"Oh, maybe it's not the treasure," Maude tried to soothe the angry man.
"Come eat your supper."
But Kie was too unhappy to eat. He glared about the cheerless kitchen and did not seem to see anything. He stared moodily. Finally he rose and went outside, grumbling like a spoiled child.
He sat for a long time, his head in his hands, not looking up to greet his customers.
"What's the matter with the old man?" inquired a neighbor. "'T ain't often you see Kie Wicks sick or under the weather."
"Somebody's stolen some property from him, and he's thinkin' out a way to get even. Let him alone," counselled Maude. "The more down he seems, the better schemes he can think up. And this one will be a dandy. He ain't eat a bite and he won't talk." Maude seemed quite elated.
It was not until some hours later that Kie came to life once more and demanded his supper. On his face was a determined scowl, as if he were ready to challenge the whole world. As he went into the store he was whistling cheerfully.
Maude smiled at him. But no words were exchanged. That smile expressed everything. Kie had a scheme, a big one, and Maude could afford to wait until he was ready to tell her what it was all about.
Meanwhile on the hill near Orphan Annie, the professor was dreaming of Indian villages and treasure, and with the two watchmen beside him, had no uneasiness.
CHAPTER XVI
MISSING
The boys were still asleep the next morning when the professor got up quietly and went into the canyon for a dip in the creek.
He wandered up the stream a short distance and was surprised to see a saddle horse standing dejectedly on the trail. The next moment Kie Wicks had hailed him genially from the cliff above.
"Say pard," he called. "Last night when I was going home over the hill here, I found what looks like the ruins of an Indian village. Do you want to take a look at them?"
"How far away is it?" asked the professor. "The boys are camping over there with me, so I'd better go back and tell them where I'm going.
"It won't take you ten minutes, my friend," Kie answered. "You'll be back before they have breakfast ready." Kie descended the steep mountain and leading his horse, he urged the professor on with a description of the marvelous ruins that he had discovered. Professor Gillette was almost wild with excitement. He fairly danced from boulder to boulder along that rocky trail, and when they reached a narrow pass between the high canyon walls, Kie stopped his horse for a moment.
At that same instant two men suddenly sprang into the trail in front of them, grabbed the unsuspecting professor, bound and gagged him and tied him to a horse.
Professor Gillette could not imagine why he should be treated like this. Why should he be robbed? He had nothing. And where was Kie Wicks? Had the men kidnapped him as well? It took the kindly mind of the professor a long time to grasp the idea that Kie Wicks might have something to do with the affair.
The old man did not struggle as he had an impulse to do. He knew it would be useless. The men were powerful, while he was frail, and helpless in their hands. It would be much better for him to save his strength so that his mind could work out a scheme for escape.
He was not the sort of person to waste energy in worry. He believed that nothing could harm him, and he lay quietly in the uncomfortable position on the horse, wondering where he was going and how long they would hold him captive. What would The Merriweather Girls do when they heard about it? He had to smile at the thought of the adventure they would make of it. Yet perhaps it was nothing to smile about. He might never return alive.
The boys did not miss the old man until breakfast was ready. They knew that it was his custom to start the day with a dip in the stream and so they went on with their breakfast preparations without giving him a thought. Finally they sat down and started to eat.
Still the professor did not come.
Tommy Sharpe called him from the summit of the cliff, waited, and called again many times. But there was no answer.
"Guess you'd better take a walk down there and see what's keeping the old chap," advised Seedy Saunders. "He never goes far away without his breakfast."
Tommy returned in a few minutes without seeing anything of the professor. He said: "I saw tracks going up the creek and there are fresh hoof prints, but that doesn't tell a thing."
"Oh, he's all right. I won't worry about him," laughed Seedy. "I can just see his face if he thought we imagined he was lost. He's such an independent old fellow, he'd be displeased."
Nine o'clock came and still the professor did not make his appearance. The boys each took turns in riding down the creek and calling, but when the girls arrived at ten, the missing man had not returned. He had not been to the ranch and the girls had seen nothing of him.
"Something has happened!" exclaimed Bet anxiously. "The professor isn't the sort of man to wander away like a lost soul. He's too interested in this treasure to leave it for a minute. Some enemy is at work."
"Melodrama from the movies," laughed Kit. "Bet is bound she's going to have some western bad man stuff."
"Don't be silly, Bet," said Enid impatiently. "Our old professor hasn't got an enemy in the world."
