With their hands tied in front of them, the men were made to remount, and then the entire party lost no time in heading for Big Horn Ranch.
“I’ll fix you for this!” hissed Haddon at Brassy when he got the chance.
“You do your worst!” retorted the boy. “I’m not afraid of you any more.”
Of course, there was great excitement at the ranch when the crowd came in with the three prisoners. The story of what had happened was quickly circulated, and Joe Jackson and a number of the cowboys were called in from the ranges. One of the cowboys was sent off to notify a deputy sheriff of what had occurred and of what the ranch owners expected to do, and two other cowboys were started off to notify the owners of other ranches in that vicinity.
As a consequence early the next morning a posse consisting of twelve men headed for Bimbel’s ranch. Of course, the boys wanted to go along, but they were forced to remain behind, much to their chagrin.
“You might get shot,” said Songbird Powell. “And, besides that, you have had glory enough, helping to catch these three rascals,” and he smiled faintly.
The affair at Bimbel’s was rather a strenuous one. Jenks and Noxley, as well as Bimbel, tried to escape, and Noxley was shot in the leg. The fellow thought he was going to die, and while waiting for the doctor to come and attend him he made a full confession concerning the stealing of many of the horses in that neighborhood. He said that Bud Haddon was at the head of the gang and that Haddon, with Jillson and Dusenbury, were in the habit of disposing of the animals either at Omaha or Chicago, although one or two steeds, including one belonging to the former owners of Big Horn Ranch had been sent further east.
“I guess it was one of the early thefts that took Haddon to Haven Point,” declared Jack, and in that surmise he was correct.
With this evidence against them, Haddon, Jillson and Dusenbury were submitted to a severe gruelling, each being examined separately. Finally Dusenbury broke down completely and admitted that he and the other two had fired John Calder’s barn after stealing his noted pair of gray horses. The horses had been shipped out of town, and were later on recovered, as were also Mr. Powell’s Blackbird and several other of the animals.
When Bud Haddon’s effects were examined many pawn tickets were discovered, and following up the clues thus afforded Colonel Colby managed to get back many of the articles stolen from the school. These included Professor Duke’s heirloom watch and a number of the things lost by our friends.