The Broncho Rider Boys Along the Border: The Hidden Treasure of the Zuni Medicine Man

Donald Mackay was the son of a ranchman who not only owned a vast tract of land in the Far Southwest range country, but had interests in mines as well. Adrian Sherwood was his chum, and had been for a long time back; while the fat chap, whose rosy and freckled face seemed bubbling with good humor most of the time, had not been out in this wild region many moons. In fact, being Donald’s cousin, and a Southern boy by birth, though his folks now lived in the North, Billie had been sent down on a year’s visit to the cattle country for the sake of his health! To look at him no one would suspect that this was in any degree imperiled; for he was terribly stout, and at times fairly waddled; but that was the trouble; and it was hoped that the free life of the range, with all sorts of hard riding, and kindred sports, would not only reduce his girth, but harden his flabby muscles. Already Billie was another boy. He had lost twenty pounds, so he claimed, and called himself as “hard as nails,” whatever that might mean. Certain it was that he could ride in a manner that astonished those who were liable to secretly sneer at his clumsy appearance; and as for pluck and endurance, why Billie was as stubborn as an army mule, once he set out to accomplish anything. At first he had ridden a demure old nag named Maudie, that was always trailing so far behind those mounts of his comrades Wireless and Ten Spot, when they rode forth, that Billie just made up his mind he would never stand for it. So he had Mr. Mackay give him an unruly cow pony called Jupiter, that few of the punchers cared to ride; and for weeks in and weeks out Billie had his regular daily stunt with that raging beast. How many times he went over its head no one knew, for they had lost all count; but somehow the fat boy seemed to bear a charmed life, for his hurts were all of a minor character. And in the end he won out, just as the others knew he would; for given time running water can wear away a stone. And now Jupiter was under perfect control, save for an occasional little spasm, when his old ugly nature tried to show itself for a change. These three lads had seen considerable excitement around Keystone Ranch, as the home place was called; and later on Donald had been sent down into Arizona when his father, being disabled, could not come; in order to settle some troubles that had arisen in connection with a rich copper mine, in which he and some others were heavily interested. An unscrupulous syndicate of capitalists, headed by one Colonel Deering, a close neighbor of the Mackays, but who had always been on bad terms with the other ranch-owners, had secured a footing in the copper mine, knowing of a very rich lode that had just been discovered; and tried by every means in their power to freeze out the other stockholders, even engineering a serious strike that threatened to be the ruination of the whole property.