"If they've found a treasure, it's _mine_! I've hunted for it for years! I'll get it somehow!" Kie Wicks was almost beside himself with rage when he reached the store and told his discovery to Maude.

"Oh, maybe it's not the treasure," Maude tried to soothe the angry man.

"Come eat your supper."

But Kie was too unhappy to eat. He glared about the cheerless kitchen and did not seem to see anything. He stared moodily. Finally he rose and went outside, grumbling like a spoiled child.

He sat for a long time, his head in his hands, not looking up to greet his customers.

"What's the matter with the old man?" inquired a neighbor. "'T ain't often you see Kie Wicks sick or under the weather."

"Somebody's stolen some property from him, and he's thinkin' out a way to get even. Let him alone," counselled Maude. "The more down he seems, the better schemes he can think up. And this one will be a dandy. He ain't eat a bite and he won't talk." Maude seemed quite elated.

It was not until some hours later that Kie came to life once more and demanded his supper. On his face was a determined scowl, as if he were ready to challenge the whole world. As he went into the store he was whistling cheerfully.

Maude smiled at him. But no words were exchanged. That smile expressed everything. Kie had a scheme, a big one, and Maude could afford to wait until he was ready to tell her what it was all about.

Meanwhile on the hill near Orphan Annie, the professor was dreaming of Indian villages and treasure, and with the two watchmen beside him, had no uneasiness.

CHAPTER XVI

_MISSING_

The boys were still asleep the next morning when the professor got up quietly and went into the canyon for a dip in the creek.

He wandered up the stream a short distance and was surprised to see a saddle horse standing dejectedly on the trail. The next moment Kie Wicks had hailed him genially from the cliff above.

"Say pard," he called. "Last night when I was going home over the hill here, I found what looks like the ruins of an Indian village. Do you want to take a look at them?"

"How far away is it?" asked the professor. "The boys are camping over there with me, so I'd better go back and tell them where I'm going.

"It won't take you ten minutes, my friend," Kie answered. "You'll be back before they have breakfast ready." Kie descended the steep mountain and leading his horse, he urged the professor on with a description of the marvelous ruins that he had discovered. Professor Gillette was almost wild with excitement. He fairly danced from boulder to boulder along that rocky trail, and when they reached a narrow pa.s.s between the high canyon walls, Kie stopped his horse for a moment.

At that same instant two men suddenly sprang into the trail in front of them, grabbed the unsuspecting professor, bound and gagged him and tied him to a horse.

Professor Gillette could not imagine why he should be treated like this. Why should he be robbed? He had nothing. And where was Kie Wicks? Had the men kidnapped him as well? It took the kindly mind of the professor a long time to grasp the idea that Kie Wicks might have something to do with the affair.

The old man did not struggle as he had an impulse to do. He knew it would be useless. The men were powerful, while he was frail, and helpless in their hands. It would be much better for him to save his strength so that his mind could work out a scheme for escape.

He was not the sort of person to waste energy in worry. He believed that nothing could harm him, and he lay quietly in the uncomfortable position on the horse, wondering where he was going and how long they would hold him captive. What would The Merriweather Girls do when they heard about it? He had to smile at the thought of the adventure they would make of it. Yet perhaps it was nothing to smile about. He might never return alive.

The boys did not miss the old man until breakfast was ready. They knew that it was his custom to start the day with a dip in the stream and so they went on with their breakfast preparations without giving him a thought. Finally they sat down and started to eat.

Still the professor did not come.

Tommy Sharpe called him from the summit of the cliff, waited, and called again many times. But there was no answer.

"Guess you'd better take a walk down there and see what's keeping the old chap," advised Seedy Saunders. "He never goes far away without his breakfast."

Tommy returned in a few minutes without seeing anything of the professor. He said: "I saw tracks going up the creek and there are fresh hoof prints, but that doesn't tell a thing."

"Oh, he's all right. I won't worry about him," laughed Seedy. "I can just see his face if he thought we imagined he was lost. He's such an independent old fellow, he'd be displeased."

Nine o'clock came and still the professor did not make his appearance.

The boys each took turns in riding down the creek and calling, but when the girls arrived at ten, the missing man had not returned. He had not been to the ranch and the girls had seen nothing of him.

"Something has happened!" exclaimed Bet anxiously. "The professor isn't the sort of man to wander away like a lost soul. He's too interested in this treasure to leave it for a minute. Some enemy is at work."

"Melodrama from the movies," laughed Kit. "Bet is bound she's going to have some western bad man stuff."

"Don't be silly, Bet," said Enid impatiently. "Our old professor hasn't got an enemy in the world."

"Hasn't he? How do you know? Just suppose Kie Wicks found out about the treasure. He'd want to get rid of the professor first thing."

"That's an idea, Bet," replied Enid, suddenly growing excited. "I never thought of Kie."

"But what good would it do him to get rid of the professor?" asked the sensible Shirley. "Kie Wicks knows we are all backing the old man, so what would be the use of making away with him?"

"That's true," agreed Bet with a puzzled frown. "If I thought that Kie Wicks had a hand in this I'd... I'd...."

"What would you do, Bet?" asked Shirley.

"I'd tell him right to his face what I think of him."

"Heaps of good that would do," Kit shrugged. "Kie has heard about himself from lots of people."

But Kie Wicks' scheme worked out just as he planned. In their anxiety over the professor's disappearance, the treasure was left unguarded and when the girls returned to the camp, they were confronted with guns held in the hands of two burly ruffians, swarthy, heavy giants who terrified them by their looks.

The four girls wasted no time in that neighborhood. They raced their horses into the canyon and were heading toward the ranch.

"Say, what's the matter with The Merriweather Girls?" cried Bet, bringing her horse up sharply. "We're letting two cowardly ruffians frighten us away. I'm going back this minute."

"You are not, Bet Baxter! Father would be frightfully angry if you do.

He trusts us not to take any big risks. I know he wouldn't want us to go back where those men are." Enid put her hand on Bet's shoulder.

"Come on, Bet, be good!"

"But are we going to let those fellows get our treasure?" Bet cried hysterically. "No, I won't run away! I'm going straight back there and tell them what I think of them."

Shirley laughed quietly. "What's the use, Bet. They probably know more mean things about themselves than you can tell them. They're like Kie Wicks."

But Bet was stubborn. She hated to give up.

"I won't go home! I'm going to stay right here for the present and think out a plan."

And it was there that Judge Breckenridge found them, heard their story and commanded them to return to the ranch house without any delay.