"Hasn't he? How do you know? Just suppose Kie Wicks found out about the treasure. He'd want to get rid of the professor first thing."
"That's an idea, Bet," replied Enid, suddenly growing excited. "I never thought of Kie."
"But what good would it do him to get rid of the professor?" asked the sensible Shirley. "Kie Wicks knows we are all backing the old man, so what would be the use of making away with him?"
"That's true," agreed Bet with a puzzled frown. "If I thought that Kie Wicks had a hand in this I'd… I'd…"
"What would you do, Bet?" asked Shirley.
"I'd tell him right to his face what I think of him."
"Heaps of good that would do," Kit shrugged. "Kie has heard about himself from lots of people."
But Kie Wicks' scheme worked out just as he planned. In their anxiety over the professor's disappearance, the treasure was left unguarded and when the girls returned to the camp, they were confronted with guns held in the hands of two burly ruffians, swarthy, heavy giants who terrified them by their looks.
The four girls wasted no time in that neighborhood. They raced their horses into the canyon and were heading toward the ranch.
"Say, what's the matter with The Merriweather Girls?" cried Bet, bringing her horse up sharply. "We're letting two cowardly ruffians frighten us away. I'm going back this minute."
"You are not, Bet Baxter! Father would be frightfully angry if you do.
He trusts us not to take any big risks. I know he wouldn't want us to go back where those men are." Enid put her hand on Bet's shoulder.
"Come on, Bet, be good!"
"But are we going to let those fellows get our treasure?" Bet cried hysterically. "No, I won't run away! I'm going straight back there and tell them what I think of them."
Shirley laughed quietly. "What's the use, Bet. They probably know more mean things about themselves than you can tell them. They're like Kie Wicks."
But Bet was stubborn. She hated to give up.
"I won't go home! I'm going to stay right here for the present and think out a plan."
And it was there that Judge Breckenridge found them, heard their story and commanded them to return to the ranch house without any delay.
Judge Breckenridge's word was law. Bet turned her horse's head down the canyon toward the home trail, her eyes flashing dangerously. She muttered:
"To think of being sent home when the excitement gets good! Oh, I wish I were a boy!"
"Well, since we have to go, let's hurry and have the fun of telling it all to Joy."
But Joy and Mrs. Breckenridge were a disappointment. They did not thrill to the danger, as Bet did. They were decidedly angry and afraid.
"You must never go into that canyon again while you are here!" exclaimed Mrs. Breckenridge.
"Please don't put that down as an order! That would be a tragedy. I don't believe that even the Judge would be willing to deprive us of that joy." Bet's voice was pleading.
"All right, dear, I'll take back the order and will leave it entirely to the Judge. But you must abide by his decision, that I insist upon."
"We will," said Bet. "I hope he'll be a good sport about it. I want to know what's going on."
Mrs. Breckenridge walked up and down the corridor in an anxious manner. She had been gaining strength so rapidly in the mountains that she had even threatened to try horseback riding. But the Judge had put her off. He wanted to be certain that the trial would be a success.
"I'm glad I wasn't with you, today, I'd have screamed," said Joy. "I know I would."
"That's probably what those bandits wanted. To scare us so we wouldn't go back. I hate to have them get away with it."
At noon when the men returned to lunch, they had no good report. Although they had hunted the hills for miles, not a trace of the professor had been found. He had disappeared.
Before lunch was over Kie Wicks appeared at the ranch house. "I just heard of the old man being lost, so Maude wanted me to come right over and join the search party. I think a lot of the professor and want to do my bit."
Bet looked at the man in astonishment.
"I would never have believed it," she whispered to Kit. "It just shows how we misjudge a person. I thought he would be the last man in the world to appeal to for help, and here he comes of his own free will and offers it."
"People always have some good in them."
Joy shook her head. "From the first I hated that man and feared him."
"And now you see, Joy Evans, how mistaken you were. He's a good man at heart," exclaimed Bet.
But Kit was skeptical. "I wish I could believe it. I feel as if I were playing with a rattlesnake. He's treacherous! I think we'd better watch our step."
"Of course, I know that Kie Wicks is unscrupulous in the matter of jumping claims, but you see he has a human side after all. He seems quite cut up about the professor being lost," Bet interrupted.
"And did you notice how indignant he was over the ruffians at the claim? I believe he'll help us to get rid of them," said Enid confidently.
"But those men didn't do a thing worse than Kie Wicks! Not half as bad, for they were open and above board. They pointed guns on us and Kie sneaked up after dark and stole our papers. No, girls, his change of heart is altogether too sudden to be sincere. Keep an eye on him!" advised Kit.
