“Humph! I wonder where in the name of pulverized pups that young Slick-and-Slippery took himself. He sure knew how to cover his trail up good and pronto.” It wasn’t the unseasonable weather that made Bob Caldwell shiver slightly as he glanced ahead at the deserted ranch which was rolling toward him. It was the recollection of that day, only a few months ago, when he had taken Sergeant Bradshaw and Allen Ruhel, the Canadian Royal Mounties, to identify the outlaws. Staring at the empty ranch buildings, the boy experienced an uncanny feeling; it seemed to him that in the weeks which had elapsed since the Gordons, Senior and Junior, had been forced to vacate so hurriedly and abandon their schemes, that the huge property had become amazingly desolate. Drawing swiftly nearer he saw doors swinging disconsolately in the wind, and although he knew perfectly well that no such sound could reach his ears, he thought that even the strips of forest wailed dismally over their condition.

“Anyway,” he remarked with relief, “the old man is safely in prison, and I reckon that Arthur had aplenty of Texas, so we don’t have to worry about his turning up here again.” Curiosity prompted him to take the glasses and examine the vicinity more closely. The rambly old-fashioned house in which the father and son had made their home for three years, swayed slightly. Many of its windows were broken, sections of the roof sagged, and one corner of the veranda was separated from its supporting pillar. A small shed in the back had fallen in, the bunkhouse entrance was blocked with debris, the corral fences leaned wearily, and the tall cottonwood trees that had been decorative during the summer, were stripped of their biggest branches.

“Guess they didn’t do any more repairing than they had to while they lived there or it wouldn’t be tumbling apart now,” he suggested as an explanation. His eyes rested for a moment on the twisted bole of a gnarled oak and he thought he saw something move swiftly around its base, but he decided that it was probably a wild animal that had taken shelter there because of an instinctive confidence that its haunts would not be molested.

Caldwell had witnessed the ignominious capture of the older man and the unceremonious retreat of Arthur Junior, who had fled the country without stopping to lock the place or make provisions for the hundreds of head of stock which roamed the range. Humane ranchers had driven the cattle to shelter, and Bob knew that the sheriff or some of his assistants occasionally patroled the property on watch for signs of the return of young Gordon or any of his associates, but so far the place had been shunned by members of the gang as if it were plague stricken.

“At that, some of them might make it a hang-out as soon as they think people have forgotten or are too busy to keep an eye on it.” He noted the rugged cliffs which rose like irregular saw-teeth and curved around sharply, like a protecting elbow. “From the ground the place isn’t easy to reach without being observed. Well, what a nice little scare-cat I’m getting to be,” he upbraided himself as he resolutely put the glasses into their case and turned his attention to the business of flying.

Bob Caldwell was the younger member of the Flying Buddies and he was returning from a hop in Her Highness to Crofton where he had done errands for his mother and picked up the mail for the three adjoining ranches above the Gordon’s on Cap Rock; his own, the Cross-Bar on the Pearl River; the K-A which was the Austin’s and his home; and Don Haurea’s of the Box-Z. The recollection of the stirring events and the eerie atmosphere about the lonely ranch made him turn the plane’s nose toward the blue dome of northwestern Texas until its magnitude and beauty enabled him to dismiss the sense of impending danger.

“We are all as safe as if we were in church,” he grinned cheerfully, then, as the altitude meter read twenty thousand feet, he leveled off, and shot north. At the boy’s right stretched the seemingly endless miles of level plain under an almost unbroken expanse of pure white, while at his left below the great ledge lay miles and miles of sharp hills, narrow valleys, and in the distance the Pearl River bottom. Presently he saw the timber line bounding the south of the K-A.

“Good old ranch,” he chuckled. “And Jim, the blithering highbrow, is all healed up, thank goodness. He sure has deserted us for Don Haurea’s laboratories.” The boy gave the machine an affectionate tap but he felt no resentment over the new interests of his step-brother for he too was culling valuable information from that same source, only Bob was applying everything he learned to the immediate development of the Cross-Bar ranch. “She’ll be some producer by the time I’m twenty-one.” That happy date was five years off and he whistled gaily as his mind tried to visualize the achievements possible to accomplish during those years.

By this time Her Highness was soaring smoothly above the plain, and in the distance, so far north that he looked like an animated exclamation point as he skied on the surface of the frozen snow, Caldwell recognized the familiar figure of Jim Austin, his Flying Buddy and step-brother.

