E QUEST OF THE TREASURE BOX I rf Ao Absorbing Tale of Intrigue and Adventure, Depictfng in Graphic the Struggle for the Chieftainship of the Fre> Rangers. -3 O Class JL GqjpghtN?. COPYRIGHT DEPOSfT. Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill V NIMBLY HURTLING OVER THE SEVEN-FOOT FENCE TERRIBLE TEDDY AND PEACEFUL BILL OR The Quest of the Treasure Box BY H-L.SAYLER ILLUSTRATED BY FRANCIS GALLUP The King: " Is there no offence in'tf " U AM LET : " No, no, they do but jest ; No offense i' the world." CHICAGO THE REILLY & BRITTON CO- PUBLISHERS • S*7 UBHARY of 0ON6«?KS3. J Two Copies Recaivtx APR 2 1^00 S*4 XAC. No, •2 o 3 2 3fr COPY S u [1< Copyright, 1908, By The Eeilly & Britton Co. All right 8 reserved. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I The Explosion in the Big Corral 1 1 II Tlie Compact by Night 17 III Foiled 24 IV The Attack by False Alarm Joe , 32 V The Ides of June Are Not Yet 40 VI The Chase by Night and the Escape . . 46 VII The Inventory 51 VIII The Camp in the Valley 56 IX Peaceful Bill's Ordeal 60 X Billy Whiskers' Round-Up 65 XI Treasure for Ballast 70 XII A Near Dash to Death 76 XIII Among the Mocrats 81 XIV The Defiance of Big Smoke 86 XV The Mystery 91 XVI A Few Scalps 97 XVII Buttermilk Charley's Blind Pig 103 vii CHAPTER PAGE XVIII Money Talks 'Round Here no XIX The Gap in the Barrier 115 XX The Youthful Adventurers 121 XXI The National Burlesquers 126 XXII Old Shucks, the Detective 134 XXIII The Hole in the Wall 140 XXIV Badger Bob 146 XXV What Took Place in the Coulee .... 153 XXVI A Deal in the Dark 159 XXVII At Last 166 XXVIII Foiled Again 173 XXIX The Round-Up 178 Vlll ILLUSTRATIONS PACT. Nimbly hurtling over the seven- foot fence Frontispiece I c Not so fast, I 've got the drop on ye! ". 29 "Look behind! " roared the trapped renegade 35 "And now to have another look at the swag" 43 "Curses on him," said Terrible Teddy as Silver Bill shot upward 49 "Cow punchers, greasers, Injuns and half breeds, M said Billy Whiskers 67 Yon Yonson 79 Silver Bill shows Big Smoke the recovered chart 83 Rough Deal George imparts the secret to Faithful Tim. .. 95 I I Now, my good man, you are in my power ' • 105 " 'Tis I, Young Albert, the boy Orator" 119 Randy and Artie disguised as burlesquers fool Silver Bill. 131 Old Shucks shadows a certain party 137 Badger Bob submits to an interview 149 Old Rich gives orders to Pittsburg Phil and Eli Hew 155 Old Joke Annon was still standing pat 163 "Great Scott! Bunkoed!" , 169 ix Terrible Teddy [and Peaceful Bill; OR. The Quest of the Treasure Box. CHAPTER I i THE EXPLOSION IN THE BIG CORRAL Boom! The sound of a terrific explosion reverberated through the night air. Ere it had died away the tense athletic figure of a man came nimbly hurtling over the seven-foot fence of the Big Corral. ''Jumping delegates !" Terrible Teddy, the Chief of the Rangers, almost spurning the Earth, rushed forward. "Jumping delegates !" Once again these muttered words came from the man as- his eyes sought to pierce the gloom. ll 12 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill "Something doing — but where?" This ejaculation had scarce escaped his lips when a low moan met his ear. He could not be mistaken and he knew it. "Elusive bears," he whistled, "a human voice." Hastily throwing himself upon the ground, he listened intently for a brief moment. His face paled. He had immediately detected that which seemed to unnerve him. "Pray Heaven it portend no danger to Peaceful Bill," he whispered hoarsely. "He should be on his way here now." The trained ear of the prostrate man had detected at once that which might easily have been over- looked by one not listening. It was a low, distant rumble, as if some Cyclopean agent of the night were abroad. Terrible Teddy arose and once again sought to draw forth the secret of the darkness with the eye from which Nature herself seemed able to conceal nothing. "Help! Help! Will no one help me?" This time there could be no mistake. Explosion in the Big Corral 13 Terrible Teddy whirled in the direction whence the sound emanated. No, there was no mistake. The trouble, whatever it was, came from close by. It was in his own Corral ! To think, with him, was to speak. "Onless I'm mistaken, and I ain't never ben yit, thet rumpus was nigh to Rough Deal George's shack." As he audibly enunciated these words, the face of the speaker parted in a smile. A soft glow of light suffused the scene, but as the parted rift closed again and the bank of ivory white within disappeared, darkness again fell over all. "Ef Rough Deal George hes ben a-meddlin' with them bombs I allow as how he's properbly past meddlin' now." Another moment and the speaker would have reentered the Big Corral. But, in the interim, a pale, haunted being of short, boyish figure emerged hastily and threw itself at the feet of the Chief Ranger. It was Little Willy, the 'prentice ranger. 14 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill "I done it, I done it." "You never dun nothin' and ain't no business to," retorted the Terrible Teddy. "You didn't do it," wailed the kneeling 'prentice. "Ef I oughtn't, I will." Hurling from him these sententious words, the riled ranger sprang within the Corral again. Rough Deal George was the paymaster of the "outfit." His own shack was not far from the main Bunk House. Something took Terrible Teddy thither at once. It was his feet. His worst hopes were instantly confirmed. Rough Deal George, stunned and speechless, lay uncon- scious in the moonlight. "He had his warnin's," muttered the Boss of the Corral. "Thank Heaven it wasn't Peaceful Bill." "Plum locoed." It was the still small voice of the 'prentice Willy. Was it pity that marked the face of Terrible Teddy? Not perceptibly. Explosion in the Big Corral 15 "I was doin' a little work over in the bomb house," hastily said the 'prentice ranger, by way of expla- nation, "when along comes Rough Deal George. He says, 'What bombs is them, kid ?' " 'Not none o' yours,' I says. " 'Ain't they ? And why not as well as any feller's?' he says. " ' 'Cause,' I says, the're special, and they ain't but one o' them as is safe. Anyway, you had a-better keep out' " "Why didn't you lock 'em up?" Something in Terrible Teddy's face betokened ill to the little 'prentice. Was it a corn that made him shift his foot? "I hid the good one, boss!" The shifting foot settled. A cachinnating sound rose and filled the circum- ambient air. "Shall I sweep him up?" "There ain't enough left, lad. And so young, too. But he had his warnin's. And I allow as all others as attempts to git into that thar bomb house is a-goin' to git the same medicine." "I allow," cackled the little 'prentice. 1 6 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill "Gimme the key — I'll take no more chances." And with these words and the key, Terrible Teddy strode away into the gloom. Left alone, the recumbent figure of Rough Deal George lay stiff and cold. Apparently. When the coast was clear, an eye slowly opened. Then the lips moved. "A bluff for your life/' ejaculated the supposed corpse. "And now to pick the lock." CHAPTER II THE COMPACT BY NIGHT While the events narrated in the previous chapter were rapidly transpiring, the distant rumble that the trained ear of Terrible Teddy had detected but a few moments since was growing louder and louder. The tense, leonine figure of an expectant indi- vidual suddenly emerged from the Big Corral. Gradually the gathering rumble ran into a roar. Then the ground began to tremble. The rich verdure about the Big Corral shook as the earth rose and fell. It was apparent that somewhere in the vicinity an avalanche was afoot. Then the roar broadened into an engulfing pandemonium. Clouds of dust rose upon the gathering cyclone. 17 1 8 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill Something came between the hitherto refulgent moon and the illumined plain, and, without other sign of his approach, a rollicking, rotund figure dashed slowly up to the Corral, As the big broncho sprang lightly from under the rider, the solitary horseman heaved a sigh of relief. Peaceful Bill, for such indeed the new arrival was, scanned every inch of ground in front of him. He was too tired to look behind. "Home again," the big, large man muttered. "And nothing doing." He would have passed at once into the Corral. "Halt!" The monosyllabic word rang out sharply in the night air. The plethoric, Porthosonian form of Peaceful Bill responded with the alacrity of one not unused to thin ice. "The countersign!" "Yours to command." Was it a smile that seemed to form and then instantly flee from Peaceful Bill's face? Perish the thought ! And yet, one traveling in the environs of Peace- The Compact by Night 19 ful Bill's rear might have seen that which Terrible Teddy did not observe. On each hand, both of which the newcomer kept carefully behind him, the second finger had been elevated and then laid snugly across the index digit. "Yours to command," repeated the portly new arrival. As he did so a tremor as faint as the evanescent smile ran through the crossed fingers. "You bet! What news from the camp of the Free Rangers?" "Not so loud," exclaimed the Brobdingnagian Bill. "Not so loud?" roared the quick, hasty voice of Terrible Teddy, for it was the terror and erstwhile leader of the Free Rangers who spoke. "I know no such words as these." "I am followed." These words came slowly and with difficulty from the hidden recesses of Peaceful Bill's deep-seated glottis. "They are close behind me." • • A quiet wince passed over the stranger's face. "You can aid me if you will." 20 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill As he pronounced these words with feeling, his fingers uncrossed. "Who dares to trail the pal and chosen successor of the Big Chief?" "The renegade of the Free Rangers, False Alarm Joe!" "False Alarm Joe! Wat's eatin' ye, Bill? You ain't no call to be a-skeered o' him. He ain't got no weepins, Bill. Besides, ain't I told ye I'd take keer o' ye?" "I allow ye did, pardner, and thank ye fur it." "Then assemble at some given p'int and come in. I got sompin to show ye." Suiting the action to the word, the two Rangers passed with reasonable alacrity into the Big Corral. But What shadow was that before the bomb house door? Whatever it was, it was unobserved by Peaceful Bill. He had his eyes on his friend, Terrible Teddy. And Terrible Teddy, lost for the moment in the shadow of the moving mass behind him, for once in his life overlooked a bet. The Compact by Night 21 Rough Deal George, throwing himself again among the ruins of his shack, smiled bitterly. "Now to dissemble/' he muttered. In another moment Peaceful Bill was gazing upon the dead one before him. "Can this be true?'' he asked, with feeling. For a moment his round adiposity shook — in spots — with emotion. The cold, frigid figure of Terrible Teddy made answer: "Bill, don't you worry. He did it hisself. Take warnin'. Let me handle all the bombs around this 'ere Corral." Peaceful Bill made signs as if he would bow in gratitude. "Sure I will, old pardner. And now for what you're a-goin* to give me." "Not so fast, Peaceful Bill; not so fast. Maybe the chief of the Free Rangers is all ready to quit and turn the Corral over to ye, — but not so fast ! What I've got's mine, ain't it?" "Nary a word, Bill. I've got all the maps, plans, specerfications and vallebles in the strong box, — not 22 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill sayin' as whar I got 'em. If I'm a mind to part with some o' my little treasures to Peaceful Bill, — some o' my little idees, — wait till I'm a-good an' ready." "But gimme sompin, pardner. I got to make some kind of a show down thar among the other Rangers." "And ef I don't?" That portion of Peaceful Bill's frame that was in line of vision heaved as if moved by some ill-concealed emotion. His transposed digits righted themselves and then almost as quickly assembled themselves in blocks of five. But Terrible Teddy saw nothing. "And ef I don't, Bill?" he repeated. Peaceful Bill was himself again. He smiled. "Ef ye don't I allow I ain't goin' to be in it." Had Terrible Teddy tumbled ? Apparently not. "What'll it be, Bill?" he asked, jovially. . "Anything, pardner,— anything to make a flash with the boys, . You know I " •. ■ - . ■. - . : • : . • ■= The Compact by Night 23 "Have a care, Bill, how you cross me. You don't claim none of 'em, do you ?" Peaceful Bill hesitated for a moment. Then he spoke. Silver Bill Brennings says " "Damn Silver Bill!" "Amen." For a brief interval nothing more was said. All was still as death. Then "What was that?" Terrible Teddy had broken the spell. "Only silence," answered the man before him. "No wonder I didn't recognize it," rejoined his fellow-speaker. "And now for our little com- pact " "We'll have a look at the swag!" As Peaceful Bill pronounced these words there was an eager glint in his eyes. The two men passed quickly into the Bunk House lot. All seemed well ! But was it so ? We shall see ! < CHAPTER III FOILED As Terrible Teddy quickly closed the door of the Bunk House, a cloaked figure wearing a sinister smile hastily lighted a cigarette and then sped like a shadow from an obscure recess of the Big Corral to a convenient station near the Bunk House window. Apparently the figure was in disguise. Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill were being watched. Little they knew it. A light flickered within. "Aha!" Terrible Teddy abstracted from its hiding-place a strong) well-bound box. "Aha!" repeated the figure without, lighting a fresh cigarette; -"all goes well. Would that this 24 Foiled 25 night's work were done — cigarettes don't agree with me. But here goes " As he lighted another cigarette, from his coign of vantage the cloaked figure saw the eyes of Peace- ful Bill relight with the same eager glint previous- ly alluded to. Or, was it anxiety? In the gloom without, a cloud of fresh cigarette smoke filled the air, and the observant figure of the sleuthful spectator made a swift, silent motion. Something glittered in his hand. There was a passing glare of silver. A sudden sound stole through the window. "Bill," roared Terrible Teddy, "here she is!" He had opened up the Treasure Box. On the lid could be seen this brand : "My Policies." "I ain't got this loot soft-handed, Bill," roared the speaker cautiously. The man without breathed hard. "But, soft-handed or not, I got it. And purty soon I ain't a-goin' to hev no more use fur it. More'n one o' yer friends 'd be glad to hev w'at's in this box, Bill. But they don't git it. Whar it 26 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill goes, I bestows it. Bill, I'm a-goin' to give it all to you!" "All?" exclaimed Bill, with premonitions of a start; "not all, pardner! All them riches is too temptin'. And w'at am I a-goin' to do ag'in certain parties with all o' them vallebles on my person ! You know he " "You mean Silver Bill Brennings?" "He says the're stole !" "Silence. Am I a-feered?" "But ye ain't a-goin' to use 'em!" "Ain't I?" Peaceful Bill's brow rained cold sweat. These were new words from his superior. "Well, can't ye gimme jist a few — a little bit? Gimme them Trust and Railroad things. Them'll be a-plenty — now." Terrible Teddy's ringers played lovingly on the box lid. "He little knows," murmured Peaceful Bill, aside, "that I've been out a-foragin' myself." "All or none, Bill !" "Aha!" whispered the crouched figure without, lighting another cigarette. "At last — the stolen Foiled 27 goods. My own property at last. They little surmise who's here." Even the fear of certain parties, latent in the breast of the conservative but avaricious Peaceful Bill, was not strong enough. He succumbed. 'Til take 'em, pardner." Two itching palms, with fingers now uncrossed, came hastily downward to grasp the treasure trove. Bang! The sharp crack of a deadly firearm rang through the cigarette-laden air of the Big Corral. "Thank Heaven, this is over! ,, Hastily lighting and exhausting his last cigarette, the dark, stern stranger dashed the butt of it to the ground. Freed of this duty, the figure sprang swiftly forward. Within the Bunk House the Treasure Box fell with a crash from the hands of its owner. "Curses!" • As Terrible Teddy hurled forth this objurgation, Peaceful Bill made preliminary preparations for a subsequent flight. 