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The sun was partly bidden by the ridge of the Guadalupes towards which the Pony Rider Boys were slowly drawing. Ned called up to the professor who was riding at the head. "Where are we going to make camp, Professor?" "Tad will decide that," answered Professor Zepplin without looking back. "Near a stream, of course," answered Butler. "Any mosquitoes there?" demanded Stacy.
"I'll load him on like a sack of meal. He'll get a good shaking up, but it won't hurt Dunk. He's too tough to be bothered by a little thing like that. We'll land him in the calaboose in El Paso by the day after to-morrow. Where are you folks going?" "We planned to do the Guadalupes, then go on down to the Rio Grande," answered Professor Zepplin. Withem reflected.
But by the time they reached the Mescalero Agency, the feud was ended; the peace of exhaustion after years of open war and ambush had descended upon Lincoln County, and the Mescaleros were glad enough quietly to draw their rations of flour and coffee, and range the Sacramentos and Guadalupes for game. For Jim and the band of Indian police which he quickly organized there was nothing doing.
Here the valley appeared to run south under the dark brows of the Guadalupes. Link was heading southwest. Madeline observed that the grass began to fail as they climbed the ridge; bare, white, dusty spots appeared; there were patches of mesquite and cactus and scattering areas of broken rock. She might have been prepared for what she saw from the ridge-top. Beneath them the desert blazed.
"But what leads you to believe this is the Pueblo village of your particular chief's ancestors?" "Yes; I don't see why it might not be any of the ruined adobe houses in this valley?" said Ned Rector. They had journeyed rapidly over mountain and plain to the valley of the Guadalupes, where Mr. Marquand had informed them that he expected to find the treasure.
The desert did not influence her as did the passionless, unchangeable stars that had soothed her spirit. It was red, mutable, shrouded in shadows, terrible like her mood. A dust-veiled sunset colored the vast, brooding, naked waste of rock and sand. The grim Chiricahua frowned black and sinister. The dim blue domes of the Guadalupes seemed to whisper, to beckon to her.
The lad got on this time without falling off, and with much laughter and joking, the party started off toward the blue haze in the distance, the dark ridge that marked the Guadalupes. It was in "The Pony Rider Boys in the Rockies" that our readers first learned how this little private club of youthful horsemen came to be organized.
An', Miss Majesty, I'm offerin' to beg pawdin for the way the boys are packin' guns. Mebbe it ain't polite. But it's Stewart's orders." "Stewart's orders!" echoed Madeline. Her friends were suddenly silent. "I reckon he won't take no chances on the boys bein' surprised sudden by raiders. An' there's raiders operatin' in from the Guadalupes. That's all. Nothin' to worry over.
Dave leaned forward, studying the speaker curiously. "Well, come through. What's on your mind?" he demanded, finally. "The Guadalupes had to kill him, Dave." "Had to? HAD to? Why?" "Don't you know? Don't you know anything about your family history?" Dave shook his head. "Well, then he was insane." "Insane?" "Yes; violently."
"'When the full of the moon has come and shoots its first arrow over the crests of the Guadalupes, it points the way to the treasure of my ancient people," quoted Mr. Marquand. "I presume that would be taken to mean that, at a certain phase of the moon, one of its beams points to where the treasure is hidden," explained Professor Zepplin.
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