Mason of Bar X Ranch

CHAPTER XVI – THE SHOT IN THE NIGHT

It was dark when they drove into the grounds of the Gaylor ranch, and the girls gave a gasp of surprise when they saw a regular avenue of Japanese lanterns leading up to the main entrance.

“The Gaylor people certainly do things in style,” Mason said in admiration, as he brought the car to a stop in front of the porch.

The ranch house fairly blazed with different colored lanterns and a soft strain of music greeted their ears as Bruce Gaylor received them with a shout of welcome. In his breezy Western style he introduced them to his sisters and later to his parents and all the guests. A dance was in progress and Mason hastily made sure that he could have the next one with Josephine. A moment later he signaled Bruce out and called him over to them.

“I must say you have surprised me this night, Bruce,” he said gaily; “I didn’t suppose you could put on so fine a show as this, and I want to congratulate you. Why, this display matches our Eastern society dances. But there is one thing that sticks me, Bruce; you led me to suppose you had but one sister, and now I find you have two.”

“Yes, and hurry up and get them signed on your card. I will give you a straight tip, they are fine dancers,” he answered jovially, seizing the opportunity to ask Ethel for the next dance.

Mason had his dance with Josephine, and a little later when he came to look over her card he discovered to his dismay that he could only secure one of the remaining dances. Her list contained the name of Bud Anderson signed no less than six times.

When he mentioned this fact to her he thought her manner was a trifle cool, and try his best, it put a damper on his spirits. He strolled moodily out on the veranda where he could get a good view of the dancers. He lit a cigarette and was trying to enjoy a smoke when the orchestra struck up a waltz.

Josephine was dancing with Bud, and as they floated near to the window where he stood, he saw that she was laughing and chatting gaily with him. She certainly was paying particular attention to Bud this evening, and Mason realized that she had never been so friendly to him.

“Josephine loves Bud all right, and Jack, you are a damn fool to think she cares for you any more than a friend,” he mused, savagely grinding the cigarette under his heel. “Bud has the inside track and he has known her since she was a kid. Oh, I am a damned fool all right, but I sure do love her. None of my Eastern girl friends ever made me feel this way, and the Lord knows, I had plenty of them.”

He heard the rustle of a dress and turning his back drew further into the shadow. Footsteps sounded behind him and a hand was laid on his shoulder.

Turning reluctantly around he saw the smiling face of his sister gazing at him.

“So, here you are, and I have been looking all over the hall for you,” she cried triumphantly, “but, why the grouch, brother? You look as though you were attending a funeral instead of a dance.”

“My head felt dull and I came out to get the air,” he answered lamely.

Her eyes looked searchingly into his face.

“It is something more than that. Come, you can’t fool me, your sister. I know your disposition too well. Tell me what the trouble is, Jack, and maybe I can help you out.”

“Well,” he began, desperately, “it’s about Josephine. Have you noticed that she is dancing more often with Bud than anyone else?”

“Meaning yourself, I suppose,” she said with a laugh; “my, but how vain you men are, and I am sure you haven’t any strings on her?”

“That’s right, rub it in,” he grumbled.

She was tapping her fan lightly on his shoulder and smiling queerly at him.

“Well, let me give you a tip and see if you know enough to take advantage of it. When you come to know girls a little better you will learn to act quicker. Josephine hasn’t said a word to me, but I know I am right in this; she is merely dancing often with Bud to make you jealous.”

“What makes you think that?” he demanded eagerly.

She was turning to go and fired a bomb over her shoulder.

“You certainly are slow. When you looked Josephine’s dance card over early in the evening you failed to put your name down for more than one dance number.”

She left him with a tantalizing smile, while he cursed himself for an idiot.

“And I promised her some extra dances, too,” he groaned dismally; “Gee, Jack, you sure will have to square yourself somehow with Josephine, and I’ll get that last dance with her or there will be murder done here this night.”

He did manage to get the last dance with her, but her manner still continued cool towards him, and for all of his eager advances he felt he had made a dismal failure in winning her good graces.

The dance broke up at a late hour and Bruce Gaylor prevailed on Mason’s party to stay at the ranch over night, as he wanted to show them about the place the next day. He clinched his argument with Mason by saying he could leave any time the next day and could make the run back to Bar X ranch in quick time with his car. Bruce had already won Ethel and Josephine over to his plan, and under the circumstances Mason could not very well refuse.

The cowboys had already left as they had their duties to perform at Bar X. This left just Mason’s party with Waneda and Tex, as Bruce had decided the trip was too long for the Spanish girl to undertake in the dark, and as Tex had not fully recovered from his wound, the Gaylor people would not consent to his taking the ride back until the next day.

