He had brought a black horse from his Kentucky home; and this same Domino had often proved that he could run a mile faster than the smaller Buckskin; but when it came to an all-day gallop, the animal Frank bestrode was apt to show up better as a “stayer.”
Not a great while before this, the boys had passed through a series of stirring adventures while investigating a mystery that had awed the Indians for perhaps fully a century. A mountain within a day’s ride of the ranch often gave vent to strange sounds that were likened to the growl of heavy thunder. What it turned out to be, and how the boys solved the puzzle, is contained in the first volume of this series, called “The Saddle Boys in the Rockies; or, Lost On Thunder Mountain.”
It was shortly after their return to the ranch that a remarkable thing happened when a message that had been found in a sealed bottle floating in the current of the Lower Colorado River was brought to Colonel Haywood, at a time when he happened to be laid up with a broken leg.
If you think you would like to learn how Frank and Bob took the place of the ranchman, going on horseback to the world-famous Grand Canyon of the Colorado in answer to the call that had reached them, together with what remarkable things happened to them while there, read the second volume in this series, entitled, “The Saddle Boys in the Grand Canyon; or, The Hermit of Echo Cave.”
And now the lads were once again starting out on a long gallop that would take them far to the south, into the mining country within a day’s ride of the Mexican border. Here was located the most valuable of all the gold-producing properties controlled by Colonel Haywood and Mr. Archer, known as the Cherry Blossom Mine.
Word had been brought to the colonel that there seemed to be trouble brewing at the mine. The message had given no particulars, nor was it signed with any name. It simply stated that if he were wise, and wished to nip trouble in the bud, he would better take a horse and run down to investigate, before matters reached a crisis.
But as Mr. Archer was East, looking after the marketing of certain stock in Wall Street, and Colonel Haywood’s broken leg had hardly healed enough for him to attempt a ride of several days, the ranchman found himself once more compelled to throw the burden on the shoulders of his only son Frank, and the latter’s chum, Bob Archer.
Armed with all manner of instructions, and legal documents to prove their authority as the representatives of the parties holding a controlling interest in the wonderfully productive Cherry Blossom, the two chums were now heading into the hazy South. What lay beyond no one could even guess; but both seemed to “feel in their bones,” as Bob expressed it, that new and surprising adventures were in store for them among the plains and mountains of Southern Arizona.
And so they started out that fine morning, with high anticipations. In the bracing air the two horses vied with each other in covering the ground; though Frank constantly advised his comrade to hold Domino in.
“Out here, you see, Bob,” he would remark, “Where the horses are used to making a ten-hour run; and then going at it again after a little rest, when a stampede happens along, we learn the value of holding a willing pony in early in the day. It means better work later in the run. He gradually gets down to business; just as you’ve seen engines do in making a slow start.”