28 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill He did not care to be caught with the goods. There was a sudden crash, and the bolted door fell in. Bolts were nothing new to the cloaked individual who now thrust his frame into the room. "Not so fast, my fat friend. I've got the drop on ye. Now for w'at's mine by good rights." Ere the trapped conspirators could move hand or foot — or even body — the dark, dashing stranger lunged forward. With a fierce cry of defiance, he caught up the box with its coveted contents and made a quick dash for the door. A moment more and he would have escaped in safety. But, in that fatal moment, he had discovered one more cigarette. Hastily lighting and consuming it with feverish impetuosity, he dashed the golden tip in the enraged faces of his victims, and hissed : "Foiled !" , Annoyed at this unwarranted delay, the tenser and more athletic of the two trapped rangers exclaimed petulantly: 30 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill "Are ye ready?" Clearing his throat, the stranger remarked : "Quite ready — let her go." "Then," roared Terrible Teddy — for it was he who spoke — "Who are you?" "Silver Bill Brennings." The clearly enunciated reply to the interrogatory fell upon Peaceful Bill's ears like the warning of a new money panic. "Now for the wind-up," Silver Bill hastily ejacu- lated, "and get it over — something tells me we are losing time." "Evil eminence of infamy, saffron-blooded ape, slime-brained son of the Salt Creek headwaters, drop that 'ere box." "Wat's in this 'ere box," hissed Silver Bill Bren- nings, for it was indeed that dreaded outlaw who spoke, "is all mine by good rights. Thar ain't a scrap or shred in this 'ere box, Terrible Teddy, thet you ain't stole frum me. I ben a-watchin' fur this chanst fur eight year, and it ain't never come till now. I allowed all along as how sometime you'd try to dispose o' the stolen goods. And now I've Foiled 3 1 ketched ye a-turnin' 'em over to this pal o' yours. I tell ye to your teeth — which is goin' some — that the goods is mine. Allons" "Web of corruption — mollycoddle," roared Ter- rible Teddy, " you lie— they ain't shore all yours." "Meet me before three thousand people and I'll answer ye," challenged Silver Bill. "As for you, Peaceful Bill, I'll see you later— I hope." "Is that a threat or a promise?" It was Peaceful Bill speaking for himself. In another instant — nay, even in the same instant — the man with the Treasure Box was gone. He had vanished as completely as if the ground had opened and swallowed him. Where Silver Bill had given the gauge of defiance, only the east wind now soughed mournfully. "Saved!" It was the grateful voice of Peaceful Bill. CHAPTER IV THE ATTACK BY FALSE ALARM JOE "Stop!" "Another step and you are a dead one !" The retreating figure of a man who was stealthily and rapidly hurrying onward through the black, ebon shadows of the Big Corral, came instantly to a halt. The man thus addressed knew well enough the penalty of failure to observe this terse injunction. Silver Bill Brennings — for the man thus brought to a summary pause was no other than that famed Renegade — had no use for injunctions. But something in the tone of the individual close upon his heels warned him that these simple words constituted no idle threat. Strategy was the word. 32 'Attack by False Alarm Joe 33 Instantly his arms went into the air. "I've taken a drop myself, Silver Bill," roared his captor, Terrible Teddy. "You thought to escape me. Foolish man ! Now fork over that box, and be quick about it. My friend Bill is waitin'." Silver Bill, beaten but by no means discouraged, was sparring for wind. He did not fear death. To be called was another matter. But even in the extremity of his predicament the veteran campaigner did not lose his head. What sudden sound was that? Even as Terrible Teddy advanced upon his cap- tive, the basilisk eye of Silver Bill had detected something. Suddenly Silver Bill's attitude changed. Fortunately for him, that which he had detected his captors could not note. It was no less than the figure of a fourth man, a black mask covering his face to the chin, creeping snakelike across the corral. The masked figure was already close upon the advancing form of Peaceful Bill, who had slowly 34 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill but surely extricated himself from the nearby Bunk House and given signs of ultimately arriving on the scene of the present holdup. The astute, artful Silver Bill had recognized at once False Alarm Joe, Peaceful Bill's deadliest enemy. Fate had sent him help when he most needed it. In the period while Peaceful Bill was congre- gating in the vicinity, Silver Bill had plenty of time to form his plan of action. He was ready. Terrible Teddy spoke again : "Fork over, and then git! Mine or not, them goods is a-goin' to be Bill's/' "Look behind!" roared the trapped Renegade. These bullet-like words came from him like shot. In less time than it takes to write it, False Alarm Joe, Peaceful Bill's Nemesis, had measured his ground and lunged forward. But, ere the keen-edged knife in his hand could find its way into the vicinity of Peaceful Bill's vitals, Silver Bill had sounded the alarm. At the word the Renegade's captors whirled in their tracks. LOOK BEHIND!" ROARED THE TRAPPED RENEGADE 36 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill They were almost too late. Trembling in nearly every limb, Peaceful Bill took steps to readjust his position. False Alarm Joe, thwarted of his prey, made one spring into the empty air, and the combat was over. In the rush of the conflict, the two men went to the earth together. But Peaceful Bill was on top. "Help him, Teddy." The three words emanated from the sympathetic but artful Silver Bill. With a muffled curse, Terrible Teddy sprang instantly to the assistance of his pal. For the moment he had forgotten the stolen loot. He had impolitely and impolitically left Silver Bill standing with his arms in the air. In the new danger the Chief of the Rangers thought only of the foe, now beneath Peaceful Bill. "Don't you bother about this 'ere bloke," panted Peaceful Bill; "I kin handle him." As he gave signs of doing so with neatness and dispatch, the prostrate man beneath him made mo- tions as if he would speak. 'Attack by False Alarm Joe 37 "Watch your stuff, boys," he groaned; "that feller's a-gettin' away with the swag." "Git your eye on Silver Bill, Teddy. He'll take it all. Don't let him git away. As fer you, False Alarm Joe, I know ye now. That fer you !" Throwing one ponderous leg on the down-and- out Joe, Peaceful Bill in bitterness ground his enemy beneath him. But False Alarm Joe's gurgled words of warning had other meaning for Terrible Teddy. He was determined that Peaceful Bill should not escape his generous gift. A quick glance told him all. False Alarm Joe's attack had given the resource- ful Silver Bill the one moment he needed. Quickly as these narrated events transpired, the interval that intervened was sufficient. Instantly recovering the precious box and him- self, the crafty Renegade of Salt River had thrown himself into the deep shadow made by Peaceful Bill's body, and, making a quick detour therein, unseen by the Chief Ranger, he dashed from the Big Corral. 38 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill His old and worn but faithful broncho, Free Silver, was waiting his master. There was the sudden clatter of hoofs. It told all. Although Terrible Terry followed like the wind, he was too late. Down the long level trail, stretching like a ribbon in the moonlight, Silver Bill's broncho was already putting possible pursuers far behind him. With long, easy strides, the old animal was fast disappearing. Was Terrible Teddy daunted? No! But there was no time for delay. " 'Tend to him, Bill," he shouted. Catching up a lariat, he roped a broncho with a swift, skilled motion. In the twinkle of an eye he had thrown himself upon the animal's back, prepared for the chase. "Eat him up, Bill," he roared again, and then, with a few preliminary leaps over the seven-foot corral to see that Big Stick, his favorite broncho, was in form, he headed straight for the enemy. The chesty Big Stick had his work cut out. Attack by False Alarm Joe 39 Would he overtake Silver Bill ? Was it a chase to the death ? The tense, taut figure of the man on Big Stick's back suddenly threw itself back. Terrible Teddy had not failed to note, in his bullet-like flight, a familiar object by the trail. It was a flashlight photographer. "Hounded on all sides," roared Terrible Teddy, throwing Big Stick into his most artistic position and muttering a silent prayer of gratitude. "Minion, do your worst !" A few quick motions, and the deed was done. "Remember," roared Terrible Teddy, "you are to use only the worst negatives!" He was off again like a flash. "And now," enunciated the doughty rider, deci- sively, "me for Silver Bill, curses on him !" CHAPTER V THE IDES OF JUNE ARE NOT YET But where was Silver Bill Brennings while these events were taking place ? Flecked with foam, old Free Silver had covered the ground like the wind. Bits of froth here and there marked his onward course. Then these, lasting but a moment, disappeared, and there was no sign to mark where the desperate rider had passed. Ever and anon Silver Bill, casting his eyes behind, would murmur: "Aha ! Mine at last ! All mine !" And so an hour sped. Terrible Teddy had a bad start. Big Stick was more than a match for old Free Silver, but the odds were great. Perhaps they were too great! Anyway, it was no cinch. 40 The Ides of June Are Not Yet 41 On and on, into the dark night, scarce knowing his destination, old Free Silver plunged forward. Silver Bill gave the animal free rein. At last the limit of endurance had been reached. Even at the cost of being overtaken, the bold Renegade knew that he must give his steed rest. To his delight, Silver Bill found himself near a spot familiar to him. He was fast approaching the edge of a giant chasm. Twice before, in his adventurous career, the old freebooter had dashed over its deceitful verge, only to find himself plunging and crashing down its craggy and jagged sides. Twice he had just escaped with his life. Was he about to plunge once again into the almost bottomless abyss ? One eye slowly closed and opened, and he smiled. Why? He could already discern, on the edge of the distant chasm, a dark, round object moving to and fro in the night breeze. It swayed and plunged like some tethered shape seeking to free itself. 42 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill A few strides more and Silver Bill knew that he would be safe. But would old Free Silver last? He would not ! Struggling against desperate odds, the old animal did his best. But the effort was too much. Without a sound to mark his end, old Free Silver suddenly sank to the earth. Silver Bill was unhorsed. "He certainly was good to me," mused the dis- mounted rider, giving the old animal a swift kick to make sure he was really dead. "I've had him since '88. But he got me the swag, all right." In feverish excitement, and apparently forgetting for the moment that he was yet in the enemy's coun- try, Silver Bill drew forth the precious box. "And now," he muttered, "to have another look at the swag." In another moment he had torn open the box and dumped its contents on the ground. Documents, speeches, essays, plans, maps, projects — papers of all kinds — lay heaped in confusion. 'AND NOW TO HAVE ANOTHER LOOK AT THE SWAG" 44 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill Like a miser, Silver Bill fell on his knees and plunged his hands into the mass. His black, beady eyes flashed silver. His jaw rose and fell automatically. But he said nothing. "Aha," he exclaimed at last, "here they are — stolen from me, and mine again." His ruthless heels grinding other papers beneath them, Silver Bill grasped two charts. "Mine again," he yelled in glee. With these words, he waved above him what were apparently the charts to some hidden treasure. One was labeled "Railroad Supervision" and the other "Trust Regulation." In another moment these documents would have been safely beneath his black serape. But what sound was that? Was it the premonitory sighing that marks the volcaniferous prairie fire? Was it the first reading-notice of a coming Kansas cyclone? No. It might have been the champing hoofs of a million buffaloes. The Ides of June Are Not Yet 45 But it was this : With a break of white in the gloom, and to the awful, dismaying roar of Big Stick's reverberating hoofs, Terrible Teddy had swooped down upon Silver Bill. The chief of the Big Corral was himself again. Was Silver Bill to be thwarted after all? In the instant that sped as the crafty veterans faced each other in the cold moonlight, Silver Bill thought quick and fast. Skilfully and adroitly concealing the precious "Trust Regulation" under his serape, with a swift, surreptitious motion, he thrust the "Railroad Super- vision" chart into the moonlight, and then hurled it from him. "You win again, Terrible Teddy. But remember — the Ides of June are not yet." CHAPTER VI THE CHASE BY NIGHT AND THE ESCAPE With a roar of victory, Terrible Teddy sprang to recover this precious paper. What was to be done? Old Free Silver, who had so often carried Silver Bill into trouble, was down and out. If he could only reach that tethered, swaying mass on the brink of the chasm ! But how? Man to man, Silver Bill did not fear the Big Chief who was chasing the Railway Supervision chart that he had artfully tossed into the wind. It was Big Stick, the untamed broncho, that stood between him and safety. His heart gave a sudden leap for joy. Big Stick, the lifelong rival of old Free Silver, had discovered the prostrate form of Silver Bill's defunct mount. Unmindful of his master's needs, Big Stick had 46 Chase by Night and Escape 47 fallen on dead Free Silver and was rending him, hide, bones and hair. It was Silver Bill's salvation. Now to escape with the Trust Regulation, at least. He would leg it. At running, Silver Bill was no slouch. There was a rush, and he was off. With a roar of baffled rage, Terrible Teddy sprang to his feet, his scattered treasures yet upon the ground. The most valuable one of all was missing. So was Silver Bill. There was no time to be lost. Big Stick, envenomed with rage, refused to respond to his master's voice. Realizing his predicament, Terrible Teddy acted with lightning-like speed. "I did it in 1904," he roared. "I kin do it ag'in." The challenge, wafted through the still night, fell ominously on Silver Bill's ear. "Try it, pardner," came the quick, sharp response. And the chase was on again. Like winged coursers, the two men sped forward. 48 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill Pursued and pursuer were confident, but an ob- server, had there been one, could have noted that the odds were against Silver Bill. Gradually Terrible Teddy forged ahead, gaining step by step, spurred on to a desperate speed by the passion of his great loss. Yet the pace told on each. Then suddenly Terrible Teddy saw the yawning chasm dead ahead. "Cinched delegates!" he roared, "it's all over. He cannot escape me now." He had not noticed the tethered, swaying, dark mass just above the precipice. Ten paces more! Terrible Teddy was almost upon his prey. Five paces, and all would be over. Two paces! The Big Chief, with a final lunge, plunged for- ward in a nerve-racking dash. At that instant, and just as Silver Bill seemed about to hurl himself over the awful precipice, something happened. He had thrown himself into the car of his con- cealed airship. •MM. - 'CURSES ON HIM," SAID TERRIBLE TEDDY, AS SILVER BILL SHOT UPWARD 50 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill There was the flash of a knife. The anchor rope, cut with a lightning-like mo- tion, fell at Terrible Teddy's feet. Silver Bill shot upward in his buoyant car. He was saved. "Curses on him," roared his foiled pursuer, "and he has my best card." In the moonlight could be easily made out the name of Silver Bill's rapidly-rising car. It was the "Public Ownership." CHAPTER VII THE INVENTORY "Number two!" It was the unctuous, diplomatic voice of Peaceful Bill taking inventory. "Heaven grant that all goes well with Terrible Teddy. And yet, I have a strange misgiving." Musing thus he peered often and anxiously into the black night. Alone, he kept vigil with the day's victims. Time, as yet unmoved by these stupendous events, passed. Suddenly there was a rush of wind and a bellow- ing boom of noise as if the Heavens themselves were about to meet in Convention. With it, Terrible Teddy astride Big Stick, came over the Corral fence at a bound. "What luck? Did he get away with it?" It was the first anxious salutation of Peaceful Bill. 51 52 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill ''Shifting delegations!" roared Terrible Teddy, "and cursed be he. We've lost the Trust Question." "Why couldn't he have taken the Tariff Revision Idea?" "Tariff Revision!" roared the Big Chief, putting Big Stick up for the night. "Ain't ye plum locoed ? I ain't sartin but what we're a goin' to hev good use fur thet ourselves." "Don't ye be a-savin' of it fur me, Terrible Teddy." "Mammon of Unrighteousness! Bill, ye don't know what yer want — nor what yer a-goin' to git." "He little knows me," murmured Peaceful Bill, concealing his words under his voice, as he con- gregated more closely about the Big Chief. "Oncet in my possession that Treasure Box'll git a house- cleanin' fur yer life." "As fur Silver Bill," continued Terrible Teddy, "let him beware. If Big Stick don't fail me agin, I'll git him yit." Peaceful Bill bowed profusely. "Right ye air, pardner. An' now fur