Austin’s bright red mackinaw and flapping scarf stood out a cheery patch of color against the whiteness that surrounded him, and by the swing of his body Caldwell knew that the older boy was making an effort to beat him home. With an exuberant whoop, the young pilot waggled Her Highness’ wings to let the challenger know that she accepted the dare, but she was a good sport, and although the distance she had to cover was four times as far as the skier’s, she proceeded to make her handicap greater, by executing a wide circle, zooming, banking and spiraling. Bob was having a perfectly gorgeous time in the sky, and although he looked forward to joining his Flying Buddy, he hated to come down. But as he sped along, he saw that Jim stood a fine chance of making good, so after treating himself to a final climb, he leveled off again, then with the throttle wide open, he started to dive.

Jim was so close now that Bob could see him quite plainly, and he watched for his brother to pause and admire the spectacle of the rushing plane as it cut through space at topmost speed. Suddenly Jim did stop, stare up, then he waved his arms. At first Bob interpreted the motions as a signal of recognized defeat, but after an instant the pilot realized that his step-brother was trying to make himself understood and he seemed rather frantic about it. He glanced swiftly about to be sure that another plane was not in the vicinity, and discovering none, he took a swift look at Her Highness. As far as he could see the little bus was O.K. and he wondered if she had dropped her landing gear, but just then his eyes rested on the mirror which reflected the rear, and he gave a startled gasp of incredulous amazement. There was a thick trail of smoke belching along the fuselage and to the boy’s horror he saw tongues of flame bursting almost to the forward cock-pit where he sat.

Mechanically he kicked the rubber, jammed the stick, fought with the controls, brought the nose up and reduced the speed. All the while his mind was busy in an effort to account for the fire, but he could find no explanation. Going more slowly the smoke no longer shot back, but began to hover forward, swirled about the cock-pit and smudged his glasses. Groping and straining at the safety strap, he shut off the motor, but it was evident that whatever caused the blaze was in the back, yet he knew there was nothing in the construction of the machine that could ignite in the rear.

According to the meter he was still seven thousand feet up, so he made a desperate effort to save the beloved plane but nothing he tried helped matters at all, and finally, with a sigh of regret, he released the strap, his fingers moved over the parachute buckles, then stopping to pick up the bag of mail and his glasses, he climbed over the rim of the cock-pit. One last glance back when the machine was two thousand feet up, the boy jumped, dropped like a plummet until he was clear, then he pulled the release and in a moment the chute blossomed above him and he began to drift easily. As the plane dropped swiftly past him it seemed to the boy as if all the joy of life was carried down to destruction in the crackling machine. He clenched his fists inside his fur mittens, gritted his teeth, then because he simply couldn’t bear to witness the complete annihilation of Her Highness, he closed his eyes and paid no attention to his own landing.

“Spill some of it, Buddy!” Jim called sharply. Bob glanced about, saw that he was drifting toward the jagged tips of underbrush protruding above the snow, so spilled enough air to drop him more directly. He could hear his step-brother’s racing skis as the older boy hurried to meet him. Then Jim caught him by the coat and helped the landing. “All right?” he asked anxiously peering into Caldwell’s face.

“Sure.” Bob was down now, and the pair of them hastened to get him freed from the chute.

“What happened to you? Who did you meet?” Jim asked quickly.

“I don’t know what happened and I didn’t meet anyone,” Bob answered emphatically. “Is there any chance of saving her?”

“No!” Silently they stood together as the hungry flames, like a pack of ravenous wolves, consumed the helpless plane.

“Gee,” Bob said finally then sank down and buried his head on his arm, while his body shook in a brave effort to keep back the sobs.

“Don’t take it so hard, Buddy,” Jim urged, but he wasn’t feeling any too good himself.

“Gosh, I—I couldn’t feel worse if it was one of the h—horses, or t—the dog. She—gosh, she was a dandy bird, Jim—nobody could ever have more fun than she gave us—it was more like having a good pal that you could always rely on, than just a machine,” Bob choked.

“I know it, old man. I’d mighty like to find out what started her cooking. Have any engine trouble?” Jim asked.

“Not a bit. She ran like velvet, was going great when I was diving. It wasn’t until I saw you doing a wind-mill with your arms that I thought of grief, then I had an idea it might be the landing gear I’d dropped and you wanted me to look out. I didn’t find anything wrong until I saw the smoke in the reflection mirror.” “Come on over and we’ll see if we can discover anything.” They made their way in stunned silence, threw snow over the flames, and carefully examined all that was left of the little bus, but she was too far gone, or they were too inexperienced to locate treachery.

“When we get home, let’s look over the plans. Maybe we can find a spot—some place where it might have been weak—” Bob proposed.

“I don’t believe we will, but it won’t do any harm. Who did you see when you were in Crofton?”

