Read Ebook: Frank at Don Carlos' Rancho by Castlemon Harry

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Ebook has 671 lines and 59785 words, and 14 pages

"Pull him off, fellows," shouted Archie, who knew that the punishment was coming now.

Frank jumped down from the head-board, Johnny came out of the closet, and both ran to assist Dick, who still clung manfully to the chain; but before they could reach him, Phil gave Archie a ringing slap on each side of his head, and made good his retreat from the room. The next that was seen of him, he was out in the court trying to start a fight with Marmion.

Phil was a rough play-fellow, but he was full of his tricks, always ready for a fight or a frolic, and he held a prominent place in the affections of the boys, who looked upon him as a great institution; but by every one else on the rancho he was regarded as an unmitigated nuisance. One great fault with Phil was, that he was too much like some young people. He always wanted his own way in every thing, and if he could not have it, he would grumble and go into the sulks. He would wander off by himself and pout for hours together, like a foolish boy who had been denied something his mother thought he ought not to have, sticking out his lips after the most approved fashion, and growling and scolding to himself at a wonderful rate. On these occasions it was not safe to venture near him.

Phil was an expert wrestler and boxer, and as long as he could get the better of his antagonist he would keep in excellent humor. He would not growl or scratch him with his claws, and would always wait till he got a fair hold before he made any attempt to throw him down. But when he met his match, as he always did whenever he interfered with Frank, there would be trouble directly. When Phil found that he could not throw him, he would growl and get mad; and then there was always a fight or a foot-race. The boys generally thought it best to run when he was thoroughly aroused, for he was considerably larger than a Newfoundland dog, his teeth and claws were sharp, his paws heavy, and he used them in good earnest.

Phil was as treacherous as an Indian. Whenever a stranger visited the rancho, he would run to meet him, rub himself against his legs, turn summersaults for his amusement, and try, by every means in his power, to show that he was glad to see him; and all this while he would be watching for an opportunity to play a trick upon him. He would sneak around behind him, and if the visitor did not keep his eyes open, the first thing he knew his heels would fly up, and he would sit down upon the ground in a great hurry.

Another bad trait in Phil's character was, that he never forgot an injury. He always avenged a wrong done him, and if he could not get at the guilty party, he would take satisfaction on some one else. Many a time, when Frank turned him loose in the morning, was he obliged to stand punishment for something Archie had done to him the night before. Phil, catching him off his guard, would trip him up, box his ears, and run off to escape the consequences; and the next time Frank met him he would be as friendly as ever, unless some one had been teasing him in the meantime. He seemed to cherish unbounded affection for Frank , but he disliked Archie as much as Marmion did; and he had good cause to be angry at him on this particular morning. Archie had been unreasonably cross and ugly ever since his horse was stolen; and when the bear came up and greeted him in a friendly manner, by putting his paw on his shoulder, Archie, by taking some unfair advantage of him, succeeded in throwing him down, and cramming a handful of grass into his mouth; and that was an indignity that Phil would not submit to. He flew into a terrible rage, and the boys, knowing that something unpleasant would happen if Phil succeeded in getting his paws on any of them, ran into their room, and fastened all the doors and windows. The bear followed, and after trying in vain to effect an entrance through one of the port-holes, took his stand in the hall, and waited for them to come out. When Mr. Winters and his companions entered the room, he went in with them, and squared accounts with Archie, by boxing his ears so soundly that he had a headache all the rest of the day.

Uncle James and Mr. Harris laughed at Mr. Thomas, and the boys smiled behind their handkerchiefs. Mr. Thomas made some very uncomplimentary remarks about bears in general, and Phil in particular, and helping himself to a chair, resumed the conversation which this little incident had interrupted.

"It will be of no use, Mr. Winters," said he, "for it has been tried already. He has been chased with dogs, caught in traps, and shot at numberless times; but he is to-day as lively and full of mischief as he was a year ago. He is bound to die a natural death."

Mr. Thomas was speaking of the bear which had so often robbed Uncle James's cow-pen, and after the boys had listened for a few minutes to the conversation that followed, they learned that this pest had visited the rancho again during the previous night, and walked off with a fine calf, for which Mr. Winters had refused a hundred dollars a few days before. More than that, he had got into a trap which had been made especially for him, but had succeeded in working his way out. This same trap had caught and held two good-sized bears, which had tried their best to escape, but it was not strong enough to confine him. He had tumbled the logs about in every direction, and made off with the bait with which the trap was set.