the little donation." The Inventory 53 It was apparent that some deep laid plan was about to be carried out. "Is the coast clear?" "Of two of 'em — Rough Deal George and False Alarm Joe. But " "You fear others ?" "With you by my side? I reply in the negative without hesitation." And yet, even as he spoke, Peaceful Bill again secretly crossed the second finger of each hand over its adjacent primal digit. "I suspected as much." Terrible Teddy's rejoinder came promptly, ac- companied with a slight increase in his stature. Peaceful Bill, after this desultory conversation, continued : "That valley down below is full of 'em as are agin' me. They're even bandin' together to git me and you. It ain't Silver Bill alone 'at's after us and the swag." "Let 'em beware, Bill! Great sinister offenders, let 'em beware! Ain't we all o' the same gang? Ain't I the boss? And ain't it my rights to choose you fur to succeed me?" 54 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill "Billy Whiskers, the new Ranger, says it ain't." "Ha! Ha! Billy Whiskers, eh!" "Right. An' tomorrer night he's a-goin' to start a stampede agin us in a blowout with fireworks." "Rough Deal George was a foolin' with fireworks, too." "Billy Whiskers has set off bombs afore." "But not in these parts. He little knows what it means to start anything on the stamping grounds 'round the Big Corral without license from the Old Ranger. Let him beware!" "Let him beware!" repeated the Machiavellian giant, yclept "Peaceful Bill." "Meet me hyar at dusk to-morrer evenin'. We'll larn Billy Whiskers what it means to defy the real boss." "Good. An' now that Silver Bill's out o' the way and Billy Whiskers is disposed of, can't I have what's comin' to me?" "Bill, I allow that may be ye'll think it kind o' hard o' me, but maybe we'd better wait a spell, and see what the old gang's a-goin' to do. I ain't no particular use o' them treasures. But onless our plans work out you ain't a-goin' to need 'em neither. The Inventory 55 I got to be sure, Bill That'll be about all to-night.'' As Peaceful Bill spread himself over his broncho and rode away into the moonlight, darkness fell upon the scene. It was Peaceful Bill eclipsing the Queen of Night. Ere he slept, the Big Chief had sworn a sacred vow. He would recover the chart Silver Bill had stolen, even if he had to trail the Renegade to the head- waters of Salt Creek. He would get it even if Peaceful Bill had to fall in the expedition. And more, he would steal Silver Bill's handy air- craft, Public Ownership. Perhaps he would need it to carry Peaceful Bill back home. Then all was still in the Big Corral. CHAPTER VIII THE CAMP IN THE VALLEY All was still? Approximately ! But in a far corner of the Bunk House of the Big Corral, while Nature seemed to sleep without, there could be detected the monotonous tap of someone knocking. Terrible Teddy was not asleep. Even the exciting events of the evening had been but sedatives to him. No sooner had Peaceful Bill's majestic form been absorbed in the gathered blackness of night than the Big Ranger sought his rest. That rest was not sleep. Not even the oldest members of his former gang had ever caught him at that. After quickly reading and indorsing a new novel that no one else had yet heard of, he wrote a two 56 The Camp in the Valley 57 thousand word advertisement for a new Nature Book. Then, stopping for a moment to prepare a maga- zine article on "Why Crabs Run Backwards," he hastened into the machine-shop of the Corral. There, while the night sped, he labored on and on. The new day broke calm and clear. Not a cloud flecked the cerulean sky. Nature, smiling in ignorance, bore no portent of the cataclysm that was to come ere another sun should rise. Far beneath the high bluff on which stood the Big Corral of Terrible Teddy, could be seen the al- most-barren Salt Creek Valley. It was the Free Range. Thereon, camped in defiance, might also be seen the tents of those who had once called him chief. Threading its way in and out among these tem- porary shacks, a careful observer might also detect the silvery Salt Creek. Near at hand, it glistened and shone in the sun. Further on, it lost itself, fading away among the distant foothills wherein abode the dreaded outlaw, Silver Bill Brennings. 58 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill Long ere Salt Creek reached that lonesome fast- ness, its silvery sheen was gone. Beneath the bluff and nearest of all, well located among the only herbage of the valley, rose a new corral. Quiet and peaceful, it appeared by day. But by night Then there was coming and going there. Dark-lanterns might be seen flashing. It was the camp of Billy Whiskers. As the sun rose, Terrible Teddy himself emerged from the Big Corral. Even as he looked, he saw whiskers in the air. "Unscrupulous craft !" he muttered, "can he sus- pect me? I hope so." "Unscrupulous craft !" A resonant, far-reaching voice repeated Terrible Teddy's words. "Peaceful Bill !" exclaimed Terrible Teddy, "you here?" "The front of me," humorously replied the well known voice of Peaceful Bill, for he it was, indeed, who spoke. "Any orders this morning?" The Camp in the Valley 59 There was a new note in Peaceful Bill's voice. Ere his words had died away Terrible Teddy had seen a shadow behind the jovial speaker. The new light of day just streaking the eastern horizon had fallen ©n Peaceful Bill's crossed fin- gers. He had been caught in the act. "Bill," murmured Terrible Teddy, with the soft purr of an eight-pounder at target practice, "from now on ye'll keep both hands afore ye. Ef ye don't " He said no more. But he tapped himself lightly on the chest. CHAPTER IX PEACEFUL BILL'S ORDEAL The significant act with which we closed the nar- ration of the last chapter did not go unobserved by Peaceful Bill. However, it wasn't his cue to make comment. The agile eyes of Terrible Teddy swept the ground. The dust flew. In a moment, with a sound like an Ohio Postmas- ter caught in the act, he roared: "Are ye prepared fur the job I mean to git fur ye, Bill?" "Wal, I've been a practicin' fur four year. Kin ye deliver the goods afore Silver Bill gits em all ?" "Have a care, Bill, how you cross me. I may and I mayn't. There's others." He cast his eyes on the valley below. Part of Peaceful Bill trembled. Terrible Teddy knew his man. 60 Peaceful Bill's Ordeal 61 "Now fur yer lesson. Let me hear you say 'Liar!'" Peaceful Bill, having now fully arrived, screamed "Liar!" "Fin shocked, Bill. Ye couldn't a-heerd that more'n a mile. Now, we'll have some spellin' and writin'. Spell 'great.' " "T-E-D-D-Y." "Spell 'through.' " "T-H-R-U." "What's the chief end of man?" "To knock and get away with it." "What do ye think about tariff revision?" "Huh?" "What do ye think about tariff revision?" "Huh! I'm kind o' hard o' hearin'." "Fine. Gimme the test fur paresis." "You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of silver ; you shall not crucify man- kind upon a cross of gold." "Do you drink?" "Never tech no cocktails." "What's yer idee o' humor?" "Old Joke Annon." 62 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill "What's 'law defyin' wealth' ?" "Sompin to swear at." "Very good. Now ye can practice watchin' the Corral. I'm off over the foothills, turkey shootinV "Thar ain't no turkeys thar," suggested Peaceful Bill. Terrible Teddy laughed in scorn. "What's the difference? Thar warn't no bears in the cane-brakes. Thar'll be plenty of photog- raphers." ******* Until noon the faithful Peaceful Bill plugged at his lesson. By twelve o'clock he could roar "Liar" so loudly that those camped in the valley below shook in their shoes. Then stealing out of the Big Corral to a shady and fragrant mesquite grove hard by, he took from a secret pocket of his chaps a well-thumbed and evi- dently much-used volume. It was a blank book, now almost filled with notes, memoranda and data. Glancing about to be sure he was not observed, Peaceful Bill got busy at once with his fountain pen. Peaceful Bill's Ordeal 63 He was writing in the department headed : "My Own Policies: to be used in case of need." When the evening breeze began to kiss the flushed face of the dying day, there was a sudden clang of hurrying hoofs, and Big Stick, with Terrible Teddy at his ease on the poop deck, shot into view like summer lightning athwart the horizon. With a spring, the agile Big Stick rose, clearing the Corral and Bunk House at a bound. In mid-air he paused, while Terrible Teddy alighted upon the Bunk House roof. There, in a defiant attitude, turkeyless, but with the flush of victory on his bronzed countenance, he glanced anxiously about. "You have returned, I observe," commented Peaceful Bill, from the porte cochere. "With six as good negatives as ye ever seen !" "How are ye a-goin' to git down?" Terrible Teddy had already kicked on the roof. The faithful 'prentice Ranger, Little Willy, sprang quickly into view. With hardly a second glance, Terrible Teddy 64 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill sprang lightly in the air, lit upon the waiting 'pren- tice and stepped comfortably to the ground. "I'm hardened to it," said the eager 'prentice. "Besides, he ain't as heavy as he looks — when you git used to him." Peaceful Bill stood at attention. Terrible Teddy gave a quick look toward the tent of Billy Whiskers. "And now, Peaceful Bill!" he roared, "for the work before us." CHAPTER X BILLY WHISKERS' ROUND UP It was night ! The camp fire in Billy Whiskers' corral rose and fell as the faithful Timothy fed the blaze. In the other camps in the valley there were, at that particular hour, no signs of life. At the time specified, two silent figures might have been seen creeping through the gloom from the high ground on which stood the Big Corral of the Chief Ranger. Skilled in the tricks of their craft, these figures gave forth no sound to mark their approach. But, ever and anon, as their eyes fell on the camp fire below, they smiled. "All goes well." The speaker, to better conceal his identity, quickly closed his mouth. "All goes well," repeated the gigantic man by his side. "Billy Whiskers will be number three." 65 66 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill "Billy Whiskers will be number three," repeated the larger of the two men. "Uninstructed delegates! Bill," roared his com- panion, "ain't ye any idees o' yur own ?" "Ain't I ? Listen to this : Gelatine spined shrimp !" "Good, Bill. I didn't 'low it was in ye." It is hardly necessary to explain that the two fig- ures we have described were Terrible Teddy, the Chief of the Big Corral, and Peaceful Bill, his chosen scout and pal. Some deed of darkness was afoot. Slowly and stealthily the two men advanced. Suddenly, Terrible Teddy stopped. At the signal, Peaceful Bill put on the emergency brakes. Both sniffed the air. Someone was smoking a bad cigar. Was it friend or foe? "When ye git to a stop, Bill, stay there. I'll just have a little look ahead." In a moment Terrible Teddy returned. His face was illumined with a smile. "Only Old Sleuth Joke Annon," whispered Teddy. 68 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill "And on our trail ?" "He ain't onto nothin' ! He only thinks he is. Follow me!" Making a slight detour, the two men soon passed the old scout unobserved. At daybreak Old Joke was still standing pat. "Nothin' doin'," he mused, as he lighted a fresh cigar. He little knew he had been passed in the night. But what of Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill ? Let us see ! Within the confines of Billy Whiskers' new camp, there was much doing. The valley had turned out to participate in a grand round-up. When all was ready, Billy Whiskers climbed upon a stump and made a speech. "Cow punchers, greasers, Injuns and half-breeds : I'm a-goin' to demonstrate that there is more than one big noise in these parts. You folks on the Free Range seem to calkerlate as how the only jar is up thar on the Big Bluff. Tim, tech her off!" A cow puncher in a red vest set before the mob a big new bomb. Billy Whiskers' Round Up 69 "Let 'er go." With a quick motion, the ready Tim lighted the fuse. It sputtered and snapped. The crowd fell back in expectant awe. Bang! Biff! Bang! Just behind Billy Whiskers' new Corral, there was a roar that shook the earth. Billy Whiskers' bomb went off. But no one heard it. In the glare of the real explosion outside, a patch of ivory was seen. Likewise an adjacent smile. Then these faded out, and in the circumambient shadows, a mountainous shape was seen heeling to larboard in the direction of the tall timber. It was Peaceful Bill, well satisfied with the night's work. All that could be found was a scrap of paper thus inscribed : "Number three." CHAPTER XI TREASURE FOR BALLAST It will now be in order for us to discover what had become of Silver Bill. It will be remembered that this ruthless renegade had made a horrible escape from a narrow death on the brink of the precipice. In doing so he had also escaped the desperate clutch of his implacable enemy, Terrible Teddy. Safe in his trusty air-craft, Public Ownership, Silver Bill had darted, bird-like, into the blue em- pyrean. This incident brought abruptly to a close the in- terview between the two men. As the moon shot forth from behind a cloud and the mounting airship limned itself against the fleecy rifts of the softly illumined sky, it was indeed a thrilling and dramatic situation. One word shot downward. "Stung!" 70 Treasure for Ballast Ji "The fellow is playing a deep game," muttered the baffled chief of the Big Corral, "but let him beware." As he watched the rapidly disappearing craft of Silver Bill, Terrible Teddy, baffled of his prey, ex- claimed hoarsely : 'This act be upon his own head." He had seen the ship swerve in its course. "As I suspected," he added, again hoarsely. The almost invisible machine ducked and then righted itself. "Ha ! Ha ! Silver Bill's welcome to it. I calker- late as how thet's the same one they wanted to give me. He kin hev his airship. Gimme old Big Stick for a sartinty." "Now," he concluded, turning from the edge of the chasm to the back trail, "fur my little counter game." As the earth dropped rapidly away from Silver Bill that worthy became alarmed. He was not unused to ascensions, but he was now higher in the air than ever before. The airship was not new ; he had bought it second hand. 72 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill Although others had used it, Silver Bill had neg- lected to thoroughly acquaint himself with one thing — the steering wheel. "The less I meddle with her the better," mur- mured the fleeing Bill. And yet, ere an hour had sped, he succumbed to the temptation. He would experiment. Cautiously he touched a lever marked "General Control/' Evidently it did. This was what Terrible Teddy had seen from below. Old Public Ownership darted, wobbled and then shot earthward at a terrific pace. There was a smothered curse from Silver Bill. He could not cry aloud for help. He was under contract to speak publicly only at specified places. Therefore, apostrophizing himself, he exclaimed hurriedly: "Sacre-mznto ! I hope it'll get me at least over the camp o' the Rangers. I don't know as they'd harm me or take the machine, but I ain't a-goin' to Treasure for Ballast 73 take no chances. Something must and shall be done. Let me think!" There being no one present to oppose him, he did so. His pale set features assumed the expression of a man being introduced to an audience. Then, intelligence suddenly returning, he ex- claimed : "I have it. I must throw over ballast." But what? He cursed himself anew for failing to get Terri- ble Teddy's Treasure Box. It would have saved his life. He thought of what he had secured — the Trust Control chart. No! Better death itself, first. Nonplussed for the nonce, he yet refused to give up. There was a western legend that Silver Bill had never given up anything. Suddenly there was a wild, shrill cry. It was Silver Bill giving birth to a second thought in one day. 74 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill "My New York speech!" he cried in exultation. Without more ado — and in less time than it takes to write it — Silver Bill had drawn from a secret pocket of his cloak a heavy bound volume labeled, "Public Ownership Speech, New York. Made on my return from Circumnavigating the Globe." "The very thing," he exclaimed bitterly; "over she goes." It was no sooner said than done. Silver Bill, with unerring aim, managed to heave the heavy volume over the side of the now almost earth-reached ship. It went hurtling from the car. The ship responded instantly, shooting skyward like a rocket. Down, down, down, the volume plunged. He was saved. It wasn't easy to part with his own treasure. But it meant his salvation. With a strained ear he listened. Where would the crushing volume light? After what seemed an age, a dull, sickening thud came reverberating skyward. Treasure {or Ballast 75 Silver Bill knew that his prized and discarded, but now death-dealing treasure, had reached terra firma. But where? Of that, more anon. CHAPTER XII A NEAR DASH TO DEATH Not to weary our readers, we will say that Silver Bill's airship continued to rise skyward again with the utmost celerity. But the occupant of the car well knew that when this flight was ended he would hit the earth with emphasis. Therefore, he quivered with consecutive tremors of delight as he noted that he was fast passing over the dreaded valley wherein the Free Rangers were encamped. He did not fear death. But to fall among these rough and voracious rangers meant worse than death. They would probably ignore him. The first faint blush of dawn was just illuming the eastern sky when Silver Bill detected signs of a second rapid descent. To his horror he noted that the airship had not 76 A Near Dash to Death yy yet traveled as far as to his own abode among the foothills at the headwaters of Salt Creek. He was now immediately over the encampment of the Mocrats. Even as he sighted these villainous-faced and beady-eyed redskins he smiled. He was known to the Mocrats. Among them for a time he would be safe. But he was not sure about his airship! This mixed band of Injuns and half-breeds had once been a powerful tribe. Now the Mocrats were few in number and prac- tically leaderless. Smooth Waters, who had been their long time chief in other days, was no more. Nor was he less. He was just dead. The present nominal chief, Big Smoke. Waters' son, had succeeded his father in control. But Big Smoke, Waters' son, had ideas that were too free even for the Mocrats. Without the power to assume full control of the band, he had been intriguing to place a pal in his moccasins. 