Ruth Fielding at Silver Ranch; Or, Schoolgirls Among the Cowboys Read online

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  FRECKLES LEAPED UP, FRIGHTENED AND SNORTING.]

  Ruth Fielding At Silver Ranch

  OR

  SCHOOLGIRLS AMONG THE COWBOYS BY

  ALICE B. EMERSON

  Author of "Ruth Fielding of the Red Mill," "Ruth Fielding at Briarwood Hall," Etc.

  _ILLUSTRATED_

  NEW YORK CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY PUBLISHERS

  Books for Girls BY ALICE B. EMERSON RUTH FIELDING SERIES 12mo. Cloth. Illustrated.

  RUTH FIELDING OF THE RED MILL Or, Jasper Parloe's Secret.

  RUTH FIELDING AT BRIARWOOD HALL Or, Solving the Campus Mystery.

  RUTH FIELDING AT SNOW CAMP Or, Lost in the Backwoods.

  RUTH FIELDING AT LIGHTHOUSE POINT Or, Nita, the Girl Castaway.

  RUTH FIELDING AT SILVER RANCH Or, Schoolgirls Among the Cowboys.

  Copyright, 1918, by Cupples & Leon Company

  Ruth Fielding in the Red Cross

  Printed in U. S. A.

  CONTENTS

  CHAPTER PAGE I. "Old Trouble-Maker" 1 II. Bashful Ike 11 III. In Which Things Happen 18 IV. The Fire Fight 30 V. "Old Trouble-Maker" Turned Loose 40 VI. The Roping Contest 51 VII. Jane Ann Turns the Trick 57 VIII. What Was on the Records 66 IX. The Fox Is Reckless 75 X. Ruth Shows Her Mettle 83 XI. An Ursine Hold-Up 89 XII. The Man From Tintacker 97 XIII. The Party at the Schoolhouse 103 XIV. Bashful Ike Comes Out Strong 112 XV. "The Night Trick" 123 XVI. The Joke That Failed 136 XVII. The Stampede 143 XVIII. A Desperate Case 150 XIX. The Man at Tintacker 157 XX. The Wolf at the Door 164 XXI. A Plucky Fight 171 XXII. Service Courageous 178 XXIII. Bashful Ike Takes the Bit in His Teeth 185 XXIV. Coals of Fire 192 XXV. At the Old Red Mill Again 199

  RUTH FIELDING AT SILVER RANCH

  CHAPTER I--"OLD TROUBLE-MAKER"

  Where the Silver Ranch trail branches from the state road leading downinto Bullhide, there stretch a rambling series of sheds, or "shacks,"given up to the uses of a general store and provision emporium; besideit is the schoolhouse. This place on the forked trails is called "TheCrossing," and it was the only place nearer than the town of Bullhidewhere the scattered population of this part of Montana could get anysupplies.

  One of Old Bill Hicks' herds was being grazed on that piece of rollingcountry, lying in the foothills, right behind the Crossing, and two ofhis cow punchers had ridden in for tobacco. Being within sight of rowsupon rows of tinned preserves (the greatest luxury extant to the cowboymind), and their credit being good with Lem Dickson, who kept the store,the two cattle herders--while their cayuses stood with drooping heads,their bridle-reins on the road before them--each secured a can ofpeaches, and sitting cross-legged on the porch before the store, openedthe cans with their knives and luxuriated in the contents.

  "Old man's nigh due, ain't he?" asked Lem, the storekeeper, loweringhimself into a comfortable armchair that he kept for his own particularuse on the porch.

  "Gittin' to Bullhide this mawnin'," drawled one of the cowboys. "An'he's got what he went for, too."

  "Bill Hicks most usually does git what he goes after, don't he?"retorted the storekeeper.

  The other puncher chuckled. "This time Old Bill come near goin' outafter _rabbit_ an' only bringin' back the _hair_," he said. "Jane Ann isjust as much of a Hicks as Bill himself--you take it from me. She madeher bargain b'fore Old Bill got her headed back to the ranch, I reckon.Thar's goin' to be more newfangled notions at Silver Ranch from now onthan you kin shake a stick at. You hear me!"

  "Old Bill can stand scattering a little money around as well as any manin this State," Lem said, ruminatively. "He's made it; he's saved it;now he might's well l'arn to spend some of it."