This bear was a well-known character in that section of the country--as well known as Mr. Winters himself. He was called "Old Davy;" and this name had been given to him to distinguish him from a few other old settlers of the same species; but these had been killed off, one after another, and now Old Davy was left alone. Those who had seen him, described him as a monster animal, fully as large as two ordinary bears. He could be recognized by a large bald spot on his forehead, which was, doubtless, the scar of a wound received during some of his numerous battles, and his track could be distinguished from those of other bears by the peculiar shape of the print left by one of his hind feet. A portion of the foot had either been shot away, or lost during a conflict with dogs, and the track made by this wounded member, showed only the claws and the ball of the foot. But this did not interfere with Old Davy's traveling, or his fighting, either. He could wander over a good portion of the county in a night, and had, more than once, demonstrated his ability to whip all the dogs that could get around him. Between him and the horse-thieves, the farmers had lost many a dollar.

When Old Davy and his exploits had been thoroughly discussed, Mr. Winters told his nephews why he had come in there. He was on the point of starting for San Diego, to be gone three or four days; and he wanted the boys to manage affairs during his absence. "There is not much to be done," said he, with a laugh, "but if you can manage to shoot Old Davy and catch those horse-thieves while I am gone, I should be delighted."

The boys told themselves that they had not the slightest intention of going within a mile of Old Davy. If men like Dick Lewis and Bob Kelly, who had hunted grizzly bears all their lives, could not kill him, they certainly had no business with him. And as for the horse-thieves, they were, doubtless, a band of desperadoes, who used their revolvers or bowie-knives upon any one who came in their way, and the boys were quite sure that they would let them alone also. But, after all, they had a good deal to do with the horse-thieves, and with Old Davy also. Some exciting events happened in the settlement during the next few hours, and when Uncle James returned from San Diego, he was more astonished than he was when he listened to Frank's story of his first encounter with Pierre Costello.

A STRANGE STORY.

"Now," said Archie, when he had seen Uncle James ride off toward San Diego, "what's to be done? It's dreadful slow hanging around the house all the while, and I propose that we visit that bear trap. We might repair it, you know, and perhaps we can make it strong enough to hold Old Davy the next time he gets into it."

As no objections were raised to this proposition, the boys strolled slowly toward the stable, where Mr. Winters now kept all his fine riding stock, it being unsafe to allow the animals to run at large. There was no danger that the robbers would get any more horses out of that stable, for Dick Lewis and old Bob Kelly had taken up their quarters there. Archie thought it would have been a good thing for him and Frank, if this precaution had been adopted a few days before.

The stable was full of horses, but Frank and Archie could not find any to suit them. While Johnny and Dick were saddling their nags, the cousins, with their bridles in their hands, walked slowly up and down the floor, critically examining the twenty sleek, well-kept animals which were standing quietly in their respective stalls; but they measured every thing by Roderick and King James now, and none of their uncle's horses were good enough for them.

"I believe I won't go, fellows," said Archie, at length. "I have a good mind to say that I will never leave the rancho again, until I get my horse back. Will you agree to that, Frank, if I will?"

"No, sir!" replied his cousin, quickly. "I can't see the use of hurting my nose to spite my face. I am going on that expedition with Captain Porter this winter, if I have to ride a mule."

"Well, it beats me that there is no one here who can catch those robbers," said Archie, bitterly. "Dick Lewis, I have lost all faith in you."

The trapper was seated on a bench beside the door, busy at work on a new hunting shirt, which, like all the rest of his garments, was gaudily ornamented with beads and bright-colored pieces of cloth. He smiled good-naturedly at Archie, but made no reply.

"I built my hopes high upon you," continued the latter. "You have spent your life on the frontier; fought all through the Mexican war; have shot dozens of grizzly bears and Indians; been in numberless scrapes with all sorts of desperate characters, and yet you allow Old Davy to invade the rancho every night, and walk off with some of uncle's best stock, and permit a band of horse-thieves to settle down here in our very midst, and carry on their trade without a word of protest. What do you mean by it?"

