These were only a few of the excited shouts of the boy ranchers
themselves, while the cowboys of Diamond X riding into the fray
with new hearts, sent up their shrill, yipping yells. It was all
over then but the shouting, so to speak. The Greasers were fairly
trapped--Del Pinzo and all his gang. In vain they attempted to
ride around and escape by the main entrance. But the troopers had
stationed a guard there, and the bowl was "bottled up." One or
two Greasers, sneaking around to the north, did manage to escape
through the crack by which Bud and his friends had entered,
though the main body was captured and the cattle saved.
"Whew, but that was hot work!" commented Bud, toward sundown,
when the rustlers had been caught, disarmed and corraled under
guard.
"You told the truth for once," remarked Dick, whose wound had
been rebandaged by the surgeon accompanying the troopers.
"And I guess this is the end of Del Pinzo," remarked Nort, for
the outlaw Greaser half-breed had been caught red-handed, so to
speak.
"I hope so," mused Bud. "But we paid a price for it."
"And so did they," observed Slim. "We accounted for quite a few,
but I'm sorry for our boys." Several of the Diamond X outfit had
been grievously wounded, and one was killed outright. But the
casualties on the side of the enemy were greater.
The fight was over. The cattle of the boy ranchers were saved,
and the rustlers captured. Tired horses were staked out near
grass and water, and while the cavalry established their camp,
Bud and his friends began to wonder how it was the troopers had
arrived in the nick of time.
"Well, it was more by chance than anything else," said Captain
Parker, who was in command. "We'd been on the trail of these
outlaws for some time, and finally we saw a chance to corner
them. It was due to the work of Lieutenant Wayne that we were
able so to effectually bag them here, though. He has been on
scout duty in this section for some time, endeavoring to get information
so that we might round up this gang."
"Lieutenant Wayne," repeated Bud, wonderingly.
"Yes, here he comes now. He says he knows you boys."
"Knows us!" murmured Dick, as a trooper approached, saluting his
superior and smiling at the boy ranchers. "Yes, don't you know
me?" asked Lieutenant Wayne, holding out his hand to Bud.
"Perhaps if I had on my glasses, you would be better able to----"
"Four Eyes!" burst out Nort. "At least--I beg your pardon--Henry--er--Mr.
Mellon--Lieutenant Wayne!" he stammered.
"Yes, Four Eyes!" was the laughing answer of the trooper. "Those
glasses were only fakes! I wore them as a sort of disguise, and
very effectual they were, it seems."
"Four Eyes!" gasped Bud. "And were you in the United States
cavalry all the while?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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