those men grab her?” Kitty cried.
“No, they weren’t near her at all,” Dave replied. “She just vanished—dropped out of sight. Her horse got away from the men and scrambled up the slope. Then all the drillers and Moon got into their cars, so I went back to my pony and rode him up the nearest hill. From there I could see you here, and when I made out three of you, I got the wild idea somehow that Doris had caught her pony and joined you.”
Kitty’s face went white beneath the dust.
“It’s—it’s awful, Dave,” she gulped.
“Worse than that,” Dave muttered. “If anything happened to her—gosh, we shouldn’t have let Doris try that brave stunt of sneaking up behind a bush to get those deeds.”
“Listen here,” Ben declared. “For safety’s sake it’s best we ride in pairs. You two go on to Miss Bedelle’s ranch like I said, and Dave and I will hurry back to where you saw Miss Force disappear.”
“Right!” Marshmallow said briefly. “Come along, Kitty. And if anyone tries to stop us I’ll put up a fight and you streak for the ranch.”
The party split, galloping off in opposite directions, but each to the rescue of the plucky Doris.
CHAPTER XX
On the Trail
“Why didn’t you stick around and look for the lady?” Ben asked of Dave as they galloped along.
“I told you,” Dave responded glumly. “From a distance I saw three riders on the road and I thought she had found her horse and was waiting for me with the others.”
“Trouble is,” Ben mused, “I’m a mechanic, and not no cowboy. I know all the places in three states that a car will carry you to, but once off the roads, I’m lost.”
Ben went on to explain to Dave why he was astride a horse.
“I don’t think that Charlie Bedelle is in his right mind, that I don’t,” he added. “His sister is the salt of the earth. A squarer, better human don’t tread shoeleather. Then to have an ornery little crook for a brother, ain’t natural.”
“It doesn’t seem that way,” Dave agreed. “But it doesn’t help us out of this fix right now.”
“Shucks, young man,” Ben snorted. “You’ve only got one person to hunt for. I got two. It’s most important to get the young lady, but then I got to track down this bad boy.”
The horses, winded by the prolonged gallop, dropped into a trot. Neither lash nor spur could coax them to more than a canter for a few yards, before they resumed the easier pace.
“If only they had carburetors to tinker with I could get speed out of these nags,” Ben mourned.
Dave smiled in spite of himself, but he was in a fit of depression. The young man blamed no one but himself for permitting Doris to enter upon her desperate try for the stolen deeds.
“If anything happens to her I’ll never go back East,” he told himself. “I’ll become a hermit. I’ll find a cave in the mountains here some place and live on prickly pears and jackrabbits, and I won’t talk to a human being for the rest of my life.” Then, speaking out loud, he asked:
“Are there any caves around here, Ben?”
“Caves? Golly, the hills are honeycombed with ’em,” Ben answered. “Every once in a while some passel of perfessors or another comes out and explores the caves and picks out a lot of bones an’ things, an’ tell how the wild and fee-roc-i-ous cavemen once dwelt in these parts.”
Dave grew more glum. He could not even be a hermit in a cave without having professors routing him out to search for the relics of extinct races.
“The gully is right near here,” he announced. “I—what’s that?”
Ben reined in.
“A horse—and not half travelin’!” he exclaimed. Once more hope surged in the hearts of Doris’s would-be rescuers.
“It’s Doris!” Dave shouted.
“No, that pinto ain’t got no rider,” Ben said, loosening his lasso as the panic-stricken pony dashed into view.
“It’s Doris’s horse, though,” Dave yelled.
Ben twirled the loop of the lariat, and as the animal galloped past flung his rope. The horse leaped into the air as the noose settled around its neck, and came down stiff-legged, plowing up the dirt. It stood quietly, trembling and foaming.
“See, the saddle slipped around underneath,” Ben said, as he coiled the lasso, shortening the distance between the horse and himself. “That’s what set the pore beast crazy.”
As Ben soothed the frightened steed and worked the saddle into place, Dave shook his head quizzically. Could Doris have fallen off?
“Just a moment ago you said you were a mechanic and not a cowboy,” Dave observed presently. “But you roped that horse on the dead run as neatly as could be done.”
Ben blushed beneath his tan.
“I hate to admit it,” he said, “but it’s the first thing I ever lassoed except a fence-post. It was just dumb luck.”
“Then I hope your luck holds and we find Doris unhurt,” Dave exclaimed. “It will have to work fast, that luck of yours. The sun is ducking behind the hills already.”
“Let’s get started, then,” Ben said, taking the now soothed riderless pony into tow, and spurring his own mount forward.
They reached the gully which had led to the fateful adventure.
“This is it, for sure,” Dave said. “See the hoof marks coming out of it?”
Kitty and Marshmallow had left a distinct trail, which Dave and Ben now retraced.
“No use trying to hide ourselves,” Dave said. “I saw the workmen drive off, and anyhow, our riding around must have been plain to anybody watching.”
“This is all part of that unclaimed land that Miss Force said her uncle and some lady friends owned,” Ben observed. “Those crooks must be pretty sure of themselves to begin working on it.”
“Not entirely sure,” Dave said. “Else they wouldn’t be so secretive about it.”
It was slippery going on the down-grade. The lowering sun had passed behind the hills, and the riders found themselves in deepening shadows.
“We must find her before it gets dark,” Dave repeated again and again.
Once he raised himself in his stirrups and shouted Doris’s name.
“Doris—Doris—Do-do-ris-s-s!” the hills answered.
Dave sank back in his saddle, bluer than ever.
“I’m
