The Pony Rider Boys in the Ozarks - Or, the Secret of Ruby Mountain

Frank Gee Patchin

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• Publié par: opso
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 31
• Langue: English

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The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Pony Rider
Boys in the Ozarks by Frank Gee Patchin (#4 in
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Title: The Pony Rider Boys in the OzarksAuthor: Frank Gee Patchin
Release Date: July, 2004 [EBook #6069] [Yes, we
are more than one year ahead of schedule] [This
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Edition: 10
Language: English
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The Pony Rider Boys in the Ozarks
By Frank Gee PatchinCHAPTER I
A MYSTERIOUS VISITOR
"Boys! B-o-y-s!"
There was no response to the imperative
summons.
Professor Zepplin sat up in his cot, listening
intently. Something had awakened him suddenly,
but just what he was unable to decide.
"Be quiet over there, young men," he admonished,
adding in a lower tone, "I'm sure I heard some one
moving about."
The camp of the Pony Rider Boys lay wrapped in
darkness, the camp-fire having long since died out.
Not a sound disturbed the stillness of the night
save the soft murmurings of the foliage, stirred in a
gentle breeze that was drifting in from the
southwest.
The Professor climbed from his cot, and, without
waiting to draw on his clothes, stepped outside. He
stood listening in front of his tent for several
minutes, but heard nothing of a disturbing nature.
"I believe those young rascals are up to some of
their pranks—either that, or I have been having
bad dreams. While I'm up I might as well makesure," he decided, tip-toeing to the tent occupied
by Tad Butler and Walter Perkins.
Both were apparently sleeping soundly, while in an
adjoining tent Ned Rector and Stacy Brown were
breathing regularly, sleeping the sleep that
naturally comes after a day in the saddle over the
rugged, uneven slopes of the Ozark Mountains.
Professor Zepplin uttered something that sounded
not unlike an
Indian's grunt of disgust.
"Dreams!" he decided sharply. "I should not have
eaten that pie last night. Pie doesn't seem to
trouble those boys in the least, but it certainly has
a bad effect on my digestive apparatus."
Having thus delivered himself of his opinion on the
value of pie as a bedtime food, the scientist trotted
back to his tent, his teeth chattering and shoulders
shrugging, for the mountain air was chill and the
Professor was clad only in his pajamas.
No sooner had he settled himself between his
comforting blankets, however, than he suddenly
started up again with a muttered exclamation.
"I knew it! I told you so!"
This time there could be no doubt. He plainly heard
a dry twig snap near by; whether it were under the
weight of man or beast, he did not know.
"There is something out there. It couldn't havebeen the pie after all. I'm going to find out what it is
before I get back into this bed again," he decided
firmly, slipping quietly from under the covers and
peering out through the half closed flap of his tent.
As before, all was silence, the drowsy, indistinct
voices of the night passing almost without notice.
But Professor Zepplin instead of waiting where he
was, reached for his revolver and then strode
boldly out into the open space in front of the tents,
determined to solve the mystery, and, if possible,
without waking the boys.
The reader no doubt already has recognized in the
four boys sleeping in the little weather-beaten tents
the same lads who some time before had started
off for a vacation in the mountains where they
hunted the cougar and the bobcat, the thrilling
adventures met with on that journey having been
related in a former volume entitled, "THE PONY
RIDER BOYS IN THE ROCKIES."
They will be remembered, too, as the lads who, in
"THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN TEXAS," crossed the
plains on a cattle drive, during the course of which
Tad Butler bravely saved the life of the Chinese
cook, by plunging into a swollen torrent; and later,
saved a large part of the great herd, himself being
nearly trampled to death in a wild stampede of the
cattle.
It will be recalled also, how Tad Butler and his
companions, after many strange and startling
experiences, solved the veiled riddle of the plainsexperiences, solved the veiled riddle of the plains
and laid the ghost of the old church of San Miguel,
for all time.
The stirring adventures of "THE PONY RIDER
BOYS IN MONTANA," too, are still fresh in the
minds of those who have followed the fortunes of
the four lads since they first started out on their
journeyings.
It will he recalled that in the latter story the lads
experienced the thrill of being in a real battle
between the cowboys and the sheep herders on
the free-grass range of the north; how Tad Butler
was captured by the Blackfeet Indians, and how,
with the help of an Indian maiden, he managed to
make his escape.
It will also be remembered that Tad was able to
rescue another lad who, like himself, had been
taken by the Blackfeet, and to return the boy to his
father, none the worse for his exciting experiences.
It will be recalled as well, how Tad Butler through
his own efforts solved the mystery of the old
Custer trail—a mystery that had perplexed and
annoyed the ranchers along the historic trail for
many months.
And now they were once more in the saddle,
having chosen the Ozark Mountains in
southwestern Missouri as the scene of their next
explorations.
With them they carried a pack train of four mules,
these being best adapted to packing the boys'belongings over the rugged mountains. For their
guide they had engaged a full-blooded Shawnee
Indian named Joe Hawk, known among his people
as Eagle-eye, making a party of six, with eight
head of stock in all.
At the time of the beginning of this narrative the
Pony Riders were encamped on a fork of the White
River some three days out from Springfield. Joe
Hawk had asked permission to leave the party for
the night to pay a visit to a fellow-tribesman who
lived somewhere in the mountains to the west of
them.
On second thought it occurred to Professor Zepplin
that perhaps it might have been Joe, or Eagle-eye,
as the boys had decided to call the Indian, whom
he had heard skulking about the camp.
"Eagle-eye," he called softly.
There was no response, so the Professor, gripping
his gun resolutely, crept along toward the opposite
side of the camp where the noise had seemed to
come from. So quietly had he moved that he made
scarcely a sound, until suddenly there came a
commotion that more than made up for the noise
he had so successfully avoided before.
Stacy Brown, with his usual forgetfulness, had left
his saddle in the middle of the camp. The
Professor caught his toe on the obstruction,
measuring his length on the ground instantly,
where he floundered about for a few seconds."Instead of discovering the other fellow, I think I am
discovering myself," he growled, scrambling to his
feet, gingerly rubbing a knee.
Now the Professor walked with a distinct limp, while
his bare feet seemed to pick up every sharp pebble
in camp, all of which added to his discomfort.
"I'd make a nice sort of scout," he muttered.
"Everybody within a mile of me would know I was
coming even before I got started, I guess—"
The Professor suddenly cut short his words, and
crouched down close to the ground. He thought he
heard something ahead and a little to the right of
him.
"Who's there?" he demanded.
No answer being made to his inquiry, he gripped
his gun more firmly and crawled cautiously toward
the spot where he thought he had heard some one
moving. The night was so dark that he could make
nothing out of the shadows about him, being
obliged therefore to trust entirely to his sense of
hearing.
Now he was certain that some one was in camp
who had no business there, for the sound of
footsteps was plainly borne to his ears—cautious,
catlike steps, as if the intruder were seeking to get
away without attracting attention.
The Professor, determined to capture the intruder,
getting down on all fours to avoid possibledetection, made a wide detour so as t