"We have done all we could, little 'un--me an' old Bob have," replied the trapper. "But don't you know that thar are things movin' around us all the while, that no livin' man can't foller, 'cause they don't leave no trail?"

"Of course there are," said Johnny. "Birds, for instance."

"But the birds didn't steal my horse," exclaimed Archie.

"I aint sayin' they did," returned Dick. "I know well enough that your hosses were stole by men, 'cause I seed the prints of their feet in front of this yere very door. I know which way they went, too, fur me an' old Bob tracked em."

"You did?" cried Frank. "Then why didn't you follow them up, and catch them?"

"'Cause we couldn't; that's the reason. It's a leetle the queerest thing I ever hearn tell on."

"What is?" asked all the boys in a breath. They began to get interested and excited now, for the trapper's mysterious manner indicated that he had some great secret to communicate.

"I haint sartin that I had oughter say any thing about it," replied Dick. "It's something I can't begin to see through, an' that's the reason I haint told your uncle of it. You 'member when Mr. Winters lost them two hosses of his'n, don't you? Wal, the next mornin' me an' ole Bob tracked 'em nigh onto five miles, an' finally lost their trail about a hundred yards from the creek that flows on this side of Don Carlos' rancho. Thar war the prints of their hoofs in the soft 'arth, as plain as bar's ears, an' thar the trail ended. Now, where did them two hosses go to? That's what I want to know."

"Perhaps they turned up or down the creek to find a ford," said Frank.

"They couldn't have done that without leavin' a trail, could they? It was a good hundred yards to the creek, as I told you, an' me an' Bob sarched every inch of the ground, but couldn't find the print of a single hoof."

"The robbers may have doubled on their trail, for the purpose of throwing you off the scent," suggested Johnny.

"I don't reckon that men who have hunted wild Injuns an' varmints as long as me an' Bob have, could be fooled by sich a trick as that ar'," replied the trapper. "I have since found out all about it, youngsters. Them hosses didn't make no more trail; that's the reason we couldn't foller 'em."

"Then, of course, they didn't go any farther," said Dick Thomas.

"Yes, they did. They went acrost that creek, an' into Don Carlos' rancho, an' never touched the ground, nor the water either."

"Into Don Carlos' rancho!" repeated Archie in great astonishment.

"And never touched the ground!" echoed Johnny. "Were they carried over?"

"Sartinly not. They walked."

"How could two solid flesh-and-blood horses walk a hundred yards without stepping on the ground?" asked Frank.

As the trapper said this, he settled back on the bench, and looked at the boys, to observe the effect this astounding announcement would have upon them. He expected them to be greatly amazed, and they certainly were. Any four boys in the world would have been amazed to hear such a declaration fall from the lips of a man whom they knew to be strictly truthful, and who, moreover, was not jesting, but speaking in sober earnest. They looked at the trapper a moment, and then at one another, and finally Johnny and Dick Thomas burst into a loud laugh; while the cousins, who were better acquainted with their old friend, thrust their hands deep into their pockets with an air which said plainly that they did not understand the matter at all, and waited patiently for him to explain.

"You may believe it or not," said Dick, "but it's a fact, 'cause ole Bob seed it with his own eyes. He watched the hul thing from beginning to end, and it well-nigh skeered him to death."

"What did he see?" asked Frank, growing more and more bewildered. "I didn't suppose that Bob was afraid of any living thing."

"Nor he aint, nuther," returned the trapper, quickly. "But show him something that can't be hurt by a rifle-ball, an' he'll take to his heels as quick as any body. As I was sayin', the trail of them two hosses ended thar on the bank of that creek, an' we couldn't find it ag'in. Me an' ole Bob puzzled our heads over it fur a long time, an' we finally made up our minds that that ar' old Spaniard, Don Carlos, could tell us all about the matter if he was a mind to, an' Bob said that we would go back the next night, an' watch his rancho. Wal, when the next night come, we couldn't both go, 'cause your uncle said he wanted one of us to keep an eye on the stables: so I stayed at home, an' ole Bob went alone. He was gone about three hours, an' when he come back I seed a sight I never seed afore, an' one I never expect to see ag'in. Ole Bob's face was as white as a Sunday shirt, an' he was shakin' all over like a man with the ager."

