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+Project Gutenberg's The Pony Rider Boys in the Alkali, by Frank Gee Patchin
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Pony Rider Boys in the Alkali
+       or, Finding a Key to the Desert Maze
+
+Author: Frank Gee Patchin
+
+Release Date: June 13, 2011 [EBook #36423]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN THE ALKALI ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Al Haines
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Cover art]
+
+
+
+
+
+[Frontispiece: Faster and Faster Danced Ned Rector.]
+
+
+
+
+
+The Pony Rider Boys in the Alkali
+
+OR
+
+Finding a Key to the Desert Maze
+
+
+
+By
+
+FRANK GEE PATCHIN
+
+
+
+Author of The Pony Rider Boys in The Rockies, The Pony Rider Boys in
+Texas, The Pony Rider Boys in Montana, The Pony Rider Boys in The
+Ozarks, Etc., Etc.
+
+
+
+Illustrated
+
+
+
+THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING COMPANY
+
+Akron, Ohio -------- New York
+
+Made in U. S. A.
+
+
+
+
+Copyright MCMX
+
+By THE SAALFIELD PUBLISHING COMPANY
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER.
+
+     I.  THE DESERT'S MYSTIC SPELL
+    II.  THE FIRST NIGHT IN CAMP
+   III.  TWISTED BY A TWISTER
+    IV.  THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE
+     V.  STALKING BIG GAME BY MOONLIGHT
+    VI.  BAGGED BY LUCKY SHOTS
+   VII.  CHUNKY COMES TO GRIEF
+  VIII.  NEARLY DROWNED IN AN ALKALI SINK
+    IX.  THE BOYS DISCOVER A RIVER
+     X.  A COWBOY TAKES A HEADER
+    XI.  A PIECE OF HUMAN SANDPAPER
+   XII.  RUNNING DOWN THE TRAIL
+  XIII.  COYOTES JOIN IN THE CHORUS
+   XIV.  FUN IN THE FOOTHILLS
+    XV.  BUD PROMISES SOME EXCITEMENT
+   XVI.  THE BATTLE OF THE STALLIONS
+  XVII.  ON A WILD-HORSE HUNT
+ XVIII.  ROPED BY ROUGH RIDERS
+   XIX.  WINNING THEIR REWARD
+    XX.  VISITED BY A HALO
+   XXI.  OFF ON A DRY TRAIL
+  XXII.  IN THE HERMIT'S CAVE
+ XXIII.  LOST IN THE DESERT MAZE
+  XXIV.  CONCLUSION
+
+
+
+
+The Pony Rider Boys in the Alkali
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE DESERT'S MYSTIC SPELL
+
+"If this is the desert, then I think I prefer mountains," decided Stacy
+Brown.
+
+"It is not the desert.  We have not reached it yet.  This is the
+Diamond Range," replied Tom Parry, who was to guide the Pony Rider Boys
+across the great Nevada Desert.  "We shall soon be there, however."
+
+"You'll know the place when you see it, Chunky," said Ned Rector.
+
+"And feel it, too, I guess," added Tad Butler under his breath.
+
+"We have the desert on each side of us now," continued the guide.
+"Were you to fire a rifle to the right or left, your bullet would fall
+on the baking alkali of the desert."
+
+"Then, if we're so near, why not get out in the open, instead of
+floundering through these hills?" questioned Stacy.
+
+"I'm thinking you'll wish you were back in the hills before many days,"
+laughed the guide.
+
+"Mr. Parry has his own reasons for following this trail, Master Stacy,"
+interposed Professor Zepplin.  "We are entirely in his hands and it is
+not for us to question the wisdom of his decision."
+
+The guide nodded.
+
+Parry was a splendid type of the plainsman of the great West.  Tall,
+straight, clear-eyed, his bronzed cheeks fairly glistening in the
+sunlight, he would have attracted attention anywhere.  At present, he
+sat on his pony motionless, the broad sombrero tilted upward above his
+forehead as he peered into the amber haze that hung over the western
+horizon.
+
+"Yes, we shall reach the desert soon enough.  We are heading for the
+Newark Valley now, and should be there in time to make camp this
+afternoon, providing the weather is satisfactory," announced Parry,
+more to himself than to the others.
+
+"Weather--weather?" stammered Professor Zepplin.  "What's the matter
+with the weather?"
+
+"One hundred in the shade.  Isn't that matter enough?" grunted Stacy.
+
+"How do you know, Chunky?  You haven't seen any shade to-day," demanded
+Ned Rector.  "There isn't a patch of shade as large as a man's hand in
+this whole country, so far as I have been able to observe."
+
+"And still less in the country we are about to enter," added the guide.
+
+Tad Butler, however, had been observing the guide keenly.  Though the
+lad had asked no questions, he had caught a note of anxiety in the
+tone, as well as in the apprehensive glances that Parry kept
+continually casting to the westward.  The guide, catching Tad's
+inquiring look, smiled and nodded.
+
+"You should always keep your eyes on the weather in this country,
+especially when on the alkali," he told the boy after the party had
+started on again.
+
+"Why more there than elsewhere, Mr. Parry?"
+
+"Because storms here are frequently attended with no little peril.
+You'll see some of them, no doubt, before we reach the end of our
+journey, and you will wish you hadn't."
+
+"But there's no sign of storm now," protested Tad.
+
+"Perhaps not to you, young man.  Do you see that haze settling down
+like a fog on the western horizon?"
+
+"Yes, I've been looking at it--a golden fog."
+
+The guide smiled grimly.
+
+"I wouldn't call it exactly golden.  I should call it fiery," said the
+guide.
+
+"Has it any particular meaning?"
+
+"May mean most anything.  Means storm of some kind--perhaps rain, and
+maybe wind.  If it passes, we'll drop out of here and make camp on the
+desert to-night."
+
+"That will be fine," said Tad.  "We are all crazy for the desert.
+Since we started out on our trips, last spring, we have experienced
+almost everything that could happen to us on mountain and plain----"
+
+"But not including the desert?"
+
+"No."
+
+"You'll find it different; very different."
+
+"I suppose you know every foot of it--in fact its every mood, do you
+not?" questioned Tad.
+
+The guide, for the moment lost in thought, finally turned to the lad
+again.
+
+"Moods, did you say?  Well, that describes it.  The desert is as moody
+as an old hen with a brood of chickens.  Know the Nevada Desert?
+Sometimes I think I do; then again, I know I don't."
+
+"But you could not get lost----"
+
+"I have," smiled the guide.  "I've been wandering about the alkali for
+days without being able to find my way back.  If you are able to read
+trails and the droop of the scattering sage brush you will have made a
+long stride toward knowing your way about the desert."
+
+"I don't understand," wondered the lad.
+
+"No; of course not.  It's a long story, but when we have time I will
+initiate you into the mysteries of reading the desert signs.  The west
+is clearing up.  That's good," the guide exclaimed in a relieved tone.
+
+"Which means that we go on?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Are we turning off into the desert, did you say?" asked Walter
+Perkins, with sparkling eyes.
+
+"Well, not just yet, Master Walter.  We shall have to refill our
+water-bags before leaving the range.  I take it, you boys would not
+care to be without water?"
+
+"No, I guess not.  But where are you going to get it?" asked Ned.
+
+"About a mile further on there should be a mountain stream.  There will
+not be much water in it just now, but we shall be able to fill our bags
+and water the stock, I guess."
+
+"Hooray!" shouted the boys.
+
+"The call of the desert is stronger than ever," averred Tad.
+
+"You are not the first ones who have felt that way, young man.  'The
+call of the desert,' as you put it, has lured many a poor victim to his
+death.  Water is the all important thing when on a journey of this
+kind, and we shall have to be vigilant that we do not allow ourselves
+to be without it."
+
+As the guide had said, the stream, when they finally came up with it
+more than two hours later, was a mere rivulet.
+
+"Call that a stream?" sniffed Stacy.
+
+"No, it's a freshet," replied Ned Rector.  "You might take a swim in it
+were it not for the danger of drowning."
+
+"How are we going to get any water unless we dip it up with a spoon?"
+asked Tad.
+
+"I'll show you," smiled the guide, dismounting.
+
+Already the stock had sniffed the presence of water, even though there
+was so little of it.  The ponies chafed at their bits and snorted,
+while the burros of the pack train tossed their heads in their
+impatience.
+
+"I used to have a plaything that worked just like the heads of those
+lazy burros," Stacy informed his companions wisely.
+
+"That's about your gait," growled Ned.
+
+"You didn't think so when he saved our lives in the Ruby Mountain,"
+reminded Tad.
+
+"That's right, Ned," confirmed Walter.  "Don't be ungrateful for small
+favors."
+
+"I apologize, Master Chunky," announced Ned, removing his sombrero and
+unbending in a ceremonious bow to the fat boy.
+
+"We will now make a water hole.  Come along if you wish to know how it
+is done," called the guide.
+
+Leading the ponies and pack animals down along the slender water course
+until they had reached a natural pocket, the guide halted.  With a
+rubber blanket he formed a basin in the depression in the rocks through
+which the water had been trickling and losing itself far down in the
+earth.  Two of the Pony Rider Boys held the blanket in place while it
+was slowly filling with water.
+
+"Now, Master Stacy, if you will be good enough to fetch one of your
+pails we will water the stock first."
+
+Stacy did so.  To save time, Walter brought another pail, so that this
+could be filled while his companion was giving the water to one of
+their animals.
+
+It was a slow process; and, by the time the six ponies and four burros
+had drunk their fill, something more than an hour had passed.  By this
+time the rubber blanket had been thoroughly cleaned by constant rubbing.
+
+"Bring on the canteens and water-bags," directed Tom Parry.  "We'll
+have water enough to carry us through a few days of desert life, at any
+rate.  Load the burros down."
+
+The animals now having satisfied their thirst were nibbling gingerly at
+the scant growth of sage brush.  It was not a tender morsel at any
+time, but from that time on they would be obliged to subsist almost
+entirely on the bitter stuff.
+
+"Have you boys filled up?" asked Tom, looking about.  "Better drink
+enough to last you for the rest of the day.  We shall have to use our
+water sparingly for a time now.  Take on a supply while you have the
+chance."
+
+"How about you, Chunky?" laughed Ned Rector.
+
+"Think I'm a camel?" demanded Stacy, with an air of indignation.
+
+"Now, will you be good, Ned Rector?" laughed Tad.
+
+Even the stolid face of the guide relaxed in a broad smile of amusement.
+
+"Then, if you are all supplied, we had better be on our way.  If we are
+going to camp on the alkali to-night we shall have to make time between
+this and sundown.  It's about three hours high."
+
+With a whoop and a hurrah, the boys swung into their saddles, heading
+joyously for the Newark Valley and the silent, mysterious desert that
+in the dim, misty past had been a great inland sea.
+
+Readers of the preceding volumes of this series will recall how the
+Pony Rider Boys came to spend their summer vacation on horseback, under
+the guardianship of Walter Perkins' tutor, Professor Zepplin.  With a
+capable mountain guide, their first journey was through the wildest
+part of the Rocky Mountains, where they met with a series of rousing
+adventures and hair-breadth escapes--experiences calculated to try the
+stoutest hearts.  It was here that the young explorers hunted big
+game--here that they discovered a valuable mine that had been the goal
+of prospectors for many years past.
+
+All this was outlined in the first volume of the series, "THE PONY
+RIDER BOYS IN THE ROCKIES."  In the second volume, "THE PONY RIDER BOYS
+IN TEXAS," was narrated how the four lads joined in a cattle drive
+across the plains of Texas, becoming real cowboys.  Being by this time
+well hardened physically, they were able to do men's work in rounding
+up the stampeding cattle, which led them into many thrilling
+adventures.  It will be recalled, too, how, during a visit to the
+mysterious church of San Miguel, the Pony Rider Boys solved the veiled
+riddle of the plains, which marked the end of the most eventful journey
+of their lives.  In the third volume, "THE PONY RIDER BOYS IN MONTANA,"
+we find the plucky lads following the old Custer trail over mountain
+and plain.  It will be remembered how Tad Butler, while chasing a bear
+that had disturbed their camp, overheard a plot to stampede and
+slaughter the herd of sheep belonging to a rancher whom they knew; how
+the lad managed to escape from the men who sought his life; his
+eventual capture by the Blackfeet Indians, his escape, and the final
+solving of the mystery of the old Custer trail, during which the boys
+were in the thick of a battle between cowboys and sheep herders.  In
+the volume preceding the present one the Pony Rider Boys were once more
+in the saddle in search of further adventure.  In "THE PONY RIDER BOYS
+IN THE OZARKS," they met with a series of disasters and exciting
+experiences which tested their courage almost to the breaking point.
+They were beset by a band of robbers, who stole their ponies.  Nearly
+all the party, one by one, was lost in the fastnesses of the Ozark
+wilderness.  It will be recalled how the boys, during a visit to the
+Red Star Mine, were caught in a wreck far underground; how a car of
+dynamite exploded, making them prisoners in a rocky tomb, and how,
+after being rescued by a mountain girl, they discovered the real secret
+of the Ruby Mountain, narrowly escaping with their lives in doing so.
+No sooner had they brought this eventful trip to a close than they set
+out to face the perils of the great, silent desert of Nevada.
+
+They were almost upon it now.  Its spell was upon them and the lads
+fell silent as they waited anxiously for the first sight of the land
+which they had journeyed so far to gaze upon.
+
+They had not long to wait after leaving the water hole where they had
+replenished their supply.
+
+The guide at last rode out upon a rocky promontory, where he halted,
+waiting for the others of the party to come up with him.
+
+"Where's the desert--is that it?" demanded Ned, riding up beside him.
+
+The guide raised his hand in a sweeping gesture.
+
+"The desert lies before you," he answered, his eyes traveling
+meditatively over the miles of waste and mottled landscape.
+
+A brazen glare lay over the scene, while up from the white alkali flats
+rose a wave of heat that was suffocating.  Old, dried-up water sinks
+lay white and glistening here and there, framed by vast areas of sage
+brush, while on beyond in the blue distance lay miles and miles of
+monotonous, billowing hills and mountains.
+
+"Whew!" gasped Chunky, mopping the perspiration from his brow.  "This
+is somewhat hotter than Chillicothe, Missouri.  I wish I had a cake of
+ice to put under my hat."
+
+"Beautiful!  Grand!" murmured Professor Zepplin.
+
+"Reminds me of a Turkish bath I was in once in St. Louis," added Ned.
+
+Tad Butler was silent.  He was too profoundly impressed even to speak;
+and even the guide, familiar as he was with the scene, was silent and
+thoughtful, too.  He understood full well the perils, the pitfalls for
+the unwary, that lay along the pathway of those who sought to traverse
+that barren waste.
+
+At last he turned to Professor Zepplin.
+
+"Shall we move?" he asked.
+
+The Professor nodded.
+
+"One of you boys get behind the burros and start them along, please,"
+requested the guide.
+
+Stacy Brown complied gleefully.  No more pleasant task could have been
+assigned to him than that of prodding the lazy pack-bearers.
+
+"Forward!" commanded Tom Parry.
+
+The boys clucked to their ponies.
+
+Not an animal moved.
+
+Surprised, the lads brought their spurs against the flanks that they
+could feel were trembling a little.
+
+A strange, unlooked for thing occurred.
+
+With whinnies of terror the little animals reared and plunged.  Before
+their puzzled riders could control them every pony in the outfit had
+whirled suddenly and began plunging along on the back trail.
+
+A chorus of "whoa's" rose from the Pony Rider Boys.  Quirt and spur
+were used freely, and firm hands on the bridle reins quickly checked
+the sudden rush.  By dint of force and persuasion the boys finally
+succeeded in forcing their mounts back.  That is, all had done so save
+Stacy Brown.  His pony was spinning like a top, while Stacy red-faced
+and perspiring was uttering loud, angry shouts, driving in spur and
+raining quick, short blows on the animal's rump.
+
+The burros had moved just far enough away to be out of reach of Stacy's
+plunging animal.
+
+At last it threw itself violently to the ground.  Stacy, by a
+remarkably lively jump, cleared his falling mount, but not a second too
+soon to save himself from being pinned beneath it.
+
+He sat down on the animal's head, puffing from his exertions.  After a
+minute, during which the other boys laughed so heartily that their own
+ponies nearly got the better of them again, Stacy rose and began
+prodding his mount with the end of the quirt, urging it to get up again.
+
+But the pony refused to budge.
+
+"He's 'hog-tied,'" nodded the guide, riding up.  "Let him stay there
+till he gets ready to move.  No use trying to hurry the beast.  He's
+too much scared."
+
+"Scared at what?" questioned Stacy, looking up apprehensively.
+
+"Yes; that's what I'd like to know?" agreed Ned.  "I don't see anything
+that looks like a scare."
+
+The guide was looking down at the animal pityingly, Tad thought.
+
+"What are they so frightened at, Mr. Parry?" asked the lad.
+
+"My boy, they are afraid of the desert," replied the guide solemnly.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE FIRST NIGHT IN CAMP
+
+"The desert?" the Pony Riders gasped in chorus.
+
+"Yes.  It is not an uncommon thing.  They seem to realize instinctively
+that there is danger off there.  Even in animals that never have been
+near the desert you will find the same inborn dread of the alkali
+flats.  And I don't know that I blame them any."
+
+"But is my broncho going to lie here all day?" queried Chunky.  "If
+that's his idea I might as well give him another argument that will
+make him change his mind."
+
+"Let him alone.  He'll be better off if you do not force him.  When he
+gets up be gentle but firm with him."
+
+"That's the strangest thing I ever saw," said Tad quietly.
+
+"Most remarkable," agreed the Professor.
+
+The faces of the boys were serious.  They too began to perceive the
+feeling that had stirred the ponies to resist when turned toward the
+silent plains that lay spread for mile upon mile before them.
+
+After a few minutes Stacy's pony scrambled to its feet.  The lad was in
+the saddle in a twinkling.
+
+"Now, I guess you'll go where I want you to.  Whoa!  Quit that
+b-b-b-b-bucking."
+
+The animal had gone into a series of jolting bucks, with back arched
+and head well down.  The fat boy held his seat well.  His face was red
+and streaked with perspiration which ran down it in tiny rivulets under
+the violent exercise to which he had just been subjected.
+
+The boys forgot the serious side of the incident in their enjoyment of
+their companion's discomfiture.
+
+Tom Parry gazed upon the scene with more than ordinary curiosity.  It
+was the first opportunity he had had of observing a Pony Rider Boy in
+action.  At that moment Stacy Brown was most distinctly in action.
+Most of the time there was a broad patch of daylight under him, and
+when he hit the saddle it was with a jolt that seemed as if it must jar
+his head from his body.
+
+"Put some salt on his tail," suggested Ned Rector.
+
+"Y-y-y-you do it," gasped Chunky, which brought a roar of laughter from
+the whole party.
+
+"Yes, why don't you?" teased Tad.  "It's the only way you can make
+good."
+
+"Salting down horse is not my business," laughed Ned.
+
+All at once the pony whirled, heading down the mountain side with a
+disconcerting rush that nearly brought disaster upon its rider.
+
+With a shout the rest of the boys urged their mounts into a jog-trot
+and followed on down the trail as fast as they dared, for the descent
+was steep and dangerous.
+
+"He'll break his neck!" cried the Professor.
+
+"After that bucking I'm sure Chunky's neck is too well fastened to come
+off," laughed Tad.
+
+Stacy was out of sight.  They could hear him yelling at his broncho, so
+they knew he was still in the saddle and right side up.  The other
+ponies, apparently having forgotten their fear, were following the
+leader willingly now.
+
+All at once they saw lad and mount burst into view on the plain below.
+
+"He's on the desert!" shouted Tad.
+
+Laughing and shouting words of encouragement to the fat boy, the Pony
+Riders hastened to the base of the hill.  Stacy Brown was still busily
+engaged trying to subdue his pony, though some of the lads shrewdly
+suspected that their companion was urging the animal on in order to
+show off his horsemanship.
+
+In a moment more they, too, were in difficulties.  No sooner had their
+bronchos set foot on the desert than a sudden panic once more possessed
+them.  Professor Zepplin's pony whirled on its haunches, then began
+climbing the rocks, with the agility of a squirrel.
+
+The others, however, had troubles of their own, which saved the
+Professor from being laughed at.  The animals seemed determined not to
+be forced to go on, and it required severe measures to induce them to
+take up the desert trail.  Tom Parry's mount did not exhibit the same
+fear as did the others.  Still, it gave him more or less trouble,
+appearing to be excited, in spite of itself, by the actions of its
+companions.
+
+At last they succeeded in lining the animals up in an orderly
+formation.  Their next move was to get the burros moving along ahead of
+them.  The way being open and level there was no necessity for leading
+the pack animals now.  These could take care of themselves without
+danger to the outfit.
+
+"And this is the desert!" marveled the Professor.
+
+"It is," smiled the guide.
+
+"Looks to me more like a landscape of German measles," averred Stacy,
+as they moved along through scattering sage brush and open sandy
+stretches.
+
+Now that they had reached the plain itself, they discovered that it was
+not one level stretch of land.  Instead, the country was rolling; here
+and there were wide reaches of whitish desert sands and alkali sinks.
+The atmosphere was like an oven.  Not a breath of air was stirring.
+Already the lads were mopping their brows and fanning their faces with
+their sombreros, while spots of dark shining moisture on the ponies'
+sides bore evidence that they, too, felt the baking heat.
+
+"I say, fellows, let's find some shade," called Stacy.
+
+"All right, go ahead and we'll follow," laughed Tad.
+
+"I'll ride up to the top of that knoll and make an observation."
+
+Tom Parry smiled appreciatively as the lad galloped up the sharp rise
+of ground, where Chunky sat on his pony, shading his eyes as he gazed
+off over the cheerless desert.
+
+"Well, how about that shade?" shouted Ned.
+
+Stacy turned disconsolately and rode back to his companions.
+
+"There isn't any," he said.
+
+"Of course not," laughed Ned.
+
+"But I know how to make some," added the fat boy.
+
+Slipping from his pony he cut some sage brush, which he fashioned about
+his head in the shape of a hood, so that it gave his perspiring face
+some protection from the intense glare of the sun.
+
+"Now, all you need is a strip of mosquito netting," suggested Walter.
+
+"And a little red rocking chair," added Ned.
+
+"With a dish of ice cream," laughed Tad.
+
+"I guess you will have to be satisfied with a cup of alkali water,"
+interjected the Professor, dryly.
+
+"You will find the air much cooler, shortly," the guide advised them.
+"The sun is going down now and I think we had better make camp, if the
+Professor has no objections."
+
+"Not in the least.  In fact, I am quite ready to call it a day's work."
+
+"Where do we camp, Mr. Parry?" asked Tad.
+
+"Right here.  It is as good a place as any that we shall find.  There
+is little choice out here."
+
+They were now in a broad valley, the rolling hills covered with a
+sparse growth of sage brush rising gradually on each side.
+
+The boys threw themselves from their ponies gladly, stripping the
+saddles from the animals' backs.
+
+"Better stake the animals down, for the first two or three nights, so
+they won't take French leave," advised the guide.
+
+"How about the burros?" asked Tad.
+
+"Let them roam.  They'll stay as long as the ponies are here.  The pack
+animals will fill up on sage, after which they will come back to camp
+to sleep."
+
+All hands began to unpack.  The tents were pitched in record time, cots
+unfolded and preparations for the night made with a skill that comes
+from long practice in the open.
+
+"What are we to do for a camp-fire?" asked Walter.  "There is not a
+single stick of wood about here."
+
+"Burn the sage," answered the guide.
+
+"That stuff won't burn," retorted Ned.
+
+"Try it."
+
+They did.  In an incredibly short time a hot fire was blazing up, on
+which they piled armfuls of the stunted desert growth.
+
+"Now, get your food ready and I will cook it," said Parry, as the
+flames began to die down.
+
+When the fire had settled to a bed of hot ashes Tom thrust the bacon
+directly into the ashes, placing the coffee pot near the center, around
+and on top of which he heaped the ashes.  It was a new method of
+preparing a meal, and the lads watched the process with keen interest.
+
+"I shouldn't think that bacon would be fit to eat.  However, I presume
+you know what you are doing," said the Professor.
+
+"It's the only way, sir," replied Parry.  "We have to work with the
+implements that nature has provided."
+
+"Nature must have been in a stingy mood when she made this country,"
+laughed Ned.
+
+"I don't agree with you," said Tad.  "It is the most beautiful and
+interesting scene that I have ever looked upon."
+
+Parry nodded approvingly.
+
+"And as fickle as it is beautiful," added the guide.  "The supper will
+be ready by the time you have the table set, boys."
+
+In spite of the heat the lads realized all at once that their appetites
+had not suffered.  Bacon, jelly and biscuits, which had been warmed
+over the ashes, seemed to them to have reached the proportions of a
+banquet.
+
+Stacy helped himself to a large slice of bacon which he proceeded to
+munch.  No sooner had he begun, however, than he made a wry face.
+
+"What's the matter.  Isn't the bacon all right?" asked the guide.
+
+"Awful!  Somebody's trying to poison me," Chunky shouted, red in the
+face.
+
+"Must have a brown taste in your mouth,' laughed Ned.
+
+"What's the trouble----" began the Professor.  "Good gracious, there is
+something the matter with the stuff.  Ugh!  Never tasted such bitter
+stuff.  Did you purchase this meat in a reliable place, Mr. Parry!"
+
+The guide smiled good-naturedly.
+
+"The bacon is all right, sir.  It's the sage brush taint that you get."
+
+"The what?"
+
+"Sage brush.  The same taste will be in everything you eat out in this
+country--that and the alkali."
+
+"Then I starve," announced Stacy, firmly, laying down his fork and
+folding his arms.
+
+"Any time you starve it'll be because there is nothing to eat,"
+retorted Ned.
+
+"You'll all get used to the taste after you have been out a few days,"
+comforted the guide.
+
+"Never!" shouted Stacy.
+
+"I rather like the peculiar taste," smiled Tad Butler.
+
+"Good as a tonic," spoke up Walter.
+
+Thus encouraged Stacy tried it again, at first nibbling gingerly at the
+bacon, then attacking it boldly.  Even the Professor, after a time,
+appeared to forget the bitterness of the food, passing his plate for
+more.
+
+Tom Parry smiled indulgently.
+
+"You'll all like it after a while," he nodded.
+
+"I'm sure I'll have to take back some sage brush with me to flavor my
+food after we leave the desert," scoffed Ned.
+
+Supper finished the dishes were cleared away, after which the party
+threw themselves down beside the camp-fire in keen enjoyment of the
+hour.  The evening was delightfully cool, with not a trace of the
+baking heat of the day.
+
+"Doesn't seem possible that there could be such a change in the
+temperature in so short a time," marveled the Professor.
+
+"It is the mood of the desert," answered the guide.
+
+"What time do we start in the morning?" interrupted Tad, approaching
+them at that moment.
+
+"I was just about to suggest that we break camp at daylight, traveling
+until the sun gets hot.  We can then pitch a tent or two during the
+middle of the day, and rest for a few hours."
+
+"Why not keep on all day?" asked the lad.
+
+"It would prove too great a strain--both on man and beast.  At noon we
+will eat a cold lunch, as too much food in this heat is not good for
+us.  You will find the temperature rising as you get further south, and
+the hardships increasing in proportion."
+
+"We shall not fall by the wayside," laughed the boy.
+
+"No; I am convinced of that.  You lads are as tough as pine knots, but
+you will need all the endurance you have for this trip."
+
+"If we are going to turn out so early, I think you boys had better go
+to bed pretty soon," advised the Professor.
+
+"That's why I asked you, sir.  I rather thought Mr. Parry would wish to
+make an early start in the morning.  I'll see to the ponies; then I'll
+go to bed."
+
+"Never mind the ponies.  I'll look after them," answered Parry.
+
+"That boy is a splendid type," he continued to the Professor, after Tad
+had walked away from them to notify his companions of the plans for the
+morrow.
+
+"They all are," answered the Professor.
+
+"Yes, I have been observing them all day.  To tell the truth I was
+rather doubtful about the wisdom of taking a number of boys across the
+desert.  It's bad enough for men well hardened to the work."
+
+"I trust your apprehension no longer exists," smiled the Professor.
+
+"Not a trace of it left," replied Parry, with a hearty laugh.  "Young
+Brown handled that bucking pony splendidly this afternoon.  He's a good
+horseman for a boy."
+
+"Master Tad is a better one.  You'll agree with me if you get an
+opportunity to see him in any work that's worth while."
+
+"Well, good night, boys," called the Professor, as he saw the lads
+moving toward their tents.
+
+"Good night, Professor, sleep tight," they shouted merrily altogether.
+"Good night, Mr. Parry.  We'll be up with the birds."
+
+"Birds," sniffed Stacy.  "A tough old hen couldn't live out on this
+desert."
+
+In a short time the camp settled down to sleep.  The guide, with a last
+look about and a long, comprehensive study of the sky, sought his own
+tent, where in a few moments he, too, was sound asleep.
+
+After a time the moon came up, in the light of which the weather-beaten
+tents of the Pony Rider Boys were mere specks on the vast expanse of
+desert.
+
+Not a sound disturbed the quiet scene.  However, had any of the
+occupants of the little tents been awake, they might have observed a
+thin, fog-like film drifting across the sky from the southwest.  On and
+on it came until finally it had blanketed the moon, casting a veil over
+the landscape.
+
+Other sheets of film arose from out the southwest, placing layer after
+layer over the fast fading moon, until finally it was obliterated
+altogether.
+
+The desert was working out another of its mysterious phases, but none
+in the camp of the Pony Riders were awake to observe it.
+
+A dense pall of blackness now hovered over the southwest.
+
+All at once a squirming streak of lightning wriggled along the horizon,
+like a golden serpent, losing itself by a downward plunge into the
+black abyss beyond the desert.
+
+The air grew suddenly hot and depressing, while a gentle breeze stirred
+the sage brush on the higher places.  The ponies moved restlessly in
+their sleep, kicking out a foot now and then, as if in protest at some
+disturbing presence.
+
+Tad Butler, ever on the alert, roused himself, and stepping out in his
+pajamas took a survey of the heavens.
+
+"I guess we're going to have a storm," he muttered.  "I wonder if I
+ought to wake Mr. Parry?  He thought, this afternoon, that there was a
+storm brewing.  Still, there's nothing he can do.  The tents are staked
+down as securely as is possible.  No, I guess I'll go back to bed."
+
+The lad did so, and after a few moments of wakefulness, dropped off
+into a sound sleep.
+
+A few moments later the breeze increased, picking up little patches of
+sand, which it hurled into the air, scattering the particles over a
+wide area.  Far down to the southwest a low roar might have been heard,
+and from the blackness there a funnel-shaped cloud detached itself,
+starting slantingly over the desert.  It appeared to be following a
+northerly course, more or less irregularly, and from its direction,
+should pass some miles to the westward of the sleeping camp.
+
+Whirling, diving, swooping here and there, lifting great patches of
+sand and hurling them far up into the clouds, the funnel swept on.
+
+Suddenly, when about three miles to the southwest of the camp, it
+seemed to pause hesitatingly; and then, as if all at once having
+descried the little group of tents, started swaying, tottering toward
+them.  As it moved the disturbing roar continued to increase in volume.
+
+Tad Butler heard it now.
+
+He slipped from his tent and stood listening apprehensively.
+
+"I think that means trouble," he said to himself.  The hot, oppressive
+air felt like a blast from an open furnace door.  "It's coming this
+way," he continued.
+
+The lad bounded to the tent of the guide.  Slipping inside he laid a
+hand on Parry's shoulder.
+
+The guide was up like a flash.
+
+"What is it?" he demanded sharply.
+
+"It's I, Tad Butler.  I think there is a bad storm coming----"
+
+"I hear it," snapped Parry, springing from his blankets.  He was out in
+the open in a twinkling, with Tad Butler close upon his heels.
+
+For a moment the guide stood with head inclined, listening intently.
+
+"Bad one, isn't it?" questioned the lad.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Do you think it is coming this way?"
+
+"I can't be sure.  Wait; don't wake them yet," he whispered, raising a
+restraining hand.  "Yes, here it comes!  It's a cyclone.  Quick, get
+them out of their tents!"
+
+Almost before the words were out of his mouth the funnel swooped down
+into the broad sage-sprinkled draw, setting its deadly coils over the
+camp of the Pony Rider Boys.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+TWISTED BY A TWISTER
+
+"Turn out!" bellowed the guide, his voice faintly heard above the roar
+of the storm.
+
+"Run for your lives!" piped the shrill voice of Tad Butler.
