The Adventure Girls at K Bar O Page 7

  Chapter VII

  LANDSLIDE

  "But I can't understand how he got out!" Gale said again with a puzzledfrown. "I purposely pulled the ladder up behind me to keep him inthere."

  "There must be another way out that's all," Tom said.

  "He's gone and now we shall never know who the ghost was," said Janet.

  Tom and Jim exchanged a fleeting glance that only Gale seemed to see.

  "Well, Gale gives a good imitation of a spook," was Carol's declaration."Imagine, throwing rocks at the floor to scare us all out of our wellearned sleep."

  "I was only demonstrating how it was done for my own satisfaction," Galelaughed.

  The nine of them were jogging along on their horses. They had had theirbreakfast while they discussed the disappearance of the ghost. For theman whom Gale had thought imprisoned in the lower tunnel had gone whenJim and Tom let themselves down on the rope ladder. They had notexplored the tunnel to its full length so they were not sure, but theysurmised that there must be another exit some place along the passageand it was this that the mysterious stranger had used. They had allendeavored to go back to sleep, but their rest was fitful and broken.They had eaten an early breakfast and now, two hours later, found thempicking their way through cactus and undergrowth to the distant hills.

  "Git along little dogie, git along, git along," Janet sang lustily.

  "I wish I had brought some cotton," Carol commented darkly, "for myears," she added at Janet's curious glance. "Then I wouldn't have tolisten to you sing."

  "Oh, you don't appreciate a good voice when you hear it," was Janet'sretort.

  "A good voice, I do," Carol declared, and moved her pony so that Galewas between her and Janet. "But who ever told you----"

  "What? Not another musical person?" Madge demanded as Tom blewvigorously on his harmonica.

  "If riding affects them like that," Virginia laughed, "it is time wecalled a halt. What do you say, Jim?"

  "For ten minutes," Jim nodded.

  They fell from their mounts, grateful for the respite. Tom promptlystretched out on the ground, his hat over his face to shut out the sun.Jim led the horses to a little stream of water as the girls stamped thestiffness out of their cramped legs.

  "Where's Jim?" Virginia wanted to know at the end of the allotted tenminutes for Jim was not in sight. The horses were standing ready fortheir riders, but they could not proceed without the guide.

  Virginia went over and poked her brother into wakefulness.

  "What's the matter?" he asked drowsily.

  "Jim hasn't come back yet," Virginia informed him, "and if we don't getstarted, we won't make our next campsite before dark."

  Tom stretched lazily. "Well, stay here an' I'll find him."

  Gale and Virginia mounted their horses and the others did likewise.

  "You know, I'm either going to wear the horse out or he is going to wearme out," Janet declared with a grimace as she lowered herself into thesaddle. "I'm afraid it is the latter."

  They waited for fully fifteen minutes before either Tom or Jim came intosight. The horses had caught the impatience of their riders and werefidgeting to be off.

  "We thought you had deserted us for sure!" Virginia declared. "Wherewere you?"

  To Gale it seemed that the two men had the air of conspirators. Therewas a gleam in their eyes that had not been there before. The minutethey came within earshot of the girls they stopped talking and came onsilently.

  "Virginia," Tom said immediately, "we want you to lead the girls to BearRock and have lunch. Wait there for us."

  "But where are you going?" Virginia demanded.

  "Jim has found a trail that looks strange so we are going to follow it,"Tom explained. "But we'll catch up to you at Bear Rock. You camp thereuntil we come, understand?"

  "No," Virginia said firmly. "I don't understand. What is so strangeabout this trail? Why can't we all ride that way?"

  "We couldn't follow the trail with all of you along," Tom declared. "Itwould be obliterated in no time."

  "But, Tom, if we get lost up here we could never find each other again,"Virginia continued.

  "But Miss Virginia, you've been to Bear Rock lots of times," Jim put in."Yore Dad would want us to follow this trail, too. It shore looks mightystrange. You won't get lost."

  "You don't know what you might be getting into," Virginia said. "I thinkyou should let that trail alone and mind your own business."

  Tom shook his head, tightening his saddle strap.

  "We're goin' so you might as well save your breath. See you at BearRock," he added as he and Jim swung their horses about and were off in acloud of dust.

  The girls stared after them in surprise, then Virginia, with a shrug ofher shoulders, turned her horse and led the way at an abrupt angle fromthe road taken by Jim and Tom. Gale undertook to bring up the rear withthe pack horses. As the girls jogged forward, Phyllis rode directlybehind Virginia with Janet and Carol following. Valerie had droppedbehind with Gale.

  "Do you suppose that mysterious trail was left by the bank bandits?"Valerie murmured in a low tone to her friend.

  "I shouldn't be surprised," Gale answered. "You know, Val, that is whatthey are really looking for. I believe that is why Jim has a definitecamping place in mind for each day and doesn't let us loiter much alongthe way. He and Tom must think the rustlers and robbers are connected."

  Valerie nodded. "Do you think the bandit might have been the man you sawat the mine last night?"