78 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill This was Yon Yonson, the half-breed. So far, Big Smoke had miserably failed in his intrigue. Under old Smooth Waters the Mocrats had lived in gluttonous plenty on the range now occupied by the G-circle-O-P outfit of Free Rangers. Now the gaunt Mocrats were again hungry for the verdant plains from which they had been dis- possessed. Bruited dissensions among the Free Rangers seemed to warrant hope of success. It was largely a question of a real leader. Some of the full-bloods were ready to accept any one, bar Big Smoke. Some even favored Silver Bill Brennings, the nearby Renegade and hated foe of the G-circle-O-P outfit. Bill favored himself — first, last and all the time. But how to worm himself into the tribe? The precipitate descent of his airship directly into the village of the Mocrats seemed fortuitous. Glancing over the edge of the car in its mad downward flight, Silver Bill could just discern, in the early morning light, the pseudo Chief Big Smoke YON YOXSOX 80 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill — the last ripple as it were of old time Smooth Waters. Big Smoke was making his matutinal harangue to all who would listen to him. These were mainly old men with long hair. "And who is this Silver Bill Brennings?" Big Smoke inquired eloquently. "I'll tell you : he is a tongued dragon without teeth or claws." "Is that so?" This instant interrogatory fell upon the ears of the assembled Mocrats as if projected from the Heavens. Silver Bill Brennings, for it was from his lips the words emanated, quickly bringing his airship to a pause, stepped lightly to the earth. CHAPTER XIII AMONG THE MOCRATS "Who are you talking to, sir?" Big Smoke, the pseudo leader of the Mocrats, hurled these words into Silver Bill's teeth. The enchanting beauties of the place and hour seemed not to mitigate the quickly engendered ani- mosity that pervaded the immediate vicinity. Both men seemed sore. Silver Bill had, as stated, given the defi to Big Smoke. "I have startling news for you, Smokeless," he added, laughing harshly, "and that is: I am here not of my own volition but because it was inevita- ble." Big Smoke's blood ran cold. He was looking upon the man who had sworn to take his life if their paths ever crossed. Each was taking the measure of his man. 81 82 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill The iron nerve of Silver Bill was telling. Hastily summoning an Indian lad, Big Smoke ordered and consumed a frosty concoction of some fermented spirits and a fragrant herbage. But the glittering, relentless eye of the man be- fore him was too much. He succumbed. "I didn't mean no harm, Bill!" "Then stow your guff," retorted Silver Bill per- emptorily. Moistening his lips, he continued : "Ef you Injuns and half-breeds wants a leader — irhich I doubt sometimes — I'm the man." Pausing for a moment, he untied the airship, which, unburdened with a passenger, sailed away instantly and beautifully in the morning air. "I don't want it and they shan't have it." These words he spoke gently into his sleeve. "Now, Mocrats, come hither." With only half-hearted consent they did so. "See what I've got! A chart to a fine bit of buried treasure." Thereupon he displayed before their astonished eyes the map marked "The Trust Question." SSsras^=** mam SILVER BILL SHOWS BIG SMOKE THE RECOVERED CHART 84 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill It was the treasure he had taken at such peril from Terrible Teddy. "Ye've all hearn tell o' this. It's the chart I lost. Now I got it agin " "What'll it get us, Silver Bill?" "What'll it git you? I can't say fur sartin, but I reckon as how it's a good thing. It's sompin anyway. An' it looks valleble to me." Looks of approval began to intersperse them- selves among his auditors. "Now, them as favor me for leader say but what's the use? With this 'ere treasure chart ye got to make me your chief." But, apparently, some of the Mocrats were not after concealed treasure. "How about eats?" These harsh words grated on Silver Bill's ears. For answer he made signs for all to follow him to the top of what would have been a decided excava- tion had the adjacent topography not been reversed. Slowly advancing to the brow of a bluff, Silver Bill took a drink of ice water, cleared his throat and began : "Ladies and " Among the Mocrats 85 Quickly recovering himself, he started afresh : "Mocrats, hearken! "Yonder, just where the light of the new day is incardining the eastern horizon lies the Free Range that ye knew in the time of old Smooth Waters. "Terrible Teddy, the boss of the Big Corral, wrested it from you. "His outfit now draws sustenance from its yet partly fertile slopes. "Twice in eight years, at your earnest solicitation, I have led you back toward yonder land of good things. "Twice we returned empty handed and hungry. "Why?" From the confines of the camp came a pitiless and cold echo — "Why?" It was Big Smoke, unabashed and unashamed. CHAPTER XIV THE DEFIANCE OF BIG SMOKE About two seconds subsequent to the events re- lated in the last chapter, Silver Bill Brennings re- sumed his celebrated address to the Mocrats. As our reader recollects, he had just exclaimed: "Why?" Then came Big Smoke's terse, tart echo. "Ill tell ye why! "Because my tried and true old war-broncho, Free Silver, carried me alone and beyond you into the jaws of the enemy. "Therefore, I fit the battle alone. "You Mocrats failed to support me. "Now, old Free Silver is dead. "I'm afoot. "We will go forrard together. "The Rangers are involved in internecine war. "Their chief, Terrible Teddy, has troubles of his own. 86 The Defiance of Big Smoke 87 "He thinks we are dead. "Do not undeceive him. "You all look it. "Dissemble. "With this precious chart we'll find treasure to buy arms. And," Silver Bill dropped his voice, "where it cum frum there's more, and I'm goin' to have another whack at the box to wunst. "Then, 'bout the time snow flies, we'll attack. It's 16 to 1 " "Ria! toh! (no, no.) These quick-spoken words rang out in the welkin. Silver Bill started. He was always starting something. "Erofeb dias uoy tahw staht." No one could mistake the terrible significance of these cryptic Mocrat words. They shot from between the parted lips of a full- blood. The ironical nerve of Silver Bill did not desert him. For a full moment no sound was heard. The buck who had uttered the sentence well knew that he staked his life in so doing. 88 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill Therefore, poised lightly, he stood ready to spring. Throughout the band excitement rose to fever heat. Silver Bill was known far and near as a man who never brooked an insult. But in those few brief seconds he took his own advice. He dissembled. Yet, the words of the old buck caused a chill to curdle around his heart and a pallor to supplement the flush of indignation on his bronzed cheek. Otherwise he was cool as a cucumber. "Let that pass !" These were his first spoken words. But the crisis was no longer acute. The old buck, like a whipped cur, slunk into the purlieus of the encampment. Quickly regaining his composure, Silver Bill sud- denly shook his Trust Control Chart in the air. "Now," he began, "are you with me?" "To a man!" The phrase came rudely from the sneering lips of the plainly discomfited Big Smoke. The Defiance of Big Smoke 89 Silver Bill was not to be beaten in repartee. "Which man?" The query fell lightly and gaily from his lips, with no suggestion of the consuming anxiety behind his persiflage. "Old Moss Back!" Big Smoke had returned the quip. He pointed merrily to the oldest Injun in the bunch. "Old Moss Back's with you," Big Smoke reiter- ated, with a trace of abandon in his voice, "the others have all learned to read." This was the last straw. His brow darkened with rage and also knit with the same emotion, Silver Bill sprang forward. It required but a brief interval for him to wholly transport himself to the immediate vicinity of Big Smoke, whom he would have smitten to the earth, when A sprightly lad in blue, with a neat patch on the seat of his pants and a distrait look o'er-spreading his otherwise intelligent face, strolled by. "Hey, youse," he remarked, deferentially and also politely. 90 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill "Gimme two bits and sign yere and ten cents fur car fare what time is it say !" Shortly afterwards he surrendered a worn and weary message which bore the superscription : "Silver Bill Brennings." Feverishly separating a portion of the message from its bed of gum tragacanth, the orator of the day — pausing for the moment in his deadly on- slaught — read as follows : "Booked to-night before Bible Class of Fourth Baptist Church, Wawassee, Indiana, on Piece of Prints. Take first train and collect $250." Silver Bill's arm fell. Big Smoke was saved. It required but a few moments for the frugal Bill to get busy. His black locks, such as they were, flying to the wild western breeze, and a suit-case following closely in his rear, the last speaker of the day was soon making tracks toward Wawassee and the $250. At that instant a billow of sound rose and floated out over the Injun audience. Then it spread and wafted into silence among the adjacent foothills. It was the Mocrats' sigh of relief. CHAPTER XV THE MYSTERY It is now high time that we returned to our two heroes, Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill, whom we left escaping successfully from the confusion of the big explosion in the rear of Billy Whiskers' Camp. Billy Whiskers speedily divined what had oc- curred. In the red gleam that lit the sky he saw the un- mistakable earmarks of the men he had defied. Every one knew that it was now war to the knife. And every one knew that it would be a bloody combat if Billy Whiskers could find the time. For reasons that will be explained later, at this crisis he said nothing. In the whirlwind rush of his business, however, he managed to keep one eye slightly peeled. The faithful Timothy said nothing with the same insistent silence. 91 92 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill The same night two trusted messengers stole silently from Billy Whiskers' Camp. One of them, riding as only a desperate man can, neither rested nor slept for three days. His destination was the Great Eastern Bomb Works (Limited). His message, delivered with breathless eagerness, was this : "One noiseless, smokeless bomb, extra large and warranted to keep — cost no object." The other of the two horsemen had but a few- hours' journey. Ere daybreak he had made a detour of the valley and, apparently familiar with the lay of the land, had approached the Big Corral from the off side. Emitting a long, low sound like an early caucus, he waited with apparent confidence. He was answered almost immediately by a dazed but eager figure. Our reader will at once recognize Rough Deal George, Terrible Teddy's paymaster. It is no secret to them that Rough Deal was only wounded. The Mystery 93 With a quick glance Rough Deal George made out the silent horseman. As he did so he also made a graceful obeisance. Without superfluous words, Billy Whiskers' emis- sary then delivered a special delivery letter. It read : "A cabinet job fur a hull year if ye can deliver the secret of Terrible Teddy's brand 0' bombs/' Rough Deal George gasped. Then he glanced furtively about. There was no time for delay. Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill might return at any moment. Should he betray the good, kind master who had taught him all he knew of the game? Evidently he should. With stealth he reached upward and whispered three words in the ear of the impatient horseman. To one who understands, the words are plain. To one who does not understand, they are tin- solvable mysteries. The writer, while traveling in the far East, heard, in a remarkable manner and under pledge of in- violable secrecy, the key to this strange mystery. 94 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill Although it has always been to him a matter of the greatest surprise that others have failed to fall to the secret, he cannot here place it upon record. One thing is certain : the method insures success. The cabalistic words uttered by Rough Deal George were simply these: "Git New York!" Wheeling his steed, the man was off like a flash. Rough Deal George was, as stated, still suffering from the shock of the premature explosion of the bomb he was trying to get away with. In spite of this a faint smile spread o'er his bruised face. It was at the solicitation of the very man whom he had but now betrayed that he first took to drink. Terrible Teddy and his friends had pushed liquor upon the young man and urged him to go the limit. To gain false strength he had done so. At first he drank secretly. The appetite increased with fearful rapidity. He became the slave of rum. It grew upon him until he became a madman ! While absolutely unconscious he had betrayed the confidence of his employer. ROUGH DEAL GEORGE IMPARTS THE SECRET TO FAITHFUL TIM g6 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill Having betrayed him he loved him too much to deceive him. Therefore, he must remain silent. Yet the crime had only clouded, not annihilated, the goodness that was his. If that which was sensitive in him had yielded to the fierce gnawings of his appetite and led him to become more abandoned than a less sensitive per- son, there was that within him that could be re- kindled. They had but to give him the real bomb. To what purport had Billy Whiskers' two horse- men made their wild and perilous night ride? We shall see in good time. CHAPTER XVI A FEW SCALPS The events which led to the counter explosion in Billy Whiskers' Camp have been plainly indicated to our readers. It is not necessary, therefore, at the present stage of our narrative, to give more precise details of Ter- rible Teddy's little game. As our story advances every incident will be made perfectly plain as it relates to the mystery involving the career of our two heroes. We refer, of course, to Silver Bill's desperate quest of the Treasure Box. In making their getaway Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill avoided the short trail back to the Big Corral. They didn't want to meet any one. To interfere with a fellow ranger's fireworks, particularly in his own corral, was bad form. The incriminating evidence of Terrible Teddy's presence bothered Peaceful Bill. 97 9 8 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful BUI Terrible Teddy was known to be one man who always kept bombs on hand. Terrible Teddy, himself, didn't care. He was already at outs with nearly all the Ran- gers. But Peaceful Bill must have a care. Terrible Teddy was quitting the job and he was trying to take it on. Therefore, it was with no small apprehension that Peaceful Bill suddenly descried a scouting party rapidly advancing in the direction of Billy Whis- kers' Corral. It was made up of belated friends on the way to the fireworks. They did not know the show was over. Hastily kicking Terrible Teddy on the shins, he adroitly concealed that individual behind him. "Don't think I'm skeer'd, Bill." But the astute, altitudinous man in front of him hissed : "There's times you ought to be." Like a dove of peace, Peaceful Bill gave the strangers a chirrup of joyful salutation. A Few Scalps 99 "Greetings, Peaceful Bill. Seein' as how you're