+
+"Flat on the ground, every one of you!" commanded the guide.
+
+All the warnings had come a few seconds too late.  Ere the boys had
+awakened sufficiently to realize what was wanted of them there sounded
+above the roar a report like that of a cannon.
+
+The tents were lifted from over the startled Pony Riders and hurled
+high into the air.  A cloud of sand swept over the boys like an
+avalanche, burying them, suffocating them, while the resistless coils
+of the funnel picked them out of the drift and cast them far from the
+spot where but a few minutes before they had been sleeping so
+peacefully.
+
+Above the roar they heard the shrill voice of Stacy Brown.
+
+"W-o-o-ow!" he shrieked.  His voice appeared to be somewhere in the air
+over their heads.
+
+Blankets, trappings, together with all the other belongings of the
+party, shot up into the black funnel and disappeared, while the ponies
+strained at their tethers, floundering, kicking where they had been
+hurled on their backs, screaming with fright.
+
+The mad medley continued for only a few seconds, though to the
+unfortunate lads it seemed to have been tumbling them about for hours.
+
+As suddenly as it had appeared the funnel tore itself from the camp and
+went roaring off into the hills to the northward.
+
+Staggering to his feet, some distance from where he had been caught,
+the guide rubbed the sand from his eyes and mouth and stood gasping for
+breath.
+
+An impressive silence had settled over the scene.
+
+"Hallo, the camp!" he shouted when he had cleared his mouth
+sufficiently to enable him to do so.
+
+"Hello!" answered Tad Butler far to the right.
+
+"Are the others with you?"
+
+"I don't know."
+
+One by one the others of the party straggled to their feet, choking and
+coughing.
+
+As if to mock them, the moon suddenly burst forth, shedding a brilliant
+light over the scene which a few moments before had been the center of
+a whirling, devastating cyclone.
+
+Not a speck of anything save the white, glistening sand of the desert
+remained to mark the spot where the camp of the Pony Rider Boys had
+stood.
+
+They gathered shivering in their pajamas, looking fearsomely into each
+others' eyes, still dazed from the shock and the fright of their
+experience.
+
+"Wha--what was it?" stammered Walter Perkins.
+
+"A genuine twister," laughed the guide.
+
+"Twister?" questioned the Professor.  "Cyclone, you mean?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"It was awful," breathed Walter.
+
+"All our things gone, too," mourned Ned ruefully.
+
+"You should be thankful that you are alive," chided the Professor.
+
+"How about the ponies?" questioned Walter.
+
+"They're over there.  More scared than hurt, I guess."
+
+"But Chunky--where's Chunky?  He isn't here!" cried Tad, suddenly
+realizing that Stacy Brown was not with them.
+
+"Chunky?" wondered the others.
+
+"Why, I thought he was here a moment ago," said Walter in an alarmed
+tone.  "What can have become of him?"
+
+"Probably went up with the twister," suggested Ned.
+
+"Yes, I heard his voice and it seemed to be right over my head," nodded
+Tad.  "We must look for him."
+
+The lads set up a shout as they started running about
+
+"Better look for him that way," directed the guide, motioning in the
+direction that the funnel had taken after wrecking their camp.
+
+The boys spread out, calling and searching excitedly over the sand,
+peering into the sage brush and cactus shadows.  But not a trace of
+Stacy Brown did they find, until they had gone some distance from camp.
+
+A faint call at last answered their hail.
+
+"Hooray!  We've got him!" shouted Walter.
+
+"Where are you, Chunky?" called Tad, hurrying forward.
+
+"Here."
+
+"Are you all right?"
+
+"No, I'm dead."
+
+The boys could afford to laugh now, and they did, after calling back to
+the camp that they had found the missing one.
+
+Half buried in a sand drift they located him.  Stacy's head and one
+foot were protruding above the sand, the only parts of his anatomy that
+were visible above the heap of white sand beneath which he had been
+buried.
+
+The Pony Riders could not repress a shout when they came up with young
+Brown and understood his predicament.
+
+"Get me out of here."
+
+"No; you're dead.  You stay where you are," retorted Ned.
+
+Tad, however, grasped the foot that was sticking up through the sand,
+and with a mighty tug hauled Chunky right through the heap, choking,
+coughing and sputtering angrily, to the accompaniment of roars of
+laughter from his companions.
+
+Ned grabbed the boy by the collar, shaking him until the sand flew like
+spray.
+
+"Wake up!  Wake up!  How did you get here?" demanded Ned.
+
+"I--I don't know.  I--I guess I fell in."
+
+"You fell up this time.  That's a new trick you've developed.  Well,
+it's safer.  You won't get hurt falling up, but look out when you
+strike the back trail."
+
+"Wha--what happened?" asked the fat boy peevishly.
+
+"Everything," laughed Tad.  "We got caught in a cyclone.  We don't know
+whether you were rolled along with it or carried here.  Which was it?"
+
+"I guess I flied," decided Stacy humorously.  "But I came down so hard
+that it knocked all the breath out of me.  Where's the camp?"
+
+The boys laughed.
+
+"Ask the wind," replied Ned.  "We don't know.  Come!  We'd better be
+getting back."
+
+"Yee, I reckon there will be plenty for us to do," agreed Tad.  "Can
+you walk all right, Chunky?"
+
+"I guess so."
+
+"Why not fly?  It's easier and quicker.  Chunky doesn't need a flying
+machine.  He's the original human heavier-than-air-machine," averred
+Ned.
+
+The guide had by this time gathered a heap of sage brush, to which he
+touched a match, that they might the better examine their surroundings.
+
+"Anything left?" called Tad, as with his companions he approached the
+camp.
+
+"I don't see anything but the saddles and the rifles."
+
+"What, everything gone?" demanded Professor Zepplin anxiously.
+
+"It certainly looks that way."
+
+"Where's my pants?" wailed Chunky.
+
+"All 'pants' have gone up," chuckled Ned.
+
+"And so have provisions and everything else so far as I am able to
+observe," added Tad.
+
+"Then--then we've got to cross the desert in our pajamas," mourned
+Walter.
+
+They looked at each other questioningly; then the entire party burst
+out laughing.  They were all arrayed in pink night clothes.  Not a
+stitch of clothing beyond these pajamas did any of them have.
+
+"We must look about and see if we can find any of the stuff," decided
+Parry, his mind turning at once to the practical side of their
+predicament.  "I hope we find the food at least."
+
+"Yes, I'm hungry," spoke up Stacy.
+
+"No wonder, after the shaking up you've had," agreed the Professor.
+"Guide, where do you think we'll find our belongings?"
+
+"You are lucky if you find them at all.  More than likely they are
+scattered over the Diamond Range for half a dozen miles."
+
+"May--maybe it'll come back and bring our pants," suggested Chunky, at
+which there was a loud protest.
+
+All hands formed in line, and with the guide to pilot them, started off
+in their bare feet, hoping to find some of their belongings.  Stacy
+made the first find.  He picked up a can of tomatoes.  Ned Rector
+rescued a can of pickled pigs' feet from the shadow of a sage brush,
+while their guide discovered a sombrero that belonged to Stacy Brown.
+
+But that was all.  They traveled nearly to the foot of the mountains,
+yet not a scrap did they discover beyond what they already had picked
+up.
+
+"No use going any further," announced the guide.
+
+"Well, this is a fine predicament," decided Professor Zepplin.
+
+"Nice mess," agreed Ned Rector.
+
+"I want my pants," wailed Stacy.
+
+"You'll want more than that.  Look at the guide, if you think you are
+in difficulties," grinned Tad.
+
+All eyes were turned on Tom Parry.  Then they uttered a shout that
+might have been heard far off on the silent desert.  The guide was clad
+only in a blue flannel shirt and a sombrero.  He was in an even worse
+predicament than the party that he was guiding.
+
+Minutes passed before the boys could control their merriment
+sufficiently to permit a discussion of their situation.
+
+Tom Parry took their joking good-naturedly.  He was too old a
+campaigner to be greatly disturbed over his own laughable condition.
+
+"Something must be done," announced the Professor, after the laughter
+had subsided.  "What do you propose, Mr. Parry?"
+
+"Well, in the first place, like our friend, Master Stacy Brown, I want
+a pair of pants.  I can't very well cross the desert in this rig."
+
+Once more their laughter drowned the voices of the guide and the
+Professor.
+
+"Is there no town near here where we can get a fresh outfit?  I am
+thankful that I kept my money belt strapped about me.  We should be in
+a tight fix, had I lost the funds, too," said the Professor.
+
+"I have been considering what is best to be done," replied Parry.  "I
+see no other way than that we shall have to ride to Eureka.  That is a
+railroad terminal and quite a town.  I am sure we shall be able to get
+there all we need for our journey.  It will prove a little more
+expensive than in a larger city, however."
+
+"No question of expense just now," answered the Professor.  "Will it be
+necessary for all of us to go?"
+
+"I think it will be best.  I don't care to leave any of the party
+behind.  One never can tell what is going to happen, you know."
+
+"So I have observed," commented the Professor dryly.
+
+"How far is Eureka from here?" questioned Tad.
+
+"Between twenty-five and thirty miles.  The town lies to the northwest.
+If it were not for the pack train we could make it quickly, but we
+shall have to move rather slowly on the burros' account."
+
+"Then why not start at once?" suggested Tad Butler.  "The moon is
+shining brightly and the air is cool.  That is, if you can find the
+way?"
+
+"No trouble about that," grinned Parry.  "Your suggestion is a good
+one.  We'll start just as soon as I can get ready."
+
+"I don't see anything left here to get ready," laughed Ned.
+
+"You will excuse me, gentlemen, but there is something that I shall
+have to get ready," replied the guide with a peculiar smile.
+
+"What's that?" demanded the Professor.
+
+"I've got to take a double reef in my shirt before I can go anywhere,
+except to bed."
+
+The boys shouted again.
+
+Tom Parry hurried off beyond the ponies, where he was engaged for
+several minutes.  When he returned they discovered that he had taken
+off his shirt.  First he had cut off the sleeves, and by thrusting his
+feet through the arm holes had made for himself a very substantial pair
+of trunks.  This odd outfit he had made fast about his waist with a
+thong of leather that he had cut from a bridle rein.  This, with the
+broad-brimmed sombrero, completed his outfit.
+
+The sight was too much for the Pony Rider Boys.  They shouted peal
+after peal of merriment, in which the Professor joined, though in a
+somewhat more dignified manner.
+
+Tom Parry's mouth was stretched in a grin as he got busy saddling the
+ponies and urging the sleepy burros to their feet.
+
+"I think we are all ready now," the guide called back to the others.
+
+With many a shout and jest the strange procession started off across
+the desert, under the brightly shining moon, the cool evening breezes
+making their scanty covering none too comfortable.
+
+The boys devoted the greater part of their attention to the Professor
+and Tom Parry, both of whom were riding as dignifiedly as if they were
+leading a parade at a Fourth of July celebration.  Every little while
+the boys, unable to contain themselves longer, would burst out into
+merry peals of laughter.
+
+"Hope it doesn't snow," said Stacy Brown wisely.
+
+"No," retorted Ned.  "The colors in your pajamas might run."
+
+"That's where the guide has the better of us," retorted Tad a little
+maliciously, which brought still another laugh from the boys.
+
+"Say, fellows, this saddle is getting harder every minute," called
+Chunky, who was riding back and forth behind the pack train, urging on
+the burros.
+
+"Stand up in your stirrups now and then," suggested Tad.
+
+"What, in my bare feet?" yelled the fat boy.  "Think I want to get
+pancake feet?"
+
+"Chunky's getting aristocratic," jeered Ned.  "He's so proud of those
+high insteps of his that he has to take off his shoes every little
+while to look at his feet.  He's afraid they'll cave in some time when
+he isn't looking."
+
+Daylight came all too soon, and following it the sun burst forth in a
+blaze of heat.  Ahead of them across the desert they were able to make
+out the town of Eureka.
+
+"Say, Mr. Parry, aren't you afraid this sunlight will spoil your
+complexion?" called Ned.
+
+The guide grinned good-naturedly.
+
+"Never mind," he retorted.  "Your turn will come pretty soon, young
+man."
+
+Ned Rector did not catch the significance of the remark just then, but
+he understood a few hours later.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE
+
+"You are not going to ride into town in daylight, are you?" demanded
+Ned in surprise.
+
+Though they had sighted the town of Eureka early in the morning, it was
+well along in the afternoon before they finally came up with it.
+Desert distances are deceptive and the further they journeyed the less
+headway did they seem to be making.  This surprised all save the guide.
+
+Parry explained to them that the clear air brought distant objects much
+closer than they really were.
+
+"We are going into town exactly as we are," replied the guide in answer
+to Ned's question.  "Why not?"
+
+"Well, maybe you are, but I'm not," returned Ned.
+
+"It may improve your complexion, young man," retorted Mr. Parry.
+
+"I'll stay out here and hide on the desert while the rest of you go on
+in," said Ned.
+
+"No, you don't," shouted the lads all at once.  "You go willingly or we
+carry you."
+
+They gathered around him threateningly.
+
+"If you want a mix-up, we're here," warned Chunky, pushing his pony up
+beside that of Ned Rector.
+
+Ned, forgetting for the instant that he was in his bare feet, let drive
+a kick at the side of Stacy's pony.
+
+"Ouch!" roared Ned.
+
+Jerking the injured toe up to the saddle, he grabbed it with both
+hands, rocking back and forth, for his foot had struck the pony with
+such violence that it is a wonder every toe on the foot was not broken.
+
+"Did 'oo hurt 'oo little tootsie-wootsies?" cooed Chunky, with a
+grimace.
+
+Ned Rector, forgetting the pain for the instant, made a quick grab for
+his tormentor.  He just barely reached the sleeve of Chunky's pajamas.
+But his sudden movement caused the fat boy's pony to leap suddenly to
+one side.
+
+Ned landed on his head and shoulders in the desert sand, feet kicking
+the air, to the accompaniment of yells of derision from his companions.
+
+With red face and angry eyes, the lad scrambled to his feet and started
+limping to his pony, which had sprung to one side, where it stood,
+evidently wondering what next was about to happen.
+
+"I'll get even with you, Chunky Brown," Ned growled, as he climbed into
+his saddle.
+
+"Now, now, Ned!" warned the boys.  "Take your medicine like a man.
+Chunky never got mad when you nagged him."
+
+"I'll get even with him.  I'll----"
+
+Tad rode up beside the angry lad.
+
+"Ned, you'll do nothing of the sort," said the boy gently.  "You're
+mad, now, because your toes hurt.  When they stop aching your temper
+will improve at the same time."
+
+"Oh, pshaw!  Stop your preaching.  Of course it will.  I'm a grouch.  I
+take back all I said just now.  Chunky, when these toes get
+straightened out--they're all crooked now--I'll come over and hobnob
+with you.  I deserve all you can give me."
+
+"You bet you do," chorused the lads.
+
+"Stop teasing him," commanded Stacy, with well-feigned indignation.
+"Can't you see his toes hurt him?"
+
+The incident was lost sight of in the general laugh that followed.  The
+others were beginning to appreciate that Stacy Brown possessed a tongue
+as sharp as any of them.
+
+Ned now offered no further protest to entering the village, but it was
+observed that he dropped back behind the others as they reached the
+outskirts of the town.
+
+Tom Parry and Professor Zepplin were riding ahead, one in pajamas, the
+other clad in trunks--which resembled a meal sack--a sombrero hat and a
+sardonic grin of defiance.  The others trailed along behind.
+
+Not one of the party glanced to the right or left of him, except Stacy
+Brown, who could scarcely contain his bubbling spirits.
+
+"They'll think it's some new kind of a menagerie come to town," he
+confided to Tad, who was riding beside him.
+
+"Then I hope they don't shoot the animals," laughed Tad.
+
+By this time they had entered the main street, down which they rode at
+a pace that the burros could follow.  People passing along the street
+paused and gazed in unfeigned astonishment at the strange procession
+which they saw approaching.
+
+The most conspicuous of them all was Tom Parry.  He was a sight to
+behold, but not one whit did he care for the amazed stares that greeted
+his strange outfit.
+
+Soon the grins of the populace gave place to yells of derision.
+
+"Look at the purty boy with the pink toes there behind," shouted one,
+pointing to Ned Rector.
+
+Ned's face went crimson.
+
+"Now, aren't you glad you didn't lose the tootsie-wootsies?" teased
+Chunky.
+
+Ned made no reply, but it boded ill for any of his tormentors who got
+within reach of his long arms.  Already more than a hundred persons had
+turned to follow the strange outfit.  This number was being rapidly
+added to as they proceeded.
+
+"For goodness' sake, how much further have we to go?" begged Ned.
+
+"The general store is down at the end of the street," the guide
+informed him.  "I presume you want to get some clothes the first thing?"
+
+"I should say so."
+
+A whoop and a yell sounded far down the street.
+
+"Here's trouble," muttered Tad, instantly recognizing the cowboy yell.
+
+A band of them at that instant swung around a corner, straightening out
+in the main street, letting go a volley of revolver shots into the air.
+The band had come to town with a shipment of wild horses that had been
+captured among the desert ranges.  They had been in Eureka for
+twenty-four hours and were by this time ready for whatever might turn
+up.  The horsemen clad in pink pajamas attracted their attention at
+once.  Here was fair game.
+
+"Who-o-o-o-p-e-e-e!"
+
+The shrill cry sent a shiver to the hearts of the boys.  It was not a
+shiver of fear, either.
+
+In a moment more the Pony Rider Boys were the center of a ring of
+racing ponies, as the horse-hunters dashed round and round, yelling
+like mad and firing off their revolvers.
+
+"Oh, see that purty boy with the pink toes!" jeered one.
+
+"Give him the tenderfoot dance," yelled another.  "He ought to be able
+to dance the fairy lancers on them pinkies."
+
+Ned did not dare refuse.  He slipped from his pony, and, limping to the
+center of the ring which the racing ponies had formed about them, began
+to dance as the bullets from the revolvers of the cowboys struck the
+ground, sending up little clouds of dust under his feet.  Faster and
+faster barked the guns, and faster and faster danced Ned Rector.
+
+Stacy Brown was almost beside himself with joy.
+
+"Better look out, or you'll be doing it next," warned Tad.
+
+Evidently the cowboys had not recognized Tom Parry as yet.  He might be
+the next victim.
+
+Finally Tad rode his pony forward, right through the fire of the
+skylarking cowboys.
+
+"I guess you've had enough fun with him, fellows," he warned.  "Let up
+now."
+
+A jeering laugh greeted the lad's command.  Their attention was
+instantly turned to him.
+
+"Get off that broncho and give us a dance, young fellow," they shouted.
+
+"Thank you, I'm not dancing to-day," smiled Tad Butler.
+
+"Ain't dancing?  We'll see about that.  Come off that nag."
+
+Tad shook his head.  At that instant a rope squirmed through the air
+from a moving pony.  Butler threw himself to one side just in time to
+avoid it.  The lad's eyes snapped.
+
+"Guess I'll take a hand in this, too," he growled.
+
+The lad unlimbered his rope in a twinkling and let fly at the cowboy
+who had just sought to rope him.  With unerring aim Tad's lariat caught
+the left hind foot of the cowman's broncho.  Pony and rider went down
+like a flash.
+
+Instantly there was a loud uproar.  The horse-hunters yelled with
+delight; at least all of them save the cowboy who had bit the dust, and
+he sprang up, bellowing with rage, as he made for the grinning Tad.
+
+Tom Parry decided that it was time for him to take a hand.
+
+The guide jumped his pony between Tad and the angry cowboy.
+
+"That'll do, Bud!  You stop right where you are!" Tom commanded.
+
+"But the miserable coyote roped me."
+
+"You tried to rope him first."
+
+"It's Tom Parry," shouted the cowmen.  "Hey, Tom!  Them's a fine suit
+of clothes you've got on there.  Where'd you get them?"
+
+"Call off Bud and I'll tell you," grinned Tom, "He's got no reason to
+interfere with my boys here."
+
+Laughing uproariously, the cowboys forced their bronchos between Bud
+and the others, cutting him off and bidding him attend to his own
+business.  Then the cowmen halted their ponies, after closing in about
+the Pony Rider Boys, while Tom Parry related the experiences they had
+passed through on the previous night.
+
+"Come along.  We'll take you to a place where you can get all the pants
+you want," shouted the leader of the party, after Tom had finished his
+story.
+
+The cowboys wheeled their ponies and the procession moved on down the
+street.  They had discovered that the Pony Rider Boys were not the band
+of tenderfeet that they had at first taken them for.
+
+Arriving at the store, the lads lost no time in leaping from their
+ponies, which they tethered at the rail in front, and hurried into the
+store.  This was a postoffice as well as general trading post.
+
+Half the town, it seemed, had gathered outside the building to get a
+look at the nearly naked strangers who had ridden in a short time
+before.  But once inside the store, the boys did not propose to exhibit
+themselves further if it were possible to avoid it.
+
+An entire new outfit was necessary--tents, provisions and all, and to
+purchase all these things would occupy the greater part of the rest of
+the afternoon.
+
+No sooner had they entered the store and made their wants known, than
+the boys became conscious of the presence of ladies.  The boys could
+not see them plainly, because it was a dim, dingy place at best.
+
+But, all at once Ned felt a cold chill run down his back.  One of the
+ladies was speaking to him.
+
+"Isn't this Mr. Rector?" asked a pleasant voice.  "I am quite sure I am
+not mistaken."
+
+Ordinarily Ned would have been glad to meet an old acquaintance, but
+when a boy is clad only in a pair of pink pajamas, his feet bare of
+covering, he is not particularly anxious to see anyone he knows.
+
+It was so with Ned Rector.  At first he pretended not to hear.  A hand
+was placed lightly on his shoulder.  Then he turned, his face flushing
+painfully.
+
+"I am Mrs. Colonel McClure from Texas," she informed him.  "We had the
+pleasure of entertaining you and your companions when you were with the
+cattle drive in our state."
+
+Ned bowed and mumbled some unintelligible words.  He failed to note the
+twinkle in the eyes of Mrs. McClure.
+
+"And this," she continued, "is my niece Miss Courtenay, Miss Barbara
+Parks and Miss Long," continued Mrs. McClure mercilessly.
+
+The young women were blushing furiously as they acknowledged the
+introduction.  Ned failed to observe it, however.  His eyes were on his
+feet and the pink toes which seemed abnormally large at that moment.
+
+"Where are your companions, Mr. Rector?  I thought they were with you a
+moment ago?"
+
+"Wh--ye--yes--they are here, they----"
+
+Ned looked about him blankly.  No one was in sight.  Then he discovered
+the grinning face of Stacy Brown peering at him from behind the
+postoffice wicket.
+
+At the first alarm Walter Perkins had sunk down behind a cracker barrel
+with Tad Butler crouching behind him.  Over behind the counter was the
+guide, while, behind a pile of horse blankets, Professor Zepplin lay
+flat on the floor, shrinking himself into as small a space as possible.
+
+Ned Rector was left to face the enemy alone.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+STALKING BIG GAME BY MOONLIGHT
+
+The tension of the moment was relieved by a merry laugh from Mrs.
+McClure and her friends, in which Ned Rector joined spontaneously.  The
+situation was too funny for even his offended dignity to resist.
+
+The result was an invitation for the entire party to dine with Mrs.
+McClure and her friends that evening.  Ned Rector accepted on the spot,
+much to the disgust of his companions, who felt a diffidence about
+meeting the ladies after the exhibition in the store.
+
+However, after they had properly clothed themselves they felt better,
+and the evening passed at the home of Mrs. McClure's friends was one of
+the most enjoyable they experienced.
+
+At sunrise next morning the Pony Rider Boys were once more on the
+desert, bubbling over with spirits and anticipation.
+
+"I've got another invitation for you boys," announced Tom Parry after
+they had halted for the midday rest.
+
+"I hope we'll have some clothes on when it comes off, then," growled
+Ned.
+
+"It won't make much difference whether you have or not, so far as this
+invitation is concerned."
+
+"What is the invitation?" asked Professor Zepplin.
+
+"Bud Thomas and the other cowboys are hunting wild horses for market,
+you know?" replied the guide.
+
+"Wild horses?" marveled Walter.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"I didn't know there were any about here," said Tad.
+
+"It is estimated that there are all of a hundred thousand wild horses
+in the different ranges of this state," replied the guide.
+
+"You haven't told us yet what the invitation is," reminded Stacy.
+
+"You haven't given me a chance," laughed Tom.  "Well, the invitation is
+to join in a wild horse hunt."
+
+"Hooray!" shouted the lads.
+
+"Very interesting," agreed the Professor.
+
+"And lively, too," added the guide.  "The boys took quite a fancy to
+you young gentlemen after the roping trick, and said if you would join
+in a hunt, you'd get all the fun that was coming to you."
+
+Tad grinned at the recollection of their first meeting with the wild
+horse hunters.
+
+"Whe--when do we join them?" asked Chunky enthusiastically.
+
+"It will be a week or more yet before we reach that part of the desert
+where the hunts take place--that is, if we have good luck.  But if we
+have any more such experiences as we have just passed through we shall
+not get there this summer," laughed the guide.
+
+By sunset, that day, the town of Eureka had disappeared behind the
+copper colored hills, and the Pony Rider Boys were again merely tiny
+specks on the great Nevada Desert.
+
+They pitched the new white tents for the first time that night, having
+made camp earlier than usual because they were not accustomed to
+working with the new outfit.  No one knew where to find anything, which
+furnished the lads with plenty of amusement.
+
+Ned and Tom Parry cooked the supper over a sage brush fire.  They had
+brought a few cans of milk with them, but after sampling it all hands
+declared their preference for the condensed brand of which they had
+purchased a liberal supply.  The fresh milk procured in Eureka was
+strong with the sage brush taste, as was almost everything else in that
+barren country.
+
+The ponies refused the sage brush for their evening meal, having had a
+supply of real fodder back in town, so they were staked out near a
+growth of sage that they might browse on during the night should they
+decide that they were hungry enough.
+
+"Well, I wonder what will happen to-night," said Tad, as they finished
+the evening meal.
+
+"Let us hope that it will be nothing more serious than pleasant
+dreams," smiled Professor Zepplin.
+
+"That means you, Chunky," nodded Ned.  "You are not to have the
+nightmare to-night, remember."
+
+"And you look out for your tootsie-wootsies," retorted Chunky.
+
+"We shall have to take a long ride to-morrow," announced the guide.
+
+"Why to-morrow?" asked Ned.
+
+"It is all of twenty miles to the next water hole, or where the next
+water hole should be.  One cannot depend upon anything in this country."
+
+"Haven't we enough water with us?" asked the Professor.
+
+"Enough to last us through to-morrow--that's all.  We shall have to get
+water at night; so, if we have no interruptions during the night, we
+shall make another early start."
+
+"Stacy, see to it that you do not lose your trousers this time.  We
+don't wish to be disgraced by you again to-morrow," warned Ned.
+
+Stacy merely grimaced, making no reply.  He knew that he had not been
+the one to get the worst of it, and so did his companions.  He was
+quite satisfied with the punishment that had been meted out to Ned
+Rector.
+
+All hands turned in shortly after dark.  They were tired after the long
+day's ride in the broiling sun.  Besides, they had not yet made up the
+sleep they lost two nights before when the "twister" invaded their camp
+and wrecked it.
+
+The boys had been asleep only a short time, however, before the entire
+camp was startled by a long, thrilling wail.
+
+All the Pony Riders were wide awake in an instant, listening for a
+repetition of the sound.  It came a moment later.
+
+"K-i-i-o-o-o-o!  K-i-i-o-o-o-o!  K-i-i-o-o-o-k-i!"
+
+The boys leaped from their tents.  The sound plainly come from some
+wild animal, but what, they did not know.
+
+"Wha--what is it?  A lion?" stammered Stacy.
+
+"I--I don't know," answered Walter.  "Do you, Tad?"
+
+"I certainly do not.  It's no lion, though.  There are none here?"
+
+"Maybe it's a pack of wolves," suggested Ned.  "There must be a lot of
+them to make such a howling as that."
+
+"D-d-d-d-do you thi--thi--think they're going to attack us?" stammered
+Stacy.
+
+"How do we know?" snorted Ned.
+
+Neither the Professor nor the guide having made their appearance, the
+boys took for granted that the two men were asleep.  Such was the case
+so far as the Professor was concerned, but Tom Parry was lying on his
+bed awake, a quiet smile on his face.
+
+"Are you sure it's a wild animal, Tad?" whispered Walter.
+
+"Of course.  What else could it be?"
+
+"Then I'll tell you what let's do."
+
+"What?" demanded Ned.
+
+"Let's get our rifles and crawl up to the top of that knoll yonder,
+where the sound seems to come from----"
+
+"And take a shot at them," finished Ned.  "Good idea.  What do you say,
+Tad?"
+
+"I guess there will be no harm in it," decided the lad, considering the
+question for a minute.
+
+They had moved away from the tents so that the sound of their voices
+should not arouse the sleeping men there.
+
+"Two guns will be enough.  We're not so liable to hit each other if
+only two of us have them."
+
+"Who is going to shoot?" demanded Walter.
+
+"What's the matter with Ned and Chunky?"
+
+That suited all concerned.
+
+"You'd better hurry.  The animals have stopped howling," advised Tad.
+
+Ned and Stacy ran lightly to their tents, returning quickly with their
+rifles.  Stacy bore the handsome telescope rifle that he had won in a
+pony race during their exciting trip through the Ozark Mountains.  Even
+in the moonlight one could see a long distance with the aid of the
+telescope on the gun's barrel.
+
+"See the brutes?" asked Stacy, with bated breath.
+
+"No, nor hear them, either," answered Walter.
+
+"I'll tell you what we'd better do," suggested Tad.
+
+"Yes," answered Ned anxiously.
+
+"We'll crawl along in the shadow to the south.  I think the prowlers
+are up there on the ridge to the west.  If they are, they'll be
+watching the camp-fire.  Maybe they have smelled us and run away by
+this time, even if they didn't hear us talking."
+
+"Keep still, everybody," warned Ned.
+
+The boys stole along as silently as shadows.  After moving some ten
+rods to the south, Tad motioned for them to turn west, which they did.
+
+No sooner had they changed their course, however, than Chunky with a
+loud "Ouch!" plunged headlong, his rifle falling several feet ahead of
+him.  With frightful howls he began hugging one foot, rocking back and
+forth in great pain.
+
+"What's the matter?" snapped Ned Rector.
+
+"My foot!  My foot!"
+
+"What about it----"
+
+"I--I don't know.  I----"
+
+Tad grabbed the boy by the collar, jerking him clear of the place.  The
+first thought that came to him was that Stacy had been bitten by a
+snake, though Tad did not even know whether or not there were snakes on
+the desert.
+
+"Nice chance we'll have to shoot anything," growled Ned in disgust.
+"Stop that wailing."
+
+"It hurts, it hurts----"
+
+"Keep still.  I'll find out what the trouble is," warned Tad, dropping
+down and examining his companion's injured foot.
+
+"Ouch!" exploded Chunky, jerking his foot away.
+
+"If you want me to help you, you'll have to be quiet."
+
+Butler pressed gently on the bottom of the injured foot with the
+fingers of one hand, the other holding Chunky's ankle in a firm grip.
+
+"Humph!" grunted Tad.  "He's stepped on a cactus bush with his bare
+foot.  It's full of prickers.  Hold still and I'll pick them out."
+
+"Guess there's no use to keep still any longer.  Those animals probably
+have run away before this," complained Ned.
+
+"K-i-i-o-o-o-o-!  K-i-i-o-o-o-o!  K-i-i-o-o-o-k-i!"
+
+"S-h-h-h!" warned Tad.  "They're there yet.  Shall I take your rifle,
+Chunky?  You probably don't feel much like tramping up the hill in your
+bare feet."
+
+"No!" exploded the fat boy.  "I guess if there's any shooting to be
+done, Stacy Brown can do it, even if he's only got one foot to hop
+along on."
+
+Scrambling to his feet, Stacy recovered his rifle.  He had forgotten
+all about his injured foot now.
+
+Cautiously the boys crawled up to the top of the rise of ground.
+
+"Sit down, everybody," directed Tad.  "We ought to be able to see them
+from here."
+
+Not a thing save clumps of sage brush met peering eyes of the Pony
+Rider Boys.
+
+"Lay the barrel of your gun over my shoulder and look through the
+telescope," directed Tad softly.
+
+Pointing the gun to the southward, Stacy rested it on his companion's
+shoulder, placing an eye to the peep hole.  The lads fairly held their
+breath for a minute.
