She had covered a bare couple of miles and was passing along a brush-filled arroyo when a movement in a thicket made her pull in. Ere she could start again, a rope swished and settled about her shoulders, while another dropped over the head of her mount. Dragged from the saddle, she had a brief glimpse of masked faces and then a blanket was thrown over her and secured by a rope which also confined her arms to her sides. A gruff voice gave an order and she felt herself lifted and flung across a saddle.
`Best lead the roan, safer, huh?' she heard one of her captors say.
`I reckon,' came the answer, and then she knew in whose hands she was, and that Tarman had scored again.
Chapter XXI
`WHAT'S up now?' muttered the owner of the Frying Pan as he emerged from his doorway and saw three riders approaching at a leisurely pace. Evidently catching sight of him, they swung their hats and let out a cowboy yell which put instant life into. the heels of their mounts. In a few brief moments Leeming was looking into the grinning countenances of Ginger, Dirty, and Simple. His quick eye noted that each man had his warbags tied to the cantle of his saddle.
`Howdy, boys, what can I do for yu?' was his greeting.
`Give us jobs if yu can use us,' smiled Ginger. `We're shore homeless.'
`Yu left the Y Z?' queried Leeming incredulously. `How come?'
`Tarman don't like us none, that's how,' chimed in Dirty. `What's he gotta do with it?'
`He's runnin' things--claims he's part owner o' the ranch, an' Simon bein' a pretty sick man there ain't no one to call his bluff,' explained Ginger. `Blaynes shore eats out of his hand.'
`Huh! I'm agoin' over to see Simon this mornin',' said Job. `Yu boys go down to the bunkhouse an' put yoreselves outside a good breakfast. Tell Dirk that yu are all on the Frying Pan payroll till the Y Z wants yu again, an' that'll be just as soon as I've had a word with the Old Man.'
`Yu wouldn't like us to come back with yu?' suggested Simple, hopefully.
`I just would, but it won't do,' grinned the Frying Pan owner. `Simon was talkin' o' letting Tarman in on the Y Z an' its just possible he's done it; if so, we should be on the wrong side o' the fence. Wait till I've seen him. Heard anythin' o' Green?'
`Not a damn whisper,' replied Ginger. `Reckon he's jumped the reservation this time.'
`Well, it ain't no loss--we don't want no darn outlaws cavortin' round here,' returned Leeming.
`Mebbe he is an outlaw, but he's a man, an' I'd sooner have him oack o' me than most o' the fellers who're huntin' him,' retorted Ginger hotly, and wondered why his reply made the cattleman smile.
At the bunkhouse they needed no introduction and found a hearty welcome, being known as good men, but they got chaffed.
`This outfit is gettin' some brainy,' observed Lucky Lomas. `Three "Wise heads" at one gather; Old Simon is shore losin' his intellects.'
`An' the Frying Pan is shore gettin' what it needs,' grinned Ginger, as he dumped his saddle, slid into an empty seat and reached for the nearest dish, an example his friends lost no time in following.
`How's the Old Man makin' it?' asked Dirk presently, when the newcomers had taken the edge off their by no means small appetites. Ginger, remembering Snap's injunction, shook his head.
I ain't seen him myself, but Snap says he's mortal bad,' he replied. `That feller Tarman's actin' as if he owned the whole shootin' manch a'ready.'
The foreman grunted. `Mebbe Job'll have a word to say about that,' he said, `an' I reckon he can say it with a chorus, eh, boys?'
The response was unanimous and had Tarman been there to hear it he would certainly have been less self-satisfied; the Frying Pan outfit, with its whole-hearted admiration for its irascible boss, was a tough problem, and with the help of the Y Z boys was certain no give a good account of itself.
`That misfit of a marshal still outlaw-huntin'?' asked Charlie, and when Ginger nodded, he went on, `He came prancin' round here yestiddy, lookin' for Green. My ghost, yu oughtta heard the Old Man lace into him; some o' the things he said would've raised blisters on most men.'
`An' Tonk was hoppin' mad but he didn't dare pull his gun,' supplemented Woods. `He stood there with his own men grinnin' at him, babblin' about his representin' the law. "Yu?" yells Job. "The law's sunk pretty low if it's gotta be represented by an ugly, busted-down whisky-keg like yu. Hit the trail mighty brisk or the law'll be shy o' the poorest marshal that ever noted a badge." Tonk gave him a black look an' says, "I'll not forget this, Leeming." The Old Man laughed in his face, an' says, "Which you'd better not, if yu want to live," an' the marshal slunk off like a whipped dog.'
`Job shore has got a poisonous tongue bun he's white to his toenails,' commented Lucky.
With the disappearance of the last cup of coffee a move was made to the corral and Dirk began to apportion the day's work. The roping and saddling of mounts was in full swing when Dirty, with a shout and a waving arm, turned all eyes on the horizon.
'There's a visitor a-comin' an' he's shore fannin' it,' he exclaimed.
Far out on the plain they could see a horseman, bent low in the saddle, heading for the ranch at full speed. Leeming, who had also seen the approaching rider, now joined the group at the corral.
`Looks like Snap,' said Ginger. `He allus crouches in the saddle when he's goin' fast--claims it helps the hoss by decreasin' the wind resistance. Wonder what's up?'
`P'raps he's downed Tarman an' they're after him,' surmised one of the Frying Pan boys.
`Snap ain't the runnin' kind--he'd stay an' shoot it out with 'em,' Leeming said.
A few breathless minutes, and the pony, a savage-eyed bunch of nerves and steel wire slid to a stop in their midst, sending the grey dust flying. As Ginger had guessed, the newcomer was Lunt. He got down, trailed the reins and turned to Leeming.
`Howdy, Job? Miss Norry here?'
`Ain't seen her,' replied Leeming. `Why?'
`She went out ridin' yestiddy afternoon an' never come back. She didn't go to town 'cause I've been there to see, an' so I reckoned she musta come here. Look's like somethin's happened to her.'
`Hell's bells ! What's come to this damn country?' cried Leemifig, his face suddenly scarlet with passion. `What do yu reckon has happened to her?'
`How do I know?' replied Snap quietly. `She was ridin' Blue, an' the hoss may have turned ugly--yu never can tell with these outlaw hosses. Or she may have met up with 'Paches or rustlers. I'll gamble a month's pay she ain't stayin' away from the Old Man of her own free will.'
`Yo're shoutin',' said Job. `By heavens, if I find a feller that's dared to lay a finger on that girl I'll scalp him alive!' He glared at the men around him and suddenly became aware that they were doing nothing. `What are yu gapin' at me for, yu goggle-eyed misfits?' he yelled. `Get yore hosses an' some grub, an' put a jerk in it. No more work'll be done on this ranch till the girl is found. Comb every mile o' the blasted country. Yo're in charge, Dirk. I'm goin' over to the Y Z to have a chat with Mr. Tarman; report there to me.'
He turned and went back to the ranch-house, leaving his grinning outfit to prepare for the search, which it did with no further loss of time. Food, weapons, and horses were soon secured, and the men split up into parties and started in different directions.
`Ain't he a shinin' wonder?' confided Lucky to the smiling Y Z men. `There ain't another chap in the Territory we'd take nhat line o' talk from an' he knows it, cuss him.'
The object of this compliment--for such it was--did not trouble any more about them; they had their job, and he knew it would be thoroughly done. He himself went straight to the room where Green and Larry were passing the time wrangling over a game of crib. The impressions caused by his news were in odd contrast. Larry was instantly all excitement and anger, while his companion sat silent, only the tightened jaw muscles and narrowed eyes telling that he had heard.