And so ended the great day at the Zuni village, which the Indians looked forward to each year with the liveliest antic.i.p.ations; and the three chums had reason to feel thankful that the bold plot of Braddon the showman had not resulted in their being expelled from the place without a chance to see the "circus," as Billie called it.

CHAPTER XXVII.

HOMEWARD BOUND.

Billie was also a little bit worried for fear that Braddon and his two companions might not have gone far away; but, feeling so badly toward the three chums for having nipped their scheme in the bud, he dreaded lest they return under cover of darkness, bent on evening up the debt they thought they owed the Broncho Rider Boys.

"Don't you believe anything of the sort, Billie," urged Donald, when the stout chum ventured to mention his fears on this score.

"No," added Adrian, positively; "they knew that the medicine man meant every word of it when he warned them that the old chief would set some of his braves on their track, after nightfall. Make your mind easy, for Braddon isn't the kind of man to take chances, when he can get away.

They're whipping their ponies for all they're worth, so as to cover as many miles as they can before another dawn."

As the others were so confident, Billie began to lose his nervousness.

Perhaps after all this was more the result of the terrible scenes he had looked upon that afternoon, than any real fear of the three rascals whose departure from the Zuni village had been so hurried.

"On the whole," said Adrian, "I don't think any of us will get too much sleep this same night."

"Why so?" asked Billie, as though wondering what new tribulations might threaten them now.

"Listen!" said the other, holding up his hand.

They had finished their supper, and were lying around taking their ease at the time this conversation sprang up.

"Well, they _are_ pretty noisy over there in the village, for a fact,"

admitted Billie, as he caught the sound of wild shouts, and a sort of native song that many voices chanted in unison; "but once let me snuggle down, with my head under my good old blanket, and nothing like that will keep me awake."

"From what I've seen of some of your performances," admitted Adrian, "I reckon you're right, Billie. But Donald has agreed that we pull up stakes here tomorrow some time, and make a start for home."

"Is that so, Donald?" demanded the fat chum.

"Yes, by afternoon we might pull out, though we'll not get very far by night-time, it may be," came the answer.

Perhaps Billie caught a certain significance about it, for he instantly went on to remark:

"Huh! guess you mean to have a look-in at that Sacred Mountain racket, and find out what the old medicine man keeps hidden there?"

The others exchanged glances.

"Talk a little lower when you're saying things like that, Billie,"

cautioned Donald.

"I hope you don't think there's a spy ahanging around camp right now, one of those Zuni braves, awanting to hear what we might be saying after our supper?" Billie asked, anxiously, as he sat up, to stare around at the rocks seen beyond the circle of firelight.

"No, but sometimes they tell us the walls have ears, and n.o.body can tell who might catch what we happened to be saying," Adrian observed. "But answering your question, I'll just remark that we do mean to make a try to find out about the strange noises they say come out of that mountain at times, when the Witch Doctor is talking with the Great Spirit."

"Yes," added Donald, "it's none of our business, that's right, and perhaps we hadn't ought to poke in there; but we've heard so much that we just feel we can't go away from here without one good try to solve the mystery."

"But remember, Billie, we haven't got the same motive that Braddon had,"

Adrian hastened to remark, seeing the other smile faintly.

"Not much," added Donald; "if there's a treasure cave in there it belongs to the Zunis, and we'll never tell anybody what we've discovered."

"Because," Adrian continued, "that would start a rush of crazy prospectors and miners over this way, and you never could tell what the end would be; all sorts of fights, and in some way or other the Zunis would be turned out of the homes their people have occupied for hundreds and hundreds of years."

"And we couldn't stand for that, you know, Billie," said Donald.

"Huh! I should say not," agreed the other.

Adrian changed the subject abruptly, showing that whatever he and Donald had settled upon as a part of their future programme, he did not think it wise to continue the discussion of it under the existing conditions.

The night wore on.