  Gale frowned. "I don't know. I've been thinking about that. It mighthave been, but I can't be sure because I didn't get a close enough lookat him. He might have been using the cabin as a hiding place."

  "That's why he tried to scare us away," added Valerie. "I believe that'sit!"

  "What are you two chattering about?" Janet wanted to know.

  "About having broiled rattlesnake for supper," Valerie retorted. "I'veheard it is very good with mustard."

  It was but a short ride to Bear Rock, so named because a huge boulder soresembled the head of a ferocious grizzly. Once there, the girlsdismounted and gathered wood for a fire. They would eat a cold luncheon,but insisted on at least having hot coffee to drink. The horses weretethered and the girls gathered about the fire. Seated on stones, forthe ground was still damp from the heavy rains of the day before, thegirls waited for the two men to join them. They drank their coffee andhad long finished their lunch before the clatter of hoofs reached themand Jim and Tom rode up.

  "We'll have a new campsite tonight," Tom said at once. "Jim and I wantto do a little more sleuthing so we might as well go along and camp whenit gets dark, no matter where we are."

  "That's better than leaving us behind at any rate," Carol declared. "I'mrather anxious to get a look at this trail."

  "Just a lot of hoof marks," Tom answered blandly.

  That was all it proved to be and the girls were disappointed. Theydidn't know what they had expected to find, but certainly more thanthis. Unexperienced in trail reading they didn't realize what a wide,easy-to-read trail had been left. If they had, they might have beensuspicious. Even so, Tom and Jim, western bred and experienced intrailing both men and animals, should have been suspicious. But theyweren't.

  In the northern region of Arizona are plateaus broken by high mountains.Between the foothills of a high range was a winding trail and it wasthis that the Adventure Girls and their friends followed, winding in andout through forests thick with pine trees and cottonwoods, jack rabbitsdarting across the trail, making the horses prance and rear, and thegirls getting so weary they could hardly stay in their saddles.

  At last Jim called a halt beside a small stream. The sun was sinkingswiftly. Darkness was creeping into the east. When they had pitchedtheir tents and supper was started, the girls took time out to admirethe scenery of their surroundings. They were camped on the base of arugged plateau broken in two by a narrow pass through which theyproposed to ride on the morr
ow. Overhanging the pass was a huge boulder,balanced precariously on the edge of the jutting cliff.

  "Just one push is all that needs to block up that whole pass," Tomdeclared.

  "Let's hope nobody pushes it tomorrow when we are going through there,"commented Janet cheerfully.

  "Let's see what is on the other side of the mountain," proposed Gale toValerie.

  "All right," she agreed readily, getting up from her knees where she hadbeen putting another piece of wood on the fire.

  "Or are you too tired?" Gale asked suddenly, remembering that Valcouldn't keep going as incessantly as the rest of them.

  "Of course I'm not too tired for that short walk," Val said stoutly."Come along."

  "When supper is ready give us a halloo," directed Gale as the twostarted out.

  "You're taking awful chances," Carol declared mischievously, "we mighteat all the supper without you."

  "You had better not!" Gale warned laughingly.

  The two walked leisurely, enjoying the glorious hues of the sunset. Inthe west the sky was a maze of colors as the last rays of the sunflashed on the banked clouds. The gurgling of the little stream by whichthey walked was the only sound other than that of their footsteps thatthey heard. Yet Gale had the uncanny feeling that eyes were watchingthem. Once she turned to look back at the others in camp. They were allbusy with something or other. No one was watching her and Val. Yet thatpeculiar feeling persisted.

  Directly beneath the overhanging boulder they paused to look up at it.It hung menacingly over them. They took a few steps forward whensomething made Gale look up again. Certainly her eyes had not played atrick on her! The rock had actually wavered. It was falling!

  "Run, Val, run," she shouted, at the same time grasping her friend's armand pulling her along.

  "What in the world----" Valerie began.

  "The rock--it's falling!" Gale panted.

  Thereafter she did not need to urge Val to exert speed to get away fromthe spot toward which the rock was rushing. The two of them flungthemselves forward while certain destruction hurtled down almost onthem. The boulder crashed into the earth with such force that it halfburied itself. On top of it poured earth that had been loosened in itsdescent.

  "What if we had been under it?" gasped Val when the girls, at a safedistance, viewed the wreckage behind them.

  "We would look like pancakes now," Gale said humorously. "With thatlandslide, can you tell me how we are going to get out of here for oursupper?"

  Valerie looked around. What they had thought was a trail leading throughthe mountains was just a trail that led to the basin here, a valley onall sides of which rose steep hills. Their only means of entrance andexit had been through the pass, and now that was effectively stopped.

  "I wish we would have waited for supper," Gale said, attempting to keeplighthearted.

  "You can join us," said a suave voice behind the girls.

  They whirled and were grasped in rough hands.

  "Well, two are better 'n none, eh, boss?" a rumbling voice laughed."Maybe we couldn't get 'em all, but these two will do us."

  Both Gale and Valerie struggled, but what was the use? They were soonsubdued, not too gently, and led away, their hands tied behind theirbacks, to a cabin, hidden entirely from the trail in a clump of trees.