The girls readily consented to the plan as they were fatigued from the dance, and when Mason finally turned in for the night he was tired enough to thank Bruce most heartily for his hospitality.

The next morning he awoke considerably refreshed and looking at his watch he was surprised to find he had slept until nine A.M. He dressed hastily and going out into the ranch grounds found his host conducting his sister and Josephine about the place.

Mason joined them and was told by his host that they had just started for the house to have breakfast.

“Then I am just in time,” he said cheerfully, watching Josephine closely to see if she showed any signs of relenting toward him. “I was afraid I had made you all late by my tardiness.”

They spent a pleasant morning about the ranch and Mason had to admire the well kept buildings. The Gaylor ranch differed in design from the Bar X ranch which was of a Colonial type of construction. The Gaylor ranch was a magnificent building finished in stucco work, but Mason liked the Bar X ranch better, with its huge columns and strictly Southern type. In the afternoon, Bruce provided horses and they started for a ride over the range.

“It won’t make any difference if you people don’t start back until night,” Bruce insisted; “and by the way, Jack, if you need any gasoline I have plenty of it in the storehouse. We use a gasoline engine to do some of our work here and I see you have powerful lights on your car, so why worry?”

“Oh, that will be fine,” Josephine cried in delight, “and I only hope we will have a moonlight night.”

“All right,” Mason agreed, pleased beyond measure that the idea suited his girl, for he had come to the point of secretly calling Josephine his girl now.

“I may have to call on you for gas at that, Bruce, although my tank was full when I left the Bar X ranch. Safety first, you know.”

If Josephine had held any vexation against Mason the night before, all traces of it had vanished by now, and she graciously permitted him to ride by her side while Bruce and Ethel rode slightly in advance of them. Both girls were in high spirits and the laughter and witty repartee that passed among them was sparkling with good humor. There was a charm about this girl at his side that drew him to her as a magnet draws steel. Unconsciously Mason pressed his horse closer to hers until he was aware that she was smiling at him under almost closed lashes.

“I don’t see any occasion for you to try and run my horse down,” she said, smiling at him.

He eased his horse away, feeling provoked at himself.

“There, that’s better,” she said gently; “I suppose the first thing I know you will be trying to make love to me again.”

“I will most certainly if I get you out alone in my car sometime.”

“That makes me think of something. You promised to teach me how to drive, and if you remember, the last time I tried it was when we went to Trader’s Post. You know I am very anxious to learn.”

“Just as soon as we get home again I will promise to take you out and keep you at it until you do learn, and I will tell you truly that you did fine that day.”

“Yes, just about like you promised me those extra dances last night,” Josephine was pouting prettily now.

“You seemed to be enjoying yourself immensely with Bud last night, I thought,” he said surlily. It was a tender spot with him.

“And why not? He’s a splendid dancer.”

Her eyes were dancing with mischief as she fenced words with him like a skilful swordsman.

He flung his hands up in mock despair.

“A truce,” he cried gaily, “I solemnly swear to make you an expert driver the first time we go for an automobile ride. Now, does that suit you, my Princess?”

“Yes, and I will hold you to your promise, Sir Jack.”

“You see,” he continued, “in making you that promise I have secret designs on you.”

Her blue eyes opened wide.

“And what are they?”

“That I have hope of succeeding in keeping you away from Bud Anderson for a short time, at least,” he answered.

Josephine laughed a silvery laugh.

“What in the world are you two chatting about?” Ethel called back to them.

“Sir Jack just said something funny,” Josephine answered, smiling roguishly at him.

“It may seem funny to you; but I mean it,” he said frowning.

“My, but you can get serious at times, Sir Jack.”

Ethel fell back and joined in the conversation, and Mason had to stand some good natured raillery from the girls until Bruce came to his rescue by calling his attention to a group of riders on their right.

They were less than a quarter of a mile away and were riding slowly on almost a parallel line with Bruce’s party. There appeared to be four men in the group, and Mason looked at them in surprise.

“Wonder where those fellows came from,” he observed; “queer we didn’t see them before this.”

“They just broke out from behind that knoll,” Bruce answered, indicating with a wave of his hand a rise in the plain. “And they don’t belong on my ranch either,” he continued; “my men never ride this range only in pairs. They seem to be observing us pretty close too. Shall we ride over their way?”

Mason started to agree, but the girls put up such a protest against it that he abandoned the idea. On second thought he reasoned it would be doing the girls an injustice if the strangers should turn out to be enemies and a fight might be the result.

They were too far away to make out their features and he noticed with a feeling of relief that they had spurred their horses and were setting rapidly off in a different direction.