Whether the men at the ranch believed in Kie's innocence or not, they accepted his offer of help and let him organize the searchers.
"Let's go over and see what Ramon Salazar is up to. He's a scoundrel and looks it. Maybe he knows something about your old man," suggested Kie.
"Can't we go, too?" begged the girls. The judge was about to object, but when he saw the look of disappointment in Bet's face, he changed his mind.
"Why, it's all right, I think. I don't see that there will be any danger if you stay with me."
Bet ran for her horse. "Come on, girls, let's go!"
The group divided into two sections. The judge and the girls and Tommy went under Kie Wicks' leadership. Tommy was very contemptuous at the idea of help from Kie, but he followed without any remarks, deciding that the man needed watching. And that job would be his!
Instead of being offended at the arrival of a searching party, Ramon Salazar seemed to welcome them and even his wife acted as if she had been expecting a visit.
"Take a look around, folks," said Kie Wicks as he himself opened a door and looked into a bed room, littered with mattresses and soiled blankets.
"He ain't here," said Kie. "I didn't more than half think he was. But you never can be sure unless you take a look."
Bet caught a quick glance of understanding between the two men, but in the next second decided that it was a glance of approval.
"They're up to some mischief," whispered Kit in Shirley's ear. "I don't trust that Kie Wicks and he is altogether too sugary today to suit me. But don't say a word to Bet. She will flare up and then we won't be able to watch him."
Shirley agreed with Kit, who knew Kie Wicks better than the others.
Tommy was watching the two men, his nerves keyed up and every sense alert to the slightest movement of the men. He had noted the quick look between Kie and the Mexican and felt sure that it was a danger signal. It conveyed a message. Not for a second did the boy doubt that Kie and Ramon knew where the professor was.
The boy was angry clean through, but he held his temper under control. Only in that way could he keep in touch with these rascals and watch them. Sometime he would catch them off their guard.
Ramon joined this group of searchers and made some suggestions as to possible places to look.
"What we ought to do is to round up them fellows at the tunnel and make 'em talk. They probably killed the old man and threw his body over a cliff." It was Ramon who spoke.
Kie Wicks looked startled. He had not told Ramon that the men at the claim were being paid by him. He frowned toward the Mexican, then his face relaxed suddenly. "Now that's an idea, too," he said. "Only I should think it might be just as well to leave them in possession until we find the professor. Someone has to stay there and we need all the men we have to hunt for the old man."
"I think you're right, Mr. Wicks," agreed Bet.
Kit looked her disgust. To herself she was thinking, "I never would have believed that Bet could be such a tenderfoot. To let Kie Wicks pull the wool over her eyes like that! She certainly is an easy mark!"
But Bet was not such an easy mark as Kit imagined. She had figured it out that it would take days for the men to dig their way to the treasure and by that time they could find their old friend and then form a party to drive the ruffians away from the tunnel.
An hour later, when they were returning to camp, Kit pointed up over one of the small mountains. "Bet, I'll take a short cut with you. The trail over that hill leads into Lost Canyon. Let's go and beat them home. Who's coming?"
"I am!" exclaimed Bet turning her horse's head toward the up grade.
"I'll stay with Dad," called Enid.
"And so will I!" Shirley held her horse toward the canyon trail.
"Wise girls!" smiled the Judge. "You know good company when you have it."
Kit waved her sombrero as they reached the summit and disappeared over the ridge. But once on the other side, Kit was not so sure that she knew the way. "This doesn't look like the trail that leads into Lost Canyon, after all, Bet. Do you think we'd better go back?"
"I should say not. I'd love to get lost in the hills with you, Kit."
"Oh, we're all right, only I'm not sure that we will save any time.
They'll probably get home first, if we go this way," returned Kit.
"I'm not lost, I've been here before, but I just got mixed up. Lost Canyon is over the next ridge."
"It's all right with me, let's keep on."
The girls rode for an hour, and still Kit declared that they had not reached Lost Canyon.
"Are you afraid, Kit?" asked Bet, as she looked at her friend's frowning face.
"No, of course not, only I'm disgusted that I made such a mistake. Let's climb to the ridge there and look around, then I'll know in a minute where I am."
The girls urged their horses up the steep trail. Kit was ahead and as she reached the summit she signalled Bet frantically to stop. Sliding from her saddle she ran back.
"We're coming out right by the tunnel, I see the two ruffians."
