028 The Sign of the Crooked Arrow by Franklin W. Dixon

Author:Franklin W. Dixon [Dixon, Franklin W.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

“But take a soft old city lad

Ah, how his hoss will fuss

It sure will be a pity

When his rider hits the dust!”

Terry gaily twanged out an extra chord as the group roared with laughter.

At that moment the ranch-house bell rang. Ruth Hardy and the somewhat embarrassed “city kids” went off to breakfast. When they had finished the hearty meal of flapjacks and sausage, they lingered at the table.

Finally Frank addressed his cousin. “You know,” he said, “I don’t mind being razzed because I’m from the city, but it seemed to me that your foreman Hank wasn’t kidding. Is he always like that?”

“Oh, Hank’s all right,” Ruth Hardy assured the boys. “He’s a little dictatorial, but I think he means well.”

“Seems mighty unfriendly to me,” Joe said with a worried frown. “Maybe your men are leaving on account of him.”

“I hardly think so. Hank just doesn’t like what he calls ‘city dudes.’ I’m sure you can grow to be friends, though.”

“I hope so,” Frank said. But he was still suspicious that the foreman might be mixed up in some way with the strange disappearance of the Crowhead cowboys.

Soon their cousin excused herself from the table and the boys continued the discussion.

“You know,” Frank began, “no matter how confident Cousin Ruth is about her foreman, I think we’d better keep our eye on him.”

“Right,” Joe agreed. “Let’s get started looking for clues.”

Chet swallowed hard. “If you’re going anywhere on horseback, I think I’ll take a rain check. Guess I ate too much Western breakfast.”

Frank and Joe let out a hearty laugh.

“Okay, dude,” Joe quipped. “Meet you back here after we take a look around Crowhead.”

The Hardys walked to the corral, eager to ride over the meandering acres of the ranch. When they asked the foreman for horses, Hank lifted the corral bar and went inside. He returned with two lively mounts.

“Saddle ’em yoreselves,” he said gruffly.

The animals pranced and pawed, but finally the boys got the saddles strapped in place. Hank looked on amazed as they swung themselves easily onto the horses’ backs.

At that moment a figure raced toward them. It was Pye.

“Get off!” he shouted excitedly. “They’re bad horses!”

Hank glared at the Indian. “Stay out o’ this!” he ordered.

As he spoke, Joe’s horse reared. The next instant the mount did a sunfish, tossing Joe off his back into the dust!

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.