“Bill, he was going home to lunch, the storekeepers and the postmaster. Just the usual crowd,” Bob answered.

“Where did you leave Her Highness while you did the errands?”

“In the freight yard where we always park. There wasn’t anyone hanging around and the gate was closed. I had to climb over. Did that because I didn’t want to call Bill back to open it,” Bob answered, then he added, ruefully, “You’ll think I’m a rotten pilot to let a thing like that happen—gosh—” “Aw go on, you’re a corking good pilot. I’ve got a hunch that some sneak, maybe some of those fellows that were in that jam at Don Haurea’s last summer fixed it up so she’d burn slow and then get going good while you were in the air,” Jim explained.

“But how could anyone do that?” Bob demanded.

“You may investigate me, Buddy. Were any kids hanging around when you took off?”

“No. No one paid any attention to me. They don’t any more. It isn’t like it used to be. The people see one of us drop down five or six times a week, so the novelty has worn off. Why even Bill doesn’t come out any more and he used to run to meet us if we landed within sight of the place,” Bob reminded his step-brother.

“That’s so,” Jim nodded. “What you got in the bag?”

“Mail and stuff.”

“We better get home. You get on the back of the ski and we’ll slide, Buddy slide! It’s lucky we learned to do these things double. Someone at the house may have seen you drop and be worried to bits. Come along, Old Timer,” Jim urged. He went for the bag, tightened the straps of the ski, then Bob planted himself behind his step-brother, the bag in one hand and the other on the older boy’s shoulder, they got into step, and presently they were making good speed toward home. Jim was right in thinking that the blazing plane had been sighted, for they had not turned into the ranch road when they heard the jingle of bells as a team came dashing around the curve, the elder Austin standing in the bob-sled.

“What happened?” he shouted. “We saw Bob—”

“I’m all right, Dad,” Bob assured him, “but Her Highness went up in smoke, gosh—”

“So long as you didn’t go up with her, old man. Hop in here,” Mr. Austin urged. “Want to come with us, Jim?”

“I might as well,” Jim accepted. Presently the team dashed to the house, and on the long veranda, Mrs. Austin was waiting. She had taken only time enough to throw a heavy blanket shawl over her head, and when she saw the Flying Buddies, her eyes were filled with tears. “Boys—”

“We’re top hole, both of us, Mom,” Bob called cheerily.

“I—I watched that plane—the smoke coming from the tail long before you started to dive—oh Bob—”

“Now, you knew I was wearing my trusty chute over me union suit,” he teased, but he put his arms around her and held her tight.

“Your union suit, how long since you—”

“Go on. Doesn’t a flying suit look like a step-in or a union suit?” Bob grinned as he led his mother into the house. The chore-boy took charge of the prancing team so Jim and his father followed.

“We have been lucky that the boys have not had an accident before, Mother, and really the danger, no matter what happens, isn’t very great when they have first-class chutes ready at a moment’s notice to land them safely. They both know enough to jump and keep out of difficulty,” Mr. Austin remarked quietly.

“To be sure, and me trusty side-kick was on the job with the elongated feet to bring me over the snow in fine style,” Bob laughed. They were in the living room now, both of them peeled down to ordinary clothes, and stood before her, a pair of fine looking tow-heads.

“What started the fire?” Mrs. Austin was not to be put off.

“As your devoted step-son so aptly puts it, you may investigate both of us, but I expect it was an exposed wire somewhere,” Bob answered, casually.

“Did you look to see?” she persisted.

“We did, but Her Highness was too hot to do much examining, and my breadbasket too empty for me to want to linger so far away from the commissary department, namely, the eats—is dinner almost ready?”

“It’ll be served in a few minutes. You hurry and get cleaned,” she urged, for the present need made her forget the past danger, which was exactly what her son was endeavoring to achieve.

During the evening meal the subject of the wrecked plane was studiously avoided but not because the boys did not feel the loss of Her Highness very deeply. Through their minds flashed snatches of memory that made it mighty difficult to laugh and joke with Mrs. Austin, but they kept the pretense up courageously. However, later that evening Jim and his father were in the ranchman’s office alone for a few minutes, then the boy’s shoulders slumped as he stared through the window toward the starry sky.

“It’s too bad, old chap,” Dad remarked thoughtfully. “Any idea how it happened? I don’t like to say much before Bob’s mother.”

“I don’t understand it, Dad. From what Bob says, she was working first class, every part of her, right up to the minute that he discovered she was ablaze. If a single part had gone wrong she would have showed it by the indicators or in the reaction of the controls. I do not believe that the Kid would have missed anything. Lots of times he’s quicker to locate pending grief than I am,” the boy replied softly.