+
+"I see him!  I see him!" whispered Stacy in an excited tone.
+
+"What is it?" demanded Ned.  "Where?"
+
+"I don't know.  I guess it's a wolf."
+
+"How many?" asked Walter, crawling up to him.
+
+"See only one."
+
+"Take your time, Chunky," cautioned Tad in a low voice.  "Draw a
+careful bead on the fellow and let him have it."
+
+"Over your shoulder?"
+
+"Sure.  You never'll hit him without a rest."
+
+Once more they held their breath.
+
+At last Stacy exerted a gentle pressure on the trigger.
+
+There followed a flash and a roar.
+
+"O-u-u-c-h!" yelled the fat boy.
+
+The end of the telescope had kicked him violently in the eye as the gun
+went off.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+BAGGED BY LUCKY SHOTS
+
+"K-I-I-O-O-O-O!  K-I-I-I-O-O-O!"
+
+"There he goes!" shouted Walter.
+
+Stacy was picking himself up from the ground where the rifle had kicked
+him.
+
+Bang!
+
+Ned Rector had risen to his feet the instant Stacy fired.  Throwing his
+rifle to shoulder, he fired at an object that he saw bounding down the
+opposite side of the hill.
+
+"I got him!  I got him!" shouted Ned, dancing about in his glee.
+"Chunky Brown, you're no good.  All you can do with a rifle is to get
+kicked and fall in.  Take a lesson from your Uncle Dudley----"
+
+"Good shooting, boys," said a laughing voice behind them.
+
+They whirled around and found themselves facing Tom Parry, who had
+crept up to see that the boys got into no trouble.
+
+"You here?" demanded Tad Butler sharply.
+
+"I am that.  Think I could let you boys go off with a couple of guns to
+hunt wild animals?  Not without Tom Parry--no, indeed!"
+
+"I got him, Mr. Parry," glowed Ned.  "Did you see me tumble him over?"
+
+The guide nodded good-naturedly.
+
+"And Chunky missed him, even though he had a rest over Tad Butler's
+shoulder.  Chunky can't shoot."
+
+"Yes, I can, too," objected the fat boy.
+
+"We'll see," replied the guide.  "I am not sure whether he can shoot or
+not."
+
+"What do you mean, Mr. Parry!" asked Walter.  "Chunky shot at the
+animal and missed it, didn't he?"
+
+"What kind of an animal was it?" interjected Ned.
+
+"A coyote."
+
+"I thought it was a wolf," muttered Stacy Brown.  "How many of them was
+there?"
+
+"Only one, you ninny.  And I shot him," scoffed Ned.
+
+"We'll go down the hill and find the one you got, Master Ned," decided
+the guide, moving away, followed by the rest of the party.
+
+No sooner had they started than they heard Professor Zepplin, down in
+the camp, shouting to know what the shooting meant.
+
+"It's all right, Professor," called the guide.  "The boys have been
+shooting up some wild game.  You'll be surprised when you see what they
+got."
+
+Down the hillside sprang the enthusiastic lads.
+
+"Remember, you're all barefooted," warned the guide.  "You don't want
+to pick up any more cactus thorns."
+
+"Were you here then?" demanded Tad, glancing up sharply.
+
+"I was with you from the time you left the camp."
+
+"Here he is," shouted Ned, who had run on ahead of the others in his
+anxiety to learn the result of his shot.  "And I caught him on the
+wing, too, didn't I?"
+
+"You certainly did."
+
+"Just lift him.  He's a whopper," went on the lad enthusiastically.
+"I'd like to see any of the others in this outfit make a shot like
+that----"
+
+"Chance shot," mumbled Stacy.  "Hit a bird once myself a mile up in the
+air, but I didn't flap my wings and crow about it.  I couldn't have
+done it again.  Neither could you have hit that--that--what do you call
+it!"
+
+"Coyote," replied the guide, but he pronounced it "kiute."
+
+"Oh, I don't know," grumbled Stacy.
+
+"Suppose we go up the hill now and see what Master Stacy shot,"
+suggested the guide, starting away.
+
+"Shot?" sniffed Ned Rector.  "Don't you know what he shot?"
+
+"Yes, we know," interrupted Walter.
+
+"He shot thin air, that's what he did."
+
+"We shall see, we shall see," answered the guide enigmatically.
+
+Though Stacy did not grasp the guide's meaning, he did catch a note in
+the tone that filled him with hope.  Yet Chunky was unable to see how
+he could have hit anything, in view of the fact that Ned had shot the
+coyote.
+
+Tom Parry strode up to the crest of the hill and began looking about,
+peering behind sage bush and greasewood.  The boys were a little to the
+north of him, all hunting for they knew not what.  Ned Rector had
+seated himself by the side of his dead coyote, stroking its rough coat
+proudly.
+
+A sharp whistle from the guide attracted their attention.
+
+"What is it?" called Tad.
+
+"Come over here.  I've got a surprise for you."
+
+The boys obeyed on the run.
+
+Tom Parry stood with a grin on his face, pointing a finger to the
+ground.
+
+"What is it?  What is it?" demanded the lads in chorus.
+
+"Why, it's a dead animal," marveled Walter.
+
+"Then that's what the coyote was doing up here.  It was after the meat
+on the dead one," announced Ned.  "I knew there must be some good
+reason for its remaining so near camp all that time."
+
+"Guess again," sniffed Stacy, who had thrown himself down beside his
+prize.
+
+"What's that?" asked Tad, who already suspected something of the truth.
+
+"It's my coyote, that's what it is."
+
+Tom Parry nodded.
+
+"He's right.  He killed the animal the first shot----"
+
+"Then--then----" stammered Ned.
+
+"There were two of them.  Master Stacy killed one and you the other,
+and for your gratification I'll say that they are a very difficult
+animal to kill.  One might try a hundred times and never hit one."
+
+"If one knows how to shoot, it isn't," spoke up Stacy pompously.
+
+"Which you certainly do," laughed the guide.
+
+"May we take them back to camp and skin them?" asked Ned.
+
+"You may take them in, of course; but I would not advise you to skin
+the brutes.  The skins are not worth anything in the first place, and
+in the second, we should be unable to keep them all the way across the
+desert, I am afraid."
+
+"You mean they would spoil?" questioned Ned.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Then we'll take them down to show to the Professor.  After that we'll
+bury them."
+
+"Not necessary at all," smiled the guide.  "The buzzards will attend to
+that part of the work.  They'll be around in the morning.  You'll see
+them."
+
+"But how will the buzzards know?" asked Walter.
+
+"That I cannot say.  They do know.  Instinct, I suppose.  All animals
+and birds have the instinct necessary for their kind, yet it is all a
+mystery to us."
+
+Very proudly the lads dragged their trophies to camp, where, after
+heaping fresh sage brush on the fire, the youngsters stretched the
+carcasses out full length that Professor Zepplin might see.
+
+"Very fine, young men.  You say they were howling and woke you up?"
+
+"Yes; didn't you hear them!" answered Stacy loudly.
+
+"Indeed I did not.  The first thing I heard was the report of a rifle,
+and then, in a few seconds, another.  I couldn't imagine what was going
+on.  When I tumbled out and found the camp deserted, I was alarmed.  I
+feared you boys had gotten into other and more serious trouble.  You
+should not take the guns out without either myself or the guide being
+with you."
+
+"He was with us," interrupted Chunky.
+
+"Then that was all right."
+
+"But we didn't know he was with us, Professor," Tad Butler hastened to
+explain.  "So we were in the wrong, even if he was along.  However, it
+has turned out all right, and we've bagged two coyotes.  Wish we could
+take their pictures.  Why didn't we think to bring a camera with us?"
+
+"I think I can supply that," laughed the guide.  "I always carry one
+with me.  In the morning I'll take your pictures.  I got a new camera
+in Eureka yesterday, having lost my old one in the blow-out we had the
+other night."
+
+The boys gave three cheers and a tiger for Tom Parry.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+CHUNKY COMES TO GRIEF
+
+Breakfast was cooked in the cool of the early dawn, long before the sun
+had pushed its burning course up above the desert sands.  Though the
+boys had but little sleep, they tumbled out at the guide's first hail,
+full of joyous enthusiasm for what lay before them that day.
+
+Stacy Brown emerged from his tent rubbing his eyes.  The lads uttered a
+shout when they saw him.
+
+"Look at him!" yelled Ned.  "Look at Chunky's eye!"
+
+The right eye was surrounded by a black ring, the eyelid being of the
+same dark shade, where the end of the telescope on his rifle had kicked
+him.
+
+"Young man, you are a sight to behold," smiled the Professor.
+
+"I don't care.  I got the coyote," retorted Stacy, with a grin.
+
+"And the gun got him," added Walter.
+
+"Judging from your appearance, I should say that the butt of your rifle
+was almost as dangerous as the other end," laughed Tad.
+
+"Come and get it!" called the guide.
+
+The lads never had to be called twice for meals, and they were in their
+places at the breakfast table with a bound.
+
+"Do you know, I'm beginning to like the sage brush taste in the food,"
+said Walter.
+
+Stacy made up a face.
+
+"I should think you would be ashamed to sit down to a meal with that
+countenance of yours, Chunky," declared Ned.
+
+"I might with some company."
+
+"See here, Chunky Brown.  Do you mean----"
+
+"I mean that my face will get over what ails it, but yours won't," was
+the fat boy's keen-edged retort.
+
+"All of which goes to prove," announced Tad wisely, "that you never can
+tell, by the looks of a toad, how far it will jump.  I guess you'd
+better let Chunky alone after this.  He's perfectly able to take care
+of himself, Ned."
+
+Ned subsided and devoted his further attention to his breakfast.  The
+meal finished, all hands set briskly to work to strike camp.  In half
+an hour the burros were loaded ready for the day's journey.  The boys
+set off singing.
+
+"I don't see how you can tell where you are going," said the Professor.
+"There is no sun and you have no compass."
+
+"We are traveling almost due southwest.  I never use a compass.  It is
+not necessary."
+
+"There, I knew I had forgotten to get something," announced Tad.
+
+"Forgotten what?" questioned Walter.
+
+"To get a compass."
+
+"You have a watch, have you not?" asked Tom Parry.
+
+"Why, yes; but that's not a compass."
+
+"Oh, yes, it is," smiled the guide.  "You can get your direction just
+as well with that as you could with a tested compass."
+
+"Never heard that before," muttered Tad.
+
+"Nor I," added Ned, at once keenly interested.
+
+"I'm easy.  I'll ask how?  What's the answer?" questioned Stacy, gazing
+innocently at Tom Parry.
+
+"I am not joking, boys.  Every watch is a compass.  You can get your
+direction from it unerringly whenever you can see the sun."
+
+"Indeed?" marveled the Professor.
+
+"The method is very simple," continued Parry.  "All you have to do is
+to point the hour hand directly at the sun.  Half way between the hour
+hand and the figure twelve on the watch dial you will find is due
+south."
+
+"I'll try it," answered Tad.
+
+"There comes the sun now," said Ned.
+
+The boys drew out their watches, having halted the ponies and turned
+facing the rising sun.
+
+"Well, did you ever!" exclaimed the lads in one voice.
+
+"It is, indeed, the fact," marveled the Professor.
+
+"You can depend upon that whenever you have lost your way," said Tom
+Parry.  "It has helped me out on many occasions."
+
+"But what if there isn't any sun--what if the sky is clouded?"
+questioned Stacy.
+
+"Then you'll have to sit down and wait for it," laughed the guide.
+
+After this brief rest the party continued on its way.  They had come
+out on the level plain, and before them for several miles stretched the
+white alkali of the Nevada Desert.  As the sun rose higher, they found
+the glare of the glistening plain extremely trying to the eyes.  The
+guide suggested that they put on their goggles.  But the boys would
+have none of them.  Stacy's right eye was badly swollen, yet he refused
+to cover it, though the fine dust of the plain got into it, causing it
+to smart until the tears ran down his cheek.
+
+"Where do the wild horses congregate?" asked Tad, riding up beside the
+guide.
+
+"Likely to see them anywhere, though they do not, as a rule, go far out
+on the desert on account of the scarcity of water.  We may see some in
+the Little Smoky Valley and the Hot Creek Range when we reach there."
+
+"Is it difficult to catch them?"
+
+"Very.  There is one magnificent white stallion that the horse-hunters
+have been trying to capture for the past five years."
+
+"Why can't they get him?"
+
+"Too smart for them.  He knows what they are up to almost as well as if
+the hunters had confided their plans to him.  Twice, in the beginning,
+the hunters succeeded in getting him in a trap, but he managed to get
+away from his would-be captors."
+
+"I'd like to get a chance to take him," mused Tad Butler.
+
+"I'm afraid you wouldn't have much luck, but we'll have a hunt when we
+get down in the horse country, and I promise you that you will see some
+exciting sport.  Better than hunting coyotes by moonlight," laughed the
+guide.
+
+"I'd like to capture and break a real live wild horse," said young
+Butler, his eyes sparkling at the thought.  "It would be a fine prize
+to take away with me, now wouldn't it?"
+
+"If you chanced to capture a good one, yes.  The poor stock, however,
+has been pretty well taken up, so that the horses on the ranges now are
+splendid specimens."
+
+"Anybody want to run a race?" interrupted Stacy, riding up near the
+head of the procession.
+
+"Too hot," answered Tad.
+
+"Just the kind of a day for a horse race.  I'll run any of you to see
+who cooks the supper," persisted Stacy.
+
+"Oh, go back with the burros.  I wouldn't eat any supper that you
+cooked, anyway."
+
+"I'll remember that, Ned.  Well, if none of you has spunk enough to
+race with me, I'll run a race with myself."
+
+"That a dare?" questioned Walter.
+
+Stacy nodded, blinking his blackened eye nervously.
+
+Walter shook out the reins.
+
+"Come on, then.  I suppose you won't be satisfied until you've gotten
+into more trouble.  Where do you want to race to?"
+
+"See that patch of ground whiter than the rest off there?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Well, we'll race there and back.  How far is it from here, Mr. Parry?"
+
+"'Bout half a mile, I should say," answered the guide, measuring the
+distance with his eyes.
+
+"Whew!  I didn't think it was so far," marveled Stacy.  "But we'll run
+it, anyway."
+
+"I'll be the starter," announced Ned.  "If you break your neck, Chunky,
+remember that I am not to blame for it."
+
+"If I break my neck I won't be likely to remember anything, so you're
+safe," retorted Stacy.
+
+The others were too busy discussing wild-horse hunting to give heed to
+the boys' plan.
+
+"All ready!"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Go!"
+
+Both lads uttered a sharp yell, at the same time giving their spurs a
+gentle pressure, and away they went across the blazing alkali, their
+tough little ponies steaming in the intense heat as they straightened
+out, entering into the spirit of the contest with evident enthusiasm.
+
+"See those boys ride," laughed the guide, pausing in his argument on
+the wild-horse question: "I didn't suppose the fat boy could sit in a
+saddle like that."
+
+"Oh, yes; he does well.  You saw him master the bucker the other day in
+the mountains?"
+
+"Yes, I remember.  Whoa!  Look out, there!  There goes one of them!  He
+took too short a turn."
+
+"Walter's down!" cried Ned.
+
+"Hope he isn't hurt."
+
+"No; he's cleared all right.  That was a mighty quick move the way he
+slipped out of that saddle.  It would have broken his leg sure, if the
+pony had fallen on it," declared the guide.
+
+Stacy had pulled up his own mount after making the turn safely.  Then
+he rode slowly back.
+
+"Hurt you any, Walt?" he asked.
+
+"Jarred me a little, that's all.  Why don't you go on and win the race?"
+
+"Waiting for you," announced the fat boy laconically.
+
+Walter swung into his saddle.
+
+"Come on, then.  Gid-ap!" he cried, shaking out the reins.
+
+The two little animals sprang away like projectiles.  But Stacy seemed
+not to be in his best form.  He came in bobbing up and down, several
+lengths behind Walter.
+
+"You won the race.  I fell off," announced Walter, with his usual
+spirit of fairness.
+
+"I guess not," drawled Stacy.  "Now I'm going to do some stunts."
+
+With that, the fat boy galloped out over the alkali again, riding off
+fully half a mile ahead of the party, where he jogged back and forth
+for a time, then began riding in a circle.
+
+After a little they saw him toss his hat into the air ahead of him, and
+putting spurs to his pony dart under it, giving it a swift blow with
+his quirt, sending it spinning some distance away, at the same time
+uttering a shrill whoop.
+
+"Thinks he's having the time of his life," grunted Ned.
+
+"For a boy with a black eye, he is particularly cheerful, I should
+say," laughed Parry.  "What's he going to do now!"
+
+"Pick up his sombrero while at a gallop, I guess," replied Tad, shading
+his eyes and gazing off across the plain.  "Yes, there he goes at it."
+
+Stacy, with a graceful dip from his saddle, swooped down on the
+sombrero, scooping it up with a yell of triumph, then dashing madly
+across the desert to the westward.
+
+All at once they saw his pony stumble.
+
+"There he goes!" warned the guide.  "He will break his neck!"
+
+Down plunged the broncho, his nose scraping the ground, his hind feet
+beating the air wildly.
+
+Stacy kept right on.
+
+"The pony struck a thin crust on the alkali," explained the guide.
+
+Almost before the words were out of his mouth Stacy Brown hit the
+desert broadside on.  Then, to the amazed watchers, he seemed to
+disappear before their very eyes.
+
+"He's gone!  What does it mean?" cried the boys.
+
+Where but a few seconds before had been a pony and a boy, there now
+remained only a kicking, floundering broncho.
+
+Tom Parry put spurs to his mount and set off at top speed for the scene
+of the accident, followed by the others of the party strung out in
+single file.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+NEARLY DROWNED IN AN ALKALI SINK
+
+Tad rapidly drew up on the guide.
+
+"What has happened?" Butler cried as the two now raced along side by
+side.
+
+"As I said before, the pony went through a thin crust----"
+
+"Yes, but Chunky--what happened to him?" asked Tad.
+
+"He went through when he struck the ground."
+
+"I don't understand it at all."
+
+"You will when you get there."
+
+Tad was mystified.  The solution of the mystery was beyond him.
+
+"If he isn't drowned, he's in luck," snapped Parry.
+
+"Drowned?" wondered his companion.
+
+They cleared the intervening space that lay between them and the fat
+boy's pony in a series of convulsive leaps that the bronchos took under
+the urgent pressure of the rowels of their riders' spurs.
+
+As they neared the scene Tad espied a hole in the desert, and began to
+understand.  Stacy also had struck a thin crust and had broken through.
+Yet what had happened to him after that, Tad did not know.
+
+Both would-be rescuers leaped from their ponies and ran to the spot.
+
+With his body submerged, his head barely protruding above the water,
+sat Stacy, vigorously rubbing his eyes to get the brown alkali water
+out of them sufficiently to enable him to look about and determine what
+had happened to him.
+
+The rest of the party dashed up with loud shouts of alarm, hurling a
+series of rapid-fire questions at the guide.
+
+Parry and Tad grasped Stacy by the arms and hauled him, dripping, from
+the alkali sink into which he had plunged.
+
+They shouted with laughter when they saw that he was not hurt seriously.
+
+"Well, of all the blundering idiots----" began Ned.
+
+"That will do," warned the Professor, hurrying to Stacy's side.  "Hurt
+you much, lad?"
+
+"I--I fell in," stammered Chunky.
+
+"I should say you did.  How in the world did it happen?"
+
+The guide explained, that frequently these thin crusts were found on
+the desert, covering alkali sinks, some being dry, others having water
+in them.
+
+"And of course Chunky had to find one.  He's the original hoodoo,"
+laughed Ned.
+
+"Oh, I don't know," replied the guide.  "He has done us a real service
+by falling in."
+
+"How's that!" questioned Tad.
+
+"Master Stacy has found a water hole, just what we need at this
+particular moment.  The stock needs water, and especially the ponies
+that have been racing for the last half hour."
+
+"You don't mean that we are to drink that stuff, do you?" demanded
+Walter.
+
+"Not now.  We still have some fairly good water in the water bags.
+Later on you may be glad to drink alkali water.  Run up and down if you
+feel able.  You'll dry off in a few minutes," suggested Parry, turning
+to Chunky.
+
+"I--I don't want to.  Feels nice and cool after my bath.  Jump in and
+take a swim, fellows."
+
+"No, thank you--not in that dirty water," objected Ned.
+
+"I'll tell you what, boys," suggested Tad.  "After the stock has had a
+drink we'll take off our shoes and put our feet in.  Guess we can stand
+that much."
+
+"That's a good idea," agreed Walter.  "We'll all take a cold foot bath."
+
+In the meantime, the guide had been busily engaged in breaking the
+crust around the sink, so that the stock might more easily get at the
+water within it.  The animals were impatiently pawing and whinnying,
+anxious to get the water.  They were now willing to drink any kind of
+water after their half day's journey across the burning alkali.
+
+"You might unpack and get a cold lunch together, if you will,"
+suggested Parry.
+
+The boys soon had one of the tents erected, over which they stretched
+the fly, that the interior might be cooler.
+
+Ned opened a can of pickled pigs' feet, which, with some hard rolls
+were spread out on a folding table under the tent.  Tad, not to be
+out-done, dug some lemons from his saddle bag, with which he proceeded
+to make a pail of lemonade.
+
+It was the first time they had had any such beverage since they began
+their summer trips.  Tad had purchased the lemons back in Eureka.  The
+lemonade made, it lacked only sweetening now.
+
+"Where's the sugar?" he called.
+
+"Where's the sugar?" echoed Chunky.
+
+"We don't know," answered Ned and Walter in the same breath.
+
+"Get busy and find it, then.  If you don't want this lemonade I'll
+drink it myself.  I don't care whether it is sweetened or not."
+
+That threat was effective.  The other three boys made a dive for the
+burros.  An examination of the first pack failed to reveal the
+sweetening.  The same was the case with the next, and before they had
+finished, their entire outfit was spread over the ground, tents, canned
+goods, cooking utensils, thrown helter-skelter over several rods of
+ground.
+
+"Here, boys, boys!" chided the Professor.  "This will never do.  We
+can't afford to use our provisions in that way.  Soon we'll have
+nothing."
+
+"Regular rough house.  Ought to be ashamed of yourselves," agreed
+Stacy, surveying the scattered outfit, while he secretly slipped two
+lumps of sugar into his mouth.  "Here, cook, pick up your kitchen," to
+Ned.
+
+"What you got in your mouth?" demanded Ned suspiciously.
+
+"He's eating the sugar," spoke up Walter Perkins.
+
+"Drop 'em!" roared Ned.
+
+Stacy started to run, whereupon the boys fell upon him, and the next
+second he was at the bottom of the heap.  The boys were rubbing his
+face in the sand in an effort to make him give up the sugar.
+
+The Professor took a hand--two hands in fact--about this time.  He made
+short work of the "goose pile," tossing the boys from the very much
+ruffled Stacy, whom he also jerked to his feet.
+
+"What's all this disturbance about?" demanded Professor Zepplin.
+"First you strew the outfit all over the desert, then you get to
+pummeling each other."
+
+"Chunky's been stealing sugar," volunteered Ned.
+
+"Give back that sugar, instantly!" commanded the Professor.
+
+The fat boy shook his head and grinned.
+
+"Can't," he answered.
+
+"And, why not?"
+
+"'Cause they're inside of me."
+
+"Now, now, now!" warned Ned.  "You haven't chewed that hard sugar down
+this quick.  I know better than that."
+
+"No, I swallowed the lumps whole when you fellows jumped on me.  Nearly
+choked me to death, 'cause one of 'em got stuck in my throat," Chunky
+explained.
+
+Tad, in the meantime, had been busy gathering up the scattered
+provisions.
+
+"Get to work, young gentlemen.  Straighten up the camp," commanded the
+Professor.
+
+"Don't we get any lunch?" begged Stacy.
+
+"You're full of sugar.  You don't need anything else," replied Walter.
+
+"When you have set the outfit to rights, we'll all sit down and eat
+like civilized beings," asserted the Professor, with emphasis.
+
+"Civilized beings making a meal on pigs' feet!  Huh!" grumbled Chunky,
+picking up a can of tomatoes, then throwing it down again.  After this,
+he slipped around to the opposite side of the tent.  Crawling in under
+the fly he promptly went to sleep, the others being so busy that they
+had not observed his act.
+
+The next Stacy knew was when he awakened to find himself being hauled
+out by one leg.
+
+"Here, what are you doing?  Leggo my foot."
+
+"Lunch is ready.  You ought to thank us, instead of finding fault
+because we woke you up.  You might have slept right through the meal;
+then you wouldn't have had anything to eat," explained Walter.
+
+Stacy shook his head.
+
+"No danger.  I wasn't afraid of that!"
+
+"Not afraid of that?  Why not?" demanded Ned.
+
+"'Cause I knew you'd haul me out.  Left my feet sticking out so you
+would."
+
+Everybody roared.  There was no resisting Stacy Brown's droll humor.
+
+"Hopeless," averred the Professor, shrugging his shoulders.
+
+"He's a wise one," differed the guide.
+
+"Another name for laziness," nodded Ned.
+
+"What's that disease they have down south?" asked Walter.  "I heard the
+Professor and the postmaster talking about it back in Eureka."
+
+"You mean the--the hook-worm disease?" grinned the guide.
+
+"That's it.  That's what Chunky's got.  When a fellow is too lazy to do
+anything but eat, they say he's got the--the----"
+
+"The hook----" finished the guide.
+
+"That's what he ought to get," agreed Ned.
+
+"Gentlemen, gentlemen!" corrected the Professor.  "This is not a seemly
+topic for table discussion."
+
+"But we eat pigs' feet," suggested Stacy in wide-eyed innocence.
+
+The meal finished, amid laughter and jest, the party stowed their
+belongings, and after a brief rest, pushed on, having decided that they
+would feel the heat less in the saddle.
+
+At sundown the travelers were still some distance from the water hole
+for which the guide was making.
+
+"We'll have to go on," he said.  "We may have to ride some time after
+dark."
+
+"Will that be advisable?" questioned the Professor.
+
+"Not advisable, but necessary.  The stock must have their water you
+know."
+
+So the party pushed on.  The moon came up late in the evening, and the
+guide looking about him, discovered that they had borne too far to the
+east, which necessitated their covering some four miles more of alkali
+than would have been the case had they kept more closely to their
+course.
+
+"It can't be helped," he laughed good-naturedly.  "I guess the pigs'
+feet will last you until we make camp."
+
+"How long will that be, Mr. Parry?" questioned Chunky anxiously.
+
+"All of an hour and a half."
+
+Stacy humorously took up his belt three holes.
+
+"Got two more holes left to take in," he decided after examining the
+belt critically.
+
+"That's a new way to measure distance and time, isn't it!" laughed the
+guide.
+
+"How?" wondered Stacy.
+
+"By the holes in your belt."
+
+At eleven o'clock that night Tom Parry announced that they had arrived
+at the end of their day's journey.
+
+"Where's the water?  I don't see any water?" said Walter.
+
+"After supper we'll look for it.  I presume want something to eat
+first, don't you?" questioned the guide.
+
+"Yes," shouted the lads in chorus.  "We're nearly starved."
+
+Bacon and coffee constituted the bill of fare for their late meal,
+which they ate out in the bright moonlight with the crackling camp-fire
+near by.
+
+"This is fine," announced Tad, with which sentiment all the boys
+agreed.  "Wish we could do this every night."
+
+"Your supper would be breakfast after a few days," replied Parry.
+
+"How's that!" questioned Ned.
+
+"If you waited for moonlight, I mean.  The moon comes up later every
+night, you know."
+
+"That's so."
+
+"We'd get hungry, wouldn't we?" chuckled Stacy.
+
+"You wouldn't get.  You always are," retorted Ned.
+
+"Now, I'll show you how I know there is a water hole near here," said
+Parry after they had finished their late meal.  "When I locate it, you
+boys may help me take the stock to it."
+
+They walked back some twenty rods from where they had pitched the camp,
+Parry meanwhile hunting about as if in search of something that he had
+dropped.
+
+"Nope.  No water here," decided Stacy.
+
+"You don't know.  Ah!  Here is what I am looking for."
+
+The guide pointed to a heap of stones that rose some twelve inches
+above the ground.  On the west side of the heap several stones had been
+placed in a row, thus forming an arm that extended or pointed almost
+due west.
+
+"Know what that is?" asked Parry.
+
+The lads shook their heads.
+
+"That's a water marker.  When a traveler across the desert finds a sink
+he indicates it either by a heap of stones, which he sticks in the
+ground, or by any other means at his command.  For instance, this pile
+of stones tells me there is a water hole somewhere near by, and the arm
+points the way to it."
+
+"Where is it, then?" wondered Walter.  "I don't see any signs of water."
+
+"Nor do I.  We'll follow the direction indicated by the arm and see if
+we don't come up with a water tank somewhere close by," replied Parry.
+
+With the guide leading the way, the others following in single file,
+they trailed away to the westward until, finally, they came to a slight
+depression in the ground.
+
+"It should be near here," the guide informed them.  "There it is.  See
+that dark hole?"
+
+The boys bounded forward, dropping on their knees by the opening into
+which they peered inquiringly.
+
+Suddenly they uttered a yell, and, springing up, ran back as fast as
+their legs would carry them.  As they did so, some dark object bounded
+from the water tank and leaped away into the sage brush.
+
+"Goodness me, what was that?" cried Walter, after the boys had pulled
+up and faced about.
+
+"Come back, come back.  That was only a badger," laughed the guide.
+
+"In the water?" asked Tad, who had stood his ground.
+
+"No; so much the worse for us!  There is no water there.  No need to
+look.  The tank is empty.  Some wandering prospector has emptied it to
+save his burros and fill his canteen," announced the guide.
+
+"What are we going to do, then!" queried Ned.
+
+"Do without it.  We shall have to give the stock a very little of our
+fresh supply, saving only enough out of it for our own breakfast and a
+canteen full apiece to take with us on the morrow.  I think I shall be
+able to find a river about ten miles below here, providing it has not
+changed its course or gone dry.  The water here in this country is as
+fickle as the desert itself."
+
+"What if we should fail to find any?" breathed Tad.
+
+"Well, you know, neither man nor beast can travel far on the desert
+without it.  But we'll find some to-morrow.  Don't worry," soothed the
+guide, though in his innermost heart he was troubled.  That this water
+hole should prove to be dry did not promise well for those that were to
+follow.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE BOYS DISCOVER A RIVER
+
+"Where's that river you were talking about?" demanded the lads when the
+outfit pulled up at noon next day.
+
+"Don't you see it?" smiled Parry.
+
+"Not a river," answered Ned, gazing about him, then allowing his glance
+to rest on the face of the guide to determine if Parry were making
+sport of them.
+
+"I am not sure myself.  I know where it should be.  Whether it's there
+or not is another matter.  Fetch the shovels and we'll soon find out."
+
+"Finding a river with shovels!" muttered Stacy.  "Huh!  Who ever heard
+of such a thing?"
+
+But as soon as the boys had returned with the digging implements, Parry
+swung the tools over his shoulder and strode confidently to the left of
+where they were encamped for the noonday rest.
+
+The boys followed him full of curiosity.
+
+Finally the guide threw down the tools and began to run his hands over
+the hot, yellow soil.
+
+"Guess the sun's gone to his head," muttered Ned, as he squatted down
+to observe more closely what the guide was doing.  The other three lads
+followed his example.  In a moment they were on all fours, hopping
+about like so many quadrupeds.
+
+Parry was shaking with laughter as he observed them.
+
+"Bow!  Bow wow!" barked Chunky, jumping on hands and feet, snapping his
+teeth together suggestively.
+
+The boys looked at each other and burst out laughing.  They had
+discovered all at once what a ridiculous figure they were making.
+
+"Sun gone to your head, too, Chunky?" chuckled Ned.  "Oh, no, I forgot;
+it's dog days," he added maliciously.
+
+"Your master had better get a collar and chain for you, then, Ned,"
+laughed Stacy, in high good humor with himself.
+
+The guide's voice put a sudden end to their merriment.
+
+"Here's the river," he cried.  "There is plenty of water in it, too."
+
+The boys gathered about him quickly.
+
+"I don't see any river," averred Walter.
+
+"There isn't any," answered Ned, in a low voice.
+
+"I'll show you whether there is or not," snapped Parry, who had
+overheard the remark.  "You boys think I have gone crazy, don't you?
+You'll find there is something to learn about this old Nevada
+Desert--some things that you never even dreamed of.  Hand me a shovel,
+please."
+
+All at once Stacy began pushing his companions roughly aside.
