That night the boys slept as soundly as they ever had in their lives. On the day following the thunder-storm an early start was made for detachment quarters. Riding at an easy gait they did not arrive until the afternoon. Then both Rangers and boys learned something which filled them with considerable alarm. Tom Clifton was missing, and though Bob Somers and Ranger Cole had been continually searching for him, not a trace of the Rambler could be found.
CHAPTER XVI
A WILD RACE
Tom Clifton, ever watchful, had discovered the stampeded mustangs just an instant before Bob Somers shouted his warning. Nearer the center of the onrushing steeds, however, the lad instantly realized that if he chose the direction in which Bob had gone, he would be overtaken, perhaps knocked from his saddle and trampled under foot.
It was a moment when quick thought and equally quick action were absolutely necessary. One glance at the panic-stricken beasts bearing down upon him, like the blasts of the gale, decided his course.
Tom’s quirt cracked like a revolver shot, he gave a yell of command, and the pony leaped ahead as though hurled through the air by the force of powerful springs.
Then began a mad race. Following the same plan as Bob Somers, Tom tried to cut across the front of the herd, riding in the opposite direction. This plan he soon discovered would result in failure.
“The only thing I can do is to try and keep ahead of ’em,” he muttered, grimly.
With all the means at his command he urged the mustang on until it was impossible for the little beast to make any greater efforts.
And all this time the rain poured down in torrents; vivid flashes of lightning illumined the darkened landscape with an unnatural glare, and thunder rolled and crashed.
Frightened as any of the stampeded animals thundering along at his heels, Tom’s mustang was making valiant efforts to carry himself and his rider to safety. The Rambler, however, was becoming conscious of an alarming fact—the long journey in the heat together with the headlong pace was gradually sapping the pony’s strength. How much further, he asked himself, could he travel, before becoming exhausted and dropping in his tracks?