alone, like as not we'd better stop and visit a spell." "I couldn't think of it," says Peaceful Bill, again speaking soft and smooth. "Billy Whiskers has had a little accident. You'd best hurry on and help him." With fond farewells the party did as Peaceful Bill bade. Terrible Teddy, emerging from his hiding place, asked hurriedly : "Bill, hev ye turned clean soft ? Did ye mean it ?" There was no answer. But a close observer might have seen Peaceful Bill's west eye open and close with neat precision. Time was pressing. It was no hour for idle or superfluous words. Slipping silently forward with the unerring in- stinct of veteran plainsmen, Peaceful Bill suddenly fell against the yielding gate of a silent and dark corral. With but a passing glance at the rude mail-box, he knew at once that they were in False Alarm Joe's corral. Quickly giving the alarm to his companion, ioo Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill Peaceful Bill made signs for Terrible Teddy to fol- low, and the two men, under the giant's direction, made a spurt through the very center of the corral. There was no hesitation. Peaceful Bill knew his ground. In fact, he personally owned this and some adja- cent country. The O-high-0 ranch had been leased to False Alarm Joe and he had defaulted in the last rent payment. Also, as our readers will remember, False Alarm Joe was not at present on the job. In his absence the entire outfit seemed fast asleep. Peaceful Bill looked about at certain signs of decay and neglect and sighed. The sparse catalpas responded to the breeze, and again all was still. "I got to find a new tenant, Teddy. False Alarm Joe was no good anyway." "How about ?" asked Terrible Teddy, adroitly scaling the eastern slope of Peaceful Bill and whispering the last word in his companion's ear. "The very man," responded the other of the two A Few Scalps 101 men, affectionately slapping the other of the two speakers on the back. When Terrible Teddy had regained his feet and deftly poulticed himself, the homeward-bound pair resumed the trail. Who was the new tenant? He who pens this narrative is not advised. Peaceful Bill, whose knowledge of the environ- ments naturally placed him in charge of the party, was suddenly conscious that he was alone. His face blanched with apprehension. Or was it the luridity of rage ? He well knew that the corral was alive with ex- postmasters. Alone among these, Terrible Teddy took his life in his hand. "Very well! His blood be upon his own head." But it wasn't ! It was upon his hands. Within a few moments Terrible Teddy, a modest smile surrounding the expanse of his ivorine molars, had rejoined his friend. Coolly drawing from his pocket three fresh scalps, he presented them gracefully to Peaceful Bill. 102 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill "Them's postmasters," he explained nonchalantly. Fired by this diverting adventure.. Terrible Teddy gave signs of new restlessness. A dark side passage had attracted his eye. But, as the Big Chief was about to act upon a hastily formed impulse, Bill, with a premonition of danger, huskily said : "Not on yer life, Teddy. That's the quarters of the colored help. They're sworn to False Alarm Joe. Would you have them rise and avenge him? Not now, no how !" Thanking Peaceful Bill for his timely warning, Terrible Teddy placed his hand within one of Peace- ful Bill's, and without further delay they stole rap- idly through False Alarm Joe's sleeping outfit. CHAPTER XVII BUTTERMILK CHARLEY 's BLIND PIG Our two heroes anticipated encountering strange adventures, but they did not dream of the thrilling incidents that the night was destined to develop. Unless they now laid their course far to the south, they well knew that they would have to pass di- rectly over dangerous ground. This was the corral and shack of the elongated terror, Buttermilk Charley. And it was territory that Peaceful Bill did not know any too well. This tall, taciturn terror owned the only ice-house on the Free Range. Therein, as advertised, he kept on hand at all times a full supply of that wholesome and nutritious liquid comestible from which he took his own so- briquet. As a matter of fact, this alleged buttermilk was forty- rod whisky. 103 104 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill Even the astute Terrible Teddy, in previous at- tempts to get the goods on the Sycamorean Charley, had failed utterly. The latter had proved an alibi. While yet the recognized boss of the Free Ran- gers, Terrible Teddy had visited Buttermilk Char- ley's reputed "blind pig." Assuming a sudden thirst as a disguise, the sleuth- ful Teddy had asked for refreshment. An ingenuous and unreliable attendant made haste to serve him. Terrible Teddy's eyes glistened. He saw approaching him a spicy and frapped liquid blushing with the hidden wealth of its con- comitant comfiture. It was the seductive cocktail. Hastily absorbing the concoction, Terrible Teddy whipped out a note-book. Quickly inscribing the day and date he exclaimed : "Now, my good man, you are in my power !" Buttermilk Charley smiled coldly. "What evidence have you?" he remarked, almost indifferently. : Ibuttepmilk 'NOW, MY GOOD MAN, YOU ARE IN MY POWER' io6 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill Terrible Teddy realized too late that he was foiled. "My friends will say you had buttermilk," con- tinued Buttermilk Charley, icily. "Don't I know a cocktail ?" It was the feeble bluff of Terrible Teddy. "Where is the cherry?" Buttermilk Charley, foolish like a fox, asked these words with the tone of a man who had been there before. "Merciful Heavens !" Terrible Teddy gulped. He had swallowed the cherry. Now the tables were turned. Peaceful Bill would be a witness. The latter, his mouth already drooling with pleasant anticipation, quickly acquiesced in Terrible Teddy's plans. "We'll clean him out," bubbled Peaceful Bill. "So did I," exclaimed his companion, "but I couldn't prove it." It was but the work of a moment to decide upon their plan of action. Quickly disguising himself as a young matron Buttermilk Charley's Blind Pig 107 at a progressive bridge party, Peaceful Bill tripped lightly into Buttermilk Charley's shack. An obsequious attendant, without the formality of an order, hastily placed before him a full grown Manhattan. Hard by, concealed within the shadow of the ice- house and yet seeing all, Terrible Teddy smiled fiendishly. "Trapped !" As he emitted this Vidocquesque exclamation, his heart stopped. What had he seen? As Peaceful Bill raised the glass daintily to his lips his disguise shifted. Buttermilk Charley, ever alert, saw it all. With well feigned courtesy he stepped swiftly to the lady's side. "Pardon me, madame," he remarked, "your hat is not on straight!" At the same moment his skinny arm slipped. The ruby glass fell to the floor and was dashed into a thousand pieces ! Was Peaceful Bill discomfited? 108 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill One less versed in the ways of law-breakers might well have been. But not he. He had anticipated the very thing that occurred. As the glass started downward, with a swift and skilled twist of the wrist he had flipped the em- bosomed cherry into the air. Then with another motion that had more than once stood him in good stead, the wily Bill had nimbly caught and secreted the falling cherry be- tween his delicately gloved fingers. Quickly as the act was accomplished it did not escape the ferret-like eye of Buttermilk Charley. "Your glove is soiled," he exclaimed, with well simulated concern, "permit me." And he advanced with a napkin, as if to repair the accident. It was exactly as our two heroes had planned. "You are so kind," murmured the apparently agitated lady. Then, adroitly reaching over Buttermilk Charley's stooping figure, Peaceful Bill, with a quick, hasty movement, tossed the cherry through the open win- dow. Buttermilk CJiarley's Blind Pig 109 As Peaceful Bill threw off his disguise, Terrible Teddy sprang through the window, the tell-tale evi- dence safely in his upraised hand. "Peaceful Bill," exclaimed Buttermilk Charley, dropping his napkin in the confusion, "who'd a- thought it?" They had the goods on Old Buttermilk. CHAPTER XVIII MONEY TALKS ROUND HERE Nothing disturbed the silence of the night but noise. Following upward the frosty path on which the sound had traveled, a curious inquirer would have discovered that it emanated from the curled lips of Buttermilk Charley. That still defiant worthy had drawn himself to his full length. "Any way, I don't drink 'em myself." The words sparkled like the inside of a sample- room refrigerator in the presence of a bowling tour- nament. "What is your favorite beverage?" Terrible Teddy spoke these words with the sang- froid of a man playing with his victim. The effect was electrical ! "Beveridge!" shrieked the trapped Charley, "have you no mercy?" 110 Money Talks 'Round Here in Apparently he had been touched in a tender spot. Our two heroes glanced at each other signifi- cantly. It was time to strike. "Buttermilk Charley," remarked Terrible Teddy, "I understand ye hev been knockin' my friend here and a-sayin' he ain't no fit man to hev my job?" 'T ain't the only one !" "Mebbe not. But one at a time. I calkerlate as how ye'll agree that no blind-pig keepers is a-going to hev the job. Air ye on?" Buttermilk Charley's answer came to the two men like the snapping of icicles on a March morning. "Howsomever that may be, when the deal's all over you'll find me here, cuttin' ice jist the same, and don't ye fergit it. The time may come when the Rangers'll pint the finger o' scorn at me. But it'll be fur gittin' caught. While my ice lasts my outfit'll be faithful to me. You think you have the winning card. Listen ! Guilty or not — I have you at my mercy." "Let's vamoose," whispered Peaceful Bill, "he's warmin' up." As Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill attempted ii2 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill to do so, Buttermilk Charley coolly drew forth a roll of crisp $100 Treasury notes. Ere the sound had died away, as if by a precon- certed signal, armed men seemed to spring from every corner of the corral. The place seemed packed. Escape was apparently impossible. Plainly our two heroes could not go forward. The two pals who had faced so many dangers and circumvented the machinations of scores of evil- doers and others seemed well nigh at the end of their rope. "Money talks 'round here!" These words, uttered by Buttermilk Charley, as if to taunt his victims, seemed only to spur their wits. We will here explain that Terrible Teddy, while waiting in well feigned idleness to rescue the coveted cherry, had in reality not been idle. He had carefully noted a soft spot in one of Buttermilk Charley's fences. Little suspecting at the time how soon he might have use for that discovery, the recollection yet now came back to him with the rush of a forgotten letter. Money Talks 'Round Here 113 With a secret code, known only to himself and his confederate, he soon put Peaceful Bill in posses- sion of his discovery and a hastily improvised plan of action. While Terrible Teddy produced from his pocket a blank commission for consul to Valdavia, in order to distract the attention of old Charley and his hun- gry outfit, Peaceful Bill stretched forth his arms as if to yawn. In an instant, with one upheavel of his giant shoulders, the Shack was in ruins. There were roars of baffled rage. Those of the outfit who were not killed were groping in the ruins for the blank commission. Buttermilk Charley alone retained his coolness. He didn't know how to lose it. "Company, fall in," he exclaimed with alacrity. But his well trained cow-punchers had lost their heads when most needed. Again and again Buttermilk Charley's signal of the crisp treasury notes barked on the night air. "Curse them," muttered the enraged leader, "and I counted on them to the last ditch." As the torn and twisted timbers settled to the ii4 Terrible Teddy and Peace fid Bill earth, Buttermilk Charley sprang forward in hopes to intercept his prey. But Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill were gone. Where they had stood there remained only a torn scrap of paper thus inscribed : "Number four." CHAPTER XIX THE GAP IN THE BARRIER "They must not leave this place alive !" The words with which we open this chapter came from between the clenched teeth of Buttermilk Char- ley. More alive than dead, the now thoroughly aroused ranger had gathered the remnants of his outfit about him. "Man the fences," he ordered tersely, with an instinct born of precaution. "Hurrah fur Charley," cried those nearest to their leader, after they had convinced themselves that Peaceful Bill had wholly withdrawn. "Hurrah fur Charley!" Almost at the same instant an unusual sound rose from a far corner of the corral. "Thither," roared Buttermilk Charley, "and a gaugership to the first man that brings me word of the fugitives." 115 n6 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill Spurred on by this incentive, the uninjured cow- punchers reformed and advanced vigorously. An additional coolness suddenly shot through Buttermilk Charley's frame. He recalled a temporary breach in his fence which he had detected but a few days before and had not yet repaired. For a moment he hoped Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill would not see it. If they had discovered the soft spot he would even now be too late. Had they done so ? With his knowledge of his old boss and Peaceful Bill, he feared they had. But hold ! A cry of joy rose to the lips of the determined leader. A familiar black hulk spoke louder than words. His quarry had found the break in his fence, but as yet they had made no use of it. Quickly disposing of his forces so as to head off escape to the right or left, Buttermilk Charley, with his trusty forty-fours glinting in the gloom, dashed forward. The Gap in the Barrier 117 "Now, gentlemen, I'll trouble ye fur thet cherry." Terrible Teddy promptly elevated his hands. In one of them sparkled the scarlet globule. He had knuckled to the inevitable. Buttermilk Charley, his eyes glued to the coveted sphere, lowered his weapons. The chase seemed at an end. Meanwhile where was Peaceful Bill ? While these events were rapidly transpiring a dimly outlined form was edging nearer and nearer the soft spot in the chaparral barrier. As Terrible Teddy held forth the fatal lure, Peaceful Bill had nicely adjusted his Porthosonian frame in close juxtaposition to the fence. Just as Buttermilk Charley's guns deflected from the horizontal, there was a deep sigh as if from one in distress. Then, in response to Peaceful Bill's deep breath, there was a sudden crash and the trick was turned. Bill had forced the fence and was gone. Terrible Teddy, sucked up in the vortex, disap- peared in the vacuum like a bean in a blow-gun. A few choice expletives followed him. Then, with a muffled cry of rage, Buttermilk n8 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill * Charley began folding himself like a jackknife. It was the quick and desperate resolve of a mad- man. He meant to force his own elongated form through the same hole even at the risk of unbend- ing. Before even this lightning-like resolve could be put into execution, a mass of speeches, statistics, addresses to youth, and hundreds of worn half-tone plates poured into the gap like a veritable Niagara. Again was pursuit cut off. Once more was Buttermilk Charley foiled. But by whom ? With a more voluminous increase in the expletives just described, the baffled Ranger unjointed himself and arose until he towered high over the corral fence. A boyish-looking individual, with a leonine lock and one hand thrust Webster-like in his frock coat, stood facing him. "And who are you who have thus betrayed me?" Buttermilk Charley hissed, peering into the Stygian night. " Tis I, Young Albert, the boy orator." 