+
+"Here, here, Fatty!  What are you trying to do?" the others demanded,
+beginning to struggle with him to prevent being bowled over.
+
+"I'm saving your lives," cried the fat boy.
+
+"Saving our lives?" cried Ned.  "Go shake the alkali out of your eyes."
+
+"Yes, you'll fall in and drown."
+
+"In what?"
+
+"In the river.  Don't you see the river right there in front of you?"
+queried Stacy, his eyes fairly beaming with importance.
+
+"No, I don't.  If there was a river there you'd be the first one to
+fall in, and don't you forget that."
+
+"What's this?  What's this?" inquired the Professor, approaching.
+
+"It's a river," answered Stacy solemnly.
+
+"A river?"
+
+"Yes, sir.  Don't you hear it roar?  Wish I had a boat."
+
+"Is it water you are digging for, Mr. Parry?" asked Professor Zepplin.
+
+But the guide did not hear the question.  He was too busy with his
+mining operations at the moment.
+
+"Come on, boys," he urged.  "Get busy here."
+
+"At what?" asked Ned.  "We're with you, but we don't know what you want
+us to do."
+
+"Yes; can we help you?" inquired Tad.
+
+"Of course you can.  Get those other shovels and dig."
+
+"Where?"
+
+"Right here.  Make the dirt fly as fast as you want to.  I'll show you
+something in a minute."
+
+He did.  All at once the sand beneath them gave way, and the Pony Rider
+Boys, all except Stacy Brown, uttered a yell as they sank waist deep
+into a sink of soft, wet sand.
+
+Parry had felt the sand giving way, and with a warning had leaped from
+the hole.  The lads had not been quick enough.
+
+"There's no danger.  Don't be alarmed.  You'll get wet feet, that's
+all."
+
+"What is it?" asked the Professor in amazement.
+
+"Water, my dear sir.  Water in plenty.  It's a branch of the Pancake
+River.  These streams run underground for great distances on the
+desert, but they change their course so often that you can't place any
+dependence on them.  We're lucky, boys."
+
+"Hurrah for the water!" shouted the lads.
+
+"Keep on digging.  We haven't got it yet.  Master Stacy, will you run
+to the camp and bring the folding buckets?  We'll soon have the hole
+cleaned so we can dip up some water."
+
+"Sure," answered the fat boy, thrusting his hands in his trousers
+pockets and strolling off at a leisurely gait as if there were no
+necessity for haste.
+
+"That's Chunky's idea of running," laughed Ned Rector, jerking his head
+in Stacy's direction.
+
+The three lads finding there was no danger in their position, had made
+no attempt to clamber from the hole.  Instead, they began digging,
+until the dirt flew so fast that the Professor was obliged to withdraw.
+Somehow most of the dirt seemed to be flying through the air right in
+his direction.
+
+Now the water began to rise above the caved-in sand.  It was a dirty
+yellow in color and the boys' clothing suffered as a result.  But the
+youngsters did not care.  Besides, they were cooling off.
+
+At last the hole had been cleared sufficiently to enable them to dip up
+some water, but Stacy not having returned with the pails, the Professor
+was sent to fetch him.  He found the lad enjoying himself tickling the
+nose of a drowsy burro.
+
+Professor Zepplin led Chunky out to the water sink, by one ear.  The
+lads now quickly dipped up pailful after pailful, which they passed to
+the guide on the bank.  He ran with them to the stock, giving each of
+the animals a little, so that all might share in the first instalment.
+Ponies and burros were wide awake now, expressing their pleasure in
+loud whinnies and blatant brays.
+
+"It's foggy on the river," laughed Ned.  "The burros have started up
+their fog horns."
+
+When Parry returned he brought with him the drinking cups, which he had
+taken from the saddles.
+
+"Is it fit to drink?" asked Tad as the cups were passed down to them.
+
+"It's wet."
+
+"So are we," retorted Ned.  "But we're dirty.  Uh!  That's horrible
+stuff."
+
+"Strongly alkaline," nodded the Professor, after sipping gingerly at
+the brimming cup Parry had passed to him.  "Do you not think we had
+better wait a little while until it settles?"
+
+"Not a second, if you're thirsty," answered the guide shortly.  "This
+stream is liable to change its course in the next ten minutes.  Don't
+you take any chances with a desert stream.  Fill the water bags and the
+canteens as fast as we can that's what we'll do.  Then, if the water
+holds out, there will be time enough to empty out our supply and fill
+with fresh."
+
+"Hey, Chunky!  Haul those water bags over here," called Walter.
+
+"Can't," called Stacy.  He was sitting on the ground pulling off a shoe.
+
+"What's the trouble now?" snorted Ned.  "Got a cramp?"
+
+"No; I've got a sore toe."
+
+"Supposing we duck him," suggested Ned.
+
+"We'll save all the water we have," warned the guide sharply.  "No
+nonsense about it, either."
+
+The party was in great good humor, now that they had found a water
+hole, and the animals had drunk until their sides were distended like
+balloons in process of being inflated.
+
+"They've had enough," announced the guide, going to the animals and
+glancing over the herd sharply.  "No more water for the present."
+
+"Then perhaps we might as well be on our way," suggested the Professor.
+
+Parry did not reply.  He was shading his eyes with one hand, gazing
+intently off over the desert.  The Professor, following the direction
+in which the guide was looking, discovered a cloud of dust rising into
+the air.  The cloud was approaching them at a rapid rate.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+A COWBOY TAKES A HEADER
+
+"What is that?" questioned Professor Zepplin sharply.
+
+"That's what I'm trying to make out," replied the guide.
+
+"Looks like horsemen."
+
+"Yes, it is.  But I can't understand why they can be riding at that
+killing pace on a hot afternoon such as this."
+
+About this time the boys' attention had been attracted to the yellow
+cloud by Stacy Brown, who, notwithstanding his apparent slowness, had
+sharp eyes when there was anything to be seen.
+
+"Somebody's coming," he announced between sips.
+
+"What's that?" demanded Tad, springing from the water hole, followed
+closely by Walter and Ned.
+
+"Somebody coming to pay us an afternoon call.  By the way they're
+whooping it up they must be in a hurry about something."
+
+All hands ran to where Mr. Parry and the Professor were standing.
+
+The yellow cloud was rolling toward them at a rapid pace, and ahead of
+it the boys discovered half a dozen horsemen, who had evidently
+discovered the white tent that the Pony Rider Boys had erected during
+their midday stop.
+
+"Know them?" asked Tad.
+
+"I'm not sure, but I think it's Bud Stevens and the wild-horse outfit.
+Judging from the way they ride they're pretty wild themselves."
+
+With a series of shrill "y-e-o-w-s," the strangers bore down on the
+little desert camp.  From the gray, alkali-flecked backs of the ponies
+clouds of steam were rising, their sides streaked with dust and sweat.
+
+"Whoop!  Hooray!" bellowed the newcomers, dashing up to the camp,
+letting go a volley of revolver shots right into the ground in front of
+the Pony Rider Boys.
+
+Not a boy flinched.
+
+"How!" said Tom Parry.
+
+"How!" roared Bud Stevens, the leader, throwing himself from the back
+of his trembling mount.
+
+"Where's the boss?" asked Parry.
+
+"He's gone down Ralston way."
+
+"Thought so.  Where you headed?"
+
+"San Antone Range after more hoss flesh.  We'll rope the white stallion
+this time, and don't you forget it.  Eh, kiddie?  You're the little
+coyote what roped my pony and plunked me into the street back in
+Eureka, ain't you?"
+
+Half jokingly, he swung a vicious blow at Tad with the flat of his
+hand.  Had it landed it would have laid the lad flat.
+
+Tad ducked and came up smiling.
+
+"Wow!  The kiddie's a regular little bantam.  We'll have to take a fall
+out of you.  Got to give you the desert initiation like they do in the
+secret societies back in Eureka."
+
+He sought to close with Tad, but the boy eluded him easily.
+
+"That'll do, Bud," warned the guide, stepping between them.  "No rough
+house here.  Want some water?  We've got a water hole right over there."
+
+"Water?  Water?  Call the stuff we get out of the ground here water?"
+
+"He--he's had his head in soak already," piped Stacy, noting the
+perspiration dripping from the cowboy leader's face.
+
+Parry gave the lad a warning look.
+
+"They're good enough fellows, but they are full of pranks when they are
+not at work.  No need to stir them up and make them mad."
+
+"Got anything to eat?" demanded Bud.
+
+"How would you like some coffee, sir?" asked Tad politely.
+
+"Coffee?" jeered the cowboy.  "Now what d'ye think of that, fellows?
+Ain't that right hospitable?"
+
+"Yes, thank you, young man, I guess that would touch the spot," spoke
+up another of the band.  "'Course we'll have some coffee."
+
+"All right.  Ned, will you and Walt fix something for the boys to eat?
+If you will lead your ponies over to the water hole I'll dip up some
+water for them in the meantime, gentlemen."
+
+"Kiddie, yer all right," bellowed Bud Stevens.  "But I've got to take a
+fall out of yer yet."
+
+"Some other time," grinned Tad, who felt no fear of the hulking cowboy.
+
+"See that nose?" demanded Bud, sticking out his head at Tad.
+
+"Yes; what's the matter?"
+
+"That's my nose.  And that's where I barked it when you roped my pony
+tother day.  Oh, I've got to take it out of yer hide, kiddie."
+
+"Come along.  We'll water the ponies.  Chunky, help lead those bronchos
+to the water hole, will you?"
+
+The two boys and the noisy plainsmen gathered the tired animals and led
+them to the hole that had been dug in the desert.  Stacy sprang in and
+began dipping out pails of water.
+
+Bud grabbed the first pailful, but instead of offering it to one of the
+thirsty animals, he deliberately emptied the contents over the head of
+the boy down in the hole.
+
+"Hi, there!  Stop that, will you?" howled Stacy Brown.
+
+The fat boy was mad all through.
+
+He scrambled from the hole, dragging a slopping pail of water after
+him, while Bud Stevens roared with delight.  But his mirth was
+short-lived.
+
+Stacy ran around the hole and straight at the cowboy who had soaked him
+with the yellow water.  Up went the pail.
+
+Splash!
+
+The contents of it were hurled full in the face of the wild cowboy, who
+at that moment, having his mouth wide open, got a mouthful of it.
+
+The battle was on instantly.  Tad knew it was coming, but he did not
+think it would be directed at him this time, though he realized that he
+would have to protect his companion at any cost.
+
+Choking and sputtering, Bud made a blind lunge at Tad, his eyes being
+so full of muddy water that he could barely make out the slender form
+of the Pony Rider Boy.
+
+Tad ducked and dodged, hoping that Stevens would tire of pursuing him
+in a moment.  The lad might have called to the others over by the camp,
+but he was too proud to do that.  He would fight his own battles, no
+matter what the odds were against him.
+
+"I've got to get in," muttered the lad.  "He's seeing clearer every
+minute, and the longer I wait the less chance I'll have of getting out
+with a whole skin.
+
+"I'm coming, kiddie!" roared Bud.
+
+Tad made no reply.
+
+Stooping as if for a spring, Butler launched himself straight at the
+pillar of brawn and muscle before him.  Had he hesitated for the
+briefest part of a second--had he permitted those muscular arms to
+close about him, Tad Butler would have gone down to a quick and
+inglorious defeat.
+
+But he did not wait.
+
+The lad's right arm was brought sharply against the neck of his
+adversary, while at the same time his left arm was slipped under the
+cowboy's right leg.  The result was that Stevens lurched to the left.
+A quick jerk and Bud was fairly lifted from the ground.
+
+Tad gave a quick, forceful tug.
+
+Bud Stevens landed on his head in the pool of yellow water, his feet
+beating the air wildly.
+
+[Illustration: Bud Stevens Landed on His Head in the Pool of Yellow
+Water]
+
+"Grab hold of a foot, Chunky!" commanded Tad.  "Quick!  He'll drown in
+a minute in there."
+
+"Oh, let 'im drown," drawled Stacy, blinking to get the sand out of his
+eyes.
+
+"Get hold, I tell you!  I'll thrash you, Stacy Brown, if you don't!"
+
+Stacy reluctantly complied, Tad in the meantime having grasped the
+cowboy's foot and began pulling.
+
+"Not that way, Chunky.  Do you want to pull him apart?"
+
+The fat boy was trying to get Bud's right leg out from the opposite
+side of the water hole.
+
+The disturbance had by this time attracted the attention of the men
+over in the camp.  They started on the run when they saw Bud turned
+head first into the water hole.
+
+By the time they reached the scene Tad and Stacy had succeeded in
+hauling the victim from his perilous position.  Bud was choking between
+roars of rage.  His companions went off into shrieks of laughter when
+they understood what had happened.  They rolled on the ground; they
+danced about their fallen companion, and then their revolvers began to
+add their vicious voices to the tumult.
+
+Tad paid no attention to the uproar.  He was too busy shaking the water
+out of his fallen antagonist, to whom he was giving first aid to the
+drowning.
+
+Bud staggered to his feet, gasped for breath, while Tad stepped off a
+few paces, so as not to be within reach of those long, bony arms,
+should Bud decide to stretch them forth and take him in.
+
+"Guess you got all that was coming to you that time, Bud Stevens,"
+grinned Tom Parry.  "Served you right.  You'll let those boys alone
+after this or you'll have to reckon with me."
+
+Stevens's face was streaked with wet sand, his hair was disheveled and
+his clothes stuck to him as if they had been pasted on.
+
+The cowboy's sullen face slowly relaxed into a mirthless grin.
+
+"Say, kiddie, you put it over me like a cactus plant.  I owe you two."
+
+"I'd cancel the debt if I were in your place," laughed the boy.  "Come
+along and have a drink of coffee.  It'll warm you up after your swim."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+A PIECE OF HUMAN SANDPAPER
+
+An appetizing meal had been spread for the visitors.  But every time
+the men glanced at their companion they broke out into loud guffaws.
+
+"You're a sight, Bud," jeered one.
+
+"Next time better take a man of your size," said another.
+
+"Guess that's right," grinned the vanquished one.  "Ye can't most
+always tell what a kid's going to do."
+
+"We know what this one did do to you, though," laughed another.
+
+"Reckon I do myself," admitted Stevens.  "Say, kiddie, you come along
+with us and try them tricks on the wild hosses we're going to catch.
+Mebby I'll forgit to take it out of you.  I'll let the white stallion
+do that."
+
+"Thank you; I'll accept that invitation, with Professor Zepplin's
+permission."
+
+"We intended to drop in on your bunch, anyway," interposed Parry.  "The
+boss has invited us to join a horse hunt with you."
+
+"Better go along with us now, then," suggested Stevens.  "We won't have
+no more rough house, leastwise till we get to the San Antone Range, eh?"
+
+"No," replied Parry.  "We have a pack train to drag along.  Besides,
+you fellows travel too fast for us.  We'll take our time and join you
+later."
+
+The bath and the hot coffee had served to quiet Bud Stevens's bubbling
+spirits.  He was by this time a more rational being.
+
+After they had finished the meal Bud drew Tad Butler aside
+confidentially.
+
+"Say, kiddie, I like you," he said, slapping the lad a violent blow
+between the shoulders.
+
+"Glad of it," laughed Tad.  "But you have a queer way of showing your
+affection."
+
+"Say, can you ride?"
+
+"Some," admitted Tad.
+
+"As well as you can fight and throw a rope?"
+
+"I was not aware that I did either one very well."
+
+"Go away!  Go away!  You're a champeen.  I've got a spavined,
+ring-boned cayuse over in the range that I'm going to put you up
+against when you join us.  He'll give you all the exercise you want----"
+
+"Hey, Bud, ain't it 'bout time we were moseying?" called one of
+Stevens's companions.
+
+"I reckon.  Can't be any hotter than 'tis now.  When you going to join
+us, Parry?"
+
+"We'll be there in a few days.  But come here; I want to talk with you?"
+
+"Sure thing."
+
+"If we go on a hunt with you, remember there's to be no funny business.
+These boys, while they're no tenderfeet, are fine fellows and they must
+be treated well.  I'm responsible for them.  What I say goes.
+Understand?"
+
+"We'll look out for the kids, don't you get in a hot stew 'bout that."
+
+With a final whoop and a cheer for the members of Tom Parry's party,
+the turbulent cowboys put spurs to their ponies.  Once more a cloud of
+dust rose from the desert, across which it slowly rolled.  The boys
+watched it for half an hour, until the cloud had dwindled to a mere
+speck in the distance.
+
+"Not such a bad lot, after all," was the Professor's conclusion.
+
+"Rough diamonds," smiled the guide.
+
+"Are we going on now, Mr. Parry?" asked Tad.
+
+"No; I think we may as well unpack and make camp here until to-morrow
+morning.  Then the stock will be fresh, and so shall we."
+
+"The stock looks to be in pretty good shape already," answered Tad.
+
+"Yes; but they will be much better to-morrow.  A day's water and feed
+will do wonders for them.  I guess the bunch of horse-hunters made
+quite a hole in our fodder, didn't they?"
+
+"There was nothing the matter with their appetites that I observed,"
+laughed Tad.  "But we've got enough to last us for some time.  How long
+before we shall strike the range where we are to join them?"
+
+Parry glanced off over the desert meditatively.
+
+"If we have no bad luck we ought to make it in three days.  The cowboys
+will get there some time to-morrow."
+
+"One of them won't," answered Tad, confidently.
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"His pony is wind-broken.  Didn't you hear him breathe when they rode
+in?"
+
+"What, with the bunch howling like a pack of coyotes?  No, I didn't
+hear a horse breathe."
+
+"I did," chimed in Stacy.
+
+"Did what?" queried Ned, turning on him sharply.  Rector had not heard
+the fat boy approach them.
+
+"Heard the big cowboy breathe.  He wheezed like a leaky steam engine."
+
+Tad and the guide burst out laughing.
+
+"Why, boy, we weren't talking about the cowboy.  We were speaking of
+one of the bronchos.  Tad says he is wind-broken."
+
+"Huh!" grunted Stacy, strolling off with hands thrust in his pockets,
+chin on his breast.  "When I'm not right I'm always wrong," he
+muttered.  "Mostly wrong."
+
+They did not see the lad again for more than an hour.  The rest of the
+party gathered under the tent they had first erected, where they now
+fell to discussing their late visitors, next turning to their plans for
+the morrow.
+
+"Do we follow the same course when we next start?" asked the Professor.
+
+"Not quite.  We veer a little more to the west, until we string the San
+Antonio Range.  When we leave there, if you conclude to go on, we shall
+head southward toward Death Valley.  I understand you are willing to
+penetrate it a little way."
+
+"Yes, if you think it is safe to do so."
+
+Parry shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"Death Valley is no better than its name.  If you wish merely to see
+it, I think I can gratify your desire."
+
+"Yes, yes, we want to see Death Valley," chorused the boys.  "Don't be
+afraid for us."
+
+"I'll try to get some water bags from the horse-hunters when we join
+them; for the further south one goes on the desert the more scarce the
+water becomes."
+
+The sun was lying low by this time and the advance guard of the evening
+coolness began crowding back the heat of the day.
+
+"I wonder what has become of Chunky?" questioned Tad suddenly, rising
+from the ground where he had thrown himself in the shade of the tent.
+
+The others glanced quickly about them.
+
+"Probably find him asleep behind a bunch of sage somewhere," answered
+Ned lightly.  "Don't trouble yourself about him."
+
+"Perhaps over by the water hole," suggested the guide.  "I'll stroll
+over that way."
+
+Just then a figure topped the ridge beyond them.
+
+It was yelling lustily, leaping into the air, rolling and groveling on
+the ground alternately.
+
+"There he is!  Something's happened to him," shouted Walter.
+
+All hands started on a run.  They could not imagine what had gone wrong
+with the fat boy.
+
+As they drew nearer to him they discovered that he had taken off all
+his clothes.  His body was as red as if it had been painted.
+
+The Professor's long legs were covering the alkali at a pace that left
+the others behind, until Tad spurted and headed him.
+
+"Chunky, Chunky!  What's the matter?" he shouted.
+
+Stacy yelled more lustily than ever.
+
+"What is it?  What is it?" shouted the others in chorus.
+
+"I'm burned alive?  I'm cremated!  Oh, w-o-w!"
+
+"Should think you would he.  What on earth have you got your clothes
+off for?"
+
+They discovered that something was the matter then, for an expression
+of real pain had taken the place of the complacent look they were wont
+to see on the face of Stacy Brown.
+
+"He's been boiling himself!" exclaimed the guide, with quick intuition.
+
+Grasping the fat boy, Parry threw him flat on the ground and began
+rolling him in the sand.  Stacy yelled more lustily than before.
+
+"Run to my saddlebags.  Fetch the black bottle you will find there!"
+commanded the guide.  "It's oil, yes.  Hurry, before his skin all peels
+off."
+
+Tad was back with the black bottle in no time.  Tom Parry spread the
+oil over the blistered flesh of the fat boy, whose yells grew less and
+less explosive as he felt the soothing effects of the grease on his
+body.
+
+"Wha--what happened?" stammered Walter.
+
+"I--I fell in."
+
+"In where?" questioned the Professor sharply.
+
+"I don't know.  It was hot."
+
+"Put your clothes on.  You'll be all right in a little while.  Where
+did you leave them?"
+
+Stacy pointed back on the desert some distance, whereat Parry
+laughingly said he would go in search of the clothing.
+
+"Now if you will be good enough to tell me what all this uproar is
+about, I shall be obliged to you," requested the Professor.
+
+"Why, the boy found a boiling spring----"
+
+"And he fell in," added Ned solemnly.
+
+"He did," agreed the guide, without the suspicion of a smile.
+
+"Is that it, Master Stacy?"
+
+Stacy nodded.
+
+"Tell me about it."
+
+"I--I was walking along with my hands in my pockets----"
+
+"Thinking," interjected Ned.
+
+"What'd you suppose I was doing!  Ain't I always thinking when I'm not
+asleep?"
+
+"Go on, go on," urged Ned unsympathetically.
+
+"All at once something slipped.  I went right through the ground.  At
+first I thought I was a pond of ice water, it felt so cold.  Next thing
+I knew I was burning up."
+
+"But your clothes?  What did you have them off for?" urged the
+Professor.
+
+"I took them off when I thought I was burning up.  Say, fellows, that
+was the hottest ice water I ever took a bath in my life."
+
+The boys could barely resist their inclination to laugh.
+
+"Why don't you laugh if you want to?  Never mind me.  I don't count,"
+growled Chunky.
+
+Parry explained that these boiling springs were not infrequent on the
+desert.  They were found, generally, further north, he said.  This one
+must have worked its way up through the alkali until only a thin crust
+covered it, and this crust the boy had had the misfortune to step on
+and break through.
+
+"You wouldn't think there were so many pitfalls under this baked
+desert, would you?" questioned Ned.
+
+"I look like a piece of human sandpaper, don't I?" muttered Stacy
+ruefully, as he carefully drew on his clothes.  "Every time I sit down
+I'll remember that hot ice water."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+RUNNING DOWN THE TRAIL
+
+"Thank goodness, we're in the foothills," sighed Tad, when three days
+later they came to a halt at the base of the San Antonio Range far down
+on the Nevada Desert.
+
+"Yes, it is a relief to see some real rocks once more," agreed Walter.
+"Chunky, look out that you don't step into any more ice water.  You'll
+miss the horse-hunt if you do."
+
+"No danger of that up here," laughed the guide.
+
+Behind them lay the desert maze, to the right and left, mountain
+ranges, high plateaux, mesas and buttes.  Giant yucca trees, short,
+spreading pinon and spindling cedars clothed the higher peaks of the
+San Antonio Range.
+
+Trees, too, were scattered about in the foothills, and though they gave
+little shade it was a relief to every sense of the Pony Riders to feel
+the hills and trees about them.
+
+There, with what little shade they could get, the lads made camp.  As
+yet they had found no water, though Parry said there would be springs
+in plenty further up in the mountains.  The bags still held enough to
+last them until the following day, so no effort was made to locate
+fresh water that afternoon.
+
+Stacy had thrown himself down under one of the yucca trees, but the
+late afternoon sun filtered through the branches, making his face look
+red and heated.
+
+"You don't seem to be getting much shade from that tree," laughed the
+guide.
+
+"'Bout as much as I would from a barbed wire fence," frowned Stacy.
+
+"What do you know about barbed-wire fences?" demanded Ned.
+
+"Me?  Know all 'bout them.  One night I had a falling out with one,
+when I was taking a short cut across the fields to get home."
+
+"How about the apples?  Did you get them?" asked Tad.
+
+"Apples?  What do you know 'bout it?  Were you there, too?"
+
+A laugh greeted the fat boy's reply.
+
+"Come, come, young men.  Are you going to make camp?" urged the
+Professor.
+
+"Didn't know we were going to remain here to-night," replied Walter.
+"Of course we're going to make camp if that's the case.  It'll be a
+good time to shake the alkali dust out of our belongings and from
+ourselves."
+
+"I haven't got any dust," piped Stacy.  "I--I had a bath--a hot bath."
+
+"Are we anywhere near the horse-hunters, Mr. Parry?" inquired Tad, as
+the boys began unpacking the burros, some devoting their attention to
+the kitchen outfit, the rest spreading the canvas on the ground
+preparatory to erecting the tents.
+
+"They are supposed to be further up the range.  They will be down this
+way to-morrow, probably, to pick us up.  They were not certain where
+they would make their permanent camp, Stevens said.  All depends upon
+where the wild horses are grazing."
+
+"I don't see any wild horses, nor any other wild anything," objected
+Ned.
+
+The guide dropped the ridge pole that he was about to carry to the
+place where the cook tent had been laid out ready to be raised.
+
+"Come with me," he said, taking Ned by the arm and leading him to the
+left of their camping place.  "Do you see that?"
+
+"What?"
+
+"Use your eyes.  If you're going to be a plainsman you'll have to
+depend on your sense of sight.  Take the desert for instance.  It's a
+desert maze if you are unable to read its signs; no maze at all if you
+do."
+
+"What is it you were going to show Ned?" asked the rest of the boys,
+who had followed them out.
+
+"See if you can tell, Master Tad."
+
+But Master Tad had already been using his eyes.  He nodded as he caught
+the guide's eye.
+
+"There has been a bunch of unshod ponies along here, if that is what
+you mean," he said.
+
+"How do you know?" demanded Stacy.
+
+"I see their tracks there.  Saw them the minute I got over here."
+
+"Maybe that's the crowd that called at our camp the other day,"
+suggested Walter.
+
+The guide shook his head.
+
+"There was no one on these horses," said Tad.
+
+"Right," emphasized the guide.  "That's observation, young men.  You
+will notice, by examining these hoofprints carefully, that the weight
+of the animal is thrown more on the toe----"
+
+"How do you know that?" cut in Stacy.
+
+"Because the toe sinks into the soil more than it would if the animals
+were loaded.  In the latter event, the heels would dig deeper.  Now if
+you will follow along a little further I may be able to show you the
+hoofprints of the leader of the band of wild horses, for that is what
+they are----"
+
+"Wild horses?" marveled the boys.
+
+"Wish we could see them," said Tad.
+
+"I'll wager they have seen us already, for they surely are in this
+neighborhood," replied Parry.  "But a wild horse is as sharp as an old
+fox.  The herd have been down in the foothills and, by the hoofprints,
+you will observe that they have returned to the mountain fastness."
+
+"Perhaps they saw us coming," suggested Tad.
+
+"More than likely," agreed the guide.  "They were in a hurry and moving
+rapidly--there!  There's the leader's trail.  Look carefully and you
+will see where he leaped up to this little butte here.  Reaching it, he
+turned about and took a quick, comprehensive look at the desert."
+
+"And at us," added Stacy.
+
+"Yes, I think so.  Come up here.  You see this little ridge gave him a
+very good view of the desert maze.  See if you can tell how many wild
+horses there were in the bunch," suggested Tom Parry.
+
+Instantly the boys went down on all fours, crawling along the trail
+seeking to read the story that it told.
+
+"Well, how many?" queried the guide, after they had finished their
+inspection.
+
+"Fifty!" shouted Stacy.
+
+"Forty-five!" answered Ned and Walter at the same time.
+
+"What do you say, Master Tad?"
+
+"I am afraid I must have missed some, then.  I only make out twenty-one
+old ones and a colt.  I take it the old mare was with the colt, for the
+prints show that the little animal was hugging the other closely," was
+Tad's decision.
+
+"Very good.  Very good," nodded Parry.  "There were twenty-two.  You
+didn't get the trailer, probably an old mare.  She traveled along off
+to the right yonder a little.  But I should like to know how you made
+fifty, Master Stacy!" twinkled the guide.
+
+"Counted 'em," answered the fat boy.
+
+"Show me?"
+
+Stacy did so, going over the hoofprints carefully, pointing to them
+with his index finger as he did so, the guide making mental
+calculations at the same time.
+
+"And that makes fifty--fifty--fifty-four this time.  There's more of
+them than I thought."
+
+Parry laughed softly.
+
+"I'm afraid you'd make a poor Indian, young man.  You not only have
+counted the hoof-prints, but you have counted the foot marks of
+yourself and your companions as well.  Master Tad, let me see if you
+can run the trail up the mountain side a little way.  It will be good
+practice.  I want you boys to be able to follow a trail as keenly as
+the best of them before you have finished this trip.  You never know
+when it's going to be useful--when it's going to get you out of serious
+difficulties, even to the extent of saving your lives."
+
+Tad was off on a trot, stooping well over, with eyes fixed on the foot
+marks.
+
+"Tad could hunt jack rabbits without a dog, couldn't he?" questioned
+Stacy innocently.  His companions laughed.
+
+"Is that a joke?" asked Ned.  "If it is, I'll cry.  Your jokes would
+make a Texas steer weep."
+
+Tad was picking his way up the rough mountain side, now losing the
+trail, then picking it up again.  The marks left by the wild horses
+were almost indistinguishable after the animals had reached the rocks,
+but here and there a broken twig told the lad they had passed that way.
+
+Once he appeared to leave the trail, moving sharply to the right, where
+on a shelving ridge, he straightened up and looked down into the valley.
+
+Tom Parry nodded encouragingly.
+
+"Know what you've found?"
+
+"Yes, this is where the leader came to make another observation,"
+answered Tad.
+
+"That's right.  He's a plainsman already, boys.  Go on.  Run the trail
+up to the top of this first ridge.  It will not be a bad idea for us to
+know which way they've gone.  If the hunters don't show up by to-morrow
+we can take a little run after the herd on our own hook."
+
+Tad obeyed gladly.  Every sense was on the alert.  The rest of the boys
+were all impatience to take part in the hunt.  But the guide said no.
+He feared that, if all were to start up the mountain side, their
+enthusiasm might lead them too far from camp, resulting in their losing
+their way.  He knew how tricky the trail of a band of wild horses was,
+the clever animals leaving no ruse untried that would tend to mix up
+and lose their pursuers.
+
+Tad's figure was growing smaller as he ascended higher and higher.
+
+"You don't mean to say that horses climbed up the way he is going!"
+questioned Walter incredulously.
+
+"That's the way they went, my boy.  They 're regular goats when it
+comes to mountain climbing.  They'll go where a man could not,
+oftentimes."
+
+Tad crept, cautiously on, now finding little to guide him, save his own
+instinct.  He finally disappeared behind the rocks and trees of the
+low-lying range.
+
+The lad was moving almost noiselessly now.  A sound a short distance
+beyond him caused him to prick up his ears sharply.
+
+"I believe I am near them," he breathed, as he glanced about him.  "Why
+did I not think to bring my rope?"
+
+It was just as well for his own well-being, that he had not brought
+along that part of his saddle equipment.  He was following the trail
+with the skill of a trained mountaineer.  An Indian himself could have
+done it no better.
+
+Perhaps the guide understood, better than did Tad himself, why he had
+started the lad on the trail, for a quiet smile hung about the lips of
+Tom Parry.  All at once his twinkling eyes lit up with a new expression.
+
+"Look!  Look!" gasped Walter.
+
+"Where?  Where?" demanded Ned.
+
+Walter pointed to a pyramid-shaped rock far above their heads.
+
+At first they could scarcely believe their senses.  There poised in the
+air, feet doubled into a bunch, stood a splendid specimen of
+horse-flesh, resting, it seemed, fairly on the sharp point of the rock,
+gazing down into and across the valley.
+
+"The white stallion," breathed the lads all in the same breath.
+
+The magnificent animal was a creamy white.  Its head was held high,
+nostrils distended as if to catch the scent of those for whom it was
+looking.  Beneath the rays of the low lying sun, its coat glistened and
+shone with a luster that no brush or comb could bring to it.