The girls crept along, keeping out of sight of the camp.
But suddenly Bet grabbed Kit by the arm. The men were descending the trail to the creek, leaving the tunnel unguarded.
The girls did not wait to think whether they were wise or not. They ran forward. Two shotguns lay on the ground. The men had taken off their belts. They were in the canyon unarmed.
Bet choked with delight. "Here's where we get the drop on them," she laughed. "I'll be a regular wild westerner."
"Don't do anything rash, Bet," advised Kit anxiously as she watched her friend's flushed face.
"Trust me!" Bet picked up a weapon and held it awkwardly in her hand. It was the first time she had handled a loaded gun and it gave her a thrill.
"Can you shoot, Bet?" asked Kit. "Do you know enough to pull the trigger?"
"No, I don't know a thing about it, I'll have to put up a bluff!"
When they heard a step on the trail. Bet aimed her gun.
"Hands up!" ordered Bet and there was no sign of fear in her voice.
The ruffians raised their hands high in the air, but the foremost one smiled.
Bet's anger rose. "Don't come a step nearer! And don't fool yourself!
We know how to shoot – and shoot to kill!"
Kit wanted to laugh, for Bet was repeating word for word what she had read only a few days before in a western story.
But Bet's next question was her own. "How much is Kie Wicks paying you for this job?" she asked.
One man started to take a step forward, but Bet's gun menaced him.
"Stand right where you are! Not a step nearer! Answer my question!"
"Five dollars apiece!" growled the second man. "'T ain't enough!"
"Of course it isn't. He short-changed you. The job is worth twice as much," said Bet indignantly.
The men looked pleased.
"We got a five spot between us for catching the old man and tying him up. And we are to get five each for this."
"Your master isn't very generous. Do you often work for Kie Wicks?" asked Bet.
"No, we never saw him before. We were just passing through the country. We went broke and he offered us this job."
"Where are you going from here?" demanded the girl.
"El Paso is home, and we want to work our way toward there," answered the man who had done all the talking.
"Suppose I was to offer you ten apiece, would you get away from here and not come back? In fact it wouldn't be good for you to come back where Kie Wicks could take a shot at you."
"We'd not stick around, honest we wouldn't. By night we'd be at the nearest railroad station." Both men made a motion to come toward the girls but were stopped by Bet's menacing weapon.
"All right, go to the edge of the cliff there, and stand with your backs to us. If you dare to turn around, you'll be dead men."
The ruffians backed away for a few feet, then turned and walked to the cliff.
"Halt!" shouted Bet, and the men stood still.
"Now Kit, you hold the gun on them and I'll get the money. That's one thing Dad has always insisted on that I keep a little money fastened to me, when I'm away from home." She fumbled in her dress and brought forth a small roll of bills.
With Kit protecting her, Bet walked toward the cliff, and when she got to within ten feet from the men she put the money on the ground, and made a second trip, hauling their packs to the same spot.
When her gun was once more levelled at the ruffians, she ordered: "Turn around!"
The men wasted no time in obeying. They turned.
"Now walk slowly and get your money and belongings. If you run, you drop!"
The men grabbed their money and hastened back to their position on the cliff, as if they were anxious to put distance between themselves and the shotguns.
"Now go, and go quickly! Kie Wicks is due over this way in half an hour and if he finds you gone and us in charge, he's going to send a posse after you!"
The men hastened down the trail. They saddled and mounted their horses, with the shotguns pointed in their direction.
From the opposite end of the canyon two riders were coming nearer, and the ruffians galloped their horses to get out of the way.
Kit and Bet recognized Seedy Saunders and Billy Patten, who had gone out by themselves to search for the professor.
They answered Kit's hail and raced their horses up the grade.
By the time they reached the summit, Bet and Kit were almost hysterical from laughing. Bet put the gun down gingerly. "I wonder what I would have done, if they had called my bluff!" she exclaimed.
"Oh, boys, if you could only have heard her," shrieked Kit, at last getting her breath. "You'd have thought she had just stepped out of a western two-gun story, the way she threatened those men, it's a wonder they didn't see through her. And she hardly knows how to hold the gun. It was a scream!"
"I don't believe I'd enjoy that sort of thing for regular work," laughed Bet. "I guess I don't like to give orders that much."
But the two ruffians, hastening toward the railroad station thirty miles away, never dreamed that the girl who menaced them so daringly, had never pulled a trigger.
"We're lucky to be out of it," they agreed. "Girls have a way of always making trouble and getting their own way!"