T.C. Bridges

Stones from the Sky

A Tale for Boys

Warsaw 2019

Contents

I. LOST HORSES

II. TAKING CHANCES

III. BEAST OF PREY

IV. BLOWS IN THE KITCHEN

V. THE SECOND PLANE

VI. STONES FROM THE SKY

VII. THE HOLE IN THE HILLS

VIII. NIGHT LIGHTS

IX. THE DUN BULL

X. BLACKMAIL

XI. INTRODUCING MAX RISTER

XII. WHEN FOG FELL

XIII. JOCK MAKES HIS CHOICE

XIV. BULLETS FLY

XV. FRANK'S DAY IN DISGUISE

XVI. DAN IS DOUBTFUL

XVII. STRANGERS IN THE BOWL

XVIII. THE STRANGE ATTACK

XIX. THE CAVE PRISON

XX. THE STRANGE JOURNEY

XXI. "WORD OF AN ENGLISHMAN"

XXII. NIGHT IN THE FOREST

XXIII. JOCK GETS A SHOCK

XXIV. STAMPEDE

XXV. SEVEN IN THE BOWL

XXVI. FIRE FROM THE AIR

XXVII. THE CRASHING BOULDER

XXVIII. IN SEARCH OF FRANK

XXIX. RISTER'S WHITE FLAG

XXX. BULLETS BITE

XXXI. CAUSHEL GIVES PROOF

XXXII. FORCED LANDING

XXXIII. BESIEGED

XXXIV. JULIO DIES

I. LOST HORSES

THE roar of the pampero thundering over the chimneys of the solidly built estancia muffled the crash, yet the sound was loud enough to make Jock and Ned Burney spring from their chairs by the fire and rush out of the room. At the foot of the stairs a great-framed old man lay flat on the floor of beaten clay. Jock reached him first and bent over him.

“He’s stunned,” he said. “Help me lift him, Ned.”

The old man opened his eyes. “You boys can’t lift me,” he said curtly. “Call Julio.”

“He’s not in yet, Uncle John,” Jock said. “He and Vincent are both out. Are you much hurt?”

John Garnett moved his big body cautiously. “I don’t think there’s anything broken,” he answered, “but my left ankle is damaged. Marvel is I wasn’t killed. I was only half-way down when I slipped.”

“We can get you on to the couch,” Jock said confidently.

Jock was sixteen but tall for his age. A bit slim still but already his muscles were hardening from the six months he had spent at the Tres Tortillas sheep farm in the heart of Patagonia. Ned, his brother, now just fifteen, was a different type, broad and stocky. He was nearly as strong as Jock and promised to develop into a very powerful man.

Between them they got their uncle on to the big leather couch in the sitting-room, then Jock peeled off the left shoe and sock and saw that the ankle was already swelling. He fetched hot water and began to foment it. John Garnett was usually a good-tempered man but now he grew irritable.

“I shall be laid up for a fortnight,” he grumbled. “And where are Vincent and Vaz? They ought to have been in long ago, especially in this weather.”

As he spoke there came the sound of the front door opening. A gust of wind shrieked into the house; then the door closed again with a bang and two people came into the room. One was a man of thirty, tall, swarthy, with blue-black hair and dark sullen eyes; the other a youth about eighteen years old with fair skin and hair, and pale blue eyes. His good looks were spoiled by a sharp nose, thin lips and a peevish expression. He was Vincent Slade, John Garnett’s stepson. Vincent stopped and stared at his stepfather.

“What’s up?” he demanded.

“Uncle John has had a fall,” Jock answered. “He tumbled downstairs and sprained his ankle.”

“Something is sure to happen whenever I leave the house,” Vincent snapped. “I suppose one of you slopped water on the stairs?”

Jock looked Vincent straight in the face. “That’s a rotten thing to say,” he remarked.

Vincent’s pale eyes glittered nastily. “Don’t you dare talk to me like that,” he snarled.

“Shut up, you two,” ordered Mr. Garnett. “You’re always bickering and I’m sick of it. Go and change and get your supper, Vincent.”

Vincent gave Jock another ugly look, but he did not dare disobey his stepfather. He went out and Mr. Garnett turned to the dark-faced man.

“What kept you out so late, Julio?”

“We look for the horses, Señor. Some are gone.”

Mr. Garnett made a remark that was not a blessing.

“Horses gone again!” he exclaimed. “Which?”

“The tropilla from the west pasture,” Julio answered. He spoke quite good English, though with a queer foreign accent.

Jock cut in. “Our ponies were there. Are they gone, too?”

“I sorrow to say they have gone with the rest,” Julio answered. “The wire has been cut. I have the belief that it is the work of the Wild Man.

“Stuff and nonsense!” retorted Mr. Garnett. “Everything that goes wrong is put down to the Wild Man. It is true there was such a man once, but he must be dead years ago. Now see here, Julio, those horses have got to be found.”

“But assuredly, Señor. We start again in the morning. With permission I will now retire.” His employer nodded. “Yes, get your supper and turn in.”

Julio left and Jock went on fomenting the injured ankle.

“That’s much better,” said his patient presently. “Now I think I can get to sleep. Bring me pillows and blankets and my pyjamas. I shall stay down here until I am better.”

Between them the boys made him comfortable, then Jock built up the fire for a pampero, coming out of the south across the plains of Patagonia, is as cold as a north-east gale in England. Before going up to bed Ned made a request.

“May Jock and I go after the horses with Julio, Uncle? If the old madrina is with them I can always catch her; then the rest will follow. Maria will look after you.”

The old man nodded. “Yes, you two can go with Julio. But Vincent will stay at home.”

Ned thanked him and said good-night, then he and Jock went up to their room.

“Vincent will be sick,” remarked Ned as he began to undress.

“We shall be quit of him for a day, that’s one mercy,” Jock answered. “Ned, one of these times I shall lose my wool and punch the blighter.”

“I believe you could lick him,” Ned said. “And a licking is what he wants, the very worst kind. Funny how he hates us!”

“Not funny at all. He’s jealous. He’s afraid that Uncle is going to leave us some of his money.”

“I don’t want his money,” said Ned, “but I would like a bit of land and some horses. It’s a rum thing, Jock, but I’m getting fond of this country.”

“I don’t think it’s rum. I like it, myself. It’s lonely but it’s a good life, and I’ve never been so fit as since we came here. I wouldn’t care to stay here always, for I want to go to a decent university later on, but I’m game to make a home here.”

“Good business!” said Ned. “Then we’ll go into partnership and make a show of it.”

Jock laughed. “It’s not so easy as that, Ned. We want quite a bit of money to get started.”

“We’ll make it somehow,” Ned declared as he got into bed. “Now we’d best sleep, for we’ll have a hard day to-morrow. Those horses may be twenty miles away by morning.”

“Wish I knew who cut that wire,” Jock growled.

“Vincent, of course,” Ned told him.

“Vincent! You’re crazy. What would he do that for?”

“To spite us. Don’t you remember, he told Uncle we couldn’t break those ponies. He was furious because we got them properly tamed. That’s why he’s turned ’em out. He probably hopes we shan’t find them again. If he and Julio had gone after them they never would have been found.”

Jock drew a long breath. “Then that’s why you asked if we might go.”

“That’s why,” Ned said quietly.

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