  "And he's begun. Jane Ann's begun for him, leastways," said one of thecowboys. "D'ye know what Mulvey brought out on his wagon last Sat'day?"

  "I knowed he looked like pitchers of 'movin' day' in New York City, orChicago, when he passed along yere," grunted the storekeeper. "Eighthead o' mules he was drivin'."

  "He sure was," agreed the cow puncher. "There was all sorts of trucksand gew-gaws. But the main thing was a pinanner."

  "A piano?"

  "That's what I said. And that half-Injun, Jib Pottoway, says he kin playon the thing. But it ain't to be unboxed till the boss and Jane Anncomes."

  "And they'll be gittin' along yere some time to-day," said the othercowboy, throwing his empty tin away. "And when they come, Lem, they'resure goin' to surprise yuh."

  "What with?"

  "With what they sail by yere in," drawled the puncher.

  "Huh? what's eatin' on you, Bud? Old Bill ain't bought an airship, hashe?"

  "Mighty nigh as bad," chuckled the other. "He's bought Doosenberry's bigautomobile, I understand, and Jane Ann's brought a bunch of folks withher that she met down East, and they're just about goin' to tear thevitals out o' Silver Ranch--now you hear me!"

  "A steam wagon over these trails!" grunted the storekeeper. "Waal!"

  "And wait till Old Bill sees a bunch of his steers go up in the air whenthey sets eyes on the choo-choo wagon," chuckled Bud. "That'll aboutfinish the automobile business, I bet yuh!"

  "Come on, Bud!" shouted his mate, already astride his pony.

  The two cowboys were off and lashing their ponies to a sharp run in halfa minute. Scarcely had they disappeared behind a grove of scrub trees onthe wind-swept ridge beyond the store when the honk of an automobilehorn startled the slow-motioned storekeeper out of his chair.

  A balloon of dust appeared far down the trail. Out of this there shotthe long hood of a heavy touring car, which came chugging up the risemaking almost as much noise as a steam roller. Lem Dickson shuffled tothe door of the store and stuck his head within.

  "Sally!" he bawled. "Sally!"

  "Yes, Paw," replied a sweet, if rather shrill, voice from the openstairway that led to the upper chamber of the store-building.

  "Here comes somebody I reckon you'll wanter see," bawled th
e old man.

  There was a light step on the stair; but it halted on the last tread anda lithe, red-haired, peachy complexioned girl looked into the big room.

  "Well, now, Paw," she said, sharply. "You ain't got me down yere forthat bashful Ike Stedman, have you? For if he's come prognosticatingaround yere again I declare I'll bounce a bucket off his head. He's thebiggest gump!"

  "Come on yere, gal!" snapped her father. "I ain't said nothin' aboutIke. This yere's Bill Hicks an' all his crowd comin' up from Bullhide ina blamed ol' steam waggin."

  Sally ran out through the store and reached the piazza just as thesnorting automobile came near and slowed down. A lithe, handsome, darkgirl was at the wheel; beside her was a very pretty, plump girl withrosy cheeks and the brightest eyes imaginable; the third person crowdedinto the front seat was a youth who looked so much like the girl who wasrunning the machine that they might have changed clothes and nobodywould have been the wiser--save that Tom Cameron's hair was short and histwin sister, Helen's, was long and curly. The girl between the twins wasRuth Fielding.

  In the big tonneau of the car was a great, tall, bony man with anenormous "walrus" mustache and a very red face; beside him sat a ratherfreckled girl with snapping black eyes, who wore very splendid clothesas though she was not used to them. With this couple were a big, blondboy and three girls--one of them so stout that she crowded her companionson the seat into their individual corners, and packed them in theresomewhat after the nature of sardines in a can.

  "Hello, Sally!" cried the girl in the very fine garments, stretching herhand out to greet the storekeeper's daughter as the automobile came to astop.

  "Hi, Lem!" bawled the man with the huge mustache. "Is Silver Ranch onthe map yet, or have them punchers o' mine torn the face of Nater all toshreds an' only left me some o' the pieces?"

  "I dunno 'bout that, Bill," drawled the fat storekeeper, shuffling downthe steps in his list slippers, and finally reached and shaking the handof Mr. William Hicks, owner of Silver Ranch. "But when some of your cowsset their eyes on this contraption they're goin' to kick holes in theair--an' that's sartain!"

