was moving away from him – a darkfigure barely seen in the shadows of the night – shadows cast by theflickering embers of the fire. And then, in a rush, there came to theyoung rancher the meaning of this night alarm. It had been partly adream and partly an actual happening.
Some one had stepped over him as he lay in his blankets and had kickedhis foot, causing the dream to merge into reality.
"Who are you?" cried Dick sharply, reaching for his gun.
CHAPTER V
THE WARNING
Flaring up suddenly, a stick, in the embers of the fire which had longbeen smoldering, burst into blaze. By the light of this Dick saw thefigure hurrying out of the maze of sleeping bodies in the camp. Andthere was light enough to see, though dimly, that the figure was thatof an old man.
"Billee Dobb, is that you?" cried Dick, lowering the gun with which hehad begun to draw a bead on the moving figure. "What's the matter?"
But, even as he asked the question his eyes roved to the place wherethe old puncher had spread his blankets. And a huddled form there toldDick that Billee was still sleeping.
Then, before the boy rancher could again get his gun up, the mysteriousfigure that had caused the night alarm slipped out of the circle offirelight and into the shadows of darkness.
Hardly sure, even yet, that it was not all a dream, part of the queer, fantastic vision of the cowboy shoe salesman kicking his foot, Dick satthere on his blankets, fingering his gun and wondering what wouldhappen next.
"Did I see an old man or didn't I?" the boy was asking himself when twoother things happened simultaneously, in the end convincing him that itwas not all a dream.
One thing that happened was that Billee Dobb himself awakened and satup as Dick was doing.
"What's the row?" the veteran cattle puncher demanded.
Before Dick could reply there was a disturbance among the tetheredponies as though something had alarmed them. In a flash it came toDick that the intruder he had seen was trying to steal a horse. Theponies did not dream. When they saw anything they knew it was real.Accordingly the boy sharply called:
"A horse thief, Billee!"
This warning was enough to set any Westerner on the alert in aninstant, for, in spite of the progress of automobiles, the horse isstill, in the cattle reaches of the west, a thing most vitally needed.
"Horse thieves, eh?" cried Billee in ringing tones. "The varmints!
Come on, boys! We'll get 'em!"
His cries and the voice of Dick served to rouse the others in camp andin a few moments Nort, Bud, Yellin' Kid and Snake Purdee had unrolledfrom their warm blankets and had grabbed their guns. Bud threw somelight cottonwood on the embers and the blaze that at once resultedshowed objects up fairly plainly, though there was sufficient shadow tomake the picking out of any particular horse thief very difficult.
"Where is he – which way did he go?" shouted Yellin' Kid.
"Over there!" and Dick pointed the trail along which they had riddenthat day. Quickly he told his story – how he had been awakened by themidnight visitor kicking the boy's foot as he strode over him.
"Come on!" called Snake and in a moment the entire camp was trailingafter him in the direction where Dick had seen the old man vanish.
But it was like pursuing one of the shadows of the night, and it didnot take long, after emerging from the circle of illumination of thefire into the blackness of the surrounding night, to impress all withthe idea that a capture was out of the question.
"How many horses did he get?" asked Bud. "Gee! Why didn't you wakeme, Dick?"
"I did as soon as I got my wits about me," was the answer. "It allhappened so suddenly."
"Horse thieves don't generally send word they're comin'!" chuckled
Billee. "But it strikes me you've made a mistake, Dick."
"A mistake, how?"
"Callin' this old man, as you say he was, a horse thief."
"What else was he?"
"I'm not sayin' he wasn't. But he didn't take any of our ponies.
Count for yourself."
It took only a few moments to enumerate the riding and pack animalstethered near the camp and the count was found to total correctly. Notan animal was missing.
"Guess you were too quick for him," commented Nort to his brother.
"It's lucky you woke up."
"It's lucky he kicked my foot!" chuckled Dick. "Lucky for us andunlucky for him."
"Somewhat," admitted Billee Dobb. "Well, he come here and he wentaway, and we aren't none the worse off as far as I can make out. GuessI was a little out when I said not to stand guard. But I didn'timagine we were in horse-thieves' country."
"Hadn't we better have sentry-go from now on?" suggested Bud.
"'Twouldn't be a bad idea," admitted Billee.
"I'll take first shot at it," said Dick. "I'm wide awake now and since
I saw this old man I'll know him again if he comes sneaking back."
Nort and Bud were as eager to take the first watch as was Dick, but heinsisted that it go to him. So, after another supply of light wood wasplaced near the fire in readiness to throw on and produce a quickblaze, in case of another alarm, the others retired to their blanketsand Dick was left on guard.
Once more the silence of the night settled over the camp, a silencebroken only by the occasional howl of a distant coyote. Dick madehimself as comfortable as possible and at first he was able to keepwidely awake. Then as the fatigues of the day manifested themselves ina desire to go to sleep once more he found himself wishing that theintruder would come back again to furnish excitement to keep him awake.
But nothing like that happened. The night continued quiet and in duetime it came the turn of Bud to relieve Dick. Later Nort relieved Budand finished the night watch which came to an end when a rosy tint inthe east announced, the coming of a new day.
"Well, you didn't catch anybody I see!" chuckled Billee as he sauntereddown to the water hole to wash for breakfast.
"No, nothing happened while I was on duty," announced Bud.
"He knew better than to come while I was sitting up waiting for him,"added Nort.
"You didn't see anything; did you, Dick?" asked Yellin' Kid of theremaining sentry. "I mean after the first scare."
"No, nothing. He didn't come back – whoever he was."
"Wonder what he came for, anyhow?" mused Bud who had started to follow
Billee to the water hole.
Suddenly Nort, who was walking near his cousin, stooped and pickedsomething up off the ground. It was a soiled bit of paper, evidentlypart of what had once been a grocery bag.
"Maybe he came to leave this!" suggested Nort as he turned the paperover.
"Came to leave that – what is it?" asked Bud.
"It's some sort of a warning, I guess," was the answer. "Look!"
He held the soiled scrap out to the others. The writing was large andstraggling, but it was plain. The warning said:
KEEP AWAY FROM DEATH VALLEY IF YOU KNOW WHAT'S GOOD FOR YOU. S. T.
CHAPTER VI
AT DOT AND DASH
Silently the little circle of ranchers, young and old, gazed at theominous warning Nort had picked up. Yellin' Kid was the first tospeak, following the reading of the message on the dirty piece of bagpaper.
"Well, I'll be horn-swoggled!" voiced the Kid in his usual loud tones.
Billee Dobb looked sharply from Nort to Dick and then at Bud.
"This any of your doin's?" he asked.
"Our