. He could see that a number of the men were playing cards on a blanket, which they had spread on the ground in front of the fire, while others, rolled up in their blankets, for it was beginning to grow cool, were already fast asleep. Apparently it was their intention to pass the night there, and he began to wonder if, after all, it would not be best to make the attempt to escape. He could hardly suppose that they had forgotten him, but he could see no indication that they were aware of his existence.

He had seen neither Hains or the black-haired man since he had eaten and he wondered what had become of them. Were one or both of them concealed somewhere where they could watch him? If he made the attempt to get away would it be to give them the chance for which they were waiting?

"It's a toss up either way," he thought. "If they intend to put me out of business they'll do it sooner or later unless I give them the slip, so I don't know that I'd be much worse off even if I don't succeed. I'm going to make a stab at it just as soon as it gets a bit darker."

The game of cards evidently was getting more and more exciting and he could hear the men as they made their bids and often a violent oath broke from the lips of first one and then another as the card went against them.

Darkness settled rapidly and, a few minutes after he had made his decision, he was able to see only a few feet from where he sat unless he looked toward the fire.

"As well now as any time," he thought as, without making the slightest sound, he began to hitch himself farther away from the fire. He moved three or four feet and then stopped and listened, watching the men to see if they were aware of his movements. But the game went on with no abatement and foot by foot he increased the distance between them and him. At no instant would he have been in the least surprised to have felt those powerful arms close about him or even to have felt the impact of a bullet. But nothing happened and soon he felt that he was far enough away to get up and run for it. Although he was in the dense forest the trees were not very close together and there was little or no underbrush, which enabled him, even in the darkness, to make fairly good speed, and at the end of another ten minutes, he felt that he was reasonably safe, at least so far as they were concerned.

But he well knew that not yet was he out of the woods, either literally or figuratively speaking. Could he find his way back to where he had left Satan? He was not so sure that he could, but he thanked God that he had, at least, escaped from what had at the time, seemed almost certain death. If he only had a flashlight, he thought as he slowed down his pace and began to hunt for the narrow trail which led to the main path. Once he found that he felt that he would be reasonably safe and he thought that he was moving in the right direction but could not be certain. He knew how difficult it was to maintain a correct sense of direction in the woods, especially at night.

Soon he was sure that, had he been going in the right direction, he ought to have reached it and turned sharply to the left. He was walking very slowly now, both on account of the injured leg which was giving him considerable pain every time he stepped on it, and because he knew that should he cross it without being aware of it, the chances were that he would not find it, at least, until morning. For another fifteen minutes he pushed on and then stopped suddenly. Was that a shout he heard? He listened and almost at once the sound was repeated. Someone was calling and the shout was answered by another not very far away. They had missed him and were searching the woods.

A shudder passed through him as he thought what would probably happen to him if they again got him into their clutches. Another shout, which sounded only a short distance in front of him answered almost immediately from off at his right, made him realize that his enemies had him nearly if not quite surrounded. Unless he found some way of safety very soon he would be caught for sure. He could now and then see flashes of light as his pursuers made use of their electric torches. He had not the slightest idea of which way to go and, for a moment, despair settled on him. It seemed impossible that he could escape. Then as he took a step forward, his cap was brushed from his head by the limb of a tree. As he stooped to recover it, an idea struck him. Although it was so dark that he could see but a few feet he could tell that the tree in front of him was thick-branched and, in another minute, he was rapidly making his way toward the top. The tree was tall and he did not stop until he was so near the top that the trunk was only a few inches through. Then, straddling a limb, he crouched as close to the trunk as he could get and waited. He had done all he could and he breathed a fervent prayer that they would not find him.

As he crouched there he could hear the men calling one to the other and all the time they were coming nearer. Flashes of light stabbed the darkness but, so dense were the branches beneath him, he only caught an occasional glimpse like the gleam of a firefly. Soon he was aware that two of them had met directly beneath him, and strained his ears to hear what they were saying.

"I told Pete to keep an eye on him," were the first words he could distinguish, and he thought it was Hains' voice.

"I guess Pete got too much interested in his cards," the other said.

"Wall, I'll larn him ter get mixed up with other things when I tell him to do sumpin'."

"I wouldn't be too hard on Pete, Red. The kid isn't worth it and after all, what does it matter if he does get away. It's already known that we are in the country and what he could tell wouldn't hurt us any."

From the language as well as the voice Bob knew that it was the black-haired man talking. He was the only one in the gang who, so far as he had heard, used decent English and he wondered how the man came to be associated with such a crowd.

"'Tain't that I mind the kid so much, but it's the principle o' the thing that makes me mad. Long's I'm boss they've got to mind what I say."

"That's right so far as it goes, but I warn you that you'll make a big mistake if you go to rubbing Pete the wrong way just now. He doesn't like you any too much and the all the boys do like him. First thing you know he'll get the drop on you and then your rule will be over."

"Aw, what yer givin' us? I tell yer I kin handle a dozen Petes and any o' the rest of 'em, fer that matter."

"All right, have it your own way," the other replied nonchalantly. "But don't forget that I warned you."

At this moment two more of the gang joined them and Bob heard one of the newcomers say:

"I guess the kid's flew der coup."

"Looks like it," Hains replied in a sullen tone. "Where's Pete?"

"Dunno."

"Wall, I guess we might's well get back ter camp. 'Tain't much use huntin' round here in the dark."

Bob breathed a deep sigh of relief as he heard the men move off in the darkness. For some time he could hear them talking and shouting as they called to others of the gang. Gradually their voices grew fainter and soon all was still and he deemed it safe to descend. But when he reached the ground he found that he had entirely lost his sense of direction and had not the slightest idea as to which way to go.

"Guess the safest thing will be to stay right here till morning," he concluded after thinking the matter over for some time. "If I start out I'll be just as apt to blunder into their camp again as I am to find that trail."

A glance at the luminous face of his watch told him that it was nearly ten o'clock. The sky had clouded over and it was steadily growing colder, but he was dressed fairly warm in his woolen shirt and knew there was little danger of catching cold.

"I don't knew whether to chance it on the ground or to roost up in that tree," he thought as he groped about on the ground to find a soft spot. Finally he found a place about twenty feet from the tree which he had climbed which was thick with dry moss and decided to risk it. His foot was giving him considerable pain and he quickly pulled off his shoe and stocking and felt of the ankle. It was pretty sore and he judged that it was swollen slightly, but he was thankful that it was no worse. For some time the ache in his ankle kept him awake but finally wearied nature asserted itself and he slept.