+
+The lads gazed upon the beautiful statue almost in awe.
+
+They were standing quite close up under the shadow of the mountain at
+that moment.
+
+"Why doesn't he run?" whispered Walter.
+
+"Do you think he sees us?" asked Ned.
+
+"No.  Stand perfectly still."
+
+"Why doesn't he?  All he would have to do would be to look down?"
+questioned Stacy.
+
+"He scents us.  He knows we are somewhere near.  But, if you will
+observe him closely, you will notice that he is looking at the camp.
+He sees the Professor moving about," explained Parry.
+
+"Do--do you think we could catch him?" asked Ned eagerly.
+
+"The most skillful men in this part of the country have been trying to
+do that very thing for the last five years, my boy," answered the guide
+in a low tone.  "No, you couldn't catch him.  He's the finest animal to
+be found in the entire Nevada Desert district.  Wouldn't mind owning
+him myself."
+
+In the meantime Tad had been creeping nearer and nearer.  He soon
+discovered that the leader of the band had swerved to the left.  He
+concluded to follow, to see where the solitary animal had gone to.  But
+so quietly did the lad move that the stallion neither heard nor scented
+him.
+
+All at once the wonderful sight unfolded before the eyes of Tad Butler.
+He flattened himself on the ground, within thirty yards of the splendid
+animal.
+
+Suddenly the stallion whirled.  Tad rose to his feet, The two stood
+facing each other, Tad with head thrust forward, the stallion with
+nostrils held high in the air.
+
+"Oh, my rope, my rope!" breathed the boy.  "If I had my rope!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+COYOTES JOIN IN THE CHORUS
+
+Those down in the foothills saw the animal whirl and face the other way.
+
+"He sees something," cried Walter, forgetting in his excitement that
+they were trying to keep quiet.
+
+"Yes, he has probably scented Master Tad," explained the guide.
+
+"Think he'll try to catch the horse?" asked Stacy.
+
+"Hope not.  Those wild horses are bad medicine.  No, of course, he has
+no rope with him.  But he'll be wise if he keeps out of the way of the
+beast."
+
+Tad had no thought of doing either.  He stood perfectly still, gazing
+in awe and wonder at the handsomest horse he had ever seen.
+
+The stallion's eyes blazed.  He uttered a loud snort, then rose right
+up into the air on his hind feet.  One bound brought him many feet
+nearer the boy who was observing him.  It was the only direction in
+which the stallion could go without plunging into a chasm.
+
+"Whoa!" commanded Tad sharply.
+
+The white horse never having been trained, failed to understand the
+word, but he halted just the same, gazing angrily at the bold boy
+standing there, who, it appeared, was defying him.
+
+Uttering another snort, this time full of menace, the animal leaped
+straight toward the lad in long, graceful bounds.
+
+Tad threw up his hands to frighten the stallion aside.  The animal,
+however, refused to be swerved from its course.
+
+"He's going to run over me," cried the boy, as he noted that the horse
+was rising for another leap.
+
+Tad ducked just as the beast sprang clear of the ground.  He felt the
+rush of air as the gleaming body was lifted over his head, the boy at
+the instant uttering a shrill yell to hasten the stallion's movements.
+
+The front hoofs caught the rim of the Pony Rider Boy's sombrero,
+snipping it from his head.  The hind feet came closer.  They raked
+Tad's head, bowling him completely over, rolling him from the knoll on
+which he had been standing.
+
+He brought up with a jolt some ten feet further down.  Tad scrambled to
+his feet a little dizzy from the blow and the fall.
+
+"Whew!  That was a close call," he muttered, feeling his head to learn
+if it had been injured.
+
+"No; the skin isn't broken, but I'm going to have a beautiful goose egg
+there," he concluded.  "It's swelling already.  If I'd had my rope I
+could have roped him easily when he rose at me that last time."
+
+Scrambling up the bank, Tad found his hat.  Then he picked his way to
+the pyramid-shaped rock on which he had first discovered the stallion.
+
+Poising himself, he swung his sombrero to his companions down in the
+foothills.
+
+"Hurrah!" he shouted.  "I met the enemy.  I've seen the white stallion,
+fellows!"
+
+"Is the enemy yours?" jeered Ned Rector.
+
+"No; I rather think I was his," laughed Tad, turning back and hurrying
+down the rocks to rejoin his companions.
+
+He was met by a volley of questions the moment he reached the
+foothills.  With his companions gathered about him, Tad told them how
+he had followed the trail, finally coming upon the handsome animal
+while the latter was taking an observation from the pyramid-shaped rock.
+
+"It's a wonder he didn't attack you," said the guide after the lad had
+finished his narration.  "Those wild stallions are very savage when
+aroused."
+
+"I guess he tried to do so all right," laughed Tad.
+
+"I knew he was up there somewhere, watching us, but I did not think for
+a minute that you would get close enough to him to be in any danger,"
+announced Tom Parry, with a disapproving shake of his head.
+
+"I could have roped him easily," said the lad.
+
+"Lucky for you that you didn't try it.  It's getting late now.  I
+presume the Professor is beginning to think we are not going to finish
+pitching our camp.  Come, we'll go back and get to work."
+
+The work went rather slowly, however, for the lads were too full of the
+subject of the wild stallion to devote their whole attention to putting
+their camp to rights for the night.  Then again, they had to go all
+over the story for the Professor's benefit.
+
+"Do you think we could catch one of these wild ones to take back East
+with us?" asked Tad.
+
+"You couldn't catch one yourself, but you might be able to buy one for
+a small sum from the horse-hunters," the guide informed him.
+
+"How much?"
+
+"Depends on the animal.  Perhaps twenty or twenty-five dollars."
+
+"Then, I'll do it.  I could get him home for as much more, and he'd be
+worth at least two hundred dollars.  Perhaps I might take two of them
+along, providing I can get what I want."
+
+"You ought to be a horseman," laughed the guide.  "You've got the
+horseman's instinct."
+
+"He is a horseman," volunteered Stacy.  "There aren't any better."
+
+"Thank you," glowed Tad.  "I'll pull you out next time you fall in, for
+that."
+
+They were very jolly at supper that night.  They had nothing to trouble
+them.  Water was near by and they were soon to participate in the most
+exciting event in their lives, a wild-horse hunt.
+
+"Do you think they will be able to find us!" questioned Walter.
+
+"Who, the horses?" returned Ned.
+
+"I hope they do," laughed the guide.  "No; Master Walter means Bud
+Stevens and the gang.  Find us?  Why, those fellows could trail a cat
+across the Desert Maze if they happened to take a notion to do so."
+
+There being plenty of dry stuff about, the boys built up a blazing
+camp-fire as soon as night came on.  Gathering about it they told
+stories and sang songs.
+
+"I move that Stacy Chunky Brown favor us with a selection," suggested
+Ned.  "He has a very rare voice--an underdone voice some might call it."
+
+"Yes, Chunky," urged Walter.  "You haven't sung for us since we
+started."
+
+"Me?  I can't sing.  Besides it might scare the wild horses," protested
+Stacy.
+
+"I guess there's no doubt about that.  But we'll take the chances."
+
+"Yes, do sing, Chunky," added Walter.  "It may soften Ned's hard heart."
+
+Stacy cocked an impish eye at Ned Rector.
+
+"All right, I'll sing," decided the fat boy, clearing his throat.
+
+"Stand up," thundered Ned.  "Have some respect for the audience."
+
+Stacy stood up.
+
+"What are you going to favor us with?" questioned Tad.
+
+"It's a little thing of my own," grinned Stacy.  "Hope you'll like it."
+
+"Oh, we'll like it all right," chuckled Ned.  "The audience will please
+refrain from applauding until the performer finishes."
+
+"What's the name of the piece?" demanded Walter.
+
+"Hasn't been named.  You can name it if you wish."
+
+"Go ahead, go ahead.  Never mind the name," chorused the lads.
+
+Stacy surveyed the upturned, laughing faces of his companions and then
+launched out in a shrill soprano:
+
+  It's all day long on the alka-li,
+  Where the coyotes howl and the wells run dry,
+  Where the badgers badge in the water holes,
+  And the twisters twist the old tent poles--
+        Right up from the alka-li.
+
+
+"Yeow!" shrieked the Pony Rider Boys.
+
+"It's a new poet.  Hurrah for the poet lariat!" shouted Ned Rector,
+jumping up and down, slapping his thighs in his amusement.
+
+"Go on, give us another verse," laughed the guide.  "That's real po'try
+that is."
+
+"Is there another verse?" cried Walter.
+
+Chunky nodded solemnly.
+
+"Hush!  He is going to sing some more," cautioned Tad Butler, holding
+up his hand for silence.
+
+"Ahem," began Stacy.  Throwing back his head he began again:
+
+  When the wind blows high o'er the Desert Maze,
+  And sand in your eyes interferes with your gaze,
+  Then the Pony Rider Boys they lose their pants;
+  Don't dare sit down for fear of the ants--
+        That hide in the alka-li.
+
+
+Stacy sat down blinking, solemn as an owl.  But if he was solemn his
+companions were quite the opposite.  The boys formed a ring about him,
+and between their yells of appreciation, began dancing around in a
+circle shouting out in chorus the last two lines of the second verse:
+
+  Don't dare sit down for fear of the ants--
+        That hide in the alka-li.
+
+
+Professor Zepplin and Tom Parry were laughing immoderately, but their
+voices could not be heard above the uproar made by the joyous Pony
+Riders.  No such carnival of fun probably ever had disturbed the
+foothills of the San Antonio range, nor extended so far out over the
+maze of the great Nevada Desert.
+
+"Sing it again!  Sing it again!" commanded the boys.
+
+They hauled the protesting Chunky to his feet, stood him on a box of
+pickled pigs' feet, compelling him to begin the song all over again.
+
+  "It's all day long on the alka-li.
+  Where the coyotes howl and----"
+
+
+"Ki-i-i-i-o-o-o!  Ki-i-i-i-o-o-o-ki!  K-i-i-i-o-o-ki!"
+
+A long wailing sound--a dismal howl, suddenly cut short the joyous
+ditty.
+
+"What's that!"
+
+"Ki-i-i-i-o-o-o!  Ki-i-i-i-o-o-ki!"
+
+"Coyotes," laughed the guide.
+
+There seemed to be hundreds of them.  From every peak in the range
+their mournful voices were protesting.
+
+All at once out in the black maze of the desert another bunch of them
+began their weird wailing.
+
+"We're surrounded," announced the Professor.
+
+"Shall we get the guns?" asked Walter.
+
+"No, they're expressing their indignation at Chunky's song," jeered Ned.
+
+"Let 'em howl.  I don't care.  If they don't stop I'll sing some more,"
+threatened the fat boy.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+FUN IN THE FOOTHILLS
+
+The Professor found difficulty even in driving the lads to their beds
+that night.  When they did finally tumble in and pull the blankets over
+them they were unable to sleep, between the howling of the coyotes and
+their laughter over Stacy Brown's new-found talent.
+
+"They'll go away when the moon comes up," called the guide when the
+boys protested that the beasts kept them awake.
+
+"Why can't we shoot at them?" asked Stacy.
+
+"It will alarm the wild horses," said the guide.  "We don't want to
+chase them off the range.  Neither would the horse-hunters like it if
+we were to begin shooting."
+
+"Go to sleep!" commanded the Professor.
+
+Then the boys settled down.  After a time the moon came up, but instead
+of quieting the coyotes it seemed to have urged them on to renewed
+efforts.  They grew bolder.  They approached the camp until a circle of
+them surrounded it.
+
+Out of Stacy Brown's tent crept a figure in its night clothes.  It was
+none other than Stacy himself.  In one hand he held a can of condensed
+milk that he had smuggled from the commissary department that afternoon.
+
+He wriggled along in the shadow of a slight rise of ground until he had
+approached quite near the beasts.  He could see them plainly now and
+Stacy's eyes looked like two balls.
+
+The animals would elevate their noses in the air, and, as if at a
+prearranged signal, all would strike the first note of their mournful
+wail at identically the same instant.
+
+Suddenly the figure of the Pony Rider Boy rose up before them, right in
+the middle of one of the unearthly wails.
+
+"Boo!" said Stacy explosively, at the same time hurling the can of
+condensed milk full in the face of the coyote nearest to him.
+
+His aim was true.  The can landed right between the eyes of the animal.
+The coyote uttered a grunt of surprise, hesitated an instant, then,
+with tail between his legs, bounded away with a howl of fear.
+
+"Yeow!  Scat!" shrieked the fat boy.
+
+The whole pack turned tail and ran with Stacy after them in full
+flight, headed for the desert.
+
+Tom Parry, aroused by this new note in the midnight medley, tumbled out
+just in time to see Stacy disappearing over the ridge.  The guide was
+followed quickly by the other three boys of the party and Professor
+Zepplin.
+
+"Hey, come back here!" shouted Parry.
+
+The fat boy paid no attention to him.  He was too busy chasing coyotes
+across the desert at that moment to give heed to anything else.
+
+"Get after him, boys!  If he falls they're liable to pile on him and
+chew him up before we can get to him!" commanded the guide.
+
+Over the ridge bounded the pajama brigade.  The coyotes, frightened
+beyond their power of reasoning, if such a faculty was possessed by
+them, were now no more than so many black streaks lengthening out
+across the desert.
+
+The lads set up a whoop as they started on the chase after their
+companion.
+
+"Rope him, somebody!" shouted Parry.
+
+"Haven't any rope," answered Tad, with a muttered "Ouch!" as his
+big-toe came in contact with the can of condensed milk.
+
+Laughing and shouting, they soon came up with Stacy, however, because
+he could not run as fast as the other boys.  Tad caught up with him
+first, and the two lads went down together.  In another minute the rest
+of the party had piled on the heap.
+
+"Get up!" shouted Tad.  "Somebody's standing on my neck."
+
+"Yes, and--and you've pushed my face into the desert," came the muffled
+voice of Chunky Brown.
+
+Laughing and all talking at once, the knot was slowly untied.  Two of
+them grabbed the fat boy under the arms, while a third got between the
+lad's feet and picked them up, much as one would the handles of a
+wheelbarrow.  In that manner they triumphantly carried Stacy back to
+the camp.
+
+Reaching his tent, they threw the fat boy into his bed.
+
+The tall, gaunt figure of the Professor appeared suddenly at the tent
+entrance.  Some of the boys darted by him, the others crawling out
+under the sides of the tent, all making a lively sprint for their own
+quarters.
+
+"Young men, the very next one who raises a disturbance in this camp
+to-night is going to get a real old-fashioned trouncing.  Not having
+any slipper, I'll use my shoe.  Do you hear?"
+
+Not a voice answered him, but as he strode away the moon-like face of
+Stacy Brown might have been seen peering out at him.  Quiet reigned in
+the camp of the Pony Rider Boys for several hours after that.  Yet they
+were destined not to pass the night without a further disturbance,
+though the Professor did not use his shoe to chastise the noisy ones.
+
+It lacked only a few hours to daylight when the second interruption
+occurred.  And when it arrived it was even more startling than had been
+the fat boy's chase of the cowardly coyotes.
+
+There was a sudden sound of hoof-beats.
+
+"Ki-yi!  Ki-yi!" shrieked a chorus of voices.
+
+A volley of shots was fired as an accompaniment to the startling yells.
+A moment later and a body of horsemen dashed into camp, which they had
+easily located by the smouldering camp-fire.
+
+The Pony Rider Boys were out of their tents in a twinkling.
+
+"Wow!" piped Stacy.
+
+Bang!  Bang!
+
+Two bullets flicked the dirt up into his face.  Bud Stevens and his
+companions were in a playful mood again.
+
+"Hey, you!  Better look out where you're shooting to!" warned Stacy.
+
+Bud let go another volley.
+
+"The Professor'll take you over his knee and chastise you with his
+shoe, if you don't watch sharp," said Stacy.
+
+"Come out of that.  Where's the kiddie?  I want to see my kiddie!"
+laughed Bud Stevens.
+
+By this time, with his companions, he had dismounted, turning the
+ponies loose to roam where they would.  The whole camp, aroused by the
+shouting and shooting, had turned out after pulling on their trousers
+and shoes.  Tom Parry, piling fresh fuel on the embers of the
+camp-fire, soon had the scene brightly lighted.  There was no more
+sleep in camp that night.  Professor Zepplin accepted the new
+disturbance with good grace.
+
+"We're going to eat breakfast with you," Bud Stevens informed them.
+
+"That's right.  What we have is free," answered the Professor
+hospitably.
+
+"That's what I was telling the bunch," nodded Bud.  "Our chuck wagon'll
+be along when it gets here.  We've got a schooner with six lazy mules
+toting it down along the edge of the foothills.  If it ever gets here
+we'll stock you up with enough fodder to last you the rest of your
+natural lives."
+
+"A schooner, did you say?" questioned Stacy, edging closer to the
+cowboy.
+
+"Yep; schooner."
+
+"Where's the water?"
+
+"Say, moon-face, didn't you ever hear tell of a prairie schooner!"
+
+Chunky shook his head.
+
+"Well, you've got something coming to you, then," replied Bud, turning
+to the others again.
+
+"When do you start your horse-hunt?  I presume that's the purpose of
+your visit here?" asked the Professor.
+
+"Yep.  Soon as the wagon gets here with the trappings.  After breakfast
+we'll look around a bit.  Been some of them through here to-day, I see."
+
+"Yes, how did you know that!" questioned Tad.
+
+"We crossed the trail just at the edge of the camp here when we came
+in.  Didn't you see them?"
+
+"We saw one of them and the tracks of the rest----"
+
+"Yes, we--we--we saw the white horse----"
+
+"The Angel?" demanded Bud, interested at once.
+
+"I don't know whether you'd call it an angel or not.  It struck me that
+it was quite the opposite," laughed Tad.  "It was a white stallion, and
+when I got in its way it just bowled me over and rolled me down the
+hill----"
+
+"The white stallion, fellows," nodded Bud.  "I told you so.  Come
+along, kiddie, and show me that trail.  I'll tell you in a minute if
+he's the one."
+
+Tad took the horse-hunter to the trail that he had followed up the
+mountain side.  Bud lighted match after match, by the light of which he
+ran over the confusion of hoofprints.  Finally he paused over one
+particular spot, and with a frown peered down upon it.
+
+"That's him.  That's the Angel," he emphasized.
+
+"Why do you call him that?"
+
+"Because of two things," answered Bud.  "First place, he's white.
+That's the color angels is supposed to be, most of 'em says.  Then, if
+you'll look at his hoof-mark, you'll see the frog is shaped like a
+heart.  More angel.  Then again--that's three times, ain't it?--he's
+got a temper like angels ain't supposed to have."
+
+"So I have observed," agreed Tad, with a laugh.
+
+"And that's why we call him the Angel.  We'll get the old gentleman
+this time or break every cinch strap in the outfit."
+
+There was rejoicing among the horse-hunters when they heard that it was
+indeed the Angel himself whose trail they had come upon.
+
+"He's got the finest bunch of horse flesh with him that you'll find
+anywhere on the desert," averred another.  "Old Angel won't travel with
+any scarecrows in his band.  He's proud as a peacock with a new spread
+of tail feathers."
+
+"S'pose you don't know how many there are in the band, eh, kiddie?"
+questioned Bud.
+
+"Twenty-one and a colt," answered Tad promptly.
+
+"Oho!  So--but Tom Parry told you, of course."
+
+"Tom Parry didn't," objected the guide.  "Master Tad read the trail
+himself."
+
+"Shake," glowed Bud, extending his hand to Tad.  "You're the right sort
+for this outfit.  We'll let you help point the bunch into the corral
+when we get them going.  You'll see stars before you get through with
+that job--stars that ain't down on the sky-pilot's chart."
+
+"It won't be the first time, Mr. Stevens.  I've seen enough of them to
+make a Fourth of July celebration, already."
+
+Just after breakfast, to which the camp had sat down at break of day,
+the horse-hunters began their preliminary work.  Bud directed two of
+his men to work south, two more to ride north, while he would take the
+center of the range.
+
+"What I want," he explained to the boys, "is to find where the wild
+horses are waterin' these days.  They've been around these parts for
+more than two weeks, so we know they've got a nice cold water hole
+somewhere."
+
+"What were they doing on the desert?" asked Walter.  "I thought they
+had just come across."
+
+"No; they were out for a play.  That shows they had had plenty to eat
+and drink.  Professor, I think I'll take the kiddie along with me,"
+announced Bud, much to Tad's surprise, and, judging from the expression
+of the lad's face, pleasure, as well.
+
+Professor Zepplin glanced at the guide inquiringly.  Parry nodded his
+head.
+
+"He'll be all right."
+
+"Yes, you may go, Tad.  But be careful.  Don't let him get into any
+difficulties, Mr. Stevens.  He's a venturesome lad."
+
+"Guess he's able to wiggle out of anything he gets into," grinned the
+horse-hunter.  "Come along; take a hunch on your cinch straps, a chunk
+of grub in your pocket; then we're ready to find where the Angel washes
+his face every morning and night."
+
+Tad lost no time in getting ready for the trip to trail the wild horses
+to their lair, and in a few moments the horse-hunters rode from the
+camp, followed by the envious glances of the Pony Rider Boys.
+
+"Wish I were going along," muttered Chunky ruefully, as he turned his
+back on them and gazed off across the desert.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+BUD PROMISES SOME EXCITEMENT
+
+The horse-hunter and his young companion laid their course at right
+angles to the reach of the range.
+
+The trail rose slowly to pass between low buttes, leading on under the
+great spreading Joshua trees that capped the range itself.  Off to the
+east and south of them, plainly exposed to view, lay the yellow stretch
+of the Ralston Valley that went on and on until it eventually
+terminated in Death Valley.  The dry lake beds in the desert, looked,
+with the sun shining on them, like great pearls set in the Desert Maze.
+Tad thought they were water, but Bud Stevens informed him that they
+were filled with water only after a heavy thunderstorm, or in the early
+spring.
+
+"You ought to have come down here earlier in the season," he told the
+lad.  "It's a pretty bad time to cross the desert now."
+
+"Yes, we know that.  But we are not looking for easy trips," laughed
+the lad.
+
+As they moved slowly along, the cowboy horse-hunter explained many of
+the secrets of the trail to his young companion, as well as describing
+horse-hunts in which he had taken part in the past.
+
+"But I don't understand why they have come all the way across the
+desert to get into this range?" said Tad.  "Why did they not remain on
+the other side where, I understand, there is plenty of forage?"
+
+"It's a peculiar thing, kiddie, but hosses, wild or tame are like human
+beings in some ways.  They like to get back home."
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"Wild horses always will go back to the range where they were born.
+Sometimes they run away from the range ahead of a storm; sometimes they
+are captured and taken away.  But if they ever get the chance, back
+they go to the place where they were born.  Angel was born in this
+range, and so were most of the mares and others that have come over
+with him.  When a halfbreed Cherokee came into camp and told us the
+band of horses was seen stretched out on the mesa on the other side, I
+knew they were getting ready to hike across the desert, so we prepared
+to come here."
+
+Tad was listening intently.  All this was new to him and much of it not
+entirely understandable.
+
+"Did you ever notice how animals act before a big storm?" asked Bud.
+
+"No; I can't say that I have."
+
+"Next time you see a lot of horses stretched out on the ground on their
+sides, heads close to the ground, all looking as if they were asleep,
+you'll know there's a big storm coming."
+
+"Why do they do that?"
+
+"I don't know, unless it is to rest themselves thoroughly before
+running away from the storm that they know is coming."
+
+"How do they know a storm is coming, unless they can see it?" marveled
+the boy.
+
+"Kiddie, you'll have to ask the horses.  Bud Stevens don't know--nobody
+knows.  A fellow with whiskers and wearing spectacles one of--of them
+scientific gents--told me once that it was a kind of wireless
+telegraph, that newfangled way of sending ghost messages.  Said they
+got it in the air.  Mebby they do; I don't know.  They get it.
+Sometimes you'll see the colts running up and down.  That's another
+sign of storm."
+
+"That's strange.  I never heard it before," mused the lad.
+
+"And speaking of colts, did you ever know that sometimes a band of
+horses will take a great fancy to a frisky young colt?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Yes.  They'll follow the colt for days, with their eyes big and full
+of admiration for the awkward critter.  And they'll fight for him too.
+But 'tisn't often necessary, 'cause very few horses will bother a colt.
+Ever see a hoss fight?"
+
+Tad admitted that he had not.
+
+"Ought to see one.  It's the liveliest scrimmage that you ever set eyes
+on.  Beats that one back there on the desert, when you plunked me on my
+head in a water hole.  Jimminy! but you did dump me proper," grinned
+the cowboy.
+
+"Hope you don't lay it up against me," laughed Tad.
+
+"No.  Got all over that.  I got what was coming to me--coming on the
+run.  Say, got the trail on your side there?  They seem to have
+shuffled over to the northward a bit."
+
+"Yes, I'm riding on their footprints now."
+
+"That's all right then.  Don't want to let it get away from us."
+
+"Where do you think they are heading, Mr. Stevens?"
+
+"For the mesas up the range further.  There's plenty of grazing there
+and there must be water close by.  What we want to do, to-day, is to
+locate them and find out just where they go for their water.  Then,
+when the schooner gets down to your camp, we'll haul our outfit up in
+the range and build a corral to drive them into."
+
+"Do you always make a capture?"
+
+"Us?  No.  Sometimes the leaders of the band are too smart for us.
+They beat us proper.  Why, they're sharper than a Goldfield real estate
+man, and those fellows would make you believe an alkali desert was a
+pine forest."
+
+"Look there!" interrupted Tad, pointing.
+
+"What is it, kiddie?" demanded the horse-hunter, pulling up sharply.
+
+"One of the horses, I think it must be the leader, seems to have left
+the trail here and started off at right angles."
+
+Stevens rode over to the other side of Tad, and gazed down, his
+forehead wrinkling in a frown.
+
+"Yes, that's the Angel.  Don't know what he's side-tracked himself here
+for.  He can't see far, so it was not an observation that he was about
+to take.  He's either seen or scented something.  Hold my pony while I
+take a look."
+
+The cowboy dismounted, striding rapidly away with gaze fixed on the
+trail ahead of him.  A few moments later he returned.
+
+"Find anything?" asked Tad.
+
+"The big one scented something, or thought he did."
+
+"But where did he go?"
+
+"Turned just beyond here and followed along the same way the others
+were going.  You'll find his trail joining ours after we get on a
+piece.  I'd like to know what he thought he smelled," mused Bud.
+
+"I didn't know horses could scent a person or thing like that."
+
+"What, horses?  Wild horses have got a scent that's keener than a
+coyote's."
+
+"There's the white stallion's trail again," exclaimed the lad.
+
+Bud nodded.  "Told you he'd come back."
+
+For the next hour they rode along without anything of incident
+occurring, Tad constantly adding to his store of knowledge regarding
+mountain and plain.  The lad was himself a natural plainsman and proved
+himself an apt pupil.
+
+All at once Bud pulled up his pony sharply and studied the ground.
+
+"What is it?" questioned Tad.
+
+"We've struck luck for sure.  Boy, I'll show you something that'll make
+your eyes stick out so you can hang your hat on them," cried the cowboy
+exultingly.
+
+"You--you mean we have come upon the wild horses?" asked the lad.
+
+"Yes, and more.  Come this way and I'll show you.  See this trail?"
+
+Tad nodded.
+
+"Well, it was made by another band of horses."
+
+The announcement did not strike Tad as especially significant.
+
+"They headed for the mesas, too?"
+
+"Looks that way," grinned Bud.  "And they're headed for trouble at the
+same time.  There's going to be music in the air pretty soon, kiddie,
+and you and I want to be on hand to hear the first tune."
+
+Tad gazed at him questioningly.
+
+"This second bunch of horses is led by a big black stallion known to
+the hunters as Satan.  He's up to his name too.  He's one of the most
+vicious cayuses on the open range.  Don't you see what this trail
+means?"
+
+The lad confessed that he did not.
+
+"It means that Satan is on the trail of the Angel.  When Satan and the
+Angel meet there'll be the worst scrap you ever heard of, kiddie."
+
+"Will they fight?"
+
+"Will they fight?" scoffed Bud Stevens.  "Guess you never saw two wild
+stallions mix it up."
+
+"No."
+
+"There's bad blood between Satan and the Angel and there has been for a
+long time.  The black stallion has been on the white one's trail for
+more than a year.  I don't know what it's all about, but I know that,
+if they come up with each other, there is going to be trouble.  If they
+don't look out we'll bag the whole bunch.  I wish our outfit was here.
+I suppose we ought to hustle back and get ready for the drive, but I'm
+going to see Satan and the Angel meet, if it's the last thing I ever
+do.  Come on--we'll have to ride fast."
+
+Putting spurs to their ponies, they set off at a fast pace over the
+uneven, rugged trail.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+THE BATTLE OF THE STALLIONS
+
+The trail grew hotter as they advanced.
+
+"See, Satan's running now."
+
+The pursuers increased their speed, although they could not hope to
+travel as rapidly as the black stallion and his followers.  The wild
+horses' trot had by this time become leaps, as the followers could
+plainly see from the trail that had been left behind.  Satan and his
+band were traveling in single file, their whole attention being
+centered on running down the Angel.
+
+"Do you think Satan scented the others?" asked Tad, when they struck a
+level piece of ground so that they could relax their vigilance a little.
+
+"No doubt of it at all.  But he didn't know it was just then.  He only
+knew it was a horse.  He knows now that the other bunch is ahead of
+him."
+
+"How do you know that?" queried Tad.
+
+"By the trail," replied Stevens.  "Don't you see, the Angel is going
+faster.  They are both on a run now."
+
+"Then the Angel must be afraid.  Is that it?"
+
+"Not much.  He wants to find a better place in which to fight.  This
+place is bad medicine for a horse battle.  They're all heading for the
+mesas, just as I thought first."
+
+The cowboy was leaning well forward in his saddle, eyes on the trail,
+instead of looking ahead.  Tad, on the contrary, was straining his
+eyes, hoping to catch sight of the two bands of fleeing horses; but not
+a sign of them did he see.  Bud was the first to inform him that they
+were nearing the object of their chase.
+
+"Satan's going slower.  He is coming up with the others.  Let up a
+little, and don't talk in a loud tone.  We don't want to disturb them
+nor let either of the bands get an idea they are followed.  They might
+race off to some other part of the range.  We want to catch them all
+later, if we can."
+
+Their ponies were slowed down to a trot, with Bud Stevens leading.
+
+All at once he held up his hand for a halt.  Tad pulled up shortly.
+
+"What is it?  Do you see them?" he whispered.
+
+Bud shook his head.
+
+"Not yet.  We're close to them, though.  Jump off and tether your nag.
+We've got to go on afoot.  They'll smell our ponies if we ride any
+further."
+
+Moving rapidly, the man and the boy, led their mounts in among the
+trees, where they made them fast with the stake ropes.  Then both
+started on a jog-trot along the trail.
+
+"How far do we have to go do you think?"
+
+"Don't know.  Hope it's not far or we're liable to miss the show."
+
+"I can run as fast as you can if you want to go faster."
+
+"Hark!  Hear that?" exclaimed Bud.
+
+"Yes, what was it?"
+
+"They're lining up for the battle.  That was a stallion's scream of
+defiance.  It is a challenge for battle.  There goes the other one.
+That's the Angel telling Satan to come on and fight.  Now Satan's
+answering him."
+
+It was all just so much noise to Tad Butler.  The meaning of the harsh
+sounds conveyed nothing to him, but to Bud Stevens they were full of
+meaning.
+
+"Careful, now.  We're getting near."
+
+Both men sped along as fast as their feet would carry them, but without
+making a sound that might have been heard a dozen yards away.
+
+"Hist!" warned Bud, crouching low.
+
+Grasping his companion by the arm, he crept to the right, finally
+emerging from behind a rise of ground which had shielded their progress.
+
+"Look there," he whispered.
+
+Tad looked.  Below him lay a broad, open mesa, its upper end within a
+stone's throw of where he stood.  But that was not what attracted his
+attention.  A band of horses of many colors and sizes stood arrayed on
+each side of the little plain.
+
+Advanced a few yards from the band on the right, was a magnificent
+black stallion, pawing the earth and uttering shrill challenges.  On
+the other side of the field was the Angel.  He was not pawing the
+earth.  Instead he was standing proudly, his curving neck beautifully
+arched, his pink nostrils distended and held high.
+
+"What a wonderful animal!" said Tad under his breath.  "And that black!
+I can understand why he is called Satan.  What are they going to do?"
