"Four Eyes isn't here!"

"Isn't here!" repeated Billee. "Why, I saw him turn in a while ago, when we started t' play cards."

"He isn't here now," declared Snake. "His bunk is empty, and he didn't go out the front way, I'll wager on that. There's something queer going on all right!"

CHAPTER XV

A BIG RAID

Into the bunk tent of the older cowboys crowded the young ranch lads. Doubt, suspicion and wonder mingled in their minds, and foremost of all were two outstanding matters--the mysterious signalling light, and the disappearance of Four Eyes--if, indeed, that individual had really taken himself off.

"Are you sure he was here?" asked Bud, when, after the first break of surprise, questions were in order.

"Sure," replied Yellin' Kid. "We all come in here, after th'

ch.o.r.es was done, t' have a friendly game of cards an' smoke. We didn't look for you back until late, if at all."

"And was Four Eyes with you then?" asked Nort.

"You couldn't exactly say he was _with_ us," replied Snake.

"An' yet he wasn't _away_ from us. He pretended he didn't want t' play cards, an' he said he was so doggoned tired an'

sleepy that he was goin' t' turn in. I told him that bein' in th'

same tent with a whisperin' infant like Yellin' Kid, wasn't perzactly healthy for sleep, but Four Eyes said he didn't mind.

So he turned int' his bunk, an' pulled th' covers tip over his head, though I don't see how he stood it, for it isn't winter, not by a long shot, an' this place was full of smoke. Anyhow he done it, an' t' keep th' light out of his eyes, so he said, he pulled a chair up in front of his bunk like you see it now, an'

stuck his coat over it."

Snake pointed to a chair, now twisted awry from in front of the cot that the missing cowboy had occupied. His coat, draped over the back, effectually screened him from observation when lying on the bed.

"He did that so's he could slip out an' get away!" spoke Yellin'

Kid, justifying the sarcastic name of "whispering infant," that Snake had bestowed on him.

"But how did he get out?" asked d.i.c.k.

"And what for?" Bud wanted to know,

"He got out this way!" said Old Billee quietly, as he leaned over the cot and pushed with his hand against the side of the tent. A right-angled opening was disclosed, cut with a sharp knife. The loose point was at the bottom, and once Four Eyes had slipped out, the cut flap hung down in place, not disclosing, in the dim light, that the canvas had been cut.

"He got out that way," went on Old Billee, "because th' tent sides, bein' fast t' th' board floor, wouldn't let him crawl out very easy. He's a slick one, Four Eyes is!"

"But why should he slip out this way? Did he do anything? And who was doing that signalling?" exclaimed Bud.

"I reckon you'll find, son, that the signallin' an' th' vamoosin'

of our late friend Four Eyes had some connection," spoke Old Billee. "We, bein' intent on our game of cards, didn't know nothin' at all 'bout it till you fellows rode up. Now it's about time we got int' action!"

"You win!" declared Yellin' Kid loudly. "There's suthin' queer prospectin' around these diggings an' I'd like t' know what it is!"

"I guess we all would," spoke Bud. "And we'd better start right in to find out about it. Come on, boys," he called to his cousins, but the older cow punchers took the invitation to themselves also, and soon, with lanterns and flashlights (which handy little contrivances the boy ranchers nearly always carried) they began the search.

First they made sure that Four Eyes was playing no trick on them by hiding under one of the cots in the bunk tent. Though, as Bud pointed out, it would pa.s.s the bounds of fun to have cut the canvas shelter as it was cut.

But no trace of Four Eyes was to be found.

"He's gone, hide, hair, horns, brand an' everythin'!" was the way Old Billee expressed it.

"How about his horse?" asked Nort.

"He didn't get his black one back," remarked Snake. "But he may have sort of helped himself to one of yours, Bud."

This was found to be the case when the corral was visited. It could hardly have been expected, in that country of great distances, that the missing cowboy would not take a horse.

"And now let's have a look at the tower," suggested Bud, when a rapid survey, under the fitful moonlight, had been made in the vicinity of the camp, and no trace of the missing man discovered.

"Some one was signalling from up there, and it must have been Four Eyes."

"It _could_ have been some one else," suggested d.i.c.k, not because he believed that, but because he wanted to sift all the evidence and get to the bottom of matters.

"Yes, it may have been a wandering cowboy, Greaser or some Indian, far from his native reservation," Bud admitted. "But I'm saying it was Four Eyes, though why he did it I can't imagine."

Nor could any of the others. Or, if they had a theory, they did not give voice to it, though, afterward, one and all said they had a.s.sociated the missing cowboy with the rustlers.

But a search on and near the hastily-built watch tower disclosed nothing. On the top platform, whence, doubtless, the signalling lantern had been waved, no light was found. There were burned matches and cigarette stubs, to be sure, but these were as much the discarded property of Yellin' Kid or Snake, as of Four Eyes, for they all had taken turns doing sentry duty, and, as it was lonesome up on the high perch, smoking was indulged in.

"Well, he's away, and that's all there is to it," said Bud, when the search was over. "Now all we've got to do is to wait for something to happen."

"Do you think something will happen?" asked Nort.

"Well, things have been happening ever since we came out here,"

observed d.i.c.k. "First it was the finding of the Triceratops. Then it was the water fight in the mysterious tunnel, and now it's the rustlers after our cattle. Isn't that enough to happen?"

"Oh, yes," admitted Nort. "But I thought Bud meant something special was about due."

"It wouldn't surprise me if it did happen," declared the western lad. "But I wasn't thinking of anything out of the usual. Only the combination--Four Eyes missing and us seeing the light makes me suspicious. So I'm ready for anything."

"And I'm ready for my bunk!" declared d.i.c.k, with a yawn. "It's most morning! Let's turn in!"

They did, but none of the boy ranchers rested well, for they were too worried.

What did it all mean? And what events portended? These were questions they wished soon would be answered.

The morning did not bring the return of Four Eyes, nor in the better light were any more clues discovered at the Watch Tower.

Looking from its height, over the peaceful valley, the boy ranchers saw nothing evil, and there was no hint of coming disaster other than in the suspicions engendered by the recent strange happenings.

"Do you suppose that signalling could have meant an Indian uprising?" asked Nort.

"Cracky! If it does we'll have to fight 'em, won't we?" asked d.i.c.k, with sparkling eyes.