CHAPTER III A SURPRISE OF THE ROAD

Fortunately for the two chums, the flash of lightning which had revealed the two horses to them was followed by something of a lull in the storm and this served to keep the steeds from stampeding again.

“Be careful, Roger,” cautioned Dave, as they separated to do as our hero had advised.

“Do you want me to take my own horse or the one which happens to be nearest to me?” questioned the senator’s son.

“Take the nearest, by all means—and be sure to hold on tight!”

In the darkness, and with the rain still coming down steadily, the two approached closer and closer to the horses. One animal gave a low snort, but whether of fear or recognition of his master could not be ascertained.

“I guess we’ve got them, all right enough,” sang out Roger, as he made a dash to cover the dozen feet that separated him from the nearest steed.

23Dave was a few steps farther away from the other horse. At that instant came another clap of thunder, followed almost instantly by the lightning. Then came a crash in the forest, showing that a tree close by had been struck.

The nervous horses wheeled around and reared up. Then one started in one direction and the other in another.

“Grab him, Roger! Don’t let him get away!” yelled Dave, and made a wild leap for the animal nearest him. He caught the loose rein, and an instant later had a firm hold on the steed. The horse did considerable prancing, but the youth, who some seasons before had tamed a bronco at Star Ranch, was not daunted. He brought the animal to a standstill, and then, seeing that it was his own mount, leaped lightly into the saddle.

“Now behave yourself, old boy,” he said soothingly, patting the animal on the neck. “You’re all right. Take it easy.”

In the meanwhile, Roger was having an exciting experience with his own horse. The animal had tried to back away from him, and had gotten a hind leg fast between two trees. Now he began to kick out wildly, hitting one of the trees several resounding blows.

“Whoa there! Whoa!” cried the senator’s son; but his horse continued to kick out until, with a wrench, he got the other foot free. Then he 24began to prance around once more, showing every evidence of wanting to run away.

“Wait! I’ll hold him while you get into the saddle!” cried Dave, riding up. And then he placed himself directly in front of Roger’s mount.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, the senator’s son made a leap and got safely into the saddle; and then the two runaway horses settled down to behaving themselves decently.

“This was luck, all right,” remarked Dave, when the brief excitement was over.

“Right you are,” was the ready reply. “I didn’t fancy walking back to the camp.”

“Nor losing two such valuable horses,” added our hero. “If they had failed to return perhaps Mr. Obray would have made us pay for them, and that would make a big hole in our salaries.”

Making sure that the horses should not get away from them again, the two young civil engineers rode back to the road, and then with caution picked their way along on the right-hand side of some ever-increasing ponds of water. This was slow and dangerous work, the horses slipping and sliding among the wet rocks and loose stones, and more than once getting into mud and water up to their knees. But at last that peril was left behind, and once again the youths found themselves on comparatively solid ground and headed in the direction of the construction camp.

25“We’ll sure have a story to tell when we get back,” remarked Roger, as they rode along side by side.

“Yes. But we’ll want to change our togs before we start to tell it,” returned Dave grimly. “I feel as if I had jumped overboard with all my clothing on.”

“It looks to me as if the storm was passing away,” continued the senator’s son, gazing up at the sky.

“Oh, more than likely it will stop raining as soon as we get back, Roger. It would be just our luck.”

It was true that the storm was passing, and they were still some distance from the construction camp when the rain practically ceased. A portion of the clouds rolled away, making the sky much clearer.

“I’ll bet the sun comes out as brightly as ever before it sets,” ventured Roger. “Hang it all! why couldn’t we have found some shelter during this awful downpour? Then we wouldn’t have got wet to the skin.”

“Never mind, Roger. There is no use in crying over spilt milk. Don’t forget how thankful we are that we got our horses back.”

The chums were still out of sight of the construction camp when they heard a clatter of hoofs on the stony roadway ahead of them. In a minute 26more a figure, clad in a semi-cowboy outfit, came galloping toward them.

“Hello! who can that be?” cried Roger.

“Maybe it’s one of our men coming out to look for us,” answered Dave. “Perhaps Mr. Obray or Frank Andrews got worried when it began to blow so and lighten so hard.”

The two young civil engineers slackened their pace, expecting that the newcomer would halt as soon as he saw them. They drew up to one side of the road, and were somewhat surprised to see the person on horseback go by without paying any attention to them. He was a fellow about their own age and had his head bent down over his horse’s neck as if he was in deep thought.

Both of the young civil engineers stared at the rider as if he were a ghost. Neither of them said a word, but they both looked after the passer-by as if they could not believe the evidence of their senses.

“Dave, did you see him?” came at last in an excited tone from Roger.

“I certainly did, Roger!”

“It was Nick Jasniff!”

“So it was!”

“But how in the world did he get here?”

“I don’t know. I thought he was in prison!”

“So he was—we saw him sentenced ourselves, after we caught him on Cave Island.”

27“And his sentence can’t be up yet. The time is too short.”

“Maybe he broke jail or got out sooner on account of good behavior. You know they give prisoners some time off if they behave themselves well.”

“You don’t think we could be mistaken?”

“I don’t think so. If that fellow was not Nick Jasniff, it was his double.”

“Oh, don’t say anything about doubles!” cried Dave quickly. “I had all I want of that sort of thing with Ward Porton. I’m quite sure that fellow was Nick Jasniff himself. He had that same hang-dog, slouching way about him he had when he went to Oak Hall.”

“But what can he be doing out here in Montana?”

“I don’t know,—unless he may have thought that some of the Merwells were still out here. He, of course, must know about Mr. Merwell disposing of the Three X Ranch.”