+
+"Fight!  Don't you understand?  They're getting ready to settle their
+old score, and a merry mix-up it'll be," replied the cowboy in a
+whisper.
+
+"Yes, yes," breathed Tad, scarcely able to curb his excitement.
+
+"There they go!"
+
+With a wild scream Satan and the Angel bounded into the center of the
+field.  As they neared it each swerved to his right and dashed by,
+avoiding his opponent.
+
+"Act as if they were afraid of each other," said Tad.
+
+"They're not.  They're trying each other out--sparring for an opening
+as it were.  You'll see in a minute."
+
+The fighters returned to the charge.  They did not flinch this time.
+With a rush they came together, rearing in the air, jaws wide apart.
+Their fore-feet struck out.  Both stallions broke, wheeled and kicked
+viciously.
+
+Neither had landed a blow.
+
+Next time they came at each other walking on their hind feet.  They
+were sparring with their fore feet like fighters in the ring, their
+hoofs making such rapid thrusts that the eye could scarcely follow
+them.  Satan reached for the head of his antagonist with a quick sweep.
+The white stallion blocked the blow cleverly.
+
+[Illustration: They Were Sparring with Their Fore Feet like Fighters in
+the Ring.]
+
+Yet, in doing so, he had left an opening.  Satan took instant advantage
+of it.  The black stallion's head shot forward.  It reminded Tad of a
+serpent striking at its victim.
+
+"Ah!  He landed!" exclaimed the cowboy.
+
+A fleck of crimson on the creamy neck of the Angel showed where the
+vicious teeth of the black stallion had reached him.  Yet, no sooner
+had the wound been inflicted than the Angel whirled.  It was like a
+flash of light.
+
+A white hoof shot out catching the black on the side of the head,
+sending him staggering to his haunches.
+
+The white animal was upon him with a scream of triumph.  Just as it
+seemed that the Angel was about to run him down, the black sprang to
+his feet, leaping to one side, and as the Angel passed, the hind hoofs
+of Satan were driven into his side.
+
+The Angel uttered a cry of pain; it was returned by one of triumph from
+his antagonist.
+
+"Oh, what a pity to see two such magnificent animals seeking to kill
+each other!  Do you think one of them will be killed, Mr. Stevens?"
+
+"They may.  You can't tell.  Hope there won't be a knock-out, 'cause we
+want both of those fellows and we'll get them too.  I tell you, we're
+in luck this trip.  We'll make a haul that will be worth a few thousand
+dollars, you bet.  There they go again."
+
+Changing their method of attack, the fighters began rushing, whirling,
+kicking and so timing their blows that their hind feet met with a crash
+that might have been heard a long distance away.  The shiny coat of the
+black did not show that he had been wounded, but the watchers knew he
+had, for they had seen the teeth of the white animal buried in his side
+at least once.
+
+A vicious charge of Satan's, threw the Angel from his feet.  He struck
+the hard ground with a mighty snort, but was on his feet in an instant,
+returning to the charge, mouth open, feet pawing the air.
+
+The two men could see the eyes of the desperate antagonists fairly
+blaze, while their shrill cries thrilled Tad through and through.
+Never in his life had he gazed upon such a scene--two giants of the
+equine world engaged in mortal combat.  It was a scene calculated to
+make the blood course more rapidly through the veins of the boy, who,
+himself, possessed so much courage.  And it did, in this case, though
+as a lover of horses his heart was filled with pity for the one who was
+to lose the battle.  As yet there was no indication as to which this
+would be.  They seemed equally matched, and thus far honors had been
+about even.
+
+"Think the black can whip him?" he asked.
+
+"Don't know, kiddie.  I'll make a bet with you; take your choice."
+
+"Thank you, I don't bet," answered the lad.  "If I did, I couldn't
+bring myself to lay a wager on those two beautiful creatures that are
+trying to kill each other.  Ah!  There goes the black flat on his back!"
+
+Before Satan could rise, the hoofs of the white one had been driven
+against him with unerring aim.  Yet, the blow while it must have hurt,
+served to assist Satan to roll over.  As a matter of fact he was kicked
+over, and thus helped to spring to his feet.
+
+Each animal fastened his teeth in the flanks of the other at the same
+instant, and, when they tore themselves apart, each was limping.
+
+On each side of the field the other members of the two bands of horses,
+stood stolidly observing the conflict.  Neither side made an effort to
+participate in the battle.
+
+Here and there a colt would break away and gambol out into the field,
+only to be recalled by a sharp whinny from its mother.
+
+"It's queer they do not take a hand," marveled Tad.
+
+"No; they never do.  They look to their leader to fight their battles
+for them.  When the battle is ended you will notice something else that
+will interest you."
+
+"What?"
+
+"You'll see when the time comes.  Now watch them go at it."
+
+And they did.  It appeared as if each of the combatants was determined
+to put a quick end to the conflict.  There was no lost time now.  It
+was give and take.  Blow after blow resounded from their hoofs.  Now,
+one of the contestants would stagger and fall, only to be up and at his
+adversary, while their lithe, supple bodies flashed in the bright
+sunlight till the watchers' eyes were dizzy from following their rapid
+evolutions.
+
+"I wish the boys might see this," breathed Tad, fascinated by the sight
+in spite of himself.
+
+"So do I," grinned Bud.
+
+"Did you ever see a battle of this kind?" asked the lad.
+
+"Not like this.  I've seen stallions fight, yes, but never such a scrap
+as this.  Looks as if they'd be fighting all day.  But they won't."
+
+"Why not?  They seem as strong as when they began."
+
+"They are, but they're getting careless.  They're taking longer chances
+every round.  First thing you know, one of them will get kicked into
+the middle of next week.  Whoop!  That was a dandy!"
+
+The Angel had planted both hind hoofs fairly on the side of Satan's
+head.
+
+Satan had gone down.  But when the white stallion made a leap, with the
+intention of springing upon his prostrate victim, the black rolled to
+one side, and in a twinkling had fastened his teeth upon his
+adversary's leg.
+
+Only for a brief second did he cling there, then throwing himself out
+of the way sprang to his feet.  The two animals met with a terrific
+crash, head-on.
+
+Biting, kicking, screaming out their wild challenges of defiance the
+battle waxed hotter, faster and more furious.
+
+The mares in the herds showed signs of uneasiness.  They might have
+been observed tossing their heads and shifting almost nervously on
+their feet, but making no effort to move away or out into the field.
+
+"Are the mares getting excited?" asked Tad in wonder.
+
+"No.  They see one of the stallions is going to get his knock-out in a
+minute."
+
+"Which one?"
+
+"I don't know."
+
+"But how can they tell that, if we are unable to see either one of them
+weakening?"
+
+"More ghost telegraphy, I guess," answered Bud, not for an instant
+removing his gaze from the fascinating scene before him.  He, too, was
+becoming excited.  He could scarcely restrain himself.
+
+All at once, despite his caution, Bud Stevens uttered a whoop.
+
+"The black's got him!"
+
+"No, the Angel's got him!" shouted Tad Butler excitedly.
+
+"No, he hasn't!  It's the black, I tell you.  See!  There, he's kicked
+the Angel halfway across the mesa."
+
+Now it was the Angel's turn to do some kicking.  He did, and with
+terrific effect.  Both hind hoofs were planted in the black's abdomen.
+Not once, but again and again.  Yet the black was not thus easily
+defeated.  With the sledge-hammer blows raining all over him, he
+struggled to his feet, and, with a desperate lunge, fastened himself
+upon the neck of his adversary.
+
+Back and forth struggled the black and the white now, like a pair of
+wrestlers.
+
+"Now, who do you think's got him, hey?" laughed Bud.  "Why, the
+black'll eat his head off."
+
+"I said Angel was going to win, and I think he is," retorted Tad.  The
+white with a mighty toss of his powerful neck, threw Satan off, the
+fore feet of the Angel smiting and knocking Satan down.
+
+Then followed a series of Gatling-gun-like reports as the Angel's hind
+hoofs beat a tattoo on the head of his prostrate victim.
+
+The black was conquered.
+
+Satan had been knocked out by the Angel, in the greatest equine battle
+that human eyes ever had gazed on.
+
+"Aren't you glad I don't bet?" laughed Tad, his eyes flashing with the
+excitement of it all.
+
+"I'd been willing to lose on that fight," grunted the cowboy.
+
+"Is he killed, do you think?" asked the lad.
+
+"No; he's just dizzy after the wallops he got on the head.  You'll see
+him get up in a minute."
+
+The Angel had backed off a few paces and there he stood, head erect,
+waiting as motionless as a statue until the moment when his fallen
+adversary should rise, if at all.
+
+Slowly the black pulled himself to his feet.  His head came up.  He
+eyed the now calm white stallion half hesitatingly.
+
+The watchers fairly held their breath, for it was a dramatic moment.
+
+"They're going to fight again," muttered Tad.
+
+"He's licked!  He's got enough!" exclaimed Bud.
+
+The black turned his back upon the white stallion, and with lowered
+head, dejection and humiliation apparent in every line, every movement
+of his body, walked slowly back to his own band.
+
+The Angel followed at a distance, almost to the lines of the enemy.
+Then he paused, galloped back to the center of the field, and throwing
+up his head uttered a long, shrill scream of triumph.
+
+One by one the mares of Satan's band detached themselves from his
+ranks, and, with their colts, trotted across the field to join the
+Angel's band.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+ON A WILD-HORSE HUNT
+
+A corral, constructed partially of brush on its wing ends, and of
+canvas for the corral proper, had been erected in one of the wide
+sage-covered draws of the San Antonio range.  Across the opening of the
+corral, which resembled a pair of great tongs, the distance was fully
+half a mile.
+
+Bud Stevens had decided to place the trap for the wild horses here in
+this open space in preference to laying it in the mountains.  There was
+more room for operations in the open, he said.
+
+Then again, the wild horses, as he knew from personal observation, were
+strong and full of fight.
+
+"I guess we'll have to tire them all out before we can hope to get them
+in the corral," he told his men after they had finished their work of
+preparation.
+
+The wagon with the horse-hunters' outfit had driven in late on the
+night following the battle of the stallions, and early next morning the
+horse-hunters, accompanied by the Pony Rider Boys and their own party,
+started out to make camp in the mountains, where they were to remain
+while the hunt lasted.
+
+The battle which Tad and Bud had seen furnished a fruitful topic for
+discussion, and the two were kept busy relating the story of the fight
+until long after midnight.
+
+But, while watching the battle, Bud Stevens had not lost sight of the
+object, of his trip into the mountains.  He had calculated exactly
+where the stock had found a mountain spring, and it was from that point
+that the hunters were to start the animals on their trip to the corral.
+
+The plan of operation was laid out with as much care and attention to
+details as a general would employ in planning a battle.  The Pony Rider
+Boys were to participate in the chase.  They could scarcely wait for
+the moment to arrive when they would be given an opportunity to show
+their horsemanship.
+
+In the camp in the mountains they were told with great detail just what
+they were expected to do.
+
+"I think you had better leave Chunky at home," warned Ned.  "He'll
+stampede the whole bunch just as you are ready to drive them into the
+corral."
+
+Chunky protested loudly.
+
+"Guess I can stick on a pony as well as you can," he retorted.
+
+"I'll vouch for that," smiled Tom Parry.
+
+"He'll do," decided Bud.  "Now, you fellows are all to string out in
+single file, following me until we have circled the herd.  We should
+have them pretty well surrounded by noon.  At that time they'll be at
+the spring filling up.  When I'm ready to close in, I'll fire a shot.
+Each of you will fire in turn so that every one in line may be
+notified.  If the critters refuse to drive, then we'll have to whip
+them into a circle and tire them out.  But first, we must get them out
+on the open, no matter which way they go, then work them into the draw
+as fast as we can."
+
+The horse-hunters nodded.  They understood perfectly what they were
+expected to do.  And the boys were to be scattered among the men at
+intervals instead of traveling together.  It seemed very simple to
+them, but they were to learn that wild-horse hunting was a man's task.
+
+"Are we allowed to rope if we get the chance?" questioned Tad.
+
+"Not during the run.  Of course, if you see an animal escaping after we
+have rounded them up, and you can do so without losing any of the
+others, rope if you want to.  I reckon you'll have your hands full if
+you try it," concluded the horse-hunter.
+
+"Are you going out, Professor?" smiled the guide.
+
+"No, thank you.  I think I shall remain close to camp and collect
+geological specimens.  The boys will get into just as much trouble if I
+go with them as they would were I to remain at home.  I suppose there
+is more or less peril in these wild hunts?"
+
+"Yes, it's going some," laughed Bud.  "But I guess none of them will
+get very badly knocked out if they obey orders and don't get in the way
+of a stampede.  Those wild critters won't stop for nothing."
+
+A scout came in late with the news that the herd was less than five
+miles from where the hunters' camp was located.
+
+"That makes it all the easier.  We'll start at daylight," said Stevens.
+"The plans will work out just right.  Now you'd better all turn in and
+be ready for the hurry call in the morning."
+
+Next morning all ate breakfast before the first hot wave trembled over
+the crest of the mountains across the broad desert.  There was bustle
+and excitement in the camp.
+
+When ponies had been saddled, ropes coiled and final preparations made,
+Bud Stevens looked his outfit over carefully, nodded his head and
+mounted.
+
+"You boys don't want to do any shouting after we get out on the trail,
+you understand," he said.  "We have to work quietly until we get them
+surrounded; then you may make all the racket you want.  The more the
+better."
+
+The Pony Riders nodded their understanding of the orders, and the
+company of horsemen set out across the mountains.
+
+They made a wide detour so as not to alarm any of the stragglers who
+might not have followed the main body of horses to the watering place
+for their noon drink.  A careful examination of the trail showed that
+the Angel and his band, as well as Satan and his few faithful
+followers, were well within the circle.
+
+"We've got the whole bunch inside," exulted Bud, turning to Tad.  "Now,
+boy, do your prettiest.  We want to bag 'em all.  If we do, I'll make
+you a present of any horse in the outfit."
+
+"How about the Angel?" questioned Tad, with a twinkle in his eyes.
+
+Bud hesitated.
+
+"What Bud Stevens says goes," replied the cowboy.  "The one who catches
+the stallion on these hunts, however, usually has the right to keep him
+if he wants to.  If you want the Angel you've got to rope and take him
+after we get them rounded up."
+
+"No, I wouldn't do anything like that," laughed Tad.  "If I catch the
+Angel I'll make you a present of him."
+
+At twelve o'clock, by the watch, they had completed the circle, or
+rather three-quarters of a circle, about the band of wild horses,
+leaving an opening toward the broad draw where the hidden corral had
+been located to trap the unsuspecting wild animals.
+
+Stevens drew his gun, and, holding it above his head, fired two shots.
+
+The signal was answered, almost instantly, by two shots some distance
+to their rear.  Like the rattle of a skirmish line, guns popped in
+quick succession, the sounds growing further and further away as they
+ran down the long, slender line of horsemen to the eastward.
+
+"Close in!" commanded the leader quietly.  "Ride straight ahead; never
+mind me.  I shall move further on before I turn.  Good luck.  Don't try
+to get in the way of a stampede.  You can't stop them if they try it
+altogether."
+
+"I'll look out," smiled Tad.  Then they separated.
+
+Tad could not hear a sound, save the light footfalls of his own pony.
+The mountain ranges might have been deserted for all the disturbance
+there was about him.
+
+He had ridden on some distance when a loud snort suddenly called his
+attention to the right and ahead of him.  There stood the Angel, facing
+him angrily.
+
+Tad was so surprised at the suddenness of the meeting that he pulled
+his pony up shortly.  For a moment they stood facing each other, then
+the wild animal with a loud scream of alarm, turned and went crashing
+through the brush.  From the sound, a few seconds later, the lad knew
+that the stallion had gathered his band and that they were sweeping
+away from him at a lively pace.
+
+"Here's where I must get busy," laughed the lad, the spirit of the
+chase suddenly taking strong hold upon him.
+
+He touched his pony lightly with the spurs, drawing in on the reins.
+The little animal leaped away, Tad uttering a shrill yell, to warn any
+of the other hunters who might be within reach of his voice, that he
+had started on the trail of the wild band.
+
+He heard a similar cry far off to his right and knew that Bud Stevens
+had heard and understood.
+
+"I believe they're coming back," said the lad, realizing that the sound
+of galloping was plainer than it had been a few moments before.  "I
+wonder what I ought to do.  I'm going to try to head them off if they
+come this way," he decided.
+
+All at once he saw the wild horses first from behind a huge rocky pile.
+Uttering a series of wild yells and whoops, swinging his quirt and
+sombrero above his head, the lad rode straight at the herd, his pony
+seeming to enter into the full spirit of the fun.
+
+To Tad's surprise the leader of the herd deflected to the northward,
+running along a line almost parallel to that which the boy was
+following.  Tad pressed in the rowels of his spurs a little harder,
+uttering a chorus of shrill yells.
+
+"They mustn't get through," he fairly groaned.  "They shan't get
+through!  No, not if I ride my head off!"
+
+Suddenly a volley of shots sounded some distance ahead of him, followed
+by a series of yells as if the mountains were alive with savage
+redskins.
+
+It was Bud Stevens.  The wild herd had come upon him just as they were
+about to turn northward and dive into the fastnesses of the mountains.
+Observing him they turned slightly to the west and continued on their
+mad course.
+
+"Good boy!" Bud shrieked.  "Draw up on 'em!  Draw up on 'em!"
+
+Tad did.  It was a race, but a most perilous one.  To the boy it seemed
+as if the feet of his pony were off the ground most of the time, his
+run having merged into a series of long, curving leaps as it reached
+from rock to rock.
+
+Down a steep slope suddenly plunged the herd.  Tad saw the flying pony
+of Bud Stevens directly abreast of them.  The lad, apparently feeling
+no fear, brought his quirt down sharply on the flanks of his mount.
+The pony hesitated, rose and took a flying leap fully ten feet down the
+mountain side before its feet braced sharply and thus saved pony and
+rider from plunging on over.
+
+Now Tad was yelling at the top of his voice, as that seemed the proper
+thing to do under the circumstances.
+
+The wild band was heading for the open, just as Bud Stevens had
+planned.  But the fleeing horses were seeking to get out on the open
+plain where they might soon outdistance their pursuers.
+
+Tad and his pony went down that rugged mountain side as if the pony
+were a mountain goat.  The boy never had experienced such a thrilling
+ride, and the jolts he got made his head dizzy.
+
+"M-m-my, this is going some!" he gasped.
+
+Tad was shouting for pure joy now.  When his mount landed on all fours
+among the foothills he was not more than two minutes behind Bud Stevens
+himself.
+
+"Great!  Great!" floated back the voice of the horse-hunter, who,
+turning in his saddle, had observed Tad's leaping, flying descent of
+the mountain.
+
+Tad admitted to himself that this was riding, and he compared it with
+the day he first rode his own pony up the main street in Chillicothe,
+Missouri.  That ride, at the time, seemed a very exciting one.  Since
+then he had acquired more skill, else he never would have been able to
+shoot down the rugged mountain at almost express train speed.
+
+They were now out on the desert prairie.  Bud was trying to point the
+leaders in to send them to the southward.  Now that Tad was on level
+ground he was able to put on more speed.  Very slowly, indeed, his pony
+straightening out to its full length, he drew up on the racing herd.
+
+"Guess I'd better not yell any more till I get abreast of them," he
+decided, which was good judgment, as Bud Stevens said to him afterwards.
+
+"Lay back a little!" shouted Bud when the boy got too close.  "They're
+liable to dodge behind me at any second and break through our line."
+
+Tad slackened his speed, at which the wild band drew away from him
+almost as if he were standing still.  Then, he put spurs to his mount
+again, and drew up abreast of the trailers.
+
+At the head of the line the horse-hunter was fighting with the leaders,
+trying to turn them toward the place where the great corral was hidden.
+
+Suddenly that which Bud Stevens had feared occurred.  The white
+stallion's forefeet plowed the earth.  Cowboy and pony shot by him, and
+the wily stallion slipped behind them.  Followed by his band, the Angel
+headed off across the desert in the very direction that the hunters did
+not want him to go.
+
+"Nail him!" bellowed Bud.
+
+Tad needed no further command.  Already his keen eyes had noted the
+move.  Putting spurs to his pony he raced to the white stallion's side,
+leaving Bud far to their rear.
+
+The Angel sought, in every way in its power, to shake off the boy who
+so persistently hung at its side.  All at once the stallion reached
+over, fastening its teeth in the neck of Tad Butler's pony.  Tad,
+however had been quick enough to foresee the move and had jerked his
+little mount to one side.  Yet, he had not done so quickly enough to
+save the broncho from a slight flesh wound.
+
+Slackening its speed, the Angel then made a vicious lunge at the lad's
+left leg, biting right through the heavy chaps with which his legs were
+protected.
+
+The boy swung his quirt, bringing it down again and again on the
+stallion's pink and white nose, until the beast, unable to stand the
+punishment longer, uttered a snort, changing its course more to the
+southward.
+
+"I've turned him!  I've turned him!" shouted Tad.
+
+He had accomplished what the leader of the horse-hunters had been
+unable to do.
+
+Bud Stevens, far to the rear on the desert, tossed his sombrero in the
+air, uttering a long, far-reaching yell of approval.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+ROPED BY ROUGH RIDERS
+
+Tad replied with an exulting yell.
+
+The band of wild horses was headed toward the corral.  Yet they refused
+to enter, just when they were upon the point of heading in between the
+hidden wings.  Some instinct, it seemed, warned them to beware.  The
+line straightened out, and a few minutes later the animals began racing
+in a circle four miles wide.
+
+"I'm afraid my pony never'll be able to stand this grilling.  But we'll
+keep going as long as we've got a leg left to stand on," laughed the
+plucky lad.
+
+"Drop out and let me take a round with them.  We've got to tire them
+out," shouted Bud, putting spurs to his pony and dashing up beside Tad.
+
+The lad regretfully pulled his mount down to a walk, then rode out on
+the desert some distance, so as to be out of the way when the circle
+once more came his way.
+
+"Guess it's just as well," he muttered.  "The pony couldn't have stood
+up much longer.  My, those wild animals can travel!"
+
+A heavy coating of gray dust covered both boy and horse, except where
+here and there the gray was furrowed with streaks of perspiration.  Tad
+gave his mount the reins, and sat idly watching the cloud of dust
+rolling over the desert, showing where Bud Stevens was driving the
+wild-horse band in an effort to tire them, so that they might be easily
+headed into the great corral.
+
+They soon swept by Tad, and on out over white alkali desert once more.
+
+On the next round Bud motioned to Tad to take up his end of the relay.
+
+"Give it to 'em.  Drive 'em till they can't stand up!" bellowed Bud.
+
+But the lad scarcely heard the horse-hunter's voice.  Already he had
+been swallowed up in the great yellow cloud and was riding hard by the
+white stallion.
+
+Discovering that he had another rider beside him, the Angel made a
+desperate effort to run the lad and his pony down that he might break
+the line and head off to the northwest.  Tad beat him over the nose
+with his quirt again, and the stallion promptly changed its mind, for
+the pink nose was still tender from the drubbing Tad had given it a
+short time before.
+
+"The men are lining up for a drive," warned Stevens when the herd
+thundered by him again.  "I'll keep behind you.  We're going to try to
+drive them in this time.  They're weakening fast."
+
+"You want me to hold the leader?" asked the boy.
+
+"Yes.  Keep him up.  Don't give him a second's leeway.  The rest will
+follow him; don't worry about them."
+
+"Where are the other fellows?"
+
+"Over to the east.  They're hiding until the herd gets close enough;
+then they'll appear, raising a big noise.  That's the time you and I
+will have our hands full."
+
+"Strikes me our hands have been pretty full," answered the lad, his
+face wrinkling into a forced grin.
+
+Bud Stevens slackened the speed of his pony, dropping back and
+disappearing in the dust cloud.
+
+"After all, I guess the other fellows will have the hardest work,"
+mused the lad.  "They've got to stop the rush while all I have to do is
+to keep on going, following that big, white stallion.  I wish I could
+rope him, but I guess he would have the broncho and myself on our backs
+in no time."
+
+Tad turned his attention to the work in hand.  He did not know just
+where the other horse-hunters were secreted, but his eyes were fixed on
+a low-lying butte some distance to the eastward.  He saw no other place
+from which they could carry out the manoeuvre successfully.
+
+Tad grew a bit anxious as the wild horses curved more and more to the
+eastward.  In a few moments they would be too far to the left to permit
+of heading them toward the hidden corral.
+
+"I guess they must be going to let us drive them around the circle once
+more," he decided, "No!  There they come!"
+
+With a yell, followed by a rattling fire of revolver shots, a dozen
+ponies shot from behind the low-lying butte.  The horse-hunters hurled
+their bronchos right against the wall of fleeing animals.
+
+Volley after volley was fired into the ground right under the very feet
+of the wild horses.  Here and there a rider was unseated in a sudden
+collision in the dust cloud with a charging wild horse.
+
+"They've turned them!" bellowed Bud Stevens.
+
+The Pony Rider Boy now began to realize the truth of this, for the
+Angel came bounding toward him, crowding right up against the side of
+Tad's pony.  Tad was using foot and quirt, yelling like a wild Indian
+to frighten the big, white stallion into keeping to the left.
+
+So successful were his efforts that the animal did give way a little.
+
+"I've headed him!" shouted the lad in wild glee.  Never had he had such
+an exciting day as this one was proving itself to be.  He gave no
+thought to the danger of the chase.  And now that he heard and
+recognized the shouts of his companions he was spurred to even greater
+efforts than before.  Why this post of honor had been given to him he
+did not know.  But Bud Stevens was not far behind.  Bud was ready to
+stop the stampede that he momentarily expected, but which did not come.
+
+"Give way a little!" came the command.
+
+Tad recognized that he had, in his enthusiasm, been crowding the white
+stallion a bit too much.  He drew off a little, not, however,
+decreasing his speed.
+
+Already the band of wild horses had entered the wide-spreading wings of
+the corral, but because of the dust that enveloped him, Tad was unaware
+of this.  He continued at his same terrific pace, with the tough little
+broncho rising and falling under him as he fairly flew over the uneven
+ground.
+
+The horse-hunters had fallen into a triangle formation with the apex to
+the rear.  They were driving the wild horses before them, using their
+guns in what appeared to be a most reckless fashion, shouting as if the
+whole band had gone suddenly mad.
+
+On down between the brush barriers, that were now apparently rising out
+of the ground, sped the frightened band of wild horses.  The white
+stallion began to understand that they were trapped.
+
+Angel whirled suddenly and made a desperate effort to take the back
+trail.  Tad and his pony dashing down the slight incline like a
+projectile, hit the stallion broadside.  The collision was so sudden
+that the lad had a narrow escape from being hurled over the head of his
+own pony.  It was only the convulsive grip of legs to the broncho's
+side that saved him from a bad spill.
+
+With quick instinct he brought his quirt down on the broad back of the
+Angel.  Smarting under the stinging blow and the surprise of the
+collision the white stallion whirled about again, heading right into
+the yawning corral.
+
+The lad was now in the very midst of the crowding, fighting animals.
+He was battling every whit as desperately as were they.  Bud Stevens
+had fallen back.  He knew Tad was somewhere ahead in the mix-up, but he
+was powerless to get to him at that moment, nor could his voice reach
+the lad.
+
+It was then that the boy realized where he was.
+
+"I'm in the corral!" he cried, discovering that he was hemmed in by the
+canvas walls of the main enclosure itself.  "And I guess I'm in a
+mix-up that will be hard to get out of."
+
+The wild horses were charging about, screaming with anger and fear,
+rearing, biting, kicking, bowling each other over in their desperate
+efforts to escape.  On every side, they found themselves met by the
+canvas walls, which none thus far had had the courage to assail.
+
+"There's the black stallion--there's Satan," cried Tad in surprise.  "I
+didn't know he was here."
+
+The black's eyes were gleaming with anger.  His lost courage was slowly
+returning to him.  Satan was now ready to give battle to man or beast.
+All at once he dashed straight at the canvas wall, rose to it and
+cleared it in a long, curving leap, his rear feet ripping the cloth
+down a short distance as the hoofs caught it.
+
+The keen eyes of the white stallion were upon him.  In another instant
+his glistening body had flashed over the enclosing walls.
+
+"Oh, that's too bad!" groaned Tad.
+
+At that moment half a dozen horsemen appeared in the enclosure; as if
+by magic they threw themselves across the opening made by the two
+stallions, and thus made an impassable barrier.  Tad had seem them
+coming, and divined their purpose.  A daring plan suddenly flashed into
+his mind.
+
+With a shrill yell, he dug in the rowels of his spurs.  The broncho,
+understanding what was wanted of him, rose to the canvas well, clearing
+it without so much as touching it with his hoofs.
+
+But while this was going on another scene was being enacted just
+outside the barrier.  A few horse-hunters had been sent around there to
+head off just such an attempt at escape as had been made.  With them
+was Stacy Brown.  He was sitting on his pony, rope in hand when Satan
+cleared the wall.
+
+He saw the dark body of the stallion plunge over.  Instinctively the
+fat boy rose in his stirrups.  His lariat whirled twice over his head,
+then shot out.
+
+It sped true to the mark, catching Satan by the left hind foot just as
+he was finishing his leap.
+
+"Yeow!" yelled Chunky.
+
+The black stallion ploughed the ground with his nose, as the boy took a
+quick hitch of the rope about his saddle pommel.
+
+That was where Chunky came to grief once more.  His pony's feet were
+jerked out from under it by the mighty lurch of Satan when he went
+down.  Stacy Brown and his broncho were thrown flat on the ground in a
+twinkling.  The lad's right leg was pinned under the pony, but the boy,
+with great presence of mind, held the rope fast to the pommel.
+
+Ropes flew from all directions, now that the stallion was down.  In a
+moment more they had Satan entangled in a maze of them.  The
+horse-hunters were shouting and yelling in triumph at the fat boy's
+splendid capture.  So busily engaged were they in subduing the black
+that, for the moment, they lost sight of the fact that the Angel,
+followed by Tad Butler on his broncho, had cleared the barrier too.
+
+Nor did Tad give heed to them.
+
+With rope unslung he was stretching through the foothills at a
+breakneck pace, on the trail of the Angel.
+
+"There goes the Angel, with the kid after him!" bellowed a cowboy.
+
+Three men leaped into their saddles and were off like a shot.
+
+Tad Butler slowly, but surely, drew up on the racing stallion.  The
+pursuers saw him unsling his rope, holding the coil easily at his side.
+
+"He's going to cast," cried the cowboys in amazement that the slender
+lad would undertake alone to capture the powerful animal.
+
+"He'll be dragged to death!" warned one.
+
+"Don't try it, kiddie!" shouted another at the top of his voice.
+
+A chorus of warning yells were hurled after the intrepid Tad, to all of
+which he gave no heed.  His eyes were fixed on the flashing body of the
+white stallion ahead of him, every nerve tense for the shock that would
+come a moment later.
+
+All at once the pursuers saw Tad's right arm describe the familiar
+circle in the air.  Then his lariat squirmed out.  The Angel, running
+ahead of the boy could not see the rope in time to dodge it.  The loop
+of the lariat dropped neatly over his head and suddenly drew taut.
+
+The proud stallion which for years had defied the skill of the
+wild-horse hunters, went down to an inglorious defeat.  But he was up
+like a flash.  Then began a battle between the slender Pony Rider Boy
+and wild stallion that is talked of among the wild-horse hunters of the
+desert to this day.
+
+Three times had Tad thrown the Angel before the others caught up with
+him, the lad's arms being well-nigh pulled from his body in the
+terrific lunges of the fighting Angel.
+
+The ropes of the cowboys reached out for the maddened animal the
+instant they were within reach.
+
+Such a shout went up as had probably never been heard on the range
+before when finally they had the white fighter securely roped down.
+
+The Pony Rider Boys had distinguished themselves this day.
+
+Tricing up one of the stallion's forward legs, so that he hobbled along
+like a lame dog, the hunters started back to the corral, shouting,
+singing and firing their revolvers, with Tad Butler proudly sitting his
+broncho at the head of the procession.
+
+Not an animal had escaped from the other hunters.  It had been a
+magnificent round-up.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+WINNING THEIR REWARD
+
+The horse-hunters had bound the black and left him, while they entered
+the corral to assist in roping the rest of the herd that were dashing
+wildly about.  Every time a rope swung above a broad-brimmed sombrero,
+and shot out, a wild horse came down.
+
+"I fell in, but I got him," greeted Chunky Brown, triumphantly, as Tad
+Butler rode up to him.