"What had he seen?" repeated Frank, who was impatient to get at the bottom of the mystery.

"Easy, easy, youngster, I'm comin' to that," replied Dick. "Now, I've knowed ole Bob ever since I was knee-high to a duck, an' I've been with him in more 'n a hundred fights with Injuns, an' Greasers, an' varmints--sometimes, too, when we jest did get away with our ha'r, an' that was all--but I never seed him skeered afore. It made me feel kinder funny, I tell you, 'cause I knowed that thar had been something onnatural goin' on; an' I aint ashamed to say that I looked all around this yere stable, to make sure that me an' him were alone. The ole feller didn't say any thing, till he had filled his pipe an' smoked it about half out; an' then he told me what he had seed. 'Dick,' says he, 'thar's been awful things agoin' on about that ar' old Greaser's rancho, an' if I hadn't seed it all with my own two eyes, I shouldn't believe it. I went down thar where we lost the trail last night, an' arter hidin' my hoss in the bushes, tuk up a position from which I could watch both sides of the creek. I knowed that Don Carlos had gone to bed, 'cause thar was no light about the rancho, an' the doors an' winder-shutters were all closed. I hadn't been thar in the bushes long, afore I heered the trampin' of hosses; but it stopped all of a sudden, an' fur the next five minutes I lay thar on the ground listenin,' an' peepin' through the trees, tryin' to get a sight at the fellers. But I couldn't see 'em, an' finally I begun to crawl up closer.

"'Now, the last time I looked at the rancho, it was dark an' still, an' thar wasn't a sign of a human bein' about it; an' durin' the two minutes I was crawlin' t'wards them hossmen, thar wasn't even the rustlin' of a leaf to tell me that thar was any thing goin' on. But sich fellers as them that live in that rancho don't make no noise about their work. They had done a good deal in them two minutes; an' when I looked acrost the creek ag'in, I knowed how it come that we had lost the trail of them hosses. I seed enough to skeer me wuss nor I was ever skeered afore, an' if I could have got up from the ground, I should have made tracks from thar sudden: but, Dick, I couldn't move--something held me fast.

For a few moments after the trapper ceased speaking, the boys stood looking at him and at one another in blank amazement. His story reminded them of the tales of enchantment they had read in the Arabian Nights. As strange as it may seem, however, they were not so much astonished at the recital of the singular events that had happened at the old Spaniard's rancho, as they were to know that Roderick and King James had been seen to go in there. Frank turned the matter over in his mind, and told himself that he had heard something that would, sooner or later, lead to the breaking up of the robber-band. Like the others, he could not explain the "bridge of clouds," nor could he understand how a boat could be ferried across a wide creek without hands, or how a solid stone wall, five feet thick, could open to admit the horsemen; but still he knew that if these things had really happened, they were the results of human agency, and that there was nothing supernatural about them. He did not believe that Don Carlos had any thing to do with the horse-thieves, and yet it did not seem possible that such proceedings as the old trapper had witnessed could go on in his rancho without his knowledge. Don Carlos was a prominent personage in the settlement. He was one of the wealthiest men in Southern California, numbered his cattle and horses by thousands, his money by bushels instead of dollars , and there was no need that he should risk his life by engaging in any such business. Besides, he had lost several fine horses himself, and had been untiring in his efforts to discover the thieves. If he was one of the guilty parties, he certainly had reason to congratulate himself on the skillful manner in which he had avoided arousing the suspicions of his neighbors.

"I have told you the story, youngsters," said Dick, "an' you can do what you think best. You can bear one thing in mind, howsomever, an' that is, if you're goin' to be keerless, like you allers are, an' try to find out what's been goin' on at that rancho, you can look to the settlers for help, if you want any. Ole Bob says that thar aint money enough in Californy to hire him to go back thar; an' if he won't go, you'd better believe that Dick Lewis won't go nuther. I don't want to see any thing that ole Bob is afeared of."

"I think we had better let the matter rest until Uncle James returns," said Frank. "He will know what ought to be done. Now let us go out and look at that trap."

"You had better keep away from thar," said Dick. "If Ole Davy happens to be prowlin' about in the woods, he'll larn you more of the nater of grizzly bars than you ever knowed afore."

"O, we're not going to trouble him," replied Johnny.

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