'TIS T, YOUNG ALBERT, THE BOY ORATOR" 120 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill Duplicating his previous tone, the now completely annoyed Ranger continued : "You little know what you have done." "Don't I?" came the quick response, "I know everything." In another moment the combat was on. Nearby, a large, heavy man with a dark mous- tache was an interested spectator of the conflict. "Pardner," he finally remarked naively to a com- panion by his side, who was affectionately stroking a cherry, "I reckon as how the kid has saved our lives." "I reckon," acquiesced his companion, with the semblance of a yawn. CHAPTER XX THE YOUTHFUL ADVENTURERS To relieve the reader's suspense, we will now revert for a short time to another thread of our thrilling narrative. It will be recalled that Silver Bill Brennings, after his almost miraculous escape in the air-craft, Public Ownership, found himself dashing madly to the earth. In his extremity, it will also be remembered, he had finally, by the skin of his teeth, saved himself by throwing overboard a bulky volume containing the address he had delivered after Magellanizing the globe. The end of the chapter found Silver Bill safely afloat again and the book dropping down! down! down ! Not to weary our readers, we will omit repetition here of what immediately happened to Silver Bill. 121 122 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill We have already followed him to the camp of the Mocrats and seen his precipitate departure in response to imperative demands. Was he, in truth, on his way to Wawassee, Indiana ? But we must not anticipate. Fortunate it was for Silver Bill that Terrible Teddy had not taken this particular treasure. The volume contained Silver Bill's plans and specifications for making a Public Ownership craft of his own. Kind friends told him it wouldn't work. In his impetuosity he scorned their advice. Then he printed his plans, and the experts rose up in their might. Silver Bill, discarding his own prospectus, bought a second-hand ship. We have seen the result. What had become of the prized but useless treasure that he cast overboard ? Midway between the camp of the Free Rangers and the village of the savage Mocrats was a bit of alkali ground that no one frequented. That is, almost no one. The Youthful 'Adventurers 123 But, a short time before our narrative opens, two hardy youths, tired of the luxuries of an effete civilization, suddenly and mysteriously appeared in this desert space. In company with them were a few venerable old men. With youthful impetuosity, the young adventur- ers had come into the West to fight Injuns and have fun with the cowpunchers. Their inspiration was undoubtedly those lurid and reprehensible romances once, alas, so popular with our youth. Saturated with these fevered and distorted tales, they had planned to become dare-devil leaders or chiefs. In order that this might be possible, they had, on their way to their chosen field of operations, hired a band of aged pensioners to accompany them. Having made an encampment, the young adven- turers at once formed an oath-bound society or league, of which the password was "Independence." And, periodically, to the firing of blank cartridges and with profuse illuminations of red fire, sessions of the league were held. 124 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill It was harmless sport for the exuberant youths and something for the pensioners to talk about. Between meetings, the two chums were wont to amuse themselves by writing romances, tales of wonder and imaginary exhortations against the time when they might find real Injuns and cow- punchers to assault. These youthful adventurers were none other than Randolph Curst and Artie Tisvain. On a certain evening, these youths were thus engaged, in a crude, juvenile way, when Artie, speaking in large caps, as was his wont, ex- claimed : "HERE'S A CORKER!" He exposed for his chum's examination the sub- joined lucubration : We have RECEIVED the following SUGGES- TIVE letter: What, in your judgment, if you have any, is the comparative nutritive value of the turnip? Rob. D. Nuit. RICHELIEU, the great Cardinal of France, was no WOMAN! What was HE? The value of a The Youthful 'Adventurers 125 turnip is gauged by the use made of it. If Theodore Roos " Bang! Randolph Curst, or Randy, as we shall hereafter describe him, to whom Artie Tisvain was reading the above, suddenly disappeared with great rapidity. There was every evidence that he had been crushed by some ponderous falling object. The evidence was in reality at that moment lying on top of the prostrate Randy. It was Silver Bill Brenning's heavy speech that had hit the youthful adventurer squarely on the head. CHAPTER XXI THE NATIONAL BURLESQUERS "Where am I at?" The injured man, for such his prostrate position and a dent in his head proclaimed him, had fallen in his tracks. For a brief instant no sound came from him. Then his lips moved, but his lips only, the balance of his form remaining as rigid as though frozen in death. "Where am I at?" he repeated spasmodically. "I'll be gol darned if I know." The answer came from Artie Tisvain, who had just reached his chum's side. Although Artie spoke in low, firm tones, his voice was soft and sweetly modulated. The dazed Randy was plainly out of his head. Again his lips moved. 126 The National Burlesquers 127 "I want and advocate," he murmured half audi- bly, "the public ownership of Public Utilities as fast as municipal, state and national governments shall demonstrate their fitness to conduct such utilities properly. I want and advocate the purchase and operation of the telegraph systems by the govern- ment. I want " Artie Tisvain threw himself beside his friend. As he did so he fell over Silver Bill's big book. "I see it all," he exclaimed; "the blow has almost killed him. I fear the worst." He deftly inserted his hand in Randy's pocket, and the unconscious youth sprang up with a con- vulsive start. Artie knew how to rouse him. Randy appeared dazed but happy. Ere Artie could raise a hand to stay his friend, Randy had seized the book and was rapidly and voraciously perusing its pages with the avidity of a marine artist reconstructing the navy. "What volume is this that is so intensely absorb- ing?" politely inquired young Tisvain. "It is a message from on high ; the secret we long have sought. We can now make a ship of our own 128 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill and leave this cursed spot. In it we will go forth and seek further adventures." "Pray give me the name of the author," con- tinued Artie, as he manicured his nails. "What boots it?" petulantly replied the busy reader, delicately feeling the bump on his head. "And yet I would know, for reasons of my own," said Artie, almost sharply. Randy, to humor him, turned to the title-page, which had as yet escaped his attention — he usually read things backwards. "Merciful Heavens !" With these words the volume dropped from his suddenly palsied fingers. "Silver Bill Brenning's," exclaimed young Artie, feverishly, "and my stuff. I suspected as much." Randy Curst's frame swayed with emotion. "To think," he exclaimed, "that it was your work, Artie, that so nearly put me out." Artie Tisvain, sometimes known as the youth with the human heart, seemed fired with a sudden resolve. "And now," he commented curtly as he reversed his cuffs, for the younger of the two boy adventur- The National Burlesquers 129 ers was neat and careful in his attire, "since we are upon the villain's track, our work is cut out. We have been discovered. Until Silver Bill has been trailed and put out of business we are not safe." Would this delicate youth do murder? Randy Curst's blood dropped in temperature. "What are your plans, Artie?" Randy continued, as he hastily concealed his check-book. "These! Silver Bill stole these plans from me while I was yet a schoolboy. By returning them in this peremptory manner, he has added injury to insult. He is in this vicinity for no good purpose. The theft he committed is but an earnest of others that will follow. We shall follow and foil him." "But how?" "Look!" Day was just breaking. Far to the west a thin curl of blue smoke rose lazily. It marked the camp and village of the Mocrats. High above the encampment, the hazy outlines of an airship could just be descried. It was slowly, slowly dropping earthward. 130 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill ''Some belated wayfarer of the skies," suggested Randy Curst. Young Tisvain smiled. "Perhaps you did not observe that the axis of the volume that so impressed us extended east and west !" Randy began to understand. Hastily drawing a check in favor of his less financially endowed friend, he remarked : "I begin to see. Pray continue." "That airship contains Silver Bill !" "Then what?" "Silver Bill is out of a job." "Well?" "The Mocrats have advertised for a leader. He who will be our victim is seeking that opening." "It's his only avocation." "You mean vocation." "Thank you kindly, Artie," replied Randy, hastily drawing another munificent check in favor of his chum; "you are ever thoughtful." "That being true, if he does not get the job. he will starve to death." Randy Curst clasped his chum's hand in gratitude. RANDY AND ARTIE DISGUISED AS BURLBSQUERS FOOL SILVER BILL 132 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill Then he checked himself. Checks were commonplaces with him. "But how will we prevent this?" he exclaimed, delicately running his fingers over the dent in his head, and wincing. "Nothing simpler. We will collect the little rem- nant of our oath-bound band and disguise ourselves as a wandering burlesque troupe to be known as the 'National, Transcontinental and Illinois Favor- ites.' Safe from detection, we will visit the Mocrat Encampment. Ere doing so we will print a sum- mary of this fatal book, and while our performance is going on, some of our band will distribute the pamphlet. On it in red ink we'll stamp, 'Silver Bill Brennings and What He's Going to Do'." "And then " exclaimed Randy, fired into enthusiasm. "The Indians who do not want airships will begin to argue with those who do. A quarrel and a split is certain." "And between the two factions, Silver Bill will fail to get the job of chief?" "Precisely." "And starve to death?" Tlte National Burlesquers 133 " Tis a hard word," murmured Artie, "but I hope so." ***** * As Silver Bill hurried eastward that bright, smil- ing morning, he passed, by the roadside, a ragged troupe of mendicant burlesquers. "Poor devils," he muttered, tossing them a coin. Many days later, recalling the incident, he kicked himself vigorously and often. "To think," he muttered bitterly to himself, "I seen 'em comin' and didn't know 'em." CHAPTER XXII OLD SHUCKS, THE DETECTIVE We left Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill, inter- ested spectators of the combat between young Albert, the Boy Orator, and Buttermilk Charley. Perceiving that the altercants would probably kill each other, the contest soon palled upon Terrible Teddy. "Let's go hence from here," he suggested after a few moments, "whar there is sompin doing !" The strain of the pace was beginning to tell upon Peaceful Bill. "But whither?" he asked. "Can't we go home?" "Eventually," laughed his companion, tantaliz- ingly; "just now we'll see how Old Joke Annon's corral looks in his absence." They well knew that this veteran ranger was still standing guard on the trail over near the Big Corral. But they knew, too, that his outfit slept little. 134 Old Shucks, the Detective 135 Some one was usually found there ready for business. Hastily drawing on the gum shoes that they always carried with them, the two men slipped into Old Joke's compound. Strangely enough, the corral gates were wide open. But no sooner had the two rangers entered than these portals sprang to behind their backs, with a sharp click. Three shots in rapid succession rang out upon the lambent night air. "A signal," hoarsely whispered Terrible Teddy. "Trapped, or I'm a maverick," responded his com- panion, in low tones. During the foregoing brief colloquy, the two rangers rapidly readjusted their weapons, and Peaceful Bill slipped on a second pair of gum shoes. It was a night for dark deeds. An inky sky dropped an impenetrable pall upon the earth. Far away in the mesquite, a jack-rabbit barked. There was something ominous in the sound. Then, again, all was still. 136 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill A quick glance at the chaparral fence revealed no soft spots. Old Joke had an eye to that. Should they reveal themselves and ask for mercy ? No! A thousand times, No! A false move might mean death itself. Too late they recalled that Old Joke wanted the job that Terrible Teddy was about to award his fellow-ranger, Peaceful Bill. And worse, there were rumors that his outfit was out for the goods. Suddenly, to the trained ears of the two plains- men, there came a faint sound. In the almost impenetrable gloom they could yet discern the quick, surreptitious opening and closing of the ponderous gates. Some unseen sentinel had admitted a heavily cloaked and somberly masked figure. The eagle eye of Terrible Teddy could not mis- take his man. "Bill," he muttered savagely, "it's Uncle Wesley Cornhusker, or Old Shucks the Detective." Peaceful Bill gasped. OLD SHUCKS SHADOWS A CERTAIN PARTY 138 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill "Then we are lost." "I can't be mistaken," whispered Terrible Teddy; "he worked for me until I fired him. Now he crosses my trail ag'in. But " he loosened his trusty bowie. "If he's trailing us, thet may mean our salva- tion," suddenly exclaimed Peaceful Bill. "Hist!" Old Shucks, greatly encumbered by his cloak, had inadvertently stumbled over one of Peaceful Bill's feet. Deftly pushing the detective aside, the two rang- ers preserved their incognito for a time, the better to observe what trick was about to be turned. In the contretemps, Old Shucks' heavy mask became detached and fell to the ground. Perceiving that the detective had not noticed the accident, Terrible Teddy sprang lightly forward and proffered the fallen disguise politely to its owner. Old Shucks, his Sherlockian mind intent upon the work in hand, took the mask brusquely and hastened on. For a time at least Old Shucks was safe. In that brief moment, however, Terrible Teddy had seen much. Old Shucks, the Detective 139 Under Old Shucks' arm were several small par- cels that might have been bricks. Yet the crisp odor that emanated therefrom, to- gether with the strident but not unpleasant sound resembling a high Treasury note, belied this theory. A mysterious card attached to each package bore this inscription : "Use only in case of emergency. /. P. M." It was plain that the parcels, if bricks, were well disguised. CHAPTER XXIII THE HOLE IN THE WALL "Pardon me, gentlemen, but I would like to speak with you privately a moment." These words were addressed to a group of Old Joke Annon's henchmen as they were whiling away an idle hour with a game of penuchle, by a roughly dressed, stoop-shouldered, middle-aged man with pensive gray eyes and a touch of near-to-Nature's- heart about him. A slouch hat and a Scotland Yard cravanette partly completed his attire. "How dare you address us all together?" they replied simultaneously, as their quivering nostrils detected a peculiar crisp odor. "I am sorry to be under the necessity of so doing, and I assure you that I have no intention of being rude," the stranger replied. "You are no detective?" casually remarked one of those addressed. 140 The Hole in the Wall 141 The rough figure gave an almost perceptible start. "Ain't I, though?" he replied, proudly displaying a large German-silver badge. "Then put on yer mask," his interlocutor replied. The stranger now gave a real start. Engrossed with the delicate nature of his task, he had quite forgotten the mask that Terrible Teddy had handed him, and which he yet carried in his hand. Hastily adjusting it, and simultaneously and ap- parently negligently scattering a few shreds of corn- shucks about him, the stranger awaited develop- ments. A youth who had a moment to spare confronted him. "You are Old Shucks the Detective?" the youth remarked nonchalantly. "That is my name, sir." "You will not be offended if I tell you a few things?" "No, sir." "You have in your possession certain packages of a peculiarly grateful odor?" 142 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill "I have." 'They are to be used in case of emergency?" "Quite true." "What emergency brings you hither?" 