+
+Tad laughed heartily when he saw his companion, Stacy Brown, proudly
+sitting on the head of the angry, snorting black stallion.
+
+"You did, indeed, Chunky.  How did you ever do it?"
+
+"Just like any other experienced man would," replied the fat boy, in an
+important tone.  "We got them both, didn't we, Tad!"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And we'll keep 'em, eh!"
+
+"Oh, no, Chunky.  We couldn't do that.  These horses belong to the
+hunters.  They spend a great deal of money in preparing to capture
+them.  It would not be right for us to expect to keep these two.  We've
+been well paid for our labor in the fun we have had.  Don't you think
+so?"
+
+"Well, yes," decided Stacy a little ruefully.
+
+"Let's see if we can help them," concluded Tad, riding up to the edge
+of the corral.
+
+"Orders?" he called, as soon as he could attract Bud Stevens' attention.
+
+"Yes; you might ride around to the entrance and come in.  You can help
+us rope and hobble the stock if you want to."
+
+Tad did as directed.  There was no sport of the range that he took a
+keener enjoyment in than he did in roping, and by this time there were
+few men who could handle a rope more skillfully than he.
+
+Ned and Walter were assisting in guarding the narrow entrance to the
+canvas corral when Tad finally rode through, entering the enclosure,
+where the excited animals were charging back and forth and round and
+round.
+
+Bud was sitting on his pony in the center of the milling animals,
+directing the operations.  First the hunters would rope and throw an
+animal; then they would bind up one of the front legs at the elbow,
+after which the horse was released.  When the animals had staggered
+about the enclosure a few times trying to throw off the leg-binders,
+they were quite willing to stand still and nurse their anger.
+
+"Sail in, boy!" called Bud.
+
+Tad picked out a little bay that was kicking and squealing, dodging
+every lariat that was thrown at it.  His first shot missed.  The lad
+coiled his rope deliberately.
+
+"I'll see that you don't dodge me this time, Mr. Bay," Tad muttered,
+and began slowly following the animal about the ring.  The instant the
+bay's head was turned away from him Tad let go the rope, and the next
+second the stubborn animal lay on its side, another cowboy having made
+a successful cast over its kicking hind legs the moment it struck the
+ground.
+
+Tad released his rope, then started for another cast.  So he went on
+from one to another, and with as much coolness as if he had been roping
+wild horses all his life.
+
+After half an hour's work young Butler saw Bud motioning to him.  Tad
+rode up.  The boy was bare-headed, having lost his sombrero somewhere
+in the enclosure, and not having thought to look for it, even if he had
+realized its loss.
+
+"Take a rest," directed the horseman.
+
+"I'm not tired."
+
+"Yes, you are, but you don't know it.  First thing you know, you'll
+tumble off your pony with a bad case of heat knock-out.  Your face is
+as red as a lobster.  Too bad the stallions got away," added Bud, who
+had been so thoroughly occupied in the corral that he had given no heed
+to what had been taking place outside.
+
+"Lost the stallions?" questioned Tad, elevating his eyebrows.
+
+"Yes, Satan and the Angel."
+
+"Why, Mr. Stevens, we didn't lose them."
+
+"I know, we got them in the corral all right, but that isn't getting
+them.  They always manage to give us the slip somehow."
+
+Tad's eyes danced.
+
+"Then you've got a surprise coming to you, Mr. Stevens.  Both stallions
+are lying outside the corral at this minute, tied up so tightly that
+they won't get away again."
+
+"What!  You're joking."
+
+"No, I'm not.  I mean it," laughed the lad in high glee.
+
+Bud bent a steady look upon the boy.  He saw that Tad was speaking the
+truth.
+
+"How did it happen, kiddie?"
+
+"Chunky roped the black by one of its hind feet just as the animal was
+taking the jump.  Chunky got a bad fall, but he held fast to the black
+till the others could get their ropes on it."
+
+"Hurray!" shouted Bud, carried away by his enthusiasm.  "But what about
+the Angel, eh?  Get him too, did you say?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"How?"
+
+"I jumped the fence after him, and ran a race with him out into the
+foothills, where I managed to get my lariat over his head and pulled
+him down.  We had quite a scrimmage, but I should have lost him if I
+hadn't had help.  The boys came to my rescue just in time."
+
+"Huh!" grunted the cowboy, observing his companion with twinkling eyes.
+"You've got anything roped and hobbled that I ever saw."
+
+That was Bud's only comment at the moment, but it carried with it a
+world of praise, causing Tad to blush.
+
+All the rest of the afternoon was devoted to securing the animals that
+they had captured.  Not a horse had escaped.  Shortly after sunset the
+task was completed and the horse-hunters gave utterance to their
+feelings in a series of triumphant yells.
+
+In the meantime three of the men had been sent back to bring over the
+camp outfit, which, owing to the fact that it had to follow a
+round-about trail, did not get in until some time after dark.  Ned and
+Walter had accompanied the men back to camp to assist in packing their
+own outfit, Tad and Stacy remaining to keep watch over the prizes that
+they had captured.
+
+Dinner that night, though a late one, was an occasion of boisterous
+good-fellowship, the two happy Pony Rider Boys coming in for much
+good-natured raillery.
+
+"Don't want to join us, do you, kiddie?" asked Bud quizzically.
+
+"I'd like to, of course.  But it is not possible," answered Tad.
+
+"We'll be off in the morning with our stock, you know.  Better come
+along.  You'll dry up and blow away down on the desert.  It's had
+medicine where you're headed for."
+
+"We're used to taking our medicine," laughed Tom Parry.  "You probably
+have noticed as much in the short time you've known our bunch."
+
+"You bet I have," laughed Bud.  "And you take it in big doses, too."
+
+"Allopathic doses," interjected the Professor.
+
+"Don't know what they might be," answered Bud.  "Sounds as though it
+might be something hard to swallow, though."
+
+This bit of pleasantry caused a general laugh.  The fun continued until
+late in the evening.  Next morning the camp was astir at an early hour.
+
+The captured horses were found to be considerably subdued after being
+roped all night.  Bud's first work in the morning, after breakfast, was
+to take the two stallions in hand.  They were freed of their bonds, and
+after a battle during which nearly every member of the party had been
+more or less mauled by the spirited beasts, the horse hunters succeeded
+in saddling and bridling Satan and the Angel.
+
+Bud Stevens rode them about in turn, to the delight of the Pony Rider
+Boys who had never seen such bucking.
+
+"Let me ride now," begged Stacy, after Stevens had to some extent
+subdued Satan.
+
+The horseman permitted the lad to take to the saddle, but no sooner had
+Chunky done so, than Satan hurled him clear over the corral.  Chunky,
+nothing daunted, came back smiling and tried it again, this time with
+entire success.  Satan did not again succeed in unseating him.
+
+Tad mastered the Angel without being thrown, and amid the cheers of the
+cowboys, who shouted their approval of his horsemanship.
+
+All was now in readiness for the start of the cowboy band and their
+great herd of horses.  Stevens had directed his men to take the two
+stallions outside the corral and stake them down securely.  Then the
+men began driving the rest of the captured stock from the canvas
+prison.  At first the animals evinced an inclination to run away.  But
+with one leg in a sling this was not an easy task, and the horsemen
+rounded up the bunch with little difficulty.
+
+"Here, here!" cried Tad.  "You're forgetting the stallions, Mr.
+Stevens.  You've left them staked down out back of the corral."
+
+"Have I?" grinned Bud.  "What did you want me to do with them?"
+
+"Take them with you, of course," answered Tad, as yet failing to
+understand the horse-hunter's plan.
+
+"Don't you want them, kiddie?"
+
+"Want them--want them?" stammered Tad.
+
+"Yes.  They're yours, yours and the fat boy's."
+
+"Oh, no, no, Mr. Stevens!  I couldn't think of such a thing."
+
+"Master Tad is right," approved the Professor.  "We have not the least
+claim in the world on those animals.  We----"
+
+"Say, Professor, who's running this side show?" demanded Bud.
+
+"Why--why, of course it's your hunt, but----"
+
+"All right then, seeing as it's my outfit, I've decided that I don't
+want the stallions.  Look here!  We'd have lost part of that bunch, at
+least, if it hadn't been for your kids.  Master Tad alone saved the
+herd from scattering all over the Ralston Desert.  No, sir, I'm getting
+off cheaply.  The stallions belong to the boys, and that's all there is
+to be said.  S'long everybody.  Come up to Eureka on your way out, and
+if I don't cut the town wide open for you, my name ain't Bud Stevens."
+
+With a wave of his sombrero, Bud put spurs to his mount and galloped
+away to join his companions, who had started the herd on its way to
+Eureka, where the animals were to be shipped East.
+
+Tad and Stacy were too full of surprise to express their feelings.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+VISITED BY A HALO
+
+The Pony Rider Boys turned again to the Desert Maze.  A week had
+elapsed since Bud Stevens and his party had left them.  One evening,
+after a hard day in the saddle, the guide was sitting thoughtfully in
+his tent, when Professor Zepplin entered.
+
+"Sit down?" asked the guide.
+
+"For a moment only," answered the Professor.
+
+"Weather's fine to-night."
+
+"Yes, even though we have no water to speak of.  Do you consider our
+situation at all serious, Mr. Parry?"
+
+"Same old story, Professor.  Sage brush and alkali.  Tanks full one
+day, dry the next.  There's no accounting for the desert.  Every time I
+get out of the Desert Maze, as somebody has called it, I chalk down a
+mark on the wall."
+
+"I am beginning to understand that it does hold perils of its own,"
+answered Professor Zepplin, thoughtfully.
+
+"Traveling over the desert is no picnic--that's a fact.  Got to take it
+as it comes, though.  If we go dry one day, most likely we fill up the
+next, or the day after that.  Don't pay to get down in the mouth and
+fret."
+
+"Yes, I understand all that.  But I don't wish to take any great
+chances on account of the boys."
+
+"The boys?" Tom Parry laughed.  "Don't you worry about them.  Those
+boys would thrive where a coyote would die at sight of his own eternal
+starvation shadow."
+
+The Professor shook his head doubtfully.
+
+"Turn 'em loose on the desert and they'd swim ashore somehow.
+Especially young Butler.  He's quiet--he doesn't say much, but when he
+gets busy there's something doing.  For sheer pluck he's got it over
+anything I ever saw--like a circus tent.  Well, don't lose any sleep
+worrying about water.  We'll catch a drop or two of dew out of a cactus
+plant some of these nights.  See you in the morning.  Good night,"
+concluded the guide, rising and knocking the ashes from his pipe on his
+boot heel.
+
+They had been working slowly toward the Death Valley region, and water
+was becoming more and more scarce as they proceeded.  Indeed, the
+problem of where to find sufficient water for their needs had become a
+serious one.  For the last three days all the water holes that the
+guide had depended upon to replenish their supply had failed them.
+What lay before them none knew.
+
+When the camp awakened, late the next morning, the guide was nowhere to
+be seen.  His pony likewise had disappeared.  But they did not trouble
+themselves over Parry's absence, knowing that he had not left them
+without good reason and with many a sharp joke at each other's expense
+proceeded to get the breakfast ready.  They had just sat down to the
+table when Tom Parry came riding in, covered with dust.
+
+"Morning, boys.  Fine day," he greeted, with his usual inscrutable
+smile, which might indicate either good or bad tidings.
+
+"Prospecting?" questioned Tad.
+
+"Taking my morning constitutional.  Going to be hot enough to singe the
+pin feathers off a bald-headed sage hen to-day," he informed them,
+slipping from his saddle.  After beating a cloud of alkali dust from
+his clothes he joined the party at the breakfast table.
+
+"Find any?" asked Tad, eyeing him inquiringly, for Tad had an idea as
+to the object of the guide's early morning ride.
+
+"Nary," was the comprehensive reply.  "Have to take a dry shampoo
+to-day, I reckon."
+
+"I suppose there is no water in sight yet?" asked the Professor, he not
+having caught the meaning of the brief dialogue between Tad and Tom
+Parry.
+
+"No, sir.  Not yet.  We'll be moving as soon as possible after
+breakfast.  Better use sparingly what little water you have left in
+your canteens.  You may need it before we strike another water hole,"
+he advised.
+
+As usual, however, the spirits of the Pony Rider Boys were in no way
+affected by the shortage of water.  Time enough to worry when their
+canteens were dry.  These days, Tad and Stacy were occupying all their
+spare time in working with the two stallions they had captured.  The
+Angel, under Tad's kind but determined training, was advancing rapidly
+and already had been taught to do a few simple tricks.  Stacy, on his
+part, was not doing quite so well with Satan.  The latter, like his
+namesake, was inclined to be vicious, biting and kicking whenever the
+evil spirit moved.
+
+Ahead, on all sides of them as the sun rose that morning, lay wide
+stretches of gray, dusty soil, blotches of alkali alternating with huge
+patches of scattering sage brush, with no living thing in sight.
+
+Overhead burned the blue of a cloudless sky; about them the suffocating
+atmosphere of the alkali desert.
+
+It was not a cheerful vista that spread out before the lads.  The
+ponies, suffering for want of water, took up the day's journey with
+evident reluctance.  With heads hanging low they dragged themselves
+along wearily, half in protest, now and then evincing a sudden desire
+to turn about and head for the mountains.
+
+"What ails these bronchos?" grumbled Ned Rector.
+
+"Guess they're afraid of heat prostration," replied Chunky.  "Don't
+blame them.  I'm half baked myself."
+
+"Glad you know what ails you," laughed Ned.  "You ought not to feel bad
+about that, seeing it's your natural condition."
+
+As they plodded on the guide's eyes were roaming over the plain in
+search of telltale marks that would reveal the presence of that of
+which they were in most urgent need--water.  The landscape, by this
+time, had become a white glare, and the blue flannel shirts of the Pony
+Riders had changed to a dirty gray as if they had been sprinkled with a
+cloud of fine powder.
+
+Their hair, too, was tinged, below the rims of their sombreros, with
+the same grayish substance, while their faces were streaked where the
+perspiration had trickled down, giving them a most grotesque appearance.
+
+"How do you like it, Chunky?" grinned Ned.
+
+"Oh, I've seen worse in Chillicothe," answered the fat boy airily.
+"The dust in Main Street is worse because it's dirtier."
+
+"Judging from the appearance of your face at this minute, I'm obliged
+to differ with you," interjected the Professor, his own grim,
+dust-stained countenance wrinkling into a half smile.  "Do we take a
+rest at midday, guide?"
+
+Parry shook his head.
+
+"Think we'd better keep going.  Only be worse off if we stop now.
+Hungry, any of you?"
+
+Stacy made a wry face and felt of his stomach, which action brought a
+laugh from the others.
+
+Just then Stacy stiffened, then uttered a loud sneeze that shook him to
+his very foundations, causing Satan to jump so suddenly that he nearly
+unseated his rider.
+
+"Whew!  Thought my head had blown off.  Guess we're all getting the
+grippe," he grinned, as the others began sneezing.
+
+"Alkali," answered Parry.  "You'll like that and the sage brush taste
+in your mouth more and more as you get to know them better."
+
+"Excuse me," objected Ned.  "I prefer talcum powder for mine, if I've
+got to sneeze myself to death on something.  What time is it?"
+
+"Dinner time," answered Stacy promptly.  "I'll take ice cream."
+
+"Dry toast will be more in your line, I'm thinking," suggested Ned.
+
+"Or a sandwich," added Walter humorously.
+
+"Hurrah, fellows!  Walt Perkins has cracked a joke at last!" shouted
+Ned.
+
+"Yes, it was cracked all right," muttered Chunky maliciously.
+
+"Put him out!  Put 'em both out!" cried Ned and Tad, while Tom Parry's
+stolid face relaxed into a broad smile.
+
+"It appears to me that you young gentlemen are very humorous to-day,"
+laughed the Professor.
+
+"It's dry humor, Professor," retorted Ned.
+
+Tad unslung his lariat.
+
+"I'll rope the next boy who dares say anything like that again," he
+threatened.  "See, even the burros are ashamed.  They're hanging their
+heads, they're so humiliated."
+
+"I don't blame them.  Mine's swimming from the heat," rejoined the
+guide.
+
+"Say, what's that?" demanded Chunky, pointing ahead of him, with a
+half-scared expression on his face.
+
+"I don't see anything," answered the other lads.
+
+"Chunky's 'seeing things,'" suggested Ned.
+
+The fat boy was pointing to a bright circle of light that hung over the
+desert some five feet from the ground, directly ahead of him.  The
+peculiar thing about it appeared to be that the circle of light kept
+continually moving ahead of him, and at times he caught the colors of
+the rainbow in it.
+
+Stacy looked intently, but the bright light hurt his eyes and he was
+forced to lower his eyelids a little.  This made the circle seem
+brighter than before.
+
+Now Professor Zepplin had discovered the peculiar thing.
+
+"What is that--what does it mean, guide?" asked the scientist.
+
+"That--that ring of light?" asked Parry.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"That is a halo, sir."
+
+"A halo?" chorused the boys.
+
+"Must be Chunky's then," suggested Walter.
+
+"I agree with you," added Ned.  "But I don't see what right he has to a
+halo."
+
+"That particular halo is a very common thing in the Desert Maze," Tom
+Parry informed them.  "It is caused by heat refraction, or something of
+the sort----"
+
+"Yes, yes.  Oh, yes, I understand," nodded the Professor.  "I recall
+having heard of something of the kind in hot countries, and----"
+
+"Is this a hot country?" asked Stacy innocently.
+
+"No, you ninny; this is a section of Greenland that's been dropped down
+here by an earthquake or something," laughed Walter.
+
+"You're mistaken.  It was washed down by the flood," corrected Ned.
+
+All this helped to pass away the hours as well as to make the boys
+forget their troubles for the time being.  Perhaps the lads did not
+fully realize the extent of their predicament.  Not so the guide,
+however.  He knew that they must find water soon.  Not many hours would
+pass before the stock, unable to stand the strain longer, would give
+out, leaving the party in a serious plight.  They would then be without
+water, and without horses to take them to water.  The wild stallions,
+however, were accustomed to going without drink for long periods at a
+time, so that they were doing much better than the rest of the stock.
+
+Tom Parry reasoned that they would be able to go through that day and
+part of the next without fresh supply, and that no serious consequences
+would result from it.  Beyond that, he did not attempt to forecast what
+the result would be.
+
+Late that afternoon, without having informed his charges, Parry varied
+his course, turning more to the west of south, eventually picking up a
+copper colored butte that rose out of the desert.  Reaching it at last,
+Parry dismounted, and, bidding the others wait for him, he climbed up
+the rocky sides of the miniature mountain, quirt in hand.
+
+They watched him until he had disappeared around the opposite side of
+the butte.  When they caught sight of him again Tom had descended to
+the desert, and was approaching them along the base of the mountain.
+
+"Anything encouraging?" called the Professor.
+
+Parry shook his head.
+
+"Why can't we all go up there and get a breath of fresh air?  There
+must be some breeze on the top of the mountain," suggested Ned.
+
+"No, I couldn't think of it," replied the guide firmly.
+
+"Why not, please?" asked Walter.
+
+"Because you might not come back," replied the guide, with a grim
+compression of the lips.
+
+Later, upon being pressed by Tad for his reasons, he confided to the
+lad that there were snakes on the butte.  He said he did not care to
+tell that to the boys, adding that "what they don't know won't hurt
+them."
+
+Camp was made at dusk, some five miles further on, much to the relief
+of man and beast, for it had been the most trying day they had
+experienced.
+
+The boys threw off their sombreros, shaking the dust from their heads.
+They then removed their clothes, giving them a thorough beating.  After
+a brisk rub down with dry bath towels, the lads announced themselves as
+ready for supper.
+
+"Our dry spread," Ned Rector called it, for not a drop of anything did
+they have to drink.  They had drained their canteens of what little
+remained in them.
+
+"It isn't good for one to drink with meals anyway," comforted Stacy.
+"That's what my uncle's doctor says," he explained, munching his bacon,
+forcing it down his parched throat.
+
+Chunky was a philosopher, but he was unaware of the fact.
+
+"That is right.  Not until an hour and a half after meals," agreed the
+Professor.  "I imagine we shall have to wait longer than that this
+time."
+
+"Never mind; we'll pull through somehow.  We always have," encouraged
+Tad cheerfully.  "We've gotten out of some pretty tight places, and I
+am sure we'll manage to weather this gale in one way or another."
+
+"Gale?  Huh!  I wish we had a gale to weather," murmured Walter.
+
+"Providing it was a wet one," added Stacy.
+
+"That's so.  Now wouldn't it be fine to have a rainstorm?" agreed Ned,
+with enthusiasm.
+
+"We could cuddle in our tents and listen to the raindrops patter on the
+roof," suggested Stacy.
+
+"No; we'd lie down on our backs outside, open our mouths wide----"
+
+"Like a nest of young robins," laughed Tad.
+
+"Yes.  Only we'd fill our mouths with water instead of----"
+
+"Boys, boys!" warned the Professor.  "I fear you are drifting into
+questionable dinner topics again."
+
+"Why, we're talking about water, Professor," replied Ned in a tone of
+innocent surprise.  "Surely you do not object to that?"
+
+"Not so long as you confine your remarks to the subject of water.  That
+seems to be our principal need at the present time."
+
+"Speaking of water----" began Chunky.
+
+"Hold on; is this a story or a joke?" interrupted Ned.
+
+"I heard of a case like ours once," continued the fat boy, without
+heeding the interruption.  "A party of travelers on the desert found
+themselves without water.  In the party was a bookkeeper.  He was from
+the East.  Well, they were thinking about dying from thirst.  But they
+didn't.  The bookkeeper saved them."
+
+There was silence in the group for a moment.
+
+"I'll be the goat.  How did he save them?" asked Ned.
+
+"He had a fountain pen," replied the fat boy sagely.
+
+"Y-e-o-w!" howled the Pony Rider Boys.  "Put him out!  Put him out!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+OFF ON A DRY TRAIL
+
+"We shall have to divide up our forces to-day, Professor.  We'll make a
+desperate effort to find a water hole," announced Tom Parry.
+
+"What do you propose doing?  You mean you're going to let us help you?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"I'm glad."
+
+"We'll make a big pull to-day.  Should we fail to find water there is
+only one thing left for us to do."
+
+"And that?"
+
+"Leave the burros to shift for themselves.  We'll head hack toward the
+San Antonio Range as fast as the bronchos will carry us.  I don't know
+whether they'll be equal to the strain or not.  If they give out we'll
+have to walk, that's all."
+
+"Impossible!" exclaimed the Professor aghast.
+
+"Nothing's impossible when you're up against it.  We'll go through with
+this, see if we don't.  Just keep your nerve, and----"
+
+"But the boys," protested the Professor.
+
+"Look at them," said Parry.  "They're somewhat the worse for wear, it's
+true, but they're all right, every single one of them.  Boys, come over
+here!"
+
+The lads hastened to obey his summons.
+
+"What is it, Mr. Parry?" questioned Tad.
+
+"We've got to do some real work to-day, boys, and I want you to take a
+hand."
+
+"We are ready for anything, sir," spoke up Ned.
+
+"Yes, I know that," replied Parry; then went on: "This is the
+situation.  We are without a drop of water.  All the water holes that I
+have been depending upon are dry and there is no certainty that we
+shall find any that are not in the same condition if we continue on our
+journey.  We can go along for another day, perhaps, so far as we are
+concerned."
+
+"But the stock won't," interposed Tad.
+
+"No."
+
+"I noticed this morning that some of the ponies were pretty gaunt in
+the flanks."
+
+"Regular scarecrows.  We've got to make an organized search for a tank,
+and the sooner we begin the better off we'll be--or the worse," added
+the guide under his breath.  "If we fail, we'll ride all night, taking
+the back trail.  We ought to hold out long enough to reach the last
+water hole we left.  Though even that may be dried up by the time we
+get to it."
+
+"Then you want us to spread out, as it were, and cover all the
+territory about here?" questioned Tad.
+
+"That's it.  You've caught the idea."
+
+Professor Zepplin shook his head.
+
+"I don't like the idea.  The boys will be lost."
+
+"They mustn't, that's all," replied the guide, with a firm setting of
+the lips.  "I think we can arrange so they will find their way back to
+camp all right.  Listen!  This is my plan.  Master Tad will ride west,
+due west.  Master Ned, on the other hand, will proceed east, and I'll
+go south.  Each of us will ride as far as he can until noon.  If by
+then none of us has found any trace of water, we'll all turn about and
+hurry hack to camp."
+
+"Yes, but how do you expect the boys to find their way hack?" demanded
+Professor Zepplin.
+
+"I'm coming to that.  To begin with, I'm going to splice the ridge
+poles of the tents together, making a flagpole of them.  On this we'll
+tie a shirt or something, planting the pole on the top of that ridge
+there.  While the boys will be too far away to see it from where they
+should be by twelve o'clock, they can get near enough, by using their
+watches as compasses, so they can pick it up.  Each one will take a
+rifle with him, and in the event of finding water he is to remain
+there, firing off the gun at frequent intervals."
+
+"What'll we be doing here all the time?" interrupted Walter.
+
+"Starting at twelve o'clock, you will begin firing a rifle to help
+guide the boys in.  Fire a shot every five minutes.  No chance to get
+lost at all.  Do you think so, Professor?"
+
+"It would seem not.  Did I not know from past experiences how easy it
+is for the boys to get into trouble, I should not hesitate an instant."
+
+"Anyway, we've got to do it.  We are at a point where we shall have to
+take chances.  We are taking some as it is.  Now, hurry your breakfast.
+I'll fix up the signal pole while you are doing so, then we'll be off
+as soon as you have finished."
+
+Both Tad and Ned were enthusiastic and anxious to show themselves
+capable of taking a man's part in the proposed operations.
+
+"If Chunky only had a fountain pen now all this trouble would be
+unnecessary," teased Ned as they were hurrying through their breakfast.
+
+The fat boy's soulful eyes held an expression of mild protest, but he
+made no reply.
+
+The meal finished, Tad and Ned brought out their rifles, which they
+loaded, taking with them a box of cartridges each.  The guide did the
+same.  The flagpole had been planted and from its top fluttered a pair
+of pink pajamas belonging to the Professor.
+
+"That ought to scare all the coyotes off the desert," commented Ned as
+the party surveyed the result of the guide's work.
+
+"It will serve still another purpose," grinned the guide.  "Some
+traveler may see it.  In that event he'll head for it, thinking it's
+some one in distress.  If he does, you may be able to get a few drops
+of water from his canteen, providing it's not as empty as our own."
+
+"Oh, how dry I am," whistled Ned softly.
+
+"There doesn't seem to be much probability of our meeting strangers in
+this desolate place," commented the Professor.  "What time do you think
+we shall see you back?  Have you any idea?"
+
+"Somewhere about sunset, in all probability."
+
+"I'd like to go along with Tad," said Stacy.
+
+"Why--no, I think you'd better not," said the Professor.
+
+"Please.  I know I shall be able to help him.  You do not need two boys
+in camp with you, Professor."
+
+"Yes; he might as well go along, if he wants to," decided the guide.
+
+"Very well, then.  But Walter must remain here."
+
+"Use your old ponies.  Do not take the stallions," advised Parry.  "If
+the stallions were to get away from you while you are off on the desert
+alone it would leave you, and perhaps us as well, in pretty bad shape.
+And, by the way, Professor, when you begin firing your signals, go to
+the top of the hill yonder and shoot straight up into the air.  The
+sound will carry further than were you to shoot from here.  You've no
+idea how perplexing this Desert Maze is to those not familiar with it
+and its tricks."
+
+"I'm learning fast," smiled the Professor.  "Furthermore, I am
+convinced that I shall know all about it if I live long----"
+
+"Never," answered Parry promptly.  "No man ever lived who knew all
+about the desert.  I----"
+
+"If we rough riders don't get started pretty soon we'll be back before
+we get started," warned Stacy humorously.
+
+"You're right.  We are wasting time.  Now, Masters Tad and Ned, you
+understand what you are to do?"
+
+"We do," answered the boys.
+
+"Follow my directions to the letter.  If you do you will keep out of
+trouble.  If you do not, there's no telling what may happen."
+
+"We are to find water.  That's what we are going out for," added Tad.
+
+"Exactly.  But the instant you hear a gun fired, turn about and ride
+home.  That will mean either that the time's up, or that one or the
+other of us has found what you are looking for.  Keep your eyes clear
+for signs and for crusts of alkali that may have a water tank under
+them."
+
+"We'll do our duty, Mr. Parry," answered Tad.
+
+"I know it.  Good-bye and good luck!"
+
+The three lads swung their hands in parting salute, as they left the
+camp at an easy gallop, Tad and Stacy riding side by side, Ned Rector
+moving off alone.  Ascending the rise of ground where the pajamas were
+drooping listlessly from the top of the signal pole, Tad and Stacy
+slipped down the opposite side of the hill and disappeared from view.
+
+The two lads were destined to pass through some exciting experiences
+before they rejoined their companions.
+
+"I hope we don't get lost," said Stacy, apprehensively, as they glided
+across the desert.
+
+"We mustn't!"
+
+"Yes; but what if we do?" insisted the fat boy.
+
+"It will be because you disobeyed orders, Chunky.  You and I have a
+task to perform, and we're going to do it like men.  The lives of our
+companions may depend upon our own efforts--yours and mine."
+
+"I can't see the Professor's pajamas," insisted Chunky.  "I believe we
+are lost already, Tad."
+
+"Then we'll stay lost," answered Tad shortly.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+IN THE HERMIT'S CAVE
+
+The conviction that they did not know where they were grew upon Stacy
+as they proceeded.  Not that Stacy cared particularly whether they were
+lost or not, but it gave him something to talk about.
+
+"Don't talk so much, Chunky," begged Tad, after they had gone on some
+distance.  "You should keep your eyes out for signs."
+
+"What kind of signs?"
+
+"Water signs.  Come, be serious for a little while.  You can have all
+the sport you want when we get back.  I think, Chunky, that we can both
+work to better advantage if we separate----"
+
+"What, you want to get rid of me so soon?"
+
+"No, no!  Listen!  You ride off there to the right, say half a mile.
+Keep within sight of me all the time, and watch carefully for what we
+are in search of.  We shall be able to do twice as effective work in
+that way."
+
+"I see.  I guess that would be a good idea.  Got anything to eat in
+your pocket?"
+
+"Some dry bread.  I'll divide with you.  You should have brought
+something."
+
+The fat boy, well satisfied now, rode away to the north, munching the
+dry food that Tad had given him.  So long as Chunky had plenty to eat,
+nothing else mattered.
+
+Tad soon espied what appeared to him to be a cloud on the horizon
+ahead.  After a time he discovered that it was a range of irregular
+buttes.  On some of them he eventually made out what looked like
+scattering trees.  Tad increased the speed of his pony as much as he
+thought the animal would stand.  If there were trees, there surely
+should be water as well, he reasoned.  After a time he succeeded in
+attracting the attention of Stacy, whom he motioned to him.
+
+The fat boy put spurs to his mount, racing along one side of the
+triangle, heading for the range, for which he observed that Tad was
+riding.  It was now a test of speed to see which one should get there
+first.  Tad having the shorter distance to travel, made the mark ahead
+of his companion, though with little to spare.
+
+"You started before I knew what you were up to," laughed Stacy.  "I can
+beat you on an even start."
+
+"Haven't any doubt of it, Chunky.  But let's see what's to be found
+here.  It looks promising.  You hold the horses while I climb up among
+the rocks."
+
+"There's a man up there!" exclaimed Stacy.  "What's he doing?  I wonder
+if he's a hermit?  Looks as if he might be."
+
+"I'll find out.  If some one is living here, there's water," cried Tad
+triumphantly, leaping from his saddle and tossing the bridle reins to
+his companion.
+
+The lad ran lightly up the rocks toward the point where he saw the
+stranger standing, observing them suspiciously.  As he drew nearer to
+the figure, Tad felt some apprehension.  The man was thin and gaunt, a
+heavy growth of beard covering his face so completely as to hide
+everything except the nose and eyes.
+
+"I believe he's crazy," muttered the lad, when he got near enough to
+note the strange expression in the fellow's eyes.  As yet, the man had
+not spoken a word.
+
+"How do you do, sir!" greeted the boy.
+
+The hermit, for such he proved to be, grunted an unintelligible reply.
+
+"We are looking for water.  My friends are camped off yonder, a dozen
+miles or more, and our water is all gone.  Please tell me where I can
+find some?"
+
+"Got money?"