“Did you recognize any of those men, Mr. Gaylor?” Josephine questioned.

“No,” he answered guardedly with a sidelong glance at Mason. “The distance was too great to make out their features.”

Afterwards on their way back to the ranch, Bruce seizing a favorable opportunity, confided to Mason in an undertone that he was sure he had recognized one of the men as Spot Wells.

“Well, don’t let the girls know, as it would worry them to death,” he cautioned Bruce after he had recovered from his surprise. “I am more than glad that we didn’t start after them as there would have been a hot fight on our hands. I know the girls have been enjoying this outing immensely, thanks to you, old man, and I don’t want anything to happen to mar their happiness. What makes you think one of them was Spot Wells? I couldn’t have told my own father at that distance.”

“I didn’t recognize him until they turned their horses and started to ride off,” Bruce answered. “I can tell Spot Wells by the way he rides; he used to be a jockey and has never gotten over the habit of riding well forward on a horse’s neck. Just as they started off I noticed him take that position.”

“Now that you mention the fact, I noticed one of them rode in a different style when they started that spurt,” Mason admitted.

The girls were riding up closer to them, putting a stop to their conversation, and commenced to banter them for neglecting their charges.

It was well towards evening when they arrived at the ranch and after supper Mason got his car out and looked at the sky. There was not a star in sight. Bruce wanted them to remain over and start early the next morning, but Josephine would not hear to it. Mason seated the girls and switched the powerful lights on.

“I’m sorry we haven’t the nice moonlight night you wished for, Josephine,” he said.

“Oh, I don’t care, when we have such fine lights as you have on your car,” she answered naïvely: “isn’t it wonderful? Why, I can see the trail just as well as in the day time.”

He smiled at her childlike enthusiasm. This Western girl could appreciate a ride in a fast car at night with the trail lighted up with powerful headlights. It appealed to her fancy as she had spent all her life riding the range on horseback, but when it came night she had to spend her time about the ranch house.

Mason wondered what would be her thoughts if she could see Fifth Avenue in New York at night with its countless automobiles and glaring headlights. He mentally resolved that she should see them if it lay in his power, and the only bar to his ambition lay in Bud Anderson. The thought almost caused him to groan out loud, when suddenly he realized that the object of his thoughts was regarding him gravely.

“Sir Jack,” she cried with an attempt at severity.

He turned and looked at her guiltily.

“If you are going to sit there and moon-gaze when there isn’t any moon, then I will have to take the wheel and drive. Here comes Mr. Gaylor to say good-bye to us.”

Mason thanked his host warmly for his hospitality. Ethel and Josephine joined in by asking him to visit Bar X ranch and bring his sisters to pay them a call. On his promise to come when he found an opportunity, Mason started the car off amid a loud roar from the motor. It was a delightful night for a ride as the day had been hot and the soft cool night air in their faces with the humming of the motor almost lulled them to sleep. The girls had little to say, being content to lie back and enjoy the ride, watching the trail shown by the glare of the headlights.

Half the distance to Bar X had been covered, when the night air freshening up a bit, he ordered the girls to wrap themselves up more warmly.

He had slowed the car down considerably while this was being accomplished, and then seeing that his charges were again made comfortable, he started the car off at a high rate of speed.

The car was easily taking the rises in the trail at this new speed and Mason was figuring that they would arrive at Bar X in about a half hour.

Suddenly they were startled by the sharp crack of a rifle causing the girls to scream in terror, while one of the rear tires blew out with a loud report. For a moment the car plunged wildly, and Mason with his face drawn white managed by a supreme effort to bring it under control.

CHAPTER XVII – TRENT BURTON WIRES ALARMING NEWS

With a shrieking and grinding of brakes Mason brought the car to a stop. After calming the fears of the girls he changed tires, his experience on the race track enabling him to accomplish this feat in a short time. He worked feverishly, fearing a second shot from out the dark as the car would make a good target for the unknown assassin. That the bullet which hit the tire was meant for one of them he had no doubt, and his mind coupled Spot Wells and the three strange riders with this new outrage.

He started the car off at a fast speed and breathed a sigh of relief when no shot followed them. Of the two girls, Mason could see that his sister was the more nervous and he tried to laugh away her fears. As the car gained momentum and they drew away from the danger spot his sister began to get more calm.

Josephine was quiet and appeared to be thinking deeply.

“Sir Jack,” she asked presently, “do you connect those four men we saw this afternoon with that rifle shot?”

“I’ll have to admit that I do,” he answered gravely; “anyway, I am going to report the incident to Bud when we arrive at the ranch.”

With increasing speed he shot the car ahead, and they were all relieved when a little later they drove to the ranch house and Mason put the car away.