“You don’t suppose he came out here to see us, do you?”

“To see us? Not on your life! Why should he want to see us? He knows well enough that we have no use for him.”

“But maybe he wants to get square with us. You know he threatened us in all sorts of ways after we had him arrested. And you know what an 28awful wicked fellow he is, Dave. Didn’t he try once in the Oak Hall gym to brain you with an Indian club?”

“Yes; I remember that only too well, Roger. Just the same, I don’t think a fellow like Jasniff would come away out here to square accounts with us. It’s more likely he came out here to get away from the people who know him. Maybe he thought he could start life over again in a place like this, where nobody knew him.”

“Humph! possibly you’re right. But if that’s the case, I don’t want him to come around where I am. I have no use for a jailbird,” grumbled the senator’s son.

The youths had resumed their journey, and a few minutes later they came into sight of the construction camp. This consisted of a rudely-built office, backed up by a score or more of smaller buildings used as bunk-houses. At the end of a row was a large, low building in which was located the kitchen and also the mess hall, or “Palace of Eats,” as some of the engineers had christened it. Still further away was a small shed for horses, with a corral attached.

“Hello! I was wondering what had become of you two chaps,” cried Frank Andrews, as they rode up to the building wherein they and the assistant and some others had their quarters. “Some let-down you got caught in.”

29“I should say so!” cried Roger. “We came within an ace of being drowned.”

“Be thankful that you weren’t struck by lightning,” returned the older engineer, with a twinkle in his eyes. “I suppose you’ll want to get some dry duds on before you make any report about those marks.”

“The marks are all there, just as Mr. Obray expected they would be,” answered Dave. “I’ve got a list of them here in my notebook.”

“By the way, Mr. Andrews, was there a stranger here a little while ago—a fellow about our age?” questioned Roger.

“There was somebody here. I don’t know who it was,” answered the assistant. “He was over at the main office, talking to Mr. Obray.”

“And you don’t know who he was?”

“No.” Frank Andrews gazed at the two chums questioningly. “Anything wrong about him?”

“That is what we want to find out,” answered the senator’s son. “We thought we knew him; and if so he isn’t the kind of fellow that any one would want around here.”

“Why, how is that?” questioned Frank Andrews. And thereupon, in a few brief words, Roger and Dave told about Nick Jasniff and his doings.

“You’re right! We don’t want any jailbirds 30around this camp!” cried the assistant. “When you go up to the office you had better tell Mr. Obray about this.”

Dave and Roger were glad enough to get under shelter. They lost no time in taking a good rub-down and in changing their apparel. Then they hurried over to the office of the construction camp, where they found the manager and several of his assistants going over various papers and blue-prints.

“Got back, eh?” said Mr. Obray, with a smile. “You certainly didn’t have a very nice day for the trip.”

“Oh, well, it’s all in the day’s work, Mr. Obray,” answered Dave lightly.

“And we had one advantage coming back,” put in Roger. “We didn’t suffer the least bit from dust;” and at this sally a smile lit up the features of all present. They liked Dave and Roger very much, and the fact that Dave’s chum was the son of a United States Senator added something to the importance of both of the young men.

Getting out his notebook, Dave lost no time in turning in his report, which was supplemented by what Roger had to say. Then the two young civil engineers were asked a number of questions, to which they replied as clearly as possible.

“I guess that’s about all,” said Mr. Obray finally. “I think that makes it pretty clear. 31Don’t you, Mr. Chase?” he continued, turning to one of the other men present.

“I think so,” answered Mr. Chase. “But we’ll still have to make an investigation up there at Number Six. I’m not satisfied about the formation of that rock. I think we’re due for a lot of trouble.”

“Well, we’ll meet it as it comes—there is no use in anticipating it,” answered Ralph Obray briefly.

He was a man who was never daunted, no matter how great the obstacles that confronted him. It was his clear-headedness that had won more than one engineering victory for the Mentor Construction Company when all the other engineers had given up a task as impossible.

“Mr. Obray, we would like to ask you a few questions in private if you don’t mind,” said Dave in a low voice, when he saw the other civil engineers turn away to consult a map that hung on one of the office walls.

“All right, Porter. Come right in here,” answered the manager, and led the way to a corner, where he had a small private office.

“I wish to ask you about a fellow we met on the road just before we got back to camp about half an hour ago,” explained our hero. “He was a fellow about our own age. He was on horseback, and I thought he might have been here.”

32“There was a fellow here, and he left less than an hour ago,” answered the manager. “I should think he was about your age, or maybe a year or two older.”

“Was he a tall, lanky sort of fellow with a rather slouchy air about him?” questioned Roger.

“Yes, that description would fit him pretty well.”

“And did he have a squint in one eye?” questioned Dave suddenly, remembering a peculiarity about Nick Jasniff which he had almost forgotten.

“Yes, there certainly was something the matter with one of his eyes. The upper lid seemed to droop considerably.”

“Might I ask what that fellow was doing here?”

“He came here looking for a job. He said he was working on one of the ranches in this vicinity but that he preferred to work for us and learn civil engineering if we would give him a chance. I told him we were pretty well filled up as far as our engineering corps was concerned, but said he might call some other time. You see, Barry and Lundstrom are thinking of leaving, and if they do we might have a chance for one or two outsiders, provided they were of the right sort.”

“Well, if this fellow is the person we think he 33is, he isn’t any one you would care to have around here, Mr. Obray,” cried Roger.

“And why not?” demanded the manager of the construction camp.

“Because if he is the fellow we think he is, he is a thief and a jailbird!”