'Tm shadowin' a certain party." "His name?" "Peaceful Bill, the terror of the Free Rangers/' "Your principal?" "Parties as shall be nameless." "Then what?" "I'm to put the come-alongs on him." "His punishment?" "Death." "I see," remarked his inquisitor. "And his offense?" "Not givin' none !" "Why do you do this?" "My needs are desperate." "Is it monetary need that drives you to this dreadful occupation, or simply a desire for gold?" "Under ordinary circumstances I would esteem it a privilege to argue motives and causes. As it is. time presses. I see I am in wrong, and will with- draw." The Hole in the Wall 143 "One moment! These gratifyingly fragrant packages? Do you desire to be relieved of them?" "They are to be handed to the party who puts the come-alongs on my quarry." "Then hand them over to these worthy gentle- men." exclaimed a rich, robust voice at Old Shucks' side. In another instant, Peaceful Bill and his pal, Terrible Teddy, stepped from the deep shadow into the fitful glare of the flickering camp-fire. As Peaceful Bill pronounced these startling words the two Rangers threw their shooting arms on the ground, and the more pronounced of the duo extended his bared arms. "Hook on the cuffs, gents. I surrender." The penuchle game came to an abrupt close. "Not a-fore we get them packages," exclaimed a disturbed player. "That, gentlemen," remarked Peaceful Bill, in a voice like a vat of melted butter, "is a matter between you and Uncle Wesley." "Fur," added his companion, Terrible Teddy, "we ain't a-goin' to make no rumpus in Old Joke's camp." 144 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill "If ye'll provide us accommodations, even second- rate ones, till this 'ere matter is satisfactory adjusted, we'll go along peaceable as yearlin's." "I consent," said Old Shucks, selecting a couple of pairs of handcuffs and gleefully adjusting them for immediate use. "I would have avoided this, but I do my duty as I see it. Remember the big one !" "Come with me!" The spokesman of the outfit thus addressed the two prisoners. The three men disappeared in the darkness, and a moment later the grating of a lock sounded grue- somely. Rejoining the expectant group, Old Shucks mo- tioned his confederates to a shadowed recess, and in the dark there was a quick transfer of several neat packages. No sooner was this done than the relentless and wily Sleuth demanded his victims. Alert and with handcuffs ready, there was a hasty return to the locked apartment. The youth, who had so creditably manipulated the deal, was apparently ready to make good. And yet his hand seemed to tremble as he forced the lock. The Hole in the Wall 145 The door flew open, and Old Shucks sprang into the apartment. It was empty. The birds had flown. A wave of cold night air sweeping through a wide hole in the wall told all. With a glance of defiance at the Old Joke outfit that had turned the trick on him, Old Shucks ex- claimed : "Boys, I allow ye hev put one over on the old man." Concealing his chagrin as well as he could, the greatest gum-shoe artist in the West then disap- peared through the same hole. A few moments later several members of Old Joke's outfit might have been seen sitting idly about the embers of the almost extinct camp-fire. There was a shade of disappoinment on the face of each. "Anyway," said one of the men, in a chastened voice, as he re-sorted a neat pile of brown paper cut the size of a treasury note, "it'll make good shavin' paper." CHAPTER XXIV BADGER BOB It was now nearly 10 p. m. Noting this fact, and taking themselves severely to task for their procrastination, our two heroes hurried homeward without further digression. They kept early hours. Particularly Terrible Teddy. But he picked them, generally, at the other end of the day. "Ef it hadn't a-been fur Uncle Wesley Corn- husker," remarked Peaceful Bill, referring to the Monte Cristo episode in Old Joke Annon's corral, "I calkerlate as how we'd a-had a bit o' trouble." "Ye kin allers depend on Old Shucks to help a friend when he don't mean to," replied Terrible Teddy. "I'll say this fur him: his work is allers sartin. I shell remember him when I git my job." The kindly intent in Peaceful Bill's voice was 146 Badger Bob 147 more than emphasized by the nervous twitching of his ringers and the peculiar crossing of the second digit over each forefinger. "Speaking about my job," continued Peaceful Bill as the two tried plainsmen approached the Big Corral, "how about that little transfer o' sartin articles thet ye promised me?" "They'll all come, Bill. Don't get on-restless. Ain't I stickin' by ye?" "Ye air, pardner, clost — night and day. O' course I thank ye." "As to them vallebles," interrupted Terrible Teddy, "ye'll get 'em when yer can use 'em. But what's the matter waitin' till the big round-up and the final ch'ice comes off? I might need 'em mean- while. "Teddy," said his companion, sort o' purrin' like, "I allow yer goin' to give me a square deal." "Bill, ain't this just grand out yere — under the stars?" "They ain't no stars shinin'." "I mean under the moon." "The moon is set." "Yer splitting hairs, Bill." 148 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill "I ain't splittin' no treasure yet as I kin see." In such merry badinage they completed their un- eventful homecoming and were about to pass into the Big Corral, when, just outside the gate, a medium-sized man of dignified bearing stepped into view. "Good evening, gentlemen," he exclaimed in the French tongue ; "I trust I do not startle you." He had been covered instantly by four wicked- looking Colts. Seeing that the man was a complete stranger, our heroes lowered their guns and bade him speak fur- ther. Observing that those he had accosted did not understand his tongue, the stranger, in English, rapidly explained that he had come a long journey on a personal matter that concerned both the men he was addressing. He was ushered into the Bunk House. The stranger was plainly not a cowpuncher or a rustler. His garb denoted him to be a trapper. There was that in his face that indicated a man of intelligence and spirit. BADGER BOB SUBMITS TO AN INTERVIEW 150 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill "Ye must a come a good ways," remarked Ter- rible Teddy, observing a return ticket in the man's pocket. "From the far Northwest." "Do you require sustenance," inquired Peaceful Bill sympathetically, pausing for a moment in his attack upon some smoking viands that had awaited our heroes' return. "Your provender looks good to me," replied the stranger, in broken English and respectfully, but standing aloof with even increased reserve and dig- nity, "but my wants are few — in that line. In my native woods I subsist simply but satisfactorily on nuts and milk." "Milk in the woods," exclaimed Terrible Teddy, ever alert at the sound of a possible anachronism in Nature. "Certainement !" responded the stranger, drop- ping into fragments of his native tongue. "Oui ! I get ze nuts from ze nut trees and ze milk from ze udders." A cachinnating chuckle began to emanate from Peaceful Bill when Terrible Teddy, his brow cloud- ing, observed tartly : Badger Bob 151 "I do not detect cause fur any levity, Bill!" The stranger continued : "Messieurs, I have come on a delicate mission. Even in my remote retreat I have heard of the dispute concerning the successorship to Monsieur," bowing to Terrible Teddy. "I am not a cowboy or rustler, but I have studied the trade. If the dispute continues, would Monsieur," bowing to Peaceful Bill, "care to have me take his place?" Peaceful Bill sprang to his feet, in rage. Terrible Teddy motioned him back. "In announcing that my choice is irrevocable and positive, and that your offer is unqualifiedly although courteously rejected, since I see you are a man of parts, I desire to inquire who you may be." "Among people of my class I am known merely as Sieur Robert. The cannaile commonly address me as Badger Bob." "And your occupation ?" "Scholar and recluse by choice; trapper and path- finder in the great northwestern woods by neces- sity." The man was apparently of a different type from those who ordinarily followed his perilous and unprofitable vocation. 152 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill Terrible Teddy produced a small purse of gold. "Pardon me, Monsieur," exclaimed the Sieur Robert, "I cannot accept charity. I desire employ- ment." "Then I must tell ye, yer in the wrong pew." "One moment," interposed Peaceful Bill, who had been apparently thinking hard and fast, "the man seems to have his good p'ints " He whispered something to Terrible Teddy. "Your assistant?" repeated the latter, his brow crocheting. Then he paused, and our two heroes held a few moments of secret converse. At its conclusion, Terrible Teddy, showing Badger Bob the door, remarked : "I don't think there's a thing doin', my good man, but ye might come to the big round-up. Yer can't tell what might happen." "Au revoir," said the Sieur Robert. "What's that?" hotly replied Terrible Teddy, drawing his gun. But the scholarly trapper was gone, and nothing was heard but Peaceful Bill finishing his cachin- nating chuckle. CHAPTER XXV WHAT TOOK PLACE IN THE COULEE. Toward the close of a hot, sultry day in the month of June — on Tuesday, to be explicit — a solitary horseman might have been seen slowly wending his way down the sloping sides of a coulee such as are to be found here and there on the plains of our great western states. To the right and left of him rode two other men whose garb plainly proclaimed them to be scouts or guides. Immediately in the rear of the three men, and carefully guarded by a calvalcade of similarly mounted and armed men, a train of heavily laden and creaking wagons dragged its sinuous length across the untracked prairie. From the signs of caution plainly perceptible in the alert horsemen, it was apparent that the caravan was no ordinary one. The very presence of Ben Rich, the veteran scout 153 154 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill and guide, now rich beyond the necessity of new perils, confirmed this. Suddenly, Old Rich, as he was popularly denomi- nated, putting spurs to his animal, dashed forward. His immediate attendants, apparently reading their leader's thought, did likewise. Arrived at the bottom of the coulee, or ravine, they paused and took the lay of the land. Eli Hew, or Taciturn Eli, as he was familiarly called, and Pittsburg Phil, the other of Old Rich's two confreres, appeared to await their superior's verdict with some anxiety. "We can conceal ourselves here," said Old Rich, finally, "safe from observation. You know your instructions." Without waiting to participate in the parking of the heavily laden wagons, Taciturn Eli and Pitts- burg Phil instantly gave rein to their steeds and were off in the fast gathering gloom. Eli Hew, reserved and silent, was known as the best debater on the plains and he had been en- gaged as interpreter. His fellow guide, Pittsburg Phil, not so well known in the west, had been employed because of 156 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill his well known skill in protecting similar trains in the far east. It was night — And night only as it descends on this portion of our beauteous land. A million stars were mingling their rays in a moonless glow that spilled itself from the inverted chalice of the cyan sky. The tropic smile of day had passed into the seduc- tive languor of Beauty lost in dreams. The limitless plain, an echoless void, gave forth no sound nor sign of life, until suddenly "Clink!" The figure of a man, hitherto concealed in the shadow of a sage-tree, sank swiftly to the ground. With the stealth of an Indian, it made its way to the edge of a ravine into which it disappeared. . It was Old Rich, sleepless and waiting for his emissaries' return. "Clink! Clink!" Again the golden click sounded. Old Rich had well divined the cause. Some one in his own gang was tapping a wagon. Even in the moonless night, the invincible chief What Took Place in the Coulee 157 scout could make out a dark figure surreptitiously helping himself. The man, raising the tailboard of one of the big wagons, was enticing therefrom a satisfactory stream of shining metal. With the noiseless tread of a panther, Old Rich crept forward. In another moment he would have seized the mis- creant. Just then the man, his hat filled to the brim with golden coin, turned and spoke politely. "Pleasant evening, Cap. Ye'll find the papers right thar under the wagon." Old Rich saw a bundle of neatly printed sheets on the ground. Hastily examining the ornately engraved heading on them, he made out : "Bond certificate, $100. Pineville and Cypress Pan-American Electric Railway (Limited)/' "Thar's a thousand of 'em," explained the waiting man. "Hev they been approved?" Old Rich asked this respectfully. 158 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill "Sartin," replied the man; "don't ye see my name writ to 'em?" "Then," remarked Old Rich, as he deftly attached a new lock to the loose tailboard, "I don't see no reason to detain ye." Surcharged with pelf, the new magnate was slowly making his way out of the coulee, when the adroit scout added : "Whar is this yer road?" Irritated over the protracted delay, the man replied, petulantly : "I can't say just now. A month ago the saw mill was a-workin' in Louisiana. But I reckon it's in Texas now, and I allow as mebbe they tuck the tracks with 'em." At the top of a tree a bird twittered. The withdrawing man struck it dead with a double-eagle. Then, to make sure he was not followed, he glanced back into the starlit coulee. Old Rich was doing a little thinking. CHAPTER XXVI A DEAL IN THE DARK We will now relate briefly and succinctly what happened to Old Rich's assistants, Taciturn Eli and Pittsburg Phil. Like a gust of wind, the two horsemen dashed out of the coulee and were soon lost to sight. The chosen camping-place of Old Rich was in the almost dry bed of a small tributary of Salt Creek, just where the smaller stream debouched into the main waterway. Across this latter stream lay the Free Range. Some miles to the right was the encampment of Terrible Teddy. Eli Hew and Pittsburg Phil did not draw rein until they had reached the vicinity of the Big Corral. While yet some distance away, they dismounted, threw the reins over the heads of their panting steeds, and then, with a skill born of long expe- 159 160 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill rience, hastily disguised themselves as lawyers and advanced confidently to the corral. To heighten the verisimilitude of their assumed vocations, they did not proceed directly thither, but, after a series of circumlocutions, paused finally opposite the back door and gave a short, high whistle. At the same time, in case their signal should mis- carry, they loosened their ready injunctions. But all went well. The figure of a man with a discolored eye, an impediment in his speech, and his arm in a sling, slipped through the area and stole stiffly toward the strangers. It was Rough Deal George. "What detained ye?" It was Taciturn Eli speaking sharply. "You were to meet us at the coulee and pilot us through the Free Range," added Pittsburg Phil. "I am watched and cannot leave." "I suspected as much," scornfully interrupted Eli ; "I think you have frigid pedal extremities." "That is as may be," replied Rough Deal George, regretfully, "but I am not guiding at present." A Deal in the Dark 161 "What has happened?" inquired Pittsburg Phil, with well-feigned sympathy, for in truth there was no love lost between the three men. "Read that," exclaimed Rough Deal George, producing a letter : Dear George: In June I will arrive, in charge of a trading expedition. Your boss, Terrible Teddy, has sworn that I shall not do business on the Free Range. It is well known that he has ammuni- tion on hand in the shape of bombs. Your instruc- tions are to secure or spike these bombs, and meet us at the coulee to act as our guide. The scouts I bring with me are not to be known in the matter. Old Rich. "I secured one of 'em," added Rough Deal George. "Ef ye want the others, go get 'em." "Then our visit here is fruitless?" "I am temporarily incapacitated," replied Rough Deal George, "to my regret. But I have not been idle." Thereupon he imparted in an undertone certain information to the impatient scouts. Five minutes later Taciturn Eli and Pittsburg Phil were a-horse again. 1 62 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill Nor did they slacken pace until, well into the Free Range, their dripping steeds stood outside the silent and tight stockade of Old Joke Annon's corral. Was there a magic in the instructions that Rough Deal George had imparted ? Slowly but distinctly, Taciturn Eli repeated three times the simple words, "A cabinet job." Almost instantly the ponderous and double-locked gates opened and a group of cowpunchers, some of the best in Old Joke's outfit, ran silently forward. "We desire to hold converse with the boss," explained Pittsburg Phil, trembling for fear Old Joke might be among those present. But his fears were groundless, and the bluff went. Old Joke was still standing pat on guard duty over near the Big Corral. "We represent a party o' traders who desire to pass through the Range with a train of goods," explained Eli Hew. "My friend and me is guards, but the Eastern Amalgamated Union of Scouts and Guides forbids us working in this territory. We're here fur some local men, and the right ones will be paid well." After the stampede had subsided, and some of OLP JOKE ANNON WAS STILL STANDING PAT 164 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill the volunteers had regretfully retired, Taciturn Eli and Pittsburg Phil were off again with a squad of Old Joke's best men close at their heels. Old Rich had scarcely finished counting the bond certificates of the Pineville and Cypress Railroad, and the first faint streaks of dawn were just illu- mining the distant horizon, when the sharp clatter of hoofs was heard and a dozen horsemen galloped swiftly into view. "Saved," muttered the grizzled leader, as he rec- ognized the trusted lieutenants. "But who are these men ?" Pittsburg Phil rapidly acquainted him with the situation. An exclamation of rage escaped Old Rich. "Fools," he roared, "ye should 'a brought Rough Deal George at any expense. I suspect that man. He may betray us yet. And Old Joke?" he added, nervously. "He does not know," answered Taciturn Eli, with ill-concealed trepidation. "Mebbe not," roared Old Rich, "mebbe not. But ye can't tell. Our salvation now is to cross the Salt, A Deal in the Dark 165 do our tradin' and escape afore the word gets out. We advance at once." The signal was given and the sleeping cavalcade turned out. While a hasty breakfast was under way there was a whispered confab between the guides from Old Joke's outfit and then a spokesman advanced and, sombrero in hand, addressed Old Rich cogently. "How about the mazuma?" Old Rich's scowl passed into a smile and he went to one of the wagons. In a moment he returned with an armful of small packages resembling bricks in form, but emitting a crisp odor and a rasping but not unpleasant sound, like a high Treasury note. "Thank ye kindly," remarked the spokesman, gaz- ing for a moment on the packages, "only oncet ef ye please. Kind regards to Uncle Wesley." And the Old Joke outfit turned and rode rapidly away without even a farewell. CHAPTER XXVII AT LAST Badger Bob had gone and Peaceful Bill and Ter- rible Teddy were alone in the Bunk House. The exciting adventures of the day and the wan- ing night might have suggested sleep, but such seemed foreign to the eyes of each. In the low light of the richly furnished apartment the Treasure Box might be seen in its accustomed place on an escritoire. Peaceful Bill finally broke the silence. "Come to think of it, Teddy — an' I can't fur the life o' me tell how it ever got into my head — we ain't made our little deal yit. Ye was a-goin' to give me sompin out o' that thar box." Terrible Teddy yawned. "Hadn't ye better shet the winder, Bill? I kin feel the south wind purty strong." Peaceful Bill shuddered. He had felt it himself. 