In the morning he reported the matter to Bud. The sheriff grew serious at the news and immediately word was posted at Bar X ranch for the cowboys to keep a sharp watch for Spot Wells and the three strangers.

Mason saw very little of the girls for the next few days, his attention being taken up with matters about the ranch.

One morning, however, while working with the cowboys at the corral he was surprised to see the girls ride up.

They were accompanied by Percy Vanderpool, and Mason stared in amazement when he heard Josephine ask her father for permission to ride to Trader’s Post.

But his bewilderment increased when he heard her say that they intended to ride from there on to the Ricker ranch.

The ranch owner readily consented as he always had in the past two every wish of this girl of the plains. Bud made a mild protest which was seconded vigorously by Mason.

Josephine gave him an icy stare. He ignored her apparent chilliness and offered to go with them if they were so intent for the trip.

“Oh no,” she said the words with hauteur as she faced him. “You are too busy! Besides, Mr. Vanderpool is going with us.”

Mason looked Percy over in disgust.

“You could at least have one of the cowboys go with you,” he said, turning appealingly to Bud.

Before Bud could answer, Josephine cut in with a forced laugh.

She faced Mason again and he fancied he saw a reckless light in her eyes.

“There is no danger”; she spoke the words slowly; “you must remember that two of Bud’s cowboys are in charge of the Ricker ranch.”

At the rebuke the hot blood mounted into his cheeks. He felt the sting of her words and lapsed into silence as he watched them ride off.

“Josephine is a strange girl, and I cannot understand her,” he mused angrily. “Anyone would think she is sore at me for something. She never treats Bud that way; instead, she favors him all the time and that proves she loves him.”

Thus meditating, he passed a part of the morning away. Dinner time came and found him in a wretched state of mind.

Later, while idly chatting with the cowboys, a rider was observed coming from the direction of Trader’s Post.

The cowboys watched him keenly when they noticed he was riding furiously. Mason stood near Buck Miller and was amused at the eager way the cowboy was watching the rider’s approach.

He smiled grimly as he thought how such little things interested these cowboys. As for himself, his heart was heavy at the remembrance of Josephine’s attitude to him this day, and he was turning wearily away when he heard a sharp exclamation from Buck Miller which caused him to turn and look at him in surprise.

“That’s a dispatch rider from the railroad station below Trader’s Post,” Buck was saying. “He must have something important from the looks of his hoss; he’s ridden the critter until it’s most spent.”

Mason watched with interest as the dispatch rider swung up to them with his horse all lather.

Dismounting before his horse could come to a full stop he made his way directly to Bud Anderson.

“Message for you, Bud,” he panted; “must be mighty important too, for I was told to get here quick, even if I had to kill my horse. Reckon he’s about done for at that,” he added, watching the trembling animal with remorse.

Springing to Bud’s side, Mason watched him as he tore the message open. Bud hastily read its contents and silently passed it over to Mason.

It was a laconic message from Trent Burton and the news he read staggered him.

The message read as follows:

Ricker makes jail delivery. Jim Haley, Pete Carlo the Mexican, and Nick Cover with him. All headed for Nevada. Form posse and round up. Coming with deputy Jean Barry. News two weeks old.

Mason heard Bud giving orders to his men as though in a daze. His eyes caught sight of the message again and he read the words over. News two weeks old!

“Good God, Bud!” he cried in an agony of fear. “Do you realize what that message means? News two weeks old and my sister and Josephine in the clutches of that fiend at the Ricker ranch!”

Running like the wind to the shed where his racer was kept, he quickly had the engine spinning. The next instant he shot past the group of startled cowboys. They saw him feeling on his belt for his guns, and then man and car were swallowed up in a cloud of dust.

CHAPTER XVIII – THE LOST AIRPLANE

Josephine rode away from Bar X ranch with a feeling of misgiving. She knew that she had treated Mason rather mean, but she felt piqued because he had neglected her for the last few days.

Ethel noticed her abstracted manner, and asked her the reason for it.

“I think your big brother has been neglecting us shamefully,” she said at last in answer to a repeated query from Ethel. “Dad doesn’t need him to work about the ranch as he persists in doing, and I think it mean of him while you are visiting us.”

Ethel smiled at her serious manner.

“You certainly cut him to-day when you refused his offer to go with us,” she said, watching keenly the effect of her words on her friend.

“Serves him right,” Josephine answered spiritedly. “I suppose he thinks I am a very unreasonable girl, but you know we planned to visit the secret passage at the Ricker ranch, and I really wanted to ask him to go with us, but for the last three days I have scarcely been able to get a word with him.”