+
+"Yes, yes, I've got money.  I will pay you for your trouble if that is
+what you want.  Let me have a drink first and take some to my
+companion; then I will do whatever you wish in the way of paying,"
+begged the lad.
+
+The hermit eyed him with a steady, disconcerting gaze that gave Tad a
+creepy feeling up and down his spine.
+
+"You want water?"
+
+"Yes, yes."
+
+A moment's hesitation, then the hermit grasped Tad by the arm and
+strode rapidly back among the rocks.  Pushing aside a growth of tangled
+vines he stooped to enable him to enter the opening that was revealed,
+dragging Tad in after him.
+
+[Illustration: The Hermit Grasped Tad by the Arm.]
+
+"See here, where are you taking me?" demanded the lad, pulling back
+instinctively from the dark opening.
+
+The hermit made no reply, but tightening his grip, which was of
+vise-like firmness, jerked the boy into the center of the chamber.  Tad
+observed by the single ray of light that penetrated the place through
+the mat of vines at the entrance that they were in a cave.
+
+"You want water?" snapped the hermit.
+
+"Yes, I do want water more than anything else in the world at this
+minute, but there is no necessity for dragging me to it.  I can walk."
+
+"Water in there," answered the hermit, thrusting Tad into a dark
+recess.  No sooner had he done so than the lad heard a heavy wooden
+door slammed shut and a bar thrown across it from the outside.
+
+Tad, instantly realizing that he was being shut in, threw himself
+against the barrier with all his strength.  But he might as well have
+tried to break through the rocks which walled him in on the other three
+sides.  He shouted at the top of his voice, hoping that Chunky might,
+perchance, hear him and come to his rescue.  Chunky could use the rifle
+that hung in the holster on Tad's saddle and intimidate the hermit if
+he understood Tad's predicament.
+
+At that instant the lad's ears caught the faint trickle of water.  The
+sound stirred him to sudden action.  "Where was it?" he asked himself,
+his hands groping over the rocks about him.
+
+"Here it is!" he cried exultingly.
+
+What he had found was a tiny stream that was creeping down the side of
+the rocks.  Tad pressed his lips against the cool stones, enabling him
+to lick a few drops of the precious fluid into his parched mouth.
+Never had anything tasted so refreshing to him.
+
+"A-h-h-h-h!" gasped the boy, taking a fresh breath preparatory to
+another draught.  "It's almost worth being made a prisoner for this.
+I'll bet Chunky would wish to be in here if he knew.  And I almost wish
+he were."
+
+As if in answer to his expressed wish, the door was suddenly pushed
+inward, a heavy body was hurled in, landing in a heap on the rocky
+floor.
+
+The door slammed shut and the bar once more fell into place.
+
+For the moment Tad could not determine what had happened.
+
+"I--I fell in," moaned a voice from the heap.
+
+"Chunky!" cried Tad.  "How did you get in here?"
+
+"I--just dropped in," wailed the fat boy.
+
+"Get up!  Don't be a baby!  Come here and have a drink of water----"
+
+"Water?  Water?" fairly shouted Stacy, leaping to his feet, bumping
+against a rock in his haste.  "Where?  Where?"
+
+"Here.  Put your lips against the rock right here.  There, you have it.
+Does it taste good?"
+
+"U-m-m-m."
+
+"Now, you've had enough for the moment.  Tell me how you got here?  How
+did you happen to come up?" questioned Tad.
+
+"The--the wild man--say, Tad, he looks like a monkey, doesn't he?"
+
+"I hadn't thought of it in that light.  I guess you're right, though,
+Chunky."
+
+"Well, he went out on the rocks and motioned to me.  I told him I
+couldn't leave the ponies.  He said you wanted me right away, and he
+came down to help me stake the ponies.  He was awful kind," mused
+Stacy, as if talking to himself.
+
+"Go on," urged Tad.  "We've got to think about what's going to become
+of us."
+
+"That's all.  He just led me up here.  Said you were inside getting
+water.  Then--then he threw me in.  Think I hurt the floor when I hit
+it, Tad?"
+
+"I guess not quite so bad as that," laughed the lad.  "I want you to
+strike a match while I look around the place."
+
+Stacy did so, taking his time about it.  By the dim light thus made,
+they discovered a little pool of water in a far corner of the chamber,
+where the trickling stream had found it's way.  With their drinking
+cups, which, with their canteens, the boys always carried, they dipped
+the pool almost dry, filling their canteens with the cool, refreshing
+water, after having first fully satisfied their thirst.
+
+"Got anything to eat?" questioned Stacy, his thoughts turning to food.
+
+"Yes, and I'm going to keep it," answered Tad promptly.
+
+"That's mean."
+
+"See here, Chunky.  We are prisoners.  We don't know when or how we are
+going to get out.  I have a few crusts of bread left and I propose to
+keep them, because we may find ourselves starving later on.  You'll be
+glad then that I saved the bread.  What do you think the hermit intends
+to do?  Did he say anything that gave you any clue?"
+
+"Nope."
+
+"We'll wait a while and if he does not let us out, we'll have to find a
+way for ourselves."
+
+For a time they made the best of their situation, Stacy grumbling now
+and then, Tad bright and cheery, though in his heart he felt far from
+cheerful.
+
+"I'm going to try to break the door down," announced Tad finally, after
+listening intently.  "I can't hear anything.  I believe the hermit has
+gone away and left us.  Get up here beside me.  Take hold of my hand
+and we'll rush it together."
+
+They did so, throwing their combined weight against the door.
+
+"Ouch!" yelled Stacy.
+
+"Never mind, try it again," encouraged Tad, laughing in spite of
+himself.
+
+Once more they hurled themselves on the obstruction.  It resisted all
+their efforts.  Tad lighted a match, examining the door carefully.  The
+light revealed a heap of blankets in a corner of the chamber, where the
+old hermit slept.
+
+"Must be his bedroom," decided Chunky.
+
+"We've got to try something else," announced Tad.  "Got your knife!"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Out with it.  We're going to whittle.  Lucky for us that our knives
+are big and sharp.  Hold a match while I mark out the spot we're going
+to try to cut out."
+
+Tad had sounded the door with his fist until he found the place where
+the bar on the other side held it.  He also discovered sockets for an
+inner bar, by which the hermit probably locked himself in at night.
+Then he began cutting.
+
+"You start in here and keep to your side so you don't cut my hands,"
+the lad directed.
+
+The crunching sound of their knives began immediately, the work going
+on more slowly in the darkness than would have been the case had they
+had light.  Now and then the lads would pause to listen.  Not a sound
+penetrated to their prison.  Tad thought this very strange, unless
+perhaps the hermit might be lying in wait to fall upon them in case
+they did succeed in freeing themselves.
+
+"Say, Tad."
+
+"Well?"
+
+"I've got an idea."  Chunky's knife had been silent for a few moments.
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"Let's burn down the old door."
+
+"How!"
+
+"I'll show you."
+
+Stacy scraped industriously for a time, then lighting a match applied
+it to the spot on which he had been working.  The splinters caught fire
+burned up briskly then went out.  Stacy repeated the process with a
+similar result.
+
+"I guess that will help a little," decided Tad, running his fingers
+over the spot.
+
+"Just like singeing the pin feathers off an old hen--the feathers burn,
+but the hen doesn't," grumbled Stacy.
+
+"Whew! the smoke's getting thick in here.  We've got to stop the
+burning or we'll suffocate," warned Tad.  "Wish I had an ax.  I'd make
+short work of the old door."
+
+They then began working with a grim determination, Stacy ceasing his
+joking.  At last a tiny ray of light showed through the heavy door.
+
+"Hurrah!" shouted Tad.  "I see daylight."
+
+"Then give me some bread.  I'm hungry."
+
+"Not yet.  We're not out of our prison," laughed Tad.  "Keep cutting.
+It will take all of an hour to make an opening large enough for me to
+get my hand through----"
+
+"I got my finger through," cried Stacy triumphantly.  "Ouch!" he yelled
+as a club of some sort was brought against the door on the outside with
+terrific force, bruising the end of the lad's finger.
+
+"The hermit is out there waiting for us!" gasped Tad, with sinking
+heart.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+LOST IN THE DESERT MAZE
+
+A rifle shot sounded from the camp of the Pony Rider Boys.  At regular
+intervals shot followed shot.
+
+It was the warning signal agreed upon to notify the others that water
+had been found.  Ned Rector had ridden into camp with the joyful
+tidings that he had discovered a water tank about three miles to the
+eastward.  Immediately Walter sprang for his rifle, and running to the
+top of the little hill began shooting into the air.  Ned, in the
+meantime, not waiting for the return of the others, had fetched the
+water-bags from the burros, and started off at a rapid pace to bring
+back water for the stock.  His canteen he left for Professor Zepplin
+and Walter.
+
+"It's horrible stuff, but it is water," breathed the Professor as he
+swallowed the brown alkali fluid.  "If ever I get a drink of real water
+again, I know I shall be able to appreciate it."
+
+In the meantime Walter's rifle was booming its warning over the desert
+maze.
+
+Two hours later, Tom Parry, hot, dusty and well-nigh spent, rode into
+camp with the steam rising from his pony in a thin, vaporous cloud.
+
+"Have you found it?" he called hoarsely.
+
+"Yes; Ned's found a water hole," the Professor informed him.
+
+"Give me a drink, quick.  The alkali's cutting furrows in my throat,"
+he begged.  "Never got such a hold of me before."
+
+The Professor pressed his canteen to the guide's lips, and Parry drank
+eagerly.  A few moments later he pulled himself together sharply.
+
+"I'm going to take the stock out to the water hole," he announced,
+starting the burros off across the desert.  "I'll water the stallions
+when I return."
+
+"You had better let me attend to that," protested the Professor.
+"You're in no shape to go out in the sun again."
+
+"That's all right, Professor.  But tell me how I am going to get out of
+the sun?" begged Parry, with a grim smile.
+
+"The tent----"
+
+"Hotter than the sun.  No, I guess I can stand it if those boys are
+able to.  By the way, have you seen anything of the other two?"
+
+"I'll ascertain if Walter has discovered them yet."
+
+Walter's straining eyes had failed to make out Tad and Stacy, however,
+so the Professor bade him continue firing his rifle.  This was a
+pleasant occupation for Walter, for, like his companions, next to a
+pony he loved a gun.
+
+Ned had returned with the water-bags, and Parry had finished watering
+the stock.  It was now near sunset.
+
+"No signs yet?" questioned the guide, joining Walter on the knoll.
+
+"Not a thing."
+
+"That doesn't seem right.  Stop your firing and come get some supper.
+We must eat and put ourselves in shape or we'll be good for nothing.
+Did those boys take any food with them?"
+
+"I think I saw Tad stowing something in his pockets before he started.
+I'm sure I did," spoke up Ned Rector.
+
+"There's a lad who knows his business," approved Parry, moving toward
+the camp with Walter.
+
+"Why have you discontinued the shooting?" demanded the Professor in
+surprise.
+
+"To eat.  Half an hour's intermission will make little difference.  If
+the lads are on their way, we'll be able to call them in before it gets
+dark.  If not, then I shall go out to look for them.  They're all
+right.  I think you need feel no concern over them."
+
+"Must have gone a long way," spoke up Ned.
+
+"Yes, they undoubtedly followed orders."
+
+"And perhaps exceeded them," added the Professor.
+
+It was a real supper that they sat down to that evening, with hot
+coffee, fried bacon and other good things, and the party would have
+been a jolly one had Tad and Stacy been on hand to participate in it.
+
+Walter hurried through his meal, then took his position on the hill
+once more, where he renewed his signaling with the rifle.
+
+All at once he uttered a shout, following it with a quick volley of six
+shots, thus emptying his magazine.
+
+"Do you see them!" called Parry, hastening over to the knoll, and
+joining Walter.
+
+"I think I see a cloud of dust approaching over the desert," he made
+reply.
+
+"Where?"
+
+Walter pointed with his rifle.
+
+"Yes, that's the boys, I guess.  Nothing but a broncho could kick up
+the alkali like that.  I'll go back and have their supper ready.  You
+keep on shooting.  The light is growing fainter and they won't be able
+to find their way in otherwise."
+
+"Is it the boys?" called the Professor, as they saw Parry hastening
+toward them.
+
+"I think so.  Put the coffee on, Master Ned.  They'll want to boil the
+alkali out of their systems as soon as they get here."
+
+"That's the time Tad Butler got left," chuckled Ned Rector.  "He's
+always been around when there was any glory coming.  But when it comes
+to finding water where there isn't any, I guess they can't beat Ned
+Rector."
+
+"What's that boy shooting so rapidly for?" asked Parry.
+
+"He's excited about something," answered Ned.  "He's dancing around as
+if he's suddenly gone crazy.  What's that?  He's calling and motioning
+to us.  Guess he wants you, Mr. Parry."
+
+"What is it!" called the guide, making a megaphone of his hands.
+
+Unable to make out what it was that Walter was shouting to him, Tom
+Parry deserted the camp-fire, where he was assisting to get the second
+supper, and hastened to the knoll.
+
+"What's the trouble, my lad?"
+
+"Come and see.  I want you to take a look at that pony.  He's tearing
+across the desert as if something were chasing him.  But I can't make
+out anyone on his back."
+
+"The light is weak and he's throwing a lot of dust.  Of course there's
+some one his back, and there must be two horses."
+
+The guide shaded his hands, gazing off across the plain.
+
+"What--what----" he stammered.
+
+"Wasn't I right, Mr. Parry?"
+
+"That's very strange.  I don't understand it at all."
+
+"That's what I thought."
+
+"There's only one pony and he's riderless," exclaimed Tom Parry.  "I'm
+afraid something has happened.  It may not be one of our ponies,
+however.  We'll know in a few minutes."
+
+The running animal was drawing steadily nearer the camp.  Those over by
+the camp-fire were busy getting the meal ready for the two missing
+lads.  The pony reached the foot of the knoll.  Observing Parry and
+Walter there, the little animal shied, making a wide detour, and
+finally galloping up to the camp.
+
+Walter and the guide hurried down.
+
+"Hello!" cried the Professor, as he saw the horse dash in.  "What does
+this mean!"
+
+"Why, it's Tad's pony!" exclaimed Ned in amazement.
+
+"Is that Master Tad's mount?" called the guide as he approached them on
+the run.
+
+"Yes.  Do you think there's anything wrong?" questioned Ned.
+
+"Looks that way.  Don't let him get away.  I want to look the critter
+over.  Perhaps we may learn something."
+
+Ned caught the pony without difficulty, and led it to the guide.  Parry
+went all over the animal, even going through the saddlebags.
+
+"The rifle and the rope are missing.  Everything else seems to be in
+order," he announced.
+
+"Then I'll guarantee that Tad's all right," spoke up Ned.
+
+"That's what I think," agreed Walter.  "He's taken his gun and rope up
+into some mountain or other and while he was away the pony got away and
+started for home."
+
+"Is that your opinion, Mr. Parry?" questioned the Professor.
+
+"What's the use in offering any opinions?  I don't know.  But I'm going
+to find out.  Let's see.  We have a new moon to-night.  I've got about
+two hours before it goes down.  I want you all to remain right here in
+camp until I return.  Even if it's until to-morrow.  I'm going out to
+look for the boys."
+
+With that Parry hastily filled his canteen, slung one of the bags of
+water over the back of his pony, and springing into the saddle dashed
+away, following the trail that the returning broncho had left.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+CONCLUSION
+
+"No use trying to go any further to-night, Chunky."
+
+"Where'll we stay, then?"
+
+"Right here, I guess," answered Tad.  "It's as good a place as we'll
+find."
+
+But to understand this, we must take up the fortunes of Tad and Stacy,
+whom we left imprisoned in the hermit's cave.
+
+After waiting for a full hour in the cave, following the hermit's blow
+on the door, the lads not having heard anything further of him, had
+renewed their whittling.  After long and arduous effort they had
+succeeded in making an opening in the wood sufficiently large to enable
+Tad to push his hand through.
+
+Before doing so, however, he made reasonably sure that the hermit was
+not standing there with a club ready to bring it down with crushing
+force.
+
+Being satisfied on this point, Tad thrust a hand through.  His upturned
+hand had grasped the bar that held the door in place.  Pushing upward
+with all his strength he felt the bar give.
+
+Stacy, with ready resourcefulness, began forcing up on Tad's elbow.  In
+a moment more they had the satisfaction of hearing the bar clatter to
+the rocks.  Yet one end of it had stuck in its socket, still holding
+the barrier in place.
+
+They tried their former tactics.  Backing off, both lads rushed at the
+heavy door.  It gave way with a suddenness that they had not expected.
+The boys tumbled out, each landing on his head and shoulders, then
+toppling over to his back.
+
+There was a lively scramble.  They were up in a twinkling, fully
+expecting to find the hermit standing over them.  To their surprise,
+they found themselves entirely alone.  To their further surprise,
+neither of their ponies was in sight when they stepped out on the rocks.
+
+Upon examining the hoof prints a few minutes later they discovered that
+one animal had set off on the back trail, while the other had
+apparently gone in the opposite direction.
+
+After a brief consultation they decided that they must start back on
+foot.  Without a moment's hesitation, the lads, laying their course by
+Tad's watch, started pluckily toward camp, many miles away.
+
+After a few hours night overtook them.  They still had the moon,
+however, and by its light they trudged along for two more weary hours.
+Then the moon's light left them and Tad decided that it were worse than
+useless to continue.
+
+Absolute darkness had settled over the Desert Maze as the boys dropped
+down, footsore and weary after their long tramp in the stifling heat.
+
+"Got anything to eat?" asked Stacy.
+
+"That I have, and a canteen of water besides.  We have a lot to be
+thankful for yet, Chunky.  Haven't we?"
+
+"I'll tell you after I try the bread," answered the fat boy.
+
+Tad laughed merrily.
+
+"Always a humorist, aren't you?"
+
+"Except when I fall in somewhere," replied Stacy.
+
+"How does the bread go?"
+
+"Fine!"
+
+"Aren't you glad you didn't eat it up back there in the hermit's cave?"
+
+"Oh, I dunno.  If I'd eaten it then, I wouldn't have to eat it now."
+
+"Oh, Chunky, you're hopeless.  I shall have to give you up----"
+
+"What do you think has become of those ponies?" interrupted the fat boy.
+
+"Guess they must have gotten away and gone home--at least one of them,"
+answered Tad.
+
+"Wrong."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"One went one way and the other another, didn't he?"
+
+"Yes.  What of that?"
+
+"If they'd gotten away they'd both traveled together.  One of them was
+ridden away and I'm thinking the hermit was on his back.  I'll bet he
+carried my broncho off."
+
+"You mean you think your broncho carried him off?" laughed Tad.  "I
+didn't give you credit for so much sense, Chunky.  I guess you are
+right at that.  The ponies surely would have left together.  Seems to
+be our luck to lose horses.  Guess my gun has gone, too, but I picked
+up the rope back by the mountain."
+
+"Glad I didn't bring my rifle along," chuckled Stacy.  "I'll bet I'd be
+throwing good-bye kisses after it now if I had."
+
+"I don't understand what that old man meant by making us prisoners
+unless it was that he wanted a horse to get out of the Desert Maze.  If
+that was his reason, I don't blame him," laughed Tad.  "Mr. Parry did
+us a real service when he advised us to leave our stallions back in
+camp.  They surely would have been gone by this time, and we never
+could have caught them again."
+
+"Yes; I can see Satan legging it for the hills," replied Stacy.
+"Legging it is his strong point."
+
+They had finished their slender meal by this time and drunk their fill
+of water from the canteens.  As a result, they felt better than they
+had felt at any time during the past three days.
+
+"We have a long, hot walk ahead of us to-morrow, unless they come out
+to look for us, Chunky," averred Tad.
+
+"Yes.  And I love to walk," replied Stacy, with droll humor.
+"Especially when the sun is one hundred and fifty in the shade, or
+where the shade ought to be.  If ever I come down in this baked country
+again, I'm going to bring that sweet apple tree out of uncle's orchard,
+even if I have to drag it all over the desert with me."
+
+"Think we'd better make our beds and turn in?" suggested Tad.
+
+"I guess.  I'll take a drink of water first; then I'm ready."
+
+In a few moments the plucky lads had stretched out on the still hot
+ground, without feeling the least fear.  They were too self-reliant to
+feel any fear, and they had passed so many nights in the open that the
+mysterious darkness of the outside world held no terrors for them.
+They knew there was nothing to harm them.
+
+Tad was beginning to doze off when Stacy nudged him in the ribs.
+
+"What is it?" asked Tad sharply.
+
+"I think the girl forgot to put a fresh pillow case on my pillow
+to-day.  The pillow feels awful rough."
+
+"Oh, go to sleep.  Dream all the funny things you wish to, but don't
+bother me till daylight."
+
+From that moment until long past midnight the boys slept soundly,
+neither having moved since he lay down for his night's rest.  Even when
+the coyotes began to howl, off on the desert, the lads merely stirred,
+only half conscious of what the sound meant.  But when the howls
+gradually drew nearer, Chunky cautiously opened one eye.  The night was
+so dark that he could not see anything about him.
+
+The beasts drew nearer.  Tad was awake now.
+
+"Keep still, don't scare them until I give the word," he said in answer
+to Stacy's poke.
+
+Emboldened by the quietness, the coyotes kept creeping closer and
+closer, their mournful howls increasing in volume every minute.  All at
+once Tad reached down for his rope.  He lay still for a few minutes
+until satisfied that the animals had not observed his movement.
+Suddenly the great loop shot from his hand.
+
+A quick, violent tug at the other end, a wild, frightened howl from the
+cowardly beasts, and all but one, with tails between their legs, fled
+over the desert.
+
+"I've got one, Chunky," yelled Tad.  "Quick!  Help me here, or he'll
+get away!"
+
+It required all the strength of the two boys to hold the animal that
+Tad had roped in the dark.  Gradually they shortened up on the rope,
+Tad standing in front of his companion until he felt the animal
+dangerously near.  Then he let out a swift kick.  By good luck, it laid
+the coyote flat.
+
+Tad was upon the beast before, in its half-dazed condition, it could
+rise.  Together they tied the animal's feet, its jaws snapping at them
+viciously before their task was completed.
+
+There was no more sleep for the lads that night.  They feared the
+coyote would gnaw the rope in two, if left alone.  All during the night
+the boys were obliged continually to jerk on the line about its neck to
+keep the beast from doing this very thing.
+
+Morning came at last.  Making a harness from a piece of the rope, they
+bound up one of the animal's forefeet, just as Bud Stevens had done
+with wild horses.  Then they released the hind feet.  Mr. Coyote hopped
+about like a rabbit for a time, snarling and snapping, to their keen
+delight.  They felt no fear of him, though Mr. Coyote had several times
+expressed a willingness to fight his captors.
+
+After eating their remaining crumbs of bread, the boys decided to move
+on.  Tad, believing that he knew the direction to follow, did not wait
+for the sun to rise.  Yet, although they were not aware of the fact,
+they already had strayed far from the trail.
+
+"I'm afraid the coyote is going to be a drag on us, much as I should
+like to take him along," said Tad.
+
+Stacy begged to keep the animal, and Tad decided to try it.  The next
+question was, how to move it.  It was finally decided that one boy
+should lead the coyote while the other prodded it from the rear when
+the animal lagged.
+
+At noon they halted to rest, draining the last drop from their
+canteens.  Then they started on again, suffering more and more from the
+heat as they proceeded.  About the middle of the afternoon Tad halted,
+gazing helplessly about him.
+
+"Chunky, we're lost in the Desert Maze.  I don't know where I am any
+more than if I were in the middle of an ocean.  I'm pretty nearly
+exhausted, too."
+
+"So's the coyote," comforted Stacy.
+
+"But we've got to keep on going.  My watch is missing.  I must have
+lost it where we slept last night.  I can only guess at the direction
+we ought to take.  Have you any idea where we are?"
+
+Stacy gazed at the sky meditatively.
+
+"On a rough guess, I should say we were on the Nevada Desert."
+
+"Oh, come on!  Come on!"
+
+Still clinging to the angry coyote, the lads took up their weary tramp.
+The baking alkali burned their feet almost to the blistering point; the
+burning, withering heat made their heads whirl; the desert began to
+perform strange antics, while the halo that they had seen a few days
+before again appeared before them, first whirling like a giant pin
+wheel, then oscillating in a way that made them giddy.
+
+"Chunky, I can't stand this any longer," cried Tad, suddenly sinking to
+the ground.  "I'm ashamed of myself to give way like this."
+
+Stacy moved around to the sunny side of his companion, placing his own
+body where it would shade Tad's head from the sun.  The fat boy took
+off his sombrero, unheeding the burning rays that were beating down on
+his own head, and began to fan Tad with the hat.
+
+"I don't believe I can go any further, Chunky.  You are still in fairly
+good shape and you'll be able to make the camp if you go on.  Leave me
+and make a try for it."
+
+"You--you want me to go on without you?  Want me to leave you here
+to--Say, Tad, do you think I'm that kind of a coyote?  I'd thrash you
+for that if you weren't already properly done up.  You'll feel better
+when night comes and your head gets cooled off.  In the morning we'll
+make another attempt to get out of the Desert Maze.  You lie still,
+now."
+
+Thus admonished, Tad closed his eyes.  At last the sun went down, and
+with its passing, came a breath of refreshing air.  They inhaled long
+and deeply of it.  After a little, Stacy got up.
+
+"Where you going?" demanded Tad, opening his bloodshot eyes.
+
+"Going to tie up my dog, then go to bed."
+
+Five minutes later both were sleeping the sleep that comes from utter
+exhaustion of mind and body.
+
+Stacy awakened first, his eyes opening on the burning blue above him.
+After a few moments he rolled over on his stomach to gaze at the
+coyote.  Instantly something else attracted his attention.  What he saw
+was a crossed stick on a standard.  The whole resembled a cross,
+standing barely six inches above the ground.
+
+The lad eyed the strange object inquiringly, then wriggled over toward
+it.
+
+"Maybe there's water here.  I'll see," he muttered.  Stacy began
+digging industriously with knife and hands.
+
+After a time the knife struck some hard substance.  This, upon further
+digging, proved to be a bottle.  The boy pulled his find out quickly.
+
+"There's a piece of paper in it," he exclaimed in surprise.  "Guess
+somebody must have thrown it off a sinking desert schooner."
+
+Stacy drew the paper from the bottle.
+
+"'To the lost on the Desert Maze,'" he read "That's me and the coyote.
+'Water ten paces to the east.  Grass Peak fifteen miles to the east.
+Belted Range about eighteen miles west.  Cross piece on stick, points
+due east and west.  A Traveler.'"
+
+With a sharp glance at his sleeping companion, Stacy tramped off ten
+paces.  There being no sign of water, the lad began stamping about with
+his heels.  Suddenly the alkali crust gave way beneath him.  One leg
+went through.  He felt it plunge into water.
+
+"Y-e-o-w!" howled Stacy.
+
+Tad Butler scrambled to his feet, rubbing his eyes.
+
+"Water!  Water!  Water!  I fell in!" shrieked the fat boy, dancing
+about joyously.  "I've found a key to the Desert Maze, and I've
+unlocked one blind desert alley with my foot."
+
+The lads drank and drank of the villainous, brown fluid.  Then, after
+having laved their faces and filled the canteens, they set out on their
+journey.  Grass Peak was the hill from which the Professor's pajamas
+had been unfurled to the idle desert breeze.
+
+Twilight was descending when two gaunt-eyed, hollow-cheeked lads, each
+with an arm thrown about the other's waist for support, were described,
+staggering across the Desert Maze.  Behind then, at the end of a
+lariat, slouched a disconsolate, cowardly coyote.
+
+A great shout went up from the camp of the Pony Riders.
+
+They dashed out to meet their exhausted companions.  Hoisting the two
+boys to their shoulders, they carried them triumphantly to camp.
+
+Tom Parry, the guide, had been thrown by his pony stepping through a
+crust on the alkali, and had lain all night on the desert.  Next day he
+had staggered back to camp, where he found his pony, and after a few
+hours' rest had taken up his fruitless search again.
+
+Stacy's pony in the meantime had come in.  The boys never knew how the
+animals got away, though from the fact that Tad's rifle was missing, it
+was believed that the hermit had ridden the pony off, turning it adrift
+later.
+
+But the brave lads had found their way through the Desert Maze to camp,
+having passed through hardships and perils that would have daunted
+stronger and more experienced desert travelers.
+
+Next morning the Pony Rider Boys struck their tents and broke camp.  A
+few days later they crossed the line into California, where, after
+loading their stock and equipment into a large stock car, they started
+for the East.
+
+Yet, though their summer vacation was rapidly drawing to a close, the
+Pony Rider Boys had not seen the end of their thrilling adventures.
+Another exciting trip lay before them; one which was destined to linger
+in memory for many years to come.  The story of this, the end of the
+Silver Trail, will be related in a following volume entitled, "THE PONY
+RIDER BOYS IN NEW MEXICO."
+
+
+
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+Dave Darrin Series No. 3
+
+By _H. Irving Hancock_
+
+  1 Dave Darrin at Vera Cruz
+  2 Dave Darrin on Mediterranean Service
+  3 Dave Darrin's South American Cruise
+  4 Dave Darrin on the Asiatic Station
+  5 Dave Darrin and the German Submarines
+  6 Dave Darrin after the Mine Layers
+
+
+
+Aviator Series No. 3
+
+By _Captain Frank Cobb_
+
+  1 Battling the Clouds
+  2 An Aviator's Luck
+  3 Dangerous Deeds
+
+
+
+Boy Scout Series No. 3
+
+By _George Durston_
+
+  1 The Boy Scouts in Camp
+  2 The Boy Scouts on the Trail
+  3 The Boy Scouts to the Rescue
+  4 The Boy Scout Aviators
+  5 The Boy Scouts Afloat
+  6 The Boy Scouts' Victory
+
+
+
+Idle Hour Series No. 3
+
+  1 Hilda's Mascot--_Ireland_
+  2 Betty the Scribe--_Turner_
+  3 Peggy-Alone--_Byrne_
+
+
+
+Ivy Hall Series No. 3
+
+By _Ruth Alberta Brown_
+
+  1 Tabitha at Ivy Hall
+  2 Tabitha's Glory
+  3 Tabitha's Vacation
+
+
+
+Peace Greenfield Series No. 3
+
+By _Ruth Alberta Brown_
+
+  1 At the Little Brown House
+  2 The Lilac Lady
+  3 Heart of Gold
+
+
+
+Pony Rider Boys Series No. 3
+
+By _Frank Gee Patchin_
+
+   1 The Pony Rider Boys in the Rockies
+   2 The Pony Rider Boys in Texas
+   3 The Pony Rider Boys in Montana
+   4 The Pony Rider Boys in the Ozarks
+   5 The Pony Rider Boys in the Alkali
+   6 The Pony Rider Boys in New Mexico
+   7 The Pony Rider Boys in the Grand Canyon
+   8 The Pony Rider Boys with the Texas Rangers
+   9 The Pony Rider Boys on the Blue Ridge
+  10 The Pony Rider Boys in New England
+  11 The Pony Rider Boys in Louisiana
+  12 The Pony Rider Boys in Alaska
+
+
+
+Circus Boys Series No. 3
+
+By _Edgar B. P. Darlington_
+
+  1 The Circus Boys on the Flying Rings
+  2 The Circus Boys across the Continent
+  3 The Circus Boys in Dixie Land
+  4 The Circus Boys on the Mississippi
+  5 The Circus Boys on the Plains
+
+
+
+The Battleship Boys Series No. 3
+
+By _Frank Gee Patchin_
+
+  1 The Battleship Boys at Sea
+  2 The Battleship Boys' First Step Upward
+  3 The Battleship Boys in Foreign Service
+  4 The Battleship Boys in the Tropics
+  5 The Battleship Boys Under Fire
+  6 The Battleship Boys in the Wardroom
+
+
+
+The Submarine Boys Series No. 3
+
+By _Victor G. Durham_
+
+  1 The Submarine Boys on Duty
+  2 The Submarine Boys' Trial Trip
+  3 The Submarine Boys and the Middies
+  4 The Submarine Boys and the Spies
+  5 The Submarine Boys' Lightning Cruise
+  6 The Submarine Boys for the Flag
+
+
+
+Young Engineers Series No. 3
+
+By _H. Irving Hancock_
+
+  1 The Young Engineers in Colorado
+  2 The Young Engineers in Arizona
+  3 The Young Engineers in Nevada
+  4 The Young Engineers in Mexico
+  5 The Young Engineers on the Gulf
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Pony Rider Boys in the Alkali, by
+Frank Gee Patchin
+
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