  "The cows will have to get used to seeing this automobile, Lem Dickson,"snapped the ranchman's niece, who had been speaking with Sally. "Foruncle's bought it and it beats riding a cayuse, I tell you!"

  "By gollies!" grunted Bill Hicks, "it bucks wuss'n any critter I everwas astride of." But he spoke softly, and nobody but the storekeepernoticed what he said.

  "Mean to say you've bought this old chuck-waggin from Doosenberry?"demanded the storekeeper.

  "Uh-huh," nodded Mr. Hicks.

  "Wal, you're gittin' foolish-like in your old age, Bill," declared hisfriend.

  "No I ain't; I'm gittin' wise," retorted the ranchman, with a wide grin.

  "How's that?"

  "I'm l'arnin' how to git along with Jane Ann," declared Mr. Hicks, witha delighted chortle, and pinching the freckled girl beside him.

  "Ouch!" exclaimed his niece. "What's the matter, Uncle Bill?"

  "He says he's bought this contraption to please you, Jane Ann," said thestorekeeper. "But what'll Old Trouble-Maker do when he sees it--heh?"

  "Gee!" ejaculated the ranchman. "I never thought o' that steer."

  "I reckon Old Trouble-Maker will have to stand for it," scoffed theranchman's niece, tossing her head. "Now, Sally, you ride out and seeus. These girls from down East are all right. And we're going to haveheaps of fun at Silver Ranch after this."

  Helen Cameron touched a lever and the big car shot ahead again.

  "She's a mighty white girl, that Sally Dickson," declared Jane Ann Hicks(who hated her name and preferred to be called "Nita"). "She's taughtschool here at the Crossing for one term, too. And she's sweet in spiteof her peppery temper----"

  "What could you expect?" demanded the stout girl, smiling all over herface as she looked back at the red-haired girl at the store. "She has amore crimson topknot than the Fox here----"

  There came a sudden scream from the front seat of the automobile. Thecar, under Helen Cameron's skillful manipulation, had turned the bend inthe trail and the chapparel instantly hid the store and the houses atthe Crossing. Right ahead of them was a rolling prairie, several milesin extent. And up the rise toward the trail was coming, in much dust, abunch of cattle, with two or three punchers riding behind and urging theherd to better pasture.

  "Oh! see all those steers," cried Ruth Fielding. "Do you own _all_ ofthem, Mr. Hicks?"

  "I reckon they got my brand on 'em, Miss," replied the ranchman. "Butthat's only a leetle bunch--can't be more'n five hundred--coming up yere.I reckon, Miss Helen, that we'd better pull up some yere. If them cowssees us----"

  "See there! see there!" cried the stout girl in the back seat.

  As she spoke in such excitement, Helen switched off the power and brakedthe car. Out of the chapparel burst, with a frantic bellow, a huge blackand white steer--wide horned, ferocious of aspect--quite evidently "on therampage." The noise of the passing car had brought him out ofconcealment. He plunged into the trail not ten yards behind the slowingcar.

  "Goodness me!" shouted the big boy who sat beside Bill Hicks and hisniece. "What kind of a beast is that? It's almost as big as anelephant!"

  "Oh!" cried the girl called "The Fox." "That surely isn't the kind ofcattle you have here, is it? He looks more like a buffalo. See! he'scoming after us!"

  The black and white steer _did_ look as savage as any old buffalo bulland, emitting a bellow, shook his head at the automobile and began tocast the dust up along his flanks with his sharp hoofs. He was indeed ofa terrifying appearance.

  "It's Old Trouble-Maker!" cried Jane Ann Hicks.

  "He looks just as though his name fitted him," said Tom Cameron, who hadsprung up to look back at the steer.

  At that moment the steer lowered his head and charged for the auto. Thegirls shrieked, and Tom cried:

  "Go ahead, Nell! let's leave that beast behind."

  Before his sister could put on speed again, however, the big boy, whowas Bob Steele, sang out:

  "If you go on you'll stampede that herd of cattle--won't she, Mr. Hicks?Why, we're between two fires, that's what we are!"

  "And they're both going to be hot," groaned Tom. "Why, that OldTrouble-Maker will climb right into this car in half a minute!"