A Woman Threatens
“Yore dad took this mighty well,” Nick declared, riding close to Roy. Teddy, Gus and Bug Eye drew up in the rear.
“He never does show much of what’s going on inside him,” Roy answered slowly. “You notice he didn’t say hardly anything on the way over. Dad’s hard hit, I know that. And—and so are we.” He turned his head away for a moment and stared long and hard at something on the other side of the rugged canyon.
Nick moved uneasily in his saddle. At a time like this he was speechless. He did not know what he could say to console his friend, for his own heart was none too happy. His lips opened, but words would not come.
To punchers on the X Bar X, the ranch was as much a home as a place to work. Troubles were shared equally. Mr. Manley treated his men not like employees, but as friends who were helping him, and the boys appreciated this attitude.
Now that this cruel misfortune had come to the Manley family, every cowboy on the ranch felt it. Belle was loved and respected by every man on the place. Sing Lung, the cook, not excepted. When word had gone around that Belle had been kidnapped, a hot rage filled the hearts of the inmates of the bunk-house. Belle—little Belle, she of the raven black hair and laughing eyes—taken by rustlers! At first there had been a wild rush for horses and guns were out and ready in a moment. But cooler heads prevailed, and finally the boys had come to Mr. Manley, offering themselves quite simply for whatever he planned to do, whether it meant facing a rain of lead or not. He had thanked them huskily and told them to make ready.
These thoughts were running through Nick’s mind as he rode along. If it was that they were to see Belle no more, if she were killed by the gunmen— He moved from side to side, as a caged animal moves. They’d run those jailbirds down, if it took them all their lives! And when they found them—
“Reckon there’ll be any scrappin’?” Gus drawled, watching Teddy guide Flash carefully over bad ground.
“Expect so.” The boy looked casually at the gun in his saddle holster. “Shots will make an awful roar in this canyon. Gus, what would happen to a man who fell that far?” He looked down toward the bottom of the dark space beneath him.
“Nothin’—that is, nothin’ that he’d know about,” Gus answered promptly. “Why, ain’t aimin’ to jump, are yuh?”