Up to the time they were ready to lie down and get some sleep, the racket still kept up over at the village. It seemed as though the Indians were bound to wind up their gala time with a grand hurrah. No doubt on the next day they would have relapsed once more into their ordinary prosy state of existence.

Just as he had said, Billie seemed to have no trouble whatever in going to sleep, and Donald, who also lay down while Adrian took the first watch, really envied him the ease with which he pa.s.sed away into dreamland.

There was nothing occurred to disturb them all the night through, and both sentries managed to secure a fair amount of rest before dawn came.

During the day that followed they saw the other visitors and their guides take their departure. The three chums purposely delayed leaving until the afternoon had well advanced, for they did not mean to get a great distance away by nightfall, since they expected to retrace their steps, returning to the side of the Sacred Mountain.

Having marked the spot well where the cliff arose, which they knew concealed the secret tunnel the medicine man seemed to use in entering the mountain, they felt sure they could easily find it again, when the time came for action.

Billie succeeded in securing a few more snapshots to complete his collection; and was very happy over his success. In fact, the only cloud upon the horizon, so far as Billie was concerned, lay in his inability to guess the ident.i.ty of the mysterious party who had three times done them such a favor.

If he was one of the cowboys who had been present to witness the snake-dance, why would he not have admitted as much before leaving the village? Billie had taken particular pains to be in the society of these fellows more or less during the morning before they went away, and not by the faintest sign did any one of them give him a hint that he might be the good friend.

The mystery was as dark as ever, it seemed; and Billie wondered very much as to whether he would ever know the truth.

"If Adrian keeps his word," he said to himself, as he sat there, pondering the aggravating matter all over, "we'll just as like as not be starting for Wyoming soon after we hit the Keystone Ranch country; for he's getting wild to set eyes on his own cattle ranch up there, that his Uncle Fred Comstock has been running so long. And if that comes about, why, I reckon, then, I'll never know just who to thank for all these splendid favors."

Whenever he tried to picture this unknown friend Billie always seemed to have in mind some sort of splendid looking man, who was just amusing himself going around doing good wherever he found a chance. And it grieved him very much to realize that his chances of ever thanking him were growing less and less all the time.

About the middle of the afternoon they said good-bye to all their Zuni friends and rode away. The old medicine man was among the crowd that saw them off; he even condescended to shake hands with each of the lads.

Doubtless it had dawned upon the mind of the conjurer that he and the Zuni tribe in general were under heavy obligations to these boys for what they had done. Had it not been for them that fraud of a showman might have succeeded in coaxing the chief to start away, with most of the people, tagging after him, to leave them stranded and helpless in some faraway station; while meanwhile he returned to try and find the secret treasure which report said the Witch Doctor knew of in the heart of the Sacred Mountain.

"I want to tell you, boys," remarked Billie, after they had gone far enough on the other trail that would avoid crossing the main desert to no longer see any sign of the wonderful home of the cliff dwellers; "I'm not sorry to get away from that place. Too many creeping things to suit me. I don't much mind standing up and waiting to receive the charge of a mad bull elk; or calmly puncturing the tough old hide of a whopper of a grizzly bear; but excuse me from all sorts of scaly things. No alligators, lizards or Gila Monsters need apply for a job to Broncho Billie. Set that down with a red stone to mark it, will you?"

After going as far as they thought fit the three boys turned aside from the main trail, and finding a good place where camp could be made, as well as water secured for themselves and ponies, they settled down.

Supper came next in order, with Billie plying his old trade, and apparently doing about all there was to accomplish, yet actually performing very little through lack of system.

Night had now closed in about them, but they did not mean to be in any undue haste about attempting to carry out the little scheme they had on foot.

In fact, both Adrian and Donald were somewhat ashamed of this spirit of curiosity that was coaxing them back, to pry into the secret of the medicine man. They a.s.sured each other many times that they did not mean him any harm in the least, and only entered into the game on account of a natural feeling, such as all boys possess to a greater or less extent-a desire to know "what makes the wheels go around."