166 At Last 167 "Why don't ye go to bed, Teddy?" he asked. "Why don't you?" "O, I'm jist wakin' up!" Terrible Teddy eyed his chosen successor suspi- ciously. What did he mean ? "I guess I'll read awhile," remarked Terrible Teddy, settling his athletic, but somewhat off-form frame in an easy chair and taking a novel from his pocket. It was labeled, "His Struggle With Himself, or Did He Wed the Girl?" Peaceful Bill, a look of seeming determination spreading over his wealth of countenance, did like- wise and was soon lost in the pages of "The Young Circumnavigator, or Was He in Right?" For a time no sound was heard but the movement of Peaceful Bill's sympathetic lips. Thus an hour passed. "Why don't ye go to bed, Teddy — ye need your strenth." "O, I don't know," replied the other; "it's gettin* near the end and I want to see how it comes out." "What's it about?" 1 68 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill "A fellow that's a sidin' up to a gal don't know whether he's in love. An' then he thinks he is an' he don't know ef she'll hev him." "How does it end ?" inquired his companion. Terrible Teddy threw the book from him with a cry of rage. "Continued," he exclaimed, "it don't tell." Peaceful Bill yawned. Terrible Teddy began to look over his shooting irons. Peaceful Bill gave every sign of impatience. It is useless to disguise the fact that he was ill at ease. It is now necessary to explain that, among his other accomplishments, Peaceful Bill was a skilled ventriloquist. At this juncture, and while apparently again en- grossed with the tale, he suddenly threw his voice into a far corner of the Big Corral and made a sound like a naval surgeon writing a letter. Another instant and he was alone. "I would have avoided this," muttered Peaceful Bill, "but I must be taken alive." 'GREAT SCOTT! BUNKOED!" 170 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill With a swift motion he had the Treasure Box in his hands. It was but the work of a moment to force the lid. Great Scott! He had been buncoed ! The sole contents of the chest were a volume of Roget's Thesaurus, a puzzle entitled "The Fleet in the Pacific— Can You Get It Out," and the one treasure that he feared Teddy might thrust upon him — the plan entitled "Tariff Revision." With a quick hasty oath he abstracted the latter, determined that this at least should never be his, and with a cry of baffled rage returned the Box whence he had taken it. Now to conceal what he had taken. But where? It must not be found upon his person. A thousand places flashed through his mind, but none of them dark and secure enough. ******* "Don't move or speak! Keep still and you will not be harmed." It was a man who spoke. A black mask covered At Last 171 his face to his chin. In one hand he held a dark lantern and in the other a monkey wrench. The burglar, for such his unwarranted presence, supplemented by his disguise and threatening atti- tude, proclaimed him, advanced slowly. "Promise me," the cloaked intruder remarked in silvery tones, "that you will not sit upon me, and you are perfectly safe." As these words fell from the lips of the masked figure, an elegant little French clock which stood upon the marble mantle tinkled the hour. 'Twas twelve ! " Tis later than I thought. I have not a moment to spare. Where are the jewels?" "You will find them in yonder Treasure Box on the ormulu escritoire," respectfully answered Peace- ful Bill. "Take casket and all and begone." Three quick strides and the Box was beneath the intruder's cloak. As the man turned, Peaceful Bill, with one of his old but not forgotten tricks, deftly concealed the Tariff Revision plan beneath the burglar's belt. Then, as the intruder glided once more across the 172 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill room in retreat, Peaceful Bill quickly turned on the gas at a bracket of the chandelier above his head. Seizing a match from a delicately carved stand, he struck it and quickly thrust the sputtering Lucifer over the current of escaping gas. In an instant the room was flooded with a brilliant light. With a smothered curse the thief turned. As he did so, his mask was jerked partly aside, and Peaceful Bill caught an instant's glimpse of a part of the villain's face — his jaw. It was Silver Bill Brennings. CHAPTER XXVIII FOILED AGAIN As our readers have surmized, Silver Bill's with- drawal from the Mocrat Camp was but a ruse. Seeing that he had nothing to lose at Big Smoke's hands, he had, with the connivance of a trusted and well-paid friend, prepared and sent to himself the forged telegram. Thus covering his tracks, he had disguised him- self as a Japanese wrestler and obtained easy ad- mission into the Big Corral. Concealing himself behind a convenient tree, he had awaited a propitious hour to strike. As he emerged from the Bunk House, the long- sought treasures in his possession once more, he found himself beneath the fitful glare of a nearby lamp. "Now, fur a peek at the beauties," he muttered. Wrenching open the lid, he gave one glance and the Treasure Box fell from his nerveless fingers. 173 174 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill "Sold!" His hand flew to his trusty wrench, but it was too late. Already the cyclonic disturbance within the Bunk House told him that something was doing there. Yet, frugal and thrifty to the bitter end, he made a momentary examination of the mocking contents of the Box. Then, slipping the Thesaurus into his pocket, he adroitly returned the Pacific Fleet puzzle to the Box, caught the chest in his anger-distorted fingers and, with a blood curdling imprecation, hurled it through the window of the Bunk House. "Fur whoever wants it," he hissed. "There is but one weak spot in my heart," he muttered to himself, "I once had a mother. Were it not so the villains who have undone me had paid the penalty for this with their lives." Then, hastily changing his disguise to a conven- tional attire, he strode haughtily away into the night toward the thin spiral of blue smoke that marked the Mocrat Camp. The next day broke dull and lowering. Leaden clouds portended rain. Foiled Again 175 Terrible Teddy, succumbing at last to the trying adventures of the night, slept heavily and did not arise until five o'clock. Peaceful Bill arose soon after — at ten. "Bill," remarked Terrible Teddy, somewhat icily, but not unkindly, at their simple dejeuner, "wot do ye s'pose kem o' that Tariff thing?" "I hid it on him." For a moment the two strong men sat looking at each other in silence, and then Terrible Teddy reached forth a trembling arm and grasped Peaceful Bill's hand. "Shake." ******* Engrossed the day before with their preparations for the attack on Billy Whiskers' blow-out, our two heroes had not found time to bury their dead. They now prepared, with something akin to pleas- ure, for the incineration of False Alarm Joe's re- mains. "Never mind," remarked Peaceful Bill, when they found that the body had disappeared, "he shore ain't a-comin' back no more. And yet, even as they spoke, False Alarm Joe was 176 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill back in his own corral anointing certain scalped postmasters with the best hair tonic he could find, and looking for better. "Any way/' suggested Terrible Teddy, in a dry, professional tone, "we've got a little undertakin' to do with Rough Deal George." Hastily repairing to the scene of Rough Deal George's explosion, they found that member of the outfit wearing a discolored eye and his arm in a sling, hard at work on his accounts. The wounded paymaster intimated that he de- sired to see his superior alone for a moment. At the conclusion of the brief interview, Rough Deal George resumed his labors and Terrible Teddy led Peaceful Bill quietly away. "Did ye hear what he said, Bill?" anxiously re- marked the Boss of the Corral. "I observed he has no present impediment in his speech," replied Peaceful Bill. "He ain't," thoughtfully replied Terrible Teddy, "he ain't." Somehow Terrible Teddy was far from talkative. At last Peaceful Bill, with well assumed careless- ness, remarked : Foiled Again 177 "Pardner, not as it's any o' my business, but what kem o' all them treasures as was in the box?" "Them?" said Terrible Teddy, as if trying to re- call the matter. "O, them! Why, Bill, there was too many a-gittin' to know whar they wuz. I al- lowed I'd better put 'em away fur safe keepin'. Thar in hyar," and he tapped his breast pocket lovingly. "An' when do I git what ye promised?" "Bill, I don't want you to think I ain't kep faith. I said I would and I'm a-goin' to." "Thank ye." "Here's what I been a-savin' fur ye, an' I don't want ye to say I didn't tote fair." Terrible Teddy handed Peaceful Bill what Silver Bill had left— "The Fleet in the Pacific" puzzle. The tall, herculean figure of Peaceful Bill heaved with emotion. Was it gratitude? Hardly. "It ain't no use, pardner. You're stallin' me. Ye know I can't work it. I don't want it." CHAPTER XXIX THE ROUND-UP Those of our young readers who are familiar with "Silver Bill's Fast, or The Slave of the Lyceum," need not be informed that this famed renegade was not the man to be put out by his failure to cop the Treasure Box. Previous disappointments had inured him. Putting a bold face on the situation, although bit- terly disappointed, he tapped his previously recov- ered and prized Trust Control chart and chuckled. "This at least," he muttered, "is mine. Would that I had more." Then his hand touched the Tariff Revision Plans that Peaceful Bill had skilfully and surreptitiously forced upon him. With a shrill, piercing scream of joy, he caught them to his breast. "Thank Heaven!" he almost sobbed, "saved at last. The villain little knows what he has done." 178 The Round-Up 179 Pausing only long enough to disguise an old lec- ture as a new one, with the aid of Teddy's Thesau- rus, in order that he might afford himself temporary sustenance, Silver Bill hiked hurriedly hence to the land of the Mocrats. What he did there, and how, may well be the sub- ject of another tale. ******* That next day sped swiftly, and then another. So, indeed, passed a third. Then, the habit becoming fixed, time passed more rapidly. The dry season was upon the plains. Great waves of heated air rose and fell blightingly upon the corrals of the Free Range. Still standing steadfastly guarding the trail near the Big Corral, Old Joke Annon stirred uneasily. Sounds from his own corral had come faintly to him, but soon all was still again and the veteran plainsman slumbered once more. "He shall not pass this way," murmured the old man, as the dream picture of a large, portly man hazed itself before him, "unless he uses force." Could he hold the pass ? 180 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill In Billy Whiskers' Camp the ever busy leader watched and waited for the momentous day, with a smile on his face and a new smokeless bomb in the cupboard. Red Vest Tim fretted uneasily aud marked off each succeeding day, impatiently glancing mean- while and almost hourly at the unsuspected fire- works. ******* Buttermilk Charley and Albert, the Boy Orator, were not yet out of the corral hospital whence they had gone as a result of their bloody combat. The blind pig was no more, but the incriminating- cherry was yet at large. Would Buttermilk Charley dare attend the round- up? As for Young Albert, he did not care. The timely assistance he had given Peaceful Bill showed where he stood. Any successor to Terrible Teddy suited him, so long as it was a large, portly man with a sense of gratitude. ******* And the silent, dignified trapper from the far northwest, Badger Bob? The Round-Up 181 In the silent and virgin wilderness of his chosen haunt he was accumulating what pelts he could and his valise was already packed. Evidently he meant to obtrude upon the round-up. But, as he trapped hastily here and there, with one eye on the calendar, he often murmured to himself: "Shell I ef I kin? Shell I ef I kin?" And the fragrant woods seemed to echo : "Efyekin! Ef ye kin." * * * # * * * Each morning as the heated days passed, the swart figure of a grizzled guide might have been seen slowly ascending to the margin of a coulee lo- cated on a small tributary of the Salt River, where it cuts into the wide expanse of the Free Range. It was Old Rich, the Veteran Guide, worn and wasted, hoping against hope, for the help he needed to get him onto the Range. In the coulee, his assistants, Taciturn Eli and Pittsburg Bill, sat disconsolate and idle. They had come to him highly recommended, but they had failed to deliver the goods. As often as Old Rich toiled to the higher ground 1 82 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill and swept the horizon with his palm-shaded eyes, he descended again, morose and disconsolate. At last, too weak to make even this short climb, he took a board and with a dead ember of the camp fire made a rude sign. A few weeks later Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill, hastening to the coming round-up, passed that way. On the brink of the coulee this sign met their astonished gaze: "Wanted, immediately, a capable all-round guide, without previous experience. References not ex- changed. State Terms. Old Rich/' A glance at the coulee told all. "Help! water! help!" For a moment Peaceful Bill hesitated. Then, without a word, the two riders turned their horses' heads and rode swiftly away. Galloping hurriedly out of the timber adjacent to Salt River, Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill suddenly came upon a weary and discouraged look- ing man fishing. It was Uncle Wesley Cornshucks, or Old Shucks, The Round-Up 183 the Detective, angling in the muddy waters of the silvery stream. The man was not recognized at once, as he had temporarily laid off his disguise. But his nearby gum shoes betrayed him. "Old Shucks," kindly volunteered Peaceful Bill, "ef ye want work thar's a caravan stranded back yander. The' re a-lookin' fur help." "I been a-hopin' to ketch sompin," the well- known but apparently discouraged detective mut- tered, "an* mebbe I kin." "They won't exchange no references," added Terrible Teddy, as he and his companion plunged forward to ford the stream. "Teddy," exclaimed Peaceful Bill in midstream, as he cast a furtive look not unmixed with anx- iety at his companion, "I allow as how I'll mebbe hev to stake out a corral on this crick ef I don't get the job ye promised me." "Don't ye worry, pardner. Ye won't have to," replied Terrible Teddy. "Your man Hitch is on ahead with the big bomb, safe and sound. An 5 ef nothin' happens to it afore the Round-Up it's agoin' to make the real noise fur ye." 184 Terrible Teddy and Peaceful Bill "Pardner," huskily continued Peaceful Bill with a cloud of anxiety in his voice, "ye don't allow any- thing is agoin' to happen to it?" "I should say not!" was the quick, confident re- tort. "Hitch is a lot more carefuller about bombs sence what happened to Rough Deal George." As he spoke he jerked his reins to keep Big Stick from stopping to drink from so vile a stream and his jaws snapped together with a resounding clack. As our heroes looked back, reaching the further bank, they could just discern the figure of Old Shucks making tracks toward the guideless expedi- tion of Old Rich. ******* Little more remains to be told. Certainly not enough for another chapter — until after the big Round-Up. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS II II II 013 982 401 5