“Have you any suspicions?”

“Not one. He said, that as far as he knows while she was parked in Crofton, no one came near her, and she flew like a charm all the way.”

“Sure there isn’t some technical solution to the mystery?”

“If there is, I don’t know it. I thought of writing to the manufacturers, and stating the facts, and see if they have any suggestions,” Jim answered.

“Could someone have put something inflammable somewhere around the tail assembly, something arranged to burn slowly?” the man suggested.

“I’ve thought of that, Dad. But there isn’t anyone in the state, outside of jail, who would be revengeful enough to do it. The men who were given the shortest sentences in that trial after the attack at Don Haurea’s last summer still have over a year to serve—none of them—that I know of—have been pardoned.”

“If any of them were I am sure the sheriff would have told us,” Mr. Austin volunteered.

“Yes, he would. It’s a cinch, Dad, that not more than one or two of that whole gang who were sent to prison know enough about airplanes and flying to set a trap that would go off like that. An amateur would have started the fire and let her go any old way. If the thing was a piece of treachery it was managed by an air man who didn’t take any chance of his plot being discovered too soon. I can’t figure out that anyone is guilty of such a mean trick, but I don’t know how else it could have been done.” With a sigh he turned back to the room and sat by his father’s desk.

“You are going to miss it a great deal.”

“Like fury. Dad, I want to get a job piloting, and save up for a new machine. Somehow, I can’t see how we can get along without a plane.”

“I will not agree to your giving up your studies, old man. The more you learn while you have the opportunity, the better off you will be later. I’m quite sure that mother will feel the same way about Bob. She has been most happy lately because of his interest in books.” The boy’s face drew down, but he tried to accept the verdict manfully. After a moment, he drew a deep breath.

“All right, Dad,” he agreed. His father smiled.

“Since you two came home this afternoon I have been doing some thinking on the subject. While we had Her Highness, we accepted her rather as a matter of course. One of you would go, at a moment’s notice on an errand which ordinarily would take several times the time it took to go by air.”

“Yes,” Jim nodded his head but he wasn’t following very closely. He was thinking that it would probably be months before he and his Flying Buddy went roaring into the sky again. It wasn’t easy to be cheerful.

“This winter has started out as if it is going to be a very hard one,” the man went on quietly.

“Yes, sir. It’s been a long time since we had so much snow,” Jim replied.

“Years. In fact, I don’t recall one like it since I was a boy, but seasons are always doing the unexpected.”

“Sure,” Jim replied as his father paused.

“To a stock man that means loss in straying cattle and horses. Young stock get lost, sometimes it takes cowboys weeks to locate them, and often only a few can be saved. That’s according to the old method. I’m going to miss getting the mail every day too. It’s quite a novelty reading the newspapers when they are not weeks old, especially in winter,” he rambled on.

“I’m sorry,” Jim said earnestly.

“We all are. It seems to me, Jim, that Bob’s idea of doing things in as advanced a method as possible is the greatest money saver we can invest in, so I think that for the present I shall purchase a new plane. It will not be quite such a splendid model as Her Highness, but it will help us out for the time being—”

“Dad!” Jim stared at his father, then he added weakly, “Even one of the cheaper ones cost quite a lot.”

“Don’t you think it will be a good investment?”

“Ha, ha,” Jim laughed. “Why Dad, I think it will be corking. We’ll save a lot of the stock and I’ll fly for your paper as soon as it’s off the press,” he promised eagerly.

“Then we—.”

“May we come in?” That was Mrs. Austin and she was followed by Bob, who dutifully held the door for her.

“You are always welcome.”

“I say, Jim, Mom says that Dad got Her Highness, so she wants to get us a new crate—”

“My dear, the boy told me he was going to get a job piloting for the winter—that would never do, and I should like to—you know, it’s been rather delightful—” “Reading your newspaper before it gets old,” Jim interrupted with a wide grin. “That’s the same tune Dad sang to me, and he’s going to get a plane for the ranches—”

“Now—my dear—”

“It’s all settled, my dear,” Mr. Austin assured her. “We were just discussing the details, and we like our plan so well we do hope that you will not do anything to spoil it.” The two boys looked at the grown-ups, and chuckled.

“Tell you what, Jim, when the bus arrives let’s teach them to be a pair of flyers.”

“I believe it would be very interesting,” Mrs. Austin said quickly, but her husband looked grave.

“You’ll both be safe as in church,” Jim laughed heartily, then he and Bob executed an Indian dance about the parents until those worthies begged them to desist.