Dick, seein' it was
your room he blew into, what did you think?"
"I couldn't think. I'm shaking yet, Laddy."
"Boys, I'll bet Sol spilled a few raiders if any got hands on him,"
said Jim. "Now, let's sit down an' wait for daylight. It's my
idea we'll find some of the hosses runnin' loose. Tom, you go
an' get some clothes on. It's freezin' cold. An' don't forget to
tell the women folks we're all right."
Daylight made clear some details of the raid. The cowboys found
tracks of eight raiders coming up from the river bed where their
horses had been left. Evidently the Papago had been false to his
trust. He few personal belongings were gone. Lash was correct
in his idea of finding more horses loose in the fields. The men
soon rounded up eleven of the whites, all more or less frightened,
and among the number were Queen and Blanca Mujer. The raiders
had been unable to handle more than one horse for each man. It
was bitter irony of fate that Belding should lose his favorite, the
one horse more dear to him than all the others. Somewhere out on
the trail a raider was fighting the iron-jawed savage Blanco Diablo.
"I reckon we're some lucky," observed Jim Lash.
"Lucky ain't enough word," replied Ladd. "You see, it was this way.
Some of the raiders piled over the fence while the others worked
on the gate. Mebbe the Papago went inside to pick out the best
hosses. But it didn't work except with Diablo, an' how they ever
got him I don't know.
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